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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May 11th

Piper's POV

As soon as Fred, or Apollo I suppose, led Percy out of the house, silence descended again. I looked around at those of us who were still here. I clearly wasn't the only one who didn't know how to react. We had all known that Percy had been acting strangely over the last few weeks, but I was rather certain that none of us had expected that bombshell to be dropped on us.

The more time that passed in silence though, the guiltier I felt about how I'd reacted.

I had never met Apollo personally, I only knew the stories that I'd heard. Most of his interactions with humans ended with the mortals being turned into a plant. It was natural to feel a bit nervous in the presence of a god. I'd been nervous when we met Aphrodite as well.

Regardless though, our reactions had hurt Percy. More than that, even though Apollo hadn't said anything, we'd hurt the sun god too. He didn't show his emotions the way Percy was, but I could tell. I had never imagined a god caring if mortals feared them, but the god of music clearly did. Whether that was because he knew it hurt Percy or if it was because he'd considered us friends too didn't really matter in the end. We'd hurt them.

"That could have gone better." I nodded in agreement with the daughter of Bellona.

Frank shook his head. The son of Mars still looked nervous, like he expected the sun god to come back and turn him into a tulip. "I can't believe that I hit Apollo Phoebus in the face with a snowball."

Leo snorted at that as though he'd only just remember the gigantic snowball fight he'd started over Christmas.

Jason suddenly started laughing. "Personally, I can't believe that Apollo Phoebus dressed up like an elf."

I gave him a strange look while Annabeth and Reyna started chuckling too. I hadn't heard that story, but it sounded like an interesting occurrence.

The laughter died quickly though as we remembered how we'd gotten on the topic.

Hazel shifted nervously. "I'm not sure how I am supposed to react. I liked Fred, but…"

Annabeth shook her head and continued where the daughter of Pluto had faltered, "But Apollo isn't Fred."

I bit my lip. I couldn't say that I was completely comfortable with the knowledge that my friend was actually an immortal being of truly terrifying power, but I couldn't let everyone else forget the truth either.

"Yes he is." Everyone turned to look at me, but it didn't stop me from saying what I wanted to. "Maybe there's more to him than we originally thought, but that doesn't mean he's no longer our friend. No matter how long you know someone, there's always more to learn about them. We just learned a bit more about him today, that's all."

Jason gave me a smile, but I could tell he didn't agree. "Piper, there's a big difference between learning someone likes mint chocolate ice cream best and learning that they're a completely different person."

I tilted my head, "Is it any different than learning that all the memories you have of someone are fake? Leo and I didn't stop hanging out with you when we found out that we didn't really know you the way we thought we did."

The son of Jupiter winced and frowned at the reminder. We didn't talk about it often, but I don't think either of us forgot that at the beginning we were fooled into thinking we knew each other.

I squeezed my boyfriend's hand. "I'm not going to lie and say I trust Apollo because frankly, I don't really know him either. But I do think that he at least deserves a chance. I've known Fred for almost five months and he's never been anything other than a great guy. Besides, Percy seems to care about him and that's enough of a reason for me to give him a chance to prove that he's more than just how he's portrayed in the old stories."

Jason grimaced at the reminder that our friend was apparently dating a god but considering our heritages, he didn't say anything about that. I was a little nervous about how Will would react when he found out though. That was something that the two of them would have to deal with themselves.

Annabeth shook her head. "The thing I don't understand though is why wouldn't they tell us? Why did they keep it a secret?"

Since it was clearly a rhetorical question, I didn't expect to hear an answer. I was rather surprised when the son of Hephaestus answered.

"They weren't supposed to tell us actually." Everyone looked at the black haired boy and he blushed. "I… accidently figured out who he was a couple weeks ago."

I remembered the strange way that Leo, Calypso, Percy, and Apollo had been acting the day of our group movie. Once I thought about it, it occurred to me that was about the time that Percy started acting strange. It would make sense if that was what had led today's shocking discovery.

The daughter of Athena frowned. "Why?"

Reyna decided to answer for the nervous Latino. "Lord Jupiter ordered him to keep it quiet. I was actually quite surprised that Percy decided to tell everyone, but if Leo discovered Lord Apollo's secret then it makes sense."

Hazel look at her in surprise. "How did you know about it then if it was supposed to be a secret?"

She shrugged. "Lord Mercury delivered a letter to me before he arrived explaining who it was that was joining our city so that I would know not to question his presence. As long as one Praetor knew who he was, then the council could be sure that he would be welcomed in New Rome."

Frank shook his head. "So it was only the six of us who didn't know then?"

Calypso gave him a soft smile, "The five of you. I recognized his mortal form as soon as I saw him. However, I am certain that you all realize that you can't tell anyone else here who he really is. Apollo may choose to share his identity with a few more of your friends, but it's not something he is likely to tell everyone."

The son of Mars nodded, "Of course. I wouldn't want to risk Jupiter's' wrath because we told anyone."

There didn't seem much more we could say after that. Slowly the other's said their good-byes and left. Annabeth went upstairs to try and work on her designs but I doubted that she would have much luck. There was too much on all of our minds.

There was a million thought's buzzing though my head. I was trying to be understanding, but I wasn't going to believe that it would be easy to look past Apollo's godhood. It would probably be months before we could go back to being friends with him and even then, it probably wouldn't be the effortless friendship we all once shared.

The thought that I kept coming back to was Percy and Apollo's relationship. Relationships between mortals and gods were all doomed to end badly. It was simply a fact. Percy and Apollo had a better chance at happiness since the son of Poseidon's future was still undecided, but it wasn't going to be easy for them. They no doubt had a lot of challenges ahead of them. Even if they got through all of them, they were far from guaranteed their happily ever after.

I could only pray that my mother knew what she was doing.

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Authors Note

I know people will probably be mad at how everyone reacted in that last chapter, which is why I put this one up at the same time.

Hopefully you don't think everyone was too OOC now. Honestly I didn't expect them to act like that either. It just happened. I am hopeful that this chapter explains their reactions a bit better.

Next Chapter:

It was incredibly obvious that my presence still made the son of Mars uncomfortable…