Megara leaned out of the first room with her coverup tied back around her waist and her hair draped over one shoulder. There were cherubs everywhere, but they were too busy with miscellaneous tasks to see Megara looking around.

"Which way do we go?" she whispered to Hercules over her shoulder.

"This way." Rather than wait for her to lead the way, Hercules scooped her legs off the ground and carried her down the hall.

"How gallant," she whispered to him and kissed his jaw.

His blush illuminated the bronzed tan of his skin, creating a mesmerizing color show.

Despite his somewhat oversized feet, Hercules successfully crept toward a door and let Megara open it for him.

Once they were alone in their new destination, Megara stretched out as if she were waking up on a lazy morning. "This room looks positively wicked!"

"Yeah? M-Maybe we should find a different one, then." Hercules was turning when Megara braced herself on the wall and caught him by the chin.

"We're staying here so we can be wicked. Put me down and get in the wine."

Hercules's eyes were fixed on hers as he obeyed. "Yes, ma'am," he murmured. He paused for a moment and gazed down at her with what looked like growing tension, then walked into the wine bath that continually churned from a flow of wine that poured from a fountain shaped like an oversized carafe.

Megara locked the door behind her before she sauntered after him to the edge of the pool. She dipped her toe into the water, then asked, "Do you think it'll stain our skin?" while examining her foot.

"If it does, we could probably go back to the last pool or ask Aphrodite to help us get rid of the stains."

"I don't have a problem, then. Do you? You're looking at me, and you haven't fainted yet, but there's time."

"That was a one-time thing," Hercules said without evidence. "Don't worry, I've already seen you. Now, I'd like to see you closer."

"Then who am I to refuse?"

The liquid was hot as Megara sank into it, and the scent of fine red wine that was usually too rich for him hit his nostrils. It was probably watered down, but it reminded her of the prized Theban wine that Dionysus had blessed.

In what was perhaps an attempt to look suave, Hercules picked a cup from along the wall and scooped some of the wine into it. He drank it with all the theatrical flourish of drinking a medium grape juice through a straw at the Speedy Pita.

Megara snickered. "Is it any good?"

"Uh… yeah…" he gestured for her to come closer. "It reminds me of the Aphrodesia dance, so maybe this is Aprhodite's signature. You should come in here and try this with me."

"Maybe they have the same wine," Megara suggested. She unwrapped the coverup from around her waist and stepped into the bath, eyes fixed on him.

That was how she caught him gulping as he watched her.

"Something wrong?" she purred at him.

"Me. I was wrong."

"About…?"

"I… your legs…" he shuddered and covered his eyes. "How about… could you get in the water?"

"What about my legs?" She sat on the edge of the pool, raised one leg as if to examine it, and wiggled the toes.

Now, he was even more flustered than before. He may never admit in plain terms what the problem was, but she couldn't get enough of watching him struggle.

Instead of an answer, she watched him down another round of Aphrodite's wine. He took a moment after that while she lightly kicked up ripples with both feet to hit him in the chest. Finally, she got her answer. "I don't usually see your legs. But they're part of what makes you so… curvy."

Was that blush the wine or his feelings for her?

Megara sank waist-deep in the water and crossed it to him while trailing both hands at her sides to play with the mix of wine and herbs. Then she drew her hands together and drank a cupful from her palms. "I think Dionysus must have had something to do with this. It's… intoxicating."

"Yeah…" Hercules watched her chest now that her legs were obscured, and his mouth dropped open just enough for her to watch him take unsteady breaths.

"See something else you like?"

Hercules looked away now that he'd been caught.

"It's okay, you know. I'm going to marry you. We're practically engaged."

He glanced back at her eyes, but then his dipped lower once more, and he covered them in penance.

"Which one do you like most?" she asked, spreading the wine up her arms.

"Uh… like? As in…?"

"What do you like looking at more? Legs or chest?"

Hercules made a low, pathetic noise and sought a distraction in the wine.

"You know that's going to make it worse, right?"

Hercules groaned. "I like anything as long as it's on you." Then he flinched at his own words and scrunched up his whole body, covering his face in both hands.

Megara dipped herself under the water, then popped back up with each arm planted at his sides and her face leaning in toward him. "Do you want to know a secret? I'm so into you I wouldn't be afraid of the consequences of being with you all the way."

Slowly, as if afraid it was a joke, Hercules uncovered his face.

"I'm serious. I keep feeling us get closer and then pull apart. I want to be so close that nothing could ever pull us apart. I want us to be connected. But when you do things like that, I realize you're not ready for me, and I feel guilty for putting you on the spot."

