I promise I'm alive! LOL! Man... Have I been so busy. Like. My original hiatus, which was only supposed to last the school year was extended to last the summer and BLEH! I'm not gonna get into that with y'all. But yeah. It's just a short one-shot. Somewhat to honor the release of The Hammer of Thor. Also to tell y'all that I have a story in the works! I'm about half-way-ish through writing it so I'll probablyh be posting it soon. It's not a Percabeth story, though. It's a Charah one. I am working on another Percabeth story as well. That one is a bit more... deep? I guess that's the word, so it's taking a bit longer to plan everything out. But yeah! I'll be coming back very shortly!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Percy Jackson and the Olympians... Obviously since I am in no way, shape, or form Rick Riordan.

"So… what are we doing here?" Percy asked. He tightened his coat so that it covered more of his body. New York during the winter was terrible, but Boston was like sitting in a liquid nitrogen bath.

"Just… Trust me, Percy," Annabeth said. She lowered her hood and walked on, leading the way to who knew where.

"You know that I always do," he said. "But Boston in the middle of December isn't exactly the most romantic location for a winter vacation. I was thinking more, you know, Florida, or somewhere warm?" Annabeth kept on walking ahead of him and even though he couldn't see her face, he knew she was rolling her eyes.

"We're almost there, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth crossed the street and Percy followed. Finally, she entered what looked to be a food court. Percy breathed a sigh of relief when the warmth of the heated air enveloped him. They grabbed a table by a stall called 'Fadlan's Falafels.'

"Wow, date night at a falafel place in a Boston food court. Very romantic."

"Percy, please. Just… Be on your best behavior."

"Come on, Wise Girl," he said with his boyish smile. "I'm always on my best behavior." Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him but the upturn at the corner of her lips let Percy know that he had succeeded in making her laugh. He raised an eyebrow. She giggled. Score.

"If you must know, we're meeting my cousin," she said finally.

"We are?" Percy asked. He knew that her cousin, Magnus had been MIA from Annabeth's life since they were kids and really missing for the past two years and that Annabeth recently connected with him, but other than that, Percy knew nothing about the guy.

"Yeah. He's… different."

"Different… Like us, different? Are we bringing him to Camp?"

"No. We're not. He's a Demigod, but different."

"Different how?"

"Well for one, he's a Norse Demigod. And, two, he's dead." Percy's eyes went wide.

"We're not gonna be channeling spirits, are we?" Percy asked, looking around, mindful of where they were, and remembering some of the not so pleasant experiences they'd had with dead spirits.

"No. He's not actually dead. Not… technically. He's an einherji."

"He's… hairy?"

"No, an einherji. They're immortal fighters chosen to be in Odin's army."

"Oh! Thor's dad!" Percy could tell Annabeth wanted to face palm. But he barely understood their own mythology and, heck, he'd lived through almost every story there was. This crash course in a completely different mythology was making his head spin. Any connection he could make without Annabeth's help was a blessing.

"Yes, Percy," Annabeth said. "Anyways, the einherjar, they're constantly preparing for doomsday."

"Well, where were they when we were fighting the Giants. We sure could have used a bunch of immortal soldiers then."

"They were taking care of things on their side of the magical world."

"Makes sense I guess," Percy shrugged. "But that still doesn't explain why we're in Boston in the middle of December."

"Magnus finally has some free time and he wanted to see me. And, I thought… Maybe it's time for you to meet more of my family." Annabeth was playing with the fingers on her gloves and Percy knew that her family had always been a touchy subject. He reached out, took her hand in his, and gave her a comforting smile.

"I'd love to," he said. He scooted his chair closer and pulled Annabeth into a hug. They pulled apart just slightly so that Percy could peck her lips lightly.

"Please don't tell me I came all the way down here to be a third wheel," a new voice said. The couple separated to look at the teenage boy standing in front of them. Percy blinked. He looked between his girlfriend and the newcomer. They looked so much alike. It was a little scary. Sure Percy had met all of Annabeth's half-siblings from camp, but the dude in front of them looked like he could be Annabeth's twin brother. The only difference really was that he had straight hair and Annabeth still had her princess curls.

"Magnus," Annabeth greeted with a smile. She got up and hugged her cousin, leaving Percy still awestruck at the family resemblance.

"Hey, Annabeth. Long time no see," Magnus said once they pulled apart. Annabeth's cousin then turned his attention toward Percy. "Hey, man. I'm Magnus." He held a hand out for Percy to take.

Percy stood from his seat and shook the outstretched hand. "Percy Jackson."

"Are you guys hungry? I've got some connections over at Fadlan's Falafels."

"That'd be great, thanks, Magnus," Annabeth said.

"Be right back." Magnus hurried off to grab the food as Annabeth and Percy retook their seats.

"He seems cool," Percy commented.

"Yeah. He is," Annabeth agreed. "It's nice to be able to connect with family that's my age."

"What about your siblings?"

