The god of sleep startles awake with a small yelp, nearly dropping the clipboard he's always holding. "Oh, hello, your highness! Surface mortality get you again?"

"Yep! Went swimming this time, though."

"Huh. That sounds like a lot of effort. And aren't you swimming in the Styx all the time anyway?"

"Don't you know? I'm unconscious for most of my trips back here."

"Oh, that makes sense. Well, don't let me stop you from whatever lengths you wanna go to to spend long stretches of time in whatever liquids you want."

"You couldn't if you tried, buddy."

Zagreus walks past the entire line of souls, nods a greeting in the direction of his parents, then makes a beeline for his bedroom. At some point in the last few centuries he's had a door installed, so he shuts it after walking in. He also locks it, which he doesn't typically do, since he usually has to return to the bedroom from the outside.

He goes to his bed, spreads his arms to either side, and lets himself fall facefirst onto it. The god lets out a long breath into his pillow and stays there for a few moments, his body still, before rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. He rests both feet on the covers (by default made appropriately heat-resistant so they don't burst to flames the moment his burning feet touch them), pointing his knees up, and puts both hands behind his head. His eyelids droop shut and his breath evens out. Ironic that he was just giving a hard time to the god of sleep for the sake of work. He'll only be a minute, he's sure...

Until, that is, the familiar death knoll sounds...

"—Than!"

Zagreus sits up immediately, crossing his legs and grinning.

"Hello, Zagreus," says the figure that appears in the middle of his room, floating a few inches off the ground and holding his enormous scythe in his right hand, behind his back. "—you seem to be in bed. That's unexpected."

"—oh. Yeah, I was just having a shut-eye."

"A shut-eye, Zagreus?" says the god of death, floating closer to the bed. "When was the last time you had one?"

He pauses and furrows his eyebrows. "...five years ago? Maybe a decade."

Thanatos's scythe vanishes in a puff of green smoke, and he sits at the edge of the bed. He pulls the gauntlet off his right hand with his left, and it, too, disappears in a puff of smoke. The hand finds its way to Zagreus's right thigh, and he runs his index finger up and down Zagreus's skin. "That's less than I thought."

Zagreus shivers at the touch, and stretches that leg along the bed to give Thanatos easier access. 

The god of death diligently unhooks the god of life's shinguard and carelessly throws it somewhere else, its metal bits clattering loudly on the tile floor. He does the same to the other shinguard, and then resumes caressing Zagreus's leg. "Well?"

"—hm?" He opens his eyes again, as they had shuddered shut at the touch.

He chuckles, and starts using light nail. "Pay attention or I'll stop."

Zagreus lets out a slight whine. "Noooooo! I don't know what you're asking!"

"I'm asking you to talk to me. What's happening?"

He rotates his body to the right so that he's facing his lover.

"Who says there's anything happening? Maybe I just wanted a break."

"...okay, fine, maybe there is something."

As reward for talking Thanatos's hand starts wandering more, from down Zagreus's calf all the way to the middle of his inner thigh.

Zagreus makes a small sound at the back of his throat and stretches his other leg. "You're distracting me on purpose."

He lifts his hand off Zagreus's skin.

Whiiiiiiiiine.

"Keep talking."

"You're more evil than Megaera."

The way Zagreus starts getting an obvious erection puts the lie to any displeasure he might be expressing, though.

"I'm sure she can be just as evil in her own ways," the god of death says, smirking. He decides to resume the caresses, and if one of his fingers goes a bit further up to lightly touch Zagreus's balls, well, accidents do happen.

Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!

"I—look, Than, will you please just fuck me already, I can't have a serious conversation while you're doing this!"

That gives him pause. "Serious?"

"I—I think so?"

Thanatos stands up and starts undressing. He removes his belt, first, and the shinguards and wristguards go next. He lowers his hood and undoes the clasp holding his pauldrons together, and each piece of clothing he drops disappears into smoke before touching the floor.

He, too, is sporting an erection from their little interaction.

"You can make an effort," he says, untying his chiton and letting the cloth fall out so that he's completely naked. "Move over, you're in my way."

Zagreus has been watching all of this with an entranced look, as if it's the most interesting spectacle he has ever seen. At some point his left hand found its way to his hard-on, and he started stroking himself.

Thanatos's words break him out of his reverie, though, and he obligingly scoots farther away from that side of the bed to give Thanatos space to lie down properly.

He does, lying on his left side and propping his head up on his left elbow while he reaches down between them with his free right hand and displaces Zagreus's to start stroking both of them together.

"Keep talking," he repeats. "I've seen you do it, it's not that hard."

He smirks and looks down between them. "I beg to differ."

"Zag."

