9 - 'I need a date'

Chaos had watched carefully as Charon signed and weaved this story in front of their eyes, looking just as mildly curious as before. A flash of something - some kind of realization, possibly - passed through their non-expressive face, just to be immediately muted by the usual mild interest they were used to wear. They did keep staring at Charon, however, since their grandchild was well acquainted enough with their mannerisms to have learned not to mind it. "What a peculiar story", they observed lightly. "Amusing." They didn't look amused, but. As said. They had never been the most demonstrative, with their emotions. They turned towards Hermes again. "You deliver food as a job, then?" They didn't ask him to 'please, respond', which seemed to put Hermes a little more at ease.

"Oh-! Well, I do many things! I used to be in food delivery, but I'm working as a waiter right now", Hermes explained, still smiling - even though he was clearly kind of intimidated by that unnerving pair of eyes staring unflinchingly at him. He seemed to perk up as soon as he could grab back at Charon's arm again, though, and smiled more brightly. "If I may, your Highness", he addressed them, not knowing what other title he could use. "I never hear of many people outside of my generation being so open-minded about gender! Your fluidity on the matter is really something interesting!"

Someone might have been too scared to question Chaos' choices regarding their preferred pronouns - that someone was not Hermes. And his boldness was paid back with an actual, amused smile. "I consider myself above such trivialties", they admitted. "Thank you for your consideration." They stared back at Charon again. "When you make your choices, you make them with quite the foresight. I'm pleased to see yet something else our family has good taste for."

Charon was a little unsettled by Chaos' observation - but only Nyx and his grandparent could tell, by then. He simply nodded back at Chaos. "Thank you." He was glad, however, that Hermes' observation about Chaos' gender identification - or lack of - had been well-received. It's not like he planned on bringing Hermes along another time - they hadn't agreed to more than this evening - but still, it felt nice to know that the younger man was appreciated by his relatives.

He perked up when he saw Hades somewhere further away in the room gesturing for him to come close quickly and discreetly. He was actually at loss for a split moment - his employer looked like he wished to speak to him alone, but he couldn't leave Hermes there either-

Nyx followed Charon's eyes, and held back a smile. "Go, child. Lord Hades seems like he needs your help with something. Hermes can stay with us for a bit- I doubt he shares your taste for numbers anyway." She turned to look at Hermes again, her eyes clearly beckoning him to stay.

Hermes laughed. "Oh, yeah I sure don't", he answered with a grin. "That's definitely one of the few likings we don't share." He noticed Charon's troubled look, and smiled encouragingly at him. "C'mon, I'll be fine! I know I'm definitely the smallest person in the room", and he really was, if they excluded Zagreus himself, "but I surely won't be stepped over if you get away for some minutes, alright?" He winked at him. He silently begged him not to stay away for too much, though - he could feel the weight of both Nyx and Chaos' stares on him, and he didn't know how well he could handle the both of them on his own.

Charon signed to Hermes that he wouldn't be long. Even though he didn't know whether he might be able to read it or not, it would at least save the appearances for his family. He then walked towards Hades to exchange a few words with him.

"I've never seen Charon so attached to someone before," Nyx eventually told Hermes. "I am glad you two found each other. He seems happy at your side." She let out a small, genuine smile.

Hermes just smiled a hopefully reassuring smile to Charon  once again before he politely got his attention back to Nyx and Chaos - who seemed quite content in scrutinizing him silently, for now.
He blinked, looking honestly surprised about that comment - and he chuckled when he felt embarrassment, and also a little bit of giddiness at the idea that Nyx thought his son was happy with him, heat up his face a little bit. "I'm very happy at his side too", he answered confidently. It wasn't a lie. "I'm glad to be here with him tonight. Well - that he felt comfortable enough to bring me along, considering we've not been dating for long."

Nyx nodded at Hermes. "I am glad as well. If he brought you along, it's certainly because he cares about you. My child might not be the most... open about his affection, but I hope you don't feel any less appreciated." She turned to look at Charon speaking with Hades.

She was distracted long enough for Hypnos to materialize at Hermes' side. "Heeey! So, did we gather any embarrassing information about Charon during the last ten minutes? I'm dying to hear all about them!" He grinned at Hermes. "He ditched you for numbers, didn't he?"

Hermes smiled brightly. "Oh, he makes me feel very appreciated, all the time! He always answers to me, even when I text him stupid things in the middle of his working day. People usually tell me to cut it off at some point, but him..." Charon never did. He had always something witty to type back, something nice, something funny.

