Holding Hands
merry christmas from achieving elysium
written for my kind of insane but lovable family at PJFC
There were clothes thrown on the floor, outfits that had been tossed aside. An array of open perfume bottles were sitting on the counter next to the sink. Jewelry was strewn out on the head counselor's bed, glittering in the dim light.
Silena, for once, had been the one making the mess. Looking at her then, though, she didn't seem to care.
The girl in question let out a sigh and let her hair down from its fancy updo. She stared at herself in the mirror, squinting at her hairstyle before changing it again. She didn't like the look, changing it so it was half up, half down.
"Gods, I hate my fucking hair," she muttered, letting it down again and grabbing the curler. Her blonde-brown hair began to change color on its own, black starting from the roots and spreading throughout it. Soon, she had a head of black hair, ready to be pinned and curled and messed with.
"You do not, Lena," Drew remarked from the top bunk. The two sisters shared one; the younger girl had been reading (gasp!) and was promptly disturbed by Silena.
"Yes, I do!" Said girl cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation. She nearly hit the mirror with her curling iron.
"Whoa, calm down, Lena," Drew said, half looking up from her book and turning the page. "You look great."
Silena huffed again and sat down hard on the bench, staring at the mirror perched on the vanity. She turned the curling iron off and threw it down, resting her head in her hands. After a minute, a muffled sob was heard.
"Ah, shit, Lena," Drew grumbled, dog-earing the page and closing it. She set it down on the bed and crawled to the ground via ladder. She then proceeded to move some clothes out of the way, coming to sit next her sister on the bench.
"I just don't know what to do," Silena wailed, lifting her head up and staring at Drew. "I've never met a guy like him, and I don't want him to think I'm, like, shallow or anything, because he likes me as me. And I'm not just a pretty face, but I am an Aphrodite girl, and I also don't know what to wear!"
Drew pulled a tissue and handed it to her sister without speaking. Silena sniffed and wiped her eyes. She seemed to have calmed down a little.
"Okay," Drew said, shifting so they could speak face to face. "You want to be pretty, but you don't want to overdo it. And because Beckendorf is Beckendorf and awfully sweet, you kind of want to impress him. But he's a Hephaestus kid, so he's never really looked at beauty much."
"Uh huh."
"Hon," Drew said, brushing back some hair from Silena's face. She picked up the brush, and her face softened. "Hon, Beckendorf likes you. Even if you like to do mascara and play with different lipsticks and use drugstore perfume."
"Okay," Silena said. She looked up and smiled. "Will you help me, then?"
The two of them faced the mirror, looking at each other's reflections.
"Hon," Drew said, combing Silena's hair with her fingers and grabbing an elastic. "You only had to ask."
"Dogpile!" Leo yelled, barreling down from his spot next to Festus.
The other six demigods had no time to react before Leo tackled Jason, who grabbed Percy's legs. The three went down; Annabeth, who had been holding hands with her boyfriend, just rolled her eyes and jumped onto Leo.
Frank eyed the pile before shrugging.
"What's a dogpile?" Hazel timidly asked from beside him. Piper came up.
"Basically, everyone piles on top of each other, Haze," she said, grinning and slamming into Annabeth. The three boys on the bottom groaned a little and shifted.
The pile of people began to tip, much to Frank and Hazel's amusement. They ended up in a sort of pile, with Jason still on Percy, then Leo half-on Jason, half-buried underneath the two girls. Frank shrugged, turned into a dog, and promptly jumped in.
Hazel was left standing alone to stifle her laughter. She wandered off to grab a camera and took a picture of the amusing sight before being pulled in herself.
"Three, two, one, go!" Clarisse called, and Will set off.
"Come on, Will!" Alyss cried, shifting in her position on his back. He could feel her clinging tightly, hands gripped around his neck.
"It would help," he managed to yell. "if you were lighter."
He was tied neck-to-neck with David, who was stuck carrying Amy. In front of them were Sherman and Gary, carrying Mark and Abby respectively.
Technically, they were supposed to be practicing swordfighting in the Arena, with the Apollo Cabin paired with the Ares Cabin. However, they were both fiercely competitive, and it was always fun to bait Ares kids.
So they ended up piggy-back racing.
He and David glanced at each other. His brother clenched his jaw in determination and looked ahead. Will turned his head back and set his eyes on the goal.
Depending on the final standings, dessert privileges would be taken or given as well as dibs on weapons next Capture the Flag - between the two cabins at least. Then there was the inter-cabin competition, in which the top winners would get to order the losers around for a week. And Will had already been planning out what he was doing.
