Go(o)d Friends

Soft Spots for Warriors

While Eurylochus and Polites were talking, and went inside the ship, meeting their captain inside, Ares went back to Mount Olympus, home of the gods.

As he entered the palace gates, he was immediately hugged by his wife, Aphrodite.

"Hello, my darling," the goddess smiled joyously. "I've missed you!"

A chuckle rumbled in Ares' broad chest. "I've missed you too, my love."

Another figure appeared in the latter's line of sight. His smile instantly turned into a thin line as he realized it was no other than Athena.

"Brother," the goddess greeted with a tone that showed no emotion.

"Athena," Ares hissed through gritted teeth.

Athena took a step forward, form as straight as ever. "I see you have chosen your warrior."

"Yes, I have," the war god nodded, his expression still frowning.

"And I see it was my pupil's second in command," she continued.

That got Ares' eyes to widen slightly. Eurylochus was Odysseus' second in command?

"Great..." He muttered to himself. "How am I supposed to explain to him that he has to fight his captain?" He lowered his gaze as his frown deepened.

Aphrodite, sensing that the conversation was only meant for the two, kissed Ares' cheek, a goodbye, and quickly left.

Athena hummed, as if amused. "You never knew?"

Ares' glared menacingly at his sister. His hand curled into a fist as he tried to keep his emotions at bay.

"Not my fault..." He muttered. "I only trained him for a few days."

"Yes," the goddess hummed once again. "And the duel is next week Monday."

Red orbs shot up to meet teel blue ones.

"What?!"

"Don't you remember?" The goddess continued. "We agreed that it would be next week."

Ares couldn't remember, of course. But he wasn't going to admit that. "Of course I remember." To be honest, he wasn't that worried that his own pupil wasn't strong enough. Eurylochus could actually fight really well, especially with that big sword of his. What was kind of ridiculous to Ares was the fact that the man named his own sword. What was it again? The Greatest of Same? Something like that.

As the war god snapped out of his thoughts, he realized that Athena was nowhere to be seen. Not in front of him, anyway. Ares turned around and looked behind him, only to see the goddess looking at something through a blue orb.

A familiar face was seen through the glass ball. Eurylochus. And he was also with his captain.

Ares raised a brow at Athena, asking why she was looking at the mortals without using words.

The latter took note of his expression and a small smile could be seen on her features. That confused Ares even further.

"Remember when we were little?" Athena asked, rubbing the orb. "We used to be this close. Nothing could separate us."

The frown of Ares' face softened a little when the said memory of him and the Goddess of Wisdom used to play on the grounds of Olympus. He quickly shook his head and the memory faded away. "Why do you ask?"

"Just saying," the goddess replied. "Knowing you now, you wouldn't get close to anybody anymore. I mean, Aphrodite doesn't, but still."

"I still don't know where this is heading, oh dear sister of mine," Ares smirked.

"Well," Athena looked straight at Ares' eyes. "I'm beginning to think you're having a soft spot for Odysseus' second in command."

That...honestly, Ares didn't know how to react. "...how would you say that?"

Athena fully turned her body to her brother's direction. "What is his favorite food?"

Ares thought for a moment before replying. "He doesn't have one. He literally just likes anything with meat in it."

The goddess tilted her head. "Favorite hobby?"

"He likes to read most of the time," the god answered rather quickly. That caused a small huff of amusement from Athena.

"His wife?"

"Ctimene," Ares smiled at that. "He talked about her all the time when we train. Says he misses her, that he wants to go back to Ithaca to meet her."

Now Athena's expression was more amused than ever. It took a while for Ares to realize that he knew a lot about his warrior.

"...huh..." Was all he could manage to say. But despite the only goal of training him to defeat Odysseus, he couldn't help but feel...happy as he and Eurylochus talked after their training.

Every time.

All the time.

Now Ares knew what Athena meant by having a slight soft spot for the warrior.