Work Text:
Rachel puts her phone on speaker and lets Percy’s panicked ranting run its course. Her studio is empty right now anyway, though the usual crowd isn’t the type to question phone calls — they snoop but they don’t snitch.
Percy had mentioned Annabeth at the start of the call and Manhattan isn’t currently being subsumed into the sea so Rachel assumes nothing bad has actually happened. This is just Percy being her usual passionate self about her girlfriend.
Rachel focuses on cleaning brushes while she waits it out.
Once Percy’s gotten the yelling out of her system, Rachel can speak over her, “Okay, now summarise all of that in less than ten seconds and at a much slower pace. Not all of us prefer our podcasts on two times speed.”
Rachel can imagine the scrunched-up face Percy is making at her. “I have a date with Annabeth and I don’t know what to wear.”
“So much yelling just for that?”
“‘Just for that.’ It’s a date with Annabeth, Rachel! What do I wear, how do I act? What if I make a fool of myself?”
“Annabeth’s seen plenty of that already, seaweed brain. If she didn’t love you for your foolishness, you wouldn’t be together.”
“That’s almost a nice thing to say.”
“What can I say, I’m a nice girl,” Rachel snickers.
“Seriously, Rachel, I don’t know what to do.”
“You two have been on dates before, haven’t you? You never panicked this much before.”
“Oh, I did, but that was only about not making a fool of myself in front of Annabeth. But she wants us to go to a restaurant.”
Rachel tries to imagine Percy in a fine dining establishment and can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, maybe that’s an issue.”
“Please stop laughing at me, Red, I’m really struggling here.”
Rachel shows mercy and starts planning to help. “I have a feeling that you have zero nice clothes in your closet.”
“I have nice clothes! Just…not Michelin star.”
“Michelin—” Rachel drops her brushes in the sink and hurriedly wipes her hands dry before picking up her phone to yell into the microphone, “Annabeth is taking you to a Michelin?!”
“Yes!! Do you understand now?!”
“Yes I understand, oh my gods! No way you have the wardrobe or manners for that!”
“Okay, no need to be rude about it.”
“When is this?" Rachel spins in circles trying to simultaneously hold the conversation and find what she needs to go out. "I need to see you in person, I can’t do this over the phone.”
“I think Annabeth knew I’d panic because she told me, like, two weeks in advance. Usually we make plans right then and there, y’know? Or for the next day, if it’s late or we're busy. But two weeks?”
Rachel leaves her phone on a table as she scrambles to find her shoes, cursing herself for never leaving them by the door like a responsible person. She’ll never change, but she’ll complain about it.
Rachel finds her shoes under a pile of canvases that had fallen over earlier and she’d thought nothing of. She has to yell across the room to respond to Percy, “Is there something happening? Why would she take you somewhere fancy?”
“It’s our anniversary... Where are you? You sound really far.”
Rachel detours to pick up her phone on the way to the door. “At my studio, on the way out. Where are you?”
Rachel grabs her jacket, planning to put it on while she walks, and opens the door to see Percy on the other side.
“Hi, Rachel—”
“You were here the whole time?!”
“I wasn’t sure you were here but I guess I got lucky. I was worried for a sec you might’ve been busy.”
“I’m always busy, Blue,” Rachel grumbles as she lets Percy inside.
They slump on the ratty couch together, Rachel kicking off her shoes to be lost in the mess again. Percy scrunches her nose up at Rachel’s bare feet but she’s in no place to be disgusted, Rachel knows about some of the truly nasty situations she’s been in.
“What do I do, Red?” Percy laments and slides down where she sits, barely managing to stay on the couch with her legs hanging off.
“Well, first of all, we’ve gotta get you a wardrobe. Which Michelin is it? Maybe we can work on a theme and you can really impress her.”
“It’s called Per Se, I think. She told me the name and I thought, 'haha it sounds like my name', and then I looked it up to see where it is.”
“Only to find out that it’s a three Michelin star restaurant.”
