Anubis never really liked phones.

As a god who could teleport to any location he could picture in his mind to speak with whomever he pleases face-to-face, the cell phone craze among humans was all but lost in him.

Plus, the way some people seemed to hide behind their technology seemed rather pathetic to him.

The day he called Sadie Kane was the day he suddenly gained a liking for phones.

She couldn't see his face. She couldn't see the way it was redder than uncooked beef and sweating profusely as he tried to force words out of his throat as evenly as possible. In fact, she probably thought he was unaffected and levelheaded as always, since he did such a good job of feigning indifference. These thoughts were more than relief. They were life saving.

But really, if Anubis had the ability to text, he would have done so. Then he could hide his face and his voice.

"Hey," he'd said.

"Hi," she'd replied.

"Humans are so creative—this is an interesting device."

"Oh, you just got a cell phone?" He heard her bubbly laughter ringing through the phone and caught himself wishing he would immerse himself in it.

That's just creepy, he thought. Get a hold of yourself.

"Yeah," he said, inwardly celebrating the birth of conversation.

"What model is it?"

"Huh?"

"What kind of phone is it?"

"There are different kinds?" She snickered.

"Yes, Anubis." Ah, the way his name sounded in her voice was captivating.

Woah, seriously, that was just…weird. Stop thinking like this, Anubis.

"There's probably a name or a logo somewhere on there," she continued.

"Oh, there is one," he said. On the battery cover was a white ankh.

"...It's an ankh. I think...I think your dad made me a phone."

"Probably so he doesn't have to deal with data service plans and whatnot. They'll be wondering why calls are coming from different dimensions." They laughed together, and it was the sort of moment they hadn't shared in a very long time. Anubis wanted to capture it, to frame it, to keep it that way. They were friends. Could they...

Could he, even consider the possibility of them being more than that?

"Anyways, I was really surprised when my dad burst into the house and told me to give you my number." She paused. Then, tentatively, "did you ask for it?"

"No," he said immediately.

"Oh." Why did she…why did she sound like that?

It's just me getting ahead of myself. It didn't mean anything.

"It's because I wanted to try using a phone like humans do," he lied quickly. "Julius knows we're friends, so…"

There was nothing left to say. He thought the excuse was pretty convincing.

So why wasn't she saying anything?

"So anyways, I actually wanted to know if you want to hang out tomorrow…if you're free, that is."

"What do you have in mind?" she asked. Anubis was relieved to hear excitement in her voice.

"Meet me in front of the movie theater by your house and we can decide from there."

"Sounds good."

"See you then!"

Anubis found himself still holding the phone to his ear long after the line went dead.