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“Come to Olympus with me.” Ares murmured against his lips, taking Hypnos by surprise. He pulled back just enough to look up at Ares with wide eyes, flushed and disheveled from the heated kisses they’d been trading before Ares’ soft plea broke the atmosphere.
“What?” he blinked, and Ares made a sound of complaint at his withdrawal, pulling him down closer and chasing his lips. His hands had crept under Hypnos’ chiton at some point, and his hands were large and warm on his back. He always held Hypnos like he was something precious, something he wanted to hoard and treasure and lavish attention on. Hypnos had learned early on that Ares’ lap was the best place to nap, and the war god’s dreams were always peaceful when he slept with Hypnos in his arms. Now, Ares pressed his nose to Hypnos’ temple, inhaling the scent of his hair with a shiver of delight. He seemed to take a moment to consider his words, testing the weight of them before letting them fall from his unfairly perfect lips.
“Let me kidnap you.” he finally breathed, a command and a plea all in one, his hands slipping down to Hypnos’ hips to thumb gentle circles into his skin, “Let me take you away from that miserable underworld and steal you away to Olympus.”
“But... why?” he blinked owlishly, and Ares lifted a hand to cradle his face, pressing their foreheads together with an affectionate sound.
“I am a selfish creature.” he answered simply, his breath warm against Hypnos’ lips, “And an impatient one. As of late I find the distance between us to be more and more unbearable. It grates at me to constantly wonder when I will be graced with your laughter again, when I can once more hold you. I don’t want to have to wait to be with you all the time, my cloud. I want to be able to keep you close always.”
“Is kidnapping like an Olympian thing?” Hypnos laughed, a little high and a little strangled, his mouth dry and his hands trembling slightly as he swallowed, “Seems to be a lot of it going around these days.”
“Perhaps.” Ares chuckled, thumbing under Hypnos’ eye as if to soothe him, “Do you wish to know how long it took my kin and I to talk Hermes out of absconding with your boatman?”
“Probably about the same amount of time it took us to talk Charon out of squirreling Hermes away like one of his treasures.” Hypnos giggled wistfully, “Oh, those two are so cute.”
“We are cuter.” Ares said with a playful squeeze, “And in my humble opinion, you would make a far lovelier groom than your skeletal kin.”
“You’d be my bride?” Hypnos grinned happily, bare feet kicking idly as he lazed atop his lover’s warm body. Ares chuckled, the sound rumbling in his chest and making Hypnos feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
“If you desired.” Ares purred, “Anything for my cloud.” Hypnos giggled, unable to help himself, and the sound seemed to bring pleasure to Ares, who nuzzled him with a quiet laugh. Hypnos pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, his heart light and full in a way it only ever was when Ares was with him.
“All this talk of marriage and abduction is adorable, but what would you do if my family tries to rescue me?” Hypnos teased, and Ares’ eyes flashed, all amusement gone in the blink of an eye as his lips twisted with displeasure.
“When they try.” he tightened his arms around Hypnos’ lithe frame, the crimson glow of his eyes flaring, “I will fight them off. Every day if I must. You are mine, and you are worth it.”
“Every day?” Hypnos teased, and Ares leaned in and kissed his nose, releasing his waist entirely to bury his hands in Hypnos’ hair, tangling his fingers in the starry curls as he closed his eyes with a sigh, pressing his lips to Hypnos’ forehead like a benediction.
“Fighting for you would be... so rewarding.” he murmured, lips hot against chilled skin, “I could test my might against Death, against Nyx and the Ferryman, against my cousin, against Hades himself. All the while knowing what is at stake, and that losing is not an option.” Hypnos shivered, his eyes fluttering closed as he melted into Ares’ embrace.
“You would fight Hades for me?” he mumbled, burying his face into Ares’ throat, “Really? And my whole family too? For me?”
“Hypnos.” Ares said warmly, affection saturating his tone, “If I had to, I would take after Zagreus’ example and repeatedly break into the underworld, fighting my way down without fail again and again just to spend a few moments with you.”
“Sweet-talker.” he giggled, trying to pretend the words didn’t make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside, “See if you still like me so much once I’m your problem full time.”
“Oh.” Ares shivered dramatically, as if the idea of Hypnos being his full-time problem was the sweetest ambrosia, earning a snort from the god in question, “How nice it would be to be able to see you when I returned from a battle. How wonderful to leave the carnage knowing that my cloud awaits me. No matter how bloodied and exhausted I am, the sight of you sleeping peacefully in the bed I built you would settle my soul like nothing else.” Hypnos made a strangled noise, pulling away from his grasp to slap ineffectively at his solid chest.
