A/N: Hello. :D This is a new, random Leyna fic, because I have become obsessed with this pairing. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes of Olympus, or basically anything you recognize in this fic. The Heroes of Olympus and it's characters belong to Rick Riordan.
/*\*/*\
"I didn't mean to set it on fire!"
"Well, you still did!"
"It was an accident!"
Reyna opened her eye a crack, her bedroom coming into focus. She felt her mind whine, begging to fall back asleep, and she would've complied if it hadn't been for the screaming match going on outside her house. Her eye twitched.
She crawled out of bed, feeling the cool wood of the floor underneath her feet as she made her way through her house, to the door.
Reyna flung it open. "What the Pluto is going on?" She demanded, glaring at the two boys who had previously been bickering, and were now sheepishly looking at her.
"Leo set my bow and arrow on fire," the son of Apollo accused, pointing at Leo childishly, like a kindergartener telling on a classmate who stole his toy.
"It was an accident," Leo protested, looking at Reyna beseechingly. Her eye twitched again.
"Why... are... either of you... even awake... at 2:30 in the morning?" she strained, struggling the urge to strangle both of them so she could go back to bed.
"I was just taking an early-morning walk," Leo said.
"I was at the archery range, practicing now so that I would be alone, rather than when everybody else was there during the day" Michael the Apollo Kid declared. "I can't practice right when everybody is watching me-"
"Yeah, 'cause you're a crappy archer, anyway," Leo shot at him. Michael raised a fist as if to punch Leo, but Reyna grabbed his wrist and held him back.
"And I," Reyna growled, "Was trying to sleep. So, Valdez, say you're sorry to Michael, and Michael, go get a new bow at the armory."
"Sorry," Leo muttered. Michael gave him one last glare before stalking off in the direction of the armory.
Leo rubbed his arm awkwardly, averting his gaze from Reyna.
"Valdez," she yawned, her anger being replaced by slight concern... and overwhelming drowsiness. "Want to tell me why you were wandering around at this unholy time of morning?"
Leo shrugged, sitting down on her porch. Reyna joined him after a moment.
He was silent for a long time, picking at a scab on his ankle rather than answering her. She put a hand on his shoulder.
"Valdez?"
"I... I just couldn't sleep."
"Mendax," Reyna said, hiding a smirk. He hated when she spoke Latin, because he had no idea what she was saying.
"Mendax?" Leo asked in exasperation.
"It means 'liar'."
"I'm not lying," he assured her.
"Valdez, you should know that you do this really weird thing with your eyebrows when you lie," she told him matter-of-factly.
"I do not!" Leo said indignantly, while scrunching his eyebrows together in an effort to keep them still. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh.
"Just tell me what's wrong," she coaxed.
"Why do you even care, Reyna?"
She rocked back on her heels, biting her lip. "I don't know," she admitted. Leo gave her a half-smile and tucked a strand of her bedraggled brown hair behind her ear.
"I appreciate the concern, Reyna. I guess... I really just don't know. I don't know anything anymore." Leo looked down at his hands, his fingers on both hands intertwined together, making a large fist.
"I know what you mean," Reyna said.
"You do?" He looked back at her, and the look in his eyes was like that of a lost little boy. She nodded silently. "Well, then. Maybe we have more in common than I thought."
"Maybe," Reyna agreed. Except it came out sounding like "maywee" because she yawned halfway through the word. Leo grinned crookedly.
"You should go back to bed."
"As should you," she countered, though it took all her willpower not to hop up right then and there, go back into her house, and curl back up under her warm bedsheets...
"I don't think I'd be able to sleep," Leo said. He leaned back against her house, his hands behind his head. "I might just hang out here for a while. It's nice to see the stars..."
"You're going to stay out here on my porch?" Reyna asked wearily. He nodded quite seriously. She sighed. "Alright, fine."
With that, she leaned back also and looked up at the sky. 'He's right,' she thought with some surprise. 'The stars really are nice.'
