#ambrogio gets a sunburn

[sunflowercroshy]

The swimming lesson

For my lovely readers @my-name-is-apollo , @grace--the-fangirl , and @@youurelovely ! hope you guys enjoy the angst and suffering that I put apollo/lester in! hope to see your reaction to it soon!  :)

“Daddy, can you teach me how to swim?”

Was the first thing I heard at breakfast while sitting with my children and Nico at my golden table in dining pavilion.  I looked next to me and saw a little boy around 6 years old, with blond shoulder-length hair with purple tips, bronze-colored skin, and purple violet eyes, looking up at me with crumbs of bread on the side of his lips. “Wipe off the bread crumbs off first.” I said. I watched as the little boy does as he’s told. “So?” Said the little boy as he watched me. “So What Jace?” I said watching him pout. “I want you to teach me how to swim daddy!” Jace said as he waved his arms around him.

I let out a nervous laugh as Jace mention how he wanted me to teach him how to swim because the water still reminded me of my old lover Commodus. I watched as Jace ate his Fig that was on his plate.  “So, are you going to teach the little boy how to swim Lester?” Said an annoying voice. I looked forward and saw Meg the crotch kicker and Jace’s friend Ambrogio standing at the edge of my golden table. I started to get annoyed at how Meg called me Lester. Yes, that is the name on my driver's license, but that doesn’t mean that I like it when people call me by that name. My name is Apollo, not Lester.

“My name is Apollo! Not Lester!” I said in a loud voice hoping that Meg would cower in fear. What I got was every camper looking over to my table. I felt my cheeks turn pink from the embarrassment as I sink down into the bench on my table.

“Right.” Said Ambrogio as I watch him sit down next to Jace and take one of Jace’s fig only for his hand to be slapped away by Jace.

“You just had breakfast Amphi. So stop taking my food.” Said Jace as I watched him flip his blond shoulder-length hair with purple tips all dramatic like.

I let out a laugh at this as I watched as Ambrogio puffs out his cheeks in a pout. I turned back to Meg to answer her question that I totally didn’t ignore. “Well, that’s if it doesn’t rain. So if it doesn’t rain then I would teach my son how to swim” I said confidently as I know that it’s going to rain today.

“Dad, it’s not going to rain today.” Said Kayla as she looks at me as if I had grown a second head. “Yay! I’ll go get ready and put on those swimming pants that I see the campers wear when they go to the lake” said Jace with a smile on his face as he gets up from my table and runs to my bright cabin.

I watch as Ambrogio gets up from my table and walks after Jace to my cabin. “Kayla please make sure that Jace and Ambrogio don’t get distracted as they walk to the cabin. I want to get this swimming lesson over with.” I said watching as Kayla gets up from the table and catches up with Ambrogio as they walk back to my cabin.

                                            ————————————

I looked up at the sun as I waited for Jace, Ambrogio and Kayla to get to the lake so that I can get this swimming lesson over with. I turn around and see Meg sitting on the sand with a stick in her hand as she draws on the sand. “Why do you not like the water Apollo?” Said Meg as she continues drawing on the sand with the stick.I felt myself stiffen up as this question from my little master. “It’s complicated.” I said as I waited for her to take the answer that I had given her. I watch as Meg just nods her head and goes back to drawing in the sand.

“Daddy!” Yelled Jace as I look in front of me and see him running towards me as I see Kayla and Ambrogio walking towards the sand and sit down on the sand.

When Jace stops in front of me, I see that he’s wearing small swimming trunks for his small size and water wings so that he doesn’t drown from the lesson. His bronze-colored skin glowed in the sunlight from his excitement of me teaching him how to swim.

“Daddy, I’m ready for my swimming lesson!” Said Jace with excitement in his voice as he gave me a smile.

I let out a small laugh at Jace’s excitement as I take off the shirt that I was wearing and put it on the sand and just leave my pants on.  I grab Jace’s hand as we being to walk toward the lake.

Once we get into the water, I hold Jace in front of me at arm's length. “Now Jace, I want you to lay down on your stomach so that I can help you start to swim towards me.” I said with confidence. I watch as Jace does as he’s told and lays on his stomach as I hold his hands. “Am I doing to right daddy?” Said Jace with a hint of nervousness in his voice as he looks up at me while his whole body is emerged in the water except for his head and hands.

