Chapter Text
Song: High Infidelity—Taylor Swift
"Are you sure about this?" Delphin's blue eyes blinked, bright with fear in the dimly lit corridor of Atlantis' royal residence. Or, as Amphitrite called it, home. However, given that she hadn't been able to be her true self here for five millennia, she didn't know what was quantified as home to her anymore. All she knew was that it definitely involved the blue-haired man standing in front of her, his face contours tight with concern. "Yes." She breathed, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. "It's been long enough. I think it's about time we told everyone."
"I just wish everyone didn't have to start with my best friend," Delphin murmured. "He's going to hate me, isn't he?"
Amphitrite knew that was what her lover's concerns were based on—whether or not the relevation of their eons long love affair would damage his friendship with the sea god beyond repair. It was logical that Poseidon wouldn't care about the fact that they'd had said affair—he'd be hypocritical beyond belief if that were the case; however, she had considered that the lack of information might sting him. The lack of trust, like a knife to the heart of one of her closest friends for centuries. "It's going to be fine." Amphitrite insisted, attempting to push her self-destructive monologue out of mind. Delphin raised a brow as she leant up of her toes to press a kiss to his soft mouth, something she'd done a million times over, something, depending on the outcome of today, she might finally be able to do somewhere that wasn't a dingy corridor or behind a locked door. At least, that was the best outcome. The worst? Well, she wasn't keen to think about that....
Poseidon's office was never a place she frequented over the course of their 'marriage,' if one could even consider that an adequate label for it. Yes, legally, they were married. Yes, legally, they shared three children. But there was no romantic attraction there for either of them, not an ounce. Amphitrite's heart had belonged to Delphin for far longer than she could remember, and it would stay that way until the end of time. And yes, she was well aware of the unfortunate circumstances under which she had fallen in love with the god, but as the saying goes, 'the heart wants what it wants.' The nereid was well aware that Poseidon felt no more romantic love for her than she felt for him: a fat lot of nothing. A belief that had only become even more apparent in the weeks after the second war with Kronos, as he'd spent a solid ninety-five percent of his time up on Olympus or in New York. Not with her. The way she preferred it.
How they'd even managed to keep this affair secret for five thousand years was beyond Amphitrite. She couldn't quite remember how exactly it had started, only that after one of the annual Atlantean summer ball, she'd awoken to find herself in bed with the Dolphin lord, both of them hungover beyond belief, and after several more annual occurrences of this particular scenario, she was forced to confront the fact that she might have feelings for the man. Not the most romantic illicit affair, but hey. The Olympian press would undoubtedly consider it a transgression beyond their wildest dreams. Delphin in the present squeezed her hand in his once, knocking on the mahogany door with more nerve than she could muster.
Her personal room, 101, was warm with the blaze of a fire, which only made the heat on Amphitrite's cheeks worsen. Despite knowing she was doing the right thing for herself, she did still feel mildly embarrassed. Poseidon hardly glanced up from his pile of documents as the star-crossed lovers entered the workspace, his hand still tracing neat letters over the paper. "What's all that?" Delphin's voice shook as he tried to strike up some normalcy in conversation, and Amphitrite's husband sank back into his chair to face them both. "Military report number ten. Athena’s been haranguing me about them for three days, and if I have to listen to her yell at me again, I will lose the plot. Anyway, what's up with you guys?" Amphitrite summoned all the will in the world, extending the brown envelope across the desk. "More papers for you." Poseidon's brow creased as he shook the papers from their casing, the last line of secrecy she'd been able to maintain.
"Divorce papers?" He merely raised a brow at her, looking over the document that already contained all the information Hera could possibly need, bar his signature. One dotted line stood between Amphitrite and her eternal happiness. "Have I done something?" Poseidon blinked, looking genuinely confused, and Amphitrite gnawed at her lower lip. She hadn't thought this far ahead in the conversation. "No. I just can't keep living a lie."
"What, that we aren't in love with each other? It was never a problem before? Has something changed?"
