With his blue eyes, Apollo curiously gazed at the sleeping figure of his sister.
Is she really asleep?
From the comfort of his office chair, he could see her chest steadily expand and contract, however, it could all be a ploy. Imagine if he walked up to check and Artemis was awake, ready to beat him up like a 'Got you!' moment.
No thanks, he wasn't interested in getting a black eye.
His sister could be vicious sometimes, remembering the last time he got beat up.
At any rate, he could check whether or not she was sleeping from where he was.
His domain of medicine allowed him to observe the anatomy and condition of a person using his eyes such as their internal organs, brain functions, temperature, etc.
Something to note that the average temperature of a mortal was around 36.5 to 37.5 degrees C, which drops approximately two degrees as they enter the beginning stages of sleep.
So if gods followed that same general guideline, he could infer whether or not his dearest sister was asleep.
An issue with that theory is that gods don't need to regulate body temperature unlike mortals.
Mortals regulate body heat for survival, adjusting it whenever necessary. Gods could sit inside a blizzard or a volcano and be completely fine.
Sure, it might be uncomfortable, but they won't die from it.
Survival is the driving factor for mortal body temperatures but what about gods?
Well, the short answer was divinity.
Divinity is the most determining factor for the internal temperature of a god. For some gods, they can be the exact same as mortals because their divinity isn't related to any sort of nature like Ares or Aphrodite.
The concept of war or love doesn't really have a temperature.
Athena did mention something about the difference between domains and divinity, but Apollo didn't really pay attention to that.
For gods that have nature domains, they will have temperatures similar to their domain.
Think of the sky, the higher you go, the colder it gets. Even if you don't know the specifics, it seems natural.
Someone with the domain of the sky would have a colder temperature.
Even other creatures follow this same logic like wind spirits or naiads.
Even then, their temperatures will still be volatile because geographic temperatures are dynamic.
Different places have different temperatures.
And, gods aren't everywhere at all times.
For example, Pan, the god of nature, has the same body temperature of whatever forest or body of nature he physically resides in.
In his underwater palace, Poseidon has the average temperature akin to the depths of the ocean..
That is to say that a god could just change their own body temperature if they felt like it, so these facts weren't true all of the time.
So how does this relate to Artemis?
Artemis is actually a rare case where her divinity was related to a celestial object, which is the moon. The word "Cold" couldn't accurately describe what her temperature should be. Because theoretically, she should have the temperature of the moon, but that wasn't' true. If that was true, then every living being around her would die, which of course hasn't happened.
The only way to explain this was from this one theory that said that gods self-regulated to temperatures suitable for pre-existing life.
Because certain life forms could only survive in so-and-so environments, gods and human blah, blah, blah-...
Apollo forgot the rest of it.
The only reason Apollo knew this information was because he had the misfortune of hanging around Athena for too long. For someone as free-spirited as he was, being stuck in a "conversation" with Athena was akin to torture.
All he could do was helplessly nod his head, pretend to listen, and pray that she would get bored or something.
And, Apollo had to say that she was not shy about giving information.
It wasn't all bad because he learned some useful information that was semi-applicable in his field for once.
But still, he wouldn't subject himself to that torture again.
By the gods, it was horrific.
Just remembering it made his head hurt.
Apollo guessed that one of the reasons why Artemis acted how she does is due to the influence of her divinity because when they were younger she was more like your average kid.
However, it was such a long time ago, so he didn't remember the specifics.
A blink of a eye and several mortal generations could pass by without him noticing.
His sister falling in love with a male though in less than a few years without any tell-tale signs was strange.
Even saying strange was an understatement.
It was a complete anomaly- because temperament and demeanor don't simply change like that.
Yes, his words did contradict what a god was because gods are known to flip their attitudes around whenever they felt like it. That was something he couldn't deny as someone who has also done that in the past.
But, it was also widely known that there were three gods Aphrodite could not trick into falling in love.
That being Hestia, Athena, and Artemis.
In the past, Artemis would rather die than allow a male to enter the Hunt.
Then, she allowed males into the Hunt under certain conditions or if especially trustworthy.
Even between those two "turning" points, hundreds of years had to pass before she even remotely considered the idea to allow a male into the Hunt.
So as much as Apollo wanted to believe his sister, the facts did not line up.
