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 30th

Percy POV

I didn't even know where to begin. Apollo clearly sensed my hesitation and came to wrap his arm around my shoulders. "I can try to explain it to him for you."

I shook my head. As tempting as it was to let Apollo take the blunt of his anger, I knew that I was the one who owed him the answers. I grimaced at the thought of answering all of Leo's questions. It was only going to get worse once he realized Calypso had also known.

"No, I'm the one who owes him the explanation." I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders before flashing the god of the sun a forced smile. "Seriously, he's our friend. How bad could it be?"

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Apollo POV

I may have cared very deeply for the young god, but the one thing that I knew with absolute certainty was that you should never tempt the fates with the sentence, 'how bad can it be'. I was fairly certain that they liked to take it as a personal challenge.

I winced as Leo managed to increase the already ear-shattering volume of his voice. I had never heard the son of Hephaestus that loud before. That was saying something as I've heard him running in terror, shouting warnings about whatever mishap came up in his latest project causing it to attempt to maim/kill/smother/burn/dismember/or otherwise cause bodily harm to those around it.

In all fairness to the young demigod though, Percy really shouldn't have started their conversation with, "It really isn't that big of deal..."

I'm sure he was going to continue with an explanation, but even I knew that you should never tell an angry person that it's not a big deal. That's like telling someone to calm down. It is only going to make it worse.

"…AND THEN YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO TELL ME IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL?!"

Leo finally stopped yelling for a few seconds in order to take a couple deep breaths. Before he could continue, Percy raised his hands in surrender and took the opportunity to try to salvage at least some of the situation.

"I'm sorry Leo, you're right. I shouldn't have lied to you guys. It really wasn't our choice though. Zeus made it abundantly clear that we weren't supposed to tell people about him."

Leo glared at the son of the sea god. "Sure. I can understand why you wouldn't spread it around the whole camp but Percy; we are supposed to be your friends. You know that we never would have told anyone."

"It still wasn't my secret to tell."

The glare of the son of the smith god seemed to falter a little at that. He crossed his arms as he considered Percy's words. His frown deepened, "You should have asked him to tell us then."

The young immortal's shoulders hunched in and he nodded. "I know, I sorry."

A lot of the fight seemed to go out of Leo at that. "I understand why you thought you couldn't tell us but…" He just frowned and shook his head before shooting me a glare. "I still don't think that you should trust him."

Judging by the baffled look on Percy's face, I was apparently the only one of us who expected the comment. I wished that I could stop him from asking the inevitable follow up question.

"What? Why shouldn't I trust him?"

The son of the sea god glanced at me like I would supply the answer. I could tell what Leo was going to say. I couldn't even argue with the son of Hephaestus, but that didn't mean that I was going to say it myself.

It was Leo's turn to look surprised. "You're kidding right? He's a god!"

Percy frowned. "So am I at the moment. What does that have to do with anything?"

The smith shook his head sadly. "Gods don't do relationships Percy. He's going to break your heart. I don't want to see that happen to you again. You deserve better than that."

The young immortal shook his head in denial. "No he won't. Besides, that's a little rich coming from you. You're dating a goddess."

Leo looked defensive. "That's completely different."

Percy raised one unimpressed eyebrow, "How?"

No matter how much I wished he wouldn't answer, he did anyway. "Because, unlike Apollo, Calypso isn't the parent of one of our friends. What is Will going to say when he finds out your dating his dad?"

"I…" Percy sounded shocked, as though he'd never really thought about that before. Knowing him, he probably hadn't.

I couldn't keep myself from wincing. I had to look away, not wanting to see the dawning horror on Percy's face.

Age difference was one thing in theory. It was a completely different thing when someone pointed out that your boyfriend was the dad of one of your friends. Then it suddenly became a lot more real.

I closed my eyes against the pain ripping through my chest. I was already trying to figure out how exactly I was supposed to make it through my banishment without my sea-prince. I cared for him far too much to be able to go right back to being only friends with him. I'd only just managed to win him.

I was so focused on my thoughts about the inevitable loss I was expecting that I was blind-sided by Percy's actual answer.

"I know Will is going to have a hard time with it, but I think that once he gets over the initial shock he will be happy for Apollo. I know it would be hard seeing my dad dating my friend, but I'd like to think that I'd be okay with it as long as he was happy. Do you honestly think that you could hold it against your dad for trying to find the person who could make him happy?"

I looked at Percy in shock. I could see that Leo was struggling to find an answer to his question, but all I could focus on was my sea-prince. I had been so positive that he would leave me if he ever stopped to think about my rather numerous romantic activities. The fact that he was still planning on staying with me… I felt my heart swell in my chest.

I had no idea what I had done in life to deserve that kind of loyalty. Maybe it wasn't about what I had done though. Maybe that was just Percy. He must have seen something in me that made him decide that I was worth it. I may have had many, many, wonderful characteristics, but somehow I still found myself stunned at the knowledge that the hero of Olympus was still picking me.

"… Going to tell the others?" Leo's voice suddenly cut through my reverie.

I shook my head and tried to catch up on the conversation. I must have zoned out for a while. Neither Leo nor Percy seemed to have realized I hadn't been paying attention, but the smile Calypso was giving me told me that she had caught me staring at my boyfriend and that she also had a good guess about what I had been thinking.

Percy winced at the young demigod's question. "I don't know. It's still not my secret to tell Leo."

The fire-manipulator frowned. "I know that, but they are our friends Percy. We can't just keep lying to them. They deserve to know who he is. Don't you agree Fr… er, Apollo?"

The son of Hephaestus was frowning at me. I could still see the distrust in his eyes but it was clear that he had decided to accept Percy's choice, even if he didn't agree with it.

I winced. On one hand, my father would probably take away the sun chariot for a couple centuries if he found out that I had ignored his orders and told Percy's friends who I was, but on the other hand I could also tell that Percy really didn't want to lie to his friends anymore. It may have been okay before Leo figured it out, but now that he had the son of the sea god had no doubt decided that it really was unfair to leave the rest of his friends in the dark.

I caught the eye my sea-prince and sighed. I mentally cringed at the inevitable confrontation with my dad.

"I think he's right Percy. Maybe it is time that we told them."

Whatever, Artemis would help me get my chariot back eventually.

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Authors Note

So you know how I said life should get easier in November? I was wrong.

Sweet heaven… you would not believe the writer's block I had on this chapter. This is not at all what I had originally intended but this was the only way that this chapter was ever going to make it out of my head and onto the paper. It's over and done with now. Besides, I kind of like how it turned out.

Next Chapter:

Leo had promised to keep Apollo's secret for two weeks to give me a chance to tell the others before he told them himself. Two weeks had sounded a lot longer at the time…