Work Text:
He couldn't sleep.
It had been a difficult couple of days for him and Hades. A list of things kept on piling up, even as the convocation duties had kept them incredibly busy. Hythlodaeus felt that they had been traveling non-stop to fulfill the needs of the convocation.
To add even more stressors to these long days and nights, it had also been raining for more than a week. While he was in the warmth of their home he was awoken by the droplets of rain, they were loud and violent as they struck the glass on the window. He closed his eyes and wondered how Azem faired on the road. He imagined... no hoped she was at an inn or staying somewhere safe.
Hades stirred on the bed as he looked for him.
"Mmm... Hyth get back to bed.."
"I can't, I'm worried about her..." He said while staring out the window, almost completely mesmerized by the downpour.
"She'll be fine... she's the toughest person we know..."
Hythlodaeus did not stir. All the thoughts that swirled in his head were unrealistically morbid but he couldn't help it. He played with his braid as he always did when he was nervous, smoothing over it constantly with his fingers. He needed to focus on Hades, he needed to keep calm. To push away these thoughts he breathed in and out deeply.
"If you keep standing there I'll tell her you were worried the entire time..." Hades said drowsily.
He winced, he didn't want her to know that he was always worried sick because he didn't want to get in her way of adventuring.
"Fine..." He sat back on the bed and covered himself with the sheets. Hades immediately cuddled up to him which helped to relax his nerves. He ran his fingers through Hades' strands of silver hair, how it reminded him of starlight. All Hyth needed now was his sunshine and he would be utterly complete.
When the day began he was incredibly restless, he couldn't keep his mind off of where Azem was or how stressed Hades was. He closed his eyes and thought about the two of them and carefully plotted his next moves. It was important to Hythlodaeus to be their pillar of support, to be the home that they knew they could always come back to. A beacon shining out in the darkness for two restless souls.
He knew that he had to do something for both of them.
As Hades was filling out a bunch of paperwork he dropped a bunch of flowers on his desk. "Very beautiful... but what are these for?" he looked up at Hyth as he tried to brush them off his papers.
"I thought that today we would undertake a project."
"Hmmm... what would that be?" Hades inquired appearing slightly entertained.
"We shall make a flower crown for Azem," Hyth smiled.
"Absolutely not."
"Come on.. she will love it. Plus when do you ever get to do anything physical for work." He winked at him.
Hades sighed but gave in to his request, "Fine... So where do we start?"
Hythlodaeus delegated the tasks between the two of them. Hades would work on the weaving of the wire to form it into a circle and he would work on picking the flowers for the crown. Hyth had made up his mind to weave together blooms that he felt represented the three of them. The perfect complement to each other. As they sat in silence doing their respective tasks Hyth began to think about Azem and how he wished she was there with them. She always had such an eye for creative projects that he always appreciated.
He picked up a red rose-- it was the perfect specimen, a symbol of a regal type of romance that was everlasting. That was what it was like to be loved by Hades. He had always treated them like his world, though he would never admit it.
"This one is you Hades - dangerously thorny but oddly romantic."
Hades rolled his eyes, "very funny. Then which one represents you?"
"I would say the lily... which represents purity and innocence of course" Hyth laughed at his own remark and Hades laughed with him, "Ah yes, very fitting for you." Even though they had joked about it, it did fit him in its way. Although he was not as well-traveled as the two of them he was definitely not naive, but he had this innocent curiosity that drew people to him. He had once heard someone describe him as a person with the perfect temperament, which he wholeheartedly agreed with.
He looked intently at the next flower that would be added. An orchid, a volatile bloom, hard to cultivate and notoriously hard to grow. Its coloration and shape were different than the rest of the flowers, a unique specimen. He had picked the most gorgeous color of orange, a sunset color to match the red and white of the other two flowers.
Everything in perfect harmony.
Hyth looked down at the crown when it was finished, perfectly pleased with the work that they had done together. When he set it down on the table Hades grabbed his hand and rubbed small delicate circles in his palm. "Thank you for doing this for me."
Hythlodaeus kissed him on the top of his head, "Of course, I know you were worried too even though you tried to hide it."
They held onto each other for a couple of minutes indulging in each other's embrace. These quiet introspective moments were rare in their daily lives so they took every chance they could get.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Hurriedly, they both got up to open it and there she was, beaming with a smile that could rival even the brightest sunshine.
