Chapter Sixteen: Dinner With Aphrodite
"I had a wonderful time today," Persephone said as she beamed up at Hades when they stood outside the Underworld. He'd taken her around more of the city, and they'd had more pomegranate juice, and they'd even stopped to have some ice cream, where Hades once again reiterated he really did not like mint flavour.
As Persephone was preparing to head back home, there was a buzz in her pocket, and she pulled out her phone. As she frowned down at, Hades asked, "Is everything okay."
"Um, maybe not?" Persephone said as she stared at the contact name. Mum. Hades sucked in a breath, and Persephone hurriedly opened her text messages.
Demeter: Persephone, dear, Aphrodite has asked if we want to come to dinner tonight. I'm coming back a little earlier, around half past, so please be ready by then x
Persephone: Okaaaaaay will be x
Persephone quickly checked her phone. Ten past. Oh shit.
"M-mum's coming home early," she said. Dear Olympus was she really stammering? She really didn't want to be caught.
Hades took in another deep breath, then pulled out his own phone and dialled a number. "Thanatos? Yes, can you get Hermes for me? Immediately."
When Hades hung up his phone, he took Persephone by the hand and pulled her back across the bridge, past Cerberus and into the Underworld. As they approached a building (with a… dick drawn on the front door?) Hermes burst outside.
"I knew there was going to be trouble one day," he muttered. "You both owe me big time for this."
"I will see you soon," Hades said to Persephone.
"I'll see—" she started, but Hermes grabbed her by the waist before she could finish, and suddenly they were flying through the air.
As soon as they landed outside, Persephone pulled out her phone to check the time. Twenty past. She flung open the front door and cried, "Mother is so going to kill me!"
"Quieten down," Hermes said as he hung around in the doorway, pulling up his legs so he hovered cross-legged in the air. "She won't know you weren't here."
"But I only have ten minutes to wear something nice!"
"Isn't what you're wearing already nice!"
"Hermes, this is date nice, not dinner nice. Please learn the difference."
"I only wear the same hoodie and the same pair of shorts. I'm not gonna pretend I'm any good at fashion," Hermes said, waving a hand at his name, printed across the front of his hoodie in Greek letters. "Anyway, I gotta leave before Demeter gets back, or she'll question why I'm not at work, and things will look real sus. Good luck with dinner and whatever. And I really mean it when I say you owe me."
"Oh, thank you," Persephone said, and she flung her arms around him to pull him into a tight hug. "What would I do without you?"
"Get grounded for life, probably," Hermes said as he peeled her off. "No hugs, I have enough of those from Dionysus and I'm not a hugging person. Now I really have to go. Thanks for the early finish, though."
He patted her on the head then took off into the air and disappeared. Persephone checked the time, swore, then hurried inside and slammed the front door. Only a few minutes to get herself looking nice before Demeter came home.
When Demeter did arrive at home, she found Persephone sat on the sofa, in a nice dress, smiling innocently. Demeter smiled back.
"You didn't have to dress up so much," Demeter said. "We are only visiting Aphrodite."
Persephone kept smiling. "But I wanted to though."
Demeter left the room to get changed from her usual work attire, and Persephone sighed. Olympus, dammit. She had put so much effort into getting herself glammed up in the past ten minutes, and it was all pointless! Well, not pointless. Time for a good selfie to send to Hades and the Cassie's Coffee girls.
She got an immediate response from Psyche, saying she looked cute. It was only when she and Demeter were walking to Aphrodite's—Demeter refused to get a car, and Persephone never got the chance to get a licence—that she got a reply from Hades.
Hades: You look wonderful. xx
Persephone: Aw, thank you. I hope Aphrodite likes it!
Hades: Aphrodite?
Persephone: Oh yeah, didn't I say we were going to Aphrodite's for dinner.
Hades: Good luck.
Hades: xx
Persephone: I don't need good luck to see Aphrodite, but thanks anyway xx
Hades didn't reply to this. Probably busy with work.
"Kore, dear," Demeter said. "Don't distract Hermes from work. He gets in enough trouble as it is."
"My bad," Persephone said as she slipped her phone back into her clutch bag, because of course her dress didn't have pockets. Also, of course, Demeter thought she was texting Hermes. In Demeter's eyes, Hermes was Persephone's only friend.
