A Splash at the Beach Part 1
"I can't believe you don't own a swimming costume," Psyche lamented as she and Persephone made their way through town, arm in arm. Persephone had never been shopping before, not like the other girls had, and so she was staring around at the town in wonder, especially as the occasional satyr walked by. The season's current most fashionable togas were in the shop windows, alongside more modern attire.
"Goddess held prisoner by her mother, remember?" Persephone said. "I never left my room, unless it was to go to work."
"Until recently and—" Psyche lowered her voice "—the Godof the Underworldhas been taking you on dates."
As Psyche gave a lovelorn sigh, Persephone giggled. Unlike Hades, she didn't deny the use of the word 'date'. Perhaps merely the teenage fantasies she hadn't been allowed when she was younger finally catching up to her.
"But you need a swimming costume if you're going to the beach," Psyche announced, and then she sighed. "I wish I could go to the beach."
"Have you ever been to the beach?" Persephone questioned as they stopped outside a shop to stare at the clothes on the mannequins in the window.
"No, I hate the beach," Psyche replied, pulling her hood down over her bubblegum pink curls. "Icky men keep goggling at me. Oh, how I wish one day to find a man who will truly love me for who I am. What is it like to be truly in love?"
"Why are you asking me?"
Psyche raised her eyebrows. Persephone shrugged, then pulled Psyche into the shop so they could check out the swimming costume section inside. The entire time Persephone had been working at Cassie's Coffee, Persephone hadn't spent a single penny of the money she had earnt. Safe to say, her savings were now over flowing.
And the first thing she was going to buy was a swimming costume.
Of course, buying a swimming costume wasn't easy. For starters, they needed to find one that fit. Persephone wasn't exactly small. Curves in all the right places, her mother would say. More like a well-rounded diet, Persephone would argue. She may have been locked inside, but Demeter did like to pamper her when it came to certain things, including good food.
Persephone didn't have anything against a bikini, but the shop they were in only sold tiny ones that Persephone would, well, fall out of. Psyche held up a particularly small one, and both girls grimaced at the size.
At the next store, they found swimming costumes that actually fit, after Olympus knew how long. Persephone stepped out of her changing room and looked to where Psyche was waiting in the corner, her hood pulled down now no men were around to fawn over her. Once Psyche looked up and saw, she nodded approvingly.
"I think he'll love it," she sighed, clutching her hands to her chest as she started to daydream again.
"It's not about whether he loves it," Persephone reminded her. "It's about whether Ilove it."
"Oh, yes," Psyche said, shaking her head free from any romantic reveries she was having. "And do you love it?"
"You know I do," Persephone said with a grin.
"Good," Psyche said, clapping her hands. "Now we need some beach towels!"
#
Hades had his hand over his mouth as he stared at Persephone, his cheeks as hot as the sand beneath his toes. She stood in front of him, hands on her hips as she smiled brightly. She was wearing a high-waisted lime-green bikini, covered in a darker green floral pattern, finished with pale pink frills. Extremely Persephone-like, Hades had to say. Green, a bit of pink, and some flowers. Spring in human—or rather, god—form.
And Hades looked like, well, was there a need to say it? His complexion was as white and as sickly as a corpse. His stringy hair, which he'd tied back for once, was the same, sickly white. He was also skin and bones. Excluding his bright purple eyes, he did not look like a god, especially an Olympian one. Built like a Greek God, people would say. Often others would joke like Hephaestus, but Hephaestus would joke like Hades.
"Are you blushing?" Persephone teased, standing close as she peered up at him.
"I do not believe I am," he murmured.
"Are you sure?" she asked, her currently yellow-green eyes twinkling.
"I would not know," he replied, even though he could feel the evident heat rising to his cheeks. "I could not say, for I cannot see my face. I will assume for now, I am not."
She skipped back from him as she sang, "Okay, we'll have it your way. Now, come on, it's time to have some fun!"
Hades rolled out the beach towels as Persephone put up the wind breakers, and Cerberus for once sat to one side and behaved. Well, behaved for Cerberus. He was still growling at people passing by. Not only were they staring at the three headed dog and the dead looking god—for, even if he didn't look like one, everyone still knew he was Hades—but they were staring at Persephone too. Hades evidently thought Persephone to be beautiful, more so than Aphrodite even, and had wondered why she didn't get even half the attention she deserved. Still, seeing people stare at her only when she was wearing something more revealing forced him to frown. If he had been a three headed dog, he would be growling too.
