Chapter Text
Myths were fickle things.
Like with all stories, they were bound to change, or to be misrepresented. One person would witness an event and pass their gossip to the next person, and that person would pass it to the next, telling the story a little different each time because no one truly knew the story like it’s original teller. And even then, if the original teller wasn’t involved in the story, was only a witness, then was their own perception correct?
Legends about gods were even less likely to be accurate. Just like a god would never fully understand the plight of a mortal, humans would never fully understand the plight of an immortal, of not only the massive duties they were to attend to, but the emotions and thoughts they had as well. So it was easy to see where a story shared amongst humans about gods would be misconstrued and hold bias.
Legend said Hades kidnapped Persephone and made him his husband. Those legends weren’t necessarily wrong. But they were inadequate. The old paintings didn’t capture the spring god’s laughter, and old texts didn’t describe how his fingers snaked so lovingly into the hair at the base of Hades’ neck.
Their story was theirs, and theirs only to fully understand.
Notes:
And so it begins :)
Chapter 2: Gold
Summary:
Heart singing in his chest, Jungkook turned, danced and twirled to the thrum of life that pulsed even in the dark.
Notes:
Reminder: This document is a master list that has links to many different extra resources for this fic, such as a glossary and a thread of basic character introductions. My favorite is the “Chronological Additional Context” - it basically has a long list of background context, information and facts behind certain details on this fic for if you’re interested in seeing why specific things were added, why they may be important, or just simply my thoughts behind certain scenes :)
EDIT 2022: Go look at the art Cherry drew of Taekook meeting for my birthday :((( so cute, you can see it here.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It’d been a long time since Taehyung had been in the Overworld.
He, of course, hadn’t forgotten how bright and lively it was; it was so starkly different from his own world, it’d be a crime to forget it. But remembering and experiencing were two different things.
Sunlight filtered over his skin through the tree branches overhead, leaving fleeting warmth on bare skin. The sound of the leaves above rustling with the wind blended with the clattering of his chariot wheels against the rocks hidden in the grass of his unbeaten path and the dull thudding of the hooves of the four horses pulling it.
The forest was cool, but warmer than much of the Underworld, and Taehyung soaked it all in. It wasn’t often he allowed himself such a pleasure.
It wasn’t that he disliked the Underworld. No, far from it. He felt at home in the shadow and glow, and felt a sense of purpose in his role. But it could be dreary and lonely. Being around long-gone beings and overseeing the processes of the Underworld was not a toll-free job.
So every once and awhile when there was spare time, or when duties could be put off, Taehyung snuck to the surface to enjoy the presence of wildlife and what sunlight he could reach.
He rode through the winding turns aimlessly until the density of trees began to thin and he could see a field of grass ahead. Hesitating, Taehyung tugged slightly on the reins in his hands, his entourage of steeds nickering as they slowed. He tilted his head, staring out to the sun-bathed washed field. He wanted to go farther, to enjoy the warmth of day. But the farther he went, the increased chance he had of running into another god or goddess.
Taehyung was free to go where he wanted. He was welcomed to Olympus at anytime he liked, and could travel the Overworld without challenge. But freedom did not prevent stigma. He was the King of the Underworld, and death and all things cruel were associated strongly with his name, regardless of who he was as a person. On more than one occasion, he’d received dirty or wary looks from gods he passed on his outings.
He’d done nothing wrong, had only ever done his role just as they did theirs, and therefor their opinions of him were invalid. But he couldn’t lie and say the hateful glares had never gotten under his skin. He reserved himself more to the Underworld nowadays to save them the disgruntlement. He’d always been a bit on the reserved side, anyways.
A sound ahead caught his attention, though.
Curious, Taehyung allowed his horses to trot closer until they reached the tree line and he could peer out of the shadows of the trees into the brightness before him.
Not too far away in the field stood a figure, back turned to Taehyung. A shorter figure, a male nymph, if the soft face and the braided and flower-adorned blonde hair was anything to go by, stood with the first one, holding what looked like a wreath of woven grass stems.
The first figure had Taehyung’s attention, though. They were thin built, taller than their friend, and though the chiton they wore was more on the feminine side, a light yellow and falling low upon their back, Taehyung thought that they surely had to be male. Their shoulders were wider than any woman he’d seen, and their hair shorter than what women typically sported these days, as, for whatever reason, long hair seemed to be the craze.
Softly clicking his tongue, he urged the group of steeds forward, easing his chariot out into the open light, hoping for a closer look. The four of them trotted closer without complaint, the whispers of grass brushing their legs and the chariot wheels just like sighs of the earth.
The figure tilted their head as the nymph whispered into their ear, rearing back seconds later and letting out such a pretty laugh that floated to Taehyung’s ears on the breeze. The sound made Taehyung almost certain it was a boy, and he felt his heart pulse in his chest; despite always being more reserved than many of the other gods when it came to attractions, he had still always been fond of beautiful boys, and even from behind he could tell this one was surely a lovely sight.
Taehyung realized he’d drawn too close when the nymph paused and his head snapped up, eyes widening at the sight of the approaching chariot.
The boy beside him, alerted by his friend, turned his head to peer over his shoulder in a way that should have been labeled illegal with how it made the sun shine on his pretty shoulders and bare upper back. When he turned fully, Taehyung could see the full extent of his beauty: softly tanned skin; thin but strong framed, with an endearingly small waist; straight chestnut brown hair that brushed along his brows, tiny yellow flowers peeking out at his temples with their stems tucked behind his ears; a straight, rounded nose; and most beautifully, round, golden brown doe eyes.
A darling fawn in a meadow. A nature god, no doubt. He looked vaguely familiar, but Taehyung couldn’t draw up a name.
The boy blinked at him curiously, eyes twinkling in the sunlight as he tilted his head. His lips made a small pout, but then formed into an ‘o’ moments later when recognition flared across the young god’s face.
Taehyung pulled his horses to a stop with a light tug, the group whinnying softly with little prancing steps as they settled.
He had expected a staring match - he himself too shy (though he’d never admit it) to approach any further and the two men too surprised or distrusting to come any closer to him. But Taehyung was pleasantly surprised when the boy he’d been observing broke away from his nymph companion’s side, drifting to greet him despite his friend’s obvious disbelief.
Stepping out of the chariot, Taehyung lowered himself out to the ground, allowing the god to approach on his own terms. And approach he did, much closer than Taehyung had expected him to; he stopped with only a handful of inches between their feet.
Fearless, or ignorant?
“I did not mean to intrude,” Taehyung rumbled lowly. “Sometimes even curiosity can make an old god foolish.”
“Foolish?” the boy questioned. “Curiosity is a natural thing, even for a king.” His voice was a little low, albeit hardly matching Taehyung’s timbre, but he could hear the lilt in his words, the way it pitched up along certain syllables.
Taehyung tilted his head. “So you know who I am, Little Fawn?”
The nickname slipped out, surely far too soon to be considered appropriate. But if the name bothered the boy, it didn’t show, his gaze unwavering. “Of course I do. Hades, correct?”
He hummed. “Yes, you would be correct.” Far too impulsive for his own good, Taehyung brought his hand up without thinking, just slightly raising the boy’s chin with his fingers.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence, then?” The boy didn’t move his chin away; it sat perched so sweetly in Taehyung’s hand. Not forced to stay - Taehyung would never force it - but staying nonetheless. Allowing. The boy was in control, not Taehyung.
“To nothing particular. Though I do not think anyone has ever said they were pleased to meet me,” Taehyung murmured with a quirked brow, holding the boy’s stare. He slowly pulled his hand away, feeling it’d overstayed its welcome.
The boy didn’t lower his chin. He kept it up, perhaps not in confidence, but in ease. He wasn’t afraid. He smiled, calm and genuine. “Then I shall gladly be the first.”
“I must ask, then. What is the name of thy lovely first?”
“Jungkook,” the boy bowed a little, his voice soft.
Taehyung’s lips quirked. “Jungkook,” he hummed the name. “A lovely name for a lovely boy.”
Flushing slowly across his cheeks, Jungkook laughed softly. “Who says I am lovely?”
“Well, perhaps I do not know you well, but from just looking at you... Forgive me for my forwardness, but you are quite a beautiful sight.”
Another laugh, this one more flustered. “Thank you, Hades.”
“Taehyung.”
Jungkook paused and tipped his head sideways, hair falling to the side. “I’m sorry?”
Taehyung turned away, peering back at the young god with a small smirk. He climbed back into the chariot. “There is no need for the formality. My True Name. It is Taehyung,” he called.
Jungkook’s lips parted and closed as if to speak before he smiled. “Thank you, Taehyung. Leaving so soon?”
Glancing at the nymph who had inched closer during the interaction, his eyes alight with caution, Taehyung nodded somewhat sorrowfully. “I enjoy the Overworld, but I try not to wander out of the Underworld for too long, as it bothers the other inhabitants here. I have been gone from my place long enough.”
The boy frowned. “The other gods should not dictate where you can go and for what amount of time so long as you continue your work. If you’d like... Perhaps you can come visit me often. No god can question you if you have been invited.”
The bystanding nymph whipped his head to stare at Jungkook with an indignant squawk.
Taehyung smiled, surprised and grateful for the invitation. “I will consider, Fawn,” he promised. A small tug on the reins had his entourage nickering and clawing the ground with their hooves, collectively turning and starting to canter toward the trees.
“Goodbye!” Jungkook called enthusiastically from behind him. Smiling to himself, Taehyung waved into the air without looking back.
❀
Jungkook watched the chariot and its rider disappear into the shadows of the forest, smiling a little to himself.
“What was that?”
Jimin. Right.
Jungkook turned to the nymph, shrugging nonchalantly. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he replied. He ran his fingers along a tall blade of grass, happily watching as its green color turned golden, a head of kernels sprouting along its tip.
“That’s not what I meant. I meant that moment.”
Jungkook raised his eyes to look his friend. “What do you mean?”
Jimin stared at him disbelievingly. “Are you seriously that oblivious? You and Hades just had a moment, the fuck?”
“Taehyung,” Jungkook corrected matter-of-factly, starting to stroll away. “He offered us his True Name, it would be polite to use it.”
The nymph groaned. “Fine, Taehyung. But would you please reply because I just watched the weirdest thing of my damn life.” He padded after the god.
Trailing his hands over the grass he passed, leaving a wave of maturing plants in his wake, the boy hummed. “I didn’t notice a moment.”
“You offered for him - an Underworld god - to visit not just the Overworld, but you.”
Jungkook threw a look over his shoulder, brows pinched. “He‘s been wronged. If he’d like to visit the Overworld but does not because he fears the reaction of other gods, then he’s welcome to do so in my company. Being an Underworld dweller does not does not make him lesser.”
“Alright, fine. But you gave him your True Name first rather than your god name. And what was that hand and chin shit? That was a moment.”
Jungkook turned to look at Jimin with a raised brow. ”Was it?”
“You blushed.”
“I blush every time anyone praises me, it doesn’t mean there’s a moment.”
“Oh my gods, I hate you.”
Jungkook just laughed.
“I love you, as well, my friend.”
“I’m telling Seokjin, though.”
“Jimin, no!”
❀
Truth be told, Jungkook had known there was something there.
Jungkook didn’t know what he had thought about Hades before. Perhaps he’d thought he’d be toweringly tall, dark and mysterious, with thin, sickly skin, and covered head to toe in sharp edged clothing and armor. Maybe he’d thought him to be mean, leering with a sneer and a sharp tongue harsher than any thorn. The hushed, cautious whispers of the gods only fueled his vision.
But he’d been very wrong in those assumptions. Hades - Taehyung - had been around his height, towering only by a mere couple of inches. His clothing had been on the dark side, yes, but they were loose robes, and his expression and posture were open and warm, if not a little reserved. He hadn’t looked old and withered; he looked as young as any other god, perhaps even more handsome with such soft yet sharp features and surprisingly tanned skin. He’d spoken in a low, calming timbre, his words polite and full of care and consideration.
Despite these two versions of Hades in his mind not immediately lining up, he hadn’t lied when he told Taehyung he had known who he was. It was hard not to - it’d just immediately struck Jungkook upon first laying his sights on the man, upon first feeling his presence, the thought of, Ah, this is Hades, clear in his mind.
As eternally young as he’d appeared, he fit the appearance and air of a modest king.
But even a king, Jungkook thought, traversing up the hill to meet his impatiently calling mother as dusk settled around him, was simply a man, god or not.
✿
Thanatos was a god that Taehyung did not understand, yet simultaneously understood better than any other. He was quiet but talkative, calm yet fiery, the bringer of death yet a lively, passionate soul dressed in unbroken white; a living being yet the personification of death itself. His contradictions both confused and comforted Taehyung.
What held them more closely together? The fact that fear and hatred of death had marred both their good names, misconstrued what their intentions were, and they sat in the scattered ashes of those flames as they performed their given, intertwining tasks.
When Taehyung led his steeds off the gangway of the ferry, nodding to Charon, he turned to see the dark winged God of Death there, sitting upon a boulder with a calm expression upon his face. A similarly winged vixen lay at his feet, yellow eyes half closed in her rest.
“Yoongi. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Taehyung greeted kindly. A handful of Lampads came forward, wordlessly offering to take the reins of the steeds. He handed them over with a thankful smile, stepping away to let them lead the horses and the drawn chariot to be put away. “Do you not have any duties at the moment?”
Yoongi tilted his head with a hum. “I’m simply visiting home. Soon I will have to return to the Overworld, but there’s time to rest for now. Even death takes a break, if just for a moment.” He stood, his white robes shifting with him. “Would you mind some company?”
Taehyung smiled. “From you, I never mind,” he replied. Together they walked in companionable silence along the path and stairs leading to the palace, followed closely by the little fox.
Usually, Taehyung would return immediately into the palace after a ride in the Overworld. But this time, he led them through the archways and peristyles into the large courtyard that contained his orchard. Row upon row of short trees encompassed them as they strolled through. The branches of all of them held a variety of stages of growth: some held tiny buds, while other presented beautiful red flowers. Other trees held the final goal of all the trees, round spheres with an end like an upside down crown. Some were still green with youth, but the ripest of them were a glorious bright scarlet, the same color as the flowers they grew from.
These were the pomegranates of the Underworld, the only fruit Taehyung himself seemed to be able to cultivate in the close to barren land.
The vixen disappeared into the throng of trees to likely join her fellow Psychopomps as the two of them paused, Yoongi picking a pomegranate from a branch. Unsheathing his sword, he slashed into the top of the sphere, cutting a pentagon before pulling it away and following the lines of the inner membrane. Pulling the fruit apart, he slid his sword into its rightful place to be cleaned later and offered food to the god beside him. “Would you care for some?”
Taehyung took a slice from his hands. “Might as well.”
They continued walking as they ate seeds from the fruit. When he tired of the faintly sour seeds, they passed what was remaining to some giggling Lampad nymphs who were running by.
It was nice to see them enjoying themselves in such a dreary place. But, then again, it was all they knew. Those born in the Underworld seldom left.
When the silence had stretched on for quite some time, Yoongi sighed. “You’re awfully quiet, Taehyung. Perhaps something is on your mind?”
The Underworld’s king hummed in thought. “There is,” he conceded. “But I doubt frivolous thoughts are of your interest.”
Yoongi glanced at him. “You know I‘ll listen to whatever you wish to share. We may work together because it is our roles, but my friendship is always extended to you, as well, just as you extend yours to me.”
Taehyung bowed his head to that. “I’m only wondering about someone I met, is all.”
They exited the grove, traveling back into the palace. “Someone you met in the Overworld?” Yoongi guessed. The other nodded. “Was it a god? I hope they gave you no trouble.”
They walked into one of the palace’s various lounges. The marble walls rising up to high ceilings, it was rather open, the furnishing in umber brown and red fabric. Flaming torches circled the walls. They sat facing each other on a kline.
“No, his friend was rather wary of me, but they gave me no trouble. And I believe he was a god, though I’m uncertain. He looked somewhat familiar, but I’m positive I’ve never met him before.”
“His appearance, Tae?”
He thought it over. “A little shorter than me, brown hair and wide eyes. Lightly tanned. He had flowers tucked behind his ears, though I can’t say that was a regularly occurring accessory.”
Yoongi hummed. A small smile tugged at his lips. “From the sound of it, you met the esteemed Kore.”
Taehyung blinked at him. “Demeter’s son? Surely not. Well, I mean... The familiarity would make sense if that is so. I can definitely see some resemblance. But Demeter keeps him far away from the other gods, as far as I know. Surely she would not let him stray so close to where other gods may roam.”
Yoongi chuckled. “He’s been old enough to do his role for quite some time now. She simply keeps him away from Mount Olympus, in particular. The gods there have asked for or tried to steal his hand far too many times for her liking.”
The other deflated. “Ah. I see.”
The God of Death eyed him curiously. “Perhaps yet another god has fallen for the boy’s charms,” he mused.
Taehyung tensed, sputtering. “I’ve met him once! And we spoke for barely two minutes. He’s likely to have already forgotten me.” He rolled his shoulders. “Besides, what difference would such a thing make? A nature god could surely not find enjoyment in the Underworld, let alone find peace in the arms of death.”
Yoongi stood, straightening to his full height. Even with his shorter stature, he always seemed to tower by mere presence. “I think you undermine not only yourself, but others. Do not let your belief in who you are fall short, Taehyung. Even death is a beautiful thing when considered closely, and you nobly oversee the afterlife take its course. And I,” he turned away as a fox appeared at the doorway, its raven dark wings fluttering restlessly, “oversee its gentle delivery.”
❀
It was a full two moons later, in the season of the strawberry harvest, when Jungkook saw Taehyung again.
Standing at the top of a hill, Jungkook looked down to the rolling fields below. Like paint brushed across a canvas, flowers bloomed across the land, all white or pale yellows and pinks that popped against the green. From within the shade, peering into the light made the petals look near blinding.
Blooming the field hadn’t taken too long. Neither had the orange trees a couple of hills over. Jungkook duties usually never did last long. He was a nature god, his role to usher forth the growth of the plants to their harvest and flowers to their full potential. But that was his mother’s duty as well - Demeter, the Goddess of Agriculture, was expected to carry this role for her entire immortal existence. So more often than not, he bloomed flowers rather than oversaw the growth of whole crops.
Some gods had expressed confusion and disapproval when his mother never put more on his plate. They whispered that she was babying him, that she was being irresponsible.
They weren’t necessarily wrong, of course. Jungkook was of age to start taking more responsibilities, and Demeter definitely did coddle him, sometimes near suffocatingly so. She fawned over his looks with cooing words and rough but nurturing hands. She had hovered to keep a critical watch of his every use of his powers in his younger years, keen on him learning her way rather than letting him explore and establish a bond with the earth on his own.
When multiple gods and goddesses expressed romantic interest in him as he reached maturity (even before, uncomfortably enough), she near bristled at the shoulders and immediately removed him from Mount Olympus where they had always slept, instead taking him to rest their heads at night among the swards and meadows, never in the same place. To this day, he still was not allowed there without her accompanying him.
Jungkook had some other problems with her, too: he was no longer a small child who needed constant protection from the wraths of others, and he knew she sometimes sent nymphs to keep watch of his every step whenever she suspected he may be up to something (he never was).
He felt he couldn’t complain too much, because admittedly, he preferred to aimlessly roam the fields and forests, running through the grasses and the trees, often with Jimin tagging along. He enjoyed bringing beauty to the land with blooms and flowers more than he did growing plants with the sole purpose of food and materials for shelter.
So he had his problems with her hovering, and found himself relieved time and time again when she became busy. But he respected her as his mother, and kept his mouth shut about any of his grievances.
Humming a melody, he leaned back against the ginormous oak tree, letting his eyes close as he enjoyed the breeze. But the nickering of a horse made him open them.
At the edge of the trees down the hill, a black gelding stood, mounted by a familiar figure.
“Taehyung!”
The God of the Underworld swung his leg over the back of the steed, dropping by its side while his hand found its reins. Jungkook peered around, searching for any sign of watching nymphs, before hurrying down the hill to meet the god.
“Hello, Kore,” the man greeted with a tentative smile, voice as low and polite as it had been upon their first meeting. “I hope your offer still stands.”
“Of course,” Jungkook replied, smiling back. He tilted his head. “But... Kore? I don’t remember giving you my God Name, only my True Name. So you know who I am, then, I assume?”
Taehyung dipped his head, almost shy. “Of course. Well... in all honesty, I must say I was not quite sure until I spoke to Thanatos.”
“Thanatos? You know him?”
The other raised a brow with a playful smirk. “Yes. I would be a rather poor King of the Underworld if I did not, do you not think?”
Jungkook couldn’t help but laugh. “Ah, yes, I suppose you are right.” He turned his head, blinking at the beauty that stood by the man’s side. “And who would this handsome darling be?”
Taehyung reached a hand up to rub pridefully at the gelding’s snout. “This is Aethon.”
The horse nickered again, nosing into the hand. The god chuckled. “I don’t have any pomegranates, Aeth. You will have to wait.”
Jungkook perked up. “The wild strawberries have just ripened! Would he like some of those?”
The horse stamped its feet in a sudden uproar, making Taehyung laugh. “It seems he would,” he replied in amusement.
“Follow me, then,” Jungkook chimed, bowing light before walking past them into the trees.
He pretended he didn’t notice the teasing words Taehyung murmured to his steed.
“You should be grateful, Aethon. Not only are you getting food, but you’re being treated by quite the stunning god. Your brothers and sister will be jealous. I would be very appreciative, if I were you.”
Jungkook smiled to himself.
✿
Aethon, it turned out, loved strawberries much more than Taehyung had originally realized.
Jungkook giggled as he held out the little red fruits in his palm, his left hand lovingly running up and down the large animal’s neck while he munched enthusiastically. Taehyung sat beside them by the water of the calm river, his gaze fond as he watched his companion eat to his heart’s content.
Once the palm was empty of the treats, the horse moved his head to sniff at the wild bush, where some berries still clung to the branches. He went to bite one off, ever greedy, but Jungkook pushed his head gently away with another giggle.
“Ah ah ah,” he scolded lightly, “those aren’t ripe yet.”
Taehyung tilted his head. The berries looked just as ripe as the others to him. “How can you tell?” he asked, curious.
Jungkook looked up at him, blinking. His smile turned gentle. “The red color isn’t even all around. See, there’s some white coloring along the top? That’s okay usually, but if it’s white along the bottom like here,” he tilted the berry so Taehyung could see better, “it’s best to not pick it.
“And of course, most people like their strawberries sweet, too, so...” He pointed to the leaves that grew from the stem of one of the small strawberries. “This is called the calyx,” he explained, voice lilting. “When the strawberry is sweet, the leaves will flip upwards, just like...” He drew his finger over the side of the berry, and beneath his fingers it became just a little more red, and the small leaves curled up towards the stem. “That,” he finished, proud.
Taehyung watched in utter fascination. He’d known what nature gods were capable of. Of course he had. He was one of the oldest gods of Olympus, after all. But he couldn’t remember having ever actually witnessed their powers.
Jungkook picked the berry, but instead of passing it to a practically pouting Aethon, he lifted it towards Taehyung. “Have you ever tried a strawberry, Taehyung?” he asked kindly.
