As it happens, ever since I ranted about how I simply couldn't make the chapters any longer, my chapters HAVE been getting progressively longer... that's not a bad thing... right?

One of you asked for a more Annabeth and Percy-centric chapter and here it is!

Happy December 5th and happy reading :)

A very Percy Jackson Advent

December 5th

It was the afternoon of December 5th and Percy had only just woken up. "I could get used to this whole celebrating the Christmas period thing," he said to Annabeth as he joined her and the rest of the crew in the dining hall.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "We still have responsibilities; our problems haven't gone away just because of Christmas."

Percy nodded. Annabeth was right; she was always right.

"Wish they would though," Leo sighed as he helped Buford the table collect the last few dishes. Percy smiled when he noticed Leo "accidentally" brush his hand against Calypso's hand as he collected her plate. Even Percy wasn't dense enough to miss the flirting that was going on between them - the only people who possibly hadn't noticed were Calypso and Leo themselves. The two of them were constantly bickering and insulting each other, it reminded Percy of his relationship with Annabeth before they finally became a couple.

"Where's Nico?" Jason asked suddenly.

Percy looked around, Nico wasn't in the room. Of course, it was hard to tell if the son of Hades was in fact in the room or not, as he tended to hide in dark corners or in forts (when he thought everyone was too distracted to notice him making a one).

"Is he in his room?" Hazel asked, a hint of worry entering her voice.

Frank, noticing that hint of worry, stood up and told her, "I'll go check."

Annabeth started fidgeting, like she does when she's trying to hide something, at the mention of Nico. That made Percy suspicious. He was secure in the fact that Annabeth loved him as much as he loved her but he also had heard the rumours that Nico had a crush on Annabeth which made him, if nothing else; curious as to why Annabeth reacted like she did to Nico's name.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked, pulling her elbow so that she would turn and look at him.

"Yeah?" she asked, trying – and failing – to stop fidgeting.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Annabeth's eyes flitted around the room for a second before she looked Percy dead in the eye and replied. "I'm okay, I guess..."

Of course she wasn't okay, hence the "I guess"; after a trip to Tartarus, it was hard to be okay. But that wasn't what he meant and Annabeth knew that. She always knew what he meant, so he stared into her eyes until she looked down at her lap guiltily.

"Annabeth," he sighed, urging her to tell him whatever she was hiding."What is it?"

"I... I don't know what you mean," Annabeth replied.

"Annabeth; I know there's something you're not telling me. What is it?" Percy said, beginning to get impatient.

Frank had returned from checking on Nico and was sitting beside a happier looking Hazel watching the exchange between Percy and Annabeth. "Sorry to interrupt but, Annabeth, I need to talk to you," he said.

Annabeth nodded. "What is it?"

Frank stood up and left the room, indicating for her to follow him. After hesitating for a few heartbeats, she followed him.

"I know what you're hiding from Percy," Frank told her quietly.

"I... I-I'm not..."

"I went to see if Nico was in his room and I walked on him having a-a conversation with someone... He seemed pretty upset," Frank said.

Annabeth stared at him waiting for him to get to the point.

"He was talking about his uh..." Frank paused as he tried to choose his next words carefully. "His... sexuality..."

"I don't follow you," Annabeth said even though she understood exactly what Frank had just told her. He'd only confirmed the suspicions she'd had earlier.

"He was ranting at this ghost or something that he'd summoned that he was," he lowered his voice, "gay." He went on to say, "When he noticed that I was there he... he got really angry... I had to turn into a really small bird and hide on his wardrobe until he calmed down. I asked him who else knew, he told me Jason knew and he thought that you might know but he hasn't told you."

Annabeth nodded, "I kinda figured it out the other day."

"You can't tell Percy, or anyone. He really doesn't want people to know, poor kid," Frank said.

Could she really lie to Percy? It wouldn't be that big of a deal if everyone found out. It wouldn't change anything, if anything it would bring everyone closer. But she understood that something like coming out had to be hard, especially for a person who was alive in Nico's time - when coming out would get you killed...

"I won't tell," she promised. "But Percy knows when I'm keeping something from him, what will I tell him?"

Frank shrugged. "I don't know, tell him it's a surprise and then make sure you get him something really good for Christmas."

"That's not such a bad idea!" Annabeth smiled. She returned to the dining hall and to her seat beside Percy who looked to be trying very hard not to act like the jealous boyfriend he was very close to being.

"So..." he said awkwardly. "What's wrong?"

Annabeth tapped her nose and gave him a playful grin. "It's a secret," she said.

Percy seemed to calm down a little at her now flirty nature but didn't look fully convinced.

He looked as if he was about to say more when Leo waltzed into the room wearing the most ridiculous Christmas jumper ever. It had Santa's face on and his hat had a pompom on the end with jingle bells on the rim. "Look what I got!" he sang, nobody bothered to ask him exactly how he'd got them. "I got one for everyone!" he announced earning a groan from everyone except Frank, who looked quite excited. Within five minutes everyone had been forced into a Christmas jumper, including Reyna and even Nico, once Jason, Frank and Leo finally managed to coax him out of his cabin. Then Leo had them all do random Christmassy themed things like baking mince pies and cutting out snowflakes whilst listening to Christmas songs. In the evening, Leo made a small camp fire on the top deck and everyone gathered round telling Christmas stories and drinking hot chocolate under the night sky.

Yeah I know the ending seemed very random, even for Leo but I needed to put a light and cheery spin on things, it is christmas time after all :D

Misspelled Refuser of Sanity: I'm really happy that you feel that way, I love Christmas too and I'm glad I've done what I can to make it even better :)

shadowdragon1324: Was this enough Percy/Annabeth? I tired to get a little Leo/Calypso in there too :) hope you liked it

Ana-DaughterofHades: glad you like it and I'm glad you think I got Reyna pretty well, I'm trying to keep all of the characters as in character as I possibly can

Goddess Timtam: Thank you for that history lesson, I'm just gonna put what you said in the review about advent here to clear up any misconceptions that people might have: "Advent isn't christian cause CHRISTMAS isn't christian Jesus was born in september :/ but back then the Catholics were outlawed so they basically stole saturnalia/winter solstice/Yay-we-did-not-die-of-cold and since then its just turned into a mixture of stuff. Advent is not anything. Its just counting down the days." and don't worry, there will be plenty of hugs for Nico in this fic :)

expa: glad you like it, thanks for the review :)

Isabella Frida-Marie Cullen: glad you like it, thanks for reading and reviewing x

butterflygirly99: haha, hope you managed to wait for today! thanks for the review

stickysillyputty: I'm sorry to take it away from Nico but other people wanted more of the others; i have to atleast try to cater for everyone... now I understand the pain of TV show writers with equally big fanbases backing two ships involving the same character!

HaileeStoll0330: I was starting to be worried when I saw the *crosses arms* in your review and now I can't stop smiling :) thanks for reviewing!

YeahI'mWeirdAndILoveIt: glad you like it, thanks for the review :)

All you reviewers are THE BEST! I love all of you that are reading, keep those reviews coming and I'll try to include any suggestions you have

see you tomorrow x