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***- This story is boy x boy. Don't like? You don't have to read.

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March 22nd

Percy POV

Once Apollo took over the cooking, things went a lot better. In fairness to me though, the sun god did make it rather hard to focus on what I was doing. In the end, we both ended up watching the food, just so that we could still hold hands as we cooked. I would have thought that I'd feel awkward holding hands with the sun god, but it felt completely natural. I would have felt self conscious about how fast my heart was beating if it wasn't for the fact that Apollo didn't want to seem to let go of me anymore than I wanted to let go of him.

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After breakfast we spent the entire morning bumming around the house, stealing the occasional kiss. We ended up sharing one couch with Apollo lying against my chest, reading me poems by some guy named Frost, while I played with his hair. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt this at peace with someone. It was strange just how normal this all felt with him. It made me wonder if this really was just the natural next step for us.

I was drifting in a state of peace, lost in the sound of his voice and the feel of his hair running through my fingers. Judging by the contented smile on the sun gods face, I was guessing that he was rather comfortable too. I doubt that either of us would have gotten off the couch at all if it hadn't been for the knock on the door.

Apollo stopped reading and frowned at the interruption. "Are you expecting someone?"

I shrugged, "Not that I know of..."

The knocking started again and the god of poetry sighed. "I guess one of us should go answer it." I nodded, but didn't make any move to let him go. He chuckled at my reaction before tipping his head back so that he could smile at me. He reached up and pulled my head down so that he could steal a quick kiss. "Don't go anywhere."

With that he jumped up to get the door. I sighed and dropped my head on the armrest. I really hoped whoever was there had a good reason for disturbing us. I was really comfortable.

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Apollo POV

I was less than pleased at being disturbed. Not only was I incredibly comfortable sitting with my boyfriend, that thought caused me to smile, but I had actually convinced him to listen to poetry.

So all in all, when I opened the door and saw a fuming son of Hephaestus, I wasn't exactly intimidated.

"Finally! I thought you guys would never answer."

With that said he brushed past me into the apartment, leaving me to close the door behind him.

"There you are Percy! Everyone's waiting for you two. Also, why in Hades are you still in your pyjamas?"

Judging by the look on his face, the son of Poseidon was just as lost as I was. The youngest God shot me a quick glance before apparently realizing I was just as confused.

"Ummm... Leo? What are you talking about?"

He gave us a shocked look. The son of the smith God had to open and close his mouth several times before anything came out. "What am I...? Calypso's birthday party! You guys were supposed to be there like an hour ago!"

"It's Calypso's birthday?"

The son of Poseidon turned to me, but I shrugged. "Don't look at me. It's the first I've heard of this."

Leo shook his head and looked at the young god. "You can't give me that; I know I told you Percy. I told you that day when you were helping me try out those go-carts on temple hill."

The son of the sea God gave him a funny look. "No you didn't. I kind of remember you telling me that you had something to tell me, but we got distracted. Remember? The brakes in my cart gave out halfway down the second run and you had to try to latch on and slow both our carts down? And once you did, Reyna found out what we were doing and tore us both a new one for nearly taking out that coffee shop?"

Leo frowned for a moment before his jaw fell open and his eyes suddenly doubled in size. "Holy Hephaestus! I did forget to tell you! Piper is going to kill me. She did all the planning. My only job was to tell everyone." He looked slightly panicked. I didn't blame him. The daughter of Aphrodite could be just as intimidating as her mother when she wanted to be. "Well, its Calypso's birthday and we're throwing her a party since this is the first birthday she's had since she got sent to her island. So you guys have to go get ready, you're already late!"

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Percy POV

Fortunately, it didn't take very long. Apollo was mostly good to go, so it was just me who had to jump in the shower. Once I was changed and had run a towel through my hair, I went out to the living room.

Apollo was already waiting for me by the door. He winked when he saw me and held out his hand for me to take. I couldn't help but smile as I took it.

It wasn't until I turned to look at the son of Hephaestus that realized what I'd done. Leo was giving us a funny look. "I know you guys have this whole bromance thing going on, but hand holding between friends is still a little weird."

I felt myself freeze for a moment. It hadn't even occurred to me that no one knew yet, and now I was about to head over to the house with everyone there. More to the point, I was about to see my ex. How exactly does one go about telling their friend turned girlfriend turned ex that you've figured out you like guys?

I knew Annabeth, so I wasn't worried about her being rude. She was my friend first and foremost, just like I was hers. She would be incredibly supportive. No, the problem was that I knew that under the supportive front would be pain. She would bury the sadness of seeing me with someone else, but it would still be there. How could I do that to my friend?

I think that the sun god could sense that something was wrong. He immediately let go of my hand. To cover the action, he raised it to run through his hair, "Hey Leo, why don't you go on ahead? I just remembered that I have a book that Calypso wanted to borrow."

