Carter looked up at the living room ceiling. Winter was asleep on top of him. He put his head on top of his hands and started to think about the interviews they had the last couple of days. He kept replaying them in his head. All of them had said they didn't know what time the mask was stolen, but one of them did. He had said the mask was taken around 4:30 am. Either he was the thief or everyone else was in on it. And even though Briseis didn't say where the mask was at the time, everyone else did. At that thought, Carter looked down at Winter. She looked like she was sucking her thumb. She probably was.

"I think we should listen to the interviews later. To see what she thinks," he thought.

Carter put a hand on her head and gently moved his thumb in little circles. Winter stirred a little.

"Mph."

Carter paused and stared at her. She was sleeping so peacefully that he didn't want to wake her. The funny thing was that she could never sleep at night but she could sleep like a baby when the sun was still up. The energy in the room was very slow and started to get to Carter. His eyes started drooping. His eyes were almost completely closed when Winter lifted her head. Carter opened his eyes completely. Winter, looking confused and tired, looked around. He lifted an eyebrow. Winter looked at him.

"How long was I out?"

Carter gave a small smile, "That depends. How long were you asleep?"

Winter put her head back onto his chest, "I'd say I was out for a minute."

"Then you were out for a minute."

"Yeah, that'd be cool. Get a full night's rest in one minute. How amazing does that sound?"

He thought about it. It sounded like a cool idea. Then, he thought about plane rides.

"Mm. Doesn't sound too fun."

"Must suck to be you."

"Oh, yeah. It does."

"Soo..."

Carter looked at her, "Yeah?"

"We gonna do more than just lay here and chat?"

"Well. I have an idea," he gave her a sly grin.

"Oh!" she got up, "No. Nope."

"Oh, c'mon!" he got up too, "I haven't told you my idea yet!"

She poked him in the stomach, "Didn't hafta."

Carter smiled again, "Alright. Alright. You wanna go over the interviews?"

Winter nodded and followed Carter to the dining table. He pulled out his phone and opened his Voice Memos app. He pointed out which ones were the interviews.

"Carter? Why is there a memo thing called, um, 'fucking damn it'?" Winter looked concerned.

He looked at it, "Ohhhh... that one. Yeah. I spilled my water during that one. Mmm, I had to spend the rest of the day with a wet spot on my shirt. It sucked ass."

Winter smirked. Carter flicked her forehead and walked away.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" she rubbed the spot on her forehead.

Carter turned around while tapping his head, "I've already got it in my noggin. No need to listen again."

"You and your damn memory," Winter muttered as he strutted to the bedroom.

Carter smiled as he closed the bedroom door. Not that he didn't like Winter's company, he just thought it was nice to have some peace and privacy. 4:30 he thought. Was he telling the truth? Was he there when it was taken? Carter's head started to flood with questions he should have asked him during the interview as he sat down. How did he know it was 4:30? Carter sighed and picked up Winter's phone that was on the nightstand. He put in her password and started giggling. As it turned out, Winter's home screen was a photo of Carter trying to read the directions on a map. He remembered that day perfectly. It was a couple of years ago when they were in New York and he still hadn't figured how its streets worked. He then proceeded to open the camera app on Winter's phone and snapped a couple of photos. In case she ever wanted to change her home screen.

After doing so, he opened the phone app and dialed in the interviewee's number. Carter waited a while until he picked up.

The person on the other end answered something that sounded like, "He-ar-a-te?".

"Um, hi! Is this, uh, Alyosha?" Carter asked, hoping that the other person could understand English.

"Yes, I'm Alyosha. Can I help you with something?" he said.

Carter did a mental fist pump, "Hey, Alyosha! It's Carter! From the interview yesterday?"

"Oh, yes! Carter! With the tall, brown hair, yes?"

"Yeah, that's me!"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, Carter! Hello! How can I help you, my friend?"

He smiled, "Yeah, I was wondering if you could answer a couple more questions?"

"Of course! It's best if we didn't do this on the phone. With the staticness, yeah?" Alyosha replied.

"Sure thing. Is there a place we can meet up?" Carter grabbed one of Winter's mid-night ideas sticky notes and a pen.

"How does Coffee Island sound?"

"Sounds great! One more question."

"Yes?"

"Where exactly is Coffee Island?"

"It is very close to Thissio station. Go straight and then left, yeah?"

Carter quickly scribbled it down, "Yeah, awesome, great! Thanks! I will be there as soon as I can, right?"

