Bitter Sweet

“Da ya see any thundahbolts or anythin?”

Joxer turned at the voice behind him and shook his head.

“No.”

“Da ya feel tha bloodthirsty eruption ah War all ovah Greece?”

He shook his head again, checking briefly.

“No.”

Strife rolled his eyes. “Then maybe ya should relax. If Evander was hurt, then Unc would have gone crazy, which would have drove Zeus crazy and…Ya get it.”

“I can feel Ares blocking me.” Joxer worried his lip, one hand rubbing his rounded belly. “Aren’t you worried about Psyche, after what Hercules said?”

Strife hesitated, for an instant he looked younger and more vulnerable then anyone would believe, but he quickly hid it beneath an expressionless look. “Psyche’s strongah than ya think, she wouldn’t hurt Evander or side against us. If somethin got her then we’d know about it.” The God averted his eyes, focussing on his adopted son who was currently playing with toy monsters on the floor.


Joxer nodded slightly, Strife was his closest friend, on and off Olympus, despite only really knowing each other for a few months. Joxer knew from the expression on his face to leave well enough alone. Strife was worried, really worried about Psyche, but in his vulnerable state, especially whilst trying to take care of Bliss and keeping Joxer company, he had no choice other then to ignore his own worries. Joxer wondered at Ares’ wisdom in leaving only him with Strife, especially when Cupid was with Aphrodite.

Joxer hated the fact that Strife closed himself off every now and again, but he didn’t want to upset the Mischief God, especially so close to his delivery date. He watched as Strife grimaced again, one hand on his belly.

“Kids gonna kick his way outta me at this rate.” Strife tried to smile despite wincing again.

Joxer frowned. “Are you sure we shouldn’t call Acelepious or Apollo?”

Strife shook his head. “Nah they need ta take care ah tha idiots.” He smirked slightly. “Though I have ta admit they did well in protectin Alexi.” He nestled back against the pillows around him. “Just don’t tell them that Jox.”

“I won’t.” Joxer manoeuvred his own cushions behind his back to support his increasing bulk. He was deeply on edge and worried about Evander and Ares, not to mention how close the creature had come to Alexi….

“Ya’re doin it again.”

Joxer blinked, focussing on Strife. “What?”

The God nestled into the pillows some more and made a sound of annoyance. “Great I get comfy and I have ta pee.” He murmured grumpily, reaching for the pot as Joxer, blushing, averted his eyes.

“Thinkin ovah things. Theah’s nothin ya can da, sa stop it, concentrate on tha lump in frontta ya.” Strife grinned at Joxer’s glower and put away the pot. “Now that got yar attention.”

Joxer stared at him for a minute and then grinned. “Guess so.”

- Strife grinned back. “I could tell ya a story, if it would help?” His grin widened at the look of incredulity that spread over Joxer’s face.

“What like the hydra and the hero?” he asked bemused.

Strife laughed. “Joxer take it from me, yar sa easy ta wind up. No more like tha whole Evander thing, how come it started and all that? I know Unc was gonna tell ya at some point, but its no secret around heah, sa I can if ya like.”

Joxer considered it. He’d only ever heard about Evander and Nemesis from Hercules, one night when they all ended up sharing camp and he knew there were always two sides to every story.

“I’d love to.” He pressed his hand to his belly, feeling a distinct rumble. “But I think I’d better use the erm, room first.” He blushed deeply and stood up, one hand on his back, feeling momentarily dizzy. “Oh wow, not only can I not see my feet anymore but this baby is doing something bizarre.”

Joxer focussed on the baby and felt Strife’s hand shoot out to grab his leg. “Chill Joxer, try not to focus ta much, ya went cross eyed.”

Joxer blushed. “Somersaults, bizarre ones.” He murmured and still blushing moved towards the bathroom.

Strife laughed and caught Bliss’ eye as the child looked up in confusion. “Sometimes I forget Joxer’s a lot newer ta this than any ah us.” He grinned at him as a shriek came from the bathroom, followed by a long groan. Bliss gave a surprised cry, his small wings flapping rapidly as he flew onto Strife’s bed, cuddling up to the god’s belly. Strife frowned, even with limited powers he could tell nothing was wrong, besides he knew a lot about screams, yells and shrieks.

He grimaced, one hand on his belly, massaging to soothe the baby as he counted slowly to ten letting out a deep breath. Joxer’s shriek had been more ‘oh Tartarus, what now’ then ‘help I’m being massacred.’

“You okay in there Jox?” He called out, feeling Bliss’ small hands rubbing circles on his belly.

