Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't updated in ages. School is stressful and I find it hard to write during it, and then I didn't like this chapter because it was taking me so long to write, but here you go! Hope you enjoy!

CW: Self harm, destructive thoughts, suicidal ideation.

"Morning, Percy," the desk attendant greeted as Percy stepped into the building. "No press today?"

Percy smiled at him. "Nope. We cleared it up." He lied. There had been a few journalists at his apartment block, but Piper had dealt with it. Pretty calmly, all things considered. "Are Jason and Leo here yet?"

The attendant nodded. "And the other one too – Nico?"

Percy managed not to sigh as he thanked the attendant and made his way into the ice. He could hear music playing and looked up to see Leo skating his free programme. He watched as he pulled on his skates.

Leo finished on a flying sit spin – his speciality – but it nearly sent him crashing into the side. He stood again, out of breath as he looked at Jason. "H-H- Sorry, how was th-at?"

Jason hesitated. Percy could see he wanted to be nice, but skating wasn't a sport one could afford to be nice in. "It... wasn't bad, but I've seen you do a lot better." Leo's shoulders sagged. "You seemed tense. Maybe try doing a few more warm-ups?"

"You might as well tell him to just be a better skater," Nico scoffed.

Jason shot him a glare and turned back to Leo. "It's not a matter of that. You're a good skater-" Good. Percy knew that would echo around in Leo's head all day. Good. Not great. "-and you can do a lot better than that. We just need to figure out what happened to throw you off. So try the warm-ups for a starting point."

Leo hesitated and opened his mouth, but closed it again and nodded. He skated off to the far side of the rink as Percy stepped onto the ice.

Nico groaned. "Great. Another subpar skater."

"Nico, if you don't cut the attitude, you're going to need to leave." Jason glared at him again. Nico matched his glare for a moment before looking away. "I thought as much." Jason turned back to Percy. "Okay, so I know we discussed your theme for next season, but you need to stick with what you have until Nationals, which are only a week away." Percy nodded. "Let's try your free skate first." Jason glanced back at Nico. "Put on Take a Bow."

Nico flipped him off but when Percy stood in his starting pose, he heard the music start. He took a breath and began, circling the spot he had just been in, hands running from the top of his head to his waist and back up again.

When the lyrics began, he skated into his first step sequence, ending it with a triple salchow. He stumbled, putting down his hand to catch himself.

"Pause it," Jason called. Percy stood. "You okay?" He nodded. "You've warmed up, right?"

Another nod. "I ran all the way here and I stretched at home."

"For how long?" Jason pressed.

Percy shook his head. "Half an hour."

Jason hummed. "Okay. Try that again. Just the sequence into the jump."

Percy nodded and skated back to where the sequence started. The music started again and he skated into it. He tensed before his jump and when he landed, his leg gave out from under him and he fell.

Jason didn't call for the music to stop, so he pushed himself up and skated into the combination spin. Next double toe loop followed by a quad. He landed the triple and fell again when he tried to land the quad.

"Stop," Jason called again.

Percy winced as he pushed himself to his feet. "Sorry..."

"Is everything okay, Percy?" Leo asked, making his way over.

Percy nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm fine. I'm not sure what's up with me today."

Jason chewed his lip. "Quads always pose a trouble for you, don't they?"

"A bit," Percy admitted.

Nico snorted. "They ruin your entire programme."

"But I can't get by without them," Percy protested.

Nico shrugged. "I won the Junior GPF with absolutely no quads. Three times."

"Yeah, that's different." Percy folded his arms. "The juniors don't use a lot of quads. Some people this year had six in their programmes."

"So?" Nico shrugged.

"So if I take out my quads I'll have a lower base score."

"But," Jason cut in, "you're more likely to get three extra points rather than minus points for your jumps. It might actually bring your technical score up."

Percy hesitated and looked over at Jason. "Really?"

"That's what I was saying." Nico scowled. "What, it's more believable because he says it?"

"Yes." All three of them responded at the same time.

"Well fuck you guys too. I can outskate all of you."

