Careful, now. He takes a step closer—their difference in height, not as stark as the difference between him and his father but Thanatos is still full god height, becomes much more evident, when they're this close.

"Than, I... I've been thinking."

"Well that's a change of pace."

"Ouch." Zagreus can't really hide the smile, though. Nor does he want to. "Yeah, that's kind of the point."

But he shrugs slightly and looks down at his feet, burning the grass he's standing on. "I think I've said most of what I could say, about... how little I've done that, about this, about us. So, I want to not... make the same mistake twice, you know?"

"You're saying a lot of words that don't say anything for someone so straightforward."

"What I'm saying is that I'm not gonna keep taking you for granted and I'm not gonna trample all over your feelings anymore, if I can help it. And that—goes both in the direction of talking about what I need to talk about and not." He takes a deep breath and looks back up at Thanatos's face. "We don't need to talk about it, if you don't want to. We don't need to make any decisions in haste. We're gods, we have forever. And I'll... wait for you. I'll be here and I'll wait for you, for as long as you need me to."

"If I take a thousand years—"

"Then I'll wait a thousand more. I don't—I've been in love with you for as long as I can remember—"

(Thanatos draws in a sharp breath at that.)

"—and it's as obvious as my name when I think about it," Zagreus continues, heedless. "It's not gonna go away just because of waiting. And if you don't want me... That's fine, too. I mean, it'll hurt, obviously, but I... want you to be happy. With or without me, lovers or friends or..." Wince. "Acquaintances."

"Do you truly think so little of me, Zagreus, that you really think I could actually leave you hanging like that for a thousand years?"

"—Than, that's not—stop listening to the voice in your head that's narrating everything you do with dry and sarcastic commentary, okay, and listen to me for a second, please. What I'm saying is that I love you and that—that what that means is that you shouldn't think of whether it hurts me, not in those terms. What that means is that I want you—I want us—only if you also want us. It would hurt me a lot more, if I were to be the reason why you're unhappy. I'd rather you know for sure what you want, I'd rather go into this with both eyes open and as, as partners.

"And partners look out for each other and don't pressure each other to be what they're not or to make any decisions without knowing what they want. This works with us working together or not at all."

"Damn it, Zagreus, of course I want you. I'm right here, aren't I? You've got nothing to wait for. I'm right here."

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, then opens them again to look into Zagreus's. "I'm right here, and I'm with you."

"—Than, I—"

"Just kiss me already."

Well he couldn't be any clearer than that.

Unfortunately Zagreus is kind of tiny so he'll need Than's help, there.

Than can make Zag float just as easily as himself and now they can be eye level.

—well that's new but he's not complaining. As an afterthought he phases his shield to the ground because it'll just get in the way, and he wraps his arms around the god of death and kisses him like a man parched in an oasis.

And Thanatos kind of wishes it was at all plausibly deniable that it's his fault he's pressing Zag against one of Elysium's many tall marble pillars but he's literally the only one who can walk right now.

He'll feel mortified about that later. For now he's letting himself feel—for the first time—everything he's felt for Zagreus for hundreds of years, letting his emotions flood his mind and letting Zagreus flood his senses. The sight of his pale skin and mismatched eyes, the feel of his heat against Thanatos's cold, the faint smell of burning from the flaming laurels on his hair, the touch of his hands—he phased his gauntlet away somewhere to have both of them free—against Zag's bare skin and the back of his chiton—

Zag's chiton is rated for combat but it's not rated for a god of death grabbing it that way while they make out in the shaded gardens. He wonders if Than is giving them time, again, because they're positively indecent and if any murderous shades walk in right now they'll neither of them be in any position to fight.

Thanatos himself is not really sure, either, whether he's giving them time. It's not altogether fully under his volitional control, not all the time, and he can convince himself it happened involuntarily and he wasn't breaking any rules. He feels, in the back of his mind, that his centuries of service have earned him this small thing.

...but he can't really hold it together that long, can't really keep the sarcastic inner voice at bay, and after far too long having nearly no thoughts he suddenly does have the thought that unless they stop really soon he's not sure he'll be able to really hold himself back and it would be absolutely horrifying to be caught by a random shade in the middle of—of doing whatever they would be doing next—

Zag notices when Thanatos goes stiff (well, stiff in more places than just the one) and pulls away to look at him, eyebrows creasing in concern. "Than...?"

"I—I—should go back to work. And you should go back to, to killing things, and—I'll see you later."

And he vanishes into thin air.

...did he really just make Than so horny he was actually afraid he was losing control? He's really proud of that, he feels he should get his portrait on the wall of the lounge back at the House for this achievement.

(Take that, father, Zagreus is not the one who can't control himself.)

He takes a few seconds to breathe—he's a god, he doesn't really need to, but it helps center—then reaches for Aegis and tries to smooth his chiton down. Which is an entirely hopeless task given the last several minutes, and if he were someone else he'd feel embarrassed by the possibility that anyone might see him in such a state, but he's not, so he won't. If the shades get distracted by the sight or the implications, that'll only make it easier for him to kill them.