Gift to You

City of Lights

For the first time since meeting him, Percy wanted nothing more than to strangle Leo. Usually, the tinkerer's positive, up beat attitude was refreshing and made him feel as if he was still at Camp. But today wasn't the day for cheer. It was the day for morning and praying. Frank had pulled a gloomy Hazel off the ship the moment they had landed, hoping to cheer her up with a trip to an art museum. Jason had taken Piper to explore in hopes of getting his best friend's mind off the blonde girl she missed so much.

The sea prince, however, he had lost twice as much as both Piper and Hazel. Both had been his best friends. Percy still struggled to understand why Annabeth had pushed him out of Tartarus to try and close the doors herself. What puzzled him even more was the thought that Nico had shadow traveled in hopes of helping then saving both of them. The green eyed boy sniffed at remembering neither had been seen since that moment.

He refused to believe they were dead, everyone did. It just seemed that everyone else accepted it. Percy couldn't. He had been planing to use the day they landed in Paris, the twenty-fifth of December, to look through every last possibility on how to find them.

Leo had another plan entirely as he dragged the elder demigod through the streets of Paris. He continued speaking as if he didn't notice Poseidon's son lagging behind. Percy heard words like 'Eiffel Tower', 'Shopping', and 'food' but didn't care to try and decipher the Latino's full plan.

"Leo," the sea prince finally said. He waited until the tinkerer's full attention was on him before continuing. "I want to go back to the ship."

"But it's a beautiful Christmas Day!"

"I don't care. I want to lay down."

"So you can sulk over Annabeth and Nico?" Leo stopped to glare into Percy's eyes.

The demigod was too shocked at first to answer. Percy punched the Latino in the chest, forcing him to the ground, when he had regained his voice. "You don't know them!" He yelled, not caring if anyone stared or not. "So stop pretending like you do!" He took off running, not knowing where he was headed, just that it would be away from Leo.

The tinkerer got to his feet, ignoring the pain that shot through him from Percy's hit. He took off after the sea prince. There was no telling where he would go when he was upset like this, but Leo refused to risk losing his friend in a foreign city where he could easily get lost.

After ten minutes of chasing, Leo spotted Percy sliding passed a crowd of people into what looked like a giant mall. Not wasting a moment, he took off, pushing past people who—he was sure—cursed at him in French. Finally, the sea prince stopped, leaning against a wall as he waited for Hephaestus' son to caught up. The demigod never thought that he would actually get away.

Breathing heavily from the excessive running and dodging, Leo leaned against the wall beside Percy. "So," he asked, "did you pay attention to the road signs when you were running? Because I have no idea where we are."

The sea prince glanced around, looking at all the people and spotting a few signs. "We are in Galeries Lafayette." He was met by a blank stare. "Basically, this is the French version of a huge department store."

"Oh," the tinkerer nodded. He had been planning on sovereign shopping in local stores, but this worked just as well. "Let's look around then?"

Percy nodded. "I suppose, since it seems you will go through whatever it takes to not allow me back on that ship," he glared at Leo. "You still aren't forgiven."

The two demigods walked through the French department story—"More like four huge buildings," Leo commented—until they'd reached the top floor, where it held restaurants. Percy wanted to go to one that looked extremely expensive, saying the food would be good. Leo eventually convinced him to eat at a more tourist friendly place.

After the boys ordered their food—Leo some sort of pasta, Percy something the tinkerer couldn't pronounce—Leo watched the sea prince. After a few minutes, he looked up. "What?" Poseidon's son asked. "Is something on my face?"

"No," the Latino laughed. "I just...I want to know where you learned all this? You ordered your meal in perfect French. You knew what this place was, where to find stores, what the signs said. Are you, like, some kind of Greek/French person?"

The older demigod laughed, shaking his head. He really did enjoy Leo when he was like this. "No," Percy smiled, leaning on his hand. "My first year at camp, I ended up befriending this girl. She had moved to America from France with her dad." At that moment, their food came. Percy waited for the waiter to leave before continuing. "She told me, along with others, stories about when she was in France.

"After a while, she began teaching me to speak French, just a few words then whole conversations because I was more interested in it than anyone else. She always said, 'One day you'll visit my home country and thank me'," Percy laughed, taking a bite of his food. "Who knew she would be right."