It wasn't a long walk to Aphrodite's. Persephone knew Aphrodite lives close by, from how often she visited Demeter on the weekends. Persephone never really stuck around to talk to Aphrodite whenever she visited, so she didn't know her very well, but she at least knew Aphrodite was perhaps the only goddess in the pantheon that Demeter would willingly invite over for dinner. Well, at least the only Olympian; Demeter barely has anything nice to say about the others, excluding Hermes, who she was nice to for Persephone's sake.
Like Persephone and Demeter, Aphrodite lived in a large, snazzy house. She even had tons of plants growing outside, though, unlike Demeter's various green and non-flowering plants, Aphrodite's were explicitly all roses. There were also lots and lots of doves. There were so many, Persephone was worried her lovely dress was going to get shat on, and she held up a hand above her head as if it was going to protect her.
The person who answered the door was a voluptuous blonde woman, with bright pink eyes and matching lipstick. Her pink dress was so sheer, it was practically see through and you could see basically everything. Persephone was finding it pretty damn hard to keep her focus on the woman's face, but then again, this was Aphrodite. The point of her dress was for people to not look at her face.
"Demeter, my lovely," Aphrodite said, and she immediately brought Demeter in for a kiss. "And little Kore too!"
Aphrodite also gave Persephone a kiss, leaving her a little startled. Demeter was not startled by Aphrodite's affection at all.
"It's so good to finally have you visit, Kore," Aphrodite said as she led Persephone and Demeter into her house, which was mostly pastel coloured and a lot different from Persephone's place. "Demeter tells me about you all the time."
"I'm sure she does," Persephone said, and she had to hold back a grimace at the use of her birth name. Sometimes she forgot she was meant to be Kore.
Aphrodite led Persephone and Demeter to the living room, which was decorated with roses and swords, and had a shelf in the corner with an overflowing box of work tools. An interesting combination, to say the least. There were also canvas prints of Aphrodite in quite provocative attire hanging over the sofa.
"Ares! Hephaestus!" Aphrodite called. "Come say hello to Kore!"
A moment later, a man poked his head through the living room door. Persephone has never personally met Ares, but she had seen him at a distance at one of Zeus' parties, which were held once every year and was the only time Persephone was allowed out. He was incredibly tall, and incredibly large, and could probably snap anyone in two by just prodding them. Always in his leather waistcoat, with tattoos along his arms and a red mohawk, he definitely looked like the type of guy you never wanted to mess with.
"Who the hell is Kore?" Ares asked with a scowl.
"Demeter's daughter, silly," Aphrodite said, undeterred by Ares' expression as she waved a hand at Persephone, who most certainly wasn't undeterred by Ares' expression.
Ares only scowled at her even more, just as another man poked his head through the doorway, right below Ares. Hephaestus had brown skin and black hair, pulled back into a loose, messy bun, with a bushy beard to match. He had a similar fashion sense—beard included—to Odysseus, with a vest shirt and knee length shorts, though where Odysseus wore shorts because he spent a lot of time outside, Hephaestus wore them to show off his metal left leg.
"Aphrodite," Hephaestus said sternly, "you know not to disturb us on our day."
"We can't build Lego spaceships if you keep harping at us," Ares said.
"Ares, manners," Hephaestus said.
Ares sighed deeply, then grumbled, "Sorry. We would like some peace and quiet. To build spaceships."
"Sorry for disturbing you," Aphrodite said, and she blew a kiss towards them. Ares grunted, got elbowed in the side by Hephaestus, then blew a kiss back before disappearing.
"Thank you," Hephaestus said to Aphrodite, then he nodded at Persephone to acknowledge her, and he disappeared after Ares.
"Those two won't ever change, will they?" Demeter asked as she brushed down her skirt and settled down on one of Aphrodite's many fluffy pink sofas.
"Boys will be boys," Aphrodite said with a shrug. "Don't ever interrupt then when playing with Lego."
"I didn't take Ares for the Lego type," Persephone said.
"Oh, those boys love their Lego. It's their favourite bonding activity," Aphrodite said,
"I didn't think they'd get along that well," Persephone admitted, and she also didn't think she'd ever see one short burly man and one super tall burly man also being into building spaceships from Lego.
"Oh, of course they get along. They're brothers!" Aphrodite said, and she beamed as she talked about them. "They may be complete opposites, but they do have some things in common; they're both dorks and they're both completely and utterly in love with me. Now, enough of that. It's time to bring out the ambrosia and have a bit of a gossip."
