Kairos did not lie down in the fountain.
He considered it. He really did. He stood at the edge for a good five minutes, staring into the murky water and the judgmental eyes of a particularly large orange fish. The fish seemed to be saying, "Really, dude? A door?"
Defeated by a fish, too, he turned and began the long, slow, walk of shame back to his dorm. The universe was mocking him. A pigeon cooed loudly from a nearby tree, and Kairos flinched.
He finally reached the sanctuary of his room, flung his bag into the corner (where it emitted a sad, crinkling sound), and face-planted directly onto his bed. He planned to stay there, metabolizing into a permanent stain on the sheets, until the end of time.
This plan lasted for approximately seventeen minutes.
There was a rapid, incessant knocking at his door. It wasn't the gentle tap of a concerned friend. It was the aggressive bang-bang-BANG of someone who knew he was in there and knew he was miserable.
"GO AWAY, ROBIN!" Kairos yelled into his mattress.
The door swung open. It was, of course, Robin. He never let things like "locked doors" or "pleas for solitude" stop him.
"Bro," Robin said, marching in and poking Kairos in the side. "You can't just evolve into a blanket monster. You have a mission."
"No mission. Only void."
"Dude, get up. You have to go talk to Professor Evans. Right now."
Kairos rolled over, revealing one bloodshot eye. "And say what? 'Hello, Professor. I know I'm in your advanced programming class, but I lack the object permanence to understand how doors work. Please give me a second chance'?"
Robin shrugged. "Yeah, basically. But maybe word it a little better. Look, the longer you wait, the weirder it gets. Go now while the tragedy is still fresh. He might still feel bad for you."
"He's not gonna feel bad! He's gonna feel secondhand embarrassment! I could feel his disappointment from across campus!"
"Exactly!" Robin said, seizing on this. "That's the play! Weaponize the awkwardness! Make it so uncomfortable for him to say 'no' that he says 'yes' just to get you out of his office. It's a classic."
Kairos stared at the ceiling. It was the worst plan he had ever heard. It was also his only plan.
Twenty minutes later, after being forcibly dressed and pushed out the door by Robin, Kairos stood outside Professor Evans's office. He was sweating. His heart was doing a drum solo against his ribs. This was worse than the test would have been.
He raised a trembling hand and knocked.
"Enter."
Professor Evans was a man in his late fifties who looked like he was constantly smelling something faintly unpleasant. He peered over his glasses as Kairos shuffled in.
"Mr. Trevor. To what do I owe the... pleasure?" he said, his tone suggesting it was anything but.
Kairos opened his mouth. Nothing came out. His carefully rehearsed speech "There was an issue with the door, sir" vanished from his brain, leaving behind only static.
"Well?" Professor Evans prompted, raising an eyebrow.
The truth, raw and unfiltered, burst out of Kairos like a sneeze.
"I thought the door was locked but it wasn't locked I just didn't push it hard enough because of the sign and I was there on time I swear my phone said 7:59 and I just sat there and had a whole crisis and my friends found me and now I'm here."
He finished, gasping for air.
Professor Evans stared at him. He didn't speak. He just... stared. The silence stretched on, becoming thick and heavy. Kairos could hear the clock ticking on the wall. Tick. Tock. You're an idiot. Tick. Tock. You're an idiot.
Finally, the professor slowly removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Let me get this straight," he said, his voice dangerously calm. "You missed my test... because you failed to open a door."
Kairos winced. "...When you say it like that, it sounds.."
"Foolish?" Professor Evans offered.
"...Yes."
Another long, painful silence.
"The syllabus, Mr. Trevor, is very clear. No make-up tests without a documented medical emergency or a note from the dean." He put his glasses back on, a clear signal that the audience was over. "Do you have a note from the dean explaining your... door deficiency?"
Kairos's shoulders slumped. "No, sir."
"Then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. You'll have to accept the zero. Let it be a lesson in... thoroughness."
Defeated, Kairos turned to leave, his face burning with humiliation.
Just as his hand touched the doorknob, Professor Evans spoke again.
"However..."
Kairos froze.
"I am assigning a new semester-long project next week. It's... significant. It will require a partner. If you can find someone willing to pair with you, and if the two of you produce exemplary work, it could... mitigate the damage of this morning's... incident."
Kairos's head whipped around. "A partner?"
"Yes. Someone to, presumably, check your work. And perhaps... open doors for you." Professor Evans's mouth twitched in what might have been the ghost of a smirk. "Now, good day, Mr. Trevor."
Stumbling out of the office, Kairos felt a bizarre mix of crushing failure and wild hope. A zero? A disaster. A huge project that could save his grade? A lifeline.
He needed a partner. Someone smart. Someone capable. Someone who wouldn't mind being seen with the guy who lost a fight to a door.
His phone buzzed. It was a text from Robin.
Robin: So?? Did you weaponize the awkwardness?? Do we celebrate???
Kairos typed back, his mind already racing.
Kairos: He gave me a chance. A project. I need a partner.
The three typing dots appeared immediately. Then stopped. Then started again.
Robin: Oh. A partner. Yeah. Cool. Well. Good luck with that, man! * suddenly very busy * gotta go * my grandma is on fire * bye!
Kairos stared at the phone. Even Robin was jumping ship.
He was on his own. He needed a miracle.
He needed... the one person who hadn't witnessed his utter humiliation today. The one person who thought he was at least marginally competent.
He scrolled through his contacts, his thumb hovering over a name.
Ares.