"Rrrrrrrr alright, you!" He lifts his left leg to wrap it on top of Thanatos's legs and rests his left hand atop Thanatos's hip, readjusting his torso and right arm so that his head is resting on top of the fold of his right elbow. "How long have we been together, Than?"

"Can't say I've kept track. Four hundred years, at least? Give or take? Maybe five."

He does not stop jerking himself and Zagreus off, his long slender fingers wrapped around both of their shafts. He wiggles his right leg a little bit so it's touching Zag's left heel; if he were a mortal, he'd get a third degree burn from that, but thankfully he is not, so he can just enjoy the warmth.

"Yeah. Sounds about—ah, fuck—" He shuts his eyes and bites down on his lower lip. "Kiss me," he breathes.

Thanatos obeys, leaning forward just enough to do that.

Zagreus holds the kiss for a few seconds before letting go, but keeps his head close enough to Thanatos's so the tip of their noses are touching. "Sounds about right," he finishes. "Since the whole thing with Mother—actually wasn't that six hundred years ago, with the war...?—whatever. When I got my job."

"Mmhm," Than voices encouragingly, shifting his weight a bit and moving his head to start kissing Zagreus's jaw and down to his neck and shoulder. He releases their cocks to reach behind Zagreus's left shoulder and undo the clasp holding the skulls and the chiton together, there.

"Ah, shit, okay—I love you, Than—" His chiton is far less ornate than Thanatos's, and after he gets rid of the belt it's easy to wiggle a bit and pull the entire long piece of cloth off.

Thanatos laughs into Zagreus's skin and says, "Love you too, you idiot." With Zag appropriately undressed, Than can resume his work with their dicks.

He makes a throaty sound at that for a few seconds, his eyelids fluttering shut, then remember Thanatos's request. "—right. What—what is my domain? What am I the god of?"

"—life? And blood. Or so we reckon. Right?"

"Do you think anyone else could escape the Underworld? Now, not when I first tried it. Even with the Olympians' help, not that they still offer any. After everything that's changed—Than you're going to make me cum if you keep at this—"

"We can bathe together, later. I'm taking a break from work, for now."

"Oh so that's what the visit was for, you wanted to fuck me."

He squeezes Zagreus's balls a bit too painfully, causing the god of life to yelp. "No comment."

Zag laughs. "I love you, Than," he repeats.

Thanatos grins and bites down on Zag's shoulder, hard enough to leave a mark. He starts stroking Zag again. "I love you, too. And to answer your question, no, I think with all the fortifications we've made you might be literally the only person with the ability to leave without permission, now."

Then he pauses. "I'd wager even Lord Zeus would fail."

"—right. I think so, too."

Zag leans forward and starts nibbling on Than's ear. He moves his left hand up to Than's hip again and then down the back of Than's ass, then his fingers find their way to Than's hole, which he starts lightly teasing.

Than smiles into Zag's skin and kisses it again. "So what you're saying is that—what, escaping the Underworld might be your domain, too? You're the god of leaving places?"

"...maybe a bit more specific than that, but—but that's, I think I'm—" He squirms a bit and falls silent.

Than pauses and pulls away so he can look at Zagreus's face. "You're bored. Of your job. Aren't you."

Squirm squirm. "Kind of. Kiss me."

He does.

Zagreus slides his arm around Than for a proper hug and kisses him deeply, pressing their bodies together and holding Thanatos tightly.

Thanatos reciprocates, then shifts his weight suddenly so he's lying on top of his lover, his legs on either side of Zag and Zag's cock rubbing against his ass. He pulls out of the kiss to lean his chin against the side of Zag's neck and whisper into his ear: "So what now, Zagreus?"

"Now you get me a bottle of Nectar so I can put my dick in you before you drive me crazy!!!!!!"

Than laughs and makes a round bottle of honey-coloured liquid appear in his hand. He uncorks it and reaches behind himself to pour some of it onto Zagreus's penis, and then smears his own fingers with it. He leans forward to nibble on the skin on Zagreus's chest while he fingers himself to prepare, planting kisses and bites here and there.

Zagreus arches his back at all of this, eyes shut with pleasure, and makes small moany sounds at Than's lips on his chest and fingers around his shaft. "Than, ah, Thanatos, I love you so much, Than—!"

"Honestly, you would think it'd been years. Did Meg decide to forbid you from cumming until I made you, again?—she did, didn't she." He laughs some more and teases Zagreus's cock with his ass and fingers.

"You are both wicked people!!!!!!"

"We hadn't played this game in a while. She knows what kinds of presents I enjoy."

Squirm squirm "Eeeeeeeeeevil!"

"Be a good boy, then, and I might let you."

"But, wait, no, Than, it's been so long—"

Deeming himself prepared enough, he grabs Zagreus's dick and, with the practised ease of centuries, slides it in all the way to the base.

