Chapter Ten: A Walk in the Park

CW: mentions to being underweight

As Hades was never tired, he was always a morning person as a result. He rarely spent extra time in bed, not even to relax, as he preferred to relax in a warm bath. Specifically, a warm bath, as it was pleasant to feel a different temperature for once, instead of the Underworld's usual coldness.

So, whenever Cerberus attempted to leap up onto his bed to wake him up, Hades was already awake.

"Cerberus, please," Hades said, arms crossed as he stood at the foot of his bed.

Cerberus lounged across it with his legs stuck up in the air. He blended into Hades' bed sheets, because, of course, the sheets were black like everything else Hades owned. The only spot of colour in his room was the rack of purple ties in the corner.

His room was rather… scarce. Just a bed, the usual drawers, a wardrobe, and a small shelf with some old books, on top of which sat his helmet of invisibility. It was about time he dusted it; it was losing its shine.

Scooping his phone up from his bedside table, Hades headed to his en suite, meaning to check for the daily list of tasks that Hecate usually prepared in advance. That was there, as expected, but he paused with his hand on the door handle as he saw another message.

Persephone: Good morning! Hope you have a good day today xx

Hades smiled as he slipped into his en suite—black like everything else—though he did wonder as to why Persephone was up so early. She did not strike him as an early bird. He sent her a good morning message back, then looked into his mirror. Even his pyjamas were expensive, made from black silk, and his slippers had not been cheap either. He did not like tying his hair back, but he had to braid it when going to bed. Long hair and bed head were an atrocious combination.

Once he'd untied his hair, and was in the midst of brushing it, his phone buzzed. Putting down the brush, he checked to see there was another message from Persephone.

Persephone: You're up early too, so you can't say much!

Hades: I am sure I mentioned before I do not need much sleep. Besides, I must get ready for work.

Persephone: That's why I'm up! Opening shifts at work on Thursdays! That means I get the afternoon to do whatever I want before Mother gets back home xx

Hades: Ah, I see. Then we could meet up this afternoon if you would like.

Persephone: I would LOVE that xx

Hades: Then I will come up with a plan as I work. I must leave you now, for I need a bath. Do not let me get you distracted.

He put down his phone, then returned to getting undressed. After nearly folding his shirt and leaving on top of the toilet seat, he looked back in the mirror and frowned. Perhaps the reason he dressed 'flashy' was to disguise how dissatisfied he was with himself physically. He ran a finger over his terrible pronounced collarbone. He may have been a god, but that did not make keeping an ideal weight easy.

Hades had always been skin and bone, always insecure about how underweight he was. Hecate was not much better, being almost as slim as he was, but she never seemed bothered by it. She was always called beautiful and dangerous, whilst he was sickly and terrifying. Oh, how the beauty standards differed depending on one's gender, though he was unsure as to who the standards were more unfair on.

Another buzz from his phone pulled him from his thoughts, and he checked to see Persephone had replied, wishing him a good day at work. He wished her a good day too, and then frowned and sent another message.

Hades: I have something to inquire. What do the 'X's mean?

Persephone: They're kisses, silly. It means I like you.

Hades: Ah. I see. Have a good day, then.

In fact, he didn't see at all. Still, he paused and typed out another quick message.

Hades: xx

Once he was washed and dressed, Hades finally coaxed Cerberus from the bed. Hades quickly smoothed out his sheets, then headed to the kitchen. Hecate was already there, in her usual three-piece suit, leaning against the kitchen island.

It was highly irritating, but the rest of the pantheon had somehow led themselves to believe Hades and Hecate were romantically involved, even though she was not quiet about her lack of romantic attraction and desire. It was due to the fact they still lived together, as they had done for centuries. Platonic roommates, Hecate referees to themselves as, if she was not busy calling Hades her younger brother.

It may not have been true, but he saw himself more her brother than Zeus' or Poseidon's.

In one hand she held a mug of coffee, and in the other she held a pen as she poured over that morning's paper. When Hades came to stand opposite her, she spun the paper around, handed him the pen, and said, "Help a goddess out."

