This return from dreary worries to reality is more than welcome, and Hythlodaeus can't help chuckling at that first part.

"Now there is a phrase I would never have expected to hear from you! Hades, declaring that he cannot stay abed? Mayhaps you did change over these twelve millennia."

He sits up, flushing a little at the realization of his own nakedness - and particularly the reason for it - but reaches out to trace his fingers along Hades's shoulder.

"And I still maintain that we would have taken the shower much earlier if I had gotten the chance to pull you in back there."