Chapter Twenty-Two
It was a week after their visit to Olympus. Ares and Marty were getting on well, although Marty still quietly and in his own persistent way refused to go back to the main house.
“I said I wasn’t going to go back there, and I meant it. I never felt like that was half my house, and that was before I was called a visitor. It’s too big, the floor is too cold on my feet, and I just don’t like it. The vibe is off in that house. Not even your sexy presence is enough to change my mind.”
That was that. Nothing Ares said was enough to convince Marty to change his mind.
Reconciling the fact that they would be staying in the pool house for the time being, Ares focused on making his mate feel cherished and cared for. His skills were decidedly rusty in that area, but he looked at how Marty reacted to various things as his guide.
Ares zapped up foods and learned to cook different dishes with Marty as his tutor. They played outside on the scooters together and on days when it was too cold and wet to be outside, Ares would read in the living room while Marty sat beside him drawing incredible scenes on the art pad Ares had found for him. His mate was incredibly talented.
Ares had also clicked up Marty a phone, and that created one way Marty was happy to make use of the main house – sort of. One afternoon, Marty insisted that Ares go up to the main house while he stayed behind in the pool house. He wanted them to try out texting each other, to see what the fuss was about.
Their texts had quickly turned raunchy and before long Ares was so damn horny, he translocated back to the pool house before Marty had had time to formulate a reply to the cheeky dick pic he’d sent. Another fun afternoon.
One thing Ares was very conscious of, and tried to be mindful of, was that Marty hadn’t had the chance to do much living in his time on Earth. Ares didn’t think there was much he hadn’t done in his existence, but the same couldn’t be said for Marty.
Although Marty rarely talked about it, Ares couldn’t forget where his mate had come from, or where he had found him. Marty had spent all his energies surviving. So, Ares made a point of introducing Marty to new ideas – theme parks, trips to locations all over the world. For now, they had only talked about it, but Ares made it clear he was happy to take Marty wherever he wanted, on a moment’s notice.
In the meantime, the hate he had lived with for most of his existence was starting to ease, and Ares found himself laughing over the silliest things, like when he stubbed his toe in his rush to get to Marty on the bed, or when Marty bopped his nose with a spoon that still had cake batter on it, causing it to splat onto his eyebrows.
Laughing was so much easier to do when he had someone to laugh with, rather than having anyone laugh at him. Marty had such an open way about him, it was impossible to do anything else but laugh, and Ares knew the Fates had been kind in their choice of his mate.
There was a part of him that still couldn't get over the way Athena, and in particular Aphrodite, had been so welcoming with his mate on Olympus. He had checked in with Marty afterward, once they'd got back to the pool house and Marty had shifted, to make sure his raccoon hadn’t picked up any deceit. But Marty had said that their congratulations and the things they said were perfectly genuine.
That had Ares second-guessing every other relationship he had with anybody else in the Pantheon. Hermes had been the only one who'd given him the time of day, and Ares made a mental note to introduce Hermes to Marty really soon.
But the others… Gods, we’ll be having lunch dates with Zeus and Paulie if Marty has his way. Or, knowing Marty, Hephaestus and Landyn. What’s next? Taking afternoon tea and scones with Athena and Aphrodite?
Despite all the fun times, baking, playing, and the numerous loving moments they shared, Ares couldn’t shake the thought that something – aside from the main house – was bothering Marty.
Originally, he put that feeling down to his old ways – always seeing something negative that wasn’t there. But Marty wasn’t capable of stringing him along, so Ares dismissed that line of thinking. But he couldn’t dismiss the lingering concern.
Thinking they just needed a change of scenery, Ares waited until after breakfast one morning and said, “I was thinking we could go to Hawaii today, if you felt up to it. I did promise to take you surfing, and the weather will be a lot warmer than here.”
For a moment, there was a flash of excitement on Marty’s face, but then it quickly disappeared, and he shook his head. “I’m happy if you just wanted to read today and perhaps we can do some baking later.”
But you… Surfing was something you wanted to do. Ares didn’t say that, but that feeling of “not right” increased. He and Marty had a quiet morning reading and drawing, and then after lunch, Marty helped him make another cake. Ares liked to think he was getting quite good at baking. Not quite as good as Marty, of course, but their stuff was definitely edible.