Taehyung shook his head. “I cannot say I have. Again, I do not come to the surface too often, and most things will not grow below...”
Jungkook’s smile wavered a little, as if he was scared he had upset him, but he lifted his hand upward after a moment, closer to Taehyung’s mouth. “Then try it,” he urged. “I swear they are good. Mostly sweet, but a tad sour. It‘s a nice balance, I would say.”
“I can feed myself-“
“Just try it!” Jungkook laughed.
Sighing in lighthearted exasperation, he conceded.
The boy was right, which was to be expected considering he likely had eaten every fruit and berry he himself grew with his powers. It was sweet, if not a little sour. There was a slight crunch from the seeds that Taehyung wasn’t quite sure he liked, but overall he enjoyed the taste.
Jungkook beside him looked like an excited pup. “So?” he questioned eagerly.
Taehyung smiled and patted the younger’s knee. “It is good,” he agreed warmly, taking the small fruit from the other and taking another small bite. He wrinkled his nose at the crunch, and for his next bite made sure to scratch the seeds off the skin.
Jungkook laughed. “Not a seed person?” he teased. He ripened another berry with a single touch, picking it and taking his own bite.
Taehyung shook his head, a bit embarrassed. He ran his thumb over the bumpy surface of the berry. “No, I would have to say I am not.”
Aethon let out an impatient whinny, stomping a hoof.
Jungkook laughed. He reached out to the bush. “Oh, I haven’t forgotten you, you big baby!”
Taehyung wasn’t sure what he had expected when he ventured to the Overworld to meet Kore, but he found that sitting by the river eating strawberries into the afternoon was as good of an encounter as any.
❀
“You’re smiling.”
Jungkook didn’t look up from his weaving. “Yes.”
“Nothing is happening to make you smile.”
“Am I not allowed to enjoy what I am doing?”
“You like flower crowns, but you have never smiled while silently making one.”
“It is nice to know you have stared at me enough as I have weaved crown after crown throughout the years to know that, Jimin.”
The other groaned, falling backwards in the grass. A couple of nearby nymphs giggled at his dramatics before returning to their own conversations.
“Just tell me what you were thinking about.”
“No.”
“Jungkook!”
“No, Jimin.”
The other lowered his voice. “...It was Taehyung, wasn’t it?”
Jungkook sighed. “Why are you so obsessed with this topic?”
Jimin rolled over. “Because there was something there. You invited him to visit you here on the surface simply because others have looked at him odd in the past. One would think you’re in love or something.”
Jungkook dropped the half-completed ring of flowers like it had burned him as his face and ears flushed red. “Love? Jimin, you can’t be serious.”
“What? Why else would you go out of your way? You don’t know him!” the other retorted back.
Shaking his head in resignation, Jungkook looked to his friend. “I didn’t do it because I fell in love, Jimin. I did it because he looked lonely.”
“Lonely.”
Jungkook plucked a blade of grass, twirling it in his fingers. “Yes. To be in the Underworld, living amongst the dead. And to come among the living only to be slighted for your work regardless of how important it is... What a lonely existence that must be.”
The nymph stared at him. “I think there is more to it than what you are telling me,” he huffed.
The god tore at another blade. “...Perhaps I am curious, as well.”
“Curious..?”
Jungkook groaned. “Must you repeat me? It makes me nervous.”
Jimin sat up. “I’m only trying to understand. What exactly are you curious about?”
Grumbling, he dropped the grass. “Him. How a god who is labeled as bad and cruel can seem to be so kind and sweet.”
About how his eyes could twinkle with such innocence. About how someone who should surely be so sad could also smile like the sun. About how he could speak so gently, so politely, when he’d been ostracized for so long.
Jimin stared at him again, his gaze burning into Jungkook.
“You’ve met him since that day, haven’t you.”
Jungkook bowed his head. “Only once, but... yes.”
Jimin sighed this time. He leaned closer and, affectionately, pressed a kiss to the younger’s temple. “Though I may call you stupid at times, I will support you in anything you ever do,” he told him. “But please do be careful. It is not him I believe you have to fear, but... The other gods...” He shook his head as if to clear his mind and rearrange his thoughts. “An unlikely friendship in the eyes of one may be a threat in the eyes of another, especially your mother.”
Jungkook took his hand with a grateful squeeze. “Our first perception of another is not always correct,” he answered gently, “but I will be careful nonetheless.”
Jimin nodded, and that was that.
✿
Taehyung lived his life in constant contradiction.
He was a king with no city. He was surrounded by death but lived his life with all his heart. He hated the loneliness of his world, yet loved its isolation. He lived in shadow and dark, yet he was tanned. He didn’t participate in much strenuous activity, but he was broad and strong. His features were simultaneously soft and sharp.
Nothing about him lined up perfectly, and just as he found comfort in Yoongi’s oddness, he found comfort in his own mismatched qualities. He was himself. He knew his role and its requirements, and that was all that he needed.
But Jungkook.
Jungkook made him rethink some things.
They’d met time after time after time since that second encounter, days and nights blurring together but the memories distinguishable and remembered fondly. Taehyung knew he was a goner.
It was easy, falling into step by the boy’s side and walking the entire span of the forest, hiding behind trees and laughing freely. It was easy, sitting beside Jungkook and listening to him point out all different types of trees and flowers, and letting him feed Taehyung various fruits he had never gotten to try. It was easy, laying out in sunlit meadows and talking quietly over the breeze and birdsong, ready to bare his whole soul if it was asked of him.
Doubts whispered to him like parasites. He’s a god meant for the sunshine and the meadows. Why would he like someone who resides in the dark? Who would like someone who shakes hands with death?
But all Jungkook had to do was smile, and those voices lowered to mere wisps of sound.
It was so easy, just being with Jungkook.
✿
The babbling of the brook at his feet filled Taehyung with delight. It sang like a countermelody to the singing birds and Jungkook’s laughter, and lulled him into peace. The crashing waves of the stream as it descended down the stones into the river farther down were a song of their own, loud and brash and bringing him just as much contentedness even with the volume.
“The rivers of the Underworld are not this enjoyable,” he mentioned, voice raised over the roar, as he hopped down from one stone to another, being careful not to slide on the slippery surface beneath his bare feet.
Jungkook flashed him a smile. He stood over the middle of the river, balanced confidently on a fallen log. “I’d imagine they don’t have quite as much movement,” he called. “From what I’ve heard, there’s really no uphill or downhill down below.”
Taehyung traversed down the slope, coming to stand at the bank. “Yes, they are mostly still,” he confirmed. “But they are no less treacherous when they choose to be so. King of the Underworld I may be, but even I have no control of nature there.”
Jungkook tilted his head. “I wonder if my powers would work in the Underworld.”
Pausing, Taehyung considered it. “I am sure they would. But I cannot imagine anything staying alive for too long, unfortunately.”
The younger hummed in understanding, though the sound was mostly drowned out by the water. Taehyung tested his weight on the log before pushing himself up to join him.
“Perhaps I could come and try some time..?”
Surprised, Taehyung foot slipped off the slick bark. He tilted sideways, but Jungkook was immediately there, giggling as he helped stabilize the other. Taehyung gripped his forearm’s to regain his balance.
“Like... Like, come to the Underworld?” he questioned, incredulous.
Smile ever so bright, Jungkook nodded. “Where else?” he laughed. He pulled him down gently, helping him to sit on the log with him with their legs hanging over. “Why?”
Taehyung shook his head, still flabbergasted. “I just can’t imagine anyone wanting to visit the Underworld should it not be necessary.”
“That‘s because people fear what they do not know. They’re too closed minded, unwilling to look past their own noses,” Jungkook replied with ease, as if the statement was simple common sense.
The King of the Underworld found himself staring at the nature god, taking in the way sunlight fell across his face in such a soft way. “And you think you see what they ignore?” he asked tentatively.
Jungkook tilted his head, staring back at him. “I’ve seen you, have I not?” he replied kindly, his gaze gentle and the tiniest of smiles of his lips. “If you are not as they say, then surely there must be more to your world, too.”
“Oh?” Taehyung felt like he could hardly breathe. But yet he continued to press, unable, or perhaps unwilling, to stop himself. “How am I so different from what they say?”
Humming, Jungkook’s hand reached up and pushed hair away from Taehyung’s brow, a simple, mindless movement that had his heart fluttering. “The other gods, they’ve never said anything explicitly,” Jungkook admitted, “and most of the humans refuse to even speak your name. But from the way they speak, you would think Hades is towering and dark, and sickly like a diseased man, like a dead man walking. They make you out to be unnatural and cruel, what with the way they utter your name. But...” Jungkook pulled back a bit, only slightly, as if to survey Taehyung’s face.
Oh, how he was so sure his face showed clearly how much his heart was yearning to hear Jungkook’s thoughts of him.
“But you’re so different from all of that,” the other whispered, suddenly hushed, and Taehyung wanted to tremble at the near awe in his voice. “You’re only a little taller than me, and you look like you’ve ran in the sun for centuries, and you act like it too, sometimes. You’re surrounded by death daily, but when you come above to the surface, you look like a wolf pup seeing the world for the first time upon its emergence from its den, so curious and eager, and yet content to just feel the sun on your face. And...”
Jungkook’s fingertips traced across his now bared brow, light like the touch of butterflies. “You speak my name and nicknames like I’m something precious,” he said with a growing-fond smile. “You listen like the wind and carry every word in your heart as if each one is the most sacred of things.”
They were so close. Taehyung blew out a slow breath, calming his thundering heart. “Be careful, Fawn,” he murmured. Raising a hand, his finger traced under Jungkook’s jaw, tilting his chin up in a move reminiscent for their first meeting. “Serenade me with such sweet words like that, and you may make an Icarus out of me.” Taehyung tapped the finger before pulling away. “I already think of you too much. Distract me any more, and I might become unworthy of the title of a king. I will become a fool instead.”
Jungkook’s lip quirked shyly, a petal pink blooming across his cheeks. “I distract you?”
Taehyung chuckled, leaning back to fully take in the beauty of the flushed boy. “More than you know. How can I focus, knowing such a fine boy waits for me to return to his side and keep him company? And once I am in his presence, how am I to take my eyes off of him?”
Jungkook giggled. “A moth to a flame,” he crooned. Taehyung couldn’t help but agree.
❀
A while later, after they’d returned up the hills, they sat sunbathing in one of the clearings. Jungkook leaned against a tree behind the other, Taehyung hunched before him, as he grew flowers beneath his fingertips, picking them and sliding them into Taehyung’s hair.
“Jungkook, promise me something.”
Pausing his motions, the nature god blinked at the other’s back, a small frown tugging at his lips. “What is it?”
Taehyung shifted to look at him, eye to eye and his words firm. “If I allow you to visit the Underworld, you have to promise me you will not eat or drink anything. Promise me that if it is offered, you will not take it.”
Jungkook was no fool. He was observant. He’d noticed the way that, even with his sudden bouts of confidence, Taehyung still spoke in a careful, formally structured way, and seemed to doubt Jungkook interest. And as he stared at him for a long moment, taking in his troubled eyes and tight lips, it was not hard to tell this was important to the god.
He reached out, fingertips tracing along Taehyung’s jaw. “I promise,” he murmured.
The god reached and squeezed his hand, and with that it was decided.
Jungkook would visit the Underworld.
❀
They never agreed on a time or a day. It was just an unspoken agreement, tacit.
Jungkook went about his days, anticipation buzzing from fingertip to toe as he traced the fields and forests and grew things below his nurturing hands.
Jimin had become very worried when he’d been told of the plan, but he’d swallowed his panic rather well, and was instead spending the days teasing Jungkook, comparing his excitement to a buzzing bee. The other was unbothered by him, but bickered with him nonetheless to pass the time.
And then the time came.
Light trickling through the canopy, the sun a little over halfway through its slow path across the sky, Jungkook had been blooming bush after bush of berries along a pond when he caught sight of it.
On the other side of the water, a fox stood in the shadows, nearby ivy and foliage seeming to bend away from it. Amber eyes dark despite their glow, its black fur was tinted by patches of ginger, like embers streaked its coat. Wings, small and inky like those of a raven or crow, perched at its shoulder blades. The feathers fluttered a little, tail waving slowly by its feet.
Beneath its paws, the grass was draining of its color, wilting or already dead.
A Psychopomp. A soul guide.
Rising slowly from his crouch, Jungkook cautiously approached the fox. It watched him, gaze unwavering, as he rounded the pond, and the moment he was only footsteps away, it turned tail and disappeared further into the woods. Jungkook pushed his powers through himself, let his bare feet restore the life to the ground beneath him as he followed through bushes and trees, finding the fox waiting not far away, eyes always watching his every move.
It continued for some time, this game of tag, until they reached somewhere that Jungkook had never seen before. He considered himself an expert of the forest. He’d explored every cranny, swam in every river and climbed every tree. Nothing had escaped him.
Except perhaps this clearing, wide and shadowed by thick branches overhead, and decorated only by a single cave raising from the ground with a yawning mouth.
The fox wandered to its entrance and turned to stare at him. Waiting.
Jungkook, fear and eagerness mixing in his chest, came forward and stepped inside.
There was nothing to note at first. The walls were of stone and rose and curled over his head. A tunnel extended into the void before him.
The fox slid past him and into the dark.
And with a deep breath, he followed.
Black was the only way to describe it.
It was all around him, covering the walls and floor like thick ink. He could feel the stone on his fingertips, cool to the touch, but his eyesight was useless in such darkness. He relied only on his touch and hearing, listening to the soft patter of paws. But even those didn’t help much, and he found himself tripping and stumbling. Thankfully, the fox didn’t seem to mind his bumbling. When he got confused, stopping to try to gauge his whereabouts, it would come to stand at his feet, gently nudging him in the right direction.
He stooped down to stroke its head in gratitude more than once.
Torches began to line the walls at some point, few and far between but enough for Jungkook to catch glimpses of grey walls and fur and feathers.
Finally, finally, they emerged.
Rock underfoot gave way to dirt as they stepped out of the cave into what appeared to be a ginormous cavern, the high above ceiling littered with millions of what appeared to be tiny gems and crystals, all glowing a breathtaking luminous cyan. Ahead of him, not far away stood-
“Taehyung!”
The god accepted him with warm arms, hugging Jungkook gently when the younger crashed into him. “Hello,” he chuckled, low voice kind. “I hope your journey went smoothly. I would have came to collect you myself, but duties cannot always be pushed aside.”
Jungkook drew back enough to smile brightly at him. “It went well. I had this beauty to guide me,” he replied, gesturing to the creature sitting at the cave entrance.
“Thank you,” Taehyung called to it. The winged fox tilted its head and slowly blinked as if accepting the words before turning, smooth as silken fabric, and disappearing back into the tunnel.
“Where is it going?” Jungkook asked curiously.
Taehyung pulled back and took him by the hand to tug him lightly forward. “He’ll likely return to Thanatos. The fox Psychopomps reside here in the Underworld, and they may listen to me, but they serve mostly him, assisting him in leading the dead here.”
Once Jungkook was walking, Taehyung let go of his hand and instead moved his hand to rest on the shorter’s lower back, a gentle guidance.
“Tell me a little about here?” Jungkook asked absentmindedly. Taehyung hummed.
“There are four major regions of the Underworld, excluding the one we are in now,” he explained as he walked them forward, deeper into the cavern. “They are separated by multiple rivers. I will only take you to the palace today. Traveling the entire length of the Underworld would take quite some time, and I’d like to have you back to your mother sooner rather than later.
“It is a little ways walk to the gates,” he told him. “It is not long, though.”
Jungkook hummed. “Does everything look like this?” he asked, gesturing to the sides of the path where dead trees, resembling spidery cracks in pottery, rose from the ground underneath them, surrounded by grass that lacked the vibrancy Jungkook was used to.
“Not all of it. This is the dullest of the foliage; it will get better as we go through.”
They approached something like a large stone arch, obviously old but sturdy. Lying before it was a slowly rising dog bigger than any other Jungkook had ever seen. Perhaps no doubt even bigger than the size of a large wolf, likely to stand at his chest at full height, it was lean and compactly muscled, with thick black fur and gleaming amber eyes.
Six of them. This was Cerberus, of course, the three headed guard dog to the Underworld.
They slowed as they reached the gate. Cerberus watched keenly, a curious ear twitching on each head as Taehyung stepped toward it.
“Cerberus, this is Kore, another god,” he called to the canine, who tilted his heads. “He is a guest. You will let him come back through when his visit is over, do you understand?”
One head of the dog snarled and snapped its jaws at the air, startling Jungkook, but Taehyung simply rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’ll bring you some kind of reward for your compliance,” he huffed.
The dog sniffed and, with that, laid down. One head laid on one paw, while the other two heads butted against each other for the other paw like two oversized puppies.
“Silly mutt,” Taehyung snorted.
Jungkook couldn’t help his laugh. But he still watched the dog, nervous as they trailed closer, shoving his hand into Taehyung’s for comfort. Cerberus, heads settled, peeked an eye open at him. Jungkook swallowed thickly, but Taehyung simply chuckled, a low sound that made butterflies flutter in the younger’s chest. The god shifted his hold on Jungkook’s hand, forcing him to reach out and gently pet the canine’s snout. He held his breath, only to let it out at the slow wag of a tail he received, and the lick to his palm from a tongue easily half as large as his hand.
The fierce protector of the Underworld, indeed.
✿
Taehyung had never been so nervous, so terrified in his entire existence.
Having the Jungkook in the Underworld was quite the experience. Meeting in the land of the living had been one thing: they had been in the young stripling’s comfort zone, his place of residence, and an undeniably beautiful place. There had been nothing to off-put the youth. But the Underworld was different. It was dark and dreary and so unfamiliar to Jungkook.
What was worse, was the fact that it was so closely tied to Taehyung. It was home, regardless of his fleeting frustrations and bouts of loneliness. It was as much a part of him as he was of it.
So if Jungkook disliked the Underworld...
Would he suddenly dislike Taehyung, as well?
He couldn’t push the thought away.
They approached the first river.
“This river is the Styx,” he voiced, gesturing to the water before them. “It is the most notable, and for good reason, because it connects to every other river here.”
“It’s so dark...”Jungkook murmured, peering into the waters as they came to the edge. A large boat rocked not far away, a cloaked man in it, and the murky water licked at its sides.
“The Styx is the River of Hate. If it has no reason to spite you, it might give mercy. But hate is a hard thing to trust, anyways,” Taehyung told him. The ferry drifted closer, and the man inside pushed a board down from its side, giving them passage aboard. His face was too dark to see under his hood, but he seemed to be scrutinizing Jungkook as he came forward.
“He’s a guest, Charon,” Taehyung clarified. He reached into his robes and pulled out two obol, tossing the coins to the ferryman. “I ask you to return him back here when his visit is over. Please treat him well.”
The man nodded wordlessly, the coins tucked into his own robes. Lifting his staff, he pushed it overboard into the water, and they began to move.
Taehyung led him to the side where they could peer over the edge into river. “So do you have much control over the Underworld itself? You speak like the river is its own person,” Jungkook asked.
The other tilted his head, trying to formulate a response. “My place as King of the Underworld is not as all powerful as it seems,” he finally replied. “I am not like my brothers, who control the skies and the waters, and especially not like Zeus, who controls the earth and the people upon it. I have some control over fire and the land here. But each river here has its own personality, and while each may respect me, it is not required to bend to my will.”
Jungkook frowned at him. “But you’re the King. Should they not listen to you?”
Shaking his head, Taehyung gave him a small smile. “I am not like you and your mother. The Earth needs you to thrive. The Underworld has nothing that explicitly needs to thrive. Even things that appear alive are not explicitly so. My hand is not needed to further its growth. My main task here is to oversee the come and go of the dead, and the living who dare try to enter and escape. So while the Underworld may respect me, in reality, it and I are more like equals.”
Taehyung had never been bitter about it. He was not greedy by nature, not usually, not how humans liked to depict him. He liked give and take. He took in the dead, he gave them reincarnation. He took stones from the earth, he created gems (something the other gods had never given him the time to tell them, and sometimes he thought it was better that way). His life was based around it. Mutual respect was simply expected.
Jungkook looked at him with considering, gentle eyes, but did not press.
The boat rocked on and on until they reached wetland. “This,” he murmured lowly, “is the Stygian Marsh, and up ahead, is the Judgement Pavilion.”
The younger leaned against the side of the ferry, taking in the large marble structure raised above the center of the slough. “What happens there?”
“The dead are judged on the actions and deeds they committed during their lives. From there, they are sent to one of four regions.”
The nature god looked at him. “They don’t all go to the same place?”
Taehyung’s lips quirked wryly. “No. I wouldn’t want a tyrant to walk alongside an innocent, after all.”
That explanation seemed as good as any.
Charon pushed them through the marsh back into the main flow of the river. As they floated along, Jungkook’s hand slid back into his, and Taehyung’s heart gave a significant thump as he twisted his own, running the pad of his thumb over the stripling’s knuckles.
This ride was much longer, but the younger didn’t seem to mind. He hummed quietly, peering around them with endless curiosity, doe eyes wide even as he took in bare cavern walls. He blinked when they passed another river, but Taehyung didn’t introduce it. He didn’t plan on bringing the other that way today.
They finally branched off onto a small stream, and Taehyung rolled his shoulders. “Here we are,” he murmured, coaxing Jungkook forward as the ferry bumped against land. Charon pushed down the gangway, and down they walked.
Taehyung turned to thank him, and when he turned back, Jungkook was standing still a step or two ahead, gazing at the temple not far up the path.
He felt his lips twitch into a small smile. “Welcome to the Palace of Hades, dear Kore.”
Jungkook turned to look at him, almost shy. “Thank you for giving me the honor,” he replied softly.
Taehyung couldn’t help his laugh as he stepped forward, resting his hand lightly against the small of the other’s back to guide him forward. “Oh, trust me,” he mused, “the pleasure is all mine.”
❀
Hades’ Palace was quite beautiful in its own way. All of its marble was colored a cool grey rather than the pristine white Jungkook was used to, but that didn’t compromise its beauty. It was rather tame architecture wise compared to something like the Temple of Mount Olympus; instead, it resembled a simple courtyard home, only it was larger. It still consisted of columns and intricately carved marble, depicting a variety of things he found interesting: roses and their thorns, pomegranates, ram horns, snakes, owls with heart-shaped faces, and many types of leaves and branches he couldn’t for sure distinguish without their colors.
“There is no function to most of the palace, if I am to be honest,” Taehyung admitted as they wandered aimlessly through the halls, following the trails of golden sconces hung on the walls, small oil lamps perched upon them. “There are chambers for the Lampads to rest should they choose to do so, but like us, they do not require sleep. There is no Andron or Gynaeceum - I saw no point in those - but there are a number of lounges. And, of course, my own chambers and the throne hall.”
Jungkook watched the warm lamplight flicker, the hallway brightening and dimming in response to the flames’ dancing. “I take it there is not much movement in these halls.”
Taehyung’s voice was amused. “No. Nothing like Mount Olympus, I am sure. But I do not mind.”
