dreaming of a white christmas --- [mc sarah]

With steam still slightly covering the mirror in front of him, Archer played with his hair. Seeing as it was very cold outside, the demigod had decided to take a burning hot shower, and the water had actually scalded his skin, however, the boy didn’t mind, because he preferred warm over cold. Even if winter was his favorite season next to fall, that didn’t mean Archer enjoyed having to wear fifty layers of thick fur just to keep from getting frost bite. He was the grandson of Apollo, after all, it wasn’t like him to crave snow and ice like a child of Khione. His hair was being fussy, not wanting to corporate in the humidity and steam. But Archer wasn’t going to go outside where it was cold with his hair unstyled and wet, it wouldn’t happen. It was about 10 in the morning, and Archer had gotten up nice and early to get ready to hangout with Tessa. Tessa, oh Tessa, his best friend. Well, only friend for now, Archer had been too busy nursing a concussion to actually go out and more friends, but he guessed that no matter how many friends he had, Tessa would always rank number one. She actually was trying to learn ASL, which made Archer ecstatic. Not many people would do that for a boy they’d only met the day before. Getting ready was a feat in itself, because he didn’t want to look his nicest because it wasn’t a date, but he didn’t want to look like a slob because he wanted her to think highly of him. 

Finally Archer thought he had the right look after about ten minutes. His light brown hair was in a quiff to the right, held stiff by gel and mousse. If he fell at the ice rink he was meeting Tessa at, Archer would be assured that his hair would stay in his wonderful uplifted fringe. The demigod had never been one for skating, much preferring swimming, which he was actually good at. Well, good as in he wasn’t fatally injured every time he went to the pool, but Archer couldn’t tell what kind of damage he’d manage to get while ice skating. He only hoped that Tessa was as good as she said that she was, but she’d never once given him cause to doubt her abilities. Stepping out of the bathroom, the deaf boy got dressed. Really, if you were to describe Archer’s fashion choice in one word and one word only, it would be hipster. Archer had donned on brown lace up boots that went up to his ankles. Charcoal jeans that were broken into so they fit him perfectly and a light blue button up collared shirt. With that, for accessories, Archer had decided to wear a crimson red bow tie and a brown cardigan to complete the look. Back at home, the populars were just a bunch of Archer wannabes, so they all dressed like hipsters too, so the legacy had a tendency to not be so easily swayed, rather he swayed others. When he walked out the door, Archer was surprised that it was more nippy than cold, which was worse than if it was 20 below and a blizzard was raging outside. When it was like this, the demigod could feel ice burrowing deep in his veins, a day like this made him think that he’d never be warm again. But then Archer remembered Tessa, and what they were going to do today, and so he trudged on through the frozen tundra ground, listening to the leaves crunch beneath his boots.

The only problem with ice skating with Tessa was that Archer didn’t know how to skate. He didn’t even know if there was a special way you had to tie your skates or anything like that. Back home, there wasn’t any interest for ice skating, so no one did it except for famous figure skaters just passing by. It made Archer feel bad, because he knew that Tessa liked to skate and was relatively good at it. She’d probably laugh at him every time he fell down, and even though Archer knew that this was supposed to be a fun, carefree day without any concussions, by the end someone would be in a rotten mood and probably all wet and soggy. Once Archer reached ice frozen lake, he saw Tessa. She was the only one on the rink, skating gracefully like a swan and for a minute Archer just stood there and marveled at his best friend. Tessa really was something different, from the black hairs on her head to her toes. Taking the notebook he’d stored in his pocket out, Archer scribbled something and held it up just as she turned around. On the paper it said ’10.9’ and it could be inferred that he was scoring her on skating. When Tessa reached land again, Archer signed her name and smiled her direction. ‘So… we’ve got a problem.’ he scribbled. ‘I have no freaking idea how to ice skate.’ 

