Hey there :3

Finally finished this story /D It's a request of Yurika Schiffer. I hope you still like this pairing (heck, can you even remember requesting it? o_o), if not... I hope you enjoy this story nonetheless~

I love greek mythology that's why I love the Zeus team of Ina11. I wanted to write a story by interpreting a mythology in a new way, but the only story revolving around Hera and Aphrodite which came to my mind was "The judgment of Paris" and everyone who knows this story understands that this is not material for a romance /D Oh, I tried to write a fluffy OS but like always I failed ._. And it is even OOC, nah, doesn't matter anymore.

Have fun :3

Confidence was something Hera surely possessed. When he was a midfielder for Zeus and later on a defender for Neo Japan, he knew how to do his best during a match and his only weakness was that he tended to be envy quite easily. But with the help of his teammates he learnt how to control that emotion. Especially Aphrodi tried to support him – but this was rather contra productive. The former captain of Zeus was a person he admired since a long time. He was an almost perfect person in his eyes however this didn't help to lower his envy. Hera tried his best to keep up with him and too often he was disappointed afterwards. And somehow, the feeling of belonging to him didn't make it any better.

With this thoughts in his mind, Hera walked down the almost empty streets. The sky above him showed no signs of any clouds, first stars were visible when you looked closely and the sun carpeted the scenery in front of him with a beautiful light. But even with this view, Hera seemed quite preoccupied. His thoughts drifted now to the past, reminded him of things he wasn't proud of.

"Aqua of the Gods?"

"It will bring you to the level of a superior being."

"What do you think, Hera? Sounds good, doesn't it?"

Hera's steps slowed down when he continued his way. He didn't pay much attention to his surrounding and almost missed Desarm who waved shortly from the other side of the street. He wanted to stop his thoughts, the pictures of his past. But they invaded his mind like parasites, infected his thinking and made his mood worse.

"Neo Japan?"

"Exactly, what do you think?"

Hitomiko's voice echoed in his head, repeating the question over and over again.

"Give me some time to think about it."

"Alright, but just one day."

The sun was about to go down, the sky was turning orange with every further step towards his direction and the wind blow through his brown hair while his mind was busy to handle the thoughts of his past which kept coming.

"It's really a surprise, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Aphrodi. He is a representative for Korea in the FFI."

When the sun finally vanished from the sky, he reached his destination – a house, not pompous nevertheless radiating some kind of dignity which never failed to amaze him. And within this house was the person he admired, loved and maybe cursed.

"Did you make your decision?"

"Yes. I'll join you're team."

He rang the doorbell without hesitation and in the next moment the door opened. "Hera, nice to see you", Aphrodi, still dressed in his suit, greeted him. Hera answered his greeting with a smile before he stepped inside and followed Aphrodi to the living room. Terumi's house was simple. Pastel coloured walls matched with the arranged furniture and in the daytime, the sun shone brightly through the windows. Sometimes, when Terumi stood in the incidence of light, surrounded by the light colours of his house, Hera wondered how it was possible for him to get such a handsome lover.

"Some players of my team were here some minutes ago, I hope you don't mind the mess they left." Hera smiled with amusement – as far as he knew the blond, he had already cleaned up and surely overreacted due to his priority. "It's fine. The only thing which bothers me are your clothes", he answered, sitting down on the beige sofa. With a chuckle, Aphrodi bend down to kiss him shortly on the lips. "Why? I thought I look fabulous in it?" "You do, but I prefer your casual clothes – they show more skin." He chuckled again, this time mumbling "Coffee?", before their lips met a second time.

"Yes, please."

The ticking clock was the only noise which was heard while they drank their coffee and eventually, the blond broke the silence. "What has happened? You are awfully quite today." The brunet smiled weakly. He wasn't surprised that Terumi would realize his absent mind but he thought that he would have been able to keep the act a bit longer. "You know...", he started, brushing through the blond hair, "just thought about something." The answer didn't satisfied the Coach of Kidokawa, Hera was aware of that, but he didn't want to talk about it. To distract him from this issue, Hera loose the other one's cravat while he pulled him closer, intending to kiss him. But Aphrodi wasn't so easy to tame, escaped his grip and pressed him down. Now laying on the couch, Hera looked at first confused but smiled bitterly, when Aphrodi sat down on his lap, brushing through the brown hair and repeating the gesture consistently.

"No kissing when you pretend something." Hera remained silent however his smile vanished when he played with the end of the loose cravat. They sat there in silence, Aphrodi brushing through the brown, shoulder-length hair while the brunet simply starred at him. "Do you want to come to the next training session?", Aphrodi asked when he realised that Hera won't tell him the truth as long as his mind was this preoccupied. "You're fine with that?", he said, sounding unsure. "Why shouldn't I?", Terumi asked instead, sensing that he finally reached the topic the other one was afraid of. "Do you think I would be ashamed of you?", he continued to ask without any intention. All the more he was surprised when the brunet flinched slightly – it seemed like he hit the mark. "Don't tell me you...", he started though stopped his sentence when he saw the undefinable look in the other's eyes. Not knowing the source, he remained silent and waited for any answer. "You always outshone me. Don't understand me wrong, I don't dislike you because of that... It is just that I was never able to be... you know...", he tried to explain. Aphrodi blinked, not expecting him to answer that quickly. He paused – was this his problem? Did he thought that he was not worth of being his friend let alone his lover? He sighed before he talked to him.

