twenty-five ── family time
"𝕴 am going to kill you!"
"Oh sure, sure." Eden twisted, hearing Luke and Hermes bickering.
"Put me down!" Sighing, she stopped pulling her shoes on to find that Hermes was holding Luke upside down, cackling as the boy tried not to laugh. "I will puncture your tires."
"Real mature."
"Says the one holding me upside down!"
"What is going on?" Eden questioned, cocking an eyebrow. "I left you alone for two minutes to get my shoes on."
"Dad ate the last cookie!"
"I cooked them." Hermes snapped back, as Eden cocked an eyebrow and motioned for the god to put the boy down. Reluctantly, Hermes did, setting Luke on the floor as the boy glared. "I'll make you more."
"Rot in Tartarus."
"Luke!" Eden called, as the boy scowled. She shook her head at her son's antics, before ruffling his hair. "It's a cookie."
"It's the principle. He hasn't been around long enough to earn the right to eat the last cookie." Luke stated as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"Ouch."
"You're welcome." Luke replied, as Hermes rolled his eyes. Eden couldn't quite tell whether or not they were joking or not. It was sometimes a little hard to tell with the two. One minute, they were fine, the next Luke was threatening to shred his suit or Hermes was holding the boy upside down. Then they were fine again. "Are we leaving?"
"Uh huh." Eden nodded, as her son grabbed the dog and left to jump into the car. She paused, before turning to look up at Hermes, who was humming to himself. "All good?"
"What? We're fine."
"Really?" Eden pulled a face. "I'm pretty sure Luke just told you to go to hell."
"It's a very funny joke." Hermes followed after his son, leaving Eden to lock up.
"Greeks." She shook her head, before following them out to the car, where the pair were back to chatting in Ancient Greek, causing Eden to roll her eyes. They were absolutely going to be the death of her.
☾☼☽
"So, what's next after that?" Hermes tugged Eden a little closer, still holding onto her hand as Luke continued to rattle on about the maths they were having him doing. Hermes had explained to Eden once, that most of his kids were good with maths, but apparently, Luke's talent went even beyond that.
"I don't know. The teacher thinks she might try and see if there are any competitions I can enter for maths? But I don't know about it."
"Why not?" Eden asked, as her son picked up Bradley's ball and lobbed it for the golden retriever to fetch once more.
"Because I don't want to be labelled as the one math's geek." Hermes and Eden shared a look. "I'd rather be in a competition for hockey, or running, or something."
"Intelligence is just as important."
"Intelligence actually just gets you bullied." Luke replied.
"He's not wrong." Eden rolled her eyes at Hermes' comments. "I get bullied all the time for being smart."
"Didn't you convince your brother he shrinks every fifty years? Don't think you're in a position to be talking about bullying." Eden pointed out.
"Harsh, but fair."
"If there's an opportunity, go for it. Sports can get you far, but brain power is also useful. If your teacher finds a comp, go and win it." Luke huffed, before reluctantly nodding. "Thank you."
Bradley brought the ball back and Hermes was the one to grab it, him and Luke tossing it between themselves, before Luke launched it a longer distance, both of them chuckling as the dog went bounding after it. Eden smiled as she watched the pair, laughing further as Hermes allowed Luke to wrestle him into a headlock, before easily breaking out of it to annoy the teen.
"You two are such children." Eden shook her head, before accepting Hermes' hand as he joined her side once more.
"You did pick us." Luke pointed out.
"Wrong. I picked you, got stuck with him." Eden patted Hermes' hand sympathetically, as the god rolled his eyes. Luke began to laugh, shaking his head before Hermes finally joined in. "I got two for one, package deal."
That only made the pair last more, as Eden also began to laugh. They were so easily amused by the truly little things, and Eden found it hilarious.
Hermes quietened down, kissing her head softly as Eden leant into his side. She might joke, but she was glad that she had both of them.
☾☼☽
"Ma..." Eden rolled over, waking up slowly as she yawned. Luke was hovering by her side of the bed, crouched down.
"Hey baby." Eden sat up, stretching to look at the time. It was two in the morning, and Eden sighed gently, before reaching out to run her fingers through Luke's hair. "What's up?"
"Can't sleep." Luke muttered. "Can we have hot coco?"
"Yeah, course." Eden nodded, before pushing Hermes' heavy arm off of her and standing up. Her and the god's relationship was still not truly defined, because how did you define a relationship between a god and a mortal, but he slotted into their life easily. Hermes was often gone for long periods of time, working as a god, but when he did come back, it made it better.
