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“Don’t come home for Christmas. You’re the last thing I wanna see underneath the tree,” Percy belted out.
“Merry Christmas, I could care less,” Jason finished singing.
Percy looked to the passenger’s seat with a smile on his face. When he met his husband’s eyes, they both broke into laughter over the sound of Pete Wentz talking to end the track.
“You’d think after all these years, we’d get better at singing with how much we do it in the car.” Percy said through his laughs.
Jason feigned offense. “Are you saying that I don’t have a soul voice like Patrick Stump?”
They made eye contact and both burst into giggles again. Percy turned up the Pop Punk Christmas playlist again and they continued to sing along off key the rest of the way.
❄️🎄⚡🌊🎄❄️
“This year you get to be the girl. I was the girl snowman last year,” Percy informed his husband as they walked hand and hand through the mall.
“Wouldn’t it be a snow-woman?”
“Actually yes. I can agree to that. But it’s your turn this year.”
“Maybe this year they’ll have non-gendered couples ornaments? Or maybe even gay couples,” Jason suggested, whispering the word gay.
Percy gasped. “What! Are they going to let those demon homosexuals at my good Christian mall ornament stand?” He pretended to fall into the blonde with his dramatics.
“Two penguins? Two reindeer? And one doesn’t have eyelashes so you know one is a girl and one is a boy? Insane premise.” Jason clung onto Percy for a moment to share in the drama before they both started laughing again.
Percy leaned in to get a quick peck in, before going back to grinning ear to ear. “Love you.”
“Love you too. I’ll be the girl for you anytime, babe.”
“Yeah, you will.” Percy winked at him.
Jason shoved Percy’s shoulder, rolling his eyes. “Shut up, dude. We’re in public.”
The brunette shrugged. “We’ve done worse in public.”
They made their way to the small kiosk in the mall that sold Christmas ornaments.
“Gets harder with time, huh?” Percy hummed as they looked over the variety of characters available.
They had started doing this after they got engaged. This made the 11th Christmas Ornament for the two of them. 2014 it was easy, an engagement ring ornament with their names in a heart with the year. Over the next few years, they changed it up. Penguins. Reindeer. Many Christmas animals. Non-holiday adjacent animals with Santa hats. The year before it had been Snowmen. Almost every single one had one of the animals with some sort of eyelash situation to indicate one was a girl so they switched up which one they were assigned.
Jason froze suddenly next to where Percy was browsing. The salt and peppered haired man almost went for the pen in his pocket, but his husband caught the instinctual movement and took his hand instead. He laced their fingers together. Any moment of anxiety faded from Percy immediately at the action.
“Look, babe. Koalas,” Jason’s voice was cheery and like he was waiting for Percy to notice something.
Percy did not notice.
“Jason Atreus Jackson-Grace. You do not like koalas enough to be freaking me out like that. What is wrong with you?”
Jason pressed a kiss to his head. “Look close at it. What is it missing?”
Percy looked closely at the two koalas. They were sitting on a yule log with hollies at each end. The pair were arm in arm with glittery red Santa hats on. They had all their hands and feet. Their little mouths were cute little animal smiles. The eyes didn’t look weird or lopsided at all.
Percy gasped and grabbed onto Jason’s arm with his free hand.
“No way.”
Jason reached out and took the ornament from where it hung off the hook.
“No eyelashes.”
“No eyelashes!” Percy tried to be quiet in his excitement, but they immediately got in line to check out. There was no need to look at the others when this was a new animal and they didn’t ridiculously gender them.
They got their names put into the white part of the hats on each Koala and the year the bottom. Another to add to the collection.
Soon enough they got back to the parking garage with Auntie Anne's pretzel bites in their hands.
Percy turned up the music as soon as Jason started the car. He popped another cinnamon sugar pretzel in his mouth, but didn't hesitate to sing along when the chorus came.
“Christmas is coming! So don't buy me anything!”
He held out his hand in an imitation microphone for Jason to sing into.
“I got what I wanted! I got what I needed!
“It's you, it's you, it's you,” They sang off key in unison.
❄️🎄⚡🌊🎄❄️
“Is it the first weekend of December already, boys?” Marsha said with a laugh as the pair walked in the entrance of the farm.
“Unseasonably warm, huh?” Jason smiled.
“You know him. We wouldn't miss this day for the world.” Percy teased and nudged his husband with his elbow.
“It's tradition,” Jason took the teasing easily, hooking an arm around Percy's shoulders.
