Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

Note***- Will be boy x boy. (I promise, it is coming) Don't like? You don't have to read.

ΩΩΩ

December 25th

Apollo POV

I woke up far too early. Technically, it was a normal time for me. I just wasn't ready to get up. Judging by how exhausted my entire being felt, I was surprised that I had woken up at all. Usually when I felt like this, my body automatically consented to shut off my internal alarm clock and let me sleep in an hour or so.

I just lay there, neither asleep nor actually getting up. I was awake, but I hadn't yet bothered to open my eyes. I wasn't sure how long I stayed like that. All I knew was that I didn't move until I heard a muffled curse coming from the kitchen.

"Di Immortals..."

I mentally sighed and finally consented to opening my eyes.

The first thing I noticed was that Percy wasn't sleeping on his couch. The second thing I noticed was that I could smell bacon. I glanced towards the kitchen and saw the son of Poseidon wiping something off the floor. Judging by the blue colour, it looked to be pancake mix.

I was surprised that Percy had woken up to cook breakfast. I usually ended up cooking my own since he never woke up early.

He tossed the soiled paper towel in the garbage and turned to the living room. When he saw I was awake, he smiled.

"Merry Christmas, Apollo."

I nodded and reluctantly sat up. "Merry Christmas, Perce. What has you up so early?"

The son of Poseidon laughed. "You just answered your own question. It's Christmas! You can't sleep in on Christmas." I chuckled at the enthusiasm I could hear in his voice. "Come on, I made us breakfast."

I smiled to myself and went to the kitchen without complaint. The son of Poseidon brought the stack of pancakes to the table and I couldn't stop myself from raising one eyebrow. It was probably for the best that Percy had dropped the rest of the pancake mix. Judging by the enormous stack that he already had cooked, we'd have been eating leftover pancakes for days.

"I'm going to guess that someone's hungry."

The youngest god glared and stuck out his tongue as he loaded up his plate. "For your information, blue pancakes on Christmas morning is a family tradition."

I chuckled, "From the sounds of it, in your house, blue pancakes are a daily tradition."

"You're just jealous."

I smiled and shook my head. We were about halfway through breakfast when I noticed a rather large gift under the tree. I frowned. It definitely hadn't been there when we went to sleep.

"Where did that come from?"

The son of Poseidon turned in the direction I was looking and shrugged. "I don't know. They were there when I woke up this morning."

"Well who are they from?"

I started getting up to go look but Percy caught my arm and pulled me back, "No way Apollo. It's a universal rule on Christmas. No gifts until after breakfast."

I gave him an incredulous look but when he didn't let go, I relented. I sat back down with a sigh. "You know, I'm fairly certain that's not a universal law."

The son of Poseidon fixed me with a serious stare. "No, it really is. If you don't obey it, the Christmas police show up and take you away."

I scoffed, "The Christmas police?"

I could see him struggling to keep his straight face as he continued.

"What you thought Santa and his elves only brought toys? No, no, no. They're the Cheer enforcement squad. If they catch you breaking the rules, they haul you off to prison and you're not released until spring. The only way you can try for parole is if the groundhog see's his shadow."

I couldn't contain my laughter. "Pretty sure that's not the purpose of Groundhog Day, but I certainly don't want to be thrown in jail by a fat man and his munchkin helpers. Fine... gifts after pancakes."

Percy beamed at me and continued eating. I shook my head in amusement.

It was already promising to be a fun holiday.

ΩΩΩ

The food was good, but for the rest of the meal my focus was on the tree. Suddenly the statement, a kid at Christmas, made a lot more sense. I was ridiculously curious. Not only about who it was from, but what was in it. I was fairly certain Percy was finding my obvious distraction amusing since he seemed to eat slower than usual.

By the time he was finally done eating, I was practically bouncing. Usually Percy was the overly excited one of us, but I loved surprises. When you're a god, it's not as common of occurrence. Most of the beings in the world will offer you reverence, not so many will go out of their way to surprise you.

At last, I actually got a closer look at the large gift that had caught my eye. I was even more excited when I realized it was for me. I smiled when I read the tag.

Apollo,

I thought this would be a nice way to commemorate this festive occasion.

