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Apollo did not expect he would have to go through a meet the family routine considering, you know, he already knows Sally, Paul, and Estelle and they're from the same family on Poseidon's side. However, he knows there is the extended family because Rhea has mentioned them offhandedly quite a lot. This is still unexpected.
"Your cousin is getting married?" he asks.
"Yes, and we're invited. I'll need to take you shopping."
Apollo can create clothes out of thin air, but he's sure his girlfriend (a term which still does not accurately describe what he feels for her) has something specific in mind. She does so hate to buy new things – a trait Apollo fully takes advantage of by gifting her things. What else is the point of an unlimited bank account after all? At first, Rhea was resistant, something about "I don't need so much" but the god would beg to differ. She deserves everything he can give her and more.
Regardless, he's enlisted Hermes' help in learning from the notes she has given him on the family. At least, the important people, in her own words, because the wedding is supposed to have at least a hundred other people who he doesn't need to focus on all that much.
They will be staying with the family for a whole week, even though the wedding will last three days. He just knows some demigods will be there, because Sally invited them, and some gods will tag along just because they feel like it (cough Hermes cough).
He knows first-hand how strongly Rhea feels about family. And, Apollo may want to impress these unknown people too. It's a foreign concept to him; after all, why would a god need to impress anyone ? Yet, these people's opinions mean a lot to Rhea, and if it means something to her, then it means something to him.
He goes over the file Rhea has sent him, detailing every important family member that will be there, and any information about them he needs to know. Hermes quizzes him via flashcards. There's Aunt Rashia, who is the groom's mother – she loves event planning (are mortal weddings usually three days long?) so the whole thing is likely to be a grand event.
Aunt Rashia is married to Uncle Mohan, who is Sally's first cousin. Uncle Mohan has a younger brother, Rohan (he can appreciate the whole let's make our kids' names rhyme theme), who is married to Aunt Katharina. There's another cousin, Aunt Anushka, who is apparently Rhea's favourite but also really difficult to impress, but he has faith in his ability. Then there's a host of cousins, all of whom are extremely likely to prank Apollo. The main judgement will, however, come from the family matriarch.
Rohini. Or, how he's supposed to address her, Dadiji. She is the younger sister of Rhea's grandfather, the so-called 'James Jackson' (there's something about fake identities that she didn't fully explain).
Apollo hasn't been called the paragon of male perfection for nothing. This family will adore him by the end of the week. He has information from Rhea, a guide of everything required to look like a respectful young man by Chiron, and some extra behaviour points from his kids. Not to mention, his natural awesomeness.
The minute Rhea shows him the place they're supposed to shop from, Apollo is internally screaming in excitement. Why didn't he know of this fashion sooner? It's so pretty and bright and colourful! Some of the clothes are shining! Shining! Apollo resolves to get more clothes inspired by these styles one way or another. The only sad part is that Rhea does not let him see what she bought for herself, winking and saying, "You'll see it with everyone else."
He's the god of prophecy and knowledge – he doesn't like not knowing. The suspense is killing him. At least he can be certain it will be worth it. There's nothing Rhea can look bad in.
When everyone is ready with their packed bags, Apollo does a mental tally of everyone from their party – Sally, Paul, Estelle and Rhea are obvious, every other member of the Seven plus Nico and Will because Sally has adopted them (and according to Aunt Rashia, the more the merrier), all eight of whom are glaring at him because the… incident… hasn't yet been forgiven, and Hermes, because he's like that. And… Aphrodite?
"'Dite?" he asks in confusion. He can see Piper is just as confused.
"It's a wedding, silly! And Rhea mentioned it's essentially a red carpet in terms of clothes." Apollo is not convinced, and neither is anyone else. Maybe she's just here for the drama, but Sally's too nice to refuse her. Oh well. There has to be something.
They take godly express (teleportation, because there are four gods here) to the destination, some old ancestral land belonging to Rhea's great-grandfather that can best be described as some kind of old-timey mansion, which Rhea explains is called a haveli.
They walk towards the frankly huge ass doors, where there is a welcoming party already present. The direct family from the files, he guesses. And of course, because it's Rhea, there are about three different shouts of "Didi!" before two kids – an eleven year old girl and an eight year old boy – descend on her. A teenage girl, seventeen maybe, also comes up to Rhea, albeit much more calmly.
