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There was a rumour going around of a man who can bring miracles in a town called Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee. He preached of a god that Apollo knows that isn’t his own. So here he is, in his mortal disguise. Of course, not the perfect blonde as his god form, he is still lithe, of course, but his hair is brunette and his skin filled with calluses to hide among the mortals to investigate the man. In reality it was to hide from his family (that damned legacy of his, Caligula, causing them to pressure him even more), the rumour only taking place after he left, but he wouldn’t say that.
His thoughts wandered about this man. Apparently, the current form Apollo took looks like him, and if he can heal people, then there was a high chance he was his son.
Apollo clicked his tongue.
If he is his son and Ze- Jupiter hears about this, he’ll need to shut him up quickly and explain before he gets punished.
Apollo shuddered at the thought of his son being punished once again, just like his dear Asclepius was.
With that, he quickly made up his mind to find this man, quick, before he is found out incurs Jupiter’s wrath.
“Excuse me?”
He then turned to the shy voice who called out to him from behind, “Yes?” My head tilting in question, subtly analyzing her.
She was softly smiling, her eyes full of curious wonder. (And hope?) She was wearing a tunica, a common undergarment in Rome. Probably a prostitute, if she is wearing something like this outside. Was the wonder he sensed false, then? Does she want me to have sex with her?
“Are you Jesus?”
“Excuse me?”
From Apollo’s one response, the woman’s eyes glazed in split horror, before forming into a flustered face, “Ah, sorry, I must have mistaken you for the handsome client I have. Why don’t you let me make it up to you?” Her hand tucking her hair behind her ear and her body positioning herself promiscously to show off her curves.
Apollo internally grimaced, keeping his exterior friendly. He never endeared himself to the idea of using prostitutes, knowing they are forced to do their work, usually he finds someone in the taberna. His mind however, then focused in on the name she thought was him. If his guess was right, this guy was the guy he was looking for.
“Ah, pretty lady, did you say Jesus? I am unfortunately not him, but I heard many things about him and desire his help. Do you know him?” Apollo asks, his voice a friendly and easy going tune that can make anyone trust him.
Well, anyone but people who are extremely cautious, say, like a prostitute.
“I’m so sorry, sir. He is just a regular client that I have. I will go now.”
She then rushed off before Apollo could get another word in. Did his form look too manly? He signed internally, shifting his form a little bit to be a little more younger so the women and children won’t be too intimidated when he asked questions, and eventually, making his way around town and asking different questions, and improvising a backstory for his mortal self.
“He created a small wooden toy for my child once. A skilled carpenter, that one, if he weren’t a minister, he’d be a wonderful carpenter.” One woman said.
“Once, my roof was leaking and we were too poor to hire for some help, but then he came in an fixed it up right for me, asking for nothing but to be good.” Another woman said.
“A year ago, a couple of boys were bullying me for being poor and he came up and told them they were being rude and that you shouldn’t treat someone terribly because of their lack of money. It was amazing! They apologize and made it up go me and now we’re friends!” One little boy excitedly said.
Apollo smiled at all of those stories. He sounds like such a lovely guy. Yet, they were all just stories of him helping people, nothing about his past other then being the son of a god yet.
Finally, he decided to ask one more person before he went to the taberna in the middle of town. An elderly woman sitting on a bench near the docks.
“Jesus? Well, he came from Nazareth two years ago. I still remember that day clearly, it was a terrible year for me and my son-in-laws. An illness plagued our family and my daughter and my brother-and-sister-in-laws, too. Only Simon and Andrew were unaffected.” She sighed heavily, looking somber.
“The illness was especially bad that day, I remember begging him to leave this poor woman, thinking that I would die, but Simon, that sweet boy who refused to leave, introduced me to him, Jesus. Honestly, I’m still not sure how he did it but I’ve never felt so cured and with peace until after that moment with him.” She finished, a small smile on her face. Then she added, “Naturally, I let him stay with me while he was in Capernaum, but he does leave the town once in a while to do his work.”
Apollo’s mood slightly dropped when he heard that Jesus may not be here in this town after all, though he still kept on a content face. “Thank you, though if you don’t mind me asking, is he still here? Where could I find him?”
The woman softly laughed,”Oh, of course he’s still here, just returned too. Usually he walks around and helps people, but when the bell rings, he should be headed to the center and talk about god. He kind of looks like an older you, actually. Anyways, you can wait there for him until then.”
Then, he thanked the woman, blessing her with a healthy life as he left.
As he walked towards the center, his mind rattled in thoughts of this demigod.
