SNAP with only half an hour until midnight, HecateA manages not to miss her favourite ship week on the pretext of real life!

July 14-20- Thalia and Luke (Keeping it PG)

July 21-27- Beckendorf and Silena (The Girl in the Attic)

July 28- August 3- Grover and Juniper (The Track of Time)

August 4-10- Chris and Clarisse (Scraps)

August 11-17 Tyson and Ella (Skywards)

August 18-24- Frank and Hazel (Correspondence)

August 25-31- Leo and Hazel (The Toy Factory)

September 1-7- Leo and Reyna (oops...)

September 8-14- Jason and Reyna (THIS!)

September 15-21- Jason and Piper

September 22-28- Free Ship!

September 28- October 7- Percy and Annabeth

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters portrayed below. Enjoy the story!

French, Dutch and Grecian

Reyna shook her head to push out her long hair and see past her nose. Jason took that opportunity to push against her and change the odds, pinning her down.

"I win," he said.

"Gods damn," she breathed under her breath.

"You should shave your head." Jason said.

"Well aren't you funny today," Reyna said as Jason let her get up.

"Seriously though, you should put up your hair or something." Jason said.

"Usually it's tucked in a helmet."

"Well it's not now, and you just got pinned. I'd put it up if I were you."

"It doesn't work," Reyna said. "My hair's too thick. I literally have never found a wide enough supply of bobby pins, or an elastic that doesn't break."

"Have you tried braiding it?" Jason asked.

Reyna didn't say anything. She didn't want to admit to any of her secrets, so she defaulted to getting angry.

"Why am I even having this conversation with you?" She asked.

"If you want, I can teach you how." Jason said.

It didn't matter how angry she got, Jason could usually guess what she didn't say out loud. The boy saw through souls, that's how well he understood the basic functioning of people. And he was quick too.

"How to braid?" Reyna asked. "How in the world do you know?"

"I was raised by legionnaires; girls were the ones who poured all over me when I was a kid. After eight years of that, braids are right up my alley. But I'm telling you this in strict praetor-to-praetor confidentiality because I can name about fifteen people who would never let go of that. And how in the world do you not know how to braid?" Jason asked.

"As if they ever let a daughter of Bellona touch hair at Circe's, not even my own." Reyna said. "I made room service runs- that's it."

Jason nodded, just accepting this new piece of information without making a big deal as if he was scared that it would be the last.

"Come sit down. What kind of braid do you want?"

"There are kinds?"

"Yes," Jason asked. "Like a million kinds. I'll do a fishtail braid, is that okay?"

"Jason I couldn't care less."

"Okay."

They climbed out of the arena's ring and onto the benches circling it. Jason sat down a row of benches behind her and she leaned against his knees.

"Tell me if I pull too hard," he said separating her hair.

"Deal," Reyna said.

"Sit up straight, slacker," he said kicking her back teasingly. She wacked his knee in revenge making him drop a strand, and then sat up straight.

"So what are you doing?" Reyna asked.

Jason launched into an explanation on what to do with which strand. He took her hand and put her fingers to her hair.

"Feels complicated."

"It's not. Weren't you listening?"

"I'm not a hair stylist Jason; just fix it so that it's out of my face." Reyna sighed. And he obeyed, using a rubber band he'd stolen from the principia's office supplies to tie the braid once it was done.

He insisted that she looked good, but any comment about Reyna's appearance was always very poorly received on the daughter of Bellona's behalf and she just started a new duel instead.

She had been pushing her hair behind her ear for the last fifteen minutes, and it had been flopping right back to her eyes for fifteen minutes too.

"I'm going on a coffee run," Jason said standing up.

"Fifteen minutes in?" Reyna asked. "We're off to a good start. Get me a large; I think we'll need the bigger sizes tonight."

"Black?" Jason asked. "Of course. To match your soul."

Reyna didn't even look up from her work.

He was back a few minutes later with a cup in each hand. He put it in front of her and sat down, still agitated. Usually Jason's ADHD wasn't that bad, something was up. His knees were bouncing up and down and he was drumming his fingers.

"Are you okay?" She asked finally. "Is something bothering you?" Sometimes one small irking detail could throw him off for good.

"Yes, you!" Jason said. "You keep pushing your hair out of your face and it's so routine and systematic and annoying."

Reyna frowned.

"Can I pull it back?" Jason asked.

Reyna sighed and sat up straight.

"Okay Pikachu, you've got ten minutes, make it work."

Jason got to his feet in a flash.

"This isn't a fishtail," Reyna noticed as her hair was split differently.

"Very good," Jason said. "This is a Dutch braid. A French braid backwards, basically."

"What?" Reyna asked.

"I'll show you what that is another day," Jason asked. "Unless…"

"No," Reyna said. "No, you don't get to make two. Honestly Grace, you should just retire and become a hairdresser."

"No, I don't like screwing around in people's hair that much."

"But you always volunteer when it comes to mine?"

"I like your hair," Jason said. For a while the second was awkward and uncomfortable as Reyna clued in and Jason realised all the possible overtones of what he'd said.

