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As Odysseus swiftly sailed away from Poseidon with the help of the wind bag from Aeolus, the Sea God felt himself growing increasingly angry. He shouldn't just get to run away like that! The God had been regressed when Odysseus came upon him and had already been in a rather foul mood. This, along with the knowledge of what Odysseus had done to his son sent him into a full blown tantrum, but one that was rather well concealed. The Ithacan King had been none the wiser and thought that Poseidon had just been incredibly angry and killed his men in a rage. While he hadn't been entirely wrong, part of the reason he lashed out so badly was because he wanted his Dada and couldn't have him because he was busy at the time.
Pouting to himself, Poseidon headed to Olympus once Odysseus was out of sight. He was sure his Dada was done with whatever he was doing by now. Though, when he opened the door to Apollo's place, he was met with a disappointed expression from the God in question. He closed the door behind him and made his way over, nervous about what his Dada could be disappointed over. Though, he knew exactly what it was. "Guppy, what are our rules when you have a tantrum and I'm not able to come to you?" He asked, patiently waiting for Poseidon to answer. The little bit his lip and shuffled his feet, "Not to involve mortals...'M sorry Dada..." He murmured in defeat. He knew he'd broken a rule and he felt really bad about it. Apollo silently nodded. His little one tended to have a lot of tantrums, which is why he created that rule in the first place. Many would think him to be a bad little because of it. Not Apollo though. His baby wasn't bad, he just had a lot of big feelings that he didn't quite know how to articulate while little. So with no emotional maturity to describe how he was feeling, he lashed out and had tantrums. Of course, Apollo was working on it with him, but it was still a work in progress.
"I know you are baby. You know what the punishment is for breaking that rule, yes?" Apollo felt it was helpful for Poseidon to acknowledge each part of the process of being punished and why he was doing so. The little nodded, "Gotta sit in the corner and think about what I did an' what I could do bette' next time." Another nod. "Alright. Now go sit. Nose in the corner for ten minutes." The Sun God watched as his little one dejectedly made his way over to the time out chair and sat down facing the corner. While his little did his punishment, Apollo watched over Odysseus and his crew from his minds eye. He grimaced lightly to himself when he saw exactly how many men Poseidon had killed. But that wasn't what this punishment was about. He couldn't care less about how many men died, rather, it was about how Poseidon involved them in his tantrum in the first place.
He heard a few sniffles and muffled cries coming from his little, making him feel just a little bad. But he knew he couldn't end the punishment early. Poseidon needed consistency and if he ended it early, he might think it was OK to do in the future. Which isn't what Apollo was aiming for. Once the ten minutes were up, he sat on the couch and called for Poseidon to join him. He frowned a little when he saw tear tracks on his baby's face and the light tremble of his frame. Poseidon hated the chair because he liked to be able to see and talk to his Dada while little and the chair deprived him of that, which is what made it an unpleasant punishment to the Sea God. "You did your punishment very well. I'm proud of you." Apollo murmured, gently kissing his head and wiping his cheeks. "Now, can you tell me why you were put there?"
" 'Cause I b'ought mortals into my tantrum...an' I not s'possed to do that."
"Good. Now, what could you do better next time?" Apollo asked, carding his fingers through Poseidon's long curly hair.
"Could go to the cool down corner til Dada can come or fin' a pillow to take it out on instead..."
The cool down corner was a corner of Apollo's house that had a few of Poseidon's little things, along with Papyrus and charcoal to draw in case he wanted to work things out that way. The other way was something of a last resort. Since they were trying to work on getting Poseidon to not use violence as a first response to being upset, he needed something not living to wean him off. So he had him use a pillow if he really really needed to hit something. He could punch it all he wanted, but no powers.
"Very good. Now, what do you need to say?"
" 'M sorry Dada. Won' do it again!" The little threw his arms around Apollo in a hug. The sun God in question smiled and returned the embrace. "It's alright, baby shark. Thank you for apologizing. Now, what do you say to some lunch, hmm? I'm starving." The boy in his arms was quick to nod, "Can we has soup?" He asked, his Dada chuckling softly. "Of course, sunspot. Wanna help me stir it?" Another nod.
Apollo knew his little one would have good days and bad days. That was just a part of life and a part of caring for a little. But it was moments like this that made it all worth it, moments where he could find peace in caring for his child despite anything else that might occur. Even when Poseidon occasionally misbehaved, he didn't love him any less. They just needed to brave the storm of his emotions together and all would be well.