“Is that a lot? You’re saying it like that’s a lot. I didn't even know what a Michelin was, I had to search that too.”
“Percy.” Rachel puts a hand on her shoulder and stares deeply into her eyes, trying to impart how important this is. “Three stars is the most Michelins a restaurant can have. And Per Se has maintained that since, for, like, a decade. Do you know how difficult that is? Of course you don’t. Basically: that’s insane.”
Percy looks like she’s going to be sick. “So jeans aren’t gonna cut it.”
“It’s fine dining, Blue. Nothing short of a tuxedo or an evening gown cuts it.”
Percy somehow pales further and slips from the couch all the way to the ground to stare existentially at the high ceiling. “What the hell do I do, Red?”
“That part’s easy. We’re going shopping.”
“No!”
“Yes! You may not like it, but if there’s one thing I’m gonna do, it’s spend my dad’s money.”
“And help your friend not make a fool of herself at a fancy restaurant.”
Rachel waves her off. “That too.”
This place is so upscale that Rachel can see the employees eyeing her and Percy nervously.
Rachel’s in fifty different very vibrantly coloured accessories and layered up with gradients, while Percy is in her usual ripped jeans and a tank top layered over a cami. Just Percy’s work boots are enough to send the establishment into an aneurysm as though she’s purposefully trekking mud everywhere (that’s more Rachel’s style).
Percy is ready to run away and only agreed to this store because Rachel swore up and down that they pay their seamstresses well and are environmentally conscious. Next time, Rachel's just taking her to a tailor.
The employees are all in blazers and button-ups, and they’re incredibly professional despite their disapproval. One lady comes up to them and asks what they’re looking for. Her co-workers look like they’ve sent her off to war.
“We need an evening gown,” Rachel tells her.
“Or a tux,” Percy quickly adds.
Rachel eyes up Percy and thinks, yeah, she’d look really good in a suit, but is that the vibe? Rachel wants to dress up Percy so she hopes she'll entertain at least a few dresses.
The employee rattles off some more questions as she guides Rachel and Percy to the gowns.
“It’s gotta be blue,” Percy says the second a colour is mentioned.
Rachel doesn’t argue but does eye some black options she can see. Maybe later. And especially if they go for a suit. At most, Rachel will allow a blue shirt. A blue tuxedo? Out of the question based on the colour selection in this place.
“Not too stuffy,” Percy continues. “I wanna be able to move my legs around. And nothing too princess-y.”
Rachel imagines Percy dressed up like a princess and wonders if she has a dress code down in Atlantis as princess of the sea, or if the royal family wears Hawaiian shirts and khaki shorts. Which conjures the image of Percy dressed like a dad on a fishing boat and Rachel has to hide her snickering.
The employee is really nice even though Percy is naturally very intimidating with her piercing eyes and general rudeness. Or maybe that’s exactly why they’re treated so well.
Rachel and the employee shove Percy into a changing room and wait patiently for her to change.
When she comes out, Rachel is surprised Percy could reach back to zip up without help. And then she remembers that Percy’s body is better than anyone’s (something about being a demigod, and something about doing gymnastics and swimming) and figures it probably wasn’t that hard for her.
“Damn, girl, you clean up nice,” Rachel whistles as Percy awkwardly twirls.
The employee picked a dark blue gown that has rhinestones glimmering on the outer layer like a shifting night sky. It’s gorgeous, but Percy looks ready to turn into a small rodent to escape it as fast as possible.
Rachel grabs Percy by the shoulders and faces her to the full length mirror in the store so she can look at herself outside the terrible changing room lighting.
“It’s okay,” Percy says, pressing her lips together in a thin line.
“Well there’s plenty more to try!” Rachel gives her an encouraging thumbs up and shoves her back into the changing room with another dress before Percy can decide a suit would be easier.
