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If he was honest, Jason was still a little uncomfortable and scared about this trip. Sure, it was supposed to be fun and relaxing, and the gods had promised that they would protect them from monsters. It was actually one of their rewards for saving Olympus.
After a really interesting plane ride (interesting because Percy and Hazel never left his side, and they followed him everywhere, even standing outside the door when he needed to pee), they finally arrived in Cancun, México. With the help of Piper’s charmspeak, they managed to rent a van. Percy was in charge of driving while Annabeth gave him the directions how to arrive to the house who was located in the Riviera Maya. Jason wasn’t sure if the drive from the airport was that long, or if he was just really tired, but when they finally arrived to the house, a very private and modern two floors house, everybody ran into the house to explore it.
Jason ignored the house and walked towards the backyard. He walked past the pool and into the sand, right in front of the Caribbean in all it’s glory. Jason took a deep breath to try to make the uneasiness go away. This trip was sponsored by his girlfriend’s father. Tristan McLean decided to pay for a private jet and rent a beach house for his daughter and her six friends to stay for two weeks. He was absolutely certain the other demigods also felt as uncomfortable as him with Tristan paying all the expenses, and he had even payed in advance for tours. Piper had told them that she was really sorry, that her dad meant good and he went a little bit over the top, but as weird as this was to them, it honestly wasn’t that much of a big deal to her dad. He just wanted her to make Piper happy, so please, please let’s accept this trip. They deserved it, and she really wanted to go on a vacation with them. But that was not the only part that made him uneasy, this trip was also meant to celebrate his and Annabeth’s birthdays. A date that he wasn’t sure how he felt about.
“That’s quite the view, isn’t it?” Percy’s voice brought him back to reality. He looked better than he did on the plane; the Caribbean Ocean was doing him wonders. Jason had to agree; the view was quite something, the sun was setting over the sea and the sky was a breathtaking mix of blue, orange and pink, the sea was filled with colors he could only describe as well… Percy’s eyes.
“Gotta agree this is better than the California ocean.”
Percy hummed in agreement. “I was sent to bring you back to the house. Apparently, we have to talk rules and stuff."
“Annabeth’s idea?”
“Who else?”
Jason chuckled and followed Percy back into the house where the rest of his friends were seated in the living room.
“Okay, boys, glad you could join us,” Annabeth said when she saw them. She was the only one standing while the rest of them were laying on the couches. “The house has three bedrooms, two of them have queen size beds and the other one has two individuals beds. There are seven of us so how are we gonna do this?”
“I got it!” Piper stood up from her place on the couch. “I already did all the planning since Dad reserved the house.” Jason looked up at his girlfriend. Her hair was currently stylized in two braids, and she was wearing ripped jeans and a colorful crop top. Jason took a second to appreciate how beautiful she was.
“Somebody is going to share a bed!” Leo sang and waggled his eyebrows at Percy, making the older boy smack him on the arm.
“And this is why Leo is gonna sleep outside,” Percy said, and then it was his turn to get smacked.
“Nobody is going to sleep outside,” Piper said. “Unless you interrupt me again. I decided that it would be better if Annabeth and Percy take the master room, shut up Leo.”
“Pipes-” Annabeth started, but Piper interrupted her.
“No, really it makes sense, let me finish.” She made sure everybody was paying attention to her before continue. “Hazel will obviously share a bed with a girl and since Annabeth is already taken, that girl is me. We are gonna take the queen size bed, but that only leaves two beds and three guys.”
“Why am I having America’s Next Top Model feelings? Will one of us get the bed while the other gets eliminated?” Jason asked. Percy and Leo snorted.
“Dude, you watch America’s Next Top Model?” Percy asked.
“Why don’t you watch ANTM?” Jason fired back, but his face was turning red.
“I can sleep on the floor!” Frank said before Percy could speak again. “Seriously, I sleep better when I'm in pug form. We just make a little pillow nest, and I'm good.”
Everybody was looking at Frank.
“You’re saying that we lived together for over a month, and we just now learned that you sleep in pug mode?” Annabeth said. Frank just shrugged.
“Is that why nobody is allowed to wake up you in New Rome?” Jason asked.
Frank shrugged. “I mean, Reyna is allowed…”
“Oh my gods, this is amazing.” Percy laughed. “Makes me want to cuddle with you, though.”
