Getting closer yet feeling a rift

After resting for the night Yuri woke early the next morning ready to start training under her literal and figurative goddess. Unable to quell her excitement, Yuri exited the room to look for Hephaestus. After looking around the place she finally found her in the kitchen asleep at a table with a glass of what smelled of alcohol.

Shaking her head thinking how this goddess of hers could allow her to rest in her room while she slept so uncomfortably. Looking around Yuri found the pantry and the fridge thinking maybe she would wake Hephaestus with breakfast.

Yurii couldn't help but think this world had some strange inconsistencies. First, the buildings are like a mixture of the Middle Ages and what was found around a hundred or so years ago back in her previous life. Second while clothing can be somewhat modern weapons stayed in the age of knights and wizards. And finally, they had some strange modern conveniences like stoves and fridges. Now they didn't run on electricity but magic stones but they still had them.

While Yuri was lost in thought she managed to make some scrambled eggs french toast with whipped cream and fruit sauce and bacon. As she finished plating everything Hephaestus started to stir and her stomach released a loud growl. Smiling at her goddesses and the cute antics of her half-sleeping state Yuri made her way to the table with the plates of food.

Placing a plate in front of Hephaestus she sat directly across from her and started eating. After taking only a few bites Hephaestus shot up with her eyes wide open. After taking a moment to reacquaint herself with her surroundings Hephaestus finally noticed the food sitting in front of her. With a shrug, she pulled the plate closer to herself and began eating.

After taking the first bite of the French toast Yuri heard Hephaestus let out a moan. Hearing this Yuri turned as red as a tomato from her neck to the tip of her ears. As she tried to ignore it, Yuri glanced up only to see Hephaestus was just as red. Seeing this Yuri calmed down enough to tease her. " wow that must be the greatest compliment I've ever received".

Hearing this and seeing the almost smug look on Yuri's face. Hephaestus realized that she was being messed with. After a moment she decided that she wouldn't let Yuri get away with it. So she decided to tease her back "Oh it is a grand compliment reserved for only those with the greatest capabilities of being an excellent housewife." hearing this Yuri turned red once again but she also thought in her mind that if it was Hephaestus that didn't seem too bad.

Seeing her turn red again Hephaestus decided to keep the teasing going. By the time Yuri was almost done with the food she thought she might never lose the red tint to her skin. But as much as she was enjoying the moment like most good things it didn't last.

Hephaestus was enjoying the moment and to start winding the situation back down she slowly stopped the teasing. But deciding to add one more jab she stated "One day you will find someone settle down and be happy, makes me a little sad thinking that. But whoever it is will be one lucky guy."

Hearing this and realizing that when she thought things out. While the gods and goddesses of this world didn't seem to view being with the same sex as anything odd. This didn't change the fact that it was actually uncommon for mortals to have same-sex relationships.

Thinking about this Yuri paled and stopped eating. Hephaestus noticing Yuri's movement ceased decided to look at what she considered her cute red face looked up. But she was surprised. Because instead of a red face when she looked up she noticed Yuri was pale. Rather her eyes where turned red as she noticed a tear started to work its way down Yuri's cheek.

Before Hephaestus could check and see if she was alright thinking she might be injured somewhere. Yuri got up From the table and disappeared deeper into the house. Hephaestus froze for a moment unsure about what had happened before deciding to follow.

Yuri in her mind realizing that there weren't as far as she knew any actual same-sex couples. Her mind was brought back to her old life. How even though it was becoming more common as time passed. There were many people who looked at her almost as if she were a monster or had two heads. Just because who she was attracted to. She was lucky though she had an extremely supportive family and a few really good friends. However, she knew not everyone has that.

!!! Trigger talk of self-harm hate speech rape and even suicide readers beware and I'm sorry that things like this actually and unfortunately do happen and if anything like this has happened to you don't keep silent seek help it is availablefor those who truly need it !!!

Yuri when in middle school had joined a group chat online that was for discussing issues that many people like herself faced. She had gotten along well with a few members and even started meeting up with a few that she had became friends with. But she with a wonderful network of support didn't know how dark the world actually was. At one of her meetups, one of her new friends a shy girl named Lora showed up with her arm in a cast. She had told everyone that she had fallen off her bike on her way home from school.

