PJatO || Apercy || PJatO || The Merman Who Fell For the Sun || PJatO || Apercy || PJatO

Title: The Merman Who Fell For the Sun – Oh, What a Foolish Sun

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Tags: m/m, pining, courting, fluff

Main Pairing: Apollo/Percy

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Annabeth Chase

Godly Characters: Apollo, Artemis, Triton, Pyrois, Aithops, Aithon, Phlegon

Summary: Prince Perseus was different. He was the youngest of his godly sibling, he was a Roman-exclusive merman. And he was deeply, madly in love with the sun.

The Merman Who Fell For the Sun

Oh, What a Foolish Sun

When Percy was a child, his dad's favorite bedtime story to tell him was the story of Icarus. Neither subtle nor effective, really. Like Percy was going to take these tales as a warning. Pf.

Percy, or rather Prince Perseus, was the youngest son of the Sea God. More specifically, he was the son of King Neptune and Queen Salacia – or Sally, as most who knew her called her. He was not just the youngest of his siblings, he was also the only Roman-exclusive child (which came with the territory of being the youngest, having only been born after the gods moved on to Rome). All his older siblings, who had so much past and experience and all that stuff. Very annoying, because they all also fussed, concluding from disasters they had witnessed personally. Like Icarus.

Percy, he was a merman. Born under the sea, raised under the sea. Fascinated with the land. It was so – so different. Filled with adventures. All those great heroes. The things that grew there and lived there. Humans. Olympus. Dad never took him to visit Olympus, which was just plain unfair. His sister Kym assured him that Olympus was filled with bores like Minerva and Juno anyway so he wasn't missing anything, but Percy also knew that Kym liked to arm-wrestle Mars and that there were so many gods with so many different realms up there. War, nature, love, all those things. Down here, everyone was kind of a sea god. Sure, there were minor differences, his mom specialized in fishes, his sister-in-law was the goddess of sand, auntie Galenaea was very specifically responsible for the calm sea, those kind of things. But in the end, sea was sea. Where were the gods of sea's nature? Corals and algae, or love – why were all the love gods up on Olympus? There was love under the sea too! Kym did storms, Benthy did waves, Rhode had her own island, Triton was the protector god and king of merpeople, Proteus was the protector of their father's seals (Percy had been a bit disappointed when he had learned that that, in fact, did not include the cute and adorable kind of seals, only the boring diplomatic issues).

Everything was so... ocean down here. Percy, he craved more. Things that weren't ocean.

He often times sneaked away and up to the surface. Never to the shore – he knew his parents would freak out if he went there and admittedly, even though he was curious, he was also a bit afraid of humans. They seemed frightened of the gods, sure, but merpeople? They were looked at as... beasts, hunted, killed if possible. It scared him quite a bit.

Still, Percy liked to sit on the rocks and watch from a distance. Watch the shore, watch ships – oh, ships, ships were amazing, Percy loved ships a lot! They fascinated him. Humans built these things to explore the ocean even though it was vastly deadly environment for them. Strange creatures indeed. All the more reason to stay wary of them (not that Percy was going to admit aloud that his parents and siblings were right). However, Percy's favorite thing to watch was this impossible but beautiful thing. A chariot, like his parents', but instead of hippocampi, there were strange hippos pulling it. With four long legs and large, feathery wings. A weird breed of hippocampus. He had asked Rhode, his most well-read sibling, and she had told him that there were many breeds of horse on the surface – those with wings were called pegasus, then there were some that looked like the off-springs of narwhals because they had horns on their foreheads, then some with both wings and a horn, or even some with two horns and, the weirdest of them all, the lower body of a land-horse but the upper body of a person. All the more things to be fascinated by.

Now, the most fascinating of all things – not just of all horse-things – was that pure golden chariot that was being pulled by winged horses. But winged horses that were entirely different from the other winged horses Percy occasionally saw flying in... he wasn't quite sure what to call a group of those. The other winged creatures flying were in groups called a flock, but swimming groups of hippocampi were called a swarm and if they were land-horses then they were a herd, so probably some combination of those three? Anyway, Percy's mind, it kept running away from him occasionally – but yes, so he had seen wild herd-swarm-flocks of winged horses before, but these weren't like those wild ones. Not just because they were tamed, but because their manes were quite literally on flame. Fire. The thing that couldn't live under the sea.