Ares put some music on from his phone while they were working in the kitchen. Watching Marty dance around as he gathered ingredients had Ares thinking of turning the oven off and creating some heat somewhere else. The cake came out beautifully, and Ares privately congratulated himself that he and Marty had shared another really enjoyable afternoon. He still wasn’t taking that feeling for granted.
That feeling lasted until they were eating the cake. Marty was half-way through his slice when his face went white and he excused himself, running for the bathroom. Even with the door closed, Ares could hear the sound of retching coming from behind the closed door. When Marty came out, five minutes later, his teeth cleaned, his face washed, Ares was concerned. “Is everything all right?”
Laughing, Marty sat down. “I think I've just had one too many pieces of cake.” Ares didn't think it was a good idea to mention that the slice Marty had been eating was his first for the day. He was equally concerned when Marty pushed the half-eaten slice aside and reached for his water glass instead.
Ares finished off his slice and put the rest in the pantry. Maybe Marty might get peckish and want it later. Marty still had an appetite for every other kind of food, so maybe there was some truth into simply having had too much cake recently.
Caught up in his thoughts about his relationships with others in the Pantheon, and what he was going to do with the main house, because as much as Marty didn’t want to live there, Ares wasn’t keen on spending the rest of their eternity in the pool house either, he was caught off guard when Marty came in from a short walk outside and said, “I think we need to talk.”
Ares’ reflex reaction was to shut down and armor himself mentally for any barb that was to come. But there was nothing through their bond that suggested he had anything to be concerned about and Ares forced himself to nod and smile as he joined Marty on the couch.
“What is it, hon? Have you thought of somewhere else you'd like to go? Is there a new rollercoaster you want to try, perhaps or another fun activity you’ve found on the internet?”
Not that that was likely. Ares had introduced Marty to the internet, but Marty found it all too confusing navigating between pages and clicking on links. So, Ares modified his table from Olympus to act as their coffee table in the pool house, and while Marty wouldn’t use it himself, he was happy to sit with Ares, when Ares was showing him the different places in the world he had never seen before.
“Er…hello? Marty? Babe, is something wrong?” Ares asked when Marty didn’t say anything. “You do know you can tell me anything, don’t you?”
“I do. At least, I hope I can. Remember when we were back on Olympus,” Marty said quietly.
Ares nodded. He thought about it a lot, at least once a day, but more in relation to Athena and Aphrodite than anything else.
“Do you remember one of the scenes on the tables you showed me?”
Thinking back, Ares tried to work out which scene Marty was talking about. “You mean things like Persephone with her little crown and my mother, people like that.”
“I was thinking more about Hefe…Hefe… You know that Hefe guy whose name I can’t pronounce.”
“Hephaestus,” Ares said. “I remember – we didn’t stay on that scene too long because it’s not nice to spy on other gods with their mates. I'd be horrified if somebody did that to us.”
“They might pick up some baking tips,” Marty said, but his smile seemed forced. “What did you mean when you said that Hefe hadn't had the baby yet?”
Ares didn’t understand the reason behind the question – in fact, he didn’t understand the question period. Surely, that was self-explanatory. “I meant exactly that,” Ares said. “Hephaestus is the one that got pregnant between him and his mate, and as far as I'm aware, he hasn't given birth yet. We can check if you want to, or I can ask the Paulie app because he will know.
“I know you had this idea you wanted to send them a gift when the baby comes. I’m not sure how appreciative he will be, but then I didn’t expect Aphrodite to speak kindly in my presence, either, so maybe your magical smile will make miracles happen.”
He smiled at his mate and then waggled his eyebrows for extra points, but Marty still looked concerned.
“Did Hefe…did he just get pregnant because he's a god?” Marty was tracing patterns on the couch cushion with his fingers, which was apparently so fascinating to him that he didn't look up at Ares’ attempts to make him smile with silly expressions.
Why is he concerned about Hephaestus? I’m more worried about you. “Male gods can get pregnant, yes. Hephaestus is the third, or is that the fourth male god who has done it so far. Goodness, no, it’s more than that. Hephaestus is one, Hades from the Underworld, Poseidon, and oh, there was Thor from the Norse Pantheon. He was the one who got pregnant there. Baby and Paulie were both pregnant with their kids, but they were half gods. But Ra and Loki got pregnant, too – again, other Pantheons.” Ares chuckled. “There’s been a whole lot of them in the past five years or so, yes.”
