Chapter Text
Apollo loved winters. Sure, he used to absolutely hate the cold, darkness and snow blizzards, and curse Demeter for it every once in a while, but that was in the past. The earth needed some time to rest, he got more time off work, his children and most followers got seasonal depression.... That was horrible, actually, but they could always call him for help and he tried his best to visit them. Hiakinthos said Apollo just had to deliver sunshine to them personally.
Speaking of, another positive aspect of winter was that they could hide away in Hyperborea, alone, no one bothering them, no children potentially in the house. Just them, their pack of wolves, couple crows... Apollon was thankful Hya loved animals or he would have a hard time moving in with the Olympian. Sweet Ouranos, it felt so good being able to say it - "we are living together", "yesterday, when we were eating breakfast with the children", "Hyacinthus and I are planning to renovate our cabin". He still had to pinch himself every morning to make sure it wasn't just a beautiful dream.
- Morning, sunshine. - The Spartan kissed his beloved, making him open his eyes to one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen in his long, long life.
- Hello, darling. - Apollo returned the quick kiss before pulling himself up to a sitting position. - How was your night? - He put his hand on Hya's arm, silently encouraging him to come closer and rest his head on Apollo's chest.
- Good, great even. - He started planting kisses along his jaw, slowly moving towards his throat and collarbone. - You wore me out last evening.
- Oh, really? And that's why you're trying to turn me on again? - Apollo felt his lover's hand slid under the duvet, brushing over his scars, careful not to go further down without permission.
- Is it working?
- Maybe a bit.. - He gently grabbed Hiakinthos's chin and kissed him on the lips.
- What are you doing? - A voice from somewhere above them asked.
They froze, Apollo immediately recognizing the voice.
- Morning, Athena. - He looked at his sister's face floating in the rainbow of the Iris message. Hya lied his head down between Apollo's arm and neck, letting out a quiet sigh.
- Good morning, Phoebus. I assume you know what day it is.
- Radio only play christmas songs, I had a psych evaluation... Just messing with you, it's the winter solstice.
- And the council meeting.
- And my kids are coming! - Their little tradition was back and demigods living at Camp Half-Blood were invited to Olympus. - Io Saturnalia, sister!
- Io to you both, but could we please get down to business?
- To defeat the Huns...?
Athena tried to pierce his soul with nothing but the look in her eyes. Her brows furrowed as she grabbed the base of her nose.
- I talked with Hermes, we have a secured majority. Can you give a speech?
There was concern in her voice. Interacting with their family had been unpleasant, to say the least. Aphrodite still hadn't apologised for saying their pantheon could go on without him, as if he didn't matter at all, as if he was nothing to her. His life-long conflict with Ares wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, aunt Demeter... That one was complicated and painful on way too many levels. Hermes was trying to get in touch. He didn't need to explain Zeus, did he?
But there were upsides of what had happened. They were afraid of him, which means they listened, suddenly wanted to be a happy family... Apollo didn't care. He only talked to them either to gain their support before the summer solstice council or because they invited themselves into his mansion. It was kind of amusing, how they sat on his couch with their back straightened to the point it hurt or on the literal edge of their seat, nervous he would make them less powerful as well. At least it was better than them avoiding him for six months after his return to Olympus.
Such behaviour was expected, after all changing fate so radically didn't happen often. Especially considering Apollo did it on total impulse after listening to Calliope's "female rage" playlist on repeat. Not that the exact reason for his little coup mattered to them, what concerned every god and titan was how the Hades he pulled that off. The best part was that even Apollo wasn't sure what exactly had happened. All he knew was that since yesterday he was officially diagnosed not only with depression, but also PTSD, and that he had been having waking nightmares and panic attacks..
- Of course I can, though Lex Hestia doesn't need an oration, we have been insufferrable for the past five months.
- Agreed, I seriously thought lord Ares was going to kill you - said Hiakinthos, looking up at Athena.
- See? We can just quickly present arguments, give comebacks to potential counterarguments and insults..
- If you're not comfortable with being in the same room as our relatives for long, just say it. Your health is more important, we can speed the council up by just skipping the best part.. - Athena slightly rolled her eyes.
- But you just said you had secured the votes, we don't need to convince anyone. Also, where are you at?- Apollo could see books in the Iris message's background, but didn't recognise shelfs they were placed on. Judging from the wood used, the style and the titles he could read, Athena was at a bookstore, not a library.
