Chapter Text
Shiva smiled softly, watching his glorious bride comb and brush her river of black hair. She’d spent so long washing and caring for her beautiful locks, it was worth taking the time to comb them properly. He let his eyes rake over her naked back, observing the smooth curve of her spine and the elegant slopes of her muscles, chuckling when she called over her bare shoulder, “ Will you just stare at me all day, or will you help me braid my hair? ”
“ Alright, alright, I’m coming, my love. ” He agreed gently, rising from the plush of his bed to approach her vanity. She pulled up a chair for him and set it behind her stool, humming as she reached for the jasmine oil Lakshmi had personally made for her fellow goddess. Shiva retrieved the small glass bottle from her hand and then took the gentle bone comb. “ What style do you want? ”
She hummed and raked her fingers through her hair and sat up straighter. “ Remember how Saraswathi looked at her wedding? ” Shiva grinned, conjuring a small table to set down the oil and comb before reaching up to tug his fingers through her hair. “ She looked so beautiful, that day. Could you do it like that? ”
He nodded quickly, kissing the back of her head. “ I can certainly try. But yes, she looked quite lovely. Glowing like moon and sun, ” he praised softly. “ My sister has always been ethereal, though not quite effervescent. I think Lakshmi takes that prize, ” he joked a little. He preened at hearing his wife laugh broadly at the tease.
“ She’s certainly the bubbliest of the three of us, ” she agreed. Shiva poured some of the oil into his hands and rubbed quickly, heating it between his palms before dragging them through her hair. It was less about needing to make the hair easier to comb and more just a preparatory step to ensure that the oils and butters she’d used on her hair would stay in it. Eventually, his beloved began to hum and sing softly, an old lullaby she’d sung for Ganesh when he was still a young boy. Relaxing into the flow of her voice, Shiva continued his dutiful work, rubbing the oil into each strand before reaching for the comb, gently untangling any knots that resulted from his previous task.
Eventually, he had sufficiently combed her hair well enough to begin braiding, starting at the top and moving slowly. “ Have you heard from Vishnu recently? ” he prompted halfway through the process, smiling when she gave him a mischievous grin.
“ What exactly do you expect to hear? ”
“ Well, Lakshmi told me recently that he started watching videos made by humans and began crying about baby cows and horses, ” he recited carefully, laughing a little at the idea of his friend and companion sobbing openly into Lakshmi’s arms about a video of a newborn calf.
Cooing softly, his wife giggled and shook her head, squeaking when he tugged her braid to keep her still. “ Well, that’s not too surprising. Baby anything makes Vishnu go crazy. I still recall how manic he was when his children were still young, ” she agreed.
Shiva snorted, kissing the back of her neck. “ I’m just glad Lakshmi was able to handle having so many children by a being so adoring of babies. Even at just two children, I can tell you’re exhausted, ” he mused with a light laugh. He smiled and took a proud glance over his handiwork, nodding before finishing off the braid.
She hummed, running her fingers over her styled hair happily, leaning back to kiss his chin. “ I mean, they’re adults. I can relax for the rest of eternity. Besides, the boys were messes even as children. Adorable, but so mischievous ” she snickered.
Shiva laughed brightly, nodding his head. “ I can’t disagree with that, honestly. Somehow, they are actually cuter as adults than children. ”
She gave a little smirk, turning around to lean back against her vanity and cross both arms over her chest. “ When they were young, we cared more about keeping them alive and teaching them well than trying to see the cuteness in them. That’s just time changing people. ”
He grinned, leaning closer to kiss her cheeks and chin. “ Mm, coming from the goddess of time, I believe it. ”
With soft eyes and careful touches, Shiva moved closer to curl both arms around his wife and pull her in for a hug. As she wrapped her own arms over his neck, pressing herself nearer to him to kiss his forehead, he closed both eyes and sighed, surrendering to her affections. Glimmering like pearls and glowing like fire, his beloved wife smiled up at him and stroked a hand down his cheek.
“ What’s happened, darling? You’re so quiet now, ” she murmured in a voice of silk and satin. Shiva pressed his face into her shoulder and sighed.
“ I said time, and I just remembered the days when I’d lost you. ” His beloved sighed softly, stroking her hand through his hair. “ I don’t know that I’ve ever felt pain like that before in my life. ” She kissed his cheek and rubbed large circles into his back.
“ I know…I could still feel your heartache when I was…changing. But I’m here now. We’ve spent millennia together. Fear nothing, my love. Fear nothing. ”
Shiva gazed into her eyes and smiled through tears, pressing their foreheads together. “ Oh, Ameya… ” She smiled and kissed his forehead, left cheek, chin, right cheek, and nose.
With starry eyes and pearlescent smiles, Shiva’s beloved relished in the moment. Each day, her husband chose to call her by a different name. She had thousands of names that humans called her by, and even more that only the gods knew, so she didn’t quite mind the new ways he referred to her.
But each day, the name intended a different kind of love based on what he thought of her. Yesterday, he’d called her ‘Bhavini’, and constantly asked her to create things, out of a playful desire to see her be openly creative. She’d created an animal that was solely composed of ears and eyes, which was kind of nightmarish, but then she’d created a flower so beautiful, Shiva almost was unable to look at it. At some point, he asked her help to create a gift to give Vishnu and Lakshmi for their upcoming anniversary, and her reaction was to build a place for the gods to all sit and come together for comforting, relaxing moments. The theme of that day was creation and giving new life. Made sense.
Apparently, today’s theme was: ‘immeasurable’ because, today, he’d called her Ameya at the end of the morning, not speaking any name before that moment. She could tell it was because he was trying to think of what title suited the way he felt about her that day. The day had really only just started. So there was sure to be more to come, more curious questions for her or quiet admiration from afar.
But for now, the only thing she cared about was the feeling of his arms around her and the lips he’d pressed to her shoulder.