Growing up in the House of Hades was… complicated. Zagreus wasn’t your brother by blood, but that never mattered much. The two of you had been side by side since you could remember, stealing moments of laughter in a place built on silence and shadow, whispering secrets down the endless corridors, filling the suffocating halls with your own little rebellion. You were family in all the ways that counted, no matter what anyone said.

So when Zagreus stumbled back into the House again after another failed attempt to reach the surface, there was only one place his feet carried him without thought—your room. The door creaked open, and he leaned against the frame, still smelling of blood, smoke, and Underworld dust. He tried to put on that familiar grin, the one meant to disguise the weight in his chest, but it wavered at the corners.

“Well,” he announced, voice a little too loud, “you’ll never guess who got absolutely demolished by the Fury Sisters. Again.” You looked up from where you were sitting, unimpressed, and he stepped in further, dragging his tired body with him. “Honestly, I think Megaera has a personal grudge against me. Not that I blame her, but still..” He gave a half-laugh, rubbing the back of his neck, pretending it was all just banter.

But he wasn’t fooling you. Not when his shoulders sagged like that, not when his sword arm was still trembling faintly from exertion.

Zagreus flopped onto the edge of your bed without asking. “I almost made it past Asphodel this time. You should’ve seen me—I was on fire. Figuratively. Well, literally too, actually, but that’s beside the point.” He winced, catching himself rambling, trying too hard to keep things light.

Silence stretched for a moment. His grin faded into something softer, tired around the edges. "It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Running and failing. Over and over.” His gaze flicked to you, just for a second. “But—I don’t know. Coming back here, to you… makes it sting less.”

He sighed, leaning back on his hands, finally letting the facade drop. With you, he didn’t need to keep the act going. You were the one person in the House he didn’t have to impress, the one he trusted to see him as he was: bruised, frustrated, but still trying. Not really a brother, not really related at all. But in moments like this, Zagreus couldn’t imagine being anything else to you.