A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry about the time taken to update, but I am student teaching every day lately and that means I'm doing an incredible amount of work every day! I hope I can start updating more frequently soon. Thank you for reading!

PIPER

She wants to know what they're talking about

Annabeth's explaining to her the intricacies of something she calls, "media dialogue," but, since Piper's never heard about half the shows Annabeth's talking about and the only one she's watched more than five times other than Teen Wolf (she'd kill you if she knew you knew) is the one her dad guest starred on for five episodes, and she hates it more than most things. She's not exactly paying any attention to Annabeth, though maybe, for her own safety, she should, but too much is happening to focus.

"Are you even listening?" Annabeth asks. "Because I just went on for about two minutes about how fantastic Reyna's butt is and you didn't even react."

"Yeah, always," says Piper, trying to listen in to Reyna's conversation with Jason. Annabeth hits her on the arm. She can't hear a damned word, but that doesn't stop her attempt. "Ow!" Piper exclaims. "Dude, we've talked about this, this hitting thing? That's not okay."

"You ignoring me when I talk is equally not okay," says Annabeth shrugging her shoulders. "Besides, there's no way you'll actually be able to hear what Reyna's saying. They probably aren't even talking about you."

"They totally are," says Piper, crossing her arms. "They're probably saying horrible things about how I am in bed or something."

"Are you bad in bed?" asks Annabeth, and Piper's going to kill her. She's totally fighting back laughter.

"I'm fantastic in bed!" yells Piper, and Annabeth stares at her for a few seconds. It dawns on Piper that she said that really, REALLY loudly. Half the bus has turned around to stare at her, including Reyna and Jason. However, neither of them look anywhere near as embarrassed as Annabeth does.

Reyna, actually, looks like she's about to start crying, she's laughing so hard.

"I'm honest," Piper says back to them, "so sue me."

Eyes stay on her for a little bit longer than she's comfortable with, but after another twenty or so seconds, conversation goes back to normal and all eyes are back facing forward.

Except, of course, for Reyna and Jason.

"You want to go yell at them don't you," sighs Annabeth. "Go. Mock. Yell."

Piper loves this girl more every day.

So Piper stands up, with the full intention of marching right toward the front of the bus and bothering two of the only people she's slept with and then talked to afterward by her own choice.

And then she gets fully thrown back into the seat next to Annabeth.

"That was fast," says Annabeth.

Piper rolls her eyes. "I fell over."

"I know," Annabeth replies, "the whole bus saw it. Including two certain people who are now laughing a bit hysterically toward the front of the bus. Again."

Piper changes her mind. She hates this girl a little more every day.

"I just want to know what they're saying," she says, and it's more of a whine than anything else. "I know they're talking about me. They have to be talking about me."

"Or they could be catching up and rekindling their feelings for each other," says Annabeth, and the smug grin on her face is enough to make Piper want to hit her in her shiny white teeth.

"Oh, please," says Piper, "the day Jason realizes he isn't gay is the day I realize I want to be a pretty princess who dresses solely in pink and forsakes all idea of red lipstick."

"That's oddly specific."

"That's because I will never forsake any idea of red lipstick," replies Piper. She turns back to two people who are far more connected than she's particularly comfortable with. "I really do wonder, though."

"You worried they're talking bad about you?"

Piper frowns. "I'm worried Jason's trying to talk Reyna out of it."

"Out of what?" asks Annabeth. "I thought there wasn't anything real there. Or were you talking about bowling? Because there's no way anyone could be talked out of going bowling."

Piper just shoots her a look. "You know what I mean."

"But do I?"

REYNA

It's the strangest feeling of being thrown into a TARDIS, onto a Delorean, and into one of the black holes from the new Star Trek movie Hylla and her boyfriend dragged her to back in high school. Jason practically throws her down into a seat toward the front of the bus, and Piper, at the back of the bus with Nico, Percy, and Annabeth, gives her a look like, "What, are you actually ditching me?"

Reyna can only think to shrug and mouth "Sorry!" at her as she flops down, gracelessly, into the window seat.

Jason falls in next to her. "So, fill me in," says Jason. "You still the greatest lacrosse player this side of New York? Did you pass eighth grade without killing Trinity Balkweather?"

Reyna frowns. "Never was, and just barely. Did you know she told me that I looked like a lima bean on eighth grade graduation day because my dress was green? Like, come on, I didn't choose the school colors."

