Chapter Text
Two weeks went by. You only spoke to Sash when you ran into him on the streets. Hermes kept you company throughout the day, as always. Only now, you couldn't spend the whole day in the garden anymore, to your dismay. Your vacation was over and you needed to go back to work.
You could basically work wherever you wanted. It wasn't easy to find an online job in your field, but at the time you were dating Hamish and he was able to pull some strings.
No, you were not above nepotism.
Your dad had lend you his study; he didn't need it much anymore. You were working, typing away on your laptop, when you noticed Hermes had made his way to the windowsill, somehow. He was staring through the window. He stomped his feet, which you learned was a sign of agitation.
"What's wrong?" You stood up, making your way to him. Looking through the window, you saw Sash and Jones making their way around the house into the backyard where your parents were. "They're here early." You picked him up and made your way out.
In the back garden, your parents were setting up the barbecue. It was perfect weather for it; not a cloud in the sky. Your guests were sitting by the old picknick table. You were surprised the benches could still hold up.
As soon as he saw you, Sash stood up and waved happily at you. "Hey!" He gave you a tight hug, before pulling back. "And a good day to you too, Hermes." He petted the tortoise on his head.
Hermes snapped at him. You quickly pulled the animal away before he could do any real damage. "I'm sorry. He's been grumpy."
You sat down and Sash found his place next to you.
The whole afternoon, you and your parents had been entertaining your guests. You barely had any attention for Hermes, and he hated it.
The worst part of it all was watching Sash lean closer and closer to you in the past few hours. Hermes rolled his eyes at the man's unfunny jokes, and yet you still laughed, but the god knew you didn't mean it; your smile didn't reach your eyes.
"You should come watch at my next competition. You'll be really impressed then!"
"Doubt it." You rolled your eyes, playfully. You missed having a bit of banter with someone. Hamish was still a fresh wound, and this made it not sting as much.
You picked at your food, specifically at a saugage you didn't like. Hamish would have made a whole spectacle of putting the very greasy thing into his clean, designer bag, making himself look like the weird one and taking all attention away from you being an adult, picky eater.
Sash didn't do that though, no. He very discretely, while no one was looking, plucked the sausage off your plate and ate it himself.
"Can't believe you finished that. Those sausages have a nasty after taste," he smirked.
"Stop being a dumbass."
Hermes stilled in his munching on a spinach leave. That's what you alway called him when he did something. No, this couldn't be happening!
A plan popped up in his mischievous head. He disappeared from under your nose with a speed unlike any other. As soon as he was out of sight, he transformed himself back into his god form. The wings on his heels twirled, ready to spring in action and fly him to his destination. He jumped up, and flew.
Hermes had to stop tthis. He said to himself. He couldn't let this go on. You could not fall for some- some dumb mortal named 'Sash'. His wings worked hard flying him up through the strong winds. The Tower of the Winds had been moved, closer to Olympus. Their winds were meant for protection, to shake off intruders. This did always make it more difficult for Hermes to fly in ths region.
The tower had a large balcony where Hermes landed. Stepping inside, he noticed all four Anemoi were present. It would have been better if Aeolus was present too, but he stayed on his island most of the times these days, and Hermes didn't have the time to fly all the way there.
Zepherus stood up from the kline he was resting on. "Hermes, to what do we owe this pleasure." Boreas followed behind, while Notus and Eurus stayed behind, unbothered.
"I need a storm, a strong one." Hermes pulled a map out of his satchel and layed it down on the ground. "Right there." He pointed to a small village with farmland surrounding it.
"As you wish." Zephyrus kneeled down and looked closely at the map, before rolling it up again. "It will be done."
They knew better than to argue. The wind gods weren't very strong; they could be easily pushed around, even Aeolus. "I'll look forward to it." And as fast as Hermes came in, he left again, rushing back and hoping to be on time.
"Eurus," Zephyrus commanded his brother. "Go up to Olympus to make sure we aren't going to anger any other gods by doing this, especially Zeus."
The East wind groaned, "fine." He got up and reluctancly made his way up to Mount Olympus.
You grabbed a piece of lettuce and brought it down next to you, only to notice he wasn't there anymore. "Hey, where has Hermes gone to?" You looked down under the table, but there was only grass.
"I-" Sash was searching around too- "don't know."
