Chapter Text
World Championship, March
It’s a weird feeling, sitting in the stands. Percy feels simultaneously at home in the arena, yet a complete stranger watching the World Championship as a spectator. He looks over at his partner Rachel, who is sitting beside him. Her mouth is pressed into a thin line as she watches the current skaters, a veteran pair from France, perform their short program. Rachel is really good at watching others skate, tracking all their movements, learning from them. Percy, on the other hand, is much more interested in the actual act. He hasn’t sat and watched an entire competition, probably ever.
The pair finish their program and Percy’s hands absentmindedly clap with the rest of the crowd. The corners of Rachel’s mouth pull down a little.
“You miss that, don’t you,” she says. Percy feels a pang of guilt. Of course he misses it, but it isn’t Rachel’s fault that her knee decided to give out, ending their season early.
“I’m just looking forward to you being healthy again, so we can get back out there,” he says, forcing a smile.
Her frown only deepens. Percy nudges her shoulder with his. They have to be careful of their faces in the audience. Because they were the gold medalists last year, there always seems to be a camera on them, catching their every reaction.
The French pair receive their scores and look decidedly happy. Percy can’t help but smile as he watches them hug each other and their coaches. He remembers the feeling well. He and Rachel were having a good year before her injury, both of them on top of their game. Those few minutes between a great performance and the announcing of the scores aren’t his favorite part of being a competitive pairs figure skater, but he has many fond memories with Rachel, knowing they nailed a performance and then seeing all their hard work reflected in the numbers.
The crowd dies down as the next pair takes the ice.
The next skaters in this group represent the United States of America. Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan.
That catches Percy’s attention. The audience cheers again and Percy woos along with them. Rachel gives him a smirk. Percy would have rolled his eyes or told her to lay off, but his focus is solely on the ice.
Annabeth and Luke skate around hand in hand. They look put together with their matching red and gold costumes and Annabeth’s blond curls expertly twisted into a bun, but Percy can tell that something is wrong. Annabeth usually has a very determined look on her face when she takes the ice, but today there’s something else there. They skate around each other for a moment acknowledging the audience before taking their opening pose.
Percy can imagine what the commentators are saying for the viewers at home:
Chase and Castellan are taking the ice. It’s been an interesting season for these two, with their top competitors and rival Americans Dare and Jackson out of the competition due to injury. However, they do have to perform beautifully to take the Gold here and they have had a bit of a bumpy ride recently this season. Dare and Jackson are watching from the audience now [insert camera shot of Percy and Rachel here] and I’m sure they’re unhappy about having to sit out. Let’s see how Chase and Castellan fare for their short program.
Luke does not look good. His skin is sallow and there’s no energy in his body.
“Rachel,” Percy starts.
“I know,” she says immediately.
The music starts and he and Rachel lean forward unconsciously.
Their first element is a triple twist, where she jumps backward with his hands on her hips. He then pushes her up over his head and throws her high enough that she can twist three times in a nearly horizontal position before he catches her. It’s the hardest element to get right, in Percy’s opinion, and anyone who includes it in their program put it towards the beginning to avoid attempting it with fatigue.
Percy feels Rachel’s hand grip his arm as Annabeth and Luke skate into position. She pushes off the ice with good form, but Luke only gives her enough lift to barely complete two twists. Their landing is shaky but it could have been so much worse and they’ll be docked the difficulty points.
Rachel lets out a breath. Luke and Annabeth skate through two more jump sequences. Luke hits the first, but steps out of the second. Their performances had been rougher than usual for the second half of that year, but this short program seemed to be draining them quickly. The next major element is a big lift with Annabeth fully pressed over Luke’s head and her weight supported in just one hand. The initial push off the ice looks okay, but it quickly falls apart as Luke presses Annabeth up only to immediately have his arms buckle and drop her. She falls quickly to the ice, knocking him down in the process.
Percy gasps and resists the urge to stand up. Rachel’s clutch on his arm is like steel and she covers her mouth with her other hand.
They both lie there for what seems like far too long. It’s probably only a few seconds, but the time stretches with every heartbeat. The crowd is silent as they wait for something to happen. Usually, skaters will get back up and try to finish the program after a fall, but that was no average fall.
Luke stirs first and he crawls over to Annabeth’s body on the ice. When Annabeth still doesn’t move, their coach - Luke’s mother May - hurries onto the ice followed by a medical professional on site.
Percy’s heart is hammering. That was the worst accident he has ever witnessed and it happened to Annabeth. She was not only his friend, in the special way that absolute rivals can be friends, but also the object of the biggest and longest crush he’d ever had in his whole life. He was planning on finally asking her on a date after they got back to their training facility in Colorado, since she would have just a little more free time since the competitive season would be over. She was so talented and determined; things couldn’t end for her like this.
He knows the best thing he can do is stay in his seat to give the paramedics space, but he wants more than anything to run to her side. He has to know if she’s alright.
But the harsh truth was that falls like that could end careers or worse.
Rachel seems to read his mind. She turns his face to hers with her hand.
“Hey,” she whispers. “She’s going to be okay. I’m sure she’s just shocked. That’s what happens when you fall, you’re just shocked.”
Sure, they both had had their fair share of spills on the ice, that’s just a part of the sport, but Percy had never dropped Rachel like that.
He puts his arm around his partner and pulls Rachel against him, for her comfort and his own.
