Percy Jackson, The Missing Hero.

48. The Love God is Incapable of Being Turned Off.

"Holy shit," Nico gasped from beside Percy, his eyes going wide as he identified the god. There were slight changes in his appearance that, paired with the obvious trauma to his body, made him seem a lot less threatening than the god that forced Nico to confront his sexuality all those years ago. Despite the torment he had felt at Eros' hand, he knew that Eros did not deserve the damage that had obviously been done to him during his time as Gaia's captive. The god looked wrecked, barely lucid as he looked up from Apollo and tried to scan the faces of the group crowded around the doorway.

Eros' eyes fixed on Percy for a moment before they began to lose focus and the god had to shake his head and squint to regain his perspective. "Apollo?" Eros murmured softly. "Where is he?"

"Who?" Apollo asked gently. Deep down, he knew who Eros was asking for. He knew why his attention was fixed to Percy, whose appearance was similar to the person Eros was asking for. He knew that person wouldn't have come, even if he had sought them out on Olympus instead of going to his father and making the suggestion that it was Eros who was being held, a suggestion that had been dismissed by both Zeus and Aphrodite with laughter. Apparently the concept was 'ludicrous' and Apollo was being stupid.

"Last time?" Eros frowned, turning his attention back to Apollo. "He was with you last time."

"Last time I had to rescue you like this was many millennia ago," Apollo informed him, trying to fight an inappropriate smile as he remembered the incident well. "Last time, we knew it was you we would have to rescue."

"Eros has been kidnapped before?" Nico asked from behind him, exposing his identity to the other demigods who didn't recognise him. Jason, who was at the back of the group and hadn't seen the god's face properly, started cursing up a storm.

"It used to be at least a bi-monthly occurrence before he started to render himself invisible when shooting arrows at his targets," Apollo chuckled.

"This face is too pretty for it not to be seen," Eros muttered before Apollo could continue.

"That face has gotten you into more trouble than good," Apollo reminded him before looking up at the demigods. "Aphrodite used to pay people to kidnap him so she could ask other gods to rescue him in the hopes we'd fall in love. We used to be fairly good friends, back in the day, because of an incident when he actually got kidnapped and used as bait to lure in other gods because they knew that Aphrodite would send someone after him. I was one of the two that agreed to go and though we had known each other in passing beforehand, it was after his rescue that we became friends. For a time, anyway." He didn't voice the reasoning for their eventual fallout.

"I'm sorry about Da-"

"You've apologised for that enough," Apollo informed him, cutting him off before he could speak too much, reveal too much. Really, he needed to spur the demigods into action and free Eros from his bonds, but keeping his old friend talking was good enough while he discreetly took mental notes of his injuries and the state of his body. "That was before we became friends. When we were younger and stupider."

"Not much has changed on your part," Eros laughed weakly. He lifted his head slightly and eyed Apollo with confusion. "Where's your necklace?"

"Oh!" Apollo's eyes widened as his hand shot to his chest to feel for the charm in the spot it usually lay, a sense of dread filling him in its absence, though he knew exactly where it was. He looked around to Percy who promptly lifted it out from beneath the collar of his t-shirt, seemingly aware that he needed to see it. "I had to nip back to Olympus and I needed some way of finding this lot again, so Seashell has been wearing it."

"Seashell?" Eros frowned.

"Percy," Apollo corrected himself, despite the fact that using Percy's actual name felt strange after using an array of affectionate nicknames to get his attention. "Percy Jackson."