10 - A few dates later

Michela snorted. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but this", she pointed to herself, "is just my regular face during any social outing." Her expression seemed to soften up a little bit, though. "You don't make me feel uneasy. I'm just slow at opening up. You're fine", she reassured him, tucking her hands in her coat's pockets. "And I'm fine with waffles, but I've never found a place where they don't make them all soggy and disgusting." She hesitated, but smiled again, a little less forced. "Guess I'll trust you to find a place."

Hypnos winked at Michela. "Leave it to me! If you're into crunchy, caramelized waffles, I know just the place where to take you! Just let me know when you'd like to meet." He shoved both of his hands into the pockets of his oversize jacket, and grinned at her. "Hey, one last thing- Are you alright with nicknames?"

"Alright. I guess we could decide over texts. I still don't know exactly what my working schedule will be in the nearest future", Michela admitted in a conciliatory way. Well, Hypnos was just so easy-going that it was almost impossible to not feel accomodating with him. She raised a brow at his question, though. "Hm. I guess it really depends on the nickname", she admitted, squinting suspiciously at the grinning man. She had once met a guy, back in highscool, that seemed to think that 'sugartits' was an acceptable name to call any girl he'd want to hit on.
Hadn't ended up too well for him when he had tried with her, I'll say that.

Hypnos shrugged, still smiling. "I like to give people shorter names to call them by. Like- Mike, but that'd be too masculine for you, I think. 'Chela? Michi? Do you actually have a nickname already?" He tilted his head. He was clearly not meaning any harm - and although 'sugartits' would have gotten him to snort like a middle-schooler at the thought, he would have never considered it. He was childish at times, but. C'mon. That's not how you call a girl you like, either.

Michela seemed to relax a little when she understood that 'nickname' merely meant shorten up her name a little. "Ah, usually I go by Michi, so that one's fine", she answered with a little shrug. All her friends called her Michi - usually because Lucia called her like that all the time anyway, and they ended up hearing it. "While I guess that Hypnos is already short enough as a name, right?", she added on a second thought.

"Michi, then!" Hypnos grinned, and then chuckled. "Yeah- Hypnos' short enough. My twin called me 'Nos' when we were small, but that hasn't aged well." He shrugged again, and smiled at her. "I won't hold you for too long though, Michi, I remember you had somewhere to go after our meeting?"

Michela did want to ask about this twin Hypnos had just named (she was curious) but indeed, she did have somewhere to go. "Ah- yeah, I need to get to work", she answered, glancing at her phone. Still on time. "Well. I'll be in touch, then", she added, turning around after waving her hand at him. "Bye, Hypnos. Have a good day", she added.

"Bye Michi!" Hypnos replied with a wide grin, while waving at her. He stayed to watch her first steps away, and eventually turned away, suppressing a yawn. Thankfully, he'd manage to get home before he collapsed and slept for a few hours again.

--

It had been almost a month since their first time together, and Charon was still loving every second of his relationship with Hermes. It had become rather frequent for him to invite his boyfriend over for some dinner with a happy ending, that was occasionally followed with a full morning of cuddles under the blanket.
He got so comfortable around the other man that he didn't bother anymore to keep his glasses on when at home. He was patiently chopping some vegetables down in his kitchen while waiting for his date to arrive.

Saying that Hermes was having the time of his life being in a stable, loving relationship with Charon would have been the understatement of the century.
He had - bitterly - thought that after a couple of weeks maybe the excitement and the novelty of it would have dwindled away, like it always had before. But it hadn't. It hadn't, and he had never been so happy to be wrong. He always looked forward to see Charon, always looked forward to talk to him, to laugh with him, to kiss him and touch him. To have him make love to him slowly, passionately and sweetly. His brain was full of Charon, all the time, non-stop, and he was all for it.
He had giddily made his way to his boyfriend's apartment, and announced his arrival by rapidly knocking away on the door, after adjusting a paper bag with a bottle of wine on his free arm.