It was the daily sudoku, and Hades jotted down a few numbers before spinning the paper back around and saying, "I am sure you can ha sleep the rest."

"Sweet," she said, pausing to take a sip of her coffee before she took the pen back. "What's on your mind?"

"Work," he said. Always work.

"Yeah, but you've got this little frown on," she said, putting down her coffee so she could lean over and flick him between the eyebrows. His frown only deepened. "You don't usually frown about work this early in the morning, You're thinking about something."

"It is standard to think about something," Hades said as he headed around the island to her side, where the sink was on the counter behind her. He helped himself to a glass of water. It was the only thing he would drink before heading to work, where he would have his favourite pomegranate yogurt for breakfast.

"But what are you thinking about?" Hecate persisted. She would keep persisting until he finally told her. In the end, he always told her everything. After all, he was more her brother than Zeus' or Poseidon's.

"This." Hades pulled out his phone and opened his conversation with Persephone. As she sighed and dropped her pen, he added, "I was wondering what she meant."

"The 'I like you' part, or the kisses?" Hecate asked as she scrolled back through his texts. "For the love of Tartarus, you are so emotionless in these texts. You have no charm."

"I do not see how I went wrong," Hades said, looking over Hecate's shoulder. Since she was currently barefoot, she was no longer taller than him, as she was when wearing her stilettos. "It is how I text everyone."

"Trust me, I know," Hecate said. "You send me to sleep every time I read one."

Hades frowned, and he ignored Hecate's whines as he plucked his phone from her hands. "If you are going to be rude, I will not ask for your help in the future."

"All right, all right, calm down," Hecate said, and she spun around then lifted herself up onto the kitchen island. "Kisses in texts are just an affection thing, but don't think too much into it. Affection can be platonic, you know. I send Nyx kisses all the time."

"You do not send them to me," Hades said. She mostly insulted him in her text to him, and used strange faces made out of different characters that she called 'emoticons'. It was much the same as how she talked to him in real life. She was, perhaps, the only one he let get away with it. Apart from Nyx. Erebus too. They did not count.

"I can send you kisses if you want," she said, picking her pen back up so she could add another number to her sudoku. Even at an awkward angle, her writing was still flawless. "Just don't send them back. It will be weird. And don't send them to anyone else. They'll think you got soft and your reputation as scary Underworld king will be ruined."

"But I can send them to Persephone, yes?" he asked. "I am dating her."

"Yes, send them to Persephone, you dope," Hecate said as she hopped off the counter. "Now, I need to go and do my makeup and nails. Can't go to work looking like a corpse."

Hades frowned. He went to work looking like a corpse every day.

Hecate patted his shoulder before strutting away. A second later, she spun around and said, "And no meeting up with Persephone! You have work this afternoon!"

It was at that moment Cerberus plodded into the kitchen, and Hades gave Hecate one of his rare smiles. "Yes, but Cerberus always needs a walk."

At the word 'walk', Cerberus leapt at Hecate, who was the closest to him. She groaned as she pushed the excited dog down and said, "Fine."

#

Persephone was lucky she always brought a spare pair of clothes to work, otherwise she would have had to go on a date in her uniform. She needed a spare pair of clothes, otherwise walking back home through Mount Olympus would have gotten some pretty odd looks.

The dog park was named Kuon Park, which quite literally translated to 'dog park'. Though there had been some chatter lately about potentially changing the name. Just as those in the West would use the term for a female dog to belittle a woman, people were getting in the habit of using 'kuon' as the same.

There wasn't really anything special about the park itself. There were walls and gates to keep the dogs from running away, and a few climbing frames for bored children to play on. There was an old ice cream truck in one corner (it was n desperate need of repair), and the newer more popular one in the other (it didn't sell as good ice cream).

Then, of course, there was the shrine in the centre dedicated to Hecate. For some reason, the people liked to associate dogs with her. Persephone snapped a picture of the statue in the centre, that looked nothing like Hecate, and sent it to the aforementioned goddess. Hecate had simply replied with a bung of laughing emojis.

Persephone sat down by herself on a bench, pulling out her phone. She sent Hades a quick text to tell him she was already there, and it wasn't long before she got a reply.

