Chapter 18 - Gold and White
published: Monday, 5 November 2018
<<< September >>>
"Listen, I know we've had good times. And bad times. But I'll never forget..." Frank cut himself off with a groan. "No, too cheesy."
He tried again. "What's up, guys? So, guess what? I'm moving out-" Frank covered his face with his hands. "No, that's even worse."
"You're moving out?" Percy asked from the door, his eyes wide in surprise.
Frank's head snapped back to see his friend. "Uh, um, well," Frank stammered in alarm. He hadn't meant for Percy to hear that.
He braced himself for shouts of shock.
"Dude, that's so good!" Percy rushed to join Frank on the couch.
"What?" Frank asked, offended.
"Not that I want you to move out," Percy amended. "But because I'm moving out too, and I don't know how to tell Leo and Jason!"
"I'm having the same problem!" Frank whisper-shouted. "How do I tell them without Leo breaking down and blubbering all over my shirt?"
Percy opened his mouth to reply, then paused. "Wait, you're moving out? Like, to live with Hazel?"
Frank blushed. "Yeah, I mean, we've talked about it, and since we're getting married in December, we're going to move in to a new apartment after that." He scrutinised Percy. "And you're moving in with..."
"Annabeth," Percy confirmed with a nod. "She's finishing her master's this year, so we've decided to get a place in Manhattan. We've already found a great apartment; it's only five minutes from here, and not too far from my mum's flat either."
"How should we tell Leo and Jason?" Percy repeated worriedly.
"Fortune cookie!" Frank suggested.
"Oh yeah, because 'Your two best friends are moving out. At the same time!' is a great message to deliver via cookie," Percy said sarcastically. "Besides, Leo always eats the paper by accident, so that wouldn't work."
"We could send them a letter?" Frank asked hopefully.
Percy snorted. "You really want to avoid a confrontation, don't you?"
Frank sighed and massaged his forehead. "I just don't want to disappoint them. I mean, the four of us have lived together for, like, 8 years now! That's a long time."
Percy glanced at him. "I know, it'll be weird not seeing you guys every morning." He gave Frank a side hug. "I'll miss you."
Frank chuckled sadly. "Me too."
It took a few days for Percy and Frank to finally agree on telling their friends at dinner.
It was one of those rare evenings where all four of them got to hang out without any worry of work, and Percy hated to spoil it.
"How's work?" Frank asked Jason with a mouth full of noodles. They were having Frank's Chinese specialty.
Jason shrugged, prodding his vegetables. "Pretty good, I guess. There's a new project coming up, and I keep hinting to Jeff that I want to lead it, but he doesn't seem to get it!"
He sighed in frustration and stabbed his vegetables.
"Work sucks," Leo agreed, spearing a wanton. "The guy who owns our garage space raised rent by nearly half just because he knows we can't live without it."
Percy discreetly exchanged glances with Frank. They were thinking the same things; how could they tell their already depressed friends that they were moving out?
Frank took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm just going to get this over with." He ignored Percy's frantic head shakes. "Hazel and I are moving in together after the wedding."
Jason blinked, stunned. Then he grinned. "Frank! I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!"
Leo high-dived Frank. He paused. "Wait, if you're moving in with Hazel, that means you're moving...out?" He ended it as a question, like he didn't quite understand. "Are you moving out?"
Frank swallowed. "Um, yeah."
Silence filled the room.
Percy's face was crumpled with nervousness. "Leo? Jason? You guys okay?"
"Moving...out?" Jason echoed, like he didn't quite understand.
Frank scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm sorry to spring it on you so suddenly," he said apologetically.
Leo sniffled. "But only three of us in the apartment?"
Frank shot Percy a look, like 'it's your problem now'.
Percy glanced at his friends agonisingly. "Actually, two. Annabeth and I are going to live together."
He winced as the room was plunged into quiet again.
Their flat was never quiet.
"Y-you're moving out too?" Leo asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Just five minutes away," Percy promised. "I'll still see you guys everyday."