"What's that face for?" Persephone asked. "You were in a good mood earlier."
"I do not like the way they look at you," Hades admitted. He scowled at a man that was just passing, and the man's face paled before he hurried away.
"I don't like the way they look at you either," she admitted, watching as the man slipped on the sand as he ran away.
"And how do they look at me?" Hades questioned. She looked up at him but said nothing. Her eyes simply dulled. Answering for her, he said, "Like I am a monster."
"But you're not," she whispered. "You're a god."
"And you have just proved their point," Hades replied, sitting down on his beach towel. It was black just like everything else he owned. "Gods are monsters, with the exception of you, for you have never been given the chance to become one."
"So, you think I would be a monster if I had been given the chance?" Persephone asked as she knelt beside him on her own beach towel, which was green just like everything else she owned.
"I—of course not," Hades hurriedly replied, and Cerberus barked in agreement.
"Not all gods are monsters," Persephone declared as she started to rummage through her bag. "Hermes isn't. He takes me to the Underworld and doesn't tell a soul. Hecate isn't. She's a completely loyal secretary, the best in Neo-Macedonia. Even Mother isn't, even though she does forbid me from going outside. She's not a monster though, just ridiculously strict."
"I call restricting one's daughter's freedom is along the line of monstrous," Hades said. "But that may be personal opinion."
"She can still be nice. And she'll never be Zeus level," Persephone pointed put as she pulled her purse from her bag, something else she had told Hades she'd bought on her shopping trip with Psyche the other day. Hades shivered at the mention of his brother's name, and Persephone said, "Besides, you're not a monster. You're the kindest god I've met."
Hades hid his smile by turning his face away. "I think you have you and me mixed up."
"Oh, I do, do I?" Persephone asked. "You're the one that spirits me away to the Underworld, away from the confines of my home, to treat me to a life I've never had."
"A life you deserve," he said, and he turned his face back to her, letting her see his smile. "Yet, you are the one that gives me discounts on hot chocolates. Even Odysseus, I hear. I hope you will not become too friendly with him."
"Someone sounds worried," she teased, pinching his cheek before standing up. "Now, I'm going to get some ice cream, and you can stay here being all broody like you do best."
"It will be my pleasure," Hades replied, and he watched as she skipped down the beach. He lay back down on his blanket, eyes closed as he let himself relax in the sun, almost as if he was trying to get a tan. Impossible, no matter how much he tried.
Persephone came back, cautiously carrying two ice creams in one hand and her purse in the other. She handed one of the mint-green (also mint flavoured) ice creams to Hades, and the pair sat cross-legged on their towels as they watched Cerberus roll around in the sand. Once they'd finished,
Persephone urged Hades to help her build sandcastles, and he reluctantly agreed, only to have his knocked down by Cerberus. For someone who had never been to the beach before, Persephone had quite the talent for building not just sand castles, but a sand fort. Hades couldn't even get sand out of a bucket properly.
"Come on," Persephone then insisted as she leapt to her feet, unintentionally kicking over Hades' most recent attempt at building a sand castle. He frowned as it crumbled, and he decided it would be his final attempt.
"Come on what?" he asked as he sat back down on his towel.
She grinned as she pointed towards the ocean. "We can't come to the beach and not swim in the ocean."
"I only swim in the River Styx," Hades said, and when she raised her eyebrows he added, "That was a joke. I have a swimming pool."
"You have a swimming poolin the Underworld?" Persephone asked. "You've never taken me there."
"It is hardly ever used, and the water is…"
"Black?" she asked.
"Black," he repeated. "Besides… I am forbidden from stepping in the ocean. It is Poseidon's realm. That was not a joke."
Persephone put her hands on her hips as she stared down at Hades. "You didn't think about telling me before we went to the beachthat you can't step in the ocean."
Hades pulled his knees up as he stared back at Persephone and said, "I did not wish to disappoint you. And then I did anyway. I apologise."
"I guess I'll have to find a suitable punishment for withholding the truth from me," Persephone chortled, and Hades hugged his knees. He hugged them even tighter when she turned to Cerberus and demanded, "Cerberus, we need to dig a hole."