The younger hummed, peering into a room they came across. Taehyung gestured loosely, inviting him inside if he liked, and he accepted, stepping inside to look around curiously at what appeared to one of the many lounges the other had mentioned. “You like to be alone?”
Taehyung shrugged. “I enjoy company, but I also enjoy the quiet. I suppose I do not really prefer one over the other.”
Jungkook made a soft noise of acknowledgement. Silence sat with them comfortably, never unnerving. It felt like a blanket of calm over their shoulders.
And then Taehyung spoke, his words hesitant, almost as if he was embarrassed. “Would you like to see the orchard?”
Jungkook had never nodded so hard in his life.
That orchard, he found, was the biggest surprise he could have gotten.
Taking up almost the entirety of the palace’s largest courtyard, the grove was filled to the brim with pomegranate trees. Stand-out scarlets and crimsons dotted the green of the trees like dewdrops in the morning. The trees were all in various stages; some held simple flower buds, others growing bulbs, and still others the full grown fruit.
“Are they truly alive?” he asked breathlessly, floored by the size and health of the grove. The plants seemed to thrive under his touch, curling up towards him happily. “Surely they must be, if they’ll respond to my powers.”
“I cannot say for sure.” Taehyung came forward, reaching out to touch the limbs of the trees, as well. Jungkook had never seen the god touch any living plant with his hands before (with the exception of the fresh picked strawberries), and he found his lips tugging into a private, satisfied smile at the fact that nothing happened. No dimming of its color, no shriveling.
How wrong the gods of Olympus and the humans were about the supposedly fearsome Hades.
“I have tried other plants, but very few will grow here,” the god continued. “Pomegranates are one of the lucky few. I cannot say for certain if they are actually alive, or if they are only feigning life like many of the foliage here do.” His thumb stroked a leaf tenderly. “...But I do hope it is real.”
Jungkook saw the sillage of longing on the other’s face, and jumped to ease him.
“You know, pomegranates trees can survive even in harsh conditions,” he told him, resting a hand casually on Taehyung’s forearm. “I’ve seen them grown all over the place. They’re quite resilient, I would say.”
Taehyung blinked at him, looking vaguely touched. “Then I guess that is why they have no problem calling here home,” he chuckled.
Jungkook hummed softly in agreement. Then he felt his smile grow into a grin. “Shall we test my powers?”
Adoring words met his inquiry. “Go ahead, Honeybee.”
Cheeks tinting and aching with glee, he skipped down the row of trees, reaching out and tracing a finger over a young blooming flower. It brightened under his powers, the bell of it slowly enlarging and rounding. As it grew larger it faded towards green, and then returned to the original red as the fruit grew to its proper, full grown size. He continued along the line, blooming and growing with simple brushes of his fingertips.
Jungkook could hear Taehyung’s footsteps following him, could feel his gaze on his back. He spun around for a second to flash the other a smile, and couldn’t help the way the flush that had worked its way up to his cheeks burned hotter at the fondness in the elder god’s eyes.
Heart singing in his chest, Jungkook turned, danced and twirled to the thrum of life that pulsed even in the dark.
✿
Taehyung sent the stripling home not too long after. The younger had of course whined a little, but given in and complied with a shy goodbye, accompanied through the tunnel to the Overworld by several winged foxes who sniffed and yipped at the giggling nature god.
The silence after Jungkook’s departure back to the Overworld left Taehyung aching, oddly enough. He’d never minded the quiet. But after a span of time with the sound of a sweet voice and vivacious laughter in his ears, the silence felt anything but peaceful.
For the first time in a long, long time, Taehyung felt out of place in the Underworld.
He lingered for some time in the prothyrum of the palace, staring down the stairs at the little stream leading out to the Styx as if Charon’s ferry would appear again, carrying a starry eyed god. When he finally ambled away, he couldn’t help but return to the orchard, taking in the splattering of reds and the abundance of newly grown fruits.
It, too, was quiet there, but if Taehyung listened, it was like he could still hear the humming and giggling like a distant song.
On the other side of the grove, Jungkook had sifted his hands into the soil and grew a flower in mere moments, the petals layers upon layers of vivid crimson. Next time you see me, tell me if it lived, he’d told him with a twinkle in his eye.
All Taehyung heard was the promise of another meeting.
Kneeling, he reached his hand out and stroked the pad of his thumb slowly over a velvet petal of the young bloom, and felt a smile tug at his lips.
Perhaps beauty could exist in the Underworld.
✿
The flower wilted within hours. But despite his disappointment, Taehyung couldn’t help but think that it was strangely elegant in its demise, even with its dulling colors.
Yoongi’s words rang through his head: even death is a beautiful thing when considered closely.
The question is, Taehyung wondered, tracing the brittle, drying leaves, would Jungkook think the same?
❀
They met again, and again, and again.
Time passed both quickly and slowly. Apricot season tumbled into peach season, the days filled with their smiles and laughter, and quiet conversations in the stiller moments. Taehyung appeared at random as he found time, sometimes spending hours trying to discreetly search for Jungkook in the miles and miles of forest and fields.
Jimin spotted him the first time they were to meet after Jungkook’s visit to the Underworld, and rushed to tell Jungkook. The two of them snickered as they snuck behind him, watching the elder god pout and wander aimlessly, only to light up like the stars when he finally caught the two of them hiding.
“The flower died,” Taehyung told him a little while later. Jungkook expected him to a bit blasé in his delivery of the news. After all, the god was surrounded by death nearly every waking moment of his every day. But Taehyung’s voice was tender, a remorseful gleam in those disappointed eyes. “I’m sorry it did not work, Jungkook. Perhaps another time you could try again..?”
Jungkook fell a little more in love with him that day.
Love. That’s what it was, wasn’t it?
He smiled at Taehyung, whether the other was being silly or just simply resting in place, because it felt right. He laughed at his words without any use of force behind it. He felt drawn to him, felt the need to leave butterfly touches on his shoulders and forearms, and to toy with strands of his hair. His chest always felt warm around him, a gentle thrum through his veins, similar to how his powers felt when he used them. It felt as close to love as what he had always assumed love felt like.
(He tried for ask his mother what love felt like one night as they bedded down under a gnarled oak. She had frowned at him, eyes critical and maybe a little bitter, and scoffed, Gods don’t know love, Kore. It never ends well for those who do claim to have felt it. A wicked thing, it is.
What about Aphrodite? Is that not her blessing? he’d responded hesitantly.
Oh, Darling, she’d tutted, tone dripping with contempt. Ask Aphrodite how many she’s laid with, and decide for yourself if she really feels love.
Uncomfortable with her disdain, he didn’t ask any more questions after that.)
Taehyung was nothing like the other gods who had shown interest in him before. A number of them had watched him like vipers in the grass, gazes far too intense to be innocent. They offered gifts, but none of them had taken the time to get to know him. They just clamored to have a claim to his hand, or, worse, if they were already tied to another, to have a chance to make him their paramour.
Taehyung was different. Jungkook could tell Taehyung felt what he felt, too, or at least something similar. The god was demure and reserved, in a way. But he also wore his heart on his sleeve, so open to every question Jungkook inquired, so willing to do whatever was asked of him. He never forced anything upon him, either, always considerate of his thoughts and feelings.
He smiled at Jungkook like he was something beautiful, and touched him like he was, too.
The other gods on Olympus, they saw a man cast in shadow and drowned in death, and whispered bad omen.
Jungkook saw a man who found peace in the dark despite his love of light, who bloomed no matter the conditions he was thrust into, and whispered blessing.
❀
When it happened, it was just like their first meeting, except this time, Jungkook was alone.
The breeze pushed the field of barley to sway gently just as Jungkook’s own hair danced. Mist settled across the land, glittering with the morning light, dew shining on stalks and setting such a magical scene that he couldn’t help but be in awe, even after all his years. He closed his eyes, breathing in the damp, sweet air.
The tell-tale sound of galloping and nickering reached his ears.
It’d been a week since they last saw each other. Turning, he felt deja vu stir fondly in his chest like an old friend. Taehyung was nearing in his chariot, pulled by his four black beauties. Their hooves pounded and stomped as they came to a stop and their master dropped out of the carrier, his robes colored like rich boysenberries, something Jungkook had never seen from the god but quite liked.
“Hades,” he greeted teasingly. “To what do I owe the pleasure? It must be quite an occasion, for such a nice change of clothing.”
The elder god’s lips twitched into an amused smile. “Oh, the pleasure is all mine,” he replied. “And I would say the occasion is quite special, yes.”
“Oh?”
“I come bearing a gift.”
Jungkook tilted his head, slowly stepping closer. The atmosphere was so intimate in the grace of the newly blooming day, the world still cool-toned with night but gradually warming, bronze and honey starting to streak the lightening sky. He was hesitant to break the peace of it, so he kept his voice lowered.
“And what is that?”
Taehyung’s lips quirked even further. “First, take these.”
From his chiton, the god pulled out and offered a duo of golden flowers. Their yellow a stark contrast to the bold green of the thick stems, the petals were reminiscent of a six-pointed star, with a coronas in the middle like bells.
“Narcissus,” the nature god whispered as he reached out, their fingertips brushing as he took them into his hold.
“From what I have heard,” Taehyung drawled carefully, always careful, “some say they symbolizes renewal. New beginnings. But also, quite fittingly... it also symbolizes selfishness. And I... I have something to ask you. I am scared to, but it is all I can think about, Fawn.”
Jungkook raised his gaze to take in the god’s desperate eyes, his drawn brows. The pure nervousness all across his face. Letting out a slow breath, slow slow slow, he stepped closer, laying a hand on the other’s forearm. “Go on,” he murmured, rubbing circles into his soft skin.
Taehyung nodded jerkily, and Jungkook once again found himself affronted by the idea that some feared this heedful man.
Taehyung stepped back and reached into his robe yet again, pulling out something shiny, glimmering as it caught the growing light. It took a moment for what it was to register, but when it did, Jungkook’s breath caught in his throat.
It was a circlet of gold, obviously crafted with the upmost care, for it was modeled after a laurel crown, each of the leaves painstakingly detailed and placed. Small, polished maroon gems dotted the golden band of its supposed branches at random, shaped like little glossy seeds. Taehyung held it in his large hands like it was made of glass, like it was the most precious thing he’d even had in his possession.
“Kore, the warmest light in my life,” Hades whispered, and oh, oh, the hope in his eyes and the tremble in his voice. “This is much to ask of you. You do not belong below ground where the the sun cannot kiss your skin, but I cannot envision myself without you beside me every step of the way anymore, not since you walked into my heart and made a home there.” His hand reached out, lifting Jungkook’s to rest in his own. Light as a breeze, never forceful. “Please allow me to be selfish this once and ask you... Would you come with me to the Underworld, as my equal, as my husband, as my king?”
Jungkook stared him, eyes wide and lips parted. A million thoughts flashed through his head like the winds of a raging storm: Mother will be furious what would Jimin think can I be this selfish can I abandon all my duties what would the gods think oh Mother would absolutely forbid this-
But his heart spoke louder, firm and concise:
I love him.
“Yes,” he breathed, the words so sweet, so right on his tongue like they were destined to roll off the tip. “Taehyung, yes.”
The other looked so startled, so suddenly overwhelmed, like he had expected to be left broken and, heartbreakingly, had intended to accept the rejection with a benign smile. But he tearfully laughed, a low rumble like a distant roll of thunder, and stepped forward, perching the circlet upon Jungkook’s locks. His hand lovingly found the side of his neck, tracing upwards, and a finger tilted his chin up. “Are you sure, Fawn?”
Jungkook lifted his hand and tangled his hand with the other’s. “I’ve never been more sure of something in my life,” he whispered.
Taehyung leant down, and finally, finally, their lips met.
Jungkook had never humored the idea of romance. He’d wondered what love felt like, sure. But he had turned his eyes away from every suitor, and into the expansive fields and forests. His mind had never strayed to the specifics of what a kiss felt like, but to experience it was so wonderful. The touch was featherlight, like a butterfly against his lips. It lasted just three seconds, but those three seconds were slow and full of peace, feelings of warmth and cool coexisting harmoniously. They pulled away from each other, smiles small and private, foreheads pressed together as they just took a moment to be.
“Shall we?” Jungkook asked, eyes playful as he gazed upon the pure relief on Taehyung’s face.
Smile bright and eyes alight, the God of the Underworld surged forward and scooped him up. Jungkook yelped in shock, but it dissolved into trilling laugher as Hades carried him to his chariot, the steeds rearing and crying as if celebrating.
“We shall, dear Kore.”
And with a shout and a light snap of the reins, their lives changed to the sound of pounding hearts and hooves, and to the beauty of the newly arrived day.
Notes:
If you're wondering whether to keep reading, the next chapter is tiny <3
Chapter Text
In the dark, an old, greyed woman smiled to herself. She paused the gentle smoothing of her fingers over the glowing thread between her hands, catching the drop spindle hanging before her.
“My sisters,” she crooned, voice hoarse but sweet. “Something has changed for a darling deer.”
Another woman, a distaff in her hand, hummed contentedly. “A long time coming, yes?”
A third woman toyed absentmindedly with her shears. “It was bound to be,” she agreed.
The first woman stood from her creaky stool, leaving the spindle and shuffling not too far off. Thousands of golden strands crisscrossed and tangled in front of her. She watched, satisfied, as three of the strings interacted, weaving before her eyes.
“A beautiful moment,” she sighed, voice lilting with gentle delight.
“A marriage-to-be among gods,” mused her second sister. “A lovely thing, is it not?”
“Of course,” the last sister murmured. She glanced up knowingly from the blades of her shears.
“But there will be an unhappy mother to appease.”
❁
“Kore!”
Silence met the woman’s calls. Frowning, she slipped from the thick of the tree line, peering against the blinding light of the lowering sun. The nymphs had told her this field was the place they’d seen him head to. And yet-
“Jungkook?”
-no one replied.
Chapter 4: Red
Notes:
Hi! I’m so sorry for the two month long wait :,) I posted Chapters 1-3 in January because I realized how close I was to completing the entire fic and I thought “wow, I could probably finish in a couple weeks!” Read: a horrible decision! I should have known that wasn’t gonna work out but eh, we stan optimism. Basically what happened is I thought I had one scene left for Chapter 4 and then just the remainder of the epilogue left to write, which was right at the time! Except uh,,, I realized my “epilogue” was getting kind of too long to be considered one, so I moved lots of scenes into Chapter 4 and then realized there was a lot more that I wanted to touch on than I had originally planned and then writer's block came along and just. Chaos. This is why you plan out your fics. Don’t be like me, lol.
By the way, thank you for all the kind comments on the last parts! I’m so happy you guys were enjoying! It really made my day every time I got a comment. I hope the ending lives up to your hopes hehe
Anyways, my beloved work is coming to an close. All my sappy notes are at the very end. For now, I just hope you all enjoy <3
(Also! Tags were updated, but here’s a rundown on content warnings so you don’t have to read my chaotic tagging: mild angst, mentions of death, mentions of pedophilia, and family issues/tensions.)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Taehyung was convinced that bringing Jungkook home would forever be one of the happiest moments of his life. Elation filled him from head to toe as if it ran through his veins like ichor. He couldn’t keep the smile from his face. Initially, he felt foolish for it. But when they had already reached the stream leading to the palace and Jungkook’s own delight hadn’t dampened, he knew he wasn’t the only one.
The Underworld had never not been home to him in all of his time that he had inhabited it. He had no ill feelings towards the place. But suddenly, with his love by his side, every step felt surer and every breath clearer.
Home was no longer just his own, but theirs.
Childish giggles spilled from their lips as they tumbled over the gangway, leading the steeds onto land with reckless abandon. Lampads rushed to take the reins, and Taehyung relinquished them gratefully, taking Jungkook’s hand in his and guiding the way to the palace.
Surprisingly, a guest greeted them at the prothyrum, surrounded by familiar vixens and tods alike. “Well, look who has graced the Underworld with his presence,” the man mused warmly. “How nice to see you again, Kore.”
Initial surprise fading quickly, Jungkook laughed, eyes twinkling. Taehyung watched him with his own small smile. “It’s been some time, Thanatos. It’s lovely to see you in better circumstances than a passing life, I must say.”
The God of Death tipped his head to that. “Agreed. Yoongi is fine to call me by, Kore. It’s what Taehyung here already has the pleasure of doing.”
“Then Jungkook is fine for me,” he replied.
Yoongi hummed. His eyes landed on the diadem upon Jungkook’s head, a knowing smile tugging at his lips. “I see Taehyung finally made his move. Quite a beautiful piece. The work of Hephaestus, by chance, my friend?”
Taehyung fondly watched Jungkook’s hand fly up to his head, running the pad of his fingers over one of the golden leaves. “Of course.”
Yoongi smiled. “Well then,” the god sighed dramatically, walking past them with the skulk of foxes at his feet happily trotting alongside him, “I’ll leave you two to your canoodling.”
Taehyung choked on his laugh while Jungkook jolted, his cheeks flaring, reaching to whack the god on the shoulder but missing by a mere inch. “We are not going to canoodle, you-“
“See you soon!” Taehyung called, mirth thick in his voice as he drew his complaining love back to him by the waist.
Thanatos disappearing down the steps, Hades took Kore by the hand once again and pulled him through the arched doorway, into the palace. And with a trembling heart, both from laughter and emotion, voiced what had been begging to roll off his tongue.
“Welcome home.”
❀
The first hours of Jungkook’s new life in the Underworld went rather simply. They stumbled through the hallways like young foals, love sick and foolish, all twinkling eyes and breathless laughter, with no true direction to their steps.
They poked in and out of lounges and storage rooms of sorts, as well as mini, bare gardens and the orchard courtyard. Jungkook grazed his hands along the trees as they trailed through them, leaving them flourishing in his wake.
They reached the throne hall at the back of the palace.
While Taehyung walked ahead, he lagged behind to take it in. Marble just like the rest of the building, the ceilings rose much higher in a dome-like curve. High up on the walls, carvings similar to those at the entrance of the palace were deeply etched into the stone, the images as beautifully detailed as he remembered, every feather and scale precise, every solid petal deceptively pliable.
“Jungkook.”
Tearing his eyes away from the intricate pictures, he turned his gaze to where the voice had come from.
And found himself once again stunned.
Taehyung stood at the head of the throne room, only a handful of steps making up the dais which held the King’s throne.
Except, there was a second throne that Taehyung’s hand rested upon almost lovingly.
Gold and silver like Taehyung’s and just as sleek and polished, it was similarly engraved along its sides and top with a variety of beautiful, ornate features: a diverse array of flowers, narcissus among them; wheat as if growing from the bottom; and at least two deer that he could see, one a doe, and the other a buck with sprawling antlers.
“Oh,” he whispered, walking forward in a daze. “You’ve already... had one made?”
“I got a little ahead of myself,” Taehyung admitted, clearly abashed.
Shaking his head to clear it, Jungkook stepped up onto the dais, tracing the closest carvings. Laughing a little to himself in disbelief, he smiled at the other teasingly. “What if I hadn’t accepted your proposal?”
Taehyung jerked like he’d been struck, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him. “I... I suppose I would return it to Hephaestus. I am sure he would reuse the materials. If you do not like it-“
Guilt flared in his heart as he watched the god’s fingers tap, rapid and nervous, against the throne. “Stop talking like that,” he interrupted gently.
Taehyung blinked at him, startled. “Like what?”
“All proper. I’ve agreed to marry you, darling, there’s no need to be so formal anymore. The throne is lovely. Thank you.”
“Marry?” Taehyung choked.
The nature god couldn’t help his laugh. He lowered himself into the seat. “That is what you asked of me, isn’t it?”
“Yes! Yes, I just-“
Hands finding Taehyung’s forearm, Jungkook pulled him to stand directly in front of him, squeezing comfortingly. “Easy, my love. I understand. I’m only playing.”
Taehyung kneeled and stared at him, eyes searching. It was something new, to see him so nervous. He’d always been careful, sure. But never had Jungkook seen him fall all over himself, desperate to please.
He slid his hand up to cup the god’s jaw. His voice softened, sweet and comforting. “What are you looking at me like that for, hm?”
“‘My love’?” the other whispered curiously.
Jungkook hummed in agreement. “Is that okay?”
“Of course! I just...” Taehyung laughed, the sound hushed, shaking his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, dear. You’ve been on edge about this, haven’t you?”
Taehyung’s smile was a bit strained. “Oh, don’t remind me. Can you blame me? It’s not everyday you ask someone for their hand in life, is it?”
“No,” Jungkook mused. Warmth bloomed and buzzed in his chest. “No, it certainly isn’t.”
They tangled their hands together, fiddling and fidgeting with each other’s fingers. Taehyung stared at him again, this time with a besotted expression on his face, and Jungkook let him, basking in the moment.
Taehyung suddenly squeezed his hand. “Come with me,” he whispered.
Jungkook tilted his head. “To where?”
“To explore your new home.”
“You’ll take me further?”
Taehyung brought his hands to his lips, brushing a kiss across his knuckles. “This is your home as much as it is mine, now, Fawn. You’ve seen some, but not all. The Underworld may be dark and full of mourning, dear,” he murmured, low, “but there’s some hope and light here, even in the shadows. And with a heart as kind as yours... Perhaps you’ll find some beauty.”
His smile was immediate. “You don’t need to impress me when I’m already enraptured with you,” Jungkook mused. He pulled one hand away from the other’s grasp, running it slowly through his hair, all the way down to where it lingered at the base of his neck. “But I want to love what you love. I’d go anywhere with you. Show me your world.”
❀
They reached the propylaea of the palace before the Underworld King paused, turning to look Jungkook in the eye, expression earnest. “Do not be afraid of anything here,” he murmured. “Despite popular belief, there’s hardly anything here that could genuinely hurt you, with only a handful of exceptions. And I could set fire to the entire place, but not a single flame would ever even brush your skin, anyways.”
Jungkook smiled, fond. “Some things will make me nervous,” he admitted, “but only because I’m not used to them. I know I’ll be okay.”
A smile grew on Taehyung’s own face. He didn’t reply to Jungkook’s words, instead turning to face forward with a new, relaxed yet confident look that Jungkook thought suited him well.
The air of a king.
❀
Straight off the steps of the palace, you will find yourself on the edge of the Asphodel Meadows.
Jungkook, his gaze effectively captured by the palace upon his first visit and attention on Taehyung upon his second coming, hadn’t noticed the field. But now it lay before him, littered with hundreds of figures, pale and gleaming souls who wandered among the grasses aimlessly, eyes empty.
Taehyung stepped forward, not a hint of hesitance in his body, and Jungkook followed.
They strolled through the throng, trailing farther and farther from the palace. The souls around them ambled listlessly, like simple husks of themselves. It unnerved Jungkook; life was a friend to him. He nursed the smallest seeds into the largest of trees. Death, while not a new sight, was an uncommon acquaintance.
“The Asphodel Meadows,” Taehyung murmured beside him, his steps slow and sure. He watched over the sward with a keen eye, observing the souls within his care. “Any man or woman will lie here in their afterlife. If they are wise, they will be born again.”
Jungkook blinked. “If they are wise?”
