A Thousand Miles And Poles Apart

trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday

Chicago

"Human Phastos has done well for himself," Sersei commented as you walked to his front door. The house was different than when you had visited him before. It was bigger, fancier. It was clear Phastos had done very well for himself as a human. You had looked him up before, when you were searching for the others. Honestly, you hadn't even realized how many things in your everyday life Phastos had created. He was like the Chicago Stark.

"I guess this is what happens when he doesn't have to hold himself back," you smiled. Phastos had always wanted to help humanity grow and learn though he was never allowed to. Then, when he had tried to help them in WWII, their actions made him turn away from them until he found his husband and son. You were glad Phastos had found Ben and Jack again. He deserved happiness.

"I think you got ripped off honestly," Eros said as you rang the doorbell. "You got art curator, cult leader and museum teacher and he got rich guy?"

"It's not a cult," Druig grumbled.

You rolled your eyes. "Our human selves obviously have to fit our personalities," you reminded him. "I like art, Sersei likes history and people and Druig is good at controlling people. And Phastos, well, there's never been anything he couldn't make."

The door opened and Ben looked at you with a smile. "Hi, can I help you?"

"Hi, Ben, right?" Sersei stepped forward. "We're actually old friends of Phastos. We wanted to come visit him."

"Oh, old friends," Ben's face turned suspicious. "Yeah we get some of those once a week. How much money does he 'owe' you?" He used air quotes to really drive his point home.

"I'd say a few million at least," Eros said. "That's a lot here, right Y/N?"

You elbowed him. "He doesn't owe us anything. Really, we're not here for any malicious purposes, I promise. We just wanted to say hi."

"Who's at the door?" Phastos said as he appeared behind Ben. You saw his eyes widen as he took you in. And you instantly knew. You knew that face. You'd seen that face a million times for thousands of years. He knew. Somehow, he remembered. When had he remembered?

"Your old friends, apparently," Ben said, crossing his arms.

"Hey, Phastos, old buddy," you said coldly. "You gonna let us in or what?"

"Have we met?" Phastos chuckled nervously. "Don't think I've seen you before."

"Well, I used to live down the hall from you, remember?" you asked pointedly. Sersei looked at you with widened eyes as she realized what was happening. She looked between you and Phastos.

"Oh oh right, in the um in the dorms at college," he said. "You look so different, Y/N. I didn't recognize you."

"There's a lot of that going around, apparently," you said.

"Right, right," he said. "Ben, this is Y/N, Druig, Sersei and a man I don't know."

"Hi I'm Eros, I'm new," Eros waved.

"Right," Phastos said slowly. "Why don't you come in? We can um we can catch up."

He stepped aside and let you pass before closing the door. "Well, it's nice to see you all," he said as he led you to the living room. The inside of the house was nicer than the outside. It was classy and neat, white with gold trimmings everywhere. You saw the intricate lines in gold, so similar to your suits. So either Phastos remembered for a long time or the design was some kind of muscle memory.

"What are we doing?" Eros whispered. "Let's just tell him and get on with it."

"He knows already," you whispered back.