AN: This fic is written for Code Purple in Veritaville's Winter Holidays Fic Exchange.
Prompts: wispy hair, red fingertips, shiny wrapping paper
I hope you like it, Gloss!
~Ro
Two for Christmas
Nico didn't particularly care for the holiday season. It just wasn't the same since Bianca died. He'd spent the last two Christmases on his own, just doing his own thing. He tried to pretend it didn't bother him, that it was just another day, and it didn't mean anything, but deep in his heart, he missed having a family to spend the holiday with. He missed the companionship, the food, and the gifts, all the joyous things the holidays bring, but he wouldn't dare admit it to anyone, not even to himself. So, Nico thought about just skipping Christmas again this year, yet something pulled at him to go to camp for the holidays. He had no other plans, so why not? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Camp's nearly deserted around Christmas anyway, so there wouldn't be a holiday gathering, just a few campers eating a warm meal and sitting around the campfire. The thought actually seemed quite nice to Nico.
Rachel got a call from her father a few days before Clarion let out for winter break. He told her he and her mother would be spending Christmas in Amsterdam with some old friends, and the jet would be waiting to fly her out there whenever she got out of school. Rachel hated Amsterdam, and those friends of her parents don't have kids, so she would be the third wheel, so to speak. That didn't interest her in the slightest, so she made up an excuse. She told her father that the academy was having a special Christmas celebration this year, and she didn't want to miss it. He was pleased to hear she was finally coming around to being at the academy, and with the notion that she may actually like it there, he agreed she could stay at Clarion and skip out on Amsterdam. Those were not her plans, of course. She planned to spend Christmas at camp.
Snow crunched beneath Nico's boots as he walked toward the Big House. Several inches of snow blanketed camp this Christmas Eve day. Nico tightened his coat around him as the air was cold, but not bitter. It was just cold enough to keep the fluffy, white stuff from melting. When Nico stepped onto the porch of the blue farmhouse, he knocked the snow from his boots against the railing. The noise of it startled Rachel who was standing just inside the door. She poked her head out the door to investigate the sound, and when she did, she saw Nico. He looked at the Oracle with surprise as he wasn't expecting her to be here. She was bundled up in a heavy coat, scarf, and one of those beanie hats with a fluffy ball on top, her wispy, red hair sticking out the back.
"Nico," she said. "You startled me."
"Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't know you were here."
Rachel shrugged, "It looks like we're the only ones here."
"What do you mean? Where's Chiron?"
"That's a good question," she said. "The entire camp's deserted."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Pretty sure. I've looked all over camp and no one's here."
"Do you think they're in trouble?" Nico asked with concern. "Should we go on a quest or something to look for them?"
Rachel raised her eyebrows, "A quest? I don't think that's necessary. One of the vans is gone from the shed. They're most likely all gone on a day trip."
"Oh," Nico said. "Well, why wouldn't Chiron have told you they were leaving or at least left you a note?"
"Because he didn't know I was coming," Rachel admitted. "And I take it he didn't know you were coming either."
Nico shrugged, "I didn't know I had to give notice to come to camp."
"Yeah, well, neither did I."
There was a silence as they both wondered what to do now that their plans to spend Christmas with Chiron and their fellow campers was shot.
"Looks like it's just you and me, then," Nico said. "Care to spend Christmas with the Prince of Darkness?"
Rachel smiled, "If you don't care to spend Christmas with the Prophet of Peril."
He laughed, "Prophet of Peril, I like that."
She grinned, "I thought it was tasteful."
"Well, since you're the prophet, what should we do today?"
Rachel looked out across the snow-covered camp. They rarely get more than a dusting of snow through the mystical barriers, so it'd be a shame not to take advantage of the nearly ankle deep snow.
"I've got an idea," Rachel said. "Let's go to the armory."
Nico raised an eyebrow, "The armory?"
She nodded as she walked past him and off the porch, "We're gonna need a couple of shields."
Nico wasn't sure what she had up her sleeve, but his curiosity was sparked, so he walked with Rachel across camp toward the armory. When they were about half-way there, she stopped and knelt down.
Nico turned to her, "You alright?"
She looked up at him, "Yeah, my boot just came unlaced, that's all."
Nico was kicking snow around while he waited on Rachel, and he gasped when a snowball hit him in the back of the neck. He turned to see her standing with another snowball in hand ready to launch. She grinned and chucked the ball of snow at him. He ducked the flying snowball and reached down, grabbing two handfuls of snow.
Rachel's eyes widened, "Uh oh."
She took off running toward the armory, and Nico was right on her heels. He threw the snowball at her, and it splattered against her back. She grabbed a handful of snow off a bench as she ran past it. She formed the snow into a ball, turned on her heel, and threw it at Nico, nailing him in the chest.