This was one of those lucky weekends that he was around, and Eden had been treasuring every moment of it. She knew that Luke enjoyed having his dad around, even if he didn't often admit it, finding it fun to have someone to joke around with.
Eden followed her son downstairs, as he began to make hot coco for the pair. She admired the fact that he seemed to have had another growth spurt over night.
"My god, Luke, you're growing."
"I know." Luke nodded, grinning as Eden saw the fact that his pyjama bottoms were halfway up his calf.
"I need to get you more clothes." Eden yawned, before accepting the coco as Luke nodded. "Make a list of what you need, we can go shopping in a few weeks."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I've got time off and I'm not sending you to school in clothes that don't fit you." Eden chided him gently, as Luke grinned. "You deserve new clothes every now and again, especially cause you're still growing."
Luke smiled at that, his head dipping as Eden took that opportunity to ruffle his curls and detangle them gently.
"Oh, your curls are getting less curly." Eden pouted, noting that his curls that she adored were getting a little less curly, and a little more wavy. "You're going to look exactly like you're dad."
Luke pretended to groan, as Eden nudged him. He began to chuckle, sitting beside her at the counter.
"I'm kind of glad that you and dad are close now." Luke muttered, growing quieter, as Eden wrapped an arm around him.
"Is that an admission to actually liking your dad?"
"Never." Luke shook his head quickly. "I'd rather die."
"Tad overdramatic, baby." Eden chuckled as Luke leant further into her side. She pressed another kiss to his head. "I'm really glad that you and your dad are getting along better. I was worried about how I was going to enforce a restraining order on a god, but you know I would have done my best."
"I want to see that happening."
"Well, hopefully, it's not going to have to happen." Eden laughed. "I don't think your dad is the stalking type."
"He stalked me."
"Please don't ever say that to social services." Luke began to cackle. "How am I gonna explain that?"
"Oh, you won't." Luke grew quieter, hugging the older woman as she rested her chin on his head. "I wouldn't say anything. Don't want to leave you."
Eden tightened her grip on him.
"What's the matter, baby?"
"I don't know, I just have this really sinking feeling, and I keep dreaming about when I was on the run." Luke's voice turned quieter. "I don't like it."
Eden stayed quiet for a moment, thinking.
"Have you ever thought that it might be a form of post traumatic stress?" Eden broached gently, as Luke huffed.
"Isn't that only for soldiers?"
"No, it can be for anyone who's gone through something really traumatic, like being on the run from the age of nine and having to hide in cupboards." Luke huffed, and Eden knew better than to push the topic further. She could only ask him this a little at a time, knowing that Luke wasn't massively keen on speaking on his past. "I'm glad that you're my son, Luke, and I'm really proud of you, you know that?"
"I know."
"Really, really proud of you." Eden whispered, before pulling back. "You're safe here. I'm going to protect you, and Hermes will do whatever god thing he's actually good at."
"He's a pretty useless god."
"Is this what you two do when I'm not here? Insult me?" Hermes' voice sounded, as the god came padding into the kitchen, shaking his head.
"You are pretty useless." Luke muttered. "Can I have a cookie?"
"I see how it is." Hermes shook his head, before wrapping his arms around his son, who groaned and pretended to struggle, before finally giving up and relaxing. "Why you up?"
"Monthly hot coco middle of the night breaks." Eden stated, raising her cup to the god, who had begun to grin.
"Ah, am I interrupting?"
"Yes."
"No."
"Helpful." Hermes shook his head, and despite Luke's protest that Hermes was interrupting, he allowed his father to run a hand through his hair and squeeze him a little tighter. "Can I try?"
Eden held her mug up, allowing the god to have some, before taking it back as he hummed and wrapped a strong arm around her back, his thumb tracing circles.
"It's good."
"I know." Luke replied, as Eden squeezed his hand. "I'm good at making hot coco."
"Only cause I taught you. Don't get too cocky, mister." Eden laughed, before pulling Luke back into a hug. Despite her having dropped the topic, she was a little worried for Luke's recurring nightmares of being on the streets. It was a very clear sign of trauma, and she'd have to look into how best to help him out. Tightening her grip, she pressed a kiss to his head and worried away silently to herself.
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Hiya,
So, Eden and Hermes are just doing god knows what? Hermes and Luke are hilarious, and Eden's now a little worried for Luke who is starting to show very clear signs of trauma, which isn't great. I give you warnings, the book now is a bit more time jumpy, because this is not supposed to be a long book! This book becomes time jumpy, because you get to see little snippets from Luke's life growing up, so I don't know how people want to see that represented.
Let me know what you think,
Love Li xx