"Who was the one who helped me after the side-effect of the Aqua of the Gods?"

"Everyone would have done this."

"And who visited me in the hospital after the match against Alia Gakuen the most?"

"You were our captain. Joining the caravan didn't change that fact."

"And who was the one who comforted me after we lost the internationals?"

"We also lost, so I was just egoistic. I needed comfort myself."

Aphrodi sighed again due to his stubborn attitude. Hera had always been like this – too stubborn to accept any other opinion however he had never ignored Aphrodi's order. "Say, what – " Afuro wanted to try another strategy when Hera answered him with a statement ripped out of context which kind of surprised the blond.

"You weren't called Aphrodi for nothing", Hera mumbled. "You're strong, beautiful and smart." Terumi wanted to interrupt him – he had to admit that he was embarrassed all the time when Hera complimented him like that – but he let him finish this sentence before he lay his hand over Hera's mouth. "Don't continue, this will end terrible", he said, either referring to Hera's inferiority complex or his own embarrassment. He removed his hands after confirming that the brunet wouldn't say anything further about this topic; to his surprise he even stopped starring. "Tell me. What is wrong?" The question was a bit rude, showed that the blond lost his patience. But Hera didn't complain – even an angel starts to lose his patience at some point.

"Hera is a goddess who was jealous all the time. She tried to achieve something but in the end, her plans were stopped – Zeus betrayed her with other women, mortal and immortal equally, and Aphrodite was more beautiful than her and -" "And still she was the goddess of marriage whose love for one god never decreased", Terumi finished Hera's sentence, taking his head in his hand. "I don't know how you feel, but I can't stand it. So, let me change it." His voice was almost a whisper at the end, showing how much Hera's words had affected him. Before Hera could answer, Afuro's lips were pressed against his, showing him the affection of the blond who loved him so much. Hesitantly, the brunet placed his hands on the others hips to pull him closer. Hera loved him so much that it hurt him when he saw how casually he chatted with other people. Even or especially the talk between Ishido and Aphrodi made him unbelievable jealous.

"Silly", he chuckled softly after he broke the kiss. "You know that you're the only one I love." No matter how long they already where in a relationship, these rare spoken words never failed to make his heart skip a beat. However, these moments always ended too soon and this time was not an exception; the doorbell rang and interrupted their togetherness. "You expect visitors?", Hera asked confused. "Not really", the blond said, tying his cravat and straightening his clothes before he went to the door. Risking a last glance into the mirror to settle his hair, he opened the door with a smile.

Hera stayed on the couch and sat up, drinking his by now cold coffee while he was waiting for his lover to come back. He didn't pay much attention to the conversation until he heard Aphrodis cheerful response to a question he hadn't heard. "Of course you can come in." The brunet wasn't an impolite person, even if he seemed to be rude at times, but right now he wanted to be alone with the blond, without any interruption – till he saw the person who appeared next to Aphrodi.

"I-I didn't know you have a guest. I will go..." The voice of the young boy was fragile and his puffy eyes underlined his current state; he was exhausted. Hera couldn't let him go, especially when the boy – if he remembered correctly, his name was Kishibe – looked like a total mess. His sight reminded him of himself when he had realised his feelings for a certain boy who had been out of his league. Maybe this was the reason why Hera talked to Kishibe before Aphrodi could do so.

"It's fine, sit down", he said, glancing at the blond who nodded and went to the kitchen. Kishibe slowly approached him and did what he was told, averting his glance. "You're the captain of Kidokawa, right?", Hera asked to break the silence before it could get awkward. Kishibe just nodded however this time he looked him in the eyes. "And you're Hera Tadashi?" Surprised that he knew him, he looked at the boy who stammered that Aphrodi had told him about his past – and Zeus – so he naturally knew about him. Hera considered to ask him what exactly Terumi had told him but decided against it when the blond returned.

"Do you want to tell us what happened?", Terumi asked politely, giving him a cup of tea. The young boy flinched slightly when he made contact with the warmed-up porcelain so he put it on the desk; without answering the question. Hera looked at the blond who sat down and who was waiting for his student to answer the question when he was ready. Kishibe, who was now sitting between the males, glanced at the hot stream of the tea, was lost in his own world till Aphrodi called his name. He blinked shortly, as if he had to remember where he was, before he looked at the brunet.

"I'm sorry to disturb you...", he apologised with a slim voice before his hands clasped around the cup. "It's fine", Hera simply said, not wanting to talk about it. Even the imagination of what he could have done with the blond if the boy had not come annoyed him; though he didn't want to blame him. The coach just drank his coffee with a smile, amused to listen to their little chat.

