they actually met when persephone was a senior in high school, though when they told the story later they’d leave that part out. she was wearing a flower crown on her head, a fact that hades remembered later because when he asked her about it she said, “they’re not flowers, they’re weeds.”
hades had laughed. he’d thought she was cute, but he was also twenty-two, about to graduate from college, and not interested in the high schoolers doing college visits. they were only talking because she’d snuck out of the school-sanctioned prospective students mixer to come to the frat party he’d been dragged to.
“okay,” he’d said, “so why are you wearing a crown of weeds?”
persephone had smiled. she had a sort of disinterested air about her, like she was watching the party happen but wasn’t really there.
“that’s what was on the quad,” she answered, and then disappeared into the crowd and hades put her out of his mind until three years later, when he returned to campus to watch his little brother graduate. they called his name but hades had difficulty paying attention to his deeply irritating little brother getting his diploma, because behind him was a girl wearing a graduation robe and, instead of a cap, a crown of weeds.
it was difficult to explain, because hades wasn’t really a person who “liked other people,” per se. but something about the way she moved across the stage, hades couldn’t stop looking at her. he knew it was weird but his eyes followed her across the stage and back to her seat, where she pulled out a set of knitting needles. what was she making?
afterwards, hades punched his brother’s shoulder and said, “congrats, zeke. who was the girl you were sitting next to?”
zeke frowned. “you mean flowers?”
“her name is flowers?”
“no. that would be stupid. that’s just what we call her, because of the, you know.” he gestured at his head. “she’s always wearing them. her real name is persephone. she’s hot but weird.”
“yeah,” said hades. “super weird.”
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