The son of Hephaestus groaned at the delay. "No I'll wait, just hurry."

He had clearly missed Apollo's not so subtle request for privacy as he begun to pull random items out of his belt. I wasn't sure what he was going to build, but it had a lot of wheels. I counted at least 11.

"It may take me a few minutes. Just go and tell them that we're on our way. Besides, don't you want to spend time with your girlfriend on her birthday?"

The son of the smith god blushed at the mention of their relationship. He seemed to debate over his suggestion for about a second before he nodded. "Well... okay. But try to be quick. Everyone is waiting."

Before either of us could respond, he was out the door. The sun god raised one eyebrow at the speedy departure. "Your friend is an interesting one."

I tried to laugh, but it came out a little flat. "Ya, but he's a good guy."

His eyebrow rose even higher and he turned to face me. "So, do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

"I..." I wasn't sure how to word it.

He studied my face for a minute before he seemed realize something. "Are you... not ready to tell people about us?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not... well kind of, but..." I sighed. I didn't want Apollo to think that I was having second thoughts about dating him; I just didn't know how to explain it. "It's hard to explain."

"Are you afraid that they won't support you?"

"No, of course not. I could tell them that I was in love with a satyr and they would wish me luck."

The god of music raised one eyebrow in amusement, but otherwise didn't react to my joke. "So if you're not worried then what's wrong?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I just... I don't want to hurt Annabeth, and I know this is going to."

His eyes widened in understanding and he stepped forward to wrap his arms around me. "I know that you care about your friends, but sometime's it's impossible to avoid hurting people. But, if you're not ready to tell them, then that's okay too."

"It's... it's not that I don't want to tell them. I just don't know what to say."

The son of Leto shook his head. "I'm not pushing Perce. It's your call about when we tell your friends."

"I..." I had no idea what I should do. I had never been in this position before. When I had kissed Annabeth for the first time, nearly the entire camp had seen us. There was no question of remaining a secret. Then again, there was no worrying about having to hurt Annabeth then either. I probably should have thought about all this before I kissed him, but planning wasn't really my thing.

The sun god gave me a small smile. "It's okay; you don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with."

I winced and looked away. It shouldn't be a big deal. If it wasn't for Annabeth, I doubt I would give it a second thought. I had never cared what people said about me, but I did care about my friends.

"Maybe... maybe we should keep it a secret for a bit, just until I figure out how to break the news to her."

Apollo took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. If that's what you want, than that's what we'll do." He gave me a smile, "Now. I need to go find that book."

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Apollo POV

I wouldn't say it out loud, but I was a little saddened by Percy's choice. I could completely see where he was coming from, but that didn't mean I had to like it. I had wanted the son of Poseidon for months. Now that I was allowed to hold him, I didn't want to let him go. So it was killing me that I had to keep my arms to myself. However I told him that it would be up to him when we told everyone, and I would stick to it. But that didn't mean I had to be happy about it.

When we got to the house, everyone was waiting for us just like Leo had said. We apologized and I gave Calypso the book she'd asked for.

Most of the people at the house were the same as always, but Piper had invited a few of the people from her art class since Calypso was a member of the same group. They introduced the new three as Daniel, Rebecca, and Kim. Rebecca was a daughter of Mercury while Daniel and Kim were both mine.

The one and only positive thing that I had discovered about mortality, was that I was allowed to interact with my kids. So I was only too happy to spend the evening learning more about them. Percy stood with me for a while, but I could tell he was getting a little bored as the conversation mostly revolved around the arts.

I was almost glad when he decided to go join another group. As much as I loved having him with me, I had caught myself from reaching to put an arm around him several times already. It was just as hard as I knew it was going to be to keep myself from holding on and refusing to let go. I was already regretting my offer to the son of Poseidon, but there was nothing I could do to change it now. Besides, I told him the truth. I would never force him to do something he wasn't ready for.

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The icing on the cake that made it very obvious that I had agreed to something that I wasn't sure I could follow through on though, was Rebecca. She was sort of pretty, though nothing that would make someone stop in their tracks. At first I considered the girl like most other mortals, she seemed nice enough but truly she held no interest whatsoever for me. But that all changed during dinner.

Since there were so many of us we had to move all the kitchen chairs into the living room, but there still weren't quite enough. I was about to playfully offer that Percy sit in my lap but before I could, Rebecca decided to give up her seat and go sit on the armrest next to the son of the sea god. Normally I wouldn't have given it a second thought beyond feeling slightly bereft that I had missed the chance to sit with my sea prince, but the daughter of Mercury had clearly not chosen that chair by chance. She used it as an excuse to strike up a conversation with the young god. Once again, not something that would have bothered me in the slightest, but then she laid her arm along the couch behind him. Percy may have been the most oblivious person on the planet to flirting, but I considered myself a professional. I could tell when someone was flirting, and Rebecca definitely was.

