#pothena

Here’s my comingoutofthecloset-Pothena fic, which I’m also using to make a more sensitive and self-aware Zeus for a change

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61410559/chapters/205029511

This could either be PJO or Greek mythology. I don’t own Greek mythology or PJO.

You are enemies

Are enemies supposed to smell the saltiness of the sea, then be unable to see anything but eyes in that color ? Are enemies supposed to smell the slight bitterness of olives and have grey eyes on their mind for the rest of the day?  Are enemies supposed to have a feeling like intestines twisted into knots when there is gold bursting from a wound? Are enemies supposed to feel  like they have become mortal somehow and gone straight to heaven whenever those unforgiving lips turns up in the most miniscule smile?

It did not use to be this way. You two could go hours without even glancing each other’s way, or at least  not have a whole secret language build out of subtle looks and touches. You used to be able to inject hot loathing and cold disdain in your words. 

Then, something changed. Somehow, you two started (slowly, like the continents moving) to respect each other. This happened as you saw the buried/hidden parts of each other. He learned that despite how much logic ruled her, there was some room for emotion (passion). She learned that despite his tendencies in the past, there was intelligence hidden beneath/behind all that instinct. You grabbed these parts of each other, enlarged them.

Over the years, he led her around the ocean and taught her to laugh breathlessly and care for all the beauty it has to offer. In return, she led him around libraries and taught him to inhale words greedily and care for all the beauty books have to offer. More and more, you two could be found in each other’s domains.

Gods are not supposed to change. Are there any stories of Zeus learning remorse( of him begging the countless lives his touch destroyed- of all the ruins it created- for forgiveness?) Are there any stories of Hera learning empathy ( For the innocent her husband broke, the lives he turned into garbage) Are there any stories of Artemis learning forgiveness (of her laying a calming hand on her brother’s arm , of remembering she is supposed to protect young girls, not shoot them). No, there aren’t. These stories are telling the world of Zeus’ lust, of Hera’s wrath, of Athena’s pride, Apollo’s jealousy. They speak of Zeus abducting a young queen, of Hera striking a hero with madness, of Athena creating snakes from hair and of Apollo tricking his sister into murder.

Not once is there a mention of deities changing. But you did. What you were at your cores never changed, but what you were to each other did. What you were to others even changed a little. Some people bring the worst out of you, make you jealous and petty and manipulative in the worst ways possible. Others have a way of bringing out something good you did not even had in you. Talents or traits you never knew you had.

Bafflingly, you did this for each other.

You might not have turned each other into kindness, but you did change. She became less austere, less prone to vengeful wrath caused by her pride. He became less  selfishly impulsive , less prone to forcing people or suddenly destroying entire towns by making the Earth shake.

You are enemies You are not supposed to bring out the best in each other or laugh perfectly in sync or be at home in each other’s realms or next to each other . You are supposed to loathe each other ( you both remember the feeling of loathing, boiling and single-minded in him and cold yet fierce in her) but after respect came grudging admiration and after admiration came something else entirely.

Are enemies supposed to know each other’s smiles (fake ones , happy ones, trying-to-hide-pain ones, exhausted ones… ) and favorite’s (food, color, activities..).  Are they supposed to leave little notes in books and gaming rooms?

You both think you stopped being enemies that first laugh together, but you never speak it. You smile at each other,  laugh together, swim and read and mix all your activities together, boast and talk and fight but you never speak how the very definition of what you two are has changed. When the world changes, you stubbornly refuse to say it. When the Olympians are facing another threat, you unconsciously lean on each other for different things but you never actually say anything. When Olympus struggles to survive (and your golden blood becomes less and less with each year that your temples gather dust), you still do not tell each other- not in words.