Hey guys! So… how has everything been going for the past few months? Nice, I hope. I'm so sorry that I haven't written a thing in a while… school has taken over my life. And once Christmas break is over, it probably will again. Therefore, I'm going to try and update/write as much as I can before break is over. I am going on vacation for a few days towards the end, so I don't think I'll get too much writing done then, but we'll see.

I needed inspiration to write, so I thought I'd join in with the Holiday season and write a sappy, cheese-y, completely happy-go-lucky Christmas fic. I'm tired of editing it, so I hope it comes out to you the way I wanted.

I dedicate this to all my crazy friends (who won't ever be reading this dedication) who participated in our slightly disastrous but completely fun Secret Santa this year.

Annabeth smacked her head against her desk repeatedly. Normally, she left the ridiculous ways to loose brain cells to Percy, but this time she couldn't help punishing herself for her stupidity.

Whoever invented Secret Santa obviously had it out for her. She hated Grover for even suggesting the goddamn idea.

"It'll be fun!" he had said at the last camp meeting that took place on Thanksgiving.

Yeah, this really is fun, she thought sarcastically as she scrolled through a site that supposedly had, "Great gift ideas for the 16 year old boy!"

Annabeth didn't have a particular talent in shopping, especially when it came to gift giving. When buying a gift for her father, she always called her stepmother and asked what he wanted and ordered it from Amazon.

She couldn't help but wonder why she had to get Percy. Sure, at first she was thrilled. Who wouldn't want their boyfriend for Secret Santa? Besides, there was no one Annabeth knew better than Percy. But as the due date of the gift drew closer, she found it nearly impossible. She couldn't find the right gift for him, and slight imperfection wasn't acceptable. Percy was the only person who she really cared what he thought of her gift. She wished she had gotten someone like Clarisse, where Annabeth wouldn't care whether Clarisse liked it or not. How was it possible that she could fight off any monster that came crawling out of her textbooks, but she couldn't find a gift for her boyfriend/best friend?

She was about to admit defeat and Iris message Grover to ask if he had a clue what Percy wanted, but her thoughts were interrupted by loud knocking on the door.

"Hey, Annabeth?" Percy asked, still knocking, "You there?"

She had gotten so immersed in playing Santa, that she forgot that Percy and her were supposed to go out to see a movie.

"Yeah," she said, thrusting the door open, "One second, let me grab my coat." She ran around her dorm room frenzied, desperately searching for her keys and wallet.

"It's freezing outside," he said, adjusting his scarf, "Walking here from the subway station almost gave me frost bite."

She pulled her winter coat off the hook; "Yeah, I heard we're supposed to have a blizzard tomorrow."

"I know," he replied, "It sucks that it's going to be tomorrow, and not a few days ago. I might've gotten a snow day."

"Maybe," she said, closing the door behind her. "So… what are we seeing?"

"Is Avatar okay? I really want to see it."

"Sounds fine with me," Annabeth replied. She hadn't been keeping up with the current movies, so she didn't really know one from another. She knew Percy well enough to know that he wasn't choosing some sappy love story that involved tons of needless kissing and absolutely no plot.

The second they stepped outside, Annabeth felt the cold surround her. He nose, the most exposed body part, was instantly met with numbness and pain. She shoved her hands in her coat pockets, and began to trudge ahead in silence.

Silence between them didn't last too long, because Percy began talking about her least favorite subject.

"I need your opinion," he demanded.

"On what?"

"I can't decide what to get Nico as a Secret Santa gift," he explained, "I've narrowed it down to two things: either an iTunes gift card or this cool skull shirt I saw the other day."

"How much is the shirt?" Annabeth asked.

"Like 20$, I think. Why?"

"Well, the gift limit is 40$, so get him the shirt and then get him a 15$ iTunes gift card. That way you can get him both, without going over the limit."

"Oh my gods, you're a genius! Well, you've always been a genius, but now you're even more of one. Whomever you have must be really lucky," Percy said, speeding up at the sight of the movie theater.

"You would think that, wouldn't you," Annabeth mumbled to herself. Out of frustration, she kicked a random leaf on the ground and tore it to bits with her foot.

"Huh?" Percy said, turning around.

"It's nothing," she said, catching up to him. The line for tickets at the movie theater seemed a bit endless. People were lined up around the block just waiting in line to buy tickets for Avatar. The 28-degree weather really didn't help with that.

"Just out of curiosity, who do you have for Secret Santa?" Percy asked, bringing up the topic again. Percy always seemed to get fixated on certain topics, and it was difficult to get him off of them.

On some level, Annabeth had expected that Percy wouldn't adhere to the first and foremost rule of Secret Santa: don't ask anyone else whom he or she has, because they very well could have you.

"Oh, uh…" she said, mentally sifting through the campers searching for someone to say, "Juniper."

"Really?" Percy said, furrowing his brows, "I thought I heard from Clarisse who heard from Chris who heard from Connor that Katie Gardner has Juniper. Juniper can't be getting gifts from two people, can she?"

"No, she can't be. One of them must be lying." Annabeth said, shrugging it off.

"Yeah, they must be. I bet you that it's Connor, he's always been good at lying," he said, finally stepping up to the front of the ticket booth.

***

Finding seats had been a bit of a challenge. Like the line had shown, a lot of people were there to see the movie. Luckily, since there were only two of them, it wasn't impossible like it was for the group of 6 that were looking frantically up and down the isle for even a few seats near each other.

When they were seated in the movie theater, munching on popcorn and candy, Percy brought up the dreaded topic once again.

"Okay… I'm going to figure this out," he said, popping a piece of popcorn in his mouth, "I have Nico. You have Juniper. Nico has Chris, and Chris has…."

