Reyna was walking up the stairs when Jason's voice made her pause. "But Leo likes someone, doesn't he?" She could practically see Jason nudge Leo playfully. She had excused herself just a minute prior because she had a headache... She really should be lying down right now.
She didn't know why she stopped to listen.
"Just shut up, guys." Leo said. She smiled: he was probably blushing fiercely. Stop it, brain. She reprimanded herself.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Valdez." Percy chortled. "I mean, she's kind of out of your league, but – OW!"
Annabeth interjected. "Don't listen to him."
"My head hurts now." Percy muttered. Reyna wanted to scream. Why couldn't they go back onto the topic so she could just know and go to bed and never mention it again?
(And why was she even interested? He liked that Hazel girl, right?)
"I don't blame you, though." Jason said conspiratorially. "Reyna's awesome."
What? Reyna thought. If Leo liked her, he had done a bang-up job of hiding it. He had barely spoken to her after the end of the Giant War, and they weren't that close during it, either.
"Just shut up, okay?" Leo said. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You should ask her out, man. You couldn't before, but now that Gaea's gone..." Frank prompted.
"It would be so romantic." Piper gushed. "Your shipping name would be... Wait for it... Leyna." Piper, Annabeth and Hazel all aww'ed at once.
"Shipping name?" Poor Frank was in over his head.
"A mash-up couple name, duh." Piper scoffed. "Like Frazel?"
"Frazel?" Frank muttered. Poor Frank. So confused.
"Definitely." Annabeth agreed.
Percy added helpfully, "Do whatever the heck you want, Valdez."
Jason was last to comment, seeming unsure. "You've got our blessing. Now, go get her."
"Maybe I will." Leo said, never one to back down from a challenge.
When Leo began to stammer out the words the next day, he never did find out how Reyna knew and said yes halfway through.
When Reyna arrived at the Hephaestus cabin for their third date fifteen minutes early, she didn't know what she expected. Perhaps something more along the lines of "utter chaos" and less of "praying".
(She was so justified in that; who could forget their second date? That toga was her favorite, and now she could never wear it again.)
Leo was alone in the room, and Reyna stopped just before she knocked, listening to the end of Leo's sentence.
(Just the end of the sentence. Then she'd knock.)
"- and it's just like you and Aphrodite." Leo rambled. Reyna had studied up on Greek gods during the Giant Wars, but only a little. Aphrodite was Venus, and Vulcan was Leo's father, who was also Hephaestus... All those names made her head hurt, but Reyna figured that Leo must be talking to his father.
(One more sentence of father-son chatting couldn't hurt.)
"I mean, she's so gorgeous." Leo sighed. "And she's smart, and funny, and a good leader... What's she even doing with a bumbling idiot like me?" He paused. "She'll be here soon. Later, dad."
She knocked a minute later, and halfway through their dinner, she told him he was perfect. He looked at her like she'd grown another head, but smiled at her, because, hey, she's his.
And that kind of made it worth it.
"I don't know, man. You've only been dating for six months." Reyna stopped in her tracks. That was Frank, and if the current pattern held...
"But she's the one, man." Leo. Reyna gave up on holding back her blush.
(Leo was the one for her, no doubt about it, but he was a guy, so she had zero clues he felt like that. Leo might be a great boyfriend, but there must be emphasis on the boy in that word.)
"And I already got the key made and everything."
Key? Was he going to ask her to move in?
It made sense, the house he had bought at Camp Jupiter after the Giant War was big enough for a small army, even with the giant workshop that took up half the floor plan.
"It just seems a little... Fast." Frank said. "Reyna's got walls. You don't want to scare her off." No, Reyna wanted to yell. You aren't scaring me off! Just ask me already!
(Despite her serious Roman exterior, Reyna was actually quite impatient.)
"But I really, really, really want to." Leo whined. "Just tell me to go and ask her."
"... Go and ask her?"
"You don't sound sure." Leo criticized. "I'm gonna go ask Piper. She's always supportive of me."
Reyna quickly sat down and pretended to be thoroughly immersed in a book, glancing up in what she hoped was a casual manner. She kissed him on the cheek as he walked off for "personal reasons", smiling to herself.
When he presented her with the key three days later, she nodded numbly and just hugged him for the longest time.
Reyna yawned, focusing in on the bright red dots of her alarm clock, reading out 3:02 almost as if they too were angry to be roused at such an hour. She was intolerably cold, even under the blanket, and she knew exactly why.
The other half of the bed was empty, and Leo was nowhere to be found. Reyna was confused – she was the early riser, and Leo, her own personal thermostat, was the guy begging for "just five more minutes". But three o'clock was a little early, even for her. "But will she say yes?" Leo had never been a particularly quiet talker, and the entire house was completely silent, so his voice carried from downstairs.
"What in the world..." Reyna muttered. "It's too early to think about this shit."
"No, I've just been waiting for the right time, and-" Leo was cut off. "Yeah." A pause. "I know." Another pause. "Yeah. Got the whole speech planned out and everything." A paper rustled, and when Leo spoke next, he was shocked. "I had to MEMORIZE it?... No... Yeah."