The snowball fight continued all the way to the armory. When they reached the building they were both out of breath, laughing, and ready to fire another snowball. Nico had his arm reared back with a snowball in his hand and so did Rachel. They were in a draw at five paces.
Nico lowered his arm, "Truce?"
Rachel dropped her snowball and smiled as she tried to catch her breath, "Truce."
As Rachel opened the armory door, Nico asked, "Now, why do we need shields?"
She gave him an are-you-kidding-me look, "You've never been sledding before?"
"Um," he had to think about it. "Maybe, when I was little. I can't really remember."
She gave him a sympathetic smile, "You'll remember sledding today, I promise."
They each grabbed a shield off a shelf in the armory, then headed toward the top of the hill behind the amphitheatre.
"Okay, Nico," she said once they'd reached the hilltop. "Since you've never been sledding before, let me show you how it's done."
He watched as she adjusted her beanie hat, then gripped the shield tightly with both hands. She gauged the hillside and took off running. When she reached the slope, she hopped onto the shield as it hit the snow, riding the circular hunk of bronze on her knees and squealing with delight. She picked up speed as she descended down the hillside, and when she reached the bottom, she spun out of control and flew off the shield.
She was lying in the snow and laughing hysterically, when she heard Nico yell down to her, "Are you okay?"
"I'm great!" she yelled back. "Now, it's your turn!"
Nico gripped his shield, then hit the slope just as Rachel had done. His eyes and smile were equally wide as he picked up speed. He was nearly at the bottom of the hill when he hit a bump, sending him flying off the shield and rolling through the snow.
Rachel ran over to him. "Nice wipe-out," she laughed.
He rolled over and looked up at her. He was cracking up, "That was awesome!"
"I know, right?"
"Can we do it again?" he asked.
"Heck yeah. Race you to the top," she said then took off running up the hill. Nico grabbed his shield and sprinted to catch up to her. They reached the top of the hill at the same time and set-up for their next run.
Rachel turned to Nico, "Same time?"
He nodded, "On three. One, two, three!"
They hit the slope on their shields, riding side-by-side down the hill through the snow. As they neared the bottom, they had picked up speed, then their shields collided, sending them flying into the air. They hit one another and barrel-rolled through the snow, laughing hysterically the entire time. When they came to a stop on their backs, they both lied there in the snow trying to catch their breath from laughing so hard. Nico finally caught his breath and got to his feet, but Rachel just lied there in the snow. She spread her arms and legs and began to make a snow angel.
Nico looked down at her, "Bianca used to do that."
Rachel stopped, "Do what?"
"Make snow angels."
Rachel held her hand out, and Nico helped her to her feet. They looked down at the snow angel she had created and she smiled, "That angel's for your sister."
Nico smiled and nudged Rachel with his elbow, "Thanks, Rach."
"Come on," she said. "Let's hit the slope again. Maybe we won't run over each other this time."
They continued sledding and having a blast until the sun began to sink low in the sky, and the temperature began to drop.
"Burr," Rachel shivered as she stuffed her hands in her coat pockets.
"It is getting pretty cold out here," Nico agreed.
"My hands are freezing."
"Let me see," Nico motioned for Rachel to show him her hands, so she did. "Well, no wonder. Your gloves are soaking wet."
He pulled her gloves off her hands revealing her beet-red fingertips. He took her hands in his own and raised them to his mouth where he blew warm air onto them, then rubbed them together.
"Better?" he asked.
"A little," she nodded. "But what we need is a fire…and I know just the place. Follow me."
She led Nico into the forest, up a small hill, and to her cave. They walked into her home away from home that looked nothing like a cave on the inside. There was a living room with a fireplace, a kitchenette, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
"Nice pad," Nico admired her accommodations. "Apollo went all out."
"Not bad for a cave in the woods, huh?" she said as she built a fire in the fireplace.
They stood near the fire in comfortable silence, warming their hands and thawing out their bodies for several minutes. The silence was broken by the sound of Nico's stomach growling.
Rachel laughed, "Was that your stomach?"
"What?" he shrugged. "I haven't eaten all day."
"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry myself. I was kinda looking forward to a good Christmas dinner," she sighed.
"Well," Nico said. "Maybe we can still have one."
"How?"
"Surely there's a restaurant open in the city," he said as he walked toward the cave entrance. "I'll be back in a bit."
Nico walked into a shadow at the cave door and disappeared. He was only gone for a few seconds when he reappeared.
Rachel raised her eyebrows, "That was quick."
"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I um…I forgot I don't have any money to buy our supper."
Rachel smiled and dug some cash out of her jeans pocket, "Here, that should be enough. Oh, and could you pick up some apple cider, too."
He nodded, "Sure thing."
Nico once again disappeared, and Rachel went to her bedroom to change into some dry clothes, a pair of marker-stained jeans and an oversized sweatshirt. About twenty minutes had passed when Nico walked into Rachel's cave carrying two sacks: one with two foam boxes filled with delicious smelling food, the other with a gallon of apple cider.
