I still don't own Percy Jackson & the Olympians. That's one miracle that hasn't happened yet.

And I probably need to edit this later on or maybe even completely delete it. I like it myself, but I am not sure if it's that good. I am a little out of practice & this was written quickly because I have little time + a lot of writer's block at the moment.

Also, I just realized then first part is written in present tense and the second in past tense, which might not work, but I could always change that later.

This doesn't yet have the meeting between Hades and Demeter and the discovery of to whom they have been talking, but it does have some plotting. The meeting should be in the next chapter.

The cupboard in Demeter's house, Aphrodite's Pov

I am more than ready to kill a certain flower-loving goddess.

Or , since killing a deity is sadly still impossible, at least hurt her so much that she would prefer death. Hurt her so much, torture her in such a way that she will actually wish to be mortal, just so she would no longer be hurt by whatever great pain I could manage to inflict on her.

Preferably by making her see her true love being stolen by someone she trusted, someone she loved, someone she couldn't do without..

Oh right.

I am already sorta doing that.

Well, not her true love. I would know it if Hades was her true love. And he isn't. He is just someone she is in love with.

And yes, true love actually exists. It's really rare – like all good things in life, such as exceptionally handsome men that look good in thigh-high boots- , but it really exist.

The kind of overwhelming, ever-lasting love that happens in movies, the kind where two people look into each other's eyes and feel like they are electrocuted, the kind that could turn even the grumpiest, meanest people into molten puddles of mushiness when their loved one smiles at them? It really exists.

Almost no one has it, but it really exists.

And seeing as how that love is so much better and valuable than 'everyday' love ( not that there is such a thing. All love is special. Say something else and I will make you fall in love with that one person you wouldn't want to be with if it could save humanity. Like that old, sweaty, fat man that always winks so creepily at you) , I don't feel guilty at all for intending to break up Hades and Persephone.

Quite the opposite.

I actually made a list with reasons why I am not guilty [ feeling guilty or guilty as in to blame for some sort of sadness] , just to pass time in this awfully boring place;

1. It is impossible to make a cute couple name out of Persephone and Hades. I have been trying for millennia and still haven't succeeded. So they are obviously not meant to be, because no couple should have a lame name. Not that you clueless people understand the importance of pairing names.

2. Thanks to Persephone's need to argue with her mother and not get here for way too long, I am stuck in a cupboard that reeks of revolting things as cereal and other grains, and that has so much dust in it that I swear I have been forced to squeeze my perfect nose way too hard twelve times already. To avoid sneezing audibly, of course.

That also manages to make it stink less here, although that is only a temporary reprieve. Seriously , what does Demeter keep in here? The bodies of all the people that have ever insulted her beloved cereal?

Nah, there would be too many bodies here. The woman is so paranoid she already thinks you're insulting cereal if you simply scrunch you nose.

Even if there isn't any cereal in a twelve mile radius.

3. Persephone is soooo whiny. I mean, come on! She was always spoiled by Demeter, has everything she wants and yet , she whined and whined when little things happen to her like her husband cheating or being so sad by the loss of a mortal she actually really liked that she ate an entire cupboard of cereal-flavored ice-cream and kept sending Persephone weird questions such as; why can't immortals die? Why do tissues smell so little like cereal, even when you bury it in a mountain of cereal? Why can't men be made of cereal?

Okay, I might have to admit it is at least a little understandable that Persephone freaked out when she received the last one.

Especially because of the picture that followed.

4. She stole my dearest, most beautiful, most beloved Adonis. And no one steals someone I already claimed. The boy was MINE!

Seriously, it couldn't have been more obvious if I had covered his beautiful in tattoos that said ; Aphrodite's possession.

Perhaps I should have done that. That might have kept Persephone's thieving hands away from him.

5. Beauty like mine shouldn't be locked away in a closet. So Persephone should stop her damn complaints already and just get her ass over here. Seriously, doesn't she know I am a tidbit claustrophobic? She really should be more considerate, even if she has no way of knowing I am stuck in this closet.

6. Hades is not her true love. Sure, he is hot, sexy, gloomy, intelligent, romantic and basically the kind of guy any woman would want to have – even if all those women aren't aware he is that kind-, but he isn't like her true love or anything. She only head over heels in love with him.

And yes, there is a damn difference!

…. …

You know, it probably says something about me that I am standing here in a closet, muttering to myself, making lists and thinking of ways to kill immortal. I am honestly worrying for my precious sanity.

Love is blind and deaf, but I am pretty sure it isn't supposed to be crazy.

But it's not my fault that Persephone and Demeter simply have to have a stupid mother-daughter moment at the least opportune moment.