Hades helped them dig the hole, even though he knew it was tied to his own punishment. After a few minutes, he was sat in the hole, and Persephone was pushing the sand back on top of him. He dared not even twitch as she started to mould the sand she pushed on top of him. In no time at all, he was buried up to his neck, with the sand on top shaped to make him look like a mermaid. Persephone giggled and dug her phone out from her bag, so she could take a picture, and crouched next to him so she could take a selfie of them together—she was beaming, and he was frowning.
"You make a beautiful mermaid," she said, patting his sandy chest. "Come on, Cerberus. You'll go swimming with me, right?"
Hades couldn't avoid the lick on the face Cerberus gave him, seeing as he was currently trapped beneath the sand. He watched as Cerberus bounded after Persephone, towards the sea, leaving him stuck in the sand on his own. 'Stuck' was a loose word, though. Any person could burst out of the sand if they wanted too, and it would prove no hassle to a god.
There were a few mortals staring in curiosity at the half-buried God of the Underworld, and so Hades closed his eyes and ignored them. When someone sat atop him, Hades assumed it must have been Persephone. He opened his eyes, frowning when he saw, in the far distance, she was still splashing in the ocean with Cerberus, and the person on top of him was in fact Hermes, in white shorts, Hawaiian shirt, and gold sunglasses with wings on the side.
"Hermes?" Hades questioned. "Why are you sitting on top of me?"
"Why are you a mermaid?" Hermes questioned as he licked a bright gold ice cream.
"Punishment for not informing Persephone I could not set foot in the ocean," Hades replied. "Why are you sitting on top of me?"
"I needed your attention. Hello to you to, by the way," Hermes replied, and he took a massive bite of his ice cream. "I heard you were at the beach."
"You… heard?"
"People talk, you know," Hermes replied as he stood up yet, as he did, he pulled his legs up so instead he sat cross-legged in the air. This garnered even more attention from the mortals—speaking of which: "Especially mortals. They love rumours, you see, and there's a current one people are whispering that Hades, God of the Underworld, has picked up a girl."
"Picked up a girl?" Hades repeated. "What a derogative way to phrase it. I prefer to say I made a friend and so did she. I 'picked up' no one."
"That's not the point I'm trying to make," Hermes said, sighing before taking another lick of his ice cream. "What I mean is, you're not exactly being careful. If the mortals are going to start talking, the gods will too. Some gods like to stalk social media. I know those words are practically foreign to you, but I like a bit of internet browsing."
Hades sat up bolt upright, the sand falling around him. "I cannot let anyone know."
"Zeus will be in a right tizz if he finds out you've been spiriting Persephone away," Hermes said, tapping one finger against his ice cream cone and another against his knee. "You'll be in a lot of trouble. Tartarus, I'll be in a lot of trouble for helping."
"It is not me I am worried for," Hades replied, clambering out of the sand.
"You should be," Hermes remarked, nodding towards where Persephone was still in the ocean. She was no longer splashing in the water, instead watching Cerberus as he barked at her. "Poseidon is coming, and he's not going to be happy when he finds out another god has been chilling in his water."
"I think Cerberus was saying we needed to go back," Persephone said as she stumbled up the beach, Cerberus running after her. She blinked at Hermes and asked, "Hermes? What are you—"
"Yes, I told Cerberus to inform you that you needed to return," Hades interjected, and now she blinked at him.
"You can speak to Cerberus telepathically?" she questioned.
"Of course. He is my dog," Hades stated matter-of-factly. He reached out to grab Persephone's hands, who coughed at the touch, then he said, "Get behind me and do not say a word."
Persephone nodded and hid behind Hades as he'd told her too. He turned his attention to the water, as did Hermes, and the two gods watched as a third stepped out of the ocean.
Poseidon was here.
A/N:
Hey guys! I was meant to upload this a few days ago but some things came up. Anyway, I want to say that the *official* update day from now on will be the first of every month! Y'all have to hold me to that or I'll forget, haha. I know a month is a long time to wait, but I'll be starting work again soon (at a coffee shop like Persephone :P) and don't have much time on my hands amongst other things! I hope you enjoy the new character introduced at the very end!
Kate xx
Follow me on twitter ( Kate_Farron) for updates on other writing too :3
