Annabeth knew that this was a bad idea the second Percy brought it up. She should've shut it down, right then, but she didn't and now she's stuck at someone's wedding in uncomfortable high heels and Percy's hand alarmingly close to her ass.

All Percy has to do is take one look at her before he looks like he's going to have a stroke from holding in his laughter.

Annabeth adjusts the sleeve of her black cocktail dress, roughly shoving his arm away from her. "Shut up."

Percy isn't deterred. His arm makes its way back to her waist, the other sneaking around this time so that she is trapped in his arms. He brushes his lips against her ear. "Do you really find me that repulsive?"

"Overbearingly so," she grunts as she tries to pry his hands apart from in front of her. "Let go."

She thinks Percy is going to fight her, just like he has done with everything she's ever said in her entire life, but instead he let her slip out from his grasp, smothering a smile with his fist. "Do you need a break?"

Annabeth takes a moment to look outside the glass doors of the wedding venue. They're high up in the building, and she can see the snowflakes swirling to the ground outside, but she was already imagining the cold wind against her cheeks. "Yeah," she breathes, "I do."

It takes a lot of winding in and out of the crowd before they're even able to reach the doors. Annabeth isn't entirely sure whose wedding this is, but she'd like to have a talk about the guest list because this was just insane. Percy holds open the door for her, which actually causes her to blink in surprise, before she slides through. The door closes with a click behind them, the blasting music fading to nothing but a dull thrum.

The wind feels icy against her skin as she approaches the railing of the terrace. It's nighttime, and they're so high up she can see everything in the New York skyline. The roads are bustling with people and cars because this is the city that never sleeps, and she watches it to calm herself down. She hadn't even realized how tense she had been, but she supposes she's always been that way in new situations.

Percy slides in next to her, leaning forwards and lacing his fingers together on the rail. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be honest and say that this is a little weird," she says. Her eyes trace over every building in the horizon. "Being on a date with someone who hates you."

"I don't hate you," he says. Annabeth shoots him a look. "I just strongly dislike you."

"And somehow I ended up as your date to the wedding."

"Thought the architecture in you would appreciate the skyline."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

"I'm being serious."

Annabeth hums in doubt, and they fall back into silence. There's something ethereal about New York at night. It's sublime in a way, knowing that there are millions of people on this island, each with their own lives and own stories to tell. It's a concept she can hardly grasp onto, knowing that in the grand scheme of things, she means nothing. To the people around her, sure, but she's just one person in millions who are just trying to survive.

Annabeth sniffles, her nose beginning to run in the cold. Percy doesn't offer her his jacket, and she appreciates it. She never been one to rely on another person like that.

"It's beautiful," he whispers, captivated by the glowing lights. "Isn't it?"

"It's like you read my mind."

"I did," he states.

"Oh, yeah? What am I thinking then?"

Percy gives her a lopsided grin, barely illuminated in the night sky, before he's looking back towards the roads. He breathes in deeply before answering. "You're thinking that everything around us is insane. This view, right here, is heavenly, transcendent—"

"Look at you using big words."

"—and it's meaningless. Something so beautiful would mean something surely, but it really doesn't. We're two people, just like there are two people stepping into a taxi on fifth avenue, or two people walking along the sidewalk. We're just human, and it doesn't really mean anything." He turns to her. "Sure, we all think we're important, because we're the center of our own universe. But if you think about it, we're really only here for maybe seventy years. Whatever we think we accomplish isn't going to matter in a century or two."

Annabeth laughs softly. "You're making me doubt my existence."

"That's what you were thinking though, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. It was. How did you know?"

"I just know you, Annabeth."

And it's weird, because this is the boy that she's been competing with for years. They're constantly at each other's throats, trying to one up the other, and it's exhausting, but invigorating at the same time. Still, to know that he knows her as well as he does is… she doesn't quite know.

"Well, as your supposed enemy, it's my job to disagree with you," Percy continues. "People do matter. They won't last forever, but their legacy will."

