Hey! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Also, just a reminder, I update three days a week, Monday's Wednesdays and Saturday's.

Disclaimer: I don't own and I never will. I've wished I did, but surprisingly (note the sarcasm) it didn't work. Like, at all.

~headline: touring means planning, and planning is boring~

…

Writing and producing is only one part of a bigger stress over his new album. Percy and his management still had to plan meet and greets, album tours, and so much more. There was also a release party, and a publicity round to go through. Percy has around ten million followers on social media, so he had to create a buzz there too. Posting daily on his Instagram story, collabing with other creators, there was so much more to do, and the song writing part of everything was taking up most of his time.

Today, apparently, is when they had to start planning that stuff. Percy still has a lot to do in terms of writing, but he was beginning to find his stride a tiny bit, and after writing a bunch of shitty songs, he came up with one okay one. Now seven out of the fifteen songs he needed were finished, and around a month and a half is in between him and the album release.

"So," Dionysus is saying to him, as they sit in a business meeting with the rest of the team, "first order of business, we need to plan the destinations for a tour. We'll hit the big cities, New York, Nashville, obviously here in LA, New Orleans, Chicago, Philly, but that's not enough for a full tour. I think that ten to twenty more destinations would work."

Percy taps his chin with a guitar pick, "Boston maybe." God this is boring. He hates having to plan everyone, but he has to be there, because it's a part of his job. "Florida?"

"That's a state Percy," Nico rolls his eyes, "not a city."

"Fine, then Miami."

Leo looks up from his phone, probably on another dating app. "Could we go back to Houston? I want to see…" he trails off, and everyone knows what he's thinking. His mother's grave. Leo's mother died in a fire when he was young, meaning he's an orphan. When Percy met him, back when he lived in New York, he was in the foster system. Leo brought homework to him everyday after… an incident had occurred and they'd been close ever since. When Percy got picked up by his management, he gave Leo a job. It's not that Leo was musically inclined or anything, but he had always been a hard worker, and he was like… emotional support. Occasionally, he'd have mechanical errors— like the tour bus would stop working, or they'd need to get something fixed, and Leo could help with that.

So before Dionysus can shut Leo down like the absolute asshole he is, Percy nods. "Of course man," he says, because he's the one in charge of the tour, right?

"Well, okay. Fine. That's good for now," Dionysus adds, "but we need to figure out what the set will be like, and also, I want to release a single by the end of this week, for publicity."

Percy nods, "my newest one, Paparazzi?" Percy doesn't think Dionysus would want to release his song about the paparazzi he's rightfully surprised. But he could be talking about the other one Girl in My Corner, and he probably is. Dionysus was hesitant when he introduced the one he wrote the other day, but eventually Percy convinced him to let it go on the album. It had an important statement in it, and Percy is not going to relent on it.

"No, that 'girl in my corner' one. It was catchy. And speaking of that, we have a special guest today." Dionysus motions to an assistant of his, and they hurriedly open the door, and escort two guests in. A tall man— one Percy recognizes as Atlas, and… Calypso? She's looking as beautiful as ever, with a short flowy skirt, and a form fitting white top. It's casual wear, but Percy knows that it probably costs thousands of dollars. Atlas is extremely rich. Richer than rich, he could invent a whole new term for the word "wealthy."

"Hey Percy." Calypso says softly, taking a seat down next to him. He smiles at her, and silently thanks her. She helped him get out of a bad situation and it would be a pretty jerky thing to do if he ignored her.

Atlas makes a big show of sitting on the other side of Calypso, and glares at Percy, before resting his hands on the table, as if he's trying to not sucker-punch him. His face is extremely straight, which means Percy has no clue what Dionysus is going to say next. There's virtually no way to read the room, each face is blank, and when the room goes quiet, Percy gets even more confused, because what the actual hell is going on here?

