Cherry Wine (Hankcon)

Chapter 2

That is not the son of Demeter.

There was no way. Demeter, stoic and stubborn and cold. Completely orderly and uptight in her actions, and controlled.

This wanderer into the underworld was not controlled.

He smelled of honey and wine, and his face soft like a summer evening. Nothing like Demeter.

And yet the resemblance to her was uncanny. Same hair, same eyes, same nose...the only thing that was his own was the small freckles that dotted his cheeks like stars on a night sky.

This is the son of Demeter. Hank realized only horror.

Persephone, child of Demeter, drunk and blacked out and in the underworld. Hank had definitely seen weirder things, but this was still definitely up there on that list. A small groan escaped him as he rubbed his hands over his eyes. "Demeter's gonna kill me. Or she'll have Zeus kill me. Gods I am so fucked."

He removed his hand from his face before glancing down at the god. How did he get drunk in the first place? Surely Demeter wouldn't allow him to drink. Though, who knows, it had been a long while since he'd last seen Demeter, maybe she'd softened since they last spoke?

Hank scoffed at that idea. Demeter softening up was just as likely as getting struck by lightning, which isn't improbably, but highly unlikely. Especially about alcohol. So how come her son was...

Oh gods.

Hank had spent too much time worrying about what could happen and why this had happened that he had stopped paying attention to Persephone. He'd turned around to take another gander at him, only to find that the god was sitting upright, staring back at him with big honey flecked eyes and raised brows. He couldn't help but freeze up as a small, awkward smile lined Persephone's face.

"I...I passed out, didn't I." He mumbled awkwardly.

Hank hesitated before answering. "I suppose you did."

"Well, in mortal terms, I appear to be fucked."

Hank, King of Hades, son of Kronos, laughed.