"Well... but it is inappropriate... I mean... it's not right to interrupt you when you...", he stammered, placing the cup down again to gesticulate widely to explain his point. Neither of the adults understood that he meant though they realised that it had to be something he wasn't comfortable talking about. "... when you were doing something... which adults normally do... when they are together", he added shyly before taking a sip of the tea as if he would want to swallow the embarrassment down. Actually, the statement caught the blond unexpected, so he choke on his drink and coughed badly. After he calmed down – Hera was kind of shocked by the fact that the blond looked fabulous even when he coughed – Aphrodi looked at his student. "Excuse me?"

"Uhm... well... Sousuke saw you two... sharing a kiss... we weren't sure if we should believe him... but we were to ashamed to ask", Kishibe, by now red as a tomato, stammered. Terumi pitied his student who looked like he wished that the ground would open up and swallow him, but he just couldn't drop this topic. Carefully, he chose a question whose words would not be too uncomfortable for Kishibe. "Do you have a problem with that?", Terumi asked, interested in his honest answer and hoping that he chose the right words. He didn't want to change his relationship with Hera, that was for sure, but at least he would know how to react to his team's behaviour in future. "N-no, no. We're glad that you are happy", Taiga said with an honest smile still a bit embarrassed, causing the males to exchange a quick confused glance. "What made you think I wasn't happy before?", Aphrodi wanted to know, raising an eyebrow. "You told us to choose our own path, encouraged us but every time you looked lonely when you came to practise", he said, this time talking like the captain he was. Terumi was amazed that the young boy realised it – over the years he has always tried to hide his small feeling of loneliness. It was not much, though, but enough to prevent him from thinking clear sometimes. The first person who recognised this was Hera and this was the reason why the blond didn't feel lonely anymore however when Hera was not around he did it nevertheless. Because the brunet was the person he trusted the most, the person who never failed to support him. He was him as thankful as Endou for showing him true football or his teammates of Fire Dragon as well as former Zeus for trusting him every time.

"Keep it a secret, will you?", was Aphrodi's reaction to avoid any other question which could embarrass the boy more. Kishibe was a bit astonished by his request, especially because he expected any comment to his statement however he accepted his wish and nodded. "Thank you. I may know a lot of other players who are interested in the same gender but it is something different if you tell the public about it", he continued.

Kishibe gasped indignantly for air – did his coach believe that he would have told something like that the public? Afuro, as if he would have read his thought, apologised softly while the brunet just laughed. This caused the young captain to smile a bit which calmed his coach down – it looked like Kishibe forgot his own problem for a while. To keep it like that, Aphrodi engrossed him in conversation which revolved around the smallest thing, just to distract him. Eventually, Kishibe even dared to ask them how they started to go out. His light laughs filled the room when Aphrodi told him about it.

Hera – 18 years back when – was so nervous in front of the blond and needed three tries to ask him for a date. Aphrodi has just flipped his hair back, raised his head a bit and smiled at him before he nodded. "Why not?", he said and took Hera's last tension away. The brunet was so relieved that he almost sank to his knees. But just almost. However he was still worried that something will go wrong so he was extra carefully on their date; it ended in a disaster anyway.

Hera couldn't recall what went wrong, but that didn't matter anymore – the blond hasn't left him, instead he has took the lead and as soon as they passed the park, he suggested a little play when he spotted an old ball lying around. The brunet hesitated but agreed eventually; it was the best decision he could have made. He lost the tension from the day and could spend time with his beloved one which made him extremely happy. And even if he hasn't showed it, the blond enjoyed their time together as well.

Kishibe listened curious to their story, wished to have such a luck like they had. Who knew, maybe his wrong move would end just as Hera's? He hoped so and without warnings, his droopy mood came back. "I think I'll go now", he said quietly and stood up. "Thank you for telling me such a story." Kishibe bowed down when they shoot a confused glance at him, before he went to the door. Afuro, realising his sudden change, wanted to go along but the young boy said that he was fine. And as soon as they heard him closing the door, silence returned.

"He's a nice boy", Hera said after a while, adding "Reminds me of myself." Aphrodi just snickered, something he rarely did and only in front of the brunet. "So you are a little boy who wants the attention of the person you love but you know that you won't be able to get it so you go to your coach to ask for comfort?", Aphrodi asked teasing. "How funny", Hera murmured, slightly offended, before he took the opportunity to kiss him. "Why don't we continue where we were interrupted?", he grinned, pressing the blond down. Aphrodi smiled at him, raising an eyebrow in amusement and reaching for his neck with one hand. "Good idea", he whispered, before he pulled him down for another kiss.

Hera admitted it – he was a jealous person. He didn't like the idea that any other person looked at Terumi. But he had to accept that the blond was surrounded by so many people and that he never would be his. Though this didn't stop him from showing Terumi how much he yearned for him – and the noises as well as faces Afuro made while he lay under him were worth every jealousy .

Yay, I hope you liked it :3 Btw, got the play on words in the titel?
Why Kishibe cried? Hm, maybe he was rejected by Sousuke or he saw how his crush Shindou kissed another person? Chose whatever reason you wish~

Btw I realised that I shouldn't take requests anymore. When you read my stories you must have realised that I'm a willful writer and that my plots are odd. So I'm afraid that I disappoint you with my stories if you request a pairing. So, that's it. Next story has to wait a long time.

Bye for now :3