“Yeah, you’re doing fine Jace. Start by kicking your legs” I said as I flashed Jace a smile. Jace smiles back and starts kicking his legs as I move backwards in the water to allow him to start swimming forward. I turn my head back to the sandbank as I continue to move backwards to allow Jace to swim forward and see Kayla and Meg talking to each other and Ambrogio, with his medium length blond hair, emerald green eyes, freckles across the bridge of his nose and pale skin color, wearing nothing but a pair of green swimming trunks fit for his small size as he walks around the bank carrying a bucket and collecting seashells.                                          —————————————- I watched as the sun started going down over the lake as Jace and I walk out of the lake and Kayla runs over to us with towels in hand and hands us each a towel. “How was your swimming lesson, Jace?” Asked Kayla as I dried myself off with the towel. “It was fun! I never got to learn how to swim before!” Said Jace with excitement in his voice as he dried himself off with the towel. “Why didn’t you learn how to swim before Jace? I thought that you were able to learn how to swim in Ancient Greece.” Asked Meg in her annoying voice as she walked over to us. “Oh, well I was never allowed to go out of the palace because....” Jace stopped talking as his face contorted into one of shock as Ambrogio walked over to us with his whole body except his face and waist bright red from the sun from early. “Ambrogio..” I said as I let out a small laugh. “What happened to you? You look a little burned right about here.” I said while I put my towel around my neck and poke at his chest. I watch as Ambrogio flinched from the touch as the place where I touched him turns from pale back to bright red. “A-Amphi, what happened to you?! You look like you took a dip in red food coloring!” Said Jace as he grabs Ambrogio’s burnt shoulders. I watch as Ambrogio flinches from Jace holding his shoulders and decide to help Ambrogio because I’m not that cruel to not help an innocent child that got burned from the sun. “Kayla, would you take Ambrogio to the infirmary so that Will can give him the aloe vera gel to stop the burn from the sunburn please.” I asked as I saw Jace take his hands off of Ambrogio’s burned shoulders. “Sure dad. Come on Ambrogio.” Said Kayla as I watch as she takes Ambrogio by the hand and starts walking towards the infirmary I watch as Meg follows after them saying something along the lines of ‘this is going to be fun’. Once Meg is out of site, I turn to Jace as I kneel down in front of him as I take off his water wings. “So, how was the lesson Jace?” I asked as I pick up the wet water wings and hold them in my hand as I stand back up. I notice that where the water wings were on Jace’s bicep caused his bronze colored skin to have a lining from the water wings because of how long he wore them. “It was fun daddy! Can I stay here and I’ll meet you at dinner because I want to collect more of those seashells that Amphi was collecting earlier please” Asked Jace as I saw that he was giving me the puppy dog eyes. I let out a sigh as I felt defeated from the way Jace was giving me the puppy dog look. I raise my free hand up and ruffle Jace’s hair. “Okay, Jace. Just be back before dinner is over alright.” I said as I give him a small smile. I watch as Jace smiles back at me and gives me a nod saying that he will be at dinner before it’s over. I watch as Jace runs over to the discarded bucket that was left behind and starts walking around the beach looking for seashells. Once I see that Jace is safely away from the lake, I pick up the discarded towel that he dropped on the sand and start walking towards my golden cabin.                                               ———————————— Once I took a warm shower and changed my clothes into a green tee shirt, blue jeans and sneakers. I heard the dinner horn ring from outside my cabin telling me that it was time for dinner. Before I walk out of my cabin, I walking back to my cot that was by the window and a pot of hyacinth flowers were sitting on the window sill. I felt my throat start to tighten as I looked at the plot of hyacinth flower. “I miss you so much.” I said to the pot of hyacinth flowers. Knowing that I wouldn’t get a reply, I just wanted to let the soul of my beloved hyacinth know that I still miss him even after the terrible accident that happened 3000 years ago. I heard the final dinner horn sounding and walk out of my cabin to eat dinner with my children.

                                          ---------------------------------------

Once I sat down with my children and Nico at my table, the food appears which consists of pizza, a side of french fries and some bug juice. “Can I just say that I hate this bug juice.” I say as I look at the juice intently. “Dad, it’s just juice. It’s not like it’s made from actual bugs.” said Austin

“You know that if Jace asked about the bug juice, he would freak out and be questioning as to why we would be drinking juice made from bugs.” said Will as I hear Nico and kayla laugh at this.