“But it’s just male gods, right? I mean, you have children, but you didn’t give birth to them.”
“No, it was my partners who got pregnant – all female – and as I told you at the time, it was a very long time ago.” Ares was sure Marty had been all right with that when he first told him.
“All right.” Marty didn’t look any happier. “So, it is male gods who can get pregnant, or females even if they’re not gods, but that’s all, isn’t it? Like non-god mates of gods can’t get pregnant because that would be silly, wouldn’t it?”
“No, all male mates of gods can get pregnant.” Ares frowned. “I was sure I told you. Many male gods are finding same sex mates, and the Fates wanted more permanent threads for the weave because of the increase in population. So, all male mates, god or not, if mated to a god, can get pregnant, too. But they have to have intent to get pregnant,” Ares added quickly. “It doesn’t just happen randomly, although, Poseidon seemed to think that it did. But he was a god, and he didn’t know his mate Claude was from the god line, too. That was hilarious because Poseidon did not handle pregnancy very well. But anyway, does this answer your question?”
“Sort of.” Marty frowned and wrinkled his nose – a clear sign he was thinking. “Have there been cases where gods have got pregnant, or the mate got pregnant, and they didn’t intend for it to happen – like they both didn’t have the intent to have a baby?”
Ares burst out laughing. “Poseidon was a classic example – there was no way he intended on having any more children, let alone being the one who got pregnant. But Claude is a wolf shifter, even though he’s also the son of Fenrir, so it could’ve been his intent that did it.
“And Thor – there is no way anyone can tell me Thor intended on being the one who got pregnant, either, but he did. He and his mate had twins. No one seems to have been harmed by it, although don’t ask me about the birth process because I wouldn’t have a clue. I’m more interested in why you’re suddenly so interested in other male gods and their children.”
“What happens if only one party in the mating might accidentally have the intent without even thinking about what they were doing, and the other party doesn't even know about it? Does that even work then?”
“Babe, I have absolutely no idea,” Ares said. “I suppose, in theory it could happen. It might have been Seth who got his mate pregnant, and I don’t think he intended to do that, but again, I’m not sure… It’s not like I have a lot to do with any of them.
“I know you and I haven’t had a chance to chat about having children yet. We talked about me already having them, and you said then you didn’t have any children, but we can talk about it if you want to. You know I would give you anything you wanted, and I guess that includes children if you wanted them at some point.” Ares wasn’t against the idea. “Honestly, you just have to ask.”
“I just have to ask? Are you kidding me right now?” To Ares’ shock, Marty burst into tears. “I have been worried sick about this for what feels like ages .”
What the hell? “Marty, babe, what's going on? Why are you crying? Did you honestly want children that badly?” Ares pulled Marty into his arms, making sure Marty’s nose was pointed in the direction of his throat. Apparently, Marty took comfort from his scent in that particular spot, and Ares wasn’t going to complain. “Please, babe. You have to be a bit clearer about this. What has got you so upset? Tell me what or how I can help.”
“You've already done it,” Marty gasped in between sobs. “I think I’m pregnant. My raccoon knows we’re pregnant. But I didn’t think it was possible, and then I haven’t got a relationship with my parents, and you said your parents didn’t like you, either, so neither of us know how to even be a decent parent, but we might become daddies.
“But then I remembered you said no one calls you daddy, so does that mean you become Poppa and I’m the daddy – I’m so confused. And then…and then…you hadn’t said having babies was even possible, and I didn’t want you to be cross with me, or leave me because that would break me, and I don’t want to live without you, but I most of all I didn’t understand how I ended up pregnant…and cake…” Marty wailed. “I really miss my cake, but it makes me feel sick every time I have some.”
“Our babies can call me daddy if you prefer it,” Ares said in a low voice, completely stunned by what Marty had said. But as soon as Marty had explained, so many things all fell into place – the cake, being sick in the bathroom, suddenly not wanting to surf. Marty was clearly scared about what might happen, and also of Ares’ reaction. The problem with that is I’m freaking terrified, too, and it’s not like I can tell Marty that.