No Pain, No Gain (CW NonFiction)

No Pain, No Gain

The parlor’s employees and patrons were intimidating the first time I stepped through the doors. I’d always thought I was the kind of person not to take someone at face value, but seeing these heavily pierced and tattooed persons actually scared me. I was rather nervous, clutching my purse to my side – in which tucked inside was the picture of my number one comic book hero in a pose I wanted slightly altered to fit on the back of my leg. It was the perfect spot to fit her entire being and the power that I always thought seemed to illuminate from her.
“Can I help you with something?” It was obvious to Jack and the other artists at the front desk of the shop that my sisters and I stuck out like sore thumbs in this house of body-art and rebellion.
“Uh, yeah. I wanted to know about getting this on the back of my leg. How much it would cost, that kind of a thing,” I fumbled around in my purse with extremely shaky hands for the carefully folded cover-printout of the 192nd issue of X-Men (2nd Series), published in December of 2006. The cover featured Rogue, my favorite X-Men, in a rendition of her original, 1980’s era-green-caped costume done by Chris Bachalo. “I went on to describe how I wanted to change it –in particular taking the syringe out of her hand that she was (I assumed) about to use on Sabretooth, whose head she was standing on.
“And what about these people in the back, did you still want them there, or just her?”
“No, no…just her, and the chain, and the fire coming around her,” I motioned on the picture to what I was talking about.
Jack launched into a spiel about some French painter, and talked about a lot of artsy things about movement and shape that I didn’t understand –I’m not a painter, I wanted to say, I’m a writer! I have no idea what you’re saying! But I nodded along as though I understood completely what he was talking about. Everyone in the shop was ecstatic about it. All of them were comic book fans and a few of them even seeming a little jealous of Jack, who was in line to be my artist, but glad that I walked into their shop to see about doing such a great tattoo.
I took a quick look at Jack’s book, which he walked me through personally, trying hard to point out good pieces that he had done, a lot of which were cartoon-based in nature. I knew that Jack would be the one to do this tattoo for me after looking at other pieces he had done, but my sisters and I left the shop, promising to come back if I didn’t find what I was looking for elsewhere.
We went to another shop across town called Mid-West Tattoos, the only other one we could actually find in the city. Many of the ones on my list of parlors in the area had closed or disappeared to a new unknown location, making finding them hard. The people at the second shop were nice, I was sure, but looking through their albums, my sisters and I decided that their work was lacking something. They didn’t seem as excited about doing it as Jack and the team at Artisan’s had.
It also made me uncomfortable that the artist I initially talked to here, offered to let me come in back and watch him tattoo another patron before even asking if it was OK with the patron first. It also bothered me that, unlike Jack, this artist didn’t offer me any ideas to make it better. He simply took a glance at the photo, said, “Sure, we can do that for about $350-$400” and was ready to do it. He also didn’t seem pleased that I mentioned I had gone to Artisan’s first and Jack was offering to do it for me at a discounted price of $260 –drastically below any of the other estimated costs I had heard.
The only thing that made the trip to Mid-West worthwhile was what one of the more burly artists had to say to me upon taking a look at what I wanted; “Well, that’s not a butterfly.” His obvious distaste for the feminine butterfly that most girls who came in were looking for was apparent in his voice and the way that he leaned over the printout of Rogue. “That’s going to look really cool.” He was impressed that it was going to be my first tattoo, being that it was quite large for a first-timer, covering almost the whole back of my leg. I had decided a long time ago that if I was going to get a tattoo, it was going to be big the first time. Why wimp-out and get something little and dainty? If I couldn’t handle getting something of this size, then I probably didn’t need it at all.
My sisters and I went back to Artisans and set up an appointment with Jack about an hour and a half-later. I put down my $25 dollar deposit and walked out with a date for about a month later, just before Christmas.
The month passed by slowly. Some days I even forgot about it, but then I would take a glance at the mirror where I had posted the date in erasable marker –so to be sure not to forget it, and immense excitement would fill me again. Finally, Finals Week of my first semester of college came and went. I was back in Artisan’s tattoo parlor, my sweat pant leg rolled up past the back of my knee, and a blue outline of my concept on the back of my leg. My sisters were sitting in chairs off to the side, trying to stay out of the way, as Jack pulled on gloves, tested his machine, and poured inks into tiny caps.