The paramedics bring in a stretcher and the audience claps as they carry her off the ice, with Luke skating behind. Percy feels a surge of anger as he watches them. He’d always said that Luke was holding Annabeth back and she should look into getting a new partner. But she had this loyalty to him and his mom. She’d been training with them her entire career, so even when she started to surpass him, she wouldn’t leave.
And now she could be paralyzed.
Percy and Rachel leave the arena together as soon as they can. They tell their coach, Chiron, that they’re leaving and book it out of there. They don’t want to do interviews. They don’t want to be asked questions about Annabeth and Luke. They go back to their hotel to Rachel’s room where Percy paces and Rachel lies on top of the covers of the bed. The news is on in case they mention anything about Annabeth’s condition and both Rachel and Percy’s cellphones’ ringers are on.
After what feels like hours, Rachel sits up and says, “Percy, come here.”
He sits next to her on the bed. She’s pulled her red hair up into a loose bun and her green eyes are a little bloodshot from crying.
“I think it’s time for me to retire,” she whispers. “I don’t think I want to keep doing this, even after my knee heels.”
Percy had known that Rachel was considering retirement, but she’d said she needed time to make her decision. He looks down at his hands, struggling to process everything.
“I know this sucks for you and today is just awful,” she continues. “But we have so much to be proud of. I don’t even know how many medals we have, and a few World Titles is nothing to scoff at. We’ve had such a good run. I’m just tired and ready for something new.”
“But what are you going to do?” he asks.
“I don’t know yet. I still can’t really walk that well, so I’m just going to rest for a while. And from there, I can’t tell the future.”
He looks up at her face and sees the tears streaming down her cheeks. He knows this isn’t easy for her, but also that skating is the kind of career you have to be 100% committed to. If she’s done, she’s done.
He pulls her to her feet by her hands, so he can give her a proper hug. She wraps her arms around his torso like she’s done so many times before and presses her face into his chest.
“You’ve been the perfect partner,” she cries. “You never let me down and I am so thankful for you.”
“Thank you for everything, Rachel,” Percy sighs. “I don’t think I’ll be able to skate with anyone else.”
“Don’t say that,” she says. “You have so many good years ahead of you.”
They hold onto each other, feeling the sadness and weight of her decision, and it gives Percy a sense of finality.
His phone rings and he keeps one hand on Rachel’s back as he reaches to answer it.
“She’s fine,” Chiron’s voice says. “Nasty concussion, but she’ll be okay.”
Percy exhales a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. What happened with Luke?”
“I shouldn’t talk about it here,” Chiron answers.
“Okay,” Percy says. “Rachel’s right here. Thank you.”
He hangs up and hugs Rachel again. He’s feeling so many things at once. Elation at Chiron’s news, renewed anger with Luke, loss at the end of his partnership with Rachel.
“You heard what he said, right?” Percy asks her.
“I heard your reaction,” she answers. “Are you going to finally ask her out?”
“I’m going to be the last thing on her mind. You should talk to Chiron.”
“I’ll get to him eventually. I can’t do anything else today. What did he say about Luke?”
“It was weird. He said he couldn’t talk about it,” Percy says. They’re silent for a moment. “I think I’m going to go home to New York for a while. You should come.”
She looks up at him and smiles. “I will.”
-----
Percy is sitting on his mom’s couch when Rachel calls him. “Did you hear what happened?”
“No?”
“Apparently Luke was both hungover and maybe still high-”
She doesn’t finish the sentence because Percy interrupts her, “That bastard.”
“He’s been checked into rehab,” she finishes. “Annabeth is done with him.”
“She told you this?”
“Mhm,” Rachel responds. “I’m sure she’d appreciate a call.”
“I need to chill out before I talk to her.”
“Okay, Percy. I’ll talk to you later,” Rachel says.
Percy lowers his phone and tries to breathe. He can’t believe Luke would risk her life like that. He’s about to grab his coat and go for a walk to clear his head when his phone rings again.
Annabeth hasn’t given him the chance to chill out before talking to her. He picks it up immediately.
“Percy?” her voice asks. At the sound of his name in her voice, his heart clenches.
“I’m so sorry,” he says.
“Yeah, so am I,” she says, sounding tired. “I don’t want to talk about that. It’s just that I need- I mean I want to see you.”
“I’m in New York,” he responds.
“Just let me know when you’re back in Colorado.”
Percy doesn’t have a flight booked back to Colorado.
“Rachel told you she’s retiring, right?”
“Yes, that’s the thing. I wanted to talk to you about this in person, but since you’re not here, I’ll just say it. What do you think about me?”
Percy’s mind tried to grasp what she was saying. He was still caught up on the fact that she’d called him and now she wants to know what she thinks about him? He thinks so much about her.
“I’m sorry-” she says into his silence.
“No, I’m sorry. I’m just trying to get this right. You want to be my partner?”
He thinks about how long it would take him to get to the airport and get on the next flight out.
“I’m saying let’s talk about it. It’s a big decision.”
“I’ll call you when I get off the plane,” he says.
Percy hangs up and he can’t stop the smile on his face. He hasn’t fully processed what he’d just agreed to because his mind is filled with the idea of sitting across a table and talking to Annabeth.
“Who was that?” Sally asks him as she enters the living room.
“Annabeth,” he says with a grin. “I have to get back to Colorado.”