Frank was blushing now, and Jason decided to save him from any more embarrassment, though he had the mental picture of a pug sleeping on an extra large Camp Jupiter shirt. He said, “Okay, it's settled then. Leo and I’ll be roommates, Hazel and Piper have the other room and Frank will sleep on puppy mode between Percy and Annabeth to make sure there are no funny business between them.”
“I can't even get mad at that idea.” Percy said, grinning.
“As long as Frank is a Yorkshire Terrier, I’m cool with it.” Annabeth said.
“I AM DEFINITELY NOT COOL WITH IT.”
Jason tried not his best to laugh at Frank’s exasperated expression. He wasn't sure if he had ever seen Frank blushing so hard. “It's cool, dude. It was a just joke. You’re gonna stay with me and Leo.”
“Oh, thank the gods.”
“Okay now that that’s settled… it's time to talk about the cooking.” Piper said. She clapped her hands together. “Annabeth is not allowed to cook”
Annabeth let an indignant hey! while Percy nodded in agreement.
“And?” Hazel asked.
“And that's it, Annabeth is not allowed to cook unless we want to burn this house down.”
Leo whistled. “Damn, Are you that bad!?”
“No!” Annabeth said at the same time Percy said yes. “Okay, you know what Seaweed Brain, you are sleeping outside tonight.”
“The Caribbean seems like a nice bed,” Percy said, and Annabeth threw a pillow at his head.
The rest of their friends laughed at their antics, and Jason couldn't help but smile at them, even if he didn't approve of the way they got here. It was nice hanging out with his friends without the weight of saving the world on their shoulders. Seeing Annabeth and Percy laugh after Tartarus, seeing Leo alive and joking with Hazel and Frank, and seeing Piper smile at him, he realized that the war was worth it. They did their work, and now they were retired Heroes, as Percy liked to call it.
“Come on, Sparky!” Leo said. “It’s time to move into our room.”
Everybody went upstairs to their rooms. His room was quite spacious, enough for three people (or two and one dog) to stay. There was a night table between the beds, and the window had a seat under it, which was perfect for Frank to sleep on. They didn’t had an ocean view, but their view was still breathtaking. It was filled with green trees and tropical flowers, a daily reminder that he wasn’t in California or New York.
“I’m perfectly okay to wake up to this view.” Frank said.
“It’s feel right, you know?” Leo said, he was laying on the bed next to the door. “Being here, hearing spanish, it makes me feel happy.”
“When we go out, you’re gonna be in charge of talking with locals.”
“Ah, si, mi tiempo de brillar llegó.” Leo said. “You guys would be so lost without me.”
Jason threw Leo’s suitcase on his bed. “Shut up and unpack, Valdez.”
After everyone was done packing, they met in the livingroom, thinking about their plans for dinner.
“Guys...we didn’t do any grocery shopping.” Annabeth commented, making everybody groan.
“We can go to a restaurant?” Hazel suggested.
“I’m too tired to drive.” Percy said from his spot on the loveseat, where he was lying horizontally. He and Annabeth were the only ones with a drive license and the ones who actually know how to drive. Well, them and Leo but he didn’t have a license and Annabeth avoided driving as much as she could. “But if it’s our only option, just let me swim for a little bit.”
“No, it’s okay, I can drive to the grocery store. Is there something near here?” Annabeth asked Piper, who was checking her phone.
“Hey look! A Walmart!” Piper exclaimed excitedly.
“Well, that answers our question.”
Percy grunted. “Grocery shopping will take too long and I’m starving.”
“Yeah, I agree with my bro.” Jason said. All he wanted to do was eat and then crash on his bed and sleep for at least 10 hours. He was exhausted. He noticed that Piper and Annabeth exchanged worried glances, but when he raised an eyebrow to Piper to ask what it was about, she only smiled at him.
“Leo, Piper and I will go for dinner.” Annabeth said. “We’ll be back as soon as possible.”
As soon as possible meant over an hour. Jason and Hazel were on the sand watching Percy swim around in the sea, while Frank was inside reading a book.
“I'm a little bit scared of swimming in the ocean.” Hazel confessed. “It makes me really uneasy.”
“I get’cha,” Jason put his arm around Hazel’s shoulders. After the war, he and Hazel started to become close friends, even closer than they were before Hera kidnapped him. Jason had to say that he was starting to see her as a little sister. “But it makes sense, it's Poseidon territory.”