"I'm home!"
She was absolutely drenched but they hugged her anyway. "Hey! Don't get sick on my account!" she said exasperated. They still kept hugging her, pulling her deeper into themselves and she softly sighed with resignation "Fine..." She took a moment to capture everything that was happening before she replied with the most loving tone "Hyth, Hades, I missed you both more than anything."
As she got settled in she had sat by the fireplace to warm up, she sighed tiredly as she let her hair down from the ponytail she had placed it in, letting the full length of her hair down. Her beautiful red locks cascaded down her back. Hades sat down next to her on the ground and rested his head on her shoulder. He always needed comfort from her whenever she was back.
Hythlodaeus then started to brush her hair and removed some of the leaves that had been tangled in it from her travels.
"Did you bring us back these leaves as souvenirs?" He giggled.
"Yes, I didn't have enough room for anything bigger" she stuck out her tongue.
He loved her. He had always loved her, and when the three of them became what they are now, it never felt anything but natural. Three different souls connected to one another, making up for what the others lacked. He sometimes mused that when the three of them were together they were an unstoppable force indeed.
Her hair felt like a rich royal velvet to him as he brushed each strand of her hair. He moved the brushed strands to the other side of her shoulder and got a look at her dampened clothes that smelled of pine forests and storms. He wondered where she had been for these past weeks.
Then he started to braid her hair, he thought of the places that she had told them about on her last journey. He imagined these wondrous worlds as he braided her hair, picturing the lines that she traversed on a map coming neatly together.
"You are uncharacteristically quiet tonight Hades" she prodded him.
"I just missed you" Hades mumbled as he kissed her collarbone sweetly.
Hythlodaeus smiled softly at Hades' sentimentality, he was finally beginning to let the walls down that he had up all day. As he put together the last few strands of her hair he grabbed a ribbon and tightened the bottom of the strands together. She was perfection. As he finished he placed the crown on her head.
"Oh, what's this?" She asked excitedly.
"We made this for you earlier today, with flowers that represent the three of us." She softly picked it up off her head to look at it. Her eyes glistened with admiration "It's absolutely beautiful, thank you... both of you" and she sat the crown back on her head.
It was incredibly peaceful as the three of them sat in the room. But he felt Azem start to quietly hum a tune that he couldn't quite place to anything familiar, it was almost otherworldly and ethereal. Then her body immediately tightened up and he felt inside of himself that he was losing her somewhere to something intangible.
"You both... wouldn't forget me if something were to happen... right?" she spoke in the smallest voice he had ever heard her use.
They both straightened up to look at her, chills ran down their bodies. Hades cupped her face gently, he saw that her pupils were dilated as she stared off into the distance; she was afraid. But he wasn't, Hyth put his arms around her and put his head on her back, and her heart pounded like it was about to come out of her chest.
He chose his next words calmly, "In a million lifetimes, in whatever may come after this, I would never forget you..." As he was situated on her back he waited for her heart to slow down to a normal pace. The endless questions that were in his head wanted to be let loose, but he held his tongue. To be able to comfort her was a gift, and he needed to share it with her.
Hades looked concerned. Within his eyes, there was a deep fear that he would someday lose her to an unknown that he could not calculate. But Hyth grabbed his hand as he held onto Azem. He would never let anything bad happen to either of them.
As the minutes passed by, they both were able to quiet down their anxiety. Hythlodaeus tilted Azem's chin to gain access to her lips. A small tear rolled down her cheek, but once he looked at her face she was back to smiling. Hades looked relieved and kissed both of them with a secret pang of sorrow that he kept hidden in his soul.
Then Hythlodaeus asked her softly to break the silence "Would you like to go to bed?". She nodded sleepily. Then they both held her hand as they walked up the stairs.
The bedroom was bathed in its pale moonlight, the rain had finally stopped. Whatever happened between the three of them was always a secret that they would keep. A hidden part of each of themselves that the world would never be allowed to know, and they wouldn't have had it any other way. As Azem and Hades slept he got up to look outside the window. The sky was incredibly clear as the moonlight poured in, shining its lunar glow on them. His sun and moon. Their hands were intertwined as they slept. As he sat back on the bed he put his hand on top of theirs.
This was all he ever needed.