Disclaimer: I don't own PJO nor HoO, they are the beautiful children of Rick Riordan.


A/N: Hello there, lovely readers. :) I just wanted to thank you all for following the story and writing the kindest reviews of yours. Every single one of them made me smile so wide and if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have updated today – it were them that gave me the motivation to finally finish the chapter. So… This one is for you!


CHAPTER 6


A blue-eyed gentleman whispered something in the ear of a blonde lady accompanying him, making the woman giggle despite herself. The two of them were awkwardly making their slow, rocking moves to the rhythm of a love ballad somewhere to the side of the centre of the dance floor. Neither was an especially great dancer, it was obvious even for an amateur, but what was also clear right away was the strength of the bond shared by the couple. Water and storm were inevitable to mix and create a whole new force of a monsoon, quite soon, as it seemed, and gods had better had Camp Half-Blood in the whole of their care when it were finally haunted by that one single child (or children)!

The scene changed to a picture of a tall, lean and muscular young man with hair of the color of sun and a woman of native American beauty lazily caressing a thin, pale scar that seemed to be the only flaw on that perfectly carved face of his. The touch he returned with more than just simple generosity, his fingers rubbing unknown patterns on her back as he held her in his lap and the two talked in hushed voices on that one sofa decorated with balloons and confetti. Their eyes never left themselves as they seemed to be melting together by the mere action of staring. They had been together for what, six years now? That undying passion of theirs was making it harder to tell it's already been that long!

Moving on, in a shady corner in which not many had already wandered through the night, sat an enormous Asian and, funnily, a girl being exactly the opposite of him, at least when it came to their size… She was wiping some cream away from his mouth and he was blushing so hard that it was no great achievement to have noticed that unusual change of the color of his cheeks, even with the dim lightning of the dining section the two of them were occupying. He said something to her, like an embarrassed complaint or yet another apology for being so clumsy and it only made her laugh more, covering her teeth with the palm of her hand in an old school manner and looking away to roll her eyes so that he couldn't see.

Who wasn't there to be seen was the youngest couple of their crew… No wonder, the pale teenager's face had never been so red in public as when he had been growling curses at his amused, laid-back companion whose suspenders had long before been removed to be hanging at his hips and not positioned where anybody's grandmother would have been proud to see them on her stylish grandson. What everybody had learnt that night was not to ever give the sunny boy anything to drink that had as much as a tad of alcohol in it - even if it had been only for one toast… But they were just probably making up somewhere where nobody could see, the world should have been grateful for that much of their decency!

And her..?

Reyna turned her head away from the pictures of her friends' happy love lives (or what she imagined them to be doing, in case of Nico and Will), having decided to take a dip into the colorful remains of one of the tropical drink-it-all-in-one mixes the bartender had offered to her at the beginning of the evening, or when she had had enough of dancing by herself in between of easily every couple both of the camps had. She could definitely recommend the drink to anybody single at the party (which was not many) – it had turned out to be a much more loyal companion than any of her fellow demigods offering to join her only to jump up to their loved one a second later and forget the whole of the world around them, herself included.

Reyna snorted into the glass, letting the burning liquid flow slowly down her throat before motioning for just one more

She didn't need that, neither she really wanted to have it! There had been a time when it had hurt her that she had been single, still and forever, when the only thing that helped her hush the moaning mock Aphrodite's nagging in her head had been work… But it was not like that anymore! There was no reason to miss having a boyfriend! She had her friends and the camp, she was doing everything in her might to be the best praetor anybody could dream of, and that required an enormous effort every day and took most of her precious time away. When she got back home, if she did, she was too busy taking care of herself and what she loved doing outside of work, no time for anything more demanding - like keeping a blooming relationship alive!

She fidgeted in her seat, having lost some balance when one of her heels slipped from the stool with the force of subconscious, messy tapping of her foot to the loud music's rhythm. Reyna propped her chin with one hand while the other wandered aimlessly through her hair, by then not so spectacularly done as at the beginning of the party.

Maybe it was actually a good thing, she thought, taking the cool of a new glass in the memory of touch of the tips of her fingers. The prophecy… In Reyna's life, love would have been just an inconvenient extra. Most likely, the goddess had actually done her a favor by saving some poor guy from suffering when she wouldn't have been able to give him what he truly deserved, being with her. Still…

You wanted to see me..?

