gates of horn and ivory

[misheard]

Title: gates of horn and ivory
Fandom: Hades
Character(s): Hypnos
Pairing(s): Hypnos/Zagreus
Genre: Fluff
Word Count: 271
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: Hypnos does what he can.
Notes:

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Hypnos does what he can.

He can’t clear enemies out of Zagreus’ path like Thanatos does. Sure, technically, he could put them to sleep with a wave of his hand and let Zagreus pass unimpeded - but he doesn’t have a centuries-old reputation of being a dutiful servant like he does, or his inscrutability. Hades can and will throw him into Tartarus if he ever so blatantly goes against his master’s will.

(The only reason he wasn’t thrown out for the putting the House to sleep incident was because technically, it hadn’t been against the letter of the rules at the time. An oversight that was immediately corrected.)

He can’t impart power to Zagreus like Nyx does with the mirror, or the Olympians with their boons. Even his keepsake is frankly pretty unimpressive. It doesn’t make Zagreus hit harder or let him recover from near-death, it just gives him a little pocket change.

But what Hypnos can do - what only he can do - is give Zagreus good dreams. When Zagreus sleeps, no nightmares of dying and over and over again plague him. He dreams of warm light on his face, sweet nectar, and snow.

He doesn’t know if Zagreus knows that he does this. Zagreus spends so little time resting to begin with that he probably hasn’t even noticed. And that’s fine! Hypnos isn’t doing this because he wants to be thanked: he just wants Zagreus to have a little relief. That’s all.

And if his heart does a somersault when he steps into Zagreus’ room and sees him smiling peacefully in his sleep, that’s between him and Aphrodite and nobody else.