Work Text:
Zagreus couldn’t say that he always understood Hypnos, nor could he say that he much minded that fact either. Hypnos was a refreshing breath of transparency in a realm filled with lies, obfuscating, and half-truths wrapped in tragedy and Zagreus could sincerely say he enjoyed their time together, despite how little they had time to do so. While he didn’t personally like taking breaks for too long, the short times he would spend near Hypnos’s post made up for the break-neck pace he set for himself a majority of the time.
It was during one of those breaks that he first noticed the tremors that would rack his friend’s arms and legs during the few times Hypnos would rise from his lounge. His pale hands would clench against the trim of his robes, holding them shut as he shuffled along beside Zagreus, going at a snail’s pace beside him while the younger godling would pause his steps and look back to make sure he hadn’t lost Hypnos in the small walk from the Styx to the breakroom. By the time they made it to a free table and sat down, Hypnos’s legs would buckle slightly as he made to sit on one of the comfortable stools that Zag had purchased for the place, sighing in content and laying his head down into his crossed arms.
It concerned Zagreus how weak Hypnos would become from such a short distance, and he wondered if this was why his friend never really left his post often. He could only count on one hand how many times he had seen the other god walk, not including their recent breaks at the lounge room. Perhaps he could reach out to Thanatos or Nyx and see if this was a recent issue or a recurring one that he had just glossed over, in his rush to find Persephone. Though he wasn’t sure if they would be upfront with him about it, considering their discontent with Hypnos’s work and their desire to keep things close to their chests. They were similar to each other in that way, and highly dissimilar to Hypnos in that regard. Still, he would try to reach out to them about it.
“Hypnos,” Zagreus started, waiting until the other godling had tilted his head over to him, tired eyes glancing up to look into his own, “are you okay, mate? Your legs are shaking like a newborn fawn.” Granted, Zagreus had never seen a fawn…yet. He had read about them from one of Achille’s accounts and based on the description alone, Hypnos fit the bill pretty neatly.
“Hm…oh!” Hypnos pushed himself upwards, his arms still trembling slightly as he did so, placing his head in his hand as his other one tapped out a rhythm on the glossy table in front of them. “I’m fine! Totally a-okay, even! I just…,” he paused, eyes drooping a little as he trailed off. His face dropped a bit heavier into his palm, cheek squishing from the pressure.
Oh, Hypnos had fallen asleep again. Zagreus wasn’t sure whether to be amused, concerned, or annoyed. Probably a mix of all three, if he was being honest with himself.
Tapping the sleeping god’s face lightly, Zagreus leaned forward a bit to keep their conversation private in the crowded space. It wasn’t uncommon for Sleep Incarnate to, well, sleep in odd spots and in crammed rooms when he could but still. He doubted Hypnos would want the other shades to see him like this when it was clear he had fallen asleep from effort and not his natural state.
Hypnos stuttered away slowly, his eyes blinking open before he leaned back a bit to glance at his friend. Zagreus waited until he was more awake, reaching his hand over from the other’s pale cheek to tuck a strand of ghostly white hair behind his ear. The sleep god leaned further into the heat of his palm, squishing his cheek against it in a parody of his previous pose. Zagreus couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him at that, allowing Hypnos to use him as a heater for the moment, as long as he was still awake.
Even for Sleep, this was unusual. Sure, he always seemed to fall asleep at inane times, never able to be predicted when he would drop further into his floating chair or bounce up and cheerfully greet shades, but even this was more intense than his normal drowsiness. Zagreus wasn’t dumb, despite what his father seemed to imply. It was clear that their short journey from the front hall to the breakroom had wiped Hypnos out, draining what little energy he normally had. The Underworld prince had to wonder if perhaps he should have bitten the bullet and stayed at the other god’s station instead of dragging him over here, but Hypnos had seemed fine with it, happy to be included in his friend’s activities. Especially as Zagreus had implied that Meg and Than would be joining them, Hypnos’s interest piqued at the mention of the fury and his brother.