Persephone's eyebrows rose. "We came all this way for a bit of a gossip? Can't you do that over the phone?"
"But gossiping about Hera isn't as fun over the phone as it is over a glass of ambrosia," Aphrodite said, and she smiled slyly at Demeter, who smiled back, and Persephone blinked. She had never taken her mother for a gossip.
"What exactly has Hera done to the two of you?" Persephone asked.
"She slut-shamed me, and she single-shamed your mother," Aphrodite said, and she flicked some strands of hair over her shoulder. "She could at least make her mind up, for Olympus' sake. She just can't accept the fact that I'm happily polyamorous and she's upsettingly not."
And so, they did have a bit of a gossip over some ambrosia—well, Aphrodite and Demeter did, Persephone stuck to soda—and soon it was ready for food. Aphrodite led Persephone and Demeter to the dining room, where Eros was setting the table. Like his mother, he was blonde with bright pink eyes. He wore booty shorts and fishnets, showing off the tattoo on his thigh—roses in the pansexual flag colours. He had a tattoo of a heart being shot with an arrow on his neck too, and Persephone figured he could bond over his love of thigh tattoos, hearts, and shorts with Psyche one day.
"Eros, can you please fetch your fathers," Aphrodite said. "And your brothers too, wherever they all are."
"Yes, but if Dad bite my head off for disturbing his Lego building, I'm not the one to blame," Eros said, and he kissed Aphrodite on the cheek before he drifted from the room. Though he did pause to wink at Persephone, and she automatically giggled. Demeter frowned a little, and Persephone turned her attention to the table, as if she hadn't been staring at Eros at all. He was unfairly pretty, just like his mother.
"Anyway, I'm going to pop to the bathroom before we eat," Demeter said. "Save me a seat."
A moment later, when Aphrodite and Persephone were sat down, and Persephone kept drooling at the sight of all the food on the table, someone else finally arrived in the room. Harmonia took one look at Persephone and smiled brightly.
"Good afternoon, Persephone," she said. "I did not expect to see you so soon."
Aphrodite leant forward against one elbow and raised an eyebrow at Persephone. "Persephone? You know each other?"
Harmonia nodded. "Oh yes, we met when Eris and I—"
"We don't know each other!" Persephone blurted. "I mean, when would I, Kore, ever be able to meet each other, when I don't leave the house? Because I never leave the house. Obviously."
Persephone laughed nervously. Oh shit. Oh shit.
"Oh, um, yes," Harmonia said, and she still smiled brightly, though her eyes widened slightly. "I have never met Perse—Kore ever."
Welp. Persephone would quite like to die, thank you. At least then no one could stop her from going to the Underworld.
"Harmonia," Demeter said when she'd returned. "It's good to see you."
"You too," Harmonia said, and still she smiled.
Aphrodite sat up straight, and said, "Yes, I was just introducing Harmonia to Kore."
"Yes, because this is the first time we have met," Harmonia said. Bless her soul. Persephone knew Harmonia's domain was meant to be harmony and order, and therefore she only told the truth, so lying so directly must have been exhausting. In fact, she even yawned, but thankfully Demeter had turned her back to go and sit down.
And bless Aphrodite too, for not giving the secret away. Still, Persephone's heart hammered in her chest, and she couldn't stop thinking oh shit oh shit. She'd been found out, at least not about her trips to the Underworld, but her trips outside at least.
It was hard to continue smiling during dinner, even when Ares and Hephaestus properly introduced themselves, and even when Aphrodite's and Ares' other sons introduced themselves, and even when Dionysus said hello. Wait, Dionysus? That really was Dionysus, sat between Phobos and Deimos, Aphrodite's and Ares' fifteen-year-old twins.
Phobos and Deimos looked like their father and nothing like their mother, just like how Eros and Harmonia looked like their mother and nothing like their father. Dionysus looked pretty odd sat between them. They had bright red hair and squared jaws like Ares, and also dressed like punks too. Dionysus was a lot more delicate, with long flowing hair, and an equally as long and flowing skirt, which he smoothed down before taking his seat.
