The group drove straight through the night, making decent time. Micah woke up in the middle of the night, rubbing his eyes at the light of an Iphone next to him. Reyna was sitting cross-legged, scrolling through her pictures. There were a few of her and the 7, and quite a few of her and Raphael. Micah took a moment to actually look at her. She was wearing blue jeans and a red short sleeve shirt that read 'I saw that - Karma'. She had her hair in a ponytail and was staring intently at her tiny screen. If you didn't know her, you could easily think she was just an average high-school or college student. She looked over to him suddenly.
"Oh, hey. Did I wake you up?" she asked.
"No, no, I was already up, Rey." Micah responded. Then, something struck him.
"Did you...change?"he questioned. Her face lit up a bright red.
"I… well, I mean… I climbed into the back and, yeah…" she finally answered. Micah sat there for a minute.
"Good idea. I'll be right back." he said, climbing into the very back of the van and getting out a fresh change of clothes. He pulled on some new jeans, then somersaulted over the seat next to her, holding his shirt. Reyna couldn't help but blush when she noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt. Micah smiled.
"I can't help but notice you noticing me noticing you noticing me." Micah said slyly.
"No, I um…. What? No I was just… I wasn't" she stuttered. Inwardly, she cursed herself.
'Stop it, Reyna! You are a strong single Roman woman. Gods, get it together, girl!' she mentally chastised herself. She shook her head, then averted her focus back to her phone. She kept scrolling through her photos, until she landed on her most recent: Micah holding little Raphael in a warm embrace. She couldn't help but smile as she noticed the grin plastered on Raph's face. He looked so happy.
"ReyRey, watcha lookin at?" Micah asked, causing her to roll her eyes.
'No matter if they are camp-grown or self raised, boys are all the same.' she mentally noted.
"Nothing, Nitro Breath." she said almost inaudibly. Micah's eyebrow raised in disbelief.
"What did you just call me?" he asked as though to confirm his ears were still working. Reyna smiled deviously.
"Nitro. Breath. I didn't stutter." she affirmed in her classic bossy-Roman praetor voice. He slid his arm over the seat behind her, his face unreadable. Her leaned in close, a devilish look growing on his face.
"Now that's not very nice. Kinda cute, but not very nice." he breathed. She felt her heart speed up when his warm breath tantalized her neck. Then, just as soon as he came over, he slid back to his side of the seat. Reyna knew her fade must have been flushed, because Micah laughed quietly.
"Oh, and Rey: my breath doesn't smell anything like Nitro." he finished. A lingering silence filled the air.
"...can I see them now?" he asked.
"Nope." she quickly replied. He chuckled softly, then pulled out his own phone, and started lazily scrolling through his photos. They sat shoulder to shoulder, when Reyna couldn't help it any more, and glanced at Micah's phone. He smirked, then held his phone out in front of her.
"I took this one from Venice, Italy." Micah explained. It was a picture of him and the gorgeous canal.
"Why were you in Venice?" she asked.
"I was hired to find the lost Head of the Nike of Samothrace. Tracked it down to an ancient underground cavern in Italy." he explained. He went to the next picture, one of him in pretty bad shape, holding up a worn down, seaweed covered marble head. They continued going through his photos, until they came to the last one. Micah paused for a moment, before reaching around Reyna and scooting her closer unexpectedly, causing her to squeal a little bit. Micah held out his phone, and snapped a selfie of them both.
"What was that about!?!" Reyna demanded. Micah shrugged, still smiling. In the photo, they were both laughing at the squeak she had just made, and both looked perfectly and blissfully happy. Micah set that picture as his home and lock screen photo. Reyna couldn't stop blushing.
"People are gonna get the wrong idea when they see that." she said in her bossy praetor voice. Micah shrugged.
"I think they'll get exactly what this is." he replied. She gulped.
'...does he think… are we?' she panicked.
"I think people are gonna see me and my best friend being happy."