Percy had had a lot of questions about these. Rhode had been indulgent but wary. She said those must have been the horses pulling the Sun Chariot. Which had only given Percy even more questions. The sun had a chariot? Well, turned out there was a god for that. Actually, two. Well, there used to be one – Helios, who had ruled when Percy's grandparents were still in power, but after the Titans were defeated, the evil ones were locked away, the good titans kind of... retired. Helios took an apprentice from among the gods and taught him the trade. Apollo, a son of Jupiter. And Zeus. A god like Triton, who kept his name and identity in both aspects. Rare. Interesting.

Percy liked rare and interesting things that were different. This chariot, these horses, this god?

Having to ask Rhode for everything was irritating though because she tended to worry and she also tended to tell dad when she got worried. So he did his own research. Which he wasn't all too good at, because reading was his enemy. His best friend, Anna Bethania, had helped him some. That only made Percy even more interested in this god though.

Apollo, son of Zeus/Jupiter and Leto/Latona, so the son of the king of Olympus and a Titaness of Motherhood. Very big set-up there. He had a twin-sister too, who symbolized the moon, which was very pretty and poetic, really – especially considering how at random realms and powers were distributed oftentimes. Now, Apollo's realms were just wild. Talk about random distribution. He wasn't just the Sun God, he was also a god of prophecy, healing, archery, music, poetry and youth. Those were enough powers for half a dozen different gods, really. And they didn't quite relate to each other... like, at all. Music and poetry? Those two, he got. But what did those fine arts have to do with archery, or healing, and the sun at that. As someone who constantly complained about wanting more diversity in realms of the ocean deities, he found this incredibly cool.

With that, Percy's interest in Apollo grew and he tried to get closer. Tried to perhaps meet the god. However, he only got to see him from afar. Which did not help with the obsession, because by Nereus' beard, that god was pretty. All tanned, with eyes as blue as the sky and golden-blonde hair, the brightest smile and such yummy abs. Percy's fascination officially grew into a crush.

"This is a particularly bad idea, Percy", grunted his best friend.

"Annabeth, please. Just a little closer. A bit higher. Somehow, I have to be able to reach him. I just want to talk to him, just once. Please", pleaded Percy, using his patented baby-seal eyes.

Annabeth, as Percy liked to call his best friend because 'Anna Bethania' was way too long and he himself preferred to go by Percy over 'Perseus', just rolled her eyes at him. Admittedly, Percy saw the flaw in his argument. After talking to Apollo, Percy most likely was going to want to talk to him again. Still, for now he had to somehow convince her to play along.

"Those blasted baby-seal eyes will be the death of me", muttered Annabeth and sighed in defeat.

Though Percy knew it weren't just the baby-seal eyes. Annabeth had a hunger for knowledge, she had devoured every single book in the library twice now. And knowledge of the surface world, well, it was limited. So Annabeth had her own fascination here, wildly different from Percy's though.

"Wait, where are we going?", asked Percy after a while of swimming.

"I've done some research – don't smirk like that, Percy – and talked to one of the lagoon mermaids, who came to visit her aunt. Anyway, there seems to be an island, a small tiny one just outside the island where Apollo and Diana were born. He takes his horses to eat there after raising the sun."

"You are, officially, the best", declared Percy excitedly, flapping his tail.

/break\

Apollo loved his little island off the coast of Delphi. Delphi itself was too conflicting, considering his past. And there were people. But this tiny island – really tiny, one could cross it in about fifteen minutes of slow walking – it was all his. While his horses were grassing, Apollo laid sprawled out on the ground, arms behind his head as he soaked up the sun. Which was ironic and he was aware.

The neighing of his horses disturbed his afternoon nap. Excessive neighing. Seriously, that was far too much neighing. What were they neighing about? Frowning annoyed, Apollo sat up to check if his horses were trying to warn him from any kind of danger. What he found as he approached his horses was most definitely not what he was expecting.

