Jeremy Belpois was wrong.

This was fairly surprising, as the teen was "quite the intelligent one", as one of his parent's friends had once put it. There was no denying this, of course, as Jeremy Belpois had saved the world more than once and remained sane while doing it. That probably deserved a medal.

However, this was ice-skating, not saving the world—and in Jeremy's opinion, much more difficult.

Jeremy had almost been positive he would regret this, that he was not going to be able to sit down properly because of the number of bruises on his—well, he had been positive he would regret giving Aelita that extra ten minutes.

He had been wrong.

"Keep looking at me," she commanded, though it was hardly necessary. Their hands were clasped fairly loosely after Aelita had reminded Jeremy several times that she couldn't use her fingers if he broke them. His gaze was locked on Aelita; somehow, miraculously, he was still standing. He hadn't even fallen once since she brought him on like this.

But Jeremy couldn't get over how pretty she was, concentrating fiercely like this. They stared at each other openly. In any other situation, Jeremy would have already averted his eyes by now in embarrassment. He felt like he couldn't now, though; some irresistible force just kept his eyes connected to Aelita's and promised that, as long as he looked at her like this, he would be able to stand.

"See?" She laughed as she skated backwards slowly. Jeremy followed carefully.

"Wow," was all Jeremy could say. He was certainly surprised. He glanced away as Aelita did for half a second.

That was a short time, but big mistake. He slipped and fell toward Aelita, bringing them both down onto the ice. Jeremy blushed and began apologizing even though the pinkette was just laughing.

He began to push himself up when a loud crack sounded. He froze in his position; Aelita's smile suddenly disappeared.

Jeremy watched in growing horror as cracks in the ice branched out from his fingertips. He held his breath, not daring to move.

"Jeremy…" Aelita whispered.

"Don't. Move."

People were shouting. Everyone had to be off the ice by now, Jeremy thought. He was staring at Aelita. Willing his face to be expressionless, even though his heart was pounding fiercely; even though he felt heavier by the second.

"Don't move!" He recognized Jim's shout. He didn't even want to look up.

"Jeremy," Aelita said again, more worriedly this time. "What's happening?"

"Nothing. Just—" He had an idea. "Aelita, turn around. Slowly. Very, very slowly. Okay?"

"I—"

"Okay?" he demanded.

She turned on the ice obediently, using careful moments as he had instructed. Her back brushed his chest as her smaller body curled under his.

"Crawl."

"What?"

"Move!" The urgency and tone of his voice surprised himself so much that Jeremy had to blink and repeat himself. "Move."

The girl shuffled forward on all fours. He heard Aelita suck in her breath as she noticed the cracks in the ice, but she continued moving. Another loud crack split the air and she froze. "Jeremy."

"Don't move!" he reminded her, swallowing as the cracks underneath him became more numerous. One wrong move, and that was it. But he wasn't going to even try until Aelita was completely off the ice.

"Aelita, over here!" Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi had made a chain from the bench to the ice. Odd, the lightest one, stood at the edge of the ice with his fingers outstretched.

"C'mon, Princess."

Aelita carefully began shuffling forward again, monitoring the ice below her, until she was close enough. They gripped hands, and the chain started moving in, until they were all in a heap in the snow.

Jeremy watched the whole time with a knot in his stomach. As she reached the other side, the knot loosened slightly.

"Now you, Einstein," Odd called. The chain began to unravel again.

Jeremy swallowed and shook his head. His hands were getting painfully cold, and his arms were shaking. But he couldn't move. There were too many cracks beneath his feet.

There was a crowd of people clustered around the pond. Jim tried unsuccessfully to shoo them away; he was on the phone with someone, frantically moving about the edge of the pond.

All Jeremy saw was the cracks beneath his hands.

He had to sit up. His arms were too weak. Jeremy moved backwards slightly so his weight was on his lower half, anticipating the noise with a sense of dread.

He wasn't disappointed. It was smaller this time but no less nauseating.

"Einstein!"

The chain had grown longer. Yumi and Ulrich stood at the bench while Emily held to Ulrich; a smaller, blond girl held to her, and finally, there was still Odd at the end. He was much closer, straining his arms and eyeing the ice anxiously.

"Hurry up, would you? I haven't got all day." It was a lame attempt at a joke.

Jeremy was grateful for it. He was within a yard of the fingers; Odd was dangerously close.

He took a breath. He couldn't sit here all day waiting for the ice to break. Summoning his courage, Jeremy shuffled forward as Aelita, resisting the urge to wince at the cracks he heard. He stretched out his hand, careful to keep his balance.

Two feet.

More cracks appeared. How had Odd not fallen in yet? How had he not fallen in yet?

One foot.

There were cracks blossoming under his feet too. Odd swallowed.

There was a hand's length distance between them.

Come on… Come on… Just a little closer…

Then the ice broke.

All too suddenly, there was nothing under his knees. He was falling. Odd lunged for him and brushed his fingers. His legs were cold. Then his body was cold. His arms. He was closing his eyes. It was cold, painfully cold, too cold. He couldn't breath. Shards pieced his lungs and his body. It was too cold. Too cold.

Jeremy was aware of every single detail as if they were being reported to him. Somewhere he had the sense to shrug off his coat; some pressure lifted from his shoulders, following the lift from his feet. His skates must have slipped off.

It was then that the panic came.

