A godly Christmas
To say that it was a surprise didn’t cut it, as Will Solace - head counselor of cabin seven since the end of the second Titan War - received an invitation for Christmas from his mother.
Sure, they exchanged letters sometimes but she thought that he visited a college somewhere and a summer camp if he wasn’t busy with that. And she hadn’t invited him back home since he’d managed to destroy half the house as he fought a monster while she had been shopping.
But of course, he was happy too, which was the reason he went to Chiron and Mr. D to ask them if he was allowed to leave camp for Christmas soon after he had recovered from the shock over the invitation itself.
And as they had no reason not to allow it, he found himself in the back of one of the camp vehicles driven by Argus a few weeks later, with a bag of clothes and stuff (including his bow of course, better safe than sorry), on his way to the nearest station. From there he took the train back to his mother’s house - he could hardly call it a home anymore, as Camp Halfblood was the place where everything he needed these days was - and the closer he came the more nervous he got.
As he left the train he took a short look around, noticing how little the town had actually changed since he had last visited. The same shops were opened for the same people to go and buy everyday stuff and even though it had begun to snow earlier that day the streets still were rather muddy than white. Just like always.
Sighing slightly he made his way through the constant bustling of people - even here everyone was doing last minute shopping for Christmas even though they still had about a week - hoping he still remembered the way. Which he did, of course, he had been walking it for more than a few years before... well, before he had known about his father being the sun god.
Thankfully his mother and John, his stepfather, gave him a warm welcome, maybe they had finally forgiven him for ruining the house. He didn’t dare to mention it - that would’ve been plain stupid - but... it was a start.
Instead, he helped quite a lot with decorating the rest of the house. Most of it had already been finished by John in the first days of December but they had wanted to do the final stuff, like the tree, just before Christmas.
Also there weren’t any monster attacks this time, so instead he was faced with a surprisingly calm week, being able to sleep as long as he wanted, eat whenever and whatever he wanted and everything... it was quite unusual. For him at least. Though of course, something did happen in the end, as if he wasn’t allowed being able to enjoy himself outside of Camp Halfblood once. It just wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Actually, everything had started in the late afternoon of the 24th. As his stepfather was a Christian with a pretty strict view of things and his mother had begun to share his beliefs years ago they were on their way to church right now. Taking Will along with them, of course.
He himself didn’t mind as much, even though he certainly believed in very... different gods. But everything started to get complicated as they went through the towns marketplace. One second, they did nothing more than walking around in silence, the next he heard someone calling his name. Someone... who sounded quite familiar actually.
“Will! Wait a second, will ya?”
Said boy froze, while the other two turned around, looking confused. But before he could mimic them, a pair of arms flung around his shoulders, hugging him from behind.
He blinked.
“Father...?”
If the situation hadn’t been so strange, Will probably would’ve laughed at the expressions of John and his mother - shocked was an understatement. Though... it wasn’t an unusual reaction, really, as neither of them knew about him being a demigod.
“Yep, the one and only!”
The arms vanished and Apollo stepped into his field of vision, grinning. He looked as usual - if Will could trust the little information he had about the gods and their ‘usual’ appearance - which meant short, blonde hair, blue eyes and a bright smile. Oh, and he seemed to be almost younger than Will himself, while still looking quite alike, of course. Who wouldn’t be surprised, hearing about their relation?
“Um... not that I dislike it, but why are you here of all places?”, he asked, carefully, hoping to not accidentally anger his father. Sure, Apollo was laid back most of the time, but he was still a god and angering a god was like begging to die.
Though said god didn’t look offended, on the contrary, he was still grinning happily.
“Oh, no reason at all. It was mere chance that I was here today and look who I’ve met!”
He gestured to Will, before he suddenly seemed to notice the mortals behind his son and his eyes lit up once more, though it seemed more like seeing an interesting object once more than someone with whom he had made a baby...
“Katherine... how are you? It seems that you’ve found yourself a nice man.”
She stared at him, obviously still shocked, before nodding slightly.
“Y-Yes, I’m fine...”
It sounded more like a squeak than anything else, but Apollo seemed content with it and was just turning back to Will, as John cleared his throat.
“Excuse me, but who exactly are you?”, he asked, seemingly fed up with the gods antics.
Said god just raised his eyebrows, looking surprised before smiling politely.
“Oh, I’ve not properly introduced myself to you, have I? I’m Apollo, Katherines... well... ex-lover and father of Will here. And you are...?”
John blinked, as if the counter question had surprised him.
“I’m John, Katherines husband. And Wills stepfather. And did anyone ever tell you that your name is actually the same as the Greek god of sun?”
Apollo chuckled. “Yes, I do hear that sometimes.”
He turned back to his son. “Anyway, what I wanted to know: Do you mind if I accompany you for today? I mean, I don’t have anything important to do-“ Meaning he was probably bored at Olympus, though Will had no idea how he managed his chariot from here, but well... he wasn’t a god for nothing, right? “-and it is the feast of family, isn’t it?”
