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.

Note***- Will be boy x boy. (I promise, it is coming) Don't like? You don't have to read.

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February 15th

Percy POV

I barely brought my sword up in time to block the overhead swing.

"You better pay closer attention Percy; I'm not going to go easy on you."

Instead of admitting to the fact that I had semi-zoned out, I just scoffed. "Trust me Sparky. I don't need to focus very hard to beat you."

The son of Jupiter laughed. "Oh already breaking out the insulting nicknames hey Sea-weed brain? You must be more desperate than I thought."

I just laughed and went on the offensive...

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Jason and I had decided to get together for a long overdue sparing session. I hadn't spent as much time with the golden boy since I moved in with Apollo. It wasn't just that the son of the lightning god was always busy. It was also because when he was free, he spent most of his time with Piper. I was looking forward to a day of bashing each other with swords.

I didn't blame Jason for wanting to spend whatever free time he had with the daughter of Aphrodite. Even though he was busy helping build the monuments to the gods, he wanted to make sure to make time for his girlfriend. I knew that was one of the areas that Annabeth and I went wrong.

Fortunately for his friends it was Piper for once, not Jason, who was busy. The daughter of Aphrodite had decided to enroll in an art class that was being hosted by some of the children of Apollo. Since his girlfriend was busy, the son of Jupiter decided to spend his free time with his other friends.

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A few hours of sword practice and several lectures about not using our powers in the arena later, and the two of us were exhausted. We probably would have continued sparing until we couldn't lift our swords anymore, but the other occupants of New Rome were beginning to give us dirty looks. It was clear that they wanted to use the practice area too but they didn't want to risk injury by being there when two children of the big three were battling, even if it was just a friendly sparing session. Friendly sparing for us still meant danger for anyone else.

I recapped Riptide and put it back in my pocket before following the son of Jupiter towards the nearest store that sold drinks. Water may not have had quite the same effect on me that it used to after a long sparing session, but it was still refreshing. I was the son of Poseidon after all. We got our bottles of water and went to sit on the bench outside the shop.

I took a few big sips and turned to the son of the lightning god beside me. "So what did you and Piper do for Valentine's Day?"

Jason shrugged. "Well, since I wasn't 100% sure I could get the day off, I didn't want to plan anything too huge. Besides, I'm about as romantic as you are."

"Hey!"

He smiled, "Oh come on. Everyone knows you're not exactly a child of Venus. I'm pretty sure your ideal date would involve a movie, pizza, and blue cake."

I raised one eyebrow in mock offense, "And what exactly is wrong with that?"

The golden boy scoffed, "I believe my point is made. Anyway, as I was saying, I didn't know for sure if I could have the day off. If Somnus wanted to discuss his temple, I would have had to go. Fortunately, that didn't happen. So I took Piper on a tour of Camp Jupiter. She still hasn't been her for that long, so I decided to show her all of my favorite places. Then we went for a picnic at one of the parks up the hill. It's not the biggest or nicest park in the city, but it has an amazing view of the sunset. It was very... laid back."

I smiled at the description. "That sounds nice."

The son of the lightning god blushed. "Well it wasn't super fancy, but we enjoyed it."

I shrugged. "Hey, I think that sounds like an awesome date. I'm glad you guys had a good time. Besides, we're demigods. I think everyone here knows better than to underestimate the value of a relaxing day."

He laughed, "I guess that's true. So what about you? Did you do anything yesterday?"

"Ya, Fred and I had a bromantic date." I smiled at the memories. "It was actually a ton of fun."

The golden boy looked at me like I had grown an extra head. "What exactly is a 'bromantic' date?"

"Well neither Fred nor I had a date, so we decided to hang out together instead of sitting home alone. He made me blue pancakes then we went to the park and shot each other with water pellets."

The blue eyed boy raised one eyebrow and snorted, "Sounds super romantic."

