Chapter Text
Seasons come and seasons go. Snow flurries fly by, rain pelts the ground, the sun beams on those below. Life cycles, everlasting.
Lizardette has many sets of eggs each year, and before long every person in town owns a lizard. The population is booming, the ratio of lizard to person teetering on the edge of 2:1. Peter insists on keeping one lizard from every batch of eggs, so they end up with five more lizards, on track to continue growing their collection.
Peter’s scars fade completely, gone but never forgotten. He wakes with fewer nightmares, and when he does both of his husbands are at his side.
There’s a pet care center downtown that Peter frequents, inevitably getting offered a job. The pay is fair, and the workers are kind.
He smiles. Peter is happy.
The statues commemorating the three begin to show signs of rusting. Copper oxidizes, deep tones turning greenish with age and use. People stop attempting upkeep.
Elena is no longer stopped on the street for autographs. None of them are halted for interview-esque questions. They’re treated as everyone else.
The world no longer needs heroes, so they can stop acting like ones.
Elena smiles at the schoolchildren, and it’s no longer forced. Freed of acting perfect, they pursue teaching the young ones music. They are happy.
Thanatos isn’t very experienced with snow; he used to watch from windows as his siblings played in the white fluff when he was younger. Before they too had duties to attend to. Elena and Peter find that to be a travesty, dragging him into the freezing depths when the first winter comes.
At first, he doesn’t get the appeal. It’s cold and it’s wet, joints locking from frost. It is pretty to look at, but not so pretty to stand in.
A ball of snow smacks into his back. Elena laughs from under a deep purple scarf, face red from the cold. Thanatos watches as Peter dips his green-gloved hands into the snow and chucks it at Elena.
Snowy bases are constructed, and warfare wages. It’s a free for all, lobbing cold spheres of snow at whoever peeks from their base first. Thanatos has snow stuck to his armor, flaking into little spaces under his plating, but it doesn’t matter. He laughs, and he throws.
He wins the war, obviously.
Once they return inside, Elena makes a batch of hot chocolate for them. Thanatos drinks as they insist it is a delicacy he must try. It warms him from the inside out, pleasant tingling warmth spreading inside of him and staving off the cold.
In summer, Thanatos is introduced to water warfare. Balloons, innocent looking enough, containing water. The town hosts a water balloon competition, and the last one to remain dry wins.
Wind whizzes by as he runs, dodging air assaults and watching water explode upon impact with the ground or people’s bodies. He overhands a balloon directly into a child’s face.
He doesn’t end up winning that one, but it is fun nonetheless.
Elena and Peter are sweating, fanning themselves against the relentless sun. Elena wears a sleeveless crop and skirt, while Peter attempts to wear his same vest as he does every season. He has other clothes, that is just his favorite.
Peter brings the two to a lake, jumping in with a laugh and a shout, clothes still on. Elena laughs incredulously, considering taking off their shirt but deciding to jump in clothed as well. Thanatos watches as they splash one another, laughing with no cares.
He stands in a shallow part of the lake but doesn’t venture deeper. Metal isn’t exactly the most buoyant material, after all.
They join him once they tire themselves out from treading water, standing and chatting, splashing him as well. Thanatos takes them both by the head and dunks them underneath the water, snorting as they come back up looking like wet cats.
The rest of the time in the lake is spent trying to get Thanatos under the water, to little avail.
Thanatos remains a metalworker, creating and forging. He makes matching gold bangles for the three of them, and it is clunky and large, but they wear them anyways. He continues painting, and gardening, and reading. The library eventually has to order new books, once he’s run through them all. His paintings sell for thousands of gold pieces. Their vegetables thrive, plentiful for them to eat.
Elena suggests returning to the tavern to get drinks one night.
“Uh, El, I don’t know if you remember but last time we got drunk I ended up being possessed and you guys wreaked havoc,” Peter snorts, raising a brow. “I don’t know if that’s the best idea.”
“Exactly!” Elena exclaims, dragging Peter along by the arm. “You never truly got to experience it- Exandroth had all the fun. And besides, I don’t plan for us to go all out, anyways. We’ll just have a little, that way we can actually remember it.”
Peter rolls his eyes. “Thanatos literally killed like twenty bears last time, and you…what was it you did?” he asks, face scrunching as he racks his brain.
Elena tilts their head. “I…can’t quite remember,” they admit, also sounding slightly confused. “I only remember the two of you making a joke of it.”
“That’s not so unusual,” Thanatos cuts in. “You were drunk, as you said, It’s typical not to remember things when inebriated.” He doesn’t mention the long-forgotten sex cult that belonged to Rumi, the one Elena disbanded and promptly wiped both their and Peter’s memories of it ever existing. They didn’t wipe Thanatos’, though, so he must live with the knowledge.
“You’re right. So, my point! You can drink without getting fucked up, I think it’ll be nice. Though if you really don’t want to, we don’t have to,” they say, swinging their intertwined hands. Peter sighs. “Fine,” he grins. “I guess we can get drunk.”
Elena pumps their fist into the air, hopping on their feet.
The tavern is dim aside from the stage, where performers go to entertain drunken masses. True to their word, Elena orders everyone only two drinks.
As the alcohol filters through their bloodstreams and his circuitry, the world begins to fuzz around the edges. A pleasant buzz sits comfortably in his chest.
Peter bursts into tears.
“I just-” he blubbers, aggressively wiping his tears from his cheeks with no use. “I just love you guys so- so much!” he sobs, burying his face into his hands.
Thanatos glances at Elena, ready to make a short quip of Peter likely being a lightweight, before noticing tears welling up in their eyes as well. “We love you too,” Elena cries, throwing their arms around Peter. Whether due to being drunk or Elena being an empath, he’s unsure, but now the both of them are crying.
“Thani-” Peter pouts. “Why are you all the way over there?” Thanatos is two feet away, sitting on the opposite side of the booth.
“Ok,” he huffs, realizing he must be the responsible one in this scenario. “Time to go home.”
He tosses his husbands over his shoulder like sacks of potatoes, hauling them home. He deposits them onto Peter’s bed, pressing his face against theirs as a goodnight.
“Wait,” Elena whines as he walks towards the door. “Where are you going?”
“To get you two some water, and then sleep,” he explains fondly. Peter makes grabby hands at him like a toddler who’s toy has been taken from their arms.
“Don’t go,” Peter pouts, lip poking out. Thanatos sighs, climbing between the two and laying down. They immediately clamp onto him like jaws.
“You’re going to regret stopping me from getting you water in the morning,” he says into the night. It’s no use, they’re already dozing off. He is trapped until they awaken.
He holds them both in his arms, carding his hands through their hair. It is peaceful, the only noise is soft snoring as they fall into a gentle sleep.
Starlight illuminates their faces, soft white light seeping into their skin. It glimmers off of their cheeks, reflecting against the wet trails of leftover tears.
At this moment, there’s only one word that could describe him.
Happy. Thanatos is happy.