II.
Aphrodite's Favor (Ares)
Aphrodite stood in his doorway smiling warmly at him. She wore a red sleeveless shirt and black jeans today as well as a pair of aviator sunglasses. Her hair was also brown, medium length and tied back in a ponytail. Her face was just as beautiful and perfect as ever. Ares looked her up and down wondering for what must have been the millionth time why she favored him above all others. He teased
"Stealing my look again huh?"
"Oh please. I know this is your favorite look." Aphrodite teased back, rubbing her hand across his forearm. She took off her sunglasses so he could look into her eyes. Ares did so and nearly kissed her right then and there but spoke instead.
"I do have a liking for red sleeveless shirts. I suppose I'll let you in" he said and stood aside to let her enter his quarters before looking up and down the hallway and closing the door. He turned toward Aphrodite, who was now sitting on his bed with her legs crossed looking quite at ease. Ares walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. She kissed his cheek and then took off his jacket to reveal the red muscle shirt he had on and started to rub his shoulders. His arms bore a few tattoos. One arm was a tattoo sleeve depicting Spartan warriors and fire and his other arm had tattoos of Eddie the Head, Vic Rattlehead, Sabaton's logo and the Painkiller motorcycle. A smirk played across Aphrodite's face. She must've seen him glance up and down the hallway, looking for Hephestus or someone else.
"What?" Ares asked. Aphrodite laid her head on his shoulder and looked up at him. Ares always felt a sense of calm and tenderness when she looked at him.
"How many times must I tell you that I love you the most? Over your brother especially." Ares furrowed his brow
"Which one? Zeus has many sons. And yet I'M the one who's the disappointment. I get yelled at for fighting in wars, mind you wars that I didn't even START, when I'm the damn GOD OF WAR. Of course I want to keep it going for a while! That's why I change sides, to help the underdogs at that moment!" Ares's eyes started to blaze with flames and his fists shook. Aphrodite placed her hand on his heavily scarred cheek and ran her thumb across his scars in an attempt to calm him. The fire in Ares's eyes was extinguished. He reached up and touched it, feeling her warmth. Aphrodite spoke
"Easy there Spartan. You know the one, I'm sure he gave up on me years ago anyway. I remember how handsome and fearsome you looked in your armor when I arrived on Olympus. And you still do, plus the scars make you more fearsome, even though you won't tell me how you got them. Can't you just will them to go away? Where did they come from?" Ares was hit by a sudden past memory. Something stuck out more than anything else. Pain. Immense pain. But he was sure it wasn't at Troy. That memory was more humiliating and infuriating than painful. He shook his head in response and said, rather harshly
"It's nothing." Aphrodite raised her eyebrows but chose not to pursue it at this time which Ares was thankful for. She often tried to get that information out of him but he always deflected it. She continued to caress his cheek and said
"Mhm. Anyway, the others don't know you like I do. Hera never asked me what I wanted, she just threw me at Hephestus. Just know I would have chosen you in a heartbeat" She leaned in to kiss him and Ares's mind recalled the day where Aphrodite arrived on Olympus as their lips touched.
Ares had been sitting on his throne in Zeus's palace in his old battle armor, minus facial scarring. The other Olympians had been present as well. Each had been minding their own business, save for Hera and Zeus who were, as usual, at each other's throats. Ares was busy polishing his shield but kept his ears open for any mention of his name by Zeus or Hera. He had a clear line of fire in case he had to hurl his shield at either of them. Poseidon, who was sitting nearby, told him,
"Don't worry, neither of them have mentioned you in the past 2 hours." Ares grunted in response. Poseidon seemed to take that as "thank you" and leaned back on his throne. Ares suddenly heard the sound of the palace doors opening and glanced in that direction. He had to do a double take and his mouth fell open in utter shock. His shield slipped off his lap and it clanged on the floor. Zeus looked over at the sound of it and said,
"Ares, what are you looking at?" Ares pointed toward the doors and tried to speak. The only words he could manage were
"D-doorway" Zeus looked puzzled but looked in the direction Ares was pointing and his eyes widened. In the doorway stood a woman of such breathtaking beauty that mere mortals would turn to ash or go insane upon looking at her. She was wearing a simple white dress and a delicate golden crown as well as golden earrings and a golden necklace. She was not wearing any footwear appearing as if she had walked out of the sea fully grown. Her hair was golden blonde and hung just past her shoulders. She looked around at the assembled Olympians but her gaze stayed upon Ares a few seconds longer than anyone else. He even thought she smiled at him. She spread her arms and said
"I am Aphrodite. Daughter of Ouranos. The Goddess of beauty" The female goddesses, Hera, Demeter, Athena and Artemis, looked at her in disgust but that was not the same for the rest. Ares found himself speaking, out loud...TO EVERYONE.