The four pegasi were at the shore, surrounding two... merpeople. One was female, with silver-gray scales and cascading golden-blonde curls. She seemed to be studying the pegasi. The other one however, a merman with blue scales – his tail like cut sapphires, his skin a soft blue – and messy black hair – he seemed to be... talking... to the pegasi. The neighing wasn't to alarm Apollo, it was because his horses were having a conversation. With a merman. A merman, who looked absolutely enchanted by the pegasi, petting Phlegon's muzzle.

"Watch out!", called Apollo as the merman's hand slipped too close to the mane. "That's... fire..."

He drawled out the last of his words as he now had the merman's undivided attention. Those eyes. Those eyes themselves were like the ocean captured, bottled up. Sea-green and blue, but as though the colors were moving, like actual waves swaying back and forth. Apollo loved the sea, when flying over the world during his duties, he loved to watch the sea the most. It was so breathtaking, really. The colors, the shifts in colors, the way the waves moved. Without meaning to, Apollo stepped closer and closer, drawn in by those beautiful eyes. Ah, merpeople's charm, wasn't it.

"A... Are you talking to my horses?", asked Apollo after a moment.

"Sure", hummed the merman. "They are great conversationalists. Admittedly, they have a weird accent that's a bit hard to understand, but I can manage."

"Why? I mean, why can you speak to...", started Apollo confused.

"Percy. We should get back to the palace. It's getting late, we've been here for too long."

Apollo turned toward the blonde mermaid as she gave the newly named Percy a pointed glare. Moments later and, mournfully enough, the two merpeople disappeared into the ocean. Sighing dramatically, Apollo leaned heavily against Aithon's flank.

"Who was he? He was so... stunning. And sweet, the way he was with you."

/break\

The first time, Percy had needed Annabeth to show him the place. But after that, he could easily go on his own. It also saved him from the judgmental glares. He smiled brightly as he saw his four new friends awaiting him. It seemed the flaming horses were as curious about him as he was about them.

"Hello, young lord", greeted Aithops, bowing his head.

Percy smiled and offered some of the best kelp. The four seemed to like the deep-ocean food he had brought last time. He had hoped for that, had brought what the hippocampi liked best. He had also hoped that he could perhaps communicate with them, considering his father had created all horses – not just those under the sea. They had an unusual accent that most likely came from them being flying instead of diving horses, but Percy could understand them well enough.

"How was your day so far?", asked Percy curiously, crawling up on a large stone.

The four horses stood on the sandy beach, as close to Percy as possible. Within reach for him so he could caress Pyrios' flank. The horse neighed and took some of Percy's treats while Aithon nosed Percy curiously. This was very exciting. Horse legs were fascinating. The... the flat ends. He liked those. And the fact that they had four limbs. That was odd. Because land-people only had two limbs instead of one tail, so why did land-horses have four limbs instead of one tail...? Weird.

"Exhausting, but that is our duty", commented Phlegon.

"So.. uhm... about your... you know... god", drawled Percy softly. "Is he... single?"

"Pathetically and pathologically so", confirmed Aithon. "Whenever he does fall in love, they tend to turn into plants. He is... not lucky in this department. Not blessed by Venus."

That made Percy feel bad for the guy. Craning his neck, he tried to look past the horses, tried to catch at least a glimpse of the blonde god. However, he seemed to be flat on the surface again. A thing he had done last time too. Annabeth said that was how land-dwellers slept. Weird.

/break\

"Love sick fool."

Apollo turned to glower at his twin-sister. Diana gave him a deadpan look and Apollo attempted to hide what he had been staring at dreamily before. A gem, a red one set in golden corals as a pendant. The latest in a long list of presents he had received in the past few weeks. Most jewelry looked old, like it was from old treasures, but some looked custom made with him in mind – with sun motifs. It wasn't always expensive jewelry though, often times it were also simple... things. Beach glass and shells. Even food. Fish, prepared in mer-tradition (Apollo had had it a few times, when uncle Neptune would bring it to meetings on Olympus, home-made lunches from his wife).