- I am buying books for my children. Apparently my son Malcolm is a fan of this series called "Heated rivalry" and he couldn't get them at his local library, so I decided to buy it at this place in Brooklyn, close to the bridge, you must know it. It seems to be some sort of a romance novel, but I suppose some light entertainment will do him good to recharge his batteries.
Apollo and Hya exchanged discret looks. It was definitely romance and Athena probably had no idea what she was buying.
- So you're comitting treason by going to a small bookshop with queer literature without me? You're breaking my heart.
- I paid for your books back in June, show an ounce of repsect.
- You mean paid with the money you won from the bet on my survival? - Some days it seemed like such sentences were normal in his family. Probably because they were.
- Details. - She shrugged, but then smiled fondly. - See you on Olympus, dorks.
Athena ended the call. Hiakinthos got out of the bed and started dressing up, much to Apollo's disappointment. The god of light had no choice but leave the warm, soft duvet behind and put on his shirt.
He looked around the room. It was almost claustrophobic, especially if you had more than two people standing in it. He had made the entirety of it from fallen trees back in the 60's or some time around that, not wanting to harm the wilderness of Hyperborea. Apollo usually spent his holiday pretty much like the rest of the year - changing forms, wandering around... But he still stayed in his human body most of the time, especially after coming back from his trials, after what Jason had told him before dying. He used to stay with Boreas, but the wind god.. started crossing boundaries, at least that's how Apollo's therapist called it. So he build his own place - tiny, but cozy. All it had was a small table, a bed, some storage space for his luggage and a creative area of plain, unfurnished space where he could draw, paint, read..
Hyperborea was too beautiful and tempting to stay indoors all the time. Now that Hya was back with him, the most used area of their cabin was the bed... And the shelfs and floor, for they needed some space for the gifts. Everywhere you could see were boxes and bags, decorated with ribbons, ready to make Apollo's babies smile.
- Where is Kayla's box? - Hiakinthos grabbed couple bags, his strong, muscled arms able to carry almost all of the gifts at once.
- It was right there, next to Epione's.. - Apollo took a step towards a pile of boxes next to the cabin door, mindlessly pushing them open. Right outside the porch stood a golden chariot, decorated with purple ornaments. A big swan tried to run inside, but Hiakinthos blocked his way.
Apollo paid it no mind, counting the gifts like he had done so a day before. Something wasn't adding up, so he decided to make a checklist in alphabetical order. The question was - which alphabet? Perhaps going from oldest to youngest was better.
Hymen's bag had been taken by Hiakinthos, Apollo noticed the red and pink ribbons. He had wrapped Ialemus's new gardening set (apparently digging in the ground not for funerary purposes calmed him down) in a new dark blue cloak, which he put on top of the pile of smaller gifts for the Muses (all twelve of them) (well, technically, there were fifteen, but he wasn't on very good terms with the elder ones). Those were also already taken by Hiakinthos. Aristeus and his wife Autonoë were getting a new set of blankets, baby bottles, cushions and other things you needed when runing a farm, all put in a wooden box... Which was standing on the porch, as Apollo checked by peering through a little window above him.
Wait a minute, what was he at? Ah, Asclepius and Epione.
It took Apollo weeks to create the perfect snake-themed box. He could barely count the shades of green he had to use for all of the scales and herb ornaments.. He seriously didn't want to favorise his children, but this was their first family get together, first solstice they were spending together since... Literal ages.
The weeks following his revolution were a mess, to say the least. Olympus erupted with chaos - no one knew who was in charge. They managed to deactivate the master bolt, but Zeus was still king. On the outside, nothing changed, on the inside though? Athena and Apollo were finally free. They all were. No more strikes for stepping out of the line, no more beating into the ground.. Apollo figured this is how Elysium looked like. With security came the freedom of voting. All they had to do now was make sure no one helps Zeus regain his power.
Athena took care of that. Apparently, she had the same idea as Apollo and had been gaining allies for years. She got Hephaestus on her side somewhere during Apollo's trials, and being the craftsman genius that he was, he figured out how to make their father way less abusive. When Apollo snatched the bolt (the pain was the same as when Zeus actually used it on him and he still sometimes felt his skin burn and woke up with actual burns), Athena quickly grabbed it from him, did some technical stuff Apollo wasn't really an expert at, and, well... His body no longer subconciously tensed when he was around Father. Or at least not as much as it used to, knowing he was safe.
