So I couldn't think of any holidays, but then I thought of Jason's birthday and I figured 'why the fuck not' and here it is.
I don't own Percy Jackson
July first, the birthday of one Jason Grace, was an eventful day. He was dragged out of bed early by Nico of all people and the two were running all over the place. First they went to the zoo because Jason had said once before that he liked visiting them and then after that they went out for lunch, which Nico paid for.
They were sitting at a park bench with ice cream cones now watching as little kids ran around at a safe distance from their parents.
"So why are you dragging me all over town?" Jason asked while Nico poked at his ice cream. The younger boy wasn't fond of ice cream cones, they were messy and the son of Hades did not like messy at all.
Nico shrugged. "It's your birthday; people usually do things on their birthday right?" He asked unsure. He wasn't clear on what exactly he and his family did for birthdays. He remembered a toy shop but that was about it.
"Which one of the girls put you up to this? You never want to spend time with me out of the blue." Jason said before he chewed at one of the brownies that were in his ice cream.
"None, I thought that it would be nice to spend some time with my self-proclaimed best friend on his birthday. You would probably do the same thing if I told you my birthday." Nico said looking through his own bowl of ice cream for the bits of cookie dough that was in his food. Frank had introduced him and Hazel to cookie dough ice cream and to say the least both of them were addicted.
"So you just up in the blue decided that you wanted to spend the time with me? That sounds weird kid." Jason said earning a punch in the leg.
"I'm older than you!" Nico complained.
"Says the nineteen year old to the twenty-one year old," Jason laughed.
Nico rolled his eyes and leaned into the bench. "I'm still older than you are Grace, you should respect your elders." He said with a little cheek.
"I respect you as much as I respect anybody else…so what kind of elaborate gift do you think that mystery person is getting me this year?" Jason asked hoping that Nico knew what it was or at least who it was.
Nico bit his lip and looked away. A sign that Jason knew meant he knew something. "I can't say Jason, maybe it's a wine collection from multiple European countries, maybe it's a batch of homemade brownies that were made with pure Belgium chocolate…maybe it's the original Superman collection on DVD…I have no idea." He said.
Jason cracked a smile. "Must you really only get me Superman things?" He asked with a chuckle.
Nico nodded. "You're Superman aren't you, you get Superman things and that's that…besides it makes it easier to buy for you."
"How's that cookbook I got you, anything good in there?" Jason asked.
The younger of the two made a face. "It's horrible, I looked at the section that they said was 'Italian' but they all called for too much garlic, or not enough basil, and one of them had neither basil or garlic and I was seriously just standing there thinking 'what the Hades would Mama think if she saw this?'…but other than that I enjoyed the beef stew recipe."
Jason nodded. "So basically you tore out the entire 'Italian' recipe's and burned them in memory of your Mama and then decided 'hey, I'm gonna make beef stew!' and called Hazel and Frank over?"
"Pretty much yes," Nico said without a bit of remorse for the section that he did in fact tear out and burn. "How's the motorcycle?" He asked hesitantly.
"Beautiful, just beautiful…say you wouldn't know the person who keeps getting me this stuff do you?" He asked hopefully.
Nico smiled slightly, he got this question all the time from him. "If I know I'm not saying Jason."
"You totally know who it is!" Jason said like an excited little boy. He turned his whole body to Nico and grinned, making the little scar on his lip stand out. "Who is it?" He questioned.
"I'm not telling." Nico said slowly starting to smile more broadly. He wanted to see how long it actually took Jason to figure out it was him.
"Nico, if you tell me I'll take you to that into that new bar, you know that new one that has a lot of single, attractive males who would love to get to know you, and I'll even buy the alcohol." Jason said secretly hoping that it didn't work on him. He didn't like Nico talking to other boys, it was weird how protective he actually got around Nico when boys did try and hit on him…
Luckily Nico shook his head no. "Let's just say that you really do have a secret admirer, and maybe that person is closer to you than you think it is…" He said.
"Is it Drew? Please tell me it's not Drew." Jason said hoping that it wasn't her.
Nico shook his head. "No it's not Drew you idiot! Think about it, they put their initials on it and everything…" He said hoping that he would figure it out soon…he honestly didn't want to keep hiding the fact that it was him doing it…
Jason looked at him confused. "What do you mean initials, I never saw any initials on anything…" He said.
"You never saw any of the letters at the bottom and thought 'hey what's that?'…?" Nico asked curiously. Seriously how stupid was he…?
Jason shook his head and Nico resisted the urge to slap him. "No I never noticed them…how did you know…?"
"You've shown me the gifts before Jason; it's always in the same place on the tag." Nico said before standing up. "Come on, we're going to Piper's."
"Why," Jason asked curiously.
"You're surprise party, which is supposed to be a surprise so please act like you weren't expecting it when they all jump out and shout surprise." Nico said dragging him along.