Not knowing any better at the time Yuri who was the youngest of the group at the age of 14 believed her. It was only a year later that Yuri was made aware of the truth it turns out that her family was extremely homophobic. Her mom would beat on her causing bruising and minor injuries. While her father using the excuse of turning her straight as a reason pimped her out to his friends to have their way with. It was one of her dad's friends who had pinned her arm behind her back while getting particularly rough which had caused the break in her arm.

And unfortunately it was also during one such event that Lora had ended up getting pregnant. Unable to cope any longer she wound up taking her own life along with that of her unborn child just to get away from her family.

After this happened a member of the group that was close to her found out what had happened and relayed it to the group. And unfortunately due to the parent's nature, Yuri couldn't even go to the funeral to say goodbye.

!!! End trigger warning!!!

But once Yuri had all these negative thoughts running through her mind she was unable to hold her emotions. She had run through the house and ended up locking herself in Hephaestus's bathroom which was located across from her bedroom.

Once Hephaestus caught up to Yuri she had already shut and locked the door. Immediately Hephaestus noticed a muffled noise coming from the other side of the door. Taking a moment she recognized the sound as sobs Yuri was crying.

Yuri ended up crying herself to sleep sitting against the tub. After crying for almost an hour she just didn't have the energy to do anything else. Unbeknownst to Yuri Hephaestus never left from the other side of the door.

When the bathroom went quiet Hephaestus became slightly worried and was about to break the door to check on Yuri. But she was worried about if she might be against the door. In the end, Hephaestus mannaged to force the door open after breaking the frame next to the handle.

Upon entering the room she noticed Yuri on the floor sleeping. Seeing her tear-stained cheeks Hephaestus felt a weight in her chest. She ended up using a rag to clean Yuri's face a carried her back to the bed. Instead of just leaving her though she sat on the bed still holding her against herself.

Around an hour or so passed and Yuri started to stir the first thing she noticed was how bad her head hurt. She started to remember what had happened and started to feel a sense of loss but before those feelings could grow Yuri also noticed she wasn't in the bathroom. After this realization, she also noticed how warm and comfortable she was.

Hephaestus had fallen asleep holding Yuri. She was having a pleasant dream when some movement woke her. Waking she noticed Yuri look around in a daze for a moment before a look of acceptance hit her then sadness and finally she just seemed to decide do sleep more. With this, she started to cuddle in against Hephaestus more seeing this Hephaestus couldn't help herself and burst out in laughter.

Yuri deciding to just rest more pushed herself closer to the source of heat ready to close her eyes. But as they shut she heard laughter and her heat source started moving. At first, she was annoyed with her moving heat then it dawned on her that. She was in bed with another person. With that, she tried to get up but the other person managed to hold her in place. Thankfully before she could worry too much she heard the person tell her it was okay just rest a little more. After recognizing the voice as that of her goddess Hephaestus Yuri calmed slightly. Over the course of the next two hours neither spoke and just stayed in silence.

After sitting for a while Hephaestus broke the silence "Do you want to tell me about what was wrong?"

Yuri hearing this meekly shook her head and told her it wasn't anything important. Hearing her response caused Hephaestus to feel some frustration. In her mind the thought that if it caused this cute cheerful girl that much grief how could it not be important?

Hephaestus grabbing Yuri by the chin forced her to look up at her. " look I may not be the best at all this emotional stuff but I know that anything that makes you that upset is important."

Hearing this Yuri felt warm, and hesitatingly Yuri began to speak. " I am not attracted to men and hearing you bring up how I would make a guy happy one day brought up some painful memories."

Hearing this and not detecting any lies Hephaestus let out a sigh and apologized for making her upset. She then stated that she didn't think of the possibility that she didn't like men and finally asked if she wanted to talk about the memories it brought up.

So they spent the next hour talking about what had Yuri so upset. By the end of the story, Hephaestus was almost brought to tears. She then told Yuri "Unfortunately there are some close-minded people and that will likely never change. However, I could seek to have your friend's parents suffer some form of punishment if you would like."

Hearing this Yuri shook her head and said "That is not possible because they are no longer alive in this world."

Hearing this Hephaestus noticed a slight deception which confused her slightly but she decided to let it go for now and just confer the girl in her arms.

: sorry for not updating yesterday and thanks for everyone's understanding. I'm still not feeling well but decided I needed to get something out. But I also realized I couldn't really bring myself to do two chapters. So as a compromise, I just made a chapter that is longer than normal:

Oh and PS sorry for the darker tone and topic of this chapter it is meant to develop Mc's character in the future.