Because of the fact that Apollo was his grandfather, Archer had been gifted with the rare talent of singing. Ever since he was a young boy, he always bolted out the theme song to spongebob in the shower, regardless if he woke up his newborn baby sister. Songs had constantly always been in his heart, and he only got better with age. By age six, the young legacy had been discovered by many people as a music prodigy, and was offered many one way tickets to the limelight. However, both of his parents politely declined, knowing that if Archer was famous it would only draw monster towards him more quickly. But that didn’t stop Archer from singing his little heart out. When he was in 9th grade, the music teacher let him have his first ever solo for the song We Are One from the Disney movie Lion King 2. At first, Archer was nervous, he didn’t know if he could live up to everybody’s expectations of him, and singing wasn’t exactly a popular thing to do in school unless you had a hot girlfriend in chorus. But after a while, he got used to his voice and the fact that for once in his life he had a talent. So he sang on stage and felt free, like he could fly anywhere he wanted to. Singing that one solo made Archer euphoric and his heart beat fast with joy. He had loved that one minute in the spotlight, every single millisecond of it. But after that night, after the standing ovation and praise from all his family, after the months of work and effort he had put into it, that feeling was over. Archer was afraid that he’d never get that feeling of exhilaration like he was on cloud nine again.

That was until today. Seeing Tessa skating on the ice made Archer’s heart flutter again. His best friend was the reason he got up in the morning instead of choosing to sit around and mope about his room. Even if it was something that he couldn’t do, like ice skating, he’d be with Tessa so in the end it was fine. Archer wondered how stupid he’d look out on the ice, and imagined himself to be about as graceful as a penguin on land, slipping and sliding and tripping with every available chance he got. The overall experience was going to be quite embarrassing for him, and probably annoying for Tessa. But somehow, Archer didn’t care about annoying her. Maybe if she was just a tad meaner and more judgmental he would, but she wasn’t and even if she was Tessa had been doing a relatively good job of hiding those negative traits. Archer thought quite highly of her to be honest, and wanted to enjoy some of the things that she did, and if that meant bruises and scrapes and the feeling of perpetual coldness penetrating his layers of clothing for a couple of hours, then he was more than willing to make that sacrifice. As she skated over, Archer started to untie his shoes, knowing he’d have to change into used ice skates that were probably stinky and falling apart at the seams. 

Archer planned to meet Tessa where they met in the middle, and was so intent on getting to her and actually saying a hello to her that he forgot about the mess of his shoelaces on the ground and tripped over them. The legacy fell to the ground and landed on his knees. It was then he realized that Tessa was standing right in front of him. There wasn’t really any way that he could cover up his clumsiness and foolishness, and so Archer got up, brushed the bits of dirt and frost off of his leg pants and smiled, chuckling quietly to himself. While his friend wrote down things in their own private notebook, he mentally berated himself. How stupid was he to walk without his shoes tied? Pretty goddamn stupid. If he’d been a bit warmer and his circulatory system was working properly, Archer probably would have blushed because of the incident. He hit himself on the forehead while Tessa was distracted, and stopped right before she turned around. The demigod smiled at her like nothing was wrong and he hadn’t done anything stupid. Reading her note, he slightly frowned. He knew she was kidding, and he couldn’t really be mad at her, but it still hurt. 

‘In case you forgot, I’m deaf. That’s kind of a problem for me.’ Even after a year of being used to not hearing, this was still a sensitive topic for Archer. Being deaf was a constant reminder of that day, of the explosion, of the horrible way he’d lost both his parents and a baby sister for no added cost. Tessa couldn’t’ve known about all of this — he never told her and hadn’t planned on it for a long while. Really, Archer hadn’t talked about that day to anyone, not even Landon who was there with him that day. Archer didn’t mean for his note to sound snappy and short, but it probably did, and the last thing he needed today was a fight between the two of them when they hadn’t even seen each other for all of five minutes. ‘Sorry. I just…. Forget it. I’m sorry.’ They both stood there in awkward silence, literally. Everything was silence for Archer, but even he could tell when that silence was awkward. 

