Ship: Percico
Prompt: You stole my reindeer.

Percy ducked under another tree branch, jumping over a log.

A group of them had gone on an adventure, straight into the snowy woods outside their town.

Percy was the only one still exploring, heading deeper and deeper into the woods despite his friends clearly telling him not to.

It was their own fault, he decided. They're the ones who left him out in the woods alone.

You shouldn't leave someone out in the woods alone anyway, especially not Percy Jackson. Now that was just asking for trouble.

Percy jolted slightly as he heard a sort of grunting noise to his left, a little ways behind him.

Turning, he found himself face to face with a reindeer. Although finding it odd for a reindeer to be here, Percy walked towards it, his head tilted to one side.

Percy took small, slow steps, the reindeer watching him with cautious eyes.

He paused when the reindeer tilted it's chin downwards, it's would-be antlers pointing towards him.

Percy took pride in being able to tell it was a male. Realistically, he took pride in - for once - being able to avoid death threats from his friend Annabeth.

Oh, he didn't know the capital city of Tuvalu, so what.

After the disappointed stare and dictionary to the face, Percy made sure to memorise the capital of Tuvalu.

The capital of Tuvalu is Funafuti, he thought.

Oh thank gods, he still remembered it.

He swore Annabeth took actual offence to someone not knowing something, even if they'd simply forgotten.

The reindeer tilted his head forward more, so he was practically staring down at his hooves.

He looked to be bowing. To Percy. To Percy? Why would he bow to Percy?

Percy looked behind him.

No, there was no one there.

The reindeer grunted again, bringing Percy's attention back onto him.

It was then that Percy noticed how dark the reindeer's fur was, the almost black standing out against the silvery-white.

Percy took the last few steps needed to reach the animal, his head slightly tilted.

He held his hand out, surprised when the reindeer bumped his snout against Percy's palm almost immediately.

Percy bit his thumb, continuing to pace a hole into his mother's flooring.

Percy stopped pacing, his head darting from the reindeer stood in his living room over to the blonde sat with her head down, muttering to herself as her pen scribbled across the page.

Next to her sat her girlfriend, a rather amused looking redhead just itching to get out her sketchbook and draw the reindeer.

Percy let out a loud wail-like sound before he continued to pace, nibbling on the tip of his thumb out of habit.

Percy's first and closest friend sat just next to the reindeer, calming Percy's nerves slightly by paying attention to the animal.

"I'm just saying, it's such a Percy thing to do."

Percy turned quickly, his eyes meeting the kaleidoscopic wonders belonging to his friend.

"What did you expect me to do?! Besides, you would do the same!"

Piper nodded, humming out an agreeing noise.

"I know. It's such an us thing to do. Why didn't you tell me you were planning on stealing a reindeer? I would have stayed if I knew!"

Percy frowned, feeling jittery.

"I didn't plan on stealing a reindeer. I merely... made a friend I don't want to part with. I didn't steal him."

Next to Piper, Leo scoffed.

"Yeah right, and my hair is pink."

The entire room stopped what they were doing, including Annabeth. Every occupant turned to stare at Leo, dumbfounded. Even the reindeer turned to stare at Leo as if he was stupid.

"What?"

Annabeth huffed a sigh, rolling her eyes.

"Leo, your hair is pink."

"Huh? Oh."

Apparently Leo had forgotten the little incident in chemistry the week before. The one that effectively turned his hair pink.

They all froze as the front door opened and closed, Sally Jackson appearing in the doorway to the living room.

She paused halfway though the room, having caught sight of the large animal standing in her living room.

She blinked, shaking her head before leaving the room and heading into the kitchen for a glass of water.

"You know what, I think we should leave now. It's getting late anyways."

With that, they all said their goodbyes before Percy's friends left, all heading the sperate ways back to their homes.

As soon as the front door closed, Percy headed to his room, deciding he needing a break from both biting his thumb and worrying over his kidnapped reindeer.

Just as he was about to get into bed, his mom poked her head into the doorway.

"I want that reindeer gone by Friday."

Percy nodded, immediately understanding where she was coming from.

"Yes mom."

Sally smiled.

"Thanks sweetie."

She entered his room briefly to kiss his forehead, leaving and heading straight for her room after. Thankfully, she closed the door and turned the lights off on her way out so Percy didn't have to.

