A/N: Hey! Yet another random Leyna oneshot. P: Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own HoO or any of it's characters. They all belong to Rick Riordan. I also don't own gummy bears... *sadface*

Reyna wanted to know how the Pluto he did it. Look so damned happy, all the time, despite everything that was going on around him. Even when the Romans shunned him and whispered about him, calling him a graecus, saying he and his friends were untrustworthy, he still managed to keep a smile on his face.

It was unnatural.

Then again, what was natural about Leo Valdez? From his strange optimism to his habit of taking walks at the wee hours of the morning, something about him was definitely...different. Unusual. Crazy.

Reyna still remembered that Valentine's day when he had left flowers on her doorstep and then hid so she wouldn't know they were from him. She remembered the warm feeling that had suddenly engulfed her heart, making her fingertips tingle. She remembered that smile that she couldn't force off her face for the next hour.

She remembered feeling special, for once, and not just because she was a demigod. Feeling...loved.

Not that Reyna thought that Valdez was in love with her. More like he empathized with her. Understood her. It was an odd friendship - barely even a friendship - but Leo still never failed to make the corners of her mouth quirk upwards inevitably.

She liked it. He made her feel like Jason never had. With Jason, all she ever felt was the need to prove herself equal to him. It was always a competition. But with Leo, she felt that she could relax, and let down the barriers she put up to guard herself. She could be who she was, and not have to put on airs and act high-and-mighty to constantly prove her status.

Leo never acted like he was better than her. If anything, he acted like she was better than him. Reyna thought he might even be a bit intimidated by her sometimes.

She didn't like that.

She tried to find ways to show that even though she could seem cold and heartless sometimes, she wasn't like that underneath the act. She was a normal teenage girl, with an abnormal amount of responsibility on her shoulders.

She hoped he saw that.

And then, of course, there was the whole business with the gummy bears.

Once, Reyna had caught Leo during one of his early-morning walks. They had sat down on her porch and did nothing but talk for a solid hour. It was wonderful. Reyna learned all about Leo's past, and in turn, she told him a few things about herself that she had never even shared with people she had known for years. Something about him was just so calming, and sincere, that she felt she could trust him.

One of the things that she learned about Leo was that he loved gummy bears.

"I haven't had gummy bears in years," Reyna said wistfully, thinking back to times before Circe's Island, with her sister Hylla and their father on Saturday nights, playing card games and eating gummy bears and jelly beans until they felt sick.

"Really?" Leo stared at her in mock horror. "That, my friend, is a crime."

She rolled her eyes, lightly punching him on the arm. "There are worse crimes than lack of gummy bears, Valdez."

"If there is," Leo declared, "Then I have yet to hear of one."

The next morning, Reyna had found a small bag of gummy bears on her porch.

"He remembered that I only like the red ones," she said to herself softly, holding the bag close to her chest like it was something precious. She could feel another smile creeping across her face.

Every Sunday, after that, Reyna found a small bag of red gummy bears on her porch. One time, Leo left a little note attached to the bag.

If you can, meet me at the tree at 9:00. - L

Reyna knew exactly what tree he meant. The tree that they occasionally met near to talk during the day (because, of course, Reyna couldn't talk to him at 2:00 A.M every morning). They met under it so often that they had even come to think of it as "their tree".

She had grabbed the bag of gummy bears and headed down the path towards their tree.

Reyna found him perched on a branch of the tree, his legs swinging casually. She looked up at him, squinting in the sun, and laughed.

"Knowing you, you're probably stuck up there," she said.

"Of course not." Leo peered over the edge of the branch and dropped down to the ground, straightened up, and smiled amiably at her in that contagious way if his.

Reyna sat down on a tree stump while Leo plopped right down on the ground. She offered him a gummy bear, which he promptly bit the head off of.

"You must have been a sadistic child," Reyna observed, watching him.

"Please. You should've seen what I did to animal crackers," he quipped. She rolled her eyes.

"Why did you ask me to come here?" She asked after a few moments of comfortable silence. Leo shrugged, eating another gummy bear.

"I guess I was just wondering if there was anything you wanted - or needed - to talk about," he said. "You seem so tense these past few days...I was kind of worried about you."

"You were worried about me?" Reyna repeated. He nodded.

"I was wondering if everything's alright with...Jason, and stuff," he admitted.

"Oh. Oh, um...everything's fine with Jason," Reyna lied.

"Is it?" Leo squinted at her unbelievingly.

"Yes. We haven't even talked in a few days," she added. At least that wasn't a lie. She didn't like lying to Leo.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Leo wondered. Reyna shrugged.

"Both, I suppose," she said finally. He half-grinned.

"It is gad," Leo declared.

"Gad?" Reyna repeated, raising an eyebrow at him. Leo nodded eagerly.

"It's a combination of the words "good" and "bad"," he explained.

"I see." Reyna held back a laugh.

After that, they both said the word "gad" quite a lot, whether they were describing their day, or how dinner was that night. Every time one of them said it, they both fought of a round of laughter, or at least a smile.

It was the little things like the gummy bears and gad that kept Reyna wondering about Leo. Over time, they grew much closer, talking more often, Reyna even consulting him sometimes about issues among the cohorts. Leo was a very good listener, she learned, and even if his advice wasn't always completely serious, it always made her feel better.

Sometimes she thought that she relied on him way too much. She even mentioned this once to him, and his reply surprised her.

"Reyna, isn't that what a good friend is for?" Leo pointed out.

