Megara estimated she had the necessary hours when she left Hercules spoiled and wrapped in blankets in their new room. Pegasus was surprised to see her when she tiptoed into his stable, but he didn't fight her plan to fly out to the island.

The plan had not accounted for a thunderstorm.

Waterlogged and flying over the sea made for a dreadful combination, but the only way forward was through it. "Tell me you're not taking the scenic route!" she called directly into Pegasus's ear.

He whinnied back at her inscrutably.

Megara left Pegasus in a stable where he was used to sleeping when he and Hercules lived there full-time and crept into the house. It was full of so much hero clutter, leaving no mystery as to where Hercules developed his design aesthetic.

The jar in question had pride of place on a wall shelf, seemingly placed where someone could find it if they were looking for it. Almost as if it were a trap.

Was Phil even that clever?

Megara reached for the urn, but before her fingertips could touch it, the light changed in the room.

"Looking for something, Sister?" Phil stood beside a brazier he'd just lit, holding the real Prometheus Academy urn.

Memo to me, she thought to herself, never underestimate the goat man again.

'When Hermes showed up with this, I figured you wouldn't be far behind," he said.

Megara seated herself on a low bench. "Score one for the satyr."

Rather than scold her, Phil joined her on the bench with the urn.

They were doing this. She could shake off the indignity of being shown up by a beastman. "I don't get it, Phil; what's the big secret?"

"I know we've all told ya this, but high school wasn't exactly the most graceful period of Herc's life. He's kinda embarrassed about it."

"Aw, how bad could it have been?"

"Bad." Phil seemed about to leave it at that, but then he shook his head. "The city of Athens may never fully recover from all of Herc's 'good intentions,' Falling off buildings, throwing himself at enemies and missing, dropping statues by leaning on 'em… It's a good thing he's indestructible. But I'm not! Oy! He was a one-man cyclone!"

Megara fished in the urn, more eager than ever for answers. "Here it is. The Prometheus Academy yearbook…" She scrolled through it, eyes skimming from Alpha to Eta.

There he was.

It was impossible, unfathomable, but she'd found him.

A shriek escaped her that she might have choked down before letting Hercules beat down the walls she called her sense of decorum. She indulged in a full-throated cackle, unfurled the scroll, and pointed.

Phil snatched it away. "Hey! Give the kid a break! They took that on his first day of school! He was in such a hurry that he sank the barge that picked him up, and they got that picture of him dragging himself onto the pier!"

"Yikes." Megara crossed her legs, ready for storytime. "So, Phil. What was it like raising a wonder boy?" She ought to be the first to know if anyone did.

"What was it like? Sisyphus got off easy compared to me."

"Oh, come on! Herc's been a boy scout his whole life! He couldn't have been that much trouble."

"Oh, no? What would you say if I told you he sank this island?"

Megara leaned in eagerly. "I'd say… tell me more!"

"Well, as I remember it, I went outta town for a half-humans convention, and Herc had the island to himself, so he thought it was the best time to throw a bacchanal. It was a huge hit for everyone but Poseidon. Unfortunately for Herc, Poseidon likes his beauty rest. He tipped the whole place over just to make those teens shut up."

"So… no birthday parties on the island for the kids. Got it. But poor Herc, he must've felt like the king of the Dorics."

"Oh, no. That title belonged to Icarus then, and you can't take it away from him now." Phil went back to digging through the yearbook, showing off a picture of an unwilling Cassandra beside an over-eager Icarus.

"Fair point."

Phil put the yearbook down and went rummaging through the urn. "Oh no!"

"What?" Megara leaned in to see what must be the juiciest thing yet if he didn't want to show it to her.

Phil yanked the urn away from her. "I don't think so. I've shown you too much already." He took the jar and ran away from her.

"Come on, Phil, it can't be that bad!" she cajoled as she ran after him.

"Oh, this is different!" he skidded to a halt near the open door. "If the kid knew I showed ya this–!"

"You already told me he sank your island. What could be more embarrassing than that?"

"Well…" Phil reconsidered and fished the lamb she'd noticed before out of the urn. "This."

"No!" Hercules screamed. He rushed into the house and slid in on his knees. He covered his head in his hands, then gazed up at the sheep in horror.

