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The table in the middle of the principia’s command center had been cleared of all its clutter, the gleaming mahogany wood adorned with a thick velvet runner emblazoned with the camp’s SPQR insignia, the same that graced the forearm of every legionnaire. It was set with pitchers of water, glasses, heavy tomes on Roman politics and mythos that no one but Reyna had read. The two high-backed chairs that were usually at the head of the table had now been moved to the middle, both on the left side. They faced two similar-looking but smaller chairs on the other side, and the rest of the table was dotted with simple ladderback chairs that Reyna had pulled from the barracks.
They were ready to meet their Greek counterparts. Reyna took a deep breath, clicked her tongue at Aurum and Argentum, and climbed the stairs to the ground floor.
The first thing she saw when she stepped outside onto the portico was her co-praetor Jason Grace making Senator Zhang check his teeth for food.
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She had decided long ago against saying anything, and she was sticking with it, but sometimes, Jason made it extremely difficult. Like now, for example.
Jason was the most dependable person Reyna had ever met. He was diligent, orderly, cooperative. He was quick to assess any situation and even quicker to come up with a solution, but he wasn’t overconfident in his abilities, and always chose to approach a problem after calm and level-headed deliberation. Most importantly, he had complete faith in her decision-making abilities and never tried to outdo her, never made praetorship a competition. She was always grateful for Jason’s unflappable rational mind.
Except, as she had learned in the past year since meeting the Greek demigods, Jason’s rational mind wasn’t quite so unflappable.
Reyna took her position next to Jason, both of them in the center, surrounded by their Senators and Centurions. Hazel, Centurion of the Fifth Cohort, nodded at her.
“Nico said they’re almost here,” she said to Reyna. “Must be nearing the tunnel now.”
On Reyna’s other side, Jason jumped at Hazel’s words and started patting at his hair. Hazel caught the movement and smirked a little.
“You’re sure anything’s going to come out of this meeting?” she asked Reyna quietly, leaning in so Jason didn’t hear. “We might as well have gotten everything done through messengers.”
“Too slow. This is faster, even if it is a lot of hassle.” Reyna glanced at Jason, who had unsheathed his sword just to check his reflection in its blade. Reyna sighed. “Even if it makes Jason act like this.”
Hazel’s smile widened. “I think it’s cute. So does Frank.”
“It would be cute if it was anyone else. Not the praetor.”
Hazel gave her a skeptical look. “Even praetors aren’t immune to getting crushes on people.”
“If only they were,” Reyna muttered, watching as Jason finally sheathed his sword and stood up straight.
She knew Hazel was giving her another look, but she didn’t have time for that. In the distance, beyond the tops of the buildings, she could see some kind of commotion brewing. A few moments later, a legion messenger turned the corner, carrying the flag of Camp Jupiter in one hand, and the Camp Half-Blood banner in the other.
The delegation from Camp Half-Blood had arrived.
~*~
They arranged themselves around the table. Jason and Reyna took their chairs as praetors, with Reyna’s dogs flanking her. Their legionnaires settled on either side of them, Hazel taking what was quickly becoming her permanent seat by Reyna’s left hand.
The Greek demigods sat on the other side. Annabeth, the daughter of Athena that Reyna had actually struck a friendship with, sat across Reyna, and Percy, the son of Poseidon who was the new bane of Reyna’s existence, sat across Jason. And wasn’t that the whole problem.
After they were done with pleasantries, Annabeth pulled out her laptop and got right to it. “First order of business,” she said, “Our NRU applicants.”
“Before we get to that,” Reyna said, trying to pretend the guy next to her wasn’t undressing the guy across from him with his eyes. To Annabeth’s credit, she didn’t look like she wanted to strangle Percy Jackson for chewing his lip like that either.
“Before we get to that,” Reyna began again, “We need to address these rumors of a new prophecy going around. I believe you’ve been hearing word of that on your end too?”
Everyone around the table leaned in, faces lined with concern. A new prophecy meant a new war meant new soldiers meant new martyrs. No one wanted to go through that. No one wanted to even think about that, not during the period of peace they were enjoying after they had fought the Battle of Mount Othrys, where Jason had slain Krios.