Reyna squeezed her eyes tight shut to see stars and stop the images from flooding her head, but it was already too late. The dream had once again come back to haunt her with the images of what scientists believed were displays of one's deepest desires and longings… But no, she shook her head to further prove the point and had to freeze any motion for a moment to stop the world from spinning… No! She refused to believe there was any way she wouldn't have known about anything she could, maybe, feel towards Leo! It had to be something else…

Reyna remembered the faint cold in the pit of her stomach she had failed to ignore and forget about having felt so many times when her mouth smiled at the lovely couples but her eyes couldn't quite catch up fully to the glee of it, no matter how much she'd want them to and how she'd struggled for it to succeed…

The woman's head jerked up when a new idea invaded her mind, and it was so bright and obvious that it made her eyes open wide in surprise that she hadn't thought about that earlier but just then - when she was seeming to be on the best way to lose it and get dead-drunk on her friend's epic 21st birthday party, alone in a crowd of familiar faces…

What if it wasn't actually about Leo? What if he was just a random visualization of her stubbornly denied craving for something else? For feelings of an exact type…

Reyna swallowed down a sob that was a bizarre mixture of relief, disappointment and annoyance with her own childish behavior – the good enough proof that she shouldn't have drunk this much in one go! She just didn't let emotions rule over her and make her lose the least of self-control! And even if it actually happened that the circumstances made her open up to somebody and show the ugliest parts of herself to the outside world, what she never let herself abandon was the very fundamental dignity, the trade mark of her family… Getting herself into such a hopeless, pitiful state was usually out of the question!

Only toasts like those two also didn't happen on a daily basis…

"Excuse me, could you give me a sec to say something?" Percy stood up with his glass of champagne in one hand and a dessert fork in the other, rattling on the glass to make the whole room notice the interruption of their meal and pay attention to whatever it was that he wanted to share. When everybody, by some kind of a miracle (probably simply because of his crazy popularity that made no one able to ignore one of their favorite heroes), fell quiet and the only sounds heard were horny crickets announcing their orgy to every other species in the range of the dining pavilion, the son of Poseidon exchanged smiles with the group of his closest friends, his eyes of the color of sea stopping at the lean silhouette of his girlfriend sitting right beside him.

Annabeth was staring her boyfriend down questioningly, yet for anybody who knew her as well as Reyna did, it was way too easy to read behind the cool mask of polite interest and see to the depth of her excitement at what she seemed to soon become the centre of. Percy was well aware of that too, of course, and so he must have decided not to add to the suspense any more and resumed the speech without further delay.

"As you all probably know, this beautiful woman right here," he motioned to the blonde, who was struggling not to let the slight blush on her cheeks ruin the whole of her tough demeanor, "This woman has put up with me for almost a whole decade now..." A snort interrupted him, one coming from a person the least expected to be wanting for the sweet words to stop coming.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Please, Seaweed Brain, it's not like I liked you from the beginning!" she teased, making him fight her on stares for a moment, gray against blue, both equally determined not to give in the duel for domination.

"Well, yeah," Percy shrugged, the white shirt on his back wrinkling some with the motion. Then he grinned suddenly, one of the well-known mischievous little smiles of his, and if she were to keep her dignity untouched, Annabeth had no choice but to back down, this time. "But you did fall for me, in the end..." he muttered in a lower voice, and no one could be quite certain if it weren't actually meant only for the two's ears..?

When she started laughing, it was when Percy settled for ignoring his girlfriend and getting to the crucial part of his toast, in the end. "Thank you, Annabeth Chase," he said in a tone so serious and so unlike his laid-back self fueled with party juice that it made the said woman freeze and slowly turn her head to bore her eyes in the gleaming orbs of his and the sheepish grin so different from the cocky attitude from mere moments earlier. "Thank you for being there for me for all those years, thank you for being my best friend and for making my life the coolest adventure I never even knew it could be," he went on, and though she would surely deny it later, Reyna could clearly see that Annabeth was just that close to crying, her eyes glossy and the curve of her smile twitching just a tiny little bit.

The praetor smiled, listening to Percy continuing to tell probably the most sublime set of words his chilled self has ever come up with. Plato had once said that, according to Greek mythology, humans had originally been created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus had split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves. When it came to Percy and Annabeth, the search was obvious to have been completed for those whole ten years.

"Oh, stop it already, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth finally had enough and waved him off, her voice choked and half a pitch higher than normally, grinning the most beautiful of her smiles that she had only for him, "I love you too, idiot!" she quickly stood up from her seat and gave him a sweet kiss much too long for it to still be decent in public, and the two separated from one another only when the cheers and the wolf whistling became too loud and enthusiastic to keep being ignored.

