32. Loser

"You totally suck!" Leo exclaimed gleefully.

3 minutes later…

"I own you!"

2 minutes and several snappish retorts from Reyna later…

"Seriously, Rey, how is it possible for somebody to be this bad at Halo?"

Reyna pressed a button on her controller to pause the game and stood up, proclaiming, "That's it. I'm done. Call Jason or Nico over. There is no way I'm playing with you anymore."

"Wha-?" A gummy worm hung comically half out of the corner of Leo's mouth as he looked up at her from the screen. "What are you talking about?"

"You," Reyna dragged out the word. "Are a bad winner."

Leo looked at her for a few seconds before getting the candy fully into his mouth and then standing up. "Oh no," he countered in the same haughty tone. "You're a poor loser."

"I most definitely am not." Reyna snapped from where she was grating cheese over a plate of tortilla chips. "Do you want nachos?"

"Please." Leo said, even as he came around the counter to stand with her. "And you most definitely are," he repeated. "Everyone gloats when they play videogames, its human nature; and if it was you I would probably still be watching your lone victory-dance party in the living room. I was tame by your standards."

"That is not true!"

"Ahem," Leo fake coughed. "Remember when the two Camps had a capture the flag game and they called Percy and Annabeth back from camp to go on Camp Half-Bloods side with Piper and the rest of the campers? Remember when, even though you had Frank, Hazel, Jason, yourself- and last but definitely most important, moi, plus an entire legion of hardened demigods, Camp Jupiter lost? Remember how I got no sex for a week because apparently I distracted you when you were making war plans? Remember that? Because I do."

"That is so…." Reyna trailed off at his raised eyebrow.

"True? I think so too."

"Ridiculous." Reyna finished. "I would not do that. And I am not a bad loser!"

"You are," Leo said, taking a nacho from the offered plate in front of him. "But only in front of me. With the others you feel like you have to be nice and polite and accommodating."

Reyna frowned, crunching down on a chip. "I'm not nice around you?"

Leo backtracked hastily, recognizing the look in his girlfriend's eye. "Not- well nice isn't the right word- more like-"

Reyna grinned. "Just teasing."

They munched on their snack from a few minutes, leaning on their elbows on opposite sides of the counter, until Reyna sighed. "Okay." She said. "Let's finish the damn ame."

Leo was, in one word, surprised. "Seriously?"

"Don't push it."

They brought the plate over and restarted the game- but one thing Leo realized, too late, was that food and videogames were not a good combination for him.

Because Reyna had made a lot of nachos. And all of them looked tempting. He kept neglecting the game to reach forward to grab one from the table, missing his shots and continually getting hit.

In the end… Reyna won.

"You cheated," he mumbled dejectedly, staring at the now empty plate of former nachos.

"Did not." She said gleefully. "Part of war is strategy, and when you see you're losing you have to change strategy and think ahead."

Leo met her eyes. "That wasn't fair."

"Now who's the bad loser?" Reyna teased. "Anyway, I'm the winner. That means I get a prize."

"Which is?"

Reyna grinned wickedly. "Just you wait. I promise you, we'll both be winners tonight."