Charon quickly wiped his hands on his apron - yes, his clothes were so expensive he couldn't simply go around without an apron to protect them, come on - and swiftly took it off before he went to open the door.
He was a little vain, and appearances were important.
He smiled to Hermes as soon as he saw him, and greeted him with a short sign before he invited him inside. Once he closed the door behind him, he quickly leaned in to peck his lips, and either help him with whatever he was carrying, or his jacket.

Hermes beamed when Charon opened the door, and smiled brightly at him. "Hey there, Boss! Sorry, I hope I'm not too late", he started, stepping inside. He hummed, pleased when he got pecked by his boyfriend, standing on his tip toes to prolong it when the other man pulled away. "I've brought you something, though", he added, offering him the bag with the wine bottle since he looked so eager to help. "And I think I look extremely cute, so that means I'm definitely forgiven for my delay, right?" He winked at him, shrugging off his jacket.

Charon chuckled. "Yes, you're cute. All is forgiven", he managed to sign with the bottle in his hands. He reached for Hermes' jacket to hang it on his coat rack for him, and finally looked inside the bag. He smiled when he saw the label, and signed a 'thank you' for Hermes. "I actually have a gift for you too. But I'm afraid we're going to have to wait after dinner for that."

Hermes grinned and bit his lip. "Ooh, is that so", he hummed, stepping closer to Charon. He laid his hand over his chest, feeling up the expensive material that made up his boyfriend's shirt and the muscles underneath. "Have you finally thought about about that do me against the kitchen counter thing I've not-so-subtly suggested so many times?", he whispered sultrily before laughing at his own joke. "I'm kidding, I know what you think about that already, it's fine", he added quickly, poking his boyfriend a little. "But that's alright then. I'll wait."
Knowing Charon and his penchant for romanticism, maybe there were some rose petals over the bed and candles in the bedroom, as a surprise!

Charon rolled his eyes with fondness. Granted, they had had that talk - but he was a big romantic, and sex in the kitchen was unsanitary, as he had stated so before. He nonetheless kissed Hermes again, and guided him to the kitchen, where he would tie his apron back on and resume to his cooking, while asking his beloved about his day. He listened happily to any story he might tell him, and then they had dinner together, before he gently lead Hermes towards his living-room, where there was a shoe-sized box waiting for them on the tea table.
In fact, it was a shoe box. He smiled at Hermes when he sat him down by his side. He said nothing when he handed Hermes said box, that contained a pair of running shoes, that were exactly of Hermes' size. It wasn't an overly expensive pair either - just comfortable, sports shoes. He had noticed the hole in the soles of the ones Hermes was constantly wearing, and had decided to remedy it.

Hermes merrily followed Charon to the kitchen, and asked first if he needed any help with his cooking, of course - but he largely preferred his boyfriend to do all that on his own, since he was leagues better than him. He did help set the table, though, if it wasn't ready yet. Then, after flopping down on a chair, he had proceeded to blabber on and about anything that had happened to him during the day, only at times getting distracted admiring the other man as he cut vegetables and tasted something from his pots and pans. 
The dinner was delightful, as per its usual, and drinking wine had made him more susceptible to amorous glances and laughing. So much so that he almost failed to notice the box, at first, busy as he was purring at his boyfriend and keeping his hand caged in his own.
He had to let it go, though, and he tilted his head when he saw such a large box being placed on his lap. A shoebox. He shot an interrogative smile to Charon, but he opened it nonetheless. A pair of new running shoes stared up at him, unassuming, comfortable-looking. The kind of shoes he'd have bought if he had seen them in a shop, because they wouldn't have been too heavy on his (empty) pockets, and because they looked great. 
Something he needed.
He felt himself laugh, a startled but joyful laugh, and he turned towards Charon. "You madman. You got me a new pair of shoes? What, you read my mind or something and knew I wanted to buy myself some? Is that one of your many vampire powers I don't know anything about yet?", he jokingly accused him, even though his grin looked almost moved now. He was so moved, as a matter of fact, that the usual sting of annoyance he felt at being gifted things outside of special occurrences didn't even bug him.
Because it wasn't pricey, it wasn't a poor attempt to give him something meaningless in order to buy his affection. It was thoughtful, and nice, and sweet. "Thank you. I love them. I-" He interrupted himself and instead put the shoes back down to dive in and leave a kiss on the lips of that sweet, thoughtful man who apparently knew him better than his own blood family.