I rested my head on my arms, staring around the room, trying not to think about what it would feel like when the needle would start pulsating against my skin. Rogue looked gorgeous, even as an outline. Over the last month, I had debated a few times on whether I should actually go through with this. I worried about my future self; how I would feel about having this entity on the back of my leg for the rest of my life. She was hide-able, I decided. Besides, the reason I wanted her wasn’t because she was a comic book character. It was because she was gorgeous, strong, talented, and my hero. She had always been my favorite comic book character –the one who can’t touch people for risk of hurting them, the one who struggles with herself every day because she wants things that she can’t have. I felt a connection to her, not because of her power, but because of her strong sense of family, her desires, the risks she was willing to take to help people. I wanted to be like her and I wanted homage to her greatness.
“I’ll just do a couple of lines to start out with to let you get a feel for what it’s going to be like, and then we’ll really get started.” Jack took a moment to let me calm down before leaning over my leg, starting somewhere near the bottom.
The actual laying on the chair and repeatedly being stabbed was actually rather boring. People often ask me what it feels like, and “didn’t that hurt?” Well, of course it hurt, you idiot. It is a tattoo. But honestly, it wasn’t that bad. After an hour or so in the chair, it felt a lot like a cat scratch –long, and searing. Really the most entertaining part of it, besides listening to my sisters and my random spouting of obscenities, was the parlor’s employees (and even one or two patrons) entering the backroom to watch Jack work, uttering words like, “Fuckin’ sweet, man”, and “That looks so cool,” over and over again.
At the end of the first sitting, nearly four hours later, the outline and black shading were finished. I walked out, my leg covered in a layer of petroleum jelly, wrapped in saran wrap and medical tape. A list of care-instructions was folded neatly in my purse along with fifteen dollars for supplies, and an appointment to put in the color and final additions in two weeks.
The aftercare was actually the worst part. My leg was pretty sore for the first couple of days after getting it done, but I hobbled my way around the house, suddenly glad for the tiny cement shower in the mud-room that had been the bane of my childhood. It was the perfect size with an extendable showerhead, to wash an otherwise awkward area without getting completely drenched in the process, three times a day. Once a tattoo is in the healing process, it actually begins to peel, which makes you itch like crazy, but of course actually scratching it would ruin the art, so I had to suffer in silence. It also didn’t help that I was apparently using to much of the healing ointment, and broke out in hives from it, which just added to the annoyance.
Two weeks later, not quite fully healed, I was back in the chair for another long sitting. Time dwindled slowly as my sisters still sat nearby. They made me sound like a pervert to Jack. He actually let me peruse a very interesting (though rather creepy) comic book involving demonic sodomy once he had learned of my interests. Finally, nearly an hour after the shop had closed I was finally finished and looking at the finished product. Needless to say, even while he had been tattooing it, I was feeling apprehensive, especially since I hadn’t been able to watch it be done. I admitted that I felt, “kind of like a poser”, and was assured that it didn’t matter, because it was still a really ‘sweet’ tattoo.
Looking at her then, my face flushed. It was exactly what I had wanted but with Jack’s own creative touch as well. I had originally planned to get a small, black, encircled X somewhere else, but we had decided to incorporate it into this one. The vision in my head had been of a solid black X so when Jack brought up the idea to doing it in purple, my reaction was mixed.
“What kind of purple are we talking about here? Like…lavender or darker?”
“I’m thinking more of a metallic,” He replied, mixing up his inks before we started. “It’s going to look really good with the blues and the greens to add in some different colors because there is so much of the blue going on.”
I loved it. I still love it. People always ask , “What are you going to think of it when you’re 80?”, and I shrug at them. It’s still going to be beautiful, so what does it matter?
Getting my tattoo made me realize a lot of things. First, I realized how cool my family actually is, my Mom in particular. She was always one of those “cool moms” but the fact that she might even like my tattoos more then I do, is highly amusing. She actually encourages me to show them off, and is just as excited about my other ideas for body-art as I am.
Secondly, I learned that what other people think doesn’t matter. Some people might say that it was stupid to get a comic book heroine on the back of my leg –especially when I only read the older collections, but really…it’s none of their business. I don’t have to explain myself to them, and I don’t expect them to tell me why they did some of the stupid things that they probably did when they were my age. As long as I’m happy with it, that’s all that matters.
Lastly, like the signs in the tattoo parlors across the nation say: No Pain, No Gain. Like everything in life, you’re going to have to give a little something up –be it in the form of cash, valuables, time, or even a little self-inflicted pain, in order to get something that you really want. In the end, you’re left with something totally gorgeous that you’re going to have to remind you of what an awesome time you had when you were young. I might not live to be 80, or even 25, but either way, I am going to be able to say that I got a kick-ass tattoo, of a very pretty southern belle, and that it was totally worth it.

