It's [Simple] Christmas

Author's Note: Lightly edited on 3/27/14

Nico shortly joins the Jackson's on Christmas morning. [Drabble]

"Percy. Percy, wake up. Wake. Up. It's Christmas," a voice whispered next to his bed.

Opening his eyes, the first thing he notices is the black mass in front of him, to soon realize it's a person, and that person is Nico Di Angelo, with a goofy smile that doesn't look quite right on his face, wearing a hat that goes over your ears and looked like it could've been found in a dumpster, not that Percy was going to mention that to him and acknowledge that it might of actually been from a dumpster.

"What time is it?" Percy asked, looking out the window. It was still dark out, although that didn't mean much in the middle of winter.

"I don't know, like, 2 A.M., 3?" Okay, maybe that did mean something.

"Dude! Why would you wake me up this early?"

Nico shook his head like his reason was obvious. "Like I said before, it's Christmas."

Staring at him, Percy finally managed to sputter out "Just, just go back to sleep and wait until, like, 9. And why are you here, anyway?"

"Christmas," he repeated quietly, settling down on the floor.

.-.. .. -. . -... .-. . .- -.-

No matter how many times it happened, Paul Blofis would probably never get used to seeing the same kid show up at the apartment at random.

When he opened the door to wake up Percy, he found his drooling son with a younger boy sitting on the floor, fiddling with the zipper of his aviator jacket. He looked up at Paul, his dark eyes menacing and deep. They didn't fit with the rest of his body. Neither did the smile he shot him with, which was probably intended to be warmer.

"Oh, sorry, just dropping in for the holidays, I suppose. Celebrating with father isn't exactly the best," the boy, Nico, Paul remembered, commented.

"Um, okay. Could you wake up Percy? Tell him we are having pancakes."

He nodded his head, getting up from his spot on the floor as Paul Blofis left the room.

.-.. .. -. . -... .-. . .- -.-

Luckily, Sally Jackson wasn't surprised, resentful, or angry at the arrival of their unannounced visitor. In fact, she welcomed him with open arms, because Percy told her about his past, and he seemed to deserve a holiday with a family, even if it wasn't his own.

Nico Di Angelo was acting unusually childish, staring in awe at the Christmas tree, smiling, and rambling on about unimportant topics. Every now and then he would start swaying in his chair, as if dancing to an imaginary tune in his head. Sally was afraid he might fall off of the chair, especially when he practically jumped out of his seat to tell them something.

"By the way, I got you guys stuff," he exclaimed, taking three items out of the pockets of his jacket.

"You didn't have to get us anything, Nico. Besides, we didn't get anything for you..." Percy started saying.

"Doesn't matter," Nico interrupted. "Nothing much, but i hope you like them."

He then gave each of them a box with their name scribbled on in pen. Paul's gift was a simple pack of number two pencils. Sally got a box of cereal (snatched it off of Demeter, apparently). Percy got a drawing of himself, with the waves coming up behind him. It was true they were nothing much, but the gratitude on Nico's face made up for it. So did the fact it probably took him some effort to get these gifts, considering the fact that Nico was on his own.

"Nico, I didn't knew you could draw!" Percy said jokingly after a few moments. He looked up once more to find that Nico Di Angelo was gone.