“I am a little bit jealous of how the sea seems to energize Percy.” Hazel rested her head on his shoulder. “He seems so in peace and relaxed. Being underground doesn't make me feel like that at all.”
“Neither does being in the sky. Sure, I love the feeling of the wind on my face and the absolute freedom I feel, but I'm sure as Hades, it's nothing compares to how the ocean affects Percy.”
Hazel nodded, and they stayed in silence, watching the moon shine bright over the ocean. The cold ocean breeze made Jason feel relaxed and calm. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this free, there was no prophecy, nobody was expecting anything from him. He was just Jason Grace and he was having a vacation with his best friends, no wait, his family.
“I want to be part of the cuddles too!” Percy was standing in front of them now, dry except for his hair. Percy sat next to Hazel, and she interlocked their arms. “What are we talking about?”
“How Jason and I are gonna be glued to your side for the next two weeks.” Hazel said.
Percy nodded. “Seems fair.”
They stayed in silence for who knows how long, just the three of them. Jason wondered if it was okay to think of them as his cousins, but he wanted it, he wanted them to be part of his family so much it hurt. There was an unexplained bond between the three of them, just them. He felt guilty that he didn't felt the same bond with Nico, maybe it was because Hazel, Percy and him were the only kids of the big three to be part of the prophecy, but he knew the three of them had a bond that, unfortunately, they will never share with Thalia and Nico.
Noises inside the house made them burst out of their bubble, followed by Leo’s yell of “FOOD TIME.”
“Finally!” Percy said, helping Hazel stand up. “I could eat all of Santa’s reindeer.”
Hazel laughed and playfully pushed him. Jason thought that it had to be a joke between them.
The three of them arrived to the kitchen to find seven boxes of pizza and too many cokes stacked on the counter. There were also some Walmart bags.
“I thought we decided not to do grocery shopping until tomorrow,” Jason asked.
“Oh, um yeah.” Annabeth said. “We just bought some basic stuff to make breakfast tomorrow.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Sparky,” Piper kissed his cheek. “Now, let start eating, I'm starving.”
“HEY, YO!” Percy yelled. He was in the living room, a half eaten pizza slice in his hand. “Who wants to watch Harry Potter?”
Jason turned to look at the TV where the first Harry Potter movie was playing, it was weird watching the subtitles.
“Me! Me!” Piper yelled and pulled Jason with her until they were sitting on the loveseat.
“What is Harry Potter?” Hazel asked. She dropped a box of pizza on the little table in front the TV, and almost everybody gasped at her question.
“Oh, my sweet summer child.” Leo said.
“I was born in winter.”
“There is a whole new world for you, my little Hufflepuff.” Leo said.
“I am really confused.”
“I always assumed Hazel was a Gryffindor.” Percy said.
“You also thought you were a Slytherin.” Annabeth pointed.
“Bro, what the hell? You are totally a Hufflepuff,” Jason said and besides him Piper nodded.
Hazel looked really confused. “Guys, what's going on?”
They spent the whole dinner explaining Harry Potter to Hazel, eating and laughing until they could barely move and then decided to call it a night, after all, everybody was tired from traveling.
Jason woke up to Leo’s frantically shaking him.
“What the--”
“I heard noises downstairs,” Leo said.
“What time is it?”
“Late. Dude, come on, Frank is not in his bed. I didn't want to go and check the noises alone.”
Jason sighed and looked for his glasses. He prayed to the gods for it not to be a monster. After all, they promised them that no monster would attack them during this trip. He followed Leo, who had flames in his hand.
“Should we wake up the others?”
“No, not until we know what we are dealing with.”
They reached the staircase, and Leo’s flames dissolved. They quietly walked towards the kitchen. The house was almost dark, and the only light was coming from the windows in the living room.
“I don't hear anything,” Jason whispered.
“I think I saw movement in the kitchen.” Leo said, voice too loud.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” The lights on the kitchen turned on, and his friends were there, in their pajamas and wearing party hats, screaming and clapping. In the middle of all of them, Piper was holding the most delicious looking cake he had ever seen.
“What the fuck?!”
“Happy birthday, my boo!” Percy said coming closer to Jason and pulling him to a hug.
“What's going on?” Jason said, still confused.
“It's July 1, dummy,” Piper said. She had left the cake on the kitchen counter and was standing next to him. “You are officially seventeen now.” She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss.
The rest of the seven came closer and pulled him into hugs, and Annabeth and Hazel kissed his cheek.
