New God of the forge.

prelude to Battle: Zeus vs Hephaestus

"That's all I asked"

'maybe I should get stronger so he can protect me and I protect him'

She thought to herself, this was the first time she had ever considered being someone who would fight but she didn't like it when Hephaestus lost a tooth when Ares punched him not only that but she could hardly do anything when they fought.
....
[3 days later]‐

"YES!!!"

Aphrodite jumped up in joy, celebrating as she finally managed to win in a game against Hephaestus, she run around the yard with her hands up in the air as she heard the sounds of clapping from both the nymphs and Hephaestus's golden maidens, Hephaestus also clapped congratulating her victory which wasn't because he let her win, well he did but that's only because he had deemed her to have the right amount of strength and speed necessary, he began playing tennis with to determine her fighting potential as Tennis is a game that can help with your strength, speed and reaction.

He was initially supposed to play only a single game with her before moving on but her competitiveness didn't allow that, that was fine he didn't mind the time spent with her. Now that's done he does wonder if he should take her hunting to help see if she can do well against opponents that won't go Easy on her but will she like it?.

"Well congratulations on your first win"

He said as she watched her running around in celebration before running towards him and jumping into his arms forcing him to princess carry her.

"As my reward carry my like this all day or whenever I ask"

"Do you want me to carry you all day right now or whenever you ask?"

"I want both but I don't want to inconvenience and take up your time"

She expressed with a bit of guilt in her tone. She has been selfishly been taking up most of his time because she's been wanting to beat him in the tennis game so now that she's accomplished that she feels guilty because she's hasn't considered how he would want to spend his time. Being selfish is not how a good wife acts.
For a while now she has been racking her brain thinking about how to be a good wife to Hephaestus and she hasn't been able to think of anything yet, how exactly does a good wife act? The only example of a good wife she had would be Persephone but asking her for advice wasn't something she was keen on, mostly because she made a scene when she left last time and it would be embarrassing to see her again.

"no need to worry, you can demand my time any day of the week"

He responded, both him and Aphrodite were quite in sync just as she wanted to be a good wife he wished to be a good husband and he was struggling a bit with that, how exactly does he treat her? Should he be stern with her or lenient as someone who has never had a lover it was difficult finding the right way to treat one, the most natural thing to him was to give her anything she wants to keep her happy but was that alright?

"but don't you need to prepare for your fight with Zeus? I don't want to distract you or make you lose focus"

She expressed, he was fighting Zeus in a couple of days as such he needs to spend time preparing himself, Zeus is not an opponent he should take lightly.

"the preparations for that are done so no need to worry about my time"

Everything he needed was complete, although he still has to put the finishing touches on both Excalibur and Gae bolg he had to rush them when Athena was fighting Zeus especially Excalibur so he'll need a some time to perfect them and then be ready but there's still 2 days left so he has plenty of time

"what about Athena aren't you going to help her with her problems?"

"Athena is not shy she'll come to me when she needs My help"