“You know we're always glad to have you two. You have a walk around, figure out what feels right this year,” Marsha said in her voice that almost sounded like a song.
They had decided the first Christmas after their marriage that it made more sense to get a real tree if they had the money to do so. It was better for the environment. They found the daughter of Demeter's Christmas tree farm about five years ago and had been coming ever since. There was no sense in a plastic tree when they could get such a beautiful tree without the micropastics.
They wandered through the rows of trees- the spruces, the pines, the firs. There was no method to the madness for them. They didn't actually know anything about trees, they just trusted that Marsha knew what she was doing. They'd be happy with whatever.
This year it was a Cannan Fir. It was just slightly smaller than Jason with his arms up and as wide as them standing side by side. The dark rich green color really felt like Christmas. The smell of it was absolutely delicious.
Percy found Marsha, who handed him an axe, so he could then hand it to Jason. Jason had always been skilled with multiple weapons, but Percy struggled. He'd decided years before that he didn't like cutting the tree down so it became Jason's job. Jason always cut the ends straighter anyway. Getting to ogle at Jason's large arms was always a perk as well. He knew he still lifted at least once a week and he could tell. He wanted Jason to use those strong arms to hold him in whatever way he saw fit. But at the farm, it had to be enough to just watch the muscles move as the tall blond swung the axe a few times to cut the tree right down. Then he had to be there to help catch it and get it into the little wagon that would make it easier to carry.
“You know I can't make the Heroes of Olympus pay,” Marsha said, just as she always did.
“It's been over a decade since that happened,” Percy pointed out.
“No special treatment. Your magic makes this all so beautiful. You deserve so much praise for it,” Jason added.
“Okay, okay. $20. That's all I'm charging,” the daughter of Demeter's bartered.
Percy still handed her two fifty dollar bills and refused to take the change.
The pair worked together to get the tree situated on top of the car and tied down with twine so it wouldn't fly off. Years of practice made it slightly less difficult each year. It still wasn't easy.
Percy collapsed in the driver's seat and looked over at Jason. “Can you magic fly the tree up to the apartment?”
Jason chuckled, a toothy smile on his face as he looked at his husband. “Of course I can. I think I can handle carrying it.”
“Ugh. What would I do without you? Love of my life.” Percy said as he started up the car.
Jason leaned over to sneak a kiss onto Percy's cheek. “I love you too, darling.”
Percy backed up the car, taking one of Jason's hands in his as he started driving forward. “No one in the world is as lovely as you.” Before Jason could respond, the brunette gasped. “You know what song is perfect for this?”
He reached for his phone after having stopped at a stop sign and switched to a song that was already on the playlist.
He used their joined hands as a fake microphone as he started to sing, impersonating the dramatic voice of Gerard Way.
“Every snowflake's different just like you!”
❄️🎄⚡🌊🎄❄️
The music continued even after they had finally gotten back to their apartment.
Jason got the tree set up in the stand while Percy pulled out the other box of decorations from the storage closet. To set the mood Percy connected his phone to their bluetooth speaker and set it on the coffee table. He took Jason’s hand and pulled him in close.
“You know what I want for Christmas, Jace?” He nudged his nose against his husband’s. He rested one hand on Jason’s shoulder and the other hand on his neck.
“What do you want, baby?” Jason nudged his nose back, angling his head to brush their lips together, his hands moving to hold Percy’s waist.
Percy took a moment to deepen the kiss, the hand from his shoulder making its way down Jason’s chest and continuing down until he reached into his own pocket. He hit play on the song that he already had pulled up.
Gerard Way’s dramatic voice filled their living room once again. Percy smiled into the kiss, pulling back slightly as the titular line of the song played. His lips still brushed against Jason’s as he quietly sang to him.
“Baby, all I want for Christmas is you.”
He pulled away as the rest of the band joined in on making the song more My Chemical Romance-esque. He took Jason’s hand to move together toward the decorations.
“Such a tease,” the blond chuckled behind him.
“It is Christmas, Mr. Jackson-Grace. We have to decorate before you can get the sweets.”
Jason wrapped his arms around Percy from behind, kissing at his neck. “You are the sweetest treat,” he hummed into the kisses.
Percy leaned back into him, letting his eyes close. Really, this was just as much of a tradition as the decorating- Jason trying to get him distracted. Every year he was tempted to give in early. To stop caring about the rest of the house and focus just on his hot husband.