"But...it's like the end of an era," Jason croaked.
Percy shot Frank a petrified look. "Uh, maybe we should watch a movie?"
The door to the apartment slammed open, and the girls walked in, swapping stories and laughing.
"Are you crying?" Hazel asked Leo in concern.
"It's just really hot in here," Leo said, his voice cracking. "My eyes are sweating."
Hazel glanced between them. "I assume Frank told you he's moving out?"
"It's the end of an era!" Jason was so upset lightning crackled between his fingers.
Piper approached him tentatively and kissed him on the forehead.
"And Percy too!" Jason wailed.
"Okay, calm down," Piper told him in alarm.
"We'll come over everyday," Annabeth reassured him.
"It's not the same," Leo complained. "We won't be able to get up at midnight and have deep talks."
Percy looked at him weirdly. "When have we ever done that?"
Annabeth laughed and sat down on Percy's lap. "We'll even give you guys a key so you can come over anytime," she promised.
Leo cheered up a bit after that.
"You'll regret that later," Percy whispered into her ear.
Annabeth leaned over. "I was lying."
<<< October >>>
"How does this one look?" Hazel twirled, showing off the wedding dress she was trying on.
Calypso frowned. "It's nice, it's just not something I see you getting married in."
Hazel sighed. This was the fifth one she'd tried on.
"How about this one?" Piper offered, holding out a white lace dress with a flowing train. She was getting tired of all this shopping.
"Too traditional," Calypso said dismissively.
"Can you just choose one?" Annabeth said, pulling at her bridesmaid dress uncomfortably. She desperately wanted to change back into her jeans. "They're all beautiful."
"It needs to be perfect," Hazel insisted. She spun around again. "What's wrong with this one?"
"Too plain," Calypso explained. "It's white, and not eye-catching enough."
Reyna rifled through the next rack and pulled out another one. "What about this one?"
Hazel observed it with interest. It differed from the traditional white lace, and instead, but fully gold from top to bottom. "Might as well."
When she came out o the changing room with it on, even Annabeth had to admit that it was beautiful.
"This is the one," Hazel said immediately. She felt like she could conquer the world in this dress.
"But it doesn't fit the colour theme," Piper noticed. The bridesmaid dresses the four of them were wearing were lilac, and clashed horribly with the gold.
Hazel's face fell.
"Then we'll choose different ones," Calypso said firmly. She squeezed Hazel's hand reassuringly. "If this is the dress, then we'll change everything else to fit it."
"Do we have to?" Annabeth asked weakly.
After a couple of hours more, everyone had their dresses sorted, and they headed to the checkout, where Hazel's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the price.
She handed over her card weakly and turned to her friends. "This wedding had better be the best goddamn wedding there ever was."
<<< November >>>
In the blink of an eye, November came round the bend, and it was time for Frank's bachelor party.
Since he couldn't choose between his best friends for a best man, Frank's bachelor party had been the combined works of Jason, Leo and Percy.
To be more accurate, Jason remembered about it the week before and researched places to hold it.
This resulted in Frank being taken out to a club, recommended to Leo by a friend.
In the cab, Leo nudged Frank in the side. "You nervous for the wedding? It's in a couple of weeks."
Frank wrung his hands together. "Well, Hazel and I have planned out every last detail, and I know I want to marry her. So all I can hope for is that she doesn't change her mind."
"You know," Jason said quietly. "I just realised that this is probably the last time we'll hang out together. Alone, I mean."
They looked around at each other.
"We'll still be best friends," Percy insisted. "Even when we're not living together. We should make this a monthly thing."
"It won't be the same-" Leo was cut off by the taxi pulling up by the curb and stopping.
They'd arrived at the club.
Percy paid the driver and they climbed out.
"'Beer and Booze'," Frank read the sign. "Sounds good."
They plunged into the club and were engulfed by shining disco lights. The music wasn't as pounding as Frank had thought it would be, and was more of a rhythmic tempo in the background.
"How many?" a man dressed in a tuxedo greeted them at the front door.