"I missed you all," Rhea laughs. She easily picks up the youngest, Aman, when he demands it. Apollo ignores the feeling he gets seeing her with little kids – this is a family friendly show at the moment. Then she walks forward, greets every adult member with familiarity, touches her great-aunt's feet, hugs everyone, and the introductions begin.
The demigods are introduced without much fuss, as are Hermes and Aphrodite – and he does an inner double take when he realises everyone here except the babies (Aman and Kriti) knows about the whole… 'Greek gods exist' situation.
(Because they're Roman legacies of Venus, something he'll dwell on later).
Anyway, the part that has, so far, given Apollo the most anxiety finally comes.
"And this is my boyfriend, Apollo," Rhea announces.
"...The god?" a redhead, Aunt Katharina, is the first to say anything.
"The very same," Sally confirms.
The teenager looks him up and down and gives him such an unimpressed look that he thinks Hera would want lessons. "At least he's a little pretty."
Before Rhea can say anything, Apollo pointedly tells her, "Rude."
The girl – Ridhi? – smirks. "So he does have a spine!"
Rhea's grip on his hand tightens and he remembers the notes on her. She'll want to push every one of your buttons on purpose. It's some weird test of hers. Also, maybe it's just that she's looking at Rhea and then there's Apollo next to her, and honestly, he'd give himself an unimpressed look too if he was next to the literal embodiment of perfection. As Artemis once said, way out of his league.
The two boys who've stayed quiet so far – the twins Raj and Rahul, of whom one is the groom – start whistling a tune. Jason muffles a laugh behind him, and Rhea glares at them.
"Jeejaji, welcome!" one of the twins says.
Apollo resolves to ask Rhea what that means later. Most of the adults are still scrutinising him, until Dadiji – he thinks it's her – nods and says, "Enter."
Aunt Rashia shows them around the house, presents their rooms and where everything is, and who to go to for specific problems, and then they're all left alone. Everyone goes to their rooms to rest, after a little small talk between the demigods and Rhea. Then, the twin boys come back. Raj and Rahul, Apollo recalls, are the family members Rhea is closest to, so it's only natural they would spend time together.
The boys have a habit of constantly calling him 'jeejaji', whatever that means, but everytime they do so, Rhea blushes golden. He does make out something like, "Shaadi teri ho rahi hai," which is replied with, "Mere baad aapki hogi, hai toh nahi, didi?"
He does see her lightly slap Raj's arm at that, but she's still blushing furiously.
Once Apollo and Rhea are alone in the room, he immediately blurts out, "What does jeejaji mean?"
Rhea bites her lip. "The best translation would be brother-in-law. Technically, the direct translation is older sister's husband," momentarily, Apollo is too stunned to speak. He wonders what it would feel like to call Rhea his wife. It would feel better than anything in the world, he determines. "Are you… uncomfortable with it? I can tell them to stop. It's just that there's no word for sister's boyfriend and they like teasing–"
By now, Apollo can easily notice when Rhea's close to getting overly worried. Enacting one of his favourite ideas, he hugs her.
"They don't need to stop," he murmurs into her hair, finally finding his voice. "I like the sound of husband."
They stay that way for a while, until they're rudely broken apart by an insistent knocking. Rhea goes to open the door, finding Aunt Anushka on the other side.
"I need you to look over the choreography for the sangeet," the woman goes straight to business. "I'm confident, but it could use a second opinion."
"Of course," Rhea agrees, "I'll just get ready first?"
Her aunt nods, and then gives Apollo a very specific stare before leaving. He's not sure what she's trying to convey. Maybe something like I want to strangle you but I won't do it in front of my niece or your shirt is horrible. Either way, he would never know.
Rhea turns to him. "So, red, pink, or orange kurti?"
"Uhh… orange?" It comes out more as a question, but orange seems like a good idea. She kisses him, takes her clothing, and goes to get ready. Apollo decides to spend his time exploring the house, or at the very least, the parts he can enter.
It's beautiful. There's no place that isn't filled with art or designs of some kind, and he's joined by Annabeth Chase who is no doubt salivating over the architecture.
