This one goes out to SeaofWisdom18, Butterfly of the Dusk, and I-am-Jason-Son-of-Jupiter. So, happy holidays, friends! I hope this fulfills your expectations… I remember Butterfly of the Dusk wanted Leo in it, and SeaofWisdom18 wanted humor… and Jason didn't really get back to me on time, so he gets this. Sorry, Jason-still, I hope you like it. XD

Anyway, this takes place post-Heroes of Olympus. You know, after the fifth book and whatnot.

Uh… that's it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, as usual.

Jason wasn't quite sure why in the world he was crouching in some bushes, listening at Reyna's door on a perfectly nice evening. After all, there were better ways for him to spend his time.

Well, no, he corrected himself. I know why.

Why was because Leo Valdez, his best friend, had been acting weird the whole day, and then had simply abandoned them around five p.m.

Leo hadn't told anyone where he was going or why, and since Jason was his best friend, he took it upon himself to make sure Leo didn't get into more trouble than usual.

So he'd followed Leo's trail (which wasn't hard, since Leo wasn't especially good at espionage), which led him to Reyna's house.

Jason had settled himself in the bushes, and pressed his ear to the door.

And, of course, he heard exactly what he'd been afraid to hear.

Leo knocked on the door of Reyna's house. The building was small, painted a nice shade of ivory, with bushes lining the front yard.

After a moment or so, the door opened to reveal the raven-haired praetor, eyes gleaming with excitement.

Leo swept a deep bow. "Evening, milady." He grinned.

"Come on in, Leo," she said, smiling. "We've got to get started right away if we don't want to miss evening meal."

She stepped aside to let him enter, and then quickly shut the door behind him.

"Why all the secrecy?" Leo wondered.

"Well, we don't want to get caught now, do we?" Reyna dropped her voice to a whisper. "I don't usually like using magic, but I thought it would be all right to teach you a few specific fire spells."

"Oh, um, thanks."

"Don't mention it. Although, you will owe me a favor sometime in the future." She looked at his expression and laughed. "Don't worry. It'll be something simple. Like, maybe if I need someone to fix something of mine…"

He felt relieved. He'd been expecting her to make him sign over his soul to some Roman god or something in exchange for her instruction, but this wasn't the case.

Reyna appraised him. "So, you're the only fire-user in a generation from your camp?"

"Uh, since 1666, I'm told."

She whistled appreciatively. "I'd heard it was a rare gift, but not that rare."

Leo hesitated before asking, "So, if you're not a fire-user, then how come you can do fire spells?"

"There's a pretty big difference between the two. For one thing, I get tired summoning the any bit of flame at all. For another, anyone with godly blood can use spells. Spells aren't quite as potent as being an actual fire-user, but it's always good to know a few." She added, "And I thought you might want to know some, so you can always have a few tricks up your sleeve."

"That would be helpful, considering that I don't really have a legit weapon…"

Reyna's obsidian eyes glinted. "Leo, a demigod is never without a weapon. Especially if you're trained in combat or magic."

"How so?"

She looked around the room and found a paperclip. "Observe." She picked up the clip and held it in the palm of her hand. "Mortal science is but their way of trying to understand magic. You will find that if you know your rules of science well, then you will have an easier time with magic. This is a solid, is it not?"

He nodded.

She concentrated for a moment, and the metal abruptly melted into a silver puddle.

"Is it hot?" he asked.

"If I want it to be, then yes. But for now, no."

Tentatively, he reached out to touch the liquid. It was cool, like water. But that shouldn't be.

Reyna smiled. "Not all rules of science apply. Magic bends them a bit. The only thing that limits magic is the boundaries of your imagination." She closed her hand in a fist, made a twisting gesture, and opened it again.

Now, in the palm of her hand, lay sparkling silver dust. She blew on the dust, and it drifted into the air.

But instead of falling, as Leo expected, it hung suspended as a glittering cloud.

"Wow," he said. "And you don't show anyone else?"

"No. Jason hasn't seen, either."

"Wow."

"I know."

She regarded him seriously. "Now, why don't you show me what you can do?"

"Now, why don't you show me what you can do?"

Jason strained to hear more. He hadn't been able to make out most of the conversation, but now they were speaking louder.

He wondered why Reyna had been speaking so quietly before. Probably some secret.

What secret would she be telling Leo, of all people?"

"Um, I'm not really that great at this."

"That's all right, just show me what you can."

There was a pause, then the sound of a quick gasp.

"Gods, Leo. Give me a warning next time—that could've hurt."

"Sorry. Are you okay now?"

"Yeah, fine." Another pause. "Keep going."

"I… don't really have anything else."

"I see. Try putting your hands like this… Okay, that's better."

Jason frowned. This was an extremely awkward-sounding conversation.

"Hey, this way is easier!"

"I've done this a few times before, so I know what I'm doing. Just trust me."

There was the sound of Leo's laughter. "Hey, I know—now that I've got the hang of it, you wanna both do as best as we can, and see how it goes?"

"Oh, you're on."

Jason listened. There was a lot of yelling, whatever they were doing.

"HA! Take that one!"

"LEO! Would you at least try not to hurt me?" Reyna growled. "Here, have a taste of your own medicine."

"AHHH! REYNA! REYNA! STOP! YOU'RE GONNA KILL ME!"