There must've been someone tampering with the strings of fate because something as drastic as this would've prompted a prophecy of a similar magnitude.
Prophecies have even popped up for significantly smaller events than this.
Apollo didn't know if he was biased or not, but he believed that something of this importance should've prompted a vision, at the absolute minimum.
But, there was nothing.
Either this male had done something to do with this anomaly or primordial entity had willingly intervened with destiny, which would be hard to convince Apollo on.
Hard if not impossible.
Which left only one other option.
His blue eyes glanced at the sleeping male with hair as black as ink.
What was so special about this male?
The only thing that was inside his body was the ticking time bomb that was Artemis's divinity.
Although he had extracted most of it, there was still a sliver that refused to be removed.
Forcibly trying to remove it would cause it to detonate and kill him.
Apollo could've tried to end his life right there and then, but Artemis was watching him like a hawk.
Also, she probably would've never forgiven him knowing that he had killed her precious lover.
By the sound of it, it looked like Artemis had fallen in love based on his personality, which, don't get him wrong wasn't a bad thing. But throughout history, there have been many men that people would consider "good" men, plenty of which could be considered attractive.
Not as handsome as himself, of course, but attractive in the eyes of a mortal, yes.
A mortal would find most gods attractive facially or physique-wise.
Naturally, there have been mortals blessed enough with looks superior than those of gods. However, they can only last for so long.
With a glance, he could tell that this boy was quite handsome, but that was about it.
There wasn't anything remarkable about him aside from his eye color, which was a rare sea-green.
It reminded him of Poseidon, however, there wasn't any divinity that proved that he was a child of Poseidon.
That still left the question.
Why this male?
There wasn't anything inherently special about him, just by looking at him, so he must've done something.
He was a "guardian" which by the sound of it was more like a babysitter rather than a protector.
Also, if you told anyone else that Artemis needed protection, of all gods, they would laugh at you.
But, then again, it was Zeus who assigned him, so was it Zeus?
Apollo leaned back on his office chair, causing it to creak as he ruffled his hair. This was too frustrating. Nothing added up. Too many contradictions.
'I should be relaxing, soaking up the rays. Not here doing- this.'
He had the urge to go out, but his older brother conscious wouldn't allow him to leave that guy alone with his sister.
Who knows what he'll do to her?
Speaking of which, the sleeping male was now awake and was sitting up.
What was his name again?
Ah right.
His name was Perseus.
Perseus didn't seem to care about his surroundings and merely watched as Artemis slept with a strange gaze. This guy was admiring his sister, he presumed.
It didn't look like he planned on doing anything strange, but Apollo decided to watch just in case.
T-T
Percy awoke up to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling.
Just when he was about to investigate his new surroundings, he heard a soft groan coming right next to him.
His gaze softened as he realized who it was.
It looked like Artemis had been by his side for a long time.
His joints made light cracking sounds as he reached out towards her, perhaps indicating how long he'd been asleep, however, he ignored the noises.
As much as she looked beautiful, Percy couldn't help, but be bothered by something.
Her sleeping posture...
Is extremely bad!
A complicated look appeared in his eyes.
He didn't want to wake her, but at the same time it really annoyed him.
Percy thought about bringing her onto the bed, but there was a high chance that it would wake her up.
He didn't know how deep of a sleeper she was.
So if she was the type that woke up at the slightest touch, he would've already failed.
Assuming that was the case, there was no way to move her without waking her up.
He couldn't just leave her be though. That was absolutely impossible.
How could he allow his mistress sleep in such a position!
Her back would be sore by the time she woke up.
The least he could do was alleviate some of the soreness in advance by putting a pillow under her head to support her spine.
That way her neck was be at a less harsher angle.
With a newfound goal in mind, Percy decided that it was best to do it as soon as possible.
Using his power was possible, but since she was a god it probably wasn't the greatest idea. She'd probably sense something the moment he activated his ability.
Shuffling towards Artemis, he slowly touched her head with the tip of his fingers. After confirming that this level of movement was enough, he gently lifted her head up.
Artemis's head wasn't very heavy, so he planned on just sliding his pillow underneath but-
She adjusted herself slightly, so that his hand was now the pillow.
...
If he could move his hand slightly over, he could move the pillow...
As carefully as he could, he made sure to go as slowly as possible, so that he didn't disturb her whatsoever.
