They're on one of the roads of New Rome, rushing to get to the senate meeting. They're late again, which Reyna didn't appreciate. Jason seemed to get lazier since his promotion from Kymopoleia. Or maybe it was his Greek counterpart showing again. Whatever the reason, Reyna wished she wasn't affected by his newfound tardiness. Except she was. Every single time.

Honestly, she didn't mind his Greek side as much as she thought she would. He was softer than she remembered, instead of the stoic, calculating leader that she came to know. Actually, it was one of the things that helped them get back their close friendship. And she may or may not have developed more than that.

Regardless, she really wished she wasn't feeling responsible for him now. Otherwise she would've left him oblivious to the time and she would've been in the meeting by now.

She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the side to a more secluded road. Her sandals crunch on the gravel as Jason follows her half heartedly.

"Why are we rushing?" he complains. "I don't like meetings as much as I used to."

"I noticed," she deadpans. "You're the Pontifex Maximus, which means more responsibilities. And as your former co praetor I'm making it my responsibility to make sure you at least show up at one of them."

"Or we could just get hot cocoa," he says. "You know, one of the perks that comes with a higher rank is I could just skip meetings and no one would care."

"That's where you're wrong," she says. "Everyone would care, but nobody's brave enough to do anything about it."

"Nobody's brave enough? You make it sound like it's a mission or something."

"Maybe it is."

Reyna glanced over her shoulder at that last line, and she saw Jason shaking his head and smiling. She couldn't help but smile back.

Despite the circumstances, it felt so good to talk so easily with him again. When he disappeared, Reyna was a disaster. Although she didn't tell anyone directly, she definitely showed it. Sending out search parties, and marking all the locations of California that Jason hadn't been in. Of course, there's also Camp Jupiter and New Rome, which was too big a place to be led by one teenager. But she did it. And it had taken a toll on her. Imagine her disappointment when he finally showed up with a beautiful daughter of Aphrodite and no memory of her whatsoever.

After that, it was all awkward glances and small talk. Until one night, after the war, he came to her villa and told her he remembered everything. After much convincing on his part, they agreed that they'll try to get their friendship back again. She was so glad they did.

"What about you?" he asks.

"What about me?"

"Are you brave enough?" he says, raising an eyebrow teasingly.

"Someone has to be," she says as they get nearer to the senate. "If I don't, who will?"

"That's true," Jason says as he opens the door for her to the building. She leads them to the stairwell because she knows the elevators are gonna be full this time of day. As they climb the stairs Jason continues, "Only you could do it like this. You know, from anyone else, it would be annoying, but not from you."

"Please."

"It's true!" he says, his voice echoing in the stairwell. "You're my best friend, Reyna. You've always got my back. You know I love you."

"What?" she halts, her whole body stiffening as his words hit her. She assumes he's in a similar position as she is judging by the absent sound of his footsteps.

"Uh, that went out wrong…." she spun her body towards him so fast she's surprised she didn't get whiplash.

His face is pale, looking shocked at his own sudden confession.

"What I meant was…" he trails off, his eyes looking everywhere but hers. He's running his hands through his hair and he looks so flustered that she would've found it endearing if she wasn't a nervous mess herself.

She watches with held breath as he takes one himself, and finally opens his mouth to speak.

"Okay, no, it didn't come out wrong. It, uh, actually came out, um, right…?" he says. He didn't sound so sure. Reyna couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not.

They stare at nothing for a while, falling into another awkward silence. Reyna's hands were clenching and unclenching beside her as her mind went nuts trying to come up with a clear thought.

Again, it was Jason who broke the silence.

"Could you please say something?" What could she say? That she loved him back? Sure, she felt something for him, but it couldn't be as deep as that, right? She was trying so hard to make her mouth say something without letting anything stupid coming out.

Finally, she let out a sigh. "I can't believe you pick now to do this, in this place." she gestures to the stairwell. "What am I supposed to say? Of course I feel something for you. Gods know I've been waiting for you to do something, but I didn't expect that."

"You feel something for me?" he asks. She can't believe he's making her spell it out for him. Seriously, this was their Pontifex Maximus?

"Yes, if I didn't we would've been in that meeting by now, which," she looks around for a clock and sees one at the end of the stairs. 5:06 pm. "We're now six minutes late for."

She knew he was gonna stick to her mind the moment they became friends. He was the first person to break down her walls, and actually, willingly take the time to get to know her. There was her sister, but she always felt Hylla only did it because she had to, one of her jobs as the big sister. With Jason, it felt more genuine. Likewise, getting to know him was also a privilege. She got to know how he felt, being pressured into being a reluctant leader, the mysterious memories about his own absent sister. After that, it wasn't long until she started falling.

Jason looks surprised, like he isn't sure he heard her correctly. She could see the gears turning in his head and his eyes light up as his brain finally registers the implication of her words.

"So you like me. Cool." he says. He looks happy, and relieved, his eyes and grin tell her. That's one thing that didn't change about him. He always wore his heart on his sleeve.

Suddenly, the tension in the air faded. Her spine relaxed, and her hands stopped clenching. After all this time, the memory loss, the war, the awkward glances, they are finally on the same page. It felt weird. She always thought Jason would never be anything more than a friend to her, what with Piper and everything. But it was a good kind of weird.

However, their little moment was cut short when her eyes caught the time again. 5:10 pm. Shit.

"Alright, now that we got that out of the way, let's go. We're already 10 minutes late."

He nods, still a smile on his face. He follows her up the stairs, until they reach the correct floor.

She reaches out to open the door but before she could, Jason's hand presses on the surface of the wood to stop her. She looks at him inquisitively.

"What are you doing?" she asks. "We're late."

"I know, I just wanna ask," he says. "Can I take you out tonight? This wasn't exactly how I planned to let you know. I wanna be able to talk more about this, maybe at dinner?"

He's a step closer than he was, so she could hear his heart beating at an unusually fast pace out of anticipation for her answer. She could feel a hint of pride for making him feel that jittery.

"Depends. Where are you taking me?" she asks.

"How about that cafe you like in New Rome?" he says.

She smiles. That cafe was the only place she ever ate at. Mostly because it was the nearest to her place. Partly because it was the only place they ate at.

"What time?"

"An hour after this meeting?" he asks.

"I'll see you then." Jason smiles and finally opens the door. When they get to the senate, all eyes are on them. Some people were glaring, some were just plain curious. She was surprised to find that she didn't care as much as she thought.

The rest of the meeting was just another one of Octavian's loyal lackies ranting about the Greeks. They didn't pose as much of a threat without their insane leader, so they were just plain annoying.

Reyna was half listening and half reliving what happened in the past 15 minutes. If someone told her a year ago that Jason would be late for a senate meeting, confess that he loved her, and her confessing her own crush, she probably would've stayed as far away from that person as possible. Now, she has a date with him. It was like the day was one whole metaphorical rollercoaster ride, full of sharp twists and turns.

And as she met Jason's blues across the room, wearing a smile that made him look like the happiest labrador in the world, she found that she didn't mind.