“Stop! Saying! Such! Sweet! Things!” he exclaimed between slaps, and Ares threw his head back with a booming laugh, capturing Hypnos’ hands easily and bringing them to his lips with a fond smile.
“Then stop making a foolish poet of me.” he replied with a playful quirk of his eyebrow, “Do I offend?”
“Offend!?” he huffed, slumping back into his chest with a grumble, “Asking me to move in with you and saying you’ll fight my family. The nerve, the absolute nerve. Say, what brought all this on, anyway?” Ares did not release his hands, pressing his face under his jaw to nuzzle him like an affectionate bird, making Hypnos flush pleasantly warm.
“Nothing in particular. I simply... I simply wish to make you happy.” he admitted quietly, “Take all the time you need to decide, I will wait for you. You don’t have to come live in my villa if you do not wish to, though it would make my heart sing to see you in my bed, dressed in only my tunic, giving me that sleepy smile while I struggle not to descend upon you like a wild beast.”
“You’re a real animal, you know that?” Hypnos laughed brightly, upturning his face to rub their noses together, “If not your place, where on Olympus would I live?”
“Anywhere you like.” Ares kissed the corner of his mouth, then under his eyes, trailing kisses all across Hypnos’ face as he spoke, “I would build you a house with my bare hands. I would learn carpentry just so I could craft you the finest bed on Olympus, cover it with the warmest blankets and the softest pillows, and assign my most loyal hound to lie at your feet and keep you safe. I would hide you away and ensure that no one ever disturbs you. You could sleep all you want, no work, no queues, no overbearing coworkers. You could simply... be.”
“Oh, don’t say things like that.” Hypnos whined, reburying his face in his chest, more tempted than he wanted to admit, “I might take that offer, and then where will we be? Me sleeping all the time and you down an active bed partner.”
“Ah, but you are a vision when you sleep.” Ares chuckled warmly, his breath ghosting across the shell of his ear, “So warm and pliant, so vulnerable and sweet. Your sleeping form makes a beast of me, my Hypnos.”
“Wish more people thought my sleeping was cute.” Hypnos pressed his face harder into his chest against the now-familiar flash of sadness, “This is why you’re my favorite.”
“Those who disparage you are fools.” Ares said, a slight growl in his voice as his grip tightened around him, and Hypnos lifted his head to smile cheerfully up at him.
“Strong opinions?” he joked, and Ares stared intently at him for long enough that Hypnos started to grow concerned. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ares suddenly flipped them over without warning, earning a shriek from Hypnos as he was suddenly pinned under a heavy body, thin wrists easily seized in two big hands and pinned beside his head as Ares settled in the cradle of his thighs. Hypnos blinked up at him, not the slightest bit afraid of the massive war god pressing him down into the mattress.
“When I see those around you berate and scold you for something you cannot control, it makes my blood boil.” Ares said quietly, a red glow flaring in his eyes as he gazed hungrily down at him, lust and fury now a familiar combination in those crimson eyes, “No matter who they are. Never have I more keenly felt the violence of my aspect than upon hearing Thanatos claim that you were ‘not irreplaceable’.”
“Than cares.” Hypnos defended automatically, “Just in his own repressed, repressed... repressed way.”
“Indeed, I am aware.” Ares smirked suddenly, leaning down to nip playfully at his throat, earning a little whine from the pinned god, “I may have let slip to him recently that you and I are... intimate.”
“You what?” Hypnos gasped, eyes going wide, “Ares, my blood red poppy, you know I love how protective you get but why in the name of the Fates would you do that? You know how he gets.”
“I forgot myself in a moment of pettiness.” Ares grinned against his skin, completely unrepentant, “It was an accident.”
“How did you accidentally let something like that slip?” he asked, trying to contain his smile, “What did you say to him?”
“I simply said that you and I were in an intimate relationship built on mutual respect and admiration.” he released his wrists in favor of gripping his waist, ever entranced by the way he could nearly encircle it with his hands. Hypnos, too lazy to lower his arms, remained happily sprawled out.
“Uh huh.” he clucked, “Now what did you actually say to him?” Ares chuckled, caught.
“I said ‘While we’re on the topic, I’ve been having raw, wild, back breaking sex with your twin since the feast in the underworld’ and left it at that.”
“Ares!” Hypnos tried and failed to stifle his snorting laughter, covering his mouth to suppress his glee as his body vibrated with it.
“He became rather agitated at the news.” Ares continued with an amused smile, no regard for Hypnos’ failed attempt at taking the situation seriously, “We got into quite the fight over it. I’ve never seen him so incensed in all our years working together. He put his scythe to my throat.”
“He did what!?” Hypnos’ amusement vanished, but Ares didn’t seem to mind at all.
