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“I can’t believe you convinced the naiads to let you do this,” Annabeth tells Percy as soon as she can, which is about four seconds after the surface of the lake has been frozen off.
Percy grins at her and wraps his hand around her waist, pulling her closer to share body heat, as people do in winter. “I’m the son of the great Poseidon,” he replies. “They had to listen to me.”
She frowns because of his words, but not because of his hand on her hip. She tilts her until it's pressed against his shoulder, her hair tickling his chin. “You know that’s not true.”
“Pshhh, let me have this one victory,” he laughs, remembering all the chores he had to do because of their underwater kiss. Oh well. Still the best kiss ever.
“Do you even know how to ice skate?” she asks him, twisting her head to raise an eyebrow at him. He pauses, clearly caught off-guard.
“Of course I do! I mean, I’ve never done it before, but it can’t be that hard,” he replies easily and confidently, though Annabeth sends him another look. “What?”
“That’s what you said about breaking the orcas out of Sea World,” she explains, face pinching as she remembers the very half-baked plan he had come up with.
“ This is nothing like that! It’s just running around but on ice, isn’t it?” Annabeth shakes her head almost immediately, but he elects to ignore that. “Hey! Alright, I’ll show you, just as soon as the Hephaestus kids are done with the skates…”
“I still think it was a bad idea letting them make those. Without supervision.”
“You think everything I come up with is a bad idea,” Percy argues, pouting dramatically, but Annabeth rolls her eyes and his lips curve into a smile.
“That’s because they usually are, Seaweed Brain,” she tells him. She reaches up and taps him on the nose, her fingers frigid without gloves.
Percy has to agree with her though, even if things… mostly turned out well in the past. “Okay, Wise Girl,” he remarks, rolling his own eyes, and she just chuckles, warm and loving.
So ice skating definitely isn’t as easy as it looks.
Like at all.
Most of the campers can skirt around the edges of the lake, and a few bolder ones go all the way to the centre, crisscrossing across it.
But Percy?
Percy is mostly clinging to Annabeth and struggling to stay upright, which is absurd - and humiliating - because he’s been a part of a world-changing prophecy twice and some hard water is what does him in?
Seriously?
It doesn’t help that Annabeth is too busy giggling and losing her breath, so they’re both as wobbly as a new-born centaur, and also stuck in the middle of the lake because Percy had gotten cocky.
“Alice, can you please-“ Percy gasps at the passing camper, who’s one of the few whizzing around with ease.
“Hm? What’s that, Percy?” Alice asks with a falsely innocent expression.
“Help me?”
“Annabeth?” Alice asks, twisting around the two, asking for permission.
“He has to learn on his own,” Annabeth replies, like a teacher talking about a rebelling student.
Alice grins and gives a mock salute before speeding off again, almost slamming into another camper with her speed.
“Oh, so Hermes’ kids get to be good at ice skating, but me, son of Poseidon, doesn't ?” Percy questions incredulously, finally straightening.
“Poseidon is the God of the Sea, not water,” Annabeth chides. She makes sure he isn’t about to faceplant - again - before letting go of him. “You good?”
“Dandy!” Percy replies, but he’s started very, very slowly turning in a circle and isn’t sure how to stop, let alone get off the ice.
At least Clarissa seems to be having the same issues, having fallen over three times already with a red mark on her cheek.
“ Right,” Annabeth says, greatly dubious.
Percy huffs and crosses his arms forcefully- too forcefully- and has to slam his heel down to keep from teetering over, which turns out to be a mistake because it just sends him backwards.
His arms turn into windmills in an effort to stay on his feet, but ultimately fail, and he ends up crashing to the ice.
Gods, is he going to have to crawl to get off the ice?
Percy is about to try to get up - and probably fail, if Annabeth doesn’t help him out - when he catches sight of a small figure by the edge of the lake.
Spindly and short, with skin the colour of the snow surrounding them, starkly contrasting ebony hair, is one Nico di Angelo.
Will Solace is beside him, excitedly chattering along and making grand gestures. Nico seems to be nodding to whatever he’s saying, but most of his attention is on the frozen over lake.
His brow is furrowed in something that looks like consideration, and his lips are quirked down in a frown. His fingers drum along his thigh, a nervous habit, and he seems… hesitant.
“Nico!” Percy calls, surprised he’s at camp. He waves enthusiastically, and is rewarded with the widening of his eyes.
