Your Name Didn't Get You Here, You Did

"Oh, right, the newbie wouldn't know to do that," Octavian gloated.

Jason had been Praetor for almost two months, and he had come a long way.

As Reyna's person protégé, Jason learned more about the world than he honestly wanted to know. But he knew that this all made him a good Praetor.

All of the late nights of working. The meals he skipped to get in touch with people he needed to make deals with. The parties he missed. The personal jokes with his friends that he didn't get because he wasn't there. The pains in his neck that he got from falling asleep on the couch with books as his pillow.

Maybe he wasn't quite into the groove yet, but he was getting there.

And he felt pride for how fast he had become a good Praetor.

Even more, he felt pride for what had happened with Reyna.

They were so different…

Everything was different for the two. From their stances on relationships (Jason liked to put his heart on his sleeve, and Reyna was hesitant to do anything of the sort) to their fighting styles, the two Praetors were on different sides of the fence.

But something stuck them together.

Maybe its opposites attract.

But… maybe it was something else.

Jason looked at Reyna, and she rolled her eyes.

"Back off, Octavian," Reyna crossed her arms, and Octavian kept staring.

He had not kept it to himself that he thought that electing Jason would change Reyna. He told anyone that would listen that he thought that she would fall for Jason, just like every other girl did. And he would go on about how she would get soft and be so consumed with her new beau to think about Rome.

Reyna had felt anger rise in her every time she heard the rumor.

Despite herself, she cared about it.

She had spent so long proving herself. She worked herself to the bone to get where she was. When the other girls were gossiping and blushing at boys, Reyna was getting in extra sword practice and beating those boys to a pulp in the arena.

Reyna had given up the life of a normal girl because she wanted to be here.

And it made her sick when people treated her like she was some Venus girl, drooling over boys and passing notes with all the latest gossip in Math Class.

But Reyna pretended that none of that bothered her as Octavian turned back to look at her.

"Protecting your little boyfriend, eh?"

"Aren't there some dolls you need to go play with?"

Octavian narrowed his eyes.

As he marched away, Jason let out a small smile to Reyna.

"You didn't have to do that," Jason nudged her, and she smiled.

"I did not do that for you."

He kept smiling, teasing her as he often did.

"Oh really?" Jason smirked as he crossed his arms, and Reyna narrowed her eyes.

"Yes really," Reyna told him, and she was trying not to seem flustered.

But she was.

That drove her insane, too.

This was Jason.

She didn't do it for him!

But why did she do it then?

"Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to tell him off?" Reyna finally came up with something.

Any other time, Jason would have kept teasing her until she finally closed a door in his face and told him to shut up from her window. But, since it was Octavian, he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" Jason asked as he wriggled out of his purple robe and pulled his tee shirt back on.

Reyna shrugged as she tried not to stare at him.

He deserves the title Adonis, Reyna mentally noted as she reached a shirt from under her desk and ducked behind a screen in the Senate, which she often used to change behind.

With her old Praetor, they hadn't cared if they saw each other naked or not. So shirtless was no problem.

But there was something different about Jason, in this respect and just about every other respect.

"I don't know," Reyna told him as she pulled her tee shirt on.

Jason didn't feel weird about changing in front of Reyna. He often had to do it since he was around her all of the time. But he had to admit that it felt weird when she changed beside him.

Maybe it was the fact that it was unlike her.

Gwen had always teased her that she was so busy with her job that Gwen was surprised Reyna just didn't walk out naked. And, honestly, Reyna wouldn't have cared if anyone saw her. Anyone but Jason…

"What are you doing?" Reyna asked.

"I was thinking about going out with the guys."

"I think I'm going to sleep for the next ten years," Reyna smirked as she walked back from the screen, folding up her robes.

"Reyna? Sleep past eight? Has such a thing ever happened?"

Reyna liked the bantering.

It gave her something to smile at when she just wanted to strangle some people.

He was funny, she would give him that.

She wasn't sure why she had hated him for so long.

Had he always been like this? Had she just been prejudice against his pretty face?

No, he had changed for her.

People were beginning to notice.

Some people liked it, Juno in particular, and some people didn't.

Jason wasn't sure how he felt about it.

In some way, he missed the way he was.

He missed being innocent.

Well, he hadn't been innocent.

He had been a hero, a great hero.

But he wasn't Reyna.

Jason knew what heroes knew. He protected Rome, and he served it well. But he didn't know what it was like to be Rome, to know just how hard it was to keep the lives inside the city as peaceful and wonderful as possible.