Jason chuckles. "That girl was always hell and a half. What's she doing now?"

Careful to add the air quotes, she replies with, "Modeling," and an eye roll. "Which basically means she's getting Mom and Dad to pay for her to get pictures taken, and then she goes on and on about how much better she is that Lucy – you remember her, right? They were best friends, for like, years – all because Lucy had a kid right after we graduated and has been working at Michael's since then."

"And Trinity Balkwhiner strikes again," says Jason. "Though I am surprised that Lucy Renner had a kid already. Wasn't she planning on being a graphic designer?"

"As far as I know, she's still doing that," Reyna replies, "in the very, very small amount of spare time she has left."

Conversation continues easily and movies quickly. She and Jason flow strangely well, like they've been doing this for years, like there haven't been a handful of years between the two of them.

The conversation turns to romantic interests quickly.

"So," says Jason, but before he can go any further, Reyna interrupts him.

"Oh no. No way. You go first. Any lucky lad in your life?"

Jason gives her a look. "Ignoring the inexplicable alliteration," he begins, "not really, but sort of. A little."

Reyna's eyes light up. "Really?" she says. "I was just deflecting. I wasn't expecting there to be an actual answer."

Jason frowns. "I should have known you were going to do that."

"I haven't changed much," says Reyna, "you really should have."

Jason raises an eyebrow.

"What?" Reyna asks. "What's with the eyebrow thing?"

"Haven't changed much?" Jason replies, and it's clear he's trying desperately not to laugh. "Want to explain the fact that, for a long damned time, you thought that bisexual girls were just doing it for attention because of that time with Stacy and Jen?"

Reyna feels her face go bright red and can't help but look around to make sure no one else heard Jason. "I was fourteen, Jason," she replies, and she can't help but feel a weight of guilt settle in her chest, "fourteen. I didn't know what the hell I was talking about." She still doesn't, if she's honest with herself, but the practical experience she's gained with the whole sexuality is fluid thing gives her a bit more sense in the matter.

"I'm not mad about it, you goofball," says Jason. "And it was a joke. I didn't mean to – I didn't. Yeah." Now Jason's looking guilty and Reyna went from being really happy about how well it was all going to really upset about how it wasn't going.

"Breathe, Reyna," says Jason. "The fact that you were fourteen was the point. And plus, aren't your parents a little…uh…"

"That's pretty much the nice way of saying 'weird about anyone who isn't a normal nuclear family' and is totally accurate," Reyna replies. "The whole growing up thing changed it all."

"And," adds Jason, and there's that familiar gleam in his eyes, "I'm pretty sure Piper changed a good deal of it too."

"Shut up," Reyna says, but she can't help a completely different kind of blush from creeping up her cheeks, "you're making fun of me."

"Not making fun," says Jason, "just making a comment about how your new girlfriend broadening your horizons and all that jazz."

"She's not my girlfriend," Reyna clarifies, and it's a little more stern than she wanted it to be. She guesses she's still kind of on the defensive about the whole thing.

Jason sighs. "She's still not out of the violently aggressive toward relationships thing? Because, like, she's dated before. So I know she's emotionally capable of it."

"She just doesn't anymore," says Reyna, and she's feeling a weird prickle behind her eyes that's a little too much for her personal liking, until she hears Piper yell, "I'm fantastic in bed!" and the whole bus goes silent. Reyna can't help but turn around, and the strange prickle behind her eyes combines with the absolute hilarity of the situation, and she can play off the prickle behind her eyes as tears of laughter. Then, for some reason, Piper gets up and looks like she's about to come yell and Reyna and Jason (who's chortling like a seal), except there's a sudden acceleration, and she tips over.

Reyna laughs even harder.

"You know who hasn't changed?" Jason chokes out, "That girl. That girl right there."

"I'm pretty sure she never will," Reyna laughs, and she wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her Briar Lake Elementary School sweatshirt her mom gave her as a jokey graduation gift. "Whew. Enough about Piper 'McLean and then Fall' over there. Tell me about this boy that you have a crush on."

"I was hoping you were going to forget about that."

Reyna sighs. "Jason, I don't forget things. I am very, very bad at forgetting things. So tell me more, tell me more, like does he have a car?"

"No."

"Really?" Reyna asks. "That's all you're going to give me?"

"Yes."

"At least tell me the guy's name," says Reyna with a deep sigh. "Please?" She adds a pout to the end of the sentence, just to make it a little more fun.

