This is a super fluffy one shot I wrote pretty quickly. The characters are pretty OOC (especially Annabeth lol, sorry not sorry) but I like it. Hope you do too!

Unedited for now, PLEASE correct me by way of comment. I genuinely appreciate it :)

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Point of view: First person

Type: Mortal AU

Main Ship: Percabeth

Word Count: 3536

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"Thals, I am not going."

My best friend, Thalia Grace, rolled her sky blue eyes. "And why not?" she drawled.

I sighed, brushing my unruly blonde curls from my face. "I don't know how to skate, and we both know you don't have the patience to teach me. You have the attention span of a deranged mutt."

She gasped dramatically. "Surely you don't mean that, Annie."

I narrowed my eyes. "Tell me I'm wrong."

"Well, that would be lying," she joked. "But seriously, maybe I'm not the best teacher, but Luke is an amazing one. He could teach you all the basics and get you to pro skater status within minutes."

"I highly doubt that," I claimed, rolling onto my back.

Thalia and I were laying on my full-sized bed, trying to figure out what we wanted to do with our Friday afternoon. It was the last weekday of February break and we wanted to make the best of it. Thalia had suggested going ice skating at the local arena, but I had never gone and was very apprehensive of it.

Thalia sat up and leaned against my wall, which was painted a very similar grey to the color of my eyes. What can I say, it had always been one of my favorite shades.

"Come on, Annie. The three of us go ice skating this once, and next time we want to do something, it'll be your choice. Besides, how will you know if you like it or not if you never try it?"

I groaned. "Does Luke even like ice skating?"

Luke - my other best friend and Thalia's boyfriend - had seemingly been brought into the deal without even being consulted for his opinion.

Thalia grinned. "Duh, and he's really good at it. It'll be so fun. Please?"

She jumped off the bed and perched on her knees on the beige carpet. She clasped her hands and quivered her bottom lip, but her mischievously sparkling blue eyes gave away her insincerity.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but your paying."

Thalia pounced on me, aiming for a hug but actually winding me with an octopus-like strangle. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cheered. "We'll have so much fun, I promise."

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Falling butt-first on ice six times in the space of ten minutes was not my idea of fun. Luke had tried and failed to give me a crash course in ice skating. He offered to linger beside me while I clutched the railing of the arena as tightly as my gloved fingers could but being the people pleaser I was, I let him chase after his girlfriend, who never had any intentions of slowing her pace to make sure I wasn't lonely.

So there I was, scooting along the wall at a snail's pace. Every time I got any sort of confidence and veered away from my safety rail, I promptly landed right on my behind. Not learning from my mistakes, I pushed off the wall and glided ever so slowly across the smooth ice.

Repeating the mantra that Luke had beat into my head, I scraped my left skate backward before returning it to the ice and gliding forward a few feet. I grinned, satisfied that I had remained upright.

Everything was going perfectly. So, of course, there had to be a plot twist.

"Watch out!" a scratchy voice called behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw two guys, both around my age. One of them had longish ginger hair and an acne-ridden complexion. He was the one frantically shouting. The other had stark black locks tucked into a grey beanie and was skating very quickly backward, right towards me.

My guess was that the ginger thought I had some sort of experience and would figure out how to get out of the way. I did not. Still, I used my common sense and ran - yes, ran - away from the wall and towards the center of the rink. The second my skate hit the ice, my legs buckled and I collapsed.

At the same moment, the risk taker turned around and tried to stop himself. The quick change in speed caused him to catapult forward and the surprise of the situation didn't give him time to save himself. The boy crashed onto the ice, half on top of me.

Immediately, he scrambled away. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" he exclaimed.

Once again, my butt was being frozen by the ice. Not happy about that, or the fact that almost all of the skaters had seen the unfortunate scene, I frowned. "It's okay," I grumbled.

My black skinny jeans were coated in ice shavings and my thin cotton gloves were soaked through. My ears and nose were frozen, my lips were chapped, and my ankles were sore. Nothing about the situation was fun for me.

The boy I'd collided with had managed to stand up, but I was too far from the wall and too inexperienced to get up on my own. I tried to shift from sitting on my butt to sitting on my knees but ultimately failed. My focus shifted from my sour situation when an abrupt shout called my attention elsewhere.

