Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus series, RR does.
Suggested listening: All Time Low - Forget About It (I'm not so sure it matches this particular story, but I heard it while I was writing it and thought: "Hey, another Leyna song to my collection!". ;)) & Erin McCarley - Pitter Pat (more matching, I think)
Note that my Spanish exists only thanks to translators and my intuition. XD
WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS TO "HOUSE OF HADES"!
Bittersweet
Leo paled, his throat suddenly very dry. Reyna was staring at him, her eyebrows furrowed, fear, for once clearly (barely seen even if a horde of monsters was attacking her alone), visible in her pitch-black eyes. He tried to make a sound but no words escaped his mouth. He coughed weakly and repeated the try.
"Excuse me, could you..." he felt panic growing in his chest "Could you say that... again..?" She took a deep breath and exhaled nervously.
"I..." she stuttered a bit "I think I may be pregnant..."
A MONTH EARLIER
She stumbled over a branch and cursed quietly. All she'd wanted to do was run away (no, the praetor should never run away, she simply passed the fun) from that gods-knew-why-made-so-pompous celebration. Yes, they'd defeated Gaea, two opposing camps finally united, but had everybody already forgotten the costs? Many had died, twice as many were injured, some pretty severely. How could one celebrate in that circumstances? So she understood why she'd chosen to stay away, but why, in the depths of Tartarus, had she chosen CampHalf-Blood forest when she clearly didn't know the area? She'd also left her dogs in front of her tent to fool the intruders (like Octavian) if they'd tried to check if she had been there. (And maybe scare them a bit if they'd been too stubborn.) That way, she'd lost about 80% of her orientation in unknown places like that one. She'd wandered like that for quite some time, trying to relax her stiff shoulders and smooth out her frown, but not succeeding in neither. She listened to the sounds of the forest, switching her brain off and letting only her instincts guide her.
That's probably why she hadn't seen the light until she heard a bottle crash, Spanish curses following.
She turned around rapidly to notice a faint glint coming from the door she hadn't noticed before. What was such a thing even doing in the middle of the forest? She decided to investigate, unconsciously putting her hand on the hilt of her sword from imperial gold. What secrets did the Greek still have? She approached the source of light and peeked inside cautiously. She saw... Well, she had no idea what she was looking at. There seemed to be everything and a toothbrush in that place - from sheets of some unknown metal, going through strangely booing machines to... was that really a fridge? Suddenly, she'd seen a bottle flying from behind of one of the tables, indistinct mumbling reaching her ears. The bottle crashed on the wall and she heard a hoarse voice.
"Come ooon, empty alreadyyy?!" Leo Valdez seemed to be unsatisfied with its capacity. She took a deep breath and could clearly smell an odor of alcohol. Everything in herself screamed for her to turn around and leave him alone, so she prepared for a silent leave, hoping he hadn't noticed or heard her yet. Yeah, like she'd been born lucky.
"Who's there?" She could hear he was drunk but, interestingly, his speech hadn't turned into a complete gibberish yet. She fought with her thoughts for a while but straightened her back and lifted her chin. The daughter of Bellona couldn't run away from some intoxicated Graecus, no matter how much he'd drunk.
"It's me, Reyna" she called coldly. There was silence for a while, until she heard a quiet chuckle.
"C'mere, let's party hard then, Rey!" he hiccupped and chuckled again. She insinuated herself into the room and closed the door (well, the gate) behind her. She had already had too much trouble with the guy, why would she let anybody see herself deal with him too?
"Here, here!" she heard him call between snickers. She'd already met a lot of drunk people in her life, on Puerto Rico, Circe's Island, even in New Rome, but what she'd seen between tables of mess was something entirely new to her. Most drunk people she'd met were sleeping, singing smutty songs, eventually trying to get special attention of others, not always of the opposite gender. Leo, on the contrary, was sitting on the floor, swaying a bit but still not losing focus as his slender fingers were working on tiny pieces of metal, creating... Were that children tales' characters?
"And now I'll get rid of seven pieces at once! How I love the dwarfs!" he chuckled yet again. Suddenly, he lifted his head and looked at her, having visible difficulties with focusing his sight properly.
"Hey, Rey-" he dropped his voice dramatically and shook his head.
"No, I can't play chess with you if I can't play chess!" he laughed and leant for another bottle of tequila that stood on his right. Reyna was quicker. She kicked the bottle in another direction just when he was about to grip it. The glass shattered into bits, fortunately not injuring neither of them.
"Heeey! What are ya doin'?!" he whined "That was the last one!"
"What are you doing, Leo?" she interrupted him sharply. She didn't like him, really, but she wouldn't let any of her fellow demigods get nocked like a tramp, especially when he was barely sixteen years old.
"What?" he snorted "They say it helps to forget 'bout pain..." She made a mental note to find whichever of the older campers was promoting alcoholism (she was almost 100% sure it could be Dakota) and beat the crap out of them. His chuckle stopped her train of thoughts.
"They are wrooong..." he was looking at the remnants of his liquid oblivion longingly "It doesn't make me forget..." he almost mumbled and nodded to himself "But the pain's not as shitty as always, so... Are they right..?" he looked at her again.
"What'd ya think, Rey? I'm too drunk to choose, really..." he grinned.
Reyna felt a sudden need to kick her own ass. What irrational part of her brain decided to notice how mesmerizingly his dark eyes were shining at that moment? (Wild, unpredictable, fascinating in the discomfort their gaze brought...) Reyna shook her head slightly and looked at him again. She felt a strange sensation rising in her abdomen. (Stop it!) Now he was literally staring at her, ogling her whole with a serious look on his elfish face. She gulped, feeling insecurely in the new situation, something in herself whispering crap about a man and a woman alone in a secluded place, which she was trying not to listen to. (Like they could even be called "adults" already.) No. Get a hold of yourself, you're the Roman praetor, daughter of Bellona! Nothing helped her stop her heart from racing and her breath from getting shallow.
"Ya know..." an unwanted shiver was sent down her spine when he murmured the words (No, no, no, what was happening?!). He stood up, stumbling over his own feet. She took a step back, a part of herself that she was desperately trying to suppress longing to take a step forward. She'd never felt that way before and she wasn't good with handling her own unknown emotions. Something in herself snapped and suddenly she felt like an automaton turned into the vigil mode. She didn't lift one finger when he approached her slowly, strangely alluring smell of oil, grease and alcohol hitting her nostrils.
"Ya know..." he repeated, a husky whisper that made her stomach cramp "I've never really noticed how bella you are, reina..." Had he just called her a beautiful queen? She stared at him wide-eyed, noticing something illegible deep inside his sparkling eyes. Steamy thoughts coming into her mind (go away, go away, go away!) as he lifted his hand slowly, still not standing entirely motionlessly, and touched her jaw line tenderly. When his hot fingers made contact with her skin, she heard her brain screaming to run away but felt her body itching to feel it everywhere and anywhere. Her face turned red when she heard a muffled moan escape her own throat and mouth (traitors!). Leo smirked at the sound. He then came even closer, so close she could feel the heat radiating from his body and notice that he was only a few centimeters taller than herself.