The tinkerer watched him eat, barely noticing his own food. He didn't even take the first bite until the sea prince commented that his food would get cold. Leo quickly ate some before trying to pay for their meal, only to discover that his money was still American. This caused Percy to chuckle and end up playing for their meals. "Annabeth exchanged all our money the moment we landed in Rome," he explained.

"That would have been smart," Leo nodded. Now they were walking on the street. He noticed Percy shivering in his thin jacket. "Here." The fire user wrapped his arm around the other male in attempt to warm him. "Better?"

Percy nodded, letting his head rest on Leo's shoulder. "Yeah, thanks." He sighed. Percy tilted his head a little, breathing in Leo's firewood and oil scent. For the strangest reason, the odd combination smelled nice.

The builder noticed as Percy sniffed at his coat. "Do you enjoy the smell of sweat and motor oil?" He chuckled.

"Oui," The son of Poseidon's smiled, "I do enjoy your smell." He froze, a large grin spreading across his face. He pulled out of Leo's arm, grabbing the Latino's hand instead. "I want one!"

"One what?" Leo asked, clueless. He noticed everyone around them staring at the two, but couldn't find it in himself to care. "What do you want Percy?"

The elder male didn't answer, instead running passed more people before pushing through the front door of a small shop—a cafe, Leo corrected his thoughts as he smelt food. Percy ran up to the counter and, without taking a breath, said, "Une crepe au bananas." He pulled out a few bills. "C'est combien?"

The girl behind the counter smiled, saying something that Leo didn't understand. He watch Percy hand over a few bills then waited until he received something that resembled a burrito. Grinning, the sea prince thanked the cashier and grabbed the tinkerer's hand, pulling him back out onto the streets.

They had walked a block before Leo finally had to ask. "What is that?"

The demigod looked up from where he was biting into his 'French burrito', as Leo had dubbed it. "It's a crepe." At seeing the other's blank face, Percy went on to explain, "A very thin pancake. Most venders sell them wrapped up with a type of fruit on the inside. I got one with bananas inside. Would you like some?"

Cautiously, Leo took a small bite. He chewed it, emotionless. "Disgusting!"

"Valdez!" Percy warned.

The Latino cracked a smile. "I'm kidding. It's good. I want another bite." He leaned over, almost touching the sea prince's lips as he bit into the crepe. Leo breathed in the smell of salt water on Percy's breath. "It's really delicious," he whispered.

Poseidon's son opened his mouth, then closed it just as quickly. He took a step back. "Saying it's good is not enough to be forgiven Leo," he mused. "I was the one who paid for our lunch."

Leo grunted. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "I can't buy you anything, sorry, but I'll take you on an experience." He took one of Percy's hand again, intertwining their fingers. "You'll forgive me by the end of today. That much I am sure."

"We'll see," the sea prince muttered.

Gift for You

Hazel had to admit, she was feeling better. She hadn't wanted to go out at first, but Frank had convinced her after a few hours of begging.

Musee d'Orasy was really a beautiful place. It had some of the most famous paintings in the world, and a few she didn't know of. Hazel wasn't sure how Frank had gotten them in, but she loved it. It helped take her mind off things, which was all she had ever asked.

"Frank, is that Leo and Percy?" She asked when she spotted them at the museum. Pluto's daughter had expected her cousin to have sulked all day, praying to his father that Annabeth and Nico would be alright. The last think Hazel thought was that she would see Percy smiling, Leo having an arm lazily over his shoulders.

Frank looked up, eyes half lid from boredom. "I think so?" His voice turned into almost a question.

Percy laughed, point to something. Leo nodded to it, then said, "Let's go check it out." The two boys disappeared around the corner, toward what Hazel thought was the Greek section.

The Latino snorted. "That's what they think Aphrodite looks like?"

"Actually, that's Venus," Percy corrected. "And you're right, she looks a lot prettier. Look, let's go make fun of Zeus," he grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him to the painting of Zeus and Hera.

Leo chuckled as Percy pointed out all the things the artists got wrong. Every once in a while, someone would get it and the elder male would explain that it was probably a demigod son of Apollo. "They are the only ones who ever capture their parents images right," then he'd shrug and move onto the next painting.

The pair finally left the museum as it began getting dark. "We should head back," Leo muttered, wrapping his arm around the sea prince to keep him warm.

Poseidon's son sighed, leaning his head against the tinkerer's shoulder. "Okay, but can we see the Eiffel Tower first? It's Christmas and I bet it will look beautiful, all lit up and what not."