He almost jumped, startled when Hypnos took him by surprise like that, but still laughed at his comment. "He sure did. I'm afraid I still take second place to the stock market", he commented with a grin. "But I'll take my revenge, one way or another. ... what kind of embarrassing informations, though?"

Chaos eyed Hypnos. "Child, please. You shouldn't appear behind a guest like that", they lightly reproached him.

Hypnos was grinning, although he calmed down considerably when Chaos scolded him. "You're right, Gran, you're right. I'm sorry," he told Hermes, while still smiling. "Oh, you know! Anything embarrassing! Alright, I've talked with Alecto, and I kinda learned that he took you on dates and lost his whole cool, stern façade for the sake of acting all lovey-dovey with you! ... Then again, I've got that information from Alecto. If you've met her, eh... you know how she's like. She's a little dramatic."

Nyx sighed. She couldn't really scold Hypnis for being, well- himself. She quite liked his energy, but she was ready to intervene if she had any indications that Hermes might be uncomfortable.

Hermes' grin got mischevious. He turned to throw a coy glance towards both Charon and Alecto, who was talking with another young woman he didn't recognize a little further away. "Oh, yeah. She's very dramatic, indeed. She had the misfortune of seeing us on our first date, so... yes. It was pretty lovey-dovey." He grinned even more. "It was fun. Even though I have to admit we kind of did that on purpose to make her mad." He didn't seem to be bothered by Hypnos.

Hypnos couldn't hold back a laugh. "No way! She witnessed your first date? Oh, I just have to pester her some more! Say, why don't you come with me? That way you'll get to meet Tis! She's kinda like my brother. Except her eyes say 'you deserve to die'. I guess it runs in the family!"

"Do not importunate our guest, child," Nyx warned Hypnos.

"I'm not! But it's not everyday that I get to tease Alecto either!" Hypnos protested with a grin. Eh. Alecto had stepped on him quite a number of times already, if he could have a bit of fun at her expense, he'd sure take the opportunity!

Hermes glanced at Alecto again. Damn, was he tempted. But maybe Nyx and Chaos would want to talk with him more... He decided that the polite thing was to ask. "Well- I still haven't really gone to say hi, to be honest", he started casually, before peeking towards Charon's mother. "But I don't mean to be rude - we were having a nice conversation", he added.

Surprisingly, Chaos intervened. "Oh, the evening will be long. I'm sure we will get to talk more. It would be rude to keep you all for ourselves, even as we would like to know you better." Anytime there was the occasion to witness something going slightly off the rails - some mayhem -, Chaos would always gently and distantly encourage it.
They seemed to find it amusing.

Nyx listened to Chaos and eventually sighed. "Alright. But be kind to Alecto. It's a big celebration for her sister as well, and I'd rather have her not look back to this day with dread and hatred."

"Mother, please, I'm adorable," Hypnos protested with a wide grin. He wrapped an arm around Hermes. "And don't worry, we'll just see Alecto and Tis'. That way Charon has all of the pleasure to introduce him to Than and the others." He waved at his mother and grandparent, and then dragged Hermes away towards Alecto, who made a face upon seeing Hermes all dressed up.

"Of course he'd bring you here," she spat in lieu of a greeting. "I'm not sure whether I liked your oversized jacket better than the suit, Orange."

Chaos merely nodded to both Hermes and their grandson, and then turned to have some casual chat with Nyx.

Hermes let Hypnos pull him all the way to Alecto and her sister, and grinned happily when he was greeted with a huge amount of spite and vitriol. Just what he hoped for. "Oh good evening, Alecto! I'm also very happy to meet you again", he started. "Well, I think I am very handsome whatever I wear, but you are entitled to your opinions." He turned briefly towards the other woman - a really pale woman with green-dyed, long, wavy hair pulled in a ponytail just slightly looser than the tight one Alecto was wearing. "Hello! I'm Hermes, Charon's boyfriend", he introduced himself.
The other woman stared at him for an uncomfortably long time, before briefly signing something to him.
"Tisiphone? What a nice name!", he simply answered with a smile, signing 'Nice to meet you' back at her, before returning his attention to Alecto.

Alecto blinked a few times when Hermes casually signed to her sister, her mouth hanging open. "Wait, you know-" And the epiphany hit her and she groaned. "Please tell me you know some sign language before you started dating the other creep."

"Oh you'd hate it, that'd be so thoughtful and romantic," Hypnos replied with a grin, while he signed a greeting to Tisiphone. He turned towards Hermes afterwards. "That's a good question, though! When and why did you learn?"