Percy lifted her porcelain-like face, handling it as delicately as he could as if it was a valuable piece of artwork.
After what seemed like forever, there was just enough space to slide in the pillow under her head.
A small line of sweat fell from his forehead as he exhaled softly.
Twisting his torso to move the pillow around, he began to shift the pillow under her head.
However, just as the pillow was about to completely go under her head, Artemis slapped it away. Her soft fingers secured themselves around his arm and yanked him towards her, wrapping her arm around his arm to prevent him from moving. Then, she rubbed her cheek against his forearm until she found a comfortable spot to rest.
Meanwhile, Percy was quite literally an inch away from her head, holding for dear life onto the bed sheet with his free hand, so that he didn't hit his head against hers. Surprisingly enough, the bed sheet didn't rip despite the amount of force he used to stabilize himself. He couldn't tell if that was a miracle or one specially-made bed sheet. Either way, he was quite thankful.
He released the breath he was unintentionally holding in, taking a moment to recoup. Percy took this time to analyze the predicament he was in.
One of his arms was sandwiched against Artemis's head and her hand beneath it. It basically trapped.
Half of his legs was hanging over the edge of the bed. If he tried to lay on his back like before, it would be rather uncomfortable.
And most of all, her sleeping posture was still bugging him.
Especially now.
If he found it hard to correct her sleeping posture before, now it definitely seemed impossible to make any major movements without waking her up.
On the bright side, it looked like Artemis seemed to be more peaceful. Which, at the cost of his own comfort, Percy supposed it was the best outcome he could've asked for, given the series of events.
It did feel somewhat nice. Her cool skin felt as smooth as butter and softer than any material known to man. But, it was still a rather uncomfortable position to be in because he was hunched over, using his arm like support beam to prevent himself from toppling over Artemis.
Lightly sighing, he resigned, thinking that there was nothing he could do to fix her spine.
Reciting a quick prayer, Percy got into the most comfortable position he could get in, laying sideways with his legs folded while facing a sleeping Artemis.
Her auburn hair wasn't braided like usual but instead it flowed freely, scattering out like a fan by gravity.
Strands of fiery auburn draped around her frame like a thin sheet, accentuating the curves of her body. Her pale unblemished skin looked like they belonged more to a princess than a hunter since it looked like even the dirt didn't dare ruin her flawless appearance.
Her face was slightly obscured by the stray strands of auburn hair that fell over her face like a veil, trying to conceal her innate appearance, however, it only served to enhance his imagination.
Using his fingers, Percy guided the individual fibres, slowly revealed the true beauty hiding behind the curtains, and tucked the silk-like strands of hair behind her ear. Indeed, beneath it all, there lay an exceptional beauty.
Her beauty was simply otherworldly.
So beautiful.
So vulnerable.
Due to their proximity, her subtle fragrance tickled his nose as he watched her peacefully slumbering.
It was like she was a different person. He never saw her face while she was sleeping before, so he was looking at her in a different perspective.
He meant that quite literally because it looked like she was upside down.
It was a sight that Percy had never seen before, so he had to take advantage of it. He wanted to engrave the entire scene in his mind because she would looked stunning. It didn't matter whether she was awake or asleep.
It's just that this Artemis had a different charm than the one he usually saw.
Percy also took a moment to stare at the ceiling for a good five seconds like a short break. With her long curly eyelashes and lovable lips that just made you want to kiss them, a sleeping Artemis was too dangerous to look at for too long.
It evoked desires that he never knew he could have.
Thankfully though, he was the only one, who could appreciate the view. With a scene like this in front of him, it felt like someone would pounce on her if they were given the opportunity. He could pounce on her if he really wanted to.
He could steal her lips without her knowing.
His face inched slightly towards her.
He could kiss those lips.
He could, he knew he could.
It would be so easy.
And, it'll only take one second.
One moment of ecstasy.
He could imagine the pleasure of their lips joining together.
It didn't matter if there wasn't reciprocated.
Just a light tap of their lips was enough.
And, it's not like they haven't kissed before.
They have.
In fact, they've kissed times.
So, many times, in fact, that he'd lost count.
... Not that he was counting anyways.
However, this kiss would feel different.
He could feel the satisfaction of it, just by thinking about it.
Without her knowledge- without her consent.
He could just- forcibly- take them.
Percy very much wanted to.
It would be selfish of him, but he really really wanted to.