"We'll see," Jason muttered, smirking. "Percy, why don't you try warming up a little bit more? Practice some triples. Don't do quads yet."

Percy nodded and skated over to the same area Leo had been practicing in.

Jason turned to Nico. "Since you're feeling so confident in yourself, let's see you do your programme. It'll probably be the last time you do this one this season."

Nico scoffed and pulled his hair up into a ponytail as he skated to the middle of the rink. "The way these two are going, I doubt it. Put on-"

"I know." Jason went into his playlist and turned on a song that Percy didn't recognise for a few moments.

Khachaturian's Toccata in E-flat minor.

Nico shot him a smirk, jolting into action with an instant four step sequence, followed by a camel spin. He skated a semi-circle around the rink and twisted into a jump. He was only meant to do a triple salchow but he landed a quadruple instead.

His smirk only grew as he landed neatly and twisted into another sequence.

Percy bit his tongue and looked away. The music was loud, hammering on the inside of his head like a typhoon.

Ignore it. Ignore it. He and Leo were just as good at skating as Nico was. He had made it to the GPF too.

He glanced at his roommate. Leo was watching, eyes narrowed, scrutinising Nico's performance.

But Leo hadn't made it.

"You okay?" Percy asked.

Leo looked up at him. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"I've never seen you as out of yourself as you were when you were skating."

Leo shook his head and gave Percy a cheerful smile. "I'm fine. Just a bad day."

Percy chewed his tongue. "If you say so." He went back to practicing his jumps, and fell when he tried to land a triple Lutz. At the same time, Nico landed one.

Percy picked himself up, ignoring the younger skater. He looked back at Leo. He was watching Nico again, mumbling scores under his breath.

Maybe- no. No, Leo said he was fine. Percy just had to trust him.

He looked away. Maybe he just wanted to trust him.

Leo stared at the mirror, picking out every imperfection he could find with a critical gaze.

Blotchy skin. Chubby cheeks. Spots appearing around his hairline. Red rimmed eyes. Hair that wouldn't obey him. Greasy nose. One eyebrow lower than the other.

He gripped the edges of the sink and looked down at his hands. Small. Short arms. Short legs. He looked up at the mirror again. No facial hair. No signs of puberty.

"Stop."

High pitched voice.

He could feel his breath quickening. He knew this always sent him spiralling into a panic attack, but he never seemed to manage to stop himself.

He closed his eyes. Think of something else.

Something else. Anything else.

A Whole New World. He was going skating that soon. It was his best routine yet. And his coach was coming back in an hour.

But he had screwed up the routine the last few days.

He blinked a few times.

He was falling. Fumbling his signature moves. Tripping over his step sequence.

He was ruining the best routine he had ever done because he was the one doing it.

If it was another, more experienced skater like Jason, or Percy, or even Nico, the routine would be perfect.

His breathing was speeding up again. This wasn't working. He had pushed himself deeper into panic rather than pulling himself out.

It was all his fault. It was always his fault.

He dropped his head, resting it against the cool mirror. Blinked a few times. Eyes flickering from object to object.

They landed on the razors at the side of the basin.

He hesitated.

He shouldn't.

He picked one of the thin, metal sheets up and tested the blade on his finger, although he already knew how sharp it would be.

He really, really shouldn't.

He pulled up the side of his shirt. Shallow, narrow red lines marred his hips and side. He brought the razor to his hip and hesitated.

He shouldn't.

He closed his eyes as he dragged the razor across his skin. His body relaxed as the panic stopped, the physical pain distracting from the mental turmoil.

That was better. He opened his eyes. Shit, that was deeper than usual. He grabbed a wad of tissue and gently dabbed it. He always tried not to cut deep enough to draw much blood. If they tore in a competition, he wouldn't be able to hide them.

A thin line of spotted blood came away on the paper, and he kept dabbing until the blood was gone. The wound stung, and it was a blissful, constant way to draw him back to reality.

Someone knocked on the door. "Leo, Jason's here. He's bringing me training off the ice today," Percy called in. He probably wanted to avoid Pegasus. Neither of them had spoken since Percy had dropped him as his coach. "Is that okay?"

