Hi. *waves* Long time no see.

Sorry, I started working on a request I got and it kinda went crazy. I'm still not done it yet, but I figured I should update this before I start getting hate mail. LOL :-)

This chapter is dedicated to the random stranger with awesome taste in books that I meet in Value Village yesterday. Seriously, what's more fun than meeting people that share a bunch of your fandoms?

Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

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December 18th

Apollo POV

The tension was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Percy looked to be only a few seconds away from unleashing a hurricane, the likes of which San Francisco hadn't seen in a century. I decided it was high time to break the silence.

I flopped down on the couch across from the glowing god and gave him a once over. "You know, you look pretty hot like that."

His eyes snapped to mine in confusion. I smirked and sent him a wink. I watched as an amused smile slowly spread across his face. It got bigger until he started laughing. I would have been a lot more comforted by his laughter if I hadn't heard the slight edge of hysteria in it.

I waited until he had calmed down a little before I stood up and went to take a seat on the couch next to him. I put a hand on his back only to realize that he was shaking slightly.

I frowned and squeezed his shoulder. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" He shook his head and his body started shaking even worse. I didn't think it through, I just acted on instinct. I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him next to me. "Listen Percy, whatever happened, it will be alright."

I could hear the hysteria clearly in his voice when he asked, "How do you know? You don't even know what happened."

I shrugged. "No, but I know you. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't hurt anyone."

He shook his head again and curled in on himself. "I nearly did." I raised an eyebrow in confusion but he continued before I could ask for clarification. "Annabeth and I were arguing and I lost control..."

"You wouldn't have hurt her."

He glared at me, "Are you kidding? I went all godly form! She's a demigod. I nearly killed her. If she hadn't been covering her eyes, she would be dead."

I thought through my wording carefully before I continued. Sweet temperament or not, I knew better than almost anyone that it was a good idea to be cautious around angry gods.

"You wouldn't have hurt her Percy. You're subconscious wouldn't have allowed it. As either a god or demigod, your powers have strong ties to your emotions. It's the same with all of us. One emotion that you probably over look most of the time is your protectiveness. Your fatal flaw is loyalty, which means, more than anyone, you worry about the safety of your friends. Your powers may have responded to your anger but I'm going to guess they also responded to your desire to keep her safe." I saw him absorbing what I had said. After a few minutes I heard him mumble something, but it was to quiet to make out. "What did you say?"

"The hurricane," I raised one eyebrow. He cleared his throat and looked at his hands. "When I lost control, the pipes burst. I thought that was because I was angry. It's not the first time it happened, but this time the water formed a mini cyclone around me without me thinking about it..."

I nodded and smiled a little smugly, "Told you so. You would never hurt your friends Percy.

He bit his hip and shook his head. "I didn't hurt her this time, but I still don't know how to turn it off. I can't even go back to the house because I would vaporize people."

I winced, I knew he wasn't going to like what I was about to tell him. "Turning it off and on works the same way the mist does."

He groaned in defeat and let his head fall back, "Oh ya, because I've been doing so well with that."

I sighed and squeezed him against me. "You'll figure it out."

ΩΩΩ

Percy POV

We lapsed into silence. Everything that had needed to be said had been. I was exhausted, physically, emotionally, and mentally. I was content for now to just sit and draw some strength from my friend.

It was surprisingly nice to sit with Apollo like this. Since he was the god of the sun, it was like sitting next to a heater. I could practically feel the anger, stress, and tension melt out of my body.

Besides, it was much easier to focus on how comfortable I was rather then the reason I had come here in the first place.

I had never liked fighting with Annabeth, or any of my friends for that matter. No matter the outcome, I always regretted saying things afterwards. We needed to talk, but that was not the way our conversation was supposed to go. Apollo was right; nothing ever came out right when you were angry...

I wasn't certain how long we sat there before we heard someone knock on the door. I felt Apollo's arm tighten around my shoulder.

"Percy? Are you in there?"

It wasn't until I heard Annabeth's voice that I realized just how odd our seating arrangement would look to someone else.

We were sitting with our legs pressed together. Apollo's arm was around my shoulders and at some point; I had shifted slightly so my head was leaning against him. Even more awkward was the fact that he was still shirtless from his shower. There may have been no romantic intentions when we sat down but, to anyone else, it would look bad.

He seemed to realize it about the same moment that I did. I sat up and he pulled his arm back. Neither of us could look at each other but I was fairly certain that I wasn't the only one who was blushing.

Both of us were fairly tactile people, patting someone's arm, playful shoving, even throwing an arm around someone, was not unusual. However, doing so for extended periods of time when it was just the two of us was a lot more intimate then it was supposed to be.

The knocking started again and Apollo jumped to his feet.

"I should go answer that before she wakes anyone up."

I couldn't even glance at him as he left the room.

I heard him open the door. "Hello Annabeth. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I tried not to snort. I could hear him using the overly polite voice that he adopted whenever he didn't want to talk about something.

"Hi Fred, is Percy here?"

"Yes."

I could tell by the way she didn't say anything that my girlfriend was waiting for him to get me.

"Can I see him?"

"No."

I could hear how surprised she was by the answer, "What, why?"

I silently groaned. I wasn't entirely certain as to how he was going to get around that question.

"Percy does not want you to see him at this moment."

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. He was completely honest, but the words allowed her to infer a completely different meaning. I shook my head. I guess I should have expected him to be pretty good at telling the truth while not really saying anything. He had a few thousand years worth of experience with it...

They were both silent for a few minutes. I felt bad for Apollo. It must have been really awkward while he waited for her to leave.

"Oh... Well can you tell him I'm okay? He didn't hurt me or anything." I couldn't see him but I knew that the god of music nodded, "Alright. I... Goodnight, Fred."

"Have a good evening Annabeth."

I heard her steps fade down the hallway while the god of poetry locked the door with a sigh.

He came back into the living room and I winced. "Thank you Apollo. Sorry you had to do that. It sounded awkward."

The sun god chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "It was, but you're welcome."

I smiled at him and I felt some of the weird atmosphere from earlier come back. I found myself blushing as my eyes unconsciously tried to map out his exposed chest. It took more will power then it should have to resist.

I could tell that he could sense the strange mood as well.

"We should get some sleep. You've had a pretty intense day."

He went down the hallway to his room. When he returned a few minutes later, he was carrying a pillow and the blanket from his bed that I had used before. I also noticed that he had put on a shirt as well.

He put his bundle down on the opposite couch and handed me a pair of pajama pants and a shirt. "Here, you can sleep in these."

"Thanks."

I took the clothes from him and went to go change. By the time I got back, he had already made up the couch for me.

I gratefully sat down and Apollo headed to his room down the hall, flipping off the light on his way.

"Good night Apollo."

In the glow coming from my own skin, I could clearly see when he paused at his door for a moment before entering. "Good night Percy."

I sighed as I pulled the blanket up to my chin and lay down. It had been an eventful and stressful day. I hadn't even begun processing the fight that I had with Annabeth, nor how long it would take before I could see my girlfriend again.

Yet, the last thought I had while trying to fall asleep was how relaxing it had been sitting with Apollo.