I look over at the Demeter table and see Meg shoving fries in her mouth as Miranda watches on in horror at how Meg can shove so much food in her mouth. I turned my gaze away from the Demeter table to the Hermes table. I see Alice and Julia talking about what new pranks that they were going to do. Ambrogio, who was slightly less burned from the aloe vera gel and wearing a blue shirt and light green khaki shorts with gray high tops, was talking to Connor while eating his food as Connor gave him a slight pat on the back which caused Ambrogio to flinch slightly.

As I turn my gaze back to my children, I notice how Jace wasn’t here yet and dinner was almost over. I suddenly start to get anxiety from not seeing Jace running towards my golden table in a change of clothes.

“Have you guys seen Jace since I last saw him at the beach.” I said anxiously as I eat some of the french fries. I hope that my children would say that they have seen Jace since the last I saw of him. “No, I haven’t seen him dad.” said Will as Kayla and Austin nod their heads in agreement with him.

Once I hear this, I start to hyperventilate. I faintly hear Nico say that he’s going to go tell Chiron that Jace isn’t at dinner as he gets up and walks to the table where Chiron is. “Dad, calm down. I’m sure that Jace is fine. Maybe he’s just playing hide and seek.” said Will as he tries to help me stop hyperventilating. “Yeah dad, I’m sure Jace is fine.” said Kayla as she hands me my cup of bug juice. I take a sip of it and immediately do a spit take as I hear Austin say “or Jace could be in the lake.”

I watch as Kayla slaps Austin on the back of his head saying that he’s not helping the situation. Once I stop hyperventilating, I hear Chiron stomp his front hoofs on the ground causing all of the campers to go silent.

“I’ve just been informed that one of our campers, Jace, has not been seen since this afternoon. I want everyone to start searching now. This is an emergency situation and Jace is not well equipped to be alone knowing that there are monsters in the woods. Start searching.” said Chiron as he grabs his bow and arrows from his back and runs off to the strawberry fields to see if Jace is there.

Everyone immediately gets up from their seats and starts running around the camp trying to look for Jace. As the dining pavilion starts to get empty from everyone running to look for Jace, Meg and Ambrogio walk towards us.

Once Ambrogio and Meg get to us, Ambrogio’s lips start to quiver and his emerald green eyes start to get glassy as tears threaten to fall. “B-before you say anything, I-I have nothing to do with this A-Apollo.” sobbed Ambrogio

I go down to one knee as I hold Ambrogio by his slightly burnt shoulders. “Why would you think that you would have something to do with this, Ambrogio?” I asked as I feel Ambrogio tremble under my touch. “B-Because i-it’s just like what happened when I took Jace out of the palace back in ancient greece and I got in trouble for it!” sobbed Ambrogio     

“This is not your fault Ambrogio. Don’t think that this is your fault that Jace went missing alright.” I said as I feel tears threaten to fall down my cheek. As I said this, Ambrogio wipes away his tears with the hem of his shirt as I take my hands off of his shoulder.

As I stand back up, I look at my children, Meg, Nico, and Ambrogio. “Kayla, Austin, Will, and Nico I want you to go search in every cabin incase Jace is there. Ambrogio, Meg and I will go look near the woods to see if Jace is there.” when I said this, Kayla, Austin, Will and Nico give me nod, turn around and start running towards to the cabins. I hear Kayla say something along the lines of ‘when I find Jace, I’m going to... ’ as I watch her run towards the cabins.

                                                                                       _______________________

As Meg, Ambrogio and I run toward the edge of camp near Thalia’s tree, I hear Meg faintly say something to me that I couldn’t hear over the blood rushing to my ears.

“Apollo!” yelled Meg in her annoying voice. “What!?” I yelled equally annoyed.

“What did Ambrogio mean that by ‘It’s like what happened back in ancient greece’?” asked Meg as we watch as Ambrogio runs past us like he’s avoiding talking about the subject towards the edge of the woods.

As we were almost towards the edge of the woods, I was pulled into a memory

I was back in Ancient Greece in a palace. I was hiding in a corner of the throne room where my presence would not be known. I watched from the corner as a young 6-year-old Jace, wearing his chiton with grass stains on it, ran towards a young man that looked to be 24 years old wearing a chiton with soft black curly hair, bronze-colored skin, and violet colored eyes. ‘Hyacinth’ I thought as I watched as my beloved Hyacinth wrap his arms around Jace as tears fell down his cheeks. “I-I was so terrified, Jace. I thought that someone took you and that I would never see my precious baby boy again!” Sobbed hyacinth as he hugged Jace closer to him.

