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Gods, what am I doing? Thanatos thought to himself, as he scanned the area around him for what felt like the hundredth time. Currently, he was standing across the street to Zagreus' house, contemplating whether he should give into impulsivity or just walk home as if he was never here. He didn't even know if Zagreus was awake, let alone if he actually wanted to join him on his late-night...whatever this was. Thanatos anxiously tapped his shoes against the pavement and bit the inside of his cheek. Of course Zag will want to sneak out...he'll do anything to potentially piss of his dad.
He fiddled with the collar of his old, dark sweatshirt as he stared at Zag's window. Than guessed it would be an easy climb to the roof that Zagreus' window rested above, thanks to the Oaktree that steadily grew next to the home. He had no previous experience climbing trees, but how hard could it possibly be if kids can do it? Pushing a shaky breath out of his nose, he began to trek towards the tree. Before he gave it another thought, Than hoisted himself up onto one of the lowest branches, the bark leaving harsh indents against his soft skin. His legs ached as he threw his lower body up to sit on the branch, the hard bark grabbing onto his jeans as he struggled up. Scowling in annoyance, he stood on the branch and continued pulling himself upwards until he was level with the roof below Zag's window. However, from this perspective, he noticed that the gap between the tree and the house was bigger than he thought. Blood and Darkness... he silently said, almost as a Hail Mary, ...I've already made it this far... And with that, he sucked in a breath and jumped, hoping to whatever God could hear him that he would land safely on the roof.
He did, in fact, land on the roof, but it as with a harsh thud as his entire body slammed against the shingles. Wincing, he braced himself up on his arm. "At least I didn't slide off, I guess..." he muttered, starting to sit up. His whole body gave off a dull ache, but he knew it wouldn't last long. A light turned on next to him, and he squinted and shielded his eyes to see Zagreus running to his window from the light switch. Zagreus squinted out the window, his eyebrows angling down as he tried to decipher what was on his roof. His eyes widened in recognition when he saw Thanatos crawling towards his window. The younger boy unlocked his window and pushed it open, looking at Than with his eyebrows raised in shock.
"Than? What are you doing on my roof? Were you that loud noise? Are you okay? What's wrong?" He frantically whispered, sticking half of his torso out the window. It wasn't at all like Thanatos to be sneaking around late at night, so Zagreus could only assume that something had happened.
The tips of Thanatos' ears turned slightly red as he tried to keep his cool composure. "I-I'm fine, Zag. Nothing's wrong." He whispered back, scanning at all the other windows he could see, hoping that his stunt hadn't woken Persephone or, Gods forbid, Hades.
Zagreus glanced around, trying to figure out how his friend ended up on his roof. His eyes went back and forth between the Oaktree and Thanatos' frazzled appearance. "Did you climb the tree?!" His question was answered with a small nod. Zagreus gave the older a quick once over, his eyes darting around for any sign of injury while muttering something about how Thanatos should be more careful and shouldn't go climbing trees in the middle of the night when he had never climbed a tree before. Though embarrassed, Thanatos couldn't help but like having his friend fuss over him, but he would never admit that out loud. When Zagreus seemed satisfied, he gave a small sigh out his nose and relaxed back on his heels. Crossing his arms, he smirked. "Then, to what do I owe the pleasure, Romeo?"
Thanatos finally looked at Zagreus, taking his strong features. His dark hair was sticking up in random directions and his eyes had slight rings underneath them, showing that he had most likely been asleep before Than's graceful entrance. He had to bite back a smile as he noticed that Zagreus still had dried drool on the corner of his mouth. His pajamas were nothing special, just an old t-shirt and shorts, and Than couldn't help but take just a quick look at his toned muscles, promptly looking elsewhere for fear of being caught. Than thought Zagreus looked stunning, dried drool and all. The light shining behind him from his room made him look almost God-like, as if he was descending from the heavens and Than was a mere mortal who had been graced with his presence. When the dark-haired boy tilted his head, he remembered he was still waiting for an answer to his question.
"Oh...I just thought that we could...uh..." He trailed off, hoping Zagreus would understand. Zagreus seemed to get the idea, though, as his face turned up into a mischievous grin.
"Thanatos, are you asking me to sneak out with you?" The grin on his face only grew when Thanatos only shrugged his shoulders in response. Zagreus held up a finger, telling the older to just wait one second while he changed clothes.
