Reyna settled into her seat at Spanish club, the big armchair farthest away from the rest of the group, and pulled her laptop onto her lap. As her web page loaded, she pulled up her go-to homework assignment, the World Myth paper. With AU week (and Halloween, accordingly) approaching, the deadline was closer than ever, and she wanted to have this done at least a week before it was due if she could manage it.

She triple-checked her sources to make sure she'd met the requirements, but before she could get in on any real work, a familiar hand rapped a tap ta-tap tap on the back of her chair. She twisted around to see Leo grinning down at her, and a smile broke out on her face.

"¿Qué pasa?" he asked, and she knew a test when she heard one. It had been weeks, maybe two months, since they'd both come to Spanish club, and the last time he'd tried to engage her, she had summarily shut him down. Now that their odd relationship had come so unbelievably far, he wanted to try again. Hugging in the apartment was one thing; this was another.

"El tiempo," she teased, and the overjoyed relief deepened his dimples so much she was tempted to stick her fingers in them. God, I'm pathetic, she thought, regretting none of it. "¿Quieres sentarte?" (Do you want to sit?)

He froze, and too late she realized she might have overstepped. "'Quieres'?" he repeated, more quietly than he usually did much of anything. "Are we on tú terms?"

Back to English, wow. She'd really messed up. How could she backpedal without coming across as rude? "I thought—I guess I wasn't thinking," she apologized. "Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed. We can—Let's just forget—"

"Nope!" he interrupted. "Nope! Too late!"

Her brow furrowed. Where was he going with this?

"We are officially on tú terms now," he continued in a rush, as if eager to get it out before she stopped him. "No take-backs! Ha!" He did a little twisting dance, almost as bad as when he'd first fixed her Mustang, and fondness warmed her from the inside.

She laughed a little, relieved and pleased and amused. "You say that like you tricked me into it."

"Didn't I?" he countered with a grin, and he laughed himself when she gave a well you got me there shrug. "Y sí, quiero sentarme, mi reina. ¿Me puedo sentar contigo?" (And yes, I want to sit, my queen. Can I sit with you?) He beamed at the informal you.

She acknowledged the question and the hierarchical term of endearment with a regal nod and then moved over. There was just enough room on the wide armchair for both of them, never mind that the chair next to her was vacant. This one was really more like a loveseat anyway. His eyebrows jumped but he didn't question her; he only sat, squeezing up against his armrest so she could have a little more room. Aww.

"¿Haces la tarea de nuevo?" he asked. (Are you doing homework again?)

She considered him, considered their friendship. And decided it was time to admit a crucial truth. "Por supuesto," she said primly (Of course), and then she minimized the document to show him what was loading on the web browser. Dramafever, with the latest episode of her current telenovela.

He looked for a second, blank, and then the realization dawned on his face like a mischievous sunrise. "En serio... ¿una te—?" (Seriously… a te—?)

"Shh!" she hushed him. "Es una buena práctica. Si dices algo, voy a matarte." (It's good practice. If you say anything, I'm going to kill you.) She had revealed a weakness. He had better not use it against her.

Of course, that was asking too much of him. Thankfully he didn't drag it out in public, but she did not trust the gleam in his eye. "Seguro, reina," he allowed with a splitting grin. (Sure, queen.) He accepted the earbud she offered him, and when she started to give him a quick run-down of what was going on, he admitted he had seen most of this particular novela already.

Oh, really? She said nothing, but a sneaky smirk grew on her lips, and he looked appropriately suspicious.

"No te preocupes," she reassured him (Don't worry), not meaning a word of it. If he teased her later, she wouldn't hesitate to turn it right back at him.

He moved like he wanted to get up, but she tugged on one belt loop and he fell right back into place, a welcome warm weight beside her on the chair-couch. They both settled back, their shoulders and thighs just brushing with a fiery electricity that Reyna felt hyperaware of as she set the laptop on his right leg and her left and pressed Play.

They kept up a running commentary, a promise kept to swap their perspectives on a romance. Every time Reyna muttered about an unsubverted trope, Leo tugged lightly on her braid and told her to appreciate the moment. Really, what made the whole romance bearable was that it was only part of a bigger story, a complicated tapestry of deeper issues and difficult problems to solve. They could both agree on that.