It actually surprised the demigod that his father knew about Christmas, as it wasn’t exactly a Greek tradition, but gods kept up with the times too as it seemed. So instead of wondering, he just nodded.
“I don’t mind. But...” He looked to John and his mother - who, thankfully, had gone back to normal after seemingly accepting that the man that got her pregnant still looked the same age as he had been nineteen years ago. Shouldn’t they have a say in it, too?
“Well... you’re right about Christmas being a family festival, so if Will is fine with it... I guess you can tag along. It’s not as if we can keep you from seeing your son.”, John finally said, all the while looking at his wife for some sort of sign if she was fine with it.
As no protest came, Apollos grin just widened.
“Great! Than that’s settled, I’m coming with you.”
But before anyone had time to do anything more than accepting that fact, he suddenly held a hand to his forehead. “Wait, I feel a haiku coming!”
He stayed like that for a few seconds - during which the two mortals had time to look at each other confused while Will cringed inwardly knowing of the normal quality of his father’s haikus - before starting.
“Family union
In this town covered with snow.
Today is great!”
“Um... that last line is only four syllables, father. Shouldn’t it be five?”, Will asked carefully, having heard of the basic structure of a haiku, and the god blinked, probably repeating the line in his head and counting the syllables before frowning.
“No way, not again! I’m always missing that one!”
He thought about it once more.
“I know! Today will be great!” He counted the syllables on his fingers while talking, before nodding, looking proud of himself.
Thankfully, John started to speak again before Will had to answer.
“Look, I’m sorry to interrupt your... lyrical flow, but we have to hurry, church service will start soon and we don’t want to be late!”
“...Church service?”, Apollo asked, confused, but both mortals had already began to move again which left Will to explain their plans for the day as they followed.
And it was probably needless to say that his father wasn’t too keen on going to a place where people worshipped a different deity... Will could understand that, but his father had wanted to come with them... he’d live.
That way, all four of them found themselves sitting in the back of the local church a little bit later, Apollo at the wall and Will between him and his mother. And of course, only a few minutes after the service had begun, the former two grew incredibly bored.
Will himself tried to follow the pastor, he really did, but it was hard to try and listen to someone droning on about the birthday of some demigod whose father was seemingly THE God. And who had rescued humanity all alone. Honestly, even if his parentage was true - though Will was pretty sure Mary had NOT been a virgin if she bore a demigod - why was he treated like he was his father? And there were more demigods, no one ever celebrated the birthdays of Hercules, Perseus or Achilles either, right?
Of course, it didn’t help his cause that Apollo was bored himself. Sure, it had to be worse for the god, seeing how many people didn’t believe that he was even real, but... that wasn’t a sufficient reason to distract his son even further with small rays of light that danced in his hands, building complex patterns. It looked way too beautiful, meaning Will started to watch that more than the pastor up front.
Thankfully though, no one else was able to see it and as his father caught him looking he only grinned.
“Say... do you think these guys would appreciate actually seeing what they’re talking about?”, Apollo asked his son in a hushed tone after a while.
Will blinked, surprised at the sudden question. “Pardon?”
“Well... it’s boring here. Wouldn’t it be way funnier if they’d see a real god? And a pretty hot one too, if I dare say!”
“Um... I am sure that this idea has it’s pros, but... I don’t think these mortals would like that.”
The god tilted his head. “Why not? They are talking about some demigod, aren’t they? Like... another son of Zeus or something. They should be happy!”
“Well I fear that they believe in another god. And this god doesn’t just show up. I think, he has actually never shown himself to anyone so that son they’re talking about is the closest he got. Also, the Mist would probably cover anything anyway, right?”
Apollo thought about it shortly, before leaning back into his chair, looking almost as if he was pouting, and Will felt kinda sorry for his father as the idea itself did sound funny and he would’ve loved to see the faces of the people, but he didn’t want to anger his mother again. Not that it didn’t seem as if he’d already done that again, judging from the look she threw them - to stop talking, hopefully she hadn’t understood what they were saying.
The rest of the church service went surprisingly well, and the demigod and his father even joined the Christians as they were singing their Christmas carols about God and stuff. Because even though none of them believed what they were singing, the melodies were nice and the opportunity to sing again - and loudly, too - was just too good to miss. And boy was Apollos voice awesome, he certainly wasn’t the god of music for nothing.
That didn’t mean that they weren’t relieved when it was finally over though. And they still got reprimanded by John for talking in the middle of it. Not that they cared.
During the service it had begun to snow quite a lot and as they went home in the dark everything seemed a tad bit whiter than before. Apollo and Will walked slightly behind the two mortals, making mostly small talk or talking about Camp and Wills siblings. And just then Will noticed how easy it actually was to talk to his father. Sure, one wrong word could still be his demise, but... he found he quite liked his father’s attitude.