"Holy Hades she's beautiful. It would be my honor to marry you" The entire room looked in his direction. He didn't care however. He saw the way this woman, no goddess, looked at him. In fact, she was doing so just now looking politely puzzled but interested. Her eyes seemed to linger on Ares's muscular arms. Apollo broke the silence,
"You don't want him Aphrodite. Too violent. All brawns no brains"
"NO BRAINS! I'LL SHOW YOU NO BRAINS!" Ares roared in anger. Apollo smirked
"Oh? You about to point at your own head?" Ares hurled his shield at him. Thankfully Apollo had been chuckling at his own wit and didn't see the shield whizzing in his direction. It hit him in the face and he crumpled to the ground. Poseidon meanwhile had shouted to Aphrodite,
"It would actually be my honor to marry you." Zeus scoffed at him
"You are already married, brother. It would be my honor in the highest. After all, I am the King of the Gods" he retorted. It was Hera's turn to scoff
"You're already married!" she said. Zeus grimaced
"Dammit...er, I mean, of course dear." The gods proceeded to argue amongst each other for the hand of Aphrodite for several minutes. Apollo had recovered from Ares's shield throw and proceeded to offer himself to Aphrodite. Each of the male gods, minus Zeus, offered gifts in exchange for Aphrodite's hand in marriage. Poseidon decided that he didn't have a wife and offered many things. Apollo and Hermes followed suit. Ares couldn't think of anything that didn't involve stabbing things violently and instead attempted to catch Aphrodite's eye again. Eventually, a civil war was on the verge of breaking. Perfect. Ares knew that if it did resort to fighting, he'd be blamed because he ALWAYS was. Even when he was nowhere near the problem. Hera seemed to notice this as well and shouted
"ENOUGH. I will not have my family torn apart by such nonsense. As the goddess of family life and marriage, I believe it falls on me to pick a suitor for our new goddess. Right husband?" Hera turned towards Zeus, who flinched and said
"Of course dear. Proceed." Ares, desperate and out of options, decided to take a shot at complimenting his mother. Hoping that this would earn him some favor with her.