Making His Mark

Making His Mark
A Ten Minute Play

by
SAMANTHA JOHNSON

SETTING: A New York City apartment, simple décor with a desk, window, and filing cabinets
TIME: Present time

CHARACTERS

RODNEY: 27 years old, tends to be bitter and cynical.

SUZANNA: 31, Rodney’s older sister. Light hearted, loves her brother finds it hard to deal with his cynicism.

MR. HENRI DAVIS: 45, book editor. Always in a bit of an excited rush to get things done.

(A young man, RODNEY, sits in a chair at a desk in front of laptop computer and printer. There are two chairs are set to the left of the desk. There is a large picturesque window overlooking the city He looks pale, obviously ill, bundled in layers and there is a cap covering a bald head. Lights rise as Voice Over Begins.)

RODNEY
(Actor note: reactions to voice should be obvious.)
All I wanted my entire life was to make a mark on the world. However, seeing as how the doctors are saying that my time left in the world is indeterminate –as little as two months, as many as two years, I doubt that my little dream will come true.
I started out as a songwriter, and then that stupid play came out –RENT, and there was that song GLORY that pretty much put my entire life into a nice little two-minute number. Sans the idiot girlfriend who slices her wrists.
I listen to the song sometimes, and wonder if I’ll ever achieve “Glory”. But I’m not a songwriter anymore. I don’t have anything to write songs about. I’ve moved on to bigger things. Mostly fiction, although most of that is pretty fucking depressing. It’s hard to write something that people actually want to read when you’re a twenty-seven year old AIDS victim that only wants to live, although the world so obviously wants you to die.
I’m basically alone now, barely making rent on my $1000-dollar-a-month apartment, medical bills up to my ass. My sister comes to visit me once in awhile, but my attitude bothers her. Forgive me Sis, for being a cynical bastard. It’s not my fault that I did everything wrong that you could possible imagine. It was pretty inevitable that something would come back to haunt me. That something might as well kill me too.
Anyway, I’ve been working on something lately –my last painful dregs at my muse to try and achieve my hopeless dream. It’s shit. I know that it is. But apparently someone liked it. I made the mistake of showing the first couple of chapters to Sis when she showed up last week baring home-baked goodies she made with her kids that tasted liked dust in my mouth. She took them with her and showed them to some publishing friend of hers. I should be angry, but I’m not. Apparently, he liked them and is asking to see more of the story. I believe the phrase Sis used when she told me was, “totally fucking enthralled with it” to describe the way he felt. I guess he likes my use of contractions or some crap like that. What the fuck do I know?

