Chapter Text
Seriously? Christmas?
Apollo was not sure he heard Meg right at first, but his suspicions were confirmed after Meg blew a raspberry at him. They were in the middle of piano lessons (Meg, it seemed, was a fast learner, that surprised even him) when she brought up the prospect of him staying over for Christmas.
‘Isn’t Christmas one of the old Christian myths about some guy named Jesus?’ He implored, having no clue on how mortal holidays work. Well, to be fair, he was immortal. He didn’t even celebrate mortal holidays, until a few months ago after his trials.
Meg scowled, waggling her fingers in a disapproving way. ‘Surely you have heard of Christmas? You had thousands of years to do so.’
‘To be fair, a good chunk of it was spent on me being an egotistical jerk, so there is that.’
‘Hmph.’
Apollo had no idea what that hmph meant. But it couldn’t have been good. Meg was once again giving him the stink-eye, something she used to do when they were off questing. He sighed and slid the lid of the piano shut.
‘Well, I am the god of knowledge, and I do want to know what you mortals do for Christmas, to increase this well of knowledge, so to speak.’ He grinned and tapped his head.
That was a good metaphor. Apollo would have to use it again at some point.
Meg rolled her eyes, but he detected a hint of a smile gracing her lips. He also thought he detected a tiny hum of ‘idiot’ before her eyes lit up.
‘First,’ she announced, ‘we need to get the tree.’
Oh. THAT mortal holiday. The one with the tree. And me. As the star.
Apollo could remember that experience clearly. Artemis took him tree shopping on one faithful day (why did they need to go tree shopping? Artemis was quite literally the goddess of the wild. Surely, she could have found that particular tree easily.) for the sake of her younger Hunters.
He had objected, of course, because he was going to miss out on the afternoon performance of the Muses. His sister just sighed and dragged him by the chiton.
They managed to find the tree, alright. But they were lacking the ornament that sat on top of it. The star.
Artemis, being the oh-so-wise one, suggested Apollo sit on it and be the literal star, because ‘the sun is a star, and you’re the god of the sun’.
Once again, he had objected. So Artemis and her Hunters tied him up like a gift wrap and stuck him on top of the tree. He was grumpy for a long time after the ordeal, but secretly, he couldn't have been happier. Artemis had come by, and her eyes glistened with joy. And that laugh-
He hasn’t heard his sister laugh in years.
She teased him about it for decades, but he didn’t fight or retort back. To him, the experience was worth the misery, for the laughs that made their bond a little bit tighter and a little bit sweeter.
Why was he thinking about this again? Oh right, Meg.
‘We can get that tree if you want,’ Apollo answered, snapping back to reality. ‘Just don’t make me the star again.’
Meg’s smile widened. ‘Is there a story behind that?’
‘Nope, none at all.’
~~~
Finding a shop that sells trees was easy. They had Herophile’s help with that.
Getting there? Not as easy.
‘Why does it have to be jam-packed on the weekends?’ Apollo yelled, glowering at the sea of automobiles in front of them. Meg had forbidden him to teleport them to the shop. Why? Because Meg.
‘It’s more fun that way,’ she had insisted, kicking her feet up onto the dashboard. ‘Now you get to experience the true Christmas spirit.’
‘If only the Christmas spirit could blast those cars away.’
Meg frowned as if he had offended her. He probably did. Apollo had gotten better at reading others' emotions and cues over the past year, and being stuck with Meg McCaffrey for half of the time helped a bit.
‘Look, Mr Goddy,’ she said, knocking her shoes in annoyance. ‘You promised to be more human, right? We could go the goddy way of having no traffic jams on Christmas Eve, butttttttt…’ Her eyes gleamed mischievously, reminding him so much of Leo Valdez.
‘But…?’
‘But then it wouldn’t be fun. Everything is going to be a breeze. You don’t want that, right?’
Apollo sighed. This girl had a point. A really stupid, annoying point.
‘Well, do you want to be stuck here for two hours? With nothing to do?’
