Author's Note - This was just a short idea I had out of the blue. I was sort of in a Percy Jackson mood and decided to test the waters a bit. Percy and Apollo may be a bit out of character so I apologize for that. I like to imagine that the events that occur here happen just after The Blood of Olympus, but just before the Trials of Apollo. There are no spoilers in this one-shot, so it's safe to read for anyone who hasn't read The Lost Hero series or Trials of Apollo.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson & Co. Thank you and enjoy!

An Unexpected Visitor

When you're a demigod there's no such thing as privacy for you. There's always some god or goddess trying to either manipulate something in your daily life or personal relationships. Plus, due to past experiences, I don't think they even know the definition of "personal space" to begin with. However, there is one place that provides a bit of privacy for the most part and that's my bedroom at my mother's house. Usually the gods stay away from mortal dwellings as they're unsuited to an immortal's taste, so just to be safe, I keep all my really personal belongings hidden there instead of my cabin over at Camp Half-Blood. Even if I did have a whole cabin to myself, there was no telling who or what may take a peek in there so just to play it safe I never would leave any valuables behind whenever I wasn't there. With that said, it was quite a surprise-and horror-when I walked into my bedroom after school and found Apollo laying upon my bed as if he owned it. My mother hadn't given me indication that he was here when she greeted me at the door, so my only assumption was that he had been hanging out in my most sacred place for gods know how long. Adding insult to injury, he also had one of my journal in hand as he was sipping on a Capri-Sun. "What are you doing in my room?" I demanded, forgetting all pleasantries.

Apollo looked up from my journal, a smile appearing upon his face. "Percy! I was wondering when you'd come. I didn't know school lasted so long - I don't know how you go through it without dying of boredom."

Ignoring him, I snatched my journal out of his hands, leaving him to pout as I closed it up quickly, tucking it into one of the desk drawer's nearby. "What do you need?"

"Do I need something for a reason to be here?" Apollo wondered, leaning back against my pillows, "I simply came for a visit and since you weren't here I waited. Of course I got bored so when I saw that journal upon your desk I may have gotten a bit curious - I didn't take you to be a writer."

I tried to rein in my temper a bit and I set my backpack down to the side. "I'm not a writer." I admitted.

"No, you're not," Apollo agreed, "It was quite awful."

My frustration finally showed through. "Well you shouldn't be reading someone's personal journal, then."

He lifted his hands up in a placate gesture. "I don't mean awful as in the content was awful, I mean awful as in the only reason it was eligible for me to read is because I am used to all sorts of handwriting. Otherwise it'd look like a bunch of scribbles."

I sighed. "Have you come all this way just to critique my handwriting?"

"No, I merely came to visit." Apollo answered. "And I am glad that I have now. Clearly you are in dire need of a handwriting lesson and I am the best."

I had high doubts that he was only here to visit. To my knowledge, gods usually never "visited" unless if they wanted something from you. Truthfully, Apollo was a bit better about that - I'll admit that at least - he cared about his children and would visit them when he was able to, but he's never gone to the extreme of popping into a bedroom like this. "I don't need any lessons," I grumbled, "I wasn't planning on anyone else but me reading that and if I can understand it that's all that matters."

"Fair enough," Apollo shrugged, "It's your loss. I just assumed that since you have all those poetry books on your shelf that you'd like to know how to write."

I grimaced. "Those are for school and, well, I can't really read that well either."

He raised a brow. "If you can't read them, though, how do you use them for school?"

"I can read them," I replied irritably, "Just not well. Not that it's really your business."

He was quiet for a moment with a thoughtful look upon his face as he finished up his Capri-Sun. Figuring that he wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon, I pulled my desk chair out to sit down and leaned back against it. After a moment of silence, he shifted, hopping off my bed. "We'll start with Shakespeare." He said in a matter of fact voice.

"I-what?" My brow furrowed in confusion.

Apollo gave me a mischievous smile. "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to give you poetry lessons," He threw his arms up grandly, "Who better else to instruct you than Apollo himself? I was there when all the great poets came to be. I can give you a first hand's experience."

"I don't want to trouble you," I muttered, "besides it's not that I don't understand poetry or anything. I do have teachers you know for it."

"Bah," Apollo waved dismissively, plucking a Shakespeare book from my shelf, "they may be decent teachers, but I promise that you will learn far more from me. Now get out a sheet of paper and we'll begin."

At first I was going to decline his offer. When I was coming home from school earlier, my first thought when school went out was the thought of faceplanting into my bed and taking an hour or two just napping. "Okay," I finally murmured, and his eyes lit up. "But if I let you, then you're going to tell me why you're here in the first place."

"Fine, fine," Apollo let out a dragged out sigh, "I'm not here to announce the possible end of the world or anything. I simply needed some time away from the other gods. Especially my father." He made a bit of a face as he spoke. He didn't really have to say more than that. That was another reason why I had decided against immortality. I don't think I would have lasted long.

One thing still confused me, however. "Why did you come here? I mean, if you're trying to get away from Zeus in particular, my place isn't really the best. He hates me."

"He does," Apollo gave a slow grin, "But the only time he enters a mortal dwelling is if he favors a woman. Your mother is a rather pretty woman, but she's under your father's watchful eye so I highly doubt Zeus would risk his neck in this situation. And that's why I chose this place."

There wasn't much I could argue with there. "I suppose so," I pulled out one of my notebooks and before I could even blink it was swiped out of my hand.

"You write poetry too?" Apollo raised an incredulous eyebrow at me as he lifted my poetry journal up.

"No, not really. The most I've done was just for school."

