A/N: Okay, this just came to me and demanded to be written.
Dedicated to Frost-747.
Aitch
Hermes was taking a stroll through one of the many gardens on Olympus. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining, a couple of white clouds on the sky and there were not too many insects flying around in the air. The garden, he was walking in, had mostly trees and bushes. Some of the trees had apples, oranges and other fruits hanging on them. Many of the bushes were filled with beautiful flowers in all the colors of the rainbow. Hermes rarely had days of work, today was one of them. In contradiction to many beliefs, Hermes enjoyed walking in gardens, he liked the colors. This garden, was one of his favorites, it had high trees all over the place, where there wasn't room for trees were the bushes. He loved the place. It was perfect for eavesdropping.
"You know, I do not think I have ever seen anything as cute as him," Hermes heard a voice say.
"Me neither, he is adorable," another voice answered.
Hermes detected the voices to belong to Iris and Eris. He sat down behind the tree and listened to their conversation, it could after all lead to great blackmail. Who was he to give up on an opportunity like that?
"I wish we both could keep him," Hermes heard Iris sigh.
"But that is not possible, we have to figure out who shall keep him," Eris said.
Hermes could hear one of them move a bit, most likely to get a better look at the other. "You know we could share him," Iris pointed out.
"I believe, it would be a little weird. "
"Why? You could have him for a month, or something, and then I could have him for the next period. We could keep switching."
There was a silence for a while. Then Eris said, "What about Zephyrus? He would not like it."
"Do not involve Zephyrus in this! There is many things that man does not like. There is no doubt that Aitch is one of those dislikes," Iris snapped.
Aitch? Hermes thought. What on earth was that?
"Sorry, I should not have snapped at you. I am a bit tired," Iris apologized.
"Apology accepted. You do have a lot on your shoulders. With work and all that, I mean, and now we have little Aitch here," Eris said.
Aitch, aitch, aitch, Hermes tried to find out what it meant.
"Yes, I do have a lot of work. It is unbelievable how much gods have to communicate about non-important matters," Iris announced.
"My point exactly," Eris said happily.
"Excuse me?" Iris asked. Hermes could imagine her raising an eyebrow while speaking.
"You have so much work, you do not have time for Aitch," Eris insisted. "However I have plenty of time, are you following me?"
Aitch? It had to be a name. Aitch, Aitch. Of course the letter H. Had Iris and Eris fallen for the same person? Hermes wondered. Who could it be? Hestia? Hebe? No, most likely a man. Definitely a god, Iris and Eris were not ones to have affairs with mortals. Hades? Hephaestus? Maybe Helios?
Hermes leaned closer to the two girls, to hear better.
"I follow you and I do not like it," Iris said coldly.
"I know," Eris sighed. "Goddess of discord, remember?"
Iris sure did have some weird friends, in Hermes opinion. Then again, she was all over the place, in the Underworld, at Olympus and in the mortal world, she would know all kind of people. If Hermes was asked, it just added positive things to her already charming person.
Hermes heard Iris sigh. "Yes, I am aware of that."
After that there were a silence.
Hermes sat completely still and listened, all he could hear was the two girls breathing and all the insects in the garden
"I just wish we could share him, I do not think he would mind, do you?" Iris continued.
Eris was silent before answering. "I do not think so either, though I am not keen on sharing."
Oh, this is getting good, Hermes thought.
To Hermes' surprise, Iris started laughing. "You would have surprised me more, if you had said you were ready to share him."
"Oh, I would not say something like that." Hermes could almost hear the smile in her voice.
Hermes heard a puff.
"Sure you would not," Iris said playfully. "I know, you are not keen on sharing, but do you really think Aitch would not mind?"
Oh, dear holy Olympus! H, my name starts with an H! Hermes realized. They both like me. Oh, no! That means, I have to either choose between two girls who are friends or be with both of them, I cannot do either. Wait, I have no intention of being with them. What on earth do I do? Ah-hah, I know it, I will find Apollo and ask how you gently let two girls down. Yes, that is the answer. It is the right thing to do.
