Chapter Text
Persephone had gotten out of the car as quickly as she could and waved Hades away. She was almost bowled over by Artemis sweeping her up, and squeezing her until Persephone felt her back pop.
“You’re okay! Fuck, I was so scared, you’re okay, don’t do that again! What even–” Artemis put her down, squinting after the car. Her voice was low and angry then. “Is that Hades?”
“Hey, nothing happened. Apparently Eros put me in his car and he didn’t realize until he was already home. Everything’s good.”
Artemis growled. “Good. Otherwise, he’d be dead . How are you feeling, though?”
“Alright. It was a weird morning. I’m– super hungover kinda actually.”
“Ha! Yeah I bet. Why would Eros do that, anyway?”
“No clue. I wonder if he knew who I was.”
They got back into their apartment and began cooking up some late brunch. It was time for lunch, really, but neither of them liked the options for sandwiches, nor did they want to order take-out. So, eggs on toast with bacon.
They were almost done eating when Artemis shyly pulled something from her pocket. “I realized a lot could’ve been avoided with a text, so I thought– I know Demeter doesn’t want you to have a phone, but this is an older one of mine.”
She handed it over. It was small, had a cracked screen, and it had Artemis’s number preloaded into it.
“I know, it’s not–” Artemis was looking away, seemingly embarrassed.
“It’s perfect. Thank you. Thank you! Can we take a picture?”
They snapped a selfie (once Persephone figured out how to do it), and Artemis showed her how to set it as her lock screen.
“It’s great, thank you so much.” Then, slowly, Persephone pulled out the business card she had kept, and inputted the number into her phone. She didn’t send a text, though.
It was then that there was a knock on the door.
The Hunt stalked up to the door. She arched her back slightly, almost bending down until she could reach the doorknob with a deft hand that acted more like a paw, and she peered through the door crack. “Eros. What brings you to this house?” she sneered.
Eros? Persephone was still sitting on the couch and couldn’t see out, but already, the name was making her dredge up old memories.
“I was wondering if you could tell me where I could–”
Persephone was standing up, and she stood behind Artemis to see him.
“Oh! You’re here! Oh my goodness. I wasn’t expecting–” Eros went on.
“Spit it out, you blubbering buffoon,” Artemis interrupted.
Eros nodded, cowed, but addressed Persephone anyway. “I was hoping to find you, uh, Miss, so I could apologize for the other night. Can I come in?”
“Men are not permitted in this house,” the Hunt boomed, her hair filled with wind that smelled like fields and the night.
“Not even with an offering of doughnuts?” He brought the box he was holding up.
It was only a minute or two later that they were all sitting on the couch together. Artemis glumly ate her doughnut. She had already managed to get red jam smeared all over her mouth.
“So, why did you do that?” Persephone finally asked.
“I– it wasn’t my idea. You know how my mom gets, her flights of fancy. After what Hades said, she wanted to punish him, or– both of you? I couldn’t tell what the actual goal was…” Eros mused. The soft clouds of his wings were made of steam or vapour, and when they brushed against your face, it felt like a warm hug, like human touch drumming across your skin, but with no actual weight or composition. They smelled of lavender, coffee, and chocolate
“What Hades said? What did he say?”
Eros blinked. She didn’t know? “Something about how beautiful you were,” he said. (He didn’t give the specifics for the sake of his mother’s pride.) “Did he not tell you?”
“He did, but I didn’t believe him.” Persephone frowned, looking at her own hand. He was rich and powerful; he could have anyone he wanted. She had supposed he was just humouring her throughout it. She had projected confidence and poise, or so she hoped, but she had been intimidated. He was of a wholly different world, full of suits and cars. Persephone knew nothing of that world. Her first taste was that party, and it had gone completely south. She wondered if she was even cut out to live in the city. She already missed the open sky.
“Wait, is that–” Eros suddenly leaned in, peering at her face. “Oh my goodness, it is! Increased heart rate, slight flush, you’ve got a crush!” His voice almost sang with delight. “So I guess it didn’t turn out horribly!”
“What? What? No, no, you’ve got the wrong idea. Eros– You don’t even know who I am! You can’t decide I–”
“Well, what’s your name?”
And Persephone looked at him. She looked up and down. She smirked. “You’re gonna kill yourself.”
He blinked. “What? What do you mean?”
“You’re gonna be distraught.”
He sat up straight and adjusted his legs. “Do I– not want to know?”
“I’m—” She let him hang onto the syllable for a few seconds. “I’m Persephone.”
There was a moment where he didn’t recognize the name. Then, she watched his jaw go slack and his eyes bug out.
