Chapter Text
Athena, guilty, like she had been for these past six years, stepped into Aphrodite’s room. The glamour of the place could have given her a headache were she mortal, but she wasn’t, so she instead let her gaze find Aphrodite at her vanity, touching up makeup so perfect it was impossible to decipher against her skin. “I need your help,” she admitted.
Aphrodite looked up from her mirror with a curious look, placing her makeup down. “My help? What could you possibly need my help for?” She had a grin on her face as she talked slowly. She would never let Athena live this down.
Athena stood awkwardly, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted. “I need you to influence some feelings.” She would rather not ask for Aphrodite’s help, but she was the only one who could do what she needed.
Aphrodite looked at her with wide eyes, her back arching like an actress in a play. “Have you grown bored of maidenhood? I never expected that from you.”
Athena glared at her great aunt. “No, it isn’t anyone's feelings for me.” Maidenhood was still something she cared deeply about. Why was that even her first guess?
Aphrodite frowned. “Oh, I thought something interesting was happening with that ex of yours.” Athena hated when people referred to Odysseus as her ex. He was her student, and an ex would at least imply that she had done him well enough to let it go any deeper than that, even if the direction wasn’t something that interested her. “Well, whose feelings must I play with? I do hope they are interesting, love made naturally is typically much more interesting,” she answered, grumbling.
“In Ithaca, there will be 108 men moving into the palace to try and marry the queen,” Athena explained. She knew she shouldn’t be spying on their lives, but she doesn’t know what else to do. She was regrettably, lonely.
Aphrodite cocked her head. “You must have had a really bad break up, you want his wife to fall in love and remarry? You don’t have to ruin him that much.”
“No!” Athena exclaimed. “I want you to change the suitors' feelings, make them fall in love with others so they don’t want to marry solely for power. Divert their attention elsewhere, and make it so it is as easy as possible for the queen to not remarry.” She couldn’t help Odysseus outright, but she could at least help him in this way.
“A hundred and eight men,” Aphrodite repeated, closing her eyes in thought, leaning back in her chair. “That is a lot.” She opened her eyes again. “Are you aware of what you are asking for?”
Athena nodded. “I know. I haven’t asked you a favour in decades, so please, help me here.”
Aphrodite sighed. “Okay, I shall do that. But do understand that if things go sour, I will not help further. I will spark the feelings, and that is it.”
Athena smiled. “I am aware, thank you. I shall allow you to do your work now.” With that, she left Aphrodite’s room, pleased that she managed to help Odysseus, even from a distance.
Aphrodite giggled to herself once Athena left. Oh, she could have some fun with this. She stood from her vanity and moved over to her closet, plucking her famed belt from inside. She hadn’t gotten any use of this since Hera had asked for it during the Trojan war, not even from herself.
She moved outside, leaning over the edge of Olympus, and looked down at Ithaca. Such a small island, it was impressive that it had ever managed to catch Athena’s eye. The men weren’t the strongest (Other than the long gone Odysseus) and the women… not as pretty as she would like for her plan. Being the goddess of beauty, she knew everyone had a layer of beauty to them, but she was looking for someone whose topmost layer was beautiful. Of course, there was Penelope, but she was the one girl out of the question.
She grumbled to herself, trying to pick who was the most beautiful, when her eyes landed on the palace yet again. Penelope was there, standing on a ledge, and next to her…
“My, my, this could get really interesting,” Aphrodite whispered to herself as she gazed upon the prince. He was quite beautiful for a man, androgynous enough to be pretty without falling into the feminine territory. He looked just old enough to be a man, while still holding youthful traits. He was upset by the looks of it. Perhaps he was lonely? At this point in the day, he should be out with friends, or a lover, not with his mother. She knew it, he was upset because he only had his mother. Aphrodite knew exactly what to do.
She went back inside and waited until Selene left for her journey before sneaking down to Ithaca, belt in hand. She snuck through the halls, obscuring herself from servant eyes, and into the prince’s room. He laid there, peaceful. He looked so innocent, all alone. Aphrodite spared a moment to sit on his bed. Not as comfy as her own, but still soft enough to speak of royalty. A man like him would have been wed already had he been in a more populated kingdom, had been less alone all his life, so she really is doing him a service by gifting him her belt.
She knew his type, yearning for love, a man or woman to hold. She was so kind, offering a hundred and eight ready hearts to him. Athena would be proud of her, originally planning to make trouble by only choosing one person for the suitors to set their eyes on, and in the process giving her favourite mortal’s son more love than he would know what to do with.