“But papa, I’m fine. Amphi took me out because he wanted to give me a birthday present.” Said Jace as he gripped Hyacinth’s chiton. “Amphi? Is that your friend that’s on his knees in front of father” said Hyacinth as he looks from Jace to a young 6-year-old Ambrogio, who was on his knees with his hands behind his back and his head down, in front of the throne.

I watched from my hiding place as King Pierus looks at Jace with disgust. King Pierus turned his head from Jace to the young Ambrogio, who was still on his knees with his hands behind his back, with the centaur Chiron standing next to the young boy.

“Entering the palace in the dead of night, not getting caught by the guards, and kidnapping a prince!” Yelled king Pierus as I watched Ambrogio keep his head down.

“King Pierus, if it would do anything to lessen the young boy’s punishment. When I found them, they were just asleep on the grass. From what they told me as we walked back to the palace, they were laying in the field the night before looking at the stars because as you know it was the  day of the young prince’s birth yesterday and Ambrogio thought that it would be a good idea to take the young prince out to watch the stars.” Explained Chiron as he tried to reason with King Pierus.

“Thank you for your input lord Chiron. But I’ve decided that the boy would be whipped 5 times on his back for kidnapped the young prince.” Said king Pierus as he looked at Ambrogio as I saw Ambrogio's face turn pale as he heard what his punishment was.

“Father, please reconsider. Ambrogio is still but a child and he did nothing wrong.” Said Hyacinth as I watched my beloved walked in front of Ambrogio keeping him away from his Father’s gaze.

“I’ll reconsider the punishment. But what will you do in the child’s stead Hyacinth?” Asked King Pierus.  “I’ll take the child’s place and receive the whipping on my back, Father.” Said Hyacinth with a serious tone in his voice.

I reach out my hand in desperation at this as I knew that Hyacinth would be in terrible pain after the whipping that he received.

                                             ———————————————

I was pulled out of the memory as I hear Ambrogio say that he found something in the woods as it was starting to get darker. Once Meg and I get to the edge of the woods, I see a young man in his early 20s with blond curly hair, baby blue eyes and wearing a blue polo shirt, light blue jeans with winged shoes, walk out of the dark woods while he was holding what looked like to be a small child in his arms.

“Jace!” yelled Ambrogio as he runs towards the man as the man goes to his knees and hands Jace to Ambrogio.

Before the man could put Jace in Ambrogio’s arms, I might have ran towards them, pushed Ambrogio out of the way and said something along the lines of ‘move’ and the name of a female dog. “What was he doing in the woods, Hermes?” I asked while holding Jace in my arms as I used my free hand to push away his hair away from his face.

I hear Ambrogio let out a huff as he gets up from the ground and walks back over to us. Meg walks over to us and looks up at Hermes. “What kind of god are you?” asked Meg with her annoying voice. I watch as Hermes bows his head slightly acknowledging Meg. “I’m Ambrogio’s father and the god of messengers and thieves. My name is Hermes, young Meg” said Hermes as he gives Meg a smile. “Daddy, you didn’t answer Lester's question.” said Ambrogio with a grin on his face as he mentioned my mortal name.

“Really? It’s really Lester, ‘pollo?” said Hermes as I watch as he tries to stop himself from laughing. “Yes! My name is Lester. Now answer the question, Hermes!” I said already fed up with my mortal name. Hermes looks down at Jace and back up at me. “I found Jace walking about the woods and he was muttering something about papa and it looked like he was in a kind of trance. So I had to put him to sleep, but he’s fine ‘pollo.” said Hermes as he notices how I tighten my hold on Jace and how I froze up at the mention of hyacinth.

“It’s alright ‘pollo. I know how much you miss him. Just take Jace to bed when you get to your cabin.” said Hermes as he looks at me with sadness in his baby blue while standing back up.

“I have to go now.” said Hermes as he begins to walk away. “Daddy, wait!” said Ambrogio as he walks over to Hermes before he leaves. “Yeah, what is it Ambrogio?” said Hermes as he kneels down in front of Ambrogio. I watch as Ambrogio wraps his arms around Hermes’s neck and gives him a hug and Hermes wraps his arms hesitantly around Ambrogio.  

Once Hermes and Ambrogio pull away from each other, Hermes turns back around so that his back is facing us and jumps up into the night sky. I feel Jace move in my arms as I watch as Ambrogio walks back over to me and Meg. “papa...” murmured  Jace in his sleep as he puts his head on my chest.