Name: Willow

Title: The Most Charming of Princes

Prompt: 18. "So how's the kissing scene going?" "..." *At the same time* "Excuse me?"

Cohort/Team: Third/Offense

Words: 1223

Notes: Human AU.

If anyone had asked Jason two weeks ago if he would audition for a school play, they would have gotten a resounding no.

However, after some of his friends had wheedled him into it, Jason had auditioned. Much to his surprise and mounting dread, he had gotten one of the lead roles.

He was so grateful to Leo and Piper for making him audition.

Apparently, his "perfectly rugged stature" and "occasional bouts of grumpiness" (thanks, Piper and Leo) made him the perfect…

Shrek.

As much as it pained him, Jason would have to play Shrek in the upcoming play. Blonde hair and green face paint and all. Leo was enjoying his embarrassment far too much for his liking.

Why was Jason doing this in the first place? Well, his friends had used one reason, and one reason only - that Jason hadn't done anything else "exciting" in all of his years in high school. And while he supposed one could argue that as being true, Jason simply thought his "lack of excitement" was due to a trait some of his friends lacked: sensibility.

And yes, he was talking about Leo.

The only good thing about it was that Piper would be playing Fiona. At least she would have to endure the green face paint as well. But aside from petty thoughts of revenge, Jason was quite glad Piper would be playing Fiona. At least he wouldn't be stuck acting with some random person he didn't know.

Even better, he wouldn't be stuck with Drew Tanaka, who had also auditioned and had loudly expressed interest in playing Fiona.

He had been rather surprised Drew had wanted to play Fiona, especially considering she would have to play someone who transformed into an ogre/troll thing at night, and then permanently at the end of the story.

(In truth, Jason had never watched Shrek and still didn't entirely understand the plot. Apparently a donkey fell in love with a dragon, or vice versa. But either way, it didn't make sense at all. )

After a brief period of sulking and complaining that Piper had gotten the part (approximately ten minutes), Drew had turned her attention to her actual part - "Young Fiona", who would not be turning into an ogre/troll in the play. According to Drew, "Young Fiona" was a far better role for her, even if it was a minor role.

Jason couldn't really complain. It meant he had little to no interactions with her.

Which was really a good thing - he had practically no experience in acting. Having one more distraction would not help his situation. Memorizing lines was one thing, but putting on a show of emotion and pretending to be Shrek? Jason was surprised the director of the play hadn't kicked him out ages ago.

Two weeks in, and Jason had barely gotten accustomed to his lines and role.

Piper had been a great help to him. While practicing their lines together was help on its own, Piper also talked him out of quitting the play whenever his doubts rose. Actually, that might not have been a help and more of a curse to Jason - he didn't know.

Either way, Jason was now stuck going to rehearsal every Monday, Thursday, and Friday which was where he was at that moment. His thoughts were interrupted by a strangely gleeful voice.

"How does it feel to be playing the most charming, handsome, princely of princes in history-"

"Shut up, Leo."

Jason's response was immediate as he turned to face one of his best friends, Leo. He had received this question approximately fifteen times from Leo, all posed in differently, and it had gone from mildly annoying to extremely aggravating. It was mostly when he was bored - and as he was simply a member of the stage crew, most of his time (if not all) during rehearsals was spent waiting on the sidelines. And for a person like Leo, that was incredibly boring. So, he sought ways to… annoy other people when other methods of entertainment failed.

Putting on a face of mock betrayal, Leo put a hand on his heart. "I'm offended! As the most important person in this production, the person in charge of the lights, is that really how you speak to me?"

"If that's the way you talk to us, then yes," another person interjected, swatting Leo with her script.

"Hey Piper," Jason said lightly, smiling. He ignored Leo, who pouted next to him.

For a moment, Leo scrunched his face, attempting to think of a way to annoy them some more for his own personal entertainment.

"So how's the kissing scene going?" he asked, his eyes gleaming wickedly.

Piper and Jason stared at Leo blankly for a few seconds. Feeling his face heating up, Jason sputtered. While he did have a small crush on Piper, that didn't mean he was going to act upon it.

"Excuse me?" they asked at the same time.

Leo grinned. "Hm? Didn't you two ever watch the movie? At the end, Fiona and Shrek kiss and live happily ever after. Duh. Anyway, I've got places to be, so bye!" He hurried away, perhaps to avoid Piper's glare.

"We have a kissing scene?" Piper asked faintly. "I thought they would skip over it."

Jason, who was hurriedly flipping through his script, sighed. "No, it's right here," he said, pointing to a certain page. "... Ugh. I'm sorry… I didn't know we would have to… kiss."

"Well, it's all for the sake of the play." Piper grimaced, attempting not to sound too awkward. "We can just… ignore it if you want… I guess?"

"Of course," Jason agreed immediately, lowering the script to his side. "We can always ask if it can be taken out."

"Nah, it's not worth getting that upset over. It's just a one time thing, right?"

"Yup."

"Good," said Piper, sounding relieved. She shuffled slightly, clearly a little uncomfortable. "I wouldn't want things to get… weird."

Jason nodded. "Let's move on from it… Leo was just bored, I guess." He rolled his shoulders, and cracked his knuckles, yawning.

"Mhm. I am so teasing him about Calypso after for revenge."

Looking at Piper in confusion, Jason's face scrunched slightly in confusion. "Calypso?" He tried to place the name and failed, wondering how Leo and Piper knew the person.

"A girl in choir I know," Piper said off-handedly. "She, Leo, and I share a study. He has a pretty big crush on her."

"Okay-" Jason shrugged noncommittally, his mind already turning to other matters - "shall we get ready, then? Our turn is coming up."

"Oh yeah," Piper responded, already turning to go. "That Lord Farquaad - Octavian, right? - always takes so long to get his scenes right." She dragged out the "so"; Jason could almost hear her rolling her eyes.

"I'm surprised you hadn't met him until now," Jason commented as they walked out of the room towards the stage. "He's known for being… a bit snobbish."

Piper snorted. "That's being lenient," she muttered. Letting out an amused huff, Jason shook his head.

He was glad that after the initial… awkwardness, they seemed to be getting back to their normal companionship. And Jason was glad for that - he may have a crush on her, but he was more than happy with saying friends with Piper.

It was all he needed.

A/N: I must say, I have never watched Shrek. But, I haven't watched that many fairy-tale related movies, so Shrek it was. Also, have I mentioned I detest writing dialogue? It is the worst, hardest, most annoying part of writing for me. Even this prompt had far too much dialogue for me, and it isn't even one of the more dialogue-y things I've written. Oh well.