"You're staying out here, too?" Leo sounded amused.
"Either I stay out here and keep an eye on you, or I go back inside, fall asleep, and come back out in the morning to find that you lit my porch on fire," Reyna responded.
"O, ye of little faith."
"Pretty much."
/*\*/*\
The next day could be summed up in one word: awkward. All day, Reyna and Leo had to suffer through teasing remarks from Percy, who had found them that morning sleeping beside each other on Reyna's porch. Well, until Reyna threatened Percy with death-by-pegasus-hoof. Then he backed off, kind of.
But even after then, it was still awkward. Leo did his best to avoid Reyna and her gaze, and she did the same to him.
However, this tactic didn't work as well as they had hoped. They were constantly running into each other, everywhere they went, until finally Reyna demanded to know if Leo was purposely following her.
"Of course not." He stared at her like she were crazy.
"This is the sixth time today that we've bumped into each other," Reyna pointed out through gritted teeth.
"You kept count?"
"Shut up."
"You two are so adorable," Percy snickered, passing by on his way somewhere.
Reyna shot him a withering glare and he hurried away. Leo rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. Let's just...go to dinner."
"I'm not hungry," Reyna said, just as her stomach growled. Leo smirked.
"Come on." He grabbed her arm and dragged her with him to the mess hall. Reyna didn't even bother fighting him.
/*\*/*\
"So..." Leo said, walking out of the mess hall with Reyna.
"So..." She repeated.
"What now?" He asked. She shrugged. "Well, that's a helpful answer."
"Are you always this sarcastic?" Reyna questioned. "Or do you save it just for me?"
"I save it just for you, Rey," Leo said cheerfully. She gave him an odd look.
"Rey?" She asked, pausing. His cheeks turned red.
"I-I mean, um, Reyna," Leo stammered quickly. Reyna shook her head.
"No, it's...it's fine," she heard herself tell him. He blinked. She offered him a small smile before she began walking again. After a minute, Leo snapped himself out of his daze, and hurried after her, smiling like an idiot.
They walked in silence for a while, each of them absorbed in their thoughts. Leo risked a sideways glance at Reyna. She was scanning the trees thoughtfully. He watched as she walked over to one and sat down at near the base of it. Reyna hugged her knees to her chest and looked over at him.
"You coming?" She called. Leo nodded and joined her, sliding into a sitting position on the grass.
"Do you like it here?" Leo asked after another long silence.
"Where? The trees?" Reyna asked.
"No, no, I mean... Do you like it here in Camp Jupiter?" He elaborated. She propped her chin up on her knees.
"Yes. I mean, it's my home. I'm praetor, here," Reyna said.
"But...that doesn't mean you like it here. Home is where there are people you love, not where you're important," Leo said.
"What exactly do you mean, Valdez?" Reyna demanded.
"I mean...I don't know," he sighed, burying his face in his hands. "I told you. I don't know anything anymore. I don't know who I can trust, I don't know where to turn, I-I don't even know what I mean when I talk, anymore."
She didn't speak for so long, he worried he had offended her. Finally: "I understand, Leo."
Leo slowly raised his head to look at her. "You called me Leo."
Reyna raised an eyebrow. "Is that not your name?"
"No, it is, I mean...you called me Leo instead of Valdez." A grin was slowly making it's way across his face. She rolled her eyes.
"You're such a trainwreck, Valdez," she said, shoving him jokingly. He laughed and steadied himself.
"You know you love it," he teased.
"I suppose," Reyna sighed. He just smiled for a minute before what she had said sank in.
"Wait...you actually do love it?"
/*\*/*\
Percy was just walking along through the forest, his hands in his pockets, whistling, when he saw them.
They were laying curled up together at the base of a tree. Her head was resting on his chest, and his hands around her back. Both of them were sound asleep.
Percy smirked. "Gods damn, I really need to look into buying a camera."
/*\*/*\
A/N: XD Ohhh, Percy. Damn troublemaker. Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Review? Pwetty please? :3
- Hyper