Beating Reyna at Her Own Game

Though Reyna had never been interested in the other protégé, Jason had always taken an interest in Reyna from the first day she had arrived to Camp Jupiter.

She hadn't realized he was there, but he been when she made her first visit to Lupa, when she adopted her into their training. From the first sight of her, Jason had known that there was more to her than anyone would ever know but he just didn't know what.

And, for the last few years, he had tried to see what that was.

Now, though, he wanted to know more than ever.

He wanted to know what this all was.

Why she made him work so hard to prove that he was more than just that little pretty boy that all the Venus girls drooled over.

Jason saw it as a game, but he couldn't figure out the rules. Or how to win either.

Reyna knew this all troubled him, and, if anything, she liked watching him trying to figure it out.

But the truth was the simple possibility that he had never thought of.

It wasn't a game.

Yes, she did toy with him sometimes for her own entertainment, but, overall, this was just as straightforward as it came.

She also knew Jason's problem.

She wasn't sure how he could ever "prove" himself to be more than pretty boy, but she did know that he had to realize that, in a few weeks, she wouldn't be his leader anymore. He would be her equal, and she was more worried about if he could prove that he was a Praetor.

Jason had completed every task though. But he lacked it.

The Praetor feeling, that everyone would always be safe under his leadership.

He didn't have the confidence yet.

Which is exactly what Reyna took advantage of when they were in the arena.

Reyna was a legend when it came to training, and no one had beaten her in so long that people had given up trying. Well, everyone but Jason.

Jason couldn't understand why she always beat him when they should have been exactly alike. They were both taught the same thing by the same teacher, and Jason had been her favorite out of the two, getting him some special treatment. And their fighting style was so similar.

But Reyna knew his weaknesses, and, though he sometimes gave her trouble doing it, she was able to use that weakness and take the victory home.

Well, she had been able to.

Neither of them knew what happened that day.

Their duel went as always, a routine performed so many times that it was becoming boring for everyone. And Reyna was reaching the point where she was tired of it and she was ready to end it like she always s did.

But then something happened.

The routine broke.

This alone caused suspicion in Reyna, and then the blunt fear hit her.

She couldn't predict him anymore.

For the first time since they had started their daily routine of going to the arena, Reyna was flying blind.

And the pure boredom from the other matches had made Reyna lazy.

She seemed to empty out her arsenal at him, but he was still standing, despite how sickening the crack of breaking his nose had been.

And then Reyna couldn't handle it any longer.

Her body was limp as she fell to the floor, with his sword pressed up against her neck, earning a few drops of her red blood to stain the blade.

But it didn't matter that she was bleeding, covered in bruises, and in a considerable amount of pain.

None of it beat the force of shock.

Jason Grace.

Jason Grace had beaten her.

Everyone stared at them both, unsure who was more shocked, Jason or Reyna.

Jason didn't know what to do.

He was frozen to standing there, watching the blood slowly build up on his sword.

Jason just realized that he had done it.

Maybe not yet though.

But he had set the events in motion that would lead him to proving himself to Reyna.

They both knew it.

Jason had the confidence that he had always lacked, and he had finally showed that he had been taught by the one and only Lupa and that he deserved to be Juno's champion. So maybe he hadn't exactly completed making her stop seeing him as a pretty boy.

But Reyna had never actually cared if he was a pretty boy.

He could be a pig for all she cared, as long as he Praetor in front of the people.

And that he was.

Finally.

After what felt like forever, Jason was able to move again, and he set out his hand to help pull Reyna up like she had done when she beat him. And, still staring at him, she accepted his help.

He motioned towards the sword, a silent gesture to ask if she wanted another round.

They both knew that neither of them wanted to.

Even if it hadn't been for the physical injuries, like Jason's nose that was gushing blood and clearly broken, the trauma of him beating her was too much to handle, and Reyna needed to take a deep breath to accept that it had actually happened.

Reyna shook her head, somehow managing to keep her eyes locked on his.

