#tgotd3

“And where would you have hidden?”

“Well I can’t give up my spot for tomorrow, now can I?”

For the last two weeks, Persephone and Harry have been playing a hide and seek type game. Every morning, if Persephone wanted to spend the day with Harry, she would have to go and find him. Every day she won, and every day they spent together was better than the last, at least in Persephone’s opinion.

Persephone pouts, but says nothing. “What’re you doing in here then?”

Harry pauses before lifting a basket off of one of the counters. “Thought we could go out to the river today and have a picnic. Talk about a few things?”

Persephone didn’t entirely like the way his voice turned down a few octaves as he said the last bit, but Harry didn’t look worried so she dismissed the feeling. She nods.

“That sounds fine to me.”

Harry smiles, a closed mouth one at first but then he’s smiling so hard that his teeth have to come through. He offers her his arm, just as he always does. “This way then.”

They have only just exited the castle to the back gardens when somewhere in the distance Cerberus lets out a loud growl and then a bark. Persephone falters in her steps, dread pooling at the bottom of her stomach. Still, after the small amount of time she’s spent here, she’s never gotten used to the dog and the sounds he’d make. She hopes Harry hadn’t noticed, but of course he had.

“Are you alright?” He asks, daring a glance down towards her with an eyebrow raised.

Persephone only nods. She stares ahead.

“You haven’t had a chance to meet Cerberus yet, have you?”

“No offense to him, but he was not on the top of my list to check out and see if the rumors are true.”

“And what are those rumors?”

They’re walking slower now, past some tall trees with black leaves, but not like if it were dying. These leaves sparkled and glimmered like they were made of jewels.

“He’ll kill anything on sight, except you of course. He acts on instinct, and it doesn’t matter if this person is your friend or foe. If they get too close, their head gets bitten off.”

“Hmm, interesting.”

“What is?”

“I’m trying to figure out which God made up that story. Probably Hermes, honestly. He loves to exaggerate stories and spread gossip all over Olympus.”

“So it isn’t true then?”

“Not in the slightest. I mean, he can do those things, but he won’t attack just anyone. Either I have to command it, or this person holds a real threat against the castle. Otherwise, he’s just a big puppy.”

“Then why is he barking and growling all day long?”

“Those sounds are more like howling, and it’s because he’s looking for attention. He hates being alone for too long.”

Persephone had stopped paying attention to where they were going. For the last few minutes, she’d kept her eyes trained on Harry as he spoke. Occasionally he’d look back down at her, but leading the way he’d kept his eyes mostly forward. Now she wished she’d have been looking around. If she had, then she would have directed them elsewhere. And if she hadn’t been so focused on him, then she would have heard the heavy pounding on the floor.

A long lick against her forearm elicits a scream from Persephone’s mouth. She jumps far and high, but Hades more or less brings her back where she was. Three pairs of dark brown eyes look down at her with excitement. Cerberus was a good foot taller than her, just taller than Harry himself.  His tail is wagging and the middle head leans in again to lick her arm.

“You tricked me,” Persephone whispers, as if any sudden movement or sound could turn Cerberus’ feelings towards her south.

“I did no such thing.”

“We’re supposed to be going to the river.”

“We are. It just so happens we have to pass Cerberus to get there, and I thought we could pop by and say hello.”

The left head barks, and if Persephone hadn’t already been in the land of the dead, then that surely would have sent her there. The right head starts sniffing her hair.

“What am I supposed to do?” Her voice is still light. The longer the dog went without attacking her, the more Persephone found herself calming down around him. Plus, she knew Harry wouldn’t let the dog harm her.

“Reach your hand out, let all of them sniff you and get to know your scent.” He squeezes her arm reassuringly before letting her go and taking a step back. Cerberus takes a step forward. Persephone reluctantly sticks out her arm.