(A loud knock announces the entrance of SUSANNA, STAGE RIGHT.)

SUSANNA
Oh my god, Rodney! What are you doing?!
(She begins to straighten the cluttered desk as if looking for something.)

Henri Davis will be here like ten minutes! You aren’t even dressed yet! I knew I shouldn’t have left it to you to get ready!

RODNEY
Excuse me, Sis, but I’m twenty-seven years old. I think I can dress myself. –If you’re looking for the chapters, they’re in the filing cabinet.

(RODNEY stands off to the side of the desk and begins to pull off the layers. He tosses them behind the desk as he goes. SUZANNA moves towards the filing cabinet and going through the drawers. By the time they have finished speaking, he has taken off clothes to reveal a pair of jeans and button-down shirt covering a white t-shirt. The cap stays on his head.)

SUZANNA
I thought you were excited about this, Rodney. You want to get this published, don’t you? Or are you giving up on it already? Don’t tell me that you’ve already given up! You aren’t dying yet, you know!

RODNEY
Christ, Sis. Would you shut up for a few minutes? Is this hat OK, or should I choose a different one?


SUZANNA
(Gives him a glance as she pulls out the folder presumably with his book chapters in it.)
It’s fine. –So, your book…have you been working on it?

RODNEY
Yeah, I guess.
(Doorbell rings.)
You want to get the door for me?
(Lights dim, HENRI appears from STAGE RIGHT. He sits in one of the chairs near the desk, SUZANNA sits in the other, and RODNEY sits behind the desk again. Lights rise.)

HENRI
(Slightly out of breath.)
Sorry, am I late? been waiting for this day for weeks –ever since Suzie showed me the manuscript –is there more? I feel like I’m starved for it or something. Feeling like that, you’d think I’d have the decency to be punctual, right? The story is amazing, Rodney, and I don’t say that to just anyone.

RODNEY (Looking disinterested, biting his nails.)
Well, it was really kind of a fluke –I don’t have that much background in British was or anything. My major in college was American History actually.

SUZANNA
Oh, don’t be so modest, Rodney. –He took all the history courses in high school and college. He’s always been very intelligent.

(RODNEY gives a snort, which goes ignored.)

But you like the story, right? You want to publish it? That’s why you wanted to come see us today, right?

HENRI
Of course –I wouldn’t dream of wasting your time if it wasn’t to tell you good news. Tell me, Rodney, have you published anything in the past?


SUZANNA
Oh, of course he has! He was extensively—

HENRI
(in a disapproving tone)
Suzie, I asked Rodney.
(Suzanna gives a careful laugh, and nods to Rodney.)
SUZANNA
Sorry –go ahead, Rodney.

RODNEY
(Heaving a sigh.)
I guess –I was in my college paper a few times, a couple of poetry collections. Sold a song or two to some record companies. Nothing huge though. Why do you ask?

HENRI
Just a question –to see how familiar you are with the process. Is the book finished, or is it still a work in progress?

RODNEY
I’m not sure if I’ll finish it.

HENRI
(Worried.)
What do you mean?

RODNEY
I mean, I don’t know if I’ll finish it. You know I’m dying right?

SUZANNA
Rodney! –I’m sorry Henri. He’s fine. He’s just melodramatic sometimes –a bit of a hypochondriac. Aren’t you Rodney?

RODNEY
AIDS isn’t hypochondria, Sis.
(SUZANNA sighs, shaking her head, covering her face with her hands.)
What, you look surprised, Mr. Davis. Didn’t my sister tell you?

HENRI
Ah, no…Suzi didn’t inform me of your…condition.

(Rodney barks an uncontrollable laugh, which turns into a heaving cough. SUZANNA gets up, disappears, and returns with a glass of water, which Rodney drinks.)
Did I say something amusing?

RODNEY
I love it when people call it a “condition”. It’s fuckin’ hilarious…
You know what, Mr. Davis. I like you. I’ll finish this piece of shit, just for you.
(He takes the folder that Suzanna previously pulled from the cabinet and tosses it into Henri’s lap.)
Is that enough for now?

HENRI
(Opens the folder, flipping through the pages.)
This is plenty to get started… I’ll contact you about the legal work sometime tomorrow.
You just get back to writing, okay?

RODNEY
Sounds like a deal.

(Lights dim again, HENRI and SUZNNA exit, STAGE RIGHT. RODNEY pulls a few layers back on as the lights rise, and he sits back down at his computer. SUZANNA enters again.)
I wish you would stop hovering in the doorway, Sis. If you’re going to come in, just come in already.

SUZANNA
(Entering.)
I’m sorry. I’m just nervous. You said you were almost done, and your deadline was last week. Henri is getting antsy.

RODNEY
Hey, it’s not like its my fault that I had to spend a week in the hospital, okay? You think I like being in that place? You think I like getting lectured about safe sex practices and past drug use? Well, I don’t.

SUZANNA
That was a little old lady, and she probably didn’t even know better.