"Um, 4, please?"
"Right this way," he directed them towards a small private lounge with curtains closing it off from the rest of the club.
Frank noticed that the rest of the club had similar lounges all around.
"Will it be one for each of you?" the man asked.
Jason blinked in confusion. "What?"
"We'll make it one each," he reasoned, and ushered them into the lounge.
Frank looked around the place. It was just a circular couch with a round table in the centre, and the neon blue lights dimly illuminated his friends. "I guess we sit down?"
"I thought you said it was a club," Leo hissed to Jason.
Jason shrugged helplessly. "It said it was a club on the Internet."
They shuffled into the couch.
"Should we order drinks?" Percy asked, looking around for a waiter.
As if on cue, the man who had showed them in opened the curtains and stood to the side as if presenting something. "Welcome to 'Beer and Booze'!"
A woman strutted between the curtains and sashayed towards them.
Jason's eyes widened.
"Oh. My. Gods." Frank had an expression on his face that closely resembled trauma.
She was wearing nothing but a feather boa and-well, Frank could've sworn there was more material in his tie than on her body.
"Wait, what-" Leo was interrupted by the click-clack of heels as a second woman strode in.
Percy stared at the extremely interesting speck of dust on the ceiling. "Um, I think there's been a misunderstanding-"
"Aw, is someone grumpy?" The first woman pouted and proceeded to sit on Percy's lap. "I think someone needs a lap-"
"AH!" Percy scrambled away from her and leaned on Leo with an expression of abstract terror. "I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!"
The woman licked her lips. "She doesn't need to know." She crawled towards Percy as she bit her lip seductively.
"Hold up! Hold up!" Jason called out.
Percy looked ready to pass out.
"Why are you-What are you doing-" Frank spluttered. "Who-"
"If you didn't want any of this," the man said with a frown. "Then why did you come to a strip club?"
All eyes instantly turned to Jason, who was slowly starting to realise his mistake. "A...strip club?" Jason said weakly.
Of course, after that, the four of them left as quickly as possible.
"Annabeth is going to kill me!" Percy paced back and forth.
"It wasn't your fault," Frank comforted him.
"A half-naked woman sat on my lap!" Percy wailed. "She'll burn me alive!"
"I can't believe you brought us to a strip club," Leo couldn't stop laughing. And he only stopped occasionally to point at Jason, and then laugh even more.
Percy glared at him. "You think Annabeth will spare you?"
Leo paled slightly.
"No one tells anyone what happened tonight," Jason told them in all seriousness. "This is a pact."
"Agreed," Percy said hurriedly.
"If anyone tells any of our girlfriends," Frank said in a hushed tone. "None of us will live to see the next day."
They shook hands grimly.
After waving down a cab that took them back to the apartment, the four them changed into their pyjamas and lazed about the living room.
Leo helped Percy burn away his clothes from the strip club to "destroy the evidence".
"So much for our big bachelor party plans," Leo murmured.
"We're sorry we didn't do anything better," Jason apologised glumly.
Frank waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. In the end, I get to spend the night with you guys, and that's what matters."
"I'll really miss this," Percy admitted. "Hanging our with you guys and doing stupid things."
"Maybe not the stupid things," Frank decided.
"Things are changing, and I don't like it," Leo sighed. "Frank's getting married and Percy's moving out. In a few years we won't even remember each other anymore."
Jason frowned. "Why would you say that?"
"Married couples hang out with other married couples, then work gets everyone occupied," Leo gestured wildly.
"I won't abandon you guys," Frank promised. "You guys are the best friends I've ever had."
Percy sniffled. "Why did you have to say that? It's like you're trying to make us cry."
"I'll miss waking up to Leo's screaming," Frank said. "I can't believe I just said that."
"I won't have a roommate anymore," Jason complained, elbowing Percy in the side. "Who will play pranks on Leo with me now?"
"Who will protect me when Calypso gets angry?" Leo demanded.
"And now I have to live alone with Leo!" Jason cried.