Leo lowered his shirt and dropped the tissue into the toilet. He flushed it and unlocked the door, smiling. "Yeah, of course."

Percy hesitated. "Are you sure?"

Leo nodded. "Don't worry, I'm a big boy. I can make my way down to the rink on my own."

Percy grinned. "If you say so." He turned towards the door, where Jason was waiting. "See you later!"

"Yeah, see you."

Leo waited until the door was closed before retreating into the bathroom.

He knew for a fact Percy was gone. Jason too. Piper was either at the rink, a ballet class, or sleeping. Either way, she wouldn't be disturbing him.

He hesitated as his gaze fell on the razor again.

One more couldn't hurt.

"Why are we climbing a mountain?" Percy groaned as he followed Jason up the badly crafted steps.

"It's not a mountain; it's a hill." Jason looked back at him, barely out of breath. "And you need to work on your stamina more. It's probably your best asset."

"Thanks." Percy's voice dripped with sarcasm but Jason grinned.

"You're welcome."

Percy grimaced and tugged at his shirt. He was lucky that he had decided to wash his binder that day – he was wearing two sports bras instead. One the right way around, one on backwards. It wasn't as constricting, but it still didn't feel good.

"You never answered my question."

"I just want to show you something," Jason replied. "Come on, we're nearly there. I promise."

"You said that twenty minutes ago!" Percy protested.

Jason shrugged. "Not my fault you're a slow climber," he teased.

Percy rolled his eyes, pausing and leaning against a tree. "What are you trying to show me?"

"The view." Jason stopped as well and gave him a smile. "Do you want some water?"

Percy licked his lips and nodded. Jason passed him the thermal flask and Percy took a greedy mouthful. "Thanks," he mumbled, wiping his mouth.

"You know, you can have more if you want." Jason tilted his head. "We don't want you getting dehydrated."

"I'm fine," Percy assured him, closing the flask and handing it back to Jason.

The other sighed but slid it back into the side pocket of his bag. "If you say so." He turned back towards the steps. "Come on, we only have about thirty more to go."

Percy whined wordlessly but dragged himself up the rest of the rocks after Jason. Once they were at the top, they both sat atop a flat boulder, basking in the warm glow of the afternoon sun. It had taken them nearly two hours to climb the hill, so it was reaching the hottest time of the day.

"So why are we here?" Percy asked.

Jason nodded out at the view in front of them.

Percy could only see the city and the sea. There weren't a lot of mountains around Domino. The beach looked nice, he supposed.

But he was never really one for beautiful sights.

"I was here when I decided to skate."

Percy looked up at him. "That's a bit odd," he mumbled. "There isn't anything here related to skating."

Jason nodded. "You probably know this already," he murmured, leaning forward on his knees, "but my mother was a figure skater. My father was a professional martial artist. He always wanted me to take after him."

Percy nodded. "He founded several martial arts schools, right?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah." He took a breath. "I trained in judo for years, but he let me skate too as it built up balance, muscle, and reflex. My mom told me I was good enough to skate professionally. But I couldn't do that and judo. My cousin Bianca was about to make her senior debut around that time, so we came up here for physical training – jogging. It took us much less than two hours."

"Shut up," Percy mumbled. "I'm wearing this fucking thing." He tugged at the sports bras.

"Yeah, I know. You shouldn't be." Jason shot him a look. Percy refused to meet his gaze. "When we were here, Bianca told me I was going to need to choose which I wanted to go professional with. And I told her I couldn't. I didn't want to make my father angry, but I didn't want to stop skating." He smiled slightly. "And she told me that I had already decided if I was thinking like that, because I wasn't doing martial arts because I wanted to." He looked at Percy. "This is going to be hard for you. You're going to need to decide if you love skating enough to keep going."

Percy hesitated. "I... I do."

"Do you?" Jason raised an eyebrow. Percy opened his mouth. "I'm not doing this to pick on you. I'm doing it to make sure you won't get unnecessarily hurt," Jason cut in. "You're going to get hurt no matter what. But if you don't love it enough and you quit now, you won't be hurt as badly."

