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“I HAVE THE SAME BLOOD in my veins as him. I have no idea what that would do to any child I have. A child that had the long lifespan of a demigod and the pain of being outcast? A child that is a monster, hungry for human flesh and near unkillable? I don’t want to bring either of those things into the world, or any variation possible.”
“You’ve had this conversation before, huh.” Hermes concluded when they began walking again.
“Sort of. He never asked if I wanted kids.” Ariadne admitted, trying to gloss over it.
Hermes gave her a soft look, as if he could see her insecurities. “He’s probably thought about what might happen to his children as well. His childhood was...not the best.”
Demeter puts a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from walking into her. “That’s the understatement of the century. Hello, Ariadne.” She smiled at Ariadne with too many teeth. The goddess could never seem to remember how many mortals had. Forty? Fifty? Something like that.
“I’m surprised you use my name. I expected to be referred to what I am to you. Canning slave.” She returned dryly and was rewarded with Demeter smiling with, oh that hurt her brain, even more teeth.
“That can be arranged.” Demeter agreed.
“Please don’t. Dionysus has been in a weird mood lately.” Hermes said slightly desperately, “You know how he can get.” He added with a sideways look and hand gesture.
Demeter sobered up, seeming to catch the unmentioned reference. “I see. You can tell me more about it inside. We’re due for rain soon.” She added with a glare upwards.
* * *
ARIADNE’S threatened escape attempt was cut short by Persephone being at Olympus saying her yearly farewells. Demeter as it turned out was also on her way to Olympus, and she had not been expecting any visitors.
“It’s not as if I received any notice about it before hand.” Demeter said reprovingly, over the rim of her wine cup.
Ariadne winced. “I’m sorry. I can stay somewhere else.”
Demeter waved her off. “It’s not that I mind you being here, so much as I would have preferred to be here as a host. My business on Olympus is unfortunately, business and cannot be avoided. I need to talk to Zeus about his so called rainstorms.” She smirked at Ariadne, suddenly amused. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave you here alone with the spiders.”
Ariadne cringed and took o gulp of Demeter’s Olympian wine. “I understand. Thank you for letting me stay here.”
Demeter rolled her eyes. “Just invite me to the wedding when you two get your shit together.”
Hermes came back into the room from a suspiciously long bathroom break, smiling like a satisfied canary. “I wouldn’t bet on that being for a while. They both have commitment issues.” He confided in the older goddess, taking a seat next to Ariadne.
“How many kids versus wives do you have again?” Ariadne asked pointedly, pouring herself another cup of wine.
Demeter cackled, kicking her bare feet up on the table. “Nothing wrong with a few babies on the wrong side of the blanket.”
“Sure.” Ariadne agreed, feeling mellow as the wine started to hit. She poured Hermes a drink, handing it over without further comment. She felt bad for the messenger god, honestly. He was overworked and frequently drawn into the weird shit other gods generated. Being a parent on top of all that with way, way too many kids had to be anxiety inducing.
He took the offered cup, drinking deeply before asking, “How do you not have a higher tolerance for drink?”
“How would I get Olympian wine?” Ariadne questioned, blinking slowly. “I have a good tolerance for mortal wine. Good enough, at any rate.”
Hermes set his cup down. “You are practically attached at the hip to the god of wine.” He emphasized with both hands, eyebrows crunched together.
She grinned at him, putting her chin on her hand. “He is. That means he likes all wine, not just the stuff on Olympus.” Ariadne caught herself having the urge to giggle and fought it down.
Demeter looked up, then frowned into her cup. “I need to get going.” She stood, patted Hermes on the head, patted Ariadne the same way and left.
Ariadne resisted the urge to have more of the wine. She suspected getting drunk around Hermes would lead to committing some kind of crime. Or she’d open her mouth again and horrify him some more. It was a fifty/fifty chance.
“Why do you look nervous?” She tilted the wine in her cup idly.
“You’re not going to hit on me are you?” He looked at her from the corner of his narrowed eyes.
Ariadne snickered. “You realize I was threatening you earlier, right? I was planning on biting off your ear if you gave me shit, not reach for your dick.”
“That is both comforting and deeply disturbing.” Hermes seemed to cheer up despite his nervous words. He paused, his drink almost to his mouth. “My ear though?”
She smiled at him, knowingly. “Ears are sensitive without being life threatening. A pretty, mostly naked woman climbs into a man’s lap and gets close to his face. He’s not thinking about her teeth going through his ear. Doesn’t even cross his mind.” She set the wine cup down, putting temptation further away.
Hermes still hadn’t taken a drink, staring at her. He sets his drink down. “Right. Time for me to go wash my socks. Gotta go. Nice talking to you. I think.”
Ariadne waved one hand and he was gone before her hand finished the first motion. “What was that about? He wears sandals.” She asked the empty room, not expecting an answer.
Dionysus sank into Hermes’s vacated chair, likely still warm. “Hermes doesn’t handle realizing he misjudged a situation so well.” He explained, dragging the abandoned cup of wine toward him and drinking it in one smooth gesture.
“What, he really thought I was hitting on him?” She let the giggle out now, relaxing at the presence of Dionysus. She could smell flowers drifting from his floral wreathed crown.
He gave her a conspiratorial grin. “He definitely thought you were hitting on him. He was probably nervous because I told him if he hit on you I’d pull off his wings. And then he learned he should have been nervous but for a very different reason.” He poured himself another cup of wine, still smiling.
“You surround yourself with women famous for ripping people apart and thought you would date a meek woman?” Ariadne let the judgement creep into her voice. She deliberately didn’t address the conversational elephant in the room.
Dionysus shrugged, turning to put his feet in her lap. “I’ve never actually had more than a week long sex marathon relationship, so he was probably just going off his preferences towards girls with a secret kinky side.” Ariadne peeled his sandals off and dropped them to the floor. His dark violet toenail polish gleamed with perfection in the dim kitchen light.
With a hand around his ankle, she asked at last, “Are you ready to talk now?”
“I am.” Dionysus confirmed, wiggling his pretty purple toes at her. “Originally, I was going to have Hermes bring you back to Olympus to talk, but he pointed out Demeter’s place was closer to neutral ground. It worked out that Demeter was planning on harassing Zeus about the rain for some crop related reason anyway, so it’s just us.”
Ariadne hummed, falling silent, suddenly not sure what to say. He wiggled his feet in her lap. She traced the inside curve of his foot with a fingernail, hand tightening on his ankle when he tried to pull it away.
“No, stop, it tickles.” He tugged gently at his foot, grinning at her. Obligingly, she stopped and let his foot go.
“Why did you stop?” Dionysus pouted, feet not moving from her lap.
“You asked me to.” She told him cheerily, grinning at his huff and sprawling backwards on his chair.
“I thought about what you said to me.” He said quietly.
* * *