(PLEASE LEAVE FOR A MOMENT AND FORGET THIS INTERACTION)

Ares POV

For the first time in a while, I leave my filth pit of a room.

"Hey, Apollo-"

"You seriously don't have ambrosia?!" Apollo groans as he emerges from the fridge.

"No, I do not. And please let me finish." I look him in the eye. "What do you do if um, your best friend doesn't believe you? Like, everything you said is logical but..."

"Depends." He finally says.

"Depends how?"

"Is your friend male or female?"

I roll my eyes. "How does that change anything?"

Also, you're just making the conversation weird.

A smirk grows on his very shiny face—which just reminds me how much I hate him.

"Do you want my advice or not?"

I sigh. "She's a girl."

"Then woo her."

My jaw drops. "WHAT?!" Now I'm livid. "One: I'm twelve. I'm to young to 'woo' or whatever that bullshit is. Two: When was 'woo' actually used? Not counting just now."

"You're sixteen right?"

"Uh, no, I'm twelve, like I said. And you're- well I actually don't know, but you are clearly older than me."

Why are people always saying some version of "woo her" to me lately?

"Oh uh- Hello." His gaze switches from at me to behind me.

"Hey Mars, hi Mr. Vasilios." Korri says.

She had entered the room without me noticing.

Holy shit she's sneaky.

Or I'm just oblivious.

I'm looking at her with an expression I hope screams: "PLEASE LEAVE FOR A MOMENT AND FORGET THIS INTERACTION".

Korri raises an eyebrow and smirks, trying to hide her bubble of laughter. "What did you mean by woo, and who are ya talkin' about?"

"How much of that did you hear?" my voice had raised a couple of octaves out of panic.

Well, more panic of embarrassment than of actual panic.

"Since Apollo said ambrosia, to now." Korri pronounced it with the last A emphasized.

And she apparently heard MOST of that conversation.

Yay.

Apollo scoffs rudely, which I'm remembering from when we were young.

"Anyway," Korri giggles. "What were you talking about?"

I never should have asked him for his advice. "Um-"

"We were talking about certain poems and their stories behind them." Apollo tries to hide a smirk. "Little Ares here was saying he wanted to write his own, so I was giving him a few suggestions."

Him saying that makes me want to bite my tongue off.

Now I don't feel bad for throwing him under the bus earlier.

"Apollo." The warning must be clearly evident in my voice because Apollo steps away from me.

I shoot him a death glare.

"Uh, okay," Korri giggles. "I'll let you work that out." And she leaves the room.

"Why did you say that?!" I snap, and Apollo bursts out laughing.

"Desperate times," Apollo finally says as he stops laughing. "I never would have done it, but it was the only thing I could think of without it being a glaringly obvious lie."

"I still hate that that was your excuse." I sigh. "But, I am desperate, so I'll suck it."

"You've been hanging out with that girl WAY too much."

"Do you think she believes it?" Apollo asks after a second.

"Nope. But it's crazy enough she'll drop it."

"Well, since I still have no clue on what is wrong with her, I still don't have any idea for a cure."

"Why can't you just use your heal-y powers?"

"That's not how it works." He rolls his eyes in a way that says, "Tweenagers."

I shrug. "So?"

"So, from what I DO know, she has narcolepsy, and she may be ill with the plague of Covid-19. She will most likely pass."

"NO!" I snap. "NO NO NO! Not again."

"What are you talking about?"

"That was how Sol died. No."