Shit, you thought. You hated it when people your age came into the venue, you got self-conscious at the thought of embarrassing yourself with the over-the-top persona and dancing.

It was easy to play the character with the kids, who didn’t know better, and the parents, who were just happy you were occupying their children. People your age had a way of seeing through it all to the insecure college student underneath. And when they were hot, too? You were done for.

About halfway through the line, a little girl with messy hair came and sat in front of you.

“Hi, princess! What would you like for your face paint today?” You asked, leaning in to hear her.

“Can I be a dolphin?” She asked, and you couldn’t contain your startled laugh.

“Of course! What about I do one up the side of your face?”

You got to work, bringing out the blues and silvers to make Estelle, as she introduced herself, her perfect dolphin face paint.

“Are dolphins your favourite animal?” You asked, biting your lip as you concentrated.

“Yep, ‘coz my brother talks to them and they’re so funny,” She babbled as you laughed, nodding along in the way you do with kids.

“How old is your brother, honey? He must be pretty special if he can talk to dolphins.”

“He’s twenty-one. And he’s got heaps of other powers! He’s basically a mermaid — merman.”

“Oh wow,” You said, unsure of what else to reply with. Little kids did this all the time, told you things that didn’t quite make sense. Usually, you could figure it out a little bit better if the kids were both young, but a twenty-one-year-old pretending to talk to dolphins for his little sister was rarer. You would have killed for a sibling like that when you were a child.

You were just finishing up Estelle’s face paint, adding glitter and tiny painted bubbles, when she started squirming, face breaking out in a grin.

“Percy!” She beamed, hand outstretched. Behind her, the dark storm cloud of a man approached. Up close, you could see his clothes, baggy jeans, beat-up vans, and an oversized shirt adorned with cyber sigilism. He looked drastically out of place in a kids' party venue, but you far from minded him being there.

“What’ve you got there?” He laughed as he saw the dolphin gracing her cheek and forehead.

“We heard that you can talk to dolphins,” You put in with a smile. You watched him startle for a moment, mouth moving with no sound emerging. Then he schooled his features and put on an amused grin.

“Estelle,” He scolded, “I told you not to tell people about my superpowers.” Estelle just giggled, using Percy as a stepping stool to get off the chair.

“Say thank you to Elsa.” He encouraged, and his little sister copied him, waving as she made room for the next kid to get their face painted.

Ten minutes later, and you were really starting the party, kneeling in front of a crowd of little four-year-olds.

“Hello everyone!” Your voice went up in pitch, waving to the excited children surrounding you. “I’m Elsa, and this is my sister Anna, and we are so excited to have you all here to celebrate a very important day today, does anyone know what we’re celebrating?”

The kids all shouted out the name of the birthday girl and you nodded enthusiastically. “That’s right!” You said, “And how old is Princess Isabel? Five million?” Raucous laughter ensued, “No, of course not. Five hundred.” You went down and down until you got to five, and the gaggle of kids finally agreed with you, already falling in love with your persona.

“Now, I heard that you guys are really good at magic. Do you wanna do a trick with me?” You asked like it was a secret, beaming when the kids all agreed with you.

“My brother can do magic tricks!” Estelle yelled, and all the parents milling around the room aww-ed. You looked up at where Percy was sitting, looking like he desperately wanted to sink into himself. You made eye contact with him for a single moment, containing your laughter at his panic.

“That’s awesome!” You tried to think of a way to go back to your original topic, but decided that they were five and wouldn’t be overly impressed with smooth segues. You picked up your magic colouring book.

Estelle proved to be a highlight of the party, a glowing beacon of light in the midst of uptight rich New York kids. She clearly took to you too, following your every instruction and hovering around you as close as possible. You obviously didn’t mind, but you couldn’t help the cursory glances over to Percy to check that he thought it was alright.

“Alright,” He heaved, forcibly lifting Estelle away from you as you danced through musical statues, “Remember it’s not actually your birthday, kay?”

You just laughed, continuing to dance your kid friendly moves.

“It’s really alright,” You said, voice smooth. “She’s darling.”

