I know we've been dancing in the light
❆
When she skates, she feels like the universe is watching her.
She glides through the icy surface of the rink and launches herself in the air while spinning her body around then easily touches the floor with her arms elegantly spread wide as she goes to the rhythm of the classical music, indistinct shouts coating the atmosphere mixed with claps.
MJ smiles and rushes to the center of the ice rink where she spins herself around again then gently lowers her back with one leg raised from the ground to start giving the audience the finale of her performance. Slowly, she returns to her usual position and faces the crowd with her left leg tucked behind her right one while a wide smile spreads across her face.
And once the music stops, an uproar of hosannas grows wild while the judges stand up from their seats to clap loudly.
She is Michelle Jones Watson. America's Snow Angel.
People begin to throw flowers at her while MJ bows in gratitude and stays in the middle for several moments until she makes her way to the exit of the rink where the guards open it up and MJ takes off her shoes to begin to walk through the path that leads to the quiet hallway where her room is located.
And as she comes closer, the bigger the tiring she becomes.
MJ throws herself at the couch and releases a frazzled groan with her eyelids shut closed then buries her face into the soft cushions, allowing the drowsiness to take over her until the door suddenly hits the wall with a loud thud, pushing the figure skater out of her supposed nap.
"That. Performance. Was. Amazing!" Betty squeals loudly.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." MJ mutters.
Betty looks at her oddly. "That's all you're gonna say? No ramblings about how great you are?"
"Look, Betty, I'm tired and I need to slee─"
"Where is my talented student?" Janet's voice cuts in and the woman steps into the room, wearing a delighted expression on her face. "Ah, there you are!"
"What is it?" MJ hauls herself by her elbow, looking at her mentor in curiosity.
"I know you're tired and all, so I came here to tell you that you can finally take your vacation." Janet declares. "You've performed two times this month so I'd say you should give yourself a break and unwind."
MJ's face brightens while Betty jumps in joy at the announcement. She spent most of her time skating in the rink more than going out or focusing on something else so finally receiving the chance to be free from performing is her kind of trophy.
Plus, MJ knows Janet has been waiting for this opportunity as much as she ─ the woman misses spending time with her family, especially with her new step-granddaughter, and getting to work at the lab once again.
"Oh! We should go to this lakehouse on Long Island!" Betty exclaims once Janet leaves the room.
MJ raises an eyebrow. "Lakehouse? What─"
"A friend of mine named Ned invited me to tag along after his best friend's hockey team won this month's game and they decided to spend the winter season at the lakehouse." Betty says.
"And who is this best friend of 'Ned' you say?" MJ cocks her head to the side.
"Peter Parker. The Midtown Striders' captain!"
She jolts straight up from the couch, eyes widened and there's no sign of fatigue in them anymore. "Shut. Up."
"It's true." Betty rolls her eyes. "If you don't believe me, then you owe me fifty bucks when we get there!"
MJ groans. "Okay, okay, fine. I believe you."
Her friend's face reverts to its mettlesome expression. "Great! Now, pack your bags while I pack mine. We're leaving in five minutes!"
Guess I'll just take a nap on the way. She thinks and stretches her arms out until she hears a small crack coming somewhere in her body before heading to the dressing room to start picking which clothes she should bring.
Hopefully, she won't feel like an outsider at the lakehouse.
Just like everybody else, MJ knows the famous hockey team called Midtown Striders and had watched their game once. She can vividly recall how numerous girls were cheering tremendously for Peter Parker, who is the star each time he appears and the so-called backbone of the team due to his speed and agility when aiming for the goal.
She's also aware of the fact that he is very close to the world's biggest billionaire ─ Tony Stark ─ that several journalists suspect that Tony treats Peter as his son which gives the speculation of him being the heir of the Stark Industries in the future.
Peter sure does hold such a big name.
Nonetheless, MJ just prays that this vacation will go on nicely with no drama.
= × =
"Dude, can you please get that camera off my face?" Harley grumbles, eyebrows furrowed as he pays attention to the chapter he's reading.