"As soon as we get off the phone."

"Alright, I'll see you then! Bye!"

"Goodbye!"

Carter hung up the phone and ran out of the room, "Wintah! You ready to go on a trip?"

Winter's head snapped up from his phone, "I, uh, what? Um, okay, yea, um sure. Let me just get my phone real quick."

"Already got it. C'mon!" Carter hastily put on his shoes.

"Oh! Well! Alright then!" Winter literally jumped out of the chair, still holding Carter's phone, "Where are we going?"

"We're getting drinks!" Carter opened the door.

He figured that since Coffee Island was nearby the Thissio station, they might as well take the metro. They exited the little neighborhood thing and crossed the street to the Kerameikos. Even he had motion sickness, he knew it would be worth it. If it meant returning a priceless artifact, he would sail across the seven seas. They got onto the metro that headed towards the Thissios station. The train started moving and Carter started feeling regret. Winter looked at him. She knew it was his idea and it was too late to turn back. She smiled. She would rule the world one day and use that smile when she became a dictator. On the outside, it looked so nice and sweet but behind those perfect teeth of hers, lay little schadenfreude spiders, whose bites stung forever. Carter groaned and sat down. Winter held onto a grab handle, which he knew was called that because his curiosity got the best of him a couple of days ago.

Finally, they reached the Thissio station after eight minutes. As soon as they got off, Carter leaned next to the nearest trash can. He would've leaned over it but he knew that it would smell really bad. And any bad smell during nausea induced states can create vomit. Carter didn't want that. He waited for a minute or so until he nodded, telling Winter that he was good to go. Winter patted his back and pulled him to the exit. The pats caused Carter to cough a little but he followed her none the less. When they exited, they went onto the brick road and walked to the bottom of the incline and continued straight. To their right was a small coffee shop with an orange awning that showed a brown flower and the words "Coffee Island".

Alyosha was already there and stood up to greet them. Winter looked at Carter confused so he gave her some euros and asked her to get them something drinkable. As they both didn't like coffee. Alyosha invited Carter to join him at his outdoor table. Winter entered the little store.

"It's nice to see you again, Alyosha," Carter said as he took a seat.

"And you, Carter," he said as he took a sip of his coffee, "What was it that you wanted to ask me?"

"How did you know when the mask was taken?"

"Ah, yes. Good question. I was actually working on it when it was taken."

"Oh, seriously?"

"Yes. I was given the task to look at it some more to, well, learn more about it. I started work at around 4:20, went to get some water at 4:28, and got back at 4:34. By the time I was back, the mask was missing," Alyosha took another sip of his coffee.

"Why were you working on the mask in the morning?" Carter asked.

"The morning is when your brain is most refreshed and, besides, if it means learning more about an ancient artifact, I would get up at midnight."

Carter nodded in agreement. Winter would always get up at night and turn on a lamp to research an idea she had. Sometimes, she would even wake Carter to tell him about the idea. It messed up his sleep schedule but, honestly, she had some pretty good ideas.

Carter thought of another question, "If you knew what time the mask was taken, why didn't you tell anyone else?"

"Oh, I did. I suppose they just forgot, or something. It's not like the time would really matter to finding something."

At that moment, Winter came out with two teacups in her hand.

"Hot chocolate for you," she sat a cup in front of him, "And a chocolate aromatic strawberry for me."

"That sounds really good," Carter looked up at her, "Can I have some?"

"Mmm...," Winter took a sip of her drink, "Depends. How do you feel about mono?"

"I don't care. Can I have some now?" he reached out a hand.

Winter looked at her cup and handed it to him, "Only a little bit."

Carter took it from her and sipped it, "Oh, that's some good shit right there."

Alyosha looked at Winter and then to Carter, "Are you two dating?"

They looked at him and then each other.

"Um, no, not really. It would be nice though," Carter said as he gave back her drink.

"That's a shame. Which reminds me. I have a question for you two," Alyosha said, finishing his drink, "Do you work for Janus?"

"Who's Janus?" Winter quickly said.

Carter looked at her, then at Alyosha, "Why do you ask?"

Alyosha chuckled, "Well, I've never met any American reporters that ask such detailed questions about a Greek artifact. Have you?"

Winter thought about it. It seemed as though she was wondering just exactly how effective their cover was. It also looked like she was truly confused about who Janus was.