Meg smirked, her rhinestones glistening under the midday sun. She intertwined her fingers and stared at the god intensely.
‘You could tell me awkward Christmas stories. I don’t know. Something about you being the star?’
He huffed in response. 'Absolutely not. That one will remain between Artemis and I. However, I could tell you about the guy who started all of this.’
‘What? Jesus?’
‘Jesus. Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth. Take whatever you like. The point is… I used to know him.’
‘I thought you didn’t know about "mortal holidays".’ Meg didn’t seem impressed with the fact that he knew Jesus. Well, excuse her. Any Christian would have liked to meet him.
Apollo remained silent for a few seconds, mentally preparing himself for the next part. ‘Not the concept of you mortals celebrating Christmas, no. But the guy? He was hot.’
‘Right.’ Once again, she wasn’t impressed. Sheesh, tough crowd.
‘I would have dated him, but I found his self-righteousness a tad annoying.’
‘Okay,’ she raised a shoulder to her ear. He was going to ask her about her own Christmas stories, but Meg, it seemed, was tired. She kept dipping her head before snapping up again, in an attempt to ward off sleep. Apollo’s expression softened.
‘Go sleep. You need your rest. I will wake you up once we are there.’
‘Mhm’ was all she said as she leaned back and began to snore.
Some things never change with her.
~~~
They finally arrived at half past two. Why it took so long still baffled him, but, hey. Meg’s awake.
It was a small, desolate shop that looked like it belonged to the middle of nowhere. But surprise, surprise. It was dumped right in the middle of two large shopping complexes.
There was something so odd about the placement of the building that made Apollo blink for a few seconds, as Meg dragged him towards the door. Inside, it smelled like a wooden cabin that had been tainted with a hint of bleach. Large pine trees dominated their field of vision.
Meg began to murmur under her breath, possibly sensing which tree is the best. Sensing something, she ran off to the other side of the shop. He, on the other hand, was too busy staring at the lone shopkeeper in the corner. The shopkeeper was a woman, aged between 25 to 30. She exerted a smell that felt all too familiar - the smell of rotten meat and snakeskin.
‘Meg?’ Apollo called out to his companion, preparing to summon his bow and arrows. A small what? reached his keen ears. He glanced over at the shopkeeper again, trying to decide whether it was a monster or just a really smelly human.
‘Apollo, god of the sssun,’ she hissed. Monster it is. Probably a dracaena.
‘What isss an Olympian doing here?’ The dracaena demanded with a look of fear in her reptilian eyes. ‘You ssshould be with your brethren.’
‘Well-’ He started to reply, but she shook her head.
‘It doesss not matter. Your demigod friend ssshall die.’
Ugh, not this again. His bow appeared in his hands, with an arrow nocked in it. Meg chose the wrong time to barge in, beaming before she saw the dracaena. Her smile turned into a groan. Apollo tilted his head towards the now uncovered dracaena, and she nodded.
Bam! Dead snake woman.
‘Welp, I found a good tree.’ Meg smiled again, stepping over the monster. ‘It’s in the back, and I need your help transporting it.’
He frowned, turning his weapons to golden dust. ‘I thought you said no “goddy stuff”.’
Meg facepalmed, ‘Yeah duh. I need you to help me lift it.’
Oh. I am an idiot.
The words must have appeared on his face, because she shrugged and replied with a ‘yes’. Together, they managed to lift the tree from its pot, with his ex demigod master slightly grunting with effort. As they exited, Meg threw a few golden drachmas onto the now-empty counter.
With some questionable assault to the car and a bit of Demeter powers from Meg, the duo managed to stick the tree into their tight space, with Apollo having to suck on a few needles along the way.
As they sped away, Meg sighed, kicking her feet onto the dashboard once more. ‘That’s part one of celebrating Christmas. Any questions?’
‘Just one.’
‘What?’
‘Do you get attacked by monsters every time you do this?’
The only response Apollo got back was a poke to the stomach.