Annabeth smirks at him, shifting in an attempt to stay warm in the biting wind. "How so?"

"Time can destroy a lot of things, but it can't destroy art. It can't destroy peoples' words."

"You think so?"

"Isn't that the whole reason you wanted to go into architecture? To build something permanent?"

She pauses and her heart speeds up. It's something she said the first time she met him, and never again since then. It was shared across a late-night library run when they were both studying for their first final, and he had been so distracted she thought he hadn't even heard her. "You remember that?"

He tilts his head. "Of course I do, Annabeth."

"I've never heard that before," she muses. "Art is the only thing that time cannot conquer."

"It's true," he says. "Think Shakespeare, or Van Gogh. They're still remembered to this day. And most people aren't famous until after they die, so even if you think you're nothing but a tiny speck in this universe, just know that the people after you might cherish the ground you walk on." Percy lifts himself off the railing. "You, Annabeth Chase, are going to make a difference."

It's weird, coming from Percy. They're at some random person's wedding, and she's not even sure Percy knows the bride or groom, yet here they are, standing on a balcony over fifty floors high. It's all so surreal.

A shiver rakes over Annabeth's body, and this time Percy doesn't hesitate before he's shrugging off the jacket to his suit and resting it over her shoulders. She protests for only a second, but then the warmth is settling in and she can't bring herself to take it off. It smells subtly of him too, and she never realized how much she likes that before now.

"If it means anything, you're going to make a difference too," Annabeth says, looking him directly in his eyes. She can sense something different in the way he was looking at her. It was something she's never seen before.

"Not all of us were meant to make a difference," he says. "And that's okay."

"Not all of us were," she agrees, "but something tells me that you were."

He gives her a soft grin. "Thank you."

And it's too soft. This moment is something new to the both of them, and she feels a magnetic pull between them, so she forces herself to back up. "Hey, I didn't say it was a good difference. Maybe you're going to push me off this building, and that'll be your legacy."

Percy precariously looks over the edge of the building. "Nah. I'd want to be a little bit higher first, you know? Make sure it's foolproof."

"Fifty floors not enough for you?"

He laughs again and says nothing else. Their eyes lock once again, and she can't bring herself to look away this time.

"Thank you for coming with me," he says, looking back through the glass doors. The party is still in full throttle, and it looks so warm with the hundreds of fairy lights strewn up, but somehow, she doesn't want to go back inside yet. "I really appreciate it."

"I still don't know why you needed me here."

"I already told you. I thought you would enjoy the view."

"You were serious about that?"

"I thought we already covered that."

"Yeah, but." Annabeth swallows her tongue. "Thank you."

Percy shuffles his feet for a few seconds. "Okay, so there is something else I should probably tell you still."

Her face falls. "What?"

"It's not bad or anything."

She breathes a sigh of relief.

"Maybe."

And suddenly, she's back to panicking.

"So you're already aware that you're my date to this thing. We've got that covered."

"Mh-hm."

"At the end of the night, you're going to have to kiss me."

Annabeth does a doubletake. "I'm sorry. What?"

"My aunt is kind of crazy, and she does this thing at weddings where the couples all take one big group picture, and there's always one where they're kissing."

"But… we're not a couple?"

"That's another thing."

"Perseus Jackson."

"I told them that we were dating?"

"Why the fuck would you do that?"

"I panicked! She can be really pushy!"

Annabeth rubs her eyes, forgetting entirely about the full face of makeup she has on. "So you mean to tell me that you told your aunt that we're dating?"

"Yes."

"And now we have to kiss in front of what could be hundreds of people?"

"You got it."

"I'm going to murder you." She takes a deep breath. "There has to be a way out of it. We can just say that we're still pretty new to this, and just don't feel like it's the best idea to be a part of the picture."

"That might work."

Annabeth claps once. "Good."

"Except I told them that we've been dating for two years."

"You told them what?"

"I think they're expecting a proposal soon."

"I—" She lets out a strangled scream. "Why wouldn't you tell them you were with Rachel or something?!"

"Ew. I don't like Rachel."

