The Christmas Party

"So what is this thing again?" Jason asked, throwing himself onto Reyna's bed.

Thanksgiving had come and gone, but they still remembered that day perfectly.

Something happened that day. They became… well, they honestly became one. They had always been a good team, but they were unstoppable now. They were the dynamic duo as many called them, and they were usually the first choices when it came to picking someone for a quest.

No one broke them apart anymore though.

There was something about this relationship, they noted to one another.

Rome had seen Praetors of all shapes and sizes before.

They had watched them fall in love. They had watched them grow as friends, and they had watched them grow to hate each other.

But this was different. So very different.

This didn't have a name.

It was the best of them all.

They could be romantic and have sort-of-dates. On Friday nights, they could go out and vote on which restaurant (Jason usually wanted Mexican, and Reyna usually wanted Terakihi steak from the Sushi place). Or they could simply sit down with candy and watch a movie on the couch.

They could fight like cats and dogs and swear to never talk to each other again.

But they never kept to it. They were best friends.

That was just it.

They were best friends, not like siblings but friends. They understood each other, though sometimes they just wanted to kill one another. And being Praetors together furthered the relationship.

"I told you," Reyna told him as she pulled out the suit she had picked up from the dry cleaners for him. He didn't get much use out of it. It often stayed in the back of his closet since he was supposed to wear the purple toga most of the time, but it would get used tonight.

"I forgot," Jason moaned, burying his face in one of Reyna's tee shirts that she had thrown to the bed earlier while looking for his suit.

"It's a Christmas party."

"I thought you didn't do Christmas parties," Jason peaked at her, and she rolled her eyes, trying not to stare at his bare abs.

Most of his shirts were dirty, and he had thrown them into the laundry basket when Reyna had told him this morning that she would take his clothes to the cleaner since she would already be there. He hadn't expected a rigorous training to make him change or spilling coke on his only other shirt.

"I do when the governor is there. I have to go, and now you do."

Jason clutched his stomach and let out a fake moan.

"I don't feel so good. I think I'll just stay in bed tonight. I don't want to get everyone sick."

Jason had the upbeat attitude to do most everything, and he was honestly fine with going tonight.

It was his Praetor duty, and a Christmas party was nothing compared to what he had coming into this thing.

But Jason just loved to tease her.

Reyna tried not to get annoyed like he wanted her to, but he knew her well enough to know everything that drove her up the wall. And he was very, very good at it, too.

It was one of his many talents, and this was probably the only one that hadn't in some way saved their life. Even his annoying quirk where he tapped his leg had saved his life once or twice, though Reyna never admitted to that.

"You are going," she jabbed his chest.

"That hurt," he touched where his heart was and happened to be two centimeters away from where she jabbed.

Reyna rolled her eyes, and she was about to tell him to go home and get dressed. But he had already gotten off and gone towards her closet, staring at a green dress in the back.

"What is this, and why the Pluto haven't I seen you in it?" he held up a tight green dress.

It had been a birthday present from Gwen.

It fit her well, a little to well as she saw it. It went to her knees, and it had a sweetheart neckline with think straps. It came with a necklace with glass emeralds that you could swear was real, and Gwen had also put a pair of black platform pumps with green on the bottom.

"Because I can't breathe in it," Reyna tried to snap it back, but he held it up to her, imagining his best friend in the dress.

"Who needs to breathe?" he kept looking at the dress, and she rolled her eyes.

He raised his eyebrows.

If this was what she kept in her closet, what would she wear?

"What are you wearing?"

"I'm in front of our boss, Jason. I can't go slut up the place," Reyna crossed her arms.

"Oh gods, you're wearing the Christmas tree sweater and grey skirt, aren't you?" he crossed his arms.

"What's wrong with the sweater?" she asked as she took back the tight green dress.

"What's right about the sweater?"

"Well what do you want me to wear?"

"That," he pointed to the dress.

"No."

Jason was about to keep going, but he raised his hands in surrender, knowing that begging like that would only piss her off.

"I'm going to get dressed," he picked up the suit, and he hesitated before going down the stairs, "Hey, when will the laundry be back?"

"Elaine just got divorced. And Mark proposed on Christmas Eve. She was ecstatic to have work to do. She said she'd drop it off by tomorrow morning."

