It was almost a full week later. Abaddon was in his bedroom, helping the littlest Tathamet get comfortably dressed after a dookie-up-the back diaper explosion.
Normally his expression would have been a bit more grim, but right now he was jolly.
Even from his secluded home, he could sense it. The familiar buzzing of excited peoples, crippling intoxication, and the underlying desire for reproduction. A celebration.
He loved his children's birth festivals. This was also the first time in history that he decided to open up Tehom to outsiders.
Gods from every pantheon would come to visit to pay their respects, give offerings, and kiss the teething toy.
Did most of them want to be there? Probably not.
But no one wants to risk the possibility of ending up on the dragon's bad side either.
Even Kronos was coming so that he didn't wake up with all of Olympus submerged underwater.
Once he finished getting his little bundle clean and taken care of, Abaddon lifted her up proudly like a scene from a lion movie.
Erica was beside him, putting the finishing touches on her outfit.
"You know we'll probably be there for two hours at the maximum, right? I'm not sure our little one can stay awake for longer than that, husband." She said as she tied back her hair.
Abaddon raised a brow. "Are you talking about Odessa, or Bekka?"
A pillow was hurled at him from across the room and he ducked with just enough time to avoid it.
"Do not make fun of me! Lillian and I are very tired from baby duties last night!" Bekka complained from the bed.
Lillian poked her head out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. "Audrina and I were up with the baby. You ate barbecue chips and touched our husband while he was asleep."
Abaddon stared at Bekka accusatorially.
"I KNEW something was off. Do you know how disgusted I was with myself when I woke up and my lower body felt greasy?? I was in the shower for an hour!"
Bekka shrank underneath the covers. "W-Well... I would've licked it clean for you if you asked."
"Do not distort my displeasure with arousal right now." Abaddon narrowed his eyes.
"Is it working?"
"You know that it is!"
In all fairness, Abaddon and the girls had been so busy with the baby that their period of sexual inactivity had persisted for longer than they had initially planned.
So other than some occasional finger stuff or a quick act of fellatio, no one had been fully satisfied. Which made Bekka's offer just a little bit too tempting.
"Stop teasing our simple-minded love so that she'll get out of bed and get dressed." Tatiana nudged him.
"Yea! Wait, why am I simple?" Bekka pouted.
Valerie chimed in from across the room. "Bekka, you really have to get ready, my love. No one has the time to sit here and list to you all of those reasons, or else we'd be here all day."
"HEY!"
Everyone in the room laughed at her, which only served to make Bekka even more annoyed than normal.
"That's fine. Laugh it up, you damn rodents. All of you can go sleep on the couch tonight for all I care!"
"Oh? You're sure about that?"
Bash returned to his normal body with a massive ulcer forming in his head.
"...Why? Why must you haunt me in this manner? Is this pay back for some slight my family has committed? If so, then I will enact revenge on your behalf if it means that you will leave me alone."
Gaia giggled. "Apologies, but that's not it. Can't I just want to enjoy the company of my destined ones?"
"You are a busy goddess with a lot of destined ones. Go bother one of them."
"Don't wanna."
"That's surprising, since it has never bothered you before."
"Might this be jealousy I am hearing, my dear?"
"Jealousy would imply that I wanted to keep you around for some moronic reason. I do not."
"Aww, but aren't I fun?"
"No."
"Such a swift answer." Gaia laughed.
The earth mother fabricated a bench and sat down while leaving room for Bashenga.
He declined to join her for any reason.
"Look... Obviously I know that you are less than pleased with my presence, but I feel it is a necessity for me to stay with you."
Bashenga rolled his eyes. "And why, pray tell, would this abominable arrangement become any sort of necessity?"
"Obviously because I'm supposed to be your counterpart. Would you have souls to punish if I did not keep humanity on my back? Would you ever understand the significance of the things that you destroy if I were not here to teach you about life?"
"So things I can do without then. Wonderful." Bash replied curtly.
"Don't be like that, darli-"
"I cannot love you Gaia. Your husband does not exist in the abyss."
"Then what of a friend? If your father of all people can forge many friendships in the duration of his travels, then surely you can do the same."
"Do friends routinely try to sleep with one another?"
"You have to keep up with the times, handsome. They call that being friends with benefits now." Gaia winked.
"Hilarious..."
He started to float away, but before he could leave Gaia forcefully grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the bench with her.
"I was only joking... You do not have to love me, Bashenga. You don't even have to lay with me. But the two of us will always be inexplicably linked for reasons beyond our control. The least that we can do is try to enjoy each other."
Bashenga almost looked phased. Almost.
But once he regained control of himself, he sneered in contempt and yanked his hand away.
"Stay here and ruin my abode all you want... I'll find somewhere else to spend my eternity."
Bashenga vanished from his room in an instant. Leaving Gaia behind in the darkness- smiling sadly to herself.
"You don't really make it easy to love you, you know... but then again, that's not exactly new for us, is it?"