Joxer came out of the bathroom, his face slightly pink as he moved back onto the end of the bed. As Strife looked at him his blush increased and he shifted slightly, running hands over his belly, he looked unhappy and more then a little embarrassed.

Strife knew better then to grin when Joxer was in one of his ‘shy’ moods. “What’s up Jox?” He was intrigued to know what had Joxer so self-conscious, He knew it couldn’t be the weight, that worry had come out weeks ago and been dealt with quickly by Ares reassurances and shagging him almost unconscious.

Joxer fidgeted slightly, one hand on the hem of his tunic, he’d never seen such a thing before but when he’d looked down and seen them he’d felt sickened by the sheer magnitude of which they stood out on his skin. He’d tried wiping them with water and then rubbing them to get them to go down but the angry marks remained. He took a deep breath and blushing miserably lifted his tunic to reveal his rounded belly.

“Oh.”

Joxer looked up at Strife. “Oh? Oh?” He asked getting a little worked up. “Tartarus or merciful Zeus or even Hades be damned, I expected, not oh? How can this be oh!” He traced one of the angry purple/red marks which lay on his hips and the swell of his belly.

Strife’s lips quirked and Joxer glared at him, just willing him to smile. “Joxer that’s normal, fah anyone. Mortal women get them taa durin pregnancy, sa does anyone who gains or loses lotsa weight. See.” He lifted the end of his own tunic and traced a couple of slight silvery lines leading from his belly button outwards.

Joxer raised an eyebrow looking uncannily like Ares in his, ‘I am not amused’ times.

“You have a few lines Strife, a few silvery lines that look like they are gonna disappear soon anyway, I on the other hand look like someone’s played join the dots on my belly.”

Strife laughed, ignoring Joxer’s glare. “I’m not laughing at ya Jox, honest. I just sometimes forget, ya know.” He patted the other god’s hand in sympathy. “Ya’re lucky yer a god now, if ya’d been mortal it would have taken years ta get them ta go down ta silver, an then they stay on ya fah good. Bein a God and with Dite’s special cream, it should only take a few months ta get them like this, an then maybe a year before they disappear.” He glanced at Bliss and grimaced slightly as he rubbed his belly, the baby was headbutting the front of his stomach.

“Can ya reach into that bag yar daddy packed fah me, an get out mah special cream?” He asked the godling.

Bliss flapped his wings a few times in answer and launched himself off the bed, somersaulting as he did. He landed perfectly and dutifully walked over to the bag to get the cream. He attempted another flying somersault back onto the bed but ended up being caught mid turn by Joxer before he flipped over it.

“Careful Bliss, yer don’t want ta hurt yar little brother an yar aunt, now da ya.” Strife grinned at the child’s blush and ruffled his hair. “Yer a good boy.” He took the cream from Bliss and handed it to Joxer. Bliss flew back to his toys.

“I don’t need it anymore, ya keep usin it.”

Joxer reached over and took the cream, he pulled the cork out of the top and sniffed at its contents.

“Smells sweet.” He murmured as the smell hit the back of his throat. He inverted the pot and slowly thick yellow cream ran into his hand, hastily he turned the pot back up and put the cork in. The moisturiser felt cool and creamy and he lifted his tunic and hesitantly massaged it in. His eyes widened as the cool, soft cream spread over his skin, the marks changed from livid purple to a slightly lighter red and the baby kicked at his hand in protest as he massaged the cream in, bumping the baby around his belly.

“Wow.” He smiled at the smug looking Strife. “That’s amazing, what is that?”

Strife grinned back. “A little bit ah this an that, cocoa stuff from somewheah or othah, bit of alcohol, wax.” His grin grew. “That’s all I could get out ah Aunt Dite She said somethin about it bein big in tha future. She’s gonna patent it- make it hers and sell it.” He explained at Joxer’s look.

Joxer rubbed his soft belly and slowly pulled his top back down, he caught the tail end of another grimace as Strife bit down of his lip and clenched his fists, and his baby felt like it was using his spine to kick through his skin.

Joxer frowned, not liking to see his friend in pain and especially not liking when practically every God or Goddess, especially those related to the baby, seemed to be blocking them. He knew Acelepious would probably come, but Apollo seemed to be completely putting up a wall and Hera was the same. He looked at Strife and opened his mouth; the other God interrupted him before the words came out.

“Unc and Cupe will be back soon Jox, it’s fine. Ace and me had this talk, unless things start opening, then theah’s hours ta go. I know Ares is blockin ya, jus like Cupe’s blockin me, but fah all we know they could be practisin torture on that thing that attacked ya and Alexis, so let’s leave them to it. Besides, if they aren’t practisin torture they might be blockin us for anothah reason.”

