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Thanatos felt the tug of a fated soul's thread being cut, and in a flash of the liminal magic that was his alone he left the House of Hades to appear in the mortal world. He found himself in a richly decorated bedroom, where an old man lay perfectly still in a bed, surrounded by people who looked to be not so much friends and family as court functionaries. A king, then.

The god of death was invisible in the mortal world unless he chose to manifest himself, and this time he did not. He only gathered up the cut thread--the soul--and carried it via that same magic through his own in-between realm and into the underworld, where he released the soul into the red rush of the river Styx to find its place.

Hopefully that would be his only soul to carry today. He was not exactly fond of his increased workload of late.

Thanatos didn't carry every single mortal soul personally. That would be impossible for one being, god or not, to do. By his power and by his will souls crossed from mortality into the underworld, but it was necessary every so often for him to perform the symbolic renewing of that power and will by personally carrying those souls heavily touched by fate.

So he carried poets, heroes, kings...and gods.

Including one stubborn idiot of a blood god, whose cut thread he'd had to carry nearly every day, of late. Seeing the god--the man--he loved suffer and die so much was personally distressing, and it was also more work than he was used to.

Still, it had to be done. He'd dared to refuse once, and that had been risk enough. Refusing too often would mean weakening his power, causing souls to become lost between life and death. He took his duty far too seriously to do that.

Since Zagreus was on his mind--though truly Zagreus was on Thanatos' mind nearly all the time--he decided to check in on his gorgeous, ridiculous, wonderful, idiotic boyfriend.

He found Zagreus in Elysium, fighting a room full of exalted warriors. Zagreus hailed him cheerfully, and Thanatos couldn't help but smile in response. The blood good loved a good fight, and Thanatos had to admit he did as well. So he didn't hesitate, but joined in, counting his kills in their by-now well established contest. Zagreus was always ahead overall, but sometimes Thanatos managed a brief win.

This time, though, Zagreus' sword definitely felled more than Thanatos' scythe. Zagreus shook the blood from the magical weapon and sheathed it, then turned to Thanatos, his eyes shining with post-battle energy. Thanatos lost his grip on his scythe--which promptly vanished back into the energy it had come from--as Zagreus tackled him and gave him an enthusiastic kiss. Thanatos wanted to be annoyed about needing to retrieve the divine weapon, but couldn't manage it, he was too delighted to be kissing back.

He tasted blood in the kiss--copper and salt--which sent a shiver through him. Zagreus' blood was strange and unnatural, and something about it fascinated Thanatos. A god should bleed golden ichor, which tasted sharp as acid, not this sweet-salt mortal redness. But of course Zagreus was the god of blood, and mortal blood flowed in his veins, immortal though the rest of him might be.

So when Zagreus broke from the kiss, though not from the embrace, Thanatos couldn't resist reaching up and wiping off the trickle of bright red that ran from the corner of Zagreus' mouth. He licked it from his finger, eyes half-closed as he savored the few drops.

Zagreus bit his lip, his embrace suddenly tightening. "You know," he murmured, "the way you lick that up tempts me to ask you to lick other things."

Thanatos chuckled. "But would those other things taste as sweet?"

"Heh." Zagreus shrugged and shifted his weight. "I don't know. It's just blood."

Thanatos frowned. "It bothers you?"

"Gods aren't supposed to have blood. Knowing it's my domain helps, but I've spent a lot of time getting mocked for it."

"Well, I like it." Thanatos drew his finger along Zagreus' arm, where he had another shallow cut, and lapped up another few drops. "Mmm..." He couldn't help the soft noise of pleasure.

"I guess there's one good thing about it, then." Zagreus smiled wryly.

Thanatos smiled back. "Looks like that's all I'm getting this time, though. Those exalted warriors hardly put a scratch on you."

Zagreus looked at Thanatos, his mis-matched eyes suddenly serious. "Do you want more, then?"

Thanatos felt his cheeks heating and knew he was blushing. "Ah... I can hardly bite open your throat and take some, so I'm not sure it matters."

"Why not?"

Those two words brought Thanatos' mind to a skidding halt. "Wh-what?!"

"Why not? It's not as though you could do me any permanent harm, I'm immortal. And I'm quite used to injury and pain. So if you like the taste of it so much, why not? I don't mind." He smiled, sincere and warm. "I like it when I can please you, you know. If my blood pleases you, have as much of it as you like."

"Truly?" asked Thanatos, suddenly breathing faster.

"Truly," said Zagreus.

"Stars and darkness," said Thanatos, his voice suddenly thick. He bent his head to nuzzle at Zagreus' neck, feeling the warm pulse of blood rushing there. Oh, how he wanted it. He couldn't quantify exactly why, he was simply fascinated with it, with the taste of it, with the dual, mortal-and-divine nature it represented, and with Zagreus himself. He loved to take Zagreus' cock into him, and take his seed. This was somehow the same, and he moaned as he nibbled and nipped there.

