beauty and the beast ⋮ percabeth au

14.

"Today is an exciting day!" Hazel squealed on the way to rehearsal.

"And that's because..." I trailed off, waiting for an answer.

"You're learning the 'Beauty and the Beast' choreography!" Piper replied excitedly, sidling up along beside Hazel and I.

Oh God. Oh my God. I'm waltzing with Percy today. Sweet baby Jesus, I think I'm about to explode from a mixture of fear and delight.

Mostly fear.

"Annabeth." Piper stopped me in the hall. "You're hyperventilating."

"Am not."

"Are too," Hazel responded while pulling open the choir room door. At one of the room Percy seemed to be freaking out about something, his face beet red and his hands waving crazily in the air. Jason, Frank, and Leo stood around him, laughing their butts off at the sight. What was Percy freaking out about?

"Oh, h-hey Annabeth!" Percy appeared to be still flustered from whatever he was talking to the guys about. I didn't press into the subject though, not wanting to make him uncomfortable.

"Good afternoon everyone!" Apollo yelled, bringing everyone to attention. "Today is the day we finally learn the choreography for the famous 'Beauty and the Beast' waltz. While I have Annabeth, Percy, Hazel, Frank, Leo, and Piper in the auditorium, everyone else will be in here working on cleaning up some of the vocals in the big numbers with Mr. Brunner. You got it?" Everyone nodded in response. "Okay, great. So Annabeth, Percy, Hazel, Frank, Leo, and Piper I need you all out in the auditorium."

The six of us followed him out, Hazel and Piper teasing me relentlessly about what was coming up. Thankfully, Percy was walking far enough ahead so he wasn't able to hear the extremely 'interesting' comments Piper and Hazel were making.

"Okay, so the piece starts out with just an orchestra introduction. While the violin and the oboe are playing, Belle will be making her grand entrance in her beautiful yellow gown. Once the piano at the beginning of the song starts up, you two will be making your way over to the table where you'll be eating 'dinner'," Apollo told us, making quotation marks with his fingers. "As soon as Mrs. Potts finishes her first chorus, Belle will ask Beast to dance. At first he'll try and decline but then the castle servants will scream at him to dance with her and Mrs. Potts will launch into the second verse of the song. I'll demonstrate with Mrs. Hammons, the dance team coach, the first part of the dance with the recording of the song playing over the speakers. Then you guys will do it. Okay?"

Everyone nodded quickly and Apollo grinned. "Awesome. Thankfully, we don't have to working on the whole 'falling in love part' with those two so all we need is the dance moves."

I'm sorry, what? What the heck does Apollo mean by that?

'I think you know!' A little voice sang in my head.

Nope. Apollo meant nothing by that. Absolutely nothing.

•••

After having perfected the first half of the piece, Apollo stopped us to go over the actual choreography of the waltz (eep).

"You two reviewed the choreography from the movies correct?" Percy and I both nodded in response to Apollo's question. "Good, because we will be doing a lot of similar choreography. Center stage you two. Hazel, I need you stage left because at any given moment I'll have you add the vocals."

Percy and I made our way over to the center stage and faced one another. Percy kept wiggling his eyebrows and me and smirking and I had to suppress the urge to giggle. In that moment I was painfully aware of how much shorter I was than him, my eye level being at only his shoulders. "Okay Annabeth, now grab onto his hands." I did so and Apollo's eyebrows furrowed together. "Move a few inches closer."

Even closer? I was already having heart palpitations from this. Is Apollo trying to make me have a heart attack on stage?

Apollo grinned. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Now just follow mine and Mrs. Hammons lead. You two are quick at picking up choreography, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Apollo and Mrs. Hammons started and slowly but surely, Percy and I got the hang of the waltz. I don't know how I was able to focus though. Percy's hand grasped my waist firmly, burning through the fabric of my shirt. When I glanced up at him he was staring right back at me, his green eyes shining and a giant grin on Percy's face going from ear to ear.

God, this boy is handsome.

After a few run throughs, Apollo told us he thought we were ready to do the entire dance on our own with Hazel singing. "You're doing amazing," Percy whispered in my ear, sending tingles down my spine.

I chuckled. "You're not too shabby yourself Seaweed Brain."

"Why thank you Wise Girl." Percy smirked, taking his place side stage.

The music started and Hazel's stunning voice rang throughout the theatre. When Percy and I began to waltz, Hazel's voice faltered and when I looked over her grin seemed to be as large as Percy's. I caught of glimpse of Piper, Frank, and Leo freaking out on the other side of the stage, trying to keep character but ultimately failing.

I, on the other hand, was able to keep my lack of chill internal. I didn't want Percy to know that the feeling of him holding me in his arms whilst waltzing made me feel something I hadn't ever felt before.

And I certainly didn't want him to know how much I wanted to grab him by the hood of his 'Beauty and the Beast' production sweatshirt and kiss him.

Nope. Not letting him know about that.

As soon as that final chord rang out through the theatre, a hush fell over everyone. Then all of sudden, everyone went nuts. Like 'screaming their heads off' nuts. Apparently, while Percy and I were waltzing, the entire cast decided to sit down in the theatre seats. Jason had taken his place front and center and was going absolutely wild.

"Absolutely freaking amazing you guys!" Apollo yelled, clapping his hands in glee. "Hazel, your singing was absolutely beautiful. You're doing amazing, keep it up. Percy and Annabeth, you two have so much chemistry on stage and the dancing was angelic. The combination of the two just brought tears to the eyes of everyone in the audience. Rehearsal over guys, you can go home now. See you tomorrow for costume fitting!"

Percy and I high-fived, grinning at one another. Making our way back to the choir room to grab our backpacks, Percy for some reason disappeared inside a hidden part of the backstage area. "Hey Annabeth!" He called.

I walked back to where Percy disappeared to. He stood towards the end of the passage way, greeting me with a plastic rose. "For you, madamé." Percy winked, causing me to giggle.

"Thanks Seaweed Brain," I grinned, taking the rose from his hands.

Percy grabbed another rose from the stack, pointing it towards me in a fighting position. "En garde!" He called out, grinning.

We moved our roses across the air, imitating a sword fight. I couldn't stop laughing as we did so, trying to prevent Percy from winning in our mock sword fight. At one point, Percy had me pretty much pinned up across on the wall, his rose horizontal to my throat. My breathes were heavy and Percy's cheeks were light pink.

Suddenly, so quick it almost seemed like it hadn't happened, Percy had leaned down and planted his lips on my cheek. "Keep the rose," Percy whispered, his voice low. Quickly, Percy ran off in the opposite direction, the back of his neck crimson red.

What. Just. Happened.

•••

Hey guys!

Fun fact: When I was writing this chapter, I was listening to my Broadway playlist on Spotify and the song 'Beauty and the Beast' came on. Coincidence? I think not.

I have an orchestra concert tomorrow night and we are not prepared w h a t s o e v e r. I'll give you guys the lowdown on my next update of what exactly happened.

I hope you all enjoyed this extremely adorable chapter! Leave a vote, comment, etc. Love y'all!

- G ♥️

UPDATE: Y'ALL THAT WASN'T A FULL KISS ON THE LIPS !!!! THATS NOT COMING FOR ANOTHER COUPLE CHAPTERS