Apollo, from his seat overlooking the ocean, had come to the conclusion after many an hour of pondering that he was feeling discontent. He had been feeling that way for a while but he hadn't been able to put his finger on what it was. Why he felt such a thing was beyond him though. Boredom he could understand; boredom was a constant. This type of itching malcontent was an entirely different discomfort. He never really expected himself to be able to feel such a thing. He was a God, after all. All this time he had been operating under the knowledge that Gods did not function based on emotion like humans did.

But upon reflection, Apollo decided that couldn't be the case.

Poseidon never failed to showcase his vexation when Apollo or Hades put him out, and Apollo knew that what he felt when he watched Poseidon stomp around like a human toddler was annoyance. Malcontent and annoyance were not so different. He remembered Iris and how strange he felt around her. It was like a falcon discussing menial things with a mouse, and yet he had fun. Or was fun the word to use? Iris amused him, that was certain. Even Hades, on the rare occasion, had shown that he was amused by certain things. So then perhaps Gods did feel things like emotional discomfort?

But then there was Zeus and he just didn't fit into the equation at all.

Like plucking Ganymede off the face of the Earth and keeping him in the garden like a pet. Why bother? Certainly he was amusing but Zeus could hardly interact with fellow Gods, let alone some human whelp with an irritatingly sharp tongue.

"Apollo!" His curly-haired brother appeared seemingly out of nowhere, baring all his teeth in a wide smile. "You're coming around here more and more often! Is Artemis boring you?"

It was an innocent question, meant only as a joke. Apollo found himself inadvertently taking offence anyway.

"Of course not! I could never get bored of her." He snapped haughtily. "I'm just... trying to think." It was a lame excuse. He would've been better off just rolling the joke off his shoulders, but of course he didn't.

"Calm down, calm down," Poseidon made a strange face at him. "It was just a joke, you know,"

"I know that!" The redhead growled, shoving some pesky red hair behind his ears. Poseidon looked like he was about to speak again but Apollo cut him off. "Now go away! I just said I'm trying to think!"

The blond crossed his arms and began to turn away, for once not putting up a fuss about it. Shocking.

"Maybe you're spending to much with that human. Oh, what's his name again? Ganmud? Mead?" Was tossed over his shoulder as he strolled away.

"You-!"

"You really make it too obvious." Apollo whipped around to face Hades who had since appeared near the rocks and had apparently overheard their conversation. Listened in, more like, Apollo mentally corrected himself. Hades always had a terrible habit of poking his nose in where it didn't belong. This seemed to be one of those times.

"Make what obvious?" Apollo demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. He could already tell this conversation was going to be both long and cryptic, a combination he absolutely avoided when it came to Hades.

"The fact that you long for human presence." Hades said, observing the scene with a poker face characterized by condescension. It was that patronizing facade that not a single being could properly imitate. Normally Apollo didn't mind it but it wasn't usually directed at him either. The regular victim was Poseidon but today it seemed it was his turn.

"Long for human presence? Why would I want to be around humans? They're-"

"-vile, ignorant scraps of meat that really shouldn't have been blessed with life in the first place." Hades finished for him. There was something vehement in his tone, something almost personal.

"Well I wouldn't go so far as to say-" Apollo stopped abruptly. Perhaps his argumentative nature really wasn't in his best interests to continue so freely as it often landed him in positions such as this. More specifically, positions that he otherwise could have avoided. Hades lips quirked up into what could have been a smirk. Wry amusement.

"Of course. If they were so terrible they certainly would have been erased by now." Hades agreed temperately. Apollo narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not Poseidon, Hades, I know when you're messing with my head." The redhead snapped. "Now what's your point?"

"Ganymede is quite an interesting human, isn't he?" He commented offhandedly, turning his eyes from the sun God to the horizon in an act of disinterest.

"I suppose..." Apollo frowned. "Quit jumping topics, would you?"

"The question is, Apollo," He might have imagined it, but Apollo could have sworn Hades' words had a teasing lilt to them. "Is he interesting enough to abandon Artemis for?"

"Why does everyone keep bringing up Artemis?" Apollo seethed. "She has nothing to do with this"

"On the contrary, Apollo, she has everything to do with this." Hades waited for him to quiet down before continuing. "Normally, your entire day consists of sitting with her under that tree of yours, talking for simply hours on end. Lately... your day has consisted of talking to humans. Ganymede or, until she was sacrificed, that altar girl that you took to so fantastically well."

Apollo wanted to deny it, he truly did, but Gods couldn't tell lies.

"Besides..." Hades went on. "Talking to a mirror must get awfully boring after a while... mustn't it?"

"Artemis isn't..." Apollo mumbled feebly, but didn't bother finishing. Couldn't, rather. That would have been a lie too.

"How did you know I was referring to Artemis?" Hades sounded even more amused than before but Apollo couldn't find it in himself to answer. Hades had won that parody of a debate without any sort of proper resistance on his part.

"You're not the only one taken with that little human, though," Hades murmured, offering a mockery of comfort. "Zeus was the one that ordered for him to be placed in the garden, after all."

"Well it's no wonder," Apollo sniffed. "He's beautiful, by human standards."

Hades chuckled.

"But that's not what you're concerned with, is it?"

"And what are you implying now, Hades?"

"I'm implying that you, like any God that comes to know a human, have started to feel uncomfortable with your normal routine. And so soon after the ordeal with the sacrificial girl, how sad." Hades said, perhaps cooed, tauntingly. Apollo stiffened slightly. "Humans are wildly unpredictable creatures. Strange, unconventional, meddlesome, stubborn, and short-lived as they may be. They shouldn't be nearly as captivating as they are, should they? But they continue to exist because no God has had the will to get rid of such wonderfully amusing things. I believe I've said this before, Apollo, but humans will rot you from the inside out as they do to everything else. Do not assume that because you are a God you are above their influence."

"He's just entertaining, that's all." Apollo retorted. And it was true; Ganymede offered a type of intrigue that no God could give simply because he was flesh and bone and completely human, no matter how close to semi-godly he became. He would always be a part of humanity and they had successfully trapped him in the miniature garden. An infinite diversion from the choking boredom he otherwise faced.

"I should warn you, though," Hades cocked his head and looked around, about ready to leave. "If you stay around one human too long, you may start to care for them. Perhaps love them. And you won't be able to control it."

"But love is a human emotion," Apollo argued, watching as Hades summoned a portal.

"Emotions do not differentiate between human and God. They simply exist." Hades replied as he stepped back into the shadows from which he emerged only moments earlier.

"But-"

"Really, Apollo, are you that foolish?"

And then he was gone.

a/n: No excuse. I just wanted to write for Olimpos.