Title: Where You Are, I Am
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~4,800
Characters: Jason/Reyna
Summary: She's been proposed to exactly twice, both by the same person.
Where You Are, I Am
She's been proposed to exactly twice, both by the same person.
Yes, she realizes how that sounds. But the first time had been a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, obviously, since they were both only sixteen when it happened. She knew the sentiment was entirely real, though, and post-battle adrenaline will make you do crazy things. Well, love can, too, but she's going to bet that just narrowly surviving a war with Gaea and her giants still had a lot to do with Jason's decision to pick out a ring from a partially destroyed jewelry shop on his way back with Percy and propose to her in the middle of what had been a battlefield less than an hour ago.
"Jason," she'd hissed when he'd gotten down on one knee. Everyone had been staring and she couldn't blame them—their clothes were dirty and torn, they had cuts and bruises all over, and she, for one, had felt thoroughly exhausted and sweaty and gross.
Not that Jason seemed to think this mattered much.
"We just defeated Gaea and the whole time, all I could think about is how I wanted to see you," he'd said, giving her a very Jason smile. "Humor me a little."
She laughed.
(It's not like he was wrong.)
"So, Reyna—"
"Yes, yes," she interrupted quickly, and he chuckled, taking her hand in his. He slipped the ring onto her finger and then kissed her knuckles, and she tugged him up by his battered purple toga and bruised armor and kissed him right there with both camps watching.
The second time had been a little more traditional, because they were a few years older and he'd actually bought the ring beforehand and not on a post-war whim.
They'd been standing in the middle of the Field of Mars with Scipio and Tempest right after the War Games were declared over, and she'd seen Percy, Annabeth and the others from Camp Half-Blood standing with their friends from Camp Jupiter for all of two seconds before Jason took her hand, knelt before her and produced a black velvet box from his armor. Not unlike the first time, though, they were exhausted from having just fought, so sweaty that their clothes stuck to their skin. And not unlike that first time, Jason didn't seem to care.
"Will you let me finish this time?" he'd asked with an amused smile.
"Probably not," she'd admitted. "But I'll try."
He beamed. "Reyna—"
"Just say yes already!" Percy shouted from where he stood, making everyone laugh.
Jason looked at her, and she bit her lip, smiling. "Yes," she said, and he grinned and slipped the ring onto her finger, stood back up and kissed her in the middle of the Field of Mars with their friends erupting into cheer just a few feet away.
To this day, she still can't decide which proposal she loves more.
... ...
"So, you two…"
"Please don't ask me if we're sure about getting married," Reyna interrupts.
Percy laughs a little, then holds his hands up in a gesture of surrender when she shoots him a look. "Rey, you know I'm not going to ask you that," Percy says, and she lets out a sigh, sitting herself down on a bench.
"Sorry," she exhales. "It's just… It's getting old, how people keep asking us if we want to wait."
"I know what you mean."
And she smiles because, yeah, she knows that he does. He and Annabeth got married after Annabeth turned nineteen. Reyna just turned twenty-two, so they waited a little longer than Percy and Annabeth did, but not by much. It's not like she doesn't realize that they're young, and people probably just want to make sure they're not rushing into things, but she's never once made a hasty and ill-thought decision, especially with something so important. She's never going to want anyone other than Jason, so what's the difference if they get married now or later? Not everyone is going to understand that, and that's fine, but they could at least be a little more supportive and show more faith in their choice.
"I love him," Reyna says. "It's not like we need to get married for me to show that, but…"
"You just can't help but want it, right?" She nods. "Look, don't let people ruin that for you," Percy tells her. "Besides, you know all of us are going to support you."
She nods and takes a sip of her latte, now lukewarm, and makes a face. Percy takes it from her hand, shakes it a little to see that it's pretty much empty and then gets up from the bench to toss it. When he comes to stand in front of her again, she stares up at him for a moment and he frowns when she doesn't stand right away.
"What's wrong?" he asks at the same time she asks, "Would you be a groomsman?"
He blinks. "Seriously?"
She just looks at him.
"I thought Jason picked out the groomsmen?"
"You make it sound like we're going shopping," she mutters. Percy laughs. "Besides, we've already talked about who we wanted to be a bridesmaid or groomsman. Jason just thought I should be the one to ask you."
"Why?"
"You were there for me when I needed help," she reminds, tilting her head a little. Percy gives her a crooked grin, holds out his hand, and she takes it and lets him pull her to her feet. "More importantly, you were there for Camp Jupiter when they needed someone to look up to. It pains me to admit it"—he rolls his eyes—"but you've become good friend."
