T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except-HecateA-who-was-filling-a-request-for-some-Lazel-in-the-form-of-this-fic-that-may-or-may-not-qualify-as-acceptable-just-let-me-know-if-this-goes.

Happy réveillon to those celebrating it.

Disclaimer: Me no own the characters shown below!

Birthday 2.0

"Can you grab those?" Percy said. "Like, quickly. I think she's going to show up any time now."

"Alright," Leo said grabbing a pile of paper plates. He dumped them on the Blofis appartment's coffee tables. There was a knock on the back door, from the fire escape. Leo frowned, but Annabeth just called 'I'll get it!' from Percy's room, where she and Reyna were wrapping the last few presents, and went to open the fire escape door. Jason and Frank walked in seconds later.

"We got everything on the list," Jason said tossing a bag of potato chips onto the table as well as a handful of old-timey candy.

"What the hell are Green Mountain Potato Chips?" Percy asked.

"They appear to be potato chips." Frank said. "She was talking about them."

"Good enough!" Leo declared. "Man, where were you guys?"

"You don't even want to know," Frank promised. "We thought we'd be late."

Piper delivered a cake on the coffee table too.

"Leo, lite the candles. Frank, step back." She instructed.

The cake was really pretty for something demigods had made.

"Well that's lovely," Jason said starting a round of applause to mock Piper. She made a face.

"Reyna and Annabeth helped," she said as the two girls walked back in with the presents.

"No we didn't," Reyna said hopping into the conversation and hiding the presents under the table.

"That way if everyone dies of food poisoning you're to blame," Annabeth said.

"You were plotting against me, weren't you?" Piper said in mock-horror.

"Well, lots of things happen in Percy's room." Leo said with all the possible innuendos, waving his hands to get rid of the smoke from lighting the candles.

"Okay, let's not go there; Hazel's going to be here soon." Jason said before Percy and Annabeth could do more than blush. "Remember. She's thirteen and innocent."

That was when the door opened up and everyone froze into place and Percy and Jason picked up the cake.

"He said to just crash on the couch and flip through channels if he wasn't home," they heard Nico said.

"But why is the door unlocked?" Hazel said from the entrance.

"Dunno," Nico said.

They passed through the kitchen, Hazel mentioned that it smelled good- like baking- and when they rounded into the living room…

"Surprise!" They all called, throwing balloons at Hazel who looked shocked. She saw the cake and covered her mouth.

"What?" She asked. "You guys… It's not my birthday, what..?"

"September 19th," Nico said. "The day I dragged you out of the Underworld, remember?"

Hazel's hands covered her face. "I don't get it," she said looking around.

"Well, it's the day that you came back and how we got you," Percy said. "So we think it's worth a celebration."

Hazel looked like she was going to melt through the floor.

"You guys," she said hugging the closest person, Nico. "Who came up with this?"

Everyone looked at Frank who starred at his shoes.

"Leo helped," he said. "He was our scout."

"Scout for what?"

"Oh, you know. Cake flavours, candy, soda, chips. Make a wish, sweetheart." Piper said, motioning for Hazel to get closer to the cake. She held her crazy hair back, put what looked like a lump of silk (Frank's lifeline) on the coffee table a fair distance back, and blew on the candles out.

Hazel cut the first piece and they made her take it, Reyna cutting the rest. Hazel was totally in love with it.

It was a confetti cake mix, granted, (Sally was horrified to have the red Betty Crocker box enter her kitchen but she'd already given the demigods full-access to the apartment so it was too late) but the girls (being the only ones who had an idea on how to operate an oven and a blender) decorated it with lots of fudge and cream cheese icing and ring pops. Colourful candles peppered the top of it and they'd found a Lego horse that had been stolen from Annabeth's little brothers.

They watched movies that were must-sees that Hazel hadn't seen, introduced her to the concept of Truth or Dare, and ate junk food. She was thrilled to see old candy –fun dip, licorice lace, bubblegum cigars, Willy Wonka candy, Hershey kisses, Heath Bars...- and the chips and cream soda. She unwrapped presents. She was pleased with the book on WWII (she kept insisting that she wanted to know how it'd all finished) that Annabeth's dad had recommended they get her, the shiny new reins for Arion, and she nearly passed out when she saw the old wooden record player they'd gotten her.

"My gods…" She breathed starring at the appliance on her knees, a hand in front of her mouth.

"We thought you'd like it," Leo said. "So it's not actually an antique, yours truly made it at Camp and all, but there are some CD's."

"Records," Hazel corrected, her eyes glittering as Reyna gave her the wrapped envelopes containing said records. "Oh my gods you guys- thank you so much!"

"We're getting you an iPod next year," Percy said putting an arm around his little cousin.

It was really late by the time Sally and Paul got home, and it was time for the Romans to head home- but they were very fixed on helping clean out before.

Hazel and Leo were doing the dishes in the kitchen.

"You helped Frank put this together?" Hazel asked her hands in the bubbly dish water.

"Yeah," Leo said. "Poor guy, he was super lost about all of this. Really determined an all, but seriously lost."

Hazel smiled. Her hair was pinned up behind her neck and out of her face. "You guys are way too sweet."

"Umm, no." Leo said. "You have to stop thinking that."

Hazel raised her head and looked at Leo curiously. He swallowed with difficulty and then had to talk and explain what he'd started.

"You keep saying things like 'you're too sweet with me', or 'you're all too patient with me'. But you have to stop because we're not. We're being to you exactly what you are to us. You're kind and good and clever and thoughtful. You're a beautiful person so we have to treat you beautifully and hell, we try."

Hazel met his eyes and smiled.

"That's…"

"Not too sweet," Leo said.

"Just sweet," Hazel said. She pivoted towards him and stood on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

For a second Leo understood what Sammy had felt like in 19-something-something. Hazel's kisses were simple but somehow they tickled your toes and made your heart go fuzzy and made you gad that you'd done whatever it was you'd gotten the kiss for. Literally, in that second Leo wanted to be remembered for nothing more than helping to set up the small party and running around to find old-timey candy.

Maybe her lips would be sweet too if he kissed them.

"Well," Leo said deciding that he wasn't brave enough for that. "I'm expecting fireworks on my birthday, so now you know."

Hazel laughed. "But this was special. Like, it wasn't a birthday, it was unique in the world- I think."

"Birthday 2.0, Birthday Girl." Leo said ruffling her hair. She flicked some dishwater at her, and he decided to be sweet in turn and let her get away with it.