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Percy catches her hand as she heads for the bedroom, tugging her back to him. He presses a soft kiss to her forehead. "I'm serious about making it up to you." And then he eases his lips over hers; gently, but no less intense for it. "However you want."

He doesn't mind making that promise, even though he's not actually dragging her out to save the fish. It's not like Percy has any qualms about doing things for his girlfriend.

They do have reservations, though. So Percy reluctantly lets go of her, turning to eye his own outfit dubiously.

She tries really, really hard not to smile, but she can't help the small quick of her lips when he kisses her, and she can't stop herself from returning it. "I'll hold you to that promise."

He lets go and Annabeth starts for their room, but she glances back at him and feels a little smug at the way he looks at his own clothes. "They're just pants, Seaweed Brain." And she doesn't wait for a response before fleeing into the bedroom and closing the door behind her.

Where she promptly spends a few moments staring at the dress and making a face at it. With a sigh, she changes into it quickly (and good, the skirt is spacious enough for her knife), except for one teeny tiny thing.

"Percy? Can you come here?"

Fancy clothes are confusing, so Percy's only in the trousers when he hears Annabeth's voice.

"Yeah sure, no problem." He pushes open the bedroom door curiously, wondering what she wants, and then abruptly comes to a stop. Because that sure is his girlfriend half dressed right now. "Um." Is it weird that her shoulder blades are really attractive to him? "Hi."

She doesn't even have to look at him, between the stop and the um, to figure out where his eyes and brain are. "Shut up."

One of her hands bats at the air behind her back, where strings and buttons remain undone on the dress. "Help me with this. I can't reach."

There is most definitely not a faint pinkish hue to her ears. Because that would be stupid, given he's seen her with a whole lot less at this point.

Percy forcibly kicks his brain back into action. Maybe he can take the dress off again later - wow, no, he needs to focus. On her back - no, the dress. Which needs to be done up.

"One of these days I really will stop talking, and you're going to miss my voice," he decides, once he's sure that his voice is going to work properly. He steps in closer, and if his fingers absently trace down the line of her spine - well. He's only human. He starts at the bottom, working the buttons with an ease born not from dealing with women's clothing, but taking armour on and off over the past half decade.

Edited 2013-08-07 01:56 (UTC)

Annabeth waves a hand dismissively. "Impossible. Because you will never ever stop talking."

She can't help the slight shiver when his hand trails down her spine, but he makes quick and easy work of the buttons, at least from what she can feel. She can't exactly see behind her. "Is that all of them?"

He snorts. "Hey, sometimes I sleep."

A soft kiss is pressed to the back of her neck before he does up the last button, because he kind of can't help himself. "Yep, good to go." And he's just going to take a step back and smile. Not over the top or otherwise dorky, just a genuine smile of appreciation. "You look beautiful."

"More than sometimes." She loves you, okok, really.

It certainly feels a lot more comfortable now that the back is all closed up, and she half turns around so she can actually see his face. Her lips curl into a soft smile, because it helps, somewhat, hearing him say it. "I hope you're planning on putting a shirt on." There's a thank you shoved in there somewhere, but he speaks Annabeth fluently so she's not too concerned about him missing it.

Percy raises his eyebrows a little, holding out his arms. "You don't think I look beautiful, too?"

He hears the thank you loud and clear, although he's not sure why he needs one. All things considered, it was pretty much his pleasure. He tugs her in close and steals another kiss, because why not? "Okay, I have to finish getting changed. We've got like, I don't know, half an hour before we have to go?"

She rolls her eyes. "You're a beautiful tropical fish."

Annabeth kisses him back easily, and then her face drops. "It's a half an hour now? Oh my gods, Percy!" And she's back to mild panic because planning and things and goddamnit Percy Jackson. She gives him another slight punch and another shove for good measure, moving to leave him the room to finish changing while she takes care of not-room things. Like panicking at Piper.

"Thank you." He grins easily, and then tries to back out of her reach when she makes to hit him, but he's too slow. "Ouch, Annabeth!"

He leaves the room grumbling, and shrugs into the rest of his fancy outfit. It all fits right, and glancing in his reflection seems to confirm that he looks okay. He'll be messing around with his hair when Annabeth comes out again, drying to get it to be at least somewhat dignified.

Piper is a godsend. Or maybe it was just her charmspeak. Either way, after their conversation, Annabeth is a little more calm despite even less time remaining. She ignores Percy for now and drags her brush through her own hair - which doesn't really help at all and just kind of puffs it out even more. Instead of worrying over that, she rushes for the closet to give her extra time to think, dropping unceremoniously on her knees to dig around for the sandals she'd gotten for the masquerade. Better than sneakers.

She glares at her curls in the mirror, then nudges Percy over so she can share said mirror and make an attempt to pull it back into a braid. It's out of her face and probably decent enough.