He continued listing, putting the Secret Santa puzzle pieces together aloud. Thankfully, since the Gods were forced to claim all their children, the camp was bursting with campers, which made it very difficult for Percy to know who everyone had – especially since he didn't even know every camper personally.

"If you continue this, you'll find out who has you," she said, interrupting his list.

"Yeah," he said, looking at her, "That's kind of the point."

"But you're ruining the concept of Secret Santa: the fact that it's a secret. If it's not a secret anymore, then what's the point? You'll ruin to surprise."

"To get gifts," he said, "Of course. And I don't care if I ruin the surprise, I hate surprises."

She rolled her eyes just as the lights began to dim, signifying that the movie was about to begin.

About what seemed like halfway through the movie, Percy used the arm that he had fastened around her shoulder to pull her in closer to him. She figured that he was going to kiss her, so she leaned her mouth closer to him. Instead, however, he leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"I've figured it all out!"

"You've figured what out?" she asked, even though she knew the answer. She just hoped he hadn't figured out that she had been the one lying.

"Who has me for Secret Santa!"

Annabeth felt her chest tighten slightly. She was preparing for the inevitable, "Really?" she whispered back, only choking slightly.

"It has to be Grover!"

She instantly relaxed a little, relief consuming her, "Huh?"

"Yeah, he must have been lying when he said he had you…"

The relief that she had been feeling before dissolved a little, as she realized that Percy had inadvertently given away who had her for Secret Santa. She had been trying to not think about it, and let her Secret Santa be a surprise. If she had really wanted to figure out who had her like Percy, she could have listened to Percy's listing for only a few seconds to realize it. It was just her luck and irony, really. The one time that she didn't think the answer was given away to her.

"Yeah, he must have."

***

Annabeth couldn't help but admire the Christmas decorations that the camp did this year. The dining hall had a giant decorated Christmas tree sitting in the front, and holiday lights were hung all throughout the building. They had jugs of hot chocolate set up on each of the table, and a bounteous amount of food on the table.

She wasn't completely satisfied with her gifts for Percy, but she had settled on a king sized pack of Reese's, a 15$ iTunes gift card, a copy of the first movie they saw as a couple, and 10 "Free Makeout Session" coupons. She somewhat hated herself for giving him the last one, but she thought that the rest of her gifts were duds and she knew from experience that there was nothing more that a 16 year old boy liked to do than stick his tongue in a girl's mouth.

When she was surfing the crowd of campers for Percy, she felt someone tap her lightly on the shoulder. She did a 180, and found none other than Grover standing directly behind her.

"Hey, Annabeth," he said, holding out a rectangular gift. It was wrapped in green and red paper, with a bright red bow on the top, "This is for you. Merry Christmas!"

"Thanks so much, Grover," she said, taking the gift from him. She noticed that it was heavy, and that it felt a bit like a book.

She began unwrapping the gift, and when it was uncovered she was holding a book entitled Building the Empire State.

"It's a discovered notebook that follows the construction of the Empire State Building." Grover explained, a hopeful expression on his face.

"Oh, wow, Grover," she said, briefly flipping through the pages, "This is great! I really need something like this."

"Yeah, after I saw it in Barnes and Nobles, I asked Malcolm if you owned it. He said that you didn't, so I figured that it was worth a shot."

"Thanks so much, Grover, I really love it," she said, giving the satyr a hug.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, backing out of the hug, "I almost completely forgot! There's a Barnes and Nobles gift cardunder the front flap."

Before she could thank Grover one more time for the gift, Percy stepped in between them.

"Hand it over, Wise Girl," Percy said, reaching out a hand. He didn't look angry, just anxious to be holding a gift in his hand.

"What are you talking about, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked, feigning ignorance.

"I know that you're my Secret Santa," he said, crossing his arms, "I was a bit confused when I did see Katie actually giving Juniper a gift. Then, I saw Grover giving you a gift, so I figured out that you were the one who was lying the whole time."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine, here you go, Seaweed Brain," she said, pulling out a blue box from behind her, "Merry Christmas."

He fervently tore open the box, first pulling out the iTunes gift card. "Yes! I really needed one of these!" he exclaimed, setting the iTunes card aside on the table, "Now I can buy more apps and that Fall Out Boy album I'm missing."

Instantly, he began digging once again in the box, and he pulled out the Reese's. His grin widened, as bright orange wrapping mesmerized him. Ever since they had be going to the movies together, she had figured out that Reese's had to be his favorite candy because that's the only candy he bought.

"You remembered!" he said, pulling out the DVD.

"How could I forget?" she asked, smiling at her success so far. And he hasn't even gotten to the best gift yet, she thought to herself.

"Thanks so much, Annabeth," he said, setting the box down on the table, and giving her a quick kiss.

"Um, Percy, you're forgetting something." Annabeth said.

"Really?" his eyes lit up, "There's more? You're the best Secret Santa!" He began digging through the box some more like a little kid, until his face suddenly changed. His goofy grin turned to a mischievous, seductive one. This childish glint in his eyes changed to show desire and hope.

"Can… can these be used at anytime?" he asked, "Like, uh, now… for example?"

"Yup," she replied, "Anytime."

Instantly, he ripped one of them out of the booklet, and handed it to her. "Merry Christmas!" he said, and grabbed Annabeth in his arms and closed the small gap that was between them.

She heard someone from the Ares cabin shout for them to get a room, and someone else (probably Connor or Travis) make a whistling sound. But the only thought that was running through her head was:

Gift = Success

Sappy – check

Cheese-y – check

Pure happiness at the end – check

Christmas-y – check

Romantic – check

I think I got it all down. Don't you?

Kudos if you figured out that the first half would have taken place a few days ago (Friday).

Merry Christmas (or, happy Chanukah or happy Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate)! How about leaving me a review as a Christmas present. Please? I think that sounds fair. :)