"I agree, mother. Might I add that you look lovely today? Who will take Aphrodite's hand in marriage" he said. Hera looked surprised at the compliment but regained her composure. Ares saw Athena look at him with a 'really?' sort of expression. He then looked toward Aphrodite again. There was no mistaking it this time, she was looking directly at him with a smile across her face. Ares's insides seemed to boil with excitement. Hera continued
"Aphrodite, you shall take the hand of my son..." Ares nearly fell out of his throne. There was no way. There was simply no way he would finally get something positive in his life. Aphrodite also looked pleased at Hera's words and started to walk in Ares's direction. Hera must have seen the glee in Ares's face and suddenly pointed towards another man quietly sitting in the shadows
"Hephestus!" Hera finished. Ares rage nearly exploded. You have GOT to be KIDDING me. Again?! WHY do they hate me so much?! He thought, but said, resentfully,
"Uh, right. May I ask why someone like that should be married to someone that looks like they fell off a mountain? Or rather, one that was thrown off said mountain by their own mother because she's a stupid..." Ares called Hera something that made everyone gasp in alarm. Hermes almost laughed at this. Aphrodite did laugh. Hera sneered at Ares. Normally that look would strike fear in many other men but Ares returned her displeasure with a leer of his own and cracked his knuckles. She said
"If you're going to speak to your mother like that boy, what's going to stop you from treating Aphrodite the same way?"Again with the "boy." Ares almost called a spear to him to hurl at his mother's face. Instead, he gestured towards Zeus with a 'you-call-this-guy-a-good-husband' expression on his face. She ignored him and continued
"She should get married at once lest the council be in chaos over her for who knows how long, right Zeus?" Zeus didn't answer. He was busy looking confused at Hera's choice. He looked from Aphrodite to Hephestus back to Aphrodite and finally to Ares. He frowned and mouthed something Ares couldn't make out. Had...had Zeus wanted Aphrodite to be with him? Hera smacked him on the back of his head
"Ow! I mean, yes. Of course. That's a wonderful idea" he said. Athena, who Ares expected to speak several minutes ago, stepped forward nodding in what Ares thought was cruel amusement
"I agree. I am the Goddess of Wisdom and I decree that Hephestus is the wisest choice for Aphrodite" Athena looked towards Ares intending to gloat with facial expressions but instead found him looking around the room at random. He even got up and looked behind his throne. Athena, annoyed, asked
"What are you doing?" Ares turned toward her and said sarcastically
"Oh me? Well, see, I'm trying to figure out who asked." Aphrodite laughed again. Poseidon, Hermes and Demeter (of all people) also stifled chuckles. Ares smirked at Athena but then remembered that Aphrodite was about to be married off to his brother instead of him and sat back down gritting his teeth in anger. Hephestus limped over to Aphrodite and took her hand. She looked disgusted. The rest of the gods assembled around them, but Ares remained sitting on his throne behind Zeus and Hera. Zeus began the typical marriage ceremony while Ares sat brooding. He thought of getting up and beating his parents to the ground, grabbing Aphrodite and fleeing from Olympus on his chariot. He now harbored new rage toward his mother. Hadn't he saved her from Hephestus once before? Apparently that wasn't a good enough reason for Ares to be happy. He got up and retrieved his shield which wasn't exactly a quiet task and Zeus boomed in his direction,
"Do you mind boy?!"
"Oh I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something? Don't mind me, you never do anyway" he answered bitterly before shoving his way past everyone else and returning to his fortress, intending to finish his shield polishing in peace. As soon as he arrived in his room he punched the wall so hard it cracked. Why, WHY was he constantly hated by everyone. They always act so surprised when they angered someone with the title "God of War." It's their own fault for pushing him to the breaking point. Half the time he just sits there in silence and someone decides to go "Hey! Let's piss Ares off! Sounds fun!" Ares sat upon his bed and began to furiously polish his shield muttering to himself. Eventually, it cracked in two. Snarling, he threw the two halves of metal against the wall where they made a loud clanging noise. Ares then proceeded to yell in rage. He thought a beautiful woman like Aphrodite would finally make him experience some sort of happiness as the rest of his fellow gods did. The only other times he actually felt happy were when mortals were fighting battles in his name and hanging out with his buddy Thanatos. He proceeded to spend the next few days alone in his room.
One day after doing nothing but being angry, he heard a knock at his door. Expecting it to be Apollo or Hermes coming to rub the Aphrodite situation in his face (again), he stomped over to the door and ripped it off his hinges while thundering
"WHAT." To his utter surprise, Aphrodite was standing there in the same dress and jewelry from a few days ago but now had a golden girdle attached around her waist. She looked at Ares and said
"Well, that's one way to open a door. May I come in?" She walked past, looking him up and down and sighed wistfully. Ares, still standing there, absolutely flabbergasted (wow, he knew what that word meant) that Aphrodite came to him. To him. He replaced the door and turned to Aphrodite who was sitting on the foot of his bed. Ares said
"What uh...what brings you here? You are married to my brother now no? The golden girdle is new too. Looks...looks nice on you" Aphrodite smiled at him
"You expect me, ME. A being of such beauty to be married to someone like that? Please. The first thing I had him do for me was to make me this girdle. Want to know why?" Aphrodite looked at him seductively in that last sentence and began to take off her jewelry. Ares struggled to answer as he watched.
