The tree in the Jackson's basement was almost completely decorated as efficiently as possible for Christmas due to Annabeth's precise placement of every ornament. She stood slightly above everyone on a ladder, fixing some unknown flaw in her decoration. Leo and Percy were staring intently at her ass which was shown off nicely in the green pants she wore.
"Man, the Grinch has a big butt," Leo said with a toothy grin.
Frank agreed as he watched the green cartoon figure on the television dance around, unaware that Leo was talking about something else entirely.
Annabeth rolled her eyes but refused to look behind her until the ornament was perfect. "Hold the ladder for me, Seaweed Brain. So, what're you doing for Christmas Eve?"
"My parents are having the same lame Christmas party they have every year," Percy replied in exasperation. He licked his lips and made a creepy face. "'Hey, Neighbor, is that mistletoe?'" he said, mocking Annabeth's father's voice.
Annabeth smacked the top of his head as she leaned back to stare at her masterpiece. "Alright, how's it look?"
Leo answered immediately, still staring at her ass, "Magnificent."
"Looks great, man," Nico said without looking away from the T.V.
"It's fabulous," Percy replied honestly. His sea-green eyes full of adoration directed completely on her when she looked down at him. She blushed a furious shade of red and tried to hide it by turning away. Judging by the lopsided grin he was wearing she hadn't turned fast enough.
Will leaned back onto Nico's legs causing the Italian to tense and everyone else to stare at the two in absolute shock. "Oh, I just love Christmas," Will said, blissfully unaware of everyone's silent stares. "It's a time of good tidings and cheer… and shopping."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what Jesus was going for," Nico retorted. He stopped shifting his legs uncomfortably when Will tilted his head back to stare at him with those big, blue eyes. Nico knew he was staring when Leo groaned loudly.
"I give, too," Will said with a gentle smile. Nico nearly choked on his own spit as the unintended double entendre hit him before Will continued. "Every year me and my friends give to the less fortunate."
Leo flopped onto the couch beside Piper and Jason. "I think you mean unfortunate."
Piper chuckled and messed with Leo's hair affectionately.
Footsteps were heard coming down the basement stairs when Sally Jackson came prancing into the basement. She hastily changed the channel and informed them enthusiastically that Holiday Inn was on before skipping back upstairs singing, "Where treetops glisten, la, la, la, listen." At the top of the stairs she added in a singsong voice, "Perceus, come help decorate."
Percy kissed Annabeth's forehead before bounding after his mother.
"You know what my favorite Christmas gift is?" Leo said, picking at a button on his dark orange shirt. "Lite Brite."
Nico snickered. "Why? 'Cause they're so flammable?"
"Yeah!"
"Man, my favorite gift any time is cash," Nico said with a smirk. "That way you can buy whatever you want. The more the better."
Will's blond hair shifted gently over Nico's ripped jeans. Nico tensed again as he felt soft hair slip over bare skin. "No, no, no. That's no gift. A gift has to have meaning; it's got to be sentimental. It means more that way."
"Like diamonds," Piper said wistfully as she flipped through a fashion magazine. "A girl's best friend."
Jason shot a terrified look to Annabeth who sent him a placating gesture to calm his nerves. Before he could do or say anything else, a loud crash sounded from upstairs. The group turned to find Sally and Percy racing back downstairs, looks of pure terror etched onto their faces.
Percy explained, "We were digging through the Christmas decorations and found the Christmas rat." They all quickly got off the floor and darted their eyes back and forth looking for this holiday pest.
(***)
"So, Calypso," Sally hesitated, "seeing anyone at college?"
Calypso shrugged noncommittally as she poked at her eggs. Behind her, Percy coughed loudly to cover the 'slut' he said under his breath. She shot him a look but otherwise remained silent.
Sally only commented to say 'bless you'.
"Thanks, Mom," Percy said before glancing to Paul who was glaring at him. "Hey, Dad, I was wondering if instead of going to your party, I could throw one of my own in the basement? I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm old enough."
He told himself the laughter bubbling uncontrollably out of his mother did not affect him and he almost believed himself.
"Okay," Paul said, biting into a slice of bacon.
"Okay?" Sally and Calypso exclaimed in unison.
Paul shrugged. "Yeah. Every year he just mopes around like it's the end of the world anyway."
Percy let out a surprised laugh as his father's answer sunk in. He decided to test the waters a bit. "Also, I need money for the party?"