However, the moment didn’t last long, and Archer found Tessa to be fixing his bow tie the next second. In his haste to get his hair perfect, he’d been a little rushed to get dressed today and hadn’t realized his bow tie was a little crooked. While she fixed it, he lifted his head so she could have a better angle. When Tessa was done, Archer nodded her way, his genuine sign of a thank you. He exhaled and saw white clouds emitting from his mouth, like he was not a demigod, but a wether maker or a cloud pooper. When Tessa gave him instructions, Archer gave a tiny half smile. ‘Yes ma’am, Tessa ma’am.’ And sat down to put skates on, hurrying as he did so. 

Archer and Tessa were each other’s teachers. Archer, as a way to express himself and communicate with her better, had been teaching Tessa american sign language for the past few weeks, and she wasn’t half bad at it. Sure, he’d laughed because she’d signed the occasional wrong word or two, but he loved her for it. He loved Tessa with all of her weird quirks and habits, so he couldn’t actually be mad at her for half-offending him. After all, she wouldn’t have guessed what his hearing symbolised for him. It wasn’t a badge of honour or courage, something that he would have told his tiny children that were gathered around the fire, waiting to hear papa’s story of heroic deeds and the time he lost his hearing. It wasn’t like that for Archer. His deafness symbolised cowardice, how he let down the people that he loved and his less-than-perfect punctuality. More often than not the demigod wouldn’t go to sleep during dark hours of dreams and soft blankets. No, instead he’d think about how late he was to everything, especially that day. Archer’s deafness was a chink in the armour, so to speak. If you hit it the boy would surely crumble into dust, and like Humpty Dumpty would be almost nearly impossible to put him back together again. So even though it was unavoidable, Archer tried to go about eau day like he could hear everything properly. The birds were silent to him, but the boy imagined them singing sweet tunes of nature and life. 

As penance for teaching Tessa how to communicate with him, Archer had agreed to let her teach him how to go ice skating. He’d never been before, not even in an indoor rink. His mother, being the daughter of apollo, hadn’t been too keen on the cold, so she didn’t fancy going somewhere that held frozen ice inside of it. In fact, his mom had detested the cold so much that until her son had come to camp, he’d never seen snow except for on t.v. Archer agreed that it was a problem he’d soon rather fix. Plus, he was a child born of adventure and bravery, trying new things was his forte. After all, what didn’t kill him made him stronger. So he laced on his skates, making them so tight he could barely wiggle his toes and feel his feet, however he didn’t want to skates to come flying off and shanking somebody’s head clean off their neck. But it was probably a good thing that there was barely anyone on, so Archer only really had to look out for Tessa and how not to harm her. He took her arm and let her lead him out onto the rink. Where Tessa was slim and graceful, the epitome of beauty in her ice skates, Archer was clumsy and slippery, a fish out of water, so to speak. The notepad had been left out on the bench, because the legend wouldn’t risk it getting ruined. Now they had no way to communicate. 

The cold winter air nipped at the boy’s nose, making him wish that he’d worn better clothing suited for this weather. Whenever he was with Tessa, something bad always happened to him. Wether it be an extra job or too for sneaking out at night, or getting a concussion because a tree fell on top of him, Tessa seemed like a bad luck charm, someone mothers would ward their children away from. But that was exactly what made her so amazing. Archer had always been fascinated by danger and by recklessness, something Tessa seemed to practically give off. It would be an honour, he thought, to be her partner in crime. So ice skating would turn out to be a horrible memory, so what? If you were with a person you enjoyed, if they made you honestly happy, the bad stuff didn’t count. At least not to Archer. As he was lost in his thoughts, he felt Tessa basically dragging him towards the centre of the rink. Once they were there, Archer signed her something, and mouthed it just in case she couldn’t understand it. ‘What do we do now? I'm a little freaked out, by the way.'

