Work Text:
The sound of the clock ticking on the wall was near enough to drive Hades insane, the work on his desk strewn about and yet nothing had been done in the hours since he’d arrived to his office that morning.
He had tried, taken out various ledgers to look over, but the words seemed to melt together when he tried to read them, mixing with this ever present pain in his throat.
While Hades had initially not felt up to his usual standards that morning, he definitely didn’t pass inspection now, his jacket pulled tight to his chest, though he still shivered.
When he had buzzed and told his new assistant to cancel all of his meetings and calls for the day, he’d barely had a voice, it was breathy, and filled with mucus, and on occasion he would test it later that day to find it had disappeared completely.
He’d briefly considered going home to rest and recuperate, but ultimately decided against it.
Hadestown didn’t take sick days, so neither would he.
A knock on his office door brought a sigh from between his lips, and Hades brought his hand up to his forehead to rub away a headache that had slowly been forming the longer he’d tried to work, now splitting in intensity and angry, but Hades didn’t have the voice to bid the person behind the door entry.
A moment later and the knob turned, the door pushing open to reveal his beloved wife Persephone, only recently home to Hadestown for the winter, clad in her fur and green dress, hair wild as ever as her eyes stopped on the sorry sight before her.
“Your new assistant seems to think you’re feeling poorly, and based on what I see now I’m inclined to agree with her.” Persephone had stated softly, causing Hades to huff in frustration.
“You shouldn’t be working if you’re ill, lover. You know that.” She scolded, taking a few steps toward the desk.
Hades snapped a ledger shut, hissing out that he was fine and then grimacing when his voice cracked not halfway through his sentence.
Persephone rolled her eyes and sauntered over to the miserable king in his chair, pushing his sweat-soaked hair back from his forehead and then pressing her lips to the skin she’d freed.
Hades might have recoiled, if her lips hadn’t felt cooler than his skin, the first bit of relief he’d felt in hours, swallowing thickly and expressing another grimace when he found the process to hurt more than he would have liked.
“You ain’t fine, lover. Get your ass out of this chair and put on your coat. I’m takin’ you back home where I can look after ya.” Persephone demanded, snatching his coat from the rack near the door and holding it out for Hades to slip into, noticing with extreme clarity the way that her husband had to pause and squeeze his eyes shut when he stood.
After Hades had pulled on his coat and put on his hat, Persephone had placed her hand on his back and marched him out of the office and all the way back to the manor.
Upon entering their home, Persephone called for Cerberus, instructing the dog in the old language to help get Hades upstairs while she grabbed some things she needed from the kitchen, and that she’d be up momentarily.
Cerberus had licked her palm and then arched up his back to offer Hades something to lean on as they started conquering the many stairs up to the floor where their bedroom was, while Persephone quickly removed a large basket from the pantry and followed suit.
When she reached the bedroom, Hades was leaning on one of the walls, head bowed and eyes squeezed shut as he struggled to catch his breath.
“καλό σκυλάκι.” Persephone praised the hellhound, who wagged his tail happily before settling himself at the footboard of the bed and fell asleep.
Persephone smiled for a moment at the sight, then turned back to face her poor husband, who was moving toward the master closet slowly, pushing against the walls for support as his dizziness got the better of him.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going? Sit your ass down, I’ll get your nightclothes.” Persephone chided, rushing to his side and forcing him to sit down on the edge of their bed, then making her way into the closet to pull out a pair of his plain red pajamas, which she proceeded to help him change into.
Once she’d settled Hades and gotten him into their bed, she took extra care in tucking the blankets around his legs, smiling when he looked at her with confusion in his eyes.
“You can try and tell me you don’t like being tucked in, but I know better. Now stay still.” Persephone teased, watching a smile erupt onto his face as she walked over to the chair she’d deposited her basket in and began rummaging through it.
“I knew I packed extra of this for a reason!” Persephone grinned to herself, pulling out a small vial with a dark liquid inside of it and going back over to her husband, who was shaking his head profusely.