No one could have warned him how hard it was.

Sometimes, like Praetors before him, he just wanted to curl up in his bed and never open his eyes. To dream of something better, where there were no ancient prophecies or Greeks to worry about. He wanted to go back to the way it had been when he was just another Adonis parading the streets and keeping the monsters at bay.

You can't stay both, you know.

Civilian and Praetor.

Along the way, you have to give up one.

And Reyna was trying to ease the blow for Jason.

She didn't want him to feel the horrible pain and desperation that comes with sometimes having to lose your humanity to keep the humanity of everyone else, to make sure that they didn't have to make decisions like that.

He would though. He would have to make choices that he would think about in the middle of the night. He would still have to see those faces in the shadows that were no longer among them because of him. He would still have to watch the widows or the children or the old friends cry.

Reyna desperately wished that he didn't.

She wanted him to hold on to the last shred of innocence that he had.

The innocence that she had lost long ago…

Reyna's teachings made him strong.

But strong enough?

She prayed so.

"I was Reyna long before I was Praetor Reyna," Reyna reminded Jason.

"What was she like?"

Reyna stared at him.

"What?"

"Reyna. Before work. Before crisis. Before rule. What was she like?"

Reyna was caught off guard.

She had never been asked that before…

What was she like?

She wasn't like this. She wasn't so hard. She wasn't so rigid.

"I was determined. I was hot-headed, too. It didn't take much to get me angry, and Rome was always my favorite cause," Reyna smiled weakly as she thought back to it, "I just wanted to get here though…"

"Would Reyna have given me a chance?" Jason let out a playful smile.

But he meant it.

"Definitely not," Reyna was sure on that point, "Handsome son of Jupiter who is also the star hero? No, no. I would have thought you had everything handed to you because of your good looks and parentage. I never would have even talked to you, much less made an impression on you."

"But didn't I get everything handed to me because of Daddy and Mommy's good looks?" Jason laughed about it, but he really wondered about it.

Would people still cheer for him if he had been just Jason?

Son of a random god with average looks?

Or was it the gimmick?

That someone so handsome could be so caring. That someone so sweet could be so strong. That someone could be so serious and so funny. That someone who could get away with looking pretty and dating all the beautiful girls actually tried to make his home a better place.

He wondered if he had earned his rank or if it had been a perk that came with the birth certificate.

"You wouldn't have cared if I thought that though. As I said before, I would have made no impression you like I did now."

"You would have."

Jason meant it.

He was sure that Reyna would have caught his interest like she had now.

"Why would I? We would have had nothing in common. We would have had different friends. Completely different lives. You never would have even noticed me, I promise you."

He knew that he may have not earned her respect if they hadn't been in this situation as co-rulers. He knew that they probably wouldn't be friends, but he also knew what he probably wouldn't have sought out friendship. But what else would he have tried for?

Reyna was probably his best friend.

He couldn't imagine ever… dating her. But, somehow, he had a feeling that he might have if they hadn't been Praetors together.

"You're pretty hard to miss, Reyna," Jason admitted, "And a hot-headed you? I would have been blind not to see you."

"Shut up," Reyna playfully narrowed her eyes at him, and he smirked.

"Now were you always this bossy?"

"You're walking on thin ice, Grace."

"I'm going to leave before you kill me," Jason raised his hands in surrender, "Besides, Jonas will eat all of the chips if I'm too late."

"Bye," Reyna pulled her bag on her shoulder, adjusting her braid behind her back, and he nodded his goodbye.

But Reyna stopped him before he made it out of the door.

"You didn't get everything handed for you because of your good looks and your dad."

He stopped at the door and stared at her.

"I mean, things have been easier for you. But I think you have a lot to prove, too. To match your dad's name," Reyna hesitated, "But your name didn't get you here. You did."

Jason felt a smile spread.

"Thanks, Reyna."

Reyna stood there.

She wasn't sure how to act now.

Should she say something more or just walk away?

"Well," Reyna finally spoke, "I've got to get groceries before it closes. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Jason nodded, a gentle smile on his perfect lips.

He had known that Reyna was changing him.

But was he changing the illustrious Reyna?

Or was there someone underneath the armor wanting to get out?

He didn't know, but he did know that he was shocked by this new Reyna he kept seeing.

"Good night, Jason," Reyna told him as she started to the door, a reminder to start walking again.