"Oh, yeah," breathed Zagreus, one hand coming up to the back of Thanatos' head, encouraging him.

Thanatos made an incoherent sound of need. His teeth grew suddenly sharper, that change trivial for one who was kin to the Olympians, notorious for changing their shapes at will. With long fangs he bit down suddenly, and groaned as the hot, sweet redness of it welled up into his mouth.

"Ah!" Zagreus' cry was of pleasure as well as pain, and his fingers clenched in Thanatos' hair, holding his head there as Thanatos drank in the heady red rush.

It was glorious, wonderful, amazing, and yet somehow it still didn't seem enough. Thanatos shifted, and bit in again, his teeth sinking now into the pulse point, the thick vein where Zagreus' very life ran just beneath the skin. Blood gushed into his mouth, and he moaned, unable to swallow it all, aware that it was running over them both, staining Zagreus and himself with crimson.

"Oh, fuck," Zagreus moaned, suddenly clinging to Thanatos. "Oh, hell..." Thanatos could feel Zagreus trembling, but his voice still sounded passionate, not fearful. He was clinging to the death god tightly, and Thanatos put his arms more firmly around Zagreus, supporting him, his lover's knees obviously going weak. Thanatos couldn't put his full attention on that, though, because he was lost in the red, pulsing rush of Zagreus' blood. It was beautiful, marvelous, blissful as he took in all he could manage, his eyes tightly closed, his whole being focused on the sweet, copper-salt taste of Zagreus.

"Oh... Thanatos..." Zagreus sagged further in his arms, going weak, hardly holding himself up at all. Thanatos still drank, soaked in red, unable to help himself. This was everything he'd fantasized about, when he'd thought about Zagreus' strange, mortal blood.

Yet as Zagreus went utterly limp, eyes rolling back, Thanatos suddenly realized what he'd done. He knew death, and he should have known perfectly well that cutting into a man's jugular vein would bring it. He lowered Zagreus to the ground, supporting him. Thanatos' face was creased in worry, no longer drinking, but the red flood didn't cease. It was slower now, though, the pulse of it slowing too, and he knew in that moment that he had indeed killed his love.

"Oh, damn. Zagreus, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," said Zagreus, his voice a weak, breathy whisper. "Meet me in Father's house?"

"Of course." Thanatos kissed him, leaving blood on Zagreus' too-blue lips, feeling worry and shame as he watched Zagreus die in front of him, at his own hand. Thanatos shuddered as he saw the pulse of blood from Zagreus halt, felt the thread cut, the soul set loose. Oh gods above, it wasn't supposed to be like this.

"I'm sorry, my love," whispered Thanatos, saying what was so hard for him to say when Zagreus could hear. He kissed Zagreus' forehead, and watched as his body faded away, the divine essence that held it together now gone elsewhere. Then he summoned his scythe, bringing the power of his domain with it, and caught up Zagreus' soul. He carried it into the Styx, releasing it there, knowing where it was bound. In a flash of light he appeared on the steps that climbed from the river into the House of Hades, even as Zagreus climbed up out of the bloody waters, completely coated in red.

Thanatos shivered, letting his scythe fall again, heedlessly. Oh fuck. He'd been focused on apologizing to Zagreus, but he hadn't been thinking about the Styx, about the flood of blood that his blood god lover would now be drenched in. Hell.

"Hey there, Than." Zagreus grinned, standing where blood still lapped around his knees. It streamed from him, thick and red and compelling, and Thanatos found himself licking his lips.

"Ah..."

"Hah! You should see your face." Zagreus grinned, with blood sluicing over his face, too, saturating his hair. Thanatos found himself stepping down the stairs without even meaning to.

Zagreus met him on the first step clear of the Styx, and folded his arms around Thanatos, immediately soaking his chiton with blood. Their lips met in an intense kiss, Thanatos trembling with it, Zagreus aggressive and eager. When they broke from the kiss, Zagreus glanced at the stairs, where if they took only one more step up his father's desk would be in view. "Can we go to your place?"

"Yes," said Thanatos, and he held Zagreus tightly and pulled him through that special power, into that liminal space between life and death, where his house lay amid a strange mixing of the void of nothingness and the Styx's carmine waters.

They arrived in the atrium, the mingled view of red and black dominating the sky above, such as it was, but neither of them had eyes for that, they only gazed at each other, and next thing Thanatos knew he'd been shoved down to the marble floor, Zagreus atop him, kissing him intensely, blood dripping down around them both.

Thanatos tasted the blood of Styx in the kiss, that sweet-copper-salt, but it wasn't the same. It was a pale shadow of the taste of Zagreus' divine blood. So he couldn't help but break from the kiss to nip at Zagreus' neck, fangs still sharp, pricking there dangerously.

