#wrt Zeus Apollo is just kind of a confidant as much as he's a son
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I continue to be in the foulest of moods so here are some Zeus + Apollo headcanons because they make me happy :)
(Important note: this is largely specific to my original work and is not me making inferences from mythical or historical texts)
Zeus and Apollo spar. Like a lot. Like a lot. A big reason why Apollo gets so good at boxing is because he usually sparred with his father as a young god and getting hit with one of Zeus' punches is!! Not advisable. He focused on becoming fleet-footed to combat Zeus' more solid fighting style which was definitely helped by his dancing. Conversely, Hermes would later develop wrestling partially as a response to Apollo's annoying fleet-footedness in combat.
Zeus decides to tie his mind to Apollo's when the strain of Apollo's visions become too intense for him to handle alone. When Apollo first returns from his exile after slaying Python, his visions are so severe that he suffered from 'time-blindness' where he could only percieve the future and was completely unable to see the present. Zeus shoulders some of that strain until Apollo becomes strong enough to handle prophecy on his own - though Zeus is careful not to give Apollo absolute prophecy lest he get overwhelmed again.
Despite their closeness, or maybe because of it, Zeus and Apollo argue quite a lot. Usually it's banal things like administrative work or squabbling over which of them should get the larger portion of a hecatomb, but they do argue about how prophecies should be carried out quite frequently too. There's a general agreement for Zeus not to bring up Apollo's children after how messy Aristaeus' anointing was (and how angry Apollo was at Zeus' disagreement with his decision to make his firstborn son a god) but the odd occasion where it cannot be avoided is usually when they have their most grave spats.
One of Zeus' greatest regrets is his relationship with Ares, partially because Ares grows up seeing him dote and teach Apollo with his full attention. There is... a lot of himself that he sees in Ares. A lot of Kronos too and the part of Zeus that is a warrior before he is a king has done his best to keep the boy at arms length entirely because of that familiarity with the face staring back at him. It's another of the things he and Apollo have argued ceaselessly about. Naturally, Apollo has attempted to bridge that gap many times and while Ares is still quite close with Artemis, when it comes to Apollo, he is particularly sensitive.
Zeus is the one that ultimately decided that Apollo should never marry. Due to Apollo's love-curse and his already concerning tendency to be overly attached and committed to his mortal affairs and offspring, Zeus decided that marriage would be doom to Apollo's spirit and proclaimed him unfit for the ceremony and its status. Instead of the expected argument, everyone was quite surprised when Apollo merely bowed his head and accepted such an outrageous decision.
#ginger rambles#apollo#zeus#pursuing daybreak posting#Apollo and Ares have a really fun dynamic tbh#Apollo is partially his therapist/partially his rival/partially the guy that cuts his hair so Ares sees a lot of his whether he wants to#or not#Ares thought Apollo was pitying him for a very long time and that stopped them from being better friends for a while#wrt Zeus Apollo is just kind of a confidant as much as he's a son#The three of them - Zeus Athena and Apollo - are a very tight-knit group who share many many things together#but Zeus' relationship with Athena is VERY different from the one he has with Apollo and that influences what kind of role Zeus plays#in Apollo's life in a very profound way.#Athena and Apollo - like Zeus and Apollo - argue all the time and over seemingly everything#It's much rarer when the two of them truly disagree though and all the better for it because Apollo's anger is deathly cold and Athena's#is blazing hot#Which is to say it's always very very awkward when they're fighting because Apollo will be coldly professional while Athena will be#actively trying to hurt him LMAO#Very “good morning” “I don't give pleasantries to cowards” core#this was very relaxing to do mmhm#writing#headcanons
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