“You’re going to drink this, Hades. I mean it.” Persephone’s free hand found her hip, showing Hades that she meant business.
“But I don’t like it, lover. Stuff’s as nasty as it comes.” Hades cast his thoughts to her, the only way he could communicate given his illness and lack of voice.
“You think I give a damn? It’ll help. Now, drink.” Persephone ordered, thrusting the vial in Hades’ direction, only to have him shut his lips as tight as he could.
“Aidoneus, I swear, you are gonna be the death of me. Drink this damn medicine, right now.” Persephone hissed, narrowing her eyes at how childlike her powerful husband could be.
When Hades shook his head a second time, Persephone sighed once, and turned her back to him, if only to make him think his refusal held any sway over her.
It worked, Hades hummed in triumph, and as such didn’t expect Persephone to whirl around and climb directly on top of him, then pinch his nose until he had to open his mouth to breathe, at which point she uncapped the bottle with one hand and then tipped the contents into his mouth.
Hades made a face as the taste of the medicine hit his tongue, but had to swallow it to continue breathing since Persephone had yet to release her hold on his nose, which ceased the second he had swallowed.
Hades pouted, crossing his arms as Persephone climbed off of him and stood, straightening the skirt of her dress and setting the empty vial on the bedside table.
“If you continue to insist on behaving like a little boy, I have no problem going up and fetching Auntie Hestia.” Persephone warned, crossing her arms at her chest and propping her weight on one foot, looking at him with all the intensity of Tartarus.
The threat of Hestia coming down to force as many medicines down his throat as possible, each tasting worse than the last, was enough for Hades to quickly decide to reach out for one of Persephone’s hands, a nonverbal apology.
“That’s what I thought. I’d suggest you take what I tell you, when I tell you to do it from this point forward.” Persephone took his hand in hers, but kept her words firm.
Hades nodded, then cast his thoughts to her again.
“You mean you don’t like being on top of me?”
Persephone snorted, smacking his hand away, “Not while you’re sick, pompous ass. You know that.”, she snickered, stepping closer to the bed.
One of her hands pulled him up from leaning on the pillows, his head coming to rest on her chest near her collarbones as she used her other hand to feel his forehead again, making Hades shiver.
Persephone could only be described as cold in regards to her attitude when she was angry, but her normally warm hands felt like ice against the hot skin of Hades’ forehead.
“I’m going to make you a cup of tea, to help your throat. Don’t move.” Persephone spoke aloud, pressing a kiss to his burning forehead and then she was gone, leaving Hades to flop back against the mountain of pillows she’d initially propped up behind him.
Any other time, Hades might have considered going against his wife’s commands and going to sit in the chair near the window, or better yet in a warm bath, but the lingering threat of his sister coming to help look after him was quite enough to keep him in the bed until Persephone returned with a teacup and saucer in hand.
Hades drank the tea quickly, it being the perfect temperature to slide down his throat and offer some relief, then he placed the cup and saucer on the bedside table next to the empty vial and patted the space next to him.
Persephone climbed up onto the bed and brought Hades’ body to lean against her, her lips touching his forehead again as her nimble fingers stroked through his hair.
“Do you feel any better, lover?” She inquired softly, noticing Hades’ eyelids start to droop downward, a sign that the medicine was working.
“Mm.” Hades’ nod was almost invisible, but Persephone smiled anyway and told him to rest, she’d be there when he woke up.
She had started to move off of the bed, to allow him the benefit of the entire space to sleep in, but before she could pull herself too far away from him Hades had wrapped both arms firmly around her waist and pulled her until she wound up laying next to him, their chest pressed together.
“Clever bastard, fine. You win, I’ll stay here while you sleep.” Persephone sighed, but the smile on her face told Hades she wasn’t even slightly displeased with the situation, bringing one of her hands up to rest on his cheek.
“Hades?” She inquired quickly, noticing he was drifting off faster than anticipated.
“Mm?” Hades hummed in response.
“Don’t even think about going to work for a couple of days. I ain’t gonna let you.”