Christmas with Heroes of Olympus

Hazel
Frank's passed out.
Reyna's nowhere to be found.
The holiday celebrations tomorrow just don't sound so fun anymore.

Percy
We're in the taxi now, heading to my mom’s house. Annabeth's acting all... Twitchy.
Wait- she's asking me-
What?

Annabeth
I can go through Tartarus and I'm terrified by Percy's face right now?

Piper
We were laughing together! She was having a good time! We were sharing funny Leo stories!
Why did I have to tell her about Khione, Thalia, Hazel, and Echo?

Jason
"You don't suck."
"I do. I didn't need to tell her about them. Why did I tell her about them? I never screw up like that. I never let my mouth run away with me. That's supposed to Leo, not me. Why- when he needs this night most- do I ruin it for him-"
"He's with her right now. You didn't ruin anything. Trust me, Pipes. You messed up a little bit, but you didn't ruin anything. They're in love."
"Gods, I know. They're head over heels. But still-"
"And if they do fight, you can fix it. You're the daughter of Aphrodite, remember? You are the daughter of love itself. You can do anything."
"You're so cheesy."
"Ah, you love it."
"Maybe I do." She grinned goofily up at me, and I grinned back. She pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose, and then focused on something-someones- behind me. "Speaking of love..." She nodded towards Will and Nico stealing glances at each other across the campfire.
"We should probably do something about that."
I smiled. "Who's the cheesy one now?"

Leo
I always find a way to screw things up. Always.
I hate myself.
Where is she?

Nico
“He likes you.”
Piper. Her arms were folded.
Will, I immediately thought. “Who?” I asked, my heart slamming into my head. “I mean, what? I me- I don’t know what you’re-”
“You know who. The guy you like. You forget- I’m a daughter of Aphrodite. I know feelings.”
It took me a beat before I closed up, narrowing my eyes. “You don’t know feelings. You don’t have empathy powers. I would’ve known that already.”
“Whoops, gotta run,” she checked her watch, not denying what I said. “I’m late. But he does like you, you know.”
“How do you know? And you’re late for what?”
She was already gone.

Reyna
Christmas was always a little depressing for me.
There were losses every year. Always someone to turn to and find them not there. Sometimes, it wasn’t even deaths. Jason disappeared last year. And he was gone this year. It still hurt, even if I did like Piper and the people he left me for. In a way, that hurts even more.
Christmas with my father was terrible. And the Christmas spent with the savage pirates was terrible. The first Christmas without Hylla was terrible.
I did not have much hope that this Christmas would be different.
It was a little tiring, to be honest. All the singing, and joy, and celebrations. Sometimes I found myself wishing that it was all over already.
I sighed, looking out at the dining hall, where laughter and chatting floated up.
I do have a family. Hylla. Hazel. Frank. Nico. Dakota. Bobby. Annabeth. Argentum and Augmentum. Percy, Piper, Jason, Leo.
It’s just easy to forget when they’re all just a little bit out of reach.

Leo
I found her on the bench, tilted towards the inky water.
I went up to her. She wasn't crying, but sitting pretty scarily, quietly, staring off into the distance.
She was pissed.
Well, duh. Why wouldn’t she be?
Sad. She was also really, really sad.
I wanted to throw up.
"Calypso," I put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m so-”
“I just want to know,” she said, almost calmly, which made me almost more scared. “If it is true. Khione, Thalia, Echo, Hazel… How many girls were there before me? Were you… not joking when you talked about writing hot stuff on your arm? And the ladies’ man thing? Is that true too?”

Percy
"I know, I know-" she's saying. "It's so last minute. I don't know why I waited so long. I never do anything like this. I mean, I told your mom, and not you. I totally understand if you can't-"
"You want me to go with you," I asked, making sure I got this right. "Tomorrow- as in, tomorrow afternoon- to LA to spend Christmas with your family?"
Annabeth was refusing to meet my eyes, for some reason. "Yes. Yeah, Percy, but of course if you can't go you don't have to-"
"I mean, I don't have a ticket-"
"Oh, that's covered. I mean, my stepmom's brother and his family was going to come over with me, but they caught an earlier flight, and we returned all the tickets except for one, and we have enough miles to cover for it, and they wanted you to-"
"Annabeth, I can't accept that without paying for it, the money-"
"Percy, it's practically free. And my parents- I mean, my stepmom and my dad... I mean, yeah, my parents... They said it could be like a Christmas present to you..."
She trailed off.
I looked at her.