Feeling Calypso's hand brush against his, he pulls it closer to him, trying to be unnoticable, because as much as he thinks Calypso is brilliant, he keeps thinking about someone else, someone important. Acropolis obviously isn't a person he knows in real life, and although it's ridiculous to say, he has feelings for her. Big ones, scary ones, ones that he can't control. Even though he knows Calypso, and has actually touched her, kissed her, he can't help feeling weird about it all. Can't help but feeling like this is all wrong. It feels wrong, it really does.

"So," Dionysus says, interrupting his thoughts. "I'm sure you understand what all of this means."

Percy shakes his head, and looks at the rest of his team quizzically. "No," he replies, "No I don't. Why are they here?" He motions towards Calypso and Atlas. Atlas only frowns deeper, and threads his fingers together, clenching them tightly. Percy really doesn't want to get him angry, but he senses he already has in some way or another. Plus, if you want to get into technicalities, he technically kissed his daughter, and technically that's probably something an overprotective father wouldn't want.

"Well," Dionysus tells him, "we looked at Girl in My Corner, and decided it would be best if once we released it, you actually had a girl in your corner, that you could say the song was based on. Isn't that brilliant?" He smiles gleefully.

Percy shakes his head, already confused, because the person the song was based on— Acropolis— is kinda that girl in his corner. So, Percy's still not sure where Dionysus is going with this. Is he saying he should arrange to meet with Acropolis? Well, as he thinks about it, Dionysus doesn't even know about her, and that wouldn't explain why Calypso and her father were here, so is he saying…?

Oh no, he is saying.

"We were thinking that Calypso, for the media, could pose as that girl." Dionysus adds, with a grin on his face. "It's the perfect move. You guys are already in the spotlight, and we could further your reach and Calypso's reach by doing this. Her fans would become fans of you, and vise versa. With Calypso's follower account— what is it?"

Atlas responds, keeping a straight face. "Around seven million." It's pretty clear the man manages all of his daughters opportunities. Percy's pretty sure Calypso is a model, and he thinks he's seen her act in a couple of movies before. But of course, her father, being the intimidating man he is, looks extremely protective of her.

"Together, you guys could each have seventeen million potentially. And even better, more people outside of everything would see you too." Dionysus smiles, as if he's a genius. And then he looks at Percy, like he should be excited about the prospect of fake dating. Which he isn't. In fact, he's absolutely repulsed by it.

Percy shakes his head. "That's the stupidest idea in the entire world." Well, it's the most unoriginal idea in the entire world. People crash and burn over this kind of stuff. This is literally how scandals are created. "Like, what the hell?" He adds, almost laughing, because seriously, how dumb can these people be?

Dionysus's face falls, and he looks over to Atlas, who is now staring daggers at Percy. The room is silent once again, you could hear a pin drop. Percy has never wanted to be a faker. He'd heard about scandals surrounding fake dating between stars before, all of which ended horribly. Plus, doesn't Percy have other things to worry about, aside from dating? Eight more songs to write in basically a month, a tour to plan, meet and greets, publicity gatherings, there are millions of more important things to do. Dating, of all things, would definitely not fit in the mess of it all— the mess of his life, there's just no time for it.

How long would this even go on. Just to the release of his album? Or will it continue for years, trapped in a never-ending system of false love. Girls, to say the least, come easily to Percy, and sure, Calypso seems nice, but their relationship won't be. And who's to say the media won't find out immediately? He doesn't need two scandals in one week.

"Well Jackson," Atlas speaks, his words stone cold. "Like I said before, we could easily make you just…" he snaps his fingers, "disappear."

Percy's eyes widen. That's the most nefarious thing he's heard all day. Atlas is absolutely terrifying, and Percy knows for a fact now that he's gotten on the man's bad side. His extremely bad side. "I guess—" he looks over at Calypso, who is staring at her hands which are folded on her lap. He turns away. "How long?"

"Just until your tour is finished." Dionysus says, probably smiling because he knows Percy has to say yes now.

That's a long time. His tour could be in a couple of months. That means he'll have to keep acting for a long time, but it doesn't seem like he has a choice. As much as parts of the music industry suck, he doesn't want to leave it. He loves to make music, producing stuff that people can relate to, and love is a euphoric feeling. And there are people in the industry he likes. Nico, as annoying as he is, is someone Percy can call a genuine friend. Leo, of course, to. Silena is genuine, Austin is talented, and he couldn't leave them behind. It's like he's trapped, there's no way out, and he just has to bide his time, until the next star rises up and replaces him.

