In Percy's opinion, the costumes are the worst part. (Almost. Almost the worst part, he'd correct himself later.)

Rachel looks really nice. Her outfit's a bit busy—shiny black leggings, a shirt that matches her hair (the hair that matches her eyes), a studded leather jacket, and a tangled mess of necklaces—but it makes her look very…villainous. Not in a bad way, he doesn't think.

His own costume, however, is the most embarrassing thing he's ever worn. They aren't bedsheet togas—this is modern mythology, he guesses—but it's nothing close to his style. (Never mind that he doesn't really have a style. If he did, it wouldn't be this.)

He's wearing a white vee-neck that makes him feel exposed, a denim blazer that makes him feel like an 80's douche, and mustard yellow skinny jeans, which just make him feel sick. A maroon scarf—one that makes him want to jump directly into the pits of hell—completes the look.

He'd definitely put up a fight when he left the bathroom, faced with Piper's permanent grin.

"I look like an idiot!"

"You look like a self-absorbed, overdressed Instagram model! Which is good! That's what you're supposed to look like!"

"Why do you even own this stuff?"

"That's none of your business, Jackson."

But his costume isn't the worst one, even counting the scarf. Not that he likes wearing it, because he definitely doesn't, but at least he doesn't have to see himself wearing it.

Annabeth Chase is pretty. Gorgeous, if he's being honest—so is Rachel. And Piper. (They must've been a stupidly attractive trio in middle school.) She wears a lot of sweaters and oversized tee-shirts from volunteer projects; sometimes a loose-fitting button down. A lot of cardigans, too, usually with jeans. Nothing hideous, not that it matters, but nothing that a teacher, parent, or nun would turn their nose up at.

The contrast between what she usuallyy wears and...well, this...it's probably why Percy can't keep himself from glancing at her every few seconds. It's really, really bad.

She's in some weird flowy shirt. The shoulders are missing, but it still has sleeves, which seems kind of stupid to him. It does look kind of Greek-style—Grecian—though. If that even means anything. She's also wearing denim shorts; it may be forty degrees here, but Piper claims this whole story is set in California.

He hadn't been able to see her legs very well the last time he (don't think about it) had the chance to, and they're more than a bit distracting. Every time Percy looks at her, he feels like an asshole.

The costumes were absolutely, totally, undeniably almost the worst part.

.

"You're so mean, hun," Percy whines.

"You're such an idiot, babe," Annabeth shoots back in a mocking tone.

"You know you love me." He shifts gears quickly, winking in a way that Annabeth tries to ignore.

She sighs with a smile. "Yeah, I do."

Percy grins, Annabeth rolls her eyes, and they stare at each other. They both want to look away, desperately almost, but for some reason, neither of them can.

Her eyes are so gray. So, so gray. Percy's pretty good with reading people, but he can't read them at all.

"Cut!" Piper calls.

Oh, right, he remembers. That's what kept them from looking away. This is their fourth time trying to get this scene right, and it isn't going too well. Annabeth's able to act like she doesn't hate him now (a nice but confusing development), and the actual lines haven't been too awkward—he doesn't think—but then they reach the moment where they're supposed to kiss. That's when things go wrong.

Percy knows that she doesn't want to kiss him; that's part of the problem. His own issue is a bit more complicated.

His sort-of girlfriend is in the room.

(He told himself he was done with this.)

She clearly doesn't want this to happen.

(He feels like such an asshole.)

This entire thing is uncomfortable.

(He kind of wants to kiss her.)

"I'm glad you guys have gained the ability to look at each other without imploding, but there is still a kiss that has to happen. You can't just stare at each other the whole time." Piper says, half joking, half serious.

"They just need to, like, go make out." Rachel laughs from where she's sitting, and Percy almost chokes on his own spit. She's always this casual, this outspoken, but he thinks her Medusa costume makes her enjoy it more than she usually does. "That would help."

That's the only reason he can think of that his sort-of girlfriend would be able to say that kind of thing like it's no big deal. It's not like she knows about that night (that never happened), but still. Shouldn't she be a little jealous?

"What?" Annabeth snaps, and even though he feels the same way, the acidity in her tone isn't very nice to hear.

She runs a hand through her curly green hair with a smirk. "You know, to break the tension. That's the only I can see the awkwardness going away."

"You're right." Piper giggles a bit as she nods. "Not even trying to be a dick on that one. You guys need to take like, three hundred chill pills each, and if you kiss off-camera, it'll probably make it a lot easier."

"I…we can't just do that. It's not…kissing each other would just…I mean…" Percy stammers; he's having trouble believing this is happening.

"Are you scared of kissing in front of us? Want us to close our eyes?" Piper teases.

Annabeth's redder than he's ever seen her. She's also stopped looking at him. (And they were making so much progress.)

"We can seven minutes in heaven it," Rachel suggests. "Lock you in a broom closet for a while, wait for you to sort your shit, get the first kiss out of the way, and we move on from there."

It's sort of weird that she's not jealous at all, but Percy doesn't think he minds it. She's always so confident and upfront. (Annabeth is too. Not around him, not anymore, but that's not her fault.)

"Sounds very middle school," Piper nods. "I'm into it."

They barely have time to protest before the closet door locks behind them.

Annabeth bangs desperately on the door. "Let us out, assholes! What the fuck kind of closet door locks from the outside, anyways?"

"This kind of closet door!" Rachel laughs. "Convenient, right?"

"We're gonna go rehearse her lines!" Piper shouts back.

"See you in seven minutes, lovebirds!"