But it was a long episode, and their heads inclined closer and closer, and eventually Leo barely bothered to remove his hand from her hair. She could feel the light pressure of his fingers moving to the top, stroking down, back up, back down. How could she possibly feel at once so relaxed and so on edge, waiting for something she wasn't sure what?

One of the side characters was investigating a blackmail letter—nothing romantic going on at all—when, on impulse, she glanced his way. To make sure he's still watching and enjoying, she told herself, but really just to look, just to soak him in. It took him half a second to notice her attention, and those excellent dark eyes snapped to meet hers. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but he didn't lean away. That had to be a good thing, right?

She couldn't come up with anything clever to say to explain herself, and he offered nothing either. But a dark flush crawled up his cheeks, and his thumb flicked as if he were holding a lighter. Heat coiled in the pit of her stomach, buzzed in her arms, and she thought about twisting her fingers through his hair again. It was so soft. Perfect tiny barrel curls. And the instant tingling magic every time she touched him skin to skin…

Her lips parted as her gaze flicked to his mouth. They were sitting so close; it would be so easy to just—

"Hola, Reyna, mucho tiempo sin verte." (Hey, Reyna, long time without seeing you.)

With lightning-fast reflexes born of weeks of pretending to do homework during Spanish club, Reyna's fingers tapped out a quick Alt-Tab to switch over to the essay file before she looked over at whoever had addressed her. The face looked familiar—Ame, was that the name? Yeah, Ame, Amelia Castillo, a junior now. Hopefully she wouldn't notice the heat burning Reyna's face. "Hola, Ame, ¿qué pasa?"

"Nada," the girl sighed with a grin, "¿y tú?"

"Nada," Reyna agreed, and then Ame gave a tiny finger-wave and wandered off to greet another friend. Thank God, no comment about her face, her novela, or her seating situation. Half of her wondered if it was glaringly obvious what had just almost happened; the other half of her knew no one was as interested in her as she was and probably didn't much care either way. And Leo was now staring at his knees, still visibly warm but also clearly a little embarrassed. Whatever that sizzling connection had been, it was now quite broken.

Exhaling slowly between her lips, Reyna tapped a few sentences into the World Myth paper (which counted as work) and then switched back over to the episode. They picked up the commentary again, but she didn't look his way until they parted ways for class. She couldn't risk that loss of control again.

What had almost happened? Touch was dangerous. She was forgetting that, and she was forgetting to even be concerned about the fact that she was forgetting it. After everything…

She couldn't help but wonder: Am I going completely insane?

After classes ended for the day, Reyna agreed to hang out with Piper and Annabeth at the hobbit house for the evening. She had not realized she was signing up for a party with half the campus.

Okay, slight exaggeration, she admitted to herself as she looked around the table where everyone had congregated for a game of Spicy Uno that had devolved into simple conversation. She knew everyone here: clearly she knew Piper and Annabeth, and then Annabeth's boyfriend, Percy, and Hazel and Frank from student government. And Jason and Leo had come over too, thank goodness. So she wasn't floundering for friends; she just wished she could have had a little more forewarning.

"Yeah, it wasn't bad for a summer job. I sat there and lifeguarded people… but I had to wear a shirt, so it kind of stunk." Percy's dorky grin made Annabeth roll her eyes. Even Reyna, who wasn't 100 percent comfortable with him yet, gave a little chuckle.

Piper jokingly covered Hazel's ears. "That's no way to talk in front of little ones!"

"Oh, hush." Hazel elbowed her away, laughing.

Piper patted her on top of her halo of corkscrew gold-streaked curls. "I'm just trying to protect your innocence."

"Right, uh-huh." The curvy short girl settled into her boyfriend's side. "Not to worry. It's an absolute bear trying to get this guy to kiss me in public or rent an R-rated movie. My innocence is perfectly safe."

"Hazel," Frank complained halfheartedly, but when she pressed a kiss to his soft cheek he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. No real division there.

Piper glanced at her phone, and her expression froze into something that was supposed to be Cool And Fine but definitely, definitely wasn't. Reyna half rose from her seat before the other girl excused herself and ducked out the back door to answer it. Do I follow? She decided no, not yet, and lowered herself back into her chair. But she exchanged concerned looks with the two guys who cared most about the barista.

