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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April 25th

Percy POV

I woke up earlier than I normally would. I wasn't that surprised when I went to the kitchen and didn't see Apollo. He was an early riser most days, but I knew he was beyond exhausted from yesterday's trip to the river. Rather than waking him up, I decided to let him sleep in while I made breakfast.

I didn't start to wonder where he was until I was about halfway finished cooking. It was almost 8 in the morning, and the sun god still hadn't come out of his room yet. When 8:30 rolled around, I was starting to get confused. The few times that I had woken up before the god of poetry, he'd been drawn out of his room by the smell of food before I was done. I knew he hated wasting the day, so once I had all the food on the table I decided to go wake him up.

My confusion only grew when I opened the door and saw that he wasn't in bed. In fact, nothing was on his bed. The blanket was on the floor, along with his pillows. I frowned before I headed back out into the main part of the house. I checked the living room, but I wasn't surprised when he wasn't there either. Usually he told me when he was leaving first thing in the morning, but I was guessing he'd just forgotten.

I didn't really feel like eating alone, so I wrapped up the bacon and French toast. We could always have a breakfast dinner. Rather than dwelling on my boyfriends disappearance, I decided to get ready for the day. I went to my room to grab my towel before I headed to take my shower. When I turned on the light to the bathroom though, I was met with a sight that stopped me in my tracks.

The sun god was curled up in the tub with one of his pillows, covering his eyes from the sudden flare of light that had clearly woken him.

He curled further in on himself, "S' too bright."

It took me a second to realize what he was talking about. When I did, I flipped the light back off, though I left the door open so that I'd be able to see what was happening. I tossed my towel back in my room before approaching the son of Leto.

"Apollo, why..." I didn't even have to finish my sentence. I had reached out to run my fingers through his hair. As soon as I touched his forehead, I could tell he had a fever. "You're burning up."

He moved his arm away from his eyes, and I got my first clear look at him. His nose was extremely red and his eyes were bloodshot. He sounded incredibly stuffed up when he said, "I think I might be sick."

I frowned and brushed the sweaty hair from off his forehead. "I think you're right. Is that why you're sleeping in the bathtub?"

He nodded miserably. "It's cool in here."

I felt a stab of guilt. I had a feeling he'd gotten sick from swimming with us yesterday. "I'm sorry. Why don't you go back to your room? I'll get you an icepack to help keep you cool."

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It took a while to convince him to leave the bathroom, but eventually I got him settled back in his own room. I had surrounded him with a couple of cold-packs, like the kind that I used to use when I got hurt, and covered him with his blanket so that it would keep the cold next to his body. I brought him a cup of apple juice, a couple of Tylenol to help break his fever, and a small square of Ambrosia. I wasn't positive that the godly food would help cure a cold, but I figured if nothing else it would help his mood.

I used the blanket from my bed to cover the window so that it was actually dark in the room.

"You need to try to get some more sleep."

The sun god shook his head. "It's already after 9."

I smiled at his determination. "Have you ever been sick before?"

He frowned. "No..."

I brushed my thumb over his cheek. "Then trust me, because I have. You need to try to get some more sleep. You'll get better faster."

He coughed and sniffed, but nodded, "Alright, if you say so."

"I do." I left for a minute and came back with a box of tissues from the bathroom. I placed them on the nightstand next to his water, well within his reach, and moved the garbage can closer to his bed. "Good night Apollo."

"How can it be good night when it's daytime?"

I shook my head, "Because it just is. Now get some sleep." I kissed his forehead before turning around to leave.

I was just closing the door to let his sleep when I heard a quiet, "Good night Percy."

ΩΩΩ

It was around eleven when I heard the sun god start having coughing fits. At first I didn't bother him, because I was hoping that he'd be able to get back to sleep. I stayed in the living room, trying to read the book Apollo had lent me about ballads. I still had to read a book on a topic I'd never normally read for our resolutions. I'd originally picked it because it was one of his shorter books, but it wasn't very interesting to me. I had a feeling I would have been better off if I'd read one of his limerick books instead. After several weeks, I was only on page 23 out of 137.

I gave up in hoping that Apollo would be able to get more sleep just before noon. His cough was just getting worse. I got him another glass of apple juice and brought it with me when I went to see if he wanted to try eating something.

When I opened the door, I had to do my very best not to laugh. The god of the sun had never looked so human to me before. The son of Leto rubbed his already red nose and pulled his blanket cocoon even tighter. He gave me the most miserable look I'd ever seen. It wasn't funny that he was sick, but it was slightly amusing to see a formerly all powerful god bundled up.