“Still, Estelle loves to be the centre of attention. Product of having my friends spoiling her all the time.”

“How could you not?” You found yourself blushing, though the conversation hardly warranted it. It was just something about Percy’s demeanour, the way he was clearly so smitten with his sister despite his intimidating exterior.

You vaguely clocked Anna leading the kids over for food and jumped, sending Percy an awkward smile as you hurried over. God, one hot boy shows up to work and you’re done for.

Estelle again showed her blatant superiority. She was the only child to say please and thank you as you served her party snacks and watered-down cordial.

Percy had backed off for the moment, making clearly painful small talk with one of the other mums and her teenage daughter. She was obviously mooning over him, and you hated that your chest twinged with jealousy. You’d only just met him — as Elsa, no less. He was in no way yours.

He politely removed himself, and you watched him duck outside. You wished he’d returned as soon as he left, the loss of an ally noticeable in a room of Upper East Side parents.

You continued anyway, serving out sausage rolls with shitty tongs to unappreciative children. In your prep room, surrounded by costumes and plates of food, you sighed. You loved your job, you truly did, but it was exhausting. Still, kids like Estelle made it all worth it. Even when you rushed back to your shitty little apartment and crammed your readings for the next day.

You left the kids to eat for a bit, hopping about the venue to complete some admin tasks and clean up a bit. You jumped when you saw Estelle out of the corner of your eye, hovering just next to your skirt.

“Hey, lovely! Are you finished eating?” You asked with a smile, tidying away some of the face paints sitting on the vanity table. Estelle nodded, examining the brushes in front of her.

“How do your ice powers work?” She asked, running her hands over the gems stuck onto your costume. “'Coz my brother moves the water, and he says he got his powers from his dad. I don’t know him, but I want powers too.”

“Oh wow,” You said, trying to figure out where Estelle got that fact from. You could usually figure out where kids got their far-fetched stories from, but superpowers weren’t too common to hear about.

“Estelle!” Percy came running, picking her up to hold her up at his waist, “I told you my superpowers were a big secret!” He whispered dramatically, covering her mouth with a huge hand. Then, to you, he said “I’m, uh, I’m a college swimmer. My family jokes that I can ‘move water’ and she takes it a bit literally.”

You nodded in understanding, amusement clear on your features.

You were running a terrible game of limbo a few minutes later. The kids were having fun, which was all that really mattered, but god were they bad at it. You couldn’t help giggling as they went forwards and backwards under the decorated limbo stick.

It happened without you noticing it. One kid tumbled in front of you, not hurt but cartoonishly clumsy in movement. And before you could control your own movements, you were looking up at Percy to share the moment, finding him already looking at you. You averted your eyes first, cheeks hot under his intense gaze.

“Alright, everyone, I think there’s one more thing we haven’t done at our party yet…” You beamed as the kids all yelled out the answer: cake, of course.

After every kid had been served their slice of cake, you served the remainder to the adults still waiting around. It was the venue’s policy, trying to reduce waste and all that. Usually, it was awkward, interrupting their small talk about whose child was more of a prodigy, but today, you really didn’t mind.

You suffered through being ignored, adults taking slices of cake off the platter you presented without giving you a second look. Then you got to Percy. Hidden away in a corner, absentmindedly spinning the wheels on his skateboard as he waited for the party to end.

“Cake?” You offered, holding the plate out towards him. Percy shook his head, smiling politely as he declined.

“You sure? Looks good. Personally, I’m hoping there’ll be a slice left for me after my shift.” You broke character, knowing it was just him around — Anna was dealing with the kids. It definitely wasn’t technically allowed for party hosts to be eating birthday cake, but what were you going to do? Give the family back a single slice of cake?

“Well,” Percy released a short laugh, “All the more reason for me to say no; we don’t want you missing out.” You shook your head, charmed by Percy.

“Alright, suit yourself, I’ll be enjoying this later, and you’ll be cake-less.” You really shouldn’t have been flirting on the clock, but it’s not like Percy wasn’t into it, looking down at you with green eyes gleaming.