RODNEY
It was still obnoxious.

(The two fall silent, and the clacking of keys grows louder and louder until it stops. RODNEY pushes back from his desk.)
Done. Are you happy now?
(The printer begins to hum, kicking out pages.)

SUZANNA
Quite.
(She picks up the pages as the printer stops humming, and she scans through them.)
So…are you ready for this to be over with?

RODNEY
Yes. To much stress –it makes me more susceptible to getting sick.

SUZANNA
I’m going to take these to Henri’s office –do you want to come with? Get out of the
house for a bit? Or are you going to play the hermit and stay here.

RODNEY
I’ll stay here. Tell Henri I said hi.
(He watches her leave STAGE RIGHT, before pulling his chair back to his computer.)
(Voice Over.)
Well, I finished it. The novel titled “In His King’s Army” is now probably on it’s
way to Henri’s office where he’ll send it to his editors, and then it will get sent back to me for a rewrite, and then it will go through the cycle again until it goes to the printers.
I should be happy that it’s finished, I know that. I should be happy that it’s being published, that it’s already being talked up in the publishing world, that even though it’s still four months until the release date, people are still calling to set up interviews with me. But, I’m not. I hate this story with a passion. I finished it for Henri because he genuinely liked it. I finished it for Suzanna and her kids. I didn’t do this for me.
So, with that in mind, does this count as making my mark? When I planned this, I never said that I had to enjoy what I put out there. But if I’m going to die with only one thing ever making it this big, shouldn’t I have some kind of attachment to it?
(RODNEY gets up from the desk, but the voice over continues as he exits to STAGE LEFT.)
I put a lot of time and effort into it, but that doesn’t seem to matter. I feel like I wasted my time on something I didn’t care about, rather then having spent my last few months doing something I could be proud of –to hell with whether or not people actually enjoyed it.
(The set is quiet for a few moments, and the image in the window shifts to a wintery scene over looking the city. SUZANNA and HENRI enter, STAGE RIGHT.)

SUZANNA
Well, I think that’s the last of it… just the desk and cabinets to pack up now.

HENRI
You think he left anything else that was publishable on the computer?
(He picks up the laptop, turning it over in his hands.)
I wish he could have known how starved for his literature he left the world. People are chomping at the bit for another book…it hurts to tell them that he’s dead.

SUZANNA
Well…that was Rodney. Abuse them for as long as possible, and then leave them wanting more.

HENRI
Yeah, he seemed to have that knack. I know he felt me feeling a little empty inside after I finished reading the book, knowing that there wouldn’t be any more of it… He left it so open ended. A lot screamed for a sequel. Some even suggested that you write, it Suzi.

SUZANNA
Ha! No way. I wouldn’t tarnish my brother’s work like that. I can’t write to save my life.

HENRI
Some people argue that as long as it’s done in the family, it’s not a real tarnishing.

SUZANNA
It’s not going to happen Henri, so just forget about it. Rodney was your one-hit-wonder. His book will live for generations, a modern classic. Leave it at that…please?

HENRI
You’re right of course, but it still makes me angry.
(He puts the laptop down again.)
He knew he was dying, Suzi. He hid the fact that he was so far gone –he could have at least warned us that this was really the end, that he wasn’t really being histrionic. He could have told us…

SUZANNA
Henri, he tried to tell me. I didn’t want to admit to myself that my baby brother was dying…but it’s OK. Hopefully he’s happy where ever he’s at.

HENRI
Did Rodney believe in a heaven and hell?

SUZANNA
(Giving a laugh.)
Ha! Hardly.
(There is a moment of silence.)
Pretend he did though…where do you think he ended up?

(HENRI and SUZANNA look at one another for a moment, before SUZANNA sighs, giving a shrug and resuming with the packing up of Rodney’s goods)
Well, wherever he is I hope he’s happy that he got his finally got his fame.

HENRI
(Shaking his head.)
I don’t think Rodney was after fame, Suzanna. He just wanted to make a difference in the world…even if that difference was as small as a couple hundred pages and a sixteen-dollar price tag.

SUZANNA
You’re right of course.
(She picks up the laptop, placing it on the top of her box.)
Well…that’s the last of it. You want to grab the printer?

HENRI
(Hefting up the printer.)
Not a problem…ah, you want to say goodbye?

Suzanna
(breezily.)
Don’t be stupid, Henri. It’s just an apartment. It’s not my brother.
(She pauses as HENRI exits, STAGE RIGHT. She turns back to the room, hiking the box up against her hip. She looks over her shoulder as if it make sure that Henri is really gone.)
…Rodney? This is silly, I know…like you’re actually still here or something, but…if you
are, I just want to let you know that everything is OK. And that I’m sorry, for not taking
you seriously sometimes. And that I’ll miss you.
(Lights out)



FINIS

Trouble In the Underworld? (The Story of Hades and his Lovers II)

A/N: There needs to be more frot out in the world. It beez the hottest form of doin' it.