"I will. If you stop reading that comic and enjoy the view outside!" Peter smirks.
"Quit it! I'm close to finishing this!" Harley holds his comic to his face to hide from the camera.
"Isn't that what you said like an hour ago?"
Infuriated, Harley reaches his arm out to grab the camera which Peter quickly moves away with a crackle then settles back to his seat across his close friend and turns the camera's angle to the window, watching trees blur past with heaps of snow gathered up everywhere.
Peter, Ned, Harley, and Flash are going to spend the entire winter season at the Stark lake house as a celebration of their team's win. It was supposed to be the entire time but the rest of the guys have other plans so it's just the four of them and other than being the driver, Happy still serves as the guardian of the squad just to prevent any 'chaos' from appraising.
The van finally arrives at the entrance of the house and the boys quickly grab their bags from under the seats to make their way out of the vehicle, completely ignoring whatever Happy has left to say. Peter is the first one to get out then smiles cheekily at his camera before switching its direction to the beautiful house standing in front of him.
The lake house is simpler than any infrastructure Tony owns, yet is big enough for the family and friends to stay on. He designed it for family matters and as a beautiful place for spending vacation. But since winter has started, the lake is frozen solid so it gives an opportunity for the hockey players to skate around or have a match.
"Alright, everyone, stay here while I open the house and you guys head to your rooms to get some rest." Happy declares, bringing out the key from his pockets then starts grumbling about all of the keys being identical.
"Mr. Hogan? Can I stay here for a few minutes?" Ned raises his hand. "I actually invited another person to spend the break with us."
"Why didn't your friend join us on the van?" Harley raises an eyebrow.
"Well, she─" Ned stops his sentence at the sound of honking and the group turns their gazes to the bright blue car.
"Is that Betty?" Flash squints his eyelids.
Then, the driver's window slides down to reveal a young girl with blonde hair and she reaches out to wave her hand. "Hey, everyone!"
It takes several seconds before Peter realizes she's the girl who shared a lot of classes with Ned and the girl whom his best friend used to date yet remains close friends with. The thought still amazes him.
Betty gets out of the car and strides to the truck where she takes out her bags yet what catches Peter's attention the most is when another person steps out of the passenger's seat, however, he couldn't make out the face except for the chocolate curly hair that is most likely belongs to a female.
Perhaps Betty tagged another person along on this vacation.
He waits for the two girls to get their bags until he finally catches the sight of the girl and thunder of realization quickly strikes his mind, getting completely familiar with the girl and is pretty sure he had seen her somewhere on the television. One of the greatest figure skaters of the generation.
"Is that. . . Michelle Jones Watson?!" Flash's jaw drops like it could reach the snowy ground. "America's Snow Angel?!"
Betty laughs and nudges the girl next to her. "Surprise! Bet y'all didn't expect that I'm friends with a fantastic figure skater right here!"
"This is so cool!" Ned exclaims ecstatically then frowns. "You should've at least told me, you know?"
While the others make their approach to the famous ice skater, Peter stays on his spot as if his feet became frozen by the snow. He'd seen her performances ─ well, only on the TV or via the internet and couldn't help but be enamored with the way she moves like the world isn't watching her.
Harley's voice slices through his mind. "Hey, Pete! Come and introduce yourself!"
He shakes his head and walks toward the newcomers then internally practices his introduction so he won't make a bad expression in front of the figure skater. He first shakes hands with Betty before facing MJ, trying to keep a cordial face while his heart is close to jumping up to his throat and then messing everything up.
Peter clears his throat. "I'm─"
"Peter Parker. The Captain of Midtown Striders, won a lot of trophies throughout the years of playing hockey, the ex-boyfriend of Liz Allen, and the 'son' of Tony Stark." She says.
Her words unknowingly leave everyone speechless while it leaves Peter having his mouth open. MJ just arches a brow as she looks around, seeing the looks each person is giving her.
"What?" She shrugs her shoulders. "He's a celebrity, of course I know some things about him. I'm not that obsessed."