"Tell you what," Paul said, standing up and walking towards him, "I want you to pick out this year's Christmas tree for the living room. Whatever's left you can keep." He handed his son a forty out of his wallet.
Percy shrank a little at the thought of having to haggle for a tree. "But… I… Do I… I mean…"
"Haggling is an important part of being an adult, Perce," Paul said with a sinister smile.
He took the forty out of his father's hand with a defeated sigh before heading off to talk to his friends hoping Jason would be willing to help him.
(***)
Nico, Jason, and Percy had been driving in the Vista Cruiser that night when they'd stumbled upon it: the perfect Christmas tree. It was at least seven feet tall with not a blemish in sight and it was just growing on the side of the highway like it was waiting on someone to chop it down. Despite Jason's warnings that it was totally illegal to cut the tree down, Nico and Percy were already in the process of chopping it down.
"Would you calm down, Grace?" Nico admonished. He shivered in the chilly air as he continued, "This is brilliant. We grab this tree and keep the forty bucks for beer."
"Car!" Jason cried out before he and Nico dove to the ground.
Percy's head poked up from where he'd been crouching. "Where?"
Nico shoved him to the ground. "Idiota! Car means down!"
The car's headlights passed them without any issues and Percy handed the saw over to Nico. "I'm done."
"No, Jackson," Jason replied, "if you were done the tree would be a little more horizontal."
"I mean I am done, you cut the tree down," Percy emphasized.
Nico thrust the saw's handle into Jason's hands and proceeded to ignore their bickering. The trees were washed in light again as they all dove for the cold ground once more.
Once the tree finally fell and they managed to get it back to the Jackson's home, Jason began to feel a little more at ease with the heist. He was hopeful that for the first time ever he wouldn't be grounded this Christmas. Last year, he had been grounded for shoplifting courtesy of Nico who had secretly hidden something in one of his coat pockets.
Leo was bouncing up and down in the driveway by the time they pulled up, already talking before they had even opened their doors.
"... cost? I mean, jeez, eses," he was rambling. "How much do we have left over for beer? Can we still buy beer? I mean we don't need to buy presents if we have beer, right?"
Jason and Percy managed to untie the tree from the car and watched in stunned amusement as it rolled off the car directly onto Leo. The latino was buried underneath the foliage so much so that the only sign he was actually underneath was the violent rustling of pine needles.
The three boys laughed aloud as Leo wrestled his way out from underneath his captor.
Jason and Percy finally propped the tree up and held it in place as Leo angrily shook pine needles out of his hair.
"Nah, man," Nico started, "we got this for free. The forty bucks is still ours to spend."
Percy hushed his friend as his mom and Marybai Chase joined them in the driveway to look at the tree they had picked out. His mother praised him as soon as she saw the tree, claiming it to be the best tree they had ever had. Just as she grabbed ahold of a branch, however, a bird flew out of the tree in a flurry of feathers, startling everyone.
Sally stumbled backwards until she hit the sliding door to the kitchen. Before she had a chance to regain her balance, a spastic latino was in her face.
"Mrs. Jackson, I was thinking about buying a gift for this… um, girl. And, uh, she's about Calypso's age so I was wondering what Calypso likes?" He said it all in one long-winded rush that left him breathless at the end.
Not fully processing what he was asking she replied, "Perfume. Calypso wears Odysseus Sept."
"Oh, wow, and how much does that cost usually?" Leo asked, a smile fighting to break out across his face.
Sally thought for a second. "About twelve dollars."
"Hmm, what about a bottle of crappy perfume? How much does that usually cost?"
"Oh, you know, I don't know?" Sally said. "I'll call Paul's mother and ask her."
She turned to go inside leaving Leo cackling in the driveway as the other three messed with the tree. Calypso stepped out and fixed her step-brother with a pointed glare. "You didn't buy that, you stole it," she accused.
"I haggled," Percy argued pitifully.
"With who? Smokey the Bear? You stole it."
"You're one to talk, you're flunking out of college," Percy countered.
Calypso's eyes widened comically. "How'd you know?"
Percy smiled triumphantly. "I didn't."
The two narrowed their eyes at each other and agreed to a truce. Calypso backed away slowly towards the door, only looking away from her brother to smile sweetly at Leo who was gazing dreamily at her.