Percy steps out next in a sleeveless pastel blue gown that has sheer fabric draped over the shoulders like a scarf, trailing behind her as she walks. Percy's powerful swimmer build suits it perfectly. Rachel thinks Annabeth would go gaga for the dress, but Percy just shrugs and doesn’t think much of it.
Then there’s an apron dress that Rachel vetoes immediately. It makes Percy look childish.
One strapless gown almost gets approval but it’s too short — Percy looks best in too-short or floor-length dresses. Either show off those legs or not at all!
Percy gets excited about an empire waist but they employee 'tsk's and is the one to send Percy back into the changing room this time.
Mermaid dresses are rejected the second they’re brought up, just on principle.
After six dresses, Rachel is starting to lose hope.
Which is when Percy emerges in a dress that looks like the sea itself has wrapped around her, almost green with how blue it is, trimmed in white like seafoam. Some of the dresses had suited Percy very well, but this one makes her smooth her hands down her waist and lift the skirt to watch the layers flutter artfully. It's backless, and Rachel immediately asks her to flex. The employee goes weak in the knees and Rachel approves.
“You need pearls,” Rachel decides. The employee helping them nods along enthusiastically.
Percy blinks like she's surprised how much everyone likes the dress. “I can do pearls.”
Rachel wonders if children of the sea have a stockpile of pearl jewellery… Actually, she wonders what 'real' jewellery Percy owns. Rachel’s seen her in stacked plastic bracelets but also seashells, and what Rachel is so sure might’ve been actual gold. Percy seems the type to pair heirloom jewellery with plastic junk, and of course she always wears her Camp Half-Blood beads.
The employee claps delightedly. “This definitely feels like The One,” she says as though they’re choosing wedding dresses.
Percy smiles at her reflection. Oh yeah, this is going to knock Annabeth’s socks off.
Rachel adds, “And they’re long enough to wear your favourite shoes so you'll be comfortable.”
Percy lifts the hem and kicks out her foot, exposing one worn out black boot that nearly gives the employee a heart attack to see. Rachel thinks it suits the dress well. Just as unrestrained and unabashed as Percy.
“We’ll take it,” Percy says.
Rachel grins and waves her dad’s credit card in the air triumphantly. If he ever bothered checking the transaction history, he’d be confused and delighted to see his daughter buying a dress from such an expensive store. He might even think she hadn’t splurged enough, so of course Rachel encourages Percy to drag her to more stores while she's still in a shopping mood.
Rachel calls Percy because…she doesn’t actually remember why. Percy was on the mind and she’d picked up the phone without thinking, as usual, forgetting last night's panicked final preparations for the anniversary date. She hadn’t meant to press the video call button either.
Percy answers because she’s a weirdo who answers phone calls and doesn’t think twice about scammers (she’s learned from Rachel how to scare them off anyway).
Rachel startles when she sees Percy’s messed up hair and bare shoulders. “Are you naked? In bed?”
Percy grins, pleased and a little sleepy. “Last night went great. Thanks again for helping me shop, Red.”
A muffled voice comes from Percy’s side, “Rachel saw you in that dress?”
“Hi, Annabeth,” Rachel says quickly before Percy can dig herself into a hole she can’t get out of trying to explain Rachel's involvement.
Annabeth’s sleepy face comes into view only to rest on Percy’s shoulder. She squints up at the phone then closes her eyes and cuddles against her girlfriend.
Even though Percy’s only ever had eyes for Annabeth, she makes sure everyone else knows it too. Rachel sticks out her tongue petulantly despite Annabeth not being able to see it.
Percy yawns, looking ready to fall asleep right there with Annabeth. “Whatcha calling for anyways?”
“Honestly, no idea. You two are very distracting, just so you know. Seriously, are you naked?”
“What do you think?” Percy doesn’t mean to be sultry, but she usually doesn’t mean to be scary either and manages that without trying. It’s a losing battle, not being attracted to Percy Jackson.
Rachel rolls her eyes and hangs up without even a goodbye, barely catching Percy’s offended grunt as the call cuts out.