Author's Note:This is a one shot with Hercules, Iolaus, and Iolaus son. When you're young it's not easy if you lose a dinar, but luckily for Aelus, Hercules can fix that kind of problems.
Warning: The warning is placed here for vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hercules the Legendary Journey, I make no money and boy does that make it hard to keep the computer with power… No permanent harm will ever come to Iolaus but a bit of Alcmene's attention and a big bowl of chicken soup might not be amiss at the end of some stories…
I Lost My Dinar…
Hearing a child crying Hercules hurried his steps, he couldn't tell who it was yet for it was rather late and evening had already fallen. The child was in the shadows but as he approached he thought the silent sobs sounded somewhat familiar and when he got closer to him he could see that it was Aelus, Iolaus' son.
"Aelus, what's wrong?" he asked as he knelt down beside him. The young boy was sitting on a rock beside the road, crying softly. He couldn't see any signs of injuries but it wasn't like Aelus to cry without a reason. He had his mother's gentle nature and his father's sense of humour, and he was far more likely to laugh than to cry. He was just over five years of age now, and looked almost exactly like Iolaus had at that age. He had the same blond hair with wild curls and the same blue eyes.
"I lost it," he rubbed at his eyes with a grimy fist.
"What did you lose Aelus?" Hercules gently lifted his chin with a finger.
"Dad gave me a dinar so I could go to the market for him, and I lost it," he mumbled with a few fresh tears. "I've been looking for it for ages, and I can't find it."
"Oh," he mused. That would explain it. Aelus loved helping his father, and if Iolaus had trusted him to go to the market he would be heartbroken if he failed. Some would say that a child of five was too young to go on his own, but Aelus was mature enough for it. Iolaus allowed him to go to Hercules and to Alcmene when he wanted to and so far there had never been any problems. Still, he knew how hard Aelus would take it if he had lost the money for he knew that Iolaus didn't have more than just enough. His hunting and his blacksmithing saw them fed, but there were never much to spare. The loss of even a dinar could be hard.
"Well, don't cry now," he urged. "I'll help you look, I'm sure we'll find it."
"Okay," he sniffed, rubbing his eyes again.
"We'll find it really soon I bet," Hercules soothed. He knew that if they didn't find it soon, Aelus wouldn't have the time to buy what he needed before the market closed for the day. He took the child by the hand and pulled him to his feet. He had no handkerchief to lend him but Aelus wiped his nose on his sleeve.
Together they started looking, a dinar wouldn't be easy to find Hercules knew, but he hoped to be able to do it just the same. Aelus were crawling around on all four, looking at the ground while Hercules walked bent over. He could see signs of Aelus having already covered the place, palm prints covered every soft spot in the ground.
Eventually though he had to face the fact that they couldn't find the dinar.
"Aelus, are you sure you lost it here?" he asked. "You're sure this is the right spot?"
"Well, not exactly," the blond child admitted haltingly, sticking a finger into his mouth.
"Not exactly?" he frowned. Times like this the boy seemed to be even more like Iolaus.
"No, not exactly," he shook his head so that the blond locks danced. "It was more over there I guess," he pointed to a spot some hundred yards away.
"Aelus, if you think you dropped it over there, why are you looking over here?" he asked confused. It didn't make sense at all.
"There's a tree over there that kinda looks like a monster when it's dark," Aelus fidgeted, shifting his weight between his bare feet. "I'm a little scared of it, so I don't dare to look there."
"Oh," he didn't know what to say. It was so like Iolaus, and yet it was also pure Aelus. The child had such a simple way to look at things. He was so sweet, fidgeting again as if he thought Hercules would be displeased with him. "Well, why don't I look over there, and you can look over here," he suggested.
"Okay," Aelus nodded and dropped back down on hands and knees, turning over stones as if he thought the dinar might have crawled under one.
Hercules still couldn't find it, but he fished one out of his money pouch. Not that he and his wife had that much to spare, but they had a little more than Iolaus and one dinar wouldn't matter much. Especially not if it would spare Aelus the grief. He knew that Deianeira would approve of it.
"I found it Aelus," he cried, pretending to pick it up from the ground.
"You did?" Aelus squealed, jumping to his feet. "Oh Uncle Hercules, you're the best," he threw his small arms around his legs as he came running over. Apparently his thrill of having the dinar back was enough to overcome his fear of the scary tree.
"Here, you take this now and keep it safe," Hercules pressed the coin into his hand. "If we hurry we can still get to the market in time." He grabbed him around the waist and swung him up to ride on his shoulders, his long stride quickly covering the distance.
"Thank you Uncle Hercules," Aelus beamed. "Thank you."
"So how come you're going to the market all by yourself?" Hercules asked him to make conversation.
"Daddy's awfully tired, so I said I'd go," he drew himself up proudly. "Cause I wanted to help, and I'm a big boy now, so I said I could."
"You're dad is lucky to have such a good boy to help him," Hercules smiled, squeezing his knee.
"But I lost the dinar," Aelus bit his lip. "Cause I was playing, so now I'm gonna be late."
"We found the dinar, so it doesn't matter," Hercules assured him. "And I'll follow you home. Things like that happens at times Aelus, your daddy won't be mad about it."
"I guess not," he decided. "I just wish I could help more at times."
"I wouldn't worry about that," he soothed. "I think you help more than you think. That's what you're dad tells me."
"Really?" Aelus straightened again, sounding thrilled.
"Really," Hercules smiled. "And look, we're almost at the market."
He followed the child to the right stall, but he allowed him to handle the business himself. He wouldn't interfere with that and make Aelus feel as if he needed help. The boy apparently didn't either, he haggled over the price expertly, then paid his dinar and accepted the small parcel before he smiled at Hercules, stuffing it into his pocket.
