Reunion Of Love And Forge
A few minutes before
Aphrodite POV
I woke up feeling angry and mad. I had just watched Hephaestus or Tony get betrayed by Pepper Potts yesterday. How could she do this? I didn't like her for trying to take my Hephy's human form for money, but I never wanted him to experience another betrayal. His life has been full of them, first from Mother Hera, then when I was young and stupid and made a mistake. Damn you, Ares. Then his mortal father, Howard Stark, cared more for an insane test subject over his own baby boy. After that, it was those bastards, the Avengers. How I hate them. I will destroy them, and now that bitch Pepper.
"That prick Rhodey better not betray Hephy, or I can't stay here. I have to go and help him, Hera and Zeus," I said.
"We will allow it once this daughter-in-law tells him we are sorry and that we miss him, and also tells him about the proposition," Hera says as Zeus nods. Both clearly have regret and other emotions. I haven't had sex since my last encounter. Wait a minute, the last person I slept with was Tony Stark in 2001. He was drunk; he probably doesn't remember it. But I had a demigod child. I was going to send him to Tony, but that bodyguard, his name was Happy, said that Tony was busy. So, since I had a limited amount of time, I gave the child to this couple that wanted a child but couldn't have one. I named the child Peter. I don't remember his last name, though. The parents' mother was Mary. Mary Fitzpatrick.
Oh god, how is Hephy going to react? I hope he's not too angry. I mean, he knows the rules of Zeus. Why didn't I check if Peter was a full god? I could have kept him and raised a good child. I'm such a bad person. I will be better for Peter and Tony. First, I will earn Hephaestus' forgiveness, and then I will find Peter, my only son. The other gods think I have a son with Ares, but it's not true. The fact is, I couldn't get pregnant with anyone's child. Only my true love, Hephaestus, could get me pregnant, so Ares used his magic to create a child. He shaped him similarly to me so he could say it was my child. I'm so sorry, Hephy. I was an idiot and a young, lustful idiot, but I promise I won't ever return to that bitch ever again. I haven't allowed any man to touch me since Peter's birth. Fifteen years of no sex, but it's worth it for you, Hephy.
I sat next to Hera as she held my hand. Tony or Hephy was waking up. Zeus then allowed us to watch Tony's life. I saw Tony call Rhodey. I smiled a bit when he picked up, thinking that he was only on Tony's side, but that was foolish. The first words that came out were utter bullshit. He blamed everything on Tony. Is he mad, saying he would side with that idiot Captain while saying he couldn't be a military soldier? If he sided with Captain, he would be a fugitive and a terrorist. I felt sparks and a powerful aura next to me. I looked to my left to see Zeus and Hera mad.
"How dare that mortal treat my son, the son of Zeus, like that? That lowly insect has what he has because of my son's mortal father, and he had the audacity to blame him, call my son his downfall. I will kill him," Zeus says, reaching for his master bolt, but Hera stops him, shaking her head.
"As much as I want to kill that lowly mongrel, Zeus, Hephaestus must be the one to deal with him. It is his fight. We can't coddle our children forever, my love. Plus, if he is going to become the heir, he will need to learn the hardships of betrayal from comrades and how to deal with them," Hera says, and I silently scoff. Hera loves her son, I know that, but she also wants him to become a sort of child soldier, probably like Ares. But I believe in Hephy, he won't be like a traitor and manipulator.
"You're right, my queen. That bastard is not worthy of a god striking him down. My son shall deal with him. Aphrodite, my daughter-in-law, you shall go to Hephaestus. It is your duty as his wife to help him recover, and I know you want to. Good luck, my daughter-in-law," Zeus says, and I smile, not that fake smile I had for years, but a real one. Hephy, Peter, I'm coming.
In an instant, I'm at Tony's home, my Hephy's home. I would have to ask him what he feels comfortable with me calling him. The feeling of disorientation wears off, and I look around. It's marvelous. The lab looks like those movies Hermes watched, of what the mortals' future would be like. It's beautiful, it's like a representation of Hephy. Thinking about how I treated him because of Zeus and Hera's unjust punishment makes me sick. Ares, that bastard. Thinking of how I let him hurt his brother makes me sick. I'm happy that Hephy still took my first time. I could never forgive myself if I let Ares or Adonis take that. I would have to beg Hera to let me use the bath if I did, or I would lock myself in Tartarus.
I notice a cute little robot beeping at me, so I pet it. It stops its angry beeping and starts to poke. I giggle.