He locked his orbs on hers and whispered "I'm not so fugly myself, I guess..." His eyelids closed heavily and he struggled to force them open.
Then he continued, his fingers slipping a bit to examine her neck, which gave her chills "What'd ya think, querida [sweetheart]..?" She felt his breath ghosting over her slightly parted lips, his hand trying to reach her collarbone despite of her armor's resistance... And that was when her brain finally took control that should have belonged to it in the first place. She pushed him away, quivering unnoticeably at the feeling of his chest under her palms. She put them off almost reluctantly and cleared her throat loudly.
"I think we shouldn't do it..." she whispered. What was that? She was supposed to tell him how much she didn't want to do it, not sound sorry at the thought of it being inappropriate because of certain circumstances, that meaning their age, position, earlier relationship (equals none), time, place, well, everything. Leo also didn't look convinced, just like she felt herself. He moved his head to the side a bit, looking for a hint of uncertainty in her eyes.
"Sooo... Ya don't want me to do this?" he said and, before she could even protest, grabbed her waist, pulled her to himself so hard that their bodies crashed nearly violently and... She'd lost consciousness for a few seconds when she felt him kiss her neck tendon, his strong arms keeping them together and not even letting her have a chance to escape. He chuckled, his mouth coming near her ear and his chest feeling her breast moving abnormally fast against it. She'd almost given in to the caress, her hands trembling a bit from the want for touch, when suddenly he pulled away and let her free. She looked at him in confusion, her heart beating roughly into her ribcage, her cheeks flushed and breathing sped up. He smiled at her daintily.
"Look... I know what ya want to say..." he paused, furrowing his eyebrows "Probably something about all da great... Well, I can't remember the word right now, but..." he inhaled deeply and smiled again.
"Aaanyway, ya're saying we'll be screwed if we do this but ya know what?" Reyna watched in silence as he took her braid in his hands and let her hair loose, separating the wisps with his fingers.
He then smirked and continued "I don't give a fuck..." The sentence left her wide-eyed. He took one strand of her hair in his hand, played with it for a moment and looked at her again.
"I know I'll be regretting this tomorrow buuut..." a tiny little, unexpected needle pierced her heart (ignore it, the pain always wore off anyway) "I wanna do it. I wanna hear you cry my name in the ol' good Bunker 9..." he grinned and his face turned red as if even himself was surprised with the words' boldness "So the only question left iiis... Do you wanna do it..?" he fell silent after that, giving her time to think, not wanting to make her do anything she'd be against (his mother taught him to treat women well and he could remember that even being drunk). Swaying a bit left and right, he waited for her answer. She felt as if her brain had melted into a shapeless pulp because of his heat. Did she want it? Of course, even if she wasn't so eager to admit it. Feeling what she had felt until now, how could she just go away and not use the sweet fruit to its fullest? It wasn't like anybody would know about that incident... She certainly wouldn't tell anybody about it. He wouldn't too, she was somehow sure of that. Such a tempting occasion...
"No" she looked at him uncertainly, trying to determine his thoughts "I'm the Roman praetor and you're the head of your house. We can't let our reputation get crashed because of a one night stand" she sighed "Not to mention that you're drunk and I'm probably too tired to think clearly, so NO, we shouldn't do it..." she turned around and prepared to leave, ignoring her body's agony, when suddenly she felt his fingers closing on one of her wrists, spinning her around and having her meet with him eye to eye, almost even closer than earlier.
"Reeey, I didn't ask if we should do it but if you wanna do it..." he whispered hoarsely "Think only about your wants just this once, 'kay..?" For a second, she thought she'd heard concern in his voice... No, that had to be some trick caused by the alcohol's influence on his vocal cords. But, coming back to the case... She'd always thought that being correct in every aspect was her only true goal but being there, staring into his somewhat crazy orbs, she... She just wasn't so sure anymore... What did she really want? What was her purpose? Was all that taming her every desire ever necessary? Couldn't she just screw the rules and do what she wanted to do? Couldn't she just... live at least a bit more like him? She just needed to relax from all that tension... She moved her free hand almost hesitantly and locked it fondly on the curls at the back of his head. He growled quietly and half-lid his eyes at the feeling of her fingers massaging his scalp tenderly.
"I... I guess it won't hurt that much..." she whispered, her voice a bit lower than usually, so she almost didn't recognize it.
She leant in, considering every aspect of her possible choices over and over again but when she felt her lips brush against his tentatively, she just lost it. She felt drugged with his smell (were the fumes of alcohol that strong?) and, probably for the first time in her life, completely stopped analyzing. Intuition told her what to do next (it wasn't like either of them had any enormous experience in that matter) and after a couple of shy smooches, she was sinking passionately to his mouth, clinging to him in the need for possession, caressing the blister skin of his nape. A bit surprised, a bit too excited and a little too drunk to be able to think well, a bit scary he'd do something wrong, but Leo too couldn't hold it any longer. He tried to synchronize their jaws' movements, his fingers looking for any way to take that annoying piece of metal off of her in the meantime.
She gasped when she felt him lick her lower lip clumsily, leaving the taste of tequila on her mouth. She welcomed him inside, trying not to get overpowered by his nosy tongue. Her hands slid down his T-shirt to his chest - bony for sure, but certainly not flabby - and stopped at the cloth's hem. Sneaking under it, she could hear his mouth resounding subtly with pleasure when it was making its way to under her jaw line. Leaving moist traces behind, he'd found the most important strap and finally freed her from her armor, silent pat of her cloak hitting the ground following. She broke off his mouth's supremacy and her tongue went to investigate the crook of his neck, gaining pleased grumbles from her hot companion (gods, had she just thought that?), while he dealt with the last protectors made from imperial gold. Feeling her armor completely taken off, she felt almost more naked than she would without her clothes on and fear tried to took control of her, but she pushed it away, thinking only about the feeling of delight his fingers left wandering somewhere just about a scar near her belly button.
She felt a sudden need to feel more of his skin on hers, so, still caressing his neck with her mouth, she guided him discreetly to one of the tables. When his backside touched the table top, he understood immediately, pushing his shoes off just as she did, spinning them around in a place, throwing some papers off the table and laying her there gently. She shifted herself up just for the moment of his climb to the hard surface, mare centimeters above her. She grabbed his T-shirt and they swapped positions again, herself now sitting somewhere in between his tights and little Leo (that was obviously starting to become not so small). She took her T-shirt off slowly, smirking at the hunger growing in his eyes at the sight. He gripped her hips and tried to lift himself up to let his other senses examine the new unknown, but she pushed him back almost too roughly, closing her fingers on the fabric that was still covering his chest. She took it off, Leo jaunty helping her in the process, and had to hold in her gasp at the sight of his skin, cut and scarred more than just once.