“Oooo oooooooh my fucking gosh,” he said. “‘Persephone’? I’m sure that’s a common name, and you’re not the–”
“I am the Persephone Ares talked about.”
Eros was silent for a few moments. Then, he held up one finger. “Excuse me,” he said. He pulled out his phone, and then began texting like his life depended on it, slamming his thumbs into the screen. This went on for a while. Finally, he looked up.
“My mom wants to talk to you and apologize in person,” he said, his voice tinged with disbelief and awe. He hadn’t ever seen his mother apologize to anyone she had been slighted by.
Persephone, too, was hardly able to believe what she was hearing. She had been regailed tales of Aphrodite’s wrath during Ares’s exile. In all honesty, if what Hades had said was true, she had gotten off very, very easily, before Aphrodite even knew who she was. Her voice also came out of a dream when she spoke. “Yeah, sure, when?”
“Sometime today?” Eros asked, and Persephone nodded. “I’ll give you my number, and we can all work it out in a GC.” She passed him her phone and watched him add his number to her contacts.
He had scrolled down and seen the only other contact in the phone, flicking his eyes at her. So, the morning had gone very, very well. She had gotten Hades’s number. But, he was now semi-refraining from bringing it up. He didn’t know if this would be something that should be kept back from Ares. Or Aphrodite. Or. What was going on? Was Persephone his dad’s girlfriend?
It was definitely his business, but he could leave it for the time being.
━═━═━═━═━═━═━═━═━
Persephone felt her nerves growing through her body like thorns, making her limbs prickle and her stomach heave. Eros was one thing. She felt no need to impress him. But Aphrodite? She was Ares’s forever love, his girlfriend, the mother of his children. Persephone thought she could vomit. She did not feel any tinge of jealousy. It was not in her nature to be possessive of the things she loved. However, if Aphrodite ended up not liking her for any reason–.... Persephone could not be sure that Ares would keep the country bumpkin around if it was against the wishes of Love and Beauty.
She had dressed in something she thought was nice. She was now following directions from her phone to find the little cafe that they had all agreed to meet up at.
She rounded the corner, and peered down the street–
Her.
Even from where Persephone was standing, fifty paces away, she was spell-binding. Deep purple and pink tresses that fell in ringlets down her head, strung through, too, with rose-gold light. Her eyes were wonderfully dark, like the eclipse, and glowed, as if the true beauty of her was obscured even now.
And Persephone could not truly focus on her face. Her face had few defining features, and if Persephone was asked to draw what she saw, she could not. All she knew was that Aphrodite was gorgeous.
More than gorgeous, she was beautiful, she was beauty. She was admirable and desirable, the virgin and the mother in one complete, unbroken whole.
Persephone was just gazing for a minute before she was broken out of her staring. Beside Aphrodite was her son, and he had caught sight of Persephone and waved her over. Persephone had walked over, as if in a dream, and sat down across from them.
Aphrodite looked at her and smiled. Spring thought she might faint. And there was no envy in her heart. She could not envy perfection when she was allowed to partake in it and behold it.
“I’m glad you agreed to come,” she said. Her voice was warm and low.
And with that, the spell was suddenly broken. Was it just the first impression that seemed like that? Persephone no longer felt heady with admiration. Aphrodite sat there, still lovely, but no longer the addicting sight she had been. She was still perfect, but no longer a sight that devoured Persephone’s every thought. Love at first sight, Persephone realized.
She shook off the ecstacy’s aftertaste. “Of– of course! I was flattered you’d even ask.”
Aphrodite nodded slightly. Eros was sitting next to her, his eyes flicking between the two women, as if he was watching two ticking time-bombs. He really didn’t have to be so nervous, they were only– his mom and his dad’s girlfriend. Okay, maybe he had reason to be afraid.
Aphrodite sighed and smoothed down her hair. She put her hands on the table, and then sort of wriggled her shoulders. “I suppose I’ll get the nasty bit out of the way. Obviously, I would not have done what I did if I knew who you were. I don’t think I did anything wrong, but I do regret having caught up you, Persephone, in my squabble. I should have only targeted Hades.”
Persephone looked at her, then slowly nodded. “I can accept that.” Aphrodite was not a moral being. Ares had made that clear. She did not see right and wrong as many other people did. Asking Aphrodite to feel remorse was pleading with the uncaring universe. “At least nothing bad came of it.”
“I knew Hades wouldn’t do anything to you. I’m not that cruel,” Aphrodite said, and laughed. “What happened anyway?”
Eros leaned forward, silently.
“Well, he put me in a guest room. Drove me home this morning.”
“ And in what context did he give you his number? ” Eros suddenly blurted out.
Persephone reeled. “What? How do you know that?”