But he never did.
Percy turned around in his arms and gave him one quick kiss. “Later, love. Promise.”
❄️🎄⚡🌊🎄❄️
It was always a dance moving around each other while decorating. They got their multicolored lights on first. Jason made sure they were evenly spaced as they spiraled over the tree. They carefully placed all of their years of couple’s ornaments. The two boy koalas for 2025 got placed right in the front. They filled in some space with just some generic ornaments.
Sally had handed down some of the ornaments from Percy’s childhood, but still had most to herself. So the rest of the tree were those extra sentimental ones. Yet for every ornament that had a picture of baby Percy, he’d made one for Jason. Pictures of them together. The candid photos he had taken of him through the years. He wanted Jason to get a chance to experience all that too. They always joined the tree. Jason had stopped being embarrassed by them years ago.
Perhaps the best pair were two very different sized baubles. One was only maybe two inches big. Wrapped around it was a golden hand print and at the top it said “Baby’s First Christmas.” Percy would’ve only been about 3 months old when he had made it. The other half of the pair was much larger- the golden handprint still didn’t fully sit on one face of the larger bauble. So instead of writing at the top, it was in the center. Jason was 18 years old when they had made it. It was their first Christmas together as a couple. Baby’s first Christmas as the ornament said. Percy would never get rid of it.
The last step was always the star at the top. As always, they each got one hand on it and raised it up together to set it at the top of the tree. They took a few steps back to admire their work.
The tree was beautiful. It was an amalgamation of all their years together- nearly 13 now. Really, it could’ve been the ugliest combination in the world, but it didn’t matter. Percy could feel the fullness in his heart. The tree showed their journey together. From teenagers fumbling with their confusing feelings to stable husbands just as in love. Maybe not the same amount. He looked over at Jason, finding those blue eyes already on him. He had slight bags under his eyes often now. His chin was scruffy with two days worth of growth that an eighteen year old Jason wouldn’t have been able to grow in a month. He had lines on his face now from smiling so much.
Looking at him made Percy lose his breath.
“I…” he didn’t know what to say.
Jason turned to him completely so they were chest to chest. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes urged Percy to go on.
“I love you. Every day more than the last. I love the life we’ve built together. I wouldn’t give it up for the world,” he whispered, staring into those soft blue eyes- his favorite color in the world.
“Percy, I love you so much- sometimes I think my heart is gonna explode because it can’t hold it all.”
Jason kept his voice at a whisper to match his. It kept them in their own little bubble. Their own world.
The song coming from the speaker changed and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
“Dance with me, my love?”
Jason didn't say anything. He just took one of Percy’s hands in his and held it up while the other went to his waist. Percy let his free hand rest right where Jason's shoulder and neck met.
December first I'm in a foreign state
I'm running late, I'm all alone
Wishing I was home with you, baby
She's got a way of making things okay
When she's not around, when she's not around
I'm going crazy
They moved easily together even if it was this slow moving back and forth. Percy met Jason's eyes again. He really was the best thing that ever happened to him. Every part of his life was better with Jason there by his side.
We go together like the winter and this sweater
And she makes me feel, she makes me feel alive inside
And when I look into her eyes, I see the blue and green
Like Christmas lights
He thought back on the beginning- the fear they had because of who they are and what they felt. Neither of their fathers were happy. People were scared of what would happen if two of the most powerful demigods of their generation broke up.
She's not alone and never will be
Ho, ho, hopefully.
They had never found out. They never would.
Percy let his head rest on Jason's shoulder, swaying back and forth together.
There was no one else he'd rather be with. No one else could settle him like this. No one else could understand him like this. There was no one else he'd rather do this with. No one he'd want to buy corny ornaments with. No one he wanted to buy a tree with and sing silly old pop punk Christmas songs. No one else he wanted to join him at his family Christmas. No one else he wanted to slow dance with in the living room. No one else could love him like this.
He brought his head back up to finish the song. The warm look in his husband's eyes assured him he'd always made the right choice. He sang quietly along to the end of the song, bringing his hand up to caress Jason's cheek.
“And we're ho ho hoping that
We all come back and as a matter of fact I know
We're exactly where we're supposed to be
Together by this Christmas tree.”
Percy’s eyes fell closed as their lips connected in the sort of gentleness he knew they only reserved for each other. No matter what happened in his life, he was happy it did. Because it brought him right here. Dancing with his husband in front of the Christmas tree. Just like they were always meant to be.