Tisiphone greeted Hypnos back. Her signs were a little bit shorter, less friendly-looking than Charon's, but that might have just been an impression.

Alright, to be fair Hermes had a couple of friends that used sign language (he had picked some words up along the way, but ended up getting super rusty. He didn't see them very often, so they mostly texted) - and he knew them way before he had met Charon. But how could he resist from being sappy on purpose and pissing Alecto off?
"I've been taking some lessons for the past month, actually", he answered to Hypnos with a smile, before turning towards Alecto again and grin at her. "No, I didn't know it before", he added. "I wanted to surprise Charon a little, you know how it is. Oh, but Hypnos was saying you have told him about our first encounter?"

Alecto brought a hand to her lips. "I'm gonna be sick. Get off, both of you."

"Awww nooo, Alecto, we just got there!" Hypnos was grinning so, so much. "You don't want to hear more about the fabulous love story between those two?"

"Fabulous love story? Those two are just two ill-fitted saps. Your stupid brother brought him to my café, of all places, so that they could stare lovingly at each other and rub their happiness all over my face.," Alecto spat, actually worked up by the memory.

Needless to say, Hypnos was having the time of his life.

"To be perfectly honest it's not like we went there with the purpose of making your day grim with our lovey-doveyness, cut us some slack. Charon didn't even know you were working that day, or we would have avoided it like the plague, I swear", Hermes protested, still grinning. "And- ill-fitted? C'mon, it's like we were made for each other! The greatest mismatched pair there ever was!" His grin softened a little, then.
On purpose, of course. "Aah, that was our very first date. What a nice day", Hermes sighed, purposefully assuming an enamoured face. "It was very thoughtful of Charon, deciding to offer me breakfast in the end."
He was venturing in dangerous territory. He knew he was. He knew when he saw Tisiphone glancing at her sister with a somewhat worried expression, then back at the other side of the room - where a woman that he assumed was Megaera, their third sister, was standing close to her two fiancées.

Alecto's upper lip twitched. Oh, Tisiphone had all the reasons to be worried, alright. If she lost her temper, she'd make a scene at Megaera's engagement party. And she was well aware of that, so she was trying to reign herself in.
Which only meant she was bound to burst at some point.

"No. No, I don't want to know what you mean by 'in the end'," Alecto gritted between her teeth. She'd keep her cool. For Meg.

"Oh but I'm dying to know what you mean by that, Hypnos countered with a smile.

All things considered, maybe Alecto could go try to drown both of those idiots in the pool.

Hermes hadn't taken a lot after his father, at least physically speaking - certainly not the large shoulders or the genetics to grow a decent beard, at least, but he had definitely inherited the man's taste for danger.

He tapped his chin, humming thoughtfully. "I don't know, man - I mean, we're talking about your brother. I think it'd be kind of gross if I went into the details with you, you know? And in front of two ladies, I mean, that's inappropriate. I don't think I'd be able to keep it PG. There is nothing PG about that 'in the end'." Well, he hadn't said anything explicit - but the subtext would have been evident to anyone.
And he had told Charon he'd purposedly make up something super sappy and sweet for Alecto - instead there he went, down the opposite road. Welp.

Tisiphone worriedly grabbed the side of Alecto's top. "Hmmhhssfh", she let out, trying to convince her sister to just let it be and leave those two wasp-nest-pokers to their own stupidity. She did throw a malevolent glare in Hypnos' direction, seeing as he was the one spurring Hermes on.
She didn't like Hermes much either right now.

Hypnos gasped. He didn't really know whether or not Hermes was joking, but still. Maybe lines had to be drawn.
"Oh my god, I can't believe Charon had sex-"
"DON'T. SAY IT. SHUT YOUR MOUTH. BOTH OF YOU." Alecto was fuming, and none of Tisiphone's actions would get her to calm down. Hell, her arm was trembling, and she was this close to throw her drink at either Hermes or Hypnos.

Hypnos burst out laughing, and grabbed Hermes by the arm. "Whoops, I think that's our cue! See you later, girls!" He blew a kiss at Alecto, who threw her glass at him. Thankfull, he dodged it.
Cristal glasses make a clear sound when they crash on the ground.

It took Charon barely a second to excuse himself and leave Hades' side, so that he might hurry towards both Hypnos and Hermes. He grabbed the former by the arm, and arched an eyebrow at the latter.

