I read somewhere that Dionysus and Hephaestus were friends, so enjoy this one-shot about them.
Just another day, another crazy event on Olympus, Hephaestus thought. Zeus had planned a council meeting, and all the Gods had to be present. It didn't matter what their rank was; they had to stand on the main square at six O'clock in the evening. Hephaestus never listened to people saying he had to be somewhere, and he rather would not come to an event where literally every God was present. He did not like it of that much people where around him.
He grabbed a hammer from the floor, and hammered on a piece of metal to get it flat. His mind was absent; he didn't know what he was going to make, but it didn't really matter. He could always give whatever it became to one of his demigod children. He had more important things to think about. Because, of course, if Zeus put in a letter that everyone had to be there, no excuses, than everyone had to be there, no excuses. Within five minutes after six 'O clock, a whole bunch of servants would stand by the door of his forge to try and force him to go to the mountain (and they would fail, you can be sure of that).
Hephaestus picked up the boiling hot piece of metal, and tried to knead it into something of worth. As the god of the forge, he didn't need any tools that mortals need for forming metal into the shape they wanted. After five minutes of kneading, he realised he had just been playing with it like it was a piece of play-dough. It didn't look like it 'was' anything. He put it down, and sighed deeply.
He heard something by the big, metal doors of his forge. One of them was being opened, and closed again after that. Hephaestus grabbed the piece of metal again. It was not a servant or hermes, than, those people never close the door. He heard someone walking through the workshop. He was coming straight towards the place where Hephaestus was working, so the god of the forge already knew who it was. 'Dionysus, I do not want to go to Olympus.' He heard someone chuckle, alongside someone accidentally running into a pile of wooden crates. 'You never want to go to Olympus.'
Hephaestus clipped the light on of the area of the workshop were Dionysus should be. The wine god was putting some screws back into one of the wooden boxes. 'Those screws belong in the third box from under,' He remarked. Dionysus rolled his eyes.
'Do they?' he walked over to Hephaestus. 'What are you making?' Hephaestus stared at the thing in his hands. 'Something technical.' Dionysus raised one of his eyebrows.
'I think I will understand, Heph.' Hephaestus sighed. He turned his attention back to his project, and stepped closer to his anvil. With a snap of his fingers, a fire appeared, and he started melting the metal again. He heard Dionysus sigh behind him. 'Heph, why do you not want to go to Olympus?'
Hephaestus didn't answer. After three minutes, he turned around, and saw that Dionysus was still looking at him like he expected an answer. 'Why aren't you at camp, anyway?' he asked. 'You can't answer a question with a question, Heph,' He said ('That is what that Leo child of you Always does, when you ask him why he made a huge robot and let it walk around camp,' he added so soft that Hephaestus couldn't hear it over the sounds of the hammer he had picked up). Hephaestus let the hammer rest on the anvil. 'I know. Yet, you know exactly why I do not want to go, Dio.' Dionysus sighed.
'Yeah, I do. Sorry, Heph.' hephaestus raised his shoulders, and picked up the hammer again. 'Your daughter Juliana needs new Hearing-aids.' Hephaestus didn't answer.
After fifteen minutes, he turned around. Dionysus was still sitting on a box filled with spare parts. Hephaestus leaned over him to grab something from a box behind him. Within a few seconds, he put something together. He looked at it for a few more seconds. Then, he showed it to Dionysus, who was still staring at him. 'Look. It only has a very small bit of that metal - it is mostly made of very soft plastic, and the electric source only needs to be recharged every year.' Dionysus smiled. 'Let me guess, you designed the electric source yourself?' Hephaestus nodded, and handed the hearing aid to the wine god.
'If you could just hand it to Juliana. If you remember who she is.' Dionysus rolled his eyes.
'I was the one who told you she needed a new hearing-aid. I know who she is.' Hephaestus put out the fire. 'Hm.' Dionysus sighed.
'That is not why I came here, though.' Hephaestus laid his hand on the anvil.
'I know,' he said. 'I...' he stopped talking. Dionysus shifted his legs.
'Did something happen?' he asked. Hephaestus looked at him.
'...I don't know.'
He did not get an immediate answer. He turned to Dionysus. His metal limp made a screeching sound while he did so. He stared at the wine god. 'You have not been quiet since in threw you out of my forge back on Lemnos, and you came back that same evening with the announcement that you left your bag somewhere.' Dionysus looked up at the god (Which basically means that he had to throw his head into his neck, because Hephaestus was about twice as tall as him. And, of course, Dionysus was sitting and Hephaestus standing).
'Heph, are you still afraid they all hate you on there?' Hephaestus shot him a dirty look.
'And what if I am? They have repeatedly shown that they do not want me on there. Even now people will just ignore me. They find me repulsive, all of them!' Hephaestus yelled. He looked at Dionysus, who had a neutral expression on his face. Hephaestus felt his lip quiver.
Dionysus got up. 'Hephaestus, I know you will not believe me if I tell you that most of them do not, even though it is true...'
'Than do not say it.'
'Okay, I won't.' Dionysus got up, and grabbed Hephaestus' hand. 'Yet, I think it is better if you come to Olympus.' Hephaestus looked him in the eyes, and sighed. 'Alright, tell me.'
'They talk about you for longer if you do not show up than if you do.' Hephaestus squeezed his hand.
'... I guess you're right. Just... let me get ready.'
Dionysus fidgeted with a spare piece of metal, until his friend came back. Hephaestus was wearing an old suit. Dionysus raised his eyebrow. 'It is not a total disaster.' Hephaestus snickered.
'I trust you on this, you know.' Dionysus shrugged.
'That's not my fault.' He got up, and grabbed Hephaestus' hand again. 'It'll be fine, alright?' He said. 'I'll come along. Aglia is there as well. You won't... be alone in the crowd.' Hephaestus nodded, and squeezed his hand again.
'Okay.' Dionysus smiled.
'Let's go to Olympus, just like three thousand years ago, shall we?' Hephaestus nodded.
'Some things really don't change.'