Jeremy's eyes shot open. The water was dark and progressively became clearer if you looked up to the air, the wonderful air. He needed that air. Instinctively he tried to kick but his limbs felt frozen.

It was too cold.

Jeremy inhaled frantically. Pain scratched against his lungs and he coughed; black dots crept across his vision.

Drowning is painful.

A feeling of numbness spread over him. He couldn't move; he wasn't thinking properly, he just knew that Aelita was safe and where he needed to get desperately—the surface—was getting farther and farther away.

Before he blacked out, he saw a flash of pink.

The numbness became complete.

He was cold.

The first thing Jeremy knew was that was not right. He was not cold; rather, he was warm. He was surprisingly warm.

And he could breath.

Memory came like a slap. Broken images forced their way into his mind, horrible feelings; he could hear shouting in his mind. Jeremy let this happen. He didn't have a choice. He simply could not think of anything else to do, or didn't know how to stop it.

When there were enough pictures and sounds to make sense of, he remembered.

His eyes shot open.

"You're awake!" came a delighted and relieved sigh.

He was staring at a blurry something. A blurry pink something entered his field of vision; after a moment, Jeremy recognized Aelita's voice.

"Aelita," he said, and the word came out as a gasp. "Are you…? Is everyone…? What happened?" He sat up and then wished he hadn't for several reasons.

One, his head hurt.

Two, the covers slide down to his waist, and that made him not warm. He did not want to be not warm.

Three, and most especially: he was in his underwear.

Jeremy fell back onto the bed, yanking the covers back up. He felt himself blush.

She didn't seem to notice. "Thank God you're safe." She found his hand and squeezed it, then handed him back his glasses. Jeremy thankfully slid them on, and with Aelita's help, sat up with the covers pulled up high.

He looked around. He was in the infirmary. His eyes scanned the empty room, then alighted on a sleeping woman on the next bed over.

"Leanne," he said in surprise.

"Yeah." Aelita wrung her hands. "She happened to be at the park and came running. She brought us back to the infirmary. She's been waiting here with me for most of the night and a lot of the day."

"Us?" Jeremy started, shaking his head. "Wait, most of the night? Wait up. What happened?"

"You fell," she said solemnly. "I… I jumped in after you. The ice broke under Odd, but the chain was strong enough to bring us all in. Leanne brought us to the infirmary in her car…" She took his hand again. "Yolanda checked you out, along with another nurse, and figured out that you were fine." She sighed. "But I was scared to death."

Jeremy squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You… you jumped in after me?"

"Of course," she said, like he should've known that.

"Aelita… Don't you ever do that again."

It was Aelita's turn to be surprised. "W…What?"

"That was dangerous," Jeremy said fiercely. "Don't you ever do that again!"

Aelita became affronted. "What? You've jumped in water to save me once before."

"In a nine foot deep school pool that wasn't below freezing temperature," he said bluntly. "And there were people right by the pool, including a PE teacher."

"You've made your point," she said quickly. "But what would you have done?"

Jeremy's protesting fell silent. She had gotten him there.

"That's what I thought." She too fell silent, pulling her legs to her chest. Jeremy noticed that she was wearing maroon sweats, a simple outfit that she managed to make look good.

"Thank you," he said after several seconds. "For… saving me. And thanks to everyone else. But…" He struggled with the impulse for a moment, turning red. He beckoned to her.

"Hmm?" she leaned in closer, and Jeremy kissed her on the cheek.

Aelita's eyes widened. Then she grinned, pleasantly surprised. Jeremy was smiling shyly.

He cleared his throat after a moment, looking down. "Uh, Aelita? What—um, where are my—"

"Odd and Ulrich took them off," she said, sliding off her chair and walking over to a pile of clothes. She brought them back to Jeremy. "Here."

"Okay, thanks," he said, rifling through the pile. He gripped the blankets, glancing at Aelita uncertainly.

"Oh, right, sorry," she said and turned so she faced the opposite direction. She heard the covers rustle as Jeremy began to dress. "Odd and Ulrich are still probably sleeping. You know how they are. Oh, speaking of, I promised I'd call Yumi when you woke up. Everyone's been worried sick, and you have no idea how guilty Jim is for letting us skate on that dangerous ice."

"It's not his fault." Jeremy didn't love the gym teacher, but he had acquired a certain fondness over the years for him, and certainly didn't want to see him booted out. "He's not going to get fired, is he?"

"I don't think so, since all of us are fine."

"Oh, good." He tapped Aelita's shoulder and she turned around, grinning.

"What?"

"I always liked your blue one better," she said.

Jeremy smiled.

A growling noise interrupted them.

"Is that you?" Aelita asked, stifling a giggle.

"I'm hungry," Jeremy said unnecessarily. "What day is it?"
"You slept through the night; there are no classes today, though. It's just about nine."

"I'm really hungry then."

"Alright, Odd," she said, rolling her eyes. But she was smiling. "It's a little late for breakfast, but I'm sure they'll make an exception."

"Race you," Jeremy challenged.

"I would, but Yolanda said to take it easy." She took his hand. "No running for you."

"You sound like a mom."

"And don't forget to brush your teeth."

"Funny."

But they walked to the cafeteria, hand in hand, with Jeremy whistling happily the whole way.

I feel like I kind of rushed where the ice was cracking, but I did it because I didn't want to sound too serious since this is meant to be light fluff?

The next one will actually be a more serious discussion about their relationship, but I can't do serious for too long unless it's angst.