Just like I should, I'll getcha good (milo)

[Apollo]

Apollo was doing what Apollo does best, he was chasing. Sort of.
 
He was preparing himself for the chase. Right now he was doing the stretches, warming up the hamstrings and quads so that when the chasing actually happened he wasn’t going to sprain anything or damage anything beyond repair because he hadn’t prepared. Normally, he didn’t bother with such warm ups, normally he just dived in and improvised, but this was important because never before had he an opponent. Oh but not just any opponent, this opponent had already got a head start and must have been on some kind of steroids or something because she was almost drawing closer to the finishing line.
 
He had a lot of ground to cover but he wasn’t going to rush too much, as they said the enjoyment was all in the chase. And he invented that saying. No really, he did. He was the epitome of chase, it was what he did best.
 
Which was why he was currently strolling around the book shop trying to find something appropriate for his little Apple, something that he would love and thus love Apollo for, something that would get the Sun God back into the game. He would be racing past that little nymph in no time. He allowed himself a little evil laugh as he looked at the books and at the thought of the poor little nymphs heartbroken and devastated body.
 
One of the shop employees looked at him strangely before side stepping away deciding they didn’t get paid enough to stack books in the same aisle as manically laughing customers. Reaching up he took out the oldest looking book he could find and grinned at the cover. Oh yes, this one, this one was perfect.
 
Hearing shuffling on the other side of the stack he pulled the books in front of him out of the way so he could look through. Standing there was the same shop assistant from earlier who squealed and walked away again. But behind her, oh behind her was the most beautiful and wonderful and adorkable thing he had ever seen.
 
“APPLE!”

[Milo Thatch]

To relate here that Milo was in a bookstore would be like saying that a fish was in water, or that a tree was in the forest. Terribly obvious, and not much good for teaching anyone anything new about the subject of narration.

Nevertheless, Milo was in a bookstore. It was a safe place, it was a place where things made sense. He could pick up a book, and the words on the page were always in even lines, laid out to relate ideas to him in methods much simpler than the convoluted, nonsensical way people talked out loud sometimes. Bookstores were almost as good as libraries - but he'd spent a lot of time in the library lately and it was starting to become a backdrop for a lot of uneasy feelings, so he'd decided to come here instead. New scenery, sort of a change of pace. He had a little list of books he was looking for, and he was currently going through this particular section browsing for something beginning with N.

A shop assistant moved aside, and quite suddenly, Milo heard an exclamation that wouldn't have made any sense at all coming from or to anyone else. Apollo, he knew, before he even looked up.

Milo's heart did a funny thing. At first, it hopped into his throat, and he wasn't quite sure if that was because he was startled out of his skin (which he was) or for some other reason. A flush spread up his neck into his face, and he wasn't sure if that was because he was embarrassed that Apollo was speaking so loudly to him in a quiet establishment, or...for other reasons.

"Hi," he managed, and knew it sounded terribly lame. "I mean, hello. How have you been? You're looking well." Oh, that was...that sounded like sucking up. "I mean, your...er, I was just here. I have lips. List! I have this list!" He held the list up, and dug his toe into the ground, wishing he could dig a hole in the floor and fall into it.

[Apollo]

So excited to see the object of his dreams he rushed around the stack of books, to the other side so that he could get a proper look at him. In hindsight he thought he could have just walked through the book rack, but that wouldn’t nearly have been as dramatic enough. No, the running around was definitely better, definitely more interesting and entertaining and, oh didn’t his Apple look wonderful? Didn’t he just look like the sweetest little star in the sky, so bright, so intelligent so adorably stumbling over his words in the presence of such awesome. And complimenting him, he looked well, of course he looked well. He was sure Milo could have rhymed off some intelligent words at just how well he looked but right now he was still far too overwhelmed.

Apollo smiled happily, still clutching the book in his hand as Milo proceeded to tell him that he had lips. Grinning a little more he proceeded to look at said lips and imagine what those lips would be like pressed against his own. He couldn’t do it now, otherwise his poor Apple would be rendered speechless, he may never recover, such was the way when you were kissed unexpectedly by so much awesome. He only just managed to control himself.