Being out on the ice, with nothing to keep you upright but thin blades of frozen through metal that could probably chop a mans head off, was like learning to walk again for Archer. He inhaled, closing his eyes and tried to clear his mind. Spencer and Olivia were both demigods, and they had both suffered many years with horrible ADHD, and so did Archer. His was the worst in the family, but his parents were thoughtful and taught him how to meditate so he could focus better on school work. Breathe in, breathe out. Concentrate only at the task at hand and let nothing distract you. Imagine yourself king of the world, striding purposefully on top your own mountain. It worked, it always had. So it would probably work now, even if his ADHD wasn’t flaring up like a red flashing light. There was nothing but the ice and himself. There was no cold winter wind zipping past his already numb ears. There was nothing but him and the ice. Just him and the ice… And the warmth of Tessa’s hands in his. She was pulling him towards his own mountain of success, yet she was also dragging him down, for as long as Archer focused on how smooth her skin was, or how warm it was against the abrasive frigid temperatures of the winter was every second closer to falling due to being unbalanced. Archer exhaled slowly, forgetting about his best friend, forgetting about the explosion and his twin, forgetting about his deafness. Right now the only thing he needed to concentrate on was not falling and making a fool of himself. 

Then he opened his eyes to the world again, and everything was a little bit sharper. The meditation worked, as the demigod seemed to be standing completely still, and Archer allowed himself a small smile as he looked at Tessa. She, of course, was still holding his arm, making sure that he wouldn’t fall. He wished she would smile too, because best friends smiled at each other when one accomplished what one thought was an impossible feat. Archer looked down at his feet, and the moment he did that he broke concentration, his feet almost went out from under him. Tessa, thank the gods, caught him. “Sorry,” Archer signed, a sheepish smile creeping up as he shrugged and was pulled upright. Honestly he didn’t try and make himself look like a fool in front of his best friend. On top of that, he knew how much ice skating meant to Tessa, by the way she looked so at home at the ice rink. Archer certainly did not want to make her mad at him, although he suspected that was the least of his worries at the moment. Right now the number one priority was not gravely injuring himself. The concussion was weeks ago, but whenever Archer was with Tessa, it seemed as if he always got hurt. But it was worth it, spending time with her. 

When Tessa signed that she was going to let go, Archer shook his head quickly. They had just started — she couldn’t really expect him to stand on his own? Could she? Fear raced through his bloodstream, filling his brain with panic. None of this boded well, and Tessa let go. The world seemed to slow into syrup, seconds turning into minutes, minutes into hours and hours into centuries. Archer stood for a moment, panting heavily and praying to his grandparents, to any deity who would listen, really, to not let him fall. Tessa was his first real friend at camp, he didn’t want to lose her cause he knocked some teeth out on the ice rink. His knees shook, not only with anticipation, but also with the feeling of standing on something so slender. Archer wiggled his toes, finding they had a lot of room. The ice skates he’d put on were a size and a half too big for him, which probably made him look like a pale, scared shitless clown. The blade that supported him wobbled as he did this, and Archer held his arms out for support. 

It didn’t quite matter that Tessa wasn’t even standing a foot away from him, promising to help him if he fell. That was not even a small comfort to Archer Thrush. He wobbled some more. “I don’t — I don’t think —“ Both times that Archer started the sentence ‘I don’t think I can do this, Tessa, please help me’, a small voice inside him stopped him. It was his own voice, but tinnier and a bit more cruel and sadistic. It told him that he needed to do this to prove something not only to the girl in front of him, but also to Archer himself. Archer was not weak, he was not disabled, and he could do anything he set his mind to even if he was deaf and frightened and alone in the world. As Tessa came towards him to help, the demigod put out his arms and shook his head. “I’m actually standing, Tessa. Look at this!” He told her. “I feel amazing!"

