A/N: This story takes place in an AU in which the Greek gods and goddesses, etc. are all college students. Blake is Hades, Corinna is Persephone, Candace is Demeter, and Schuyler is Zeus. In this one, I've made Candace Corinna's older sister rather than her mother. The comment about Schuyler is based off a minor myth in which Zeus tricked Persephone into sleeping with him.
Blake is gentler than his brothers, despite his size. He's big boned, but still he's gentle, especially with his hands. His palms are nearly the size of Corinna's face, his fingers thick and calcified. There seems a natural weight about his hands, but also a forced lightness. He faintly strokes her chin with only the side of his index finger, as if she is a delicate porcelain doll or a small animal. Restraint, that's what she notices in him, a strict self-control, always pulling back, always sure to check his advances. She figures that he fears his own strength. He has a very lucid awareness of mortality, after all.
He tells Corinna a story sometimes, a story of his childhood. He tells of a friend, a nameless friend. The name is unimportant to him, what is important is the friend's pet mouse. A little white mouse named Scottie. Blake was young, seven or eight, and the nameless friend let him hold Scottie in his hands. Scottie was soft, Blake remembers, but skittish. He tried to leap. Blake's outstretched palm snapped shut around Scottie's chest. His thick fingers clamped around Scottie's little white neck. The nameless friend yelped, Blake remembers, as a small "pop" resounded. Both boys started to cry. The nameless friend wouldn't let Blake touch his new pet mouse. Blake would have been too afraid anyway, even if he was allowed.
And so now, he's gentle, controlled, reluctant, especially with Corinna. She's his new little white mouse, thin and pale as she is, especially as compared to robust, voluptuous Candace.
But she appreciates how gentle he is. After how Schuyler treated her, after how Candace hovered, the gentle fingers of Blake Kelly are just what she needs.
And she knows, secretly, that once she's ready to stop being gentle, Blake will be happy to oblige.