Hades Explaining That He’s The God Of The Dead, Not The God Of Death

Peter climbs in through the window at 4am, being as quiet as possible so as to not wake Steve up. He quietly steps out of his suit and changes into his pyjamas and tiptoes across the bedroom to climb into bed, when his heart almost leaps out of his chest. He hadn’t realised Steve had been sitting on the edge of the bed in the darkness. Peter’s heart races as he turns on the lamp and speaks breathlessly, his voice high.

“Hey! What- uh, why are you just sitting there? It’s 4am!”

Steve glances up at Peter, and Peter can see how tired and worried the man looks. When Steve speaks, it’s in a low whisper.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he says. “I was worried.”

“About me?”

“Who else?”

Peter feels warmth in his chest at Steve’s words. He kneels in the floor between Steve’s legs and takes his hands gently.

“Hey, listen, I’m fine okay? I do this all the time.”

Steve lets out a nervous laugh, looking down into Peter’s eyes with love and worry. “I know you can take care of yourself. I know you’re out doing good, protecting people, being Spider-Man. I get that. But I still can’t help worrying about you.”

“What is it that you worry about?” Peter asks softly. The way Steve is looking at him is making his heart melt. He’s never been looked at this way in his life.

“You’re just a baby…” Steve whispers, holding Peter’s hands tightly as if to never let go ever again,

Peter lets out a soft laugh. “I’m 18.”

“You’re my baby,” Steve murmurs. “If anything happened to you-”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me, I promise. I swear I’m always careful. If I got into any real danger I’d run and get backup. Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I trust you. I love and trust you more than anything and the fear of losing you is driving me crazy, Peter.“

“What would you have me do differently? I- I don’t want you to ever have to worry. Let me know what I can do.”

Steve pulls Peter up to a standing positing and then pulls him closer so Peter’s sitting on his lap. Peter smiles and wraps his arms around Steve’s neck, leaning his forehead against Steve’s.

“I want to keep you here with me in this bed forever and never let you leave,” Steve says quietly, closing his eyes. “Would you like that?”

Peter smiles. “I would. But-”

“-But you’re a superhero. The most adorable superhero I’ve ever met, by the way,” Steve lightly kisses Peter’s cheek. Peter giggles softly holds onto Steve tighter.

“But you have a duty. And who am I to stop you?” Steve continues.

“I also have a duty as your boyfriend to not keep you up all night worrying about me,” Peter says. “I don’t have to patrol at night. One of the best things about being Spider-Man is that I can pick and choose when I work.”

“I can’t ask you to-”

“I’m offering. In fact, it’s non-negotiable. No more night patrols unless I know something is going to happen. I won’t make you stress, okay? Don’t want your age to catch up to you,” Peter says, giving Steve a playful smile.

Steve laughs and nods. “Yeah, we wouldn’t want that.”

“So it’s settled,” Peter says.

“I love you,” Steve murmurs, leaning in closer.

“I love you too-”, Peter is cut off when Steve closes the gap between them, kissing Peter softly and tenderly. Peter lets out a content sigh and kisses back, feeling his heart race in his chest. Everything feels so perfect, and Peter knows in this moment that he never ever wants to cause Steve to worry about him again.

Fun Story to Share.

I got my (now 18-year-old) daughter into Ao3 back in 2021. I taught her she should always comment - even if the fic looks old or abandoned or whatever. She did.

Well - she got this email this morning:

The fic was written in 2014 and essentially abandoned.

Bethy read and reviewed in 2021 (and was actually the only person who had commented at all).

Today in 2025 - the final chapter was posted by the author and this was her reply to Bethy’s comment.

———

Never question whether a fic is too old to comment on.

“You can’t consume problematic media!”

Maybe YOU can’t. I, on the other hand, have critical thinking skills and a lot of spite.

My favorite jokes are about mispronouncing philosophers' names but I'm afraid it's a nietzsche subgenre

(everybody is okay)

mwah

is this anything

Lmaooooo I’m a humanities girlie not a math and science girlie 🤭🎀