Charon was pleased to see the look of surprise on Hermes' face, and his heart swelled with affection when he saw just how much he seemed to be liking his gift! Indeed, it had been carefully thought. He smiled when Hermes asked him how he managed to read his mind, because... he didn't. He had just happened to see the holes in his soles once, and had decided that his boyfriend deserved decent shoes to run around in.
He readily kissed Hermes back, and his smile widened a little bit, when he announced him afterwards, a little proud of himself, "I have a second gift for you." This one felt a little more solemn- well, he had gotten it to fully commemorate their sort of anniversary! He took out a small fancy box, and revealed a fancy golden bracelet with a few charms attached to it, without making it look too feminine. One very similar to the ones he wore - classy, luxurious, expensive.

Hermes was still so exhilarated by the first gift - and by just how much he wanted to plant kisses all over the face of that beautiful man - that he almost missed how he announced something about a second gift. He laughed, regretfully giving him a bit of space. "Aw Boss c'mon - you've got to stop spoiling me! What is it now, a new charm to attach to my backpack?" His own favorite one had broken off its chain just the week before, and he was pretty sure he had complained about that quite dramatically to anyone who would listen - which included Charon, of course. His laugh progressively died down, smile falling when he found himself staring to an expensive looking, golden bracelet.
Well. It wasn't a charm.
He was instantly taken aback with the flood of images of many similar gifts, all abandoned disdainfully in his bedroom back at Olympus' mansion. All of them bought without criteria, without taking into account what he wanted, without a thought about his taste. With the only intent to buy back something else from him.
The whiplash coming from how different this felt to him compared to the previous gift felt so strong that it left him strangely, uncharacteristically silent for enough time to probably worry Charon.

Charon indeed was reading Hermes' face carefully, and truth be told, he wasn't expecting the pain he saw there. He looked down briefly at the bracelet, then back at Hermes, and then laid the box on the table by their side. "You don't like it? You're not into bracelets, maybe?" They had pleasantly chatted about his many pieces of jewelry one morning already, especially the rings and bracelets he never took off, except to clean them. And he genuinely had thought that Hermes had enjoyed a few of them, hence why he had bought him this specific bracelet, and not another one.

Truth be told, Hermes had been so unfocused - following that traitorous little box being placed on the nearby table - when Charon had signed his questions that he had only noticed his hands moving a little too late. He shook his head, feeling suddenly guilty (because he knew he had just been rude) but unable to get rid of the sickness that had settled in his stomach. "Sorry, what?", he asked, embarrassed about forcing his boyfriend to sign again. He bit his lip when he registered the questions, though, and looked again towards the bracelet - as if it had just offended him greatly. "No, no, it's... it's pretty", he said, still with that same uneasy expression on his face. He was a good actor, he fancied himself so, but he couldn't really suppress the wariness in his tone. "Is there any... particular reason you bought this?", he suddenly asked then, nervously playing with his hands. "A special occasion I forgot?" He kind of hoped it was the case.

Charon didn't reply right away. He was still looking warily at Hermes, trying to understand what he did wrong in wanting to spoil him a little bit. In the end, he sighed, and made sure he looked at him when he signed his reply. "There's no occasion in particular. We've been seeing each other for a little more than two months, but it's not to commemorate a definite date either. You mentioned you liked my bracelets, so I wanted to give you one." His signing was a bit slow, because he was focused on his boyfriend's reaction. What would he say? Was this the answer he was waiting for?