He sighs, and clasps his hands together. He might start sweating, he probably already is. Everyone is looking at him like he should be jumping at the opportunity, and then he looks over to Calypso. He realizes that she might be in the same situation as him. Does she have a say in this? Did she have to make a decision too? If he says "yes," and she doesn't want to, what would that make him? A jerk, probably. "Are you okay with this?" He asks her gently.

Calypso looks at her father, and then nods. "Yes." She says softly.

He turns to Dionysus, whose smile is getting wider, and even more suspicious. Atlas's face is still stone cold, and everyone else in the room is looking at him earnestly. Percy sighs, and leans back into his chair. "Fine." He says. "I'll do it. But I swear to god, if this turns into something bigger—"

He's cut off by Dionysus, who is eagerly organizing to rub his hands together. "Perfect! We need to stage an introduction to this then. Make it seem natural, unforced."

Percy sighs, and shakes his head. He can't believe he's agreeing to do this. He's never thought he'd be in this position ever, but of course, there's a first time for everything. "This is so stupid." He mumbles quiet enough that the only person who can hear is Leo, who sits on the other side of him. He looks to Leo, who is staring directly at Calypso with stars in his eyes.

Leo shakes himself out of it, and looks to Percy. "I don't know man, I think it's a good opportunity." He whispers back.

Percy rolls his eyes, and then looks to the rest of his team. "How are we going to do this?" He says, knowing he won't like the answer.

…

Percy flinches in memory, as he gets home late at night. His team had told him since he and Calypso were already spotted hooking up, he just had to put out a social media post of them together to confirm a relationship, make it official. So Percy and Calypso had gone outside, to the back-yard type area of the studio, and posed for a bunch of pictures together. Once they ended up with one that looked real and genuine, they let Percy know he should post it by midnight.

So now he's in bed, his finger hovering over the "share" button. The caption is ready, it reads: We've been wanting to come out for this a while, and this is probably the best time too, so here it is!" It's a picture of Calypso kissing his cheek, and there are several other photos attached to the post of them hugging, and laughing together. Percy feels his stomach turn at it, and then looks at the clock, to see it marks an hour before midnight. He could wait to post it, but what would happen then? Percy's too scared of Atlas to do that, the man is terrifying.

But still, his finger hovers above the button, because he doesn't want to do this. He's never wanted to do this. If this post was with someone he genuinely liked, he would have already pressed the "share" button. And yes, he likes Calypso, she's amazing, kind and beautiful, but it's not in the way he should. Maybe if Acropolis wasn't in the picture, he would like her that way. Hell, he would be all for this is Acropolis wasn't in the way. He doesn't even know why she's in the way, because he's never met her. And he probably never will.

And obviously, he can't talk to Acropolis about that, because he can't tell her who he is. That would ruin everything. He wouldn't have any place to be normal again, ever. He wishes he could talk to her about it in a way that would keep his identity hidden, but the truth is, that could never work out. They're never going to work out. So he should stop thinking about it, about her. Maybe, in another world, where he wasn't famous, and her mother hadn't died, they would know each other. Percy had originally lived in New York, and that's where Acropolis had lived too. If he hadn't got picked up by Dionysus and his team, maybe, just maybe, he would know her. Maybe they'd fall in love like normal people, not hidden behind screens. But then again, he'd be a completely different person.

But, dreaming always leaves you with disappointments. And Percy has had enough of those in his life.

He closes his eyes, and taps the share button.

Then flashes them open, and the picture is loading, ready to be shared to the ten million and more people. Soon, it's all over, and it is shared to the world. The likes start coming in, and then the comments. That's when Percy knows it's all over. He is linked into this relationship officially, until the tour ends. He hasn't signed a contract or anything, but there's an unspoken rule. Sure, Percy's popular, but he needs his management team. He can't do this on his own. So he follows their nefarious deeds, which lead him into situations like this.