Her tone changed to playful. "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen!"

"Oh, I can take it all right. Try this one on for size!" There was a feral growl that sounded like it came from Leo.

"Whoa! That one was new. Do it again!"

"What, this?"

"Yeah, that." An appreciative sigh. "You're coming along nicely."

Jason flushed bright red. He really, really hoped they weren't doing what he thought they were doing.

"Do you want to stop? We could try something else…"

Jason couldn't stop himself. He ran to the door and kicked it open. "All right, what's going on here?"

Leo and Reyna were standing across from each other, though both were now staring at him. Reyna's hair was messy. Leo's hair was dancing with flames. Both were smudged with ash and soot.

Only then did Jason notice that both of their hands were flickering with sparks of fire.

"What are you two doing?" he demanded.

Reyna gathered her wits first. "Were you eavesdropping?"

"No!" Jason denied it, a reflex.

She turned to Leo. "I thought I told you this was supposed to be a secret!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't tell anyone! He must have followed me or something." Leo's brow furrowed. "Dude, did you stalk me?"

"I wouldn't call it stalking," Jason huffed. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't doing something stupid."

"I was learning some stuff from Reyna!"

"Like what? I was trying to make sure you weren't going to get yourself in trouble, and then I heard a whole lot of commotion!"

Reyna sighed. "You can tell him, Leo."

"She was teaching me some magic, since I don't have a cool weapon like you or Piper." Leo looked miffed. "Not that you two like hanging out with me anymore, anyway—I figured no one would miss me if I left."

Jason was looking around the room, and suddenly noticed the silver cloud of dust that was hanging in the air.

"What's that?" he pointed.

"It used to be a paperclip," Reyna explained without really explaining.

"You wanna teach me how to do that?" Jason asked.

"Not really, no."

Leo grinned, "Oh! I'm gonna try!" He picked up another paperclip (Reyna kept a lot of those things on her desk) and placed it in the palm of his hand. He concentrated.

Abruptly, the paperclip transformed into a lump of silver clay. The clay then started to move of its own accord, scooting along Leo's hand, groaning as it went.

"AHH! WHAT THE HADES!" He dropped the lump and stomped on it repeatedly.

"Waste of a perfectly good paperclip," remarked Reyna.

"I didn't know you knew magic," Jason interjected.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Grace." She sighed. "Even though you used to be my best friend."

Jason opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again.

Leo, sensing the potential drama bomb in the air, started to edge towards the door. "I'm… just gonna… yeah… See you guys at dinner." Then he turned tail and ran.

The son of Jupiter and the daughter of Bellona stood staring at each other.

"So," Jason finally said, "why would you teach Leo magic and not me?"

She shrugged, and dropped her gaze.

There was a silence.

Reyna broke it this time. Her voice was a hoarse whisper. "Why… why would you follow him? Why wouldn't you trust him?"

"I was looking out for him. He doesn't need to get into any trouble."

"But… then, why would you listen in?"

"I don't know." He blushed. "Guess I'm still looking out for you, too."

She tilted her head to the side. "How much did you hear?"

"Uh… mostly a lot of yelling. I wasn't sure what you guys were doing, so…" He hoped his face wasn't as red as it felt.

"What did you think we were doing?" Reyna inquired cautiously.

If possible, more heat rushed to his cheeks.

Her eyes widened. "You thought we—I can't believe—JASON GRACE!"

Then she burst out laughing.

"It's not funny," he managed to yell over the sound of her laughter.

He tried to wait her out. She kept erupting into fits of laughter, holding her sides, shoulders shaking.

At last, she stopped, and wiped some tears from her eyes.

"After all these years, I can't believe you'd think that I would do that with some boy I hardly know." She snickered.

"You could've been desperate or something," he shot back.

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Jason." She giggled in a very un-Reyna manner. "I think you watch too much—"

"I do not watch too much- not that I—AGH. You're impossible."

She was still smiling at him. "I like being impossible. It's fun."

It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Come on, we're going to be late for dinner."

"First things first."

He looked at her, perplexed.

She stood on tiptoe and leaned close to his face. He closed his eyes, trying to stop the rapid thudding of his heart.

Then Reyna tapped him on the head and laughed. "That's for eavesdropping."

"What did you do?" he demanded, eyes snapping open.

In answer, she handed him a nearby mirror.

Jason looked at his reflection and cursed. "Why would you—"

His hair was now pink. PINK! How was he going to explain this to everyone?"

"Don't worry," she said, biting her lip to keep from smiling. "It'll fade in a week or so."

"Leo's never going to let me hear the end of it."

"Oh, speaking of Leo… when you see him at dinner, can you remind him about our next date?"

"What?"

"Not it's not a 'date'date, it's another magic lesson." Reyna paused a moment before asking teasingly, "Were you jealous?"

"No."

"You were jealous."

"I have a girlfriend."

"But still, you were jealous." Her poker face was as flawless as ever. "Admit it—you still like me."

"I have a—"

"Shut up." She rose up on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek before dragging him out the door. "Now come on, we're going to be late." She looked him up and down. "Pink hair suits you."

"Gee, thanks."

And together, they sprinted to the mess hall.

Hope you guys enjoyed this! Have a great holiday season!

Till next time!