Hades: I am in front of you.

Hades: xx

Persephone smirked at his last message. He was meant to be a super intimidating king of the Underworld, and he barely understood how relationships worked. He was trying though, and it just made him even more adorable.

Hades was stood across the path from her, with Cerberus' leash wrapped around his hand. She grinned at him, and he smiled back, though his smile quickly vanished when Cerberus started yapping. As Cerberus tried to bound towards Persephone, pulling a startled Hades behind him, Persephone giggled. Hades and Cerberus were getting enough looks as it was (a three-headed dog would do that) and now they were getting even more looks from how loud Cerberus was being.

Persephone hopped off her bench and skipped over, first kneeling down to pet each of Cerberus' heads as all three of his tongues licked her face. At the same time, Hades knelt down to unclip Cerberus' leash.

When they stood back up, Persephone linked her arm through Hades' and asked, "Too afraid to come up and say hello?"

"I… you… you were peaceful," Hades murmured. "I did not wish to disturb you."

"We're supposed to be hanging out today. You're meant to disturb me," she teased, pinching his cheek. Cerberus was bounding away, though Hades was too focused on Persephone to notice. In fact, most of the people in the park were too focused on Persephone to notice a literal three-headed dog, and Persephone gasped as she said, "Is it okay for me to be seen with you in public? Mother can't know—"

"Do not worry," Hades said, and he smiled at her before fixing his attention on the closest people to them. He didn't frown, but they scurried away, nonetheless. "Remember when I told you about my helmet of invisibility, and how I do not need to be wearing it for it to take effect? You are not invisible right now, but I can use my magic to mask who you are. People can try taking a photo, but they still won't be able to identify you."

"Oh," Persephone said, and she let out a long, long sigh. She really didn't have to worry about anything when with Hades, and it was ridiculously nice for a change. "At least someone respects my privacy. Every time I've met another god, apart from Hermes, they never have. Always asking too many questions. You Underworld gods aren't the same as the Olympians."

"Yes, but I did ask you plenty of questions the last time you visited the Underworld," Hades said, wearing his signature frown. "I apologise if I was out of place."

"Oh, no," Persephone said, giving Hades' arm a squeeze. "You totally had my permission to ask questions. I mean, it was an interview for next god of the Underworld. And you asked questions you're supposed to ask someone you're dating. Some of the other gods, though, they ask way too personal questions."

She shuddered at the thought. Zeus was the worst, by far. He'd been around for dinner once, and Persephone had almost become a stammering mess whilst he'd been severely inquisitive. Demeter had been a normal, courteous host whilst Zeus was there. As soon as he was gone, and when Persephone was supposed to have been out of ear shot, that was when Demeter started cursing Zeus every name under the damn sun. Only Persephone understood why the gods' harvest had been terrible the following week. The rest of the pantheon had simply accused Demeter of being lazy.

For a moment, something dark flashed across Hades' face, and his arm stiffened in Persephone's grasp. It was brief but had been noticeable enough to make Persephone press her lips together in anticipation of whatever was to come.

"I am familiar those gods, and the dirty things they do," he said, quietly but firmly. Particularly those gods and not my family, as if Zeus and Poseidon weren't his brothers. "If any of them attempt to bother you, they will have me to answer to."

Persephone's heart fluttered. Hades spoke with such a severe sincerity that Persephone immediately knew he couldn't be lying. He really would have the other gods answering to him if they tried anything funny with her. She almost felt like crying.

Actually, she genuinely was going to start crying. Crap, crap, crap. Her eyes were actually stinging, and her throat was tickling, and for the love of Olympus she absolutely could not start crying in front of such a prolific god as Hades, and only on their third date too.

Thankfully, Hades was too busy yanking his arm free from hers to notice her almost tears. He hurried away, yelling, "Cerberus! Cerberus get down! We are not here to terrorise the others!"

As Hades ran over to where Cerberus was terrorising some smaller dogs, Persephone took the opportunity to take a deep breath and wipe her eyes. Blimey, that could have been embarrassing. Though, not as embarrassing as being the scary god of the Underworld and having to apologise to a mortal dog owner because your three-headed hell hound was terrorising their Pomeranian.