Why does Persephone has to realize what a spoiled, little brat she sometimes is right at the moment that there is a beautiful love goddess suffering because of an overabundance of dust and revolting scents?

That woman really sucks at being considerate.

Aha! Finally, she is coming this way.

And it only took her , like, forever.

Okay Aphrodite, just ready yourself. Just wrap your perfect, beautiful, little hands around miss sunny-flower's neck and pull. And try to resist the temptation of strangling her.

Okay, there she comes. One. Two. Three!

Demeter's cupboard. The pov of a seriously pissed off Persephone

I glared at the idiot that is my best frienemy, attempting to convey just how much I wanted to hit her for nearly giving me a heart attack.

She merely gave me her brightest, most blinding smirkish laugh in return. Apparently she didn't get the message. Not that she ever really does when people are mad at her.

" Hi Persephone. What's up?".

" What's up? What's up? Are you insane! You just yanked me into a stuffy cupboard, nearly making me go into cardiac arrest-".

I paused my rant suddenly when I realized it wasn't exactly normal to find the love goddess in my mom's cupboard. Or anyone in that cupboard really.

As far as I know, my mom doesn't use it to store people. Only cereal. And cereal-flavored ice-cream. And cereal-flavored chocolate. And a ton of other cereal-flavored thing that really ought to be anything but cereal-flavored.

Basically , she stored anything cereal-flavored there. And the last time I checked, Aphrodite isn't cereal-flavored.

" Aphrodite.. why are you hiding in my mom's cupboard?".

Aphrodite shrugged, carelessly brushing away some dust from her left shoulder. " Because she would have seen me if I had tried to hide behind the door".

I gave her my best What the hell? Look. " Seriously? That is going to be your answer? What is wrong with you!".

" What is wrong with me, is that you're wrong about letting your mother figure this out by herself since she will only does this wrong and that will mean your mom's attempt at a relationship will go wrong and you will hate yourself for being wrong because that leads to her bothering you about it?".

I blinked. And blinked again. Then , I said something really intelligent as " Wha-?".

Aphrodite wouldn't even let me finish. She simply smiled brightly- and a little creepily, honestly- and leaned towards me, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

" Don't be scared, that won't happen".

She leaned back, satisfied smirk firmly in place. "I have a plan" she announced, probably in the same way a scientist would say ; " I have just found the cure to all the illnesses in the world'.

I sighed, half intrigued and half annoyed with her. " Let me guess, it's brilliant?".

Aphrodite nodded.

" It's going to end with love?".

Aphrodite gave me a duh look.

" It requires my assistance and will probably get me in more trouble I care to think about?".

Aphrodite grinned. " You get it?".

She smiled mischievously. " So… you're in?".

" Perhaps you ought to tell me what your plan is before I allow you to coax me into agreeing" I suggested, rolling my eyes. I might be curious, but I wasn't stupid. And anyone who would just agree with a plan made by Aphrodite, was stupider than I think is possible.

She sighed. " Well, I call it operation OTP. It-".

I interrupted without thinking, then immediately regretted it as Aphrodite's glare reminded me why you shouldn't interrupt her when she in the midst of explaining one of her plans. That tends to end really bad.

Like you-will-regret-that-the-rest-of-your-miserable-life- bad.

" Sorry" I said, smiling in the hope of calming her down. She huffed, but only gave me another glare, thankfully not beating me with her high heels like I had expected.

" Like I was saying , it is called operation OTP. Which means one true pairing, as you ought to know. And it involves getting your mom's prince charming to her".

My eyes widened without my permission. " You know who it is?".

Aphrodite gave me a look and I blushed slightly, realizing a little too late how stupid that question had been.

Of course she knows. She is the love goddess, it is basically her purpose in life to know everything and anything concerning love.

" Never mind. Just continue talking and ignore that, please" I muttered.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. " With pleasure dear. And yes, I do know. Have you ever thought about what exactly being a love goddess entails?".

She didn't give me any chance to answer that. " Anyway. My plan was to set up a meeting between your mom and Amadeo , something romantic. We will just have to get your mom in a dress and give her an hairdo that does NOT involve weeds. Because even she can barely pull that off".

I nodded. I never had the heart- or courage- to say so, but my mom's hairdo's were really terrible.

" Okay. So what do you want me to do?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at Aphrodite- who looked a little too innocent to be innocent. She had that familiar look in her eyes. Her scheming, people-will-get-together look that made normal, sensible people run away.

Too bad I am my mom's daughter.

"Well, a few things. Firstly; convince your mom to actually meet him. Secondly; distract her when we return from our shopping spree. Oh and you will have to give me some of your mom's hair".

