A/N: Chapter 18! So we will slowly be moving away from the G-rated content, but the story will never be M-rated. Anyway, R&R and enjoy!
“You seem to be in a good mood,” Hermes noted one afternoon.
Persephone grinned at him. “Oh, you know. It’s just such a beautiful day. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining!”
“So it’s because of the birds and the sunshine?” Hermes seemed unconvinced.
“What else would it be about?”
“Well, considering you hardly go more than a few seconds before checking yourself in the mirror, I’d say that it has something to do with a certain dead god and your date later tonight.”
“It’s not a date! And Hades isn’t dead!”
Hermes grinned at her in the way that Persephone had come to learn that he did right before he was about to say something particularly scandalous. She’d come to really like that grin.
“That’s not what the rumours say,” he sang, causing Persephone to frown.
“What rumours?”
“Why, the rumours about your beloved husband of course!”
There were plenty of rumours about Hades, but Persephone couldn’t for the life of her figure out which one Hermes was talking about. She hadn’t heard any rumours of him being dead. He was a god. The mere thought was ludicrous.
“What are you talking about?” she finally asked.
“The rumours of him being dead from the waist down.”
“From the waist down,” Persephone repeated incomprehensibly. Hermes lifted a teasing eyebrow, and she finally understood.
“Oh! He’s not.”
“So you have slept together. What a shame. I hate losing a bet.”
“You’ve bet on whether or not we’ve slept together?!”
“Why, of course! Everybody have. Except Demeter of course. You know how she is.”
“That’s personal! And we haven’t!”
“Well, then how do you know that the rumours aren’t true?”
“Well, because… because… they just can’t be.”
But even as the words left her, Persephone couldn’t help but wonder if they perhaps were. She’d never slept with Hades. When she thought about it, he had in fact never once tried to seduce her or lure her into his bed. Could it be because he wasn’t… able to? Or wanted to?
But he enjoyed it when they kissed. She was sure of that. He couldn’t have faked his reaction. Though of course there was a long way from kissing to having sex. Perhaps he was only interested in the first part. It would certainly explain many aspects of his behaviour. Such as why he hadn’t once tried…. well, anything really. And considering that he was a male god, it was downright bizarre.
She stared at Hermes in shock. “You really think that he’s not interested in sex?” she asked.
“Well, if he isn’t, isn’t that a good thing? You certainly won’t have to worry about that aspect of the married life. He did kidnap you. You have no reason to want to. And it’s not like you can’t do it with someone else. Someone whom you actually like. Someone whom you consider a friend.”
“That’s true,” she murmured even though she was barely listening after the first sentence or two. She had no reason to care whether or not Hades functioned as a man in that regard, but she found herself oddly disappointed that he might… not.
She wanted to sleep with him. It was surprisingly easy to admit, at least to herself. She wanted to. Not today or tomorrow or even within the close future, but one day… one day she might want to take their kisses a bit further, and she felt like crying at the thought that he might not feel the same way.
“Is there any way that I can… check?” she finally asked Hermes.
“Check?”
“Yeah. You know, if he wants to. And if he can.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Persephone frowned, confused. “No. Why should I be kidding about that?”
Hermes sighed. “No reason. Sometimes I just forget how innocent you are. Yes, you can check. Just kiss him.”
“But I’ve kissed him before,” Persephone argued, disappointed. “That won’t tell me anything.”
“It will if he reacts a certain way.”
“But I already know that he enjoys my kisses.”
“I meant if he reacts a certain way… physically.”
“Oh.” Persephone was well aware of that part of the male anatomy. It’d been in one of the books that her mother would have forbidden her to read, had Demeter only known about it. But to read about it and actually see it… the real thing sounded scary. But maybe she didn’t have to see it. She could just… kind of feel it.
She felt herself blushing at the thought. It was the easiest way to figure it out though. And she should probably do it before she lost her nerve.
“I have to leave,” she told Hermes, resolutely standing up.
“What, you’re going to check now?!”
“Yes.”
Hermes stared at her for a few seconds. Then he laughed. “I think I underestimated how much fun you were going to be,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing, nothing. Now let’s go. This should be quite the amusing sight.”
“You’re not coming.”
“What? Why not?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Persephone blushed. “I’d just rather not… have an audience.”
Hermes whistled. “Damn, girl. How far are you going to take this?”
“Oh, shush. And if you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to go before I lose my nerves.”
“Would you like to practice on me?”
“Very funny. No, thank you.” Persephone distastefully cringed her nose.
“Hey! I’ll have you know that there are plenty of women just standing in line to get a taste of me!”
Persephone grinned. “Then go kiss one of them,” she said as a mean of goodbye, before she went in search for her husband. Hanging out with Hermes really was like she imagined it would be to have a little brother. She didn’t understand what Hades was so worried about. Shrugging it off, she imagined that it must be a guy thing.
Catching sight of her husband, she greeted him with a shy smile.
“Lord Hades.”
He smiled at her, clearly pleased to see her. If nothing else, surely he enjoyed her company.
“Lady Persephone. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Oh. Well, you see, I was kind of wondering… well, I was just thinking… I’d heard and I didn’t know if it was true or not… I… I don’t know what to say.”
Hades stared at her in bemusement. “That makes two of us,” he finally said. “What did you hear?”
Unable to meet his eyes, Persephone stared intently at the ground. She didn’t dare to actually tell him what she’d heard, but she hadn’t come to ask him anyway. She’d come to check for herself. So she took a deep breath, forced herself to act before she had the chance to lose her nerves, and kissed him.
Hades made a surprised sound, but his arms immediately pulled her closer to him, and Persephone allowed herself to relax into the kiss. She did enjoy kissing him more than anything else. Surely if they had this, she could do without the other parts?
Except that it felt like she was on fire, and she thought that she might die if she never would get the chance to extinguish it. Kissing him a bit harder, she pushed herself closer to him, trying to feel if he reacted in the way that she’d read that men did.
Hades moaned into her mouth, but it wasn’t the reaction that Persephone was hoping for and she tried to press herself even closer, suddenly just needing to know.
Hades pulled away.
Staring at him, Persephone wasn’t aware herself of the rejected look on her face. “What’s wrong?” she asked him, disappointed and frustrated.
Hades seemed to hesitate. “Why are you doing this?” he finally asked, almost too quietly for Persephone to hear.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t seem to figure you out. You hate me, then you kiss me, and suddenly we seem to be friends. Then you’re angry, except you kiss my cheek, and now this? I wish to understand what is going on in your head, because I have never been this confused in my life. Could you just tell me, because I never seem to come up with the right answer when I attempt to guess.”
“Oh.” Persephone hesitated for a second, unable to bring herself to say the truth, but apparently Hades wasn’t done talking.
“Is this all to get back at your mother?”
“What?! No!”
“Then do you do it because you hope that it will be easier to return underground if we are friends? Or do you hope to one day ask me to free you from returning Underground?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I swear.”
“Are you trying to make yourself fall in love with me, because you feel like you should as I am your husband?”
“No.”
“Then why are you suddenly kissing me?!”
“Because I’m trying to figure out if you’re hard or not!”
Hades stared at her, and Persephone could feel the seconds ticking away. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
“What?” he finally whispered, and Persephone cringed. It seemed like she was about to have the most awkward conversation of a lifetime.
Perhaps she really should start thinking before acting.
It would certainly have saved her from this particular situation.
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