Pop! Goes my Heart (Milo)

[Apollo]

Apollo sat in the restaurant trying desperately not to look at his watch for the hundredth time that evening. He had arrived far too early after all, but he had to make sure that everything was perfect for his evening with Milo. He was sure that little nymph was doing her best to capture him and he would be damned if she did a better job than him. Now this had to be perfect, completely and utterly perfect and it would be, he was organising it, nothing could go wrong. He had hired out the entire restaurant so that they would be totally alone without anyone else to bother them and he had instructed the staff not to allow any other patrons in. Just in case some crafty little witch thought she could simply interrupt. No he wasn't taking any chance there.

The food had all been laid out on a large table in the middle of the room, that way they could be saved the bother of ordering and really it was much more like the way things were done back in Greece. He had also told them to set up one of the table cloths on the wall to make a make-shift screen to project Milo's slides onto. Oh his little apple would be most pleased, he would be over the moon, delighted. And...

...he was late. He was going to be late, he wasn't going to come at all?! THAT WITCH HAD FOUND HIM ALREADY AND WAYLAID HIM USING HER STUPID ENCHANTING WAYS AND-oh there he was.

[Milo Thatch]

Milo had taken about twenty minutes to get all of his things together, his artefacts and such, and to run through his little slide presentation once more to make sure none of the information had gone obsolete or outdated since he last gave the presentation to someone. By the time he'd done all of that, he realised that he hadn't changed clothes. He needed to change clothes, because you couldn't just give a presentation on the greatest thing you'd ever done when you were wearing your shopping-at-the-bookstore clothes. Especially not to one of your legendary heroes or whatever Apollo was…friend…thing…yeah. Anyway, Milo remembered he had to change clothes, and it took him about forty-five minutes to dig up a clean dress shirt and some slacks, which he finally put on. Then he went to the bathroom, dug out a tube of hair gel he had bought for some dance once upon a time, poured a liberal amount into his hands, smeared them together and slicked them through his hair.

Wiping the remainder of the gel on his pants absent-mindedly, he hurried back into the bedroom and glanced at the clock.

"Paska!" he swore, scrambling around to get his things together. Oh, he was going to be late. He was going to be late and Apollo was going to back out just like all those professors and things had done to his grandfather, and….

He nearly dropped his laptop on his flight out the door, forgot to lock it and definitely didn't have time to go back, and stumbled out of the dorm and down the sidewalk to the bus stop. He grabbed his card out of his pocket, stuck it between his teeth just in time to return his hand to support his laptop.

"Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh," he mumbled, scrambling onto the bus. Leaning down, he waved his card, still between his teeth, back and forth in front of the scanner until it finally flashed green, then managed to find a seat where he collapsed into a disorganised pile.

The ride to the street the restaurant was on didn't take long, and he had time to organise himself a little before he climbed off. He straightened his jacket, tried to look put together and such, and walked through the doors up to the hostess.

"I have a reservation, I think, or my…friend..does, his name is- wait, is….are you open?" He'd just noticed that there wasn't anyone else in the restaurant.

[Apollo]

“Yes!” called out Apollo jumping from the chair he sat in and crossing over to where his wonderful Apple now stood, “Yes they are very much open, but I just wanted to make sure that you would be allowed to give me your presentation in peace so hired out the place.”

He stood in front of him and grinned happily, waving away the waiter and appraised his wonderful new obsession. Oh he looked just as perfect and wonderful as he remembered, with his neat little clothes and his gelled back hair. Reaching towards the things that he was holding a look of concern crossed his face as he said, “Can I help you? Would you like me to carry something over, you look awfully swamped with all those things.”

The look of concern turned to one of anger and he said, “I knew I should have picked you up myself, rather than make you have to carry all that yourself. Do not fear Apple, I will not allow that to happen again, you have my word.”

Grinning again, his mood ever changeable he motioned to the table and said, “Shall we?”

[Milo Thatch]

Milo jumped; he hadn't really seen Apollo sitting there and when the other man stood up suddenly, it startled him a little. (Of course, Milo was pretty easy to startle, especially when he was as wound up as he'd gotten himself preparing for the presentation).

"Oh," he said, blushing, "Gosh, that's…that's great, thanks, that helps, I won't be as nervous." He struggled with his various belongings for a moment, trying to decide what he would rather hand over. "You could take this um, this one, that's just my notebook, and this is just…Well that's my laptop, I'll get it because if you don't hold it just so, the battery falls out, and then it might lose half of the changes I just made because I didn't shut it down, I just put it to sleep so it wouldn't take as long to boot. It takes about an hour to start up because I have so much stuff on it, high res images and al that from expeditions, haha, and…" he trailed off, realising suddenly that he'd been rambling hopelessly.

"Yes. Yes we shall." He gulped. "This might be a little bit boring, I'll warn you. There are a lot of details, so if it gets boring, just tell me to skip ahead and I will."

[Apollo]

Taking all of Milo’s things off him as directed, he lifted them with ease and also with one hand allowing Apollo to place his other hand on Milo’s back, steering him towards the table. Laughing heartily, the anger disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared, he said, “Oh my sweet little Apple, I doubt very much that anything you had to say would be boring. And I did ask for detail, I’m sure you’ve done a marvellous job.”

Placing the objects on the table he then walked around to pull the chair out for Milo, continuing, “So there will be no skipping ahead, I want to hear absolutely everything you have to say, the sound of your voice alone is music to my ears.”

Motioning for the waiter to come forward with the menus he said, “But lets have a drink before you get started, have something to calm those nerves.”