"Do I remember? Piper, Jason thought I was actually proposing to you." He said. "One does not simply forget the verbal onslaught that followed... And the three attempts on my life before I could even try to explain." Leo sighed. "Look, we'll talk in the morning... Reyna gets cold." She shivered, suddenly remembering her afflicted state. "I am not whipped." As Leo continued his whisper-argument with Piper, Reyna creeped back upstairs and into bed, not saying a word when Leo slipped in a minute later, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead.
(When he proposed a week later, in some fancy restaurant that so wasn't them, wearing a tux that was so not him, she replied, "did you even need to ask?" and kissed him.)
Reyna had decided, quite simply, to screw the bad luck (she is a half-blood, how much worse can it get?) and commit the one sin that made the entire Venus cabin gasp – she was going to see THE GROOM.
BEFORE THE WEDDING.
IN HER DRESS.
Despite their cajoling (Reyna swears, to this day, that one of them was crying), Reyna had remained firm: she was going to see her fiancée, gods damn it, and even though she looked like royalty in her white gown, she still had her spear and two greyhounds at her heels who were not fond of their mistress not getting what she wanted. The Venus cabin quickly dissipated, clearly disappointed, and Reyna almost felt angry for agreeing to Piper's demands that they be brought on as consultants, but all of her anger went out the window when she surveyed her surroundings. Venus's cabin was definitely high maintenance, but they sure did know how to plan a wedding.
"I'll treat her right, I swear." Leo said just as she reached the door, and the next voice wiped the smile off her face.
"I'm not interested in the promises of a Greek." Her mother's voice was firm, as she had always remembered it, but disapproving, too. Reyna had always known that her mother didn't like Leo – she had lost count of the number of times that Bellona had remarked on Leo's Greek parentage, his quote on quote "dangerous activities", and even his powers (gods, would she ever let the incident with the Eidolons go?), but to go about it so directly was new.
(Or maybe it just hadn't been done with her in the room.) "I don't approve of you, Leo. I never have, and the only reason I've let you live this long is because my daughter has been stupid enough to fall in love with you."
"I'm very sorry you feel that way." Leo's white-hot anger was so well contained, and in that second, for all of her Roman-ness, she marveled at his control.
(Her hands were white from her grip on the spear, and Argentum and Aurum growled softly in agreement.)
"But," Leo continued, "I won't let you stop me from marrying your daughter. With all due respect, ma'am... I love her."
"And I do not believe you should." Bellona countered. "Greeks and Romans are the most primordial of enemies. It's hardwired into your blood." Her tone seemed almost sympathetic now, in an annoying "mother knows best" kind of way. "You might not believe you hate her, Leo. I believe you when you say that you love her. I really do." She paused. "But the two sides, we only worked together out of necessity, because nothing can heal the rift between the two. Athena's statue was a start, and a good one, but it will never be enough." That's not true! Reyna wanted to shout. Piper and Jason did it, we can too.
"I don't care." Leo said. "I don't care if her entire culture hates me and everything I stand for, because she doesn't, and that's good enough for me."
"I see you will not listen to reason. Perhaps you will listen to a more suitable approach..? No matter how good your control, Leo, no matter how well you think you've mastered those powers of yours... You're still dangerous. To yourself, to your friends, to Reyna." She took a breath, and Reny's fists clenched tighter.
"You see, she thinks she knows what she wants." Reyna fumed. "She thinks she wants you. But I am her mother, Leo, and it is my job to protect my dau-"
"Get out." Leo said, deadly serious.
"What?" Bellona seemed mildly amused, if that.
"Get. Out." Leo choked out. "I wanted to have your blessing for this. I wanted you to be happy for me and Reyna. But I will not sit here while you accuse me of hurting her. So get. out."
"You have more Roman in you than I thought, boy. Reyna might make you into a respectable Roman yet."
Reyna edged away from the door and walked back to the room, a smile on her face.
When Leo asked her if she'd still like him if no one approved of them, she kissed him and told him he could be a real idiot sometimes.
"Tell me how you and mommy met."
Reyna smiled against the doorframe, watching Leo walk to their daughter. She was four, and already had her father wrapped around her little finger. "It's a long story." Leo muttered.
"Did mommy kill anyone?" Their child's eyes shone.
"No – yes – you're too excited about that." He reprimanded.
"Did she?" She pestered.
"Probably." Leo admitted sheepishly. Reyna shrugged. Their daughter had been proficient with seven weapons before she could walk; she didn't have much naïveté left. One little battle story couldn't hurt.
"Yes," she interrupted, prowling over, half hunched so she was on eye level with her daughter, "I did. Do you wanna hear the story?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" She breathed out excitedly, lying down.
"Once upon a time, there was a half-blood named Leo, and he wanted to find Percy Jackson." Leo began. "And when he saw the girl standing next to him for the first time, he had no idea that he would fall in love with her." He paused, looking at Reyna. "All he knew was that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen."
Fin.
2045 words, minus the author's note. (My longest one-shot ever. [Which isn't saying much.]) I don't even know where this came from; my muse is being fickle. I'll post House of Hades soon, but hopefully this Leyna will placate you till I finish it.
- Identity Crisis