"Hermes!" You jumped up, looking around more frantically. "Hermes!"
"It's okay." He threw an arm around you, trying to ground you. "He's the smartest tortoise I've ever seen. He'll be fine. Just stay calm and go sit down."
"No, I can't just sit down." You pushed him away from you. "What if something happened to him?"
Your parents and Sash's father looked up at you from their own conversation, probably about the veggie garden your parents had always loved.
"Y/n? What’s wrong?" Your mother jumped up as well, rushing over towards you.
"Hermes!" You wailed for the third time. "He disappeared!"
"We'll help you look for him, honey. He'll be okay."
Your father interjected, however. "The search might have to wait." He pointed to the slowly darkening sky. "A storm is brewing. Let's get everything inside, your tortoise is probably under all this mess."
Eurus roamed Olympus, swift as the wind, until reaching Zeus' office, or at least what should have been Zeus' office. Instead, he found Dionysus sipping on his wine, reading through a report on the current procreation statistic of mythos creatures.
"Eurus, why did you come in without granted audience?" Frankly, the god didn't care much, but it was protocol to ask questions such as these. It was too much bureaucracy for him. Dionysus preferred being more casual.
"I apologise for my misdemeanor, but I have come from a matter of concerned cautiousness." The higher standing god did not object, so Eurus continued. "Hermes came to request a storm above a village close to one of Demeter's sacred, arable lands. We have not send one yet in fear of divine retribution from Olympus."
"Hermes.. " Dionysus thought about it for a few seconds. He figured it was to win back that mortal girl. "Do it. If anyone complains, they may take it up with me."
"Understood."
After Eurus left, Dionysus made a quick note to visit Hermes again.
The storm was raging on outside. It started with winds and clouds first, until the rain started pouring down. You looked through everything you brought inside; in the salad bowl, under the tablecloth, but Hermes was no where to be found.
Tears had started to roll down your face. You reached out for the door, ready to start looking outside again, however, someone stopped you before you could. You looked up; it was Sash holding you back.
"Let me go!" You cried. "He's out there all alone!"
"If you go out there now, you'll get yourself sick, or even hurt!" He held on to you tighter. "Just wait inside until the storm is over."
"No!" You pulled yourself away from him as hard as you could, ripping your raincoat in the process. You quickly opened the door and leaped out.
Within seconds, your body was soaked. Your pants clung to your skin, and your face was dripping. You could barely see in front of you, the droplets falling into your eyes made everything even worse.
Hermes flew as fast as he could back, but obstacles appeared at every path he took. Turns out, if you just don't show up for your job for a few weeks, people have a lot of questions and complaining. Most of the lower standing gods he could easily ignore. Others, not as much.
Firstly, he got stopped by Hera, complaining about Zeus and demanding Hermes delivers him divorce papers. She had done this several times before, but they always make up before going through with it. It was moreso a routine at this point.
Hermes quickly started making excuses around it, some more convincing than the others, before pointing out they were right outside Zeus' office and she could just leave it there. This satisfied her, and he could finally move.
Then he was stopped by Hephaestus, afterwards Amphitrite, then lastly Eros.
"Wait!" He stopped the other God's rambling about uselessness of dating apps. "Eros, I will deliver all your complaints to Zeus directly, if you can get your brother to shoot an arrow for me."
"But Anteros' arrows are so... so cruel! They don't make love just kill for revenge. You don't want that! I can just make them fall in love with something hideous if you want."
Hermes considered it for a few seconds. "No, that won't work." He remembered how backed Eros' last shot went when he was asked to make someone fall in love with something hideous. "Thanks anyway, bye!" Hermes flew up into the air and waved Eros bye, until he was out of sight.
"But wait! What about my complaints?" But Hermes was already gone. "Damn it," he muttered.
Once Hermes arrived back, the storm was already raging on outside. It seems as if Zeus had noticed it too, as he heard lighting striking in the distance.
The trees and plants in your gardens swished from side to side, bending their trunks almost to the point of snapping. As he got closer, he could see the garden chairs flying into the bushes and the empty picknick table where the fun, family barbecue had been held.
Hermes couldn't help but smile at his work. He quickly flew down, but stopped once he saw a figure, crumpled in on herself, searching through the bushes. Why on the riving styx were you outside?!
"Hermes!" He heard you yell. "Where are you?! Hermes!"