Annabeth
I could see him out of the corner of my eye. My palms were getting sweaty.
"My mom already knows?" His voice sounded strange.
"Yes."
"And... The ticket..."
"Taken care of."
"Annabeth, why wouldn't I want to go?"
My breath caught, and he pressed an excited kiss to my cheek. His leg started bouncing up and down rapidly. "But we're still celebrating at my mom's house tonight and in the morning, right?"
I grinned. And grinned. All of that, all of that, and it was easier than I imagined. My heart embarrassingly leaped, and my view about the trip to LA became a thousand times brighter. Christmas with Percy. Two Christmases with Percy, practically. I rested my head on my jittery shoulder. "Of course."

Leo
My heart sank.
I didn't want to say this. I didn't want to admit it. But I did, saying, "They didn't like me back, Calypso. Nobody really likes me back. I don't know if you knew this, but you kind of picked a loser. I'm not really desirable, not like all of the other guys you're used to. Not like Odysseus. And definitely not like Percy."
The words tasted bitter in my mouth. I didn't really want to look at her. My elbows rested on my knees, my hands twiddled together, my shoulders hung forward a little. I waited for her to speak.

Calypso
"Leo Valdez," I said. "Leo Valdez."
He raised my head just the slightest millimeter, his ebony curls dangling. Something was growing inside my chest that I couldn't quite explain.
"Hot stuff," I called him, awkwardly, feeling my cheeks burn a little as I remembered this particular story. I turned him around and grabbed his face. His eyes flitted back and forth before finally resting on my face, unsettled, not sure what to expect.
"You have no idea," I told him, my ribcage squeezing up. "How happy I am that you are not Percy Jackson."
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead to his. I could hear his breathing change.
"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that none of these girls have liked you back. Gods, that sounds terrible. But I can’t deny it- I am so happy that you're... “ I was about to say “a loser”, but he wasn’t one. Not by a long shot. I swallowed it back. “I don’t want hot stuff. I don’t want a perfect hero. And I don’t want desirable.”
He looked at me, unsure. “You don’t desire desirable? Isn’t that kind of a contradiction?”
“I have been dealing with desirable my whole existence, Leo. Guys with Penelopes and Elizabeths and Annabeths... And tonight, I looked at Percy... And I saw how many people revolved around him, how much time he gave Annabeth and his friends and... I would never, in a million years, be able to live with that. The envy would eat me alive. I have been waiting for an immortality to find someone to have for myself. I already have to share you with this camp. I can't share you with your millions of other girls. Gods, I love you. Might as well say it now- you already knew it back at the island, when the raft appeared, but might as well say it now, again- I love you. I love you so much, and I can not understand how nobody else felt the same way, but I am so grateful that they didn't. If I was joking around, I'd tell you that you are a loser, but you're not. You are incredible, Leo. And you have been incredible in a way that isn't obvious, or flashy, or blatantly heroic-" I was rambling now. I kept gripping onto his face. I never wanted to let go. "Or perfect, or flawless, or what an ideal hero should look like... but you're the most heroic person I know. You are magic."
I was speaking against his lips by now, the gap between our faces closing, and I smiled into it. "Calypso," he kept repeating, breathing in. "Calypso, Calypso, Calypso-"
"I do like your friends," I added, pulling his body closer towards mine, feeling like I needed to throw that in there.
"You-were... worried... about-that?" he asked me, with some difficulty. It is hard to talk while laughing and kissing somebody else at the same time. His hands came around to my back.
"I... Knewyou'dget... Along," he slipped in in between kisses. He hugged me tight.
I did not talk for a while. When I finally inhaled some air, I put in, "I was just... Afraid that-"
I was cut off again. I did not really mind so much. Gods, I love this boy.
"Wait," with some effort, Leo rested, leaning back to look at my eyes. "Afraid of what?"
I was embarrassed. I did not really feel like saying what I was thinking aloud. But… he did admit his girls issues to me. And that was hard, I could tell. I sighed, closing my eyes.
I began talking.