A hand gestured to their left. The nature god found his eyes landing on something he was quite familiar with. “Asphodel flowers.”
“Their bulbs are a favorite food here,” Taehyung explained lowly. “But if a soul wishes to walk the Overworld again, their attachment to the Underworld needs to be little to nonexistent.”
Jungkook frowned a little at that, confused, but Taehyung was already moving forward, glancing over his shoulder with a quick smile.
They passed through the meandering spirits for quite some time, long enough that Jungkook slowly eased in their presence. Soon enough they reached the end of a river, the remaining waters lying pitifully in puddles interspersed between the dried up dirt.
“The Acheron River,” Taehyung told him mindlessly as they dropped down off the bank and hauled themselves up on the other side. “And ahead, the the Vale of Mourning.”
“What a delightful name,” Jungkook muttered sourly. Taehyung snorted.
“And what else would you call it, darling Fawn?”
It took only mere moments of walking for him to begin to hear the cries.
They were an array of soft and loud, shrill and hoarse, and all horribly heart breaking. Stricken, he hastened up to the edge of the risen land, staring down into the valley below.
Like in the Asphodel Meadows, souls roamed. But here, their expressions strayed from the impassive looks. Instead, faces were crumbled, eyes wide and teary and lost. Cheeks streaked wetly, some clawed at their chests while others at their hair, stumbling as if physically pained.
Yet, another thing stood out.
“So many of them are women,” Jungkook whispered in shock.
Taehyung, back at his side, rested his hand on the nature god’s shoulder. “I would dare say women are stronger than any man, dear, when it comes to the emotions we feel. Of course, I can’t speak for everyone, but mothers, daughters, sisters; many feel with the most fervor, and thus they feel the backlash and repercussions of lost and stolen love the most.”
Jungkook thought of his own mother - her loving hands in his hair in his youth when he couldn’t sleep, her fervor to distance any suitors from him. The sad way she looked at him, sometimes, when he let her hand go.
Jungkook looked to him, and then back to the vale below. “Would it be alright if this is a place I prefer to avoid?” he questioned tentatively.
Taehyung’s responding smile was small, understanding. He cupped his cheek and pressed a light kiss to his nose. “More than alright. Let’s head to the waterfall.”
“There's a waterfall?”
Hand falling to his lower back, Taehyung steered him to their left, making sure to edge them back towards the river, away from the weeping from below. “The Cocytus River breaks off from the Acheron and flows over the peak into the Vale.”
“Is it pretty?”
“I would say so.”
Like before, Jungkook could hear the waterfall before he saw it. A slight rise in the slope had him looking at the water cascading over rocks, tumbling down into a pool below. The water caught the glowing of the crystals overhead, making flying droplets gleam and the pool’s surface ripple cyan.
“A cave is behind there,” Taehyung told him, quiet enough that Jungkook had to strain to hear him over the roar of the crashing water. The King was pointing to the wall of the cliff behind the waterfall. “There’s a path leading to it. From time to time a soul will manage up the slippery path to roam up and inside. You can’t hear them over the water, but their cries will just echo louder inside there. That’s why it’s called the Cocytus River: the River of Wailing.”
Taehyung turned back to him, and the sad frown on his face must of been obvious, because he laughed softly, cupping his face once again. “Let’s move on, hm?”
❀
Moving on meant boarding the ferry of Charon, drifting along the Styx’s long stretch.
“We won’t go down the Phlegethon today,” Taehyung murmured as they passed the mouth of the said river. “It’s a bit difficult to ride over. It only leads to Tartarus, anyways, and I can’t see you having too much desire to go there.”
Jungkook just shook his head in a quick agreement.
Side by side and floating along quietly, they soon enough reached a fork in the river. Charon directed them along the right branch, where the water eased to lap peacefully against the wood.
“We’re entering Elysium.”
Toying with the other fingers in his grasp, Jungkook glanced at him. “A new area?”
Taehyung hummed in acknowledgement. “This whole section of the Underworld is called Elysium, just as a general term. There are two areas here: the Elysian Fields, and the Isle of the Blessed.”
Jungkook twisted his head to rest his chin on Taehyung’s shoulder. “Why are they separated from everything else?” he asked. “The rest of the cavern was open, but it’s closed in here.”
Taehyung tapped his nose, chuckling when Jungkook scrunched it up in response. “Elysium is for souls who’ve already lived upon the earth more than once, and who lived good lives.”
“...Define ‘good.’”
“Virtuous, I suppose be the best word. Good people.”
Jungkook blinked slowly. “So if you’ve lived more than one life and you were good in each one, you get to live in Elysium.”
Taehyung nodded. “Correct. We’ll be seeing the Elysian Fields, right now.”
Charon pulled the ferry up to land, pushing the gangway down for them to cross.
“Meet us just down the bank, if you would,” Taehyung requested as he led Jungkook off the boat.
The hooded man just nodded.
Jungkook took in the new addition of trees scattered sparsely across the sward. A few souls lingered in their shadows, numbers far less than that of the Asphodel or the Vale and seemingly more content. Beneath their feet and swaying around their legs and hips, grass rippled in an invisible breeze, a soft rustle singing across the fields.
“Look’s like the grass is a little greener here,” he hummed.
Taehyung’s pleased, charmed smile was infectious. “Indeed it is.”
They strolled through the grasses just a few feet from the river bank, Jungkook taking in the dotting of flowers in the fields before them. “So if you live virtuous lives over and over again, you’ll continue to come back here,” he murmured, “but wouldn’t the Fields overflow at some point? This region is so much smaller.”
“Theoretically, they could,” Taehyung agreed. “But since spirits will reincarnate, most areas of the Underworld are never too full. And Elysium is always a bit emptier, because most souls will make a mistake in one of their many lives: greed and anger are tempters that no person is immune to. If they follow the whispers, they’ll spend their next afterlife in the Asphodel rather than the Fields.
Jungkook frowned. “Do they ever get the chance to come back to Elysium?”
“Should they live good lives after, they shall get another chance. But they’ll never enter the Isle.”
Charon’s ferry floated not far ahead. They wandered over to it, souls left behind. “What allows someone to enter the Isle in their afterlife?”
“Heroism,” Taehyung replied as the gangway was dropped, leading him across. Charon went to work pulling the wood up and pushing the boat off the bank. “If a person has lived three virtuous lives and done something heroic, they can choose to go the the Isle, and to stay upon it for as long as they wish.”
“And what is the Isle like?”
“It’s the most comparable to the Overworld, I would say,” Taehyung mused. “The darkness remains, of course, but at least it’s little more vivid.”
Jungkook hummed. “So that’s where we’ll be visiting next, I presume?”
Taehyung shook his head. He smiled somewhat apologetically when Jungkook glanced at him in surprise. “Because those souls lived virtuous lives so many times over, the Isle is essentially a reward of sorts,” he tried to explain. “It’s supposed to be peaceful, so I leave them be for the most part, only visiting from time to time to make sure nothing seems amiss. I trust the other gods and Lampads residing here to let me know if something is wrong.”
“You’ve gotten this king thing down,” Jungkook noted.
“I have to. If I didn’t keep an eye on things, the balance between life and death would tip, and fixing that would be no easy feat to accomplish.”
The river below them licked in gentle laps against the wood of the boat, rocking them like one would a sleepy child. Its unusual but lovely pale glow, paired with the the luminance from above, made Jungkook tip his head back and soak in their light.
A small smile grew on his lips.
“I’m so happy you showed me all of this, Taehyung. It’s beautiful.”
Taehyung fumbled where he stood looking out across the waters, just barely catching himself from tumbling to the floor.
“I’m sorry?”
Jungkook blinked at him, taking in the shock written blatantly across his face. “It’s beautiful?”
Eyes squinted at him, seemingly both incredulous and awed. “It’s the Underworld.”
“...Yes?” He tilted his head. “Is it not beautiful to you?”
“It is,” Taehyung responded immediately. “But I can’t think of many others that would that would consider it as such.”
Jungkook stepped up to him, wrapping his hands around the elder’s forearm, leaning on him. “And how many of those that you are thinking of have actually been here?” he inquired innocently.
Taehyung’s hesitant pause was answer enough.
“I’ve told you before, love. Some will never look past their own noses, too caught up to give things a try. They hear ‘death’ and associate everything around it with horror and fear and ugliness, without ever looking a little deeper.”
He tipped his head, hair falling into his eyes and lifting a hand to run his finger’s across his lover’s cheek. He smiled sadly. “...But you already know that, don’t you?”
Taehyung dipped his head to kiss him. The slow press spoke its thanks on its own, and the silence sat, golden and growing warm, between them.
❀
Much like before, when they arrived back at the palace, they were met with a friendly face.
“Finally,” sighed the woman, her smile small but lovely. “I was wondering when you two would show.”
Taehyung didn’t seem at all surprised to see her. “Aphrodite. Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
Jungkook raked his eyes over the woman, finding himself surprised that he hadn’t recognized the long, rich brown hair and the pins of her chiton, two beautifully gold-streaked shells. Though, he hadn’t seen her in years.
“Anything for love,” Aphrodite mused. Her gaze turned to meet Jungkook’s own.
“My, my! It has been quite some time since I have seen little Kore. Well.” She looked him over, smile stretching wider. “Not so little anymore, I suppose. You look absolutely darling, dear.”
Jungkook found himself clinging to Taehyung, caught off guard by the goddess’ attention. “Oh! I... Thank you? You do as well!” he stumbled. Taehyung hand stoked over his wrist.
Aphrodite’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “I should hope so.” She tutted, taking her chiton in her hands and starting to walk into the maze of hallways. “Now, come along. We have a ceremony to perform.”
Jungkook tripped over this own feet as Taehyung followed after her. “What ceremony?” he hissed.
“Honeybee.”
“Yes?”
“I asked you to marry me.”
“That you did.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
Taehyung’s smile was fond. “Do you not think there is something left to do?”
Jungkook blinked at him. Once. Twice. “Oh.”
Taehyung’s laugh was like music to his ears. “Yes, ‘oh.’”
Jungkook’s heart thudded. “Okay. Alright. That’s great.”
“Mm. Nervous?”
“What? No. Of course not. Why would I be nervous? I’m just. You know. Being married. To you. I’m fine.”
A chuckle followed his words. They stepped into the throne hall. “Of course.”
Where was nervous Taehyung? Jungkook kind of missed nervous Taehyung.
At the end of the hall, a pedestal was placed before the dais. Atop it sat two gleaming golden chalices, a dagger, an apple, and a pomegranate. Both fruits were shiny and vivid red, while the metals glinted.
Aphrodite strolled down the marble hall, positioning herself behind it like a priestess.
“Shall we?”
Taehyung led him to stand before her, their hands clasped between them.
“I will lead you both through the process. It will be rather short, seeing as this ceremony is private. But before we begin...” She cleared her throat, eyeing the top of Taehyung’s head pointedly. “I believe a certain king should be wearing his crown.”
The supposedly cruel Hades pouted. Pouted.
“Must I?”
“A ceremony is a ceremony,” Aphrodite chided, unmoved. “Kore is wearing his. It’s only right. Hurry now, do not keep your husband-to-be waiting.”
“Fine, fine,” Taehyung grumbled. Slipping from Jungkook’s grasp, he scaled up the steps of the dais and stepped behind his throne, reappearing a moment later with a crown that he begrudgingly rested upon his own head.
Jungkook eyed it curiously as the god moved back toward him. The crown was rather simple, strips of black metal embellished with a handful of dark crystals along its band. But that wasn’t what he found interesting: what was interesting to him was that the crown was light framed, a bold contrast to the bulkier crowns Jungkook had seen the likes of Zeus and Poseidon wear on occasion.
Even more interesting, was its shape. The upward extending points of it weren’t wide, they were thin, stretching out wide at a slant.
How peculiar was it, that the crown of Hades, the King of the Underworld, resembled rays of the sun.
Taehyung came to stand beside him, and Jungkook couldn’t keep himself from reaching up, carefully straightening the headpiece. When he drew his hand away, Taehyung caught it in his, pressing a kiss to his fingers.
Aphrodite was smirking not so subtly when they turned back to her.
She cleared her throat and clasped her hand together before her. “To start,” she began, voice steady and rhythmic, “I have brought with me an apple for the acceptor of the proposal.”
“That would be me,” Jungkook whispered, nerves flaring.
The goddess took the apple into her hands, holding it out to Taehyung. He took it between his fingers without question.
“Offer it to him,” she murmured, nodding towards Jungkook. “And Kore, dear, you just take a bite.”
“What a waste, to not eat the entire thing,” Taehyung uttered under his breath, joking, a sly grin tugging at his lips.
Aphrodite glared, unamused, but Jungkook’s shoulders sagged, undeniably comforted.
Unable to help his giggle, he shook his head, taking the offered fruit into his hands, setting his teeth against it, biting in and pulling it away.
The goddess tapped the pedestal, and he obediently set it back down.
“Next!” The two chalices were lifted. Inside them, a pale, shimmery liquid lapped against the rim.
Taehyung reached out, taking the two cups from her with deft fingers. Keeping one held close to his chest, he offered the other to the nature god before him.
“Rather self explanatory,” Aphrodite hummed as she watched them. “Just drink the Nectar. Ah, link your arms, though - Lovely! Go on, now.”
They snickered at each other as they fumbled to link their arms, trying not to spill a drop, tipping the chalices to their own lips.
Being banned from Mount Olympus without his mother’s supervision, Jungkook had only got to taste Nectar a select few times. Faintly familiar, the pleasant, mildly sweet taste on his tongue made him smile, and it only grew in size when he caught Taehyung watching him over the rim of his own chalice.
Together, they lowered and unlinked their arms, watching each other fondly.
“And kiss.”
Jungkook wasn’t sure if either of them really registered her voice; they were both already leaning in. Taehyung’s fingers tilted his chin to the side, his own head tipped to make the kiss easier. They held it there for a handful of heartbeats until Jungkook finally, reluctantly pulled away, giggling airily at Taehyung’s near dopey smile.
“You are now tied by the bond of marriage,” Aphrodite spoke softly, regaining their attention, thought their eyes stayed on one another. A regretful tinge soaked into to her voice. “If anyone shall question that, you may tell them to come to me, but I am afraid this is the most I can do. I cannot stop their upheaval, just tell them that it is final.”
Taehyung nimbly plucked the chalice from Jungkook’s hand, setting both of the cups down on the pedestal before interlacing their fingers. “They can do nothing.”
Jungkook frowned. “They should not stick their heads where they do not belong, anyways.”
Taehyung squeezed his hands.
“No,” Aphrodite agreed. “But they will try.”
She paused, seeming to hesitate. She considered Taehyung warily. “I do have a suggestion.”
“...Why do I think I will not approve of this?”
“Because I do not think you will.” The goddess picked up the second fruit, formerly left forgotten on the table.
It took Taehyung less than a second to tense. His words were cold and stern. “Absolutely not.”
“It would end the discussion before it began, Hades.”
“I said, no.”
“What is it?” Jungkook asked, confused.
Aphrodite tapped the pad of her finger against the pomegranate. “If you eat from this, no one will be able to deny your place in the Underworld.”
“And neither will he himself, even should he not want it any longer,” Taehyung hissed. Practically bristling, he snatched the fruit from her hands. “Do not only tell the pleasant side of something so paramount, Aphrodite. Not to him. I will warn you only once of that.”
She stepped back, hands raised placatingly. “It is not my intention to force,” she soothed. “But the choice is not your own, now is it?”
Her words left in the air like a weight, the goddess slipped by them, leaving them alone in the throne hall.
Jungkook turned his head from where he had watched her walk away, taking in his new husband’s furrowed brows and down cast eyes. In his hands, he clenched the pomegranate like a lifeline.
Slowly, he reached out, resting his hand on Taehyung’s forearm. “What was that about, Tae?” he asked softly. “Why do you not want me to eat from the pomegranate? I don’t understand.”
The other’s reluctant sigh was heavy. “If you eat food from the Underworld, Fawn, you will always have to return. It would tie you here.”
Jungkook stared at him, trying to wrap his mind around the words. But he remembered a previous conversation, and it clicked into place in his head. “That’s why you made me promise to never eat or drink anything here,” he realized. “That’s why the souls shouldn’t eat the asphodel bulbs.”
The elder god nodded. “Because if you consume anything here, you’ll be forced to return, or you’ll become sick. There’s little to eat or drink here, but what there is can be addictive for mortals. The dead are advised not to consume anything here if they hope to reincarnate for a reason. But the effects can plague even a god.”
He nodded slowly. “And so you don’t want me to do so.”
Taehyung’s gaze remained on the floor, silent.
“Taehyung,” Jungkook whispered. He raised a hand to cradle the taller’s cheek. “Love, look at me.”
He hesitated before doing so, and in his eyes Jungkook could see worry clear as day. He stroked his jaw with his thumb.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he murmured.
Taehyung reached up and covered Jungkook’s hand with his own, his eyes falling closed. “...I worry... I worry you’ll regret it, Fawn.”
“Regret eating the pomegranate?”
Taehyung shook his head. “Yes, but more so because I’m scared for you to stay with me. You’re made for the sun, not for the dark,” he whispered. “I worry that I’m being too selfish, asking you to stay here with me. I worry you’ll come to resent the Underworld. And if you do, I want you to have the freedom to leave. Eating anything here erases that freedom.”
“Tae, I love the sun. I love the forests and fields and the warmth of day. But,” he stressed, “I like the Underworld, too. It’s beautiful. There’s so much for me to see and learn here. And I could go to the Overworld, because like you said, I simply have to return here. I’m not losing anything. If anything, I’m gaining something.”
Taehyung scoffed. “What could you be gaining?”
“You,” Jungkook hummed, smiling at the surprised blink he got. “And a home, both here in this palace, and in your arms.”
Startled eyes stared at him in complete quiet for a long pause, before watering up and making Jungkook laugh lowly. “Emotional, are we?”
“You can’t say things like that,” Taehyung husked, face crumbling.
“And why not, if it’s true?” he chuckled. He pressed a kiss to Taehyung’s cheek. “You sell yourself too short.”
The replying smile was wry. “That’s not the first time I’ve heard such.”
“Then it’s just that much more true,” the nature god sniffed. “Now cut the pomegranate already, hm?”
Taehyung’s laugh was watery. “Impatient?”
“Just as eager as I should be,” Jungkook corrected him, smiling.
Taehyung’s fingers wrapped around the dagger’s handle, lifting it from the pedestal. If his hands shook, Jungkook didn’t comment on it; he just took the pomegranate from his husband’s hands, holding it between them whilst minding his fingers.
It was obvious Taehyung had cut such a fruit millions of times. He didn’t even hesitate, pressing the blade into the leathery skin and deeper, before setting the dagger aside and taking the calyx between his fingers, pulling the pomegranate’s top away.
Inside, a multitude of little seeds, their aril coverings deep red in color like wine, glittered at them. Taehyung picked a few from the membrane, holding them in his hand.
He hesitated. “You’re sure? You’ll promise me?” he whispered, his voice barely there.
Jungkook wrapped his hand over Taehyung’s, turning it in his grasp and bringing the firm little seeds into his own hold. “I promise.”
He didn’t pause after that, didn’t want to stoke the flames of Taehyung’s worries higher. He popped them into his mouth, smiling at the sweet but tart flavor that burst across his tongue once he bit through them.
Nothing happened, of course. No sudden glow, no current of energy flowing through him. Just him standing right where had been, utterly content.
“See? The world didn’t end,” he teased, tapping Taehyung’s nose.
Taehyung let out a shuddering exhale, one that had Jungkook’s smile mellowing. “Nothing happened,” he whispered.
“Nothing at all,” Jungkook reassured him. He sat the pomegranate down on the pedestal, moving closer to curl his arms around his husband’s waist. “It’s still just you and me, right where we were.”
Maybe a few overwhelmed tears fell. Maybe they didn’t. That was something for just the two of them, wrapped up in one another, to know.
History was only known by what was written down, by what was told. And Jungkook would never share this moment with another soul.
✿
When Taehyung recovered, he left Jungkook in one of the numerous chambers, leaving a kiss to his cheek before he sent his new, sleepy eyed husband to rest.
He found Aphrodite in the orchard, stroking one of the hundreds of blossoms.
“You stayed.”
She raised her head, expression knowing. “I would like to say I have come to know you rather well, despite how little we see each other. You would have felt guilty if you had not thanked me. And considering you came to find me, I can say pretty confidently that I was right.”
Taehyung smiled, huffing a laugh. “I must admit to it when I am caught. Thank you, Eunju. Sincerely.”
The goddess smiled back, though it was a bit sad. She patted his shoulder. “I will do anything for love, Taehyung,” she replied simply. “I just hope the Fates are kind in what is to come.”
✿
Hades’ chambers sat quiet and still. Taehyung expected himself to be bored in it, after such a day that was filled to the brim with love. But warmth still buzzed in his fingertips and heart. His smile just kept returning. Even the somber ending note of his conversation with Aphrodite hadn’t entirely dulled his mood.
He shuffled around the room, putting out the candles as he prepared to sleep, but startled when a knock echoed around the space.
Taehyung glanced up at the door. Usually, no one bothered him in is chambers unless there was a situation that required his attention, such as an invading mortal, or an issue with a spirit.
Quickly, he hastened to the door, already prepared for the sight of a grim or worry-faced Lampad on the other side.
“What is it- Oh.”
A shy Jungkook stood there instead, hands curled into the fabric of his chiton. “Hi.”
Taehyung reached out on pure instinct, running his knuckles over his husband’s cheek. “Hey. I left you to sleep a long while ago, Fawn. Is something wrong?”
Jungkook scuffed his feet across the floor, unusually timid. “...Yes, but I’m... I’m kind of embarrassed?”
Fond, Taehyung’s lips twitched. “I’m sure it can’t be any more embarrassing than me bumbling over myself after already having asked for your hand,” he soothed.
A pout was directed full force at him. “That was cute,” Jungkook huffed.
“To you. I think I was trembling.”
Jungkook laughed, the sound warm. “Fine. I can’t sleep.”
Taehyung frowned. “You’re embarrassed because you can’t... sleep?”
The already existing flush to Jungkook’s cheeks just flared redder. “I can’t sleep alone. Because, you know...” He shrugged helplessly. “My mother. I’m used to sleeping near someone.”
“Oh. Oh!” he winced. He’d set Jungkook up with his own room, following tradition - in most cases, married couples typically didn’t sleep together, god or otherwise. He hadn’t even stopped to consider anything else. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think about that.”
Jungkook shook his head. “It’s not your fault.”
“Come on.” Taehyung took him gently by the wrist, pulling him into his room. “You can lay here.”
Jungkook went with him easily, sliding his hand in his grasp to tangle their fingers together instead.
“Your kline is really big,” he observed as they pattered across the floor to it.
“I’m an uneasy sleeper,” Taehyung explained. “I toss too much before I finally settle down. If I try to sleep on a normal one, I’ll end up on the floor.”
Jungkook hummed. He tugged on their hands. “Will you lay with me?”
“If you want me to.”
“I do.”
“Well, then,” Taehyung murmured. “Do you want to lay undressed, too? Or would you be more comfortable if we kept our chitons?”
