Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it. To those who don't Happy Thursday! This one-off story has the same pairings at Thinking of the Future, but is not a tie in. This is just our first shot at a holiday special. We hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any, except for one, of the characters in this story. They are owned by Rick Riordan. Also forgot to mention this originally, the idea for New Athens comes from Takara Phoenix. I meant to add this disclaimer before I published, but I seem to have forgotten.
A Special Thanksgiving-
Percy was busy in the kitchen when he heard the doorbell ring, "Nico, could you get that?" Percy asked.
"Sure thing, my love," Nico replied coming out of the formal dining room that he was setting up. He walked to the front door and opened it and greeted the guests, "Happy Thanksgiving! Annabeth, Piper, Reyna, Percy is in the kitchen if you would like to go help him. Jason, you can help me with setting the table."
Nico led Jason to the dining room as the girls headed to the kitchen. "Happy Thanksgiving Percy!" the girls greeted him.
"You too," Percy returned with a huge smile on his face. "If I didn't have my hands full I'd hug you all. Now that you are here you can help me, Annabeth could you check and see if the little poppy thingy on the turkey is up, Piper could you stir the potatoes, and Reyna could you please relax?"
The girls all nodded and went about what they were asked to do. "Percy the timer is up on the turkey," Annabeth said.
"Great then I'll give it five more minutes to make sure and then we can take it out and let it rest," Percy replied. "Piper, could you please put the mashed potatoes into this bowl? Reyna, could you grab the platter that is on the table and put it by the oven please?"
"Perce, calm down please," Annabeth said. "You're doing a wonderful job. Everyone will be please."
"Percy, your mom just called her, Paul, Ella, Tyson, and Christiana will be here in about fifteen minutes," Nico said as he walked into the kitchen.
"What about Frank, Hazel, and Leo?" Percy asked.
"They'll be here soon," Jason replied as he joined them. "Leo just IMed me and said that Hazel was finally ready."
"Great, I have fifteen minutes to get the food to the table," Percy said nervously. "Nico, could you take the Turkey out of the oven? I can't believe this is the first Thanksgiving that we will be hosting and nothing has gone super wrong yet."
"You have done awesome, my love," Nico said as he grabbed two pot holders to get the turkey out of the oven. "Alright, now let's let this rest and I will bring it to the dining room once everyone is here and ready to eat." Nico then ushered everyone out of the kitchen and to the living room.
As they were all sitting in the living room catching up the doorbell rang and Percy got up and ran full speed to answer it. Once he opened the door he was greeted with a hug from his mom. "Happy Thanksgiving Percy!" Sally greeted. "It smells great; I can't wait to try the food."
"Good cause there is a lot of it," Percy grinned. "Happy Thanksgiving Paul and little sister, and to you as well Tyson and Ella, come on in and warm up."
Percy led the group to the living room. He took their coats and put them in the closet. As he was heading towards the living room the doorbell went off again and he walked over to the door. When he opened the door he heard, "Happy Thanksgiving!"
"To you three as well," Percy beamed. "Come on in, can I take your coats?"
Frank, Leo, and Hazel all took off their coats and followed Percy to the living room, "You can sit in here until it is time to eat. Nico, could you come to the kitchen with me?"
"Sure thing," Nico replied and followed his boyfriend to the kitchen. "What is it you need, mi amore?"
Percy felt the blood rush to his face and replied, "Could you put the turkey onto the platter? I'll get everything else to the table and then get our family in there then you can bring it in."
"Sure thing, but on one condition," Nico said.
"What would that be?" Percy asked with a smirk.
"You give me a kiss first," Nico replied.
Percy then walked over to Nico and pulled him into his embrace. Then Nico placed his lips on Percy's until they heard a throat being cleared from behind them. "I doubt the rest of the group want to eat cold food," Sally laughed. "Now, I'll help you take the food to the table."
"Thanks, mom," Percy said and grabbed the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and headed towards the dining room. His mom followed closely with the corn, green bean casserole, and dinner rolls. She kept watching him closely, "Mom why do you keep looking at me like that?"
"Because I love you sweetie and I have honestly never seen you so happy before," Sally replied. "You really love Nico don't you?"