She gently stroked his face. His skin was so soft, unlike many men of their time. “You are so lonely, aren’t you?” she cooed to the unanswering man. “But don’t worry. I will fix all your problems soon, and you won’t even have to do anything.”
She pulled her hand away, leaning forward and placing a kiss on his cheek before standing and walking over to his wardrobe. She opened it and fiddled around for a few moments before finding his belts. She took them away, wrapping a few around her limbs. He had so many, how many does one man need? She emptied the wardrobe and placed her own belt in. He would have no choice but to wear it now. Although she knew it was gorgeous, he probably would have chosen it anyway. But just to be safe.
With that, she closed the wardrobe and went back to Olympus, making sure to keep an eye on Ithaca so she could watch the love unfurl.
Something felt off when Telemachus awoke, but he couldn’t say what exactly felt off. He sat in bed for a few moments, trying to figure it out before sighing and chalking it up to the fact there would be strangers living with them until his father got back.
“Thinking they can get my mother, they’ll have to think again,” he grumbled to himself as he crawled out of bed. If it were up to him, the suitors would never be allowed to set foot in his palace, let alone attempt to marry his mother.
He moved to his wardrobe, pulling on his clothing before moving to grab his belt. What? He knew he had too many belts, but for some reason, every last one of them was gone. Except for one gold one that he doesn’t remember owning at all. He picked it up, confused at how light it was despite the clear texture of gold in his hands. Was it a gift? He remembers complaining to his mother about the whole situation last night, so maybe she thought she could calm him with a gift. He would thank her for it when he next saw her, but it didn’t make him feel any better. When did she even have time to get this for him?
He begrudgingly puts the belt on before leaving to find his mother. She deserves some support before she is eyed up like a piece of meat, with men wanting to possess her.
His mother was in her room, which he entered after knocking. “Mother, how are you feeling?” he asked as he joined her by her weaving. She was weaving so often lately.
His mother frowned. “Not very well, I fear for our kingdom. I do not want any of these men to live with us, let alone get a chance to marry me, but the people want a king.” She forced a smile. “But everything will be fine, I promise.”
Telemachus frowned at her lies. “I still don’t like this.”
“I know, neither of us do,” his mother responded, her voice pained. Her gaze left her weaving and fell to Telemachus’ belt. “You got a new belt for the occasion? I’ve not seen you wear that one.”
Telemachus tilted his head. “You put it in my wardrobe, didn’t you?”
His mother’s gaze narrowed, her lips pursed. “No, I have never seen that before. Is it heavy?” Her fingertips traced the belt and its folds. It was a surprisingly good belt despite being made from gold.
“No, I didn’t really think much of it.” If it wasn’t from his mother though, he had a lot more questions. “Maybe it was a gift from someone else and a servant placed it in their stead, I’ll figure it out eventually.” As much as he wanted to distract himself with the belt, there was a lot more to worry about today. Distraction would be only that, distraction.
His mother nodded. “Right. It’s likely not a big deal, it wouldn’t be the first time someone has left either of us a gift.” He heard her words, but her worried expression made it obvious she didn’t trust that it was no big deal. “I wonder how many gifts I can get the suitors to give me,” she muttered, trying to pull the conversation away from the belt.
“We should try and get as many out of them as we can, it would be the least they could do for moving into our home.” They would be gone eventually, and his mother was right about taking advantage of them. “You should ask them for some.”
His mother and he talked for a few more moments before staring at the sun as it rose. “We need to go meet them, don’t we?” he mumbled. He wanted to stay cooped up in his mother’s room forever. No matter how many times he accepted that his life was about to change, he always found another reason to try and keep it the same.
His mother stood up, brushing off her chiton. “We do,” she spoke softly, like she did when he was younger. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I know this is horrible, but please try to pretend you don’t hate this, for me? We will make it through this. And you never know, maybe something will happen and you will get something good out of this.”
He knew that was impossible. He stood up. “I would like to get this over with so that I can get to ignoring the suitors.” He knew he was grumbling like a spoiled child, but he deserves to be able to let out his frustration a little.
His mother sighed. “You can ignore them as much as you want after this, but we must pay attention to them now. Then, you can leave them to me, and I can string them along until your father gets home.”
Get home now, please,
he begged inside his mind as he followed his mother to greet the suitors, unaware that he would never get the chance to ignore them.