Jason nodded thankfully and started back to his house next door.

They both went on with getting ready.

Jason took a shower and tried to scrub off the signature smell of the arena, a mixture of blood, sweat, and pride. He then went to the Roman Bath, where he relaxed. And he continued to get dressed.

Reyna was also doing the same. She felt renewed and refreshed as she came home, still smiling from the bath. Which is why she was so shocked when she saw a pissed-off Gwen with her hands on her hips standing in the middle of her living room.

"There you are."

"What are you doing here?" Reyna asked as she closed the door behind her.

"We only have two hours until the party."

Reyna stared at her.

Gwen was ready for the big party that Lewis Donald was throwing at the club. Her hair was pulled up into a bun with mistletoe stuck in it. Her lips were Christmas red, and her earrings were little jingle bells. Her mint green skirt fit her well, and she had on red tights. Reyna stared as she realized she was wearing her sweater.

Reyna felt sick as she realized what came next.

"Oh Pluto no," Reyna crossed her arms.

"Oh Pluto yes," Gwen smiled, "I don't care if you are just friends. For tonight at least, he is going to fall in love with you!"

Gwen pulled her up the stairs, and she began to work on her best friend.

Meanwhile, Jason was still relaxing.

He was lacing up his shoes and deciding against the tie Reyna wanted to wear while his best friend was basically being attached by Gwen.

Before now Reyna never knew how hard it was to look beautiful.

She was beautiful. But she never tried hard. She braided her hair instead of styling it. She dressed in a toga or tee shirts, and she was loyal to her lucky converse that had seen her through the first day of training to the night she was named Praetor.

By the time Gwen was curling Reyna's long hair and putting in extensions, Reyna wasn't sure she ever wanted to look really beautiful again.

Jason waited outside for Reyna, but he was just standing there. Gwen was just applying lip gloss, and Reyna wasn't coming out any time soon.

After a while, he left waiting at her door, and he started towards the area where the Christmas party was being held. New Rome was a circus tonight, as you could expect.

Little kids ran around and giggled about how excited they were. Some hurried to the store for last-minute eggnog and marshmallows. People ran around for last minute gifts and wrapping paper. And teenagers mingled as they got ready for the party.

Jason felt better that he was going to the generals party. It felt more… him.

No, it felt like the Jason he wanted to be.

He had never really felt Roman until Reyna, and he knew he would never be like her. But he didn't really want to be either. He wanted to make her proud¸ and he honestly was. But not for what he thought.

She hadn't been able to stay as happy as he had. She grew cold, she grew hard. But he remained as nice and upbeat, though he had lost his partying ways. Jason was able to maintain optimism when everything around him was horrible.

He saw the worst of things but managed to see the bright side.

Reyna longed for that. She hadn't been able to get that for herself, and, without realizing it, pride swelled through her.

"Hey, Jason," one of his work friends, Bobby, smiled and waved at Jason, and he smiled as he started towards him. As they began to talk, the party began.

Waitresses in pretty green dresses and waiters in red suits refilled wine glasses and served finger food. A quartet played softly, and people mingled to one another. The leader of each legion was present with some of their other high-up members. Everyone scurried around in expensive outfits, and they talked mainly of work.

"So, have you seen Reyna?" Jason asked as he spotted the mayor of New Rome, and Bobby was in the middle of a shrug when his jaw dropped.

Jason looked back and gasped as well.

"Who is she?"

She was beautiful.

She had wavy black hair held out of her eyes with a red clip to show red studs. Her legs seemed as long as a spiders in her dark green heels, and she was able to walk in them despite how all of the girls in the room were thinking that they would break their neck at the first step. The tight red dress went a few inches above her knee, but she was able to walk. And the top was sheer red and long-sleeved, showing a tattoo on the side of her arm.

"Oh my gods, that's-!" Bobby couldn't even finish it because the girl was walking towards him.

Jason stared, and she hurried towards him.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned on him to fix the strap on her shoes, and he just kept staring.

"These heels are killing me," she smiled apologetically, and she peaked over his shoulder, "Oh, hey, Bobby."

Bobby let out a weak wave, still staring.