You were outside looking for him! His heart broke as he watched you cry. He should have been faster. He swiftly flew down, hiding himself behind a tree and transformed into a tortoise once more.
Quickly, he made his way to the bushes you were searching through, and sprung out.
You couldn't believe your eyes, when Hermes, your mischievous, little tortoise, jumped into your arms from the bushes. The rain bounced from his shell onto the ground, his little feet were covered in mud, staining your coat.
"Hermes! Where were you?!" You hugged him close to you, quickly standing up and made you way back to the house and shelter. "I was so worried about you."
Through the rain, he noticed the tears rolling down your cheeks. Your eyes were red and puffy. You opened the door, finally finding shelter.
As soon as you had stepped inside, your mother wrapped Hermes up in a towel and, after you had taken off your raincoat, you as well. "Oh, honey, your pants are completely soaked. Go change, before you get sick."
You carried Hermes up to your room, placing him on your bed, towel still wrapped around him. You petted the top of his head. "You really know how to worry someone, don't you?" You kissed the place you had been petting, before standing up and changing out of your wet clothes.
You woke up with Hamish next to you. He was deep asleep, his arms around you. His long, brown hair fell over his cheek. He looked ethereal, other worldly. His beauty was unfair.
You carefully plucked his strong arms off you, and replaced yourself with a pillow. His face nuzzled into its side, and he sleepily whispered, "too early."
You hadn’t really had the chance to look around his apartment last night, too busy admiring Hamish. It was weirdly empty, no pictures, no personal belongings, no messes anywhere. It felt as if you were walking through a showroom, a pretty showroom, but a showroom nonetheless.
It took you a while of sniffing around before finding them; Hanish's keys. Was it slightly insane and stalkerish to steal the keys of a guy you haven't even know for three months? Yeah probably, but Hamish appreciate a bold stunt, and this was one.
You snuck out the apartment, not waking Hamish.
Looking out your bedroom window, you concluded that the storm wouldn’t calm any time soon. "Looks like we'll be stuck inside fir a few hours."
Hermes was in the process of attenpting to push one of your mugs off the desk. Born a tortoise, meant to be a cat, you thought. You decided to just let him, the mug was old and the tortoise was growing bored without anything fun to do.
The mug was almost over the edge, when a knock came from your door. "Hey, it's me," Sash said sheepishly throught the door. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, just come in." As he walked in, the door fell closed behind him. "It's a bit of a mess. Hope you don’t mind."
"It's alright, my place is worse." Sash immediatly spotted Hermes little scheme. He quickly picked up the mug and set it down in a safer spot. "Don't go making a mess pal, especially after the stunt you just pulled."
Hermes' head was spinning. How dare this mere mortal enter his and your safe-space; your bedroom, and then stop him from doing mischievous that would have cheered you up.
His anger, however, soon turned into fear. You and Sash, all alone, with only a... a... pet that couldn't speak, couldn't object, in your bedroom. Absolutely not!
"It's not his fault." You picked Hermes up and sat him down on the bed with you. "He got seduced away by some delicious smelling plants. Right?" You put your finger under Hermes' chin, slowly steering him to nod. "He agrees."
Sash looked down at the tortoise. "Right..." His gaze turned back to you. "I just don't think you should have gone out there in the storm. You worried your parents sick."
You took a deep breath, trying to calm your anger. "Then, what about Hermes?"
"He would have been fine!"
"You don't know that!"
"No, fine, but you could have been hurt! You matter much more than some stupid tortoise! Don't go bringing yourself in danger for a pet! A PET!"
"Hermes isn't just a pet! I went searching for him because he matters TO ME! I don't care that I could have been hurt."
"Y/n listen. Hermes is a tortoise. When something happens to him, you just buy a new one and name it two-point-o. There is no need to risk your health for it!"
"You know what Sash, fuck off. Get out of my room, and as soon as the storm is over, get out of my house. I don't want to see you or your stupid face."
He rolled his eyes. "Liste-"
"LEAVE!"
He left with his head hanging low slamming the door on his way out. Tears had started to stain your cheeks once again. You fell onto the bed, hiding your ugly-crying in the pillow.
You felt a little 'thud' against your hand. Lifting your head, you found Hermes, ready to cuddle and make you feel better about everything, just like always.