Percy looked away. For a few minutes, he sat in silence. Jason didn't press him to answer any sooner than when he was ready.

When he looked up at Jason, his eyes were a little brighter than before. "I think I know what to add to my routine."

Jason grinned and stood. "Come on. We can talk about it on the way down."

Percy nodded and hopped up, a new energy flooding through his veins as he followed Jason down the stairs.

Nico leaned against the barrier, barely perched in his seat. "I can't believe you dragged me here," he muttered.

Hazel shot him a glare. "You opted not to do nationals this year, so you can at least watch them."

Nico hummed, toying with one of his earrings. "Still. They're all amateurs, aren't they?"

"Fuck you."

Nico turned to see a mop of golden hair spilling out of a black hoodie beside him. "Fuck me? Fuck you."

"I would rather not." Blue eyes shone out at him. "Not all of us are amateurs."

Nico frowned for a moment and then relaxed in his seat. "Oh. Okay, good."

"Good what?"

"Will Solace, winner of the silver medal at the GPF last year." He smirked. "For a moment, I was worried that you were someone important."

Will snorted and crossed his arms. "Oh, fuck you."

"What makes you think you'd be doing the fucking?"

"Nico!" Hazel scolded as Will pursed his lips to avoid laughing.

"Sorry." Nico glanced down at the ice as Leo skated out.

"Skater Leo Valdez will be performing A Whole New World from Disney's Aladdin. He says that he hopes viewers will empathise with his experiences."

Oh great. Another one of these.

"He has two quads planned in this routine."

Nico watched with one uninterested eyebrow quirked as Leo twisted into the start of his routine with the music.

"Here comes his first quad."

"And... fall," he predicted.

Sure enough, Leo stumbled. He caught himself with one hand, but Nico could see the judges scribbling down whatever deduction they were taking.

"He usually skates better than this," Will mumbled, frowning.

Nico shook his head. "He hasn't been skating well since I met him," he muttered. "And he never made it to the GPF, so he can't be that good."

"He is." Will sat up a little. "Or at least, he's better than this."

"Coming up to his combination jump..."

Leo pushed up into a triple toe loop, followed by a double, but the second one ended up only being a single.

"That's going to cost him. Skater Valdez isn't preforming as well as usual. Is there a possibility of a physical ailment?"

"I hate these damn commentators," Will huffed. "They never help the skater."

"They're not meant to. They're meant to entertain audiences," Hazel sighed.

"So?" Will shrugged.

Hazel looked over at him. "I'm not defending them. I'm just saying that you're attacking them for not fulfilling a purpose that they don't have to fulfil."

"I guess." Will looked back at the ice. Leo's step sequence was off-beat.

"His second quad."

"He's not going to make it," Nico yawned.

Will hummed. Leo pushed off into the jump, and though he two-footed it, he landed. "He's not going to get good points."

"His base score isn't even all that high," Nico muttered. "No wonder he never made it to the GPF."

"No, he would have." Will shook his head. "He did quite well in the American cup. Something just went wrong for him."

"Whatever it is, it hasn't stopped." Nico looked up at the scoreboard as Leo skated off the ice. Will was in third place currently. "What did you even skate to?" He knew, he just wanted to be an asshole.

"Cease by Bad Religion. Same as the GPF." Will looked over at him. "What about you?"

Nico scowled. "I'm from Italy, dumbass."

"I meant for the GPF. I never watch the juniors."

Nico's face burned. "You only made your senior debut last year, so shut up." He looked up at the scoreboard again. "I'm Not Okay by MCR."

"That's so fucking emo," Will scoffed. "How did you even skate to it? It's longer than two fifty."

"Obviously I shortened it." Nico glared at him. "And it fit the theme."

"What theme? Emo boy wants to be edgy?" Will smirked.

"Like you can talk. I beat you in the juniors, and you skated to MCR too." Nico looked up at the scoreboard again.

Will opened his mouth to argue. When nothing came out, he followed Nico's gaze.

"The scores are out! Forty eight point four, the lowest score of the season for Skater Valdez. He's currently in seventh place."