"Don't get me wrong, Perce, the Athena cabin is great and all, but I'm their superior. Since Malcolm went off to college, it's really only me. With Magnus, it's different. We're equals. Our relationship isn't blurred. Whether or not my dad re-married, he was always my family." Percy gave a sad smile. Family was really important to Annabeth. Percy knew that.

"Well, if he's your family, then he's mine, too, Wise Girl." He kissed her temple just as Magnus returned.

"Alright! The food should be out any minute," he announced as he sat down. "So, Annabeth, what have you been up to lately?"

"Nothing weird, as of late," Annabeth smirked. "At least, not by our standards. What about you? Died recently?" Percy was lost. Like. He's usually always lost but Annabeth and Magnus might as well have been speaking in another language.

"Actually, not recently, no. I got close yesterday, though."

"Um…" Percy interrupted. "No mean to be rude and all but… You talk about death as casually as Hades does."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I thought I explained this to you, Seaweed Brain. In Valhalla, einherji can't die."

"I got this, Annabeth. Think of it like in the movie Wreck-It Ralph," Magnus said, taking over the explanation. "You can die as many times as you want in your own video game. But, once you die outside of your own video game, you're done. Game over."

"Oh! That makes a lot more sense!"

"Of course. Movies and video games. Why didn't I think of that?" Annabeth muttered.

Magnus shrugged. "Sometimes, you gotta just think like a guy." Just then, a tray of food was placed on their table. "Thanks, Amir," Magnus said as he tipped the man who dropped off their food.

They ate while Annabeth and Magnus did some catching up. Percy didn't say much, but he was happy just watching Annabeth reconnect with her family.

"So, tell me, Percy," Magnus said once Annabeth excused herself to go the restroom. "What is Annabeth really like?"

"What?"

"I know there are some things that she's hiding from me. Some things she'd rather not say. I was hoping that you could tell me, you know, man to man? I just want to know my cousin. I haven't seen her since we were six."

"Oh. Wow. Uh… I don't like going behind Annabeth's back. I learned a long time ago that going behind Annabeth is not the wisest thing to do. If you want to know something, you'll have to ask her yourself."

"She must have you on a tight leash," Magnus joked.

"Of course I do," Annabeth said, walking back up to them. "If I don't, then he'd be a lost little puppy."

"Hey!" Percy complained.

"I'm kidding."

"You snagged yourself a good one, Annabeth," Magnus said. "I tried to get him to spill on you and he did not utter a peep."

"Oh, really? Well—" Annabeth didn't get to finish her sentence as a loud crashing noise came from outside. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Percy said, standing up from his seat. Magnus stood up as well. "It sounded like a–" A roar reverberated throughout the food court. "Well, that can't be good."

The three teens ran outside only to find a hyperborean giant blowing his icy breath over an entire street. Percy wanted to face palm. Of course there were freaking ice giants in Boston. No wonder it was freezing like… well… ice giant breath. Annabeth had already drawn her dagger and Magnus was sort of standing there, looking only slightly confused. Percy didn't have time to process everything before the giant turned to look at them. He pulled Riptide out of his pocket and uncapped it. "Ready, Wise Girl?" he asked. He looked over just in time to see her wink and nod before placing her Yankees cap on and disappearing.

"That's a frost giant!" Magnus yelled.

"Yeah, I know! Just kill it!" With that, Percy ran down the street to catch up to Annabeth. They'd faced plenty of them together during the Second Titan War but Percy had a semi-pleasant encounter with them up in Alaska. Thalia had said that they were normally peaceful, so why was this one being a jerk?

"Percy! Look out!" He could hear Annabeth's voice somewhere to his right and his focus switched right back to the giant wind of ice-cold gust coming right for him. He closed his eyes and imagined that the ice and snow were turned back into liquid water. Percy felt the familiar tug in his gut and when he opened his eyes, he was standing in a pool while all around him, frost and snow covered everything else. Annabeth materialized beside him. "You idiot! You could've frozen to death!"

"But I didn't." Annabeth rolled her eyes before disappearing again. "I'm guessing we're giving it the usual?"

"Duh!" was all he heard.

"Here goes," Percy muttered under his breath before taking a deep breath. "Hey! You big snowman! What's wrong with you? You can't even freeze a little old guy like me? What a disgrace!" The giant, in all its thirty-foot tall glory, turned to Percy's, admittedly lame, insults. "Maybe you should go back to ice dude camp! Relearn how to properly freeze humans!" Percy ran up, dodging a giant snowball that was launched his way. He made it between the giant's feet and began slashing at different parts of its feet and ankles. He wished he could come up with better insults, but the cold was seriously affecting his brain. "How the heck did we kill this thing last time?!" Percy shouted.

"You did it, not me!" he heard Annabeth's reply somewhere to his left. Two new streams of blue blood formed in the giant's calf and Percy guessed Annabeth had just visited there.

"Hey ugly!" Magnus's voice yelled out. "Meet my friend, Jack!" Percy looked up and saw a golden sword literally fly up and start slashing at the giant's belly. It was then that Percy had an epiphany. The back of the knee! While the giant was fighting the flying sword, Percy climbed up its calf and plunged Riptide into the back of its knee. Just like he remembered, the crack widened and spread out across the giant's body, before it exploded into blocks of ice. Percy fell from his height about ten feet up, luckily landing on a patch of snow. It wasn't long before Annabeth was by his side, helping him up.

