They sit in their praetor chairs in the beautiful principia, with it's velvet walls, polished floors, and ceiling mosaic of the founders of Rome. Sunlight filters through the windows, casting different colors across the floor. Aurum and Argentum lay at their feet, their heads on their paws.
Jason begins to wonder if automatons sleep, because technically they're only machines. He figures they probably power down or something instead of literally sleeping, like a computer does when it's not being used.
He watches Reyna braid her hair, undo it, then braid her hair again as he rolls his golden coin across his fingers. Every time she finishes braiding, it's in a tight black braid the color of obsidian with no flyaway strands. She undoes it just as quickly, her fingers combing through her braid from bottom to top.
She glances in his direction and stops what she's doing.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Reyna asks. Jason blinks and shifts uneasily.
"I didn't realize that I was." He replies, feeling a sudden rush of heat flood through his body.
Jason looks at his coin that he's stopped rolling between his fingers and now holds in his palm. He looks at the dogs, the mosaic, the banners, anything except Reyna's eyes, which he's sure if he does look at he'd only blush again.
"Oh." is all Reyna has to say. She unbraids the rest of her hair and pulls it behind her shoulders so it falls in dark waves down her back.
She stands up and walks to the table in the center of the room, plucking a jellybean from the bowl and looking hesitantly at it.
"Do... do you like me Jason?"
Jason leans forward in his chair,"Of course I do, Reyna. You're my best friend."
"We both know that's not what I mean."
There's a long silence as she looks him directly in the eye, and the atmosphere of the room changes from relaxed and happy to hesitant and awkward.
"Do you like me- think of me- as more than a friend?" Jason asks, trying to turn the tables and make her answer the question instead of him.
Reyna's face is blank,"Is there something that would give me reason to?"
Jason's heart sinks, but he smiles and pretends he's actually happy with her answer.
"Of course not! Really, Reyna. Why would I think of you as anything more than a friend? You might as well be my si-"
Jason stops and his shoulders slump as he thinks of the electric blue eyed, dark haired girl that haunts his dreams. Someone he'll never get to meet. He's had dreams about her, but it's blurred as always when he dreams of her. As if his eyes are half shut and not able to see everything. He usually never had dreams of her until Reyna came.
"You're the closest thing I'll ever have to a brother. I thank you for that, Jason."
Jason forces a smile,"You're welcome Reyna."
They had once said that they would never lie to one another, or keep secrets. But, friends aren't supposed to make secrets, and family isn't supposed to lie to each other. So where does that leave them?