These stupid fish.

Percy jumps a little when he sees that glare, before he realises it's directed at the mirror, rather than him. He nudges her back softly. "I'm serious, you look great."

It's possible that he's not that most unbiased opinion here, because he would probably think she looked great in rags covered in monster gunk. But it's the thought that counts, right?

He's taller than her anyway, enough that he can still see the top of his head from behind her as she works her hair into a braid. He continues messing with his own, before tossing his hands in the air and giving up. "You'll still love me with bird's nest hair, right?" It's not that bad, but he's nervous.

Her lips curl into a small smile after he nudges her, and she nudges him back. Piper's right, and she knows it herself; it really doesn't matter what she ends up looking like to him. But most of it's for her own sake. Annabeth Chase likes to be prepared.

She ties up the braid at the end once she's satisfied it looks okay, then turns around to look at his actual face rather than their reflections. She brushes some of the hair out of his eyes, smiling. "I love you despite it and with it."

She's always kind of liked how messy his hair gets, to be honest. And right now, it adds to still feeling like them, fancy clothes or otherwise.

Percy's lips twitch up, and for a moment he considers just throwing aside the whole idea and staying in with her. They could find something to do, he's pretty sure.

But the thought gets dismissed almost instantly, because he wants to go out with Annabeth. Show her a good time, and maybe there's a part of him that wants to show her off, too. Because his girlfriend is amazing. "That's lucky," he remarks. "Because I don't think it's getting any better than this." He tilts his head at her. "You ready?"

She bites back a laugh, sliding her hand through his. And she's about to say yes, then her smile flickers for a moment, and she tugs her hand out to make for the bedroom. "Wait, one thing," she offers as explanation.

Should Percy follow her out, he'd be witness to Annabeth lifting the skirt of the dress just enough to slide her knife into the sheath at her thigh; she'd left it off while getting ready, not really wanting the weight of it against her as she darted around. Making sure it's tucked in safe and comfortably, she lets the fabric drop back down before turning back to her boyfriend.

"Okay, now I'm ready. I think. Let's go talk to some sea life."

He absolutely does follow her, and he can't decide if that's a great decision or a terrible one as he watches her slide her knife in place. "That shouldn't be allowed," he mutters, a little red in the face.

Let's go talk to some sea life. For a second Percy totally forgets what his story is and just kind of gives her a blank stare. And then he reaches out and tugs her to him, kissing her hard and fast. "Right. Let's go." A beat. "After this." And he kisses her again.

Edited 2013-08-08 21:08 (UTC)

"What?" Vaguely distracted by what she was doing, she misses the implication. At least until she spots the flush, and she almost starts teasing him over it.

Except then he's kissing her like that and she doesn't really care to find out anymore. Annabeth smirks with amusement as she easily kisses him back and then some for a few moments. "I thought we were on a time limit?" she mutters playfully, but not without mockery, against his lips.

It takes all of his self control not to mess up the thing she did with her hair by running his hands through it. He sets his hands at her hips instead, groaning a little at her words. "There's a thing called being fashionably late, you know..."

Annabeth's comfortable like as they are, but she takes a partial step backward anyway, runs her hands down his arms to take his in hers. "Not for emergencies." Though she might be narrowing her eyes the tiniest bit.

His hands tighten around hers, and if it weren't for the way her eyes narrow at him, he might have tugged her back to him anyway. "I love you more than fish," he declares. Which is true, actually. "But yeah, we should go."

He leads her outside, where there is a Fancy Cart awaiting them. Percy grins. "Ladies first."

That really shouldn't be as endearing as it is. I love you more than fish. She leans up and kisses his cheek anyway, shaking her head, but she's smiling.

Her mouth opens a little in surprise at the cart, and she stares at him. "You - what. Is this really necessary?" It's a cart. Why does he have a cart? If he blames the Atlanteans for this again, she literally has no idea what to think of them.

He nudges her into the cart. There's some chocolates and some kind of tasty non-alcoholic drink waiting for them. He shrugs, sitting down. "No idea. Hey, at least this part isn't so bad though, right? We should just enjoy it."

He is the most innocent.

She climbs up, face scrunching up as mulls its existence over, and it's only when she sits down that she notices what's sitting there with them. The look she gives Percy is edging on you're full of shit. "And did the previous occupants just happen to leave all this here?"

Innocence and Percy do not go hand in hand, and the doubt over what's happening starts swinging back in.

Percy leans over and eats one of the chocolates, because food. "No idea." And then he eats it, giving himself some time to think of an appropriate lie. "Arthur said he'd take car of transport. Apparently appearances are big to these people, I don't know. I'd fly there if it helped the fish, but I guess this is what we have to do."

He offers her a chocolate. "Maybe this is sorry??"