"Fuck—"

"I guess you have a lot of incentive to be a good boy, then, don't you, Zagreus?" Thanatos purrs, running a black fingernail down Zag's chest and leaning forward to kiss him.

"Th-Than—oh, please—"

"Hold your hands above your head," Thanatos orders.

Okay Zagreus is going to be a good boy and follow this order, yep.

Than materialises some rope in his hands and ties Zagreus's wrists together and around a piece of his headboard. And if his hips move around with Zagreus's cock in him more than they needed to, only a fool would think this was anything but purposeful.

Zag squirms under Thanatos's weight, but doesn't resist the ropes, and just looks up at his lover with naked adoration and lust on his face.

"Well, who would have thought you could be a good boy sometimes." He leans back and starts rocking his hips back and forth, only slowly for now.

"Ah—Thanatos, my—ah—I love you, Thanatos—!"

A moan escapes Than's lips at his own movements, and he moves up to kiss Zagreus again. "I know," he says with a playful smile.

"Than, Thanatos, please, oh—" He moans as Thanatos picks up some speed, his burning toes curling up with pleasure, and he can't help but match Than's movement with his own, to what limited extent he can while thus attached to the bed.

The god of death shuts his eyes and rests his forehead on Zagreus's chest, his hips still moving back and forth. He moves his right hand between them to start jerking himself off while using his left elbow and forearm to hold himself up. "I would have thought," he says in between grunts and pants, "that something as vanilla as this would get boring over the centuries."

"Oh, ah, Thanatos, my love—I could never get bored of you, never, I love you, oh fuck, harder—"

"Ah!" he exclaims at a particularly rough thrust. "N-never, Zagreus? We're both immortal. Never is a while."

"Never—never—my Thanatos—ah fuck Than—I'm yours for—forever—for as l—ah, please, oh Than—as long as you'll have me—my Than...!"

"Ah—Zagreus—Zag, that's—that feels so good—" Zagreus's dick slips out, and rather than immediately putting it back in Thanatos reaches back and strokes him. He opens his eyes and looks up. "You feel so good, Zagreus," he purrs, guiding Zag's cock inside once more and sliding all of it in again.

"Thanatos, oh, oh Thanatos, Thanatos Thanatos Thanatos..." Zagreus squirms in the binds but cannot escape, and all he can do is plead with his voice and his face and his eyes.

"Yes, my Zagreus?" He looks up and laughs before planting kisses onto the god of life's face and hugging him tightly. "You seem to be straining."

Squirm squirm "You are just evil."

"Ah ah, is that what a good boy would say?"

"Please—"

"That's more like it."

He bites Zagreus's lower lip and resumes jerking himself off in sync with his hips.

"Ugh Than—Thanatos—I'm—I'm going to—you're gonna make me—"

Thanatos leans closer to whisper again. "Do it. I want all of you inside me."

"Fuck I love it when you talk like that—Thanatos—Thanatos—"

He doesn't respond and just keeps riding Zagreus for all he's worth.

"Fuck I'm—ah Thanatos—"

And the rest of the sentence is drowned out by moaning as he comes, his eyes squeezed tightly shut and his hips frozen in place as he shoots load after load into his lover.

Than leans back, arching his back and closing his own eyes to ride this out, feeling Zagreus fill him up, not stopping but slowing down enough to let his lover catch his breath.

"Thanatos—oh Thanatos—my Thanatos—" He opens his eyes and looks up at the god of death's face before his gaze lowers down to the god of death's cock. "You still haven't—"

He lowers a hand to shut Zagreus's mouth with his index finger. "No, not yet." He slowly slips away from Zag's penis and inches his hips farther up Zag's chest. "You're going to be a good boy and let me finish."

Zag licks his lips. "Yes, sir," he says, and once Thanatos is close enough he can lift his head up and curl his neck and upper back up to the extent his restraints allow so that he can take all of Thanatos inside his mouth. Than is long, every feature of his but this one in particular is long, and Zagreus can't wait to take all of it in. He doesn't have the luxury of his hands to help along but his mouth and his tongue are quite up for the task. He knows Than well enough for that.

Thanatos lets out a soft growl when Zagreus starts working on his cock, and reaches down to pet him and run his hand through the mess of black hair. "You look very attractive with me inside you like that."

He can't make words, or even noises, really, but he doesn't have to. He opens his eyes to look up at Thanatos and continues to purposely move his head and tongue up and down and around Than's shaft. He does it with a hunger, he needs to have Than's seed fill his mouth and leak down the corners of his lips and down his throat...

"Ah, shit—I almost forgot how good you are at this, Zagreus—gods—" He squeezes his hand into a fist around Zag's head and helps him pump along, pulling the hair more than necessary but just enough.