Nico could see him hiding his face in his hands as Percy stepped out onto the ice.

"Skater Percy Jackson is out next. We haven't seen much of his skating since the Grand Prix where he ended in last place, but he has been hitting the media a lot after coming out as a transgender male. He will be skating to Nightvision by Daft Punk."

"Oh yeah, he definitely did that of his own accord," Will mumbled, leaning his cheek on his hand.

"Just like Thalia did when she came out," Nico snorted. "Is there actually any skater who came out of their own accord rather than being outed by some prick?"

"Clarisse LaRue." Jackson pointed down to the brunet skater, down a few rows. They would be skating in the women's section. "But it's pretty hard to out someone as agender. Like, Percy was outed because someone saw him wearing a binder. Seto just didn't tell anyone they didn't trust what their pronouns were until they called that press conference three years ago."

Nico nodded. "Okay. One. Anyone else?" Will hesitated. "Right. One out of everyone."

"There's probably a few more."

"Maybe." Nico winced as Percy fumbled a jump, but caught himself. "Idiot."

"He's doing better than at the GPF."

"Well that wouldn't be very hard," Nico hummed. His sister shot him a look but went back to her conversation with a blonde skater beside her.

As Percy slid into his finishing pose, the audience cheered. Not polite claps like they had for Leo.

"He changed it since the GPF," Will noted.

Nico nodded. "He came back from stamina training two days ago with a few ideas. He scraped down the amount of moves and went for higher points, but he stuck with what he could manage rather than aiming high for dramatics."

Will nodded. "Still. Three quads in the second half?"

"It's a short song," Nico reminded him. "But yeah. He doesn't look it, but he's got a really good stamina." How he managed to pull off quads was amazing though.

Will grinned. "That almost sounded like a compliment."

"Hardly," Nico scoffed. Percy's base score was ninety point two six. He had three jumps plus his combination, and he stepped out in one of them. Eleven.

He had it calculated as the score popped up on the board. "One hundred and one point two six," the commentator called. "Skater Jackson is currently in third place."

"Magnus will get higher," Will murmured. "So will Travis. But aside from them, I don't think anyone else will beat him until tomorrow."

"Maybe," Nico agreed. Percy had already left the kiss-and-cry, though Thalia was still talking to journalists. He stood up. "I'd better go sort this out."

"What out?" Will watched him.

"I'll tell you when I'm done."

"Don't forget to clean up after yourself." Will snickered as Nico flipped him off.

"Leo?" Percy called, ducking into the changing rooms. Leo sat on the bench, somewhere in the process of untying his skates. Percy sighed and moved to sit next to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Leo glared at his laces. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Leo, I know it was a disappointing score, but-"

"But nothing. It was the worst score I've ever gotten on any routine." Leo tugged at his laces.

"Everyone has a bad day." Percy shook his head. "You can't always perform to the best of your ability."

"My ability doesn't seem to be good enough." Leo kicked off one skate. It landed a foot or two away from them. "I didn't make it to the Grand Prix last year. Or the year before. Or even when I was skating in the junior section. I've never won at nationals. The best I can ever seem to place is in the top three."

"So?" Percy shook his head. "That doesn't mean you can't place higher."

"So you're just saying I need to work harder."

"No, I'm-"

"'Cause that's what it sounds like." Leo tugged at his laces. "God damn it, open!"

"Here, let me help." Percy reached down but Leo shifted away.

"I'm fine. I'll get it."

Percy withheld a sigh. "Alright."

Leo tugged the knot loose and finished unlacing the boots. "Told you. I'm not completely helpless," he muttered.

"I never said you were." Percy shook his head. "And I don't think you are."

"Yeah. Sure." Leo snorted and kicked off his skates.

"It's true."

"Whatever." Leo began to unzip his costume. Percy looked away to give him a bit of privacy. "It's not like you care anyway, now that Thalia's here."

"Jason today."

Leo sighed. "Fine. Jason." He tugged down the zip of the upper part of his costume. "And you're just proving my point."

