twenty-nine ── bruising
𝕰den ran her hand through her son's damp hair.
They'd managed to get him home, get him some food, and then Eden had forced the boy to take a hot shower. He'd felt a little better, but there was a look of guilt on his face that hadn't left him, and Eden had allowed the boy to sleep in her bed tonight, needing to know that he was close and alright, and also knowing that he needed it.
He was fast asleep, snoring softly, and had been ever since his head hit the pillow. Eden sighed, taking a deep breath, as she heard the door open. Sitting up, her eyes narrowed, before finding Hermes walking into the room as quietly as he could.
"Hey." He hummed in response, shooting her a grin before pulling his shirt over his head. Eden caught sight of him wincing and grimaced. She didn't like seeing either of her boys in pain. "How was it?"
"Same as usual." Hermes sighed, before turning to face her with a rye smile. "I turned up, got shouted around, we had a huge argument, nothing I said mattered, I left, my father is still pissed. I won't go home for a while. It's been ever thus"
Eden got out of bed, tucking the covers around Luke, before carefully pressing her hand to Hermes' back as the god winced once more, his face twisting into a pained expression. She made a face, rubbing her hand up and down his back.
"Did he hurt you?"
"No. Zeus knows better than to annoy the Parthenon, which he would by harming me. If he annoys one of us, then he annoys our close allies, and if it comes to a vote, that wouldn't be good." Hermes shook his head. "No, I just haven't needed to use my godly powers for a very long time. Not in that capacity at least."
"You didn't stretch." Eden teased quietly, as Hermes chuckled and shook his head. Eden continued to rub her hand up and down his back, before pulling away and tilting his head towards her. In the minimal light that the moon provided, Eden was quick to check over the god's face for any form of bruising or injuries.
"I'm alright." Hermes promised, catching her hand and pressing a soft kiss to her fingers, that were still trembling after everything that had happened. "I'm alright."
"I'm just worrying for both of you. Luke's shaken up and I wanted to make sure that you weren't injured. I-"
"It takes more than a cyclops to injure me." Hermes shook his head. "I do think that both you and Luke do need to remember that I am an immortal god, and I am able to fight, quite well in fact."
"Don't remind me." Eden muttered, pulling her hand away.
"About what? That I like to fight and am good at it?"
"That you're immortal." Eden shook her head, retreating as Hermes pulled her back to his side gently. "Hermes."
"Eden." Hermes' hand found her chin, tilting her head up until she looked into his eyes. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not now."
"Okay." Hermes nodded, before leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead, pulling her closer. "Am I able to sleep in the bed, or will Luke kick me onto the floor?"
"Try it and find out. Or Luke's bed is open."
"I think I'm a bit too tall for that."
"Then suffer." Eden joked softly, as Hermes rolled his eyes, both of them chuckling quietly. He leant down, pressing a swift kiss to her lips and smoothing her hair. "Thank you for today, Hermes."
"Anytime." He promised.
☾☼☽
"I'm sorry I don't keep ambrosia on hand." Eden rolled her eyes at Hermes' groan, the god laying with his head on the table as he suffered. "You told me it would incinerate me if I went near it."
"If you ate it. There's a difference."
"Same thing."
"Really isn't." Hermes huffed, looking up at her with a familiar pout. "Eden, I'm in pain."
"Okay, fine. You baby." She rolled her eyes, grabbing an ice pack out of the freezer and setting on Hermes' back. The god hissed, having not expected her to put something cold on his back, causing the woman to chuckle.
"You're mean."
"I'm really not." Eden laughed, before leaning over and pressing her lips to Hermes' cheek, smoothing his hair back out for him. "You just need rest."
"Please, Zeus will take one day to cool down and then he'll be back to yelling at me for god knows what."
"Thought you said he'd be pissed at you for a while."
"Oh, he will be. He'll just take that out on me by piling on the work for the next year or something." Hermes sighed, before leaning into Eden's touch as she continued to run her hand through his hair, keeping an eye on the food on the hob with the other.
"You could just curse him with late mail or something?"
"I wish."
They fell quiet, both watching the food carefully bubble away.
"Mom." Eden and Hermes twisted towards the door, finding Luke hovering there awkwardly as Bradley curled around his legs.
"Morning, baby. You hungry?" Eden checked quickly, smiling as she began to plate up food for the boy, having made bacon, eggs and pancakes. It was the boy's favourite breakfast, though Eden didn't make it often.
"Why haven't you shouted at me yet?" Luke muttered, looking between his parents. Both Hermes and Eden looked up, staring at him with wide eyes. "I ran away? Why aren't you angry?"
"Luke, I'm not going to shout at you, neither of us are going to shout at you." Eden smiled, before approaching him and brushing his hair back from his head as Luke stared at her. "We can talk about it later, but you just need to rest and eat up."
"You should shout though." Luke muttered, as Hermes shook his head.
"Neither of us need to shout, Luke. You've already apologised, probably one too many times." Hermes joked quietly, before standing up as well to join Eden's side. "You gave us a bit of a scare, but you're home and that's alright."
Luke's eyebrows furrowed, before Eden leant forward and pressed a kiss to her son's head.
"Come and eat." Luke huffed, nodding before sitting with his dad as they began to eat once more. Eden watched him carefully, before beginning to eat her own food and talk to Hermes.
"So, what are your plans for Thanksgiving?"
"Nothing. Is this you dragging me into pranking your family?"
"No, this is me seeing whether or not I'm going to be able to prank you this year or not." Eden continued to eat, before winking. "I've got good ideas already."
"I don't know whether to find that cute or insulting."
"Vomit inducing is the actual answer." Luke snarked quietly, as both of his parents began to cackle. The smaller teenager looked up, glancing between both of them before shaking his head and joining in on their laughter. He was alright.
☾☼☽
Hiya,
So, I'm pretty sure this is the final chronological order chapter. You've got three more jump around chapter, so one when Luke's sixteen, one when he's twenty-two and another one for Eden and Hermes. I'll see you tomorrow, because I finally have time to write a bit more now.
Let me know what you think,
Love Li xx