Nico is wearing skates, and so is Will. Will steps onto the ice, wobbling slightly, but regains his compute quickly. Nico remains staunchly on land, a few inches taller in the skates.
Percy frowns to himself, scratching the back of his neck in confusion. The back of his legs are going numb from the cold, but he’s distracted by one thing: “How come he’s not getting on the ice?”
“Maybe he’s as bad as a skater as you are,” Annabeth offers dryly.
Percy would have grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her to the ground with him if he didn’t know how much falling on ice hurt.
“Nicooooo!” he calls again, dragging out the ‘o’ as obnoxiously as he can. He’d rather not be the only one on the ice who can’t skate, even if it means sabotaging someone else.
Annabeth frowns down at him, picking out his intentions quickly. She’d kick him - lightly - if not for the serrated edge on the toe of her skate. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Percy’s eyes go wide with faux shock, and he gasps. “Whatever do you mean, Annabeth Chase?” he asks back, a hand over his heart.
Annabeth opens her mouth to reply, the glint in her eyes forecasting a witty retort, but she’s cut off prematurely.
Percy glances at whatever she’s looking at and realises it’s Nico, who has stepped onto the ice and is gesturing to them while talking to Will.
A moment later he leaves Will behind and effortlessly skates over to them. He’s wearing only a black t-shirt, black jeans and black gloves.
The ensemble reminds Percy of one of those figure skaters that his mom likes watching during the warm ups for athletes in the Olympics but Nico is… Nico - it’s not like he’s a figure skater or something.
Right?
“Why is Percy on the ground?” Nico asks Annabeth, tilting his head like a confused bird. He stops easily by slightly turning his skates to the side so that he’s adjacent to them, expertly, like he’s been doing it his entire life.
“It’s because he got over confident and doesn’t actually know how to skate,” Annabeth replies bluntly, much to Percy’s mortification.
“Hey! I know how to skate!” Percy protests, despite still being on the ground.
Nico glances at him, eyebrows rising in doubt. “And you’re on the ground because?”
“He can’t skate,” Annabeth reiterates with a hand motion.
“I totally can!”
Both of them turn to him, fully unconvinced and unimpressed. If Percy wasn’t the daughter of Sally Jackson, then he would have cowered beneath their gazes. Fortunately, he was .
“Alright fine,” he relents, burying his face into his freezing cold hands. “Please help me up?”
Annabeth and Nico both offer a hand to haul him, so he takes both and is almost thrown onto his front with the force they pull him up. Since Nico is so much shorter, Percy plants a hand on his shoulder for stability and keeps holding Annabeth’s hand.
Nico cringes at his weight, but doesn’t shove him off, fortunately.
“You seem pretty good at skating,” Annabeth hums, squeezing Percy’s hand once even though it’s so cold. She’s clearly talking to Nico, but Percy turns to her and bats his eyelashes, as if to say, ‘Oh, little old me? You’re flattering me!’
“Thanks,” Nico says awkwardly, perfectly at ease on the ice. He glances at the naiads, who are spending the day on the riverbank, frowning to himself slightly. Percy is pretty sure they don’t like Nico very much, with that whole death thing he sometimes does. “How’d you convince them to let this happen?”
“Uh, because I’m awesome?” Percy offers, you know, lying, like a liar.
Nico gives him a flat look that could kill a giant. “Uh huh.”
“He won’t tell me either,” Annabeth tells him with a small sigh. “I wouldn’t bother.”
Percy narrows his eyes at Nico, and takes his hand off his shoulder to lean in. “You sure you’re not Boreas’ kid or something?” he asks, trying to figure out how he can stand so perfectly still.
“I think Persephone would kill you if she heard you say that,” Nico replies with an almost scowl.
“Right, Mister Stepson Of The Goddess of Spring . You should be terrible at this!” Percy exclaims, being a drama queen as he so often is. “I’m the son of the God of Water!”
“The sea ,” Annabeth corrects, staring at him in disbelief. “Poseidon is the God of the Sea , not the God of Water .”
“If I can control poison, I think I’m pretty much a water demigod,” Percy mutters, scrunching his face up in distaste.
Nico glances with the two, expression twisted with confusion. He raises an eyebrow at Annabeth, and she just shrugs, because she doesn’t have a lot to say about Percy’s antics. “Do you know how long this is going to last?”
“Until curfew, and then never again,” Percy sighs, though he’s not really upset over it.