"I suppose. Wh-why did he make you that?" The girdle proceeded to glow brighter and Ares found himself thinking about a multitude of things. He thought about killing Hephestus and taking Aphrodite's hand in marriage as well as forcing Zeus, at spear point, to marry them while the rest watched. He thought of dancing with Aphrodite on top of the corpses of those he slew in battle. He even thought of...well, other stuff. Aphrodite seemed to know what he was thinking and smiled at him. She got up off his bed and told him
"It makes me irresistible towards anyone I fancy. Here's the thing however, I liked you the most. I think I'll just decide to be with you instead of your gross brother. Don't you think so?"
"Yes ma'am." Ma'am? Since when did he use that term? Ares then found himself taking off his chest armor, although he did not remember telling his hands to do so. Regardless, his bare chest now shown in the soft light of his bedroom. Aphrodite walked over to him, her bare feet softly slapping against the floor. He looked down at the currias in his hand and tossed it aside before realizing Aphrodite was pressed against him, her leg raised so her knee was against his crotch. Ares forced his mind to think of battle and bloodshed...wait no, that won't help...he tried to think of something else...cheese...what? Why cheese? Unfortunately, nothing else came to mind. Aphrodite noticed him struggling and bit her bottom lip. She touched his perfectly chiseled chest and moaned softly. Ares failed to think of anything else but her. She moved her face towards his and went to lift his helmet. Ares reflexively recoiled and smacked his head on the wall.
"Ow..." He groaned but he saw her giggle and slowly reach toward his helmet again. This time he allowed her to lift it and touch his face. Ares looked in her eyes. He had never seen any other god look at him so lovingly before. Not any of his mortal lovers. Not his own mother. No one. She parted her lips and whispered,
"Perfect." She kissed him. Ares stood there letting her kiss him not knowing what to do for several seconds before realizing that Aphrodite was serious about wanting to be with him. He placed his arms around her upper back and held her close. Aphrodite reached behind him and locked his door then pulled him towards his bed.
Ares's mind returned to the present once again where he found himself kissing Aphrodite on the same bed. She pulled away from him and saw that he was actually smiling not because he was fighting in battle, but in genuine happiness. She swooned
"You thought of the day where I kissed you for the first time didn't you?"
"Maybe" Ares responded, the grin still across his face, "First time I was actually happy without driving a sword through someone's chest. What brings you here so early anyway? I thought our date was tonight?" Ares asked. Aphrodite ran her hand across Ares's left bicep, tracing the outline of a Spartan's helmet with her finger.
"I was in the neighborhood. What, I now need a reason to see the one I love?" she answered
"Nah, of course not. Why do we have to go out late tonight? Why not now?" he said. Aphrodite looked at him in confusion.
"You forget what day it is again Spartan?" she asked
"I may have. With the whole giant thing a few months ago and Apollo's trials or whatever. It's gotta be, what, October-ish?"
"It's the Winter Solstice" Aphrodite responded. Ares frowned. He was WAY off. Additionally, he was reminded of the time he was tricked by Kronos around the time of the Summer Solstice into almost starting a war. He wasn't looking forward to the meeting of the Olympians. At least Hades was going to be there this time. Hades often sat near him and they made fun of Zeus and Poseidon quietly...but it was mainly Zeus.
"Great," he complained, "Time to see what kind of nonsense I've apparently stirred up this time."
"Oh come on sweetie," Aphrodite kissed his bicep, "You've either been with me or at the gym or with Thanatos. What could Zeus blame you for?"
