Playing the cool, confident hero was easier when she couldn't see his face. No bath was long enough to wash off thoughts of how close he'd come to those oversized fangs digging into his flesh. The terror on Ismene's face, the anxiety that he'd die in the attempt to save her…

In hindsight, he'd known he shouldn't be so confident from the beginning, but putting up a front was the only way he knew to salvage himself from his self-doubt.

Now, he wished he'd taken Megara with him to the baths. She wouldn't have minded sharing a sacred bath with him; anyway, she always knew how to make him laugh. But once he was alone, he knew he could only intoxicate her with his fears unless those got squashed before he saw her again.

All his life, he'd been unable to face the same perils as mortals and had a passing impression of the weight it forced them to carry. As long as he remained on earth, he bore it alongside them, and though he was much more equipped to face life's hardships than most of them were, did that give him the right to expect he'd dodge through an incredibly risky course of life unscathed?

He wasn't fully back to his ordinary self when he decided to leave the baths. If Megara could only steady his uncertain view of himself, he had to find her. When he didn't immediately find her in the crowded party, a small part of him gave in to panic. Had she fallen prey to the same kidnapping scheme that took her cousin?

Finding that instead, she was safe and drank herself silly, Hercules's heart lightened. Hearing her somewhat childish, giddy speech pattern made him fall in love with her all over again. He could talk to her all day in that state, but he knew he'd eventually miss her more rational side. After the day he'd had, sneaking away to a small sanctuary in the palace was the best way he could drag himself out of the mire his thoughts sank into.

He didn't know what room he dragged her into, and she seemed to think they were at home, so she didn't question it.

They'd stay there until he was ready to see the world and all its perils again and even expose her to it. This was the last thing he wanted. He had to be the bulwark that protected her from the whole world, but now she knew he was afraid. How had he let that slip?

He wished she'd go back to a silly, giddy little princess, but there was no disentangling that row on the Tapestry of Fate.

"How come you're not in the blanket with me?" she asked, her voice slurring back into a sweet, bubbly tone.

The truth was, he didn't know whose blanket this was, and he thought it best not to gamble with which of her relatives might come back for it.

"I just want to hold you so you'll be all warm and snuggly," he responded, hoping she would forget that she saw through him by morning. He could always go back to being her invincible champion. Once she believed it, he would too.

"You're too big not to share cuddles," Megara said as if this were an obvious fact. "There's so much of you to cuddle."

Even while drunk, Megara knew how to press a point.

"I'll get in the next blanket with you," he promised while rocking her in the blanket.

If she went to sleep, he could sneak her back to their villa, and she'd think she'd been there the whole time. Maybe she'd be a little disoriented at first, but–

Megara's small, soft hand caressed his cheek. "Did ya know how cute you are when you're all cuddle starved?" she asked.

Her voice didn't have quite as intense a slur as before, but she still had that charming bluntness that made his heart flutter. "I'm not cuddle starved. I've got you right here," he said, giving her a firm hug.

"I bet you tomorrow you'll wake up all whiny like 'Meg, I need you, please,' in your whiniest voice, and I'll just have to climb on top of you so you'll get all the cuddles you could ever want."

His cheeks burned under her hand.

This was not the somewhat innocent version of her she was when intoxicated. But she tried hard to keep up the act, so he played along. "Okay, okay, you've got a point," he said, chuckling softly as he continued to rock her. "Can you blame me for needing you so much? You're gorgeous… and you give amazing cuddles…"

"That's true, I do. It's a point of pride for me."

He kissed her forehead. "And ya know what? You're the only person I'll ever get cuddles from. How about that?"

"Mm… good. Other people scare me, but you make me safe."

He didn't care whether she was drunk or sober anymore. That was such a sincere comment it melted his heart. Whether or not she intended it to, her words had escaped somewhere deep in her heart. He lifted her chin to look into her eyes, though the dim room obscured much of her face. "You don't have to be afraid of the world…" he stroked her chin with his thumb. "I'm here to protect you."

"Yeah, I know," she cooed at him. "That's why I'm admitting what scares me. I know you'll make it all right."

Joy rippled from his heart throughout his body. A chuckle escaped him, and he lifted her into his kiss. He didn't know any other way to express the same sentiment in return when she'd gotten him so choked up.

Something changed in her breathing, and he pulled back, worried she'd fallen asleep on him. "You tryna leave me?" He wanted it to sound casual and playful, but something vulnerable had snuck into his voice. That wasn't supposed to be there.

"What?" she mumbled and yawned. "Hold on... where were we?" She rubbed at her eyes as if that would chase off the urge to sleep.

Honestly, he didn't know where they were. He looked around the room but didn't see much in the shadows. "It's all right… I should've just let you sleep. You've been so stressed today and had too much to drink."

"Me? Who cares about me?" She frowned. "You fought a big old monster today. I just watched."

"That was enough to stress you out, though, and I can watch over you."

"Why? You gotta sleep, too." Whether or not she was still buzzed, her sleepiness had taken over from that earlier delirium.

