Merry Christmas.
A Percy Jackson story
Written/edited by: Max/musiclover99
©-Rick Riordan

Okay, so basically, in my Christmas EVE fic, I wrote that Percy always IM-ed Annabeth and sent a little gift, like a notebook or pen or something, and while it's small, it's still 'held near and dear to her heart, as cheesy as it sounded.' And Lex somehow gave me an idea when I read her fic, which was BASED on my fic. So her fic was based on my fic and that fic gave me a new fic. Uh . . . okay then.

ANYWAY, I have a piece of fluff for ya'll! 8D Pointless and meaningless it may be, it's still nice. Enjoy!

Christmas never really held any meaning to Annabeth.

This was the first year that she would get a "proper Christmas" from her dad and step-mom—the first year back at her "parent's" house. And to be honest, it felt quite out of place.

When she was younger, Christmas had never been that big. She wasn't wanted, that much was known. So Christmas came and went as another regular day of the year. Christmas with Luke and Thalia was considerably better. Simple, and not extravagant in the least . . . but better.

Christmas at Camp was nice—pretty, even. The twinkly lights on the cabins, some wreaths and trees here and there, and the occasional mistletoe planted by the Aphrodite cabin. Thank the gods that she never had to get caught under one.

She would much rather be back at Camp instead of sitting on the couch in her dad's living room, awkwardly reading while sipping her rather-bad-but-still-okay-ish hot chocolate. It was near noon, and her dad had apparently decided to try his hand at making a "Christmas lunch." She made sure that the fire extinguisher was working properly, just in case.

There was a ring from the doorbell, and her dad called out, "Annabeth, could you get that?"

She sighed, because she really would rather continue reading her book than get up and answer the door (even if it was some awful school assigned book that had obviously been made for illiterate idiots), but she put her book down and got up anyway. Whoever it was started ringing the doorbell some more, and she was getting annoyed.

"What?" she said while flinging the door open. And there stood the awkward boy that is Percy Jackson.

"Aw, is that how you greet all of your friends on Christmas morning?" he asked, mock-hurt. She rolled her eyes.

"What do you want, Percy?" she said, the corners of her mouth twitching at him fidgeting to get something out of his pocket.

"I got you something," he said. When she had a slightly puzzled look on her face, it was his turn to roll his eyes. "You know. For Christmas? It is Christmas today, isn't it?"

Her puzzled expression turned into one of slight shock, before back to puzzled. "But . . . you know you didn't have to give me something. I mean, I didn't get you anything, and—" He held a hand up to stop her.

"It's fine," he said. "It's Christmas."

And as cheesy as it was, Annabeth felt touched. Just a little bit.

"Here," he said, thrusting out a rectangular object at her. "And before you ask, my mom wrapped that, because wrapping paper just seems to hate me." Annabeth couldn't help smiling a little at the idea of Percy getting into a tangled mess with wrapping paper, and had to hold back a giggle.

She grabbed the beautifully wrapped gift from Percy, who urged her to open it.

And when she did, it was revealed to be a nice leather notebook with a simple pen strapped into the side. The smile on her face widened into a genuine one.

And she really couldn't seem to stop herself from hugging him, because . . . well, that is one really cool notebook. And it looked much better than those cheap one dollar ones you could get at a convenience store. It was . . . nice, to say the least.

"Thank you," she breathed, letting go. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, a gesture that seemed really . . . cute, for reasons she couldn't fathom at the time, but she let it go.

"S'nothing," he insisted. "Really." He looked at the time, and added, "I gotta go, my mom's making lunch." They both heard a beep and saw some smoke coming from Annabeth's kitchen, who chuckled and said, "And apparently, my dad burnt ours."

Percy grinned at that, and with a wave of his hand, walked down from the doorstep while saying, "Merry Christmas!"

And Annabeth couldn't help matching his grin, waving back and saying, "Merry Christmas."

This is proof that I cannot write Percy and Annabeth as any age younger than . . . fourteen or fifteen, I'd say. DAMMIT. DX

But here is some nice Christmas fluff for you people in the Percy Jackson archive. I wish I could do it for Pokémon and How to Train Your Dragon, and even Lilo & Stitch and Phineas and Ferb, but . . . it's my break. I FINALLY GET TO BE LAZY~

(Maybe I can do some belated ones . . . Snoggletog beckons me. And so does a poorly wrapped present with Stitch drool all over it . . . and Isabella with some clichéd mistletoe . . . I got nothing for Pokémon. X3)

Merry Christmas, Happy New Years', and Happy Holidays everyone!