Concern was the right response. Not smirking and tilting your head to expose your jawbone. Not using your pen to trace the scar on your lip. (Reyna had seen this move so many times over these Greek-Roman meetings, it made her want to destroy all the pens in the camp. If Jason did it one more time, Reyna swore she would show him what a real scar looked like.)
It wasn’t that Reyna didn’t get it. She had eyes, and the first few times she had met Greek demigods, she hadn’t been able them off of Percy – or Annabeth or Piper, the ambassador of Aphrodite. That had been a very flustering few meetings, and she had come away with a healthy respect for Greek godly genes, and an even healthier frustration towards her palpitating heart.
But she had made herself get used to the way they looked, and now, she almost never stared too long or blushed in front of them. Jason, however, seemed to be having difficulty with that.
It would help if Percy Jackson hadn’t chosen to wear a T-shirt with a larger and lower neckline than any of the other Camp Half-Blood tees his friends were wearing, or folded the sleeves up so high over his biceps, or painted his nails so pitch black. Or sprinted over here, apparently, if the slight gleam of sweat over the delicate knobs of his collarbones and the bow of his neck was anything to go by –
The point was Reyna couldn’t blame Jason for being distracted. But she could blame him for not being even a little bit concerned that they were talking about the potential end of the world.
At least the worried wrinkle between Annabeth’s eyebrows looked genuine. “We have,” she said. “We think they’re unfounded, though. An increase in monster activity, a bunch of worried campers, some overenthusiastic kids wishing they get their moment of glory – I don’t think it’s anything more.” She raised her eyebrows down the table at Hazel’s older brother, the infamous Nico di Angelo.
“Annabeth’s right,” Nico nodded, fixing Reyna with a dark-eyed stare. “I don’t think there’s anything to it, but we should definitely focus on squashing the rumor as quick as possible. We don’t want to cause any panic.”
“If it isn’t true,” Reyna frowned. “We need to be prepared in case it is. I don’t think it has any merit either, but the senior campers – from both camps – should at least be aware of any imminent threat. That’s the only way we prevented Gaea rising – cooperation.”
“Wasn’t that because that prophecy was a dud, though?” Leila, Centurion of the Fourth Cohort, asked.
“A little bit of both,” Nico shrugged. “Either way –“ and here, he cut himself off, making a face at Percy, who had just decided to take a very long and measured gulp of water. “Either way,” he continued, face still scrunched up in disgust, “Praetor Reyna’s right. We need to have our defenses up just in case.”
But it was almost like Nico had broken a spell by acknowledging the shameless spectacle Jason and Percy were putting on. Everyone was staring at them now, except for Annabeth and Reyna, who exchanged a long-suffering look between them. Then Reyna loudly cleared her throat at the same time Annabeth seemed to kick Percy underneath the table.
Both boys jumped. “Ow!” Percy hissed.
Reyna raised her eyebrows at Jason, who turned bright red so fast Aurum started barking in alarm.
“Percy,” Annabeth said through gritted teeth, “Do you agree with Nico?”
Percy’s eyes widened to twice their size. “Um,” he said, staring at Annabeth with pure fear, “Yes?”
Annabeth definitely kicked him that time. Percy yelped. “I think –“ Jason started loudly.
They all turned to stare at him, Percy included, which made Jason blush even harder. “I think –“ he spluttered, “I think we should listen to Reyna.”
Reyna barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. She was sure Percy appreciated Jason’s scrambled attempt at rescuing him from Annabeth, if Percy’s surprised smile was anything to go by.
“Yes, well,” Reyna said loudly, glaring at Jason when he turned to her again, “As we were saying,” she nodded at Nico, “we should get ready to mount a defense any time, even if the risk is minimal.”
That got Percy’s attention. “Mount a defense?” he frowned.
“The prophecy rumors,” the elfish son of Hephaestus sitting next to Piper, whose name escaped Reyna, poked at Percy’s arm. “You gotta listen, man.”
“But those are just rumors,” Percy said.