Because he's tagged Calypso, it's showing up to her fans too, and his follower count starts going up. Calypso, then, has reposted the post on her story, so now, what's done is done. There's no backing out now.

…

The next day, he wakes up to a string of texts from Acropolis. They all read basically, the same thing:

"P, did you hear?" The first reads, "they're dating!" another says, and the saga continues on: "Percy Jackson and Calypso, I mean." There's like ten of them. "I did not think he'd ever link up with someone."

He scrolls through the rest, his heart sinking. He wishes he didn't have to talk to her about this. Her, the person who he really loves. And because Acropolis doesn't even know who he is, she won't understand what he's going through. She won't understand what this means for them, for him. He really wants to meet her, but because of this, everything is so damn complicated. Before, obviously, everything was equally complicated, but if she ever does figure out who he is, how is he going to explain this? She's the complication in this all, and as much as he knows it's not her fault, he's angry. Angry at himself for going along with Atlas's plans. Angry for ever kissing Calypso, knowing that he didn't like her that way. In a way, angry at Acropolis. Because although it's not her fault, it's never been, he knows that in another world, they're happy together. But in this world, that's never going to happen.

"Yeah, I know." Percy types, turning into Pylos, the person he wishes he could be all the time. "It's crazy, right?" In his messages, he tries to never directly say that he's not Percy Jackson. Of course, there's little chance that he is,

"He's also releasing a new single too," Acropolis, replies. "It's called 'Girl in My Corner.'"

That's right. With all of the stress surrounding Calypso, he forgot that his management team had publicly announced the release of his new single. It seems that the media is putting all the so-called puzzle pieces together. They think that they're discovering a story, and as he switches to his news feed quickly, he notices that all of the articles are saying that Calypso is probably Percy's girl in his corner. That's completely untrue, but Percy knows it probably seems that way.

"Yeah. I know." Percy sighs out loud, and then types and sends something he knows he'll regret. But he's irritated with himself, and although he knows that he shouldn't take out his annoyance on Acropolis, he still sends it. "Why do you care so much about it anyway?"

Radio Silence. Acropolis, who usually responds pretty quickly, doesn't reply. He waits for a response, but he doesn't get one. He looks at the message again, and sees how horrible it sounds, and then throws his phone on his bed, and turns away. In times like this, he wishes he didn't have to grow up so fast. In the fame industry, peoples feelings aren't usually considered that much, and maybe that's rubbed onto Percy a bit. Maybe a little bit more than a bit.

Percy isn't a rude person. But he's done plenty of rude things. And with Acropolis not responding, he knows that message fits into the "rude" category.

There's so many regrets he has. Endless regrets, things he wishes he didn't say or do. And although Acropolis is his safe place, it's hard to talk about himself so much with her. Yeah, sometimes the blog posts about him he sees hurt. They aren't meant to, and Acropolis doesn't know that he, Pylos, is Percy Jackson, so there's no questioning. But Percy can't help but defend himself. And it's done him good, obviously. He got to know her because of it.

He picks up his phone. "I'm sorry about that, that was a dick thing to say. It doesn't matter." He types, and then sends, hoping he'll get a response.

And then, he sets his phone done, and gets himself ready for the day. It's certainly going to be an eventful one. He has songs to write, a tour to plan, and two girls he really needs to stop stressing over.

…

~the wrong relationships teach you how to recognize the right one when it arrives~

Tysm for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! The story is plotted out chapter by chapter, so I don't have much room for changes in the plot, just fyi. Also, idk much about the music industry apart from research, so this could have either been slightly imaginable, or complete rubbish. Either way, I hope you enjoyed it!

Tysm for reading! Leave a review, let me know what you think! Stay safe and healthy! Until the next chapter!

Replies!

123Thomas321: this is going to be thirty-chapters, including three outtakes that I wanted to add in! Pjofan [guest]: happy belated birthday to you! Glad you're enjoying it. Lord Jacoby: tysm! I'm glad that you like it!

TheLil'Lion