Jungkook tilted his head, pondering. “...I’m alright with undressing.”
He nodded slowly. He brushed Jungkook hair away from his forehead. “Both of us?”
The younger nodded. “Both. I trust you.”
Taehyung smiled softly. Stepping away, he untied the zoster around his waist, letting the fabric fall loose from his waist and pulling the chiton over his head. He folded it and set it aside, belt sat down beside it.
Shaking out his hair, he glanced over. Jungkook had already undone his own belt. But, the nature god tended to wear more feminine styled chitons — a personal choice, Taehyung had learned during one of their meetings, because Jungkook liked the look more. He was working to unfasten one of the two fibula holding the fabric together around his shoulders.
“May I?” Taehyung asked, voice hushed, gesturing towards the younger’s other fibula. Jungkook blinked at him in surprise as he pulled the pin from the fabric, but didn’t deny him, turning his shoulder to face Taehyung. He reached up and undid the pin for him, mindful to avoid letting the point scratch Jungkook’s skin as he slid it out of place.
Jungkook caught the chiton as its fabric started to fall away, carefully taking it off, folding it and following Taehyung’s gesture to put it down, the fibulas and zoster placed on top, as well as his diadem.
Taehyung sat down on the kline, shuffling until he could lay down on one side, and Jungkook followed after him, laying on the other.
They sat and stared at each other for several moments.
Then laughed.
Jungkook reached out, tugging him by his wrist. “Don’t be all the way over there.”
“You’re like a little pup, aren’t you?” Taehyung obeyed with a chuckle. “Wanting to be cozied up to something when it’s time to rest.”
Jungkook wiggled until he was fit snuggly against the elder, letting out a content sigh as their legs tangled. “I used to lay like this with my mother when I was small. It’s nice to do it again.”
Taehyung lifted a hand and ran it slowly over the back of his husband’s hair. “What’s it like?” he questioned.
“What do you mean?”
“Being with your mother. I don’t mean to offend you, nor her, in any way, Fawn, but most young men become hunters or musicians or poets. It seems to me that Demeter simply cultivated another honeybee to flitter around by her side.”
“Is that where the nickname came from?” Jungkook asked, amused.
Taehyung smiled. “Not really, but it fits, as well.”
The nature god in his arms hummed. “I suppose she really did raise me to be her companion. I dabbled a little in those things, but she wanted my focus to be on the earth.”
“Do you... Do you resent her at all for that?”
Jungkook was quiet for a few moments before sighing. “A little, maybe. I love the earth. I love my powers and the connection to nature they bring. So in the end, I guess it didn’t matter too much. But I do wish she would have given me a bit more freedom. In some ways she did; once I completed my duties, I could run around with the nymphs or on my own, as long as I came back by nightfall, you know? But I couldn’t do much more than that without her scolding me.”
“...Because of the other gods?”
“Yes,” Jungkook gave a tiny nod. “When I was younger, a couple of gods kept trying to court me. I think she has kind of a... possessiveness over me, I suppose? So that made her livid. That’s when she took me away from Olympus, and banned me from ever setting foot there or anywhere close to there on my own. And if I see any gods, she doesn’t want me to interact with them. When I first met you, I shouldn’t have said more than a quick greeting, much less approached you.”
Taehyung blinked slowly at him. “Would it be selfish of me to say that I’m happy you did?”
Jungkook shook his head. His hand slid across Taehyung’s cheek to the back of his neck, the spot familiar as if there was an indentation for him to perfectly fit into. He leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “If you’re selfish, then so am I,” he murmured. “I’m so happy I met you.”
✿
The room was still once more when Jungkook let out a soft sigh.
“She’s gonna be so angry when she finds out,” he murmured.
Taehyung didn’t know what to say, if there even was anything to say. He just curled his arms around his husband tighter.
✿
Days passed quietly.
It was such a lovely thing, to now be waking up with someone by his side. When he woke first, Taehyung found himself sometimes watching Jungkook sleep, tracing his cheeks with his eyes, taking in the features he’d never noticed before and that made Jungkook all the more beautiful: the difference between his smaller upper lip and his lower one; the way his nose was just a smidge on the big side; the gentle indent in the skin of his cheek from a small scar; the pale, barely visible smattering of sun-kisses in the form of freckles on his lover’s cheeks, and the darker ones, such as the one on the side of his nose, and the other on the underside of the tip of it, as well as the one that was just below his lower lip.
There was a little freckle on the side of his neck, too, and Taehyung took to giving it his own sneaky kisses when he could, delighted by Jungkook’s startled laughter upon each attack.
The fact that Taehyung could do that whenever he wanted now was astonishing to him. He’d held his affections for others before; interest in others was a normal thing to experience, even when you spent much of your time in solitude. But when given the chance, he’d never given making any kind of move more than a fleeting thought.
It was his own fears that held him back, he knew that well. Fear of whether the possible partner would mind his home, would mind the sea of death he surrounded himself with. But also fear of what they thought of he, himself. If they were a nymph, did they look at him like he was above them? If they were a god, did they respect him as an equal? And either way, did they fear him like he was the bringer of death, rather than just its keeper? His own concerns always pushed him away from others before those worries could be proven or disproven.
And yet, once upon a time, he’d rode his chariot in one of the Overworld’s many forests. Maybe it was by his own will, or perhaps it was by Fate, but he’d came across the most darling boy he’d ever seen, and that boy hadn’t warily shied away from his attention, but instead considered him curiously. The fear had been there, lurking under Taehyung’s skin, but he had been too drunk on his quiet awe for it to inhibit him.
It wouldn’t of mattered, anyways. That boy’s smile had been enough to enchant him. He hadn’t stood a chance.
Now that boy spent his days beside him, smiles bright and eyes always sparkling like the stars.
Jungkook didn’t entirely reform the stagnation of the Underworld’s atmosphere. The souls still slugged on and the hallways still stood mostly empty, echoing only with distant barks and footsteps. But he did bring a new liveliness to the place.
Taehyung had to leave once a day to make a round through the Underworld, or to check in with the Lampads whose turn it was to do so for him. He also had to be alert for any updates.
Jungkook didn’t complain about any of that. When Taehyung was gone, he played with the Psychopomps, chasing them through the gardens and courtyard. He socialized with the Lampads, too, often picking the pomegranates from the orchard or tidying up with them. The nymphs all seemed to like him quite well; Jungkook ran up to him when he returned one day, excitedly telling him about how one Lampad had been telling him about pomegranate wine, and how she’d offered to teach him how to make it.
When Taehyung wasn’t attending to his duties, they were together. As gods, they didn’t need to eat or drink, but they found themselves in lounges, sharing small meals of Ambrosia and Nectar that Taehyung had saved away. They didn’t need to sleep either, but without fail, by the end of every Overworld day they found themselves back in their chamber, curled up with one another.
With so much free time on his hands, Jungkook’s interest in the arts piqued again. Taehyung set up the younger’s original room for him to work in, and did his best to find materials for him to try various crafts. He hunted down an old lyre, too, that had been long since tucked away somewhere within the palace. The younger’s enthusiasm upon seeing it made the long search more than worth it.
Everything his husband seemed to try went extremely well; his attempt at weaving had produced a lovely little tapestry that Jungkook waved about excitedly upon finishing, and that they hung in their chambers. Despite being only mildly experienced with the lyre, he proved to be quite good at that, too. Listening to Jungkook play the instrument and sing was enrapturing, leaving Taehyung breathless every time. He swore the stripling’s musicality rivaled that of the Muses.
Remembering Jungkook’s mention of having tried archery at least once tempted Taehyung to find a bow and arrow as well, curious to see if his skills rivaled that of Apollo and Artemis.
Yet despite Jungkook’s seemingly endless talents, one of Taehyung’s most favorite things was just talking with him. It seemed like such a small, trite thing when spoken aloud. But strolls and lounging were made so much better by Jungkook’s voice, by his laughter and inquires. The only people Taehyung had ever genuinely enjoyed long conversations with before was Yoongi and Namjoon, the keeper of his horses and cattle; now he had another chatting partner who seemed to like even the silliest, most trivial topics just as much as he did.
Taehyung had never been so content with his life.
But, of course, life was a push and pull. Euphoria came with its despondency.
The peace of their union came to an end one early morning nearly two full moon cycles later.
Together they were in the field behind the Underworld’s stable. Taehyung stayed back, watching fondly as Jungkook interacted with the four steeds. They were like oversized hounds, really. He’d never been too strict with them, so they always trotted around like reckless foals when off their leads, just like how they were shoving their muzzles into Jungkook’s willing palms to demand pets.
Jungkook kept giggling, eyes alight, as he sat on his rear in the grass. Aethon, the most comfortable with the young god out of the mini herd, lay sprawled out on his side beside him, huge head in the much smaller boy’s lap. Alastor lay beside his brother, huffing slow breaths at the long strokes Jungkook ran across his snout. Meanwhile, Orphnaeus and Nycteis, true to their names, stood behind the nature god like shadows, both nibbling lightly at his hair and snorting everytime they were shaken off.
It was a ridiculous sight, and it only made it that much more endearing.
“Taehyung?”
He turned his eyes away. Namjoon stood hovering by the stable gate, an apologetic look on his face.
“We have a visitor.”
Taehyung nodded. Calling a quick ‘I’ll be back’ to Jungkook, he headed back through into the stable. He hesitated when he reached the other side.
“...Hermes. It’s been a bit of time since I last saw you. What can I do for you?”
The god before him pushed off the stable wall, dipping his head in a greeting.
“I’m afraid that I’m a bearer of bad news, Ole Hades,” the young man informed him, the teasing lilt ever present in his voice even with his serious words. “Zeus has ordered for Kore to be brought back to Mount Olympus.”
Taehyung’s shoulders fell.
Of course. They hadn’t made anyone aware of where Jungkook was, let alone that he’d gone willingly. He’d been foolish to hope the other gods would have let things be, especially when Demeter’s adored son was involved.
He sighed. A sickly feeling stirred in his stomach. “I should have guessed.” Running a hand through his hair, he gestured loosely. “Follow me, I suppose.”
Backtracking through the stable, he called out to Jungkook by his God Name.
Jungkook jerked his head up, frowning in confusion at him. When he saw Hermes standing behind him, his hand froze in Alastor’s mane.
“...She’s calling me back, isn’t she.”
It wasn’t a question.
“You guessed it,” Hermes replied. He swung the caduceus in his hands in circles. “Demeter’s been looking for you since you disappeared. She’s got the whole land in her fist; nothing’s growing up there.”
The horses nickered unhappily as Jungkook climbed to his feet. “Nothing at all?”
“Nope.” He popped the ‘p.’ “She said she wouldn’t nurture anything until you were returned to her. I guess Zeus finally budged, because he sent me here.
“I actually come with more than just the task of bringing you back to your mother.” He turned to Taehyung, expression grave. “A trial will be held at dawn to judge you on the abduction, Hades.”
“A trial?” Jungkook butt in, incredulous.
“Demeter must think that I took you against your will,” Taehyung murmured. “They have probable reason to try me, considering I didn’t seek her permission to marry you.”
Jungkook scowled. “You didn’t ask because it was none of her business. I’m not a child.”
“I hate to tell you, Kore, but Demeter sees you as her property. Regardless of if it’s her business or not, if Hades doesn’t show and you don’t come with me, the Olympians will assume he’s guilty,” Hermes warned.
“What if I don’t go now, but I come to the meeting with Hades?” he beseeched.
“It’ll look like he didn’t allow you to leave.”
“But that won’t be true.”
“But they won’t know that.”
“Hermes,” Taehyung cut in, “may I speak with my husband, alone, please?”
The young god’s brow raised at ‘husband,’ but he didn’t comment on it. “I’ll wait by the stream, then.”
Taehyung took Jungkook by the hand, pulling him closer as he watched Hermes leave them be. When he turned back to look at him, Jungkook’s lips were pouted.
“What? You agree with him, too?” he huffed, glaring.
“Honeybee, it makes sense for you to go. If you go now, you’ll have nearly a full day to get the word out that you’re perfectly fine,” Taehyung reasoned softly. “That’ll at least lessen some of the chaos of the actual meeting, right?”
Jungkook’s glare lessened somewhat. “It would,” he conceded. The slight petulance in his tone had Taehyung smiling fondly. “I just don’t want to go, Tae.”
Taehyung brushed a strand of hair behind his ear, and Jungkook leant further into the touch. “You don’t want to see your mother? Or Jimin?”
“I do. I just... I don’t know. I don’t want to give anyone a chance to tear us apart. They don’t have the right to.”
“They don’t,” he murmured in agreement. His hand slipped under Jungkook’s chin, titling it up again as he’d grown so used to doing. “It’s a trial, Fawn. They have to play fair. Aphrodite is already in our corner to back us if needed.”
Jungkook frowned. “Do you think that’ll be enough?” he whispered.
The smile that grew on Taehyung’s lips was reassuring. “Oh, love, it’s more than enough. They risk putting you in harms way if they disregard the seeds you ate, hm? And we both know Demeter would tear down the heavens for you — she’s all but proven that.”
✿
When Jungkook left him at the stream’s bank, sided up with Hermes, he pressed his golden diadem into Taehyung’s hands.
“I don’t want to risk breaking it, or someone else breaking it, if it comes to such,” his husband murmured against his lips, his parting kiss a quick, fleeting press. “Keep it well for me.”
Taehyung had kept his comforting smile until then, until the urge to grab Jungkook’s wrist and never let him go had sunk in. But Jungkook was already out of reach by then.
He had never minded being alone. Company was nice, but the quiet was a friend in itself.
So why? Why did he feel like cracked marble, bereft as he stood in the suffocating silence on his own, the golden circlet burning where it was clutched between his palms?
❀
Seeing the Overworld for the first time in weeks left Jungkook breathless, but not for the reason one would expect.
Jungkook had left the Overworld in its emerald glory.
He returned to it in flames.
Except, not in the literal sense. The trees, once colored brilliant and inky greens, were now painted various shades of bronze, amber, honey, blood and vermillion, as if streaked with raging fire. The grass below their boughs was dulled or browning, and leaves fallen from the branches above were scattered across the forest floor. The leaves all sounded so dry, rattling loud in the breeze, overpowering even the gentle roar of the nearby river.
Dying. Everything was dying.
His initial panic was thankfully quelled by a calm, familiar face, as Jimin looked up from where he sat waiting against an old ash tree, scrambling to his feet.
“Jungkook!”
“Jimin!”
Hermes quickly sidestepped, avoiding their collision as the two of them slammed into one another, arms quickly wrapping to hold each other close.
“You brat!” Jimin hissed, shaking Jungkook back and forth in his hold. “I went to hang out with you and you were just gone! Poof! And then Demeter freaked out and interrogated me and she’s terrifying when she’s mad, and I didn’t know what to even tell her, and then it turns out you’re just chilling with Taehyung!”
Jungkook laughed helplessly, clinging tighter. “I’m sorry,” he giggled, bumping his temple against the Dryad’s. “I kind of got proposed to, honestly I wasn’t thinking about much other than him at the moment.”
Jimin pulled back, staring at him. “Excuse me?”
“Huh?”
The nymph shook him again. “You got PROPOSED TO?”
The god bounced on his toes, nose wrinkling as he grinned. “And married.”
“I’m going to strangle you,” the shorter growled. He hit at his shoulders, Jungkook laughter covering his words. “I leave you out of my sights and you’re married, my gods. I wasn’t even invited.”
Squirming away, he stuck out his tongue cheekily. “You’re just jealous.”
Jimin raised a brow, glancing over his shoulders with a tiny smirk. “Yeah, sure.”
“Jungkook!”
Startled, he made to turn to greet the voice, but a hand whacked him in the back of the head before he could. Wincing, he found the familiar face of Seokjin, the Anthousa scowling behind him, Hermes no where in sight.
“Yah! I haven’t seen you at any of the rivers or creeks, or at my pond, in weeks! Last time I see you, you’re with Hades of all people, and then poof, you never show up again! And then I find out you’re missing!”
Flabbergasted, Jungkook blinked rapidly at the nymph, trying to take in everything he was spatting. “I- I’m sorry, I didn’t- Wait, wait.” Shaking his head, he furrowed his brows. “You saw us? Did you tell my mother?”
Seokjin stared at him in disbelief. “Of course I didn’t. I’m not a snitch,” he scoffed. “Who do you take me for?”
“But you know my mother doesn’t like me around other gods.”
“You looked perfectly fine and happy, and he didn’t seem like he’d hurt a beetle. I stayed close by. If I thought you were in trouble, I would have gone for help.
“Besides,” he drawled, pressing closer to Jungkook with a mischievous look, “you two seemed very... close.”
Flushing, the nature god shoved him away. “Well... Thank you for not interrupting or telling,” he sighed. “But if you didn’t, then who...”
“Kore?”
He sighed. “What am I, talk of Olympus today?” He turned to the approaching voice, pausing as he registered who it belonged to. “...Apollo.”
The god smiled at him, gentle but still radiating just as bright as the sun. On his shoulder, a white raven made a thrilling croak, striking blue eyes curious.
“Would you take a walk with me for a moment?” Apollo requested kindly.
Jungkook hesitated.
They were friends, once. Apollo was one of the only gods Demeter had begrudgingly allowed to hang around him earlier in their youth, as they were similar in age - Apollo trailing after him only slightly in that regard - and got along well. They’d sit out in the fields where the sun was brightest, until Demeter eventually revoked that privilege, because...
Because Apollo was also the only god Jungkook had nearly allowed to court him. Whether his mother would have allowed it was a different argument altogether, but when they were still only on the brink of adulthood, the light god had pulled him aside one evening without giving any explanation, and suddenly presented him with his prized lyre, charming smile blinding and eyes expectant.
Caught off guard, Jungkook had been flustered, and seeing as he’d still been a bit too young to have learned to confidently say ‘no,’ he’d almost given in and accepted the courtship gift to be kind. It’d been Jimin, lurking nearby, who’d seen his nerves and came to his rescue.
Jimin, who was currently gazing at the sun god warily, turning an inquiring look to Jungkook as if to ask ‘Are you alright with this?’
Jungkook blew out a slow breath. “Alright, Hoseok.”
❀
Jimin and Seokjin left behind farther up the hill and the raven flittering from branch to branch in the trees overhead, the two of them made their way downwards, following the river’s current.
Hoseok finally spoke.
“So, you had an adventure with Hades,” he said tentatively.
“Mm. A little more than an adventure I would say, but yes.”
“...And I take it you know I’m the one who told your mother.”
Jungkook sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair. “Other than Seokjin, apparently, Helios is maybe the only other person who would have known. And considering the fact that you two work together and Helios keeps to himself, and Seokjin just told me it wasn’t him... yes, know now it was you.”
Hoseok hummed quietly. “You didn’t want to be found, I’m assuming.”
“Not really, no.”
The other scuffed his sandal’s toe against the stone beneath him. Jungkook wiggled his own bare feet further into the moss.
“You know, I’ve always tried to understand,” Hoseok started slowly. “You’re different to me compared to everyone else.”
Jungkook tensed. “I do hope you realize I’m spoken for, now.”
“I do,” the younger reassured him, smile small. “That’s not what I mean. Well, perhaps in a way it is, but... I’ve never quite got why you never seemed interested, back then. I tried impressing you, I managed to get Demeter to at least tolerate me. I even offered you my lyre. Yet you didn’t change your mind in the end. And now years later, Hades of all people has captured your heart.”
“Hades didn’t capture anything,” Jungkook huffed. Sliding off the rock, he padded a little farther downstream, a familiar log in sight. “I love everything living upon this earth, Hoseok, but I will never understand the obsession with owning things.”
Hoseok followed after him, more unsteady on his feet while traversing the slick stones. “I didn’t want to own you, though.”
Jungkook turned, glaring. “Maybe not. But your advances made it feel that way. Both my mother and I told you no, and you persisted. I wasn’t an item to win, Hoseok. People are not prizes, especially not those who you are supposed to cherish.
“The difference between you and Hades is that Hades got to know me, just like I got to know him.”
He was met with furrowed brows. “You know me, though. We grew up together.”
“Hoseok,” Jungkook chided softly. “I know you love the sun and archery and arts, but past that? I don’t know your favorite flower, or fruit. And those are simple, superficial things. I don’t even know your favorite lyre song. I know you, and yet you’re a stranger.”
“But you know him?”
“I do,” he told him gently.
Taehyung’s favorite flower was a rose, hence its appearance in the many engravings of the marble of Hades’ Palace. Strawberries were his current favorite fruit after Jungkook had introduced them to him. He didn’t have a favorite lyre song; he liked whatever Jungkook played, happy to clap the moment the last notes dissipated in the air.
And beyond that... Jungkook knew about Taehyung’s slight limp - hardly detectable on most occasions, but more noticeable after long walks that wore the king down; he’d gotten it in the wretched first years of his youth. He knew why the hair at the base of Taehyung’s neck was routinely cut, never allowed to grow to fall past his shoulders - it was his own way of showing his respect and mourning for the souls he guarded over.
You felt the urge to learn a lot about someone when you loved them. Was it truly love if you didn’t?
Jungkook could see the acceptance slowly creeping across Hoseok’s features.
“...And he knows those things for you?”
“He does,” he reassured him. “But I don’t think you can say the same.”
The god shook his head, sighing. “I’ll take your word for it. I’ll leave you be, then.”
He was halfway up the incline when Jungkook finally cracked.
“Hoseok?”
He watched the god pause, turning to look back at him.
Jungkook gave him a sad smile. “Despite what happened, I still consider you a friend. You know that, surely? When you find someone who’s right for you, I’d love to meet them.”
The god blinked at him, the surprise fading into fondness. He chuckled, shaking his head. “I’ll keep that in mind, Kor,” he called back, the nickname warm off his tongue.
Jungkook watched him go, the white raven breaking from the canopy to perch on its master’s shoulder.
He closed his eyes for moment to try to steady his shaking heart.
Maybe he could have loved Hoseok if things had gone differently. But Jungkook knew well how that would have ended; as good of a person as his friend was, he proved to be impulsive just like most of the gods. It would take someone very special to tie down the charismatic Apollo; Jungkook would have been just another lover on his list, a list that would have grown even after a union.
Maybe, once upon a time, Jungkook would have accepted that. Maybe he would have taken that as what love was supposed to be like.
But now?
He turned away from where Hoseok had disappeared, smiling at the fallen tree before him, its bark shining with the river’s spray.
The gods could hold all the trials they wanted. He was beloved by someone he held dear, as well, and they couldn’t take that away.
❀
Upon returning up the hill, he was greeted with the sight of his mother and Hermes hovering by the two nymphs.
Demeter didn’t even give him a moment to greet her. She dragged him into her crushing embrace, his head held tight to her shoulder. He huffed a bit in response, but allowed the roughness, wrapping his own arms around her waist and squeezing back.
Only when she pulled away did Jungkook get to take her in. Pale purple discolored the skin beneath her dark, frantic eyes. Her hair was dull where it had always shined in the sunlight, and it was shorter than he had last seen it - it had once reached far down her back, with enough hair for it to be twisted into a long, thick braid, but now it brushed just below her shoulders instead.