"Yeah, I've been with him for almost five years and I've known him for almost nine years," Percy said. "I love him with all my heart and I'm super happy to be with him."
"Have you talked about getting married?" Sally asked.
"Sometimes and even about having kids too," Percy admitted. "It's just we haven't had much time until now. Ever since New Athens was finished and we could live safely outside of camp, we were just too busy. Now, that we have the time to just sit and be a normal couple we've had the chance to talk about it more. I think he is just waiting for the right moment before proposing though."
"Well hopefully that will be soon so we can plan a wedding," Sally smiled. "How about you go get the rest of the family and I'll finish getting things ready in here?"
"Okay mom," Percy replied and headed towards the living room. "Let's go eat!" he told the group in the living room and then headed to the kitchen. "Nico, could you bring the turkey and stuffing to the dining room?"
"Sure thing, mi amore," Nico said giving Percy a quick kiss on the lips before following Percy to the dining room. He set the turkey in front of his chair at the head of the table. "Now, before we dig in let's share what we are all thankful for. Sally why don't you start and we will go around the table and finish with me."
"I am thankful for Nico, who has made my Percy the happiest I have ever seen him," Sally said. "I am also thankful for this dysfunctional family that we have."
"I am thankful for the gods without whom we wouldn't have this amazing family," Paul said. "I am also thankful for Christina and Percy as they are the best children a father could ask for."
"I'm thankful for the food," Christina said and got 'awes' from around the table.
"I'm thankful for Percy without who I would've never figured out my true feelings for Reyna," Annabeth said and gave her girlfriend a small kiss.
"I'm thankful for Annabeth and this amazing family I get to spend today with," Reyna said.
"I'm thankful for family and for having Piper," Jason said. "I also with that Thalia could be here."
"I'm thankful for Jason and the food and this family," Piper said and kissed Jason.
"I'm thankful for being able to call you all family as you are all that I have," Frank grunted.
"I'm thankful to have not one, but two lovers," Leo smiled which made both Frank and Hazel blush.
"I'm thankful to be able to spend today with this amazing family and be able to call it mine," Hazel said looking at everyone who was there.
All eyes turned towards Nico who said, "I'm thankful for Percy, without whom I probably wouldn't be alive today. This winter marks nine years of us knowing each other and just a few months ago we celebrated five years as a couple. That's why," Nico then dropped to one knee before continuing, "Perseus Jackson, I love you with all my heart. You are my best friend and my world. I think about you before I sleep, while I sleep, and as soon as I wake up. You drive me crazy, in a good way. Will you do me the honor in giving me your hand in marriage?"
Percy had tears rolling down his face as he saw the ring Nico was holding. All he could manage was to nod his head to which Nico put the ring on his left ring finger and pulled Percy into a hug. When the embrace ended Percy pulled Nico back in for a very sloppy and love filled kiss. Congratulations were heard from all around the room to which the couple nodded in thanks. Then Percy turned towards his mom and said, "You knew all along didn't you?"
"Yes," was the only word that came from Sally's mouth.
"Let us eat," Nico said with a huge smile on his face. He started carving the turkey and plates were passed up, even Hazel didn't skip out on turkey even though she is a vegetarian.
After the meal was done the family members all got bundled up and headed out to play a game of football. Percy, Nico, Jason, and Tyson faced off against Frank, Leo, Paul, and Reyna. Frank's team won as Annabeth was their coach and out coached Piper. After the game they all went back in and had desert which consisted of pumpkin pie, apple pie, and blue chocolate chip cookies. Once desert was done everyone started to leave until it was only Percy and Nico left.
"I told you we'd survive the day," Nico said running his fingers through Percy's hair.
"Except for the fact that I almost died before we even ate dinner," Percy said as he cuddled closer to Nico. "I love you Nico di Angelo."
"I love you too, Percy di Angelo," Nico smile as he said the name out loud for the first time. "Let's go to bed. I'm exhausted."
"Right behind you," Percy said with a stupid smile stuck on his face.
~~~~~~THE END~~~~~~
A/N: I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful one. I also hope you enjoyed this as the next time I write a one off like this it will be tied into the Thinking of the Future series. Now, this is Theseus signing off as I believe Orion has died from a full stomach. :D See you next time!
