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“To be back? I thought it might, but I stopped biting my tongue and I stopped allowing Zeus and all of them to push me around.”

Aphrodite sighed. “Must be nice.” She knew she was revealing much more than might be safe. After all, the backstabbing and betrayals were legendary on Olympus, but this closet, these quiet confessions did not seem real somehow. Athena did not seem real. Maybe because Aphrodite had never really paid any attention to the severe and austere goddess before. Maybe she should have.

As if reading her thoughts, Athena’s voice was suddenly closer and so was her body heat. And so was a much needed change of subject. Who would’ve guessed that a virtual stranger could read her moods so well?

“You really thought about me?” If the intonation had been playful, Aphrodite might’ve flirted back, turned it on a dime into something else, something hot and sexual. If Athena reciprocated, they’d be burning up this closet in no time. But the voice was tentative and earnest and Aphrodite’s heart stuttered just a little. This nerd, this lovable nerd, such a duality she was. Even back then. Beautiful, yet aloof, brilliant, but rash. Wise and hotheaded, quick to rage and quick to kindness. And even after all these centuries, a touch insecure. That made her all the moreappealing. Appealing in a way Aphrodite was not ready to allow herself to examine.

“Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far.” She heard an exhale next to her and, in the shadows, as her eyes adjusted, could see a smile forming. No hard feelings then. “As you said, I really try to keep busy and avoid the hustle and bustle, but even I felt the balance of the Olympus shift, and I wondered about that.”

“Yes, because you were always so concerned with that famous balance on Olympus.” Athena’s sarcasm was extra dry. After a second, they both chuckled, the sounds mingling seamlessly.

“I think I was just desperate to stay out of the way. I still am. And I wondered how you did it, is all.” Sighing, Aphrodite turned towards her companion. The darkness was doing funny things to her brain. Everything seemed so simple, so translucid, despite her not being able to see much. It was an amazing sensation. The clarity. She’d forgotten when she’d felt it for the last time, and yet here she was, in the janitor’s closet, with Athena smelling like comfort and safety, having the clearest sight in ages. So strange, so wonderful.

“I always thought you flighty. Shallow…” Athena sounded tentative, uncertain. And with words like these, she damn well should be. What did she even mean?

“Wow, thank you. And here I was going to tell you I was joking earlier and have actually entertained good thoughts about you.” For some reason, she felt a strong pang of regret at hearing that characterization of herself. She rarely cared what anyone thought of her, and yet, this one hurt.

“No, please.” There was that quiet concern and that earnestness again. Why was she finding it adorable, even in an insult? So she held her words back as Athena tentatively went on, “I haven’t seen you in so long, and honestly haven’t thought of you in longer than that probably… Damn, I’m making a messof this, am I not?” Aphrodite had to smile at that and unbidden, her hand rose to touch that chiseled face. Quite like marble, smooth and all those wonderful angles.

“You kind of are.”

“I’m sorry, I just… What you went through? I never really considered any of it. It was Olympus business, as usual. Pillage, start wars, kill, maim. Commit atrocities and in the same breath, accomplish heroic feats. And above all, use love to all ends. And the day before yesterday? I think I could finally see it all unfold. Sort of live, you could say. The manipulation, the cornering, the very subtle threats. And you sat there and acted stoically, aside from going pale. I felt it was so brave. And so I started thinking of you quite differently. Not shallow, not flighty. Valiant. A survivor. And yeah, ballsy. Although that is a very male-centric descriptor. Having ovaries of steel?” She huffed out a breath and the longer strands of her fringe tickled Aphrodite’s skin.

“Is that an academic assessment of my outburst?”

“You’re laughing at me.” The aggravated note in Athena’s voice made Aphrodite want to hug her, but she contained herself.

“Maybe just a little.” She ran her fingers through those silky threads, tucking them behind Athena’s ear. “I don’t think sitting quietly and taking it was brave. I am just tired, you know? Well, of all the gods, I guessyou’d know best.” As she slowly withdrew her hand, Athena’s elegant one caught it and held it, tenderly but firmly.

“I do. Part of the reason I stopped being the All-Mighty Goddess of War, was the criticism, very well aimed and very correct, of my behavior on various occasions where I was unfair, or reckless. And I got tired. I did most of it because I was supposed to. We are puppets, the lot of us. The Olympians.” She said it with such disdain, Aphrodite tightened her grip. “We all dance to Zeus’s tune, and ultimately he is one hedonisticbastard. He used you, and yet you survived and you went on, doing your job, being you. He used me and I quit…”

“No, you reinvented yourself. Don’t tell me you did it just because you recognized the error of your arrogant ways.” The suddenly-becoming-so-dear sound of Athena’s laugh was like satin against her skin.

“No, I can’t tell you that. Vexing Zeus has been an incentive in itself.” The gentle fingers were tracing patterns on her palm, but instead of tickling, the gesture was causing a strange tightness in her throat. Why the sudden emotion?

Sometime during their conversation, they had ended up sitting on the floor. The hardness of the boards was uncomfortable, but she didn’t want to voice it, lest it spell the end of their tête-à-tête, and she wanted it to last. At least for a couple of minutes more.

“Was that why you jumped to my defense?” Aphrodite held her breath.

Athena’s chuckle was her answer. “Which time? Because my motivations have varied, I have to be honest.”

“Back then, at dinner?” Aphrodite didn’t much care which time, but chose to pinpoint this particular one, just to see where this line of questioning would lead them. The earlier explanation and the subtle boast that Athena put in it should not have been a turn on, but Aphrodite hoped her palms hadn’t gotten damp, for it would give her away. It was hot in here, though perhaps not because of the stuffiness in the air. This woman’s Jekyll and Hyde act, the shy, tentative scholar and the confident, almost brash warrior, were doing things to Aphrodite. She trembled, and stretched her legs. Not that it helped.

“At dinner you surprised me. Cornered, vulnerable, bold, stoic.” The slightly callused fingers danced slowly before encircling her wrist and the move, so simple yet so erotic,made her recross her legs. “Beautiful. But then you always were beautiful.”

“Ah… And the other times?” It was disconcerting, losing the upper hand to Athena in what certainly had moved into flirting territory, but she couldn’t find steady ground underneath her feet. Did she think she had clarity? Did she really think this scent, this darkness, this woman gave herclarity? She could barely see from the fog of lust clouding her mind. And other places.

“Those other times my motivations were less pure?—”

The door to the closet opened so suddenly, she had to shield her eyes from the light spilling in. The fact that she did it with her left hand, leaving her right one still in Athena’s hold, was neither here nor there.

“Well, I had a feeling that you’d be in the most unpredictable of places, Dite.” Sabine leaned against the doorframe, and her smile was downright devious. “Or maybe I was wrong, and this is the most predictable place of them all? Not to mention the company.”

Aphrodite wanted to wipe that arrogant smirk right off the damn cupid’s face. Since she wasn’t in the position to do that, she allowed Athena to help her up and with her shoulders thrown back, stalked out of the closet and straight up to the elevator bank. She needed a break. And maybe a cold shower. Those romance novels did not lie about the close proximity cliché. As a literary instrument, it was very effective. As a life experience? Hot.

5

WHERE FRIENDS TO LOVERS IS ALSO DISCARDED (ALBEIT SOME BECOMING VERY FRIENDLY)