"No… no, that's not it… I'm embarrassed because… well… it's not really heroic to think the things I'm thinking about you." He bit his lip as he stared at her. "Nothing about today has been normal, and I wish I were better at this, but… I've been rejected so many times I don't have any practice being with a girl I love. I can't screw up again, not when I almost lost you."

"So maybe it's a little dangerous," Megara shrugged. "But that makes it exciting, don't you think?" She cupped her hands and drank from them once again. "You know, in royal families, sometimes they watch a couple consummate their marriage so they're sure the families are united."

"They what?" Hercules exploded.

Megara moved a few paces back.

"You mean I'm already horribly nervous about this, and I know doing that with you would get you pregnant, and maybe we're not ready to be parents, but also people are going to watch? Your family is going to see me…?" He threw himself under the wine water, splashing it everywhere while Megara contemplated her life choices.

Hercules re-emerged, panic etched across his face.

"Look at me!" Megara caught his face between her hands. "My family won't do that because you're not a prince, and I'm not that important! In fact, I'm expendable! My father gave me to you so he could get rid of me! Now he's making you pay for garbage!"

Between her hands, Hercules's face was so transparent she could see him reordering his priority stack. "You're not garbage," he growled. "Your father is garbage for making you feel like that." He closed his eyes. "You sure like teasing me, don't you?"

"Teasing is my love language," she said, only half teasing.

His eyes slowly reopened. "Oh…" he tilted his head at her. "I guess I'm really sensitive about coming across as weird or dysfunctional, so the thought of having an audience for something I'll probably faint for…" He shuddered. "I'm sure most guys wouldn't care or be self-conscious. But I want that to be special between us. I don't want someone to start commenting on the things we're doing and ruining the magic for us."

"Hey, that's not weird, it's sweet. But I like how weird you can be. Weird means real. You know we're both going to be pretty weird after the day we've had."

"Not you, you're too cool to be weird."

"You think that because I'm hot," Megara said with no shame.

Hercules released a desperate wheeze. "Yeah… You're pretty much the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and we were literally just with Aphrodite."

"Shh!" Megara covered his mouth with her hand and looked in all directions. "You're gonna get me struck down by the gods! Don't place me on a level with any god or goddess. It's not a joke!"

Hercules gently took her by the wrist. "Sorry, but don't be too worried; I'll just explain I love you, so I wasn't thinking about anything but that."

"I had a grandmother who was so enamored with her children she praised them above Artemis and Apollo, so they shot all her kids, and she had to have new ones."

Hercules blinked a few times. "Oh… I've… met Artemis and Apollo… they're my brother and sister…"

"Yeah, so don't make them jealous."

"Sorry, I'd never put you in that position… I… wow."

"Being a mortal is hard enough, but Thebes never catches a break. Not until you. Maybe that's why we don't do anything by half. There's this thing my big brother Haemon always says when his girlfriend is being a bitch to him, which is often."

"Why is he still dating her if she's a jerk to him?"

"They're weird people, all right? Pay attention."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Haemon says people always do crazy things when they're in love. In his case, that usually means putting up with Antigone's tirades to wait until she's cool again and he enjoys being with her."

"That doesn't sound… great…"

"Oh, it isn't. I hate Antigone. But we can't get rid of her because she's family, and the family wants to consolidate into one cohesive dynasty, so the idea was to marry off the branches to each other so they'll come back together as one family."

"And here I am, some random farm boy from Attica…"

"Random? I picked you. The night we went to Athens and discovered how obscenely worthless Adonis is, we heard this commotion, and a column almost fell on our carriage. That's when I put together what Adonis had said about you and realized you could do some real damage."

"Wait… Wait, so I almost…" She could see the horrors playing out in his eyes.

The mood was swiftly dying. Megara rekindled it by kissing him firmly on the lips. When she pulled back, she said, "We're fine. We're in love. Everything else is extra." She traced the muscles of his arm with one hand, and curled the other through his hair. "I've never had so much time just looking at you with no distractions," she whispered. "Nobody here is scheming against us. There's no war to worry about… everything is fine… How weird is that? I've never been so calm."

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "You're the balm that cured everything. I feel like I've been sick my whole life, and suddenly, I can breathe! I'm so…" she paused, blinked a few times as if maybe a spell was breaking, but then she smiled. "I think the word is grateful, but it should be something better."

"Grateful is… good."