From that point on, most of my attention was on the pair sitting across the room. Half of me desperately wanted to find a way to pull her away from my boyfriend, but then my other half reminded me that there wasn't much I could do. We were keeping it a secret for now. Which meant that seating myself in Percy's lap and kissing him senseless, was unfortunately out of the question. There was literally nothing I could do to make her stop flirting with my oblivious boyfriend.

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Watching the blonde girl lean towards him and laugh at everything he said was driving me up the wall.

Eventually I just couldn't take it anymore. I left to get some air halfway through a conversation. Daniel seemed to be confused by my abrupt departure, but there was no way that I could sit there and watch someone else flirting with Percy. I will admit I'd always been the jealous type. I wasn't as bad as my dad or Hera or anything, but I still couldn't stand watching her flirting with him.

Though, it did make it slightly better that Percy noticed me leaving. He looked worried, but I shook my head, letting him know that I would be alright. As much as this secret was already killing me, I wasn't going to let Percy rush into telling everyone and run the risk of having him hate me for it. He was far too important to me for that.

I stopped on the porch outside and leaned against the railing. The cold air was soothing, but it could only do so much. I wasn't sure how much the air was going to help though since all I could see was Rebecca's arm around my boyfriend.

I was surprised when I heard the door opening behind me.

I turned around and saw Calypso closing the door. She came to stand beside me. I was rather surprised that she had followed me. I expected her to say something, but she was quiet.

When she did finally break the stillness, she didn't say what I was expecting her too. "You don't seem happy."

I frowned and looked away. As much as I wanted to deny it, I would have been lying if I said that I was. So instead, I shook my head. "I'm not sad."

Sometimes I forgot that I wasn't talking to a mortal who I could mislead. Calypso saw right through my misdirection.

"There is a difference between being happy and not being sad."

I sighed. "It's nothing that you can help me with."

She watched me for a few seconds. "This is about your feelings for Percy, isn't it?" I couldn't stop my shoulders from tensing. It was obvious that she noticed the reaction because she chuckled. "I will take that as a yes." She smiled at me. "I know that you are far from naive in such matters, so I am certain that you have noticed that he returns your feelings. Therefore, I am rather at a loss as to why you are so unhappy."

I hesitated answering her. I had told Percy that it would be up to him when we told his friends, but I really wanted someone to talk to. In the end, I decided it was all a matter of semantics. I had told Percy that it was his choice about when we told his friends, but Calypso was one of the few in New Rome that I would call my friend. Therefore, it shouldn't matter if I told her.

"Yes, I am aware of Percy's feelings for me now." I turned to face the goddess beside me and she motioned me to continue. "I... I am unhappy because he returns my feelings."

She frowned. "I don't understand. Why would that be a bad thing?"

I sighed. "I asked him out and he said yes, but he told me earlier that he's not ready to tell everyone else yet."

Her eyes widened in understanding. "I see. And now it is bothering you that you can't tell everyone."

I nodded, "Very much so. I'm not used to having to keep a relationship secret. It's... happened a few times in the past but..."

"But Percy is different?" I snorted. That was one way to put it. The goddess gave me a soft smile. "I understand, but he just isn't ready to tell everyone right now. He will be and, knowing Percy, it probably won't be that long of a wait. Just give him a few weeks."

I rubbed a hand over my face. "I've lived for eons already; you would think that waiting would be easier by now."

Calypso gave me a sad smile. "Waiting is never easy, but there is hope. Your hero cares for you, just give him a little time."

As much as I hated it, she was right. I promised Percy that I would wait until he was ready before we said something. But that didn't mean I had to like it.

I sighed. "I guess there's not much else I can do."

She nodded. "Come on, let's go back inside." I winced at the thought of seeing Rebecca hit on Percy all night. The goddess clearly picked up on my mood and laughed. "Don't worry; I'll help keep her away from your man."

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Authors Note

I just want to thank everyone who reviewed that last chapter. I was really grateful for your comments. Sometime I get reviews and they aggravate me and make me feel bad just because a chapter isn't long enough or not updated as quickly as they would like. I started writing this for fun but sometimes it feels like an unpleasant task I have to do, just because I said I would. So thank you for reminding me that this is supposed to be fun...

Sorry for the late update but this chapter kinda got away from me. As obvious by the fact it's nearly twice as long as my typical chapters...

By the way, as to the guest who reviewed in Russian, you absolutely have permission to translate my story. I feel honored that you'd want to; just send me a link when you do. :-) And don't worry about not having time to translate your review into English... that's why they invented Google translator.

Next update will be January 24th

Next Chapter:

My mom's eyes widened in surprise before she gave me a disappointed look, "Perseus Jackson..!"