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." She says, giving one last fruitless bang on the door before sliding down to sit on the ground. She lifts her knees to her chin and stares at the carpet. Her curly hair tumbles over her shoulders and hides her face, and Percy has the urge to tuck it behind her ears.

He has no idea what to do in this situation, but it feels awkward to keep standing while Annabeth's hunched over in defeat, so he sits down, too.

"Hi."

Annabeth looks up at him, face flushed, and groans. She's tucked her knees up to her chin. "Hi, Percy."

(He shouldn't like it that much when she says his name.)

"So, um…how are things?"

"Currently? I kind of want to die."

"Oh."

"Has it been seven minutes yet?" Annabeth covers her face with her hands.

He knows that it hasn't, but he checks his prop phone—one of Piper's dad's old ones—anyways. "It's been one minute."

"God. Why are the lights off? Is there even a light in here?"

Percy turns on the phone's flashlight and points it at the ceiling. "Nope. You want me to keep this on?"

"That would be delightful."

"We don't…" Her head is still down, and Percy might be staring at her. "You know we don't have to do this, right?"

"Yes, we do."

"No, we-"

"You know Piper's going to be able to tell if we don't. We'll be just as awkward as before."

Percy doesn't know what to say. Now they're both staring at the floor.

"You didn't tell her, did you? Rachel?"

"What?" Is she really bringing it up?

She looks up, but not at him. "About…you know. You haven't told her."

"Didn't—didn't we agree that it never happened?"

"Yeah, but…she's your girlfriend, right? She probably wouldn't even care that much."

"I guess not." He hasn't told anybody but Hazel. "So, you told Luke?"

"God, no. It would…he would…" Annabeth meets his eyes, just for a moment. Maybe it's just his imagination, but she looks genuinely terrified. (Where has he seen that expression before?) "I cheated on him. I didn't mean to, but I did, and telling him would only hurt him."

This just makes him feel like an even bigger asshole than before. "We really don't have to do this."

Annabeth shakes her head like a little girl. (It's really cute and also he has a sort-of girlfriend and he's an asshole and this is a mess.)

"Piper's not gonna be talked out of this. We just…" Her sigh is so labored that it almost hurts him. "Need to get it out of the way."

Very suddenly, she untucks her knees from under her chin and stands up. "Come on."

After a much-needed moment to process, Percy stands, too. Annabeth's all business now. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," She closes her eyes and takes one more shaky breath. "Just do it, alright?"

"I…"

(He can't do this. He really, really can't.)

Annabeth opens her eyes and examines him with her unreadable eyes. Percy stops breathing. (Is she really going to?)

She grabs his face-her hands are soft, her nails are bitten down—and yanks his towards hers, pressing their lips together.

(Fuck.)

He doesn't mean to, but he raises his hands to Annabeth's face, too; she doesn't stop him. She seems hesitant, maybe scared, and Percy swears he can feel her heart pounding. Personally? His heart might shatter his ribs. He's responding way more than he wants to, way more than he should, but he thinks she's responding, too. (This isn't what it feels like to kiss somebody who hates you.)

She's pushed against the door, but it isn't like it was his idea. Annabeth was the one who'd been standing against the door. Annabeth was the one who'd pulled him over. Percy was just doing his best to keep himself from pressing into her. That would only make things worse.

They pull apart, eyes jammed shut, both breathing too hard. After a beat, their hands fall from each other's faces quickly, like their skin is electric, like they hadn't realized they were still there. Their eyes are both jammed shut.

"What's your favorite color?"

Percy isn't quite sure what he expected her to say, but it wasn't this. "What?"

"What's your favorite color? I don't know anything about you, and I think it might help if I did."

"It might help what—"

"Can you just answer the question, please?" Her eyes are still closed.

"Blue."

Annabeth exhales, and her eyes open, but they don't look up. "Thank you."

Somebody knocks on the door.

"We're coming in! Hope you're fully clothed!" Rachel calls out cheerfully. Percy's eyes shoot open and he takes two massive steps away from her.

"Did you guys actually do it? Or did you sit here and stare at each other the whole time?" Piper asks, pulling open the door.

Annabeth swallows hard, but it's barely noticeable paired with her eye roll. "We kissed, assholes. Happy?"

"Yes!" Piper claps enthusiastically. "Thank god. Are you guys gonna quit being such awkward little shits around each other now?"

Percy is dead silent, and he's trying to keep his eyes from seeming to wide. He's scared that, if he were to speak, his voice would be two octaves too high.

"We'll try our best," Annabeth rolls her eyes again. (He can't see it, but he can hear it in her voice.)

Piper and Rachel give out some mocking, overly enthusiastic cheers.

"Did it ever occur to you that locking us in a closet and telling us to kiss might make things more awkward?"

Her smile dampens. "No, not really." Then, it kicks back into high gear. "Good thing it didn't, huh?"

.

It doesn't dawn on Percy until they're at the end of the scene that he would have to, well, kiss her again. (Annabeth has clearly been expecting this. She has to make the first move for the second time.)

And again.

And again.

The kisses are definitely far from the first—no, not the first—one in the closet. Swift and chaste, like taking a spoonful of medicine. Every time, though, his heart still speeds up, and he still feels like an asshole. (In the script, it demands that Poseidon 'smile cheekily' once the kiss ends. That doesn't help.)

So, yes; the costumes are horrendous, but they're far from the worst part.

Here's something to make up for the short chapter last week. I'm a saint, I know. Opinions on Kiss #2?