[Milo Thatch]

Milo was already getting into presentation mode, preparing himself mentally for a presentation he had notes on anyway. Still, he never went into any presentation without memorising the whole thing first. What if his slides didn't work? What if his computer died? There were too many ways the whole thing could go wrong. The only thing he really trusted was his mind. It had been a little messed up on a few occasions but for the most part, it was the thing he could count on to not let him down.

He blushed and reached up to his face when Apollo made the comment about music to his ears and whatnot. The reaching for his face was a habit he still hadn't broken - it used to be that he'd reach up and adjust his glasses when he was uneasy or embarrassed, but now that he didn't wear glasses much anymore, it was just sort of an empty gesture.

"Drink. Yeah, I'd love a drink. I have to um, keep the vocal muscles lubricated and stuff."

[Apollo]

Apollo, if it were possible for immortals, nearly died when Milo replied, the sheer sweetness and naivety of it all. It wasn’t just what he said, it was the gestures, the way he was sitting, the way he reached for his face just…HIM! Yes if it were possible Apollo would be dying now. Instead he just melted instead, the boy was just absolutely perfect, he could most definitely see why the annoying little nymph insisted on pursuing him as well, for Apollo wouldn’t give him up for anything.

Taking the menus from the waiter he handed one of them to Milo with just the hint of a smirk and said, “Yes well, drinks first. And then we can talk about lubrication.”

Looking down at his own menu and opening it he said, “ Pick anything you want, absolutely anything, although I do believe the house red is meant to be somewhat spectacular, but it is completely your choice. And know that price is not a problem when you are dining with a god.”

[Milo Thatch]

Milo chuckled, and when he did, the nerves were almost gone from it, that shaky edge was nearly smoothed over by his amusement.

"I guess yeah, that wouldn't be problem for you guys, would it?" He wanted to ask if Apollo ever went around just buying stuff with all the money he could create out of thin air, but he figured that might be a little disrespectful and imply that Apollo was fickle or something. He definitely didn't want to do that.

"Red sounds good," he agreed, having seen a bit of the wines of the world during his travels. "Do you know if it's a cabernet or something else? I haven't had a good syrah in…gosh, it feels like forever. They never have quality stuff at school functions, y'know, it's always like…here's some dodgy punch that somebody's going to spike with the cheapest bottle of vodka they could find on their way to the dance."

[Apollo]

“Not particularly no,” he said with a slight smirk, “Money isn’t worth much to us although we know it is important to the mortals. It’s one of the main things they ask for, more wealth, more gold, it doesn’t make a person happy though. I’ve seen wealth tear your people apart. They think it equals happiness or power, it doesn’t. In the end, wealth that isn’t worked for always has it’s consequences.”

It was one of those rare moments when he was being extremely serious, it didn’t happen often, maybe once every few years, and it had a slight ominous tone to it. As frivolous and over the top as Apollo was, underneath was still a god and a vengeful one at that. He may play the fool most of the time but what they didn’t realise was that there was a brain under all that bravado, and it was extremely good at coming up with the most wicked punishments for those that wronged him. Of course, it was also good as bestowing the most wonderful gifts on people that pleased him, so it worked both ways.

Listening to Milo talk about Milo made the serious mood lift and he was all sunshine and smiles again, happily listening to the little scientist. “Well I am sure that whatever it is you desire will be found in their wine cellars, as if by magic,” he said and clicked his fingers, the waiter walking away to get their drinks, “so, would you like to begin?”

[Milo Thatch]

"I think the problem is when people start wanting money just for the sake of it," Milo said, arranging his slides and sorting through the presentation quickly on his computer, which thankfully had decided to boot up without much of a fuss (a rare occurrence these days). "Some people want it because they want the things they can buy with it, some people want it because they think it'll buy them friends…but that's all based on the fact that everyone else wants money as much as they do. It's a circle, so to speak."

Somehow he'd managed to get that sentence out without stammering or adding any accidental words in; that was most likely because he hadn't been paying attention when he'd been speaking. He tended to stumble over his words most when he was trying the hardest not to, which was probably an indication of something but he didn't know what.

Then Apollo wanted him to get started, of course, since that was why he'd asked him here and all, and Milo took a deep breath, tugged at his collar, and pressed the space bar to begin the presentation.

"I came onto the Atlantis project shortly after my thirteenth birthday," he started, "and by that time, my Grandfather had already laid down most of the groundwork…"

[Apollo]

“Thirteen?!” said Apollo genuinely astonished.

He hadn’t intended to interrupt his darling little apple but the fact he had started this project from such a young age it was…it was completely adorable to think of! A little Milo, his little, little apple pouring over books at that age. It was wonderful. Knowledge wasn’t something that Apollo thought was brilliant, but anyone who had that much dedication was certainly worthy of praise.

“Such a young age to be devoted to something, you must have had a lot of respect for your grandfather,” said Apollo, not hiding his amazement, “were you close?”

[Milo Thatch]

Milo wasn't used to people commenting during the presentation - usually they waited until the end and then asked so many questions and made so many comments that his head was spinning before he got out of the room. Honestly, having somebody break in at this point was so unfamiliar that he stood there and swallowed like a gasping fish for a couple of seconds before clearing his throat.

"Ehm, Uhm, eh-hehe, yes. He, uh, practically raised me after my parents died, so carrying on his work was just something I always expected I was going to do." He paused, wondering if that had answered the question, if he should keep going, or if he should wait and see if Apollo had any more questions about it. "It was all we ever talked about, really. I can't imagine what my life would have been like without the Atlantis project."