"Percy!" the nervous ginger wailed. "You just completely ran over that girl!"

The black-haired boy who had almost ended my life - okay, maybe that was dramatic - bit his lip. "Yeah, I noticed, G-man. Are you okay?"

I blinked, not realizing that this incredibly attractive guy had acknowledged me. Instead, I was focussing on his bright sea-green eyes, sculpted cheeks and jaw, and plump rosy lips. Lean muscles were hidden by a black leather jacket, which was layered over a blue hoodie. His light-washed skinny jeans were much more forgiving than my black ones and didn't show much ice. His good looks turned my negative mood into a positive one rather quickly, which he should have been grateful for.

"Hello?" he - Percy, was it? - laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "Are you okay?"

I quickly nodded, my flushed cheeks growing pinker by the second. "Yeah, I'm fine. Could you help me up?" I asked sheepishly.

He grinned and offered me a hand. Unlike my earlier solution of scrambling to stand up without my skates betraying me, the boy hoisted me straight up and set me perfectly back on my feet.

Wow, hot and strong. Now, if he's smart, he's a total package.

"I'm sorry about that, man. I was trying a new trick and figured people would get out of the way. I really didn't mean to hit you."

I smiled, although I was screaming inside at the fact that his hands were still holding mine. "It's all good. I'm not very good at skating, so it's probably more my fault than yours."

He scoffed. "As if me running into you is your fault," he said.

I shrugged but was internally giddy that he hadn't seen my embarrassing attempt at escape. "Well, I think that's enough skating for me today," I murmured.

He narrowed his eyes. "Why, you tired?"

"Uh, yeah." I coughed. "It's my first time and I've decided that I just wasn't meant to be an ice skater."

Releasing one of my hands, he slowly skated toward the nearest exit, dragging me with him. I felt like I was flying and I was sad when he stepped out of the rink and onto the foam-like ground surrounding it. I clambered off the ice and over to the bleachers. The boy followed me and sat beside me.

I slid one of my feet out of a skate and into my boot.

"There's one of your problems," the boy noted.

"What?" I asked.

"Your skates are way too loose," he explained. "They need to be laced up tightly to support your ankles so you can stand straight. I can lace them up for you if you want and you can give the ice another shot."

I smiled at him and brushed a curl behind my ear. "Thanks, but I'm all set. There is clearly more to the problem than loose skates, and I'm cold."

"Did you come here by yourself?" he questioned.

I narrowed my eyes at his odd question before shaking my head. I scanned the arena and saw Thalia and Luke holding hands as they skated around. The ginger from earlier had returned to skating as well.

"No," I answered aloud. "My two friends dragged me here. I should have known I'd be a third wheel."

My new-found friend yanked his beanie from his head and scraped his black strands of hair from his forehead. I had a small debate in my head, trying to decide if he looked hotter with or without the beanie on. The debate was left unsolved when he spoke again, causing my eyes to drift from his hair to his lips, before swiftly returning to his bright eyes.

"I get the feeling. My friend over there, Grover, started dating a girl recently and talks about her so much it's as if she's constantly in the room with us."

I laughed lightly. "Thalia, Luke, and I were all friends before they started dating, so that isn't really our problem. The problem is more of them being very...affectionate in my face."

He chuckled. "That's no fun." He stared out at the ice and then back at me, causing me to blush. "You sure you don't want to try skating again? I could teach you."

"I don't even know your name," I told him. Sure, I had my suspicions, but I was grasping for any excuse not to return to the dreaded ice.

"Percy Jackson, at your service."

I smiled. "Annabeth Chase."

"Alrighty, Annabeth, let's see if we can get you skating as fast as me within the next hour."

My eyes widened when Percy shifted from the bleacher to the floor in front of me. He perched on one knee as he tightened the laces of the skate still on my foot.

I covered my red cheeks with my hands, drawing his attention up to me. "Cold," I lied half-heartedly.

Percy reached beside me and grabbed his previously discarded beanie. Without a thought, he shoved it on my head. "Wear a hat next time, Wise Girl."