"Drink your coffee before it goes cold, I walked around for a while to find a shop still open." He chided. "Also be still."

"How is that possible? Be still, do this action, make it all happen at once." Reyna protested, bringing the coffee to her lips.

"If there's someone in the world expected to defy physics it's you," Jason said.

"Grace," she said letting herself into his villa.

"Let me put a shirt on," Jason called out. Aurum and Argentum growled and Reyna blushed. Her milky complexion was back to normal by the time Jason had wandered back.

"You're up before the crack of dawn," he pointed out. "Wait, bad example since you're you. But seriously, you're here early, what's wrong?"

Reyna shut her eyes.

"So none of the sons of Vulcan actually fixed the senate's AC system and Octavian's got us cooped up in there for the day with all that paperwork and I will die of heat is my hair is down."

"So I get to show you what a French braid is?" Jason grinned.

"Yes, anything you like. Just get my hair off if my neck."

"Crown braid it is!" Jason pretended to cheer to annoy her. "Look, let me just get the badges on my armour straightened out first. Find a place to sit."

Reyna did. The villa was surprisingly clean for a boy's living space, but then again Jason probably didn't know what 'messy' meant. She sat down in front of the coffee table and flipped through the newspapers from San Francisco he was reading. There were also some copies of LA papers. Jason knew where he was born and as the only link to a life and a person he might've been before Camp Jupiter, he liked keeping tabs on the city. The headlines ranged from the bizarre to the depressing. She folded up the newspaper once she'd seen enough.

"Hey, I found an elastic," Jason said strolling into the room, all badges proudly displayed on the toga. "You should get some real ones, avoid damage and stuff."

"Damage?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "To the hair." He blushed. "I have a good memory, okay?"

"I will never get over this," Reyna sighed shaking her head. "Alright Grace, what in the world is a crown braid?"

They were both standing in front of a mirror, and Jason was braiding her hair over her shoulder.

"Two strands. Pick a piece from the outside one side and drop it off with the others. Rinse and repeat," he said. "Easy."

"For you," Reyna said. "How much practise have you had?"

"Doesn't matter," Jason said. "You have a head full of hair. You can practise on yourself."

"Who did you practise on?"

"By the time I was six I really wanted to be in the legion and help out, but I was still too young to enrol. The girls in the cohort had me do their hair."

"Aww," Reyna said.

"They told me I was being helpful. I didn't know any better."

"Did someone take pictures?" Reyna asked imagining a six year old Jason waddling around the fifth cohort's barracks with bobby pins and scrunchies in his hands and around his wrists. He probably clenched his jaw while he concentrated. At least he did that nowadays, like when he had to build arguments for the senate.

"Yes and I wouldn't tell you who in a million years," Jason said.

"Don't worry. You know me well enough to blackmail me back when I'll find out," Reyna said.

"Jason, Gwen told me to tell you to do a mermaid braid," Reyna said.

"What?"

"I'm just the messenger," Reyna said raising her hands. "I don't know what she's talking about. She just said that you made pretty mermaid braids. What's a mermaid braid?"

"Kind of a French braid, but you take tiny pieces of hair from the scalp and don't do rows or anything… okay, we've got time. Did she mention any accent braid?"

"Accent braid?"

"Forget that I mentioned it, please I beg of you."

"Jason I'm the last person in the world who would insist on an accent braid," Reyna said sitting down on his couch and pulling her hair out of its messy ponytail.

"I like that about you," Jason said moving up behind her and picking up a thin strand of hair.

"Remember when you said that there was such a thing as a Grecian brain?"

"Yes," Jason said.

"Well, today we're having senate meetings all day. Can you do one in my hair to piss off Octavian?"

Jason laughed.

"You don't need anything formal," Jason said. "We're going to Berkeley."

"I said do my hair not let it loose."

"I'm telling you, it's a legitimate kind of braid- a waterfall braid."

"My hair still feels loose," Reyna said.

"And that's okay. It suits you."

"Does it?"

"I haven't found anything that doesn't suit you yet and I'm not counting on it," Jason said.

They both stared at each other. Reyna though did he say that out loud? The look on his face was enough to answer yes. "Now let's go."

"You told me that braids were three-stranded," Reyna said.

"Well of course they can't all be…"

"I've been lied to," Reyna gasped. "How shall I ever trust again?"

"Cry me a river."

"Then I'll drown you in it," Reyna said poking his elbow.

"No!" Jason cried. "You made me drop it again!"

"That'll teach you. Five-strand braid nonsense, give me a break," Reyna huffed.

"Give me a break," Jason said poking her ribs. Reyna twitched. She had her back to him but she knew that he was smiling. And she knew what that meant.

"NO!" She cried the exact moment that Jason started tickling her. She couldn't say more, he had her in stitches within the blink of an eye. It took forever for her to get back to him, and even longer for them to tire out and just crumple on the couch.

"I'm getting a mouthful of hair," Jason said spitting it out. "I should have finished your braid before doing that."