‘He came to Nazareth two years ago, he’s a minister, he’s nice, way too nice for a guy living here. He preaches a god that I’ve never heard of before. He looks like me, or well, an older version of my form.’ His thoughts stop as the bell starts chiming, which led him to start speedwalking towards the center.
As he entered, he saw a crowd gathering around one man.
He wondered if this is the guy and looked at him closely. His wavy brown hair falling to his shoulders, a beard adorns his face, though a bit more scruffier than usually.
Apollo brought a hand to his own cleanshaved face, a bit perturbed by the fact that people mistook him for this guy before he shifted to a younger form. Plus, he’s definitely not his son. He’s too old for Apollo not to notice him and guide him to Camp Half Blood. Plus, any child of his that can heal that easily would definitely attract a lot of monsters too.
He shook his head,’No way this is the guy I’ve been looking for,’ He thought, but the way he is preaching about a god, and the way he kind of looks like him if he had a beard and was older. He gave out an exasperated sigh.
‘At least he’s hot,’ Apollo thought. If someone could mistake him for this one hot guy, then he’ll take it. Possibly even court him.
In a blink, Apollo transformed himself into a woman. It’s a shame that the world was still so surprised between two men loving each other. The fact that he was a god himself certainly boosted their acceptance rate but he’s still not sure about this Jesus fellow, maybe if he was a Greek God fanatic instead of this guy he never heard of before then he’ll try but until then, he’ll wait.
It was an hour before Jesus stopped preaching, the skies an orange hue as the sun was beginning to set.
Apollo stood there, listening to every bit of his preachings. ‘What a god’ He thought. He wondered when this god was born, or if he was always a wandering immortal and just decided to come out as a god.
He watched as Jesus walked into the nearby taberna with six other guys. Two who looked like brothers, their bodies sturdy and their face with beards, another pair who also looked like brothers, both of their figures robust and their faces stern. and two other guys who were also a little sturdy but there was a sense of intellect between them. One looked like he was constantly thinking and the other looked scholarly.
Apollo stared at the 2 pairs of possible brothers. From what he remembers, one of those pair are the sons-in-laws of that lady, Simon and Andrew they were called. When one, the one who looked like he was constantly thinking, looked at him.
Apollo internally cursed and looked around, pretending he was just looking around the area until the guy finally followed his friends in after they called after him,’Philip’, apparently.
He took a deep breath and his eyes narrowed in thought, ‘Okay, time to buy a guy a drink.’
Entering the taberna after him, he sees him stand near the bartender counter as his friends talk about what his preaches.
This was Apollo’s chance, he walked up to the counter, letting his body lean on the counter to subtly showing off his own curves in a way that can be considered accidental towards Jesus, “Good evening, sir. I’ve heard your preach earlier, it was quite lovely.”
Instead of looking down and checking out his, ‘very pretty, any man would drool after him’ body like he thought he would he just looked into his eyes and smiled softly. “Thank you,” He softly bowed his head, “Say, I’ve never seen you before. Are you from out of town?”
Behind him, the one guy from the pair, of possibly brothers, with the robust figures silently smacked his face in exasperation (the same exasperation Apollo would feel when he tried to play wingman for his oblivious ex), the other half staring at him with a scolding look. The other pair and the scholarly guy stared at him curiously while ‘Philip’, who recognized him from earlier, stared at him suspiciously.
Ignoring the shenanigans happening behind his target, Apollo answered,”Oh yes, I’ve heard of you, and have been curious about this god you speak.”
The same guy who smacked his face whispered something to his, definitely brother with how they act, whispered something, only to get elbowed, his yelp gaining the attention of the other guys and Jesus looking back at them with a confused face.
“James? John? Is everything okay?”
Ah, so if those two are James and John. Then the other pair are Simon and Andrew.
The one who got elbowed, sheepishly smiled, while the other stared at him in annoyance. “Worry not, I just thought there was a bug.” The last line seemingly directed at his brother who in turn gave him a scandalized look.
A pang went through Apollo’s heart. He remembered how he’d used to act like that with Artemis, but with the Romans coming in, with her turning into Diana.
It feels like they weren’t even siblings anymore.
Even the person who was supposed to be his mother felt a little different.
Grief rushed into him, mourning for a family that, though alive, is still too different to be the same family he knew.
“Miss? Are you okay?” A voice, Jesus, asked him. Apollo felt his face falter and his eyes widening in surprise before twisting it into one filled with confused amusement, “Oh, I’m quite good. Why’d you ask?”“Well, you seem to have an aura of grief around you that spiked up recently. Have you lost someone recently?” He answered, sending Apollo into a hidden and silent frenzy over the fact that this man could read his emotions after hundreds of years of learning to repress it. His smile faltered, letting his emotions loose. At this rate, a lie would be doubted. The truth, or at least, the half truth, would be for the best.
