Greek Mythology Fluff Fic — Aphrodite/Hephaestus

goddess aphrodite

god hephaestus

what romance could  be!

"yes! aphrodite is indeed the most beautiful! thus i will make her my wife!" said the god of slaughter with such daring air. so self-sure and arrogant as he bedazzled everyone around him with his charmed smile. one leg on a chair and a golden cup with dionysus's finest wine. the nymps surrounded him, giggling in awe. "i only see it fitting as i am destined to be with the goddess of love! haza!"

aphrodite rolled her jaded eyes, walking past the god with her ladies in waiting and nymphs. her long chestnut brown hair floating magically behind her. she walked elegantly with her beloved dove flying above her. on her head, rested a golden crest of butterfly carvings and she glowed with every step.

she was on her way to meet her lover. she hadn't seen him since a decade ago, when the battle of troy had happened. she was far too amused at watching the befallen mortals fight tooth and nail all for an arrogant king's honor. though she was saddened at the death of iphigenia. she was merely a child and aphrodite mourned for the beauty that the young one lost.

"aphrodite, my love. come here and sit with me, my bride to be!" aphrodite internally cringed, her footsteps moved faster. she wished not to be with the god at the moment—or for any moment in that matter.

"aphrodite!"

"i wish not to be with you right now, ares." she answers, quick to turn into a dove herself and flying faraway from the walking pompous bag of gloat. she left her ladies in waiting and gracefully flew into the thick clouds that covered olympus from the human eye.

her soft dove being flew below and under the floating island of olympus and into a hidden cave somewhere on the side of the great mountain. she gently landed inside and smiled warmly at the orange tint of light coming from deep inside the cavern.

she could hear the sharp sounds of metal clanking, the fire cracking and the bright red sparks of flint and steel. she smelled the scent of burnt rubber and copper, the ashes and soot flurrying amongst the air.

"no no no. i need more iron and elixir, this won't do." 

as she got closer, she felt her heart flutter at the sight of the chariot like wheelchair her lover uses to go around olympus. has he finally perfected his prosthetics? she wished he did so.

"hephaestus?" she softly calls out. gliding her hands on the bronze statues the god had created over the past eons of his living.

"a-aphrodite! my love! what brings you?" he stammers, hands moving fast to push whatever was on his worktable to the side. he knows never to leave space too full for his beloved.

"i've missed you, that's all." she giggles watching his face grow red. she continued to watch and tinker with the other artefacts he'd made. "i heard you crafted perseus's helmet on behalf of athena, is it true?"

"uh yes— athena had demanded i made one for zeus's offling. the one out of wedlock yet again, hera had come here for it too." hephaestus answers, turning around to pick up his work and place it back inside a chest. 

"perseus saved adromeda from the kraken. as expected." aphrodite says, going to pick up a shield made of silver from one of the crates scattered behind the god.

"all in the name of love, i hope." 

"no." she sadly replied. dropping the shield down and turning around to embrace her lover's backside. a soft sob escaping her soft lips.

hephaestus, who was busy realigning and redesigning his invention, stopped what he was doing the second he felt warm liquid seep through his leather armour. his rough ragged hands gently held the delicate arms of his lover, turning around to return the embrace.

she smelled like honey blossoms and the springs of demeter. her hair fell beautifully on her shoulders and the tears that fell from her jade eyes and on to the ground turned into a healthy flower. he sighed, caressing her back and whispering words of comfort in her ear.

"now now, my little dove. What's bothering you to bless me tears?" he asked. "did ares confess his undying dream of becoming your husband once again? has one of your nymphs befallen into another tryst with the other gods? i do hope it's the latter though."

aphrodite pulled back from the embrace and chuckled. hephaestus was never the jealous type of a man when it came to romance, he trusted her with all of his immortal being. even if it hurt him.

and loving the goddess of love and beauty means having to trust her with the love she holds. they were the gods of olympus, romance and polygomy was normal. and when the goddess of love herself tells you she loves you, believe her. she has too much love to give and one lover is never enough, hephaestus knew that and understood her very being. he had to. he loved the goddess, so he would stay even if it hurt him.

"it's just that, it seems as if everything in this world gaia has created, love is without. everyone is fighting for pride and honor and not once has a mortal seek my guidance since medusa. love has long been deceased in the lands of olympus and i fear that i may no longer be relevant if such is to happen." aphrodite sniffles, looking up at her lover with vulnerability. "i fear that when that day comes, you no longer will love me."

"preposterous! you are the goddess of love, aphrodite. you will never be irrelevant, not on olympus, not in the world. without you, persephone would not have succumbed to hades, and hades would not have realized romance if it weren't for you." hephaestus declares, holding her cheeks and staring straight back at her.

"i am the god of craftsmanship and zeus has given me the power to craft all of this world’s inventions—yet i can never create love like you. no one ever can, not the way that you do."

the god of molten metal guided her towards the entrance of his cavern, hands holding each other. aphrodite followed like a soft vine blown by wind, trusting her lover with all her heart. clouds beyond them separated at the swift demand of hephaestus and the sun of apollo glowed and shone on them. open passage of soft fluffy pillows in the sky revealed the mortals below with birds flying above. 

“below there, is a mother embracing her daughter after a day of playing. a man holding tight on to his lover before leaving for yet another gruesome war. a group of fellow mortals played throughout the morning sun of apollo’s reign. music and laughter and a little bit of sorrow. there is love. and when apollo is replaced by the great darkness of nyx’s drapes, two starcrossed lovers will meet under the moonlight, carressing and embracing. there is love. in the tears, in the laughter, in the agony and in the triumph. you are there, existing in the midst of it all. your essence, it carries what the fates has blessed you with, my love. you will never, ever be forgotten. not even by a mere thrown out and ragged god with barely a leg and deformed face. you will always be loved.”

"oh hephaestus, what would I without you. my love, the gods have chosen you right to be my husband." aphrodite smiles through waterfall tears, her delicate hands moving to his neck and pulling him in for a seering yet loving kiss. "i love you."

"i love you more than i ever could."