Will
I turned, and she’s there.
“Anything you want?” I asked. Piper smiled at me. Which is kind of weird. She’s one of the people I can stand best out of all Aphrodite kids, but we still don’t exactly have regular conversations.
“Yes, actually,” she took my arm, and I stiffened. I didn’t like where this was going. “I’m kind of worried about Nico.”
I tensed up even more. “What’s wrong with him?” That idiot. What’s he gotten himself into? Shadow traveling again? Wanting to leave camp? He seemed okay this morning, until after Reyna Iris-Messaged him. It’s weird- he looks at me in a different way than he used to…
I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or not. Maybe I want things to go into a different way.
Actually- yeah. Yeah, I do. I do want things to go in a different way.
But not in a bad different way-
“He’s been kind of- I don’t know. Hiding things, I guess. He’ll tense up when he touches certain conversations. And he’ll never talk about you, even though you guys hang out all the time. I just don’t want him to slip into the secretive guy he was last year.”
She sounded so concerned. Something felt weird, in the back of my brain, like there was a little voice that was pushing me to agree with what Piper said. I struggled for a little bit to find something wrong with her sentences, but everything she said made sense. “I don’t want him to slip into the secretive guy he was last year,” I echoed.
“Yes!” Piper threw her hands up. “Thank you! I’m glad we’re on the same page. Anyways. If you can get anything out of him, and- you don’t even have to tell me what he says, just make sure he lets it all out and is okay- tell me about it? I feel like he’ll open up more to you than to me.”
I frowned. Something she said earlier bothered me a little. “He doesn’t want to talk about me?”
“Yeah. He just smiles and waves away all questions,” Piper waved her hand dismissively, but my brain seized on that fact. Nico smiles when they ask him about me?
“I think that… if you’re completely honest with him-” her words. They were echoing in my mind. “Completely honest with him, about everything, and lay all facts on the table, he’ll tell you what’s up with him.”
“Completely honest with him?” I didn’t like that idea, for some reason. It was here that I noticed something was weird about this whole situation. I didn’t know what it was, but-
“I think he wants you to talk to him,” she said, and these words fell on my brain hard. They slammed into it, and everything else that I was thinking washed away. “He’s been looking at you all night.”
I found myself nodding, agreeing. Nico was looking at me all night. And I was looking at him. I agreed with everything Piper said. I would do anything Piper said.
“Just talk to him.”
And suddenly, I was already gone.

Leo
I love her.

Calypso
I told him.
I told him about me being afraid that he would remember loving camp so much that he wanted to stay. I told him about me being afraid that once we got back, he would get tired of me. I told him I was afraid that his friends were more important than I was.
"I love you," he told me, seriously. Stunned, I looked away.
"I know I'm not really supposed to say that," Leo said, "So quickly into a relationship.”
I laughed at that. He was telling this to the girl that fell in love with him in two weeks. “But I do. I'm not going to leave you, Calypso. The problem was you leaving me-"
"Never going to happen."
"-Like, I got you off the island, and you say, 'See ya! Thanks for bringing me to Percy-'"
"Never," I said, laughing, head soaring, pushing him lightly on the arms. "Going to happen!"
"'Goodbye, scrawny Latino loser who broke my dining table!'"
I curled up into his arms, burying my head into his shoulder, laughter still in my chest. He kissed a place on my head, and then rested his cheek on it, and we stayed like that for a long, long time.

Hazel
After dragging Frank to a bed, and watching him pass out, I wrapped the presents quietly, in thought. Where would someone go if they were upset?
I always went to the top of the Hades shrine with Nico, but Reyna-
Oh.
Oh.
Of course.
I knew where she was.

Nico
“What’s this about Will?”
I groaned. “I swear, on my life, I’m going to sic some ghosts on you, I’m not afraid to-”
“Stop. You need to know this: if he’s worth it, if he makes some sort of step forward, you have to take a step forward. Or else you guys are going to circle each other, and circle each other, and circle each other, and you’ll drive each other insane. It’s been, what, four months? You guys clearly like each other.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Will doesn’t like me.”
“Bull. And if you really keep up that attitude, he never will.” Jason paused, wincing. “Sorry. That was punintentional, I swea- unintentional. Unintentional. Gods.”
A figure was coming towards us. “Just… think about what I said.”
And he was gone.

