No time to explain- gotta go pack and stuff- probably did a horrible job on the revision, sorry if so. Enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters shown below.

Dedication: xXTheDragonRiderXx, who asked for Leyna

One of These Days

The Doors of Death were closed and monsters were both rare and weak, at least for the moment (moment or not, it was a miracle and a source of great relief and pride). Demigods were living lives more full and safe than ever before, with unusually high numbers of them attending school, working, living at home and just mingling with the population in general.

So perhaps the boredom of it all was why Leo Valdez spent all his time in Rome, where the lifestyle hadn't been changed at all.

That still didn't explain why he was in the principia morning, noon and night, at least not in Reyna's books.

Reyna hated breaking up fights in the morning. It wasn't so much as the grr-why-are-the-legionnaires-fighting aspect that bothered her like it was for Jason, but rather the fact that her instincts were triggered for good and the adrenaline pumped in her blood at twice the speed for the day. It took twice the usual amount of concentration with five times the willpower to get through the boring, stationary, paperworky parts of the day.

Leo only had the will to blow bubbles and have them pop. He chewed like a cow and Reyna looked up.

Chew, chew. Pop. Chew, chew. Pop. Chew, chew. Pop.

"Ooh, nice one. Did you guys see that? It was as big as a brain!" Leo cheered.

"We're working Leo." Jason said.

"Oh. My bad."

Chew, chew. Pop. Chew, chew. Pop. Chew, chew. Pop.

"One of these days I'm going to shove that gumball down your throat and choke you," Reyna said looking up. "Will you stop?"

Leo looked like a deer in the headlights.

The bubble popped over his lips.

Leo's bubble-gum days were long behind him now. Reyna had been thankful at first, but then she'd discovered how loud the crunching of pretzels was.

They all had.

"Leo," Reyna snapped looking up.

He swallowed and played dumb, holding the bag out to her. She didn't know why he was even sitting on the main table like he was.

"Sorry. Want some?" He asked holding out the bag.

Reyna shot him a dark, dark look. "I want you to stop."

"Stop what?"

She put even more ferocity in her eyes. He'd immediately got back to snacking and was therefore immune.

"One of these days…" she sighed to herself.

"One of these days what?" Leo asked with a smile brightening up all his features. "You'll evict me?"

"Don't tempt me."

Mario Kart.

That was all that she had to say about the perks of technology.

A group effort on behalf of the seven half-bloods had given Jason his first video game console for his sixteenth birthday. Reyna and Jason were nuts about it. It took a lot of willpower not to blow more time than it did trying to conquer Rainbow Road. When Leo was over, he absolutely insisted on playing- also insisting on being Luigi in the game. That was fine because Reyna liked Toad best. Jason alternated, but Reyna liked to tell him that Princess Peach suited him.

Leo finished the final lap first.

"WHOOP!" He said jumping to his feet. "I'm the absolute lord of this game- I just conquer every track. You guys are sucky Romans!"

Reyna pushed him away since he was blocking her screen.

"Don't push me away, I'm a real good shoulder to cry on…"

It was too late, Jason had claimed second place.

"Leo one of these days," Reyna let her thought trail.

"One of these days what?" he asked with a grin.

"I'll use the blue shell on you," she threatened.

Leo's face fell.

"When are you gonna come over and visit me for a change?" Leo pouted. He was running his hands over the series of endless folders hidden behind the tapestry.

"When we emerge from the paperwork," Reyna said.

"When's that?"

"One of these days."

"That's too long," Leo said.

"You see me weekly," Reyna said. "What does it matter?"

Leo shrugged. "Maybe I want to cream you at Mario Kart in a different city.

"I was getting kinda worried about you," Jason said when Reyna stormed in late. She only turned towards Leo, totally ignoring her colleague.

"Not funny," she said pointing at him.

He grinned crookedly and Reyna wanted to slap him. Luckily for him, she knew better. If she'd put a finger on him she'd tear him to shreds.

Jason must've sensed it because he asked "What happened?"

"I'm late for official duty because someone thought it would be funny to coat my hairbrush in honey," Reyna said.

Jason's eyes widened and he looked at Leo. There was something like admiration mixed in with the bewilderment in his eyes.

"Oh, come on Rey. It was a prank." Leo said.

"Not funny," Reyna repeated. "One of these days I'm going to kill you Valdez."

"Send a save-the-date first," he said. "My blooming social life leaves my calendar nothing but booked."

Reyna slapped the magazine out of his hand.

"How rude," Leo commented.

"You know what else is rude?" She asked. "Hiding magnets around my villa so that my poor dogs get stuck everywhere."

Leo grinned. "Surely you see the humour…"

"No," Reyna said. "I don't. And Gods help you when I find out how you got inside. Until then enjoy reading."

As she walked away he called out after her: "One of these days I'm gonna find a sense of humour under all that hair."

Reyna doubted it.

But not as much as she'd like.

"How do you say 'damn girl; you're looking fine' in Latin?" Leo asked out of nowhere.

"Doesn't matter," Jason said. "You're not allowed to flirt with the legionnaires while they're on duty."

"Besides, that's not a way to approach a girl," Reyna said.

"They're not always on duty." Leo said, ignoring her.

"Tell him Jason," Reyna said. "It'll save me the trouble of beating him up and provide entertainement one of these days."

"I don't think that 'damn girl; you looking fine' will impress anyone, but you can try 'Pulchra es oculi tui'."

"Your eyes are beautiful?" Reyna asked with a smile on her lips. Leo laughed.

Jason raised his hands. "I can confirm that it works, alright?"

"That's ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous is that two single people are telling me how to compliment," Jason said.

"I like my idea better," Leo said.

Reyna sighed. "Sooner than you think, you'll yell out my name and I'm going to let some girl rip you apart."

"That would be rude."

"So is approaching a girl and being like 'damn you look hot'."

"That's not what I said."

"One of these days I'm going to strangle you."

"Can't wait."

Leo was having fun drumming on various piles of books, clay tablets, and files.

"Leo stop and put them back in the piles you found them in," Reyna said.

Jason was babysitting Julia in New Rome for the night, so she got to handle Leo all by herself. If she was going to commit murder, tonight was a prime opportunity.

"I can't hear you over the spirit of Bob Marley inspiring me," Leo said drumming. "What was that?"

She tried to ignore him and focus on her work, but the thing with Leo was that he actually got a kick out of doing these types of things. Attention was just a bonus he could mooch off along the way.

It was irritating. The drumming particularly. So irritating, as a matter of fact, that even though his mere presence had been building up her patience she lost it. It didn't help that, with a New Rome phonebook under his arm, he was now circling the principia, beat boxing.

"Leo," she finally snapped. "Stop it."

"But art, Reyna. Art." Leo said.

Reyna groaned. "One of these days Leo…" She couldn't complete her thoughts. Leo was looking at her with a smile on his lips.

"One of these days what? You'll drown me? Beat me to death? Have be crucified? Poison me in my-"

She was kissing him. Not exactly what Leo had in mind, but judging by the fact that eventually his hands ended up tangled in her hair and pulling it out of its braid, she didn't think he'd mind.

Reyna pulled away and gulped.

"Lose my cool. One of these days I knew I'd lose my cool and just kiss you senseless."

Leo blinked like he really was senseless.

"Gods I love the arts," he said. "Maybe I'll take up the cello next."