"You damn well know that he hates me. Thankfully, he realized that the Roman kid that sparked the fighting was Apollo's and not mine. Cause if it was, I'd be in Tartarus right now," Ares responded angrily. Aphrodite leaned against him and gently shushed him. He put his arm around her shoulders. He felt her press against him. Even after millenia, she still preferred him. After all of her partners, mortal and immortal, she always came back to him. Granted, he got extremely jealous after Aphrodite took up with anyone else but himself. That usually only happened when they were having arguments. One time, Ares got so jealous of one of her lovers, a man named Adonis, he sent a wild boar to kill him. He regretted this later after Aphrodite refused to talk to him or be near him for several months. She came back to him in the end however. Must've been his dashing good looks. Ares took another moment to remember the time Aphrodite and he were caught by Hephestus. That scumbag Helios tipped Hephestus off about their relationship and he had fastened a golden net to ensnare anyone who had relations in his bed. Ares and Aphrodite had sprung the trap after wanting to be "adventurous" and "naughty" one day. The net had ensnared their naked bodies and soon after, the rest of the Olympians came to laugh at the both of them. Ares rage that day would also go down in Olympian legend. He promised to flay Hephestus within an inch of his life and would never forget the look on Apollo's face as he laughed at him. Poseidon eventually paid off Hephestus to let them go. Ares was grateful for that and repaid Poseidon by not killing anymore of his children...well, except for that one time he dueled one and that was Kronos' fault anyways. Ares suddenly felt a soft slap against his cheek and turned toward Aphrodite
"Did you hear me?" She asked.
"Uh…" Ares responded, his mind still on the Golden Net Incident. He even thought of the time where they were almost caught in the net again at an amusement park in Denver. Aphrodite rolled her eyes
"I said, have you talked to your sister? She asks about you quite often. I saw her on my way here." Ares thought he had misheard her
"Why the hell would Athena ask about me? What, is she trying to get insights on my plans before I even execute them now? I thought you weren't that friendly with her anyway because she doesn't exactly like how 1. You aren't a virgin, 2. You actually make me happy and 3. SHE PUNCHED YOU IN THE FACE." Ares yelled that last line and gritted his teeth in fury. Athena had indeed punched Aphrodite in the face after she attempted to help Ares up after Athena knocked him out with a boulder at Troy. Aphrodite grabbed his face again and softly shushed him again. She even gave him another kiss.
"Calm down Spartan. I meant your other sister. Your twin sister" Ares felt as if he was run through with Hephestus' chainsaw.
"Enyo. Dammit" Ares punched his bed in frustration. Not many people are aware but Ares actually had a twin sister. Another goddess of war. She was just as bloodthirsty as he was (some would argue she was even more), often accompanying him into battle along with his immortal sons Phobos and Deimos. Ares hadn't had a chance to see her in the few months because of the 2 wars he had to fight in (both of which were not his fault mind you...although he ALMOST started one). The last time he did, he told her to defend his fortress on Olympus from all invaders. She happily agreed to. He hadn't seen or even visited her since. Ares looked at Aphrodite
"She's mad at me isn't she?" he asked, figuring he'd know the answer
"A bit. I'd told her you'd stop by before the Winter Solstice meeting on my way here. In fact, you should leave now."
"Oh? Is that what I should do? And who's gonna make me?" Ares smirked but Aphrodite smirked right back
"Me. You'll do pretty much anything I say Spartan because I know you so well." She kissed him once more and changed her outfit into something resembling Ancient Greek attire.
"I'll see you at the meeting. Then we can go dancing. You can break out those old bell bottoms if you want." Ares smirked. Believe it or not, before Ares was taught how to fight, he first learned how to dance and kept up with the skill throughout the years. Apollo had learned this fact about him the hard way after suggesting he and Ares have a dance off. Ares burned Apollo's shocked face into his memory forever after absolutely smoking him with his "frontflip into the moonwalk into a circle glide" move. He joked
"If I do that, then I get to call you Afro-dite all night right?" He began to laugh at his own joke. Aphrodite rolled her eyes but she still looked amused. She started to walk away and said
"Go see Enyo. She misses you. I love you. So much." Ares stopped laughing at his joke and responded
"Yeah. Love you too. Oh boy, she's gonna punch me in the face…."