Chapter Text
“Dog walking?” people ask, incredulously, and yes, Icarus wouldn’t have guessed it either. But he charges $15 dollar per walk, takes anywhere from 5-7 dogs out a couple times a day, most days of the week, and it reliably nets him $400 or more every week. Plus, far and away, it’s his most fun job. Originally, he’d only replied to a few ads asking for dog walkers, because he loves dogs and he figured he could use it to make sure he get exercise daily.
Now, it’s probably the best part of his day. The dogs are great, always happy to see him; he gets out in the fresh air for at least an hour a day, and he doesn’t even have to feel guilty about enjoying himself: he’s getting paid to do it!
It’s a Monday, just after lunch, and Icarus is taking Simon & Rosie (two fat Dalmatians), Oatmeal (some kind of pit bull mix), and Cutie Pie (a corgi) through the park on the south end of the university. The dogs are all excited to be outside, and stop to sniff interesting things and/or bark at them, when abruptly all four go still and tense.
Something huge crashes through the trees – at least two, maybe three stories high, black as night.
The dogs panic in a flurry of barking and running, tangling a bewildered and frightened Icarus in the leashes.
When the commotion stops, Simon and Rosie are cowering behind Icarus; Oatmeal is cowering next to Icarus, sort of half-growling, half-whimpering; and Cute Pie is in front, snarling ferociously at… an enormous, three-headed dog, who is looking down at them with a combination of imperiousness and curiosity, except for the third head, which has pricked its ears at a nearby squirrel.
A leash extends down from the neck(s) of this beastly dog, and at the end of the leash… Helios. Of course.
“I-I might have guessed it would be you,” Icarus says, only stammering a little as his heart hammers inside his chest.
“Heya, Mop-Head!” Helios greets him, waving cheerfully. “I saw you’re a really big fan of dogs, so I stole Cerberus for you, from Hades!” He preens. “Pretty great boyfriend, right?”
Icarus stares, wide-eyed. “That’s… Cerberus? The Guardian of the Underworld?”
“Yup!”
“Then… who’s guarding Hades?”
There’s a slight pause, hardly noticeable but telling nonetheless, before Helios grins and waves his hand dismissively. “Pfft. Not important. It’s not like that many people are trying to break in or out anymore these days, y’know?”
Icarus knows he should object, knows he should say something disapproving… but, the truth is, he is impressed.
“That’s really him? Like, really Cerberus?”
He tries to take a step closer and stumbles; the dogs have entangled him badly in the leashes. Helios notices and his grin widens, a little wickedly.
“Oh-ho, I see you’re all tied up at the moment, eh? Hmm. What to do about that.”
Icarus tries a little harder to untangle himself. “Behave yourself, Helios!”
“Now why should I do that?” Helios has sauntered over to where Icarus is standing, trapped in place, and runs his fingers over Icarus’s neck.
Icarus jerks his hands up to swat Helios away, but can’t, as he’s still holding on to the ends of the leashes and they’re wrapped around his legs. “H-Helios, cut it out!” he protests, scrunching up his shoulders protectively and fighting off a blush or laughter.
“No way! You’re really cute like this,” Helios looks far too pleased as he does it again, tracing lightly over Icarus’s collar bone this time, prompting an embarrassing squeaky noise from Icarus.
“Helios- shit-!” Icarus stumbles again and this time falls over. Helios catches him in a totally unnecessarily dramatic pose.
“Romantic! I like it!” Helios’s eyes are crinkled in amusement and he leans over, making kissy noises into Icarus’s neck.
Icarus does start laughing then and drops the leashes from his hand to push Helios’s head away. “You jerk! You’re so annoying!” he tries to scold.
“Aw, c’mon, Icarus! I surprise you at work with a great dog for your collection, catch you when you fall, and you can’t even reward your awesome boyfriend with a little smooch?”
“I only fell because of you in the first place -and you stole that dog, isn’t Hades gonna be mad-?” Icarus squawks as Helios squeezes his hips teasingly.
“Smooch smooch smooooch! C’mon, you can give me one little kiss!”
Icarus snickers again and falls back in defeat. “One little kiss. One!”
“Unless you beg for more,” comes the rejoinder with a grin.
Helios leans forward and presses a kiss to Icarus’s cheek. The gods are surprisingly chaste at times, choosing so far to only to kiss him on the cheeks, the forehead, the neck… his hands… Icarus would be lying if he said that they didn’t manage to make a kiss on the cheek feel pretty intimate anyway.
After his kiss, Helios rests his forehead on Icarus’s, and smiles. “You look so damn cute when you’re blushing, Mop-Head.”
Icarus blushes harder. “I’m not-“
“You totally are blushing! It’s soooooo cute! It makes me want to kiss you more!”
After a moment of laughter and a few sneaky tickles from Helios and some more-or-less-earnest fighting from Icarus, he suddenly looks up.
His four dogs are still there, sitting a few feet away and watching them with doggy looks of embarrassment on their faces.
But…
“Uh… where did Cerberus go?”
“!!! Ahhhhh shit!”