Artemis.

Once I read the tag, it made more sense as to how it appeared. I remembered my sister saying something about a gift in her note. It also explained the flash of light I saw right before I fell asleep.

Percy sat down across from me. "Oh, go on and open it already. I'm just as curious about it as you are."

I looked over at the son of the sea god and I smiled. I pulled the gift further out from under the tree. It was almost 3 feet long and just about 2 feet high. I leaned it against the coffee table to open it.

I tore the silver paper off the front. As soon as I realized what I was seeing, my jaw dropped.

"Oh sweet merciful Cerberus, she knows!"

The son of Poseidon leaned over my shoulder to see and froze. He looked torn between dying of laughter, and dying of embarrassment. Apparently he decided to go with laughter.

Percy's laugh was so loud it hurt my ears, but I couldn't even move to cover them. I was still frozen in place, looking at my sister's gift.

"That's priceless! We have to hang that up!"

I shot a dark glare at the young god before I turned my eyes back to the canvas. It was a painting of Percy and me in New Rome. We were walking down the street together, with my arm slung over Percy's shoulders. What made the painting tragic though, were our outfits...

"How does your sister even know we went caroling?"

I sighed and scrubbed a hand across my face. I had a few ideas. "I am never going to live this down."

"Oh come on Apollo, it's not that bad."

I gave him a disbelieving stare. "So you wouldn't be embarrassed if your dad saw this?"

The son of Poseidon made a face, "Okay, that would be pretty embarrassing, but there's nothing we can do. What's done is done. If you don't want your sister mocking you over it, then we should hang this up in the hallway. If she thinks you're not embarrassed, then she won't bother saying anything."

I scoffed, "You just want to be able to laugh at it on a regular basis."

He flashed me a smile, "That too."

I grimaced and looked back at the painting. "Well, at least I'm not the only one who looks ridiculous."

The son of Poseidon chuckled, "Hey, I have no idea what you're talking about. I looked fabulous in those tights."

I may have agreed with him, but that didn't mean I had to admit it.

I looked around for a change of topic. My eyes caught on another present that had appeared under the tree during the night. "It looks like you have a gift too Perce." I reached under the tree and handed it to him. The son of the sea god immediately took the gift with a smile.

The tag simply read Brother.

I knew he had hundreds of half siblings, but I didn't know which one would be sending him a gift. He clearly did though.

"Tyson," He pulled off the blue paper to reveal a box. He lifted the lid and his entire face lit up, "No way! He made me a new one!"

I looked in the box and saw a watch. I didn't even know that Percy wore watches.

The son of Poseidon immediately took it out of the box and strapped it to his wrist. My silent confusion over his reaction was answered when he hit a button and the watch became a Celestial bronze shield. The outside was covered in illustrations of all of Percy's greatest achievements. At the very center, there was a picture of Percy and a Cyclops. If I remembered correctly, he did have a Cyclops brother named Tyson.

"Okay, that's awesome."

The young god looked at me and smiled. "I know. Tyson made me one before, but I lost it during a fight."

He hit the button a second time and it collapsed back into a normal looking wrist watch. It was a very interesting piece of armour.

I glanced back at the painting and winced, "Its official. Your sibling definitely has better taste in gifts."

The son of Poseidon just laughed.

ΩΩΩ

Percy POV

In the end, we decided to wait to exchange our gifts for each other till we were with everyone else. By the time I had helped, and convinced, Apollo to hang the painting, it was time to head back to the house.

It felt odd spending so much time there recently. I hadn't really stuck around the house much when I lived there. I was always out doing something. Now that I was staying with Apollo for a while, it felt even weirder to spend so many hours there.

Fortunately, everyone was already up by the time we got to the house. Apollo and I put the gifts we had bought the night before under the tree and went to find a place to sit. Eleven people don't sound like many in theory, but when a house is usually only occupied by three, it is.

I gave Apollo the last seat on the couch and I sat on the ground next to him. It worked since Annabeth was on the couch on my other side. I wish I could say that sitting next to my girlfriend was the reason I chose that spot, but honestly, I didn't even realize she was there until I had already sat down.

I tried not to feel guilty about it.

