Just a lonely dance - A Percabeth-Fanfiction

Just a lonely dance

 Disclaimer: All rights belong to Rick Riordan. This is just a Fanfiction.

Snowflakes whirled through the air.
It was freezing cold, but that didn't seem to bother the beautiful girl who was all alone at the park that winter afternoon.
Here and there were other students, but she liked beeing alone so she stayed away from them.
She wanted to enjoy a few quiet hours.
Her friends preferred to stay in the warm apartment they shared, in the comfortable armchairs in front of the fire in the fireplace, eating home-made cookies and drinking hot chocolate, but the young woman enjoyed the cold and the slightly freezing wind blowing through her hair.

Her cheeks were already a little bit reddened by the winter weather, but her thick winter jacket and the fluffy woollen cap kept her warm. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the fresh air.
It was still snowing.
Slowly the ice crystals floated to the ground, a few settled on the her blonde, wavy hair.
The girl sighed softly.
She remembered the many wonderful winter days with her family, which they had spent with sledging and ice skating.

But those times were over.
Such moments would never happen again. Her mother had left and her father wasn't interested in her anymore. He only paid attention to his new wife and their new children. The girl pressed her lips together and tried to blink back the tears that were coming up.

She walked faster, careful not to slip. Her shoes left a deep trace in the fine powder snow, which was immediately covered by new snowflakes.
She went straight up to the small lake, which had been frozen for days thanks to the low temperatures.
Carefully the young woman took a step on the ice to check if it was really thick enough so she wouldn't break in.
Happily, she realized that the ice would definitely hold her weight and quickly slipped off her winter boots and put on her beloved ice skates.

Gingerly she entered the ice. The first few laps were still a bit rough because she hadn't skated for so long, but after that she slided more and more gracefully over the frozen lake.
She wallowed in her childhood memories, remembering long gone moments.
A few others entered the ice and watched the elegant movements of the young woman, but she barely noticed anything.
Timidly she tried pirouettes and jumps, always careful. Finally, when she felt more confident, she moved on to a more difficult figure.

"Annabeth", however, sounded a confused voice and threw her completely off course.
She stumbled and fell over.
Annabeth would have hit the rock-hard ice head first, but two strong arms caught her and saved her from a brain concussion or worse.
Confused and silenced by shock, the young woman looked into Percy Jackson's blue-green eyes.
She still laid in his warm hug.

"Are you all right?" he asked worried. "I am so sorry!"
Annabeth just nodded.
Her heart was still beating strongly against her chest.

Carefully she stand up again, Percy helped her.
He had been in her class for a good six months, together with his cousins Jason and Nico, but they had hardly exchanged words since.
Annabeth generally kept away from everyone except her best friends Calypso, Hazel and Piper. Why else?
Most people thought Annabeth was a conceited nerd and made fun of her and the others. They were simply unpopular and meanwhile Annabeth didn't mind that anymore. She used to fight back and take herself into trouble, but she had learned to ignore it.

Percy and his friends had in fact never made any comments about them, no, they were more likely to take action against the bullying. And now being rescued by Percy, caused Annabeth mixed feelings.
On the one hand she was grateful to him for always trying to stop the others, on the other hand she was also angry about it. He didn't have to take care of her. Did he think he was so much better than her that he felt she could not defend herself on her own? And maybe... maybe, just maybe, Annabeth had a little crush on him.
She knew she was judging him unfairly and she tried to pull herself together, but in the end he meant well.

"Thank you." she murmured.
He just smiled.
They stand on the ice in complete silence.

"You skate well," Percy said after a while. Annabeth looked at him in surprise. "You think so?"
He nodded, "The Biellmann pirouette was almost perfectly executed. Who taught you that?"
Annabeth made a surprised face. "My father, mostly, but I taught myself a lot of things, too, in a way. Do you know anything about it?"

He nodded with an embarrassed grin. "Yes, indeed." It was only then that Annabeth noticed the black skates on his feet. Then he held out a hand to her.
The blonde looked at him confused. "You wanna skate a little bit?" he asked. At first she hesitated, but then Annabeth put her hand in his, smiling.

He pulled her gently across the ice.
For a while they just skated side by side, hand in hand. Annabeth's tiny, little hand fit inside of Percy's perfectly. At some point they started simple turns and only a few moments later they were both whirling across the ice.
They were trapped in their own little world as they floated across the frozen lake.
They seemed to no longer touching the ground. Pirouette after pirouette, lifting figures, jumps and simple turns, everything looked so elegant and effortless.

Eventually they slowed down again, calmly making a few laps around the lake before stopping.
Both eyes were shining with joy. Annabeth smiled and Percy also grinned broadly. "That was..." she gasped. Unbelievable," the black-haired man finished her sentence and she just nodded.

"Are you cold?" Percy asked gently. Annabeth tore herself away from his beautiful eyes and noticed to her amazement how cold she really was.
"A little," she confessed. "But it's not bad," she hurriedly added, noting to her horror how he was making efforts to loosen his blue-gray scarf.
"No, no, no, no," she tried to protest, but he unaffected took off the cuddly woollen scarf and wrapped it gently around her neck.

At first Annabeth wanted to refuse again and give the scarf back, but then she thought of a better solution and murmured, slightly moved, "Thank you."
She noticed how the black-haired man slowly but surely settled into her heart and definitely had nothing against it.

Both enjoyed the moment when they could simply stand in front of each other and sink into each other's eyes.
"It's getting dark," Percy quietly noted after a while.

Indeed; the sun was about to set, casting a beautiful red glow over the snow-covered country estates and the silhouette of Manhattan, the other visitors were long gone.
Annabeth had not noticed how time had flown since Percy had arrived.
"So late already?" she said slightly sadly.

"We can meet again tomorrow," Percy suggested timidly, as if he didn't really know what she would think.
I'd love to," smiled Annabeth.
Inside, she would have loved to run around in circles, screeching happily, but she denied herself that.

They glided solwly back to the shore, where Annabeth's winter boots were still lying near Percy's.
She changed into them and pulled a face when her one sock got wet.
Apparently it had snowed into one shoe.

Percy grabbed her skates and his with one hand, despite her protest, and with the other hand hesitantly took hers, causing butterflies in the young woman's stomach again.
Slowly they made their way to the park exit.
They walked through the streets of Manhattan until they had to part at an intersection. Much too quickly the two stood there.
Most of the passers-by just rushed past them and didn't mind the two of them.

"Well... I'll see you in school in the morning. I'm looking forward to it," Percy said clumsily, not wanting to say goodbye yet.
He quickly gave Annabeth a little kiss on the crown of her head as a goodbye and then hurried towards the stairs leading to the subway.

"Wait," she called after him. "What's with the scarf?"
He turned halfway around and laughed. "You can keep it until tomorrow... or forever, as you like. Blue suits you, you can wear it more often."
He winked at her and then really went away.

Annabeth stared after him speechlessly.
A light red tone crept up her cheeks and she had to smile. "Old charmer," she whispered, and then she also went home, with a constant smile on her face.

And if anyone at school the next day noticed that Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase exchanged smiles all day long, that the smart student was wearing a blue sweater with thin silver stripes, which she had never worn before, and that a blue-grey scarf was peeking out of her bag, which Percy was wearing the day before, he did not mention it.