"Rude," Reyna said locking her ankle to his.

"Can I play with your hair?" Jason asked.

"Yes," Reyna said nearly immediately.

There. They weren't even pulling excuses about braids anymore.

"Reyna!" Julia squealed.

Reyna plastered the smile on her face before turning towards the little girl. Her hair was tied back today, usually it was just loose and messy. Her mother was mayor of New Rome and her father was away on business trips all the time- yikes.

"Look at my hair," she beamed. She twirled for Reyna and her braid whipped through the air. "See?" She smiled.

"Yeah, I see," Reyna said though her attention was more focused on Jason, who'd just appeared.

"Julia, running off isn't cool," he said in that exasperated-yet-happy babysitter voice.

"I saw Reyna through the window and wanted to show Reyna my Jasmine braid," Julia explained.

Jasmine braid? Now, Reyna was no expert about braids, but Jason hadn't mentioned those yet.

"I'm like Jasmine," Julia informed Reyna. "I even have a costume back home."

"Do you? That's cool," Reyna said.

"It's in a box in my closet. Only Jason can reach it. Also my mommy when she's on a chair."

"Yes and what's the rule about the costume?" Jason asked scooping up Julia. She giggled and giggled and giggled. He blew a raspberry on her forehead and made her laugh.

"No costume until there are no vegetables on the plate," Julia recited.

"That's a hard one," Reyna sympathised.

"I'll do it," Julia said.

"Eventually, so she claims," Jason said. "No evidence of it backs up this theory…"

Julia just smiled, knowing that he was referring to her cheekiness.

"Jason can you make Reyna's hair a Jasmine braid?" Julia asked.

"Reyna doesn't have a Jasmine costume kiddo," Jason said. "Also I'm sure that she came down to New Rome for a reason, so she's busy."

"He's right," Reyna shrugged. "Maybe another time, okay Julia?"

"Okay. Will you show me when?"

"I will show you," Reyna promised.

Julia ran off again, back home.

"What is Jasmine?" Reyna asked.

"A Disney princess," Jason said. "You know- from Aladdin? The one who wears pants? Julia's obsessed with her. She thinks that if you were a princess you'd be Jasmine."

"And Jason is Aladdin!" Julia shouted from her front door.

Reyna knew enough about Disney to blush right then.

"You lost me at 'segregate the hair in two or three sections'."

"Whatever," Jason said. "It's called a downward milkmaid braid and you'll just have to accept it on your head."

The first time that Jason pulled her hair down instead of up was when they kissed for the first time. His fingers slipped under the elastic, through the different strands and pulled it all loose. They roamed her hair, cupped her neck, wound in her hair…

She didn't mind.

"Reyna stop."

"Leave me alone."

"Reyna, you haven't slept in three days and I don't know how much you've eaten," Gwen said. "Jelly beans, as you are not a five year old dietician, do not count."

"Do I look like I have the time?" Reyna barked. "Jason's missing, Octavian's already planning out his party's electoral slogan which means that I just lost the efforts of a big chunk of the legion, he was injured when he disappeared, who knows what's happened and god damnit it's hot in this goddamn principia!"

Gwen walked up to her slowly and touched her hair. It didn't feel the same.

"It's because nobody put your hair up, sweetheart," she said.

Reyna stood in front of the mirror.

Her stomach gargled. Her brain was numb and so every other part of her body, every square inch of her was telling her not to. Starting with the tightening in her stomach, and finishing with the treacherous eyes which watered up.

It'd been long enough, logically speaking. And so she prayed to the gods, split her hair into three sections, and tried to make miracles with the unruly strands.

"I don't know how you didn't get killed in that battle," Jason said running his hands through her hair as they sat on the edge of an Olympian fountain, after the war and the honours. It'd suffered. Singed by the fire power of some of the more -ah- liberal Greek weapons, unruly, dry, generally uncared for... Jason still played with it, so it still felt okay. Like before.

"I wore a helmet," Reyna explained.

"Huh."

"Not half as pretty as a braid," Reyna said.

Jason laughed and he put his hands on her shoulders, tilting her a bit.

"Fishtail, French, crown..?"

"Surprise me," Reyna said closing her eyes and doing her best not to lean against him as he worked.

"Okay, I know it's bad luck to see a bride in her wedding dress…"

"Shut up and do your work," Reyna said. "Gwen, Piper, Annabeth and who knows who else are probably listening at the door. They'll kill you if you peak."

"I know, I know," Jason said. Reyna clung to the purple cloak that was wrapped around her, hiding the bead work and plain white skirt wrapped around her.

"What are you doing with my hair today?"

"I'm surprising you."

"Really?"

"Gwen told me to put your hair up because it helps accent your neck or something. It's basically a crown braid with these fancy combs they gave me. I don't know. I'm just following orders."

"And looking very handsome in a suit."

"I wish I could return the favour and call you beautiful, but I haven't received any visual proof…"

"Jason Grace," Reyna said. "You are not seeing me in my wedding dress."

He laughed and kissed her neck.

"That's okay. I don't need any proof."