"You don't get to judge me. You spent all your time camping with your lesbian harem."

"I resent the implication", drawled Diana unimpressed. "Some of them are simply not interested in relationships at all and joined to get away from society."

"But you're sleeping with the majority of them."

"But I am sleeping with the majority of them", agreed Diana with a smirk.

Apollo snorted softly. She really got away with snatching all the maidens away and save them from life of being married to men and the reward she got was all the love and action she wanted. Action meaning both carnal as well as actual fighting and hunting.

"Tell me. Who is it, how long has this been going on", sighed Diana, making a vague motion.

"His name is... Percy. He's a merman who has been... spoiling my horses", offered Apollo softly. "He's been coming to the beach to give them treats. And he... he leaves... presents for me. I've barely gotten to speak to him though, he tends to run away. But he's so... he is amazing. He is beautiful and thoughtful and very tender – the way he is with the horses."

"A merman. Interesting", whispered Diana thoughtfully. "Be careful, brother. It's always very... exhausting to have to pick up the pieces after you got your heart broken."

Apollo smiled a little. He knew Diana cared, even if she didn't like admitting it.

/break\

"I'm going to tell mother and father that you keep sneaking out."

Percy froze, halfway out of his room. Slowly, he turned around to face his stern-looking older brother. Triton had his arms crossed over his chest as he stared Percy down. Biting his lower lip, Percy turned fully so he could offer Triton his most convincing baby-seal look.

"You wouldn't. You love me. I'm your darling baby brother", countered Percy.

"You're right that you are, but if you're getting yourself into trouble then yes, I will tell them", grunted Triton pointedly. "So, whatever it is – you better fess up. Now, or I'll call mom."

Narrowing his eyes, Percy pouted at him. "I'm courting someone, okay."

"...C... Courting...?", whispered Triton stunned, quickly coming inside and closing the door.

"Well. I'm trying. Dunno if he's even aware I'm courting him? He may not be aware of our customs. Or he hasn't even found the courting gifts I left him... I really hope he knows though."

!I'm sorry, why wouldn't he realize you are cou—He's not a merman. Oh, Percy. Percy."

"Don't say my name like that", grunted Percy, his pout intensifying.

"Percy. A non-merman", sighed Triton before he straightened up. "Okay. Introduce me."

"What. No. I haven't even really introdu-", started Percy to argue.

"Very well, I will talk to mother", interrupted Triton and turned around.

"Fi—ine. You're evil", grunted Percy annoyed.

/break\

Apollo was trying to stay awake these days, trying to at least get to see his merman – before he would inevitably flee the scene. However, there were two merpeople. And not the blonde one from the first time either. Yet Apollo still knew this merman and seeing him made Apollo freeze up.

"Triton", grunted Apollo wide-eyed. "Uh. What... brings you here?"

"Apollo", grunted Triton back, glare on his face before he turned to Percy. "Him?"

"Don't make this awkward, Tri", groaned Percy and covered his face with his hands.

"Tri?", echoed Apollo, dread growing as he looked at the two mermen.

Triton tilted his head, full focus on Apollo again. "You don't call me that. Only my precious siblings get to call me that. Like Percy, my very precious darling little brother."

"Percy like... like Perseus, like Neptune's son?", asked Apollo, voice pitching a bit.

"That's the one", confirmed Triton, wrapping an arm around Percy's shoulders. "My very precious little brother whom I would avenge if anyone ever broke his heart."

Percy groaned again, peeking out between his fingers to look at Apollo. "You're so embarrassing. Now the pretty blonde will never talk to me. Urgh."

"The pretty blo-", started Apollo before pausing. "Wait. Am I the pretty blonde?"

Percy lowered his hands and blinked at him. "Phlegon is right, you are a tiny bit dense, huh. Yes, of course you're the pretty blonde, who else could I possibly mean here? And... I've been courting you, you must have noticed all the jewelry, right? Like, at least you gotta know merpeople don't just randomly leave expensive jewelry around when they're somewhere."