“A list,” said Apollo pretending to look intrigued when really, he was still thinking about the kissing, “how very prepared you are. Tell me, ‘The complete works of Aristotle, including the lost diaries’ published in the old Greek doesn’t happen to be on that list does it?”

He held up the book.

[Milo Thatch]

Milo probably would have been a little unsettled by Apollo running through the bookshelf, and he found Apollo unsettling enough so it was likely for the best that he hadn't done so. He was similarly frazzled, if not for exactly the same reasons. Apollo was, as usual, perfectly comfortable and outgoing and bafflingly enthusiastic to, well, as it seemed, to be spending time with Milo himself. Milo couldn't quite decide what to make of that. It had gotten to the point that he had to admit that maybe there was something a little more in Apollo's eyes than "hey mate, let's have beers and talk about girls" but he was still struggling with the fact that it was Apollo, actual Apollo, and just...why? Why Milo?!

He stared at the book, and was going to say something about how he'd been looking for....no, that didn't sound....how had....

"They don't sell that here!" he blurted, but he reached up and took the book from Apollo's hand, reverently, as if he were holding something priceless and immeasurably delicate. He dropped to his knees, putting the book on the ground, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief with which to turn the pages as he gaped at the publication in front of him, leaned over it there in the middle of the bookstore looking all the world like a younger version of his archaeologist grandfather.

"My gosh," he breathed, finally looking back up at Apollo. "How did you....this is..." Unthinking, he reached up to tug Apollo down by his hand. "Look at this. This illumination doesn't appear at all in the eighteenth century reprint. It's as if they decided to completely..."

[Apollo]

It warmed his heart to see the young man so delighted by the book in his hands, so surprised so invigorated at it’s very presence. Apollo decided that it couldn’t just be the book, it must have something to do with the fact that he had presented the book to him. Oh sure, he knew Milo adored the intellectual historical and other things that ended in ‘ual’ or ‘al’ but no one could be around so much awesome as Apollo and not be so very happy.

In all honesty he was quite happy just watching him drop down to the floor and begin to delicately peruse the pages of the old book. However when the younger man reached up and dragged him down to the floor by his hand, something in his chest did a funny flip and he grinned all the more. Oh yes, this plan of his was definitely working. He held on tightly to the hand not wanting to let it go and staring at it in so much awe. It was so small and thin compared to his own, so delicate, just like the pages of the book. He felt he two should be holding the beautiful hand in a handkerchief so as not to crush it and destroy it’s beauty.

Milo was speaking to him and he tried to draw his attention back to the conversation, when the boy didn’t finish his sentence he said, “completely eradicated it? Erased it from history? Well you know what editors are like, they take some beautiful and amazing and ok maybe a little long but they mutilate it. All that hard work gone in an instant. Aristotle would have been rolling in his pyre had he known. So will this be useful for you? You know if there was ever anything else you ever needed…I wouldn’t hesitate to get it for you…”

[Milo Thatch]

When Milo was presented with something of really big historical significance, his brain sort of went on auto-pilot mode, and he lost himself in it. This was no exception. He was utterly enraptured by the fact that...well, he was holding something like this given to him by someone like that, and....oh, the things he could learn, the things he might be able to know that no one else would ever know. And it wasn't as if he'd want to learn them and write some great thesis on Ancient Greece: or, how I questioned my sexuality and learned everything there is to know about ancient Mediterranean culture.

Er. Whatever.

"You would do that?" he murmured, two fingers still spread on the page over the handkerchief, the other still lost somewhere in Apollo's, which might begin to be awkward any minute now but hadn't seemed to yet. "Useful. Gosh, yes, I...You have no idea- well, I mean, you probably do, because you probably know a lot of stuff, but yes. Yes, yes, the things I could learn from this." He lifted his hand from the page, sitting back on his knees and letting the book fall shut, fingers clasped over his mouth, still a little disbelieving. The knowledge he could gain here, he didn't even need to tell people, it was enough just to know it.

He finally extracted his hand from Apollo's not deliberately, just as sort of a necessity because he went to polish the lenses of his glasses on the edge of his shirt.

"What, um...what kind of stuff do the gods have just...lying around?" he asked, cautiously. "I mean, not that it's lying around, I'm sure you have bookshelves and all that, ha ha, I mean, things nobody's using."