Hermes kept on chewing nervously on his lower lip as he followed Charon's answer with his eyes, taking in his words. He sighed then, resting his back against the couch. He perfectly understood where his boyfriend was coming from - and he wasn't certainly going to hold a grudge against him because he had tried to be nice and had bought him something that probably the majority of people in a relationship would have been ecstatic to receive.
And there had been thought behind it, anyway.
He finally focused again and shot an apologetic smile at Charon. "I do like your bracelets, but... I mainly just like them because they're yours", he admitted. He seemed to be having some difficulties finding the right words, which was also strange coming from him. "Maybe I should... explain to you why I don't like to be gifted brand new jewelry, before you think I'm some kind of lunatic, or  ungrateful, or weirder than you probably already think I am", he joked a little, trying to ease up the atmosphere. He looked up at Charon, still nervously playing with his own hand, twisting and pulling on fingers. "Do you want to hear me out?"

Charon nodded. "Of course." Of course, he wanted to hear about what might have upset Hermes. He had understood already that he had been avoiding certain subjects, such as his family background. He had never pressured Hermes to tell him about his relatives, or why he wouldn't want to talk about them. But they definitely were at a turning point in their relationship when he needed to understand his boyfriend better to be able to not hurt him unwillingly.
He gently reached for Hermes' hands, trying to get him to not harm himself, and to comfort him.

Hermes let Charon hold his hands without resisting, and offered him yet another smile, but still not one of his usual, carefree ones.
He took a deep breath. "Alright. Here it comes", he murmured. "I'd hoped to avoid this kind of discussion for a little while longer." He took another deep breath. "I've been raised by a single mother. She was a nice woman, worked hard. Never had me miss anything. We weren't rich, but we were doing alright. Then, all of a sudden, she passed away. I was eleven." He paused for a little bit. "Everything happened kind of suddenly, I guess. One minute I was in an apartment, the next I was about to be sent in an orphanage, and the next again I am being taken away by a couple of men in black because, surprise! Turns out I had a father all along, richer than anyone could have ever imagined and very much married since way before I was born. And I wasn't even the first kid he's had around, can you believe that? The man's basically a giant slut." He shook his head. "Anyway. He's always tried to buy my affection over - or maybe to just make me feel indebted to him, one of the two - by getting me tons and tons of useless crap I had never asked for, nor wanted. He bought me a sports car when I hadn't even gotten my driving license yet, and when I told him that he just went 'Well I can buy you an early license', can you believe the man? But, yeah. He never tried to think about what I actually could like to have. Not once has he sat down with me and told me 'Hey so, you like running right? And your current favorite shoes are a disaster. What about a new pair of good ones? Here you go!'" While saying this he threw a fond glance to the shoebox that was still half-open next to his feet. "I have lost count of the gold I've received from him during the years. I've never once worn it - must still be in my old bedroom, piled up somewhere in a drawer." Empty gifts, all of them. He paused for a little bit, peeking up at Charon to see if he was still following his confusing storytelling.

Charon listened carefully to all of Hermes' story, encouraging him through either glances or gentle squeeze of his hands. Once Hermes was done, he remained silent for a bit, and then eventually nodded. "I think I understand. You thought that, as your father, I was trying to buy your affection." He remained still for a few seconds, and then looked back at the box in which laid the bracelet. He closed it, and discarded it. "I won't force this onto you. And I want you to know I won't hold a grudge against you for it."

Hermes felt a little relieved when it seemed like Charon had understood what upset him - and even more when he assured him through gentle, slow signing that he wouldn't be angry at him for refusing it.
He felt a little bad anyway, though. "Thank you", he murmured, gently lifting up the hand he was still holding to kiss his knuckles. "I'm... sorry you had to spend money for something I'm not taking", he added a little regretfully. He seemed to be pondering something though, as he glanced at the now-closed box, and an idea made him beam a little. He left Charon's hands to take the box. "Why don't you wear it, instead?"