(***)
Nico finished helping the Jackson's set up their Christmas tree in the living room and left Sally and Calypso to decorate. When he stepped into the kitchen he had to fight down a surge of jealousy when he found Will sitting close to Leo at the breakfast table. He knew there was no point in being jealous since it was obvious the two didn't have the same feelings for one another anymore. Yet, he'd seen how quickly Leo's affections could switch up and he doubted he could compete with Leo for Will's affection; he doubted he even knew how.
"Just for a couple hours," Will was saying. "¿Por favor, Chico Malo Supremo?"
The nickname made Nico laugh loudly. "Bad Boy Supreme? Wow, you're desperate, Solace."
Will's back straightened so fast Nico was fairly certain he had broken something. The blond's head fell with a thud onto the breakfast table as Leo cackled in delight at his ex-boyfriend. "This doesn't concern you, Nico," Will said weakly, still trying to force his face through the table.
"Yeah, but I find this amusing... so, I'm going to make it my business," Nico replied easily.
Leo's eyes sparkled crazily as he glanced between the two boys in front of him, some evil scheme coming together with each wild twitch of his eyes. "Why don't you ask Nico to take you? Since, I don't think Cal's going to feel too comfortable about me driving my ex around all Christmas Eve rather than spending it with her."
Will had looked up as Leo had spoken but quickly buried his head again at the suggestion. There was no way in Tartarus that he was about to spend Christmas Eve with Nico di Angelo of all people. Not that he wouldn't enjoy it, he'd be lying if he said he didn't want to. Nico, on the other hand…
"Whatever the question is, the answer is probably no," Nico said with finality.
The look Will shot Leo was answered by a sympathizing smile. "Come on, amigo, he just needs a ride around town so he can distribute gift baskets to the less fortunate. Well, him, Paolo Montes, and Clovis."
"Oh, well since you put it that way," Nico started. "Hell no."
Leo held up a finger to Will and the corner of his mouth slid up in a knowing smile.
"Wait," Nico said suddenly, realization dawning in his dark eyes. "Paolo Montes? The Paolo Montes? Lucky scarf wearing soccer god? The Brazilian no habla ingles? That Paolo Montes?" Nico's eyes had widened and his voice had gone up an octave. He coughed and added as casually as he could. "I mean as long as we're back for the party or whatever, I could take you."
"Gee, thanks," Will muttered halfheartedly. He'd never seen Nico's eyes light up for anyone before and, as amusing as it was, he just wish it'd been his name that he'd gotten so excited over.
(***)
The second Paul's mother stepped foot in the Jackson's home, she had been filled with nothing but complaints. She had complained about Sally's homemade dip, the way Sally was dressed, and tried to insinuate that Sally had a drinking problem due to the rum and vodka sitting at the bar. She had even scolded Sally for not feeding her children enough, "they're skin and bones, woman".
"They have a high metabolism, Bernice," Sally replied with a forced smile.
Completely ignoring her, Bernice continued, "And my goodness, I know my Paul didn't start to drink until he met you."
Leaning over the counter to check on the punch she had made for Percy's party, Sally retorted, "And I didn't start drinking until I met you." A second passed before she realized what she had said and she quickly tried to laugh it off. "Ha, oh, merry Christmas." Her mother-in-law just stared at her in disbelief. "Oh, why don't you help me grab some party supplies real quick?"
Sally quickly guided her mother-in-law out of the kitchen before she could recover.
Calypso scurried into the kitchen as soon as the coast was clear, a bottle of rum in hand. With a devilish smile, she upturned the bottle of rum and allowed the liquid to flow into Percy's punch. "Ho, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum."
(***)
Percy found Annabeth messing with the tree in the basement again when he placed a mistletoe over her head. "I believe this goes here."
"Is that so, neighbor?" Annabeth chuckled.
"Yes it is, little lady," Percy answered as he leaned in to kiss her.
Their lips barely brushed against one another before the basement door swung open, loudly announcing the arrival of Leo and Nico. The two of them were holding brown bags filled with alcohol when Percy heard his mother coming down the stairs.
"Ice chest!" he whispered harshly, waving desperately towards the other room of the basement.
Leo and Nico ran as fast as they could, just getting out of sight as Sally rushed in carrying a plate of cookies. Calypso was a few feet behind her carrying a punch bowl and wearing a sly smile that instantly put Percy on edge. He knew he shouldn't have threatened her when he did; she had something else on him, he was sure of it.
"Mom, I said not to make me anything," Percy hated how whiny he sounded.