“I’m sorry, I saw it in your contacts!”
“Hades? Hades ? Oh, honey, don’t you dare try to bring Hades into this–... You’re already toeing the line with my boyfriend,” Aphrodite chided.
“Oh, come on! Isn’t it a little romantic? All those coincidences! Like Fate!”
Aphrodite shuddered. “Ugh, awful. Persephone, you can do and are doing so much better than him.”
Persephone was covering her face with her hands, not even daring to look between her fingers. She was flushed from head to toe. “No! It’s not like that! We exchanged business cards in the most unromantic way possible!” The business card she pulled from her bra. No! Don’t think about it like that.
“That better be true,” Aphrodite grumbled. “‘Put Aphrodite to shame,’ I fucking bet…”
“I still don’t understand why he said that,” Persephone said. “I hadn’t even talked to him at that point. Was he just trying to get a rise out of you?”
She sighed, violet hair shining in the afternoon sun. “No, he didn’t even know I was listening. That almost makes it worse. Men always wanting to compare and rank women among themselves, and pit them against each other. It’s gross.”
“Yeah,” Persephone said. She almost felt guilty for thinking he was kind of cute. “Has Ares always been different like that?”
Aphrodite thought about it for a minute. She picked up her espresso cup and took a little sip. “Yes. When I first came to Olympus, everyone wanted me. It was understandable. I was new, exciting, and beautiful. They hadn’t seen a new god that wasn’t a son or daughter of theirs in years. I was– fresh meat,” she snarled. “They all tried to woo me. Except Ares. I saw him watch me sometimes, but then he would turn away. In the end, I had to woo him. And, it was a refreshing change. He also liked it, I guess. But, he told me later that he didn’t want to be like the men who slobbered like dogs. He had loved me, like everyone did, when he first saw me, but he said he was willing to wait if there was anything in him I found worthy, and if not, he would never seek me out.”
Aphrodite wrinkled her nose slightly. “Of course, I like to be wooed. I love being wooed. But, when every other person on Olympus is proposing to you, the one keeping his distance stands out. And I appreciated his tact.”
“He never told me that,” Persephone said. “Even though he talks about you often. He really cares about you.”
She smiled and nodded. “And he cares about you too.”
Her tone was even and unidentifiable, so Persephone ducked her head slightly, in submission. “And you’re okay with that?” she asked. She did not want to hurt Aphrodite any more than the woman had already been slighted.
“I’m goddess of love. As long as he's not being a creep, and not sticking his dick in crazy, I don't care. And as long as both him and you are willing to say I'm the most beautiful.”
Persephone laughed, and gave a half bow across the table. “Well, I’m not attracted to the fairer sex, but as far as women go–”
Aphrodite’s form shimmered, as if Persephone was looking through clouded glass. And when she blinked and shook her head, suddenly, Aphrodite was gone, and there was instead a beautiful man, with strong shoulders, a delicate face, and wavy purple hair. He looked remarkably like Ares, and in that way, was almost Eros’ twin. Persephone gasped.
“And as men go?” the man said, smiling and leaning forward across the table.
Persephone swallowed. She could feel little flowers blooming around her head. “As– as far as men go, too. You are–”
The man laughed. “I’m Aphroditus, I am for anyone’s taste. Whether you prefer the masculine or the feminine.” He pulled out a handheld mirror to see himself. “Wow, you really do like Ares. He’ll be flattered.”
“Dad, come on, don’t embarrass her.”
“Oh, I absolutely will!” Aphroditus giggled. “It’s been a while since I was a guy. I might stick around like this! Didn’t you miss your Dada?”
“Dad!”
Aphroditus laughed, a deep, hearty laugh. God, he was truly beautiful. Why did Persephone have to like hot men so much? This was stupid.
He snapped the mirror shut, tucking it away into his purse. “Anyway, Ares is coming back in what, a month?”
“Twenty days,” Eros responded.
“We can surprise him together! He’ll think that’s so fun.” He turned to Persephone. “You wanna do that?”
“If it’s a family thing, I wouldn’t want to intrude,” Persephone said. The offer did tickle her.
Aphroditus smiled, his face was open with affection and welcoming, like a host opening his home. “He loves you, Persephone. That makes you family to me.”
After the shock of his words faded, Persephone felt her belly warming like a bowl of warm soup and had to blink away grateful tears. “Thank you, Aphroditus.”
She felt her phone buzz. It was a text from Artemis. “ You ready to go? My bro’s gonna be with us to be clear. He's coming over for dinner, is that okay? ” So the ‘no-men’ rule didn’t apply to family? Good to know.
“ Yeah sure :) ,” she sent back.