Piper
“I sent him over as fast as I could. As more time passes, charmspeak wears off.”
“They’re going away. We should follo-”
“Jason. No. Privacy. We’ll just have to wait until they come back.”
“You didn’t charmspeak him into kissing Nico, did you? Because… I mean, I’m 99.99999 % sure that they like each other, but if I’m wrong, and the charmspeak wears off, and Will kissed Nico without actually liking him...”
“No. I just told him to speak the truth. So if he likes Nico, he’ll tell him.”
“That’s really smart. A little honesty goes a long way. I wish Nico would just realize that… he doesn’t have to coop everything up...”
I’d stopped for a minute before going on walking. It seemed like that middle part was directed to me.
I sighed and spun around, steadying my hands against Jason’s shoulders.
“Jason.”
“Whoa,” he stumbled a little. “Yeah? What’s up?”
“I’m not spending Christmas here.”
He furrowed his brows. He opened his mouth to say something.
“I’m spending it with my dad. In Hollywood. And… gods. It just sucks, because I really wanted to spend it as a reunion Christmas-”
“Pipes.”
“With you, and Leo, and we would’ve even been able to get to talk to Calypso-”
“Piper.”
“And what if I just messed up Leo and Calypso? And tomorrow I’m not here to fix it? Because I’m with my dad? I would’ve ruined Leo, ruined Christmas, and I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself.”
I had to sit down. My mind was blowing up with these thoughts. I breathed in the camp air, trying to not feel so guilty to leave it all behind.
Jason sat down beside me. He waited a little, until I looked at him, and I realized he was waiting until I was done. “You can comfort me now. Sorry.”
He laughed. “First of all, we’ve been over this. You did not ruin Leo and Calypso. And the proof is right there.”
He pointed. They were snuggled into each other, on one of the benches, wrapped up in their own warmth.
I put my hand to my mouth, my eyes crinkling with laughs that I couldn’t laugh out loud. Jason pulled me away to give the two some space.
We kept walking.
“Second of all, there are other Christmases. You don’t need to feel so guilty.”
“But Leo’s here-”
“I thought it was my turn to comfort you now?”
I laughed, feeling the knot in my throat and heart slowly unravel. “Okay. Okay, go on.”
“Leo will be here again. He’s not going to die, and he’s not going to let anything stop him from getting here. Nothing can stop him- not Gaea, not a malfunctioning dragon, not a snow queen, and definitely not anything else that’s stupid enough to throw itself at him. And Calypso is with him, to keep him from doing anything too crazy. We’ll all- all of us- be able to hang out again.”
“Not on Christmas,” I said, quietly. It was so weird how much power just the name and the time of Christmas had over me- December 25th. Christmas Day. Anything that happened then was just… special.
“And if it matters so much to you-” he said, lacing his fingers through mine. “We can have our own Christmas, when you get back. And I’ll think up of something magical. And it’ll be just as special as the actual day. And Leo’s here for the whole week, so-”
“What?”
“On December 26th, we can celebrate.”
“December 27th. I’m with my dad for two days-”
“December 27th, then. Doesn’t matter. It’s gonna be great. I promise.”
“Wait, I’m sorry- Leo’s going to be here the whole week?”
“Weren’t you listening to anything he said last time?”
“I… I guess not.”
“Well, he is. And we both know how much your dad means to you. Don’t feel guilty.”
“I just… really wanted to spend it with you guys.”
“And you will. We’ll make our own traditional Christmas. December 27th.”
“December 27th.”
“All three of us.”
“Four of us, if Calypso wants to join-”
“Just like last year.”
“But with an extra person.”
“Yes.”
“Unless she doesn’t want to join-”
“Then she doesn’t have to.”
“Okay.”
“All good?”
“Yes. Thank you. For comforting me, and all.”
“I guess I’ll just have to give you your Christmas present early, then. Let me go get it.”
“Oh! Yes! Yeah, me too. Meet here?”
“Five minutes.”
“On zero… Three… Two… One… zero-”
We ran off.

Notes

I love all of you guys so much what the heck why are all of you so darn nice