Speaking of, before Zagreus could continue the conversation, Meg appeared around the corner, her sharp eyes scanning the room. They narrowed when she spotted them, marching up to their table to stand before it in all her wrathful glory. She gave both of the younger gods an up-down glance, taking in their position and arching a brow at them, clearly seeking an explanation. Zagreus gave her a half-assed shrug, tilting his head towards Hypnos, who had closed his eyes again before Meg had reached them.
“Megaera, you’ve arrived!” Zag cleared his throat, gently moving his hand from Hypnos’s face. He had to grab the back of his blanket to keep him from hitting his face forcefully against the table’s surface, wincing when he heard the soft sound of a cut off choke. Oops. That was not his intention.
“Zagreus.” She said simply, yanking a chair from another nearby table and sitting down harshly, crossing her ankle over her other leg. Zagreus knew better though, for all her sharp lines and sharper tongue, Megaera cared. For him, for Thanatos, for the House. And that included Hypnos, who was doing a spectacular impression of a bedraggled shade, his bewildered expression and tired eyes making Megaera take a closer look at him. She checked over him with her eyes, cataloguing potential injuries and noting his shaking limbs, which had yet to stop.
“Do you mind explaining why Hypnos looks like he was just dragged up from the Lethe?” Her tone was tinted with something that Zagreus would be hesitant to label as concern but certainly bordering close to it. It was the most they were likely to get out of her in a public space, which was impressive.
Zagreus took a moment to readjust Hypnos against his shoulder, running a hand through his tangled hair to break away the knots. There was no way that Hypnos was going to be able to converse with them for very long unless he rested now, hopefully that would give time for Thanatos to show up. He was punctual, but his work sometimes drew him away from leisure (which included this hangout).
“It seems I managed to wear Hypnos out, although it was not my intention whatsoever,” Zagreus said with a mock sigh, tilting his head to look at Meg through his lashes. “Remind me to ask Nyx or Than about Hypnos’s health once this is over, I’m becoming concerned over it. We walked over from the front hall and he started to become shaky, and now he’s barely able to stay awake for more than a second.” He gently shook Hypnos with his shoulder to make his point, receiving a disgruntled grumble in return.
Megaera, for her part, leaned back and crossed her arms. She hummed, a low note in her throat that had Zagreus’s heart doing a flip, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She was the picture of cool disinterest now, her lips curled as she took the goblet handed to her by one of the staff shades passing by. Her wing flared a bit before settling against her shoulder blade, the leather of it shining a deep navy. For all her composure, her wing gave away her anxiety.
“He’s always been like this,” she started, sipping from her cup, “When we were first all created, Hypnos could keep up just fine with his siblings but over time, he started to wane. It wasn’t a quick thing, it took a long, long time to notice. Too long.” She stared at the mentioned god, watching his face as she took another sip of honeyed wine.
She started again, swallowing down her mouthful of drink.
“Soon enough, he could barely walk for longer than a few minutes. Thanatos, Nyx….even myself, we all thought it might have been a ploy for attention. Another way to avoid his duties to the House.” Her eyebrows furrowed, a shadow coming over her face. “It turns out, we were all wrong.”
Zagreus waited impatiently for her to continue, but she remained silent. He was about to needle her for more when another voice spoke first.
“This is something beyond our means to fix. The mortals call it chronic…ironic, isn’t it?” Thanatos shifted into view from Zagreus’s blind spot, brushing a hand against his shoulder and sliding it over to Hypnos’s hair as he moved along to the next open chair that Meg had pulled over. He sat down silently, leaning his weapon against the crook of his elbow as he eyed his twin brother, his eyebrows knitted together.
“That an immortal, chthonic being can have an illness as chronic as themself.” His tune was even, not betraying his thoughts, and Meg slid her goblet his way as she waved a hand for another drink.
“Oh…,” Zagreus glanced down at his friend, letting the warmth of his skin heat his own as he thought, “Is that why he always uses that floating lounge at his station? I always wondered why Father and Nyx would allow it if they were concerned about his working habits.”