If there were any things she could consider a "turn on" for herself, that'd be cocoa, jellybeans and scars.
She almost missed the dissatisfaction on his face when he pulled her down hurriedly, their bodies crashing together. He took some annoying wisps of her hair from her face and attacked her mouth with his (practice makes perfect, right?). When they broke apart for air, she moved down, kissing and licking ever scar she'd found on his body starting from under his chin, brushing on his hardened nipples from time to time and leaving him breathing like an asthmatic. For one particular scar, she unbuttoned his pants, but he didn't let her play with him anymore - it was his turn to join the fun. He sat up, placed her on his lap and, keeping one of his hands clenched on her tight not to let her interfere, undid the clasp of her bra slowly. She blushed when she noticed it falling from her arms and saw him staring at her chest.
"De verdad [really] bella, querida..." he mumbled with shy amazement, reaching to touch her breasts. She shivered from the sensation it brought, tamely letting him kiss and lick wherever he pleased. She moaned quietly when his tongue brushed over her nipple and unconsciously gripped his curls when he started to unbutton her trousers. When they reached her knees, she pushed the cloth off impatiently herself. Then she laid herself on top of Leo to make him fall down, twitching at the feeling of his hot chest against her bare one, and stood on her knees again to take his pants off too, making his stuffed black boxers fully visible. She pulled them off and just stared at his arousal, frozen and not knowing what to do next. Leo noticed her embarrassment and grabbed one of her hands tenderly, guiding her. He hissed when her hand clenched on his member, his own showing her what he liked (c'mon, what guy his age hadn't tried? Well, maybe only Frank...). Soon she was caressing him on her own, feeling him harden even more with every touch. Then, after a few moments of quiet growls and his lungs training for the marathon, he felt it was nearly time.
She shivered seeing his wild stare as he lifted himself up, grabbed her shoulders and made her lay on her back. He removed her panties and froze in uncertainty, just like she did a few moments earlier. Copying his method, she took his hand in hers, leading him to her entry. She moaned quietly when she felt his finger moving in and out and encouraged him to do it faster. He looked at her and, seeing her half-lid eyes and flushed cheeks, decided that it was the time for the final stage. He removed his finger out of her, receiving a dissatisfied growl (man, she really did know how to higher up one's self-esteem), and moved for his eyes to face hers directly, suddenly starting to feel nervous.
"Reyna..." he started quietly and she looked at him, surprised at the use of her first name "I'm gonna do it, so..."
"Just do it" she interrupted him maybe a bit too sharply, her voice low and husky, her patience reaching its critical point. He wasn't going to argue, really, so he just lifted her hips a bit with one of his hands (something told him it would be helpful) and threw himself down into the unknown. She gasped loudly when she felt his first thrust inside her. He gritted his teeth when he struggled to find the right pace. Her back arched a bit when she was desperately trying to feel more and more of him, quiet mumbles of "Leo, Leo, Leo..." reaching his ears between her soft moans, stroking his ego. A low growl escaped him when he found what he'd been looking for, quickening the rate of his shoves. Hot breaths, sweat and sounds of bliss accompanying their almost simultaneous climaxes, her muscles clenching tightly on his member, their sight blinded from the delightful sensation of his liquids pouring into her.
Their bodies becoming limp and unmovable when he wrapped his arms around her tightly, still being inside of her, and whispered "Gracias [thank you], reina..." in a low voice right into her ear. She smirked.
"De nada, payaso [you're welcome, clown]" she answered, receiving a mischievous grin. When their breaths evened, he pulled out of her and laid down next to her on his back. She looked at his chest moving up and down peacefully, his eyes closed, wisps of hair scattered around his head, and felt a sudden urge to cuddle up to him. She moved herself a bit and hesitantly put an arm over his chest. Leo opened his eyes surprised but then smiled and closed her in his embrace.
"You were my first..." she mumbled to the crook of his neck. He let a hand through her hair.
"Same here..." she heard him answer. Their eyelids suddenly too heavy, they fell asleep in each others' warmth.
X X X
When he woke up, it was still quiet outside. He wondered why it was so uncomfortably hard where he was laying, why his head hurt so much and, the most important issue, what that soft, warm thing in his arms was. He looked down and cursed loudly, memories flowing back to his head faster than Buford's moves were when he had been given new oil. Reyna winced and looked up at him, her eyes still sleepy. When who she was looking at got to her mind, she lifted herself up roughly, turning her face away from his sight.
"So... You're regretting now, aren't you?" she tried to sound firmly, but couldn't hide a note of pain from his hearing. Not knowing what to say, he just let her dress up, picking up his own clothes in the meantime. By the time he pulled his pants on, she was already reaching for her armor. She had her hair tied in a negligent ponytail, unruly wisps falling into her eyes. She straightened her back and looked at him for the first time since their wake up.
"I guess this is goodbye..." she said, and he couldn't help but think how much of an ass he was.
"Wait... Reyna, I..." he tried to stop her from going, which she was obviously trying to do in that moment. She stood still and looked at him kneading his T-shirt in his hands and looking down in embarrassment. Her frown smoothed out a bit.
"Yes, Leo?" she encouraged him gently. He looked at her with disgust towards himself painted all over his face.
"I... I'm sorry..." he murmured. She lifted her eyebrows.
"For what? I could have stopped it if I wanted to" she said, surprised.
Leo whined and started walking around, waving his T-shirt while gesticulating "Yeah, I know but... It just wasn't something I could even suggest to you, I mean, you probably hate me anyway and-"
"I don't hate you" she interrupted him. He froze.
"You don't? But I... Well, I destroyed your home and-"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean hatred. I was mad, that's true, but I don't hate you" she tried to smile to calm him down, he just looked too defenseless and broken for her to do coldly with him. He almost seemed to be holding back his tears.
His arms went limp and he whispered gloomily "But I love her..." Reyna furrowed her eyebrows.
"What? Who?" she asked. Leo sighed deeply and sat on a chair next to the table where they... Well... She blushed a bit at the memory. He lowered his head and run a hand through his hair.
"Calypso..." he whispered and she thought she'd never heard such an affection in his voice before. Calypso? She thought she'd recently heard something about her, but couldn't remember what that was.
He looked at her and added "I shouldn't have pulled you into this shit when I knew I'd love the other anyway and-" he choked on air a bit because of the growing speed of his speech and lowered his head again "And it was your first time, and I stole it from you without offering anything back and it's just so wrong, to you, to Calypso too, 'cause I kinda cheated on her, but to you the most and I just feel like a pile of shit I probably am and-" he broke off when he felt her hands clenching on his shoulders and when he looked at her, she was crouching in front of him with a serious face.