"Maybe you're not as hopeless as I thought."

It wasn't what Jason had hoped for, but it was something.

"And you're not as perfect as I thought."

Reyna tried to keep a straight face, she really did.

But she cracked a smile anyway.

"You better be able to repeat that tomorrow, Kid," Reyna smirked, and Jason's lips formed a smile.

He doubted he would beat her the next morning, but he liked to pretend that he was sure he would.

Before Jason could make a smart-ass comment back, she pointed to his nose.

"You might want to get that looked at," Reyna spoke of the injury as if it was something she had all the time, like a scraped knee or a bruise.

He had almost forgotten about the broken nose, but, when she brought it up, he could feel it again.

As Jason started towards the infirmary, she went home, still thinking about Jason Grace.

It took almost a month for things to finally come to the point where she had accepted defeat from Jason Grace.

Jason would often wake up early in the morning and linger around to wait to see Reyna stomp up to him and tell him that he had indeed proved himself to her, but it never happened. He was beginning to think that none of it had mattered when she made her announcement.

Or what was considered an announcement by Reyna standards.

It had been no shock when Jason was voted to be the next Praetor alongside her.

The entire night, she watched him but didn't say anything, peaking over the shoulder of her friends while they weren't looking and praying that Jason didn't notice, but he did because he was doing the same thing, waiting for her to come up to him and admit that he had fulfilled his promise.

Reyna wasn't sure why she was watching him, and she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to him now.

Finally, as the party started to cool down, he gave up on her coming to him and walked over to Reyna.

"So, I'm Praetor," he began awkwardly, and she nodded.

"Congratulations, Jason."

Jason.

Not Grace.

That right there was another step closer, but Jason still wanted her to say it.

"You'll do well," Reyna nodded, not sure how to tell him that he had succeeded.

It was clear to everyone but him that she believed that he earned the place he was today, but she knew that she would have to spell it out for him.

Jason finally decided that he would have to just ignore the confession from Reyna, and he nodded towards the drink table.

"I'm going to get a drink, want one?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Jason knit his eyebrows in confusion.

"I expect you up and bushy tailed tomorrow morning. You've got a lot to learn, Kiddo, and little time to learn it," Reyna kept her eyes hard as she looked at Jason, but, somehow, it finally got through Jason's head that he was Praetor now.

And she saw him as such.

Jason smiled, which made a slight grin form on Reyna's face.

"You may not get the bushy tailed, but I'll be up."

"I hope you realize what you're getting into," she kept her eyes on his, but it didn't feel threatening this time.

It felt…friendly.

And it was at that moment that he realized just how beautiful Reyna actually was.

For years, he had always thought of her too intimidating to ever think of as pretty, but he could suddenly see it.

Jason almost became mesmerized about the way the moon reflected off her dark eyes, which reminded him of the kind of Hershey's bars that kids begged their parents to buy when they went to the grocery store.

After a long time, Jason finally snapped out of it and nodded.

"I do."

"I'll see you in the morning," Reyna nodded towards her friends, who were watching her with Jason.

After the big incident of him beating her in the Arena, everyone had kept a close eye on the two, especially when they were together.

Jason knew he would be teased by his friends when he got back to them, as would she, but neither of them cared.

He had finally proven himself to Reyna, and nothing could break this high.

"How early are we talkin though?"

"Good night, Jason," Reyna smiled, shaking her head, walking away.

"I'm serious!" he tried, but Reyna kept laughing.

He wasn't exactly sure what he had gotten himself into when it came to Reyna, but he was surprisingly not worried about it like he knew he should have been.

He knew that there would be days where it would be all he could do not to strangle her, and he usually would have steered away from anything like that. But, somehow, when it came to Reyna, he couldn't help himself.

"Jason?"

He looked back to his friends, who were waiting for him.

"Come on! You're just standing there!" they called him over, and he took one last good look at Reyna with her friends before starting towards the guys.