“I found it reassuring.” he explained with a sharp grin, “He wanted to protect you. I can respect that.”
“Cool motive, still ridiculous.” Hypnos grumbled, “Ugh, Than... He’s gotta know by now that I can make my own decisions!”
“Perhaps we could make it clearer if I left some marks where he could see.” Ares teased, and Hypnos snorted.
“Stop terrorizing my twin.” he laughed, playfully slapping a solid arm, “He’s a big baby who doesn’t know how to cope with any kind of emotion.”
“Then perhaps he should have appreciated you better.” Ares rumbled, “Before the big bad war god snatched his sweet little brother away.”
“You know I’m the older twin, right?” Hypnos giggled, “And you haven’t snatched me away just yet. You’ve painted a pretty picture, but I’ve yet to be convinced.”
“I would take care of you.” Ares murmured, eyes sparking with determination, and Hypnos resisted the sudden urge to squirm, unused to being the object of such intent, “I would give you everything I have, everything I am. I am already yours in every way... I would ask you to be mine.”
“Ares...” he breathed, all previous levity gone in the blink of a red red eye, “I...”
“I love you.” the words never failed to steal the breath from Hypnos’ lungs, “Every part of you, good and bad, powerful and weak, flaws and all. Every hour of every day, without end.”
“Even the days where I can’t stay awake?” he couldn’t help but ask quietly.
“How can I complain when it only proves your regard for me?” Ares rumbled, “You don’t know what you do to me when you trust me so easily with yourself. I am entranced by you. You are... hypnotic.”
“Hyp-what?” he flushed, giggling awkwardly without meaning to, “Now you’re just making up words.”
“Indeed I did make up that word.” he smirked, “And it is a word I had seeded in the language of the mortals, as a gift to my beloved.”
“And who’s that?” he couldn’t help but tease, and Ares pressed a lazy kiss to his neck.
“Why, it’s in the name, my cloud.” he purred, and Hypnos shivered.
“What does it mean?” he asked breathlessly as his lover held him close.
“Hypnotic.” Ares breathed into his throat, “It means entrancing, mesmerizing, spellbinding, trance-inducing. It calls to mind images of eyes like ambrosia. A citrine gaze of purest firelight, like corpse flowers springing from the ashen flesh of the fallen.”
“Aww, you big sap.” Hypnos giggled, “I doubt a word can do all that, but the thought sure is nice.”
“It matters not, when your eyes make the harvest moon weep with bitter jealousy.” Ares chuckled, “Many a night I have lain awake while the burning memory of those eyes consumed me.”
“Aw, how sweet!” Hypnos grinned, “Keep talking.”
“Happily.” Ares rumbled, “I could wax poetic about you all day.”
“Gonna have to be real poetic if you want me to run away with you.” he hummed, and Ares seemed to take that as a challenge.
“My Hypnos.” he crooned, “My somnolent star of ash and blood, my songbird of honey-sweet sighs, my witchfire.”
“Getting kinda conceptual there, ah, I like it.” Hypnos chirped, giggling at Ares’s affronted look.
“Allow me to praise your more physical aspects, then.” Ares pressed down, “A voice like a lilting song, like high bells on the wind. Hands fit for an archer, long and dexterous and steady, skilled in all the ways that matter. Hair like fresh fallen snow, like sheep’s wool, like clouds, like starlight, like the Lethe.”
“Think about my hair a lot?” he teased to hide how affected the words left him.
“I keep a lock of it in a vial by my bed.” Ares admitted freely, “It helps when I am-“ he cut himself off with a flush, and Hypnos felt a mischievous grin spread across his face.
“When you are...?” Hypnos tilted his head curiously, drawing out the word with a grin. Ares shook his head, the flush deepening. Hypnos grinned, peppering his face with kisses, “Tell me please?” he asked sweetly, and Ares folded like wet parchment.
“When I am... touching myself while imagining you.” he sighed, the confession dragged out of him with great reluctance. Hypnos’ pealing laughter was cut off with a firm kiss, Ares skillfully diverting his attention to far more pleasurable pursuits. The kiss could have lasted minutes or hours, time meaning nothing with Ares filling all his senses, dizzy with want and the slide of their lips and the music of their quiet breaths.
“Ares?” he panted slightly, pressing their foreheads together as if they could meld together like dreams and waking in the rosy dawn.
“Yes?” he breathed, all hazy eyes and kiss-swollen lips, and Hypnos wanted.
“Take me away from here.” he slid his leg up Ares’ hip, closing his eyes with delight at the shiver it earned him, “Capture me.” The sound Ares made was something primal, something low and frightening, like a hungry animal prowling a battlefield, all teeth and vicious intent. Hypnos wanted to hear it again.
And he did.