"Leo, listen to me" she said, calmly but firmly "The one who should be apologizing would be me, then" he wanted to interrupt but she stopped him with a sharp look "I took something that you probably wanted to give to her and for that I'm sorry-"
"But Reyna, it's-"
"I haven't finished yet. I'm sorry for that but not for what has happened" That left him speechless for a few moments.
"What..? Why..?" he only managed to croak out. He could swear one corner of her lips moved up a bit. She looked at him almost softly.
"You haven't stolen anything from me, you've provided me with one of the best experiences in my life" now she didn't try to hide a smile "I knew there wouldn't be anything like us afterwards, you don't need to be sorry for me" the smile left her face slowly but she ignored the wave of sadness that tried to take her over and ended "You're the one who's lost anything, not me..."
She hesitated, thought for a moment and said something so not like herself that she couldn't fully believe that saying that was her own idea "So... Why don't you tell me about Calypso..?"
His eyes widened as he waited for her to say something like "HA, I GOT YOU, BASTARD!" but she seemed totally serious.
"Why..? Why would you want to know..?"
She looked at him in a way that he couldn't name and answered slowly "I don't know. I just do"
So he told her. He told her about his landing on Ogygia, about the time he'd spent there and, of course, about Calypso. He almost didn't notice when he started literally babbling about everything and anything concerning that matter, like his plans to repair the Odysseus' astrolabe and bring her back, how much he missed her and why he wasn't so eager to tell his friends about that. She listened patiently, feeling sorry for what he had been going through. When he finished, there was silence between the two. She felt the responsibility to say something, anything, but nothing adequate came to her mind. Finally, he stood up to stretch and she noticed that she was staring at his chest, mesmerized by the way the bones and muscles worked together under his skin. She blushed and took her armor from the ground, preparing for a leave. When she looked back up, he'd already put his T-shirt on and stood in silence, looking at her in an unrecognized way.
"Next time we meet, we're just acquaintances" he half-asked. She nodded.
"Yes" She took one step towards the exit but hesitated and went back to him.
Hugging his surprised self tightly, she whispered "Take care of yourself, Leo. Thank you and... good luck with Calypso" She felt him return the hug clumsily.
"Yeah, thanks..."
X X X
After the breakfast, she prepared for her leave to Camp Jupiter. Somebody had to supervise the reconstruction of the city, right?
X X X
He took a shower and changed his clothes. Not exactly feeling like going to the eating pavilion, he'd made himself something quick to eat and went straight to his work in Bunker 9.
X X X
Some time later, she found Dakota having his time with a suspicious liquid. Remembering what such behavior did to Leo, she went to tell him very vividly what she thought about it but froze in a place when he tried to cover himself with the said bottle, scared to death, and she got to see the sticker.
"Just... Don't overdo it..." she ended up saying before she left. He put the bottle down as the tequila suddenly stopped tasting well.
X X X
Some time later, he'd almost fallen asleep over the astrolabe, feeling like dying from the lack of sleep. Then, suddenly, a solution so simple it was nearly funny he hadn't thought about it earlier hit his brain at a lightning's speed. A couple of hours later, the mechanism was working and ready to guide him anywhere he wanted. He run to the lake where Piper was, shouting and jumping like crazy the whole way.
"PIPER, I DID IT, I REPEARED THE DAMN ASTROLABE AND NOW I CAN GO TO CALYPSO AND-" he broke off, seeing her confused look.
"You haven't told me anything about any astrolabe..."
"... No..?"
"No... It had to be somebody else..."
X X X
On one gloomy Monday, she sat in her kitchen in her praetor's villa, even her usually playful dogs having a nap under the table. Munching on her muesli, she looked at the calendar and started counting. 28 days since her leave from CampHalf-Blood. She wondered how everybody there was doing, she didn't have much contact with them lately. She reached for her smaller calendar where she wrote her every appointment to check what she had to do that day. Turning the pages lazily, she noticed the date page with red crosses on some of the days. She frowned and started counting. It was already almost two weeks after when it was supposed to happened and her body was almost as much of a pedant as her mind was. She paled and dropped the spoon into the milk when she remembered that memorable night in Bunker 9.
She looked at herself in the mirror, cold water dripping from her fringe. No, no, no. It couldn't be happening. Well, technically, it could, as they hadn't taken any safety measures... She'd never been more terrified of something than she was of that thought. She had to check it, right! She jumped to the door but froze with her hand on the knob.
29 days after her leave from CampHalf-Blood, she didn't go to work. That was the second time since she'd been made praetor, and the first one was when she had had pneumonia and Jason literally forced her to stay in bed. Laying in the same place, she tried to switch her brain off or at least think a bit more logically, but all she could see when she closed her eyes were Leo Valdez' lips whispering "De verdad bella, querida..." over and over again.
"What's happening, Reyna?" Hearing her mother's voice was definitely not a healthy syndrome too.
"I'm asking, what's wrong?!" Oh, so mum was in the room. Reyna lifted herself on the pillows and looked at Bellona in her human form, black hair neatly braided on her left shoulder and dark eyes shining impatiently.
"How did you know?" she asked tiredly. Bellona snorted.
"Every god can feel their children's mood if they want to. You seem to be bothered by something very much, so I came"
"When I don't want you to come, you do, mum, huh? Nice timing, really" Reyna thought bitterly. Her mother stopped her gloomy thoughts.
"So? What's wrong? You know I won't leave you alone unless you tell me" Yeah, she knew. Her and Hylla took stubbornness after their mother. She gulped uncertainly, not really knowing how to say it. She couldn't lie too, the war goddess could recognize a liar right-handedly. The only solution was to tell the truth, then?
"AND WITH A GREEK?! REYNA AVILA RAMÍREZ-ARELLANO, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
"Mum, please calm down!" ("And please don't call me that...")
"I'LL GO AND HAVE A WORD WITH THAT MECHANIC!"
"Mum, please! I'm not even certain!"
"You're not?! Then let's check it!"
"Mum, I..."
Their talk (much more like a war without weapons...) was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. "Come in!" Reyna shouted, praying to the gods that it would be something that could make her mother leave.
Some footsteps on the wooden floor later, Hazel put her head shyly in the door frame.
"Oh, good morning" she smiled kindly to both women in the room.
Not receiving any answer, she looked at their furrowed eyebrows and said uncertainly "Um... Maybe I should come at some other time..?"
"Yes-!"
"NO!" Reyna sent her mother a look of just-leave-us-alone and she and Hazel watched as Bellona stood up, her jaw clenched tightly, and walked out of the house, slamming the door loudly behind her. Hazel grimaced.
"A family fight?"
"Don't bother. Why are you here? Has anything happened?" Reyna tried to keep Hazel's mind away from what she'd seen. Fortunately, it worked.
"Oh, right. Have you heard the story of Leo and Calypso?" Something in Reyna's gut twitched at the words.
"Yeah, what about it?" she asked quietly, having a bad feeling about that talk.