I gave Aphrodite a blank stare. I could understand the first things she had said perfectly, but why would she need one of my mom's hairs?

" Why on earth would you want that?".

" Never mind why dear. All you have to know, is that it will make your mom meet her mystery man. Don't you want her happy?".

" Well, of course I do, but-".

" Well, no problem then. Just get me one tiny teensy hair and I will take care of the rest".

I still wasn't so sure about this, but the memory of my mom's sparkling eyes and the longing in her voice when she spoke of Amadeo made the decision for me. I would do anything to make my mom happy.

Especially if that made her stop bugging me so much.

I sighed. " Fine".

Then glared at Aphrodite. " But don't even think of trying something funny. I want my mom to be her annoying self, unharmed and safe".

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. " I am planning to get her a man, dear, not a one-way ticket to Tartarus".

I sighed again. Aphrodite never saw anything wrong in what she was doing, so why was I even trying?

" Never mind. Let's just do this. What do you want me to do first?".

Aphrodite snorted. " Start with getting some tea? That's what you came here for in the first place, isn't it?".

" No, I actually came here because a certain insane love goddess yanked me inside".

" Oh shut up and get the tea already".

I nodded and turned, but before I could escape the far too small cupboard, sharp nails buried themselves in my arm.

"Wait! What flavor is the tea?".

I gave Aphrodite a funny look, attempting to ignore the way her nails were digging into my arm. " It's just herbs. Why?".

Aphrodite grinned. " Because – she waved her hand and a pink, apple-scented cloud momentarily suffocated me and forced me to close my eyes. When I could open them again without feeling a stinging sensation, Aphrodite had a package in her hand.

" I have special tea" she finished, with a perfectly evil smirk.

I narrowed my eyes at her, knowing better than to accept any gifts from her, especially when she was smirking.

" Aphrodite.. what did you do?".

" Oh will you relax already? It's simply tea. Delicious tea. Trust me".

" I would really rather not".

" Oh don't be such a coward. I promise it won't hurt your mother".

I raised one of my eyebrows. " And me?".

" It certainly won't hurt you, because you won't be drinking it. Just give yourself your normal cup of tea. It will look exactly the same, trust me".

I bit my lip, hesitating. I wasn't sure whether it would be wise to give my mom tea that Aphrodite had given me.

I didn't believe Aphrodite would ever intentionally hurt me or my mom, but I also knew she would stop at nothing to get things done her way. She might accidently hurt my mom, even if she didn't believe it would hurt my mom.

I looked down at the tea, studying it.

It was a small package with dried herbs, a heavenly scent coming from it. It seemed quite ordinary, but I just knew it was from Aphrodite's private collection of very potent spells, potions and others that could have any effect from making someone fall in love to making someone fall asleep until their true love kissed them ( yes, Aphrodite had actually given someone an apple that could put people under a sleeping curse. She has this thing with apples… it's weird) .

Aphrodite sighed and pushed the package into my hands.

I frowned when I realized it was warm and made my hands tingle suspiciously. I looked up at Aphrodite.

" What is-".

" It's a mixture of cinnamon, my own special bland of chocolate, honey, special herbs you don't know- believe me- and a secret ingredient".

" Aphrodite, I honestly don't think I should give this to my mom".

" Oh, come on Persephone! It really won't hurt your mother, I swear, and it's delicious".

I bit my lip again, looking at the package that was still making my hands tingle – but surprisingly in a pleasant way. Then I looked up in the pleading eyes of my frienemy and sighed.

" Oh all right. But it better not make my mom any weirder!".

Aphrodite laughed." It won't. Pinky promise".

She nodded at the door. " You better go now. Even in her condition , your mom will eventually notice your absence".

I assumed she meant the fact that my mom seemed to be head over heels by her condition, but I didn't dare to ask. It's better not to ask too much around Aphrodite.

" Yeah sure. When will we go shopping?".

She shrugged. " I will give you a call. Go!".

I rolled my eyes, slightly annoyed at being bossed around, but complied.

I just hoped whatever was in that tea wouldn't make my mom do anything horrifying such as admitting every thought she had had concerning Amadeo or any other man. I was pretty sure I would be forever scarred if I had to listen to that.

Hades' kitchen, Third person

Hades was still softly humming when he walked into the kitchen, ignoring the few servants inside that were gawking at him and doing their very best not to be noticed.

They shouldn't have bothered, because it was quite certain Hades wouldn't have noticed if a pink spotted elephant had sauntered into the kitchen and started dancing, so engrossed was he in his Phone.

He quickly made a sandwich while he read Medini's message, smiling so brightly one of the servants dropped the plates in his hands to pinch himself.