Hermes had raised his hands when Alecto had started to look visibly pissed - if the redness of her face, the gritting of her teeth and the muscles of her arm twitching were anything to go by - and had felt a little bit relieved when Hypnos had quickly called quits for both of them. Well, he had poked at the irritable woman enough to consider himself happy, he guessed.
Then a glass flew by, crashing on the floor.
And suddenly Charon was at their side, grasping his little brother like a disobedient puppy and looking questioningly at him. He assumed a perfectly innocent expression, smiling up at him and folding his hands behind his back. "We were talking about our first meeting", he explained, vaguely. "She didn't really like the implications of whatever happened before breakfast. But I think your brother might have ticked her off more than me."

Tisiphone let out an irritated hissing sound that spoke murder all over it, but before she could sign anything to Charon - maybe something on the lines of "Keep them both on a leash or else" - she turned, feeling a pair of eyes on them.

Eyes belonging to Megaera, her upper lip curled in a not-very-reassuring way. She turned to her two boyfriends to excuse herself - she was soon to come over to them.

Charon lifted his eyes to look at Meg after witnessing all of that mess himself. While still holding Hypnos firmly, he signed a quick apology to her.

"Hi Meg," Hypnos told her with a smile, and a much, much calmer voice.

One could say that Meg had considerably calmed everyone down thanks to her mere presence, and that thankfully, everything was getting back into order.
One would be wrong.
"The gremlin and the creep's boyfriend started it," Alecto spat while crossing her arms, in a very mature way, before she turned towards Charon, pointing a menacing finger at him. "They'd better behave, or else I'm throwing something bigger and sharper at their faces."

Charon only glared back at her.

Meg simply glared at Charon and his apology - and squinted at both Hypnos and 'the creep's boyfriend', which she still didn't know, pursing her lips in extreme annoyance. Then, she rested her hands on her hips, and that meant things were definitely getting serious. She glared pointedly at Alecto for a little while, before turning first to Hypnos. "You", she started in a clipped, low tone. "By this point I'd expect you to know better than to purposefully get on Alecto's nerves during a public event. Steer off for the rest of the evening, or I will be telling your mother to keep you by her side for the rest of the evening."
It was definitely a menace. Under Nyx's tight supervision, Hypnos would have probably had no fun at all.
She turned to Charon and Hermes, eyes narrowing. "As for the two of you", she added, before focusing on Hermes only. "You're new around here, so I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. But it will be the first and last time. Understood?"

Hermes - who had stood there with his mouth well shut, for a change, straightened up and forced a little smile. "Crystal clear, ma'am."

If Alecto thought for a second she was safe from her sister's cold threaths, she was wrong. Meg turned towards her. "I really don't care who started it", she started, shaking her head to make her long, blue hair get in place behind her shoulder rather than resting on it. "We're not in a kindergarten. Whatever they said I'm sure it wasn't worth this scene you're pulling - nor a broken glass and a nearly-priceless rug to be almost soaked in champagne."

Alecto was downright offended - and a little ashamed - when her sister scolded her as well. To say she had almost been rubbing her hands together after watching both Hypnos and Hermes get scolded!
"Ugh, like Sir Hades can't afford a new glass, a new rug and a new champagne," Alecto muttered under her breath. She eventually shut up - if there was one person in front of which she would actually shut up and force herself to calm down, it was her sister.

Charon let go of Hypnos, who quickly excused himself, promised Meg he'd behave himself, waved at Hermes and quickly strolled away.
All of these emotions required a well-deserved nap!

As soon as his brother was gone, he sighed, and looked down at Hermes, and then back at Meg. If he got her attention, he would sign again to her. "If we go see the boys, I can introduce all three of you to my partner. And I'll make sure no one gets on Alecto's nerves again."

Meg followed Hypnos scramble away with a pointed gaze. He was good, all things considered, and she wasn't really mad at him anyway. She herself had some degree of fun in poking at her sister, and so did Zagreus. She scoffed when she heard said sister grumble. "He can, but I'd rather avoid to have the price getting decked from my own paycheck only because said glass, rug and champagne were ruined by one of my sisters", she commented. She had softened her stern tone a little bit, since Alecto seemed to have calmed down - and since she didn't have anything sharp in her hands at the moment.

She looked at Charon again as he started signing at her. She sighed. "Fine. Come along", she said with a nod, before briefly signing something to Tisiphone as well. "Keep an eye on Alecto for me, Tissi. Maybe go mingle towards the table with the cake - and far away from the vodka." She gestured for Hermes and Charon to follow her to go find Thanatos and Zagreus.

Hermes threw a last glance at Alecto before swiftly following Charon - well conscious that he had just avoided a landmine by a hair. "I'm sorry", he whispered to Charon with an apologetic smile. "I hope I didn't put you in some kind of trouble."