Since this is the first fic for Reyna and Bobby, I'd appreciate a small mention if you write them, thanks.

Disclaimer: The Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus cast belongs to Rick Riordan, not to me.

-0000-

It's a game they play. Of course, there are rules to it.

1. Whenever she stops, he stops.

2. Whenever she looks at him, he has to look away.

3. He has to walk to her beat.

4. He has to try to catch her if he can.

Every time she takes a walk through the open space where the war games are held, she nods for him to follow in her footsteps.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

That's how many steps he's limited himself to take when she's around. For Bobby, she's someone higher than him, something heavenly and unattainable.

Her dogs are always by her feet, looking back to him every four steps, ready to rip him to shreds if he goes too near her. But the dogs become scared when Hannibal, his war elephant, stands thirty feet tall behind him.

As her dogs cower beside her, she laughs and stops in her tracks. Her long hair flows behind her back and she's ethereal in her flowing purple toga as she sneaks a peek at him. She's allowed to look because she's the ruler, but didn't allow himself to look because he's just an elephant caretaker.

He stops, too, but he doesn't catch her gaze and instead focuses his attention on the sky, even though she's a temptation in his peripheral vision.

His stomach is tearing at his insides because she almost looks peaceful. And by "almost," he means that he's worried her heart is growing numb. Her role as a leader is making her tough, yes, but it's also making her immune to emotion. He thinks of all the things she's said that merely prove this point:

"One shouldn't show mercy in the face of danger. Leaders are supposed to have a level head."

"How will people look up to someone who's an emotional wreck?"

"And the boy I took a fancy to, well…look at what happened. I don't have the time for love, I'm sorry… I just can't…"

But the thing is Reyna's ready. Giving her heart out once, though, took its toll and she could hear her mentor, Circe's, voice from when she was a child:

"Remember all men are never to be trusted, understand?"

And the little, strong-headed Reyna had cried a couple of times in Hylla's arms. As her sister had wiped away her tears, Reyna had made a deal with herself not to fall so easily in love.

But here Bobby is, ready for love, and yet he wonders about Reyna. He wishes she would open up to him so that he could ease her pain, and she wishes that she could, too. But maybe in time the gods will put them together. Because she's from heaven and he's from Earth, and sometimes they just aren't aligned.

Reyna streams her fingers in her hair—he can see from the corners of his eyes. And technically he's not breaking the rules of the game since he's not overtly looking at her. He just wishes he could break the rules.

If he could, he would run to her. His noble war elephant would keep her dogs at bay and he would scoop her up and steal her away. He would bask in her honey cream skin and kiss her tender neck and whisper sweet words to woo her. The sun would be perfect and he would melt her cold exterior and make her heart feel more alive.

Her heart would pulse with the name "Bobby" and his would sing "Reyna" only if she would stop creating more rules between them.

And even as he mouths sweet words of love, sending them to signal, to reach her in any way, she shakes her head no. Her heart is growing more resistant to his attempts to make her his and he's got to break the rules before she's become immune to him.

Reyna takes a step forward. Bobby is alert of her movement and emulates her. As he takes one step forward, she takes a step back.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five...

-0000-

Thanks for reading. I am planning another story featuring these two, soon. I just really needed to write them, lol. Don't forget to slip in a review if you liked it. Tell me what you thought. And you should also check out the Aphrodite's Rejects forum (link on my profile) if you like this kind of random couple. The forum mostly features minor characters.

Thanks to mew-tsubaki for beta'ing. Go check out her PJO fics as well; they rock!