When the couple took their seats once again and it seemed that the only thing left to do on the evening would be partying hard like the guests had never done it before (at least that was Reyna's guess as to what crossed everybody's minds at the moment), yet another interruption occurred and no one could expect it to come out even more of a blast than Percy's touching speech…

Jason stood up, nervously touching on the inside of his pocket, and the guests were so surprised that the crowd immediately fell silent once again…

"If you don't mind, I would like to ask Piper an important question…" he tried, and the tone of his words made Reyna frown. That one demigod had led an entire Roman army into the fight and even challenged the giants, yet it was the first time she had ever heard his voice so feeble and uncertain…

She had a feeling she knew what the question would be…

"Greetings for the affianced!" the praetor muttered to herself, lifting her glass just a bit to add to the mock toast she had no choice but to drink all by herself, certainly not how it was supposed to be! Her head was beginning to spin even kept still and her sight was already blurry. Reyna propped her chin with one hand and sighed, feeling a bitter smirk curve her, now only slightly red, lips (as the lipstick hadn't survived the trail of that crazy evening and she didn't have that much determination in herself to tend to the matter of her makeup).

Both of the demigods she had ever had stronger feelings for were the happiest men alive, one with the soul mate of his already with a wedding band put proudly on her finger and the other going to get married soon enough, now that him and Piper were finally engaged. They were all best friends. Reyna had no choice but to accept their relationships and join in the happiness of her close ones. And what was the best thing about that? She didn't even have to try hard for that kind of attitude, she really, truly felt that way!

But when the dinner had been over, the crowd had dismissed. And with every one of the loving words she had heard but that weren't meant for her still carved deep into her heart, she was left alone. Missing the warmth inside and the butterflies in her stomach she'd never, ever wanted to allow herself to be that important…

And what was the best way to forget the hurt with a day off ahead of her and a bar filled with delicious liquors just in the reach of a call to the bored bartender..? So what she disliked overdoing it with the alcohol? Excuses had to be made if she were to keep having the least of the fun she'd wanted to have for the sake of Piper's birthday party being a huge success it was already beginning to be unable not to become! Besides, she would get out soon enough, no one would even notice that their praetor had abandoned her professional decency…

If only that annoying voice she knew well enough stopped resounding in her head… For those few hours, she was doing her best to forget the fact of Leo's existence and not even cast a single glance in his direction, however hard it was with the two of them seated almost straight in front of one another… And at the moment, her mind was trying for some weird, ghostly sounds like his calls to her..? As if that had even been possible! He was probably just passed out, sleeping somewhere in some corner like many carefree demigods she'd seen. Either that or yet another Roman soldier was losing anything left of her dignity with his dirty hands all over her body…

But hey, since when could imagination also mock gentle touches on the arm..?

Breath hitched in Reyna's throat and it was some kind of a miracle that she didn't actually squeak like a little girl when it was impossible to keep avoiding the truth. It felt as if that single short turn of her head took at least a few years when she looked at Leo Valdez himself taking a seat next to her and ordering a bottle of beer, avoiding her questioning stare.

His unruly curls were… Just that, wild and untamed like always, if not even more! A crimson red shirt (the color of her lipstick, though she tried not to pay attention to the nasty whirl-like sensation it sent to the chamber of her stomach) with sleeves rolled up to the elbows had been disobeying its owner and, in a few spots, had got out of the trap of the waistbands of his simple, smart, black trousers. He didn't have his tool belt on and, judging from the way he immediately started playing with the bottle he received, tapping on it with the tips of his fingers and rolling it in between the palms of his hands, it was quite a nuisance for his mechanic-demigod ADHD.

Leo bit his lower lip, frowning and seeming to be debating on something in his head before finally looking her in the eye, his eyelids slightly drooped but not as much as to hide the depth of the fine tone of dark brown veiled with a curtain of thick, black eyelashes.

Gods, he was handsome…

The moment the thought appeared in her head, Reyna felt a hot wave inside her chest that crept its way up the column of her neck and threatened to take over her face, a mixture of embarrassment and anger, at him or at her more, she couldn't quite choose. However, and for that she silently thanked her mother she believed was giving her strength not to lose it completely, she fought off the need to avert her eyes and stood the trial of his gaze, to the moment when it was him who looked away, exhaling in a tired voice and forcing a weak grin while his long fingers trashed the side of his hair and she was silently counting breaths to calm down that ridiculous feeling she'd just let burst inside of her…

"What are you doing here?" Reyna broke the silence between them, her voice hoarse, though she wasn't sure if it were from the amount of alcohol she'd had or due to the dryness of her throat his sudden approaching had caused her to welcome. If she had been hoping for a quick, smooth encounter and easily got answers from him, her faith was lost right away with the noiseless tension that was the only offering he gave her at the time being. That confused her. What had happened to the loud playboy that had been giving her that much of a headache..?

