Does the sun shine in Tartarus?

Epilogue - Five Years Later

Percy walked with his boyfriend through the park. It had been half a decade since his quest with Apollo, and since he accepted Zeus' offer of immortality he had been feeling a lot happier. Of course, it helped that he was in love. Percy's heart still twinged with regret and sadness whenever thoughts of his old friends crossed his mind, but at least he didn't get his 'meltdowns' as often anymore. Both he and Apollo had their fair share of traumatising battles during their final quest, and the last 5 years had really made their relationship stronger. Percy and Apollo had been there for each other in their darkest times, seen each other at their worst, and yet here they were, enjoying each other and the sunny weather in the park like a regular couple.

Apollo squeezed Percy's hand. "Perce, look over there." he whispered, his tone bittersweet. Percy followed his boyfriend's gaze and settled his eyes on a small group of children, all playing together. There was a curly dark haired boy who was working closely with a blonde haired girl to build a tower out of pipe-cleaners, alongside a golden-eyed girl who was laughing with a Native American girl at a blonde boy trying to eat a stapler. Next to the golden-eyed girl was a shy looking boy, a bit on the chubby side but sweet faced. "Hayley, Pippa, can we go play with Lee and Anne? James is scaring me..."

The golden-eyed girl, Hayley, turned to the shy boy. "Freddy, if you want to go play with them you can, I'll come with you so you don't have to ask alone. Pippa, let's ask James if he wants to come too."

Percy smiled sadly. When he heard from Hades that his friends had chosen to be reborn, he had asked the God of the underworld if they could be near each other. He supposed that Hades had purposefully made them grow up near Percy too. In that moment, Percy swore to protect his friends' new lives as long as he existed.

"You okay, Babe?" Apollo murmured, pulling Percy to his chest.
Percy leant into him, allowing himself to feel safe. Nodding slightly, he brushed a tear off his cheek and pulled away. "Can we stay here for a bit? Just to make sure they get home safely?"
"Of course, I was about to suggest that myself."
"Great minds think alike."

Apollo grinned. "Yes, my mind is pretty great, isn't it?"
"I mean, I could think of a greater mind." Percy teased, laughing a bit.
"Is that so?" Apollo brushed his lips across Percy's neck, causing Percy to gasp quietly.
"Oh yeah." He managed, breathlessly. "Athena's mind is... pretty great..." he trailed off, Apollo's teasing making him speechless as well as breathless.

"I think they're leaving..." Apollo murmured, pulling away and watching the group of six children walk together towards a couple of cars. A small group of adults were next to the cars, chatting good-naturedly. Percy smiled wistfully and placed a quick blessing on them, and then turned back to his boyfriend.
"They'll be safe now. Where were we?" He asked, blinking his eyes innocently.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Apollo smirked, taking Percy's hand and teleporting them back to his palace.

Life was good.