The sight of his mother so haggard left him helplessly guilty, regardless of any of the small grudges he'd ever held against her.
The rest of the day was full of her fussing over him, her hands softer than he remembered as she cradled his face, fretting and mumbling unhappily under her breath about the entire situation.
He tried his best to be civil. He didn’t answer her insistent questions about what happened, just telling her it would all be explained at the meeting. She seemed to take this as fear to speak on the topic. Her eyes followed him constantly, her expression pinched.
Throughout the day, he caught sight of nymphs and various small animals peering at him from around trees and bushes as he followed after her, seemingly appraising him before scampering off. It was a good sign - all were likely messengers of sorts, running to further spread the word to their corresponding gods that he was fine.
Annoyingly, Taehyung had been right. Leaving sooner had been a wise choice.
When night came and he and his mother settled down, he found sleep hard to come by. He tossed and turned, even with the plush bed of grasses he’d nurtured to lay in.
Though she pretended not to, he could feel his mother watching him for awhile, likely worried since he’d always been quick to sleep. Eventually, she sat up, pressing her fingers into the soil and growing a small, scarlet flower with a vividly dark center, its skinny stem finely haired. She grew it past its bloom, however, pushing its growth forward. Jungkook watched silently as the petals wilted and fell away, leaving a round, bulbous pod behind.
Demeter dug her nail into the skin, scratching horizontally across the pod. A white sap beaded thickly along the cut, and beneath her fingers the entire bulb started to brown, small holes opening themselves below the crown.
“Shake a few seeds out from the top,” she instructed quietly, carefully pulling the plant from its stem. “And run them through the sap and eat them. It’ll help you sleep.”
He took it from her hands as she passed it over. Tipping and shaking the pod gently, a few tiny, dark seeds fell into his palm, and he carefully ran the slowly browning sap over them, pulling them out from the sticky substance and eating them.
Demeter took the plant back from him as he laid back down, putting it aside before coming to sit beside him. He closed his eyes, listening to her quiet humming, her hands stroking through his hair like when he was just a little babe, big eyed and the perfect size to be cuddled up in her lap.
The effects took hold slowly, and soon enough, he slept.
❀
He dreamed of a field full of those flowers, the reds beautiful against the green of the grass and the silver of the sky. There was a tree in the middle of the field, boughs gnarled and thick with leaves, casting a long, long shadow across the field as the sun sunk behind the leafy mass, light shining through the limbs.
Jungkook thought he saw Taehyung’s silhouette under the tree, thought he heard his laughter. But his mind drifted off to further dreaming before he could know for sure.
❀
Mount Olympus was a place that Jungkook once considered to be home.
He had been younger then, fresh faced and naïve, still standing below Demeter’s shoulders rather than above her head.
Back then, he had roamed the halls with Apollo and Jimin, and sometimes Seokjin when the nymph left his pond. They hid and chased one another through the marble maze and the gardens, their giggles and cheers echoing into the air.
Back then, he hadn’t understood the weight of the meetings held in the highest room of Olympus, hadn’t known the roles of the other gods. He hadn’t understood why Demeter eyed them warily like a mother wolf would a snake lingering near her den.
Back then, he had never experienced loss - temporary or permanent. He had never experienced freedom past that of supervision from afar.
He had never experienced love, not like the love he felt now.
Coming back years after being taken away, he didn’t feel like he’d came home. Nostalgia tickled at him, but it was more of the content type that greeted him fondly like an old friend.
Mount Olympus was a temple of memories for him, but not home, not anymore. Home wasn’t even necessarily below his feet, in a cavern full of star-like crystals and unique space.
Home being a place was true, but it was more than that.
Home was with the sleepy, hazy image of a man in a pomegranate orchard, hands and heart achingly gentle, eyes dark in the warmest of ways.
And Jungkook was going to fight for that, for his right for him to remain his home.
He repeated it in his mind as they walk through the halls, repeated it until the mantra became imprinted on his heart.
I am his, and he is mine. He is mine, and I am his.
He does not own me, not by power or force. I offered my heart voluntarily.
Take me away from him, I dare you.
He and his mother were just hardly late, a multitude of voices already echoing through the air as they wandered through the halls towards the assembly courtyard.
(He’d been irritated to discover it would take place there rather than Olympus’ council room. In the council room, meetings were private. But any meeting held in the courtyard was open to all nearby gods and nymphs to attend and spectate, though they couldn’t have a hand in the actual discussion unless specifically invited to do so. It invited more eyes to peer into their business, something that made an unsettling feeling stir in his chest.)
From the balcony, the assembly courtyard looked exactly as he remembered it - a big open space of grass surrounded by a ring of tall, sturdy columns and flowering bushes. In the middle of the yard, a pit was dug into the ground, lined with stones that contained a burning fire, no doubt fostered by Hestia’s hands. Around the blaze, gods mingled, voices muffled under the crackling of the burning logs.
The space fell into silence upon their arrival. Demeter strode down one of the two parted staircases ahead of him, her chiton rippling behind her, chin up and eyes set.
"Demeter," a low voice greeted. Jungkook didn't need to think too hard to place it. Demeter had kept him far away from the speaker in his youth, but Jungkook would be a fool to not recognize Zeus. "You're just in time. I see Kore was found in good health."
"Thankfully," the goddess huffed in return. She weaved through the crowd, Jungkook trailing after her much slower. There were more gods present than he’d ever met in person, nymphs as well, all drawn in, annoyingly, to get their fill of drama, or to hear the latest news for themselves. Yet even with the overflow, his eyes were only on one person who everyone seemed to be avoiding.
Stood by the hearth was Hades, dressed in his dark robes and adorned with his crown. A shadow in the sun, accompanied somewhat distantly by only Jimin and Seokjin.
The next chance he got, he was going to hug both of those nymphs as hard as he could for keeping his husband company.
Jungkook slowed beside Taehyung, watching as the god smiled at him, small and private despite their audience. "Hi, Honeybee,” he whispered.
He smiled back, reaching out to brush a comforting hand across Taehyung's forearm. "Hello, Love."
"Kore!"
Jerking his head to meet his mother’s stern gaze, he sighed, reluctantly rejoining her where she stood beside the slab dais opposite of the staircases.
"Let us commence the meeting, shall we?” Zeus called. “We are gathered to give trial to Hades for the abduction of Kore, the son of the goddess, Demeter. Demeter?”
The goddess stepped forward to address the assembled spectators. “Two moon cycles ago, my son went missing from the fields in which anyone had last seen him. Even the nymphs close to him did not know of his whereabouts. After some days, I was approached by the goddess, Hecate, with her own intel, and then we were approached by Apollo.”
Zeus waved a hand, and the young god stepped apart from the crowd. Jungkook watched Hoseok glance hesitantly at him, as of unsure to talk about this after they’d spoken by the river. “...I didn’t see the abduction myself, but as we all know, I work closely with Helios, who takes to the sky every day. He informed me as soon as possible of what he had seen, and I passed that message along when I got the chance.”
“And what was it that Helios saw?” Zeus inquired.
“Helios witnessed Hades carrying Kore away by chariot.”
The murmurs started like a dull hum over the courtyard. Zeus nodded, giving Hoseok permission to slip back into the crowd. “Hades, will you step forward and explain?”
Jungkook watched his husband straighten. He internally whispered his support, wishing he could speak the words aloud. We’ll be okay. They can’t tear us apart. We know this.
“I met Kore seven moon cycles ago,” Taehyung raised his voice over the chatter. “It was a quick meeting, but he kindly offered me company upon my next visit to the Overworld, and I happily agreed. A friendship bloomed from there, one that grew and grew until I felt simple ‘friendship’ no longer described our relationship any longer.”
Demeter tensed. Jungkook held his breath.
“Those two moons ago, I asked for Kore’s hand, and for him to join me-“
“You did what?!” Demeter interrupted, the goddess practically bristling. “Without my permission?”
“With all due respect,” Taehyung replied slowly, placatingly, “Kore is no longer at an age to require your guardianship, Demeter. Our relationship did not involve you, therefor we handled it ourselves.”
“Whether you like it or not, he is my child, and under my protection,” she hissed. “I deny your courtship and proposal, Hades. You will not be marrying my son.”
“Well, you see, you’re a bit too late,” a voice spoke up. Gods slipped aside to allow Aphrodite to slide from the crowd, her chiton swaying. “I officiated their marriage, Demeter. They’re already bound.”
The goddess turned, eyes blazing. “I’m sorry?”
Aphrodite, bless her, just titled her head, a tiny little smirk fixed on her lips. “Like it or not, Demeter, their union is final. They completed the ceremony, and I blessed it. And I do believe they took it even a step further.” The goddess turned her head away from the fuming mother, turning her sights to Jungkook. “Kore, dear, would you tell us all what you ate?”
Jungkook startled, standing taller. “Pomegranate seeds.”
“How many?”
“I... didn’t count. Was I supposed to?”
She chuckled. “No, darling. I’m just proving a point.” She turned back to Demeter, a pleasant smile pasted perfectly on her lips. “So, as you have heard, your son is tied not only to his husband, but to the Underworld itself.”
Demeter growled. Backed into a corner and steaming, she turned on Taehyung, spitting, “Look what you’ve done!”
Despite her harsh tone, Taehyung approached her calmly and softened his own voice, trying to soothe her. “I understand that we’ve upset you, and I do sincerely apologize for not speaking to you about this. But Kore has promised me time and time again that he’s content.”
“He’s a child-“
Taehyung’s brow furrowed. “He’s not-“
“He has duties and friendships here above that he is bound to. He doesn’t know what he has gotten himself into!”
Taehyung opened his mouth to retort, but Demeter cut him off. “What’s worse, you’ve cursed him with this burden! He is a child of nature, he was born to be under the sun, to nurture. Do you think he would be happy in that death pit of yours? I say not!”
The argument continued on, other gods starting to mutter their own thoughts to a surrounded Hades. But Jungkook stilled.
He saw it.
He saw the subtle flinch, the sudden forcefulness in the way Taehyung held himself tall. He saw that flicker of doubt in his eyes, however fleeting it was before it was pushed aside.
He remembered well the guilt Taehyung had harbored for letting him eat the pomegranate seeds, even despite Jungkook doing so willingly. He remembered the wide, wonderstruck eyes he received when he whispered a word not many associated with the Underworld, a word Taehyung had admitted he feared Jungkook would never think of his home, of their home.
Beautiful.
Why was he even sitting here, quiet, in the first place? He promised to fight, did he not?
Jungkook’s patience burned out.
“ENOUGH!”
His shout carried over the tangled web of voices, startling them into a hush.
Seething, he stormed across the open space, ignoring the eyes on him. Taehyung watched his approach, curiosity and worry in his gaze, but he complied without question when Jungkook held his hand out, placing his own in it. He whipped his head to look at his mother.
“I am not a child. Do not speak for me.”
“Kore,” she sighed. “Let us speak, Little Dove.”
Threading their fingers together, Jungkook set himself more firmly beside Taehyung. Lifted his chin, narrowed his eyes. Set his eyes on her with complete focus.
“I have let you all speak. It is my turn. If I am the victim like you say, why have you not asked my story?”
A voice scoffed not far off, huffing loud and clear, “No need to ask a murdered man if he is dead.”
His gaze didn’t move. There was no reason to bother identifying it. “Well, I am not dead, now am I?” he responded coolly. “I ask again. Why have you not asked my story? Surely I know it better than any of you.”
“My darling, it’s so simple to see that you were tricked-“ his mother pushed.
He was going to let it slide, going to keep up the cold remarks until she opened her ears and listened.
But then she reached out to snatch their wrists apart.
Jungkook’s ire boiled hotter, hotter, and overflowed.
Both he and Taehyung acted, stepping away from her, grips tightening and jaws held tight. Hades let out something akin to a warning growl. Jungkook did him one better.
He snapped.
“I knew!” he snarled, the venom on his tongue clear in his tone, matching the aggressive half-step he took towards her. “I knew who he was when we first met, I knew what I was agreeing to when I accepted his hand, I knew what eating the pomegranate seeds meant! I did so of my own volition, so do not dare stand here, looking me in the face, and tell me that I did not know!”
Aghast, his mother pulled back, her own jaw clenched.
He could feel the tremble in Taehyung’s fingers. Whether it was of anxiety or anger, he didn’t care. He only grasped them tighter.
“I was not manipulated, and I was not lied to. I was given a choice, open and honest with no threat of rebuttal if I denied. I am no fool, do not paint me to be one.”
Another voice bravely cut in. “He did not ask for proper permission-“
Jungkook barked a dry laugh. “That might be true, but that didn’t seem to be a problem when quite a number of you all tried to court me without asking Demeter’s permission, either. You can’t pull your hypocrisy here. I won’t allow it.”
The chatter rose, yet all it took was one person’s lilted word to silence it yet again.
“Everyone.”
They turned their eyes up to the balcony, where a lone goddess stood.
“Hecate,” Zeus greeted pleasantly as if a full blown argument hadn’t just been playing out before him. “It’s not often you attend these assemblies. Is there something we can do for you?”
The goddess smiled at them, wise eyes surveying the charged energy of the courtyard as she slowly came down the stairs. Perched upon two of her fingers sat a grey-brown bird.
“I don’t mean to interrupt,” she drawled, stroking a hand over its feathers. “But a little messenger arrived, and I think they can finalize things for you all.”
She bounced her hand, and the bird took off with a coo. When it drew near, clearly aiming for them, Taehyung immediately raised a hand, the dove landing atop it with a flutter of its wings.
That was when Jungkook noticed two things: first, the bird had vibrant ginger colored eyes and on the tips on some of its lower feathers, cementing its identity in his mind as some variant of turtle-dove. Second, a golden thread was wrapped around one of the ankles of the bird, glowing faintly.
He reached forward without thinking, carefully untucking the secured length, only to startle when one end latched onto him, tethering around his wrist as if possessed. Taehyung similarly jolted, the other end falling away from the bird’s leg to wrap around his own wrist, as well.
A simple message.
“Well, would you look at that,” Aphrodite called, sounding smug. “The Fates have spoken.”
Hecate hummed. “It would seem they have,” she agreed.
The other gods began whispering among themselves. Demeter glared at the string as if it had threatened to take everything she’d ever known from her.
Maybe it had.
Jungkook could see the gloss over her eyes, the frustrated, upset tremble in her tense shoulders. But it wasn’t the proper time or place. There would be ample time later for them to properly speak.
“I do believe that settles the matter,” Zeus spoke, tone thoughtful. “Kore will remain with Hades. Any further issue will remain with the family.” The god waved his hand. “Assembly, dismissed.”
The crowd broke up, voices still floating around as gods and nymphs went their separate ways, a handful such as Aphrodite pausing for a moment to send them polite smiles. The bird cooed again, fluttering away in a flurry, and the unraveling golden string around their wrists fell away to the ground, turning to brown rope. Jungkook stood nearly dazed, staring at it. It was over? Just like that?
I wish that dove would have showed up sooner.
Zeus stepped down from the dais, smiling at the two of them. “I wish you two well,” he said as he walked by them. He eyed Jungkook for a moment, huffing a small laugh. “We’ll have to start calling you ‘Persephone,’ now won’t we?”
Jungkook flushed, watching the god walk away.
‘Persephone.’ Bringer of Chaos.
What a nickname to earn from what should have been such a simple family squabble.
Taehyung’s hand dropped his own, resting on his hip instead, and Jungkook turned to sag against him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and squeezing.
“Thank you,” Taehyung murmured, pressing kiss after kiss upon his cheek. “You stood up for me. And to your mother, too. I’m so proud of you. So, so proud.” He pulled back, running a thumb over his lip. “Does it feel good, finally speaking up?”
“Honestly,” Jungkook replied, voice wavering just a little. “It kind of feels awful.”
Taehyung cooed quietly, eyes understanding as he drew him back in, holding him close.
“I don’t think I’ve ever fought with her,” he whispered into Taehyung’s shoulder, eyes held closed to will away the tears that suddenly wanted to break free. Whether they were from the adrenaline drop or genuine sadness, he wasn’t sure. “But she started getting so angry, and at you, and I just... I couldn’t.”
“It’ll be okay,” the elder whispered back, stroking his hair. “She loves you so much, Jungkook. Sometimes, people don’t understand that they can’t control what they love. She just needs to step back and learn.”
Jungkook nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat.
“Come on,” Taehyung whispered, taking his hand and pulling him gently towards the staircases leading back into Olympus’ hallways.
Hand in hand, bound together, they walked back through the halls towards the gates, ignoring the curious glances of those they passed.
Jungkook couldn’t ignore his mother, though.
She stood alone at one of the balconies, staring out at the clouds that swallowed the mountain below. His heart clenched painfully.
“Go on, Honeybee,” Taehyung murmured softly beside him.
Jungkook turned to look at him, taking in his husband’s gentle, encouraging smile. “I’ll meet you by the gates?”
Taehyung pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips. “Of course.”
He let their hands slip apart, watching Taehyung walk away down the hall before he turned and stared at Demeter’s back. Taking a deep breath, he raised his voice.
“Mother?”
The goddess jerked, whipping around to face him. “...Kore. You didn’t leave with Hades?”
He shook his head. Tentatively, he came to stand beside her, leaning against the balcony’s marble railing. “No, he’s waiting for me. I wanted to see you first.”
“Oh,” she murmured. He watched her hover in place, hesitance all over her demeanor, before sighing.
“You know I’m not mad at you, right?”
The shock on her face made him smile sadly. “Back there I was mad, but only because you were being so awful to Hades. I’m not mad at you, just at what you said.”
The shock melted away, her expression turning conflicted. “You two should have spoken to me,” she muttered.
“We could have,” he agreed. “But we didn’t. Partly because we knew you wouldn’t approve, and partly because, to be honest, your opinion didn’t really matter.”
“But-“
“I know you just want what’s best for me,” he interrupted. “But I’m not a child anymore, Mother. I haven’t been for a long time. You can’t hover and make my decisions for me where they convenience you. That’s not fair and you know it.”
It was like watching her transition through a new stage of grief right before his eyes. The angry furrow of her brows slowly turned into sad, tired eyes, the exhale she let out sounding defeated.
He watched her quietly. “...But you’ve known that for a long time.”
“I have,” she whispered. “I knew at some point I’d have to let you go. It’s not fair to keep a grown chick trapped in the nest. But regardless of if you’re grown or not, you’re always going to be my baby, Little Dove. I’ve always feared someone taking advantage of you, or somehow taking you from me forever. And you never opposed me on anything, so I just... I thought maybe I could on a little longer.”
“I never said anything because I didn’t want to cause a problem. We’ve never fought, so I didn’t want to start. But plenty of things you did frustrated me, like having the nymphs keep an eye on me. Especially Jimin.” He smirked, nudging her teasingly, trying to lighten the mood. “You should’ve known he wouldn’t ever rat me out, even if he did know something.”
Demeter’s laugh was soft. She lifted her hands, wiping the water from her eyes. “Oh, I knew he wouldn’t spill. But I figured, you two were together so much, he’d at least mostly keep you out of trouble.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that went how you planned,” Jungkook snorted.
She shook her head. “No, it definitely didn’t.” Her eyes watered again, and he hugged back just as tightly when she pulled him in desperately. “My Little Dove, married.”
“Very happily married,” he hummed, holding her tight.
She tilted her head up, peering at him. “You mean that, right? Don’t lie to make me feel better.”
“I do,” Jungkook reassured her. “I think you would be less adverse if you got to know Hades better. He may look like dusk, but he’s really like the dawn.”
Demeter laughed tearfully. “And what does that mean, Dove?”
It meant that while Taehyung walked with death, he welcomed new life every day. It meant that while he seemed so reserved, his heart sang with just as much light as Jungkook’s own.
Jungkook’s lips curled into a smile.
“It means a lot of things, Mother. It’s just something you’ll have to see for yourself.”
✿
When Taehyung returned to his chariot, he didn’t expect to see Jimin and the other nymph who had been accompanying him at the meeting waiting for him.
“Congratulations,” Jimin said, smile warm. The Dryad always greeted him kindly nowadays, the wariness from their first meeting long gone. “Looks like you’ve secured your rights to Jungkook’s hand, fair and square.”
“They couldn’t have have stripped those rights from me even if they wanted to,” Taehyung huffed back, good natured. “Though Jungkook certainly seemed to take better control of that battle. I must say, I look a little weak in comparison.”
Jimin laughed. “You were doing just fine. Jungkook likely just got tired of everyone’s bickering - he’s got a sharp tongue when he feels the need to use it.”
“He learned that from me,” the other nymph cut in, flicking his bangs. Jimin snorted at the dramatics.
“He’s learned literally nothing from you, Seokjin.”
“I taught him how to swim!”
“You almost drowned him.”
“It’s not my fault he didn’t kick his feet.”
“He did! In panic!”
Taehyung couldn’t help his laughter.
“Should I be concerned that Jungkook can’t swim and there’s multiple rivers in the Underworld?”
“He learned eventually,” Seokjin huffed. “What you have to worry about is getting tackled.”
“Tackled?”
Jimin shook his head, grin fond. “Jungkook likes to tackle when you aren’t paying attention, he thinks it’s so funny. I don’t know how many times I’ve been knocked flat on my ass.” He smacked Taehyung shoulder lightly. “You’re lucky that you’re a bit bulkier. Maybe he won’t be able to knock you over as easily.”
“Yeah,” Taehyung murmured distractedly as he caught sight of Jungkook walking down the temple’s staircase towards them, small smile in place and the sunlight making him glow. “Yeah, I really am lucky.”
❀
It was quiet in the palace.
It was rare that Jungkook woke before Taehyung, and even rarer that Taehyung didn’t wake only minutes after him. He figured it likely had to do with the adrenaline crash after the meeting the dawn before - the two of them had been high strung all day, hands tightly intertwined, always within steps of one another, and when they’d laid down for the night, they’d been even closer, pressed together in a way that made it hard to tell who’s limbs belonged to who. Taehyung had tried to act fine, but it had been easy to see the lingering tension in his shoulders, the stares he’d pinned Jungkook with, as if his husband was reminding himself that he still stood with him.
So when Taehyung didn’t show any signs of waking soon, body likely recovering from the sudden bout of unusually intense stress, Jungkook slid from his embrace, dressed, and slipped out into the hallways.
Underworld mornings were different from Overworld mornings. Above, mornings were filled with birdsong and washed with crawling light as the sun woke. Some mornings, dew clang the flora, slowly dripping to ground, and slow-drifting mist or fog coated the land in a soft haze.
But below, mornings were stiller, a little more subtle and tranquil. Candle light cast barely-visible shadows that danced upon the walls. His bare feet on the chilled marble hissed softly, and distant whispers floated from hushed conversation between Lampads. If you walked through the gardens, you could hear tiny snores, and looking closer would provide you with their source, off-soul-guiding-duty Psychopomps curled up asleep under bushes as the crystals overhead turned from their night-indigo into their day-cerulean.
Jungkook had found it odd in his first days in the Underworld, but now it was a comfort. There was no pressure to rise early if he wanted to sleep in, and no pressure to talk to others if he didn’t feel like it, because while no one in the Underworld minded company, no one minded the absence of it, either.