Trouble in the Underworld?
The Story of Hades and his Lovers II

Thanatos, the original Greek god of Death, didn’t visit me often. He had a job to do, and I fully understood that. However, I had given him a troupe of reapers to work in his place, so he could spend more time with me…well, not necessarily with me, but so that he wouldn’t have to worry himself with trivial things.
Earth II was booming. It was a regular metropolis now. Marius over saw it well, with his myriad of lovers, and Hestia at his side. I found it deeply ironic that he kept taking mortal lovers, but I never said anything to him. It had been a thousand years since we had finally peacefully said goodbye. He had assured me that he would come back, but so far he hadn’t. I hadn’t quite lost hope on Marius…I just made a realization that I didn’t need him to make me happy anymore. After all, love be damned, I had my own myriad of lovers at my disposal if I wanted them…but I held back for those I really cared about.
Warm arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind as I wrote out correspondence at my desk in my study.
“I felt that you needed me,” the sultry voice in my ear was hot against my skin. “Was I right?”
“You always are,” I smiled, turning the chair. Thanatos hiked one leg over the arm of the chair and grabbed the back to sit awkwardly in my lap. “But what are you really doing here? I thought you were too busy to come for a visit.”
“Oh bah,” He rolled his eyes. “The Reapers have stolen all of my work, who I am kidding? I spend most of my time with my brother and fixing the reaper’s stupid mistakes…but Hypnosis and I are arguing now…so I though I would come see you.” He placed a short kiss on my lips.
“Oh, so I was an after thought? How nice.”
He made a soft whining noise, “Don’t be like that!”
I laughed softly, pulling my fingers through his hair, “Are you here for a while or just for a romp?”
“Hmmm…that depends on how long you’ll have me,” he kissed me. His tongue stroked mine, and after he finally broke away, I leaned back comfortably in the chair.
“You know that if it were up to me, I wouldn’t let you go at all.” My arms wrapped around his waist more tightly, and I picked him up easily. His legs wrapped around me, and I carried him out of the den.
“Where are you taking me?” He looked confused when I leaned against a door down from the den.
“My room,” I took one hand away from him just long enough to turn the knob, and stumble backwards into the dark room. A fire was already crackling behind it’s gate, adding a nice warmth to the usual cool dampness of the castle.
“We don’t usually do it in here…” His arms loosened around my neck as I dropped him in the middle of the bed and crawled on top of him.
“Going to your room was too far,” I mused. “Besides, my bed is bigger.”
“That it is…” He glanced around at the size of the bed. “Why is that?”
“Because I’m the master of the castle, of course…now hush.” My lips captured his again. My hands moved to caress the feathers of his wings before I ran my hands under his shirt to feel his silky skin. “No battle wounds this time, right?”
He smiled, “No. Nothing by expanses of perfect skin.”
“Fabulous,” I groaned, moving away to pull away his clothes. It wasn’t long before both of us were naked. Thanatos was on top of me, inside of me, his skin warm, his breath hot, and both of us panted heavily against each other’s throats. As he thrust greedily, his lips found mine. He grinned through half-open eyes, biting my bottom lip to incite a groan from my throat. His wings stretched out, wrapping us up in a little cocoon where we were pressed chest-to-chest. My arms went around his neck as he groaned, spilling inside of me.
“Fuck,” I sighed, as he groaned, breathily pulling away.
“You’re still hard,” his smile broadened, his fist wrapping around my member. “You’re always hard…that’s why I like having sex with you…” He was quiet for a few moments, continuing to thrust into me before his smile grew slightly wicked, “Do you want to take me?”
“I’m always willing to take you, Thanatos.”
He pulled out of me, and I couldn’t stop the long groan, my head tilting back. His member brushed mine as he rose to impale himself. I watched him tilt his head back, arcing his back.
When he came back down to rest against me, I petted his hair, “You are such a masochist.”
“Yes, but I am your masochist,” He assured me.
“Well, my little masochist, you need to fuck harder before I get frustrated and break you,” I tugged on one of his wings. “I wouldn’t want to crush one of these in a fit of annoyance.”
His grin still held a slyness, and his leaned down to kiss me soundly, “Don’t worry…I was just adjusting.”
My hands slid down his back. My fingertips traced the wing-joints under his shoulders before gripping his hips. He knew exactly how to use his body for my satisfaction, and I very little to do with the pleasure but reaping benefits. Thanatos groaned, kissing me. My fingers dug further into his hips, silently urging him to thrust harder. His hair fell over his shoulder, teasing my skin.
“Are you close?” his mouth warmed my ear, his hair dusting my cheeks. I reached up, brushing it back away from my face, and over his other shoulder.
“Why? Are you already tired? You’ve just started,” I teased, reaching down between our bodies to stroke his soft member. He moaned in dislike, sensitive from his previous task. I turned his lips to mine again, “You may stop if you like.”
He sighed, rolling away from me, and groaning massaging his hips with his knuckles.
“Silly boy,” I chided, putting my hands above his shoulders, careful not to press down onto his wings. “Don’t think that I am done with you yet.”
“…Are you going to fuck me?” He asked.
“Hmm…I was going to torture you for a bit,” I admitted.
“Oh?” He raised a curious eyebrow.
I licked his lips before leaning back on my knees to stroke my fingers down my chest, “I know how to get you hot again.”
“I just came, Hades!”
“So what?”
“So, I’m not like you…always at the ready.” He tugged on my arms, kissing me again. “Fuck me –and then when you’re done, I might be up for another go.”
“Well you’re not any fun at all, Thanatos,” My lips brushed his throat. “Maybe I shouldn’t fuck you at all…it would be to much of a reward for you.”
He groaned, “What are you going to do then, dare I ask?”
I gave him a smirk before rising onto my knees again. My hand went to my member and I began stroking myself. He leaned up on his elbows, his wings ruffling against the sheets, to lick at the head, but I held him away with my free hand.
“Ah-ah,” I shook my head. “Not yet.”
He grumbled, his eyes averting first to my hand upon my appendage before rising to my face. It only took a moment before he over-took me again, his mouth crushing against mine in a savage fit. His hand replaced mine, and my arms wrapped around his neck. His hips thrust nicely against mine as he fondled me, but I was focusing more on the way his lips felt against mine, soft and wanting. His tongue was damp from panting as it delved into my mouth.
He pulled his mouth from mine to look down as I erupted onto my chest, some of it splattering against his arm and shoulder. He pulled his hand away to lick it away from his arm, looking down innocently at me.
“You’re not even close to being satisfied, are you?” He asked, moving to lap his tongue up my stomach.
I laughed, “Nonsense, I am quite pleased.” I lifted him back up, pulling him against me. “Just because I’m hard doesn’t mean I need another go.” I chided.
“So says you,” He retorted. His face turned into my neck, his hair splaying across my face and neck. One wing flattened against the bed, he other rose to curl over us, the feathers tickling our skin.
“I mean it –you’ve satisfied me quite well.”
He made a guttural noise, “Ha! I’ve seen you spill more by simple tongue strokes.” His nose continued to nuzzle deeper down my shoulder.
“Ah, this is about the amount of my visual satisfaction,” I mused. I brushed my fingertips over one of his wings. “Well…that I don’t have an explanation for. Sometimes it comes in pints, sometimes only in mere ounces.”
He made a soft whining noise, reminding me a bit of like a cat, “Hades…”
“What is it, Love?” I asked, stroking his hair instead. I wrapped the tendrils around my fingers, slightly tugging his face to mine.
“I want you to fuck me again,” His lips brushed mine in a faint kiss. “I want you to be completely emptied.”
“Darling, I don’t think such a thing is possible,” I laughed. My fingers untangled from his hair, and moved to stroke along his back. “But we could try if you’d like. Surely right now you’re tired from your work and travel…and the sex that has already been had.”
He hummed softly, curling his leg over my hips, holding me tightly, “Sort of.”
“How long are you staying for? You never told me.”
“You didn’t give me a chance before you whisked me away.”
I laughed, “I guess so.”
“Anyway, I’ll probably only stay a few days. Maybe a week or two; if that’s OK.”
“Of course it is,” my fingers reached his bared backside and I gave it a tight squeeze. He gave a short noise of being pleased, and set to kissing me again.

