Chapter Three
He was standing under the falling archway outside the tavern, lighting matches against a stone and letting them burn down to his skin. Maleficent knew the feeling.
"I know you're there," he said as the last one burnt out. Maleficent stepped forward, into the flickering light of a broken streetlamp. "Can't out sneak me, darlin'."
"So, what did you have in mind for tonight?"
Hades raised a blue brow. "You think I plan stuff? Not anymore. Come on."
He spun on his heel and walked down to the beach. Maleficent walked after him (she didn't run). The beach was littered with rocks and broken bottles. But there, sitting facing the water at a thinner part of the barrier, was a crumbling wooden bench.
"That's new," Maleficent remarked.
"Do you realize how hard it is to find a nonbroken piece of wood here?" Hades grumbled as he sat on it and pulled out a small box from the many coats in his coat. "I heard some guy at the market say if you bake the rotten strawberries they almost taste like candy."
Maleficent sat next to him and took one of the hardened berries from the tin. "They do taste remarkably sweet."
"What do you miss most about out there?"
"Watching innocent people suffer as I curse them and their entire king-"
"No," Hades laughed. "No. Not the evil stuff. Just the…living stuff. Like me. I miss milkshakes and strawberries."
"The King of the Underworld likes ice cream?"
"If you don't like ice cream, you're more than evil." Maleficent didn't smile. "Come on, I know you miss something."
"I miss…I miss warm dinners. In my castle with my books."
"The Mistress of Evil is a bookworm?"
She glared at him before her lips turned up a smidge.
Perhaps this 'date' thing wasn't so awful after all.
"You didn't have to walk me home," Maleficent said for what must have been the millionth time.
Hades leaned against the pole holding up her archway outside her crumbling 'castle' and smirked. "I wanted to."
"Are you coming inside?"
He seemed to think for a moment. "No."
"No?"
"Nope. See you later."
Maleficent stared after him as he left, stunned. And she was never stunned.
Hades knew she hated pasta and loved pheasant meat. He knew her favorite color was purple, not black liked he'd guessed, and that she missed her raven who had died a year after their imprisonment. He knew she'd been found by good fairies in a tree and they'd rejected her when she'd grown up and not been anything like them.
He'd told her how much he liked rock music, how he'd built a drum set and guitar at home. He'd listed everything he hated about his brothers and how crushing the darkness of his father's stomach had been. She'd traced her fingers over the scars from the war against the titans and he'd felt himself cry for the first time since finding out he was trapped on an island with mortals.
They'd been on dates for roughly a month now. Not once had they discussed what they were to each other, if they were exclusive, or anything like that. They seemed to acknowledge that they didn't owe each other anything and were just in this for selfish reasons. But the more they talked the more Hades realized he wasn't being entirely selfish.
"Maley, come play darts with me," he called across the tavern one gloomy night. The other patrons froze with fear.
Her green eyes sparked angrily, they hadn't been on dates in very public places and this night had been an accidental meeting. But that competitive smirk…she wanted to wipe it off his face.
She stood and the man next to her fell off his barstool, shaking. But all she did was pluck a dart from the board, walk back to the line, and throw it. Bullseye.
They played for nearly an hour, Maleficent never smiling but winning every time. Gaston gave her a free drink and said she was the best player he'd seen in his life. Hades just laughed and said he was too drunk.
When he left, he winked at her.
As she walked back from the tavern a bit later, slightly swaying on her feet. But as she turned a corner, she ran smack dab into Horis, one of Cruella's wimpy henchmen.
"Get out of my way!" she screeched. But Horis just smirked.
"Rumor has it your getting soft. That you're seeing someone."
Maleficent's eyes flashed green and Horis fell to the ground, a welt swelling on his head from where she'd hit him. She glanced around the dark alley and saw other skulking away, whispering between them.
Soft. She'd show them who was soft!
"So wait, you still want to hang out but we can't be seen?" Hades asked, laying on her bed after their latest date.
"Then there's an air of mystery. Isn't that something people like?" Maleficent argued from her chipped vanity where she sat brushing the tangles Hades had left in her hair.
"Sounds more like you don't want to be seen with someone."
Her grip on the hairbrush tightened. "Do you want this or not?"
There is was, all cards on the table. They'd never asked the other if this is what they wanted, they'd just danced around it, flirting while intoxicated, spending more than their fair share of nights together. But now…now they needed to know if the other was actually in for the long haul.
"Yes. I want this."
Maleficent stared at her reflected evil smile as she continued brushing.