"But it's still more than that." She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself flush against him. "This would be scandalous back in Thebes." Experimentally, she ground herself against him and felt something stir beneath the wine-stained water. "The real scandal would be if we made a child, but you wouldn't even know how to do that, would you?"

"Hey! I'm educated! I could figure it out!"

"Meaning… you don't already know how it works."

Hercules gulped. "No, it… never came up at school, and I think everyone just knows except me."

"The girls probably don't. I only know it because I listened in on my cousin when she was getting her pre-wedding advice."

"Are you about to tell me how it works?"

A giggle escaped her. He loved that sound. "No, I don't think I will. I think I'd like you to guess."

"That won't go well."

Her giggle took on a manic quality. "It's already going well for me!" she unwrapped him from her embrace and took a step back. "We're not close enough yet, I guess. But–"

Hercules caught her by the arm. "Wait. I think… even if we don't go that far…"

"Yes?"

He pulled her closer, and his hands ran up her back. One bunched in the fabric wrapped around her chest. "Listen. We're in a sanctuary of Aphrodite… and… after the scare we had…" He took a deep breath and pulled her back against him.

This time, there was no mistaking what she could feel against her belly, and instead of pushing her away, he held her there, letting her feel his pulse race.

"Are you saying you want to try and figure it out?" she whispered. If he was ready… She traced a hand down from his shoulder and toward his waist.

Hercules let out a groan and bowed his head against her shoulder. "Yeah. Let me try."

Megara dragged her nails along the intricate knotwork of muscle that led past his hips. She'd never touched one of these before, but she knew it was there.

"That… that can't get involved yet," he said. He lifted her out of the water so she couldn't reach him anymore and set her on the edge of the pool.

"Are we done?" They hadn't even started!

Hercules bit his lip and shook his head, His hands went to her thighs and squeezed, then dragged lower to her knees. "That… what I've got is definitely involved in the process."

"Oh, good! You're past the first hurdle!"

"I'm pretty good at long jumps," Hercules mumbled and traced her body multiple times with his eyes. "I think I can figure out a strategy for this obstacle course."

"Wait, you strategize?"

Hercules gave her a smile that let her know he could tell she was messing with him, then traced back up her legs to her hips, which he dragged closer to him.

The movement startled Megara, who gazed at him with a blush of her own. "What're you going to do?" she whispered.

"Nothing you won't like," he promised. His hands dug into her skin and made her gasp, and then he stood up taller in the water and cupped her face in his hands. "You're my favorite person in the whole cosmos," he whispered, then kissed her firmly.

She could feel the pent-up passion in his kiss, and it was even more intoxicating than the wine. He pulled her back into the water, took a breath, then captured her mouth again. Now, she was starting to get dizzy, but she was okay with that. She lost herself in his kisses, and when he sat back down hard on the bench with the wine sloshing around them, she dug her hands through his hair.

It was so freeing to be just the two of them that she leaned into the contact with everything she had.

His tongue pressed against the seam of her mouth, and he pushed deeper while groaning as if it still wasn't enough. He had a point there.

She was on fire for him in ways she hadn't experienced before but was ready to explore right then and there. His intensity was enough to make her tilt her head back and urge him to take more.

He pursued her a little more, and as their bodies pressed together, her swimming top slid loose.

They both stopped for a moment, confused and a little stunned, as their skin brushed together. It was such an overwhelming sensation that they both had to reorient themselves.

"Can I…?" Hercules asked, but his hand was already traveling north. He only needed a brief nod from her before he lightly explored her skin and then firmly kneaded it.

While he moaned with interest at his newfound plaything, Megara was a mess of sighs and whimpers. She couldn't hold herself up, so she gave herself over fully to the support of the hand he placed at her back. If they were lying down, this would be so much easier…

She could feel him even more now as her craving intensified.

It wouldn't be so bad if they put him in just a little, would it? She'd discovered an all-new hunger, and it would only be satisfied with him. More of him! She needed to possess him, consume him–

"Oh, dear! I didn't think you two would need supervision so soon!" Aphrodite's voice caught them both off-guard from the poolside. "I admire the initiative, kids, but it's time to stop for now."

Stop? How could they stop? Megara wanted to claw at him and scream until he fulfilled this hunger she hadn't had to deal with before today, and somehow, she was supposed to stop.

Hercules looked as if he were having a similar problem.

"Yeah, I know, buzzkill," Aphrodite said. "But you'll thank me in a couple of months. Probably."

Megara looked at Hercules and felt the desire fading, not because she was less interested in him but because of Aphrodite's will.

Soon, they'd try again, and hopefully, none of his divine relatives would intervene.