"I don't know what you did to Rhea to make her forgive you," she mutters.
Apollo tenses. Part of him is angry at her audacity, but he has promised to be better now. "We talked about it like adults," he says shortly.
The daughter of Athena huffs. "I don't know if talking excuses the fact that you made her cry."
He made– Apollo suspected something with her body language at Delos, but the confirmation is like a punch to the gut. "It doesn't."
"And you're still here."
"I'll be here as long as she wants me."
Annabeth glares at him some more, says, "Don't do it again," and leaves him standing there before he can answer. Jason, who he hadn't noticed until now, sends him the universal signal of I'm watching you with two fingers. Piper flips him off.
He's happy Rhea has friends like that, even if two of them might find a way to murder him permanently.
The first event of the wedding is the mehendi, which involves applying henna and dancing. Music and dancing, Sally has told him, will be a constant in every event – this is the kind of wedding he will definitely enjoy.
It's a good thing he's climbing down the stairs with Hermes, because his brother catches him thereby preventing the very embarrassing affair of Apollo falling down the stairs in front of everyone after seeing Rhea. To be fair, can someone blame him? He notices that she's styled her hair, and there's a truly heavy amount of gold jewellery (he won't complain, he loves seeing her in gold), but what catches the most attention is the blue and golden sharara piece (he thinks it's called a sharara) she's wearing.
If Rhea existed in the ancient days, no one would look twice at Helen.
Apollo does not apply a lot of mehendi himself, just on the back of his hand and some on his wrist. He much prefers watching the process of Rhea's elbow-length mehendi. She watches him knowingly when he preens at the tiny suns in the middle of both her palms.
However, this brings with it one issue: in the words of Frank Zhang, "You know you have to keep it that way for hours until it dries right? What about dinner?"
Rhea instantly looks like a kicked puppy. He remembers her being so excited about the traditional cuisine that she never really gets in Olympus or Camp. "I can feed you," he decides, "My fingers don't have any mehendi."
Will is biting back a smile, while Nico raises an eyebrow. Aphrodite squeals a little. Hazel flashes him a very approving look. Dadiji gives him her very first smile, while Sally mutters to someone, "Maine kaaha tha na?"
It's nothing compared to the radiant smile Rhea gives him. On the topic of dinner… Apollo likes it a little too much. He makes a mental list of other excuses he can use to feed her by hand.
The next day, Apollo has managed to control himself enough that he doesn't trip again at Rhea's yellow saree, but his mouth does go dry. He knows that she knows what effect this has on him, and he's half-sure it's on purpose.
Raj and Simran – the bride and groom – need to go for a bath after the haldi ceremony. For his part, Apollo tries not to think of the turmeric powder on Rhea and hopes that no one else has noticed that he did put a streak of haldi on her cheek (which she returned in kind). Leo's wiggling eyebrows say otherwise.
The sangeet that evening, Apollo decides, is his favourite part. Maybe it's a result of being a god of music and the arts, and being associated with dance by association, but it's the most fun. Of course, he spends a fourth of the entire sangeet staring at Rhea, in some kind of heavy pink and silver lehenga, mostly adorned in diamonds and silver, and dancing with barely any time to rest.
He internally crows happily that she lets him feed her again, under the guise of "you must be tired" even though they both know it takes a lot more than that to tire out a goddess. Screw him. He likes feeding Rhea.
Then she drags him on the dance floor. Apollo won't complain (unlike Nico, who Will has dragged, and who looks like a wet cat). He likes dancing with her too. The tunes are wonderful, and he never knew she was such a good dancer. In her defence, she didn't have time to go around dancing when fighting for her life and the topic has never been brought up between them.
But, she's an exceptional dancer. He might even say she's better than the Muses, or perhaps she just employs a different style – maybe both.
He ignores Hermes' frankly near-constant recordings. It probably doesn't mean much… right?
This is it. Apollo is actually going to die by the end of this week. Cause of death: Rhea's outfits getting ridiculously more beautiful by the day. It makes sense, today is the wedding – the big day – so this will be the main outfit. Plus, as far as he's understood, the direct family has to look immaculate, which this family does without trying, honestly.