Gods, he loved his mom.

The next morning, Percy and his friends moved onto what they'd dubbed 'Reindeer Research' instead of just circling over the same topics like they had the night before.

Although slightly surprised, it didn't exactly come as a massive shock to them when the reindeer turned down the simple vegetation they offered, due to its pure size and, upon closer look, eyes.

Annabeth, ever the Greek Mythology geek, had already made several comments about the reindeer resembling a hellhound.

After the initial rejection, they went back to their research, often consulting the group or testing something new out.

Two days of research passed and the reindeer accepted no food, nothing.

Despite being told you couldn't, Percy was pretty sure he could see the animals ribs.

Oh gods, he was trying to kill a reindeer.

Considering the fact that his impulse actions only seemed to be causing harm to the poor creature - and the fact that tomorrow was Friday - Percy took the reindeer back to the woods, where he found him.

Originally, his friends were going to accompany him too but all of them had something come up last minute.

Percy trekked his way through the woods, trying to remember the route he'd taken to get to where he found his new buddy.

Peecy breathed a sigh of relief as he found it, noticing the same black ribbon on the ground, the one that had been where they met a few days before.

Percy turned, ready to head back home, only to come face to face with a boy.

He seemed to be about Percy's age, maybe slightly younger, or perhaps older, Percy couldn't tell.

He was decked out in all black, the leather jacket and skinny jeans he wore seeming nowhere near warm enough for the icy weather that had caused Percy to bundle up in layers of clothes.

"So, you've finally returned. And you brought Blitzen too."

Percy grabbed his coat by the zip, pulling it up high enough to hide half his face.

Although finding it kind of cute that this boy named his reindeer after one of Santa's, Percy felt bad for, he'd admit it, stealing his reindeer.

There was also the major point that this boy kind of scared Percy.

The boy took a step forward and Percy had to refuse the urge to step back, burying his face a little more into his coat.

"You steal my reindeer, keep him for a few days and then what, you just bring him back to where you found him?"

Percy nodded, his voice coming out small.

"I tried to feed him."

The boy looked from the reindeer, now identified as Blitzen, over to Percy practically cowering in fear at the boy's... aura?

Aura seemed to be the only word to describe or relate to the feelings he was giving Percy. In literally any way.

There was no other words that came to mind. (Something that Annabeth didn't need to know about.)

Slowly, the boy nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Okay, you can go."

Percy let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, rushing forward the way he came, only to trip just in front of the boy and land at his feet.

Percy felt his face heat up, feeling the boy's eyes bore down on him disapprovingly.

"Percy, you have to do better than that."

Percy jolted, his head darting up to stae at the boy, slightly confused, slightly scared.

"How do you know my name?"

"The question is more how would I not know your name, is it not?"

Percy paused, bewildered.

After about a minute, he shook his head.

"I don't think so."

"Come on, get up. I'll give you a ride home. I'm sure your mother would be worried if you didn't arrive home before dinner."

Percy stood shakily, his eyes darting from side to side as he considered the best time to run.

Only then did he catch sight of the sleigh the boy was walking towards, seven large reindeer just stood in two lines in front of it.

Percy watched Blitzen, all on his own, make his way towards the blank space on the second row, completing the organised formation.

Percy turned to stare at the boy, amazed.

The boy rolled his eyes before jumping up into the sleigh, sitting down and waiting for Percy to get in.

After about six tries and five different ways, Percy still couldn't get up and into the sleigh.

"I can't get up."

Nico sighed, leaning over and gripping at Percy's wrist.

Percy's vision went dark, his body shuddering.

When he could see again, he was sat in the sleigh and the sleigh wasn't on the ground.

Percy looked over the side before whimpering, moving his knees up to his chest.

"Don't like heights." He muttered.

They landed on the roof of Percy's apartment building a few minutes later, the boy jumping out first before helping Percy.

"Percy," he shouted, causing Percy to stop halfway to the door. "If you ever need me, just ask."

Percy's eyebrows furrowed as he stared down at the black ribbon in his hands, the one the boy had just thrown at him.

Percy realised seven out of the eight reindeer all wore a ribbon just like that one, the only exception being Blitzen.

Percy smiled small, waving at the boy simply before turning to leave.

"The name is Nico by the way, just to give you a clue."

A clue. Percy was pretty sure he knew what the clue was to.