He didn't look like the type to be friends with Phobos and Deimos, but, according to Aphrodite, that was what he was there for. Persephone supposed maybe it was hard being a fourteen-year-old god to try and find friends his age. Persephone, as one of the youngest of the pantheon at only twenty-three years old, knew full well what that was like. Even Hermes still struggled being so young, and he was thirty-four.
After dinner, where Persephone had barely said a word, Aphrodite pulled Persephone aside and said, "How about we meet up again during the week, when Demeter is at work?"
Persephone grimaced. Oh shit. She couldn't meet up during the week, because that was when she had work! Unless it was a Friday, but that was either Hades' day or Psyche's and Arachne's day…
"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell Demeter anything if you don't want me to," Aphrodite whispered.
"I can… I can do Thursday afternoon…" Persephone muttered.
"Good," Aphrodite said, and she patted Persephone on the shoulder before pulling her back over to where Demeter was chatting to Ares and Hephaestus. "Demeter, my lovely, your Kore is so precious. I wish I could keep her."
"Unfortunately, I can't let you," Demeter said, and she chuckled slightly. "It is about time we start heading home."
Aphrodite sidled up to Demeter and linked her arm through hers. "Kore can head home, but why don't you stay the night? It's been forever since you, Ares, and I have had a little fun. Ares wants you to stay too, right, Ares?"
Ares snorted. "I'm not saying shit in front of Demeter's daughter."
Persephone's mouth was probably hanging open right then as she stared at her mother. She knew Demeter and Aphrodite were basically best friends, all things considered, but had they really… and with Ares?
Aphrodite's gaze flickered over to Persephone and she winked, and Persephone gulped and said, "Sure, I'll be fine at home one night by myself."
"But who's going to take Persephone home…" Demeter said.
"I can, if you want," Hephaestus offered. "I won't have anything else to do this evening if you're all occupied."
"Or I can," someone else said, and all the adults turned around to find Dionysus stood not too far from them. "I'm about to head home myself, so I can walk Persephone back first. It's only through Mount Olympus, so nothing much can go wrong, anyway."
Everyone turned to stare at Demeter, who scrunched up her nose for a moment, sighed, and then smiled slightly. "Oh, all right, if you insist."
Okaaay then, Persephone thought.
In the end, the adults relented in letting Dionysus walk Persephone home, even though he was only fourteen. Though, just as they were about to leave, Eros rushed over and stuck his head out the front door.
"Say hello to Hermes for me!" he yelled at Dionysus. "And make sure he knows he's welcome anytime!"
"Oh, he knows," Dionysus said coolly, "but he doesn't care."
"Ouch, my poor heart," Eros said.
"Leave them alone," Aphrodite said as she pulled her son back inside. She then blew a kiss to Persephone and Dionysus, and finally the front door closed.
As Persephone and Dionysus left the garden, Persephone said, "I like your skirt, by the way. It suits you."
"Oh, thanks," Dionysus said. "I guess you can call it one of my girly days."
"One of your girly days?" Persephone said. "Like, you're genderfluid? I think Hermes said something about that."
Persephone had met Dionysus once briefly, when he'd been around Demeter's house with Hermes, but they'd never had a chance to talk properly. The most she knew about him came from Hermes, who she knew was Dionysus' guardian.
"Not genderfluid, but a little genderqueer definitely," Dionysus said. "You know, Hermes has said some things about you too. Says you go by Persephone when the other gods aren't around."
Olympus, dammit, Hermes! He wasn't supposed to say that!
Persephone grimaced, and Dionysus shrugged. "I'm not going to tell anyone, especially if it's going to get Hermes in trouble too. I've caused him enough trouble already. I assume he told you about the Midas thing?"
"Oh boy, he did," Persephone said. "He hasn't told me anything about Eros, though. What was up with that?"
"Nothing much," Dionysus said. "They dated for a bit, and Eros can't get over it. Hermes refuses to get back together."
"Hermes dated Eros?"
"Yeah. Hasn't he told you?"
Persephone was already pulling out her phone to text Hermes, so she didn't quite catch what Dionysus had said.
Persephone: You've dated EROS?
Hermes: Who the hell told you that?
Persephone: Dionysus!
Hermes: Dammit, Dio.
A/N
Finally, Aphrodite gets reintroduced in this rewrite, and we get to see the whole family and some more of Dio! Sorry for the late update, work has been pretty busy orz. I promise we'll get back to Minthe later :)
Blake