I laughed, "Hey don't knock it till you've tried it. It was awesome. Anyway, after that he took me to a restaurant down by the river. It was a little awkward when the waitress started hitting on me, but other than that it was great."

I thought about the weirdness after we got back to the apartment, but I still didn't even know what it was. I had tried to shake off the thoughts, but my mind wouldn't let me. I was having a hard time forgetting. I had no idea where my strange reactions had come from. All I knew was that I certainly wasn't about to tell Jason about it.

The son of Jupiter's laugh knocked me out of my musing. "Wow, I think your bromantic date with Fred was more romantic than mine. Do me a favour; please don't tell Piper what you guys did."

I smiled and tried once again to forget my strange thoughts. "I make no promises."

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Apollo POV

Our date last night had caused me to rediscover something that was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that it would take something ridiculously obvious before Percy realized that I wanted more than friendship from him. The curse... was that it would take something ridiculously obvious before Percy realized that I wanted more than friendship from him.

I was rather glad that he had made plans with my half brother. I needed the time to sort through my thoughts. After he left, I slumped down onto my couch and dropped my head into my hands.

I wasn't sure how long I sat there before I spoke just to break the silence. "I am so screwed."

I had been so close to kissing him last night. Our date had gone perfectly. Giving him a good night kiss had felt like the natural thing to do. I had only caught myself at the last second. Even worse was that I had actually tried to cover for my almost kiss with a manly punch to the arm. I could hardly believe myself. If it had been anyone other than Percy, my secret would have been out.

My crush was getting vastly out of hand. I blamed a lot of it on Aphrodite. What kind of idiot was I? Why would I try using subtlety on the most oblivious being on the planet? All I succeeded in doing was making it even harder on myself. I had been up most of the night, fighting with the thoughts of what might have happened if I hadn't stopped myself? What might have happened if he hadn't pulled away either? What might have happened if he returned my kiss?

I groaned and tried to stop thinking.

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Percy POV

I found myself zoning out. It wasn't until Jason called my name that I realized that I had been unconsciously watching Apollo.

I shook my head and turned back to the son of Jupiter. "Sorry, what did you say?"

He gave me a strange look. He looked between me and the son of Leto. "Is there something that I should know about?"

I frowned. "No. Why would you think that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You've just been acting weird this evening. You've been watching Fred like you're trying to read his mind."

"I..." I wasn't sure how to answer him. How do you tell someone something when you don't even understand what's happening yourself? "I honestly don't know."

He didn't look like he really believed me, but at least he didn't try to pry further. I was quite grateful for that. I wasn't sure what I could have said anyway.

We were all gathered at Jason's house for dinner. It was the first time that Annabeth and I had the chance to hang out since my tour of the new temples. I would have thought that I would have spent most of the evening with the daughter of Athena, continuing to work on fixing our friendship, but I was having a hard time looking away from the sun god.

There was something different between us, but I had no idea what it was. To make matters even more confusing, I wasn't even sure if Apollo knew. If he did, then he was doing a good job of ignoring whatever it was. I felt like I should know what was happening, but I was drawing a blank.

I was nearly positive it had to do with the day before, but I wasn't sure how.

I sighed and shook my head. I wasn't getting anywhere. Maybe it would be better if I dropped the matter for now and went to hang out with Annabeth for a while. I was sure I would figure it out eventually.

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Authors Note

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has reviewed. I love reading what everyone thinks. I try to respond to all of them, but sometimes I just don't have the time. However even if I don't respond, I read all of them and I appreciate the time spent to post those reviews.

Now that that's out of the way...

Sorry for the delay on this chapter, but I have news that I am sure will excited all of you. I have decided that I am going to try to have their first kiss happen by Christmas. This means that my chapters for the next few weeks will either be longer than normal, or I may even post extra chapters. We will see, but that is my goal. :-)

Next update will be December 13th

Next Chapter:

"Wait a second. Is that... blue milk?"