"Ah, Than, yes," gasped Zagreus, so Thanatos bit down, not into the vein this time, but still seeking that hot red rush. He got it, not a pulsing flood now, but still more than enough as he sucked at the marks his teeth made there.

Zagreus rolled over, pulling Thanatos atop him, holding their bodies tight together, and the feel of Zagreus' hot, hard erection managed to catch Thanatos' attention, despite the red bliss of Zagreus' blood. He wanted both things, and thought perhaps he could have them. His lover had ever been willing to oblige him, after all.

It was easy enough for Thanatos to sit back and pull up his chiton, to yank down his pants and undershorts. Zagreus seemed to have the same idea, lifting the hem of his chiton and freeing his cock from its confinement. That too had blood smeared on it, and Thanatos set himself astride Zagreus easily, eagerly, putting the head of his cock, slick with pre and blood both, against Thanatos' anus.

"Ah, Than," groaned Zagreus as Thanatos started to press down. His hands grabbed Thanatos' hips, encouraging him, pulling him down firmly until he'd taken every single inch of Zagreus' cock.

"Oh yes," said Thanatos, clenching on it, his own cock rock hard and tenting up the hem of his chiton. He bent over again, finding the seeping red where he'd bitten in, and sucking at it, tasting that electrifying flavor once more. Zagreus wrapped his arms around tight, thrusting slowly up into Thanatos, hands gripping the shoulders of his chiton.

"Yeah... Oh yeah... You feel amazing."

"You taste amazing," managed Thanatos, lost in it, almost beyond words, filled with the heat of Zagreus' cock and of his blood, hardly able to think as both sensations overcame him.

Yet he'd had so much blood, the flood earlier, the red the Styx, this perfect moment now, that he finally lifted his head and sat back, clenching on Zagreus' cock.

Zagreus groaned, bucking up into Thanatos, increasing his previously slow pace. Thanatos tipped his head back, reveling in the sensation, in being filled with Zagreus' life and with his cock, in the red mess that covered them both.

"Ah, yeah. Mmm." Zagreus took a hand from Thanatos' hips, prompting the death god to glance down at him. He saw Zagreus swipe his fingers over where red still seeped from his neck, smearing blood across his hand, and next thing Thanatos knew Zagreus had curled his hand around Thanatos' cock stroking it, his own blood slicking his grip.

"Oh, fuck!" Thanatos was instantly on the edge, tensed and panting. He couldn't keep from making gasping, whimpering noises of needy bliss as Zagreus thrust up into him hard and stroked his cock in time to it, his grip still slick with his own blood. Oh gods, that was amazing. Thanatos clenched again, trembling, and suddenly came hard, his seed spurting out over Zagreus, splattering milky white over the red already coating him.

"Mmm, yeah," groaned Zagreus. He stroked Thanatos for a few moments more, until he'd gotten every drop, then grabbed his hips again and pulled him down hard, thrusting up roughly now.

"Ah!" Thanatos' cry held both pleasure and pain as Zagreus slammed up into him, but he still kept clenched tight on his lover's cock, seeking to bring Zagreus to the peak of pleasure he'd just felt, and it took only a few moments longer until Zagreus let out a low cry and came, holding Thanatos down on him, hot seed spilling into the death god.

"Ah, yes, Than. Fuck, yes!"

Then it was done, and Zagreus went limp, relaxing where he lay sprawled on the floor. Thanatos bent over, hands braced in the cool, red-smeared marble on either side of Zagreus, and panted hard, feeling completely spent. That had been an all-new level of intensity.

After a long moment Zagreus reached up and cupped Thanatos' cheek, his hand still smeared with blood and semen, but Thanatos only sighed blissfully and leaned into the caress.

"Wow," said Zagreus. "Okay, if you're that into blood, I'm going to insist we do this more often."

Thanatos chuckled, looking down at him. "What, even the part where I accidentally killed you?"

"Eh." Zagreus smiled and shrugged. "It's not like I don't die all the time anyway." He grinned and added, "The most annoying part is the ridiculous mess you've made."

Thanatos laughed. "Me? Most of this is your blood. Or from the Styx, so still yours."

"I'm still blaming you. Either way, though, we both definitely need a bath. More so than usual, even.

"Hah! Indeed." Thanatos climbed off of Zagreus, then held out a hand to pull him up. Together they went into the bathing room, which was modestly sized but luxuriously appointed. Zagreus stripped his blood-soaked clothing off with a huff of disdain.

"Hell. It's so easy to shake it off and be clean when I first step out. I guess that doesn't work once it has a chance to soak in. Or something. What a mess."

Thanatos shrugged as he shed his own clothing. "It's blood power, so it's your power and I don't understand it."

"I don't either. Which is a problem."

