Is love really a good thing? Everyone around him seemed to be in pain, tortured by the endless heartbeats and nightmares. Scared that the bliss one day would end and they would end up all alone and empty. Ea was always scared of love, afraid of the unknown and simply terrified of hurting. So to some extent Ares avoiding him was a blessing. Yes, he liked him, he had liked him for a long time but he knew or at least he believed he wasn't loved back. That was a separate kind of pain but still it didn't seem that it was even close to the pain Theseus was feeling.