I laughed and watched his fingers expertly tighten the laces of my skate before tying them together into a floppy bow. He pulled my boot off of my left foot before guiding it into the other skate. He repeated the process of tightening and tying the laces.

Percy quickly stood and offered his hands to help me stand up. I smiled giddily when his left hand continued grasping my right one as we stumbled over to the door leading into the arena. My hand felt cold when he let go.

He carelessly stepped onto the ice and turned to face me. I clutched the doorframe and slowly stepped one foot onto the ice, following suit with the other.

Percy grinned at me, making me feel like a million bucks. "Step one: done."

I rolled my eyes. "Great, now what?"

Prying my left hand off the glass with his right, he entwined them together. He turned so that he was facing the direction everyone else was skating in, forcing me to do the same.

"All we're doing is gliding. Push off with one foot, and glide. Push with the other, and glide. Push, and glide. Got it?"

Theoretically, I did get it. But I knew the second I started to put it in practice, I would collapse. I gulped.

Percy noted my wide eyes. "Hey, don't worry. Feel free to keep your right hand on the railing; just try not to hold it. Rest it there. I've got your other hand, and if you do fall, it's no big deal."

I nodded and slowly pushed my left skate against the ice. I jilted forward a few inches before repeating the action with my right skate. Push, and glide. Push, and glide.

I grinned at Percy, excited that I had managed to move a few feet forward.

He smiled right back. "Nice work. Want to go faster?"

I bit my lip. "How about we wait a minute for that one, Perce?"

Percy laughed. "You've got it."

We continued the process, slowly but surely making our way across the long side of the oval-shaped ice rink. Thalia and Luke passed us a few times, as did Grover. I hoped Percy didn't notice the numerous winks of my girl best friend.

Once we rounded the corner and were at the start of the other long edge, I looked up at Percy, seeing as he was probably six feet tall and I was just brushing five feet six inches. I was surprised to see him already looking down at me with a small smile gracing his lips.

"What?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

I frowned. "Seriously, what?"

Percy blushed. "You just look really cute. You're all focused, but I can tell you're having fun."

I grinned, but my own cheeks were heating up. "You look cute too, but I've been doing my best not to stare."

He lightly bumped his hip into my side, lost in the moment and forgetting about my amateur status. I careened to the right and dragged Percy with me as I tried to regain my balance. This caused him to wobble and in his frantic attempt to keep us right side up managed to have me pressed against the wall with each of his arms either side my face.

I stared up into his bright green eyes, which had small flecks of blue in them. His nose was less than an inch away from mine, and his plump lips were parted in surprise. Almost every square inch of his body was plastered against my own. I was grateful that he was keeping me upright but very self-conscious and nervous at the same time.

Of course that all happened at the same time that Luke and Thalia were making their way past the bend and towards us.

"What are you two doing?" Thalia cackled.

I blushed and put my hands on Percy's chest to nudge him away. He effortlessly glided back, giving me space.

"I almost fell," I mustered out, "and that was his attempt at saving me."

Percy's mouth popped open incredulously. "'Attempt'?" he mimicked. "Give me more credit, lady, that was a full-blown rescue!"

I giggled. "Sorry, that was him absolutely saving my life."

Thalia grinned.

Luke, on the other hand, narrowed his crisp blue eyes at my new and improved teacher. "Maybe lay off the hands-on teaching, bud."

Percy looked up at the slightly taller, older guy. "It's working quite well compared to leaving her high and dry."

"Hey, relax, boys," Thalia interjected. "Let the kids live, Luke. They're having fun."

Her boyfriend nodded. "Okay, just be careful, Annie."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, sir."

The couple skated away, leaving Percy and me in awkward silence. "Sorry about that," I mumbled.

He shrugged. "No big deal. Let's try this again, yeah?"

I smiled and nodded, peeling myself off the wall. "Yeah."

We entwined our fingers together once again and took off, starting slowly before working up to a nice speed. By the time we had made it back to our starting point, I was barely moving my feet and was letting Percy do all the work. He swiftly moved his legs, allowing me to glide smoothly. I squeezed his hand and he looked down at me. Mischief coated his beautiful green eyes and a smiled was upon his lips.