"I'm touched, Rey," Percy says, holding his hand over his heart. She shakes her head, amused. "And I'd love to be a groomsman."
"Good." She links their arms together because, yes, it's kind of their thing, even though she can't remember how it started. "Not like you had much of a choice, anyway."
... ...
Okay, she doesn't hate dress shopping as much as she thought she might.
She takes Gwen, Hazel and Annabeth with her the first time and they sort of just drive around the Bay Area and try stuff on to get a feel for the style. She and Jason don't even have a date picked out yet, but the sooner she can get this dress out of the way, the better. She just doesn't want to have to worry about this closer to the actual day, and part of her really does want this to be her dream dress. She didn't used to think that way before, but it's different when you're actually going through it. A problem with centerpieces and like, a typo or two in the programs are errors that she'll ultimately be able to live with at the last minute, but if something were to happen to her dress that couldn't be fixed in time, she might start seeing red.
So yeah, they're getting a jump on this now.
The girls really help the day go by smoothly, too. Gwen sat with her the night before and they looked at styles online so they wouldn't feel totally overwhelmed and clueless, and Annabeth, having gone through all of this already, knew how to make the most of their appointments. Hazel's just a total sweetheart through the entire thing, making sure Reyna's comfortable and being sure to point out all the positives of each dress on her, and when she answers Reyna's phone at one point, the girl actually sounds a little choked up.
"I wish you could see her, Jay," Hazel says, wiping at the corner of her eye. Reyna's standing on the platform and looking at her through the reflection in one of the many mirrors they're facing. "She's so pretty."
Reyna cries a little at that because, really, how can you not?
They come back empty-handed, but it's fine since they narrowed down what looks good on her and what doesn't and, more importantly, what she actually wants. She didn't even consider that they might've come home with the perfect dress on their first day of looking. She's much more realistic.
"Hazel almost made me cry today," Jason tells her later, when they're in the kitchen and he's pulled her across his lap like he likes to do.
Reyna laughs. "She made all of us cry today."
"You'll look so beautiful." She meets his eyes and he combs his fingers into her hair. "You always do, but I'm just like, imagining you with the veil and everything…"
She kisses him instead of saying how excited she is, too, but it basically means the same thing.
... ...
The surprise engagement party Gwen throws them at her villa is extravagant and completely unnecessary if you consider that the point of an engagement party is to announce your engagement and everyone has known about theirs since it first happened. (Gossip spreads like a wildfire around the two camps, apparently.)
Reyna kind of loves it, though.
It's very Gwen to want to throw a big party, so this definitely wouldn't be the first time that Reyna's gotten a little dressed up and helped her best friend play hostess. Gwen has a large enough place to do so, as well as the extra spending money, and if it's what the girl feels like doing, then why not? Their color scheme is black, white and red – which Thalia helped them pick because it's classy and simple, but also because they were trying to avoid gold and purple for a number of reasons – so Gwen's place is decorated with almost every type white flower in existence, with black and red drapes and streamers and paper lanterns hanging from the high ceilings and a black, white and red dessert bar to complete it.
"I feel like I'm at a dress rehearsal for our actual reception," Reyna tells Gwen. She's sitting on the kitchen island while Gwen's whipping up more champagne cocktails, and no, this wouldn't be the first or fifth time they've ended up like this.
"That's kind of the point," Gwen informs. Reyna raises an eyebrow. "Well, you did put me in charge of the decorations and the flowers, and I figured that as your best and your maid-of-honor, I simply can't disappoint! So I hope your weekends for the next few weeks are free, because I'm going to have a few more parties with more trial decorations."
Reyna laughs. "You're insane."
Gwen grins, kisses Reyna's cheek and then slips a knife into her hand and tells her to make herself useful by slicing the lemons.
Later, when it's almost midnight and they're finally home (Gwen roped Dakota and Bobby into staying the night to help her clean so Jason and Reyna wouldn't have to), she steps out of her heels, sets them onto the floor and starts unhooking her necklace and bracelets and earrings. Jason comes to stand behind her, tugs at the bow behind her neck that's keeping her dress up and is already smiling widely at her when she tilts her head back a little to meet his eyes. She smiles, too, because she already knows what he's thinking.
"You in white," he murmurs by her ear, kissing her temple. Obviously she didn't know that Gwen's party today was for their engagement, just picked this dress because Gwen gave it to her and it was really sunny out and it just seemed fitting, and Gwen must've spent a whole five minutes talking about it being fate or something.
"Should I keep the dress on, then?"
He laughs and then kisses her on the lips this time as he tugs the knot undone.