“Oh,” Nico responds, a strange tone to the singular syllable. He looks down at the frosted ice beneath his feet, lightly tapping it with his skate. “Okay. I’m gonna head back to Will, now.”
“See ya,” Percy farewells, giving a small wave. A smile twitches at Nico’s lips, but it doesn’t settle. He nods at Annabeth’s farewell and pivots on his heel, pushing against the ice as easily as if he were on land. “That’s totally unfair.”
“Percy, I’m going to let go of you then leave.”
“Please don’t.”
By the time Percy has made it back onto solid ground, Nico has left, at some point, but he doesn’t notice it because he’s too busy being relieved that he isn’t on ice anymore.
“Maybe someone messed with my skates,” Percy mutters, ripping them off his feet and replacing them with his comfortable converses.
Annabeth sighs, still on the ice, but her lips curl with a smile anyway. “I’m gonna do a few laps, alright?”
“Sure,” he replies with a short nod. “I’m gonna go do anything else.”
“Have fun, Seaweed Brain.”
“Don’t miss me too much, Wise Girl!”
Despite, well, everything , Percy finds himself at the canoe lake after dinner.
It’s still frozen over, the naiads napping restlessly on the riverbank with kelp for blankets and stones for pillows. There’s still a few hours until curfew, but Percy doubts he’ll be able to improve his skating ability by even a modicum.
That’s what he’s thinking as he makes his way towards the canoe, before his ears tune the noise of metal scraping against ice. He pauses, then stalks close enough until he realises that someone is already skating on the lake.
Not just skating - they’re dancing on the ice, gliding effortlessly like a swan across water, pushing off the ground and spinning a dozen times as if they’re totally weightless, landing without difficulty and using the momentum to round the lake.
It’s breathtaking.
They move like the wind coursing through trees, a butterfly weaving through the air. It should be impossible to be doing something so strenuous so effortlessly, but Percy is one hundred percent conscious and coherent.
He walks forward until he could step onto the ice if he wanted, because apparently he can walk with skates on land just fine.
The skater finishes their routine without a flair or a pose, simply jumping once more into the air and letting themselves spin out until they are still.
Their chest rises and falls with their exertion, breath puffing in the near freezing temperatures.
The moonlight catches their features, sharp and angular, dark eye bags and a narrow chin.
It’s-
“Nico?” Percy blurts out before he can stop himself.
Like a spooked deer, Nico whips around to stare at him, every muscle in his body tense. His eyes are wide, and Percy is almost convinced he’s about to run off.
Nico takes a steadying breath, some indecipherable emotion flashing over his features before he kicks off the ice and is practically hurtling towards Percy.
He turns his feet sideways the last few feet, and scrapes against the ice as his skates shriek to a stop, dusty snow erupting from where metal meets ice.
“Hey, Percy,” Nico says placidly. “..I was just…”
“You’re a figure skater?”
“Not- not really,” is the reply, faltering and self-conscious.
Percy gapes at him - wondering how he can be dressed so lightly in this weather - and remarks, ‘I’ve never seen anyone skate like that. How’d you even-?”
“There was an ice rink at the Lotus Hotel,” Nico replies with a jerky shrug. “I, uhhh, didn't know what it’d be like to skate, after so long. There’s a frozen lake in the Underworld too, and Persephone taught me a few moves… she thought it’d help me… chill out ."
“Was that a pun? ” Percy questions, brain scrambling to absorb the new information. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades and stepson of Persephone, figure skater and maker of puns.
“…It wasn’t supposed to be?” Nico admits wryly. “I’ll, uhm, let you have the ice I guess, then.”
“Wait,” Percy says, grabbing his shoulder.
Nico freezes beneath his touch, but his skin is warm, the exertion keeping him heated- which means he’s used to this , knows that wearing too many layers will make him overheat- he’s experienced.
Percy pulls his hand back, holding it up in what he hopes is a placating gesture. “Can you teach me how to skate?”
Nico looks at him, utterly bewildered. But bit by bit, the tension runs out of him, and eventually, he nods.
“Okay. But I don’t know how useful I’ll be as a teacher.”
“That’s fine,” Percy assures. “I just want to learn how to not fall on my face.”
Nico huffs a dry laugh, and extends a hand. “Well, come on then.”
It feels strange relying on him, since he’s a head short and vaguely three years younger (Lotus Hotel shenanigans). His grip is firm, and Percy manages not to trip as soon as he gets on the ice.