"Good job, Seaweed Brain," she said. "I kept trying to find the spot."

"I never would have remembered if it weren't for Magnus. Remember? You called it 'ugly' just before I killed it last time." Just then, Magnus jogged up to them, the flying sword hovering beside him.

"Hey, man! Nice work!" he said.

"Yes, it was just fantastic." Percy blinked.

"Did your sword just…?"

"Yeah. This is Jack," Magnus introduced.

"Um… yeah. Okay. I can deal with a talking sword, I guess. Hey Jack." Percy looked at Annabeth. "Our lives just get weirder and weirder everyday."

"Tell me about it." Percy pulled Riptide's cap out of his pocket and tapped it to the tip, transforming the blade back into a pen.

"See! I told you a pen would be cool!" Magnus exclaimed to the sword.

"No! It's tacky!" Jack replied.

"Hey!" Percy complained.

"Anyways," Annabeth interrupted. "Magnus, how could you see that? That was a Greek monster."

Magnus shrugged. "It looked a lot like the frost giants in Jotunheim."

"Jotum – what?" Percy said confused.

The Chase cousins ignored him. "That makes sense. There was always stated to be a similarity between the frost giants and the hyperborean giants."

"Hey, so. I'm freezing over here," Jack said. "Can we go somewhere warmer?"

"You're a sword," Percy blinked. "How can you be cold?"

"Don't… bother," Magnus sighed. "Come on, Jack. Let's deactivate you."

"You sure boss? You know what happens once I'm deactivated."

"I'm sure." Magnus grabbed Jack's hilt and immediately, the sword shrunk down to a small rock. Magnus pitched forward. It took both Percy and Annabeth to hold him up.

"Woah. What just happened?" Percy asked.

"I don't know. Let's go sit him down on the bench over there," Annabeth suggested. Even with their combined efforts, getting Magnus over to the bench was a lot of work. They did just fight a thirty-foot giant after all. "Magnus," she said, tapping his face lightly. "Magnus, wake up." Annabeth looked up at Percy. "Nothing. Should we bring him back to the hotel?"

"Well, we can't really leave him here," Percy noted. "Is it past three?"

Annabeth checked her phone. "Yeah."

"Then let's go check in." The two of them worked together, carrying Magnus to the Holiday Inn that they'd booked for the weekend. Thankfully, it wasn't too far from where they were.

Percy waited in the lobby with Annabeth's cousin while she checked them in. It didn't take long to get everything situated as Annabeth came over with two room keys, ready to carry/drag Magnus up to the room. Once there, they laid him down on the couch and Annabeth and Percy tossed their backpacks on the bed. They shed their excess layers of clothing, hanging them up in the closet, so that they were only in their jeans and long-sleeve shirts. "This was quite the day," Annabeth said as they cuddled together on the bed.

"It seemed normal to me," Percy quipped. "Except for the whole Magnus passing out on us thing. That was a little weird."

"I hope he's okay though."

"Yeah…" Just then, Magnus muttered something, pulling the couple's attention toward him on the couch. Annabeth scrambled out of Percy's embrace and went over to check on him.

"Magnus," she said. "Magnus, wake up." Percy was up and standing behind Annabeth. It wasn't long before the blonde boy opened his eyes.

"And he lives!" Percy cheered. "Dude, are you okay? You kinda scared us for a second there." He pulled a water bottle from the mini fridge and handed it to Annabeth's cousin. Magnus took a huge gulp of it.

"Yeah… Sorry. I should have given you a heads up. I didn't think it'd be that taxing," Magnus apologized.

"Um… Maybe you should explain more," Annabeth suggested.

"Right. Uh… So, as you both know, Jack is a magic sword. And, he can do all of these cool things on his own when he's activated. The only catch is that when I deactivate him, I get the aftereffects. So, it's pretty much how tired would you feel after fighting a frost giant after climbing its body and attacking it while it swats at you?"

"We actually did kind of do that," Percy said, scratching his head.

"Yeah, but you had some time to catch your breath every now and then. Imagine all that exertion and exhaustion hitting you at once. Sometimes, it makes you pass out."

"That's really dangerous," Annabeth said.

"I know, I didn't think that what Jack did would take so much out of me. I mean, you guys did do most of the heavy lifting."

"It was a team effort," Percy offered.

"I'm serious, you two are amazing. No wonder you guys survived all of those crazy stories Annabeth told me about." Percy and Annabeth shared a look.

"Don't think too much about that. Unfortunately, we've had a lot of practice," Percy reassured. "You're still pretty new at this. Let's just hope you never get used to it."

"Well, I've got all of eternity so… we'll see." The trio laughed and Percy was happy that Annabeth's family was growing, that she had someone their age that was outside of their crazy world. And, as long as she was happy, he was happy.

And there you have it! Just a little fun thing with no purpose other than to entertain... Hope y'all enjoyed that!

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