... ...
Thalia comes with them the second time they go dress shopping, which takes place in New York because they're visiting Percy and Annabeth for Thanksgiving and staying in their guest bedroom for the week. Hazel's staying the whole week, too, and she and Leo are spending Thanksgiving with the four of them, plus Thalia, Nico and Rachel, and Mr. and Mrs. Blowfis. Gwen's only in town for a few days to help with the dress shopping and then heading back to spend the holiday with Dakota in New Rome. Even Piper joins them, which is admittedly a little strange at first, but not entirely. The two of them will probably never become best friends or anything, but they're friends, somewhat, and Jason and Piper made up some time ago and still e-mail each other fairly regularly. Considering how everything happened between the three of them a few years ago, this is a great improvement.
They find a dress on the third day with a beaded corset and a tulle skirt, and it's very princess-y and something Reyna never imagined herself in. Hazel points out that it looks kind of Roman without being cheesy, and maybe that explains why Reyna loves it so much.
And she does. She loves it.
Then the consultant pins her hair up a little and drapes a veil over the back and, yeah, the tears are pretty much instant for everyone in the room.
... ...
Christmas is smaller this year since they're paying for a wedding in the summer, and they'd rather cut costs by cooking dinner themselves and just not leaving the house. They have a few gifts that they're going to open at midnight, because Jason was slightly horrified at the idea of no presents at all, but that's it. She obviously doesn't mind.
They're getting married. She would've been fine with no presents.
"What about Paris?"
Reyna makes a face and Jason laughs, kisses her hair and pulls her closer. She's wearing leggings and an oversized snowflake sweater that matches her knit snowflake socks (both being gifts that Percy and Annabeth gave her last Christmas), nursing a mug of hot chocolate as she's curled up against Jason on their couch, a wool blanket pulled over their legs. They're not determined to finalize the location for their honeymoon tonight, but they ate a really late dinner and then couldn't find anything interesting to watch on television in the hour they had left before midnight, so Jason brought in the travel magazines they'd been collecting over the last few weeks so they could look through them while they waited.
After a few more pages, Jason shuts the magazine and sets it with the others of the coffee table. He angles himself towards her, tucks a finger underneath her chin and kisses her gently on the lips. "What about a cruise?"
She arches an eyebrow. "You want to go on a cruise?"
"Well, it'd take the pressure off of choosing one location, and we'd get to be in a different city every other day. Like a few mini trips in one," he points out.
"You've obviously given this a little bit of thought before tonight," she says with a laugh, amused.
He shrugs and then kisses her hair. "It's just a suggestion. We can go back to looking at more magazines if you want."
She can tell by the tone in his voice, though, that that's not really what he's getting at. He's the only person other than her sister that knows enough (more than enough, really) about her past to understand why she may be uncomfortable with being on a boat in the middle of the water for two weeks. The thing that's different this time around is that she has him.
As clichéd as it sounds, she feels safest when she's with him.
So she sets her hand against his cheek, kisses him slowly and says, "Let's look up cruises," against his lips.
... ...
When she meets up with Gwen for breakfast on the only Thursday they're both able to take off, Gwen hands her a (no lie) itinerary for their day, complete with directions between locations that she printed off of Google Maps, pictures from their websites and small descriptions of who they're meeting and why.
"You're crazy."
Gwen rolls her eyes. "I'm just trying to make this as painless as possible. Actually, the only reason you're not stressed with only four months left to go is because of my thorough assistance, as well as my Iris-message consultations with Annabeth, so you're welcome."
Reyna laughs but doesn't argue. That's basically the truth.
By the end of the day, they've met with the baker for the specifics of the cake, booked the rehearsal dinner venue, made appointments with the salon for the bridal party's hair and makeup, called in to check on the wedding invitations and reception programs, and looked at about three different stores to find shoes to go with her dress.
They're sitting cross-legged on the living room floor when Jason comes home with Dakota in tow. Jason greets Reyna with a kiss to her cheek as Dakota hands Gwen a warmed chocolate croissant and a grande, extra-hot, chai latte with whipped cream and caramel drizzle from Starbucks (her usual), and the four of them share takeout from the Thai restaurant down the street as Jason helps Reyna with the wedding shower guest list and Gwen explains why each song on her recommended reception playlist is perfect for them.
"Dakota," Reyna says so he'll look at her. "What song are we going to dance to?"
"I get my own song?" He looks amused. "That's awesome."
Then Gwen laughs at him like he's missed the point and Jason just chuckles and shakes his head. "I mean," Reyna goes on, "you and Gwen both brought me to Camp Jupiter in the first place. Gwen's my maid of honor and all but… ours will be like, in place of the father-daughter dance."