"Come on, Will!" Alyss yelled again, and he shifted her so he wasn't quite as uncomfortable. Sweat poured down his neck and dripped from his hair, and his back was showing signs that meant he'd be sore later. His arms were also so very fucking tired.
Then he imagined him and Alyss using their siblings as footrests or something and sped up.
When he crossed the finish line in third, his sister hopped off of him, and they collapsed to the ground, laughing. Life was looking pretty nice for once. (He was looking forwards to running the losers ragged from one side of camp to the other.)
"Thalia, you have a visitor," Phoebe announced, plunking herself down on a rather large and flat rock. The lieutenant looked up from sharpening a bucket of arrows in surprise.
From the way Phoebe had phrased visitor, it was likely that the visitor was a boy. Probably one of her many cousins. She threw the last arrow back into the bucket and stood, brushing off her outfit and glancing at the beautiful scenery of the river one last time.
"Thanks, Phoebe," she said, heading back to camp.
As she did, she passed other Hunters. Cameron and Kat were with each other, the latter blindfolded as Cam directed her in scaling a tree. She had to hold back a laugh when Cam purposely made Kat slam her head into a branch and gave the two a thumbs up.
"Hey, Pinecone Face," a voice said when she'd reached the tents. She spun around at the familiar nickname and voice.
It was none other than Nico di Angelo himself. He'd grown out a bit since she'd last seen him, and he looked better, too. If anything, he looked happier and a little more well-fed.
"Hey yourself, Death Breath," she said, grinning as the two hugged. "You're getting fucking tall, Nico."
"I'll be taller than you in no time," Nico teased, a glint in his eyes. He gestured at their difference in height... or their lack of one.
She snorted and reached to mess with his hair, while he objected and tried to move away. She succeeded, though.
"So," she started, leading him to her tent and perching on her cot next to him. "Why are you here?"
"What, you don't want me here?" he asked, putting a hand over his heart. She rolled her eyes.
After a minute, he sobered up a little. "Actually here to deliver a message on my way to Camp Half-Blood. Rey just wanted you to know that she wants to meet up with the Hunters to make an alliance and formally thank you guys."
She glanced at him. "What for?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You kind of kicked butt and saved our sorry asses."
"Right," she said, stretching. "Okay. But come on, cous, stop being Mr. Boring, and talk to me a bit. What have you been up to?"
He shrugged. "I'm going between camps as a sort of ambassador, but I've been hanging around CHB a little more lately." Nico was blushing slightly, and he avoided her gaze. Thalia's curiosity spiked.
"Oh?" she said, arching an eyebrow and giving him the look.
"Also I'm gay," he blurted.
A moment of shocked silence. She let herself process the words for a moment. Nico watched her, his eyes hopeful and a little guarded.
She did the first thing that came to mind: Thalia Marie Grace punched him. He flinched and stared at her.
"You idiot," she finally said. "And how long have you known this?"
"Um, a few years," was his reply. She punched him again.
"Ow," Nico cried, rubbing his arm and glaring. "What was that for?"
"For not telling me," she said firmly. "And for telling me now a few years late." He ducked his head.
"I didn't know what you guys would think of me," he muttered quietly, and she punched him for the third time that day. He hissed.
"That was for thinking we'd kick you out or something," she told him truthfully. "You know we wouldn't care. Are you dating?"
He stared at the sudden change in subject before hesitantly nodding.
"Will Solace," he provided, and it was her turn to be surprised. She hummed in approval.
"He's a good kid," she said. "and a good shot, too. A little bit of a dork, but you're a dork, so good job. You've landed yourself a boyfriend, eh?"
"You just called me a dork," he stated, ignoring her praise of his boyfriend. She shrugged.
"That's what you are, Death Breath," she teased, and he pulled out his sword.
"Oh, you're getting it now, Pinecone Face," he growled, and she pulled out her own weapon and darted out of the tent.
"You'll have to catch me first," she called over her shoulder, laughing.
"Shit, someone's wasted," Reyna said, appearing next to Frank. In his opinion, she looked great, decked out in a bloodred cocktail dress and with her hair loose for once.
The two praetors glanced at the birthday boy dancing on top of the pool table.
"You don't say," Frank commented, holding his own glass of tequila. Reyna ordered a shot and drank the thing in one go, slamming the tiny glass back onto the counter. She laughed.
"We'd better get him home before he does something he regrets," she said, pointing out how Dakota was making his way over to a group of also-drunk girls. He nodded, setting down his half-empty glass.
"Yeah," he said, and the two of them made their way over to Dakota.
Sure, it was Dakota's birthday. Sure, he wanted to have a couple of drinks and a party. No, Frank and Reyna both weren't letting him have sex with someone and having to pay the consequences.
