Chapter Text
Death wasn’t exactly how you’d expected it would be.
You’d been expecting to end up in Asphodel, to be quite honest. You knew you weren’t good enough for Elysium, and, as far as you knew, you’d never done anything bad enough to land you in the pits of Tartarus. Instead of any of those places, however, you somehow managed to land yourself a job in the House of Hades (although you still weren’t sure why you’d been picked, if you were honest).
It certainly wasn’t a very exciting job, per se; your duties were mainly just to help with the cleaning. You spent most of your days mopping the floor or dusting the various knickknacks displayed among the halls. As afterlives go, it could be better, but most of the time you weren’t complaining. Especially when your duties regularly let you hang around and chat with a certain god of slumber.
--
The first time you met Hypnos was, naturally, when you arrived in the Underworld. You felt very small and uncertain then, walking through those colossal halls. You remember waiting in line for a long time and clutching handfuls of your chiton to calm your sweaty, shaking hands.
When you finally reached Hypnos, he checked off your name and gave you a sympathetic smile.
“Ouch. Says here you got a volcanic rock to the head, huh? That’s not a death I see every day, and I see a lot of deaths.”
You weren’t really sure what to say, so you settled on, “Um… thank you?”
“Oh, you’re welcome,” he said with a grin. “Wow, and, according to my records, you’re going to be a servant for the House of Hades! Aren’t you just full of surprises?”
“A servant?” you asked.
“Yes! Looks like you’ll be on the janitorial team. You’ll love Dusa, she’s a blast to work with.”
Everything was happening so fast. Janitorial team? Dusa? It was all too much to take in at once. And before you could even take a moment to ask any questions, the line began moving again to wherever it was going to take you.
“See you around!” you heard Hypnos call happily from behind you.
Even if you didn’t realize at the time, you were grateful that he was the one stationed to greet the new arrivals. His cheery attitude had calmed your nerves. It was exactly what you’d needed to start your journey into the unknown of the afterlife.
--
The afterlife, as it turns out, was surprisingly similar to plain old life life. You slept, you worked, you made friends. Chatting while you cleaned almost made the job fun – and if anyone noticed that you volunteered for foyer duties more than anywhere else, they didn’t say a word.
At first, Hypnos was just a cheerful presence to have around while you worked. He could go on for hours about anything and everything, and when you weren’t in the mood to talk much yourself, he was more than happy to fill the silence. It made your shifts so much more enjoyable.
You tried to help him out when you could too, even if it was just something small like waking him up when he was getting too behind in his work. You felt bad disturbing him all the time when he seemed so calm and peaceful, but thankfully he never seemed to be upset when you did. Most of the time he just mumbled out a “thanks”, accompanied by an adorable sleepy smile. It always gave you butterflies to see those dimples in his cheeks and the crinkles around his eyes when he smiled at you. (Not that you’d admit that to yourself, let alone anyone else.)
Once, when you were busy mopping up the bloody footprints Zagreus had left on the marble floors, Hypnos asked you a question.
“Hey, how come you’re always so nice to me?”
You paused and leaned against your mop.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re always doing stuff like waking me up so Hades doesn’t yell at me. I mean, you even stand up to Thanatos when he gives me a hard time, and he’s super scary when he wants to be!”
You laughed and went back to mopping the floor.
“Maybe it’s because you’re my friend? You’re, like, my favourite person in this whole stupid house, Hypnos.” You smiled down at your sandals to hide your embarrassment. “Besides, I need you here so you can distract me from my eternity as a janitor.”
Hypnos was strangely silent. You looked up at him, thinking he’d fallen back asleep. Instead, he was looking at you with shining eyes and a grin that reached from ear to ear. (His flushed cheeks were, of course, just a figment of your imagination.)
“I’m your favourite person?” he finally squeaked out. “Not Zagreus, or Meg, or Cerberus, or Achilles, or Dusa, or Thanatos, or Orpheus? Me?”
“Yes you, you big dummy,” you said. “Now get back to work before you get in trouble.”
“Aye aye, Captain!”
--
A few weeks later, you were dusting in the West Wing when Hypnos found you, presumably on one of his much-needed breaks. You didn’t see him at first, because you were preoccupied with trying to reach some of the trinkets on the higher shelves along the wall.
“Stupid decorative vases…” you muttered under your breath. “Who’s even gonna see them up there, anyway?”
“Need a hand?”
You jumped and spun around, feather duster held at the ready to smack whoever had snuck up on you.
“Whoa, hey!” Hypnos said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”
You smiled and lowered the duster.
“Sorry, I’m a little tense right now,” you said. “I’m just mad I got stuck cleaning the stuff I can’t reach again. I think Dusa forgets that not everyone can float.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing you’ve got someone who can float right here, huh? I can help!”
“Oh, no, I can’t ask you to do that! You’re on your break!”
“But you didn’t ask me to. I offered,” he said. Well… he certainly had you there.
The two of you worked together to get the last few shelves clean. Hypnos would float up, hand you a vase or a book or whatever else they stored up there, and once you’d dusted it, he’d put it back. Every now and then, his hands would brush yours. They were soft and warm, and for a confusing (but not unpleasant) moment you imagined what it would feel like to intertwine your fingers with his. You shook the thought away.
You’d been having more thoughts like that about Hypnos recently, and you weren’t sure what to make of them. So, like any rational person, you ignored them and told yourself you’d deal with them later. Besides, you kept telling yourself, it’s not like he’d feel that way about you, right?