Honestly Archer Thrush didn’t know if it was the coldness seeping through every single one of his bones, or because of Tessa, but he felt brave. No, better than brave. Brave and bold and chivalrous. Like he was able to do anything in the world he just set his mind too; Archer felt as if he could fly to the tip top of a mountain and zoom back down just because he felt like doing it. His feet were unstable, his heart even more so as it beat with the menacing touch of a thousand drums, threatening to go into cardiac arrest because of the euphoria he was feeling. Archer hadn’t been this happy in a long time. These past few years had been long, and certainly left the signs of wear and tear on the demigod. The bags around his eyes continued to stay as dark as soot despite getting better sleep than ever before now. His hands, although soft and smooth to the touch, are infested with hangnails and bitten off skin around his cuticles as a result of nervousness and a way to punish himself. Archer didn’t consider himself on a party where he was destined to self-destroy himself, but it wasn’t like he was exactly being particularly careful with his health either. However, just these few moments out with Tessa greatly improved his mood. If the boy could forget the fear of falling and seeming like a fool, a smile, a true real smile, would show through the look of fear. But he was shaking like a leaf; fear did not want to let go of him. Fear was a cruel and greedy master, and once he had hold of you he’d probably never let go and you were under his control forever. Archer’s father told him that fear was not something to run from, rather let it empower you and use it as a weapon.

Which was why he nodded over to Tessa, smiling calmly. ‘I know.’ He signed. Everything was fine and everything was perfect, and right now Archer wouldn’t change this moment for anything, not even the power to hear again could tempt him into giving this up. Just being here with Tessa in the frigid air, trying something that a day ago he wouldn’t dream of doing was enough to give him hope again. Apologising for almost falling on her seemed so stupid now that they were best friends. After all, in the past short few weeks they’d gotten in trouble for skipping curfew and swimming during the night together, and then injured themselves (Archer more than Tessa) falling out of a branch. It hardly seemed like a bother that they fell on each other. Besides, not everyone could be as perfect as Tessa was on the ice. Archer could never hope to be as at peace out here like she was, it was if the ice was her home rather than the land. Archer never had the feeling of belonging somewhere else; he fit in wherever he went without even trying. High schoolers flocked to him when they noticed his status as a popular, and almost everything was done for him. Did the demigod abuse his power? No, not to an extent where it hurt anybody, but Archer did keep somewhat of a tight leash on his cliche. They did whatever he wanted, and he never had wanted to go ice skating before. Now, however, he wish he had. Maybe prior experience wouldn’t have made him such a fool in front of Tessa.

Archer was sure that he was blushing from the cold and the embarrassment and just the rush of affection he felt for Tessa. In the past he’d had crushes and lots of them, but they never seemed to last more than a month or two. Although he hoped that was what it would be like with this demigod girl, he sincerely doubted it. This was a different type of affection, this was the kind where your heart beat out of your chest and you dreamt about them and their smile at twilight. Not that Archer had done that. Okay maybe once or twice, but he hadn’t been able to fall asleep and his mind wandered. Besides, it was better than picturing flickering flames and the screams and howls of the loved ones you couldn’t save. Archer watched Tessa as she taught him how to move. Always the diligent student, the boy learned quickly and was moving across the rink in no time. Of course, there was no way in hell he was as good as her, not by a long shot, but at least he hadn’t fallen yet.

‘So, Tessa, I was wondering’ Archer signed to her as he zipped in cockeyed circles around her. Yes, there was never a time where he’d felt this bold. Not even when he won the solo in his concert in high school, or when he scored the winning goal at his soccer game. This was a bold that he could never lose from. Anything that Archer asked for now, he’d probably receive. Lady luck, after being absent from his life for so many years, had finally returned with many fortunes in store for him to find and explore. ‘If you weren’t doing anything Thursday night I thought maybe we could-‘ His frozen hand movements stopped as he fell. Archer tumbled upon the ice and snow in a pile of chilly clothing and embarrassing thoughts. He groaned and sat up, moving all of his fingers and toes to make sure any were not broken. He smiled up at Tessa, signalling that he was alright and she didn’t have to take him to the infirmary… again. ‘Um, wow, that’s embarrassing. But, er, would you like to go see a movie with me or something?'