As it was, I couldn't help a small smile from escaping. "Are you okay?"

The son of Zeus shook his head. "It's really cold."

I frowned and crossed the room to sit beside him. I passed his the juice. "Drink this." He took it from me, but made no move to drink it. I pressed my hand against his head and frowned. "You still have a fever."

"What are you talking about? I'm freezing."

I shook my head. "Trust me my little sun beam, you have a fever."

He gave me a disbelieving look, "Really? Your little sun beam?"

I felt a blush rush to my cheeks and I shrugged. "What's wrong with that? I thought it went well with your sea prince?"

I couldn't tell if the colour in his cheeks was due to embarrassment or his fever. "Okay, but not in public."

It took me a moment before I realized what he was saying. When I had, I couldn't stop my smile, "Deal. Now that's out of the way, we need to break your fever. Do you feel healthy enough to take a cool bath?"

He shook his head. "I already told you, I don't have one. I'm freezing."

"And I already told you, yes you do. You're the god of medicine, tell me. What are some of the signs of a fever?"

He was silent for a few minutes before he huffed. "Fine, you win."

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He came back to his room after and I took his temperature properly. It had come down a bit, but I still didn't envy him. The sun god looked really sick. I forced him to drink both his juice and to eat a bowl of chicken noodle soup. He tried complaining, but I just reminded him about the need to keep himself hydrated and he gave in without too much fuss.

After his lunch, I encouraged him to take another nap. By the time he woke up again, the sun was already starting to set. His cough was as bad as ever and I gave him some of the medicine I'd picked up to help with his congestion. His fever had broken though, and he already looked a lot healthier than he had when I'd found him that morning.

I didn't want to risk making him even worse, so our dinner was plain toast and more chicken noodle soup. I knew there was no way that I would be able to convince him to try to get more sleep, so I suggested watching a movie instead. At least that way I could be sure that he wasn't pushing himself.

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Apollo POV

I felt absolutely atrocious. I couldn't understand it. I knew for a fact that mortals often went about their day, even going to work, while sick, but if this is how they felt I couldn't understand how that was possible. My nose was so stuffed that it was actually painful, not to mention the pain I felt every time I had to blow my nose. My skin was practically raw from blowing it. Coughing was, if possible, even worse. It felt as though my lungs were trying to force their way out of my body. Even though my fever had come down, I was still cold and my body ached like I'd just had a 14 hour training session.

It was truly beyond terrible. Yet through it all, Percy was there. Trying to make me feel better, making sure that he was doing everything he could to help me get healthy again as quickly as I could. Yes he was a god now and didn't have to worry about coming down with anything as minor as a cold, but I knew enough of him now to know that he would still be taking care of me even if he was mortal too.

I also didn't miss how he chose to eat dry toast and canned chicken noodle soup with me. He wasn't sick, and I could say with a fair amount of certainty that it wasn't the most appealing dinner he could have had.

When he suggested watching a movie, I knew why. He wanted me to stay in bed because he was worried I would try to go to the arena to spar or something. Since he offered to join me, I decided not to point out that I had zero desire to leave the apartment when I felt like this. Instead I just agreed, and pulled Percy to lie down beside me as we watched the historically inaccurate version of the sinking of the Titanic.

Even though I was stuffed up, and in pain, and coughing every 5 minutes, I realized that I would not trade this moment for anything. I also knew that was solely because of the boy I had lying in my arms. As we watched a movie that was supposedly about one of the biggest nautical disasters of all time yet somehow managed to be mostly a love story, I couldn't stop thinking about the son of Poseidon, especially when it reached the climax. When one main character told the other that they will never let go, I felt a pang in my heart.

I would reclaim my godhood, that was not even a question, what was a question was what would happen once I did? What would happen when Percy's 13 months were up? Having seen how romances between immortals and mortals played out thousands of times, I had no idea what to do. I sincerely hoped that the son of Poseidon would choose godhood, but the more I got to know him, the less likely that seemed. He loved his mortality, not to mention that he wouldn't want to lose his mom. What was I supposed to do if, after his time was up, he chose humanity? How was I supposed to let him go?

Rather than speaking everything that was on my mind, I just hugged my sea prince tighter. If he knew anything was wrong, he didn't mention it.

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Authors Note

How long has it been since I did a double update? Even I don't know. I didn't mention it in my update earlier because I wasn't 100% sure I'd have time to finish it today, yet here it is. Enjoy. :-)

Next update will be April 25th

Next Chapter:

The son of Hephaestus paused halfway through his sentence. At first I didn't know why. "I'm sorry but I have to ask... why do you have a painting of yourselves as Christmas elves..?"