The middle head carefully sniffs the outstretched hand before the left head pushes it out of the way, this one clearly thinking that there might have been a treat in the hand. The right one is still in her hair. And then it licks the side of her face, causing her to cringe only slightly. She hears Harry cough, and she turns to him, glaring at him as he bites down on his bottom lip to stop any laughing. Persephone wipes away any slobber left on her face. Then Cerberus takes a few steps away, leaning down on its front legs and wagging its butt in the air, letting Persephone know he was ready to play.

“How-”

Before Persephone could finish her question, Harry suddenly burst ahead of her, jumping in the air. Cerberus met him halfway, knocking each other in the chest before rolling to the ground. At first, Persephone stood there in shock, but then it clicked that they were playing. Never had she thought she would see this sight. She’s sure none of the God’s or the Goddesses in Olympus could even imagine what she was seeing. Dog and master were rolling around in the dirt, carefully pushing against one another in a play fight as if they were instead puppy and child.

Persephone brushes her skirts underneath her thighs before sitting on the ground. She can’t help the laugh she lets out when Cerberus knocks Harry over with a giant paw and holds him down with it. Harry glares at her, but Cerberus turns all three of his heads to her at the sound, giving her a puppy grin. Harry tries to push the paw off, but it won’t budge. He commands Cerberus off, but still he doesn’t move.

“Fucking hell,” Hades mutters, reluctantly accepting defeat. Persephone once remembers reading that Cerberus was created to be stronger than all of the other Gods and Goddesses combined. She supposes that was true against Hades as well.

After a deep breath, Persephone gingerly sticks an arm out. Something told her that whatever she commanded, Cerberus would listen without a second thought. Almost as if she were his master rather than Harry. “Come here boy. Get off of him,” she whispers, but all six ears perk up at her voice. Without even sparing a glance at Hades, almost like he seemingly forgot he was holding the God down, Cerberus trots over to Persephone. He stretches out his body on the grass next to her before placing all three heads along her lap. He turns slightly so she could have access to scratch his belly, so she does.

Persephone looks up at Harry. He’s still on the ground where the dog left him, but he’s leaning up on his elbows now. A lopsided smile overtakes his face, his eyes shining. Finally, he gets up to walk the few feet to them, and slumps back down onto the ground.

“He’s a big baby, that one.” He pats Cerberus' head that’s closest to him. All three heads were now asleep on Persephone’s lap, lulled to it by Persephone’s belly rub.

“Kept you pinned down. Wouldn’t even move until I beckoned him off. I’d hardly say he’s a baby.”

“Well he’s taken quite a liking to you.” Harry places his hand on the grass next to Persephone’s thigh to lean his weight against it. He is quite close to her, and Cerberus warns him of that when one of the heads growls at him with half lidded eyes.

“Oh hush,” Persephone mutters while scratching behind his ear. “Don’t start.”

Cerberus squints his eyes at Harry once more before shutting them again. Harry looks almost appalled. She’s sure Cerberus has never growled at Harry before, not even when he was a puppy.

“You’ve turned him against me. You give him one scratch and he’s putty in your hands.”

“Can’t help it if I’m better than you.” The words pass Persephone’s mouth without much thought, and when she realizes what she’s said her cheeks flush.

Harry laughs, a quiet one underneath his breath. He scans around them, and then the short pathway they have to take to get to the river. After a few minutes, he slowly stands up and grabs the basket he discarded earlier.

“We should get going. You’re probably getting hungry.”

Persephone nods. Although she would have liked to sit with Cerberus napping in her lap for the rest of the day, she was getting hungry. And she also knew Harry wanted to talk to her about something.

“Time to get up,” Persephone whispers while scratching behind one of their ears. Reluctantly, Cerberus listens, and with one last lick to Persephone’s face he trotters off back to his post. Harry holds a hand down, and Persephone takes it and stands back up.

Harry spreads out a blanket by the river and motions for Persephone to sit down. He sits right next to her, but not close enough to touch. She’s slightly disappointed, but wipes the look off of her face before Harry can spot it. They eat quietly watching the river slowly stream further into the Underworld.

“Is something wrong?” Persephone asks quietly when her food is nearly done. He’s been silent this entire time, and a look on his face caused a feeling of dread to pool in her stomach.

