Accord was on his way out to the garden, carrying a trowel, a rake, and a full watering can. There was one thing to be said for being turned over to Demeter for education--he'd been spending a lot more time out-of-doors. It was spring, one of her busiest seasons, and Persephone was home, so Demeter didn't feel like spending a lot of time cooped up, teaching Accord. She'd ordered him to learn by doing. He was to raise a crop of various vegetables and herbs without using godly power. "Or help from your father," she'd said firmly.

"I dunno, Auntie Dem," he'd said. "I may have to set guards to keep Daddy Jox away from the plot. You know how he is about growing things."

"Perhaps if I threaten to extend your learning period he'll restrain himself."

It had worked. Joxer didn't want to be the cause of Accord's enforced study being lengthened, so he hadn't interfered. That didn't mean that he didn't fairly twitch to get down and work the soil beside his son.

As he approached, his eyes roamed over the bare patch of dark, turned earth. Logically he knew that it was still too soon to see any results--he'd only planted the garden a couple of weeks ago. That didn't stop him from looking though. After all, since when had reality had that tight a grasp on anything that happened on Olympus.

A bush near the plot rustled, and he paused, peering at it closely. Mjau had already been ejected from the garden more than once, Accord telling him firmly that he didn't need any more natural fertilizer--the kind he got from Apollo's stable worked just fine. It wasn't Mjau, though. The creature that hopped out of the bushes was a fat brown rabbit. It sat up on plump haunches and studied the garden, bright eyes zeroing in on the row that was going to contain carrots. "Hey!" called Accord. The rabbit looked at him, nose twitching. "You get away from there, you sneak. They haven't even started to grow, and if they disappear when they do grow, I'll know who did it." The rabbit flicked its ears negligently. "Oh, yeah? Well, I'll tell Scribe on you." The rabbit hunched down, laying its ears back flat, then turned and hopped off quickly. "Darn plot bunnies," Accord grumbled, setting his load down beside the garden. "I know she feeds them. I dunno--maybe they get tired of smut ideas and Pop Tarts."

Accord examined the garden, deciding what to do first. Finally he squatted down and began pulling up a few random plants, muttering, "Why is it that the plants haven't broken ground yet, but the weeds are flourishing?" The weeding didn't take long. Then he took the trowel and began to carefully loosen the soil. This took careful attention--too far from the seeds, and it did no good--too close, and it could damage them.

It was a warm day, and he managed to work up a small sweat with his efforts. He'd been careless in braiding his hair this morning. Joxer and Ares were off for a couple of days, working to regulate a situation that seemed prepared to go from a local feud to a full blown war, and with no one else coming around, it hardly seemed worth the trouble. A few dark wisps had worked themselves loose from the braid and were plastering themselves against his damp cheeks and forehead at every opportunity. He kept raking them away impatiently, leaving dirt streaks on his face.

He felt someone come to the temple--felt it in the faint buzz of energy that seemed to run over his body, and he paused, concentrating. He was working on identifying the other gods and goddesses by their power signatures. Ares had told him that it was more of a talent than a skill--that some people couldn't do it at all, and a few could tell you exactly who had been where when. Most of the gods and goddesses fell somewhere in between. Accord wanted to be on the upper end of the scale, so he practiced whenever he could. All he could tell this time was that the visitor was probably either from the House of Intellect, or the House of Love--the energy had that clean, bright feel he had come to associate with them.

He was a little surprised when Bliss came out of the temple and approached. He hadn't seen Bliss--really seen him--for close to a month. The other day they'd sort of passed in the streets. Accord had hoped that Bliss might follow him into Demeter's temple and talk to him, but he supposed he couldn't really blame him for not doing so. Demeter was still a little chilly to anyone associated with the house of love. She blamed them for allowing her daughter to fall in love with Hades. If Persephone had hated the God of the Underworld, or even felt nothing but indifference, Demeter thought she could have persuaded Persephone to fight Zeus' decree. She just couldn't accept that Persephone was happy with Hades.

Bliss was wearing a white linen kilt today, and the strong sunlight glinted brightly on his blond curls. Accord felt his throat tighten as he looked at him. It wasn't surprising that Bliss hadn't been over before--he probably had a lot of people vieing for his time. After all, Joxer had as much as told him that Bliss was old enough now to start having sleep overs with people who were more than just friends.

Bliss didn't speak at first. He came over and squatted by the garden, watching Accord as he worked. Finally he said, "Hestia, or Demeter?"

Accord didn't pause in spading the earth. "Demeter. Hestia is going to teach me to bake good bread and, I think, knit."