Finally, Leo shifted some in his seat and looked at her again, taking in a deep, shaky breath and smiling… That was right, smiling. It was the most delicate, innocent expression she'd seen him wear and if she hadn't known better, it would have been hard to believe that the recent turmoil he had caused to become a thing in her life had actually been mainly his doing… Could that sweet guy really cause so much trouble..?

Before she had the chance to realize just what enthusiastic adjective her own poor head had just decided to describe him (one more time) with, Leo had finally thought through whatever it was that he clearly wanted to say and saved her the trouble of having enough time to get frustrated with her own carelessly formed thoughts by simple distraction. "Look, Reyna," he started, making her wonder for a brief second if that soft roll of his tongue at her name had been caused by the previous bottles she was sure he'd emptied or had he actually tried calling her queen in Spanish..? "I wanted to apologize," he mumbled, and she didn't know why it was right then, but for a split of a second, she got lost in the smell of his, deciphering single elements of scent that defined Leo Valdez.

Like a bonfire… And gasoline… With a note of alcohol, and there was also something else, but what was it, exactly..?

"Reyna..?" waking up from the reverie was painful, even more so when the praetor realized that she had just mentally dozed off in front of a very guilty demigod who was trying to soothe her anger as the Roman leader, the one he'd worked hard to deserve very much for his shameful actions that had disturbed the order of her beloved ranks of soldiers. For the sake of the pride of Camp Jupiter, she just couldn't let him get away with what he did simply because of her temporary weakness!

"I get it. I fucked up," fortunately, either Leo hadn't yet noticed how easy of a target she'd become, or his defensive speech had absorbed him too much for him to want to try and use that beneficial turn of events for his sake. "I didn't follow your rules and it was shit, I know, but I didn't mean it, I mean…" a part of Reyna found it quite entertaining to watch him struggle, for which she (unfortunately…) had to mentally scold herself – she was one of the authorities of the camp and that position came with a great responsibility and an absolute need of having a just, humanitarian judgment. There was no place for enjoying the strain of an accused, however much clearly guilty he was, in that case!

For a few moments, Leo didn't say another word, just sitting there next to her, so close the two of them could almost exchange the heat of their bodies (though she tried not to think about anything that could resemble any sensations from the godsdamn dream of hers…), and staring, as if it were only then that he actually realized what he'd been trying to pull off and how ridiculous that scheme must have been. Probably. At least that was Reyna's interpretation of the funny, stunned look on his face. She took one slow, careful sip from her glass and cocked her eyebrow, encouraging him to continue.

Fortunately, it was enough to sober Leo up (but let's be realistic – only from the pause his brain decided to take in the least favorable moment). "Shit, I dunno how that could help…" he muttered more to himself than to her, rubbing his nape in a helpless manner, his lips pouted and the whole face twisted in an expression of gloom. Almost enough to make her snort, but that time, she managed to keep it in and the only symptom of her bizarre amusement must have been that one little twitch of the corner of her mouth she suppressed before he could have thought it hadn't been just his fantasy, after all. "It was just… Fun and…" Leo's diplomatic abilities were clearly reaching their limits, that much was obvious with as little as a single glance at him.

His alluring eyes of the color of fine dark chocolate (damn her agitated sense of aesthetic…) were wide open, locked on hers, gleaming with something she couldn't understand fully but that made her insides warm up some, beginning to relax in a way... And it wasn't only about those two orbs of his, it was the entire being of Leo that, she had to admit with reluctance, caught her completely off guard. From the look of it, he wasn't trying to cast any kind of a gigolo spell on her... He was completely sincere. And when she blinked one more time, giving herself another fresh look at the unchangeable posture of distress and fear that were everything from that sad face of his to the bend silhouette on the stool and one thin streak of sweat on his forehead… She suddenly got it.

The mask was gone.

The act of unbreakable self-confidence and the playful attitude were gone. What was left was the Leo he kept hidden deep for all this time, ever since they'd got to know one another on that unfortunate day in New Rome, almost five years earlier. The human weakness Reyna knew all too well.

Wasn't that what she always wanted to cover up, after all..?


ZJeM, 06.08-04.09.15


From author:

I'm already super excited for the next chapter, I feel like it's going to be extremely fun for me to write and, hopefully, for you to read… ;) Let's just hope I'm going to find the time soon and not in another two months, huh..?

THANKS FOR READING!