"I'm getting a lot of bad vibes from you here," Leo accused.
"One night every month," Percy suggested. "Just to catch up. The four of us."
The others nodded.
"No matter what else happens," Frank agreed.
<<< December >>>
The big day finally came.
They were all rushing around the boys' apartment, gathering decorations and clothes.
Reyna burst into the room. "Look outside!"
Hazel hurried to the window, alarmed. Snow blanketed the streets, roads and every rooftop. "No!" she gasped.
"The band can't get on the roads," Piper said a second later as she strode in, her cellphone in her hand. "There's too much slush."
Annabeth hung up on her phone. "Neither can the caterers."
"No!" Hazel panted, sinking into the couch with her head in her hand. "This can't be happening!"
Frank raced to her side and held her tight. "Hey, hey, everything's going to be fine. We can figure this out."
"How?" Hazel asked desperately. "Nico, Will and half the guests are still at camp! There's no way they'll be able to get here by tonight."
"It isn't the end of the world," Annabeth comforted Hazel. "I'll IM Chiron and tell him to bring the camp's magical plates so that everyone has food. Nico and Mrs O'Leary can shadow-travel them over." She glanced outside. "Look outside, it's beautiful. Hazel, the wedding can take place on the street; it'll be like a fairytale. We'll try to get everyone to come here as quickly as possible."
"The Apollo cabin can play music," Piper said encouragingly. "Don't stress, Hazel. You just focus on getting ready and staying calm, and we'll take care of the rest, okay?"
Hazel took a deep breath. "Okay, okay."
"Reyna, Calypso, you guys get Hazel ready," Annabeth instructed. "Use Percy's bedroom. Frank, you and the groomsmen get ready in your room."
She shooed them off and turned to Piper. "We have a lot of work to do.
Miraculously, Annabeth and Piper's teamwork seemed to fix everything. Music, food, and even the solemniser has been sorted out. Guests were scheduled to arrive on time, and the wedding would take place as planned, just in a different setting.
Frank retied his tie for the fifth time in the last hour. "Oh gods."
"Breathe, breathe," Leo encouraged.
The groomsmen - Leo, Jason and Percy - were in the room. Preparations had begun hours ago, but the actually wedding ceremony was due to begin in half an hour.
"What if she doesn't show up?" Frank muttered worriedly. "What if she's had second thoughts?"
Percy gripped him by the shoulders. "Look, I've known you two apart, and I've known you together. I've never seen either of you as happy as when you're with each other. She'll be there."
Frank took in his words and took in a shuddering breath. "But what if-"
The door opened, and Annabeth walked in.
Frank ran up to her and shook her by the shoulders. "How's Hazel? Is she okay? Is the wedding still on? Is everything in place? Is it starting?"
Annabeth stepped away with raised eyebrows. "Someone's nervous."
Frank rubbed his hands together to comfort himself.
"Don't worry," she assured him. "Hazel's pretty much the same. I've never seen her so jittery in my life."
"You look beautiful," Percy said with a smile. She was wearing a loose ankle-length golden dress then bristled as she walked.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Not now, Seaweed Brain. I just had to save a wedding in less than three hours." She turned to Frank's and studied him. "Clothes alright, flowers good, okay, you're ready to go."
"The solemniser?" Frank asked. "How did you get someone so close to the time?"
Annabeth hid a smirk. "Let's just say that she owes me a favour. Let's go, Frank. Now."
"N-now?" Frank stammered.
Annabeth gestured impatiently. "Yes, now. Hazel's already downstairs, so it's your turn. Everyone's seated, and the wedding's ready to start."
"Oh gods," Frank groaned, dragging a hand across his forehead. Despite it being below zero degrees outside, Frank was starting to feel rather warm.
"You've got this," Leo told him and shot him a thumbs-up sign.
The five of them traipsed down the stairs and took their places for the wedding.
Frank was up at the front, while the rest of his friends were part of the procession.
Percy was the last to go, with a pat on Frank's back, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
Frank could hear the music starting to play.
