madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-give this to Kevin, give this to Kevin, Kevins not here-

Will had had to run back to the infirmary, as someone had tried to deepthroat a Christmas cracker. Joy. But Teqi had promised him that she would come help the apollo cabin out later that afternoon. Everyone else was laying round the cabin in varying states of sugar coma, however Ginny was arranging her new collection of my little ponies and her new favourite toy, a hello kitty plush from Piper and Jason [guess who had the most input in that decision].

Ollie was trying to set up the karaoke machine he had bought all of his siblings, and Teqi was restraining Leo from showing him how to set it up properly. She thought it was hilarious, but from the looks of it, Leo was in pain as he watched Ollie read the instruction manual upside down. And this guy was studying for a degree.

Drew and Brandon had mysteriously disappeared again. Teqi knew it was so they could give each other their proper gifts, in romantic privacy. How cliché.

Teqi was overjoyed with her own presents, a hand painted my little pony that Ginny had designed to look like Teqi's favourite Pegasus at the stables, Olive. Jason had made her a leather pouch with gold constellation designs painted onto it in the arts and crafts session that Piper had dragged him too. It was so Teqi could store her knives in, it would clip onto her belt easily and hold them for her.

Brandon hadn't got his present for Teqi yet, as the kids from the Hermes cabin who were smuggling it in were behind in schedule, so it was still a surprise. Drew had grudgingly given her some expensive mascara and an eyelash curler. To which Teqi handed over lip gloss and a packet of candy canes with a glare, making Brandon happy with the ordeal, so that was a success.

Piper had made her present herself, some wide legged white jeans, that she had carefully written the lyrics to at least half of Billie Eilish's songs on with thick black sharpie. They were really cool, and the reason that the cabin was now listening to NDA. Teqi had quickly changed into the jeans and the iron man hoodie that had been tied up with a bow and returned with a smirk.

Will's present was her favourite by far though, a longboard that was built in the forgery by Nyssa [will was shit at building anything, it was hilarious to watch, honestly]. The special part of it though, was that he had pasted polaroids of the two of them, and drawings he must have stolen from Teqi's numerous sketchbooks. A matte gloss had been painted over them, so the papers didn't get ruined or scratched up, and it made the board shiny. She had hugged the grinning boy for a good minute and then handed her present for him over.

Their minds worked the same, as she had gotten him roller skates. They weren't normal ones though, ironically, she had gone to Nyssa for help assembling them months ago, as they were going to be a Christmas present for Will last year. She had gotten a pair of black and white checked vans, and stuck the wheel parts of a different pair of rollerblades onto the bottom of them.

The fact that nobody had access to Kmart or Big W or just shops in general meant most of the presents handed around were DIY, or old things that people had upcycled and made better versions, so they were nicer anyway.

Teqi dug out the old DVD player from a cupboard, thankful that her siblings hadn't burnt another one of her prized possessions. Lunch was in an hour, so the plan was to watch a movie and then go eat. After that there was a capture the flag game and a few other activities, then the campfire.

"Oh! Can we watch a nightmare before Christmas?" Piper asked, looking at the few DVD's they had collected over the years. The reactions varied.

"You absolute monster!" Ollie yelled with horror; his disgusted face popped out behind a half-assembled karaoke machine Leo was still fuming about. "Whats that?" Jason asked curiously.