"You're young yet, as gods go. You'll learn."

Zagreus rolled his eyes, stepping down into the bath's steaming water. The pool was small as these things went, but had plenty of room for the two of them. "What, are you being the elder brother again?"

"Old habits die hard," said Thanatos. "And I should know. I'm...pretty old. Older than most gods."

Zagreus blinked at him. "Wait, what?"

"You didn't know?"

"Uhm. No. No, I didn't. I thought you were, I don't know... Not that much older than me."

"Things have been dying in this world for a long time, Zagreus," said Thanatos softly. "That I am inexperienced in some things doesn't mean I'm young." Thanatos cleared his throat. "Death is...far removed from love."

"Oh." Zagreus ducked his head under the water, but Thanatos caught a hint of his flush, and smiled. When Zagreus came up, running his hands through his hair to comb the blood from it, he eventually said, "But... Are you older than my father, then?"

Thanatos leaned back against the pool's wall, relaxing. "Oh, yes. Hell was mine, a very, very long time ago, you know. It's the realm of the dead, after all, and I am the god of death. I didn't mind giving it up, though. I am ill-suited to rule."

"Huh. What was it like, then? Before my father."

"Like nothing much. It was hardly more formed than my liminal void." Thanatos shrugged. The memories were old, worn, barely there. "Everything was bounded by the Styx, but...I don't think the other rivers were here yet. There was no organization, no separate levels. It was all one thing, and I didn't pay it much mind. Back then humans had barely been created, so mostly the souls here were the fragile little things of animals, even plants sometimes. Very old trees have souls, you know, and venerated herbs can." Thanatos smiled. "They don't have much substance, and certainly no personality, but they were here. I just let the souls mingle and do whatever they wanted, though. I didn't care. Not like your father. He has a passion for making certain that all things have their proper place. I don't always agree with what he does, but I think he does well."

"Huh." Zagreus leaned back too, gazing up at the tiled ceiling. "But then... If you've been around that long, why all the interest in blood? Surely it's boring by now?"

Thanatos chuckled. "Is it? Whose blood would I have tasted, before yours? I would hardly dally with a mortal. I might as well dally with a sheep. We're too different. But you're a god, with mortal blood. You're immortal as I, and yet wrapped up in both life and death. That's *fascinating*."

"Oh. Then... Do you like seeing me die?"

"Hell no!" Thanatos recoiled, the water sloshing around him. More softly he repeated, "No. Not remotely. Your blood intrigues me, yes. Your death, though... That all too often distresses me. I don't like seeing you suffer. And I must, you know. I come to collect your thread every time. I see how you die, how you've been wounded, how you gasp and struggle. I care for you, Zagreus. I don't like that part of it at all."

"Than..." Zagreus reached out, putting his hand on Thanatos' shoulder. "Don't be upset when I die. I chose this, you know. I've found my mother, my urgent quest is done, but I still go out. There's so much more to see and so much more to learn. That I shed my own blood so often is only the way I am. I'm a god of blood, as people keep telling me. My own as much as anyone else's. Dying and being reborn endlessly is my lot, and I don't mind it. Whatever temporary pain I feel, I always forget. So please, don't fret about it. I could stop, if it bothered me."

"Not being bothered by your suffering is easier said than done," said Thanatos. "But I'll try."

"Good." Zagreus grinned suddenly. "Anyhow, I'm not sure you can complain about me dying when you're the one who killed me last time."

"Urgh." Thanatos resisted the urge to sink under the water. "That was unintentional, I assure you. I got...carried away."

Zagreus snickered. "Wonder what exactly it says in your brother's little book about that one?"

"Oh, gods." Thanatos put his face in his hands. "I am very, very, very sorry. Honestly, I came to meet you at the Styx entirely to apologize. But, ah..."

"But the sight of me all soaked in blood was too much for you?" Zagreus grinned broadly.

"You could say that, yes."

"Well, don't be sorry. You don't need to apologize. I've died so many times I've lost count, but that was definitely the best way to go I've ever felt." Zagreus' grin grew even wider.

Thanatos felt himself flushing. "Ah... That's, uh, good."

"You can do that again any time, in fact."

"Er..." Thanatos managed to pull himself together and smile back. "I'll try to do it without killing you next time."

"I don't know, I might insist on that part too." Zagreus leaned over and kissed Thanatos' cheek.

"Well... Maybe." Thanatos pulled Zagreus closer, and leaned against him as they both soaked in the warm water, which by now was distinctly pink-tinged. Zagreus put his head on Thanatos' shoulder with a happy sigh. Thanatos leaned his head on Zagreus' and relaxed. This had all been more than a little peculiar, but it had definitely been good, and he thought he must be the luckiest person ever, god or mortal, to have a lover who was so perfectly matched to him, even in such strange a way as this.