“Aaaand, all done!” said Hypnos, placing the final item – some kind of decorative orb – back in its place.
You sighed in relief and collapsed into a nearby chair. With the extra hands, you had the shelves dusted so much quicker than you’d ever finished them before.
“You have no idea how much I appreciate you, Hypnos,” you said.
“Aww, it was nothing really.” He tried to say it nonchalantly, but you could tell he was happy to hear you say so.
“Can I get you a drink, as thanks?” you asked.
“Oh, haha, sorry. I’d love to, but I have to get back to my post. Those shades won’t check themselves in! Maybe next time?”
“Wait… back to your post?” you said, eyes wide. “You spent your whole break helping me clean?”
“Heh, yeah, but don’t worry about it! I got to spend it with you, and that’s all I really care about. Anyway, see you later!”
Before you could say anything else, Hypnos had already started back towards the Great Hall. As he left, he threw you a casual wave and a grin before disappearing around the corner.
I got to spend it with you, he’d said.
That’s all I really care about, he’d said.
That simple handful of words were enough to make you think that Hypnos maybe, possibly, conceivably harbored the same kinds of feelings you had for him. The feelings you’d been trying desperately to ignore.
You’d fallen hard for the ridiculous god of sleep, even more so than you’d realized. Unfortunately for you, someone else noticed, too.
--
It was a calm day or night in the lounge, and Zagreus had just sat down with you for a drink.
“So,” he said, without any preamble. “When are you going to tell Hypnos how you feel?”
Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It had been a while since your epiphany, but you certainly hadn’t told anyone about it yet, and especially not Zagreus. You hardly dared to imagine what kind of schemes the Prince would come up with to try and play matchmaker with the two of you.
“What do you mean?” you asked, trying to feign ignorance.
“That you’re in love with him.”
You let out a nervous laugh.
“What are you talking about? I’m not in love with Hypnos,” you said. “He’s just a friend!”
“Oh, my mistake,” said Zagreus, in a way that sounded very much like he knew he hadn’t made a mistake. “I just thought you must be. After all, you never take your eyes off him when he’s in the room, you’re always talking about him, you help-”
“I’m not always talking about him!” Zagreus raised an eyebrow. You could feel yourself blushing all the way to the tips of your ears. “I… ok, so maybe I do talk about him a lot. But that doesn’t mean I’m in love with him!”
“In love with who?” you heard someone say behind you. You turned to see Meg.
“No one,” you said, as Zagreus said, “Hypnos.”
“Hmm. I guess that makes sense,” she said, pulling up a chair next to Zagreus.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” you asked.
“Well, you never shut up about him, for one.”
You huffed and looked away. You didn’t want to have this conversation right now.
“You know what?” you said, standing. “I just remembered I have some mopping to do.”
You left the lounge, ignoring Zagreus’s apologies and his pleas for you to come back.
Of course, the mopping was a lie. You were just going to go grumbling back to your room and spend the rest of your break there. As you passed the foyer, you glanced over to see Hypnos looking right at you. When he saw you notice him, he beckoned you over enthusiastically. Of course, you couldn’t help but comply.
Just seeing him put you in a better mood already, and it only improved the closer you got to him. He gave you that grin you loved so much, and the last little bits of irritation melted away.
“Hey, just the person I wanted to see today!” he said.
There was an excitement in his eyes you hadn’t seen before. His smile was even wider than usual.
“Oh, really? What’s up?”
“So, you remember a few months ago when you were talking about that story by Evanetus the Younger? And about how upset you were that he never finished the last chapter before he died? And you really wanted to know what happened?”
Hypnos was talking a mile a minute. He was clearly nervous about something.
“Uh, yeah, I remember. What about it?”
“Wellll, since he’s dead and all, I thought I could go talk to him.”
You felt your stomach do a flip. He wasn’t saying what you thought he was saying… was he?
“I managed to track him down – and he didn’t make himself easy to find, let me tell you – and I asked him if he’d write the last chapter. Cost me a loooot of obol to convince him, but he did it! Ta-da!”
With a flourish, he pulled a scroll of parchment from behind his back and held it out to you.
To say you were stunned would be an understatement. You just stood there, staring at the impossible thing in Hypnos’s hands. A moment passed, and then another. Hypnos started to fidget.
“You can take it, you know?” he said, breaking the silence.
Slowly, you reached out and took the scroll from his hands, almost afraid it would disappear as soon as you touched it. It didn’t, though, and you almost couldn’t believe you were standing there with the unpublished final chapter of one of your favorite stories of all time.
“You… You did all that for… me?”
Hypnos looked away. A faint blush dusted his cheeks.
“Well, yeah! You’re always so nice to me and you’re fun to talk to and you laugh at all my jokes, even the really bad ones. I just wanted to do something for you, you know?”
You looked up at him and felt happy tears welling up in your eyes.
“H-hey, don’t cry!” Hypnos said.
“Hypnos,” you said. “I think this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
Your chest was warmer than the Phlegethon, and you felt as light as a feather. Before you could think twice about it, you’d stretched up onto your tiptoes, grabbed Hypnos by the collar, and kissed him right on the mouth. When you pulled back, you were so lost in your excitement that you didn’t notice the little whimper that left his throat or the way Hypnos chased your lips as they left his.
“I’m gonna go read this right now,” you said, already backing away in the direction of your chambers. As you turned and half-ran down the hallway, you shouted a, “You’re amazing, Hypnos!” back over your shoulder.
It wasn’t until later when you were sitting in bed, halfway through the scroll, that you actually realized what you’d done.