April Fools

Chapter 1

Milo took a look at the countless beer cans all over the place and turned his eyes back to Aphrodite, who just shrugged.

"I told you I can drink." Aphrodite said, "Unless you have something stronger, otherwise I'll call it a night."

"Of course I do. I have Vodka." Milo glared at him challengingly and added, "90 proof."

Aphrodite glared back at him with a mocking smile: "You don't know what you are getting yourself into. I feel as good as if I just drank one can of beer."

"Me too!" Being so competitive, Milo would not back off a single inch, "I feel so good as if I had been drinking Coke."

"Oh really?" Aphrodite said and laughed inwardly because he could tell Milo was getting a little drunk. Knowing Milo for so long, he could sense the subtle difference in his speech. He stood up, "I'm leaving."

"Don't run, Aphro." Milo grabbed Aphrodite's wrist and stopped him from walking out of the dining room, "Are you afraid of getting drunk…in my temple?"

"Excuse me?" Aphrodite turned back and saw Milo winced at him, "You are so dead. Bring the Vodka." He sat back down at the table.

Some time later.

The first Vodka bottle had joined the beer cans in the recycle collection and they were working on the second bottle. Actually, Aphrodite was the only one working on the second bottle now because Milo had rested his head on the table.

"Hey Milo, "Aphrodite emptied the second Vodka bottle, "how come you haven't touched your glass for a while?" He found himself so humorous and laughed out loudly as he threw a popcorn chicken into his mouth.

Milo fought hard to raise his hand only to knock the glass down. Two seconds later, gravity won the war against his head, which was back to the table again.

"Oh no…" Aphrodite blinked and sighed.

As he was carrying Milo to his bedroom, he said to his unconscious colleague: "Do you know how many drunk people I had to carry to bed before you? All you silly fools who think I can't drink." As he dropped Milo into bed, a light bulb lit in his head.

A big grin appeared on his face.

"I am SO good! Ah haha.." He chuckled and his eyes fell upon passed out Milo.

Aphrodite almost grinned all the way walking back to his temple. He couldn't wait till tomorrow morning, or afternoon, considering the fact that Milo might not wake up at all till later tomorrow.

He was greeted by Saga who walked in from the back gate of the Pisces Temple.

"Good evening, Aphro." Saga said, "You look very happy tonight."

Aphrodite couldn't help but grinned again.

"I hope my visit wouldn't disturb your good mood." Saga had scheduled a meeting with Aphrodite tonight to brain storm the possible solutions of the Sanctuary budget and spending deficits problem. Aphrodite was known for coming up with good ideas in the Sanctuary higher management team.

"No, Saga." Aphrodite smiled, "nothing is as good as this one." Ignoring Saga's questioning look he didn't explain further.

"Did you just carry out an 'excellent' idea on someone again? You know April Fool's Day only happens once a year. By the way, are you sure we do not need to re-schedule the meeting?" Saga asked, "You smell like somebody had just poured liquor on you."

"Nah…I haven't been drinking this much in a while but it wasn't bad at all." Aphrodite answered, "My mind is so clear and now it's just the right timing to come up with ideas. Come on in."

When the meeting was over and Saga left, it was past midnight already. Aphrodite stretched his arms and went to bed right away.

Tomorrow, he had to get up on time.

Milo woke up with his head hurting like hell. He shifted his position a little bit and recalled that he had been having an unofficial drinking competition with Aphrodite last night. He hated to admit that the last thing he remembered about last night was seeing two Aphrodite sitting in front of him. His girly looking colleague wasn't exaggerating. He sure could drink.

Damn Aphro, at least he was being nice and put him to bed before he left. Milo thought. Since he passed out at the dining table and now he was in bed, Aphrodite must have carried him to the bedroom.

But, something didn't feel right.

Milo laid there for a couple of minutes thinking. When he realized what might not be right….

Slowly, he lifted the comforter that was covering him.

Quickly he put the comforter down back on his body.

Just at this time, his bedroom door opened. Aphrodite walked in with his most caring facial expression and sat down on the bed.

Silence.

More silence.

Milo decided to break the breathtaking silence. He decided to just ask directly.

"Did you just come here this morning?"

"No, I haven't left since last night." Aphrodite said in a soft and low voice.

"…Why…am I not wearing any clothes?"

Aphrodite raised an eyebrow: "You don't remember?"

Milo stared at him.

"Ok." Aphrodite sighed and spoke, "You were drunk and I had to carry you to your bed. When I put you down, you grabbed my neck and pulled me down..."

Milo blinked several times to absorb the information and then put a naughty smile on his face: "So…you lost the #1 Casanova competition to me."

"Huh?" The question was certainly not what Aphrodite had expected. For some reason, Milo never stopped astonishing him in a way or another.

"Well," Milo smirked, "I'm sure you were overwhelmed by my skills."

Pressing the urge to smack Milo, Aphrodite was determined to crush Scorpio's over confidence, so he looked at Milo sympathetically: "Milo, you passed out shortly after you dragged me down."

Dead silence.

"I hated to hurt your feelings when you showed me such affections, and I drank a little bit more than I usually do too yesterday, so…" Controlling himself hard not to laugh and to maintain a serious face, Aphrodite continued, "It happened."

There was absolute no trace of any signs on Milo's face or body that showed he was still breathing.

"Don't worry, I will not tell anyone that you lost." Observing the dramatic result his words caused, Aphrodite felt it was time to wrap it up, so he quickly said it and left the Scorpio Temple.