[Apollo]

“Why Milo,” he said grinning and using his real name, just to get across how serious he was being, “I would do anything for you. This book, retrieving it, fighting off all those skeletal soldiers of the underworld just to touch it, that was nothing compared to the other things I would do for you. I would take on the titans for you, hold up the world on my shoulders, fight a hydra, bring you the sun, write your name with the stars…” he was running out of things and after thinking about it for a second he continued, “by uncle Hades, I would even share the same room as the flying brat Hermes.”

The truth of the matter was…that he would actually do all these things, because for Apollo, whilst he may only be after one thing, the important part, the fun part, was the chase. It was no fun if it was going to be easy, it was more exciting if he had to fight for it, if he had to prove himself, or save his lover or just chase, literally chase them through the woods, mountains and streams. Yes…he really would do anything…right up until the point he got what he wanted.

When Milo took his hand away he tried not to pout but it seemed like such a set back, and it was so nice just held there in his own. Of course when he started to clean his glasses the whole situation was remedied as the sight of it was just so darn cute. Apollo decided, if they were going to be having a Q & A session then he was going to be comfortable and leaned back against the bookshelves with his legs stretched out in front of him, “Well…we don’t really have bookshelves…we could, if we wanted too, if that’s what we wanted to see, we could just make it appear and in that form…but some books…well…it’s not easy to explain, some books, objects…well they’re very much like some of you mortals…they have a destiny, a thread in the great tapestry of Fate and thus we cannot intervene unless we are a part of that destiny.”

He folded his arms and grinned, “Although do not think the Gods are limited my little Apple, we are still very, very powerful. But I can get you most things, you tell me what you’re interested in and I’ll tell you if I can give you it.”

[Milo Thatch]

There was something about Apollo that made Milo distinctly uneasy, and he was beginning to think it might not have anything to do with the fact that Apollo had always been a bit of a celebrity in Milo's mind. Sure there was still that ohgoshit'sactualApollo running around in the back of his thoughts, but there was something else, something that was along the same lines of the...fighting hydras and taking on the titans. Why would Apollo want to do all that for him? Even if he were interested in him, which was a possibility Milo was just beginning to consider, that seemed a little...intense. They hardly even knew one another.

Or...well, Milo didn't really know what Apollo might know about him. He was a god, after all, they knew things that ordinary people didn't. And Milo knew quite a lot about Apollo, in theory anyway. In a textbook sort of way.

The tapestry bit was fascinating, though, and Milo found his attention pulled away by the discussion of myth and all that once again. It occurred to him that with all those tapestries, Apollo probably knew things about him that he didn't know about himself, and he was vastly intrigued by that thought.

"The tapestries," he said, scooting onto his feet and carefully lifting the book with him as he stood next to Apollo. "They...they have everything on them, right? Everything that's already happened, everything that's going to happen...what's going to happen to people, and what already happened to them?"

[Apollo]

Apollo looked up at him and grinned nodding his head, “Absolutely everything, everything that ever was, everything that is, and everything that is yet to be has. Of course it all sounds very dramatic and romantic but it’s actually the biggest pain in the neck since Hermes was born. It drives me insane! Do you have any idea how annoying it is when you cant just smite someone because they have some kind of destiny? That’s when I have to get creative, come up with something that ties in with the stupid destiny or gets around it somehow. It’s not easy.”

It really wasn’t, although most of the time he found he could get around it. He was the God of the muses, it didn’t take him long to find some creative and inspirational curse to inflict on whoever had wronged him or generally just cheesed him off. His most favourite one had been Cassandra, that had been a good laugh, just because the silly little wench thought he had a thing for her. That was the problem with these spoilt little princesses, they thought that just because they were royalty, the gods must be interested in them. Of course, he put her in her place as quickly as he could, giving her the ‘sight’, even passing it off as a gift and not a curse, because no one would believe her, even when she predicted the downfall of Troy. Oh that had been hilarious. Not the fall of Troy, that was a shame as it was his city, but at least he got his own back on Cassandra.