Piper returned five, ten minutes later, her phone shoved in her pocket. "Everything okay?" Reyna asked.

"Yep." With a subject-closed pop to the P. "So did you guys want to watch anything tonight? I can't stay too late—early shift tomorrow—so sooner rather than later'd be good."

The president eyed her friend, well aware that that had been a topic change, and not a subtle one either. But she also knew that it might be news for just the closest circle, not the wider net of friends. If she doesn't want to share here, I won't make her. So she let it drop for now.

But the cool Everything's Fine look didn't fool her for a moment.

The next afternoon happened to involve a canceled work shift (Leo's) and a canceled class (Reyna's), and the weather wasn't horrible, so they walked to the apartment from campus. The stated reason: "meeting the dogs." Reyna hadn't gone into detail about how big a deal that would be.

"Here, come on in." She held open the apartment door as he stepped inside, then shut it behind them both.

"Whew, thanks," he teased. "I was really concerned there for a minute that you weren't gonna let me in. Given how much you hate me, and all."

She gave him a fake stink-eye. "Don't get comfortable. I might still change my mind."

"I'll be on my best behavior." The brilliant smile he flashed her, a little too innocent to be believable, still shot tingles up her spine. Dammit.

"You are such trouble," she said, half to herself, shaking her head with a smile on her face. "Why I tolerate you, I'll never know."

"My wit, charm, and baffling good looks?"

She tapped her chin. "I think it's the car maintenance discount," she decided finally.

He gasped melodramatically. "Now that's just…" After a long pause, he shrugged. "…logical and I can respect your common sense. All right."

Lord, she liked him. How irritating. "Yeah, okay, come here." She headed for the dogs' cages, and he trotted along behind her. "Now, I'm telling you, stay behind me. They take a while to warm up to people. They barely like Jason." She didn't tell him the other part, how innately they defended her. If Leo had bad intentions, her pets wouldn't even pretend to like him.

"And I'm telling you, I'm a dog person."

We'll see, won't we? The cages rattled a little with the dogs standing up and circling, ready to go. She crouched to undo each latch. Shhick-clang. Shhick-clang. "Okay," she allowed them, and as one, Aurum and Argentum burst from their cages, dashing around her feet before coming to a suspicious stop in front of Leo. They stared him down, barely reacting even when he held out a hand for them to sniff. She started to say, I told you so, don't feel bad, but then Aurum ducked forward to sniff Leo's most personal bits, and Argentum licked his hand and then gave a happy little bark.

"Oh," said Reyna. "Well."

He beamed at her as he scratched both dogs fiercely behind the ears. Their tails thumped in unison. "Told you."

"You did," she admitted, still half in shock. "They need to expend some energy. Want to take them for a walk with me?"

"Sure!"

So they finagled the leashes onto the excited brothers and headed out into the brisk fall day. He recounted a particularly colorful encounter with his shop professor, and she told him about living with the Graces for her last year of high school. Their shoulders bumped as they walked, and she tried not to think about it. She got an opportunity to run off some of the burn: the dogs continued to press for more exertion, the kind that could only be given by a nice sprint. She turned to Leo. "How would you feel about a little run?"

He shifted. "Um, I'm maybe not at my fittest right now, running-wise. But I'm game to try."

"Okay, good. If you need to stop, just stop." Without any other warning, she took off down the street, her breathing automatically falling into rhythm with the beat of her feet on the pavement. Aurum flew out ahead of her. Behind her, Leo made it about twenty yards with an overexcited Argentum before he slowed and doubled over, breathing hard with his hands on his hips. "I'll just—wait here!" he called.

Reyna laughed once and held up her free hand to show she'd heard.

She ran Aurum to the end of the road, then returned to the other pair. Leo just held out his leash, and she traded him it for hers. "Be right back," she said, not even out of breath, and darted away again to give Argentum the same treatment. Once she returned this time, both dogs had gotten the edge off, and Leo's breathing had almost returned to normal. She was breathing just a little more heavily than normal, but the adrenaline and endorphins had her feeling light. No problem. "Let's go."

They had no more trouble, but they decided to stop briefly at the auto repair shop to get out of the wind. Once they arrived, the dogs strained at the leashes to sniff around the new surroundings, but Reyna brought them to heel without too much difficulty. "Can I bring them in? Or should I run them home?"