"One hint," says Jason, "one tiny, miniature hint. Something so teeny that you'll never be able to figure it out."

Jason's silent for about thirty seconds. "Giving me a hint requires you to speak, Jason," Reyna says. "Just a hint."

"I have to come up with a vague hint first," grumbles Jason. "Give me a minute."

A minute or so passes, Jason face screwed up into the look of someone who is taking an excessively long time to process very detailed information. Reyna's half ready to give up on asking any questions if it's going to take this long.

"He's cute and he likes trains," says Jason, "and he hates flying on airplanes."

"Ooh," says Reyna, "three whole clues that are incredibly vague!"

"That's kind of the point," says Jason. "Vague is how I roll."

"How you roll is a bowling ball," Reyna replies, "also are we nearly there?"

"Don't know," says Reyna, "I haven't actually been here before."

The drive continues for another two or three minutes until the bus rolls into a parking lot of some half-run down little strip mall.

From behind them, Piper bops Jason flat on the top of the head.

"Butts out of the seat, nerds. It's time to throw some balls!"

"There's a poor attempt at an innuendo for you," mutters Nico, and Reyna chuckles a little bit when Piper shoots him a fairly disappointed glare.

"I was funny, and you know it," she says. "Now get off the bus before somebody yells at us."

"If no one yelled at you for screaming about your sexual prowess," says Annabeth, stepping off the bus, "I'm pretty sure we're not going to get yelled at for anything."

Piper hops off the bus. "Good point," she says, and, out of nowhere, she grabs Reyna's hand. Reyna looks right over at Jason, and she's sure the look of shock and astonishment on Jason's face is mirrored by the one on hers.

Piper, of course, misses it entirely and drags her toward a building. "Anybody know which one of these places is the bowling alley?" she asks.

Annabeth, from a few yards behind them, replies, "Probably me or Percy, since we're the only ones who have been here before. You nerd."

Annabeth takes the lead and pulls open the door of what looks like a crack house, in Reyna's opinion, but the second they stepped in and took a look around the place, Reyna realizes that, shockingly, it is actually a bowling alley.

"You sure this isn't a drug den?" Jason asks.

"My thoughts were similar," Reyna laughs.

"Oh, shut up," says Annabeth, "are we going to bowl or not?"

It turns out Piper is terrible at bowling. Her excuse is that her dad was always too busy to take her and, thus, she can't be expected to be decent, but the fact that she got her fingers stuck once and only avoided ripping her arm out of the socket by going so slowly it just made her sink to the ground, Reyna didn't believe her.

It turns into a (nearly) bloody battle between Reyna and Nico, the unexpected victors of the game.

"I don't suck!" exclaims Piper after her third gutter ball in a row.

"You have bumpers," says Annabeth carefully, "yet you just got three balls straight in the gutter."

"And what's wrong with that?" Piper asks indignantly.

"Bumpers are there to prevent you from being capable of getting it in the gutter," says Nico with an eye roll and a little half-grin. "See how I don't have bumpers?"

"Quit being a snarky ass, Nico," says Jason, and suddenly the puzzle pieces link together when Reyna catches him staring a tiny bit too long at Nico's butt.

Reyna takes the time to observe his butt – it seems necessary because, of course, if Jason's checking him out, Reyna should too – but it's really a bit small for Reyna's tastes.

That is when Reyna's lovely butt of choice pops in front of her and sits right down in Reyna's lap.

"Hi, bowling badass," says Piper, "are you ready to beat Nico? Because I have a way that we're totally going to beat Nico."

"We're?" Reyna asks. "I think you mean 'I'm' going to beat him."

"Whatever. Technicalities," says Piper. "Watch this."

As Nico winds up, going to get himself a spare (the jerk,) Piper yells, "NEIL PATRICK HARRIS!"

Nico stumbles and his bowling ball goes straight in the gutter.

"What the fuck, Piper?" Nico hisses.

"Nothing," Piper replies, looking like the absolute picture of innocence as she sits there with a smile on her face. "Just thought you could use some encouragement."

Nico gives her a half glare. "Okay," he says, and he looks incredibly uncomfortable. But he thinks he's okay, clearly, because he picks up the bowling ball and goes to throw again.

That's when Piper hollers, "Levin Rambin!"

Nico actually stumbles at this point, falling down onto his knee awkwardly.

"Ow," he says carefully, "and this is the point where I'm going to kill you."