"Everything okay?" Persephone asked as Hades dragged Cerberus back over.

"Yes, fortunately," Hades said. "I have told the owner to expect good fortune to come their way to make up for Cerberus' actions. They will stumble across some forgotten money on the ground soon enough."

"You can get people to just stumble across money?"

"I am the god of riches," Hades reminded her, and he held the leash out to Cerberus. "Rewarding mortals in such a way is easiest for me. Not that I do it often."

"Because you still have a scary reputation to uphold," Persephone said with her hands behind her back as she skipped forward.

"Precisely," Hades said, putting the leash away when Cerberus sat down and bowed all three heads to apologise for his behaviour.

"Well, you could never scare me," Persephone teased, and she slipped her arm back through Hades' when he caught up to her.

As they strolled side by side, with Cerberus at their feet, all the mortals kept staring. They were absolutely wondering who in Tartarus was the woman hanging off Hades' arm. If Hades hadn't been able to disguise her, she probably would have fainted from all the attention, but since no one could possibly recognise her, she giggled instead. Hades' secret girlfriend was going to be the talk of Olympus, and no one would know it was her.

It was only a moment later that Persephone spotted a familiar face not too far from them and called out, "Odysseus!"

Odysseus was a tall, brown man with an athletic build, though his skin wasn't as dark as Persephone's own. His dark, dreadlocked hair was dyed blue at the ends, as was his beard, and he stood with a kind of suave that only a goddess' chosen one could. At his feet was a large, grey, lupine dog called Argo, who wasn't nearly as badly behaved as Cerberus was. It was rare for Odysseus to bring Argo to Cassie's Coffee with him, but, whenever he did, all the girls made some sort of excuse to talk to Odysseus as he sat outside, all so they could pet the very good dog.

"Persephone," Hades said quietly. "There's a reason I'm disguising you right now. We're supposed to be keeping your identity a secret."

"Oh, but it's only Odysseus," Persephone said, giving Hades' arms a squeeze. "We can trust him. I mean, he did basically introduce us."

"Athena is also his patron goddess," Hades said. "Have you met Athena? If she wants to know something, she will get her way."

Persephone had actually met Athena. She'd come for dinner once and had been possibly one of the most arrogant people Persephone had ever met, even more so than Zeus. Every other time Athena came for dinner, Persephone tried to make herself as scarce as possible. Not that it was hard. Athena probably visited Demeter only once every year.

"But it's still only Odysseus. We can totally trust him," Persephone said, even though Odysseus was well known amongst his fellow mortals to be a crafty man.

"If you insist," Hades said, and as Odysseus reached them, he added, "Odysseus, it is good to see you."

"Lord Hades, it's been a while," Odysseus said, first nodding to Hades before he turned to Persephone. His frowned for a moment, then said, "Persi, is that you? I almost didn't recognise you. Maybe it's because your hair is down."

His eyes flickered over her hair, and he must have been wondering how on Olympus did she appear to have twice at much hair when it was down than when it was up (magic, of course). She simply smiled, pressing a finger to her lips, and she said, "You're not supposed to recognise me. My meetings with Hades are meant to be a secret."

"Ah, so when I recommended Cassie's Coffee, you ordered a little more than just a coffee?" Odysseus said.

"Actually, I ordered a hot chocolate," Hades said as he nudged Cerberus away from Argos with his toes. The two dogs were already frowning at each other. Even now they did not get along.

"A luxury hot chocolate," Persephone corrected.

"I did not. She gave me the cream of her own accord."

"Oh, I did, didn't I?" She giggled as she pressed up against Hades and squeezed his arm. "But I couldn't resist it. We like to give free stuff to those we want attention from."

Odysseus didn't need to know that the luxury got chocolate was really just a bribe so Hades wouldn't tell Demeter he'd seen Persephone outside of Mount Olympus.

Odysseus snorted. "You were instantly smitten with him?"

"Obviously," Persephone said, mustering the most dramatic eye roll possible. "He's the god of riches, why wouldn't I be?"