"Ready to go back home again then?" Hercules asked and he nodded. He lifted him up to sit on his shoulders again as they headed back. Aelus always made sure that you didn't forget that he was a big boy, not just a child, but he knew that Iolaus often carried him on his shoulders if they were walking any greater distance. Also, the child was very well aware that his uncle was a demigod with the strength of ten men. He loved to wrestle with him together with Aeson and Klonus.
"So, how would you like to take your dad along and come over for supper tomorrow?" Hercules suggested.
"Can we? Really?" he bounced with excitement. "Oh boy."
"Getting tired of your dad's cooking?" Hercules laughed as he heard his enthusiasm.
"Oh," suddenly Aelus seemed to realize that what he had said wasn't perhaps what he had meant. "It's not that Uncle Hercules, but I like it. I can play with Aeson and Klonus and Ilea, and I like it when Aunt Deianeira cooks an awful lot, cause she makes different things than dad does."
"I know, I'm just teasing you," he grinned as he patted his knee. "You know, your dad likes your Aunt Deianeira's cooking better than his own too."
"And you can play with daddy," Aelus giggled cheerfully.
"Yeah, I'll play with your dad," he mused. It was one way of putting it, and though the two of them did help each other with the chores, he wasn't sure if Aelus hadn't gotten it right since there was usually some playing involved too.
They arrived at the farm and Iolaus came out to meet them as soon as they approached, obviously he had started to wonder where his son had taken off to.
"I got it dad," Aelus blurted out, taking off running to his father as soon as Hercules had put him down onto the ground. "See," he thrust out the small parcel.
"You got it alright," Iolaus nodded with a smile. "I guess your uncle distracted you huh?"
"No, not really," he bit his lip. "I uh, I had a little problem," he admitted.
"Oh, I see," Iolaus ruffled his hair while Hercules watched.
"Yeah, I kinda dropped the coin a little," he mumbled. "I was trying to be careful dad, honest, but I didn't wanna keep it in my pocket cause I thought I might lose it, so I had it in my hand, cause I don't have any holes in my hand and sometimes I have holes in my pocket."
He was babbling, just like Iolaus tended to do, trying to get it all out in one rushed breath and Hercules could barely keep from laughing.
"That makes a lot of sense Aelus," Iolaus smiled. "Good thinking."
"Yeah, but then I played just a little and then I was trying to hurry, and I tripped," the child reached down to rub his knee. "And I must have dropped it when I fell," he bit his lip again.
"Sounds like it was an accident, that happens at times," Iolaus lifted him up to sit on his arm. "And you got it, just like you said, so you must've found it again huh?"
Aelus shook his head. "Uncle Hercules did, see, I dropped it by the scary tree, and I didn't dare to look there, but Uncle Hercules did, and he found it for me, but it was kinda funny daddy."
"Oh?" Iolaus mused curiously, glancing to Hercules.
"Uhu," Aelus nodded. "I think Uncle Hercules fixed it when he found it, cause it was all scratched when I dropped it, and it wasn't when he gave it back to me. I didn't know Uncle Hercules could do that," he finished in an awed tone.
"I guess your uncle is a man of many talents," Iolaus grinned, sending the demigod an amused look.
"Yeah," he nodded, his blond curls bobbing up and down. "And Uncle Hercules said we're gonna go and eat with them tomorrow, won't it be good dad?"
"Very good," he nodded, putting him down. "Now run off and wash off before supper."
"Do I have to?" he sighed.
"Yep," he nodded. "Go on now." ¨
"Okay," he sighed as he shuffled off to wash.
"Imagine that," Iolaus mused as he stepped closer to Hercules. "I didn't know you could fix scratched money Herc…."
"Neither did I, and I never could imagine he'd notice," he shook his head. "Poor kid was crying cause he couldn't find it."
"Yeah, he takes that stuff seriously," Iolaus nodded. "Begged me to let him go, and I didn't see any reason not to."
"It would have gone perfectly if he hadn't dropped the coin by accident," Hercules agreed.
"Herc, he didn't think I'd be that mad, did he?" Iolaus asked, swallowing.
"I don't think so," he decided. He knew why Iolaus asked, because he knew how his own father would have reacted. The blond hunter couldn't stand the thought of turning into his father, one who always disapproved of anything his son did. "I don't think he was scared you'd be mad, but it's like you said, he takes it really seriously. Told me you were tired and he wanted to help."
"Yeah, I guess," Iolaus agreed. "Just as long as he knows I won't be mad if he loses a lousy dinar," he snorted in disgust over the thought.
"He knows," Hercules squeezed his shoulder. He was sure of it.
"Lucky thing you were passing by though," the blond mused. "I appreciate it."
"You'd do the same for mine," Hercules shrugged it off.
"So we're coming to dinner to tomorrow, sounds nice," Iolaus suddenly giggled. "I bet he was glad to hear that."
"He was," Hercules admitted with something of a chuckle.
"I don't blame him, I don't like my cooking either," he shook his head. "Speaking off, it's just about done, wanna join us?" He gave him a teasing, challenging look and Hercules shook his head.
"I promised I'd be home early, I'd better not," he decided.
"Coward," Iolaus snorted.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Hercules laughed, cuffing him over the back of the head.
"Yeah," Iolaus half waved, then disappeared into the house to make sure that Aelus had washed off as he was told. He knew Hercules would tell Deianeira the whole story, and she'd laugh, and likely make sure to have some special treat for the child when they came.
Grinning he grabbed his son by the waist and swung him up, tickling him a little before dropping him on the table. He just wanted to make sure that Aelus knew that a little thing like a dinar wasn't what really was important.
The End
No dinars were lost during the writing of this fanfic.
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