"I think he loves you more than me."
Hermes thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Iris. Eris didn't answer, so Hermes was thinking that she was doing the things girls do when they communicate only by their eyes.
Iris has pretty eyes, I would not mind doing the communication-thing with her... Hermes glipped with his eyes. Where did that come from?
"Do not look at me like that! I have seen the way he looks at you. He. Loves. You!" Iris voice was angry. Even though Hermes could not see her, he almost got scared, when she wanted she could be the scariest thing in the world.
Hermes yelped, he did no such thing as love Eris! He barely knew her. He knew Iris way better, after all they had some of the same work.
"Did you hear that?" The two girls behind the tree quieted down.
"Yes, someone, or something, yelped."
Hermes stiffened. They were not supposed to have heard him. What should he do? He could admit eavesdropping on them or he could disappear from the scene. None of the choices were good, either way they would find out that he was the one. If he stayed it would not be good considering he had just heard them admit their love to him. If he leaved they would question everyone and would somehow figure out it was him.
"Fancy meeting you two here," Hermes greeted the girls when he came out of his hide.
The girls looked skeptically at him.
"Were you eavesdropping on us?" Iris asked.
"How can you even think that?" Hermes asked.
The girls shared a look, then looked at Hermes with raised eyebrows. "Seriously?" Eris asked.
"Yes! Now, I would have liked to tell you this at another time, but now that I have the chance, I will tell you. Eris," Hermes turned to look at the girl sitting on a blanket next to her friend. "I do not love you more than Iris. There, I said it. No reason to fight over me."
"Fight over you?" Iris asked, a bit flushed.
"Yes, no need to be embarrassed. I will admit, I heard your conversation and I have to say I find it flattering that you have a codename for me."
"Codename?" Eris looked at Hermes as if he was an idiot.
"Yes, H. Very flattering, though it may not be very creative."
Iris stood up and placed her arm around Hermes' waist – she was not tall enough to reach his shoulders.
"Hermes," she started. "You are one of my best friends-"
"Do not worry, dear. This will not change a thing between us and certainly not our friendship," Hermes interrupted.
"As I was saying," Iris continued as if he had never interrupted her. "You are one of my best friends, but I do not have a codename for you. We do not have a codename for you. If you would be so kind to look at Eris' feet-" Hermes obliged and looked at Eris' feet. "-What do you see?" Iris ended.
"A dog," he answered slowly.
By the feet of Eris a dog sat and looked curiously at him. It was white with a brown dot around its eye.
"We found him this morning and named him H," Eris explained.
"H. It is spelled A-I-T-C-H. Aitch. Not the letter H," Iris continued.
Hermes felt stupid and warm in his face. "You were not talking about me."
Iris squeezed his waist in a hug.
"No, but we do love you," she mumbled into his side. The next thing she said was probably not meant for Hermes' ears, but he did have a good hearing, he could not help hearing it. "I do love you."
"This is getting to lovey-dovey, Iris would you mind if I walked with him? You had a long day and you look like you could fall asleep every moment now." Eris stood up and looked expectantly at Iris.
First now that Eris said it, Hermes could see how tired Iris was. She nodded and hid a yawn.
When Eris and the dog Aitch had left, Hermes looked at tired girl who still held on to him. "You really need some sleep."
"Mmm," she answered him.
Hermes laughed quietly and led her to the blanket the two girls had sat on, with a flick of his hand, the food and drinks that was on it disappeared.
He layed the almost asleep girl on the newly clean blanket and sat beside her. As Iris fell asleep beside him, Hermes could feel tiredness overcome him. He layed down on the blanket and let sleep fully overcome him.
"I love you more than her, Iris," Hermes told the sleeping figure beside him before he fell asleep. In her sleep Iris turned over to Hermes and snuggled closer to him.
A/N: Thanks for reading, hope you liked it.
Please take a moment to tell me what you thought of this piece.