"Oh… yeah. Right." Reyna said lightly, but inside she couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness.
'You shut up. Right. Now.' she commanded her brain.
'You're fine. I mean, come on, Reyna, you knew you were just friends… there's no way he likes you like… like that. He's your friend, probably your best friend. But that's it. You have GOT to get over this!' As she was mentally checking herself, she couldn't help but notice one picture Micah breezed over especially quickly. It was of him holding a beautiful strawberry blonde girl bridal-style, both of them absolutely dying laughing. She had deep blue eyes, and looked so completely happy. Micah himself looked quite a few years younger, and just as elated.
"Hey, who was that?" she asked without thinking. His smile instantly evaporated into a tiny, sad, reminiscent grin.
"That was… Marie." he whispered.
"Girlfriend?" Reyna asked sincerely.
"She was."
"What happened?" she asked. He was silent for quite a while, until he finally took in a shaky breath and answered.
"She... she's gone." he said, his composure obviously failing.
"Oh, I'm… I'm so sorry, Micah." Reyna apologized. Micah looked up at her, smiling slightly.
"It's fine, Rey. You didn't know." he forgave. Silence. Reyna stole a glance over at Micah. Of course he was asleep again already, slumped over onto his seatbelt. Reyna couldn't help but chuckle. Then, she saw the picture one his phone. This one was of him and Marie sharing a beautiful, perfect kiss, Micah holding out his phone and winking at it playfully as they did. Reyna had never seen him that happy since she me him. She felt an odd sensation forming in her gut.
'I wish I could make him that happy' deep, inner, emotional Reyn thought helplessly
'We've been over this, Reyna, we are NOT going there!! No!!' calloused, praetor, Roman-minded, tough-as-nails Reyna fought back. Almost as if in response, Micah instinctively reached over and pulled her closer, smirking in his sleep as he did. Reyna let herself rest her head in the crook of his neck, breathing in his smell of leather, cologne, and aftershave.
'This is gonna be harder than I thought.' she inwardly grumbled, A few seats up, Percy was peering over the seat, watching the whole ordeal, a huge smile on his face.
"Sweed Brain…." Annabeth grumbled almost incoherently. He looked down and saw her eyes fluttering, and man, he was speechless. He had the power to rattle the very earth, and yet it was no match for the effortless charm of this beautiful daughter of wisdom.
"Sup, beautiful?" he whispered back.
"You are…. The most amazing boyfriend… ever" she slurred quietly, obviously intoxicated with sleep. Her face instantly changed to a pouty face.
"I want my Percy snuggles." she said, arms open. He laughed and collapsed next to her on the seat, picking her up and sliding behind her, wrapping his arms around her.
"Better, Bookworm?" he whispered in her ear. She sighed contently, quickly kissing his lips.
"Perfect." she affirmed. She finally calculated what she had just seen.
"Percy, were you spying on Reyna and Micah?" she asked groggily.
"Maybe a little. He just seems so happy with her, Beth, and she is so much more happy with him. And she is obviously head over heels for him." Percy explained. Annabeth cocked an eyebrow playfully.
"Oh, so you're some kind of relationship expert?" She joked. Percy scoffed.
"Girl, when it comes to relationships, Persassy holds a Ph.D!" he exclaimed quietly, snapping his fingers in said sassy fashion. Persassy always got Annabeth to laugh. She kissed his nose lightly.
"Annabeth needs her sleep now, Persassy." she commanded, rolling into his chest and enjoying his smell.
"They will be together. I'll call this one 'Operation Miceyna'. And Professor Persassy always wins. Always..." he whispered quietly, closing his eyes. A few minutes later, he and Annabeth were sound asleep. The van fell silent once again, each passenger sleeping contently in the arms of their significant other, Nico reclined in the front seat, and Leo falling asleep his phone in his hands, his final text telling Calypso how much he loved her, none of them aware they grew ever nearer the impending apocalypse.