Of course, just because everything seemed to be going so well, something had to go wrong. Thanatos and I were quite pleased with each other. We were learning each other’s movements, likes, dislikes, and quirks. I loved him like I had never loved anyone else –but at the same time, it wasn’t like we were inseparable. He could tell me any day that he wanted that he was done with me, and I would be okay with that.
Not that I expected Thanatos to come up to me at breakfast and say, “Hades, I don’t think this relationship is healthy –I think I’m going to go back to the way things were before we started sleeping together. Goodbye.” That would be ludicrous. He was content to lounge in bed with me in the morning, pressing kisses down my throat and chest, eat a leisurely breakfast before I made my usual daily rounds, meet for a quick lunch, maybe a little after-lunch sex. Then we would part again until dinner, and then of course after dinner, we usually retired to one of the bedrooms for an evening alone.
So yes, our relationship was mostly sex, but we did our share of talking too. Mostly between romps, but sometimes in the morning, or right before we went to sleep we would have short chats before sleep would overcome us. Nights that we didn’t have sex though, nights that we just lay in each others arms, listening to each other breath, discussing light-hearted things…they were just as good, if not better.
I tried not to think about Marius, but it was hard. Marius had been my inseparable lover. We did everything you could think of together. With Thanatos, it wasn’t like that. We were two totally separate entities with nothing that tied us together. Thanatos had his job as a reaper –bringing souls to the underworld and all that, and I was a supreme deity overseeing my kingdom.
“What are you thinking about?” Thanatos’s hair fell over my shoulder as he leaned over my chair.
“Us,” I admitted.
“Oh? What about us?”
“How unlikely a pair we are.”
“Why do you say that?” He asked, looking at me quizzically. “I’d say we are a perfect pair –we like the same things, both of our jobs are particularly morbid…we both enjoy being in the underworld…”
“You like it here? Really?”
“Really,” He nodded. “I like that it’s always cool, and the noise of the wandering souls is kind of…musical after awhile.”
I smiled, reaching up to touch his face, “You’re so precious.”
His lips met mine, “So what is really wrong?”
“I wonder what you are doing here sometimes.”
“What are you talking about? Do you want me to leave?” He seemed surprised.
“No! No! Of course I want you to stay!” I reached for his wrist, holding him close to my chair. I drew him around, pulling him into my lap. “I mean…why do you bother coming to me when you could have any other person in the world.”
“Because you’ll always be here,” He stroked his finger along my cheek. “Why should I get attached to some mortal who is just going to up and die on me, when I can have you? You are all that I will ever need.”
“Does this mean that you…you’ve remained faithful to me?”
“You didn’t expect me to? I thought I was your lover.”
“You are! I just…” I shrugged. “I didn’t know you had attached a string to us.”
“Have you remained faithful?”
“Of course,” I scoffed. “Who would I be sleeping with other then you?”
He shrugged, picking a bit of fluff from my sleeve, averting his eyes. “I don’t know…I thought that maybe Marius had come back to you, or something.”
I scoffed, “Marius hasn’t returned to me, and I already told him that he would have to share my affection.” I brushed the back of my knuckles over his cheek. “You wouldn’t like that though, would you?”
“Like what?” He acted daft, though I knew he understood me completely.
“You wouldn’t like to share me with Marius.”
He shrugged, “I suppose he has some right to being in your bed. He was your lover for eons. I wouldn’t have much of a case against it…except that I wouldn’t want you to do it.” He looked up at me, seriousness showing in the edges of his eyes, “If he comes back to you…what will happen to me?”
“Marius isn’t going to come back to me, I gave up on him a long time ago.”
“But if he did…he walked in that door right now, and said, “Hades, I want to fuck you so badly it hurts”, what would you do? Would you fuck him?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know…does he love me?”
“Yes.”
“Does he have that spark in the pit of his stomach? That feeling that makes it all worthwhile?”
“Yes.”
I shrugged again, “Then yes, I probably would.”
“And if he didn’t have those things? If he just really needed to release himself?”
“Then I would tell him that his previous lovers are all in my employ and that he could help himself to one or more of them.”
He looked down again, quietly unbuttoning my shirt to graze his fingertips over my skin, “Hades?”
“Yes?”
“Do you feel that spark for me?”
I mused for a moment before answering, “I didn’t at first –we were just doing it because we wanted to…but I do now.”
“Is it as strong for me as it was when you were fucking Marius?”
“Stop comparing yourself to him,” I pulled his hands away from my shirt. “It’s very childish. You are two separate people.”
“I take that as a no, then.”
“You and Marius are totally different people. I love you two separate ways.”
“What do you mean?” He pressed.
I sighed. This conversation had probably been a long time in coming, but I still wasn’t really prepared for it. How was I supposed to explain to a god that I loved him, but at the same time I didn’t? I didn’t want to tell him that he was a fuck of convenience –he was more then that, and yet he wasn’t.
“I mean that…at first, it seemed like I couldn’t live without him, but obviously I can With you, I know that that you’re going to come and go as you please. You aren’t tied to me, tied to the Underworld.”
“I could be.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“The old rules have changed…we could get married.”
My stomach leapt, “Married?”
“Yes –many of the Gods are reconsidering their former partners. You and Persephone have already divorced. Haven’t you ever thought of marrying again?” His eyes were pools of opal and I found myself being sucked into them.
“But we are both men—“
“Exactly,” His forehead pressed to mine. “We could change the world, Hades.”
“What if it didn’t work? What if we tire of one another?”
“We worry about that then. –So, what say you? Will you marry me?”
“I don’t know, Thanatos…”
His eyes changed, and he pulled away from me, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I didn’t say no,” I reached for his wrist.
“But you didn’t say yes, either.”
“You haven’t given me the proper chance to think it over!” I protested, “if you want an immediate answer then no, just because you’re in such a rush. Goodness, you lead me to think you are with child or something equally awful.”
Thanatos’s face fell further, “You don’t like children?”
“I don’t think that life full of sullen sadness, surrounded by death is a very good environment for a child.” I lifted his face to my eyes, “Thanatos, if you want children then marry a woman.”
“I don’t want a woman,” He pulled me up from the chair, wrapping his arms around my waist. His wings enclosed around us, shutting out the light and his forehead pressed to mine. “I want you, Hades. We could make this work. It would give us a tie. Right now, we’re merely hanging by threads. I want permanence. I want a solid hold to you.”
“Thanatos, you are so funny.”
“I am not trying to be funny!”
“I know, I know…” My fingers brushed across his cheeks. “If you really want to…then of course I’ll marry you.”