Zag moans, at that, though the sound only comes from his throat. Godly stamina and all, his dick starts getting hard again, but everything now is about Than, he needs Than to feel good, he's here to serve and please Thanatos and he is damn sure going to finish his job.

"Ah—Zag—Zag, fuck, Zagreus, you're so good—my Zagreus, you're going to make me—"

Yes he fucking will.

So Thanatos comes, comes and comes and comes into Zagreus's mouth as he arches his back and shuts his eyes and throws his head back, lost in the throes of ecstasy and Zag keeps going, keeps doing it, keeps pumping until he's spent.

Zagreus drinks it, drinks it up and though some of it does leak out he doesn't mind, it's Than's and it's perfect and it fits. He needs to look like a mess, he needs to be covered in his and Thanatos's seed and to look used and spent, that is right and correct and the exact state the world needs to occupy.

Than leans down again to cup Zagreus's head in his hands and kiss him deeply. He slides off Zagreus's body and falls to the right side, never breaking the kiss, not even when he reaches up to lightly tap the ropes and make them disappear.

Zag's hands free, he can wrap his arms around his lover and reciprocate the kiss in full. His wrists are bruised and even lightly cut at some points from the strain, and that, too, is perfect. He runs his right hand up Thanatos's back to the back of his head and runs his fingers through Thanatos's hair, pressing their lips together and locking their tongues.

Eventually Than does break the kiss (but not the hug) and rests his forehead on Zagreus's shoulder. "What will I do with you, Zag?"

"You could always fuck me again. Oh, maybe use your gauntlets, those sharp points feel so great—"

"That's not what I meant!" he laughs. "...later. When we go to the baths. I'll think about it."

"You're the best."

"We were having a conversation before this."

"I'm not sure 'before' is the correct word, here."

Huff. "Maybe not." He reaches down between them with his left hand to give Zagreus's—" You're hard again, Zagreus, already?"—a squeeze.

("How can I help it when the hottest god above or below the earth is naked in my bed?")

Thanatos ignores that and continues: "So, you're bored of your job. You want to quit? Wouldn't that be even more boring?"

Zag sighs and closes his eyes. "I—I don't know. It's not like there's anything else I can do. I last as long as I can on the surface, but I have my father's curse and my mother's gift and I burn up, eventually. And there's nothing to do here."

"You could always take a short vacation. Spend a decade in the fields of Elysium, go sightseeing—or maybe go hunt down some other creatures down in Tartarus, if that's more your speed."

"Would you take a vacation?"

"—well, no, but I'm not bored of my job."

Sigh. "I don't know, Than."

"How long have you been thinking about it?"

"Blood and darkness, I don't know, time is fuzzy here. Maybe a decade, maybe five, maybe just a year."

"...why didn't you tell me?"

"—hey. Hey, Than, come on, we're past this. I was going to, I swear I was not going to leave or do anything crazy without talking to you first. I didn't want to worry before I even had a good idea what was going on in my head, myself."

He lets out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "Right. Sorry, Zag."

"No, it's fine, I'm the one who should be sorry, you're right, I should have mentioned it before." He hugs Thanatos a bit tighter for a moment. "But I don't know. I didn't know, I still don't, I—I don't know what comes next."

Sigh. "You know, I figured this, something like this was going to happen. Eventually. The first time, it was just an excuse, right? You did want to find your mother, but—you would have found some reason to leave, one way or another. Right...?"

"...yeah. Yeah, I would have."

"So, so this was bound to happen. Either we'd get the Underworld security so tight that not even you could escape or... or only you can escape it now, for reasons we don't know, maybe it is something to do with your godhead. It was bound to happen, even all of the Underworld wasn't going to stay large enough to keep you forever."

"Yeah?"

"I don't have anything past that, I don't have any solutions. I knew it was going to happen, I didn't..." Sigh. "...let's go wash ourselves, maybe I'll let you play with my gauntlet, I'm feeling sticky."

—he laughs, and plants a kiss on Thanatos's forehead. "You gonna take us there, or what?"

"Haven't you been practising your phasing?"

"You know no one in the Underworld or out can even hope to match you, there. Though Hermes has tried."

"The baths should be close enough for you. Aren't they?"

Grumble grumble "Fiiiiiine." He kisses Thanatos's forehead again then rolls to his feet.

Thanatos scoots closer to the edge of the bed and extends his arms out to be carried.

".........what the fuck???? Since when are you allowed to be this cute? You never told me you could be this cute!!!!!!! If I had known you were going to be this cute I'd have offered to phase you all over the Underworld!!!!!!!"

"Hurry up before I change my mind."