"Herc! So glad you could make it." Megara took the sheep from Phil and waved it teasingly at her husband. He could've made this easy. "So, are we going to have story time, or do I have to shear your little pal?" It wasn't a full sheep toy, but it was convincing enough, aside from the glassy blue eyes.

Hercules's face was frozen in horror as he stared up at her. He could easily have been looking at a monster. The fear was short-lived. Irritation overtook fear, and he aimed it directly at Phil.

"It's not my fault!" Exclaimed the satyr. "She made me do it!" That was shocking. Megara had almost forgotten what it was like to be the bad guy. Could Hercules genuinely be angry with her? "I take no responsibility! And… uh… I'm outta here!"

Luckily for Phil, the rain had stopped before he rushed out into the moonlight.

Now that it was just the two of them, Hercules turned to his wife—time to face up to it. Best not to show any guilt, it would help prove she'd done nothing wrong.

"Oh, Meg… how could you?" Hercules sounded on the brink of tears. He gazed down at her with hurt in his expression, as if she'd betrayed him.

She'd almost done that before, but she'd prove this was different. She lifted his chin so he would see her smile. "Can you blame a girl for wanting to know what her man was like in his wonder boy years?" She cooed at him.

"All right. You win. But I warn you, it isn't pretty." He took the lamb from her and showed that it was a hat. "It was intern week, and I thought I'd landed the coolest job ever at Gyro World… until y'know. I saw it. I'm not exactly cut out for work in fast food… Or maybe I could've made it work. But Adonis was there, being…"

"Being Adonis?"

"Yeah! That. So I went and told my father, and he backed me up one hundred percent! He got me an even better job: pulling Apollo's chariot."

Megara cast her mind back to a couple of years ago when the sun had suddenly dropped out of the sky with no explanation, first leaving humanity in extreme heat and then freezing darkness. Her brow rose with each memory of that day.

"Yeah, you remember, huh? That was me. Had to show off to Adonis."

"Relatable."

"Heh! Well, Hades took it as a chance to steal the sun, which would've never happened if Apollo wasn't replaced with a short-sighted, insecure kid. Hades could've gotten the gods to vote Dad off the throne for my irresponsibility."

"It was his fault for giving you something that outrageous and not teaching you how to be responsible with it. He's the king of the gods, and you're a teenager. He needed to be responsible before he could ever expect the same from you."

"Oh. Maybe… yeah. Well. We both learned." Some of the tension she'd noticed in his posture relaxed. He brought her back to the bench. "I had to learn that it's more important to do what you're given well than to reach for something too high. Ironically enough, that's something Apollo's big on."

"I know. He killed a slew of my great-uncles because my grandmother was too full of hubris."

Hercules sat mute for a moment. "I'm sorry. But I'm glad he left her alive so you could be with me." He covered her hand with his. "Hey, if it makes you feel better, you can pick something else out of the jar, and I'll tell you about it."

While she scrolled through his yearbook, he played with her hair. "You got it all wet out there. It's curling in all directions."

"I usually take care of it before that happens, but I had a mission." She landed on a picture of an Aphrodesia Dance, where Hercules stood beside Galatea. Her eyes narrowed with mischief. "So! This is the real reason you didn't want me to see this stuff." The mischief died down as she gazed down at the picture.

Hercules had his signature dopey half smile, and Galatea gazed at him as if the world held no wonders greater than him. Megara was pretty sure she was the one wearing that look most of the time, but she couldn't put it together.

"So… are you gonna tell me why it didn't work out between you two? And why Galatea keeps slipping up almost telling me something about when she was made?"

Hercules sighed. "Ok. Yeah. So you see, the Aphrodesia Dance was coming up, and I-I couldn't get a date. Icarus and I had an art teacher at the time by the name of Pygmalion."

"I heard of that guy! Did he really… sculpt…"

"His wife out of clay? You bet. I thought maybe he was onto something."

"You couldn't find a date… so you made a woman. Out of clay."

Hercules shrugged. "I was a teenage boy! It seemed like a really good idea at the time! But I forgot something important. Personality. Aphrodite tried to warn me, but all I cared about was building my dream girl."

Megara felt her shoulders slump and didn't stop them.

Galatea was glamorous, perky, even regal. She made everyone around her happier, and she'd make for a great queen of Attica soon.