To his surprise, Calypso was the one to defend his mother. "Now, Percy, Mother spent a lot of time on this. The least you could do is drink a lot of it."
Percy's eyes narrowed suspiciously but he kept his mouth shut, unsure of where he stood at that moment. Sally smiled thankfully at her step-daughter before heading back up the stairs to prepare for her own party. The second Sally's back was turned, though, Calypso smacked Percy's arm before skipping off to find Leo.
"Hey, Cal," Leo greeted happily. "You gonna come hang out with us tonight or you too cool for us kids?"
Calypso shook her head. "Please, stop referring to yourself as a child it makes me feel like a creepy old lady. And I don't know, I may stick around to watch the chaos unfold." She leaned in and whispered, "I spiked the punch."
It took a second for the words to sink in but Calypso giggled when Leo's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, mi corazon, you beautiful, wonderful, little trickster. You just keep getting better and better, you know that?"
Leo's brows furrowed a second later and he turned away from his sort of girlfriend to find Frank had entered carrying a couple of presents. His arms flailed about.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I thought we said no presents?" he shouted.
Percy looked over at him with a light huff. "No, man, you said no gifts."
Annabeth leaned against her boyfriend. "Yeah, what's Christmas without gifts?"
"Yeah, man. Where's your heart?" Nico added.
Calypso's arms were crossed when Leo turned back to look at her. "You didn't buy me a gift?"
Leo froze. For the first time in his life, he didn't move. His mind zipped about for a response that wouldn't leave his sort of girlfriend pissed at him but it was coming up empty. "No, of course I bought you a present! I just was hiding it from everyone because I thought… they'd be jealous?"
Without waiting for an answer, Leo took off out the door in search of a gift.
Calypso threw her hands up in the air and stormed up the stairs, much to Percy's amusement.
(***)
An hour into the party, Nico noticed half the punch was gone and Frank was surrounded by a group of preppy girls giggling over his he mentioned it to the others, they looked just as confused as he was.
Will bounded over to him, all drunken smiles and giggles. "Hey, hey, hey," Will said as decided to cling to Nico's arm.
"What?"
"I wanna tell you a secret," Will stage whispered.
Nico tensed. Last time Will told him a secret, he'd kissed him. "Oh?" He couldn't tell if he was excited about the idea of kissing Will again or nervous. Would it be wrong to kiss him again since Will was clearly drunk? Maybe the first kiss was just Will trying to get Leo to dump him for good? What if he was reading into all this?
A tall, tan man stepped into view before Will could reveal his drunken secrets. "Posso interromper?"
Nico had no idea what the guy had just said but he was all ears for the Portuguese god before him. He nodded numbly as Will glared at the newcomer. As Paolo began speaking at length in his native tongue, Will released Nico's arm and noted, sadly, how he didn't even seem to notice.
Watching the two interact was sobering Will up, so he stalked over to where Reyna was lounging and drinking her beer in mild amusement.
"He doesn't like me," Will mumbled.
Reyna snorted. "He likes you more than he likes anyone else. Don't worry about Paolo, he's gonna get annoying fast, watch."
They both turned their attention to the two talking and Will watched with delight as he saw Nico's confusion and annoyance overtake the hero worship in his eyes. Before he could get too excited, his mind started racing with what ifs. The worst one being: What if he gets bored with me?
A fist knocked him upside the head and he yelped in pain.
"Listen, Dumbass," Reyna ordered, "he likes you. Genuinely cares about you and not in the weird little hero worship way he does with some idiots." She pauses to glare at Percy across the room who gives her a terrified look in return, clearly unsure of what he's done to piss her off. "You actually make him happy… If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go punch Jackson because his past idiocy is angering me."
A few minutes passed before Nico sidled up to Will with a beer held out for him. Will accepted the peace offering and the two sat in silence, watching as Percy ran around the room trying to escape Reyna's fury.
"So, you still want to tell me that secret?" Nico asked, trying hard not to be transparent.
Will took a long sip of his beer, desperate to prolong his demise. At some point, though, he had to come clean. "I like you and would like to be your boyfriend."
Nico chokes on the beer he was drinking. "Oh, um, I… Okay."
There's a tense moment between them before they both burst into nervous giggles. They stop laughing when Leo bursts through the door, handing a slightly tipsy Calypso a box of hot rollers which she accepts with glee. Nico turns to look at Will and they double over in a fit of laughter.