"Well, he rescued her and is currently travelling to CampJupiter to introduce her to us! How cool is that?" Reyna didn't answer, almost wanting to run after her mother and beg her for a really serious fight.
X X X
On the next day, all of the Roman soldiers gathered on the fields. The sun was shining brightly, just the opposite of how she felt.
"He broke the curse, unbelievable..."
"I hope he won't attack us again..!"
"What are we waiting for?" Most of the soldiers were considering Leo and Calypso the gossip of the week. Everything felt a little too crazy for her taste and she felt like puking because of that. Or was there another reason..? She shook her head. No. You haven't done the test yet, don't freak out when it is most likely unnecessary. Inhale, exhale.
She'd almost missed the Argo II's landing.
When she reckoned what had happened, she went closer to the rope-ladder. She saw him climbing it down and her breath sped up. Gods, why so nervous?! He jumped on the ground, not taking his eyes from the ladder's top. And then she saw her. Hair in the color of cinnamon, waving slightly in the wind. White tank top and light blue jeans emphasizing every one of perfectly formed curves. Kind smile in the type of everybody-immediately-loves-me.
Ideal.
Just go, do the stupid test. Don't bother him with your stupid paranoia without any proof.
"Reyna, this is Calypso" his voice stopped her mind monologue. She put on her best diplomatic mask and shook the girl's hand (how strange, to call a 3000 years old titan's daughter "a girl"), when a strange feeling of remembrance hit her. That was what she'd been told about her. She shove the thought away for the moment, it wasn't her business anyway.
"It's a pleasure" she tried to smile, which wasn't so hard, because Calypso's vibe seemed to emanate to everybody in the place. The only one with slightly furrowed eyebrows, she noticed, was, surprisingly, Leo. He looked at her in confusion and she just knew he'd already seen through the mirage.
"What's wrong?" hearing that question for the third time in two days didn't make her fucked-up mood any better, especially because it was said by Leo.
"Why are you following me? Where have you left Calypso?" Storming into her villa, she wanted to slam the door in his face, but he stopped it with his hand and walked there after her.
"Piper got her into her claws, couldn't help it" he smiled daydreamingly "And you looked as if something... Dunno, hurt you or something... I got worried..." he grabbed her hand and turned her around to face him. His smile disappeared.
"Hey... Why are you crying..?"
X X X
They sat in silence in her living room, hearing the clock ticking loudly. Leo was staring at his hands interlaced together, for once not moving. Reyna was staring at him, trying not to cry again.
"So..." she broke the silence, her voice hoarse from the earlier tears "I think I should do the test but..." He looked at her with a worried look on his face.
"You're scared..?" he whispered huskily. She nodded, fighting back the tears. No crying, she reminded herself.
"Because, what if it'll be-"
"Stop it" he interrupted her "We'll think about it if it happens, 'kay?" he tried to smile to encourage her but failed terribly.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Never before had time went by so slowly as when she was counting seconds to the result.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One...
He was sitting on the couch, thoughts blending in his mind into one unreadable pulp. He tried to stop thinking entirely, feeling that he was going to explode from the overload of data. He jumped up when he heard her coming out of the bathroom, holding all three pregnancy tests in her hand. She was poker-faced as he hurried to her side.
"And?" he asked impatiently. She just showed him the content of her palm.
Two lines.
On every one of them.
He froze, staring at the tests, speechless. He heard a sob rising inside of her and lifted his head gustily to look at her. She looked as if she were much younger and much more defenseless than she really was, her eyes big and shiny with tears, smeared mascara making two grey smudges on her cheeks.
That was when he stopped fearing.
He had to be daring to keep her from falling, right?
He moved closer and wiped the smudges with his thumb. She looked at him, confused. He smiled at her. Reyna choked on air again and he embraced her, stroking her hair tenderly while she cried on his shoulder.
"Hey..." he whispered gently "Everything's gonna be alright, reina..." She rose her head fiercely.
"How?!" she blurted out "We're sixteen and I'm pregnant, my mum will kill you when she finds out, not to mention that I've no idea how Calypso will react ("Well, that is a problem" he decided, but shove it away for the moment) and I don't want you to have to be tied to me forever and-" she had to pause to even her breath "And the worst thing is that we barely know each other!"
He looked at her panic calmly and thought for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed. "So tell me"
"What?" She had no idea what he was talking about.
"Tell me everything you'd want the father of your child to know. Or maybe I'm not the father..?" She looked at him as if he were crazy and noticed sparks of excitement concealed with the earlier worry in his eyes. She stared at him for a moment but finally gave up, snorted with laughter quietly and gave him a light punch in the chest.
"Leo Valdez, you're irredeemable..."
And she told him. She told him about her early childhood in Puerto Rico, about her and Hylla's stay at Circe's Island and their following journey to the USA, about their fight, parting and finding CampJupiter by herself. He listened patiently, nodding from time to time or cursing at the more dramatic parts of the story. She hesitated, but told him everything about Jason and, after that, about Percy. She threw away all the emotions she'd been hiding all that time and it felt... actually really good to open up and have somebody who'd listen.
She finished the story of her life and fell silent but he shook his head disapprovingly.
"No, no, no. I bet that you'd want the father-" he grinned at the sound of the word "The father of your child should know more!" She furrowed her eyebrows.
"Like what?"
"Oh, dunno... Favorite sweets?" She lifted her eyebrows.
"WHAT?" He chuckled at the sight of her face.
"Just answer" he said. She looked at him uncertainly.
"... Cocoa and jellybeans, I guess..." she answered. He clapped his hands.
"Bravo! Which holiday is your favorite one?' She wanted to protest but he sent her a look of you'd-better-answer-that and she gave up.
"Um... Thanksgiving?"
After a long round of equally casual questions (or more like a dialogue based on questions), they ended up fighting, and it was a really serious fight.
"Oh come on, you can't actually think that the look-I'm-so-rich guy's better than Joker?!"
"But Batman, 'cause he actually has a name, you know, defeated him in The Dark Knight!"
Leo snorted. "Only because he was lucky! Nobody really knew what the jester could have thought of if he had more time, nobody understood him at all!" Reyna shook her head disapprovingly and it got to her.
"Speaking of crazy people, you haven't told me anything about yourself, Leo" He blinked a couple of times.
"I haven't? Well..." he wasn't so eager to tell her the whole story of his spectacular fails, but when he looked at her, waiting with interested look in her eyes, he thought it would only be fair to open up as she had.
She was quiet during his whole speech and didn't say anything when he finished too. He looked at her, trying to read her expression, when she finally moved a tiny bit and sent him an uncertain nonverbal question. The question he obviously didn't understand.
She sighed and started, her voice shaking a bit "I don't know, maybe it's because of the hormones or something but... Can I hug you?" His eyes widened.
"Yeah, sure but-" he didn't finish as her body mass hit him at an almost sound wave's speed and he had to deal with the shock first.