It was Hercules's turn to lift her chin. "Meg, I only cared about the superficial things when I made her. Well, I put some clay together. It was Aphrodite who made her. She followed my directions. I-I wanted…" his eyes darted away. Then, when they returned, they were full of desire. "I wanted a tall, curvy girl who was crazy about me." He trailed a hand through her frizzing curls. "I wanted gorgeous dark, curly hair, and I wanted to constantly cuddle and kiss and… well, I hadn't thought of other things, but affection was the most important thing. And guess what? You're even better than Galatea. I didn't think to give her a personality beyond being crazy about me, so she could've killed my female friends."

"It's just me against all those girls who make a run for you."

"Yeah, but they deserve it! You're allowed to be your own person, and I love that girl. Now Galatea is able to be herself because I realized my mistake, and she instantly lost all interest in me as soon as she could. I kinda thought that meant maybe I couldn't find a girl who was genuinely interested in me. After that, I sort of stopped putting myself out there. Every girl I knew had shut me down."

Megara nodded. "I get it. But then… you met me."

"And guess what? I'd tried to build my dream girl out of nothing, but it didn't work because my dream girl was out there all along. I just hadn't met you yet." He didn't stutter. He pulled her onto his lap. "Besides, remember how when you met Galatea, everyone thought you looked like sisters? I think I've got a pretty good mind's eye. I had no idea I was dreaming of you all along."

She didn't wait for him to initiate their kiss. She didn't have the patience.

When she pulled back, she said, "Seriously, though. Nobody told you that was a bad idea?"

"No, Icarus wasn't the best at clear-thinking, and… honestly, if I said anything to Cassandra, she might've thought I was kidding. But as disastrous as that was, it wasn't as bad as graduation day. Everyone got together for the commencement, but… I wasn't there. And shortly after I got there, I ah… became responsible for a fundraiser to rebuild the place. This is why I didn't want you to know about these things…"

"But now that I do, guess what? I can prove exactly what I wanted you to know this morning. I have no problem with any of this. Sure, you went through an awkward phase, but I think because of it, you're as kind and empathetic as I know you to be."

He stared at her, puzzled.

"Think about it. Why is Adonis an insufferable waste of skin? It's because he never had to do anything in his life. But you've seen what it's like when things don't go your way, and people don't instantly love you. You never let it go so far that you became as arrogant as someone with everything you've got could be."

"I'd have to be like Adonis to do it."

They both shuddered but snickered over the idea.

"Right, but I don't think you've got it in you. Your psyche never had that woven into it. That's why you're the man of my dreams. The only one I trust to live up to my standards and never betray me."

"What standards?" he asked anxiously.

"Honest, kind, gentle, determined enough to never give up on a sad soul like me. You're everything I needed, and everything I thought was impossible before I got to know you. I lived in despair, thinking I'd never find you."

Hercules wrapped his arms around her waist. "And now we've found each other." He was resting his forehead against hers when Hermes flew through the window.

"Special delivery!" he said, holding out a scroll to Hercules.

"What's that?" Megara asked as Hercules set her aside on the bench to take the scroll.

His lashes hung low over his secrets. "When I found out what you were up to, I sent Hermes to find your high school yearbook!"

Megara gasped.

Theron was in that yearbook.

She couldn't be a hypocrite, but– Hercules was already looking through it.

"I'm sure there can't be anything embarrassing in your past, could there?" he asked, already taking full advantage of the fact he was too tall and powerful for her to wrest the scroll away from him. "Oh, well, lookie here! Our little Megara was a–" he gasped dramatically, "- a cheerleader!"

That was it.

"Give me that!" If he was going to be childish, so could she.

Hercules ran away before she could land a swipe at the infernal thing. "Look at your hair!" he exclaimed.

So he didn't like the Aphrodite bow, a shape formed from knotting one's own hair. Great, so none of that. "That was the style at the time!" she said, running after him.

"Uh, you were in the glee club?"

Megara jumped onto his back. "Yeah, so I'll sing to you on the way home if you stop running around!"

"Don't be such a buzzkill, Meg. You got to see all that stuff from my past."

"That you didn't want to show me, so I had to sneak out here to make us even."

"Well, now we can really be even." He kept rolling through the scroll, but he stopped at last when he found that fateful picture. "Oh. So is this…?"

"That's him."