under the mistletoe, watching the fire glow day 21: best friend’s sister
Character A poses as their best friend’s lover for a Christmas party. Character B is the best friend’s sister,, percabeth
Percy truly doesn’t understand how it’s come to this.
He likes to think that he has at least some form of dignity, but he is quickly proven wrong as he is shoved into a suit by someone that has the audacity to call herself his friend.
“Quit pouting,” Piper chastises, pulling on his tie just a bit too tightly. He chokes dramatically, glaring at her, but she just rolls her eyes. “You agreed to this.”
“I did not agree to this,” he says. “I was simply there when your mom told you to bring a ‘lover’ to the party, and you held me at gunpoint.”
“You love it,” she says, laughing. It’s the complete opposite of the truth because he actually hates this, but his windpipe is cut off so he’s incapable of actually pointing that out.
“There’s no way anyone’s going to fall for this.”
She laughs. “Everyone will fall for this, and that’s why it’s perfect. No one’s seen us in forever since we moved away for college. We can just frame it as two best friends falling in love.”
“Yeah, but… I don’t know if I can do that. I look at you and want to vomit.”
Piper gasps in mock offense. “You never had feelings for me? Not even small ones?”
“I had feelings for a lot of people, but believe it or not, you were never one of them. Not then, not now, not ever.”
“You really just friend zoned your best friend,” Piper says.
“I’m in love with someone else,” he lies.
Piper snorts. “You’re in love with my sister.”
His smile falls. “I am not. You take that back.”
“Relax, Percy. I think it would be cute if you got with her. You could marry into the family!” She claps her hands before pausing. “We could just never talk about sex again. I don’t want to hear about how you blew my sister’s back out.”
She just laughs, throwing the jacket of his suit in his face and motioning for him to follow him out the front door. He hurls insults at her as he settles into the driver’s seat – also against his will, by the way – but she just throws them right back at him.
The hour drive home is spent with them being about as stupid as possible. They scream along with the music blasting in the car until they’re both laughing so hard they can’t breathe. It helps ease his nerves because he knows who’s going to be at this Christmas party, no matter how hard he tries to deny it.
He can’t even say her name right now because if he does, he might crash just so he doesn’t have to face her. It’s almost as though Piper can sense his frustration because she turns the music even louder until the car is shaking with the bass and he can’t hear his own thoughts.
Percy never ceases to be amazed by the wealth of Piper’s family. The second he walks into the manor, he is overwhelmed by the silvers and golds lining every inch of the place. It’s funny because he grew up around them, but it was always a stark contrast to the way his own life was. He could live a million lifetimes and never get used to being around people with this amount of money.
“So you’re rich rich,” Percy teases, just as he always does when they come home for the holidays,
“I’m wealthy,” she corrects, leading him along the corridors to the center of the party.
“The type that could have you killed with the snap of my fingers,” she answers.
“Oh, please do not have me killed, your highness.” He grins cheekily as they walk into the center of the event.
“I must admit I’m liking the title,” she says. She stops him just before they are close enough to be noticed by anyone else, turning serious, and Percy fails miserably to match her tone. “From here on out, you’re my boyfriend, okay?”
“Oh god, I just threw up in my mouth.”
“That means having to kiss me at least once,” Piper says. “On the lips.”
“I will never hear the end of this is they find out we’re faking, so start acting like a good boyfriend.”
“You’re going to plant one on these lips, or I’m going to pick up one of the silver forks and stab you with it.”
“Fuck you.”
“Yeah, well if you’d kiss me, we might be able to get there.”
And then: “This is getting painful to watch.”