"I promised myself I wouldn't cry..." she mumbled somewhere near his ear, obviously trying to hold back tears but failing.
"Hey, what now?" he asked, returning the hug, and she heard a note of amusement in his voice "I know I'm the hot stuff and all but, really, you could have resisted myself this time" She rolled her eyes.
"Your story..." she started quietly "It was just too heartbreaking..." He shook his head.
"Yeah, it kinda was but why would you, with your story, even care?" She thought for a moment and smiled.
"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with being the mother of your child?" He chuckled lightly.
"Parents, huh? Let's just hope I'll survive your mum's rage" The smile disappeared from her face.
"What about Calypso..?" she asked quietly. She wanted to tell him what she knew so bad but just couldn't. How could she break his heart like that, without any other proof than just the words she'd heard? It didn't even matter who said them... He was silent for a moment, then sighed.
"I've no idea..."
They decided to have a few days' break of silence to gather their thoughts and ideas on how to deal with the new situation. During that time, nobody new would get to know about what had happened. When he was walking to the bunker where he was supposed to sleep (Octavian still insisted that leaving him on the Argo II without any security would be too dangerous), he noticed a movement behind the corner and a second later he was hugged tightly by somebody who smelled like cinnamon.
"C-Calypso?" he stuttered, surprised.
The girl answered cheerfully "Yes, who else would you expect?" When he remembered how much time he and Reyna had just spent embracing each other, his face turned red and he thanked the gods it was dark. He cleared his throat.
"Dunno, maybe your evil clone or something?" She giggled, the sweetest giggle he'd ever heard.
"You're unbelievably stupid, Valdez, you know?" she looked him in the eyes "I was waiting for you, of course. But where have you even disappeared, I wonder..?" He prayed to his father for a casual look on his face (like Hephaestus could even make casual faces with his features).
"Ah, well... You know, just sightseeing..." She lifted one eyebrow.
"New Rome's an interesting place" he added hurriedly. After a few most terrifying seconds of his life (if not counting the time spent on Reyna's couch), she smiled.
"I forgive you, this time" She grabbed his hand and pulled him after her.
"You have a wonderful friend in Piper, you know?" "Yeah..? Oh, yeah! Of course!" She chuckled.
"What's wrong with you today?" she asked. He gulped.
"Dunno, I guess I'm just tired..."
She couldn't know. Not then. Not until he came with any good solution.
X X X
The following two days, he was so scared of unconsciously blurting everything out that he'd basically started avoiding her. He'd volunteered to help with the camp's renovation and spent most of the time either with Vulcan's children in their forges or at the construction site, where he could be almost alone. Almost meaning he run across Reyna nearly every few hours. Well, it actually really was regular, because she was the supervisor of the renovation plus Octavian would have committed a ritual murder on all the stuffed animals of New Rome if she had left the Graecus alone.
Fortunately for Leo, being around Reyna turned out to be the most peaceful time during the days. She was his partner in crime, after all. They could talk openly without being afraid of the secret coming to light. He could make stupid jokes about babies or pregnant women not being afraid it would tell out anything. She could laugh at the jokes freely, not dreading it would be too obvious. And her laugh turned out to be very contagious... During one of the laugh attacks, they didn't notice that someone had entered the place. Leo's throat tightened and a smile disappeared from his face when he finally saw Calypso holding a small package in her hands. Reyna, not knowing why he'd fallen silent, turned her head and gasped when her sight met the other girl's furrowed eyebrows.
"So this is what you do when you run away from me, huh?" she asked drily.
"Um... I think I'll go... check on the others and... Bye, Leo... Bye, Calypso..." Reyna jumped up and caught the last sight of don't-leave-me-alone on his face but shook her head slightly and left the place.
"Here, I made you sandwiches" Calypso pushed the package roughly into his hands "And now you'll tell me why you prefer to spend time here with her and not anywhere else with me!" she jabbed his chest with her index finger. He felt sweat flow down his back.
"It's... It's not like that, Calypso..!" he said, nervous to death "I work here and she's the supervisor and she's a nice girl and-"
"A nice girl, you say?!" Calypso snarled "So there's more than just a professional relationship going on, huh?!" He was terrified by the sight of tears coming to her eyes.
"Not my girlfriend, you said..! I should have known you'd do what everyone earlier did..!" Now she was really crying, trying to sound as firmly as she could with her throat tight. She turned around and tried to run away but something in him snapped, he grabbed her hand and hugged her tightly without permission.
"You-! Let-! Go-!" she shouted in the breaks between the sobs, but he felt her body giving up.
"She's just a friend, Calypso..." he murmured into her ear, wondering if that would be considered a lie in the back of his head "You don't need to worry, I'd never leave you. I came back, remember?" She froze, her body becoming limp in his arms.
After a moment of silence, she returned the hug, whispering hoarsely "And don't you ever leave me again..!"
And when everything was going kind of smoothly, the war goddess had obviously had to come and destroy everything.
The following day, everybody was gathered in the eating pavilion for a breakfast. Everything seemed normal, chattering filling the air and the cutlery's twangs being the only sounds disturbing the calm atmosphere. Reyna was sitting at the table with her fellow panjandrums of the camp and their Greek guests, meaning Leo and Calypso. The girl tried to be nice, but Reyna could simply feel the coolness and mistrust coming from the titan's daughter, which she was trying to cover with fake smiles. Suddenly, the mood changed and Reyna turned around gustily, hearing gasps and scared whispers coming from near the entrance. Oh gods. She'd almost choked on the piece of scrambled eggs she had just been eating when she saw her mother storming in the direction of their table. Bellona stood in front of them, eyeing Leo up and down. The room fell completely silent and Reyna knew everybody was watching the scene. Gods, no.
"So?" she asked, not taking her eyes from her target, who was turning paler and paler with every moment "Do you know it already?" Reyna stood up and tried to grab her mother's hand.
"Mum, please, let's go outside" she begged, feeling like crying at the thought of what was going to happen if they stayed, but trying hard for her appearance to stay cool. Bellona pulled out her hand from her daughter's palm.
"No, I want to hear it from him. Leo Valdez-"
"Mum, PLEASE-!"
"Don't interrupt, Reyna!" She felt as if she was going to faint and prayed to the gods that it had only been a bad dream.
She heard her mother's rough voice "Leo Valdez, have you impregnated my daughter?" Reyna's ears registered shocked gasps and quiet whispers rising in the pavilion. No, no, no, that wasn't happening!
"Yes" surprised, she heard a husky yet strong voice and turned around hastily, which made her head spin a little. Leo looked at her and smiled weakly.
"Yes, I have, ma'am" he repeated almost calmly and with confidence.
She nearly stopped breathing.
And then many things happened at the same time, it felt more like watching a movie then an actual experience. Bellona smirked at Leo's courage. Calypso stormed out of the room, crying. Leo tried to go after her, herself nodding affirmatively when he looked at her with a desperate question painted over his face.