"Don't kill her," says Annabeth, "she's good for entertainment value."

"Nothing funnier than watching someone suck at bowling, huh?" asks Piper, looking grumpy. She folds her arms over her chest, frowning. Reyna resists the urge to kiss her on her stupid nose.

"No," says Percy, "you're funny when you make inappropriate comments when other people are bowling."

"You're on her side?!" Nico exclaims, sitting down in a chair across from Percy. "Damn, dude, that's just cold."

"It is funny," says Jason with a shrug.

"Oh, shut up, all of you." And now, Reyna notices, both Piper and Nico have nearly identical pouts on their faces.

And, again, the look on Jason's face as he looks at Nico probably resembles the look Reyna's giving Piper.

Christ, she's becoming gross and feelings-y.

The bowling match goes on and none of them are doing particularly well at this point, and it's gotten to the point where Piper's bowling backwards or between her legs from now on. Annabeth's trying to get the technique down – and it's not working too well, especially with Percy giving her "expert advice" that is exactly the opposite of what Reyna's ever found to be effective.

Percy keeps trying to do what he claims is the "professional" way to bowl, and Jason's fooling around entirely.

Reyna is now very sure that Piper and Jason would have worked out well if it weren't for the whole Jason-is-gay bit. She's kind of happy for that bit.

By the time Annabeth's turn comes again, there's a bit of a glare in her eyes and Reyna's just waiting for her reaction to Percy's next comment.

"Annabeth, you should probably try – "

"You should probably try shutting up," snaps Annabeth, and, somehow, this is the point at which she bowls a perfect strike. She turns around, and the grin on her face is priceless. "See? Look how well that went when you weren't convinced you knew better than I did."

Percy looks a combination of cowed and upset, and it's like looking at a puppy whose toe you just stepped on. Annabeth's resolve against Percy's kicked puppy face, however, is apparently a little bit stronger than Reyna's with Piper's kicked puppy face.

And then comes Reyna's last turn – the last turn of the game, actually.

"You're not going to win," singsongs Nico with a smile. "You'd have to get a perfect strike."

"I will," says Reyna, "I know I will."

When Nico yells out, "NAKED PIPER!" it's just after Reyna bowls, and nothing gets thrown off. Well, until she loses her balance and falls on her ass.

But the gloating of winning the match with her strike is so much more powerful than her embarrassment over falling.

"Oh yeah," Reyna says, letting Piper pull her face down for a kiss, "I'm good."

"What was that last bit?" Jason asks. "I couldn't hear it through you and Piper sucking face." Reyna responds by flipping him off with one hand and grabbing Piper's ass with the other.

"It's my victory smooch," she says, coming up for air. "I figured I deserved it, after the mental image Nico put into my mind."

Nico sighs. "Okay. So that was totally my fault, I guess."

"Yeah, it was," says Piper. "Thank you!"

They go up to pay for bowling, and Jason knocks everyone out of the way and slams his card down. "I'm paying for everyone," he says to the clerk. Jason shoots a smile. "Sorry, guys, gotta be faster next time."

The other five of them glare at him for a few seconds, until the necessity to seem unhappy about someone paying for you wears off.

Reyna makes her way outside. "I'm going to go play in the half inch of snow. Meet me out there!"

But Piper, apparently, is extremely against Reyna getting out of there before her.

"YOU WILL WAIT FOR ME, ASSHOLE!" yells Piper, but Reyna just rolls her eyes and keeps walking. "Catch up when you quit being whiny, short stuff!"

She makes it out the door and closes it behind her.

Which is why, of course, Reyna's entirely thrown off when, suddenly, there's a person-sized, person-weight thing knocking her to the ground.

"Um," says Reyna, "can I get an ow?"

"No," says Piper, "Because I'm getting the ow because I slammed my knee into the pavement."

"Yeah, and that's my fault?"

"You didn't wait for me!" Piper replies, and, to Reyna's relief, she feels Piper roll off of her. "Asshole," Piper adds.

"Oh, sure, I'm the asshole," says Reyna, brushing some gravel off of her coat, "I'm the one who just knocked someone over in a freaking creeper parking lot."

"It's not that creepy!" yells Annabeth.

Piper and Percy simultaneously pat her on the arm.

"It's a little creepy, honey," says Percy.

"Yeah, babe," Piper adds, "it's creep city."

"I hate all of you," is Annabeth's only response.