The Stories After

Christmas Part 1 - Nico and Will

Nico's POV

I was just finishing hanging the ornaments on the tree. I stepped back and looked at it. It was awesome. It held all the ornaments Will and I had been working on, showin each of our personalities. Most of mine were black, maybe skulls with Santa hats or something ( What's the big deal about this Santa guy? I have never heard of him before! But I will pretend I guess). Anyways, I was really excited for this Christmas, although I didn't admit it. For starters, I hadn't had a REAL Christmas since I-don't-know-when. AND it was my first Christmas with Will. 

As soon as I thought this, I heard singing coming from the kitchen. Solace had been singing carols constantly since Thanksgiving ended, and although he was the son of Apollo, he was not the best at singing. If you get my drift. I turned around, and as I was about to yell at Will that he better 'shut up or you will end up in the Fields of Punishment for eternity' he walked into the room. 

I could hardly stop myself from falling over in laughter, and I am pretty good at hiding emotions. Will's golden hair fell into his face, pushed there by his Santa hat. (seriously, who is this Santa guy?) He was also wearing an ugly Christmas sweater. No. The UGLIEST  Christmas sweater my almost 90-year-old eyes have ever seen. It protrayed the 12 Olympians at a Christmas party, drunk on eggnog, and also wearing ugly togas. They never wear sweaters, duh. Each god had jingle bells strung all over them, and Christmas tree lights. They also wore Santa hats. ( whoever this Santa guy even freaking is.) It was so so so ugly, but I did not want to wipe that ginormous smile off of Will's face, so I tried to appear emotionless. 

AND Will carried an extremely large mound of cookies. Orange cookies. Ever since Halloween, Percy and Will have been at war. A colored food war. Will told Percy the color blue was stupid, even though I warned him not to. Percy was very defensive of his blue cookies, candy, waffles, and Coca Cola. After he said this, they got in an argument, dueled a little bit, blah blah blah. Then, they made a bet. They bet that they could make more colored food than the other. And they have been at each other's necks ever since. 

Anyways. As Will came strolling in to see the tree, ( and probably to call percy and tell him he had made 157 orange cookies, even if there was only 34 ) he tripped over his big feet, and the pile of cookies started to topple. Before they could all hit the floor, I shadow travelled the 10 feet between us, and caught the plate and all the cookies. Only 2 hit the floor. Even though I had saved his beloved cookies, Will still yelled at me. 

" WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!?????!!!! NICO STEVEN DI ANGELO - I HAVE TOLD YOU 2,341 TIMES NOW TO NOT DO THAT! YOU COULD DO IT TOO MANY TIMES AND NOT COME BACK! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!?!?!?!?" 

" uh first of all, it was only 10 feet, no harm done. and second of all, my middle name is not Steven. " I said quietly. I did not mean to make him upset, I just wanted to help. 

" I Don't Care! " 

Just to annoy him, I shadow travelled into the kitchen and back. He only rolled his eyes. 

" I love you Neeks. " 

I didn't reply. I don't really like to just go around and tell people how I feel. It shows weakness. He set down the cookies, and walked over to check out the tree. 

" It's ready for a star, I'll put it on now. " he stated. 

" Nooooo I wanna!" I whined. I sounded like a child, but at that point, I honestly did not care. 

" Neeks, you're too short." He replied.

" And you are a geek, but I don't go around shouting it to the world. " I snapped back with a venom of sarcasm. 

" Uh huh, ok, I will get the ladder." he replied non-chalantly. 

I was still too short. 

" See, I told you! Ha!"

" If you do not stop pointing out the fact that I am vertically challenged, I will shadow travel to the Underworld with dad, and not come for a month this time."  (If you are wondering what he means by "this time", then there will be a story about this later.)

" Sometimes you give me a Zues-sized headache." Will complained. 

" Whatever, you know you love me anyways" I said back, pretending to flip my hair over my shoulder, like one of the characters from Mean Girls would do. 

He laughed. " Ya, I really do, Neeks. But I am going to have to put the star on the tree. You are just too short, sorry."

" But I really wannaaaaaa" 

" My dad is the SUN god. We are putting a STAR on our tree. Put 2 and 2 together yet?" He replied back. 

I made a puppy-dog face, hoping it would work. I knew it probably wouldn't, but it was worth a shot.

Will mimicked me, then said, " You could get on my shoulders?"

No. No no no, no. I was not doing that. I hadn't told anyone, but I was developing a fear of heights from all the long drops we made transporting the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Halfblood. In reply, I shook my head vigorously. 

" Then I gotta put it on Nico."

"No." 

" NICO"

"Fine." I climbed on his shoulders, my hands shaking. I grabbed the star, and started to reach out towards the tree to put it on top. Will took a step towards the tree, making it easier for me to reach the top. 

"Will, hold me!"

"I am!"

"Tighter!"

He gripped my legs tighter, and I felt safe. Well, at least as safe as you CAN feel on top of a 6'5" clumsy son of Apollo. I placed the star on the tree, and made sure it was secure before whimpering, " Will, get me down. Now."

"Okay, okay, I got you."

I scampered off his shoulders, with a little help, and ran over to the outlet to plug it in. I ran back beside my boyfriend, and watched the lighhts flicker, then remain on. It looked so so so good. Almost as good as my charming boyfriend. He hugged me. 

As he sqeezed me he said, " It looks so good Neeks, I am really excited for this Christmas. I love you."

And for the first time, I smiled and said it back. 

"I love you too Will."

I knew his was definitely going to be a Christmas to remember.