"Fair…" He looked around. This wasn't the place to do it. He didn't want to take the chance people could listen in on them in an intimate moment or take advantage of them not being vigilant enough with the party raging outside their door. "We'll go home then." He stood back up off the bed.

"Wait… aren't we home?" For what was probably the first time, she looked around the room.

"Technically, this was your home until recently."

Megara thought briefly, narrowing her eyes as if she could squint into the darkness and remember where they were. "We're in the palace… but not my room… we're…"

"Leaving," He carried her back through the window and whistled for Pegasus.

Megara strained to look back into the window, but he cautioned her to be careful so she wouldn't fall.

"But I could fall soooo well."

"I bet you could, Miss Overachiever. But for right now, I'd like you just to sit tight, okay?" He climbed onto Pegasus. "Now, while we're flying, the one thing I need you not to do is fall, okay? We'll be all right if there's no wiggling around to try and show off."

"Don't worry, I hate heights more than Hydras." Her usual voice returned for that comment, making him laugh at hearing it after its absence.

The reminder shot ice through his veins, but Hercules smiled at her. "You let me worry about the Hydras. Just remember to stay adorable and gorgeous, okay? I know you can do it, Princess."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Not if I get even drunker."

"That's a challenge I think I'll pass on. I'd rather you were cute and giggly and not miserable. I think the level of drunk you got tonight was just right."

"I could get drunker," she said, in the same tone as claiming she could fall well.

"But should you?" They were halfway home now, with the sky all to themselves. The casual banter calmed his heart and warmed his blood.

"Don't think so, but I am good at it."

"I believe you. You don't have to prove it."

"If you're around, I don't have to drink. You make me calm instead."

He chuckled at the thought. It was the second time she'd expressed it, but it still warmed his psyche to know it. "That's sweet in a strange, adorable kind of way."

"I'm a strange person."

"Yeah, a bit, but you're mostly gorgeous. How're you feeling, by the way? Not nauseous or anything?"

"Nah…" she yawned. "Sleepy."

"Then, as soon as we're home, I'll tuck you into bed."

"No deal if there's clothes."

Hercules barked his laughter toward the silent stars. "Okay! Okay, I yield to the princess's demand, no clothes!"

"I knew you always do what I want," she said in smug satisfaction that would've annoyed him on anyone else.

"For you? Anything." He squeezed her as they descended toward their villa, partially to anchor her to him and partly because he'd never felt closer to her than after this conversation.

"You know what I want," she said, sounding more awake than before.

"Do I?" He slid off of Pegasus and into their courtyard.

"Well, part of you always knows what I want," she said, her sly little smirk giving away that she'd once again risen to the usual level of wicked she preferred to inhabit.

"You got me there," he admitted, carrying her to their bedroom, where they were sure to get into all kinds of trouble.

"Not yet."

He snorted. "You're sure you're ready for it tonight?"

"I can be if I wanna be."

"Probably, but—"

"And if I tell you it's what I want…"

Hercules paused to open their door but also to mull over her comment. "Fair…"

"Besides, once our clothes are off, you'll still be cuddly, won't you? And you love it when I give you special cuddles."

His laughter caught in his throat. "You like this new tactic of messing with me, don't you?"

"As long as it's working on you."

"You know you always please me, and it makes me want to please you in return." He settled her on the bed, still wrapped in the blanket he had "loaned" from the palace, and sat beside her.

"I'd like for us to reconnect," she said in a much more sober tone. "Please? Do you wanna be connected to me now?"

A gasp caught at the back of his throat. "Yes…" he whispered as he released his breath. "There's nothing I want more…"

She knew it, too. "Even when I'm super adorable and giddy, huh? Do you know what'll make me cuter? Giving me what I want."

"Heh! Well… you do make an irresistible plea…" He leaned in closer and kissed her fully on the mouth. She still tasted of wine, but the sweet warmth of her breath was more complex than the mere scent of alcohol. He stroked her side and tugged her dress away from her curves.

"Oh, now you're in charge, huh?" she whispered.

"You know you can tell me how much you like it, don't you?" he asked with a cocky smirk before he dove in for another kiss. Before he'd pulled back from it, he'd left both of them bare to one another, and he didn't even bother to hide his desire.

"Okay… I admit, I like it," Megara whispered when he pulled back from their kiss.

"That's right, you do," he said, starting to feel more like an invincible champion by the moment.

Unprompted, Megara's legs went up around his waist. "The Mighty Hercules and his many talents…" she purred. "How fortunate for me to have you all to myself… There's nothing like you…"

"I'm saving at least half of my talents just for you," he promised, gently lifting her hips closer to his. "I bet even though I've told you how beautiful you are so many times, you still don't believe me."

"Maybe I just like hearing it."

"And you'll hear it again and again…" He brushed his hands along her legs, going slightly lightheaded with his need to be with her again. "Gods. When you wrap around me, you're the most comforting blanket ever woven…"

"And flexible, too, since you're my favorite thing to wrap around."

That was it. He pressed into a new kiss and into her. Flashes of brilliance rushed behind his eyes at the welcome expressed in her soft embrace. This was where he'd draw the courage to fight the next monster or reverse the next disaster. He just had to keep them both alive through everything they would face.