Harry peeks at her a moment before looking ahead again. He lets out a slow breath. “Your mother has learned of your location here. She’s summoned me to return you immediately.”

Persephone’s eyes widen, her mouth slightly agape. “I have to go back?”

Harry nods slowly, still refusing to meet her gaze.

“But what if I refuse?”

His head snaps towards hers. “What?”

“What if I don’t want to go? What if I would rather stay here… with you?”

His eyes are scanning all along her face. He believed they’d been getting on quite nicely lately, but he hadn’t thought they were close enough where she would choose him over her own mother. “You want to stay?” He couldn’t even believe the words as he spoke them himself.

Persephone nods, biting her bottom lip to keep away an oncoming grin. “I do. It’s been nice being here and being able to do my own thing. My mother doesn’t allow me the same up above. You treat me as my own person, I can’t say the same about my mother.”

They’ve moved closer to each other, their faces only inches apart. “You’re sure?”

“I want to stay here. If you try to return me I’ll put up such a fight,” she whispers. “You can’t return an unwilling captive. I won’t allow it.”

His lips twitch upwards. And then he looks at her mouth. She thinks he’s going to kiss her again, but once more he backs away.

“Why do you do that?”

He straightened his back so he’s staring down at her. “Do what?”

“I like you.”

“I like you too.”

“No, I mean… Ugh.” Persephone covers her burning face with her hands and slumps down so she’s lying on her back.

He hovers over her, carefully removing her hands and putting them back at her sides. He’s beaming down at her. “What do you mean?”

Persephone pouts. “I thought… I guess… I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I thought we were becoming more serious than just friends. I like you like you. Oh Gods,” she speaks all in one breath. She moves to cover her face again, but Harry’s still holding her hands down.

“I like you like you too, Persephone.” He lets go of her hands, and Persephone’s body feels on fire. “But I don’t want to pressure you into anything you aren’t ready for.” He puts a few inches of space in between them again.

Persephone sits up. “But I am ready.”

Harry side eyes her. “You aren’t.”

“Harry, you’ve made me the happiest a Goddess could be. But I’ll be waiting around forever if you’re the one that gets to decide when I’m ready or not, even when I’m straight out telling you I am ready.”

His cheeks burn at her statement, the first part of it. She knows she’s made him happy too, maybe the happiest he’s ever been. “But you’re not-”

He’s cut off by the weight of Persephone straddling his lap. The breath is knocked out of him, not only by the force she used to place herself there but also at just the feeling of her body against his. Before he can push her away or speak another word, she takes his head in her palms and kisses him. At first she’s slow because she has no idea what she’s doing, but then Harry takes over, taking control of her mouth with his. Her hips have slowly started to move against him. She hasn’t noticed the small movements, but Harry definitely has.

They’re flipped over in an instant. Persephone gasps and then giggles, eliciting a reaction from Harry in his lower region. He’s backed up a bit, but only far enough so that he can place gentle kisses on her lips every few seconds. His hands are interlaced with hers.

“I’ve never… I’m not,” Persephone starts.

“We won’t do anything then.”

“That’s not what I’m saying-”

“We’ll go slow. We’ll take things slow. We’ll build up to things over time.”

“Harry-”

“And then-”

With her hands clutched in his, she bites his bottom lip to get his attention. The action causes his eyes to flare. She can now feel him poking against her thigh. “What was that for?

“You aren’t listening to me.”

“I am. I just-”

Again she bites his lip, but now she takes a moment to suck on it before slowly letting it fall away from her mouth. His eyes close, and she can tell it’s taking all of his restraint to not react. “I want to do something now. I need… My body is literally burning.” She wraps her legs around his waist and lifts her hips up. His breath catches and a small moan passes his lips.

“I’m not... We’re not going to have sex here. It’ll be your first time, I want it to be special for you.”