ΩΩΩ

It was fun having everyone together for the gift exchange. You got to see how everyone liked their gifts.

Jason thought the Pokémon hat I bought him was beyond hilarious. I was surprised by that, until I saw the squirtle squad t-shirt he bought me.

Will really liked the pocket watch I got him. It was a golden colour and it had a sun on the front. I honestly had no idea what to get for the son of Apollo so I was happy he liked it.

Annabeth seemed to like the book I got her too. However, it was obvious that the fancy new set of rulers, protractors, and pencils that Piper and Jason had bought for her was her favorite gift.

Apollo and I weren't the only ones to run to the store and get last minute gifts for Leo and Calypso. Apparently, we were also not the only ones to decide to buy candy for the son of Hephaestus. True no hardware stores were open that late on Christmas Eve, but there was a collective groan every time Leo opened another gift of sweets. It only made everyone even more nervous since he insisted on sampling every gift.

Calypso seemed to really like the books we had gotten her. She smiled at me and gave Apollo a side hug.

I was a little nervous about how Nico would react to his gift. I didn't want him to be offended or anything. I had lots of ideas about what to get for the son of Hades, but when you go shopping at 11 pm the day before Christmas Eve; your choices of gifts are going to be limited. The black haired boy seemed surprised that I got him anything. He opened the box and pulled the gift out. It was a silver skull pendant hanging on a heavy chain. I couldn't read his expression.

I knew the gift kind of came across stereotypical. I shrugged and rubbed the back of my neck, "I thought it would match your ring."

He unconsciously looked down at the skull shaped ring on his hand. The son of Hades looked back at me and gave me a small, only slightly awkward, smile. "Thank you Percy."

ΩΩΩ

I was very excited when it finally came turn for the sun god to open the journal I bought him. He tore off the paper and looked at me in surprise.

"It's beautiful Percy."

I smiled, "Look inside."

He raised an eyebrow in curiosity but opened it without comment. When he read the inscription, a smile burst out across his face. It took me a while to work out the proper number of syllables, but I was glad that I had written it...

For all of your poems,

This journal will hold you words,

Fill it with stories.

Percy

The look of happiness that the god of the sun gave me made me feel like blushing. "Thank you Percy. This is the probably the nicest gift I've ever received."

That really did make me blush. I smiled at the god of the sun, "I'm glad you like it."

ΩΩΩ

After we had opened everything under the tree, Leo suggested that we go outside and build snowmen. We were all a little wary after the snowball robot from last night, but all the sugar was making him bounce in place. After extracting a promise not to build any potential dangerous helpers, the group consented. Besides, it would help the ADHD son of Hephaestus to burn off some energy.

I was about to follow the group outside, when Apollo grabbed my arm. I looked at him in confusion and he motioned me to follow him.

I looked back towards the door but the only one who seemed to notice I wasn't coming, was Piper. I flashed her a smile.

"We'll be out in a minute."

The daughter of Aphrodite nodded at me and left.

The god of the sun pulled my back through the kitchen and into the laundry room where Annabeth and I had our talk yesterday.

"What did you need Apollo? We're supposed to be heading outside."

The god of Poetry shrugged, "You can go outside if you want. I just figured you'd be curious to know what I got you is all." He pulled the gift down from off the shelf beside him. I recognized the box from when we went shopping together.

My interest was immediately peeked.

"But if you don't want to know what it is, I can keep it."

I shook my head, "No that's okay. I don't mind opening it."

He raised one eyebrow. "I don't know. Are you sure you want it?"

I pouted, "Please can I open it Apollo?"

The god of the sun pretended to debate it before handing it over with a laugh. "Of course Perce, it's yours."

I smiled and took the box that he offered me. I couldn't help but laugh when I realized he had written me a poem too.

Percy,

I saw this and knew,

How much it would mean to you,

Replace what you lost.

I pulled the ribbon off the box and lifted the lid.

It took a moment for me to understand. When I realized what I was seeing, I felt my heart begin to swell in my chest. I looked up at the god of the sun and my face burst into a smile.

"Apollo..." I shook my head in amazement. "How did you even know about it?"