“Ah, you’re too good at reading people.” He faked a nervous laugh, squirming a little, and eyeing Jesus’s followers as well as the nearby bartender. The action led to Jesus giving him a comforting smile and waving his worried followers away for the little privacy he can give. The six proceeded to move to the other end of the counter and one man, one of the sturdy ones with a beard, from a pair of brothers waved to the bartender beckoning him to follow so they could order their drinks.
The show of understanding comforted and pissed Apollo off. He has learned to never show weaknesses as a god. Yet he slowly reminded himself that, at that moment, Apollo was just a normal mortal woman and not the God of Sudden Death and Healing. Though, it’s been years since he’s been showed this kind of indulgence and the fact crawls into his skin.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to say,” Jesus cuts in, his soothing voice almost tempering his rage,”I apologize for assuming you’d want to tell, usually the people who approach me tell me of their woes, but, assuming everyone would do the same is presumptuous.”
“It’s okay,” He blurted out before he could think. This man was truly way too good for this world. “I just, not sure on where to start,” He tells him, a sad smile spreading into his face as a quick story fills his head that is still altered in a way that will seem realistic for a mortal woman.
“Why don’t you tell me about this person?” Jesus queried, to which Apollo answered, beginning to tell bits of his own altered little biography of a fake life drenched with reality. Bits big enough to show trust, yet small enough to fit into a relationship that has only just begun.
“I suppose the problem is that, even though my sister is alive, it is like she became an entirely different person that I can’t help but mourn the times when we were close.” He finally finishes. Jesus hummed at that,”What seemed to cause this change?”
“I guess it might have to do with the fact that we moved into another place.” He says. The answer being as close as possible to the truth of what happened.
“I see,” Jesus replied, his face full of thought,”And of the environment of the place?”
The question struck Apollo in confusion,”Environment?”
“You said your family seemed to fit into the new village very quickly, usually different places have different environments,” He started explaining, “When I first traveled to different places, it’s common for people to distrust me since I am an outsider. I had to learn their way of life before they could even trust me. Though,” He gives off a quiet laugh,”I’m not fond of the idea of changing myself for the sake of being accepted by others and, while it did take a long while to bring myself, and the cities I travel to, to find a middle ground, I do not regret it.
“However, even though I’m not fond of it myself, that doesn’t mean that others feel the same way as I do,” He finishes, his smile staying the same, yet sadness still flicker in his eyes.
Apollo breathed out the ghost of a laugh. If only it were that simple, that his family were truly just people who want to fit in instead of gods forcefully changed by mortals they call worshipers. Nevertheless, Apollo asked one more question, a silver of hope burning in his chest,”How do I get them back?”
“You encourage them to be themselves, create a spot where no one can judge.” He said, his voice still in a soft tone, yet carrying the firmness that he uses in his preach. “Change is a choice, you can’t change unless you let yourself change, unless you let people change you. If they like the person they are now, then learn how to live with them, if they wish to come back, then guide them to the person they wish to be.” His right hand rests on top of Apollo’s left hand, that sat rested on the counter.
“Remember, it’s their choice. You can’t force them just because you don’t like it. You’d only be just like those who forced them to change in the first place.” His said, his soft, yet firm voice putting in a warning. A warning that Apollo very much agrees with, as much as it pains him of the idea that he’ll never get his family back.
“Thank you,” He puts his other hand on top of Jesus’s hand, which still lays on top of his left one, before he takes it away to wave towards the bartender.
Before Jesus could say something Apollo cuts in,”Let me pay for your drink. You’ve comforted a lost soul today, and I want to thank you.”
“There truly is no need.” He humbly protests, but Apollo wouldn’t take it. “Please, at least allow me to pay, it would take the burden of feeling in debt to you if you allow it.” He pleaded, adding in the second part, knowing how humble men worked. They aren’t fond when someone feels in debt to them, and while the slight manipulation wouldn’t be considered ethical by most, it was the only way Apollo, as a mortal woman, could repay him.
When Jesus sighed in resignation, Apollo silently cheered, and ordered the wine that Jesus claims to like. Grape Wine.
‘Just like Dionysus’, Apollo smiled to himself.
As the drink arrived, Apollo went to bless it when the thought of the idea of blessing a cup from a person who clearly doesn’t worship the Greek, or even Roman Gods hit him. In the split decision before Jesus could take a sip of his wine, Apollo went to bless it anyways. He’ll deal with the god later, for now, he’ll quietly enjoy the presence of his friend before returning back to Olympus.