Will Solace was playing the harp, joined by the rest of his siblings on lyres, guitars and other musical instruments.
Practically the entire legion of Camp Jupiter was gathered in the seats. Frank spotted his father Mars and Pluto (well, Ares and Hades) begrudgingly sitting beside each other in the front row, and couldn't help but think they had something to do with it.
He saw Percy and Annabeth walk out arm in arm, followed by Jason and Piper, then Leo and Calypso.
Each groomsman was wearing a tuxedo with a golden tie, while the bridesmaids were wearing golden dresses and coats to protect them from the cold.
And last was Hazel and Nico.
Frank could've sworn his heart skipped a beat when he saw her.
The upper bodice of the dress was made of embroidered flowers that stretched across her chest and covered her shoulders. From the waist down, golden satin stretched and dragged along the floor beside her feet.
Her frizzy brown hair had been pinned up into an elegant bun, with stray pieces framing her face, and a veil embroidered with silver and gold hung from the crown of her head.
"You look..." Frank was at a loss for words as she stepped up the platform to face him.
Hazel's cheeks were red from the whipping air, and she wore no coat to cover her bare arms. She blushed and smiled shyly at him.
The air beside them shimmered, and to Frank's astonishment, Juno - or, technically, Hera - appeared between them.
"Juno," Hazel breathed in surprise. Clearly she hadn't known about this either.
Juno gave them both a kind smile, though Frank could only think of all the horror stories about her Annabeth and Percy had told them.
"We are here today to join Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang in holy matrimony," Juno started. "As the goddess of marriage, I do not often find a bond as pure or strong as the one we are here to witness today."
She reached out a hand to Hazel. "Shall we start with the vows?"
Hazel nodded, beaming widely. "Frank, to put it simply, I love you. You make me laugh, you make me happy when I'm sad, you're everything a girl could ever ask for." Hazel paused to take a deep breath. "I spent my whole life looking for my prince, and instead, I found a king. Frank, I promise to always love you, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, for as long as we both shall live."
Frank blinked rapidly, trying to keep the brimming tears in his eyes from falling. "Hazel Levesque, I have never been as happy as when I am with you. You make me smile, you make me laugh, you've made me the happiest man in the world. You make me a better person, and for those things, I love you." He swallowed, as Hazel wiped away a few tears. "In all my years, I never thought I would be so lucky as to fall in love with my best friend. I have trusted you with my weakness and with my life, and I know that I will never regret doing either. You are my rock, Hazel. You keep me steady. And I cannot wait to embark on this journey into the future with you."
"If anyone has a reason as to why these two should not be wedded, speak now or forever hold your peace," Juno announced.
Frank desperately prayed for Mars and Pluto to stay down.
When Juno was met with silence, Frank let out a deep breath.
Juno smiled at them. "The rings, please?"
Little Chuck Hedge waddled forward with the rings on a cushion and clumsily passed them to Juno.
Frank picked up one of the rings and slid it onto Hazel's fourth finger, and she did the same for him.
"It my honour and pride to pronounce you husband and wife," Juno declared. "You may now kiss the bride."
Frank swept Hazel up into a kiss, and the street erupted into cheers. He reluctantly pulled away, but leaned forward with their foreheads touching.
"You look beautiful," he choked out.
Hazel blushed and slid her fingers between his. "You look handsome too."
Frank leaped off the platform with his wife in hand, and they raced down the aisle laughing.
Frank glimpsed the guests as they ran. Out of the corner of his eye, Frank saw a bird perched on the window bars of a building.
It was brown and white, with a yellow beak and piercing eyes.
With a jolt, Frank recognised it as the same bird form his grandmother usually took.
The hawk seemed to nod infinitesimally, and then Frank swore that it smiled. A second later, the hawk dissolved into a shower of golden sparks and disappeared.
Frank looked back at Hazel, to see if she had seen it, but she was still running joyfully. Frank decided that as happy as he was to start this new chapter in his life, he was glad that his grandmother had been there to at least see him.