(***)
Upstairs, the parents are drunkenly playing Christmas carols on the Jackson's piano while Poseidon and Zeus have a stare down. They both jump when there's a knock at the door and watch in silence as Marybai goes to answer the door. Even Paul freezes when he notices the law enforcement officers at his door and his mind immediately wonders what his son has done.
"Ma'am, are you the owner of the Vista Cruiser parked in the driveway," the officer asks.
Marybai stares at them for a long second before answering. "No."
"Do you know who does own it?" the officer asks slowly.
A beat, then. "Oh, yes!" She smiles at them.
With a sigh, the officer tries to hold on to his patience. "Can you get them for me?"
"Paul! It's for you," she calls out cheerfully as Paul groans.
The officer appears relieved when Paul approaches him. "Sir, we believe your vehicle was used in the removal of state property. We're going to have to confiscate that tree," he points behind Paul to the Christmas tree his son had clearly stolen.
Sally gets up to guard the tree and cries for them not to take it while Paul is already on his way to the basement to yell at his son for being an idiot.
(***)
Hazel is watching Frank get steadily more drunk as the night goes on and she knows she should stop him, but she's not his mother. She finds his drunken babble to be rather adorable, like most of the things he does.
She tenses as Nico sits beside her.
"Di Angelo," she mutters.
"Levesque."
They don't look at each other and don't speak for a long moment. Hazel's fairly certain he's just distracting her for one of the guy's pranks, why else would he come anywhere near her. She's looking to see what Leo's doing when a gift-wrapped box gently falls in her lap. She inhales sharply in surprise before looking at Nico in confusion.
"Wha…?"
Nico's hiding behind his sunglasses again. "Just open it."
She does as she's told and finds the box to actually be a picture frame with a photograph of the two of them playing with Bianca while their father watches from the porch of a small house. A wave of grief washes over her as she remembers playing with her two half-siblings and tears well up in her eyes. "Oh, Nico," she struggles to keep her voice from wavering, scared he's just trying to use this against her. "Where did you find this?"
Nico shrugs. "It's nothing. Just… I'm sorry for how everything went… I know it's not your fault, and your my sister as much as she was…"
Hazel wraps her brother up in a hug as the tears start falling freely. "Thank you."
Tentatively, he begins to hug her back. The two sit like that for a good minute before pulling away and smiling tearily at one another.
Their tender moment was ended when Paul Jackson called out to his son who gulped at the authoritative tone in his voice. "Mind explaining to me why two state troopers are in our living room, confiscating our Christmas tree?"
Jason is already grabbing his coat and heading home, knowing his father will be down any second to ground his stupid ass. He shoots Percy a glare as he walks passed him and only receives a pleading look.
"Well, that's a funny story, actually," Percy starts. "A true story, too, yeah, it's a doozy, really."
"Get to the point," his father orders.
"I cut the tree down on the side of the interstate."
His father takes a deep, calming breath. "Well, that's just great, Percy. You've ruined Christmas, the party's over, and you're grounded. I want what's left of my forty bucks."
Percy nods to Leo who looks terrified. "Alright. Leo, give it to him."
"I spent it on Cal's hot rollers," he mutters. A giggly Calypso snuggles closer to him and drunkenly talks about how great her gift was much to Leo's amusement.
Some girls that have swarmed around Frank are now singing Christmas carols off-key with hiccups interspersed. Percy glances at them in concern but decides he's got bigger problems than them.
"The hell is going on here? Have these girls been drinking?" Paul accuses.
Percy sees the conspiratorial grins Calypso and Leo share. The dread that surfaces is fought off by a small bit of hope as he says, "No, it's just mom's punch."
When his dad takes a sip of the punch and fixes him with a glare, he knew it was in vain to hope. Paul rounds up the drunken girls and insists on taking them home while ordering his own daughter to get to bed.
As everyone quickly left the party, Percy sank to the couch as Annabeth joined him. She handed him a small gift box and gave him a kiss before heading upstairs to find her parents. He opened the box to find a bracelet with painted beads. Upon closer examination he finds that each one has something to represent each of their friends.
The black one with a skull is clearly Nico, the Purple one with a sword is Reyna, the light blue one with as Superman symbol is Grace. Even Will has a yellow one with an orange sun on it. In the middle are two slightly bigger beads that he has to smile at when he notices them. The one on the left is gray with a brown owl while the other is a seagreen with a trident.
He looks up at the stairs where Annabeth had just disappeared and remembers how lucky he is.