Inspired by the song Masquerade by Eric Saade

Percabeth

AU

I kind of imagining it being the 1800th century or something, since in my head, the scenery is this huge, light room with a staircase and people in suits and big dresses and the fancy masks.
(but I will not write in 'old English' because no one can read that anyway)

Rated T, just in case :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, nor Percy Jackson. All rights belong to Rick Riordan.

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He watched her from across the room. Even though he considered it rude of him to stare, he couldn't get himself to look away. Not even the red head next to him, who were desperately attempting to get his attention. She was his company for the evening, but he'd had no intentions to actually spend time with her. She was a good friend of his, but it stopped there. The only reason he was at this masquerade at all was merely because the girl had persuaded him to go with her, and Rachel was not the kind of girl you denied. Therefore, he felt rather guilty for not caring about her tonight, but he was hypnotized by the girl across the room. He'd met her gaze a few times, her grey eyes piercing his sea green, through the masks they were both wearing. But mostly, her back was turned toward him, as she talked to some people in front of her. He supposed it was her friends. But the blonde guy made him hesitate. The two of them seemed slightly too intimate to be simply friends. On the other hand, the blonde boy also seemed very close to another girl, with black short hair, next to him. Perhaps the three of them were merely close friends. But something itched within him, telling him there was something else.

"Percy!" he jumped when someone yelled his name and turned to look at Rachel. "You've been ignoring me for the past hour. Were you planning on talking to me at all tonight?" she said, her voice sounding annoyed. There was something else too, that he couldn't place. He just stared at her, blinking, not knowing what to really say. She groans and rolls her eyes at him, before storming away, leaving him there alone. After a few seconds around again, to watch the girl's blonde curls fall down her back. Instead, he finds that she is walking toward him. His breath gets caught in his throat and his heart starts racing. When she reaches him, he avoids her gaze at first, not being able to meet her stunning, grey eyes through her mask. But when her voice fills his ears, he's forced to look at her.

"Would you not consider it rude to stare at a girl for hours, and not ask her to dance?" He felt his cheeks heat and tried to swallow the nervousness, and made an attempt to speak to her. It sounded something like "eeeghhuuu" and he mentally slapped himself. The girl laughed shortly, before glaring at him. That surprised him enough to make his voice work again.

"What?" he said and she rolled her eyes at him, like he was an idiot, which he kind of was.

"Are you going to ask me to dance or not?" she snapped. Suddenly, it clicked in his head. She wanted him to ask her to dance.

"Oh. Oh! Yeah, oh, um… Will you… Do you… Can I-" he stumbled on the words. "Do you want to dance?" he managed to get out.

"Okay." She says and takes his hand, leading him out on the dance floor. He looked around him and saw that most people had paused in their actions and watched him and the girl, including her friends. He felt uncomfortable with all the people watching him, but as she pulled him close to her and a new song started, everyone else disappeared. At first, he almost believed she would be the one to lead, but the thought seemed ridiculous, and apparently, she thought so too, given from the glare she gave him. So he started moving and she followed. He was not the best of dancers, since he's spent his entire life working in the stables at the castle. He was only here because Rachel had brought him, and her parents had a very high status. He had heard a lot about the Dare couple's wild, rebellious daughter, mostly gossip about how, if this had been two hundred years ago, she would have been burned at the stake after being accused for witchcraft. Now, they just whispered about public execution, preferably hanging. At least, according to the elder ladies whom he overheard at the market while buying food for the horses.

When he retold what he'd heard to the other children at the stable, he got horrified reactions. Especially from the little girl, Hazel. She was so filled with pure innocence and an unlimited love for horses. She was very fond of Rachel, who would come to visit the stables rather often. Rachel treated Hazel like a sister and the two were very close, even though Rachel was a few years older, the same age as Percy.

Frank, a boy who also worked at the stables, just the year younger than Percy, also got upset when Percy told them what he'd heard, but not because of what Percy said, but because Hazel got upset. Frank was extremely protective of Hazel, and always comforted her when she was sad.

Percy felt someone tap his shoulder and quickly turned around. Behind him was the blonde boy who was a friend of Percy's dance partner.

"May I take over from here?" he said. Percy quickly took a step back, away from the girl.

"What do you want, Luke?" the girl said. Percy never heard the answer, as he decided it was better to leave. He quickly made his way back to his old place, only to see Rachel standing there, watching him with wide eyes.

"What?" he said.

"What was that?" she whispered angrily. He looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?" he replied. She grabbed his hand and whisked him away, towards the door, not stopping until they were outside, on the staircase.

"I mean, why were you dancing with her!?" Rachel said, her voice becoming slightly shrill.

"I don't know, she came up to me and-" "You were staring at her! All night!" "I was not, I just-" "Do you think she's pretty?" "I don't know, I never saw her face!" "But you do know what she looks like!" "Rachel, I don't even know her!" She sighed irritated and threw her arms out dramatically.

"Fine! Live in your imagination! But no matter what you tell yourself, there can never be anything between the two of you. You'll never be good enough for her. She would never settle with you, she doesn't consider you worthy her. So don't think she's interested in you or anything. In best case, she only wanted to punish her father. Sir Chase has not been very generous lately. Of course, he's just manipulated by his wife. But remember this, Percy, she will never think of you as worthy her. So if she breaks your heart, you can count on me to be there and tell you 'I told you so'." With that, she stormed off, into the castle again. Her words still echoed in his mind… she doesn't consider you worthy her… you'll never be good enough… Sir Chase… Sir Chase! The blonde girl was his daughter? Sir Chase, and his wife Mrs. Chase, were the most respected people in the area. They were the hosts' of almost all events arranged, including this evening's masquerade.

That's why everyone had been staring at him when she pulled him out on the dance floor. They didn't consider him worthy either. But how could they know who he was? He was wearing a mask, like everyone else. There was no way they possibly could have recognized him. Of course they knew who Sir Chase's daughter was. That must have been the reason they were looking at them, because the daughter of Sir Chase pulled a stranger out on the dance floor.

He didn't return inside. Instead, he hurried away from the castle, back to the stables. He avoided Hazel and Frank, not wanting to tell them about the night just yet. He would rather sleep on it first. He changed out of the suit Rachel had fixed for him, and laid down on the dirty mattress on the stable floor. He fell asleep in just a few minutes.

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Hope you guys liked the first chapter!

Please review, I wanna know if I should continue the story! :)