Like that, they were back at his mother’s house faster than he thought and Apollo actually complimented the decoration and the lights, claiming them to be ‘pretty awesome’ though not bright enough for his taste.
“Say, Will, is Christmas always that... busy?”, the god asked after he had watched John and Katherine preparing dinner for some time. It seemed that he wasn’t often with mortals during this time of a year.
“Yeah, most of the time. Though it’s a bit worse today because mom and John probably haven’t counted on another guest for today.” Even though there were quite a few people expected for the next day, Johns parents for example.
Apollo nodded. “Seems plausible. Sorry about that I guess.”
“Oh no, don’t worry. It’s... great to have you around.”
They shared a smile before Katherine finally announced that the preparations were done and everyone could come and eat. And boy did the meal look awesome. They had Turkey with different vegetables and sauces and, for dessert, Christmas pudding with brandy sauce. It looked delicious and it was probably only the start, as tomorrow with the rest of the family, there would be even more.
Though the silence at the table was quite uncomfortable at the beginning. While both mortals began eating after making sure everyone had a full plate, Apollo ate almost nothing - Will guessed it had something to do with the fact that nectar and Ambrosia were what he ate normally, not mortal stuff - while the demigod himself wasn’t sure if he should sacrifice some of his meal beforehand.
Sure, he had never done it before if he wasn’t at Camp, but his father also had never been sitting next to him. But as said god just smiled and motioned for him to eat he did just that.
“So... what’s your job?”, John asked Apollo after a while, hoping to be able to make some small talk himself, to break the silence that had gotten quite awkward after a while.
“Oh... I’m doing quite a variety of things actually. But mostly I’m just... travelling.” The god answered evasively, but seemingly amused. “What about you?”
“Well... I’m a mechanic, actually.”
“So you’re working with cars? Nice! I actually love cars, I have a quite... special one myself.”
As the conversation about cars continued Will chuckled inwardly, having heard about his father’s chariot from Percy once. Quite a nice thing as it was able to transform into different vehicles as it seemed.
After dinner it was Apollo who urged the other three to sing again. He had accidentally found a CD with Christmas songs and insisted that they should sing them together, as it would be a nice family activity. Will himself thought it was a nice idea too and neither his mother nor John had any good counter-argument.
So they sang quite a few songs more and even though he knew it wouldn’t last long, Will was in high spirits for the time being. And even John, who normally wasn’t all too keen on singing joined them after a while.
The only bad thing was probably that it ended way too fast for Wills liking, but it had gotten quite late while they had fun and after looking out of the window Apollo declared it was time to go. Both Katherine and John had offered him a spare room to stay, but of course that wasn’t a possibility for the god, instead he thanked them for the nice day and pulled Will outside with him for a second to talk to him alone before taking his leave.
“So... did you have fun today?”, he asked his son, smiling but at the same time looking somehow serious.
“Yes, it was just great! But... why exactly did you come over? I mean, it’s not that I don’t appreciate it - because I really do, it was so much fun! - but you weren’t in town by accident, were you?”, Will asked, wondering if he was going to get an answer for that... pretty personal question. But Apollo only smiled slightly.
“It wasn’t the best cover, was it? Well, fine, I’ll tell you. Remember when that Percy Jackson guy got his wish fulfilled from the gods?”
Will nodded, honestly, who could forget that Percy had turned down immortality for that, everyone had talked about it back then. Also, his cabin had gotten quite a few new campers because of it.
“So you know that I had to claim a few children. More than I would’ve liked to admit having, actually. And then - after some events I do not wish to retell, but one of it involved my own mother - I began thinking about what kind of father I actually am. Sure, we’re gods, we don’t need to have time for our children and stuff, but it wasn’t actually fair to most of them, especially the ones that never even saw us once. Hell, even my little sister has ‘children’ she’s close to!” He scratched the back of his head, looking slightly embarrassed.
“Anyway, so I decided to visit my kids and spend a bit of time with them. It might not be much, but... better than nothing, I guess. And I know it doesn’t always seem so, but I do like you.”
Will nodded slowly. “I’m sure the others know. At least I do.” He smiled up to his father who returned it, before raising a hand as if he wanted to wave.
“Thanks, son. Keep that personality up and I’m sure you’ll find a nice young lady for you soon.”
He chuckled as said boy blushed before he vanished into rays of sunlight which got lost pretty fast in the darkness of the night, leaving Will to return back inside with a warm feeling in his heart. It wasn’t everyday that your godly father came to spend time with you and even thanked you afterwards...
Another surprise waited for the demigod as he woke up the next morning, looking at his presents. Next to the ones from his mortal relatives lay a neatly wrapped, long box without any name or card. But as he opened it and saw slightly strange looking arrows inside, he couldn’t help but smile brightly, whispering a ‘Thank you’ while looking out of the window to the rising sun. And he could’ve sworn that the sunlight flickered very slightly in response.
Yes, that had been a quite... godly Christmas. And definitely the best Christmas he ever had.