"What point?" Percy stood to help him but Leo moved away.

"You care more about Jason than you do me." Leo glared at him.

Percy sighed. "Leo, that's not true."

"Yes, it is!" Leo shook his head. "Don't patronise me; don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about!"

"But I don't," Percy insisted. "Nothing's changed, Leo. You're still my best friend."

"Yeah, well it doesn't seem that way." Leo folded his arms. "Not since Jason came here."

Percy let out a breath. "Jason is my coach-"

"You want him to be more than that."

"I-"

"Don't lie to me!" Leo snapped. "We've been friends since middle school – you think I don't remember you gushing over him?"

"I wasn't going to deny it." Leo could see Percy's restraint unravelling a little. "I did have a crush on him. Now, I look up to him. He's my coach. And yes, I'm a little bit excited because the Jason Kosey is in Japan and coaching me, but that doesn't mean that you're not one of my best friends."

"Yeah, well it doesn't feel like it." Leo tugged off the top of his costume. He wouldn't be wearing it again.

Percy looked away out of decency. "What do you want me to do, Leo?"

"I want you to just pay a bit of attention to me and Piper." Leo pulled on a Dark Magician t-shirt. "Is that too much to ask?"

"I was training, Leo. We all were."

"So?" Leo shook his head. "That doesn't mean everything should revolve around Jason. Even in the evenings, he's all you talk about."

"That's not fair."

"Yes! Yes, it is!" Leo shook his head. "Sometimes I just-"

"Leo." Percy looked up at him. Leo took a breath. "I get the feeling you're about to say something really shitty. Don't."

"Well you only told us you were a boy after he came out as gender fluid!" Leo exclaimed. "Is it wrong to sometimes think the only reason you're transitioning is because of him?"

Percy pursed his lips. His face was as white as his hair. He stood up and stormed towards the door. "Fine. Be like that."

Leo opened his mouth but closed it again as Percy walked out and a loud shut echoed through the room.

"And skater Percy Jackson is in first place with two hundred and seventy eight point nine points! Certainly didn't see that coming after his flop at the GPF this season! It'll take a lot of points to beat him now. Next up is skater Leo Valdez. He will be skating to Almost There from Disney's The Princess and the Frog."

"He's going to do badly," Nico mumbled as Leo pushed his way out to the centre of the ice.

"How can you tell?" Will asked.

"Posture. His shoulders are practically connected to his ears," Nico scoffed, though he was leaning forward on the barrier. "Plus he nearly tripped when he got onto the ice."

"Odd." Will frowned. "When Percy does well, he tends to too, and vice versa."

"Well he doesn't have Jason as a coach," Nico reminded him as the music started. Leo stepped out of position a second too late.

Will hummed, cringing at the simple mistake. "Still. I saw him practicing this yesterday and he was pretty good at it."

"Yeah." Nico folded his arms. "I think something happened between him and Percy."

"Like... relationship wise or fight wise?"

"I swear to God, they're the most oblivious people," Nico groaned, "I have ever met. If I was waving around a banner saying kiss me, they wouldn't because they'd think the message was unclear."

Will smirked. "Fight then."

"Definitely."

"Here comes his first jump-" Leo hit the ice hard and Nico stood up. "-and he fell hard; that'll be a bad deduction." Leo pushed himself up and Nico sat again.

"You like him."

Nico snorted. "Nah. I prefer him to Percy, but I don't like him. Not in that way anyway."

"I think the gent protests too much." Will smirked.

"Oh, fuck you."

"No thanks; I can see you're saving yourself for Leo." Nico opened his mouth to retort, but closed it again, knowing that whatever he said would only be shot back at him. Jackson smirked. "I thought as much."

"I hate you."

"Mhm. Sure you do, love." Will leaned forward to watch Leo as the other fumbled and tripped over his step sequence. "This routine doesn't have a high base score – he was solely relying on points for artistic interpretation to get him through on top of good jumps."

"Yeah." Nico let out a breath. "He's going to hate himself for this performance."

"I get that everyone has bad days, but-" Will shook his head. "I don't think I've ever seen him skate this badly."