"But the public never knew he dated Liz Allen, MJ." Betty says.
A wave of embarrassment flushes through MJ yet she never shows it to everyone and turns to Peter, flashing him a grin. "Sorry. I found that out from my coach, Janet Van Dyne."
"Oh, hey, that's Scott Lang's mother-in-law!" Harley chuckles.
"Yeah, but she doesn't like to be referred by that." MJ snickers.
"Alright, kids, we're good to─" Happy pauses when his eyes widen. "Michelle Jones?!"
"I prefer to be called MJ." She grumbles.
Happy lets out a laugh. "Right, I apologize for that." He gestures to the house. "You kids go and choose whatever guest rooms you want."
Harley, Ned, Peter, and Flash take off running to the open door while the girls aren't so far behind, quietly chatting with each other about how beautiful the lake house looks. Even though he's been at the house for a long time, it still never fails to amaze Peter.
With the walls being in mahogany color and the scent that could make someone feel safe, the lake house remains one of the best places on Earth for him. Numerous photos clung to the walls and on the shelves, along with most of the Midtown Striders' trophies that Tony had insisted on keeping just to show off.
Peter heads to the first shelf and picks up one of the pictures, smiling at the photo of Thor holding him in bridal style while Tony is holding up the golden trophy with a bright grin as if he's the one who had won the championship. One of the best memories.
"You look short in there."
He jumps that he loses grasp on the picture and thankfully, he manages to grab the corner of the frame before its glass could shatter on the ground. Peter takes a deep breath in relief then turns to face MJ with a cold look.
"Sorry." She holds up both of her hands and the smirk is evident on her face as if she's trying yet failing to conceal it.
"You could give me a heart attack, you know?" Peter glowers.
MJ laughs. "Geez, I thought you're the kind of person who wouldn't mind being pranked. I'll see you later then!"
With that, she turns around to climb up the stairs while Peter watches from his spot until he shakes his head with a sigh, placing back the picture frame, then adjusts the strap of his knapsack over his shoulder and makes his way to the second floor.
= × =
"Looks like this winter break is going to be interesting," Harley smirks as he brings his clothes out of the luggage to put them on the floor, creating a pile, "a famous hockey player and a famous figure skater in one place!"
"What are you saying?" Peter stares at him while inserting hangers into his shirts to sling them on the cabinet.
"Isn't MJ your celebrity crush?" His friend raises a brow.
"I─ I guess? Maybe? No? But still, I don't wanna come out as weird to her." Peter shrugs his shoulders.
Harley snickers. "Figures. You looked so nervous when I called you to introduce yourself."
"At least I didn't freeze." He rolls his eyes.
"Ha! So you admit it!"
Peter crumples his jacket into a ball to throw at him which Harley just bursts out laughing. One of his many secrets is that Peter has taken a liking toward Michelle Jones after watching her performance a year ago and even a couple of her interviews, it's her beauty and sense of humor that got him.
A moment later, the two find themselves spread over the bedsheets while staring at the ceiling in silence. Unpacking hadn't taken much of their energy though, Peter and Harley have this habit together of laying on any surface and then staring blankly at the ceiling above them. Ned would even sometimes join them too.
Speaking of which, the door creaks open by none other than Ned himself.
"Oh, hey, guys! So I was thinking. . . " He then clears his throat and lets out an exhilarating smile on his face. "We should go and hang out at the lake!"
"Can we do that later?" Harley groans and brings a pillow over his face. "I'm tired."
Ned laughs. "Alright, alright, of course."
Then, he joins the two of them on the bed and lays next to Peter with his hands interlaced together on his stomach, releasing a relieved sigh. The trio lay on the king-sized bed in silence and bask on the warmth the room is bringing, the journey all the way here has been tiring yet napping on the van didn't do much help.
After several moments of silence, Ned speaks once again.
"Do you know that Mr. Stark and the rest of the team are coming here as well?" He says.
Peter stares at his best friend in tremendous shock. "What?!"
❆