A/N: Hey guys! This is a little something I did for shiggles. It's not long, but it's not supposed to be. Just to get some points across, and also I just love Leo/Reyna, heh.
The AU takes place in a coffee shop where they both work. Leo lives with his aunt after the loss of his mother in a house fire, his dad hasn't been around for a long time. They have money problems, so he works two jobs. One at the coffee shop, and one in a mechanics shop. Reyna just needs to save up money for college. She lives alone with her father, but wants to leave as soon as she can because of his controlling ways and their differences. After the death of her mother several years ago, he became colder and took more interest in work than his family. Hylla, her older sister, decided not to put up with it anymore and ran off to live alone.
Okaaay, I'll stop now. Here we go~

Alright, he'll admit it. Maybe it wasn't right for him to assume so quickly. Reyna's patience easily ran thin with Leo as it was, with his somewhat childlike nature and prankster tendencies. The last time he had tried to get a laugh out of her by replacing the filling in some oreos with toothpaste, she almost decapitated him. Especially on days like this when they actually seemed to have a conversation, he doesn't want to ruin them (though if you asked him, he would thoroughly deny it). But really, something as minor as this, he didn't think it would bother her. She's strong, she's always defensive.

They were on break for about fifteen more minutes, and then after that Leo would return to the cash register to take customer's orders and Reyna would return to the back room to sort out online orders and site information and whatever else she did back there. Terminus, their boss, always insists order be like this. He says Leo is better with greeting and talking to customers, while Reyna is better with more serious matters like company information. If Reyna's ever bothered by those statements, she doesn't show it.

He's sitting in the corner table like he always did during break. On the days that Jason worked, they would sit there and hang out together. Other days, he's alone. Occasionally (like today) Reyna comes and sits with him. They talk about different things, although he's taken note that Reyna always seems to steer the topic away from her family. Somehow, the topic comes to favorites, and then colors.

"I like darker shades of violet." She answers after a moments thought, "Although, pink isn't a bad color either."

This surprises Leo, and he says without thinking, "There's a shock."

Reyna raises an eyebrow at him, "Is it?"

Leo nods, not knowing the consequences of those words. "I always figured that you hated pink, I guess." He was about to move the conversation to something else, but Reyna doesn't want to.

"What gave you that impression?" Leo swears he detects a bit of annoyance in her tone, but dismisses it.

He shrugs nonchalantly, "I dunno. Just because you're-" He gestures at her lazily. "Ya know, not really that type."

She looks at him, analyzing him for a long time. He feels like she can see straight through him, like she knows exactly what he's thinking. Those thoughts- they scare him.

She glances away finally, lost in thought. "Because I'm more evasive than most girls? Is that why?"

Evasive wasn't his way of putting it really, but he didn't have a better word, either. "You're not really girly or anything, so." He says, as if it's going to explain everything to her. He knows it's not, but the meaningless conversation had now turned more... personal? As if he had somehow offended Reyna.

She sends him a hard glare, and he resists the strong urge to wince. Her tone is different than her expression, which confuses him slightly. It's more unattached, simple. "I don't see how that matters. What makes pink a more feminine color than others?"

He doesn't know what to say, so he just glances down at the table top. They remain silent until their break ends, and they both quickly get back to work.

What he doesn't know is, she's tired of people assuming things about her because of her tough exterior. She expected more from him, for unknown reasons even to her. It's not a mistake she'll make again.

A/N: Phew! It's been awhile since I've read HOO and The Mark of Athena, so there might be some oocness in there. Then again, i did have to tweak their backgrounds a little bit because of the AU, so that might inflict a slight personality change.
This was sort of inspired by something I saw the other day about having strong female characters. On the internet, it's a common stereotype that they can't like pink or have any emotions (for example) and for some reason, that sort of reminded me of Reyna. She's strong, but that doesn't mean she can't cry once in awhile or like certain colors. So, this sort of sprouted from that XD. Also because I've been itching to do this AU for a while but had no idea what.
Well, um. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this. Reviews are greatly appreciated, rate if you wish. Thanks for reading!