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"Hyacinthus, light of my life, most beautiful above all men. What. Have. You. Done?"
The greatest love of Apollo's long life stood before him, adorably dirty with mud streaked over his face hiding that horrible scar (a scar Apollo could still not bare to look at).
Hyacinthus, ever since becoming human again, had a great love of plants and the earth, which made sense given that he was a plant for a good three thousand years. But, a great love probably put it lightly since no matter what time if you ever needed to find him, he'd always be out somewhere in the gardens of Apollo's palace or the forests surrounding it bare footed. Or even at times finding him burying his feet in the ground because he 'missed the feeling'.
But that's not what Apollo needed to focus on at the moment and he managed to pull his thoughts away from how delightful and adorable his lover looked to what actually mattered.
"What's the matter, my love?" Hyacinthus asked with the most sweetest look of confusion.
Apollo waved his arms in the air and gestured at the form of his beautiful daughter Kayla, standing in palace gardens with them and hugging a brand new bow that he didn't gift her. "This!" He said, "why does Kayla have the brand new Fred Archery bow?!"
A delightful look of realisation came across Hyacinthus' face and he turned to Kayla, "oh sweetheart, how are you liking it? Is it just as good as you said it be?"
Kayla looked worriedly at Apollo before she turned to her step father(?) "Yes it is," she said with a small grin she got from her mortal father Darren and tightened her arms around the bow, "it's even better, thanks for getting it for me."
Hyacinthus gave her a beautiful smile, "you're so welcome sweetheart, I'm glad you like it."
Kayla bounced on her feet, giggling before stopping at the look her father gave her.
"Hyacinthus," Apollo put his hands in his glorious hair, "you cannot just give my children weapons."
"Why not? They've asked so politely." Hyacinthus asked, again looking so sweetly confused.
"They?!"
"Yes, they," he nodded, "Austin and Leo both asked for daggers to try throwing at targets, Mariah asked for a pretty gold sword, which was a little odd since I don't think it'll do too well as a defensive weapon but I wasn't about to judge and Will wanted a gun-"
With each word coming out of Hyacinthus' mouth Apollo's body began to fill with dread and he wanted nothing more than to collapse and cry, "my love, please."
"Have I done something wrong, Apollo?"
Apollo pulled himself together and stepped closer to Hyacinthus so he could put his hands on his lover's cheeks, smooshing them slightly (he also subtly wiped some of the dried dirt off his lover's face). "My love, my darling, weapons are no longer something you can just randomly hand out to children. I've started to read parent books about this and as a parent you need to be more responsible and learn to say no."
"But they're sho adorable," Hyacinthus said, struggling to speak with his cheeks squashed, and waved a hand in Kayla's direction who looked as adorable as Hyacinthus said when Apollo stared at her, her eyes peering up from under her eyelashes and twisting a foot in the ground, "how could I shay no?"
Apollo closed his eyes, bent his head down in front of Hyacinthus and sighed, "I know love," he said quietly, "but you must be strong."
Apollo took his hands off Hyacinthus' face, brushed his hands on his pants to wipe the dirt that stuck to him and sighed again, dragging a hand through his glorious hair, "Kayla, does your father at least know you have this?"
"Dad knows dad!" She said quickly, "I promise!"
"So if I talk to him about it, he'll know what I'm talking about?"
"He sure will!"
"Kayla." It's almost like everyone forgets he's also the god of truth.
She looked down and muttered something unintelligible.
"Kayla, speak up please." He said and raised an eyebrow.
She sighed in the exact same way Apollo did, "he knows I have a new bow but not that it's this one."
Apollo nodded and crossed his arms, "I'll have a talk with him then and your other siblings parents about the weapons then."
Kayla now looked at him with confusion, as if a thought just struck her, "dad, you've never done that before when we got weapons at camp though."
Apollo reached out and ruffled her hair, much to her grumbling annoyance, "well things change after reading every parenting book I could find, Kayla dearest."
"And you're not gonna take it from me?" She asked quietly looking up at him from under his hand that was now stroking her hair.
He shook his head, "no Kayla, I'm not going to take your bow or your other siblings weapons from them. They're yours to keep."
Kayla squealed and wrapped her arms around him, still not letting go of her bow which was now pressed uncomfortably against his back. "Thank you, thank you dad! I love you, you're the best!"
Apollo jumped a little in surprise but smiled in delight and quickly hugged her back, pressing his nose in her hair. He caught Hyacinthus' eye as he did who was looked at them both with a soft smile.
"I'm gonna send you back to camp now, dearest, tell your siblings I said hello and that I love them." He said, still taking in how much he loves his children being freer with their physical affection towards him.
"Ok dad." And with a kiss in her hair, Apollo sent her back with a soft glow of sunlight.
Hyacinthus audibly cleared his throat and stepped towards him and took Apollo's hand into his, giving it a slight squeeze, "so weapons are no longer something we give freely to trained children?"
"Not in the mortal world, no."
"Huh, how odd. When did that start?"
"In the past 200 years or so."
"Huh."
It was silent between them as they stood in the midst of Apollo's garden under the warmth of his sun.
"What about leaving them in the middle of the woods with nothing else but the clothes on their backs and a weapon in their hands for training?" Hyacinthus spoke up, breaking the silence.
Apollo slowly turned his head to him, "what did you do?"
Hyacinthus gave him a strained wide smile, "nothing." And dropped his hand before sprinting back to the palace.
"Hyacinthus!" Shouted Apollo and chased after him.