He’d always been social, but he now understood Taehyung’s enjoyment of being alone, even if only for a moment.
It was nice to hear yourself and only yourself for once.
He took his time wandering through the hallways, taking in the calm. And when that tiny little notion of boredom started to creep in, he turned and headed out, through the propylaea and down the grand staircase out front.
He had only walked down the path for a short while when he was greeted by the sight of Menoites sitting upon the stable fence.
“Namjoon!”
The herdsman turned his head away from the field, smiling warmly at Jungkook as the god came trotting up. “Hello, Jungkook. Is Taehyung not awake?”
“Not yet. I think yesterday tired him out a little more than he wanted to admit.”
Namjoon huffed a small laugh. “I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s not often he goes to such big meetings.”
Jungkook hummed in agreement. Resting his hands upon the wooden fence, he looked into the field and smiled at the sight of the herd of black cows laid together in a corner, all seeming a little sleepy-eyed still as they blinked at Taehyung’s beloved horses who were roaming the rest of the pasture.
Might at as well take the time to learn something new.
“Namjoon?”
“Hmm?”
“How do you tell the horses apart?” he asked.
The man smiled. Dimples like little craters appeared in his cheeks. They reminded him of Hoseok’s dimples.
“You can usually split them by their manes, and then go from there,” he told him, scooting closer for he could gesture for Jungkook. “Alastor and Aethon’s manes are straighter than Nycteis and Orphnaeus’ manes.
“Between Alastor and Aethon, Alastor is the easier to pick out.” He pointed to the horse on the far right side of the field, with a stark white marking on its forehead. “He has a Mark of ‘Dis’; it’s really just a star marking, but that’s what humans’ rumors have called it.”
Jungkook nodded slowly. “So that,” he gestured loosely to the horse slowly following after Alastor, “is Aethon.”
“Correct. With Orphnaeus and Nycteis, it’s a bit harder to tell them apart. Orph’s mane is a less wavy, and Nycteis is shorter. But the easiest way to tell them apart is their attitude.”
He raised a brow. “Oh?”
Namjoon grinned. “Nycteis is a little prissy, to be honest. She thinks she’s the queen of the herd. Orphnaeus is for the most part very laidback, but when you bring out food, he’s the first to come running.”
“He’s gotten out of his stall more than once looking for snacks,” a voice commented wryly.
Jungkook whipped his head around, brightening as Taehyung came meandering over, hair still messy from his rest. His hand slid to curl around Jungkook’s waist, and he happily leaned into him, pressing a quick kiss to his jaw.
Taehyung apparently didn’t think that was enough. With a tiny, pouty huff, he nudged his husband’s chin up until he could properly kiss him. Jungkook smiled into the press of their lips, endeared by the way Taehyung didn’t seem willing to fully put any effort into it, his lips practically just sitting against his own without any real movement.
“If you two start making out, I’m leaving,” Namjoon drawled.
Taehyung snorted. He pulled back and dropped another kiss to Jungkook’s lips before nosing at his hair and fixing the herdsman with an unimpressed gaze over his head. “Shut it. I’ve walked in on you smooching Lampads too many times for you to complain.”
Namjoon’s embarrassed grin made Jungkook giggle while Taehyung just rolled his eyes. “That’s what I thought. It’s feeding time, Heartbreaker. Get to it.”
The lanky god laughed. He pushed himself off the fence. “You wanna help, Jungkook?”
The nature god perked up, ignoring Taehyung whine of complaint. “Yes!”
❀
Just like that, they slid easily back into routine.
They relaxed together, sometimes taking walks out through the soul-filled fields. When Taehyung was away to fulfill his responsibilities, Jungkook entertained his hobbies around the palace.
Some days, though, Taehyung offered to take Jungkook with him as he went about his duties. He finally brought him to the Isle of the Blessed, and Jungkook marveled at the rich greens and the clear ponds in shock, startled by how much it resembled the Overworld, with the exception of the cavern ceiling overhead. The souls residing there didn’t pay them any mind, and Jungkook watched them relax with quiet interest.
Taehyung brought him along the next time they went through the reincarnation process, as well. He put Jungkook up on an excited Aethon, mounting Alastor himself and Namjoon riding Orphnaeus. The three of them set out into the Asphodel Meadows, and he stood witness as the two gods picked out specific souls from the swarm, herding them carefully out of the mass for him to keep an eye on before heading back in to pick out the next.
When they’d collected a group of perhaps twenty souls, they slowly herded them to the Lethe. The river lapped at the bank hungrily, and when souls entered in small groups, the cloudy waters seemed to rise up their legs, trying to swallow them.
It was mystifying. Jungkook urged life to bloom beneath his hands, and when you nurtured life, death was sure to follow along. He’d seen thousands of passed on animals, and the occasional nymphs or humans - it was how he had met Thanatos, the death god coming to gently lead away souls that were just hardly visible to Jungkook’s eyes in the Overworld.
He’d never put much thought into what happened after death. He’d known of the Underworld’s purpose in holding the souls, so that hadn’t been much of a surprise.
But to see the souls’ pale light flicker and waver, seeming to slowly trickle into the water, and knowing now that those life forces were returning back to the earth, ready to be gifted to a new body, a new life... it was hard to fathom.
“So they’re all going to reborn,” he asked Taehyung, voice hushed as Namjoon and Orphnaeus ushered the next handful to the water. “But they’ll still be the same person?”
Taehyung, endlessly understanding of his occasional uncertainty, nodded with a comforting smile. “In a way. A new name, a new body. But it will only be a new chapter in their story.”
“And when they die and come back, you can recognize them even after their new lives?”
“Yes, even after every one.”
Jungkook watched the new souls melt away into the Lethe, their soft glows disappearing under the clouded waters. “...Interesting.”
Taehyung chuckled. “Interesting, indeed.”
❀
One thing Jungkook learned from Taehyung and the Underworld was that grief went hand in hand with both life and death, and that everyone dealt with that grief differently.
Taehyung dealt with his humble grief by chopping his hair regularly, an old tradition of his own meant to show a solidarity of sorts with the souls within the Underworld.
Though one would assume that Yoongi, as Bringer of Death, would be much more distant with his grief, the god was surprisingly in tune with it, and dealt with it by leaving light, reassuring touches across the arms and shoulders of the souls he guided, easing his own heart by easing theirs.
Namjoon was reserved when it came to grief, preferring to tuck it away to only be dealt with in private, but it peeked through in the stable, where the horns of the few cattle that had passed were crafted into drinking horns, each diligently polished and painstakingly carved with ornate designs and the names of their former owners.
The majority of the souls in the Underworld didn’t hold much grief - they wandered with no direction in mind, their minds slowing until, eventually, they would be ready to be welcomed into a new life, the majority of the traces of their old ones left behind.
Some souls took much longer, though.
Jungkook had started to work to desensitize himself from the Vale. He was compassionate by nature, so it was difficult, standing up on the ridge and trying to settle the way his heart ached at all the crying. He managed it over time, reminding himself that the pain of the souls would slowly ebb, and they’d eventually be moved to the Meadows, waiting to be chosen for reincarnation.
The waterfall tumbled down into a large, shimmering pool below, surrounded by water-smoothed boulders and rocks, and cattails. The grass of the veil was a dusky green, and it rippled as if blown by a breeze, the glow of the overhead crystals softly caressing the shoots. The walls of the valley rose up around it and encased the area as if to protect the vulnerable souls inside it.
His time spent up on the ridge just observing led him to observe some things outside of the Vale. Namely, the land on the other side.
Pressed up against the wall of the cavern, it was completely empty there. Jungkook found it odd. The Underworld possessed many empty spaces, but they were filled in with the sparse scatterings of asphodels and trees, and by the souls. Yet, the stretch of land across the Vale was entirely barren.
He found himself staring at it a number of times, wondering why it bothered him so much.
Eventually, after days and days of disgruntled observation, he decided to visit it.
He bypassed his usual sitting place, instead following the ridge to the waterfall and scanning the waters until he could find the stepping stones Taehyung had mentioned once or twice. From there, it was just a long walk against the cavern's high rising wall.
The narrowness opened up after a minute or so, the land widening out around him. And...
It was empty. Just... bare. Only grass and dirt.
And it bothered him. Like something was missing.
Groaning in frustration at his own self, he walked further out into the space.
Then paused.
His hands were itching.
It wasn't often that his powers called for him to use them. The majority of the time, they sat pliant and waiting beneath his skin, only blooming when he urged them through and into the world around him. So for the energy to be buzzing like this, begging to appear...
He tipped his head, hair falling into his eyes as he stared at the grassy floor, considering.
Slowly, he sunk to his knees, pressing his hands into the ground and closing his eyes, letting his powers do what they chose. He left them closed for a handful of minutes, feeling the heat of his powers warm his palm and fingertips, faintly tickling like little ladybugs against his skin. He only opened them when he felt something brush his cheek.
He'd grown a tree.
Its trunk rose above his head, but its boughs slouched in every which direction, cascading down around him in a veil of thin leaves.
"A weeping willow," mused an aged voice. "Quite fitting for the Vale, don't you think?"
Jungkook startled, whipping his head up to look at who stood beside him, her hand hovering by his face.
"Hecate?"
The goddess smiled warmly at him. "Hello, Kore. Or, perhaps Persephone?"
Of course the name had spread. Of course.
Curse Olympus and its gossip.
He smiled wryly at the light, teasing note to her tone. "I prefer Jungkook."
She hummed. "Then Jiwon will be just fine for me."
The goddess strolled away, utterly relaxed in posture as she approached the curtained boughs as if she’d roamed the place a thousand times. He scrambled up from his knees.
"Do you come to the Underworld often?" he asked curiously. "I don't think I've ever seen you here." ‘Hades doesn’t allow most gods here without forewarning or good reason’ went unsaid, but well heard.
She reached a hand out, taking a hanging branch between her fingers. "I tend to spend most of my time above, but every once and awhile the soul guides miss a spirit, and those spirits like to follow me around. I tend to come here to guide them myself, and to enjoy the Underworld’s charms." She turned to look at him. "Though, I believe I'll be sticking around more often nowadays."
He made a soft sound of confusion. "Why is that?”
"Your mother," Jiwon replied simply. "Her acceptance of the situation has grown as time has gone on, but she still worries, as mothers are wont to do. I offered to stay nearby, at least frequently, and keep you company."
Jungkook frowned. "So she doesn't trust me enough to be on my own, or to be with my husband."
The goddess stared at him, gaze steady as she seemed to gage his mood. Finally, she sighed in the way Jungkook had seen his mother do a hundred times when she was faced with a difficult question to answer. "Demeter is one of the most protective mothers I've seen in my many years, and I've seen more than I can count. I have no children of my own, so I can't speak from personal experience, but most would consider a child is a blessing. I've seen women fight tooth and nail for their little ones; that's why it's so telling that she backed down instead of continuing on arguing.
"Your mother is far from perfect, Jungkook," she continued gently. "I wouldn't be surprised if she remained overbearing for another hundred years. She's grieving something she never thought she'd lose control over. That doesn't excuse her actions, but it explains them."
Jungkook turned his head, staring into the leaves of the willow as he considered her words. Taehyung had told him everyone grieved differently. Perhaps his mother's way was resorting back to old habits - sending someone to keep an eye on her son where she could not.
Jiwon cut through his thoughts. "If you would like for me to keep my distance, or for me to completely retract my offer to Demeter, I'm more than willing to do so. At the end of the day, it is your life, Little Dove, and I have no intentions of intruding where I am not welcome.”
"I'm... not sure," he admitted.
"That's perfectly fine.” She flicked a strand of his hair lightly, almost playful, as she started to walk away. “There’s plenty of time. And even if you accept, you can tell me no later on.”
He watched her, biting at the inside of his cheek, itching and itching until-
"Wait!"
The goddess halted and turned, tipping her head to the side.
“You called me Little Dove,” he whispered. “Only Mother calls me that.”
Hecate nodded slowly. “Would you like me not to?”
“No! No, it’s fine, I just...” he blinked, trying to put his thoughts together. “I’m just wondering where you heard it, is all.”
Jiwon let out a little ah. “Demeter and I, we became somewhat close during your disappearance,” she explained. “I found her upset, and I felt that she needed someone to lean on, if just for a little while. We traveled together to try to understand what had happened. I heard her call you Little Dove many a time; it stuck.”
Jungkook nodded slowly. He gave her a tiny, embarrassed smile. "Thank you for that, then. For sticking with her. And... I never got to thank you, for at the meeting. So thank you.”
"Oh, dear. Staying with Demeter was my pleasure. As for the meeting...” Jiwon mused, huffing a small laugh. Something enigmatic glittered in her eyes. “I appreciate it, but it's not me you should thank. That would be the Fates."
✿
Reassurance settled in as time went on. Jungkook was staying. He wouldn’t leave.
The smallest moments cemented that in Taehyung’s mind: a random moment when Jungkook had suddenly burst into peals of laughter at something Taehyung had said; when he had came running up to Taehyung, eyes alight, and begged him to try the pomegranate wine he’d made for the first time, a couple of Lampads hovering in the doorway like proud parents.
When, on his first night back in the Underworld, Jungkook had whined and pouted until Taehyung showed him that his diadem was perfectly safe, just as he'd left it.
When Jungkook fell asleep in between his arms, beautiful and real, his lips brushing Taehyung's collarbones and his hair tickling his nose.
When he woke up to doe eyes staring straight at him, a melody of giggles greeting him when he reached out, dragging the younger into an obnoxiously tight cuddle just to hear that laughter.
Time passed, their love grew, and they grew as well.
Taehyung noticed it happen gradually over time; Jungkook had long remained the steadier one out of the two of them. But now they were in more domestic territory, in Taehyung’s home field, somewhere that Jungkook was mostly unfamiliar with. The younger was slowly opening up in new ways, showing blatant confusion with less embarrassment and sometimes even confessing his fears.
It warmed Taehyung, for the younger to trust him enough to speak candidly with him. It eased his worries about how well Jungkook was adjusting to such a new style of life.
But, of course, two steps forward didn’t mean that there would be zero steps back, because Jungkook was always thinking about more than he admitted to.
“Do you think I’ve been too selfish?” Jungkook hesitantly whispered to him one night while they lay together, the nature god splayed half across his chest.
Taehyung turned his head to look at him better, observing his expression. “In what way do you mean?”
His husband stared back at him, a guilty look in his eyes that caught Taehyung off guard. “I have responsibilities in the Overworld, and I just abandoned them. I have friends and my mother there, and I left them, too.”
He took a moment to think over his words. “I wouldn’t really call it ‘abandoning,’ Fawn,” he replied slowly. “We see Jimin and Seokjin and Demeter when we visit the Overworld. You didn’t abandon them, you just don’t see them as often.”
“But I left my duties behind,” Jungkook pushed. “Mother handled most of the human harvest. I had more sway over the forestry and the wild flora. Now that I’m gone, she’ll have to cover both of those things.”
Taehyung stroked his cheek. "She handled those things before your birth, and before you came of age," he comforted him. "She can handle them again."
"She shouldn't have to, though. They became my tasks. I had so much more responsibility than I realized back then,” he whispered. “It didn’t seem like a lot at the time, maybe because it just felt so natural, but...” He shook his head. “I don’t feel good about it."
Taehyung swallowed the lump forming in his throat. He wasn't use to seeing Jungkook so disquieted, so genuinely distraught. He wrapped his arms more firmly around his waist. “I think... I think you’re grieving, love.”
Jungkook frowned at him in confusion. “You grieve when you’ve lost something.”
“You do, and you have,” the elder murmured gently. “You’ve spent your entire life above, Honeybee, with the sun and sky, and your friends and family within arm’s reach. It makes sense that you would miss those things.”
“I would have been grieving from the start, then,” Jungkook huffed at him, brows pinched in his denial.
Taehyung hummed lowly. “Everyone experiences grief differently. For some, it’s hits quick and hard, and it chokes them up. And for others, it’s softer and slower, and it just aches.” He leaned in and kissed his temple as the younger curled closer into him. “Take as much time as you need to process what you feel. And if you decide you want to do something about it, let me know, okay?”
Jungkook hesitantly nodded from where his face was pressed into his shoulder. His voice was hushed when he replied. “Okay."
❀
Jungkook would have never considered it if hadn’t been for their visit to the Overworld.
The Overworld looked different.
The land was no longer streaked with a broad brush of flame; instead, it was... subdued, in a way. The once warm tint from the mass amount of orange coated trees was gone. Cool tones replaced it, no leaves present to filter the sunlight into greens or ambers.
The trees were just bare. Their skeletons were all that remained, their branches crawling like inverted lightning.
Jimin and Seokjin told them that the humans had taken to calling the season ‘kheimon,’ and the colorful season before ‘phthinoporon.’
Season. A word that had once simply applied to fruit blooms and harvests, now applied to the entire land.
The main tension between Hades and Demeter had been settled at the meeting, but the issue ran deeper than that.
When they saw her, her smile wasn’t as beautiful and bright as it used to be. Her hands never once touched the flora.
Everyone grieved differently.
And some never stopped.
❀
When Taehyung had first suggested Jungkook was dealing with grief, the younger had accepted his words, but mentally pushed the idea away.
After all, he wasn’t overcome by his sadness. He could clamber out from under the chlainai ever morning with ease, could laugh and smile just as he always had. Regardless of the fact that he didn’t need to eat or sleep as a god, he ate and slept perfectly fine.
The concept had been foreign to him. How could you grieve if you hadn’t lost someone?
But as time went on, he considered it more and more.
He thought of those around him, and noticed how much they varied: Demeter’s quivering shoulders; Yoongi’s mournful smiles; Aphrodite’s regretful gaze; Namjoon’s displayed cattle horns; Taehyung’s cut hair.
They were all so different, even down to their causes. Some of them had experienced a genuine loss, and yet others had practically lost nothing at all.
It made him reconsider everything he knew about mourning.
It made him wonder - were there truly any rules to grief? Or was it simply something that was felt with the heart, not the head?
Perhaps, in his own way, he had been grieving.
The open sky, the endless land to roam, the laughter of his friends floating nearby; despite how he loved his life with Taehyung, he missed it all. And maybe the absence wasn’t crushing, but perhaps it was enough.
Enough for guilt to slither in and coil around his ribs. Guilt for leaving Jimin and Seokjin behind without a word, guilt for not at least trying to speak things through with his mother before they reached a climax, guilt for the duties he’d left behind in her hands. Guilt for the state the Overworld had been reduced to as Demeter struggled with her own grief. Guilt for how that would affect the humans and plants and animals.
Grief and guilt overlapped farther than he had ever expected.
And yet where they overlapped, he found a key difference.
Grief was all about acceptance.
Guilt? That was all about reassurance and amends, even when it hurt.
❀
The willow had become another spot Jungkook and Taehyung spent a lot of time at.
Jungkook had been nervous that the elder would upset at him for growing such a large tree without his permission, but the worries were really just unfounded and irrational. Taehyung had taken one look at the tree, blinked owlishly as he processed it, and then smiled.
“It looks right at home,” he’d told him with a chuckle. Jungkook couldn’t help but agree.
They’d spent the afternoon there, relaxing in one another’s embrace. Jungkook had toyed with Taehyung’s hair while the king mumbled songs under his breath, his lashes fluttering at the sensation.
And when they stood, the two of them stopping to stare down into the Vale before they left, Taehyung’s arms wrapped firmly around his waist, he decided it was time.
“Would you still love me if I was mortal?” he asked suddenly.
Taehyung jolted behind him. Jungkook could practically see his confused expression. “I’m... sorry?”
He laughed softly. “You call me Honeybee because I’m always blooming things with my powers, right?” Taehyung made a small sound of agreement. “What if I was mortal, and I couldn’t do that? Would you still love me?”
The king snorted as if the idea was ridiculous, his nose nuzzling against Jungkook’s shoulder. “Fawn, I don’t love you just because of your powers,” he chided.
Jungkook turned in his arms. “Well, then... If I could die,” he whispered, tiny smile starting to tug at his lips at the way Taehyung’s hands immediately tightened their hold, “would you recognize me after every life?”
Taehyung blinked at him. He had a small frown in place as he chose his words. “...I recognize every soul, no matter how many birthmarks or scars they cycle through. You could change in every life, could have a million different laughs and smiles, and I’d still know you in an instant, my love.”
Jungkook shuddered at the endearment. “And would you let me go to another life every time?” he asked quietly.
“I would,” Taehyung replied, his voice devastatingly tender. “Because I know you would always come back to me.”
Jungkook tipped his head, resting their foreheads together. “Even if it was just for a moment?”
“Even if it was just for moment.”
He swallowed. “I think... I think I know what I want to do.”
Taehyung didn’t question what he was speaking about. He just stroked his hand over the small of his back, his dark gaze understanding and maybe a little sad as he stared at him, and Jungkook suddenly got the notion that perhaps his husband had been waiting for this.
“Whatever you think is best, my love. I’ll support you in anything,” Taehyung whispered.
Jungkook reached up, cupping his face between his palms. He ignored the tremors in his fingers. “Even if it hurts us?”
Taehyung’s answering smile was as gentle as it was resigned, a subtle warmth within it.
“Even then.”
Chapter 5: Epilogue
Chapter Text
Demeter cried when Jungkook told her of his decision.
She stared at him blankly at first, not fully comprehending his words. But the second they sunk in, she fell into tears, clutching his hands.
“My Little Dove,” she whispered, “Are you sure? Don’t do this just for me.”
“I’m not,” he murmured back reassuringly. “Part of me will always belong with him. But part of me belongs here, too. What else am I to do?”
“And he’s agreed to this?”
“He did. We talked about it all; he just wants me to be happy. I would do the same for him. I think he knows that.”
She nodded slowly. “It’ll be hard for both of you.”
He hummed. “I know. But I think it might be good for us, too.”
“And why’s that?”
“It’ll give Hades more reasons to visit the Overworld, for one.” Jungkook smiled at her disbelieving snort. “Oh, hush. He enjoys it, let him have an excuse. I’m also going to be serving as Second King by his side, anyways. I need life experience to draw from, to be able to help make decisions the best I can. So I suppose I’ll be exploring the mortal cities more often.
“You’re going to need help, too.” He flicked his wrist, loosely gesturing around them. “It’ll take quite some work to push the land back to full strength. Both of us being here is ideal.”
Demeter sunk into herself. “I never meant for it to get this bad.”
“I know,” he soothed. “Grief isn’t an easy thing, Mother. I can’t blame you for that.” He squeezed her hand as he stood. “Hades told me this kheimon might be helpful in the end. It’ll force the land and everyone on it to adapt, to become more resilient.”
Demeter looked unsure, a mirror image of how Jungkook surely looked when Taehyung had first suggest such an idea.
But like all things, it’d take time to understand.
✿
When Taehyung told Yoongi and Namjoon, they stared at him like he’d just declared he was giving up his position as king.
“I can’t tell if you’re stupid or just insane,” Namjoon muttered, shaking his head. “You spent moons pinning over this boy, you finally got to officially make him yours, and now you’re going to let him go? Just like that?”