The god of music shrugged. "Well not only was Octavian my descendent, but I am the god of prophecy. Technically it was sacrificed to me."

I reached in the box and pulled out the panda pillow. It looked exactly like the one I had during my first trip to Camp Jupiter.

I knew I was a 17 year old god, but I didn't care. I hugged the pillow to my chest. The panda had been my only source of comfort in a time when I didn't remember anything about myself. When I didn't remember my friends, my life, my home, watching Octavian kill it had been upsetting.

To me, the panda represented a rather huge event in my life.

The god of poetry laughed at my reaction to the stuffed animal. "I take it you like it then?"

I shook my head and smiled. "I love it Apollo. Thank you. This..." I didn't even think about it. I just stepped forwards and wrapped my arms around him. He froze for a second before he returned my embrace. "This means a lot to me."

"I'm glad." I stepped back with a smile and hugged the pillow again. "I was planning on giving it to you when everyone was exchanging gifts but then I thought... it is a teddy bear."

I grimaced. "I appreciate that. I'm pretty sure Jason would never let me live it down.

"Come on Perce; let's head outside before they start to miss us."

ΩΩΩ

Apollo POV

You would have sworn that Percy had eaten 3 pounds of candy too.

There just seemed to be something about the snow that brought out his inner child. He barely took the time to swing by the living room to drop off his panda before he rushed outside.

I smiled as I thought of Percy's reaction to my gift. It was even better than I had hoped. When Percy had been dragging me through the mall Christmas shopping, I noticed a display of pillow pets.

The entire council had been watching over Percy's reception into Camp Jupiter. After all, there was a very high likelihood that Hera's plan would not only kill the hero of Olympus, but it also could have easily started another civil war between the two camps. In fact, it nearly did.

I don't know why but once I saw the panda, I knew I had to get it for him. I still remembered his face when Octavian had killed it. He looked like he had just lost his best friend.

Seeing the look on his face when he realized what the gift was, it was priceless. Even if I hadn't had fun with Percy at the mall, which I did, it would have made the shopping trip well worth it.

ΩΩΩ

The son of the sea god had roped me into his competition against the son of Hephaestus over who could make a bigger snowman. Since Calypso was helping Leo, I didn't really have a problem with it.

In the end, Leo's actual snowman was about half an inch taller than ours, but Percy rolled a log of snow and stuck it on top calling it a stove pipe hat. The son of Hephaestus tried to say it was cheating but since there was no rule against it, our impartial judge, Reyna, named us the winners.

I couldn't help but laugh at the smug look on Percy's face.

Eventually it started to get dark out and we all went back in.

Once dinner was ready, everyone headed to the kitchen to grab a plate before going back to the living room to eat. This time Percy managed to get a spot on the couch between me and Annabeth.

It was nice sitting next to the son of Poseidon. I was enjoying simply chatting with him and his friends. In the morning, Christmas had been exciting and energetic. Now as we finished eating, it seemed the atmosphere slowly changed into one of relaxation. I was pretty sure the difference in temperature from outside was also contributing to the lethargic mood.

I soon found myself content to sit in silence and listen to the stories that everyone was telling. It was such a change from any occasion on Olympus. It was much friendlier, relaxed, and peaceful.

Time seemed to pass in a contented blur. Before I knew it, everyone was saying good-bye. Percy went upstairs and dug out his old backpack to carry our gifts home in.

ΩΩΩ

I smiled as I lay down on the couch across from Percy.

I was pleasantly surprised. Christmas had definitely been different then I had expected it to be. I had a feeling that Percy contributed a lot to my enjoyment of the holidays. There was just something about the son of Poseidon that made me feel welcome.

As I was drifting off, I found myself thinking of celebrating Christmas annually... at least as long as I had Percy to celebrate it with.

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Authors Note

I'm sorry for the lack of mistletoe for Percy and Apollo. You have no idea how much I was tempted to do it. However, it just really didn't work with the flow of the story. Hope the friendly, but enthusiastic, hug helped lessen the loss.

Next update will be on July 12th. Here's a little sneak peek.

Next Chapter:

"Oh come on Apollo... It will be fun."

I looked at the son of Poseidon in disbelief, "You're kidding right?"