Joxer caught his eye and nodded slowly seeing the seriousness there. “Alright, but if anything, bursts or pops or breaks we call them or Acelepious, right?”

Strife grinned slightly, despite the pain that rippled through his body. “Got ya Jox, let’s just give Ace a bit ah time with mah baby sister. Seems fair she should get to have a good dad at least, an make ma happy.” He winced again. “This baby thinks mah spine’s a push off board.”

Joxer stared at Strife’s stomach as he spoke, watching it rise and fall in time with Strife’s winces. “The baby’s pushing?” he asked curiously.}

No one had expected his daughter to double her growth so they’d held off telling him exactly how Gods gave birth and tried to skirt the subject. Now he guessed he was only weeks away. He frowned, a thought crossing his mind. Strife’s baby was growing fast but still Acelepious had said at least a few more days, so how early was the baby.

Strife exhaled slowly, seeing the question in his friend’s face. “It’s not taa early Jox, he’ll probably be a bit small but Ace warned us about that. He said tha wings would take up more growin space and cramp tha baby so he’d probably get out soonah than later.”

He groaned and clenched his fists as a particularly vicious thrust met his belly, his eyes widened as he felt a slight snapping inside of him.“Tartarus.” He murmured pulling up his tunic.

Bliss, catching the end of Strife’s groan as he played, moved next to the bed and stared up at him, a very worried and scared expression on his face.

“Is the baby hurtin?”

Joxer leant over as much as his bulk would allow and scooped up Bliss, using his weight to pull him onto the bed.

“No, not hurting him Bliss.” He murmured as Strife cried out again and bit his lip hard.

He stared at the huge mound of Strife’s stomach, the young God looked very frail and all belly as he lay on his back, half supported by the cushions.

“It’s just not sure whethah ta come out now or not.”}

Joxer thought for a moment, he knew Strife didn’t want him to get anyone until they desperately needed them and he didn’t want to leave him and Bliss alone for one minute.

He hugged Bliss close and took Strife’s hand, biting down on his cheek as the God squeezed hard, another pain hitting him. His eyes widened and he heard Bliss’ delighted gasp as a lump literally pushed out of Strife’s stomach, remained out for a few seconds and went back in. He saw another smaller lump emerge briefly before the larger one was back, straining against Strife’s belly.

The God let out another hoarse cry as the pain whipped through him, his hands instinctively wanting to push the baby back in. He panted and swallowed hard. “Tha baby’s elbow’s tha little one, its head…” he grunted as another pain hit.

“Tartarus!”

Joxer set Bliss down on the end of the bed, tuning out the child’s happy exclamations, and moved next to Strife. Strife’s face was sweaty and his cheeks were bright pink, an unusual colour for the Mischief God. He kept a hold of Strife’s hand as he groaned again, twisting and panting as he rode out the contraction. Joxer could see the skin at the bottom of Strife’s belly becoming silvery and slightly translucent at every push.

“I’m going to call Cupid and Ares.” He murmured to Strife, as the God relaxed.

Strife shook his head wildly. “No don’t. Cupid’s blockin me, he only would do that if somethin was wrong.” He groaned again and tried to twist into his body and curl up. “Don’t call him, not yet.” He begged as he gripped Joxer’s hand tightly.

Joxer closed his eyes and counted to ten, he wanted to call Ares, Cupid, Acelepious, anyone who could help Strife, but he didn’t want to upset his friend. He sighed, thinking hard, one thing he did know was that Strife’s water had to break before the baby could be born, so he decided to give Strife a few more minutes. He rubbed his friend’s back as he leaned forward and sighed.

“They are all going to kill me, but all right. I’m not totally sure I could actually get hold of anyone anyway.” He admitted and almost kicked himself realising how that sounded. He was more then a little surprised at Strife’s relieved grin.

“What can I say, I’m weird.” The god giggled, “I’d rather not be a burden.”

Joxer shot him a look. “You’re not a burden Strife, you know that.”

His tone softened at the answering shrug and cry of pain. He rubbed Strife’s back as he flopped back down. “You know, it might help if you got on your hands and knees.” He murmured as he watched the baby strain against Strife’s belly. “It just seems you’d be helping to push it down, besides it might help your back, at least I could rub it for you.” He added at Strife’s questioning look.

The God nodded. “Couldn’t hurt.”