Leo looked a little in awe of her stamina; inwardly she preened. "As long as they don't run around and knock stuff over, they should be fine."

She considered this. "All right, we'll try it." It wasn't like they'd be there long anyway.

Once Leo let them all into the garage, the dogs had their initial sniff around and then settled at Reyna's feet. I'm so glad they calmed as they grew up, she thought as she jumped up on a table, thinking not-so-fondly of times in their puppyhood when she couldn't let them loose for five seconds without something breaking.

"Oh, hi."

She jumped at the unexpected deep voice. Beckendorf had been hidden behind a car, now only visible because he stretched his neck out to see her. "Hello," she replied. "Am I interrupting? We can g—"

"No," Leo insisted at the same time Beckendorf shook his head and assured her, "No. I'm almost done for the day."

Leo found his lighter in the phone desk and flicked it on and off, on and off. Reyna eyed the tiny flame, mildly concerned, but it never came near anything flammable. They both fell quiet at the other mechanic's presence, uncertain how to proceed with someone else there, but the silence only lasted a few minutes before Leo dug around under the desk and then whispered, "Betcha I can eat all these Thin Mints."

Reyna felt her eyebrows jump: the box was full, unopened. "Don't do it," she whispered back, though a smile had split her face. "That's a horrible idea."

He tore it open and pulled a cookie out. "One," he sang with a grin. He tossed it into the air, caught it in his mouth, and almost choked.

She laughed despite herself.

Beckendorf threw the hood of his project shut, bid a brief goodbye to the pair, and drove it back out front. A minute later, Leo identified the bigger guy's car by the sound of the engine. "Yep, he's leaving," he confirmed.

Reyna didn't say anything, but she could feel the thread of tension unwind from her body. She had come far, but she still wasn't nearly as comfortable around acquaintances as she was around the big three, Jason and the Troublemakers.

He noticed her relaxing, though, and a grin dimpled his cheeks. He hopped up onto the table beside her, and the dogs only responded by thumping their tails until he petted them.

"Those damn dimples," she teased him. "You could probably whip those out and get anything you wanted."

That tangible flush darkened his neck and ears again. "Anything?" he echoed, his voice cracking.

Then suddenly it was only Reyna and Leo alone in the back of a car shop that smelled like gasoline and sweat, and her legs stopped swinging and her hair felt heavy and she watched as Leo and his grease-splotched hands leaned closer to her, anxiety all over his face.

"It's possible," she said. "If you ask nicely." Why was her heart pounding so loudly?

His dimples, ironically, disappeared. A sure sign he was no longer joking. "Can I maybe kiss you this time?" he asked in an undertone, as if there were anyone else around to hear him.

No. Touch is dangerous. Touch is vulnerability.

But she had already crossed the touch barrier with Leo in small increments—the hair, the hug, the novela, the walk. And instead of twisting the relationship, it had cemented it, bringing them closer together as people. She trusted him, like she trusted Piper or even Jason. She knew he would never intentionally hurt her.

And she looked at his bony elbows and his spotty post-pubescent acne and his sharp shoulders and his curly hair and his dark, dark eyes, and she realized that for the first time since Jason, since Puerto Rico, she was inclined to say yes.

So she inclined her head and met him where he sat—a light brush of her lips on his, no literal or figurative pressure, because if he felt something off and wanted out this was the time, now, before they did anything they might regret.

Their mouths were in frozen contact for one, two seconds, and then she pulled back, uncertain.

He was staring at her, wide-eyed. Was it wrong? Her stomach sank. She really shouldn't have—but then he swore in dazed Spanish, and she watched as a flush blossomed in his cheeks, spots of magenta that crawled like ink on paper across his nose, down his neck, even onto his shoulders and arms.

"Sorry," she whispered. For being a bad first-time kisser, for not being more fun, for being unable to give him everything physical that Jason and Piper were so open about.

But he shook his head. "I just… You."

Her fingernails dug into her palms. What does that mean?

His eyes, always dark, now seemed endless. The dimples reappeared. "Can we do it again?"