Apollo makes it a point to lower his sun's intensity today. They're going to spend at least an hour dancing their way to the wedding mandap, and the bride and groom have to be barefoot and make each other wear the varmaala in open air. He overhears her explaining to Annabeth that the baaraat is only performed by the groom's side, as a sort of dramatic entrance, and no, she doesn't know the origins of the ritual. Hm, something to look into. He's always liked learning new things.
The sun god has no fucking clue how someone can dance so much while in such a heavy lehenga that has all that work and embroidery and tiny mirror things as well as pounds upon pounds of gold, but these people make it look easy. He can see Piper eyeing the entire retinue of Jackson (again, are they Jacksons? What was it with that fake identity?) cousins warily, and he understands.
What he doesn't understand is how the fuck Jason Grace, the perfect Roman legionnaire, someone mistaken for an all American boy, knows the dance steps and the lyrics to every song.
They talk with some distant cousin who Rhea hadn't bothered to mention to him, and Apollo accidentally calls himself her husband. In a sense, at least. Part of him is whooping, and another, tiny, part wants to sink to the floor and become one with the carpet.
"We're not married yet," she whispers to him in Greek.
"We could be," he blurts out.
Rhea gives him that secret smile that makes her eyes crinkle and asks, "Are you proposing?"
Am I? The truth is, he's not sure. He desperately wants to propose, but he doesn't know if she wants to get married at all, and this is ridiculously low effort in place of the kind of well-thought out proposal Rhea Jackson deserves.
"Not yet," he tells her instead. "Would you like me to?"
She turns away, seemingly looking at the pheras of the bride and groom, but he can hear her answer, "I would like it very much."
Well, it seems like Apollo has a proposal to plan. Maybe he'll ask Meg for some advice? There's no way he's going near Aphrodite or her kids. Most of Rhea's friends might skewer him before he can finish.
There is some time to rest in the afternoon, before they get ready for the reception. This time, Rhea's jewellery and gown (some weird mix of lehenga and gown?) are much lighter. Apollo is a little confused, because literally everyone else is also in lighter clothes this time.
Most of the reception consists of talking, and taking official pictures with the bride and groom – something he thinks people would want heavier dress for, and yet.
He understands why later.
By the time a majority of the guests file out, all the chairs have been pushed to the side. It's essentially a dance party. Apollo enjoys it immensely. Another reason why he loves this so much is the fact that Rhea's guard is almost completely down, a rare thing. She's laughing freely, and spinning all the time, and he's certain he saw her climb on a table once.
To be honest, this three day event is the most fun Apollo has had in decades. Part of it also has to do with the company, but oh well. It's lovely.
[a bunch of pictures and videos. One is Apollo feeding Rhea. Apollo's expression of pure awe when looking at Rhea in her lehenga. A video of Rhea, Raj, and Rahul dancing on top of a table while belting out the lyrics of Sheila Ki Jawaani, which immediately cuts to Apollo's soppy expression looking at her. More similar pictures and videos.
a specific video where a woman asks about rhea's profession.
"I'm a lawyer," she says.
"And you?" the woman asks Apollo.
"Trophy husband," he responds, without missing a beat.
Rhea stares at him. "You're a doctor, remember?"
Apollo bats his eyelashes at her. "Only secondary to being yours."]
fastandflying i semi-crashed a wedding and had so much fun. meanwhile, my brother is DOWN BAD
plumbing.baby i think i'm in love
kaylatheknowles TROPHY HUSBAND AHSASHHFD I'M WHEEZING
austinofthelakes but is he wrong?
kajolkikajal find you a man who feeds you food so that you can apply as much mehendi on your hand as you want
bluecookiesjackson i swear he's such a sweetheart
apollotheawesome you fucking stalker of a brother
fastandflying i'm just giving the public what they want
redblueyellowgreen i think we're ignoring the piece de resistance here. that oscar worthy performance of sheila ki jawaani
exdictator_reyna what event is this?
amazinggrace oh you sweet summer child. an indian wedding. bare snippets of it, really.
wafflesforlife i don't know much, but i do know this will fuel my happiness for months to come. keeping up with whoever these people are, part 78