“Of course it changes all the time as well,” he said his forehead creasing, “the fates are constantly reweaving as things change, things they don’t expect, like when you mortals pull a fast one and do something unexpected, like bring someone back from the dead, or defeat a God at his own game, re-discover Atlantis or…win Money in the Bank or something just something completely unexpected.”

With a little secret smile to himself Apollo closed his eyes and titled his head back to rest on the bookshelves, as if he was sunbathing in the middle of the library, “you know…if you wanted…I could possibly allow you to view it, the tapestry, I warn you though…it’s driven stronger men than you, quite insane.”

[Milo Thatch]

Milo was one of a few people who would honestly have preferred to see the past than the future. It was in a sudden melancholy moment that he realised everything he had ever really and truly loved was in the past. That was a uniquely depressing thought, but it was honest. His parents. His grandfather. Atlantis, Kida, everything he had really worked for, some of which he'd gotten, it felt like...well, like maybe everything he'd ever wanted had already happened and he was left empty-handed, without anything to show for it and without anything new to look forward to. Oh, and he was nineteen. Thinking thoughts like that. At nineteen. His grandfather would have been so disappointed.

Of course there was the Atlantis thing. He would always be proud of that, even if he'd tagged along with his grandfather, even if it was a group project, of sorts, because they had done it. They'd set out to find Atlantis, and where hundreds of others had failed, they had succeeded. Even Apollo thought it worth mentioning, which sent another rush of blood into Milo's cheeks. He turned his blushing face downwards and rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly.

"That wasn't, I mean, that was just..." He didn't have to finish the sentence, because Apollo just moved on, and the tapestries, the mention of them...yes, Milo was curious.

"Stronger than me," he repeated. "I only want....I want to look back. I don't want to see the way things will be. I just want to look back at how they've been."

[Apollo]

It had been a long time since he had met a truly good person…and by a long time he meant since his last great chase Merlin. It wasn’t easy to find truly good souls. Oh sure they may have a slightly dark thought every now and then, but the good soul always won out against the dark thoughts…only in extreme cases could a good soul turn bad. And Milo was most definitely, a good soul. He bet Uncle Hades couldn’t wait to get his hands on this one, he would make a nice collection, he’d probably pluck him out of the river and into the Elysian Fields he would be such a good one. And even if he didn’t Apollo would be down there nagging him until he did. That river was no place for someone some beautiful.
 
He smiled at the boy and said, “It is not often I meet a person like you Milo. Someone of such intelligence, of such integrity. You remind me of the young men of Greece, back in the good times, when it was still a flourishing place, full of development, growth, of inspiration, theatre and music…I miss that world…that time…things were…more interesting then.”

He was falling into one of his rare melancholic moods and whilst the smile remained on his face, the eyes were sad. Oh he could throw a tantrum like no other but they weren’t real, they weren’t conveying real sadness. This though, when he talked about the good old times…that was real sadness.
 
“And not just because of all the temples to me and the fact that people literally worshiped the ground I walked on...dont get me wrong that was amazing and wonderful…but it was more than that. Back then they had real ambition. You mortals wanted to seize everything, you wanted everything and you would do anything to get it. You would challenge Gods, and back then the God’s were not ones to be challenged, but you did it anyway! And even if you outsmarted us, even if we cursed you and sent you to Hades…we respected you for trying. Now…now most of you don’t care. You’re indifferent. Cynical. Sometimes you try…but you never think you’ll achieve anything…and the Gods…well we changed to the times…we…reflect you…”
 
He looked up at Milo again and smiled, the sadness falling away a little, “But you…you remind me of better times, with your intelligence, you’re youth, your eagerness for more…you really must tell me about Atlantis…there is a story I would love to turn in to a blockbuster movie.”

[Milo Thatch]

The young men of Greece in the old days, Milo knew (as well as any self-respecting student of ancient history) were a unique breed. There hadn't been the same kinds of...social constructions there. Here, if a young man took a particular interest in theatre, people made...assumptions about him. In Greece, well, Milo had always thought it was more of an all-in sort of thing. You could do the drama thing or be a scholar and then the next day you could be out fighting for your life and country on the battlefield. Nobody expected Milo to do anything like fight for his country on the battlefield, partly because he didn't really have a country that he identified with as his own, partly because...well...obvious reasons.