If Artemis knew about his thoughts, she would surely disapprove.
Her rosy lips parted slightly. Her breath brushed on his skin like the devil whispering in his ear, further fueling his desire to mash their lips together, but Percy knew he had to endure.
His gaze locked onto the slight opening of her lips, watching as each sigh escaped their confines.
Percy began to recite mantras in his mind.
Stand stalwart.
Don't show an inch of hesitation.
You are the shield of which nothing will get past.
Steel and discipline. No fear. No hesitation.
Strike ready, strike true. Your sword defends those, who cannot defend themselves.
You are the bastion. The first line of defense. The only line of defense.
Swore to protect, let none sway you from your path.
Guardians are the light that stand strong even when all that exists is darkness.
The only thing that was stopping him was the thought of Artemis finding him disgusting. And, the fact that she was pinning his arm down. So, it was impossible for him to get closer to her without being in an extremely uncomfortable position or moving her to a kissable position.
If not for that, the distance between them would have shrunk to the point where their lips would basically be touching.
A slight frown appeared on her face, marring it slightly. It did, however, snap him out of his fervor, extinguishing all of his improper thoughts as if a bucket of water got poured on his head.
Laying on his back, he let out a deep breath. His heart was beating fast as if he ran a marathon.
Muttering to himself, "Frowning really doesn't suit Artemis." And, as if she heard him, her brows eased up.
"That's better," he said with a faint smile on his face.
That's when his eyes met with another pair looking straight at him.
The man had golden blonde hair with clear blue eyes, different from Zeus's eyes. He was extraordinarily handsome and looked like the model for the blonde hair, blue-eyes stereotype.
On the outside, he seemed to be calm and indifferent like how Artemis used to be, but Percy read the man's hidden emotions that he held deep within.
He was displeased and looked like he was ready to take action at a moments notice.
There was a slight tension in the room as they simply stared at each other in silence; neither of them looked away. It seemed like the man had seen everything, sitting in his chair like that. As embarrassed as it was to get caught red-handed like that, Percy didn't feel guilty for wanting to show affection to his lover. Artemis was his lover.
Never once did Percy break his gaze and confidently stared back.
After another second, the man yawned, getting rid of any sense of challenge. Lazily getting up from his chair, it made a semi-loud creaking noise as all of the burden on it was getting removed.
Walking towards him, he held clipboard in his hand, asking in a neutral tone, "How are you feeling?"
The green-eyes boy was silent momentarily and answered quietly in order not to disturb Artemis, "I'm feeling good as new, aside from my joints feeling a little bit stiff. I should be good."
Scribbling something on his clipboard, the doctor replied in a normal tone, not intending to follow Perseus's example of keeping his voice low, "Once you get off this hospital bed, you should be fine after moving around a bit. It does look like you live quite an active lifestyle."
The boy scratched his head.
"You're good to go when you wake her up."
The green-eyed boy lowered his head in appreciation. "Thanks for saving me, doctor. I appreciate it."
It looked like he didn't want to respond, but there was a smirk on his face as if he was saying 'That's right, it was me', praising himself.
Little did Percy know, Apollo was also thinking about the fact that the medicine that he gave Artemis had done most of the lifesaving, but that still didn't take away from his awesomeness.
"Alright, take her and leave now."
Percy thought that this doctor was a little blunt, but he didn't question it.
"Artemis, it's time to get up. We have to go," he whispered in her ear, shaking her lightly.
Artemis tiredly groaned, groggily saying, "Carry me," with her arms stretched out for a hug.
Turning back at the doctor, Percy gave another quick thanks before lifting Artemis up. Her arms hugged his neck like how a child being carried by their parent would.
Apollo thought, 'Sister, your acting is bad.'
As Artemis was getting further away, he saw a crack between her eye lids, staring right at him. As if on cue, one of her eyes snapped open to give him a glare.
'You're just jealous.'
Apollo snorted. 'Of you? Not a chance.'
'I can see it in your eyes. You can't hide anything from me.'
'No, I'm just thinking that you used such a precious elixir to save a male.'
She "shrugged". 'You're a doctor and complaining that I saved someone? What a contradiction of your profession.'
'Adult pretending to be a spoiled child. What a contradiction for someone your age.'
'You're asking for it!'
That was her final thought before Percy carried her out of sight.