"Oh," he says quietly.
"If you don't want to, it's fine. It's not like—"
"Rey, don't be silly." Dakota smiles widely and gets up, walks around the table to hug her, and she smiles into his shoulder as he says, "I'd love to dance with you."
... ...
Their favors (candles made to look like small wine bottles, with hers and Jason's names and the wedding date on the label) come in the same weekend that Hylla's visiting, so the two of them head over to this craft store in the city to find something decorative to put the candles in, because that's what Gwen says they should do. It's a little strange, her sister doing something so… so domestic, especially since she's still Queen of the Amazons, and Hylla rolls her eyes and smirks when she looks up from the spools of ribbon she's comparing to find Reyna smiling at her.
"Don't even start. I'm only doing this because of you."
"Oh, I know. I'm just savoring the image of this." Hylla glares. "Maybe I'll take a picture so I can frame it and put it on our mantle. I'm sure Jason will love it."
"You suck," Hylla laughs, shoving her sister's shoulder. "Why in the world are there twenty shades of white ribbon?"
Reyna shrugs.
After they've paid for three hundred favors, Reyna takes Hylla to this Italian restaurant that she and Jason love a lot (mostly because of their brick oven pizzas), and the owner greets her by name and tells them to take their usual table by the window while he gets them this new bottle of wine he wants them to try.
"They're coming to the wedding," Reyna tells her after he's poured their wine. Hylla raises her eyebrows. "We've known them for a while now. Their cousins are making the cake."
"Wow," Hylla says, and she doesn't sound like, condescending or anything. She sounds a little awed, actually. "Quite a life you've made for yourself, huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's not a bad thing. I just meant… I mean, did you ever picture your life ending up like this?" Reyna laughs, shakes her head. "It's crazy."
"Want to hear something crazier?" Hylla nods, looking both amused and intrigued. "Would you give me away?"
"You mean, walk you down the aisle?" she asks. Reyna nods. "That is crazy to think about. Never did I think I'd …" She trails off, trying and failing to hide her smile. Reyna puts her hand over her sister's atop the table, and she can't remember the last time they'd held hands at all. "I'd be honored to give you away, Rey," she says after a moment.
"You're the best," Reyna tells her.
"I am, aren't I?"
And the two of them just laugh and clink their glasses together.
... ...
Their invitations and the supplies for the wedding reception programs come in exactly eight weeks and two days before the wedding day, which gives them the weekend to make sure all of the invitations are addressed properly (and yes, that's exactly according to Gwen's planning, which is kind of amazing and a little scary at the same time). She and Dakota were already planning to help Jason and Reyna with the invites, but then Percy and Annabeth end up making a last-minute trip to San Francisco for the weekend with Leo in tow, so they're here also, and then Hazel, Bobby and Frank come, too. They don't need this many people to help, especially since a majority of the invites are going to be given in person rather than mailed, but whatever. They're also helping to assemble all of the programs, so it'll be nice to get that out of the way. And it's not like she minds having everyone over.
They order a few large pizzas to feed everyone, but then Hazel wanted to make cupcakes, too, so Reyna and Percy take a break to help her.
"Stop that, Jackson."
In her peripheral, Reyna watches Percy jerk his hand away from the bowl of raw cake batter and stare at her widely. "How did she even…" He trails, turning to Hazel, who just giggles behind her hand as she shrugs her shoulders. "You're mean, Rey."
"Stop trying to eat all of the ingredients and I won't have to be," she says simply. "That's basically just raw eggs, flour and sugar right now and it'll make you sick."
"I think I'll live."
He tries to reach for the bowl again after she's turned away and she swats his hand with a wooden spoon this time. Hazel laughs.
"Do you have like, three-hundred-and-sixty degree vision or something?" Percy asks. She shrugs. "That's scary."
"It'll come in handy if our kid inherits Jason's knack for getting into trouble."
And honestly, she didn't even realize what she'd said until a moment of total silence follows and she turns to see Hazel and Percy staring at her. "Reyna," Percy says, breaking into this huge, lopsided smile. "You're not… Are you…?"
"Seven weeks," she admits. She's trying to be nonchalant, but then Hazel squeals and pulls her into a hug and Reyna feels herself blush. Then Percy's hugging her, too, setting his hands at her hips and smiling down at her stomach with these wild eyes, like he expects her to start showing all of a sudden now that he knows.
"What's going on in there?" Leo asks from the other room, and before Reyna can even think of something to respond with, Hazel exclaims, "Reyna's pregnant!"
