PeaceMaker

She looked at the group, her eyes looking over the crowd as it started to move. The situation felt so familiar, like she had been there before, she had experienced it before. She looked up at Antonio, her eyes demanding his attention. Seconds after, his eyes turn down to look at hers. 

She stared into his eyes for a moment, a smile coming onto her face when she realized. Just like that, she looked away from him, a slight smile on her face. 

Antonino stared at her, eyes wavering for a moment as he looked at her. Then seconds later, like a train had slammed into his chest, he staggered back one step, his face bright red. Annabeth turned to him, her eyes looking at him with slight concern. 

"You ok?" She asked.

He looked up at her, his face deeply red, and simply stared at her for a moment before looking away again, his blush growing deeper. "I-I'm fine…" he muttered quietly, looking away from her face. He side-glanced at her just in time to see her confused smile. He blushed harder, 

'Gosh dammit, it's so hard to even be around her at this point…' he muttered to himself. He looked up at the crowd, confusion showing in his eyes. "Why did she smile like that when she looked at me????' he thought to himself, confusion on his face growing. His right hand raised up to his face, hiding his blush behind it. 'Why did she smile at all?' he thought, 'was there something on my face?? Is that why she laughed??.... But if that's so then what was that that showed in her eyes right before she smiled???? That emotion before she smiled.'

He let out a deep sigh and groaned. 'God it's so hard to be by her like this,' he thought to himself as he snuck a glance at Annabeth. It wasn't seconds before she looked up, catching his stare. 

He looked away guiltily and she seemed to laugh, he could see it from the corner of his eyes, her bright laughter, so bright that it blinded him.

He let out a deep sigh before shaking his head. 'Stop getting so wrapped up in her movements, you'll miss something around you idiot,' he told himself. He said that multiple times in his head but yet his eyes still followed her on instinct. He let out a deep sigh. 

"When should we start moving?" he asked, turning to Walter. 

Walter looked at him with confusion. "Since when did I lead the way?" he muttered. 

Antonio shrugged. "Since now."

Walter rolled his eyes but smiled. "Let's go then, people! On to the dancefloor!" he grinned playfully as he bent and greeted one of the girls that stood beside him. 

Justin smiled, turning to his sisters. "Will you guys be coming along?" he asked. 

Jena nodded her head. "Of course, I'd hate to miss any event after all this time spent in that waiting room."

Justin turned to Annabeth, his eyes asking Annabeth the question. It was a 65/35 on this one. There were times in which she would want nothing to do with the crowds and others when she'd just spontaneously decide to join along. His eyes pleaded with her's. 

Annabeth let out a tiny sigh and nodded her head. "I'll be coming along too," she replied. It was an easy decision as she had said from the beginning that she was planning to cruise through the events, all of them. Just.. cruising through them her own way. Away from the crowd, away from the dancing, and definitely away from the conversations. She was going to be in the room, but she was going to be chilling. All by herself. She smiled at that thought.

Antonio smiled too, noticing her smile. He blushed soon after.

Justin turned to Maria and nodded at her. "Are you going too?"

Maria nodded her head in agreement. "Of course, I'd hate to miss it," she grinned, "and I love to dance."

Walter's eyebrows raised up curiously. "Really? What kind of dance?"

Maria shrugged. Jena grinned, elbowing her sister. "As long as there's any flow of movement involved, I'm sure she'd learn that dance with ease."

Maria blushed. "That is so not true, I have difficulty with some of the Asian dances," she complained, brushing off Jena's elbow. 

"Asian?" commented one of the lords, "That's quite a reach though,"

Jena nodded her head with a smile. "Isn't it?"

The lord blushed and looked away from Jena immediately. 

"Dancing and instruments…" Walter muttered, looking up at Maria, "what else can you do?"

Maria froze for a moment, thinking about it. She looked back at Walter and shrugged. "I'm not all that sure actually," she chuckled, "I have a lot I haven't tried out yet."

Walter stared at her for a moment before breaking into laughter. He had meant that comment as a rhetorical question, it didn't need to have an answer but just she gave it one. He smiled. 'How cute.'

He clapped his hands together and nodded towards the crowd. "Looks like the flood has dispersed a bit, we can start moving now," he smiled. He looked back at the group, at the women and men alike. "Please be careful not to get caught up in the waves of people."

His eyes rested on Annabeth specifically before he beamed again and turned around, raising his fist into the air. "Now, charge on people!"

Maria chuckled, agreement with Walter's chant. "March on!"

There's a light wave of laughter in the group as they begin to move through the ground. Antonio followed them closely, slightly excited to be able to do ballroom dancing. Even more excited at the chance to ask Annabeth for a dance. He continued walking for a moment when he paused, not feeling her presence beside him.

He turned around, anxiety on his face as he searched for Annabeth and she was right behind him, following him closely. 

A deep breath left his mouth as he reached down to grab her hand when he realized something. He was already holding it. He looked at Annabeth who gave him a light chuckle in return. 

"I thought I was going to get lost for a second there too when I realized that I had been holding on to something this entire time," Annabeth smiled, looking down at their hands. She looked up at Antonio, mischievousness flashing in her eyes for a moment. "Or at least been held on to by something."

Antonio blushed, immediately letting go of her arm. 

He turned around and began walking separately. "I am so sorry… I guess I forgot to let go after grabbing your hand from that person-" he was going to continue if he didn't feel a hand slip into his. He turned around to find Annabeth looking up at him nervously. 

"Please… Please don't let go," She muttered, her eyes looking up at him nervously. "I don't want to get lost in here again."

Antonio looked at her blankly and then down to his hand intertwined in hers and then back up to her. He blushed, covering his face with his hand again. "O-ok then…" he stuttered. 

Annabeth smiled, happy that she wasn't about to drown in people. Physical contact with people puts her off guard so in a crowd with people like this, if she gets touched by one person and is immediately worried about it, she'd be soon touched by another and another, she'd be too preoccupied with the excessive physical contact to pay attention. She looked at Antonio's hand. At least now she had a tether. 

Her eyes stared at their hands as they walked through the crowd. She looked at her other hand and then looked at the one holding Antonio's hand tightly. She never noticed how tiny her hands were. She had always thought they were the average size, but now after looking at Antonio's hands, she was starting to reconsider that.

They were large, thick fingers holding her hand tightly and gently at the same time. They almost wrapped around her entire hand and were this odd texture. Not too soft, not too hard, just the right feeling against hers. Best of all, his hands were warm. Not to the point that their hands sweated but to the point that just keeping her hands warm like a fuzzy mitten. 

She looked up at Antonio, only being able to look at his long waves of hair and his ears. They were red. Her head cocked to the side. 'Why were they pink?' she thought to herself, 'it's only my hand… why is he blushing?'

Antonio was on the edge of flying to heaven and melting into a muddle. It was different this time. To hold her hand, he meant. The first time, he didn't like her in that sense and was only simply curious about her face and the way they acted. But now that he was aware of his feelings, everything felt more vivid, he could feel everything around him at this very moment and even smell the scent of her perfume. 

Her hands were small and delicate. A bit rough as certain areas like her fingertips but the rest were slender and long. Her hand was cold to the touch, such soft hands having a certain chill to them that seemed to turn warm after he touched her hand. His blush turned red. He wasn't going to lie. He liked this, he liked holding her hand.

It was scary to be so alert, horrifying to be so aware of his location and situation.

He let out a deep sigh. 'Oh, you're done for, Antonio…'