"I'm not sure, it's getting late." He looked around them. Couples were everywhere, all walking towards the Eiffel Tower. Leo looked down at Percy and caught his large eyes. They almost seemed to reflect the blinding lights behind them. Finally, he sighed, "Fine, but we can't stay all night."

Percy's face lit up, a smile happier than he'd been all day. The sea prince got onto his toes and kissed Leo's cheek. "Thank you Leo," he muttered. "You are forgiven."

Leo was surprised to see that the city had made an ice skating ring underneath the Eiffel Tower that was open to the public. He noticed how the sea prince looked disappointed as they got closer. "What's wrong?"

"We can't ice skate," he whispered. "Not only will you melt the ice, but I'll fall down a lot."

This only caused Leo to laugh and hug Percy. "I'll do something better than ice skating for you when we get home, promise."

Poseidon's son was going to answer until he heard giggling. The pair looked up to see two girls standing no more than ten yards away. The redhead pointed at Percy, laughing as she said, "Le petit garcon est mingnon." Her friend giggled, nodding.

The sea prince's face turned red and he buried his face into the tinkerer's coat. "Let's go Leo," he whispered.

"What? Why?" The tinkerer asked, wrapping his arms around Percy's waist.

"Il est rougit!" The redhead called out. "Non! Arrester!"

Leo glanced up and saw both girls standing in front of them, the redhead looking annoyed. "Je regrette pour mon ami," the friend said. "Elle est embetante."

"Non, je ne suis pas!"

Leo held up his hands, a way of showing surrender. "I have no idea what you are saying," he confessed. Percy, on the other hand, stayed silent, his face now a bright red. The boy was afraid to admit he knew everything they were saying.

"Oh, tourist," the redhead said. "Welcome to Paris! I wanted to tell you votre petitami est cute. Both of you, etes fiancee mingnon!"

"That's enough!" The friend yelled, grabbing the redhead's arm and dragging her away from the pair.

"Au revoir!" The girl giggled as she was pulled away. "Enjoy France!"

The tinkerer just stared, surprised that someone would actually come up to them. "Do you—" He looked down at Percy, only to see his face a bright red. "What's wrong? What did they say?"

He shook his head. "It's nothing," he muttered. The sea prince took a deep breath and began walking away. "Let's just head back to the ship."

"Hold on!" Leo reached out and grabbed Percy's arm, forcing him to stop. "What did that girl say that made you so embarrassed?" The son of Poseidon shook his head. "Come on Perce, it's not that bad, is it?"

"She called me your boyfriend!" He snapped, eyes shut.

Hephaestus's son watched as the boy refused to look up, instead keeping his eyes shut. Percy's fists were clenched, face like a tomato, and eyes angled to the ground. "I get it," Leo muttered, his own face tinting pink. He had to concentrate to keep from letting his hair catch on fire. "You're right. I'll take you back to the ship."

Percy looked up with widened green eyes. "No, Leo, I didn't mean it like that." His face cooled to a dark pink. "It's just, the way she said it. It was embarrassing Leo! The girl kept pointing out how I was blushing and she called me short and cute. Plus, she called us sweethearts, which was also embarrassing since we aren't even dating." He tugged at the hem of his shirt, not wanting to look up. "I'm not saying it would be bad dating you, just that the situation—"

He was cut off as Leo kissed him. The sea prince instantly wrapped his arms around the builder's neck, not wanting to let go of the warmth. After a moment, both of them pulled away from the innocent kiss, staring at each other. "Perce?"

"Yeah?"

"That boyfriend comment...would it be that bad if it was true?" Leo had to force himself to not look away. Percy's intense sea green eyes were intimidating, warning off anyone not brave enough to hold them.

The son of Poseidon leaned forward as answer, placing a soft kiss on the fire user's lips. "No, not bad at all." He laid his head on Leo's chest and looked to the side, watching as the Eiffel Tower lit up, as if it was celebrating Christmas all by itself. "I really like France. Let's come back again."

This turned out shorter and fluffier than I expected, then again I wanted it to be extremely fluffy. So, this is my earlier Christmas present to the readers. I'm not sure when I'll have internet connection again, so the second one might turn into a New Years present. Sorry ^^"

I figured the French was explained, but if anyone has a question about what it says I will be happy to tell you.

Merry Christmas and thanks for reading. You all are amazing!

~Goddess of the Multiverses