Ares backed them up and even Hera... Hera came up to Apollo right after Athena joined him, looked at him with kindness in her eyes, and fucking hugged him, saying she apologizes for what she had done to Leto. Honestly, no wonder Apollo went back home not able to explain what happened, it felt like a dam dream. He realized it was all real like a week later.
Dionysus was obviously with them, after all he was a great dad. Same went for Hestia, though she was scared things would get even more violent and that's the one thing she wanted to avoid at all cost.
Hold on, what was his original thought? Oh right, Asklepios!
Long story short, Athena managed to control the chaos and stabilise her political position like she always did. The first test for her favorite invention - democracy - came on the 21st of June. One of the topics on the agenda was his beloved son, imprisoned in his own temple in Elysium for being better than everyone else-
The only person who raised their voice was Hermes, saying Asclepius had conciously broken the rules. Apollo suspected his brother was just bitter - fallen heroes from the golden cabin seven were given a second chance, along with the traitors who joined Kronos. But Luke Castellan didn't. He was still in Hades for there was no way out of the fields of punishment and despite Apollo's bleeding heart, Luke had to pay the price of attacking innocent demigods at Camp.
And no matter how many times he screamed inside, how many times he bled, the god of prophecy couldn't bring back souls affacted by the words of his oracle. Especially Great Prophecies. It was either Jason comes back and Leo dies, or Jason stays waiting for his friend.At least he's in Elysium - Apollo told himself, but he lacked the courage to face his brother's ghost.
Apollo understood Hermes, he was a father as well. And that's why he couldn't let anyone vote against his son. Thank the fates he had his sisters with him - Athena and Artemis working together were practically unstoppable. Besides, no one would doubt Asclepius' heart was made of gold. Athena proved Piper had used charmspeak on him, Aphrodite confirmed and the moment the council ended, Hermes ran to Epidauros. Apollo followed.
For the first time in centuries, sun rays touched his skin and it felt almost the same as when he was just a young demigod on Pelion, and just like then, his father was there to embrace him. Crushing his (baby) son's ribs in a tight hug, Apollo once again pondered if he wasn't in someone else's embrace - if Morpheus wasn't playing tricks on him.
But it was real - he was free to travel the world, helping people and he made sure his kids didn't overwork themself in the Olympus infirmary.. Apollo had never been as happy as when watching his son run around his laboratory with the energy of a child on sugar rush.
Asclepius was back with his family - how could Apollo not celebrate it every chance he got?
He found Kayla's gift - DVDs and a new quiever - stored in a simple gift box, the kind you could buy in every bookstore. The presents for Khariklo and the rest of her demigod siblings were all on another shelf.
Apollo grabbed all of the remaining gifts and took them outside. The smell of fresh air and wildflowers hit his nose. He took couple deep breaths before walking up to Hiakinthos, who was looking through the pockets of his pants and hoodie in search for his chariot keys.
- I swear I had them somewhere... - The spartan handed his partner the gifts, forcing Apollo to balance almost twenty boxes and bags on his hands.
- Have you checked on the chariot? - Apollo had a feeling his beloved's ADHD was winning over his perfect memory.
- Hold on. - Hya stepped into the golden chariot, giving false hope to his swans, who were aching to go for a ride. Unfortunately, turning the chariot into family mode was the only option for transporting so many delicate presents. - Got them!
He jumped out onto the ground, barefoot, and pressed one of the buttons on his keys.
The chariot exploded with light and in the blink of an eye turned into a purple mini van. Perfect for big families.
They put the gifts on seats, even securing them with seatbelts, moved the big wooden chest into the car boot and told the swans goodbye. It was just a week on Olympus and then they would be back in the wild Hyperborea.
Apollo turned on the engine and set the course. He felt Hiakinthos' hand on his shoulder.
- Do you remember what Cleo said? - Hiakinthos recalled the instructions Apollon's therapist had given his closest family. - If you feel overwhelmed..
- I leave the room and take a break, no matter how long. You have no need to worry, I can do this.
He grabbed his lover's hand and pressed it to his lips, leaving a kiss between the spartan's knuckles. Although Hya smiled, there was concern and doubt in his eyes, and Apollo couldn't blame him. Olympus and the entire greco-roman pantheon were headed for the craziest solstice celebrations in a while...