"No, nothing changed." She could feel the tears in her eyes threatening to burst through the dam she'd built up for so many years. "I am so grateful to you." She sighed, "And everything you've done for me and given to me, especially our children. But I need to find the one thing I've really needed for all these years. Someone who loves me."
"I understand that." Poseidon nodded. "I'm just confused as to why now? I mean, did you feel like I'd say no or something? Because I'm quite happy to divorce you if that's what you want."
"I didn't think you'd say no. But I did think you'd be angry. There's someone else."
"Why would I be mad about that? Hades, it's not like monogamy is something we've been strict practitioners of over the years." Delphin grimaced, looking down at his lap. "It's because the other person is me."
'Gobsmacked' was the only way Amphitrite could describe the man in front of her. Poseidon's jaw went slack with disbelief, and he set his pen down on the military report, ink bubbling from the tip and spattering the paper in a way Amphitrite knew would displease the war departments. His eyes had widened exponentially, and Amphitrite felt the bridge between the two other people in the room widen even further. "I'm sorry. I think I misheard that."
"You didn't." She gingerly took Delphin's hand, eyes lingering on his slightly. Poseidon simply blinked. "You mean to tell me you two are in love?"Amphitrite managed a nod, as Delphin only managed to hang his head in shame, which, in turn, made her want to hang herself. "Wha—how long has this been a thing?"
"Five thousand and eighty-four years." The nereid's voice was hollow as she spoke, guilt churning her stomach more than any storm the man in front of her could conjure. "You guys have been in love for that long and didn't tell me?" Poseidon's face crossed with something like hurt before he shook his head in disbelief. "Why?"
"I don't know," Amphitrite said simply. "I really don't. And I'm sorry we lied, and I'm sorry it took this long to get the words out, but I love him. I really do."
"I don't doubt that." Poseidon breathed, staring into the fire between the two people on the other side of the desk. "I just don't get why you didn't say. I mean, you've hid this from me for what, our entire lives? Why not just say, "And you could've saved time and effort?"
"We thought you'd hate us." Delphin muttered, his eyes still downcast and reluctant to face the monster they'd created. "We thought you'd get mad."
"I'm not mad." Poseidon's voice broke as he spoke. "I just don't understand why you didn't feel as though telling me was an option. I thought you trusted me more than that. You of all people, Delphin."
Amphitrite watched as the man she loved crumbled, his usually jovial manner disappearing into one of grief and vulnerability. They were exposed now. Exposed for the number of years they'd lied to everyone, their family, whilst bending the truth to the point of believability, trying to avoid the inevitable. All those times Amphitrite had snuck away for weekends to spend them wrapped in Delphin's arms instead of holding her children in hers. All those times she'd pretended to be irritated by one of Poseidon's flings, purely because that was what was expected of her—a model marriage, a white picket-fenced family, the constraints of the life she'd been forced into all those years ago. For many women, the palace of Atlantis with all its jewels and chains would've been paradise. For her, the building itself was a cage, and she was the songbird chained down by her titles of 'queen' or 'wife.' Never her name. Never her choice.
"Are you going to say anything?" Poseidon demanded, looking at Delphin like he needed him to speak, needed something to fill the gap between them, the gap that had been caused by their secret dalliances and forbidden stares. "You never loved her." Delphin gritted out, his eyes still fixed on the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Amphitrite felt the rivulets of sweat from her love's palm gluing him to herself, so they couldn't tell when he started and she began. "I'm well aware." Poseidon replied, almost scornful. "But I loved you. You were my best friend, and you couldn't trust me with this? After all this time?"
"I didn't mean it to happen like this."
"Then how was it meant to happen?" The sea god was clearly feeling the throngs of betrayal, but not from his wife. From the person he'd considered more of a brother than either of his biological ones. Amphitrite knew Delphin must be feeling as though he were turning himself into the police, on trial for treason or whatever ridiculous laws this place still had. That'd probably been one of Amphitrite's duties as queen, but she'd never been much taken with the title, nor the man who'd bestowed it upon her.