“Elsa, you should marry my brother.” Estelle popped up behind your skirt, and both of you jumped, expecting her to still be eating cake with her friends.

“Honey, I don’t—”

“No, it makes sense! Percy has superpowers; you have superpowers. And you’re really pretty. My mommy would love you.”

You and Percy just looked at each other, panic evident between you.

“I live in Arendelle with my sister Anna." You saved the day, “I don’t think she’d be very happy if I got married and had to move to New York.”

“Oh,” Estelle said, looking at her shoes, “Okay.”

“But maybe Elsa could come visit sometime?” Percy suggested in a rush, and you were fairly certain it was because he couldn’t stand the sight of his little sister upset, but you weren’t at all disappointed by it.

“Yeah,” You smiled, “Yeah, I think that would be alright.”

Percy opened his mouth to say something, but you were called away by your coworker to end the party, helping kids find lost belongings and taking photos for parents.

You beamed when Estelle approached you, dragging Percy behind her with an embarrassed smile. You agreed easily when they asked for a photo, kneeling next to Estelle as Percy fished his cellphone out of his back jeans pocket.

“Bye! I love you, Elsa.” She waved happily as Percy led her away, clearly telling her off lightheartedly.

You watched them go before tending to the rest of your job, grabbing the broom to start picking up spilled pieces of popcorn and chips as the final few stragglers made their way out of the venue.

The second the venue was empty, you locked the door, pulling off your wig and massaging your temples. A few hours in it always gave you a headache, plus you knew your costume was starting to stink after sweating and dancing in it all day.

Half an hour later, you were finally clocking out. Back in street clothes with fresh deodorant, you felt much more like a real person again, excited to crash at home and have a fat nap.

Shaking out your hair so it wasn’t so flattened from the wig cap, you fished for your keys in your tote bag, ready to lock up behind you.

“Hey,” A voice from behind called out to you as you set off for the subway. Percy, pushing himself off the wall next to your shop, eyes widening slightly as he took you in without the costume and makeup. You hoped that was a good thing.

“Hi!” It came out a bit more enthusiastic than you would have liked, wishing you could be as cool as he appeared.

“Estelle really loved you today. I just wanted to say thank you, you know, for making her day.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. Honestly, she made my day. She’s such a good kid. Uh, where is she?”

“She’s drinking a milkshake inside, she’s all good.”

“Right…” You nodded slowly, fiddling with the keys still in your hands, “So you just came out here alone to thank me for being good at my job?”

“Uh, yeah. That and, um, I was wondering if I could maybe get your number?” Percy’s nervousness was contrary to his outward appearance, which almost made it sweeter, both of you awkward in the middle of the path.

“Yeah! Yeah, totally.” You fumbled around in your bag for a pen and paper, to no avail.

Percy patted his jeans, pulling out an unassuming blue ballpoint pen. You wouldn’t have pegged him as the type to carry around stationery. You took it from him, electricity jolting as your fingers brushed.

He eyed it skeptically as you uncapped it, almost disbelieving its utility. You made a note to ask about it later. On a date, perhaps. You scribbled down your number on his wrist, trying not to focus on the intimacy of you holding his arm.

“Thanks,” He finally said as you both pulled away, looking anywhere but at each other.

“You’re welcome,” You laughed, “Just for Estelle’s sake, though. Obviously.”

“Obviously,” He teased, crooked grin on full display, “I think she’d kill me if I didn’t at least try to shoot my shot with Elsa.”

“Consider me charmed.” You bit your lip to control your smile, looking up at Percy as he rubbed the back of his neck, glancing back at where Estelle sat, drinking a strawberry milkshake with both hands.

He summoned her, smiling softly as she came waddling out of the cafe.

“I’ll let you go,” He said, picking up Estelle to sit her on his hip, kicking his skateboard out in front of him. “It was really nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, you too, Percy. Hope I see you soon.”

You watched him go, carrying Estelle as he skated off around a block. You couldn’t stop smiling as you walked to the subway station, Percy’s intense eyes burned into your brain.