Thanatos nodded, tipping the goblet back daintily to take a small swig of the wine, double glancing down at it when he noticed the taste of nectar that had been slipped in. Megaera ignored his look and sipped her own newly acquired drink, staring across the table at her partner and their friend.
“Should we…I don’t know, grab his chase then? In case he needs it?” Zagreus asked, clearly unsure of the next step but trying to push ahead. Eventually, they would need to get up to leave and Zag wasn’t sure if Hypnos would be well enough to make it back on his own, even with Zagreus’s help.
Thanatos and Megaera shared a look, a series of complicated emotions flitting through their eyes and across the tightness of their faces. It seems they had settled the debate, Thanatos turning back to nod at the prince. He reached his hand out to smooth the milky white strands of hair back from Hypnos’s forehead, gentle in a way that Zagreus didn’t often see with anyone but himself and Megaera. That hand slid towards Zag’s shoulder, sliding up the column of his neck and resting at the junction where his jaw met his ear. His cold fingers fiddled with the black wisps of hair there, and Zagreus felt himself soften. They were both here.
Megaera stood up, scooching the stool back into its original spot she had grabbed it from. Her wing fluttered for a moment as she looked down at her partners, calculating and deciding her next moves. Zagreus and Thanatos both watched her muscled back as she marched out of the breakroom, the shades milling about parting like the Red Sea around her intimidating form. She seemed to be making a straight shot to the hidden entrance from the front hall that Zag and Hypnos had gone through, likely towards his chair.
With that thought in mind, Zagreus sighed wistfully, enjoying the moment of both his partner and his friend close by. It wasn’t often he had both and he intended to savor the moment, even if only briefly. He opened his eyes after a few minutes to see Megaera just beginning to be coming back, the chair itself getting caught on the smaller opening.
Even from afar, Zag and Than could see her frustration and Thanatos stood up, taking his cold hands with him, to help her. Zagreus couldn’t help but laugh a little to himself as he watched the two normally strict, stern, and fierce entities stand with their arms crossed, glaring down at the offending item like it had personally insulted their lineage and ancestor in one long-winded rant. It was amusing, to say the least.
It was as Zagreus was distracted watching them begin to push the chair backwards to begin the trek down his hallway to enter that he felt a tug on his pauldron. He looked down at Hypnos only to find him awake again, staring blearily up at him. It was clear he had been awake for a few moments and the second he processed that they were still alone, a flurry of confusion crossed his face.
“Huh,” He muttered, drearily rubbing at his eye with the back of his hand, “I could have sworn I heard Meg and Than just now. Maybe not though?”
He left the question hanging in the air, clearly hoping Zagreus would answer it without his further prompting. Who was he to deny his friend?
“Yes, mate, they were. They just popped out to grab your chair so we can get you back to your post safely. Wouldn’t want you to take a little tumble in front of the entire audience of the King of the Underworld, would we?” He asked lightly, lips quirking upwards to gloss over his discomfort at the idea of his friend becoming a spectacle.
Hypnos shook his head rapidly, his curls swinging with the force. It only took a few seconds of that before his hand came back up to hold his head, the dizziness making its return. “Of course not, ha-ha! That would just be embarrassing! Oh, what would the shades say? They are nothing if not gossipers, I’ll tell you that much.” Hypnos laughed, allowing his head to tip to the side to smile up at Zagreus with sleep-ridden eyes.
“Of course not,” Zagreus agreed, wrapping his arms around Hypnos’s waist to help lift him upwards as he noticed Megaera and Thanatos making their approach towards the table with Hypnos’s floating lounge, the bright poppy red and brilliant gold making it far more noticeable in the breakroom than in the mighty main hall, where all the finest decor stayed to present Hades’ power. “Up and at ‘em, those shades won’t sign themselves in.”
“You know it!” Hypnos said cheerily, leaning his weight against the prince while they waited, flopping down on the chair the moment it was within reach. He let out a dreamy sigh of relief, stretching out like a cat only to re-curl back into a ball under his thick quilt. He let his pale hand drift out to hook his pinky with Zagreus’s, eyes close to shutting again.
“Thank you.”