Nico nodded as Leo nearly crashed into the side of the rink. He managed to land his double toe-loop, followed by a single, but he stepped out of his combination spin and finished his routine a second late.

"Damn." Will shook his head. "That was terrible."

"Aren't you happy though?" Nico looked over at him. "Your third place is guaranteed."

"Maybe," Will agreed, "but that doesn't mean I like watching other skaters fail that badly. Or at least not ones that I've been competing with for as long as I have with Leo."

"I guess that's fair." Nico looked over to the kiss-and-cry, where Leo looked like he was in literal tears.

"Skater Leo Valdez's score is out! Sixty two point one! Not as bad as his short programme, but certainly not the best we've seen from him. Perhaps he's been injured recently, although there was no press release about it."

Nico winced. "Imagine being so bad the commentators are wondering if you were physically injured."

Jackson nodded.

"Skater Leo Valdez is currently in twelfth place. In first place stands Percy Jackson, followed by Travis Stoll in second place. In third resides Will Solace."

"Go down to the podium." Nico nudged him. "You need photos."

"Good point." Will stood. "No fucking Leo while I'm gone."

"Oh, shut up."

"Did you find him?" Piper asked as Percy ran up to the barrier.

The other shook his head. "No, I'm really sorry, Piper. He must have left."

Piper chewed her nail. "But he always comes to watch. He's my good luck charm."

"I could call him?" Percy offered. "He might come back."

"Piper." Her coach murmured, "you don't have time to wait for him. You're going to need to go on without him."

Piper shook her head. "No. No, Leo's my good luck charm," she repeated. "He hasn't missed one of my performances. I need him here!"

"Piper." Percy gripped her shoulders. "You've put so much work into this. You need to do it; you owe it to yourself. You don't need a good luck charm."

"But-"

"Trust me; just get out there and do it," Percy urged. "I'm sure Leo's watching on TV right now. He won't want to see you worried."

Piper scoffed. "If he leaves, he gets to see me worried," she mumbled.

Percy smiled. There we go. "Go and win."

Piper took a breath and nodded. She stepped out onto the ice and a cheer rang through the stadium – she was most certainly one of the home favourites.

"Here comes skater Piper McLean! Aged nineteen, she is relatively new to the skating world but she has quickly become one of Japan's sweethearts. She will be skating to Hector Berlioz's Sylvia in E minor."

Percy clasped his hands together and leaned on the barrier as Piper started. Step sequence, spin, step, triple toe-loop executed perfectly.

"She's doing well," he murmured.

Her coach nodded. "She's been training for this all year," she mumbled. "I know that Leo is important to her and her routine, but there's no way in hell that I'm about to let him fuck this up for her."

Percy nodded, watching as Piper kicked into a quadruple Lutz. His fists were clenching. Leo wasn't normally that inconsiderate. Then again, he had come in twelfth. That was pretty terrible.

Still.

Piper twisted into one of her two combination spins and kicked off into a quadruple axel. Her years of ballet training even before she set foot on the ice had given her fantastic flexibility and stamina.

It was something she had over nearly everyone else in the competition. She had been training for this – all of this – since she was three.

Percy held his breath as she jumped her finally quad – a triple toe loop followed by a quadruple toe loop. Perfectly landed, and arms in the air to increase the difficulty, which would earn her more points.

Percy hummed along to her music – a habit he had picked up when he was watching her practice. She would be great. She would have high points. She would.

"Good," her coach mumbled. "Very good."

But not amazing. Not like some of her practices. Piper danced into her final step sequence, shortly followed by a single axel, followed again by a choreographed step sequence.

She finished, half lying on the ice, leaned forward over one knee. Her pastel pink costume glistened under the lights as the music stopped.

"Skater McLean has done it again," the commentator roared as the crowd began cheering. "I think we can count this as another win for her."

Piper was grinning as she stood, waving to the crowd. She picked up some of the roses that were thrown down – all pink and white – and skated over to the edge.

"How was I?" She asked, breathless. Percy didn't blame her. It was a tough routine.

