Winter fun

[gwenchan]

 

Fandom: The Song of Achilles
Characters: Achilles, Patroclus, Chiron
Prompt: Antica Grecia
Tag: Missing moments, fluff

"Pat! Pat!"

Patroclus buries himself further into the cocoon of furs as Achilles quite enthusiastically tries to wake him up, shaking him by the shoulders. Slowly, Patroclus cracks one eye open and just as slowly lets one hand slip out from the covers. Cold bites the skin. He immediately abandon ogni proposition of leaving his warm refuge.

Achilles doesn't give up.

"Pat!" He calls, louder, "wake up. You must come and see."

"What? It's too early. And too cold," Patroclus mutters. It's definitely too cold, even for a day in winter on the mountain.

But, as much as he'd like to, he can’t stay in bed all day. Eventually, he resigns to pop his head out. He's greeted by a beaming Achilles. 

"Morning! Come!"

He grabs Patroclus by the hands and swiftly pulls him on his feet, tugging. Patroclus clutches at the furs, as he lets Achilles steer him, by force of pulling and tugging, toward the opening of the cave.

Outside the sky's the color of stone and pouring minuscule, white flakes.

Patroclus gingerly stretches out a hand to capture some. They're cold and melt on his skin. Some are already forming a tiny layer on the ground.

"Is that …"

"Snow!" Achilles exclaims, basically jumping up and down in place. Yes, it’s truly snow. Patroclus hasn’t seen snow in ages, since the fist, maybe second year he came to Phtia. He has to admit he wasn't exactly missing it.

“Think we should warn Chiron?” he asks, while already thinking of a plan to convince the old centaur to let him stay inside today. Almost as if summoned, Chiron appears coming from the side of the cavern where he usually sleep

“I know already. You two should dress properly. I don’t want anyone to fall sick.”

Patroclus hesitates, shivering in his makeshift cape. “Sir, I… I believe it’s not safe to go outside today.”

Thumping one his hooves on the ground, Chiron scratches his chin, pensive. “It’s only a few flakes for now. However, you’re right, it’s always better to wait if one can.”

They go dressing, putting on their woolen tunics and the himations around their shoulders. Closed shoes instead of the usual open sandals. 

Impatient to go outside, Achilles spends the rest of the morning watching the snow fall while Patroclus has Chiron show him how to make a pair of gloves with some of the wool they set aside during the summer.

Finally, around midday, the sky clears up. Achilles all but bolts outside, filled with restless energy. Some snow has built up at the entrance and they shovel it to the sides before a new snowfall worsens the situation. 

“Pat!”

Something freezing and wet hits Patroclus in the face: a snowball. Achilles grins, arm still outstretched and preparing to charge another blow. Yelping indignantly, Patroclus ducks. He’s very grateful for his new gloves as he gathers some snow to make a ball as well. 

In minutes it’s open war, with snowballs flying everywhere and Patroclus shouting at Achilles to stop moving for good measure. Not this time. He charges the blow and watches helplessly as the ball fly past Achilles’ ducked head and right into Chiron’s face.

They halt, in the sudden silence, broken not even by the sound of their breaths. 

They watch as Slowly, the centaur cleans away the snow. It leaves his cheeks red underneath.

"I see you're amusing yourself. As you know I've trained plenty of heroes and surely this isn't the first snowball fight I see.”

His big hooves leave stamps on the snow.

"And we have a special way to do snowball fighting here on the mountain. Meaning that," he says, bending to gather some in his hand, "you two better start to run.”