"Yes, sir!" Zagreus puts both hands under Thanatos's body then his forearms and then hups to bridal-carry him. "Ready?"

"I have been doing this nearly every day for the past thousands of years. I was literally born ready, Zagreus, if my mother's words are to be believed. Let's just go."

"Yes, sir." He locks his legs in place, visualises his destination—

—takes a step forward—

—and they're at the baths. There are shades here and there, enjoying themselves, and some of them ogle at the sudden arrival of the gods, but they eventually move along. Zagreus sets Thanatos on his feet and beams up at him.

"Hmm, seven out of ten for execution."

"Oh shut up and get in the water with me."

Zagreus steps down into one of the four separate pools in this particular cavern, and the water, though warm, sizzles at the touch of his feet.

Thanatos follows him in, his cold skin having the opposite effect on the water, some of it turning to frost at his touch.

Zagreus finds a place to sit and looks up at Thanatos as the god of death does the same, right by him. He stretches his left leg out towards Than's and bumps Than's foot with his own. "It was probably your sisters who got us together."

"—the Fates? You give them too much credit. I don't think they make anything happen."

"We're very... aesthetically pleasing."

"Yes, you've expressed this before. Gods of life and death."

He bumps Than's foot again. "Hot and cold. Reckless and..."

"...very bad at actually talking or making decisions or doing things?"

"Introspective. Careful. Measured."

Than turns his head to look at Zag more properly. "Caring. Passionate. Driven."

Zagreus laughs. "Yes, alright. I think it works."

Than looks down at his feet again and smiles to himself. "It works. It's worked for centuries."

"Guess it has." He extends his left arm to wrap it around Thanatos. He's the smallest of the gods, and even if for a human he'd be tall and muscular and broad-shouldered, Thanatos is still overall just bigger. He just barely reaches the full-blooded god's other shoulder.

Thanatos snuggles up closer, and leans his head on Zagreus's shoulder. "Zag, I..."

Zagreus leans to his left to rest his head atop Than's and reaches for Than's right hand with his own, wrapping his fingers between Than's and lightly running his thumb on Thanatos's skin. He still doesn't love the silences, but he has learnt to cherish them. His Thanatos will say what he needs to say when he knows how.

He stays silent for a while, but eventually finds his words again: "I'm with you. Okay? Through thick and thin, I'm going to stay with you, whatever you decide to do. So please... count on me. Let me help with, with whatever you need to do. Even if you need to run away again, we're, we're gods, we have forever, right? I'm here, for you."

Zagreus smiles and closes his eyes. "Thank you, Than. That... means a lot."

"...and if you even think of disappearing again without telling me I will literally hunt you down and kill you myself."

He laughs. "I would expect nothing less, lover."

Thanatos does not have red mortal blood and so he does not blush.

He would if he could, though.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to—this."

"This?"

"...us. The way you treat me. It feels..."

"It's been six hundred years, Thanatos!" Zagreus laughs.

"Yes, well, call me slow. I can never keep up with you, try as I might."

"Well, I will always wait for you."

He pulls his hand away from Zagreus's to hide his face in it. "You keep saying these things so casually."

Zag turns to kiss the top of Thanatos's head. "They have been true for so long, it seems silly to try to rethink them every time."

"...Zagreus, you are making me want to jump your bones again. Let's at least get cleaned up before you tempt me more, okay?"

"Do I get to play with your gauntlet?"

He unhides his face and lifts his head up to look at Zag. "You could always get one of your own."

"Sure I could, but it's a lot more fun when it's you."

"Stop flirting with me and go grab a scrubber."

"Only if you promise you'll use it on me."

"Of course I'm going to use it on you, you deadbeat, I took a whole break to have this date with you."

Zagreus laughs and hops off the water to grab soapstone and a scrubber.

By the time he returns, the water around Thanatos has grown noticeably colder, and the humidity in the air is condensing into clouds.

"Let me fix that for you," says Zagreus, plopping down into the water again. It sizzles and bubbles much more, with the cold.

"I don't actually mind the cold."

"I know, but you like the heat, " he says, poking Thanatos's calf with his big toe.

"Hand me that."

Here he has it.

So Thanatos grabs the scrubber and chooses the side of Zagreus's chin as his first target.

Zagreus splutters and laughs and pushes Thanatos away. "What was that for?"

"Whatever do you mean? I'm just cleaning you up. You seem to have a lot of stuff stuck to your face. What is that anyway?"

"You know exactly what it is you twerp."

"Well if you don't like the scrubber then maybe..." Thanatos puts it down at the side and leans closer to Zagreus, their faces nearly touching, and promptly licks the spot on Zag's chin he'd started scrubbing.

He giggles. "Thanatos—"

Than holds Zag's head still with both hands. "Stop moving," he says, and resumes the licking. The side of Zag's chin, around his lips, down his jawline and neck...