Slowly, Apollo sat down on the ground, staring over at Percy. He may have suspected this, however there was no way the pretty random merman would just be courting the Sun God, right? ...Right? Then again, Percy turned out to be Prince Perseus, literal heir to the actual entire ocean so there was that. Apollo reached his arms back to support himself. Huh.

"You understood my subtle threat, yes?", asked Triton seriously.

"Subtle?", sputtered Apollo. "Yeah, I got the threat. No, it wasn't subtle."

"Good", nodded Triton pleased. "Percy, you will be home by dinner or I will tell mom."

Percy rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed. While Triton swam off, Apollo took that time to digest.

"So—o... that a yay or a nay on the whole... courting... thing?", asked Percy awkwardly after a moment. "I mean, I don't really need an answer right now, but like... a tendency, maybe?"

"Explain", requested Apollo. "I mean, you... you keep running away whenever I wanna talk to you. You just leave... gifts. It's confusing. Kind of mixed signals."

"Well, no, not really", huffed Percy with a frown. "It's custom. First, you show the person you like that you can provide for them. Hence the gold jewelry. It's also a means to show your creativity and dedication, with individualized jewelry and little trinkets. And then you have to decide if I'm worth your time. Only then do we, you know, do the talking... It's important to respect boundaries, so I should have waited until you give the go-ahead, but... Tri got... pushy."

"Fascinating", whispered Apollo in awe. "Okay. I...uh... Yes? I'd love to get to know you."

Percy perked up at that, breathtaking and sweet. It made Apollo's heart beat faster.

/break\

It was easy to fall in love with Percy. He was funny, cheeky, sweet and kind. The two met often, very often, at least every second day. Always on Apollo's island. They shared food – sometimes, Percy would be bringing food from the palace, fish-dishes, kelp and algae, oysters and very exotic things that even Apollo had never eaten before because they were traditional merpeople dishes that non-merpeople just... didn't make. And on other days, Apollo brought the food. Those were the days that got Percy most excited. He was so curious about surface world cultures and eating surface world food seemed to be a thing Percy really enjoyed, so Apollo went rather hard on those. At first he had just brought grapes and cheese, but when he saw Percy's reaction, he wanted to show Percy the best of the best. Apollo started taking classes with his aunts Vesta and Ceres, to prepare only the freshest meals for him, the most delicious ones. Apollo also started to bring Percy trinkets of his own to return the favor of courting. It was so... exciting. It was fun, in a way Apollo had never experienced. He always fell, hard and quickly and then it'd all burn and crash. This time was different. Slower. Sweeter. And so far, without a disaster.

"Triteia is super talented. I swear, she is a worthy heir to the throne."

Apollo hummed softly, smiling to himself. He had one arm wrapped around Percy as the merman laid next to him, snuggled up to him, his head on Apollo's chest. Apollo's legs and Percy's tail were in the shallow water, the ocean lapping at them as they laid in the sun. The best of both realms. It was nice to listen to Percy talk, especially about his home and family. Percy was working at an underwater camp that trained young merpeople, among them his nieces.

"That's nice", hummed Apollo. "I really would like to meet them some time. Maybe."

"Mh... after the courting is all done", grinned Percy, pecking Apollo's cheek. "Like. You know. Preferably at the wedding, because then dad won't get to turn you into a shellfish."

"...What?", asked Apollo slowly.

"I mean, I know you're used to your lovers being turned into plants, sunny, but... I'm the prince of the ocean. Also the youngest. Daddy's darling", offered Percy casually. "If you found Tri's threat intimidating, wait to see what dad would do to some casual god trying to get with his son. Yes, no, we will have to have something far more solid for that. Just to be safe. I like you as a human."

Apollo made a small noise in the back of his throat. He hadn't considered that yet. Then again, Percy being Neptune's son also did mean he was safe from Apollo's little curse. Percy would be safe and surely Apollo would manage to survive this. Probably. Percy laughed softly and leaned in to kiss Apollo again, properly this time. Yes, Apollo could definitely survive this.

~*~ The End ~*~

Author's note: It's been a sec since I wrote Apercy! It was time to write them again! ^o^