He just sat there.
He had nothing else to do, other than sit there in that throne and wonder about the myriad of questions the universe held. It was the dreaded season of autumn and there had been little contact with his own kind since she left for her mother once again. So even though it had only been 2 or 3 weeks, the loneliness was becoming unbearable like it did every single year. Yup. Just him, Cerberus, and the multitude of loathed germs in the Underworld.
Suddenly he shrieked as the phone rang. After catching his breath, he stared at the device, confused. Strange. The caller ID said it was Zeus, but he knew his brother never called, more or less wanted to talk with him. But wait! Maybe it was his beloved Persephone using that number! He attempted to quell his excitement, then slowly took the phone. “Salutations.”
“Cut the crap, Hades.” The voice on the other line said.
“Oh. Hello Zeus.” He was wrong once again.
“I need to talk to you. Now.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah. Why are you so excited all of a sudden?”
“Y-you don’t like me up there.”
“So?”
“I…uh….”
“Whatever. Hurry up, m’kay?”
“Yes sir.” And with that, he hung up.

As soon as he reached Mount Olympus and temporarily overcame his fear of the sun’s glare, Hades slowly walked into the main hall to find Athena sitting at her desk, chatting with someone on her phone. “A-Athena?”
She turned to him and her look of glee faded to disappointment. “Can I get back to you later? … Thanks.” She hung up and stared at him, crossing her arms. “So you come crawling back.”
“Theoretically speaking, I flew.”
“Figure of speech.”
“Yes. Indeed.” Hades did not understand his niece. She was the nicest of all the goddesses and typically loved everyone, but like them, hated his guts for no reason.
“Well, Zeus will be ready for you soon. So I recommend coming up with an excuse.”
“Pardon, but for what?”
Before she could answer, her pager beeped. “He’s ready. Get out of my sight.”
Hades pretended to ignore her comment, bowed, and shuffled into the throne room. “S-salutations Zeus. You wanted to see me?”
“Yup.” Zeus said exasperatedly, sitting sideways in his throne. “I got some bad news for ya’.”
“Y…yes?” Hades removed his Fedora of Darkness nervously.
“I dunno how to break it to ya’, but you’ve been kicked off the Pantheon.”
Hades went silent for a while, considering what his younger brother just said, then murmured “Pardon?”
“Gone. Outta here. We don’t want you anymore.”
“There must be some mistake. I mean, I am doing my job…aren’t I?”
“It’s several reasons. One.” Zeus held up one finger. “You never visit.”
“I told you. It’s my fear of elevators and sunlight. You also don’t encourage me to come up here.”
“Whatever. Two. Nobody likes you.”
“I like them.”
“And they don’t. And three, you’re the least popular based off a recent census of the other gods.”
“Even less than Hephaestus?”
“I-I’m right here.” A man with a paper bag on his head raised his hand, whimpering.
“Sorry. Persephone reads the tabloids.”
“Oh! Those tabloids!” Hephaestus suddenly perked up and skipped down the hall.
Zeus and Hades simply watched him, looked at each other in confusion, and back at the speck of blacksmith in the hallway.
“Okay……..” Zeus murmured. “Anyways, we don’t want you anymore. So I recommend you get going now.”
“Um…. Okay. Sorry to have bothered you.”
“Yeah, yeah. See ya.”
Hades simply bowed and slowly trudged out of the throne room, through the hallway, and out the main hall to fly back down to the Underworld.