MONSTRUM

erebos held a great fascination for shinjiro’s hair, always at some point or another finding his hands drifting towards the dark strands without much, if any, cognisance at all. the reason behind the fixation was unbeknownst to him and, to be perfectly honest, insigificant. perhaps it was his adoration for the shade that so remarkably mimicked the shadows he so lovingly took to, or perhaps it was due to who the set of hair was attached to. needless to say, in the peace of the night and the comfort of his beloved by his side, thus was where erebos found his hand again, combing through shinjiro’s hair and simply allowing for his hand to be entirely enveloped in the dark strands.

it was in the middle of the night that a thought had randomly come to him, one that was an idea first initiated by one of his children. ❛ i’m sure you’ve already asked him of it, father, ❜ hypnos had begun earlier that day with his head tilted to the side. ❛ but why is it that your dearest has chosen not to become one of us? ❜

all erebos could do was stare blankly back at his son. in truth, it was a thought that had escaped him, a lapse in consideration given the insignificance of it in his mind. he had been divine since the day of his conception, and that was eons ago soon after the birth of Mother Earth herself; he was more than accustomed to his godhead, barely paid attention to it for more than a handful of weeks at a time. how was he to remember that the circumstances were not the same for the one he’s long considered to be his other half, a part of him in all possible aspects?

and so, the question he posed to his beloved lacked the same weight in his voice that the words most certainly carried. his tone was airy and whimsical; truth be told, what was presently at the forefront of his consciousness was his fascination for shinjiro’s hair. ❝ would you ever want to be a god? ❞ // erebos, for jun @orphicsms

after everything they’d been through, there was true joy in engaging in the mundane activities of a couple in love. to lay in bed with erebus, each in one another’s arms, simply dozing off was a treat shinjiro had thought he’d never be able to savor again at one point. funny, how it had all worked out in the end. funny now, not funny then. there had been little humor in those days.

he laid with closed eyes, savoring erebus’ hands in his hair. then the question. a part of shinjiro’s brain disconnected for a moment. would you ever want to be a god? he thought back to the young boy he’d been so long ago, thought about how he would have - how he did - done anything for that type of power. but he had always known it to be impossible. you could make as many deals with the devil as you fancied but you could never be a god. not with the gore on your hands, shinjiro.

at least that’s what they’d told him. in a much more real sense, he had just known it wasn’t in the realm of possibility because no magic on earth was capable of deifying a man. not even a man as determined as shinjiro. so to hear his lover, his heart, ask him such a question as if it hadn’t remained a locked door to shinjiro for decades left him blinking owlishly.

he considered his words carefully and half thought of sitting up but, even with shock creeping up his spine, detested the thought of leaving erebus’ arms. instead, he leaned back to look at his heart in the eye. there were many questions he wanted to ask, but the one he spoke was a simple, “why?”