"I give, I give," I say, joking and putting my hands up as the little bot beeps in what seems like a smug manner, making me giggle as it beeps again, almost like it's pouting.
"You're a cute little robot, aren't you? You're my Hephy's kids," I say as it beeps, and the other one comes, and it also starts to poke me. I understand it wants to play, so I start to play.
A few minutes pass as I play with the cute little bots. Then the door suddenly opens. I squeal with excitement when I see him. I take in his appearance and blush. So damn hot. He looks so good, and he became even hotter. Not just his mortal form, but his divine form has also been altered to look like Tony Stark. He became perfect, but that wasn't what got me. It was his soul. I was such a fool. His soul was so beautiful that my appearance would look ugly in front of him. I smile shyly at him, unable to meet his eyes.
"Hephy, I missed you," I said.
"Dite, is that really you?" I hear him say in an unbelieving tone. I couldn't take it anymore. The sins I committed resurfaced. I ran towards him, latching onto him and crying, sputtering apologies at him. He was shocked at first, but slowly, he grabbed me and pulled me in. His hands wrapped around me.
"It's okay, Dite. I've seen your memories," he said. I was shocked, not just that he's seen my memories, but at his power, even restrained. It matched Father and Zeus. Being in his arms, I missed this. It felt incredible. He was so hot, so warm, so soothing, unlike the other mortals or gods I regretfully allowed to touch me. My body actually welcomed and loved his touch.
"Hephy, no, Tony... Arrr, what do you want me to call you? I've seen your life as Tony, and I'm mad at what has happened. How dare that mortal loser treat you, my husband, like that? Not even that, he has the audacity to try and kill you and the other mortal, especially that man and woman who you made. I just want to use charmspeak and make them rip each other apart. I want to manipulate their love to make them hate each other," I said.
"Well, I feel more comfortable with Tony since the only parent who treated me well was my mother, Maria Stark. Secondly, well, I want to be the one who gets revenge on those insects. And it's okay. I forgive you for your past. The One Above showed me everything of how you represented me in the meeting, how you started being loyal," he said as he explained to me what the One Above showed and told him. My jaw dropped, unbefitting of the Goddess of Beauty and Love. I was shocked.
"So, my Tony is going to be the greatest savior, even greater than Percy and Hercules. Neat. But Tony, I have something to tell you. You might want to sit down for this, but first, I want to tell you Zeus has a proposition for you," Aphrodite says as she explains Zeus' proposition, and Tony listens.
"Well, that's good. I've wanted to leave the USA for a long time now. No doubt they would support the Captain and try to make him a loyal dog. I refuse to be their dog. So moving Stark Industries and myself to Greece would be beneficial, especially since Zeus' fake identity rules and the literal paying no tax and having so much freedom is good. Especially since Stark Industries went private after Ultron and the loss of shares," Tony mutters. I just give him a smile and hug him. Together, we will be together. No stupid insect in spandex is going to stop us. He doesn't even have SHIELD. My husband took it from him.
"But you wanted to tell me something," he asked, and I take a deep breath.
"As you know, I hadn't had sex since 2001, 15 years ago, but my last session was at a party. We had a son. I gave him away to this couple," I was interrupted.
"Don't tell me you want to raise the mortal child. Dite, I love you, but I won't feel comfortable with another man's..." I cut him off.
"It was you, Tony. I did it with you. We were both drunk. The child's name was Peter. He had cute brown curls and big doe eyes. I gave him to some woman called Mary Fitzpatrick in New York since your ex-bodyguard, Happy, never let me meet you since I couldn't keep him because of the law," I cried, and when he was by my side in an instant, holding me.
"It's okay. We will find him. I understand why you had to give him away. It's either he died at Hera's hand due to her irrational hatred of demigods, or you gave him to me, which you couldn't, so you gave him to a family in need. I'm not angry. We will find him. Friday, scan for anybody named Mary Fitzpatrick," he said, and in a few seconds, Friday replies, and Tony is shocked.
"Your son's name is Peter Parker, boss," Friday, the AI, says. I watch as Tony freezes.
"What's wrong? Please don't tell me our son is a criminal or friends with that Captain," I say as Tony snaps out of it and holds me.
"It's not just that. I've met him," he tells me. I was shocked, but then I smile.
"Let's go and meet him then," I squeal.
"That's not all, Dite. He's also a superhero. He's Spider-Man, a really talented kid. He reminded me of myself. I can't believe he's my son," Tony says.
"Peter. Peter Stark, the son of Tony Stark, aka Hephaestus, and Aphrodite. The perfect child," I say.