Taehyung snorted. He rolled the neck of the chalice in his hand between his fingers. “Whether it be when I proposed or when we married and the pomegranate seeds were offered by Aphrodite, I never made those decisions - Jungkook did. I might be First King and the one with natural ties to the Underworld, but he pulls the strings for decisions such as these.” He shrugged. “Regardless of how this goes, things won’t change much for me. It’s his life that changes drastically, so he gets to decide, not me. I want him to feel comfortable. And if that means letting him go for six moons... Well. At least he’ll be happy.”
“And if he decides not to return?”
“He has to,” Taehyung replied, smiling sadly. “The seeds set that in stone.”
They sat quiet at that.
Namjoon jabbed Yoongi’s ankle with the toe of his sandal. “You haven’t said a word. You must be thinking something; spit it out.”
The god kicked back at him, Namjoon hissing a curse. “I don’t have much to say. I can’t say I’m surprised to see you let him go when I’ve known you for so long.”
Namjoon muttered something along the lines of I’ve known him for just as long under his breath. Yoongi ignored him. “Though, I will say... I’ve seen a lot of men lose those they love, and yet I’ve never seen a single one do it as gracefully as you.”
His chalice raised, Taehyung paused at his words. “...We’ll see if those words stand true when it’s finally time to say goodbye.”
✿
With Jungkook set to leave to the Overworld within a moon cycle’s time, it became a game of waiting.
Jungkook, for the most part, seemed relieved, as if someone had lifted weight from his shoulders. But Taehyung could plainly see that new reasons for guilt had budded. The way Jungkook stared at him when he thought he wasn’t watching; the way the younger pressed insistently closer at night when the two of them curled up together; the way the endearments he whispered seemed more vehement on his lips than ever before.
Jungkook didn’t have to say a word for Taehyung to know the younger was struggling with the idea of their incoming separation.
One problem solved, only for another to arise. And the worst part - there was no true right or wrong choice to make.
Taehyung couldn’t blame him for his anxiety. Jungkook was empathetic by nature, something that had been clear from their first meeting. It was no surprise that guilt affected him so strongly.
Taehyung wanted to stop it, but he knew he couldn’t. Matters of the mind weren’t palpable beasts that could be buried in the dirt, beaten bloody and left to history. They clung tight. No, Taehyung couldn’t fight those battles for Jungkook; the most he could do was offer hands to hold and words to soothe, his arms always open when his husband needed someone to hold him tight and remind him that he was fine, that they would be fine.
In some ironic way, Jungkook’s fears eased his own.
When his husband first expressed the guilt he was experiencing to him, Taehyung had felt his doubts crawling back in, but had stamped them down, determined to patiently wait for Jungkook to process everything.
But after?
In a moment alone after Jungkook spoke of his decision, it had come crashing down on Taehyung how everything he’d worried about had came true. He’d fretted about taking a god born for nature and light and shoving him underground. He’d feared Jungkook wishing to return to the Overworld for good.
The scenario they were in - it was a perfect example of why the idea of Jungkook taking the pomegranate seeds on his tongue had rocked him so much.
That day, Taehyung had been forced to dismount a spooked Alastor, scared he’d fall from the steed due how hard he was suddenly trembling as those realizations flooded him and doubts gripped him.
You caused this. You trapped him.
You loved him, and now you’ll lose him.
Alastor’s giant nose prodding insistently into his cheek and temple had eventually been enough to drag him from the bout of panic, enough to let him breathe through it and remember things as they truly were, not as his anxious mind painted them.
And now, as they began to run out of time, seeing quiet fears reflected in his husband’s eyes, Taehyung felt a strange sense of comfort.
(Maybe that was because it proved Jungkook was going to hurt, as well. That Jungkook would miss him just as much as Taehyung would miss him, too.
Taehyung wasn’t selfish often. But just this once, he’d allow himself to keep that knowledge close to his chest.)
So Taehyung comforted his love like Jungkook unknowingly comforted him.
He let him stare, only to turn and smile at him. He pulled him closer when it didn’t seem to be close enough. He sang sweet nothings with just as much passion. He kept his hands in easy reach, his words light, and his arms always, always open.
Jungkook would be fine.
Taehyung would be fine.
They would be fine.
❀
With time slipping between their fingers, the two found themselves attached at the hip, spending their days roaming side by side with a newfound urgency.
Visits to the Overworld were included in their aimless adventures.
For the first time, they experienced kheimon’s snow.
Jungkook found it kind of funny.
To the humans, kheimon was awful. It was cruel, its fingers curling around life and suppressing it, sometimes even snuffing it out. It was chilling to the bone.
To Jungkook, though, kheimon was something to be in awe of. Yes, it was cold and there was a lack of the thrum he felt when life was underneath his fingertips. But there was beauty in it. It turned the world into something entirely new, hills and trees covered with the white of the snow, sunlight glittering on thousands of ice crystals that sparkled like little stars on earth.
And life was still present. Foot and paw prints could be found in the snow, a marker of someone’s path. And the plants still lived, even if weakened. Perhaps they didn’t thrum like they once did, but they still hummed softly under his hands, comforted by his touch. The weak would die out, and he knew that once he and his mother got to work, they’d return stronger than ever, more adapted and able to face the cold that would potentially return.
The humans would get the hang of things eventually, too. They would learn how to collect food even in new ways, would get into habit of stocking things up to be used later. They would find ways to keep warm and strong. It would just take time.
Jungkook had felt guilty, at first, at the idea of the battle he would force the earth to face. But like he had told his mother, Taehyung had reassured him, and he was beginning to understand that it was for the better. Life was a balance. You could not always be happy. You would sometimes be sad. You would not always be healthy. You would sometimes be sick and weak. The bad would teach the earth and its inhabitants to not take things for granted.
And as Jungkook thought about it, he figured it would teach him the same. In his time above, he would nurse his love for the sun and the flora and fauna, but feel the ache of a missing presence beside him. And in phthinoporon, he would leave the earth to fight and struggle with a heavy heart, but return to Taehyung’s side in the Underworld, kept warm by tender hands and a loving voice.
“There are too many factors to life for things to always be perfect,” Taehyung had whispered to him the night they spoke of his choice. “Death teaches you that.”
So Jungkook enjoyed the beauty of the snow and ice, enjoyed the clear sky, enjoyed the way the chill nipped at his nose.
He enjoyed the way the cold caused Taehyung’s golden skin to flush pink, the way his husband shivered but grinned so widely, eyes alight with mischief as they chased each other through the powdered field.
He enjoyed the moment when Taehyung finally caught hold of him and pulled. He enjoyed the way they fell backwards into the snow, their laughter ringing high in the air.
He enjoyed Taehyung’s breathless smile, and the kiss they shared, eager and warm, their freezing fingers tangled in each other’s hair.
Time would fly, but right then, it was firmly in their grasps. And it was up to them to enjoy it.
❀
Jungkook’s proposal to his mother had been simple: on the first equinox of the year, he would come to the Overworld, and upon the second equinox, he would return to the Underworld. Simple, clean and clear.
Simple, simple, simple. It should have be simple, at least. But things never were with feelings involved.
One problem solved, and another arisen.
Jungkook continued to be astounded by how well Taehyung was handling everything. He’d mentioned it once or twice, how, while he enjoyed the quiet, sometimes he felt lonely, and how Jungkook had helped ease some of those feelings. And yet, now, there was a new resignation in his demeanor, but he acted just as loving and warm as before.
Taehyung didn’t blame him for a single thing, didn’t care if he himself was hurt, and perhaps that’s what killed Jungkook the most.
A moth to a flame his husband was, indeed.
Needing to focus on something other than his thoughts on a sleepless night (the next day would be their last day before he abandoned his love, he was such an idiot-), he stared at his husband’s face, lost in the details he’d become so familiar with: the way sleep made Taehyung’s expression so lax, causing him seem younger than he already appeared; strong features lightly rounded out by the subtle softness in the curve of his cheeks, of his nose; his lashes fanned out, accentuating his eyes even when closed; and the locations of the little freckles he loved to brush his lips upon - his forehead, the underside of his eye, his cheekbone, the tip of his nose, and lastly, his bottom lip.
Almost all gods boasted natural beauty. It had become a sort of contest, especially among some of the goddesses - Aphrodite in particular was said to be extremely petty when others bragged that their own looks surpassed her own.
But to Jungkook, there was no competition. Taehyung could outshine all of them with a single smile.
Taehyung could outshine them with more than just his beauty too - his voice, his care, his heart.
Oh, how lucky Jungkook was.
He lifted a hand, running a tentative finger over his lover’s features, tracing those freckles like one would constellations.
Crystal-covered cavern ceilings and a freckle-flecked face; Jungkook’s night skies in the below.
Taehyung’s eyebrows furrowed in his sleep, a breathy huff escaping him, followed by a sleepy, unintelligible mumble. Jungkook giggled quietly, only to squeak when an arm caught him around the waist and heaved him closer, Taehyung’s face pressing into his clavicle with a hum.
Jungkook’s lips quirked. “You awake, love?”
Taehyung made a small, noncommittal sound against his skin. Whether he was asleep or awake, it made Jungkook smile, closing his eyes and pressing his lips to his cuddly husband’s hair.
“Sleep well, my heart.”
✿
Taehyung expected the last day they had together to be mournful, but instead, it was surprisingly lively. Jungkook woke him earlier than they usually rose, demanding the entire day was spent together. He kissed him every chance he got - as they dressed, as they ate, as they walked; quick, lightning fast smooches dropped to Taehyung’s cheeks and temples that had him reaching out in hopes of snagging his lover before he could dart away again. They ended up dancing and playing most of the day, Psychopomps coming to weave between their legs with shrieking yaps and waving tails as they chased.
When, in a moment of calm, Jungkook mentioned he had a gift, Taehyung had expected something small, hidden away in the younger’s chiton to be whipped out.
He should have known to leave behind his expectations.
“Darling, one of us is going to fall.”
“It’ll be you.”
“How wonderful.”
“Hush, you big baby.”
Taehyung chuckled, trying his best to not topple over as Jungkook kept his hands clamped over his eyes, pressed against his back and clumsily shuffling them forward.
“Why didn’t you just pick something up to tie over my eyes? Even a zoster or two would have done.”
Jungkook kicked his calf playfully. “That would have ruin the fun! Aren’t you having fun?”
“Of course, but that fun is going to end when one of us trips and cracks our head on the marble, Fawn.”
“You’re in luck, then,” Jungkook hummed. “We’re here, my love. Take a look.”
Taehyung blinked his eyes open as the younger took his hands away, staring before him.
They stood in the peristyle around the garden in the rear of the palace, the one that had always remained mostly empty. He’d been considering plans for it, perhaps as a gift to Jungkook (because honestly, when was he not thinking of gifts for his Fawn), but it seemed the stripping had beaten him to it.
Around the center porch of the garden were hundreds of dandelions, each topped with white heads of feathery seeds.
“Dandelions?” Taehyung asked curiously, crouching down to inspect the fluffy spheres.
Jungkook ran a hand through his hair. “Pick one, and then go stand on the other side of the garden facing away from me.”
Taehyung raised a brow but acceded, plucking one of the plants and walking away to stand opposite of his husband.
“Now blow on it. No wish required.”
Bringing the seed head up in front of him, he blew a puff of air, contentedly watching the little seeds dislodge from their center. But instead of flying forward or falling toward the ground, the seeds drifted behind him. He turned and watched in growing awe at the way they floated to Jungkook, seeming to greet the grinning nature god as they bumped into his cheeks and nestled in his hair.
“Beautiful...”
Jungkook beamed at him. “Aren’t they?”
Taehyung just smiled back. “I was talking about you.”
The god blinked at him, surprised, floundering for a heartbeat before ultimately ignoring the remark and rolling his eyes to let Taehyung know just how corny he’d found it.
“Anyways,” he sniffed. “Do you like them?”
He retraced his steps back to Jungkook, reaching up and plucking a seed from his hair. “I do. Though I’m not completely sure I understand. They float to whoever is nearby?”
Jungkook hummed. “Close. You can think of it as them being connected to my power, my energy. I charmed these so that no matter where I am, if you blow on one, the seeds will come find me.”
Taehyung faltered. He wasn’t sure what shocked him more - the fact that a nature god’s powers went to an extent he hadn’t fully realized before, or that Jungkook had managed to get such a thing to be successful even in the Underworld. Or was it the fact that Jungkook had done this for him? “How did...?”
“The Lampads helped me. Sometimes when we’d go to the Overworld, they’d blow on a couple of dandelions for me to see if the seeds could make it to me. And once they finally did, all I had to do was charm all the flowers to only respond to you. And considering it worked just now... I think I succeeded.”
That explained the random times Jungkook had quickly snatched up the nearest dandelions and blown on them, the seeds flying everywhere and anywhere and ending up caught in their hair and chitons - the perfect disguise for the charmed dandelion seeds floating from seemingly nowhere. The little sneak.
Taehyung stared at the pride all over his husband’s face, absolutely radiant.
His sneak.
He wasn’t the only own who’d been acting on the sly.
Shaking his head, the king huffed a disbelieving laugh. “You’re amazing. You do realize that? My gift looks boring now, quite honestly.”
Jungkook perked up, bright eyes suddenly curious. “Wait, a gift for me?”
He reached into his chiton. “Who else?”
Jungkook’s pout slipped away, his eyes widening as they fell to the the jewelry held out to him.
Taehyung had, once again, commissioned Hephaestus to make it for him. The god skillfully crafted weaponry, but it was a mistake to underestimate his ability to make more intricate creations. The two of them had kept a positive relationship throughout the many years; they empathized with each other quite well, what with Taehyung being outcasted due to his work with the dead, and Hephaestus being an outsider among Olympians for his lame leg and “ungodly” looks. So Taehyung provided precious stones and metals to the blacksmith, and Hephaestus provided his services when requested. Requests like this one.
They were silver fibulas with pomegranates atop the heads of the bows, each fruit decorated with six rubies and delicately etched with a sun and laurel wreath design. Yet another example of Hephaestus’ talents.
Jungkook took the fibulas from his palms with delicate fingers, his thumb running over the thin metal of the pin backside and tracing the outline of the fruits. “They’re so pretty...”
Taehyung hummed. “I knew you wouldn’t want to bring your diadem to the Overworld, so I was trying to come up with ideas as to what could replace it for the time you’re away. I figured fibulas for your chitons would be the most practical choice.”
“Why pomegranates?” Jungkook questioned. “I would have thought you’d choose something like narcissus.”
Taehyung reached out, tapping one of the pomegranates. “I considered it. But I wanted something that would remind you specifically of home. Or, well, your below-home, at least.”
“My home,” Jungkook repeated firmly, quirking a brow as if to say ‘we’re still on about this?’
Taehyung shook his head, but smiled all the same. “To remind you of your home,” he corrected.
Jungkook’s smile turned more natural at that, the younger reaching out with his free hand to cup Taehyung’s cheek, drawing him down for a slow, sweet kiss. “Thank you,” he whispered, nudging their noses together once they drew away. “They’re perfect, Taehyung. My Tae.”
“Yours, just as I am yours, as well,” he murmured back.
Jungkook stroked the pad of his thumb under his eye. “It’s selfish. But you’ll wait for me, won’t you?”
“Be as selfish as you’d like. I’d wait a lifetime for you to be by my side again.”
“We live forever, silly.”
Taehyung smiled. “That’s the whole point.”
❀
There was a space between sleep and full consciousness that Jungkook had always liked, where dreams still played at the edges of his mind, gradually rolling out of his reach as he woke up. It was a peaceful state, warmth from his sleep and from the chlainai still covering him mingling together.
He’d found that he liked it even more with Taehyung beside him. Despite naturally being the earlier riser of the two of them, his husband usually stayed laying beside him in the mornings until he woke. And every time Jungkook came into that sleep-riddled state of waking, limbs stretching lethargically and eyes squeezed shut as if to hold onto the last silages of his dreams, he always felt fingers running through his hair and heard the humming of lyre tunes.
This time, he was greeted no differently. But as he slowly gained his bearings, he noticed the lower voice and the slower hands. Tentative.
“How long were you watching me this time?” he finally questioned with his normal tease, blinking to clear the lingering blurriness from his eyes.
He was met with the familiar sight of Taehyung beside him, his arm bent and his cheek against on his fist. “Since you fell asleep.”
Jungkook frowned at him. “You didn’t rest?”
Taehyung shrugged. “You’re going to have a busy day. I wanted to make sure you rested well; you couldn’t do that if I trapped you in a cuddle.”
“Excuse you. I sleep perfectly even when you’re strangling me like a snake in your sleep.” He flicked Taehyung’s bangs. “Don’t underestimate your cuddling.”
His husband’s lips quirked. “I’ll keep that in mind, beautiful.”
He smiled. “You really think that, don’t you?”
“No, I was talking about the chlainai.” He huffed a laugh at the flimsy shove he got in response. “Of course I think you’re beautiful. It’s the first thing I thought about you; that you were such a pretty fawn in that big field.”
Jungkook hummed quietly. “You haven’t called me ‘Little Fawn’ since the first time we met, you know.”
“Because you aren’t little.”
“No?”
“No.” Taehyung brushed a hand across his forehead. “I call you Fawn because you’re the sweetest, most lovely thing to me,” he murmured, “but calling you ‘Little’ would be a crime, darling. You don’t do anything small. Your heart is big, you love fully, and you mean so much to everyone around you. So no, you aren’t little. I know that now.”
His hand fell to Jungkook’s cheek. “And I’ll see the proof of your beautiful heart for years and years to come, my soul.”
Jungkook dragged him down and kissed him. "And me, of yours."
❀
Time slowed down.
They dressed together after bathing, and Taehyung pinned Jungkook’s chiton himself with the gifted fibulas, adjusting them until he decided they looked neat against the fabric.
On their way out, Jungkook said soft farewells to every Lampad they passed, and hugged Namjoon when they saw him at the stables.
“You don’t want to take Aethon and Alastor?” the herdsman had questioned, the reins sitting in his hands like he’d been preparing.
They’d only needed to share a single look to decide. “I don’t believe so, no.”
So they went on, hand in hand and quiet: they boarded Charon’s ferry and disembarked from it, headed into the dark tunnel that had once brought Jungkook into a whole new life, and stepped out of the tunnel just like Taehyung had done over a year before, on a day that had changed both of their lives.
Before them, sunlight shined and the breeze played through the trees. A thin layer of green covered the forest in the form of tiny leaflets and new shoots of grass, a promise of the thriving life that would come soon.
A reminder of what he would lose.
Taehyung’s arm slid around his waist, pulling him against his chest. Jungkook went willingly, pressing closer and dropping his forehead to his husband’s shoulder. “...Is it too late to back out of this?”
“Maybe just a little bit,” Taehyung chuckled. Jungkook let the elder tilt his chin up, his own watering eyes mirrored by his husband’s. “It’s okay to be upset. I know this choice was hard for you, and I know it’s not exactly what you wanted. But if this is what your heart feels is right, regardless of how it aches, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Jungkook squeezed Taehyung’s hip. “And what is your heart telling you?”
“That sometimes losing is learning, and that six moons is so much better than a lifetime.”
Giggling weakly, Jungkook pressed a quick kiss against his lips before slowly pulling away from him entirely and wiping his eyes. “Then I guess I shouldn’t stall.” He walked backwards, watching Taehyung’s knowing smile. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too.”
“Six moons, right?”
“Mhm. You return on the next equinox. Don’t overstay for too long or else the pomegranate seed tie will make you sick.”
“It takes six moons?”
“Eight, actually.”
“Why eight?”
“Love.”
“Okay, okay.” He rested a hand against the nearest tree, letting himself take one last look before turning and darting into the trees.
He got maybe five steps before he realized something and spun around.
“Wait!”
Taehyung blinked at him in surprise from the mouth of the cave. “...Yes?”
Jungkook clung to the tree, something giddy rising in his chest. “I’ve said ‘my love’ and every other endearment a thousand times, but I’ve never said this to you.”
“Okay?”
He tried to relax his expression, but the smile kept coming back against his will. “I love you.”
Taehyung stared at him with surprised eyes, blinking, before his expression melted into something fonder. “Oh, darling. I already knew. I love you, too, more than I could ever properly put into words.”
“You do?”
“Of course,” he chuckled, eyes shining with adoration. “Seriously. Go on, now, Honeybee, or you won’t ever leave. You know where to find me.”
Nodding, Jungkook backed away, giggling as that sensation fluttered like little butterflies. “Alright. I love you! I’ll see you soon.”
Taehyung leaned against the cave wall. His voice stayed soft. “I’ll see you, too, Fawn.”
Jungkook took a deep breath, staring at his husband’s face for a moment, taking it in. But the breeze blew past, ruffling his hair and shifting the grass around his ankles, and something tugged at his heart.
‘Part of me will always belong with him. But part of me belongs here, too.’
Flashing Taehyung with what he hoped was his warmest smile, he turned and followed the call.
Because strict definitions of 'home' were ridiculous; home was where your heart went, and your feet followed.
✿
Watching Jungkook leave should have hurt. It should have brought him to his knees. But... It was odd, how love affected you. How it could make something heavy just a little lighter, a little easier to manage, a little easier to carry.
And you didn’t own the people you loved, because you trusted them enough to be free.
You let them go.
After all, Taehyung thought wistfully, shaking his head with a smile and stepping into the dark, fawns are meant to frolic.
❁
Life was a fickle thing.
Nothing stayed the same in life. People grew from small babes, utterly helpless in the arms of their caregivers, to their peak years of vitality, and then to old age, the process slow and yet seemingly too quick, the days of the past so recent and yet long gone.
People themselves changed, too, past the physical appearance. Passions and interests evolved as they ebbed and took hold. Opinions shifted through experience and understanding. For some, traumas walked in and decided to stay, and for others, those traumas took a step back, a companion who trailed close by quietly, but never truly broke away.
For the gods, life was experienced a little differently, but those changes came and went just the same.
They knew that well.
Once, Kore was a stripling known for his pretty face, and Hades was just a name muttered like a dark secret.
Once, Kore gazed upon an owl and saw its kind eyes, not its fabled talons; Hades gazed upon a fawn and saw its loving soul, not just its beauty.
Once, they put their hearts in each other’s hands, and left the doors open.
Because there were a million factors to life, a million things that could change - and their love? It could only grow stronger.
Notes:
It’s finished :,) A year and a half of effort, all done. I don’t even know what I’m gonna do with myself anymore, honestly… I put off working on any other fics for the last couple of months to focus on this, it's practically become part of my daily routine. (Also yes I cried when I finished writing, hush, let me be emotional).
But don’t worry! This won’t be the end for these two. I do have a small sequel planned, as well as a peak at modern Taekook, too. I have one additional one shot completed, actually (though I’m not sure when or where I’ll post that here). So if those are something you’re interested in seeing in the future, be sure to subscribe to the Pushing Up Daffodils series so you get notified. We’ll see where the wind takes me :)
Thank you again so, so much for the support, and for loving these characters as much as I love them.
If you're up for it, leave a comment or message me on Neospring. I'd love to chat :)
I hope you enjoyed! I love you all ♡
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