Thanatos slowly sat on the windowsill, messing with his fingers while Zagreus changed. He noticed a small scratch on his finger that was smeared with now dried blood. Must be from the tree... He lifted his head to show the revelation to Zagreus and maybe ask for a bandaid. "Hey, Zagre-!" He squeaked, feeling all the blood in his body rush to his cheeks. His gaze was greeted with the other pulling off their pajama shirt, and then the most back muscles he had ever seen on someone his age. Thanatos couldn't even process when Zagreus replied, asking what was up. His brain simply shut down when Zagreus fully turned towards him. When a shirt was finally covering his torso, Than finally rebooted and turned his head to look out into the street. "Are you ready?" He mumbled, willing his face to return to its normal color. Zagreus hummed in response and turned off the light to his room before walking towards the window.
"Are you sure you want to wear that sweatshirt, Than? It's June, not the middle of November." Zagreus teased as Than climbed back out onto the roof. "You can always borrow one of my shirts." The innocent offer was met with a small hum 'no' as the older began to climb back down the tree.
Once they both were safely on the ground, they awkwardly stood next to each other realizing that neither of them had thought past sneaking out. "So...why did we sneak out?" Zagreus asked, his dark hair reflecting moonlight as he turned to look at Thanatos.
"Uh. I was bored and figured you were, too" He lied. He couldn't say that he had missed Zagreus and wanted to see him. That's not entirely normal for friends to say to each other. To avoid further questioning from Zagreus, Thanatos wracked his brain for anything to change the subject. He remembered that there was a park a few blocks away that was relatively new. "Wanna go to the park?" He quickly asked, his body turning towards his friend, who shrugged and nodded in response.
The walk there was mostly uneventful, Zagreus bombarding Thanatos with questions and making remarks about how surprised he was that they were sneaking out. "Am I being a bad influence on you?" Zagreus wondered, mostly to himself, as they approached the park. Thanatos simply gave a small laugh in response and replied, "Maybe you are." Maybe I like it.
They both sat on the swings, Thanatos simply rocking back and forth by rolling on his feet while Zagreus boosted himself higher by pushing his feet off of the ground. As he reached the top of his height going forward, he leaned his torso back so he could grin at the other whilst upsidedown. When he swung back, he said a quick, "Hi, Than," followed by a, "Bye, Than." when he swung forward once again. Thanatos softly smiled at Zag's actions, his eyes soft as he watched the other in adoration. Even though he thought it was very childish, he couldn't help but feel his heart swell at the antics of his crush. He scrunched his nose up at the thought of calling the dark haired boy his crush, but he supposed there was no other word for it.
Suddenly there was a loud gasp as the smaller boy launched his body off the swing at it’s apex. Thanatos stopped breathing as he watched Zagreus’ body fly through the air until he landed with a thump. “Look!” Zagreus shouted, pointing at an object on the ground just ahead. “Someone left their skateboard!!” Thanatos stood from his swing as Zagreus ran towards the board. Thanatos began walking towards him as a foot was placed onto the board. Zagreus gave it an experimental push, encouraging the older to walk towards him faster before he fell.
Thanatos arrived at Zagreus’ side, standing on the opposite side of the board. His friend turned towards him as he placed both feet up on the board, briefly holding his arms out to find his balance. “Hey, look. I’m your height when I stand on this.” Zagreus said proudly, looking at Thanatos. The silver-haired boy smirked and took in a breath to reply until he noticed how close they were standing towards each other. He was right, they were the same height now. Thanatos noticed just how green Zagreus’ eyes were in the moonlight and his smirk turned into a soft smile. The younger copied his expression and opened his mouth to say something, but his smile quickly dropped as the board began to roll and his legs shot out to the side.
Thanatos gasped and quickly shot his hands out, one catching an arm and the other finding it’s way to his friend’s waist. He hoisted the other upright again and let out a snort. “Very smooth, Zag.” He teased, enjoying how Zagreus’ face went bright red and he chuckled. Thanatos relished in the rare embarrassment of his friend for a moment longer before he noticed his noticed where his hands were. He quickly pulled them back, his face starting to match Zagreus’.
“Wait, can you actually...it might be easier if...can you-” Zagreus struggled, his eyebrows scrunching together as he tried to form a coherent sentence. Thanatos tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t as good at reading Zagreus’ mind as Zag was at reading his, so instead he waited for his friend to finish. “It might be easier if I have something to hold on to.”
“Oh. Uh. Okay.” Thanatos eloquently replied. His mind happily screamed at the thought of holding Zag. He shakily held out his hands and Zagreus happily latched on. Than jumped, not expecting his hands to be held. He thought he would be holding his wrist or arms. They both stood there for a moment, Thanatos internally screaming and Zagreus focused on getting his feet right on the board. “Do you, uh, want me to walk?” If they didn’t do something soon, Thanatos was sure he would melt into a puddle of goo. When he got a nod in response, he began to awkwardly shuffle sideways down the sidewalk.
