By Pain of Death

by Suzanne Clay

Seph was born to charm life into things, and Hades was born to shrink under the weight of their inevitable corpses.

Hades made it halfway down the corridor before a shocked cry sounded behind him, and he stopped. Effervescent laughter tickled his skin. He squeezed his eyes shut. Be reasonable. Keep walking. That joy isn't for you. But as powerful as the deities were, they were also as weak as humans in almost every way. Hades also chose to turn back to the light beyond his walls.

"Because I'm curious about you. Because I'd like to hear what you have to say about the work you've done. Because I'd prefer to romance you like I think you deserve, but you're as skittish as a squirrel, and I think you need to know I don't mean you any harm before you'll let yourself consider me."

"When you've spent centuries being told that your desires are inherently bad, or that you're not who you know you are, eventually you either give in...or you lose your filter completely."

"I want to be better than this..." "You are exactly who I want you to be."

"Upon my word, whatever fears you have, whatever pain you feel, I don't care for you despite them. They're a part of you. Do you understand? And whatever makes up who you are? That's what I'm falling deeper and deeper for every time I see you."

"If you hadn't seen me for who I was when I came to you, then I never would've been strong enough to go face my mother again. You've seen Seph when no one else but Hermes would."

He'd shaped himself to be precisely what he saw in his head, and Hades wanted to weep with joy.

"I'm here," Seph whispered. "I'm here to stay. I'm here to love you." "I've been loving you every second since I first saw you," Hades confessed in a rough voice.