She breaks her hands free from his and rubs her palms down his neck and over his shoulders. “I bet you can think of something else we can do.” She’s heard the other Goddesses talk about it, or really she’s heard Aphrodite mention it before Demeter rushed her out of the room. Sex, but not actually sex. Harry’s eyes are blazing now, a fire Persephone is ready to be consumed by. She knows she’s convinced him now.

“Are you sure?” “I’ll be very upset if you don’t. But only if you want to.”

Harry leans down, pressing slow kisses against her neck down to her shoulders, and then finally in between her breasts. “Trust me Persephone, I want to.”

He takes his time kissing down her body, over her tunic. When he meets a patch of skin, he makes sure to nip at it before moving on. When he gets to her thighs he spreads her legs far enough apart so he can hook them over his shoulders, and then slides her clothing up to her hips. When she looks down, she can’t see his head underneath the cloth. Not being able to see him, to not predict what he could do next, causes a new feeling in between her legs.

His nose presses against one of her thighs, and then boldly he licks from that spot to her folds. He’s holding her hips down so she can’t move them, can’t beckon his face closer with them. Her hands clutch the blanket underneath them. She can feel his breath on her and she cries at just that sensation. She can’t imagine how she’ll sound at anything more than that. He chuckles at her quiet pleading. And then, almost like it never happened, he pushes his tongue past her folds before slipping it back out. She curses at him then, making his chest rumble in more laughter.

He goes again, but this time he doesn’t leave. Still his movements are slow, and Persephone wants to rip his hair out.

“Faster,” she begs. He hums in response, the vibration of it pushing her a little further, but he continues his pace.

She writhes underneath him when his mouth circles around her most sensitive nub. Her mouth opens in a silent scream. Blast her mother for keeping her hidden away for so long, for never letting her feel like this at the hands of a man. But then again, she’d always want that man to be Hades.

With his mouth still on her clit, he pushes one finger in. He curls it before picking up another slow pace and pumps it in and out of her. This time she actually does scream.

She’s sweating, her entire body his sweating. Her folds are slick, she can tell just by the way Harry can slide his finger in now without much resistance. His mouth his moving quicker now, flicking his tongue against her clit at a faster pace.

“I’m gonna… I feel…” She can hardly breathe. She quite literally feels as if she might explode.

“Let go,” he whispers, and although it should have been impossible, somehow she heard him. She lets her body relax just enough to stop holding back the feeling.

She’s panting out ragged breaths. Stray strands of hair are glued to her forehead. Her knuckles are now white from how hard she’d been grasping the blanket. Harry licks up her slit one last final time, sending shivers down her spine, before carefully extracting himself from her. His eyes are shining when he looks down at her, and with half lidded eyes she stares back at him with a dreamy smile on her face.

Harry grabs a cloth from the basket, first wiping his own face and then with careful strokes wiping down her thighs. He fixes her tunic back to its original position. Persephone still can’t move, at least not without fear that she’ll fall back down if she tries.

“Are you okay?” Harry whispers as he lies down next to her again. He leans his head on his palm to look down at her, and wraps an arm around her waist.

“Better than okay.”

“It wasn’t too much?”

“It was perfect.”

Harry presses a kiss against her nose.

“What about you?” She whispers.

“What about me?”

“Don’t you…?”

“Not today. Today’s about you.”

“It’s not fair to you.”

Harry stares down at her incredulously. “This was plenty fair for me. Being granted permission to be the person to make you come,” her face burns bright red, “that’s the best thing you could have done for me today.”

She nuzzles her head against his shoulder. “My legs feel like jelly.”

“I’ll carry you back to the castle soon.”

“If we wait a while longer I should be okay to walk myself.”

He kisses her mouth and then her cheek. “I’ll carry you back and then I’ll have Moira run you a bath.”

Persephone reaches up to push a few stray curls out of his face. “You’re very kind.” A sudden tiredness takes over Persephone. Harry notices immediately.

“Sleep. I’ll keep watch over you.”

Persephone nods and then yawns. She lets her eyes droop shut. The sounds of the river and Harry’s breathing lull her to sleep.

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