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Hythlodaeus had thought he knew what to expect from his first face-to-face encounter with Hades.
A flush. A frown. Perhaps some mild staring.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Hythlodaeus was aware that he had uncommonly pleasant features. It caught people off guard. Worse, it could be unpleasant when they discovered an unexpected interest in romancing his person. Yet Hythlodaeus was confident that his new friend Hades would glower his way through any awkwardness. They’d get the reveal over with and then things would be back to normal between them in no time at all.
So he took the initiative, and took down his mask.
“It’s good to finally have a the promised group study session!” Hythlodaeus smiled his friendliest and least flirtatious smile. “Hades, I do hope you’re not uncomfortable, but I happen to know that neither of us keep our masks on when we visit Nephele’s apartments. And we’re friends now too, are we not?”
“You are,” Nephele confirmed, taking off her own mask.
Hades gawped at Hythlodaeus for a long moment, as Hythlodaeus had predicted, and then moved on, as Hythlodaeus had hoped. He wrenched off his own mask unceremoniously.
“Well.” Hades huffed and crossed his arms. “So be it then.”
And so it was.
Except.
Hades’ face. His ridiculous, impossible face, which Hythlodaeus had given no thought to whatsoever. He hadn’t known that he need be prepared for anything. No one told him that that faces could be like this.
“Are you done?” Hades complained.
No, Hythlodaeus was not done. Hythlodaeus would not be done for some time.
It wasn’t that Hades’ features were particularly attractive. It was that they were all as bold as they could possibly be, from the jut of his nose, to his too-dark lips, to his giant forehead, to his piercing yellow eyes. Each individual part of Hades’ face was locked in a competition to be equally gaudy and memorable. And it should have been awful, an absolute wreck, terrible execution, but somehow it all fit together when it shouldn’t and it was driving Hythlodeaus to distraction.
As a would-be design expert, he had to know. Why was this working for him.
“Is that.” Hythodaeus pointed inanely at the theatrical swoop of Hades’ eyebrows. “Is that a cosmetic concept?”
“Excuse me?”
Hades made an expression that was somehow four different kinds of outraged at once. Hythlodaeus wanted to break it down into angles and calculate for the golden ratio.
Thankfully, Nephele took it upon herself to intervene before he could start doing equations.
“What Hythlodaeus means to say is that he wants to look at our creation modification homework.“
“If you say so.” Hades harrumphed, and turned to find the requisite concept crystals.
Hythlodaeus stared haplessly at the back of his neck.
“Aw, buddy,” Nephele murmured. “Get it together.”
She gave Hythodaeus a pat on the shoulder and then started digging in her own pack.