Opposition stated mere moments, it seemed, after I had finally agreed. Zeus made his feelings evident the moment the message reached him of our impending nuptuals.
“I don’t care whom you have sex with Hades, but I cannot condone this marriage! It has never been allowed!” He shook his head.
“Well, no one asked you if it was allowed. Is it written in stone somewhere?” I asked.
“Of course not –it was an unspoken rule. No one has ever dared to break it!”
“Well, I intend to, with our without your blessing Brother. I couldn’t give less of a damn about what you think.”
“What about Marius?”
“What about him?”
“Isn’t he going to feel cheated?”
“Why would he? He has a wife.”
“And you are taking a husband! A right that should have been his a long time ago!”
“It wasn’t allowed back then, remember?”
Zeus looked annoyed.
“What bothers you more? That I am getting married, or that I am getting married to a man?” My eyebrows raised, “If you’ll remember, you like the touch of men just as well as I do.”
“Bullshit,” he scoffed. “That is total shit and you know it. I liked sleeping with you and with Marius—”
“Ah-ah! Neither of us were your first,” I reminded him. “You loved a man and you know it.”
Arguing with me proved to be a loosing battle for Zeus, bt many more bombarded us with their displeasure. It seemed that the only people happy or us were the deities of love –Eros and Aphrodite, and the unlikely pair of Hestia and Marius.
“You looked worried,” Thanatos wrapped his arms around me one evening as the dawn of our wedding drew closer.
“I am more confused then worried, I think.” I placed my hands ontop of his. “We have surprising and worrying support.”
“What are you more flabbergasted about? Eros and Aphrodite or Hestia and Marius?”
“I’m not sure, I guess it is just that there are so many against us. Even though many of them already know that love knows no gender.” I tipped my head back to look at him. “Was this controversy what you were looking for when you asked me to marry you?”
“No…not really. But I like that it is showing peoples true colors. Some of these people –like Zeus, are just being ridiculous because they can be.”
“I know,” I nodded.
Thanatos murmured, leaning down to brush his lips against my cheek, “It’s late. Why don’t we go to bed?”
“I thought you already had,” I admitted.
“I did, but it was lonely without you.” Thanatos nuzzled against my neck. “Come to bed? You’ve been up for hours now. You need to rest your eyes from all of the red ink that the hate-mailers have been using.”
I laughed, “I have begun to just burn all of the negative RSVPs, actually. So far, we have a very small guest list.”
“Ah well, that’s alright. I always kind wanted just a small, quaint little wedding. Something just for the two of us.” He kissed me again.
“You look very handsome, Thanatos.” It occurred to me that I had been a long time since I complimented his good looks. His face flushed a light shade of pink.
“What do you mean?”
“You look really good tonight,” I repeated, standing up from my chair, and wrapping my arms around his bare waist. “Your wings are a silky-shade of black, your hair sleek and brushed, your skin is tan…you’re gorgeous.”
“Thank you?”
“Why do I detect a hint of disbelieve in your voice? You don’t think you can be handsome, Thanatos?”
“It’s not that,” He shook his head. “I just…you don’t tell me that very often.” He looked down at our feet, his arms pressed against my chest, his hands resting on my shoulders, putting a little space between us.
“That’s because I am a cad,” I rolled my eyes. “You are gorgeous, and you shouldn’t let me forget it.” He grinned, lifting his head to look at me again. His lips caught mine a tight kiss, standing up on his toes ever so slightly to gain a few inches over me. When he released me, he pulled away, grabbing my hands and pulling me towards the door.
“C’mon, Hades. Let us go to bed.”
The bedroom was dark when we entered, just the glow of the fireplace giving off enough light to find our way onto the bed. The door closed with a dull clap behind us and Thanatos pulled me close, just to fling me hazardously onto the bed before moving on top of me.
“Eager are we? I thought you wanted to go to sleep.”
“Sex first, then sleep,” He kissed me. I reached up, letting his hair slip through my fingers.
“Keep your wings down,” I commanded, my hands going to wrap around his waist. He obliged, folding them against his back. Afterwards, I pushed him over, into the pillows and straddled his hips between my knees. “Now…what do you want? Fucking? Sucking? Maybe just a little frottage?”
“Anything that’s going to involve our naked bodies,” Thanatos was obviously easy to please, as he wrapped on arm around my shoulders, pulling our mouths back together. I hummed, easing my fingers underneath his shirt, and it wasn’t to much longer before we both found ourselves void of all clothing. Thanatos’s breath was warm against my shoulder, his fingers pressing tightly to the back of my neck as our bodies pressed firmly together. He met every thrust and we grew hard against one another’s bodies nicely. His other hand tightened on my thigh, pulling me tighter. My own hands were separated, one holding back some of my weight, pressed against the mattress at his side. The other was under his hips, pulling him close.
“You better stop, unless you want me to come already.” His hold on my neck loosened, his fingers instead raking through my short hair.
“What’s wrong with that?” I asked, turning my face against his, pressing my lips to his jaw, then to his lips. “I like it when you come.”
“But it’s too quick, we just got started,” He reminded me.
I sighed, pressing my lips to his throat and shifting to his side, pulling our bodies apart. He groaned as cool air flowed between us.
“You didn’t have to move, Hades. Just slow down,” His fingers tightened in my hair, crushing our mouths together again.
“You said to stop,” I shrugged, pulling his hands from my hair. “Besides, I know how to really drive you insane.” I gave him a wicked grin and let my fingers trail down his skin as I moved down the bed. He gave a soft whine the moment my skin left any contact with his, and he sat up to reach for me again. I shook my head, “Ah-ah…”
“What are you doing?” He let me push his hands away, and he leaned up on his elbows.
“Torturing you to the best of my ability,” I shrugged. My tongue flicked playfully at the tip of his member before circling the head. He moaned, his mouth dropping open slightly as he watched me run my tongue in strokes against the entire length before finally putting it fully in my mouth.
“You are cruel,” He sighed, as I pushed his hands away again when he tried to push my further over his member.
“And you are impatient,” I left his member, instead pulling him forward to bring our bodies together again. He slid onto his knees, his hands sliding over my hips and across my buttocks to grab a hold of my thighs. My arms moved over his shoulders and I nudged his face up to mine to kiss as we resumed our frotting. His wings brushed my knuckles as they rose from his back to spread out. His breath grew faster and he began pushing harder and harder against me. We were both solid and it wouldn’t be long before we were emitting our fluids across each other’s bodies.
“Ah…are you ready?” I asked, pulling my mouth from his just for a moment. “Or are you going to ask me to stop again?” I hiked him up, even closer, pulling him even more tightly.
“If you don’t let me come right now…” He let himself trail off, his breath catching as his body jerked forward, pushing me onto my back. His hair fell across my face as he pressed his cheek against mine, grunting softly into my throat. Simultaneously we both came, our seed seeping together between our stomachs. He sighed, relieved, once he had subsided. He took the time to kiss me again before folding his wings back down, and rolling away from me.
“Are you content now?” I asked, shifting onto my side and leaning forward to lick a streak of come from his chest.
“Yes,” He nodded, stretching his arms above his head, sleepily. “I suppose we should probably clean ourselves up though before we turn in.”
“That would be the less dirty way of doing things,” I agreed. “Don’t worry –I’ll get up.” I gave him a quick kiss before getting up from the bed and crossing to the water-pitcher and basin across the room. I was back a moment later, wiping a cool, wet cloth across his bare skin. He shivered, taking it from my hands to do the same for me. When he found the both of us to be satisfactorily cleaned up, he tossed the cloth away, and edged the covers.
“Good night,” he rested his head against my shoulder and closed his eyes. I felt him rest a palm against my help as the last flames of the fire flickered out, casting the room into darkness except for the still-burning embers.