"Why Janus of all people?" Carter asked.

"Janus is the one that always returns famous paintings and artifacts, right? And that's what you two seem to be doing. Either you are getting information for him or you are Janus."

"Why would we be Janus? We can't even get our homework done! Or even find our homework on the day it's due, as a matter of a fact," Winter pointed out.

Carter turned to face her, "I feel attacked and I'm not sure I like it."

"Am I wrong?"

Carter slightly bobbed his head after realizing that she wasn't wrong. He turned to face Alyosha again.

"I take it you two work for him then," he said standing up.

Carter stood and nodded a little, "Yeah, I guess. Uh, anyway, thanks for answering my questions."

They shook hands and walked in opposite directions.

"Oh! Janus is ussss," Winter whispered as they left the café, "I can't believe I forgot that."

"You actually forgot?! You came up with the name!" Carter nearly choked on the remains of his hot chocolate.

Winter smiled, skipped to the entrance of the Thissio station, and pointed with her thumb, "Train?"

Carter looked at her, unamused. Winter grinned and started heading down to the grey bricked path that led to a street close to their apartment. It was approximately a seven-minute walk. They turned left at the end of the path and continued walking till they got to the pedestrian crossing place. Across the street, they saw a blue and yellow abstract mural. Winter asked if he knew what was going on in it since he came from an artistic family, but he didn't understand it either. Winter looked disappointed but continued to cross the street. They passed The Lazy Bulldog Pub, a restaurant place called Secret, the Dirty Blonde, and the Vromiko. They kept walking down that street until they got to the ever so familiar, Candy Cat.

Carter opened the gate for Winter, who sashayed on through, and in turn, unlocked the apartment building door. The duo walked up some narrow stairs, which Carter noticed was a trend for the stair in Athens, and used the very strange-looking key to open the apartment door. Immediately, they took off their shoes and headed towards the couch. Carter took a quick detour to the bathroom. When he got out, he noticed Winter had her notebook out and was making random doodles. Very quietly, he made his way behind her to scare her. Winter suspected nothing, or she didn't care and continued to doodle. A smiley face there, a flower over here. Carter spread his arms and quickly grabbed her, lifting her off the couch in the process.

"CARTER!" Winter screeched as her journal and pencil fell to the ground.

Carter, still holding onto Winter, walked towards the kitchen area. Winter continued to squirm like a worm in a robin's beak.

"DAMN IT, CARTER!" Winter looked down, "OH GOSH! PLEASE DON'T DROP MEEEE!"

He chuckled and set her down in front of the fridge. Instead of standing, she knelt down to the floor and started to fake cry.

"I'm sorry! I'm so so so sorry! I promise I'll never complain about being short again!"

"Winter."

"Shh, I must wait for them to forgive me."

Carter squatted down next to her, "Who's them?"

Winter peeked at him, "The gods of tall, short, and height."

"What's it like to be short?"

"Carter, I swear to Buggy. You will not make it to tomorrow," she glared at him.

He wagged a finger in front of her, "Uh uh uh. Didn't you just say you weren't going to complain about being short anymore?"

"Shut up, they're saying something."

Curious, Carter put his ear to the ground. At the sight of this, Winter got on his back.

"Damn it," he whispered.

Winter leaned so she would be right in his face and grinned.

Carter looked at her with the one eye he had that wasn't squished into the ground and with a coarse voice he asked only one question, "Why?"

"Why are we in the kitchen?"

He attempted to get up, "I'm hungry."

"Is this because I'm a woman?" she applied more pressure on his back to stop him from getting up.

"No," a strained voice came from Carter, "I can't cook."

"Is it because of my parents?" Winter asked.

"Maybe?"

"Jeez, Carter! Just 'cus my parents are from Italy doesn't mean I know how to cook!" she whined.

"Pweasee, Wintahhh?" Carter gave her his best puppy eyes using only one eye, "I'll help?"

Carter couldn't see her expression but he could feel Winter still glaring at him as she slowly got off his back. He groaned as he stood up and stretched until he felt normal again. When he stopped, he noticed Winter was standing still next to him. He sighed and opened the fridge door for her. Immediately, her composure changed and thanked him as though she was living in the Victorian times ("Oh, thank you so very much, kind sir" for those of you wondering). Carter watched as she brought out the remaining mac n cheese and chicken nuggets. She walked to the stove, so Carter closed the refrigerator door. He followed Winter to the cooking area and watched as she worked her magic.