"Friend?" Reyna said. He nodded. "I don't know if I've ever really had a good friend, after Hylla left to join the Amazons. Besides Jason, of course," she added as an afterthought.

"If Jason is the only good friend you've ever had, then you have absolutely no idea what a good friend is," Leo said heatedly. She blinked at him. "What?" He shrugged. "I'm just saying, Jason isn't exactly ideal for a good friend. Unless you like constantly living in the shadow of his magnificent self," he added sarcastically. Reyna snorted, trying to ignore the part of her mind that screamed "I AGREE!".

"Maybe," Reyna relented. "And who, pray tell, would you suggest as an ideal 'good friend'?"

He shrugged again, uncomfortably this time. "Annabeth? I don't know..."

She laughed and bumped his shoulder. "Whatever you say, Leo."

Leo flashed her a quick smile.

They walked on in silence for a few minutes before they parted, going their separate ways until they met back up the next day.

Maybe Leo was right. Maybe she had never had a good friend before.

At least...never a good friend before she had met Leo Valdez, and his crazy, optimistic, gummy-bear-loving self.

/*\*/*\

Leo wanted to know how the Hades she did it. Bear so much responsibility, and somehow manage to keep her head. It was amazing. She was amazing.

Not that he was going to tell her that.

After all, if he told her that, she would start to suspect things, and then it would end up the same as with Thalia and Khione: ignored and rejected.

He didn't know if he would be able to bear it if the same thing happened with Reyna.

Something was different with Reyna. She wasn't as far-off as all the other girls he had liked before. She didn't hold herself like she thought she was a queen, or like she didn't have time for people like him. She seemed to genuinely appreciate having him as a friend.

Leo thought he might be falling in love with her.

But that was insane. He had only known her for three weeks. You can't fall in love with someone you've only known for three weeks...can you?

At least, he didn't think so.

Besides, Reyna seemed to still have feelings for Jason. Of course. Of course, it had to be Jason who she liked. Leo's "best friend".

Right. Because Mr. I'm-So-Perfect-Son-of-Zeus-or-Jupiter-or-Whatever was such a wonderful best friend, what with him constantly showing off and breaking Reyna's heart and whatnot.

Leo wasn't feeling very buddy-buddy with Jason these days.

He was, however, growing much closer to Reyna. He found himself practically living for their early-morning talks, and wondering if she thought about him as often as he thought about her (which was most of the time).

And there were always interesting times, too. At one point, Reyna had to stop Leo from maiming Piper.

/*\*/*\

Reyna hadn't been acting normal for days. Leo had known something was up, but he decided not to ask her about it, and instead wait for her to bring it up, wondering if she would share it of her own free will, and without being asked.

However, when it had been three days and she still hadn't mentioned that anything was bothering her, Leo finally confronted her about it.

"Reyna, what's up with you?" he asked. Subtle, right?

Reyna looked startled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Leo explained, "That, though I may not look it, I am not a complete idiot and that I am aware something's wrong. Just save me the trouble of pestering you about it, and you the trouble of lying and saying you're fine, and just tell me."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, then."

"Tell me, Reyna."

Reyna deflated a bit, sighing. "Fine. It's...Piper."

"What did she do?" Leo demanded. Reyna winced.

"Leo...if I told you, you would probably run off and yell at her, and I don't want that," she mumbled.

"I won't run off and yell at her," Leo promised. While crossing his fingers behind his back. He wondered if Romans accepted the I-Crossed-My-Fingers excuse.

"Fine...well, basically she called me a name because I told off Jason for being mad at Percy because Percy is the new second praetor," Reyna rushed. Leo raised his eyebrows.

"What name did she call you?" He asked in a calm voice. But it wasn't a good, peaceful calm. It was the sort of calm that could only be known as "scary calm". It showed that while he appeared indifferent, he was fuming on the inside.

"Bitch," Reyna said.

She barely had to time react and stop Leo as he stood quickly and stalked away from their tree, his fists clenched and his shoulders tense.

"Leo, wait," she said, clamping a hand onto his wrist.

"Why?" Leo asked.

"You said you wouldn't run off and yell at her," Reyna accused.

"I lied," Leo replied, pulling his wrist out of her grip and continuing.

"I don't need you to fight my battles for me, Valdez," Reyna grumbled, falling into step beside him.

"I'm not fighting any battles for you," Leo said. "I'm just telling Piper to act like an Aphrodite girl and look in a mirror before she calls other people bitches."

Reyna snorted. "Seriously, Valdez. Cool it. Oh, wait...poor choice of words."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Yeah." He paused, biting his lip. "You're not, Reyna," he added quietly.

"I'm not what?"

"You're not a bitch. You're freaking awesome."

She blinked at him, apparently not used to compliments like that. "Thank you."

"Anytime." He shifted uncomfortably on his feet. She offered him a small smile.

"Come on. Let's just go back and eat gummy bears."

Leo relented. "Okay."

/*\*/*\

Reyna thought of Leo as a valuable friend and ally, and somebody who could make her smile no matter what.

Leo thought of Reyna as an amazing girl he might possibly be in love with.

However, despite their different opinions on their strange and unlikely relationship, they both knew one thing: they needed each other. They both needed somebody they knew they could trust and turn to when everybody else failed them.

And, luckily, they both had each other.

A/N: Aww, fluffy ending. :3 Hope you liked it! Please leave a nice review, telling me what you think!

- Hyper