"Hey, Dakota, man," he said, grabbing Dakota's arm.
"Whassit?"
Reyna grabbed his other arm, and they dragged him out into the night. He protested but was far too drunk to do anything. Eventually, Frank decided that dragging probably wasn't a good idea and lifted the centurion.
"So," he said as they made their way to the barracks. "Nothing like dragging a drunk friend home, huh?"
Reyna smiled and shook her head, black hair gleaming in the light. "Nothing quite like it. I knew we should've stopped him after his fifth round."
He chuckled, remembering Dakota getting on the table and bellowing Christmas carols. The crowd had naturally joined in, to their amusement.
"I recorded everything, you know," Reyna suddenly admitted.
"Never thought you were one for blackmail, Rey," he told her, grinning. She smiled.
"Even I like to live a little." He had to admire her - his partner, the person who he was slowly but surely forging a friendship with. She was a great person, with a lot of surprises with the package to keep him on his toes.
He turned to flash her another smile and stage-whispered. "Send me a copy."
Travis propped his feet up on Connor's legs. Though the former grumbled a bit, he made no move to push them off. Travis took that as a good sign.
"Feeling better, bro?" he asked, face lit by the warm glow of the fire. Connor grunted in affirmation.
"I guess," Connor finally said, staring at the campfire. Travis put his feet down and scooted closer, slinging an arm around his brother.
He grinned mischievously. "Are you feeling good enough to prank someone?"
Something clicked. He knew that Connor would take the bait; pranking was so much fun, and the looks on the campers' faces were priceless.
Connor smirked. "What about Chiron?"
"In a pink dress?"
"How about some jewelry to go with it?" The two brothers looked over to Chiron, currently in his wheelchair and watching the campers with a small smile. They were both imagining Chiron in a pink tutu with some jewelry.
"Hell yeah," Travis said, and the two bumped fists. "Now come on, bro, it's make-the-Apollo-cabin-cry-because-of-our-beautiful-singing time."
Oh, you better watch out,
You better cry
You better be bad(ass) and you better know why
'Cause the Minotaur is coming to town!
Mission: Crying Apollo Kids was a complete success.
"What do you mean, I have to take my finals?" Percy yelled, running a hand through his hair in obvious distress. He collapsed into a kitchen chair across from a very calm-looking Annabeth.
Paul sighed and took a seat as well. "I know you've just come back from saving the world, but you still have to take finals by March."
"Hoover dam," Percy muttered.
"It's okay, Percy," Annabeth piped up, grabbing her boyfriend's hand. "At least you don't have to do it now. It's Christmastime."
He hummed. "Fine," he finally said heavily, glancing at Paul. "Let's go make some gag gifts, Wise Girl."
The rest of the afternoon was spent making the so-called gag gifts. Percy had quite a large amount of ideas, from Frozen: the DVD being encased in a nice block of, well, ice, an Apple product (literally), a 'laptop', and a variety of other things.
"Pass me the hot glue, will you?" Annabeth asked, and Percy paused the water in mid-air to hand her the hot glue gun.
"Here," he said, and she accepted it with thanks. He went back to pouring water slowly and steadily in a baking pan with the DVD in the middle of it. She traced letters with hot glue, pressing a necklace string in the middle. When it dried, the hot glue would form words attached to a necklace. (A string of pearls.)
When they'd made enough gifts, the two demigods stopped to admire their handiwork. Some would be shipped (via Hermes Express) to Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood, while others were going under the Christmas tree in the Jackson-Blofis household.
"Well, time to wrap presents," Annabeth noted, pointing to a few bags as well as two rolls of gift wrap.
Percy grinned. "They're going to love their presents."
"Or hate you," she pointed out, stretching before sitting back down. He sat next to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek that made her blush at the gesture.
"You love me, though," he murmured, and she smiled at him.
"Of course," she said, rolling her eyes and adjusting the shiny bow that had somehow ended up in his hair during their two-hour last-minute Christmas gift making session.
He gave her that endearing crooked grin that she'd once hated and dumped the frozen DVD out of the pan and onto the table. He looked so happy then, making stupid gifts and with a bow in his hair that she couldn't resist leaning over to kiss him.
"Merry Christmas," she said, and he smiled again.
"At least we're not saving the world this time," he replied. "Pass me the tape, would you?"
Merry Christmas, everyone in my time zone! Have a good one for me, and if there's snow where you're at, play in it. I don't have snow.
Hope everyone enjoyed, and I just wanted to thank my lovelies from PJFC for this wonderfully crazy year. Thanks for being you and letting me be me, guys.
achieving elysium