Disclaimer:
The characters belong to Rick Riordan, as do the PJO and HoO series.

Written by:

@libraryhaunter
@AmAeRaI
@Chilea
@The__Crazy_Girl
@BrokenTimeTurner
   
[♂fRanK♂]

The snow blanketed the rooftops in a nice, cosy kind of way, Frank thought, as he looked out at the spectacle of New Rome in winter. People were milling around on the streets, laughing and talking as they shook snowflakes off of their coats. Kids made snow forts and snowballed each other from behind the walls. The cafés were illuminated with soft light early in this season, though it was only late afternoon.

Most of the cafés were crammed full. Every corner held either a couple holding hands across the table, a group of friends laughing and talking or a family having some 'quality time' together. Even through all these people should have left a noisy atmosphere, the atmosphere of the coffee shop Frank was sitting in was cosy. He was lucky to have found a table at all, though.

It was right next to the window which he stared out of impatiently, willing Hazel to come up the street, her cinnamon hair flying in the chilly breeze, her warm gold eyes meeting his as she came in, her hands stuffed in her pockets.

A moment later, that happened. A bell tinkled as she came in, shivering slightly. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and snow slid off of it as she walked over to him, pulling a chair back.

"Hey," she said, slipping into the seat opposite him. "You're early on it."

"Reyna let me slip out of the paperwork early today. I don't know how she sits and sorts through all those papers the whole day. Especially with her ADHD."

Hazel smiled at him as she picked up the menu, making his heart flutter. They'd been dating for months but she never failed to have this effect on him. He wondered if that was what it was like for every couple.

"Yeah, it must be terrible for her to sit in there. She seriously needs to learn how to relax-look, they have reindeer burgers here. Remember when we ate those on our quest?"

"I still feel bad about eating Rudolph," he muttered.

"Don't let the kids hear you," she warned, darting a furtive glance around them.

He winced at the thought of their reaction. "Good point."

Just then, a small girl came dashing across the floor to them. It was Julia, Terminus' assistant at the border of New Rome. Everyone knew her, but Frank and Hazel were particularly good friends of hers. She had decided that being Frank Zhang or Hazel Levesque when she grew up wouldn't be too bad either.

"Hey, Julia," Hazel said, smiling at her. "Where are your parents?"

"They're over there." Julia waved a hand behind her at a young couple watching her nervously. They looked shy and quiet, not at all like their exuberant daughter.

"Can you come and play with us?" She asked, gesturing out of the window at a group of kids laughing and snowballing each other. "After you eat?"

Hazel looked at Frank, looking torn.

"I've told them all about you," Julia went on. "They want to meet you. Please?"

"Of course we'll come," Frank assured her, and Hazel smiled again. "Right after we eat. I can't wait to meet your friends."

As Julia clapped excitedly and ran back to her parents, Hazel took Frank's hand.

"That was really nice of you," she said.

He blushed slightly. "She's a good kid."

"She is," Hazel agreed. "Speaking of kids, we should visit Camp Half Blood soon. We haven't been there for a while. I want to see Chuck again."

"I still can't believe Coach Hedge didn't tell us that he married Mellie," Frank grumbled. "I only found out by accident and then he made me not tell anyone."

"I know."

They looked through the menu together in silence for a while, one hand locked in the other's under the table.

"Let's just order these muffins and some coffee," Hazel suggested.

"Sure." Frank closed the menu and called the waitress over. Her pen scribbled the order as they dictated it. The menu floated into her hand as she walked off. She must have been a daughter of Hecate.

He looked at Hazel, who was staring out of the window as if lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked.

"Nothing," she answered quickly.

Frank didn't know much about dating but he knew it wasn't a good sign when your girlfriend said that.

"You can tell me," he said.

She sighed. "I was thinking about Leo. I know he sent an Iris message saying that he was on his way and it would take time..but still, I'm worried about him."

"Oh." Frank tried not to convey his thoughts through his expression, but Hazel could read him like an open book.

"Frank. You have nothing to worry about." She sounded a little tired, and he knew why. They'd had this conversation before. He just couldn't help it.

"He does have a crush on you," he said.

"He did," Hazel replied. "He loves Calypso, Frank, anyone could see that from the message. We were there when he sent it to us."

Frank knew she had a good point, that he was being ridiculous, but he felt morose and gloomy anyway.

Hazel rolled her eyes at him and leaned across the table. She gave him a quick, soft kiss, then pulled back, blushing furiously. It was cute, really. As thirteen going on seventy, she often did that whenever anyone kissed in public, even if it was just her kissing Frank.

"We won't talk about this again," she told him firmly. "I love you, not Leo."

Seeming to realise what she'd said, she blushed again, her brown skin practically glowing. As for Frank, he felt as if he was going to burst with happiness. She loved him. She had said so. He grinned at her, but before he could say anything, their muffins and coffee arrived.

As they clutched the warm cups, letting the heat soak through them, Frank looked at her again, but found that he didn't have the courage to say anything. He looked at the table, then at her again. As he looked down, he saw something and an idea flashed through his mind. It was pretty cheesy, but he couldn't seem to help it. Taking a toothpick, he scratched a small, lopsided heart into one of the muffins. Underneath it, he scratched I love you, too.

Hazel looked over at him.

"What are you-oh! Oh."

She took the muffin and stared at it. When she looked back up at him, they were both blushing. She leaned over the table and kissed him properly. This time, she didn't pull back any time soon. And he definitely didn't.

                      [HAzeL]

(A/N: Little bonus because we're awesome like that, but we won't update for at least a week after this)

Their footsteps crunched in the cold snow as they slipped into the huge snow fort Julia and her friends had built. They had split up in two teams, one attacking from the outside, the others inside the fort. Frank was on offense and Hazel defence. She crouched inside, giggling slightly as she peered out. Julia yanked her down.

"They'll get you!" She whispered.

"Sorry," Hazel whispered back, trying not to giggle again.

"Clover," Julia said importantly. "You take that side with Max, and I'll take this side with Hazel. We have to protect the fort from the enemy! The Roman Empire must stand!"

The soldiers cheered, then remembered to salute their commander, and took their allotted spots.

The enemy arrived, pelting the defenders of the fort with large snowballs. Frank, a girl and a couple of boys knocked down the fort in about four seconds, although Frank tried to be easy on them.

Hazel was worried Julia and the other kids might cry, but Julia just shrugged and yelled, "FREE FOR ALL!"

Hazel was hit by a large snowball and turned to see a grinning Frank. She laughed, her breath turning to mist in the air, and scooped up as much snow as she could. Frank ducked just in time and it only sprinkled a little snow on his hair as it sailed over his head and smashed into a father trying to calm down his daughter, who was throwing a tantrum about Christmas presents. 

Hazel covered her mouth.

"I'm so sorry!" She called.

The guy turned, picked up a snowball and, grinning, threw it back. Hazel dodged it and it hit a teenage girl, who, after looking stupefied for a second, grabbed another snowball and heaved it through the air to the guy. She had a terrible aim. It hit his daughter, who had stopped her tantrum to stare.

"Daddy, I want to join!" She said, laughing as the snow coursed down her jacket.

Her father was obviously all too happy to join in once she had stopped crying. Soon enough, the entire street was engaged in a snowball battle. Forts were built, alliances made, snowballs hefted. And, as she laughed and kissed Frank's cold cheek, Hazel knew that she was happier than she had ever been her whole life.