Chapter Text
Helios was a titan. He was more powerful and older than the gods and he could have stood up to them, but he didn't feel like fighting.
Zeus was very clear about that.
He would never admit it, but he was afraid of the Titans attacking them. Therefore, he had a plan and put it into action.
Helios was not expecting a visitor. Nevertheless, Zeus showed up in his throne room. "Zeus, to what do I owe the honor?" "I would like Selene and you to share your powers with gods. This has the advantage for you that you will be relieved and for me that my children will finally make themselves useful. "And?" asked Helios. "Nothing more." "What children?" asked the Titan. "Artemis is already with Selene, and I thought Apollo could stay here."
The name sounded familiar to Helios. "Twins aren't they? The children of Leto, so practically half-Titans." Zeus said nothing to that. "Fine, send the boy here and he can stay until he learns everything." "He's already here," Zeus agreed. "Outside." "Fine send him in when you leave." Zeus didn't look thrilled with the command, but said nothing.
Helios sent two nymphs with the order to prepare a guest room and waited for the boys. He thought about how old he must be now. Teenagers? Younger?
The door opened and Helios saw how wrong he had been. Apollo was a gorgeous young man. He wore a white chiton almost too short, his blond curls brushed his shoulders, and his blue eyes shone. No. Not a child.
"Lord Helios, it is my pleasure," he said, bowing slightly. Polite, rarely to Zeus' brood. "The pleasure is all mine, Apollo. I must admit it came as a bit of a surprise, but the nymphs are preparing your room now. You can always call them if you need anything. We'll start training tomorrow, understand?" "Yes, my lord." "Good, now you can look around a bit if you like. Your room is in the east wing, mine is in the west wing, it's off limits to you, understand?" Apollo nodded.
As he ran out of the throne room, Helios could have sworn his chiton was sliding higher on purpose. By all the Titans, this was going to be difficult for Helios. Blondes were so his weakness.
'Apollo you don't have to do this,' Artemis said in his head.
'What would father do if I didn't,' Apollo said.
'Apollo you are better than a simple whore.'
'I...know, but father-.'
'Fuck father.'
'Artemis. I just need to get Helios under his control.'
'Under your control.'
'Exactly, and for that I must be more important to him than a whore.'
'You must pretend to love him. For the rest of your life.'
'I know.'
'Apollo-.'
'Someone's coming, see you later Artemis.'
Apollo broke the connection and saw the nymphs running around the corner. "My lord, can we help you?" one asked. "No, I'm just looking around, thank you. What are your names?" "I'm Leonis and this is Steria," the boy said. "Nice to meet you." "You want to go on alone, my lord?" asked Steria. "Yes, that's fine." The nymphs bowed as they walked on.
Apollo continued walking through the large, bright halls of the palace. He felt strangely warm and secure in the palace, even though it was his first time here. But it didn't matter, he would only have one mission during his expected long-term stay here anyway. Seduce the titan of the sun.
"Good morning, my lord," Steria said as she came into his room the next morning and tied back the curtains. "Good morning, Steria," Apollo replied, yawning. "Will you be eating here?" the nymph asked. "I was hoping to eat with Lord Helios." "Well in the morning that is probably not possible unless you want to get up very early. Lord Helios is driving the sun." "Oh right. Would you wake me up tomorrow so I can eat with Lord Helios." "You want to get up so early?" "I think it's polite," Apollo agreed. "All right."
Apollo walked through the garden, looking at the sunflowers and just enjoying the warmth and the colors. He would be able to make friends with this place as his home. "Do you like the garden?," asked a voice behind him. Apollo turned and saw Helios standing behind him. "It's beautiful," Apollo said with a smile. "I come here every day, unfortunately I have no idea about plants, the nymphs take care of the garden. Otherwise, is not your problem. Shall we start?," asked Helios.
"Sure, what do we start with?" asked Apollo. That was the one advantage, he would learn an impressive new power. "Come with me, there's a meadow behind the flower beds." He followed the Titan and stood in a large meadow. "So, have you already shown connection to the sun?," asked Helios. "Not really," said Apollo. "Brutally honest, huh?" asked Helios with a laugh. "God of truth, I can't lie," Apollo admitted.
Helios grinned, "That must be annoying." "I hate it, most people take advantage of it," Apollo said quietly. "I'm sorry about that. I won't." A genuine smile curled Apollo's lips, "Thank you." "All right, then. When you feel the sun here, does it tickle under your skin or do you feel different?" asked Helios. "Yes, it tickles." Helios smiled, "Then I can help you, if the sun had no contact with you at all then there would have been no point. But it seems you would have been made for it."
"Really?" asked Apollo hopefully. "Your eyes are shining," Helios commented. Then he shook his head, "Sorry." "That's all right, thank you," Apollo smiled, already tucking a curl behind his ear. "Alright, put your hands side by side like this."
In the end, Apollo was able to hold sunlight. "This is...incredible," he said. "It's warm, isn't it?" asked Helios. "Yeah, I thought pure sunlight was hot." "It is, for most. You could burn anyone with sunlight focused like that, try it on the grass." Apollo directed the light through his hands onto the grass, burning a messy line into it before releasing it. "I did it," he laughed. "Very good, impressive how quickly you learn." "I have a brilliant teacher, after all," Apollo commented.
"Something like that gets a whole different impact when it comes from someone who can only tell the full truth," Helios said with a smile. "You're welcome. Shall we do it again?" "No, I don't want to strain your strength. Besides, the day is almost over." Apollo looked around and sure enough, the sun was about to set. "That was fast." "We should get changed, dinner's coming up."
The nymphs gave Apollo a knee-length chiton in white with gold trim. He looked good in it. He tied his hair back. Apollo hoped to start an affair with Helios in a few days, so that his father would leave him alone as soon as possible.