I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day because I don't really see it as a proper holiday but this idea kind of came to me based on one of Shakespeare's plays "A Midsummer Night's Dream". There's going to be a lot of chaos and humor and the couples at the end will be: Jason/Reyna, Percy/Annabeth, Frank/Hazel and Leo/Piper but truthfully I will mostly focus on Jason, Reyna, Percy and Annabeth.
As always, I don't own anything, dear RR does however.
Cupid had a soft spot for the legionaries of Camp Jupiter, mainly because over the centuries he had been worshiped more in his Roman form than the Greek one, but also because the Romans could be the center of such wonderful love stories. Most people didn't know but he actually enjoyed being the patron of a certain couple and who better to keep an eye on than the brave and handsome son of Jupiter and the fierce and beautiful daughter of Bellona. Cupid had watched with great interest the evolution of their relationship until the very moment when Hera took Jason away in order to participate in her plot of stopping Gaea and the Giants. Now he was all for a little drama with Reyna sobbing quietly when she thought no one was around and Jason not remembering anything from his past but he also liked a happy reunion, which he didn't get because his mother decided to stick her little tail in and ruin everything.
Cupid sighed heavily as he glanced inside the praetor's room, through the window, watching Reyna quickly wiping away another tear with the back of her hand. The tears should have stopped the moment Jason came back. The pain should have been replaced with love, happiness and hope. Everything that Cupid looked forward to when the Greeks arrived in camp had been shattered and it was all the fault of Aphrodite. Of course he couldn't blame his mother for hoping that her special little daughter would end up with the great hero and it was hardly the girl's fault but that didn't stop Cupid from wishing that things could have turned out differently.
He crossed his arms and his brows furrowed together on his beautiful forehead. He could change everything of course; he could bring these two back together. Why not? It wasn't like he was cheating seeing as how his own mother and Hera "helped" Piper to get her crush on Jason. He was just going to set things right, like they should have been before this whole Gaea fiasco. Of course that would mean going against Aphrodite and that never turned out well but he was a stubborn god and when he was so keen on making something happen then he wouldn't back down. After all things did work out well for him and Psyche and Reyna did remind him a lot of his sweet wife.
Of course Cupid wasn't allowed to directly influence the love life of any mortal even if they were demigods but for that he had his 'helpers' that carried around his wishes. They were small men with blond curly hair and white wings which helped them move from one place to another in unimaginable speed. The main problem with them was that they weren't exactly the brightest and over times they were spotted by several mortals who immediately connected them with Cupid. This is how he went from the handsome god that broke the hearts of many ladies to a chubby fellow with curly hair, wearing a white diaper.
Shaking the annoying thoughts aside he clapped two times and one of the helpers quickly appeared near him. He was wearing a tasteless dark green suit with brown stripes, his curly blond hair being combed back and kept there with a ridiculous large amount of gel.
"Alair at your service, great sir! How may I help?"
Cupid raised his brown at the helper's name; he really did look very joyful with that dumb grin on his face. He must have been one of the newbies which worried the god. "Do you see that girl sitting on the bed?" The helper moved his face a little too close to Cupid's in order to peek inside and let out a whistle.
"Quite a beauty, sir? Do you plan on making her your new lov-" He stopped abruptly when Cupid glared at him in such a way that would have made even Pluto shudder.
"This young maiden is called Reyna and she's the praetor of Camp Jupiter and my protegee. You will help her get her loved one back."
"Why help her? I mean what kind of dumb boy would ever leave such a-" Another glare, another moment of silence coming from Alair.
"You do not question your orders. Just find the boy, shoot him with the love arrow and make sure that she is the one he sees first, got it?" Of course he didn't get it, Cupid had this horrible feeling in the pitch of his stomach that something wrong was going to happen.
"Now listen carefully, the boy's name is Jason Grace and he is a son of Jupiter, one of the big three. He's a handsome hero around 16-17 years old, he has a small scar on his bottom lip, he has blue eyes and-" The god stopped himself and pondered. He shouldn't tell Alair about Jason's hair and eye color because there were many boys in Camp Jupiter which matched that description, one of them being that dreadful Octavian, and he didn't want the helper to shoot someone else. "Look, there's no way you can miss him. He has that aura that all great heroes have. Just one arrow should be enough, straight in the heart and then let the magic do its thing."