"Well, you'll never be stuck for Solstice presents." There was a moment of silence, and it wasn't the comfortable quiet they'd always enjoyed before. Finally Bliss said, "How long have you been in the sun?"

Accord stabbed the trowel into the soil almost violently, then stood up abruptly. "There you go again! 'You don't have enough sense to come in out of the sun!'"

Bliss blinked up at him. "It isn't like that, Accord."

"Oh, sure it is. No hello, no how are you, no I missed you, just..."

"I did miss you."

Accord seemed to deflate. "You did?"

"That's why I'm here. I figured one of us needed to act like an adult, and..."

"Oh, so now I'm childish! Well, you can just..."

Bliss stood up abruptly and grabbed Accord's arms. "You're a brat! I'm trying to tell you that I'm sorry, you nit!"

Accord went still, looking up at him through a tangle of black hair. "You are?" Bliss nodded. "Then I am, too." He embraced Bliss, pressing his face against the older boy's bare shoulder.

Bliss froze, closing his eyes. Accord was as tall as he was now, though not as broad, and his slender body was firm from training with Ares. Soft strands of hair floated on a breeze, brushing Bliss' face. He felt enveloped by Accord's scent--a faint musk from the younger man's recent labors, and Accord's breath against his bare skin was warm and damp. Bliss took hold of Accord's arms again and carefully set him away.

Confused, Accord looked at Bliss' face. "But... I thought we made up. Aren't we still friends?"

"We have to talk. Let's sit in the shade, okay?" They made their way over to where a willow grew close beside the garden's pond, and settled at its base. Accord could sense that Bliss was serious, and anytime that Joy personified was grave, one had best pay attention. Bliss cleared his throat. "This whole fiasco started out on the basking rock. I... kinda got a little crazy."

"You were a little unreasonable. If I didn't know better, I'd think you scared Andreas."

"Oh, make no mistake--I did scare him. I meant to scare him."

Accord blinked, mouth dropping open a little. This sort of thing he would have expected from anyone associated with the House of War, but Bliss. "Why?"

*Time to be direct.* Bliss took a deep breath, then looked Accord square in the face. "Because he was touching you."

"So what did that have to do with...? Oh." Accord's cheeks flushed. "You mean he was... Yeah, I guess. So you were protecting me. Um, thanks."

"You don't understand--not fully. He was touching you, and I didn't want him to. The thought of anyone but ME touching you makes me see red." *There. If he doesn't understand that, he's really too young.*

Now Accord was gaping, but there was a slowly dawning awareness in his eyes. His voice was very small as he said, "Bliss?"

Bliss looked down at the grass. "I didn't want it to come out like that. I was sort of hoping that you'd just notice it on your own. But, well--you haven't, so I figured I'd better say something before you grew a crush on someone else, and it was too late." There was another moment of silence, and Bliss stole a look at Accord, dreading what he might see.

It wasn't too bad. There wasn't any of the negative emotions--no anger, hate, or disgust. Thank the Fates, there wasn't any amusement or derision, either. That would have really hurt. No, the main emotions seemed to be shyness and confusion, mixed with a bit of 'what the fuck?'--but not the BAD sort. Bliss even started to feel a little hopeful, because there was also just the tiniest bit of pleased pride. After a moment, Accord said, "Really?" Bliss nodded. "Wow."

"Yeah."

More silence. Accord ventured. "You're..."

"Older than you--I know. But you're growing up--fast. And I can wait, Accord."

"I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything right now. I'm not asking for anthing from you but time, and what we already have--friendship. I just want a chance for something to develop naturally--and it will be natural. I've had a talk with Dad and Grandma, and they've promised not to meddle, so you can be sure that if you suddenly find me devastatingly attractive it won't be because of a potion or an arrow in the butt." Accord smiled faintly at that. "So can we do that? I'm not asking you to get joined, or make a committment, or even go steady. I just want you to know how I feel, so you can decide how you feel. Think about it, okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay?"

Accord rolled his eyes. "Okay. You're being reduntantly redundant."

"Back to brathood." Bliss stood up, heaving a deep sigh. "That wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. I was expecting it to be along the lines of facing down a Titan."

"But it was more like fighting a Cretian bull?"

Bliss leaned down and passed his hand gently over Accord's hair. "No--fighting myself." He disappeared in a burst of sparkles and flower petals.

Accord plucked a rose petal out of his hair. "He loves me." He plucked out another. "He loves me not." He pulled a third out of his hair. "He loves me." He stared at the petal a long time, then said, softly, "That's what he meant, isn't it?"