"Ag —really?" she almost choked on the word. There's no way we can, I can, make this much better… She nodded yes, though, because she trusted him, and this time it was he who jumped in, his hands already weaving into her hair like he was afraid she'd try to back off. And this time he wasted none of the contact. His lips pressed against hers, reassuring and resolute, and the slight dryness of wind-chapped skin scraped in a soft, friendly, easy way. Her own hand drifted upward, and her eyes closed a moment before her fingers threaded through his hair again. He gave a little hmm of pleased surprise, and she felt the vibration in her core.

Touch can be safe, she realized in the warmth of contentedness. Leo's touch is safe.

After going out for dinner just because, Jason and Piper came back to the apartment—Annabeth was having Percy over at the hobbit house, which meant Piper wanted to stay well away as long as possible. But it worked out: Leo was working and Reyna was pulling a solo study session at the library, so they had the place to themselves. They did some good old-fashioned making out on the couch, and then once they had rumpled each other up, they worked their way back down to cuddling in front of a short Netflix binge session.

Between episodes two and three, though, Piper shifted against him. "I love you," she said.

"I know," he said, laughing a little. They told each other multiple times a day, so it wasn't like he'd forgotten. "I love you too."

She quieted, traced the angles of his face with her fingertip. "Even if you find out things about me you don't like?"

Jason made her look him in the eye then, his brow crinkling with concern. "You already know the answer to that. Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She waved this off, but her casual tone sounded forced even to her own ears. "Of course. No worries." She didn't want to get into it before she had to. She had a day left, maybe two, to work herself up to admitting what was going on.

"No worries," he echoed, but he seemed unconvinced.

As well he should have.

Reyna and Jason had planned to talk to Octavian after the student government meeting, but when morning came around, he was the only officer absent. Secretary Gwen told the group he emailed her, said he'd had a family issue come up, so he wouldn't be attending today.

Of course, said the looks that the two best friends flashed each other.

They made it through the meeting, which was mostly just making sure all AU plans were in motion, and then hung back afterward to consult.

"Do you have any classes with him?" Reyna asked once the other officers had disappeared out of hearing range.

"No," Jason said, "but most days he leaves the cafeteria and passes by Nectar and Ambrosia while I visit Piper on her shift."

"When's that?"

"Eleven-thirty, forty-five at the latest."

She glanced at her watch. "Okay. I'll keep an eye out at the library. You make sure to watch for him then too."

But neither of them caught a single glimpse of the Augur boy all day, even when they enlisted the help of Piper and Leo, and eventually they had to acknowledge temporary defeat. With the good weather, the apartment pair had walked to campus, so the group of four piled into Piper's car for a Dairy Queen run. As they pulled out onto the main road, though, Piper remembered, "Oh, wait, I have a couple coupons at home for free Blizzards."

"It's fine," said Reyna, who would have happily covered the cost of Leo's ice cream. She was wearing her relaxed braid instead of the business-tight one, and he was threading his fingers through it. He had been wearing a dopey smile every moment they'd been together since they kissed in the garage, and she doubted he would care much who paid.

"I think we're okay," Jason reassured his girlfriend, from the passenger seat.

But Piper's gaze flicked back at Leo, just for a second, and Reyna could see she felt that his pride would overcome his lovesick idiocy in the end. "They expire soon. We are morally obligated to use them. It's only a teeny detour anyway." Given that she was the one driving, no one really had the power to choose otherwise.

They pulled into her subdivision, and the first thing Reyna noticed was the faint colors reflecting off a couple of the houses. Red flickering to blue then back. Strange, she thought, that looks just like—

They pulled onto Piper's street.

Two police cars, sirens off but lights glaring, were parked in front of the hobbit house.

The blood drained from Piper's face, and her knuckles went white on the steering wheel. Leo had gone rigid, serious, unnaturally still. A confused Jason said something that didn't register in her ears.

Looking like she would rather have been anywhere else, Piper slowed. Pulled into her driveway. Parked. Stepped out of the car.

One of the cops approached her. "Piper McLean?"

She swallowed. "Yeah?"

He looked like he might have been sympathetic on a better day, a better charge. At least Reyna thought so. Piper was a troublemaker, no doubt, but she wasn't a criminal. What could this possibly be about?

"Ms. McLean," the cop said firmly, "we're here to talk to you about a double case of grand theft auto from two years ago."