"And you think I'm any better!?"

"It appears so." Percy watches her pace around, the tiniest gleam of humor in his eyes. "It's just one kiss."

"It's just one kiss," she mocks. "This is embarrassing."

"I won't make you do it, but it'll look really weird if you don't."

"I hate you."

"So you do find me that repulsive then," Percy says. "Nice to know."

"I do not!"

And Percy grins mischievously. "I know. Piper told me the things you said about me."

She chokes. "I'm going to kill both of you now."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Why are you not more panicked?"

"Because it's just a kiss."

She nods and swallows hard. "Just a kiss. You're right. We can do this."

Percy bites his bottom lip, and she knows he's fighting laughter with every fiber of his being.

"Stop laughing at me," she scolds. She looks around once, and the balcony is empty of everyone except them. "Should we… practice?"

It's Percy's turn to look surprised. "Practice kissing?"

"Yes."

"If— if you want to."

Annabeth nods her head. "I feel like we should so we don't humiliate ourselves out there."

Percy shrugs, and a second later, he's tugging her forwards by her waist. She manages to withhold the shriek, pressing her hand to his chest to steady herself. She feels dizzy standing here in his grasp.

"You okay?" he asks again, looking at her in alarm.

"I'm great," she responds weakly.

"Are you okay with this?"

She nods once. "Yes. Just get on with it."

Percy slowly drags her chin up before he captures her lips with his. They stand still as statues, both of them too afraid to move. It's painfully awkward for both parties, and when he pulls away, she fights the urge to burst out laughing in his face.

"That wasn't so bad," he says, but even he doesn't sound convinced.

"It was terrible."

"Downright awful."

Annabeth starts giggling, and she drops her forehead against his chest. He brings his hand to rest on her back, smothering a grin into the top of her hair. It's suddenly as though a weight has been lifted from her shoulders, so she lifts her head again.

"Should we try again?" she asks.

"I mean."

Annabeth falters. "Unless you don't want to."

"No," he says, grinning. "I want to."

"Are you sure?"

"Annabeth."

"What?"

"I want to kiss you."

Her heart stops, and everything fades into the distance. Cars are honking on the ground below, and people are dancing in the room behind her, but all she can focus on is them. He's looking at her so earnestly with something akin to love, and she knows that this must have been building for a long time. Maybe from the second she first met him, but it was always going to come down to this moment here. A moment shared between the two of them and no one else.

The space between them slowly disappears until they're only inches away from one another. She shouldn't be surprised that this is what it's come down to. She was kidding herself if she thought that being his fake date was all that this was.

"Then kiss me," she whispers.

He does.

It's like a spark of electricity flows between them now, and it's nothing like anything she's ever felt before. It's perfect, and it's something that she never wants to forget. She presses herself harder against him, feeling him smile against her.

When he does pull away, she's breathless. He gazes at her with so much emotion that she could break down into tears right then and there, but she doesn't. Instead, she rests her head in the crook of his neck, breathing him in. They sway back and forth silently until Percy speaks up.

"Damn it," he laughs. "Does this mean that our first real kiss was at someone else's wedding?"

"I guess so," she says.

"Is it bad that I don't want our first date to be someone's wedding whose name you don't even know?"

"Not at all."

Percy brings his face back to hers to kiss her one more time. "What do you say we get out of here and go on a real date?"

It's close to midnight, but they live in New York. They have all the time in the world. So she says, with a smile against his lips, "Let's make it a night to remember."

And so with one hand in his, Percy leads her back inside. Annabeth throws one glance over her shoulder to look at the glowing night sky, and they're only two people in a city with millions. Maybe they're not extraordinary, and maybe every person has a story to tell, but this story is hers and she's going to make it count.

yall i forgot about this website and have somehow accumulated thirty fics i havent posted here so haha yikes prepare for an extravaganza I guess. ALSO i am close to finished a decently long one? and im super excited :) enjoy! (also self promo: pls follow me on tumblr if you'd like. it's annabethy. but totally do it thanks)