...oh, okay, this has changed in tone rather quickly hasn't it. The god of life holds still and closes his eyes, allowing Thanatos to lick him clean and only shivering at the cool touch a little bit.

"I think you made a mess elsewhere, too," Thanatos whispers into Zagreus's skin. He slides his left hand down Zagreus's body, all the way to his lower abs and pelvic area. The motions he performs there are probably not amazing at cleaning anything quickly, but they're gods, they have forever.

Okay yes, right, and Zagreus has actually a grand total of zero objections to this development right here.

What a surprise.

Thanatos grabs the pumice scrubber and lightly scratches the cum from earlier off Zagreus's torso. With his free hand, he pinches one of Zagreus's nipples.

Zagreus makes an undignified squeak when he's pinched and his dick twitches.

"You make the most attractive noises and faces when I'm playing with you."

"Hhhhhhhhhh," is all Zagreus can say to that.

And now would you look at that it seems Thanatos's gauntlet has found its way back to his right hand.

"Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Really, Zagreus? Just the sight of it?"

"Don't act like this is a new development!!!!!"

"I suppose not. It still never fails to surprise me, how easy it is to turn you on."

"Thanatos stop teasing me."

"Hmm, that didn't sound like something a good boy would say." The gauntlet vanishes.

Gulp. "I mean, sir, please, will you. Touch me. With that. Please?"

"That's more like it. But I think I will tease you as much as I like." He puts the pumice away and then immediately grabs Zagreus's erection and gives it a hard squeeze.

Yelp!

"The most attractive," Thanatos reiterates, leaning forward to kiss Zagreus once again.

Zagreus's lips part willingly at the pressure of Thanatos's, his tongue meeting Than's and permitting easy access to his mouth.

And oh what's that sharp thing lightly grazing the side of Zagreus's ribs?

"Oh, Than, please," he gasps, breaking the kiss and scrunching his eyes shut. "Please—"

He can't really find it in him to come up with more words.

Thanatos laughs and kisses the corner of Zagreus's mouth. "You want more, Zagriske?"

"Yes—more—please—all of it—please—"

Than obliges, pressing the tip of his index finger just a little bit harder.

It's enough to break skin, letting a drop of blood well up and slide down the side of Zagreus's skin until it falls into the water and dissipates. He slides that point a couple further inches down, easily slicing the skin as he goes along.

Zagreus manages to not violently shudder through sheer force of will. He doesn't want to ruin Thanatos's art piece by getting cut more than his lover wants him to.

"What a good Zagriske," he whispers, releasing the pressure and making the gauntlet vanish again. He runs his bare finger along the cut, looking into Zagreus's eyes as he lifts it to Zagreus's lips, smeared with his red blood, like a mortal's.

Zagreus's lips part once more to let Thanatos's finger in, and he licks it clean of blood. He continues to suck on it even so, gazing at his lover with pleading, adoring eyes.

Thanatos gently strokes Zag's shaft under the water and pulls his finger free of Zag's lips to cup the side of his face. "Is this enough for now, I wonder?"

"No—please—Than, sir, my Thanatos, I'm—do whatever you will with me—but I would—" Zagreus swallows, his eyes locked into Thanatos's through a force much stronger than his will. "I would have more of your marks on me. Please."

"What a lovely pet you make, my Zagreus." The gauntlet is back, and a soft slow slice down Zagreus's left cheek is his response. "This is a good place, too, isn't it? So that everyone knows you belong to me."

In any other situation, Zag would have remarked on the irony of this statement when juxtaposed to how much more hesitant Thanatos used to be about their relationship a few centuries before. But nowadays everyone in and out of the Underworld knows about the two of them, and Thanatos has taken an almost possessive pride in being with Zagreus, which flares up especially strongly when he's in a mood like this one.

He stays entirely still, feeling the sharp pain of the cut to his cheek in full, picturing the scar it will leave (at least until he dies again), wondering whether others will know, whether they will understand that such a precise incision could never have shown by accident.

Megaera will know, of course. She and Zagreus played at this long before Thanatos worked up the nerve to do it (and the taste for doing it). She will tease him with ambiguous words and looks, not quite exposing him in front of the Underworld's servants. Alecto will mock him for it and call him "redblood", and if this used to irritate him, now it will just remind him of where the cut came from.

And when Thanatos runs a second line perpendicular to the first, slightly widening the wound where the lines intersect, that's nearly enough to make him come then and there.

"Is this too much for you, Zag? I wanted to play for longer," Thanatos says, giving Zagreus's dick another hard squeeze.