So, yeah, everyone basically crowds into the kitchen after that.
She meets Jason's eyes almost immediately, smiling and giving this little shrug, and he just laughs. Then Gwen's hugging Reyna as Bobby's clapping his hand against Jason's shoulder and Reyna's basically passed around from person to person as they each give her a hug and a kiss on her cheek and run their hands over her stomach as if they expect to feel the baby kicking already. When she finally ends up in Jason's arms, he places his hands on either sides of her face and kisses her slowly, their friends breaking into cheers and whistles.
... ...
"We should've just eloped."
Jason whispers this into her ear after the rehearsal dinner, which makes Reyna laugh.
Gwen's packing her a bag, which won't actually consist of much since Reyna's dress and shoes have been at Gwen's villa for the last three weeks and it's not like she'll be doing her own hair and makeup, so she's not sure what's taking the girl so long in hers and Jason's bedroom, but whatever. The girls are staying at Gwen's villa while Jason and the groomsmen are staying here and Jason's been pouting about everyone taking Reyna away from him. He's being silly and it's just one night, but it's not like Reyna's thrilled about the idea, either.
"It is bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her gown before the ceremony," she tells him, like the explanation is supposed to make either of them feel better.
"That superstition doesn't really apply to us considering it started because the families that arranged their children's marriages were afraid the couple might call off the wedding if they saw each other beforehand." She gives him a look and he just shrugs. "I read it in an article once."
"Oh?" she asks, amused.
He nods, kisses her temple. "Did you know that the veil, in a Roman tradition, was worn to protect the bride from evil spirits that would be jealous of the bride's happiness?" She shakes her head, smiling up at him. "And the bridesmaids used to be dressed identically to the bride to confuse devious spirits in the area from knowing who the real bride was."
"You're such a nerd." She laughs as she says this and he chuckles, takes her face in both hands and kisses her. "I love you."
"I love you, too," she replies, fisting the front of his shirt as she kisses him a little harder.
"Enough of that, lovebirds," Gwen practically sings, grasping Reyna's elbow. "You already got her pregnant, so you can wait one night before you get your hands on her again."
Jason rolls his eyes. "We should've just eloped."
... ...
Hylla actually looks like she's about to cry when she sees Reyna before the ceremony, which, of course, Reyna is extremely touched by, but it's not exactly doing anything to calm her down. She's by no means nervous or scared or something stupid like that. She's just a lot more emotional about everything lately. She blames it on the pregnancy hormones.
"You're getting married," Hylla says in this quiet voice, holding onto Reyna's hands between them and, oh gods… "I hope your makeup's waterproof. You don't want to start crying and then end up looking ugly for the pictures."
"You suck," Reyna laughs.
Hylla laughs, too, but then kisses her sister's cheek and pulls the veil over her face. Reyna fumbles a bit as she takes Hylla's arm, but neither of them say anything about it.
The ceremony flows beautifully, and she swears everyone sighs when Reyna really does start crying during Jason's vows and he pauses to pull the handkerchief from his blazer pocket and wipe the tears away. Then Chiron presents them as husband and wife and Jason doesn't even wait for the man to finish before he's pulling Reyna into his arms and kissing her.
... ...
Her makeup stays perfect for pictures for the entire night despite the fact that everyone seems determined to make her cry as often as possible. She and Jason share their first dance to two different songs because Jason didn't want to let go of her after the first one ended, and then while the speeches are being given during dinner, she somehow ends up with a glass of champagne in her hand and Jason just gives her this smile when she takes a tiny sip before setting it down. Annabeth sits with her in Jason's spot at the head table as Jason dances with Thalia, and then everyone laughs when she's dancing with Dakota and the idiot decides to pinch her ticklish spot on her side and makes her yelp and flinch away.
After they've cut the cake and tossed the bouquet and garter, Reyna finds herself sitting with Annabeth at the head table again, except they're alone this time since everyone else is on the dance floor.
"So, how're you feeling?" Annabeth asks, and Reyna laughs because, honestly, that's kind of a few different questions in one.
She replies with, "Happy," because that's the truth in every way possible right now.
"I'm glad." Annabeth sets down her fork and places her hands over Reyna's, squeezing lightly. "Who would've thought things would end up like this for us?"
"You sound like things are ending right now." Percy comes to stand behind Annabeth, dropping a kiss to her hair, and Jason pulls up a chair beside Reyna's and takes one of her hands from Annabeth. "Trust me, Rey, this is just the beginning," Percy adds, and Jason just pushes his thumb over Reyna's wedding ring like he's making her another promise.