Hades didn't even notice that.

Music fan.

I suppose. I think it is smart she is using her music to speak about her feelings and get over heartbreak, but I do wish she would write songs about other things yes. I sometimes get a little annoyed by the sheer amount of songs about heartbreak. There are so many other things to write about. Like flowers. Especially flowers.

I am conflicted about that. I really think it's horrible that you feel inclined to hide, that such a great person thinks he has to hide himself.

But I am also a little happy that I don't have to share you. And that you like and trust me enough to share yourself with me. Does that makes me selfish and petty?

Dang. I am blushing again. You're doing it on purpose , aren't you?

Really? My my , aren't you the knight in shining armor ;)

I wonder what kind of challenge you could possibly have to face on a beach, other than perhaps finding a empty piece of sand.

Ok. Enjoy your food, mystery man !

Hades quickly typed a response, occasionally taking a bite of his sandwich. The servants were openly staring by then, while Hades was completely oblivious to the fact that he had just likely ruined his reputation beyond repair.

Or at least really frightened his servants.

Aha, I can completely relate to that. Music is just so soothing, no matter what type.

Hm, probably. I am just not a fan of speaking of feelings, it makes me feel awkward. And why would you share them with the entire world? I value my privacy too much to do that.

I am not sure how you would make a song about flowers, but I do no doubt it would be a very good song. You've excellent taste , you chose my profile after all ;)

No, not at all. In fact, I think it is rather touching and shows you're a empathic and sweet person. And perhaps that you even like me? Or am I completely wrong about that?

You caught me. What are you going to do now ;)?

More the knight in satin cloaks.

Well, hitting all your courters off you, of course. They would no doubt be lined up, seeing as how you would be in swim clothing… One-piece or bikini?

I am. Do you like sandwiches?

He almost immediately received the response. Apparently Medini was enjoying this as much as he was.

Exactly. Glad you understand. It's odd, but even rock sometimes soothes me. Not that I really listen to rock that much, but it still manages to calm me down . Probably because it is so easy to dance to it, to shake off your frustration.

I imagine you would. I am like that too. I don't really show my feelings and even if I do, I keep a lot of myself hidden. I just don't want to be vulnerable like that, I suppose.

I am not sure either. But I just know it would be good, because flowers are so beautiful. And there are a lot of songs about beauty, right? It has potential.

I am not sure I am that sweet. Do you like 'sweet' people?

And I really do, how couldn't I? Do you like me maybe too, even if it's just a little?

I will have to think about a fitting punishment! What do you fear most?

I might actually prefer that. Kind of difficult to get all the armor off, after all…

I doubt there would be that many. And how barbaric! I would have expected better, mystery man Is that how you court a lady?

One-piece probably. You?

I love sandwiches. What do you put on them?

Ah, so you admit to dancing to it? I wish I would be there to see that!

And yes, I can occasionally enjoy Rock, not that I would ever admit that to anyone.

And there are better ways to get rid of frustration.. ;)

I can relate to that. People tend to use your feelings against you, so it's safer to not show feelings, right? But that can work against you too, it can prevent people from loving you and makes you lose that you value more than you even knew you did.

If people really wanted a song about beauty, then they should make a song about you.

I like intelligent, strong woman who are independent but also can accept a man wanting to protect and care for them. I also appreciate kindness greatly, because it isn't something that is often offered to me, but not overly kind people.

I like you a lot, more than I thought possible in such a short amount of time.

Losing you is quickly becoming my greatest fear.

True ;) Although we would manage to get it off together…

No, I court a lady by giving her flowers, go on moonlight strolls with her and try to give her anything her heart desires. Although I admit I might have done something very barbaric while courting a lady once, something I really hated myself for. I just didn't know how to court a lady, to show her how special she was to me.

Neither. I prefer shorts.

I make it the Italian way, someone taught me too. You?

A wishful smile briefly linger on Hades' lips at the thought of Maria, but he couldn't really be sad about her death now he was so happy about Medini. She really was something different, something special. Someone he didn't mind opening up to.

He trusted her. It was a very novel feeling.

His phone beeped and he eagerly clicked on the new message. Yes, I admit to the horrendous crime of dancing to rock. With all the windows closed and my room keeping out any sounds. And unwanted visitors.

You could see it …

if you do something in exchange.

Really? Please do enlighten me ;) I am very eager to learn..

Before Hades could finish the decidedly flirty message- something he desperately wanted to- a soft, sultry laugh startled him.

" You and your Phone have become very close , haven't you Hades?".

" I wonder why. Would you enlighten me? I am very eager to learn".