Nico instructs him on how to move- instead of laughing at him- and how to stay standing. Keep your centre of gravity low, keep your ankles straight, and keep your weight evenly distributed.
“So, the Goddess of Spring and ice skating, ” Percy starts after he’s finally able to stand on his own two feet.
“Yeah,” Nico agrees, hands by his sides. “I thought it was weird too, at first.”
“How’d that even come around?” Percy asks, easing himself forward as Nico had suggested.
“I don’t really know. I think she glanced at us- me, while… while we were at the Lotus Hotel and saw how much time I spent on the ice rink…”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Nico murmurs with a nod. “Don’t go pigeon-toed if you wanna keep moving forward.”
“Sorry,” Percy mutters, adjusting the position of his feet. “Is she any good?”
Nico frowns at him. “At?”
“Ice skating. Doesn’t seem very… spring to me. Springy? Spring-ful.”
“Please stop,” Nico pleads him with an exasperated sigh.
“Sorry,” Percy says again, an easy smile falling on his lips.
There’s silence, for a few seconds, one that Percy has become familiar with in the presence of Nico. It’s not particularly awkward, just thoughtful and companionable.
“Persephone’s not really the Goddess of Spring,” Nico begins after a pause. Percy’s eyebrows lift with intrigue. “Not like how people assume, anyway. She has the title now because of how many people believe she was created with Springtime in mind, but it doesn’t really relate to the myth.”
“I don’t really know a lot about the Underworld, or the gods in it,” Percy admits, despite sauntering into it at the ripe age of twelve and a bit.
“Not a lot of people do. They think it’s a taboo to talk about.”
Nico glides beside Percy as they slowly make their way around the lake. Somehow, it’s a lot easier than it had been that morning.
“It’s a bit morbid, death and all that,” Percy points out, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration.
“Morbid, as in from morbidus, meaning diseased or sick, with root of mori, as in to die,” Nico recites. “I don’t… get it. Memento mori, and all that.”
“I’m not as good at Latin as I am with Greek.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nico tells him, turning to skate backwards , so at ease he tucks his hands into his pockets.
I’ll ask Annabeth later, Percy thinks, very slightly speeding up. “So, Persephone?”
“She’s most known for her myth of abduction, when spring was created alongside winter, and that eventually split into winter and autumn,” Nico explains. “What most people don’t realise is that she was more of a bystander to everything. Demeter was the one to bring back all the plants and animals. She brought spring back, not Persephone.”
“ Huh ,” Percy articulates, though now he has more questions than he started with.
“I think they were trying to cover up her actual origins,” Nico offers with a contemplative tone. “Persephone means Bringer of Death, anyway.”
Oh, Percy thinks, suddenly afraid he’ll slam face first into the ice with how shocked he is. He manages to keep skating, though barely.
“…And her actual origins?” he asks, a little afraid to.
Nico abruptly stops skating, and Percy’s momentum keeps him going for a few paces before he realises and turns his toes inwards to draw to a slow stop.
Nico meets his eyes, a hard and sinister edge to the set of his jaw.
A little smile lifts his lips.
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you, Perseus Jackson.”
“Oh,” Percy replies, because he’s not really great at convincing people not to kill him.
Nico stared at him for a solid moment, something brewing in his dark eyes, gleaming with the starlight.
Then he bursts out laughing.
Percy isn’t sure how he’s supposed to react, so he doesn’t, like a deer catching sight of a wolf, except the deer is pretty powerful itself and the wolf is giggling like a little kid - which Nico is.
“I’m kidding,” Nico tells him, rolling his eyes and skating over. He nudges Percy with his elbow until he properly relaxes. “If you catch me, I’ll tell you about her origins.”
That’s the only warning Percy gets before he’s speeding to the other side of the lake. Percy isn’t entirely sure he wants to know Persephone’s - not really the Goddess of Spring, more the Bringer of Death - origins, but he’s never been one to turn down a competition.
…If he doesn’t immediately sprawl out across the ice.
He feels more confident after Nico’s instruction though, and is starting to see why the other campers had been so ecstatic at the prospect of being able to ice skate.
It is minimised by Nico taunting him by doing fancy twirls and even a backflip at one point while Percy tries to chase him around the ice, but by the time curfew rolls around and they’re dashing back to their cabins to avoid punishment…
Percy is trying to come up with another way to convince the naiads to let them freeze the lake over, just for another day.