“Come on, you have to blow out the candles,” Piper pulled him towards the kitchen counter where the cake was resting. It's frosting was white and it was decorated with blue and green sprinkles. The cake had no candles, instead seven stick were on it.
“How did you guys get this cake?” Jason asked.
“We baked it,” Annabeth said. Percy cleared his throat. “I mean, Percy baked it and Hazel helped him decorate it while I supervised.”
“But, how?”
Piper hugged him from behind, resting her chin on his shoulders. Jason knew that she was standing on her tiptoes. “This is the real reason we went to Walmart, silly, to buy all the ingredients for your cake.”
“We waited until you had fallen asleep. Leo and Frank stayed in your room to make sure you didn't wake up.” Hazel said.
Jason felt warm as he looked at his friends. He knew how tired they were, but they still stayed awake to make this present for him. Nobody had ever baked him a cake. Back in New Rome, his birthday was never celebrated because nobody knew when to celebrate it, and last year, after he learned his birthday because of Thalia, he celebrated his birthday for the first time and it ended up with Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus. He decided it was better if he ignored his birthdays, like he had done for most of his life.
“Come on, dude, time to make a wish. Piper, unwrap yourself from your boy and come and stand next to us.” Piper stuck her tongue at Leo, but she still moved to stand next to Annabeth. A flame appeared on Leo's fingertip, and he lit the ends of the sticks on fire.
“Make a wish,” Piper said, and Jason looked at the sparkles on his cake. He raised his head to look at his friends singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him. They were clapping and cheering and smiling, and he saw Hazel taking pictures with the camera they got her for her last birthday. Part of him hoped for Thalia to be here too, but she hadn’t talk to him in months, and it was okay, the rest of his family was here. He didn’t wish for anything, because in this moment, surrounded by his loved ones, for the first time, everything was perfect.
“Okay!” Leo said once the sparkles had run out. “When in México, do like the Mexicans, right?”
“We are not going to drink, Leo,” Percy said.
“No, no, my dear Perseo, it’s not that.” He walked towards Jason until he was standing next to him. “We have a tradition, it’s called ‘la mordida’ which literally translates to ‘the bite’ where the birthday person has to take a bite of their cake.”
“I have to bite the cake?” Jason asked and Leo nodded, he looked at the others, who looked as confused as him. “Really?”
“It’s a real tradition! Google it up!”
Jason was still not confident but he decided to trust his friend. “Okay…” he started to lean towards the cake to take a bite, but the next thing he knew was that his face was smashed into the cake and Leo was bursting out laughing next to him. “What the fuck, dude!”
“MY CREATION!” Percy yelled in indignation.
“The rest of the tradition says that the birthday boy has to get his face shoved into the cake!”
“Bullshit!” Jason said. His face was full of icing, and the others were already laughing, except for Annabeth, who was using her phone.
“Jason, Leo is right,” Annabeth said. “This is actually a Mexican tradition.” She showed him her phone.
“Why would people shove someone into their birthday cakes?!” Jason asked, confused.
“Because it’s hilarious!” Leo said, and the others agreed. “I honestly don’t know why people do it, but we still do, you know?”
“I know one thing, Valdez,” Jason said, cleaning the icing from his face with his hand. “And that thing is revenge.” He smacked his hand into Leo’s hair, making the others laugh, and Jason turned to look at them. “Oh no, none of you are safe.”
Everybody laughed while Jason and Leo chased them with frosting. Jason gave Piper a big kiss and made a big show of kissing her face, so she was covered with icing too. After a while everybody, except Jason, was back in the living room joking and eating cake. They were a little bit high on sugar and adrenaline to go back to sleep. Jason was in the kitchen cleaning the icing off of face.
“Birthdays aren’t that bad, are they?” Piper was standing next to him. Her hair was a mess, and her pajamas were all wrinkled. There was icing on her hair and neck, and to Jason, she looked absolutely beautiful.
Jason kissed the icing off of her neck, making her giggle. “No, they aren’t that bad.” he whispered against her skin.
“HEY, LOVEBIRDS!” Percy yelled. “Keep it PG! Hazel is in the room!”
Piper laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Happy birthday, Jason.”
Jason laughed too and closed the space between their lips. He felt absolutely happy. Piper was in his arms, and their friends were laughing in the background. Maybe birthdays weren’t that bad after all.