"No—sir—I can take more, you—please use me, I'm all yours—"

"That's what I thought." Yet another squeeze followed by a soft cold kiss on Zagreus's left cheek. "The X marks the treasure," he murmurs, trailing more kisses down Zagreus's jawline and neck, biting on the skin on his collarbone and nibbling on his pecks until he gets to the nipple.

Zagreus moans, and he can't help moving and shuddering which just makes his cuts smart and hurt and ache, his blood dropping down his skin leaving trails of fresh red where they pass.

"Get out of the water," Thanatos orders. "Sit."

Zagreus is quick to obey, sitting at the edge of the pool so that his thighs and hips are just below Thanatos's eye level.

And Thanatos finds himself between Zagreus's legs, pushing them open so he has more access to Zagreus's dick. He makes sure to keep looking up at Zagreus's face when he takes Zagreus's shaft into his mouth, wrapping his arms around his lover's hips and pressing his hands and fingers against Zagreus's ass and lower back.

Zag leans back, propping himself up on his arms and giving Thanatos freer access, leaking some precum into Thanatos's mouth.

Yum.

He moves his left hand down again to stroke himself, but his right hand—the one with the gauntlet—is still there.

And he digs his fingers into Zagreus's flesh.

"Ah FUCK—"

Thanatos doesn't ease up on the pressure and just keeps sucking Zagreus off, drinking up all of Zagreus's cum as he orgasms from the pain of the punctures.

"Fuck fuck fuuuuuuck oh Thanatos oh please fuuuuuuuuuck—"

And then he loses all coherency and it's all he can do to keep sitting up and not collapse into a heap.

As Zagreus's orgasm slows and eventually ends, Thanatos licks the last few drops of his seed off his cock, and finally releases Zagreus's ass. He looks up at his lover's face and starts lightly running the tip of his index finger along Zagreus's lower back, not hard enough to actually cause bleeding but definitely enough to scrape and smart.

"Than—my Thanatos—oh fuck—I need to—"

The gauntlet disappears and Than helps Zag turn around to lie on his stomach, being careful not to touch the cuts on his side and back nor the deep wounds on his asscheek and lower back. Once Zagreus is lying down properly, Thanatos slides over to the wounds again and presses gentle kisses on each of them.

"Oh—ah Than—Thanatos—oh that hurts, keep doing that, I love you so much—"

He shuts his eyes and buries his face in his arms, letting out a hiss when he accidentally presses his bleeding cheek against his arm and readjusting to avoid that.

"As do I, Zagriske," he responds, cupping his hands to get some of the bath's water to wash Zagreus's blood off.

Zag hisses again but doesn't flinch, and lets Than take care of him until the pain is reduced to a dull ache.

After that, he just stays there, breathing slowly, and crying a little bit into his arms.

Thanatos gets out of the water and lies beside Zagreus, resting one hand on his back and using the index finger on the other hand to trace small circles on the back of Zagreus's arm. "I love you, Zagreus," he says, planting kisses on Zag's shoulder and back.

He mumbles something into his arms that sounds like the appropriate response, but falls quiet once again after that.

Than keeps petting and nuzzling him, cooing softly and calling Zagreus's name and pet names.

After a few minutes it becomes clear that Zagreus has actually fallen asleep.

That's alright. Thanatos is ahead of his work—he always is, when there's nothing particularly pressing happening up on the surface—and he had already planned to take the whole day off. He'll stay here with his lover for as long as Zag'll stay.

Zagreus wakes up a bit less than an hour and a half later and lifts his head, blinking off the sleep in confusion. When he sees Thanatos there, lying next to him with his own eyes shut, he smiles and reaches out to run his fingers softly through Thanatos's hair.

Than's eyes open when Zag touches him, and he offers his lover a crooked smile. "Sleep enough?"

"For a lifetime. You're still here."

"I always am."

Zagreus drags himself a bit to the right so he can touch Thanatos's forehead with his own. "Ow," he says, eloquently.

"You quite literally asked for it."

"I did, I did, I'm not complaining, it was great. Just, also, ow."

"You're very strange, Zagreus."

"You love me anyway."

"Yes, I do."

"This bath was not very successful."

"Hmm, and whose fault was that?"

"...yours? I was doing fine until you decided to start licking me."

Thanatos laughs and pushes himself up to a kneeling position. "Then let's actually get cleaned this time, shall we, Zag?"

"Yes, sir." Zagreus starts pushing himself up and then winces and drops back down. "Ow."

"Stop being so dramatic, Zag, I've seen you limp out of a pit of magma with five arrows sticking out of different body parts."

"But I huuuuurt, won't anyone heeeeeelp meeeeee? Maybe a gorgeous golden-eyed god of death could give me a hand?"

"Oh, sure, I can."

So he unceremoniously uses his hand to push Zagreus into the pool before floating over to it himself.