Odysseus didn't need to know that was a complete lie too. She might as well play up the fascinated mortal approach, to further herself from the truth of why she was dating Hades. If Odysseus thought Persephone was simply a ditsy human girl obsessed with a god, then he would never suspect she was truly a god herself. Well, he shouldn't suspect. Odysseus was a smart man, after all, but Persephone was positive she played a convincing mortal.

"You got quite the catch there, Lord Hades," Odysseus said, with a smirk in Persephone's direction. "And a beautiful one too. My wife would surely agree."

"Aw, that's a compliment coming from you," Persephone said, a hand pressed to her cheek as she fluttered her eyelashes up at Odysseus. It truly was. Odysseus was an incredibly handsome man, and his wife was incredibly beautiful too (she'd visited the coffee shop only the once, but Persephone had been fawning over her ever since).

Hades frowned when he looked between the flirting pair, but when Persephone fluttered her eyelashes at him instead, he smiled slightly. It was obvious he liked her constantly changing green eyes, but his bright purple ones were just as easy to get lost in.

Odysseus sighed when the pair wouldn't stop smiling each other, and he said, "Anyway, I must be returning to the wife. Besides, taking some time off for myself is a luxury these days. The Trojan gang are getting a little restless, and it's a pain to deal with. Word on the street is any day now there will be a war."

"A war between gangs?" Persephone squeaked, and now she wasn't squeezing Hades' arm out of affection. She clutched it tightly as she stared up at Odysseus. A war between gangs sounded awful.

"I am sure you will have nothing to worry about," Hades assured Odysseus. "As long as you keep your best men on you, you will have nothing to fear."

"Unfortunately, our best man is currently at a boarding school on Mount Pelion," Odysseus said. "Something about centaurs making better teachers. Anyway, good day to you, Lord Hades, Miss Persi."

"Don't get lost!" Persephone called out as Odysseus left. He had a tendency to get lost. It was how he'd found Cassie's Coffee in the first place.

After that, Persephone declared it was time to play with Cerberus. They were at a dog park, after all. Only, Hades hadn't brought any toys with him. In fact, he didn't own any. Persephone scolded him and said he must make buying Cerberus some toys a priority, then they went to gather some sticks instead.

"What do you think the other gods will say when they find out you've been seeing someone," Persephone said as Hades tossed one of the sticks forward, and Cerberus bolted across the grass after it. She hadn't been oblivious to the other park-goers that had been trying to sneak photos of her.

"They can't be any more bothersome then they are already about my relationship with Hecate," Hades said as Cerberus came running back. When Persephone frowned at him, he added, "Not a relationship like that. The pantheon is obsessed with pairing us together, when we're nothing about roommates. Whatever questions they ask me about you will not bother me, as long as your identity remains a secret."

"I wish it didn't have to." Persephone sighed. "I wish I was free to be whoever I wanted, and to see whoever I wanted, without having Mother worry too much."

"If you wish to tell your mother you refuse to remain a prisoner, I will be the first to support you," Hades said as he wrestled the stick from Cerberus' mouth. "Not even Zeus shall stop me."

"Maybe one day," Persephone whispered, tucking a dark curl behind her ear as Hades handed her the stick. When she threw it, it didn't go far, and Cerberus was back with the stick in only a few seconds.

As Hades tossed the stick again, he said, "Do not forget that if any of the gods ever try to bother you, they will have me to answer to. I would fight the entire pantheon for you if I needed to. That is a promise."

Persephone's heart fluttered again. No one had ever, ever said they would fight the entire pantheon for her. Not even Demeter, who preferred to keep Persephone hidden away from the other gods instead.

"You would?" Persephone asked.

"I would," Hades repeated, with the same severe sincerity he had spoken with before. He smiled down at her, and she grinned back up at him. They may not have known each other for that long, but she knew her heart was never going to stop fluttering when around him.

A/N

Hey! Hope you guys are holding up okay, and hope you enjoyed this chapter, and Odysseus! Anyone who remembers the old version of this story might recognise this chapter, as it was based on an older one! Stay tuned for next fortnight's chapter, which will introduce THREE new characters (all Underworld gods, if you want a hint!)

~Blake