He still seemed mildly impressed, handing me back my notebook. "It seems like there's more to you than I thought, Percy Jackson. Let us begin, then."

I was never one to put forth much interest in writing or reading. I guess it never caught my interest before. With dyslexia, I could barely read English, so I just sort of gave up on that part of my education. However, Apollo seemed to take note of that and while he was saying the poems out loud in English, he wrote them down in Greek on paper. He was a fairly decent teacher, but if I told him that, he'd go off spouting haikus on how Percy Jackson told him he was awesome. Greek was easy to read, but I doubt my teacher would be impressed. "I wish there was a way to get the hang of English better." I sighed, resting my pencil down. "No one is going to understand Greek unless, well, if we go to Greece."

"Eh, English is overrated. There were many poets and other writers who wrote their things in a different language and they were translated into English," Apollo gave a shrug, snapping the Shakespeare book close, "But if you really want to learn it then keep at it. It's like learning how to train with a sword. If you stop practicing; you lose it."

Apollo's POV.

When I first saw Percy Jackson step into his bedroom earlier, I had noticed one thing about him above everything else. He had bags under his eyes. Not extremely noticeable, but enough to make me wonder if he was experiencing nightmares or perhaps wasn't able to sleep much at all. And now, he almost looked half passed out as his pencil slid across the paper slowly. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he attempted to write out his poem. A few times he'd tap his foot impatiently, or put the end of his pencil in his mouth. I never really considered him being the type to write and despite my curiosity, he'd always hide the page away if I tried to lean over and read it. "Maybe you should take a break," I mused, taking in his tiredness, "You look like you may fall asleep at any moment."

"It'd be really nice if I could get this done now," He sighed, rubbing his temples, "I could get extra credit."

"At the expense of your health," I warned, "Take a break now."

I was familiar with the flash in his sea-green eyes. It was the same spark that his father had when Poseidon was either irritated or angry. "I know you're just trying to help, Apollo, but I've gone through worse than a few sleepless nights."

I grimaced at that. "Be that as it may, if you can help it - you should take your personal health in mind." I could tell that he wanted to protest again, but I felt a bit of relief when he set his pencil down and closed his journal. As he stood and stretched his arms, I couldn't help but admire them. His skin was sun-kissed to a light tan, his hair was messy-it didn't look like he had it cut for awhile so it was starting to curl a bit-and he was tall, but not overly tall to the point that he looked like some sort of giraffe on two legs. He was off limits, though, of course. Not only was he my sister's favorite male hero, he was also partially on Athena's good side as well for being her daughter's girlfriend. And I say partially because there's no being on Athena's good side in full. With that said, those were two goddesses I would rather not anger. Especially at the same time. I had been lost in my thoughts for a moment and when I heard a soft thump, I glanced over. Percy was laying face-first in one of his blue pillows and a smile tugged at the corner of my lips. I could certainly see why Annabeth was smitten. He was quite handsome.

"Are you going to stand there watching me while I sleep?" Percy's voice was thick with sleepiness as he spoke, "That's kinda creepy, man."

I chuckled. "I'll leave you be in a moment," I could see the bags under his eyes more clearly at this angle, and an odd thought came to me. It had been several years since it happened, but I still remember it clearly. Hermes' son had been struck down, and Kronos defeated by Percy, but I never understood why he turned down immortality when my father offered it to him. Or maybe I did understand. Love could make you do crazy things - be if you're mortal or a god. "I don't really understand." I final spoke, causing him to shift a bit.

"What do you mean?"

"Why you turned down immortality. I know that you have Annabeth, and I know that you had much that you wanted to do here as a mortal. But you would have been far better off as a god. No more sleepless nights, no more complicated quests. You could have even requested to help Chiron out and be another activities director or whatever you wished to. No one expected you to abandon your life there completely." I leaned back against the wall.

Percy turned to face me and gave a light shrug. "I just didn't feel like it was the right choice."

"And now you will die." I muttered bitterly, my tone of voice seeming to surprise him, "Just like any other hero I've grown fond of. They all perish in the end."

He seemed to hesitate for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"Tsch, don't apologize," I turned away to peer out his window. A gentle rain was now falling and I watched the last of the rays of sun disappear behind dark clouds. "It was not like I didn't expect it. All heroes are the same. There are some who would have embraced it as their ultimate reward, and then there are some like yourself who are almost sickeningly selfless."

"So if I would have chosen either, it would have been looked down upon." He answered, sounding a bit confused. "And besides, even if I would have chosen immortality, what would I even be a god of? Half of my father's family down there pretty much hates me. So I couldn't hang out there."

I gave a laugh. "You may have a point there. Perhaps you could have be some lake god." A grin appeared upon my face. "Percy Jackson; god of the great lakes! That sounds promising."

That got a hint of a smile from him. "That would be pretty cool, but if I would have chosen to go through with it, I would have outlived everyone that I cared about."

"I suppose that makes sense," I muttered lightly, drawing my gaze away from the drizzle outside to look down at him. "I think you will come to regret that choice, though, Perseus Jackson. You never know when the next storm will hit."

He frowned, sitting up slowly, "What do you mean?"

I gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm just giving you the general truth. I must be on my way, though. I will see you sometime again."

"Apoll-"

I vanished. I would have stayed longer if time would have allowed me, but I could feel my father's growing agitation with me during my conversation with Percy. I doubted that he would have done anything, but Sally Jackson was a nice woman and I would have hated being the cause of her house being burnt to the crisp by one of my father's bolts. I would have to visit again, though, of course. In spite of our lessons today, Percy was still in dire need of a writing instructor. It would be a crime to poetry if I allowed him to write without being properly taught, after all.