Work Text:
Percy grinned, holding up the clay dinosaur that he had spent the past hour meticulously painting. “I can’t believe it. I have found my calling in the arts,” he announced triumphantly.
Nico snorted, glancing at Percy’s creation. “It’s blue. There are no blue dinosaurs.”
Percy shot Nico a glare in response. “You’re old, but you’re not dinosaur old. Maybe there were blue ones.”
Nico sighed in exasperation, immediately continuing his budding argument with the son of Poseidon. Around the table, everyone else sighed, shaking their heads but nonetheless smiling. Hazel suppressed a laugh at the two boys. There goes the wholesome painting atmosphere , she thought to herself in amusement.
The Seven had decided to do an activity as a group before they all had to go their separate ways (Annabeth, Percy, Jason, and Piper would all be off to school, while Hazel and Frank had to put a lot of time into Camp Jupiter for the coming year). Piper had been the one to suggest painting, finding a small paint shop where they could have some fun and create something lasting to remind them of the day. Hazel had immediately found Nico and Will, inviting them along so that the group could get to know Will a little better while Annabeth and Jason managed to convince Reyna to come along after Chiron ensured that he could handle overseeing the Camp exchange program himself for one evening.
At the right end of the table, Nico and Percy continued to bicker over Percy’s color choice of his dinosaur as Hazel suppressed a smile, turning to the others. “Alright, guys. Let’s see your things.”
On the other side of Nico, Will held up his canvas that he had been furiously painting down. The painting was a little rough, and some of the colors blended together awkwardly, but it was obvious what the painting was of.
“That’s so precious, Will! You captured Nico’s pouty expression very well,” Piper cooed. A burst of laughter exploded from the table, halting Percy and Nico’s argument. The son of Hades seemed to look at Will's painting for the first time, raising an eyebrow.
“You made me look so… sulky.”
Will snorted, nudging Nico with his shoulder. “You’re literally sulking right now. I’d say it’s spot on.”
Nico rolled his eyes but nonetheless was clearly fighting a smile at the thoughtful painting of the two of them by the son of Apollo.
Realizing everyone was waiting to see his art, Nico’s face went a little red, clearing his throat as he wordlessly lifted up the plate he had been painting.
It was a painting of a cat with pitch black fur and silvery eyes, with a simple caption of Bob . Everyone smiled and gave their compliments about the realistic portrait of Nico’s cat, Annabeth and Percy a little sadder as they thought about the titan.
After Nico, Piper, sitting on the far end of the table, cleared her throat and held up her painted object. It was a bowl shaped like a whale, but she had painted it bright green. The most notable part of the bowl, however, were the eyes on the whale, as they took up nearly half of its body.
Upon receiving questioning looks, Piper shrugged. “I just let the spirit carry me, my dudes.”
In front of her, Jason laughed. “By that she means Frank accidentally bumped into her arm when she was painting the left eye.”
Frank looked flustered by the announcement as Piper shot him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about it, Frank. That’s why I said the spirit carried me. It was meant to be,” she said, patting her whale bowl gently. Frank returned the smile before holding up his own piece of art: a turtle that he had painted the shell to look like it had gems embedded in it.
“It’s, uh, not that good, but I actually made it for you, Hazel. I mean, it’s pretty obvious, I guess with the gems and stuff but…”
Hazel gently cut him off with a sincere smile, patting his arm. “I love it, Frank. It’s gorgeous.”
Frank straightened up at the comment, smiling back at Hazel. Next to Piper, Reyna cleared her throat, lifting her large bowl.
It was a rich purple color with precise golden vines scattered in the inside. In large black letters, the words Property of Reyna stood out.
“For my jellybeans. Because apparently people are idiots and won’t ask for permission unless I leave a sign.”
Everyone snickered as Piper gave Reyna a slow clap. Reyna seemed to suppress a smile as well as the attention was turned to Jason and Annabeth. The daughter of Athena held up a sculpture of a fairy that she had painted with soft, pastel colors.
“It’s for Estelle. Obviously, we don’t know what sort of things she’ll like, but this is my contribution to decorating the nursery,” she said, smiling at Percy. Percy grinned back, looking excited at the prospect as he examined the statue closer for himself. Jason, next to Annabeth, held up his own creation: a simple mug that he had painted a warm sunrise pattern on. It was blended a little awkwardly, but clearly had a lot of effort put into it.
Percy leaned forward so he could see Jason’s mug, grinning immediately. “Well, well, well… Look’s like art skills are a Big Three thing, am I right?”
Jason chuckled, nodding enthusiastically as Nico shot them both looks that screamed why am I here before turning to Hazel, his gaze softer.
“How about yours, Hazel? You had all of us put ours on display, but you’re the real arty one here.”
Hazel felt her face warm up slightly. “It’s not finished yet, but…” She lifted up her canvas, flustered as the others stared in silence.
She had put a lot of thought into what she wanted to paint. As she had watched everyone smiling and enjoying a moment’s peace together, however, she realized exactly what she wanted to make. The end result was a painting of the group as they were working on their pieces. In the painting, Annabeth was trying to brush off some paint from Percy’s nose, as Will made kissy faces at them across the table, Nico smiling brighter than ever as he watched Will. Next to her, Jason was grinning sheepishly at Reyna, who looked somewhere between stabbing Jason with her paintbrush and bursting into laughter. Piper sat in front of the two, clearly losing it and leaning on Frank next to her, who was also smiling widely. She had finally painted herself in between Frank and Will, focused on her own painting in front of her.
She had been a little nervous to show it to everyone; she was proud of her art, but she wasn’t sure if they would like how she painted all of them. Her fears were immediately assuaged as Reyna spoke up, voice surprisingly gentle.
“It’s really sweet, Hazel. You did a good job on it.”
Percy was the next to comment, nodding solemnly. “As another cultured artist, I can confirm that you, my friend, have created a masterpiece.”
Immediately, three voices all started nagging at Percy, who pouted and continued arguing. Hazel laughed giddily as she turned to Will, who began begging her for help on how she blended her paints. The group stayed at the pottery shop for another half an hour before they were ushered out, but not before Hazel had all of them sign the painting.
(“ Are you really sure you want our shitty signatures to taint your art ”
“ Fuck! I spelled it wrong! ”
“ How in my father’s name, Will, did you spell your name wrong? It’s four letters. ”
“ Nico, stop bullying your boyfriend . Percy, for ZEUS’ SAKE! YOU TOOK UP HALF THE SIGNING SPACE. ”
“ Look who’s bullying now… ”)
As the group all walked out into the brisk evening air, Hazel smiled once more at her painting, grabbing Frank’s hand and committing the feeling of warmth in her chest to memory.