However, having Apollo himself (Milo's brain still affixed the "himself" whenever he thought of Apollo's name) say that he was intelligent and had integrity...well, that was enough to turn Milo's light flush into a full-blown blush as red as...well, the Apple Apollo had taken to calling him after.

He tried to calm his burning skin by looking at the ground and willing the blood back below his neck as Apollo talked about the humans of the old days.

"I still want that!" he said, suddenly, all the fervor a of a knowledge-thirsty scholar in his eyes. "I mean, well, I don't want to...do battle with the gods or anything but...I want to know things, I want to know things no one else in the whole world knows, just for the sake of knowing them."

Well...that actually didn't sound that ambitious in comparison to the things Apollo had been talking about, but it was pretty much all of Milo's own ambitions wrapped up into one garbled sort of sentence. And then one of the most foolish (or bravest, depending) ideas he'd ever had came to mind and he blurted it out before he had a chance to think it over.

"I'll tell you about Atlantis if I can see the tapestries," he said, and then immediately looked as though he might throw up, so horrified was he at the thing he'd just done. He was what, going to make a deal with an actual god to see things mortals shouldn't see, in exchange for...a story?

[Apollo]

“Milo my little apple, are you making a deal with me?” he said, his face lighting up (if it was possible that it could light up any further), “Me? A God? And you? A Mortal? You wish to exchange a story for a look at the great tapestries of Fate? Most Mortals would exchange their wealth, their health and even at times the people they love. But you my little apple, you exchange a story for the chance of a lifetime.”

Apollo got to his feet and resting his hands on the young mans shoulders he looked into his eyes and, grinning, said, “Right now, in this very moment my little apple, I do not think I could like you any more than I do right now.”

He leaned in and kissed the top of his forehead, pulling away just as quickly and almost skipping away with joy, “Of course of course! A Story it is then, your story about Atlantis and then I shall take you to see the tapestries. I’m no fool and will not agree to the other way around, I’ve been tricked that way before and it shall not happen a second time. Of course, before we see the tapestries we must eat, it’s a long journey and I don’t want you fainting through lack of food, even if it is into my large protective arms.”

[Milo Thatch]

There was a moment where Milo actually held his breath, because he was all but certain he was going to be smote with lightning or whatever other supernaturally sudden death gods were handing out in punishment for insolence these days. He hadn't had a bad life, he thought to himself. He'd done things other people would never get the chance to do, probably wouldn't even dream to do. All in all, he could feel good about-

Wait, it seemed to be paying off. Apollo apparently couldn't like him any more than he did. Milo's blush threatened to burst out of his skin in a messy rush of blood. Especially with the kissing thing, which made him clear his throat several times as Apollo darted around.

"I wouldn't try to trick you," he said, solemnly, which was the truth. Heck, it had been enough of a leap of faith to ask for the bargain in the first place, he wasn't stupid enough to try his luck on the same god twice in one day. "But okay. Yeah. Okay. Food first, and I can tell you the story...before or after we eat, whichever way is fine for me, or I can tell you while we're eating, it really doesn't matter to me, however you want is alright."

[Apollo]

Of course his little Milo Apple wouldn’t trick him, he knew that, the boy had such a good soul he just didn’t have it in him, he meant the statement as a joke but oh it was music to his ears when the young man proclaimed his loyalty. That’s how Apollo interpreted it, loyalty. It was a good first step in securing the young mans affections, if Apollo could make the boy trust him, then it would be a lot easier. Then he could start to properly woo, and get in there before that stupid little nymph could say ‘Apple’. Oh this was good, this was very, very good.

“You can tell me over dinner, that sounds delightful,” he said smiling happily at the young man, enjoying his somewhat dazed look and stumbling words, “Would you like to go now or would you prefer the opportunity to go home and change, to perhaps prepare flash cards, diagrams, slides for your storytelling?”

From anyone else that might have sounded like mocking, but Apollo was being genuine. The more effort and detail the young man put into his storytelling the happier he would be. He was the god of the arts and storytelling was a performance, he liked to see these things done properly and if it was Milo that was doing the performing well he might spontaneously combust right there and then.