"So you were just trying to distract me!" Jason laughed while they ran in the direction of Jason's motorcycle.
"Of course I was, why else would I take you out for a large majority of the day?" Nico asked with what could be mistaken for a smile on his lips.
Jason smiled as well, no matter how much he tried to deny it he knew that Nico was his best friend.
The party was small but fun, Thalia came all the way over to spend the rest of the day with him and the others, Sally Jackson made his cake, which was delicious thank you very much, and Leo only set himself on fire three times!
"So when are we doing presents?" Thalia asked rubbing her hands together. She loved birthday parties for the sheer fact that she got to watch as her present outshined everyone else's…okay everyone except that mystery person who bought HER little brother a kickass motorcycle that he wouldn't let her borrow at all...mostly because she was technically underage to ride such a kickass motorcycle.
"Right after cake, like always Thalia," Annabeth said with a look of amusement on her face, no matter whom it was Thalia always got them an awesome gift and no one, except for Jason's secret admirer.
"This year, I'm so going to beat your mystery admirer." Thalia said with the same look that Leo had on his face the Christmas before when he said that he would find out who it was.
Leo snorted and lit the candles on the cake with the tip of his index finger, it was a running gag of theirs that Leo had to lite all birthday cakes using his own flames and it was always fun watching him try not to set the cake on fire like he did with Percy's one year. "Trust me that's not gonna happen…I mean the person got him a kickass motorcycle, which I still have not gotten to ride Grace; hint hint wink wink." He said looking Jason straight in the eyes.
"He doesn't let anyone on that thing, stop trying Valdez." Percy sighed. He seriously wanted a ride on the bike, probably not as much as Thalia and Leo but still.
Nico snickered and flipped his overly long bangs out of his face in a way that seemed to be smug before taking a sip of his fruit punch; he wasn't allowed to drink alcohol yet because even though he was 80+ years old Annabeth thought he should still follow that lame law that says he can't, little did they know that Nico could drink a Cyclops under the table without effort.
"And what was that di Angelo?" Percy asked after taking notice of Nico's actions.
"What was what Jackson?" Nico asked playing dumb.
"That little snicker and the, may I say, very dramatic hair flip you just did there." Percy said with a look that said he was watching the son of Hades.
"Oh nothing, just you know the fact that I got to ride that so called kickass motorcycle a few times." Nico said proudly earning a few glares.
"What, that totally isn't fair!" Leo shouted with a hurt look on his face.
"Oh it's totally fair; he did spend a large wad of cash on the thing." Hazel said to Frank under her breath. Frank bit his lip to stop himself from giggling.
"What was that Hazel?" Piper asked curiously, she saw the younger girl's lips move and Frank holding back laughter but she didn't hear anything come from the younger girl.
"Nothing…shouldn't we sing Happy Birthday before the candles start to melt?" She asked noticing that the candles were in fact slowly melting.
"You know, I'm still wondering how the mystery person keeps getting the present here without us noticing…Annabeth you're the smart person why haven't you figured it out yet." Thalia said before sticking a forkful of cake in her mouth.
Annabeth shrugged, "I have no idea actually; it never occurred to me how it happened before now." She bit her lip in thought and turned to Nico. "Do you know anyway it could happen?" She asked him.
Nico chocked on his cake. "W-w-w-what," He asked stuttering like a fool. He didn't think anyone would think to ask him but they were and he sure as Hades didn't know what to tell them without giving it away…
"How would you deliver a present without anyone noticing?" Annabeth asked looking at him with fascinated grey eyes.
Hazel gave him a pointed look. "Yes Nico, how would you deliver a present to the person you obviously had a massive crush on without anyone noticing?" She asked.
"Easy, I would shadow travel there to the place when no one was looking and place the gift neatly in with the rest of the pile and then just disappear again like nothing had happened." Nico said with ease, as if he had explained this multiple times to Hazel.
Piper stared at him longer than she had ever stared at him and then everything made sense to her. "That sounds like a beautiful plan to me Nico…but what would you do if you were found out?" She asked.
"Well, I would shadow travel to China and then never come back." Nico said.
Jason leaned over and flicked Nico on the head. "I told you no running away." He said like he was scolding a dog.
Nico scoffed and waved him off. "I was only half joking Grace." He said.
"Alright, we all know that Nico runs away from most of his problems but we can have an intervention for that later…now we open presents!" Thalia said waving her hand over to where the presents were sitting.
Nico glared at her and cursed under his breath in Italian about hunters and how rude they were. He was ignored since none of them could figure out what he was saying.
They started handing Jason presents then, one by one starting with Reyna since she had known him longest besides his sister.
"Reyna, did Nico put you up to this?" Jason asked when he unwrapped a bag of Superman themed jellybeans.
"Maybe a little bit; it is amusing seeing your face." Reyna said plucking a jellybean from the bag. She had agreed almost instantly when the son of Hades asked if she wanted to get in with him on the Superman themed gag gifts.