"Oh, gods, that smells so good," Rachel said.
"Doesn't it, though?"
Nico sat the sacks on the counter then stoked the fire in the fireplace while Rachel poured two cups of apple cider and popped them into the microwave. They sat down on the floor by the fireplace using the coffee table as a dinner table and ate their delicious Christmas dinner and drank their warm apple cider.
"So," Nico said between bites. "Why are you here at Christmas and not with your family?"
"Ugh, my parents are in Amsterdam this Christmas, and I have absolutely no desire to fly half-way around the world to spend the holiday with them and their stuck-up friends."
"Oh, well, I don't blame you."
"What about you?" she asked. "They don't celebrate Christmas in the Underworld?"
"Hardly. Persephone's idea of Christmas would probably be turning me into a Christmas tree."
Rachel snorted with laughter almost shooting apple cider out of her nose.
"It's the truth," Nico said.
"I know," she said trying not to laugh. "That's why it's so funny. You'd make a cute Christmas tree."
He shook his head, "No, I wouldn't."
"Speaking of Christmas trees, it's a shame we don't have one."
Nico took the last bite off his plate, then stood up, "I'll get us a Christmas tree."
She looked up at him with raised eyebrows, "What are you a lumberjack now?"
He drew his sword, "I'll be back."
He left the cave and Rachel cleaned up their mess. She refilled their mugs with hot cider and added a few more logs to the fire. About ten minutes had passed when Nico reentered the cave carrying a tree, and Rachel burst out laughing at the three foot tall pine sapling.
"Are you laughing at my tree?" Nico gaped at her, and she continued to laugh hysterically. "You are laughing at my tree. Look, it's the best I could do."
Rachel pointed at the sad, little tree and laughed, "It looks like the tree from A Charlie Brown Christmas."
Nico shook his head, "Who's Charlie Brown?"
Rachel couldn't catch her breath she was laughing so hard.
"Fine, I'll get rid of it," Nico pouted.
"No, no, don't," she tried to catch her breath. "I'm not laughing at you."
"No, you're laughing at my tree," he said, then looked down at the sapling in his hand. "Which is a pretty pathetic Christmas tree, isn't it?"
"Here," Rachel said as she walked into her kitchen. "I've got a pithos around here somewhere we can put it in, and we can decorate it so it'll look…fuller."
Rachel grabbed a ceramic jar from a cabinet and poured some water into it. She handed the pithos to Nico, and he placed the tree in it like putting a flower in a vase while Rachel put a bag of popcorn into the microwave. She dug around in a drawer until she found a sewing kit, then poured the now popped corn into a bowl. The two sat back down in the floor near the fireplace and began to string thread through the popcorn making old-fashioned popcorn garlands for the tree.
"Now, I do remember doing this when I was little," Nico smiled as he threaded his needle through the kernels.
"Really? I've never actually done it before," she admitted. "I've just seen it done in old movies."
When they'd emptied the bowl of popcorn, they strung the garland on the tree.
"See," Rachel smiled. "It looks a lot better."
"Now, if it only had presents under it," Nico dug through his coat pocket and pulled out a small gift wrapped in black wrapping paper with a crumpled red bow on top. He placed it under the tree, "There."
"Oh, I've got one, too," Rachel said as she grabbed the gift she'd brought for Chiron. She placed the gift wrapped in shiny wrapping paper under the tree beside Nico's. Strangely, the size and shape of the gifts were identical.
Nico pointed toward the gifts, "What's your gift?"
"Oh, it's for Chiron. I just got him a new deck of cards."
He laughed, "So did I. Great minds think alike."
"Well," Rachel shrugged. "Since Chiron's not here, do you want to exchange gifts and play gin rummy or something?"
"Sounds good to me."
They swapped gifts and sat at the coffee table playing cards for hours.
"Gin," Rachel smirked for the fifth time.
"Ugh," Nico complained. "I suck at this game."
"How about we take a break?"
He nodded, "Good idea."
Nico stayed seated on the floor leaning is back against the sofa and warming his sock-feet near the fire while Rachel got them some more apple cider. She handed Nico his cup and sat down beside him. They sat in silence for a moment while they sipped their warm drinks, then Nico turned to Rachel and kissed her on the cheek.
She put her fingers to her cheek where he'd kissed her and smiled, "What was that for?"
"Thank you…for giving me the best Christmas I've had in a long, long time."
"Thank you, too, Nico. I haven't had this much fun on Christmas since I was a little girl, and it's only Christmas Eve. We've still got tomorrow."
Nico smiled, "Tomorrow will be great, too. I know it. And maybe we could do it again next year?"
"That's too long to wait," she grinned. "Doing anything for New Years?"
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.