We continued skating together for a long time, sometimes me putting in work and sometimes just benefiting from Percy's professional skill. We chatted about lots of things, like my love of reading and architecture, and his love of swimming and the sea. I learned that not only was Percy an ice skating extraordinaire, he was also the captain of his swim team.

After an hour or so, we were tired out. Percy directed us to the nearest exit and we clabbered our way off the ice. Together, we shuffled over to the bleachers, where Thalia and Luke were taking off their skates. We sat on the bleacher below them and started to untie our own skates.

"Thanks so much for helping me, Perce," I said once my feet were out of the rigid skates and back in my soft, warm boots.

He smiled and stood up. "Of course. It was really nice meeting you, Annabeth. I had a lot of fun."

Suddenly, a wave of sadness hit me when I realized I would probably never see this guy again. "Yeah, me too."

With a small wave, he walked off and joined his friend, Grover, on the opposite side of the bleachers.

I sighed before turning to look up at my companions. Luke was typing away at his phone, but Thalia was looking down at me with disappointment gracing her features.

"What?" I asked.

She scrunched up her nose. "What do you mean, 'what'? Isn't it obvious? You had an amazing connection with that guy and you're just going to let him walk off?"

I crossed my arms. "It's not like anything is going to stem from this. We had a nice time. We aren't going to get married or something, especially seeing as we're so young."

Thalia scoffed. "Luke and I started dating when we were your age and are still dating two years later. Don't even try to make an argument based on the opinion that young love doesn't exist."

"You really think that Percy's my soulmate?" I deadpanned, although I was internally losing my resolve. Did I just let the man of my dreams walk away from me?

"I'm not saying that, but I am saying there's no harm in keeping him around." She smiled wistfully. "The way he looked at you reminded me of this fool when we first started dating," she admitted, nudging Luke with her elbow.

My eyes widened. "Shoot, and I just let him walk off. It's not like I can run after him now without looking like a creep."

Thalia smile widened into a grin worthy of the Chesire Cat. "My memory may be shot, but I'm pretty sure you didn't come here with that hat on. If I were him, I would think returning a hat is a perfectly non-creepy reason to chase him down."

I jumped up. "You're a genius! I'll be right back."

I rushed down the steps and sped out of the room encasing the arena. Making my way through the lobby and out the front door, I kept my eye out for a particular mop of messy black hair.

I scanned the parking lot, hoping to spot Percy or his companion, Grover. I almost shouted with joy when I saw my informal teacher leaning into the backseat of a beat-up blue pick up truck. I practically sprinted over.

"Percy!" I called. "Hey, wait up!"

He stood up straight and looked around, searching for the origin of the desperate voice calling his name. When we locked eyes, his lips fell into a floppy smile.

"Miss me already?" he teased, leaning on the driver's side door of the truck.

I laughed, still walking over. "You wish, Seaweed Brain. You forgot something," I explained, motioning vaguely at my person.

I stood still in front of him and did my best not to react to such a fine specimen scanning me up and down. His bemused facial expression transformed into an amused one when his eyes rested on my - er, rather, his - hat.

"I assume you're referring to this bad boy," he said, gesturing to the grey beanied on my head.

I nodded. "Bingo. You almost forgot it."

He smirked. "You can keep it. It looks better on you than it ever did on me anyway."

My "cool girl" facade (who am I kidding, I was not cool whatsoever during the entire event unless you counted my frigid fingertips and buttocks) slipped away and I smiled as blood rushed up to the tips of my ears. "Really?" I asked him, astonished.

Percy chuckled. "Yeah, you look great with it. You looked great without it, too. If we're being honest, I was trying to impress you by skating backward earlier."

I laughed. "I'm sure this didn't turn out how you expected."

He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "Not it the slightest. I wish we had more time together."

"Me too," I agreed. "We should do this again sometime."

Percy dug through his pockets and fished out his phone. "Could I get your number?" he requested shyly.

I nodded and said "sure" but I was quite literally screaming for joy on the inside. I recited my digits for him and he texted me an emoji so that I had his number.

"Call me, yeah?" he suggested.

I grinned up at him. "Okay."

"See you later, Annabeth."

I waved and turned, walking back toward the ice arena.

That trip certainly took a turn, and it was most definitely for the best.