"So what I'm hearing is," Poseidon pinched the bridge of his nose, "you two have been having an affair for five thousand years. Does anybody else know about this?"
"No. We said you'd be the first." Amphitrite pursed her lips.
"Well, I'm simply honored," Poseidon laughed drily. "I couldn't care less who you were in love with, whether you were loyal or not. But I can't fathom how you managed to avoid telling me this for all these years and not think I would've been anything but supportive."
Amphitrite stared at the ceiling. She understood his reaction; she'd expected it, in fact. She had accepted that this would be in line with her desire to be magnificently cursed, loving someone she couldn't have, and wanting to be someone she was not. But she felt no regret. She'd gotten what she wanted, a cathartic, tumultuous love affair that gave her the excitement her marriage had never given her and resurrected the long-dead butterflies from the few weeks when Poseidon had been determined to make their marriage work. Amphitrite had learned a long time ago that there was no resuscitating something that had been born post mortem. And yet, despite it all, Delphin had taken every impossible circumstance, each bought of imposter syndrome, and run with it like he would carry her into the sunset if he could. If one day it was possible. And that would only be possible if those papers were signed.
"I apologize for not telling you sooner," she forced out. "But unfortunately you will have to process that alone. Because I can no longer sit by your side when I'd much rather be at the side of the man who loves me."
"I get it." Poseidon's hand ghosted across the sheet she'd forced into his grip, cursive appearing on that dotted line, an officer signing a release paper. "But I don't understand how you thought you couldn't tell me. And I don't think I ever will."
Amphitrite snorted, "You will eventually. When you learn what it's like to love someone, you'll realize the lengths you'd go to to keep it sacred. To have something so holy that your worship must be silent for fear of prosecution. You'll understand it one day."
"I doubt it." The sea god handed her the papers. "Do the kids know about this then?"
"No." Amphitrite tensed at that question. She knew her children were grown enough that they would not begrudge her the happiness she'd been begging for all these years, but she was aware how the secrecy, the facade of the stable family environment they'd clung to dissipating fully at long last, may upset her children. "I will come up with a way to tell them at a later date. For now, do you swear to say nothing?"
"On the styx." Poseidon kept his face totally blank as Delphin gave him a wan smile, taking it as a sign he could leave. Amphitrite nodded once and got up to follow, to leave her interrogation, but she was stopped before she left.
"I am happy for you, you know. You deserve all the love in the world, even if I could never give you it." Amphitrite turned, closing the door softly behind Delphin, removing him from the painful equation. "I just feel betrayed by him." Poseidon sounded younger and smaller than he had in years, probably even since all the time Amphitrite had known him. "I understand why." She sank back down into the chair opposite the desk, her back to the fire, warming the tense aches in her frame that this conversation had induced. "But don't be too harsh on him. I never cursed any of your lovers after all."
"Lovers is a loose term." Poseidon grumbled, "And I'm pretty sure you did. Koroneis, remember?"
"That was the wisdom goddess, not me." Amphitrite chuckled, "Same story with Medusa. If I were you," she stood, giving her now-ex-husband a pointed look, "I'd give her a call."
"Very funny, Amphitrite." Poseidon opened the door for her. "Keep in touch."
"We have three children together. It's not like I can never see you again. Weddings and all that."
"I very much doubt that Triton will ever get married, so that's one function you can rule out." He smiled, though it was still tinged with melancholy. "I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't tell me."
"Don't be. I'm sorry I kept it from you for so long. But I was your friend way before I was your wife, and now we go back to that. However awkward it may be initially."
"Not with you. More with him."
"Just take your time. Talk when you're ready. And maybe, one day when we're all settled and happy, it'll be something we laugh about."
Poseidon shook his head. "You sound so certain of all of us ending up happy."
She raised a brow. "We will. Trust me."
"If you say so. Now, your boyfriend's waiting for you."
"Oh shut up."