Octavian stood up and screamed "HA! You see, she shouldn't be a praetor! Such an irresponsibility!", pointing at Reyna with his index finger, crazy sparks seen in his eyes. Leo stopped in his tracks, returned to the table, his jaw clenched and eyebrows furrowed, and grabbed the augur by his toga. The room fell silent again.
"Don't you dare say anything bad about her, badulaque [moron]..." he growled quietly, looking him in the eye furiously "If anybody would be guilty for what had happened, that'd be me. You can throw your shitty accusations at me then, I don't give a fuck" his knuckles were turning white "But don't you undermine her authority, 'cause she's the best praetor you could get, one of the most kick-ass demigods I've known and one of the most beautiful girls I've met" She ignored her heart's flip at the words.
Leo threw Octavian on his place, looked at him once more and said with repulsion "And you obviously can't even compare with her, not talking about overpowering her, persona bajita [shorty]. You don't know how much she's been through and don't seem to notice how strong she is even though"
He looked at her and smirked bitterly, running out of the pavilion a moment later. Reyna was frozen, still seeing him deal with Octavian with her imagination's eyes.
"Don't you dare say anything bad about her"
"one of the most kick-ass demigods I've known"
"one of the most beautiful girls I've met"
She heard her mother whisper amusedly right into her ear "For a Greek, he has guts..."
Yeah, he did.
X X X
"CALYPSO, WAIT!" he screamed for the 100th time, trying not to crash into every tree he had to pass, chasing her.
"Let me explain! I was DRUNK and Reyna-!"
"OH REALLY?!" she stopped and screamed at him through her tears "You think that makes anything right?!" He thought she was going to hit him, but she lowered her hand with a visible difficulty.
"You cheated on me, not in all flirty-smoochy way, but ENTIRELY!" He looked down, feeling markedly how much of an ass he was ("Wait" he thought "Have I heard it somewhere before?").
Calypso took a deep breath to throw a long volley of abuse at him, but a quiet voice from behind of one of the trees interrupted her "He's not the only one who cheated..." They saw Nico di Angelo coming from behind the trunk with his usual gloomy face.
"W-who are you?! What are you talking about?!" Was it just his imagination or had Leo heard nervousness in her voice?
"What are you doing here, Nico?" he asked hoarsely. The child of Hades still wasn't his first choice of people he'd want to meet in a dark alley. Nico shrugged his shoulders.
"Walking around, I guess... No exact reason..." he looked Leo in the eye and the son of Hephaestus shivered, feeling as if death itself was searching his soul. He'd never met Thanatos, but he had a feeling that he and Nico were pretty similar to one another.
Nico looked at Calypso and said calmly "You cheated on him first" Leo's eyes widened.
"What? How would you know?" he asked him, looking at her pale face.
"During our journey to CampHalf-Blood, me, Reyna and coach Hedge had a stop in Paris" Nico looked away at the clouds.
"The city of love?" Leo blurted out. Nico winced.
"Yeah... Not the coolest place to visit, if you ask me" Leo furrowed his eyebrows.
"Wait... But what does it have to do with Calypso..?" he asked.
"N-no, don't listen to him! He talks nonsense!" Leo looked at Calypso again. She was now almost paler than Nico and that meant seriously pale. Nico looked at her like one'd look at a plastic bag flying down the street.
"We met Aphrodite. She didn't even lift a finger to help us with the monsters..." he said with disdain.
"But what does it have to do with-"
"I'm coming to the point" Nico sent him a death glare, which gave him chills.
"She looked at Reyna and said: Calypso has already found a new lover." There was silence between the three. Leo stared at Nico, his eyes wide.
"I... I don't think I got it. Why would Aphrodite say such things to Reyna? I don't get it at-"
"You do, Leo. You've taken one curse off, but what about the other one? Remember, love hurts in the most cases" he said in such a sad voice that part of Leo wanted to jump to him and hug him tightly. The child of Hades walked away, lifting his hand in the gesture of goodbye.
"Till our next meeting" he said and disappeared in the puffs of black smoke. Leo stood still, not exactly knowing what that all meant. The only thing he understood...
"Calypso..." he started quietly, looking at her. She lowered her head and didn't return the look. He walked closer, his heart starting to ache.
"Have you... Has another demigod visited you on Ogygia after I left..?" She whined quietly and lifted her head, tears shining in her eyes.
"Yes..." she whispered and Leo felt bazillions of needles stab his heart.
"But..!" he heard desperation in her voice when she grabbed his hand, her own ice-cold "But nothing happened and it wasn't like we were officially a couple then and-"
"Did you love him?" he asked, pain clearly visible in his eyes. She fell silent, not answering the question. He nodded sadly. They looked each other in the eyes for a long while. Then, suddenly, he snorted, the type of sound that could be cry as well as laugh. He pulled his hand out of hers and hugged her gently. Shocked, she looked at him with questioning gaze. He sighed.
"I guess we've both hurt each other, huh?" Her eyes started to cover with tears again when she cuddled into his chest and sobbed quietly. He stroked her hair tenderly.
"Let's try once again, 'kay..?"
X X X
And they tried. For the next few days, they tried to forget all the pain and start fresh for the second time. They ate meals together, went for long walks around the camp and talked for hours. Basically did all every normal couple would do. All seemed perfect.
Too perfect, for his taste.
Their relationship has become like a one from some low-budget romantic comedy. They tried so hard that they lost authenticity somewhere in the process. It hurt him because he loved her, he really did. But...
When the paper's crumbled up / It can't be perfect again
What was the worst for their relationship was his contact with Reyna. He knew Calypso barely stood it. He knew he should cut that bond to stop hurting her but he simply couldn't. How could he leave Reyna in that mess all alone? Especially since Octavian has been building an opposition to her and, gods knew why, some of the campers turned their back on the praetor. They weren't as strong as to dismiss her and she acted like she didn't care but he knew it hurt her, somewhere deep inside. He felt it did.
And then, one day, he woke up and it just seemed like everything would change on that day, only he didn't know whether it would be a change for good or for bad.
He was holding Calypso's hand while they wandered around New Rome. Something felt different, she felt different.
Like she broke and stopped pretending.
She pulled him into one of the cafés and dragged him to the most secluded table. They sat in silence, waiting for a waiter. She smiled at him but the smile didn't reach her eyes. They ordered two coffees (strange, it got to him that he hated it before he met her) and waited again, this time for their order. People came in and out, her watching them and him not taking his eyes from her. After some time, they were sipping on their drinks. And that was when she looked him in the eye for the first time that day, he noticed. She put her cup on the table and sighed.
"No" he whispered hoarsely, suddenly starting to fear. She smiled gently.
"I haven't even said anything yet" she answered sadly. He gulped.
"But I know what you're going to say" She lifted one eyebrow a bit.
"Really?" "Yes, and I don't like it" he started to sound desperate.
