The Ghosts of Millennia

The Unspecified Holiday Party on December 18th

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Everyone meets up at the Jackson house for the party. Hazel reaches out to Nico.

BEGINNING NOTES

Chapter Rating: General Audiences
Content Warning: Cursing, References to Self-Harm/Suicide
Word Count: 2348

Three things:
1. I am SO SORRY I didn't post yesterday! I was sick and also swamped with work and it just completely slipped my mind!
2. My dogs are assaulting me as I try and type. This is the cutest sabotage ever orchestrated against me.
3. This is the last pure-fluff chapter for a while, guys. Enjoy it.

And all the characters are owned by JK Rowling, or Rick Riordan.

Credits at the end.

____________________PERCY____________________

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" Leo shouted the moment he stepped into the apartment.

"Neighbors, Leo!" Jason berated him.

Calypso chuckled. "Is it big enough in here for everyone to spend the night?"

"Oh, sure," Percy reassured her. "Everyone, put your bags in my and Nico's room. We'll figure out who gets the beds and couch and stuff later. Nico and I are going to sleep on the floor, and Mom and Paul are staying with our neighbors, so we should be good. Cramped, but good."

"Percy?" Nico emerged from his room with a huge grin; Percy easily swept his little brother up in a hug. He'd only been home for a few brief moments on his way to camp, and Nico had been in school. It was the first time they'd seen each other since Thanksgiving.

"Neeks!" Jason greeted him. Nico did the standard eye-roll, but couldn't help but smile. "Hey, Grace. Thalia couldn't make it up this year?"

"Artemis has her hunting some moose in Canada or something."

"Maybe she ran into some of Frank's family?" Piper joked, pulling Nico into another hug.

"Hey, hey! Neehhh! Piper!" Nico protested, but he didn't struggle too hard.

"What kind of sound was that, death boy?" Leo joked, already pushing random buttons on the coffee machine.

"No, Leo, you're not allowed caffeine!" Calypso tried to shoo him away but ended up locked in a shoving contest instead. "Stop! Stop!" They were both laughing hysterically. It was sickeningly cute, but Percy let it slide. It was Christmas.

"Dude, she's right," Jason said. "Remember that time you tried Starbucks? It was literally decaf but you were bouncing up the walls for a week."

"I know, I remember!" Leo grabbed a wooden spoon from the counter and started trying to duel Calypso with it. "Engarde! I wanted to tinker with it, that's all! Call it a--take that!--Christmas present, mi amigos."

"Can we not break Paul's lifeline?" Percy groaned. "And Leo, you're not Inigo Montoya. Stop trying to stab your girlfriend."

"I'm Latino! He's Spanish! I could be!" Leo poked Calypso again, who was laughing too hard to even stand upright. "You keelled my father! Prepaaare to die!"

Calypso grabbed onto the counter for support, but that portion of the counter happened to have a few pieces of paper on it, so she slipped and fell to the ground, curled up in fetal position, still laughing hysterically.

"Oh! Oh shit! Calypso!" Leo dropped the spoon and started to help her up. Everyone else started laughing right along with her.

Nico scrambled to grab the papers from the ground. "Sorry, guys. Paul was helping me with a take-home final earlier--I should've put my notes back in my room."