Shining Through the Darkness (Solangelo AU)

Prom. -15

Soon enough, my door slams open. Jason looks angry and wild eyed.

"Uhhh, hello Brick Boy." I say, mostly jokingly

"What's wrong with you?" He says accusingly "Picking fights with Percy? Seriously man? He could kill you."

I stop and stare at him for a moment, then break out laughing.

"Oh that's good, Grace." I say, "You're quite the laugh, ya know? You see, here I thought I was the gay one, but apparently, you have feelings for Percy."

"Seriously? Seriously Dead Head? Seriously?" He says "If I were gay, I would steal Will from you. I would ruin you."

"As if."

"You've got yourself a challenge there. And stay away from Percy." He says, and slams back out my door.

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"PROM TONIGHT" Will yells in my ear, waking me up from my nap.

"Dear Gods, Will, was that really necessary?" I ask, rolling my eyes

"Uh, yes, and here's why." He says "1) we only have an hour and you've only now woken up, that's a problem. 2) you never sent that playlist over, I did that while you were asleep. 3) The Aphrodite kids are standing outside waiting to get your ready for prom on time. 4) I wanted to. 5) Jason said you're a dick; you will explain why in approximately one hour and one minute. 6) It was fun. Now go."

I roll my eyes, but stand up anyway and walk groggily out of my room when a bubbly bunch of dressed up Aphrodite kids were grabbing my arms and pulling me towards their cabin.

"No makeup?" One of them asks

"Of course not!" I say

"Dress or Tux?" Another asks

"Tuxedo. Oh my Gods, I am a male. I don't wear makeup." I say, only to get yelled at because guys can wear makeup too. "Okay, okay, please can we just get this over with?" I ask.

"Yes." They all smile.

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The amount of hairspray in this cabin will definitely reopen that hole in the Ozone layer. And, I think that Leo better not come in here any time soon. He would most definitely explode the entire camp with that much flammable gas near him.

"Are you almost done?" I gasp between coughs.

"Yes." One of the older ones says, "now shush."

I roll my eyes for what feels like the hundredth time today, and ignore the world.

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Soon enough, I walk into the prom, with swarms of Aphro kids yelling at me for messing up my hair. I shoo them away as a laughing Will walks toward me.

"Well, don't you look.... Hot?" He says

"Is that a question?" I say "because the Aphro kids wouldn't let me look at myself. Why? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong. Everything is perfect. You are perfect." Will says, taking my hand and pulling me farther into the dance.

"And you are insane. A beautiful, well dressed, insane person; but insane none the less." I tell him.

"Oh, so I'm beautiful now?" He asks, smirking.

"Uhm, well, I... Yeah." I say, feeling the heat run to my cheeks. I'm seriously hoping that it's dark enough he can't tell.

"Well, you're cute when you blush. Just so you know." He says

"You're insane. Did you know that?" I ask.

"Well, you just told me like... Maybe a minute ago, so yeah, I think so." He replies laughing.

"Well fine then. Let's dance." I say.

"Ah, your emo songs are coming on." Will says "What even is this?"

"Seriously? This is Fall Out Boy." I say, shaking my head at him.

"What's this song called?"

"Twin Skeletons (Hotel in NYC)." I tell him "I'm not sure why the parenthesis, we just go with it."

"I see." He says "Well, I kind of like it. Not very happy lyrics. Upbeat music though."

I roll my eyes, again. "Okay Will, we don't have to analyze my music choice. I promise it'll be okay." I say, and this time I'm the one laughing.

"Okay, I see how it is." Will says sarcastically "you don't care if I know what kind of music you like, or what kind of music to play on our next dates. Fine then."

"Next dates?" I ask over Will's fake sobs.

"Ah yes, you see, I was hoping that if all went well tonight, there'd be a few more nights like tonight. More private though. Can't exactly repeat the lake in front of like 30 of your siblings," Will says.

"Ah yes, of course, whatever could I have been thinking?" I ask mocking Will's change of tone.

"Actually, though, getting back to our earlier conversation, I had a bet with Perc about whether the Aphrodite kids would put you in a dress. He owes me now."

"Ooh, gutsy," I tell him, "I thought they were going to put me in a dress too. You have too much faith in those kids."

"Yeah, well, as adorable as you'd be in a dress, I didn't think you'd allow it."

"You are very correct. They offered makeup, too. It felt like the longest lecture ever about how males can wear makeup too."

"Makes sense. They don't really care what you say, as long as it doesn't mock beauty, love, or war."

"Next time you make me hang out with them; I'm bringing you with me. At least we can suffer together."

" I expected nothing less," Will replies.

As Will is answering, the crowd quiets down and somebody I recognize as an Aphrodite girl from before is on a small stage, holding a microphone.

"As you all know," she begins ,"during every prom season, we challenge you to come up with the best, most interesting, most creative and most romantic promposals you can. Every year, we set up hidden cameras, so as not to miss a single promposal. Now with out further ado, our third place prize goes to -" And a video plays.

It's Thalia asking Piper. Good for them. It's even more cute watching it the second time around. Thalia and Piper walk up onto the stage, are awarded with small tiaras. They bow and walk off stage to the sound of applause.

"Well isn't that just super cute?" The Aphrodite girl asks, "second place goes to -"

Next is a video of Percy asking Annabeth. I wasn't there when he did it, so this is the first time I've seen it. He took her swimming in the lake and brought her underwater. When they came up, Annabeth was absolutely ecstatic about the beauty of the fish and plants. That's when Percy leaned towards her and said "they're nowhere near as beautiful as you. I can go see them any time, but you're all I can think about, please go to prom with me?" Truthfully, it was much more adorable to watch. I'm surprised they only took second.

They repeat the steps Thalia and Piper did and in turn step off of the stage.

"Awwww," the girl says again "And finally, our number one promposal is....."

And it's me on the screen.

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Published 10/29/15

Edited 12/27/16