Dying Ichor

SIDE STORY [1]

"Hey, be honest with me, okay? Do you deal in shady business or are you always this suspicious-looking?"

Elias asks the question nonchalantly to Ares as he puts a few things in their shopping cart. The god stops perusing, glancing back at his lover and frowns. He holds up two boxes of tea.

"Are you asking me that just because I wanted this tea instead of the one you wanted? Baby, there's nothing suspicious about this. I'm pretty sure the ingredients are one hundred percent all-natural. Even Typhon drinks it-"

"I meant your line of work."

"What about it?"

"Don't play dumb with me. I know what Hades does and Hermes acts as his director in the company, but what about you? I know you're doing stuff as well, but you're always so hush-hush about it. Are you like, in the mafia or..."

"Does it look like I am?"

Yeah, it does actually.

Ares was always seen as a terrifying person that no one wanted to mess with. He's taller and packed a lot more muscle than most people, had daunting eyes that always pressured others to hold their tongues and kept their heads down. And while he no longer wore armor, he'd gotten a large tattoo that's covered half of his chest and could be seen on the side of his neck which makes everyone want to avoid him. He looks to be part of a shady business.

He's hot, but pretty suspicious.

Surely, he's in some mafia work.

It makes Elias squint his eyes. Ares scoffs and dumps the boxes of tea in the cart.

"I don't know where you got that idea from, but please don't look at me like that."

"Don't you always have a gun on you?"

"Excuse me?"

Elias points at his jacket. "There's always something shiny in there. Isn't it metal? I'm pretty sure it's a gun. I don't know why you felt the need to bring that inside a convenience store, but I'm begging you to leave it at home next time."

"... I'm not doing anything wrong with it."

"At least try to defend yourself and say it isn't a gun," Elias sighs.

Ares grumbles, pushing the cart to the checkout line. "Feels wrong to lie to you... this is supposed to be an honest relationship!"

"This is a gun we're talking about!"

"Can't help it. It's a dangerous world we live in."

"I knew it. It's that shady business you're in, isn't it?"

"Can you please stop calling me shady? We're supposed to be going on a date later, I don't want to feel insecure about my looks," Ares pleads, pouting a little. It's funny to look at considering it was Ares.

Elias only rolls his eyes and the two of them chuckle in the end. It's nice doing this sort of stuff with Ares honestly. It's domestic, something that Elias hadn't really thought about doing with other people before. He's still on the edge of accepting Ares and the others, but the idea of them actually being together was something he still couldn't wrap his head around. Especially since there were multiple partners in this relationship.

He's just thankful they're getting along well with each other, even if Typhon and Ares still argue a lot. At least Hades never picks a fight with anyone. He's even spoiling Typhon sometimes, always choosing his side in case the creature and Ares ends up arguing again. Elias doesn't know just how close Typhon and Hades were, but it's good enough to him that they're pretty friendly with one another.