Zagreus let out a happy laugh. “I’m sure if someone were to see us, we would look pretty odd to them.” Than blinked, remembering that it wasn’t just him and Zagreus in the world. He watched as the wind was softly pushing Zagreus’ hair back, noticing they were actually going at a pretty decent speed now. “Than, let me go, I wanna see if I can ride myself now.”
He reluctantly let go of his friend, stopping and watching as Zagreus fumbled his way down the sidewalk. He laughed to himself when Zagreus came to a stop and bent over to flip the board around to start skating back. He shoved his hands in his sweatshirt pocket, watching as Zagreus picked up speed. When Zagreus got decently close, he heard him quietly shout, “Than, watch! Kickflip!”.
“Zag, no-!” He barely shouted out as he saw the other attempt the trick. His eyes widened as Zagreus came hurling towards him, being launched off the board.
They both crashed into the grass, the younger landing on top of the older with his arms on either side of his head. Thanatos lifted his head up and flushed when their noses briefly brushed against each other. They both froze with wide eyes, neither one making a move. “I’m sorry.” Zagreus said, his voice nearly a whisper.
“Are you okay?” Thanatos replied, his voice matching volume. Zagreus nodded. “Good.”
Thanatos assured Zagreus that he was okay in return. Normally, he would’ve scolded Zagreus for being reckless, but the close proximity was messing with his head and he couldn’t think straight. He propped himself up on his elbows, allowing himself to daydream about the person in front of him. If he was still on this planet, he would’ve noticed that the person above him was doing the same about him. He snapped out of it when Zagreus softly laughed to himself.
“What’s so funny?” Thanatos inquired, narrowing his eyes.
Zagreus sat there for a moment as if trying to decide something. He finally took a deep breath in and gave a dorky smile at Thanatos. “I guess you could say I’ve fallen for you.” He jokingly said. Thanatos flushed and looked away.
“Ha ha, very funny, Zagreus.” He replied. He frowned, wishing that Zagreus actually meant it. He gently pushed his friend off of him, Zagreus landing next to him with an oof.
They both sat next to each other, neither saying a word. Than started picking at grass until Zagreus broke the silence again. “What if,” He started, hesitating for only a moment before he pushed himself on, “what if I meant it?” He whispered, looking at Than to gauge his reaction.
Thanatos blinked, his brain trying to process if Zagreus actually said that, or if he simply imagined it. “What?”
Zagreus struggled with what to say next, making Thanatos freak out more. He had never seen him at a loss for words, Zagreus always knew what to say, a trait Than envied.
“Zagreus.” He started. When green eyes met his, he took in a deep breath. “I need to know if you actually mean it. This isn’t a joke?”
“Of course I mean it, Than.” He whispered. The sun slowly began to rise behind him, making him look even more stunning than he always did. Thanatos thought that it wasn’t fair how the universe seemed to toy with his emotions.
“Thank Gods.” He muttered to himself. Zagreus raised an eyebrow in question, then raised them in shock as he noticed Than leaning closer to him, their faces mere centimeters apart. “Can I kiss you, Zagreus?”
The boy in question blinked in surprise at the forwardness of Than’s question, but quickly nodded, closing the space between them. They stayed like that until they both felt their lungs burn, begging for air. When they pulled apart, Thanatos felt blinded by Zagreus’ smile.
Thanatos let out a content sigh, but then looked at the still rising sun. “We should probably get back.” He said, cursing Helios for being on time. He stood up, wiping grass off of his sweatshirt and jeans. He offered a hand out to Zag, and smiled when the boy took it and didn’t let go.
The walk back was filled with flirtatious nudges, puns, and pickup lines (mostly made by Zagreus). They stopped at the bottom of the Oaktree outside Zag’s house, where the shorter boy stood up straighter to give Thanatos one last kiss. The taller boy flushed as Zagreus said a quick goodbye, scaling the tree, and waving before closing his window. Thanatos grinned and ran back to his house, feeling renewed by the whole night spent with Zag.
When he got home he snuck through the front door, having no convenient tree outside his window. However, he was surprised to find his mom sitting on the couch, waiting for him. After a very brief scolding, Thanatos sulked into his room. However, his briefly saddened mood was quickly lifted as he felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled out his phone and saw a text from none other than Zagreus. He smiled widely to himself as he read the message, his heart soaring at the idea of the new relationship starting between them.
New Message: Zag
Date tomorrow? <3