"I thought you were wearing the sweater," Jason gave her another once-over to see if he was imagining this.

"Gwen wanted to wear it," Reyna shrugged, "Why? Do I look ridiculous?"

"Definitely not ridiculous, Reyna. Not ridiculous," Bobby told her, and she wasn't sure how to take that, whether it was Bobby teasing her or actually a compliment.

Bobby let out a mischievous grin as he nodded towards both of them and motioned to his brother, Edwin.

"I'm going to go talk to Ed, make sure he doesn't embarrass me in front of everyone."

Bobby hurried to his brother, and Reyna looked back to Jason.

"What's up with him?"

You, he wanted to say, but he couldn't get his words to function just yet.

He was too shocked.t

She looked…amazing.

For a minute there, he could have sworn that he was looking at one of the daughters of Venus who went weak in the knees when he walked past, only without the weak in the knees part. It wasn't like she wasn't pretty before, but now?

Now Jason felt like the person who was supposed to go weak in the knees.

Reyna picked up a glass of Champaign from one of the waitresses, and she handed Jason the other.

"You're going to want to start drinking now, young Padawan."

He took her advice and took the glass, and they started the annual mingling with their bosses, assuring them that they had everything under control and for them not to decide to boot them out.

After ten conversations full of small talk and work and five glasses of Champaign, the two finally had finished pleasing the New Rome officials, and Reyna was congratulating Jason a job well done with that when Clara Wilson walked up to them.

She was second in command to Suzie, her older sister. She was only fourteen, but, if you looked at her, you would think she was much older. Out of the two Wilson girls, Clara was deemed by most as the prettiest.

While her sister was a blonde by the bottle, Clara had naturally strawberry blonde curls. She was petite but had the illusion of long legs. Her eyes were green like a clover, which is also the color she usually wore, and they always had a sweet little sparkle. Her lips were puffy but also as perfectly sculpted as if she had gotten them on a surgery table. Clara's nose was Roman, and she always wore a locket with a C on it.

She was the granddaughter of Venus, and she fit the stereotype of a gorgeous, sweet, and completely stupid while her elder sister was more cunning but not by much. They were both the same sweethearts, and, if it wasn't for Clara's stupidity, you might not know who you were talking to out of the two girls.

"Jason? I haven't seen you in forever!" she giggled, and Jason let out a weak wave.

Neither of them enjoyed Clara's company, but they could put up with it.

"Hey, Clara. I didn't know you were coming," Jason tried.

"Oh, Suzanne is at the big party, and she wanted me to stop in before going myself. Are you going, Jason?"

Clara was aware that her sister had locked her sights on Jason Grace. Everyone knew that they would make a perfect match, and things were finally coming together so that it could happen. Well, it was coming together.

If only Suzie could get Jason's attention.

Jason shrugged.

"I haven't really thought about it," he shrugged, and Clara's eyes finally wandered over to Reyna.

For a moment, she thought that he had come with a date, and she instantly felt sorry for her older sister. But then her eyes fell to the tattoo, and she giggled.

"Reyna?" she smile thankfully, "You look beautiful! I almost didn't recognize you!"

Reyna's eyes widened, and Jason bit back a laugh.

Clara didn't seem to understand what she had said, so she didn't try to explain that she didn't mean it like that.

Jason smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, mainly to keep Reyna from doing anything crazy. And Clara's green eyes widened in shock as her bright green eyes rested on Jason's arms.

"She does look great, doesn't she?" Jason looked at Reyna with loving eyes, making Reyna freeze with shock so that she couldn't get mad at Clara.

Jason was a genius. He knew Reyna, and he knew how to keep her from getting too mad.

"We're going to head out. I'll see you around, Clara," Jason smiled goodbye, and Clara nodded.

"Did she seriously just say that?" Reyna whispered as he steered her towards the door.

He picked up a glass of Champaign from a passing waiter and handed it to her, and she still had that shocked face.

"How do waffles and bacon sound?" Jason kept his arms around her as they went out the door, and she stopped to take off her painful heels.

"Lots and lots of syrup."

"And the General is back."

"Shut up, Captain Crunch."

Jason burned bright red, and she smiled as she hooked her arms around his.

"Let's get out of here before we have more small talk."