Her coach smiled. "You started off well, and with every second you got better. I'm proud of you."

Piper covered her mouth and squealed. "Thank you!"

Percy grinned and wrapped his arms around her. "You did amazingly."

"I hope it comes out in the scores." Piper bit her lip as she returned the hug.

Her coach shook her head. "We'll worry about that when we get them. Come on, let's head over."

Piper nodded and gave Percy one final hug. "You didn't need Leo as a good luck charm after all," Percy noted.

Piper sighed. "No, but it still would have been nice if he was here."

"And with a score of ninety one point eight five, Skater Piper McLean wins second place in the women's Japanese National Ice Skating!"

Leo let out a breath. He hadn't brought her down. Good. She didn't deserve to do badly because he was selfish.

He stared at Piper's face, grinning as she waved from second place on the podium. Above her stood Clarisse LaRue, and below stood a woman with brown hair called Reyna – a newcomer.

Leo stood and made his way towards the bathroom. He picked up the razor without even looking in the mirror.

"I fucked up," he mumbled. "I fucked up, I fucked up."

He should have been there. He should have been there. Fuck, what was he even doing? He didn't deserve this. Or them. He didn't deserve anything.

He pulled up his shirt and dragged the blade over his skin. The pain brought a moment of relief and clarity, and he dropped the blade, but the moment was gone as soon as it had arrived.

He picked up the blade again with shaky fingers and cut into his side again.

Percy. Fuck, what had he said? "I fucked up." Piper. Why wasn't he there? "I fucked up." Percy. "I fucked up." Piper. "I fucked up." Percy. "I fucked up." Piper. "I fucked up."

He couldn't breathe. He tried the blade again, harder this time, and oxygen flew into his lungs.

He panted, looking up into the mirror. "Shit," he hissed, dropping the razor. He grabbed some gauze from the cabinet and cut off a few squares, layering them over the deep, jagged ridges in his sides.

He taped the gauze over the cut and began washing the blade. Just as he replaced it, he heard the front door open.

"Leo?"

He flushed the toilet and walked out, his biggest smile on his face. "Piper!" He threw his arms around the older girl. "I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks!" Piper returned the hug tightly. "Did you watch?"

Leo nodded as they separated. "Yeah, on the-"

"Why weren't you there?" Percy cut in. His eyes were narrow.

He looked away. "Sorry. I freaked out over my placing." He looked up at Percy. "And I'm... Gods, I'm so, so, so, so sorry for what I said to you, Percy." Piper looked between them. "It was completely uncalled for and awful and not at all true, and I get if you never want to talk to me ever again, but I-"

Percy pulled him into a hug. Leo fell silent as he returned it. "Don't worry about it," Percy mumbled. "Just glad nothing happened to you."

His side stung. "Yeah. Thanks."

Percy gave him a smile as he pulled back. "Who wants dinner?"

"Nope." Leo shook his head. "You two are being celebrated tonight – Nico and I are treating you."

"Does Nico know that?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

Leo grinned. "I'll sort it out. Go get changed – I'll make reservations somewhere."

"Make sure it's veg-"

"I'll make sure there's vegetarian options," Leo assured him. "Now go." He pointed towards their bedrooms. He needed to get more gauze on.

Percy chuckled and shook his head, but made his way towards his room.

Piper waited. "Are you sure everything's alright, Leo?" She murmured.

Leo looked up at her. "Of course. Why?"

"Nothing. You just..." Piper sighed. "It was a hard day for you today."

"Harder for you," Leo pointed out. "You had to get to second place."

Piper folded her arms. "I had a good day. You didn't. Sometimes it's harder to get twelfth than first or second." Leo looked away. "I'm not trying to make you feel bad. I just-"

"I know; you're worried." Leo forced a smile and looked up again. "But don't worry, Beauty Queen. I'm fine. Pinky promise." He held up his little finger.

Piper grinned and wrapped her own finger around his. "Good. I'm proud of you, Leo." She walked towards her room.

Leo watched her go. She shouldn't be.

Hope you guys enjoyed. Please vote and review. See you next time, Murdering Majestors!