Zagreus splashes loudly and splutters, laughing and gasping for air.

And Than can be more actively helpful with the cleaning process this time rather than distracting Zag with more sex.

For which Zag is only mildly thankful.

"I have taken the whole day off," Than observes when they're about done.

"Wow! To what do I owe the honour?"

He looks at Zag a bit more seriously. "You know, I'm not quite an idiot. I noticed how you were feeling, there. I wanted you to tell me—whatever it was."

"...Than, you really need to be more careful with where you're pointing that mood whiplash, you'll take someone's eye out someday."

"Well, hard intimate conversations are easier when we're having close intimate moments, are they not?"

"I think it's emotionally intimate."

"Oh? And do you not feel particularly emotionally close to me right now?"

"...you got me there."

"And, well, I like spending time with you. You should know that by now."

"I do, I do. I like spending time with you, too."

"Good. I would feel rather silly if you didn't."

"Wanna get us out of here?"

"Already out of juice for your phasing, Zagreus?"

"Come onnnnnn Thannnnnnn pleeeeeeease?"

He rolls his eyes but a second later they are both back in Zagreus's bedroom.

Zag limps over to his bed and then flops there onto his back.

"You must be more bored than I expected if you're already sitting in bed again," he says, floating over to the bed with his arms folded.

Zag sits back up, grumbling. "Yes, I am, okay? Look, Than, I... it feels so pointless."

"The repeated escapes of the realm of the dead, now fortified to the full extent of divine possibility, which only fails to hold you due to an obvious-in-hindsight divine ability that no one else possesses or plausibly will possess? Is that what feels pointless, Zagreus?"

"Well, when you put it like that." He falls back onto the bed and crosses his fingers over his stomach, looking at the ceiling.

Thanatos sits on the bed again and rests a hand on Zagreus's thigh.

"You know, I think your job wouldn't be—I mean, at least it changes, you know? And it means something. You—make a difference."

"And... you think you don't?"

"Not anymore. I really don't, actually!" he says, throwing his arms out wide and then covering his eyes with both hands.

"Well, Zag, what did you do last time you felt like this?"

"I ran out until I couldn't run anymore and then I kept running. And I... found my mother. Up there."

"Still don't know what you see, there. It's too bright."

"Argh."

"Well, my point is... see... last time you did the impossible, right? You did what couldn't be done. You left, and you left again and again and again. You're stronger than Lord Hades, at least in combat—"

"It was just that mirror," says Zagreus, gesturing towards the wall to his right, which is 80% covered by a large ornate mirror that faintly glows dark. "I'm thankful for your mother's assistance, but—"

"Quit it. Yes, maybe it helped you the first few times, but all it did was help you figure out what you, yourself, could do. And you know it."

"Is there a point to this?"

"Yes, Zagreus. Do the impossible again."

"What does that mean? Leaving the Underworld is not impossible. Not to me, anyway. Not to you, either, of course, but it's, you know. You."

"Why are you here and not there?"

"What do you mean? I mean, for one, you're here—"

"As you have just pointed out, I, too, can leave whenever I want. I would find you."

"—right, sure, but for two, even if I wanted to be there I can't, I burn out. I die."

"And if you didn't? If you could stay, if you could see more of Greece, and meet the mortals, and—"

"—and that's impossible, is that what you mean?"

"Yes. Do it anyway, Zag."

He sits up once more. "How?"

"I don't know. But if anyone can figure it out, it'd be you. Wouldn't it?"

"I—yes. Yes, I guess... I guess it would be." He pushes himself forward to wrap his arms around Thanatos in a hug.

Than laughs in surprise but returns the hug.

Zagreus throws his weight back towards the bed without letting go of the hug, pulling Thanatos with him.

The god of death plays along and falls, too, arranging himself so he's not lying awkwardly half on top of Zagreus.

Zag reaches up to brush a few strands of wet hair off Than's forehead.

Than closes his eyes to let him, then opens them again and just smiles at his lover.

"How did I land the hottest god in all of the Underworld or Olympus?" he wonders aloud, running the tips of his fingers in repetitive patterns on Thanatos's skin and hair.

"Zag, there are many things I could say to this but I think the best one is never let Aphrodite hear you say this ever."

He's clearly amused, though.

"She can't hear me here," he says, waving his hand vaguely before resuming petting Than.

"Maybe not, but it's not good to get in the habit. Especially with meaningless flattery like that."

"It is not meaningless!"

"You don't need to flirt even more with me, Zag, I'm already yours."

"That's what I was marvelling at!"

"It's not very mysterious."

"Have you ever thought of having anyone else?"

"We've had this conversation, Zag. Maybe, if I ever met someone else. But I'm pretty busy, you know that, and no one else I know..."