After a while, she told him to wait in the bedroom because she wanted to keep the food a surprise. As Carter left, he saw Winter plating the food in the corner of his eyes. When he got to the room and sat on the edge of the bed, Winter was near the doorway.

"Yah fud hass bean sahrved," she said with a thick accent of some kind.

Carter looked up, "What happened to the chicken nuggets?"

Winter looked down at him, "Zis dis es culled polled chiken nouggets wif ah side uf macnchese."

Carter giggled a little and waved his fork at Winter, "Heehee, chiken NOUggets... Now that is peak comedy."

She smirked and sat down next to Carter. They ate their food peacefully while Winter continued to listen to the interviews. Carter had to remind her as she had completely forgotten. Every now and then she would get some sticky notes and write something down. Carter, being the person that he is, finished eating, put the plate on the nightstand, and changed into his pajamas. During this, Winter covered her eyes. For that, he changed as slowly as possible. Eventually, she started to twitch and whine about his speed. He told her to just put her hands down because he had nothing to hide. It wasn't like he slept with a shirt on every night anyways. Winter peaked through her fingers and scanned him. Carter questioned her actions and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

When he got to the bathroom, only a quick one-second walk, he looked at the man in the mirror (hee hee). Carter saw that his hair had gotten longer and told himself to get a hair cut soon. Or he could do it himself at that moment. He squinted at himself. He couldn't tell want but he looked different. He also looked like he was about to burst at the seams if he didn't say something. Carter shook his head and started to brush his teeth. A minute in, Winter appeared next to him requesting to get her toothbrush. She said she needed it to "-give my teeth the swords and shields that they had lost as the day progressed". He wondered why she put it like that but played along anyway.

"Here you go, young warrior," he said, giving Winter her toothbrush, "But do remember, you must brush for three minutes, no less if you wish for their armor to be as strong as possible."

Winter held the toothbrush like it was an egg that was about to hatch, "Oh thank you, mighty sorcerer! I am forever in your debt."

Carter didn't know why but for some reason, being called a mighty sorcerer made him feel powerful and strong. Maybe it was just his body telling him to play Dungeons and Dragons again. A possibility indeed. After his three minutes were done and his teeth finally had replacement sword and shields, he went to bed and just laid there. Not much later, Winter joined him after turning off the lights. As soon as she got under the blankets, Carter felt like his head was going to explode but he ignored it. It got worse and worse as he continued to ignore it. He put his hands on his forehead and squeezed because that usually helped to soothe his headaches, but it didn't work. Finally, Winter addressed his situation.

"You alright there, bud?" she climbed over him so she could face him.

"Mhph, my head hurts," he murmured.

"Yeah, I can see that."

Her voice somehow made it better. He wondered why and finally came to a conclusion.

"Uh, hey, Winter? I' gotta tell you something," Carter said.

Winter tilted her head, "What is it?"

"I, um, I..., I' dunno. I, gosh."

"Hey, it's okay. You can tell me whatever and no matter what, I'd never judge you," she put a hand on his shoulder.

Carter scrunched his face in frustration, "I- damn it. I can't do it."

Winter softly smiled at him, "Take your time, it's alright. We don't have to do this today if you don't want to."

"No. I-I have to do it now," he stammered, "I have to do it now."

"Alright then. Just let it come on out. Tell it to take as much time as it needs."

Carter closed his eyes and told himself to calm down. But he couldn't. What would she think? What would she say? How would she respond? Would it tear them apart? What would happen to them? Carter wanted to thoughts to stop. And there was only one way to do that. Say it.

"I LOVE YOU," he put his head in his hands as the words burst out of his mouth.

Winter froze, "Oh."

*Dang. It took me four days to write all that. My fingers hurt. Oh well. Uh, anyways. I, for one, do not know what loving someone romantically feels like. That's right everybody! I literally have no emotions! (just like my writing) Shut it, me. (fuck you, me) So, how y'all been?? Oh, in the past four days, I found out I don't like massages. Is that weird? I dunno. Do you like getting massages? Cuz I don't (they already know that, me) Well, then it sucks to be them. OH OH OH, I also came up with like three more adventures for Winter and Carter, including a Christmas special! Not that their Christians or anything, not that that's a bad thing of course! Just to like get with friends and family, ya know? Gifts and all. I'll stop talking now. (good idea) I thought I told you to shut the fuck up, me. (fine)