He gasped as another pain hit; he could feel the skin on his belly stretching and aching, inside and out as Joxer helped manoeuvre him into position. Embarrassment went out of the window as Joxer helped Strife remove his tunic and insisted they call Acelepious at the least.

Joxer could see Strife was ready to argue his point but a stronger pain lashed through the God’s belly which caused him to grip the covers firmly, a keening wail burst from his lips as the baby pushed harder and Bliss began to wail, scared by all the chaos.

Without breathing, Joxer began shouting, mentally for Bliss’ sake, for Ares, Cupid, Hera and Acelepious. The resulting flash caused huge red dots to swamp his vision and he swayed slightly. He heard Cupid’s anxious shout and felt comforting arms surround him and pull him to one side. He realised it was Ares even before his vision cleared and he sagged back, feeling his lover’s hands encircle his body protectively.

Joxer closed his eyes briefly, letting the dots disappear. He opened them just as Cupid bore down on him, he nearly flinched but stopped himself in time as Cupid spoke.

“Thanks Joxer, I know how stubborn he can be. You did good.” The winged god smiled and hastily deposited the squirming Bliss in Joxers arms; the small God had stopped crying and was watching the proceedings with wide eyes.

“Hold him for us?” Cupid smiled again, but Joxer could see shadows of pain in his eyes as he moved over to Strife who was clenching the bedcovers and growling at Cupid’s apparent enthusiasm for pain.

“I’d say Cupid’s carrying the next one.”

Ares murmured in his ear, as another contraction hit the squirming God, causing him to buck and grip Cupid’s hand tightly. Joxer turned to him as Acelepious was ordering Cupid into position, promising it wouldn’t be long. He hesitated, seeing the pain in Cupids’ eyes, and gripped Ares arms, stroking them softly.

“Not now, soon.” His lover murmured, as if in answer, in his ear not wanting to spoil the moment.

Joxer nodded and jumped slightly as Strife let out an ear-piecing scream. His head whipped around and he ended up with a face full of feathers as Bliss vibrated in excitement, squealing at the noise. He stared at Strife who knelt, his back supported by Cupid, his hands gripping the Love God’s tightly as his body arched. Strife was slightly leant forward, Acelepious’s hands partially obscuring his lower body, but Joxer could clearly see the outline of the head as its pushed forward. Strife’s belly was rippling and contracting and finally giving way as the God groaned and strained.

Joxer blinked, the baby’s head was encased in a thin yellow cover and as Strife strained and heaved Joxer watched a large nub slip past, its twin joining a second later. As the baby’s wings were freed from Strife’s body, Acelepious broke the membrane surrounding the baby. As water gushed over the bed, Strife gave one more cry and pushed the baby out, his small body slipping into Ace’s hands.}

The infant let out a quavering wail, even before the cord was cut, as his lungs filled with air for the first time and he beat his fists angrily as he shivered against the cold. A grin spread over Joxer’s face as Acelepious quickly bundled up the baby, vanished the afterbirth and handed the baby to Cupid. Cupid stood, cradling his newborn son, with a goofy smile on his face as Acelepious eased Strife back into a sitting position and helped the god’s stomach close up again.

“It’s a baby.” Cupid grinned holding the infant close as Acelepious quickly flashed the bed clean and made Strife a comfortable outfit.

“Yes Cupid.” Acelepious rolled his eyes as Cupid knelt next to Strife and carefully handed the baby to the exhausted God.

“Right number ah fingers and toes and wings an he’s a boy.” Strife grinned down at the baby, who was whimpering softly “We did good Cupe.” He looked up and grinned at Joxer adding a mental *thanks*.

“Want to meet your brother, Bliss?” Cupid asked smiling slightly as the Godling flashed into the grove between his parents. He peered up at the baby almost doubtfully as Strife angled him down so Bliss could see.

“He’s small.” Bliss frowned and then smiled “I’m his big brother.”

Strife grinned “Sure are kid, ya gonna be a great big brother.” He positioned the baby so it was on Bliss’s level “Bliss, meet ya little brother Damian.”

Damian gurgled and waved his fists stuffing it in his mouth as Bliss stared at him. Cupid grinned and looked towards Joxer and Ares “Want to see your newest grandson, dad?”

Joxer smiled slightly and let Ares go as his lover made his way over to the bed to hold his squirming grandson. He felt the wistful feeling return as he rubbed his own belly, his baby bumping inside of him.

He felt Strife’s eyes on him, before the god called him over to stand next to Acelepious and have a turn at holding the baby, Damian. He moved forward, feeling more secure and complete about being a God and being pregnant than he had before.