"Still totally worth it," Nico said pushing away his half empty plate of cake.
"It's always fun seeing your face when we call you Superman." Percy said with a little bit of a grin on his face. "Open ours next!" He shouted handing Jason his and Annabeth's gift.
This went on for twenty minutes, they got interrupted a few times because of arguments of who should go first since Leo was his best friend and there was no way he was letting Jackson go before him, and Piper wanted to take pictures of them all looking just a bit peaceful but they all ended up looking like they were completely insane, which wasn't a bad thing for demigods…at last they got to the very last present, which was as always, the mystery present.
"What do you think it is?" Leo asked when they made room for the large gift.
"Maybe it's a wine collection from multiple European countries, maybe it's a batch of homemade brownies that were made with pure Belgium chocolate…" Jason said quietly remembering what Nico had said earlier that day.
Nico laughed; of course Jason would remember exactly what he had told him earlier. "And maybe a collectors set of Superman…"
"Maybe," Jason said laughing as well as he unwrapped his last present slowly.
"Are we missing something?" Annabeth asked curiously. She was used to the two of them having inside jokes by now but it seemed to be that as time went on the two got even more confusing…
Jason shook his head. "No, just something that Nico said to me earlier…"
Thalia peaked over his shoulder to see what the present was. "And it seems like di Angelo was right; a set of wines and brownies…"
"Say, how did you know that Nico?" Leo asked examining a wine bottle. It was old, older than Hazel and Nico were to be exact…
"Yes, how did you know the exact gift that Jason was going to get Nico?" Frank asked in a tone that clearly meant he damn well knew how he knew and wanted him to spill the beans.
Nico shrugged. "I don't know, just a guess…now if you excuse me I think I can use a cigarette…" He said standing up from his seat.
"But you don't smoke…" Percy said with a frown, his eyebrows knit together as if that would help him remember anything about Nico smoking.
"Sure I don't Jackson, sure I don't." Nico said with a ghost of a smile.
"Those things are going to kill you." Hazel said to her brother.
"Something's got to do it, might as well go out with a giant fire." Nico said.
Piper stood up quickly, "I'll come with you Nico," She said causing the others to look at her oddly. "My Grandpa Tom used to smoke, the smell reminds me of him." She lied casually.
"What do you want McLean?" Nico asked when they were a good enough distance from the others. He had a cigarette between his teeth, but it wasn't lit yet.
Piper smiled at him. "To discuss the person that keeps giving Jason such great gifts…I mean it's gotta be hard finding such old wine…how did you do it?" She asked.
"They were my mothers, I may or may not have found my home back in Italy and well what Italian doesn't have wine in their cellar, we were rich, we could afford a nice cellar that could hold a lot of it. I figured he would share it with me, he always does." Nico said. "It's not like I gave him all of it, I have other bottles in my apartment, I just gave him one from each country…how did you figure it out?" He asked. He didn't bother lying; he figured she would get it out of him either way.
"You sounded like you've been doing it for years when Annabeth asked you how you would drop off mystery presents…when are you gonna tell him?" Piper questioned.
"Never, he's going to have to figure out himself. No way am I telling him." Nico stated. He took out a lighter, the one that you flipped open, and lit the cigarette.
"We both know Jason isn't gonna figure it out on his own." Piper reminded him.
Nico nodded to say he understood, "That's sort of the point Piper; he won't find out and as much as I hate it I'm gonna be stuck being his best friend, and only that for a long time."
"You could just tell him." Piper said sweetly.
"I'll pass on the confession." Nico said.
"Who else knows that it's you?" Piper questioned.
"Frank and Hazel, but that's only because Hazel does the same thing to Frank…you see it's how we show affection towards the people we love…Father does it with Persephone, we picked it up from him." He explained to her. "No one else has figured it out yet, I'm impressed Piper, I thought for sure that Annabeth would figure it out. "
"Annabeth is smart; she'll figure it out soon." Piper mused.
Nico blew smoke from out of his mouth slowly and sighed. "I'm dreading that day dearly."
"Why?" Piper asked more curiously than before.
"Because knowing her she'll figure out some elaborate way for me to tell him and I am having none of that. I get enough of that from Hazel and Frank." Nico admitted. He turned to look back at the others and smiled at his sister.
"She just wants what's best for you." Piper tried to say. "And maybe a golden boy boyfriend is what's best for you."
"Oh trust me Piper that would be glorious." Nico said cracking a bit of a smile. He put out the cigarette and looked for a trash can so he could throw it away.
"Come on lover boy, let's go back." Piper said turning on her heel to head back to their picnic table that she had in her backyard.
Yay, I finally finished! It's a pretty long chapter so I hope that it makes up for the fact that I haven't updated in a while…
I have this head cannon that Nico would smoke when he got to be older, and his grandfather was a diplomat; they make a lot of money, close to around $55,000 so you've got to figure that the di Angelo's were filthy rich..