She put a hand on his fisted ones. "Me neither but-"
"So why do you want to end it?" He noticed tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She inhaled deeply.
"Because I can't go on like that" she said, her voice thicker than usually "I'm not able to share you with her-" she choked on air a bit but ended after a few moments of silence "I love you, Leo but I... I just ca-"
"Then let's try even harder, it has to work out!" he exclaimed hurriedly and hesitated for a moment "I love you too..! I just love you so much, it has to-" he broke off when one single tear fell from her eyes and he leant in to rub it off her cheek. She grabbed his hand and pressed it into her skin.
"Then choose" she whispered.
"What?"
"Choose between me and her" Air caught in his throat.
X X X
Reyna took a day off. The third time in her life. Deepening a friendship with a Greek had a bad influence on her, she decided. Anyway, she just couldn't manage to get herself to work on that day. For some reason, she didn't know why. She was laying on the grass of the fields, remembering the crazy events of her recent life. Why had her relationships always had to be so messed-up? She noticed Aurum and Argentum lifting their heads gustily and lifted herself up to check that.
"What are you doing here, huh?" she asked, surprised at the sight of Leo coming slowly in her direction. He looked at her and smiled, his smile somewhat different from his usual ones. He sat on the ground beside her and kept silent. She stared at him, one of her eyebrows lifted. He turned his head to look at her and she felt confused. She hadn't known that look in his eyes yet. He put one wisp of her hair behind her ear and she blushed. What was happening? Leo parted his lips but kept silent for a while, thinking about how to say that properly.
"I think I may love you" he finally whispered tenderly. She was speechless.
"What..?" she managed to croak out weakly after a few moments of furiously sped up heartbeat. (Stupid, stupid, stop!) Leo looked at the horizon of mountains again, embracing his knees with his arms.
"Calypso..." he said quietly, which sounded like he hadn't really said that to her "She told me to choose between you and her" Reyna thought she knew why he'd come.
"You want to tell me we can't see each other anymore, right?" She knew that move: you tell the girl that you love her BUT the other one's the one and only. She tried to ignore the feeling of her heart breaking (why, had she started to feel something... more..?) and comprehensive loneliness washing her off her mental stability shore. He furrowed his eyebrows.
"I've just confessed to you, why do you think I'll leave you?" he chuckled "Mi reina [my queen], that doesn't make any sen-" He was interrupted by her slap on his cheek.
"Ouch, what was that for?!"
"You idiot, what are you doing here?!" Another girl added to the list of he-made-her-cry-that-day...
"If she made you choose, why'd you come?!" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"Isn't that obvious? Because I chose you, I'm telling you!" Reyna whined, rubbing the tears off furiously.
"But you LOVE her! If it wasn't the child, I wouldn't even have got your attention at all!" She grabbed his arm.
"Leo, please, don't make yourself miserable because of me, go to her and beg on your knees, just-!" What interrupted her were his lips on hers, the familiar taste of... Well, she could only call it Leo. The kiss was much more gentle than the ones they shared in Bunker 9, with more affection, but, at the same time, almost shy. The skin on her jaw tingled from his touch and she tried to keep herself away but couldn't help but return the kiss. After a moment of bittersweet pleasure ("It doesn't mean anything!" she kept saying to herself), he pulled away and looked her in the eyes.
"When she made me choose, I tried to imagine my life without whichever of you and it turned out... interesting, I'd say... Pretty painful but still interesting" She started playing with her braid, eyeing him with confusion, slightly drugged with the memory of the feeling of their kiss.
"I thought about losing her and it hurt, hurt like few things that have hurt me during my entire life. It hurts now too, to be honest" a note of pain could be heard in his voice and she felt even worse for him. She shook her head.
"Then why have you-?"
"I'm not done yet" he interrupted her.
"But then I imagined living without you and it just..." he thought for a moment, a few seconds that lasted for an eternity for her "It just felt like ripping 2/3 of myself, for both you and the child, and I just thought..." he blushed and lowered his head, almost mumbling into the grass, his voice a pitch or two higher than it normally was "And I thought that maybe this is true love? Not the overwhelming feeling of high like in commercials or anything but... A feeling of belonging?" he looked at her shyly.
She didn't know what to say and he added "With you, I don't need to be nervous all the time, we're just... We're just a family... Like that" he smiled timidly. A warm, but not blister, fire started to spread inside of her but there was still one thing that bothered her.
"But..." she whispered sadly "We wouldn't be a family if I weren't pregnant with you..." He shook his head and linked their fingers, hesitating a bit in case she didn't want it.
"No, Reyna. I think about it as of a thing that got us together but... I dunno..." he scratched his head with his free hand "Oh, let's make it a food metaphor!"
She furrowed her eyebrows but he didn't mind that and started explaining "Let's take two pieces of cake and link them with butter" Her eyebrows went up.
"Leo, are you-"
"Shh, I'm talking! Well, let's also take two pieces of bread and link them with butter too. And now remove the butter. What would you like to eat?" he looked at her with crazy sparks in his eyes. She hesitated but, after remembering their talk about Batman and Joker and her thoughts on his insanity, decided it would be safer to play his game.
"I don't know, the cake?"
"THAT'S THE POINT! The sets got your attention because of butter but-"
"You haven't said anything like that" He whined.
"Come on, Reyna, use your imagination! Anyway, two pieces of bread stop tasting good when you take the butter away, but you'd still want to eat cake!" She looked at him, confused.
"I don't think I get it..." He threw his arms into the air dramatically.
"Oh, I give up! We are the cake pieces and the baby's the butter..." Something clicked in her head and she understood (although she had no idea why that was). Was he trying to say that they'd make a good match anyway and the child just brought them together? She burst out laughing so suddenly that he jumped up.
"Have you just-" she couldn't catch her breath "Have you compared our child to butter?!" He blinked a few times and started laughing too.
"You're right, a poor metaphor..." he said when they got a hold of themselves after a while of shaking, their stomachs hurting.
"But it worked" she smiled, gripping his hand hard.
"Oh, and by the way..." she said and brought herself closer to him, whispering into his ear "I think I may love you too..."
A FEW MONTHS LATER
"So, have you decided on a name for your little baby-boy yet?"
"Well... You know, Hazel... I have a few ideas but I don't know if Reyna will like them..."
"I've already decided to defend Diego till the day I die"
"Really? Mi reina, that's wonderful! It matches one of my ideas: Diego Leo Rey Alejandro Ramírez-Arellano-Valdez I!"
"... Let's just keep it at Diego Valdez..."
ZJeM, 04.12-09.12.13
From author:
Why is it such a monster of a oneshot? Because the story could be made into a multichapter as well, but I was too lazy to write it like that. ;D Ah, how I love Leyna... It seems almost like a mental illness to me these days. O_O
When the paper's crumbled up / It can't be perfect again - Forgotten by Linkin Park
THANKS FOR READING!