➵ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓: 𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒 [𝐊.𝐓𝐇]

"I don't need your pity."

The random hugs from the back? I want your attention, I want you to look at me.

The kisses I pepper all over you for no reason? Ah, my love, it doesn't take a daughter of Athena to understand I'm craving your lips.

Taehyung swallowed a little bit as thoughts he shoULD NOT HAVE BEEN HAVING CONSIDERING THE SITUATION took over his brain for at least half a second.

Don't look at her lips, Tae, this is not the time don't do i— I SAID NO BY STYX.

With an exasperated sigh, Taehyung dragged his palm over his face and groaned quietly, soft enough you didn't even hear his little exhale. Driving all distracting thoughts from the confines of his brain, he turned to look at you, eyes dragging over every curve and angle of your face.

You looked ashen, tired. Your eyes, when they weren't screwed shut, were trained on the cold tile floor, and your entire body was stiff, unsettled. That warm hug Taehyung had been debating with for a bit was clearly out of the question, and he wrapped his own arms around himself, feeling the inklings of frustration ripple through him, not for the first time.

He'd killed monsters, he'd braved the underworld, he'd trekked for days without food or water for the gods, and yet he couldn't even find a way to make the woman beside him, the woman he cared about, feel better.

Great. Wonderful. Excellent.

Taehyung supposed this was what the philosophers meant when they said love would bring you to your knees.

With a frown, Taehyung traced his teeth with his tongue, running a hand through his hair. Speaking, he noted, was always an Athena thing. Ares didn't talk much. He preferred the phrase actions spoke louder than words (and his actions usually involved dismembering people, so there was always that).

But then again, he wished he knew that you were thinking. He wished he knew what was playing behind your usually-full-of-life eyes as they stared blankly at the floor. He wished he knew what thoughts were tearing your mind to shreds, stressing you so much your fingers tangled angrily through your hair, yanking enough to hurt. He wished he knew what was making you hurt, making you angry, making you afraid enough that his chest hurt and he felt sick feeling the gut-twisting cloud of emotions stab him in the heart like a poison needle.

Anyone who felt this pain would want to ram themselves into a wall so it would go away when they lost consciousness. Taehyung had felt pain before. He'd been raised to be untouchable, unbreakable, tolerant to anything that could hurt like this— and yet it was him feeling like little glass shards were tearing his heart to pieces when he realized this was coming from you. That you were feeling it.

He didn't care that he was hurting. All he wished he could do was take it away from you.

You didn't even react to his searching stare on you, eyebrows furrowed. There was nothing there. It was almost as if whatever you were thinking about had sucked the life from you, left you a husk.

Taehyung had the sudden, violently intense urge to find the pathetic mortal who'd done this to you and snap him in half.

And then he felt a little ashamed for thinking that, for letting red coat his irises for that sliver of a moment, because you were beside him and you needed him more than that.

"Stop staring."

Taehyung blinked for a moment, so lost in his thoughts he almost didn't realize the sharp, abrupt voice that pierced the air, almost angry but not quite. Almost broken but not there yet.

You hadn't moved from your position at all as you spoke, motionless, as if you hadn't let words leave your mouth at all, but the bitter words that punctuated the tense air around you two next only solidified that you'd spoken. Taehyung felt an odd surge of frustration ripple pointedly from your cloud of confusing emotions, and he blinked, wondering what exactly could have prompted it.