Alair nodded quickly that he understood but Cupid had his suspicions. "Are you sure you can handle this?"
"Of course! Just leave it to me, sir! I won't let you down!" This was his chance to finally make himself known amongst his peers. No more name calling and poking fun of him, from this day forward Alair would become the personal helper of Cupid.
The god nodded once before disappearing in a cloud of vapor and little pink hearts. "What a show off." The chubby man mumbled under his breath before looking at the brunette girl once more. He really wanted to punch the guy who made her feel this terrible but obviously that wasn't part of the plan and he couldn't screw things up. He didn't fear being seen, there were spells that could manipulate the mist and make it impossible for demigods to notice them. Most of his friend and co-workers were actually pretty bad at them but Alair was surprisingly good.
A knock was heard on the girl's door and Cupid's helper immediately tensed. "Reyna, can I come in?" The voice of a boy could be heard and Alair pursed his lips. He came back to beg on hands and knees, huh? Maybe he wouldn't even have to shoot the boy with an arrow after all.
"Jackson, I really don't want to talk right now."
Jackson? Was that his name? Well he did remember Cupid saying it was something that started with a "J". "Come on Reyna, you can't stay in there forever. Just open the door so we can talk."
The brunette girl rolled her eyes and stood up before dragging her feet to the door. She looked just like your average teen with her black hair pulled in a ponytail and wearing a purple t-shirt and shorts. She opened the door and glanced at a boy with piercing green eyes. Alair stared at him with disbelief written on his features. It was unfair that a demigod could be this handsome and have such a strong aura. How come that kind of luck didn't hit Alair himself? Fortuna must really hate him.
"Nothing that you're going to say to me will make things better. I know that I shouldn't behave so childish and I know I shouldn't have expected some kind of sappy reunion but…I-I guess that I j-just-" She bit her bottom lip and looked at the boy with a blank expression but anyone could tell that she was forcing herself not to cry.
"I'm so sorry, Rey. I know these are not the words you want to hear but I really don't know anything else to say."
Alair growled and took an arrow, arranging it on his bow. He had enough of this sad scene, time to give them the happy ending that Cupid wished for. With one quick movement he hit the boy straight in the heart and he stumbled over, falling on his knees. Of course the arrow could not be seen; otherwise the mortals would have gone insane.
"Percy!"
Reyna quickly reached for him and the brunette boy grabbed her arm, looking straight into her black orbs. Alair smirked to himself as he saw the effect of the arrow in Jackson's expression when his eyes met Reyna's. Job well done if he could say so himself. He was about to disappear and make his way to a local pub where he usually hanged out when he heard voices coming from the street near the praetor's house.
"Jason, wait up!"
"No, you're right Hazel. I have been delaying this discussion for too long. She can't stay in there forever. I know I haven't exactly been nice to her but I plan to talk to Reyna whether she likes it or not."
Alair's eyes grew wider and his face turned pale as the blond boy quickly approached the entrance of the villa followed behind by a worried young girl. There was no doubt about it, this was the hero Cupid was talking about. He watched in horror as Reyna yelled at Jackson when he tried to reach for her and plant a kiss on her lips. She pushed him away and ran out of the room, towards the exit of the house. She grabbed the doorknob in the exact moment when Jason did and when the door opened their eyes met, both looking a little surprised. Alair didn't miss his chance and quickly shot Jason with an arrow as well, making him fall for the first person he saw which was Reyna.
With that he quickly flew away while chewing his bottom lip nervously. It would be okay, right? I mean which girl wouldn't want two boys fighting over her affection? No more tears for this young lady, from now on she was going to be offered more love than she could ever dream of and all thanks to good ol'Alair. No need to be thankful to him or build a shrine to idolize the helper, he was obviously just doing his job.
Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! The second one will be from Reyna's PoV probably. How will she react to both Percy and Jason falling for her? What about poor Annabeth? Well you'll just have to wait and see. Please review!