“Yes,” Reyna said, ignoring the way Jason was staring daggers at Percy’s arm. “They’re just rumors, and we don’t need to cause any kind of hysteria over them. But we need to be prepared too.”
Percy threw Annabeth a confused look. “How are we supposed to be prepared and not cause hysteria at the same time? Doesn’t mounting a defense mean we’re expecting an offense?”
As if Percy speaking sense knocked some of it to Jason, his head jerked up. “We should probably only brief the Centurions for now, then,” he said, turning to Reyna. “Everyone else on a need-to-know basis.”
“Can’t we trust our soldiers with more than that, though?” Frank asked. “I don’t think anyone would get that worked up.”
“Maybe they won’t, maybe they will,” Jason said. “We haven’t been at war in years. Some of our army hasn’t seen a battle since they were probatio. We don’t know how they’ll react.”
Reyna nodded, thankful to have Jason back on track. “I agree. For now, the rumors of prophecy are just that. Rumors.” She looked at Annabeth. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re right.” She turned to Percy, and it was almost funny how she had to visibly restrain herself from kicking him again. “Head Counselors only?”
“Yeah, I mean they’re all here,” Percy motioned at the rest of the Greek demigods around the table. “So basically, it doesn’t go out of this building.”
“Principia,” Jason said.
Percy looked at him. Jason went deathly still. Everyone went silent. Reyna tried not to impale herself on her own sword.
“What?” Percy said. His eyes had gone an intense dark green, almost like he was angry.
Underneath the table, Reyna could see Jason reflexively clenching and unclenching his fists. But above the table, he said, poker-faced, “Principia. That’s the name of the building.”
Percy stared at him. He swallowed, and his throat bobbed. “Principia,” he repeated, his voice lower than before.
Jason’s eyes followed the movement almost obsessively. He licked his lips. “Principia,” he croaked.
Reyna didn’t stop herself this time; she rolled her eyes so hard, it made her head hurt. Across the table, Annabeth calmly reached for the nearest book – one of three volumes of an encyclopedia on the Roman army – closed her fingers carefully around its edges, lifted it up, and let it drop on the table so hard, some of the water pitchers knocked over. Everyone jumped. Jason banged his leg against the table and winced.
“Now that we’ve all established what the principia is,” Annabeth said, “over and over and over again, let’s move on to the next order of business?” She tapped at her laptop. “The NRU applicants from Camp Half-Blood.” She smiled at Reyna, eyes bright and grey. “Let’s go through all of their issues one by one, like last time?”
Around them, the rest of the demigods were glancing at each other, some of them in embarrassment, some of them snickering, but all of them slowly getting back to business. She saw Piper whisper something to Percy behind her hand, her smile gleeful. On Reyna’s side of the table, Frank filled a glass of water for Jason with a grin, leaning in to say something that sounded suspiciously like “You look a little parched” to him.
And Jason did, although Reyna didn’t think all the water in the world could help him. He stared wordlessly as Percy leaned forward, propped his head in a dark-nailed hand, the black striking against his green eyes, and winked almost cheekily before turning his full attention to Annabeth.
People told Reyna she should be happy the son of Jupiter and the son of Poseidon were getting along, and she supposed they were right. The problem was she just hadn’t expected them to get along quite so well.
~*~
“Well, that was fun,” Percy said to her, as they all started moving up to the ground floor to leave. Somehow, Reyna had found herself next to Percy and right behind Jason, who was valiantly trying to ignore Percy’s presence and focus on the stairs underneath his feet.
Reyna was grateful for the effort. She didn’t want to get bowled over by six foot plus of Jason Grace just because he hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off of the ripped knees in Percy’s jeans.
“I’m not sure ‘fun’ was the goal,” Reyna said. “But yes, sure.”
Percy smiled at her, something carefree and almost endearing. “I like your dogs,” he said. “They look really cool.”
The automatons were still flanking her, nipping impatiently at the people holding up the line. Reyna patted Argentum’s smooth head. “They are,” she agreed.
“They do a good job of making you look intimidating, huh?” Percy said.
He put a hand forward unselfconsciously, and Reyna was surprised to find her dogs didn’t mind him petting them. She could count on one hand the number of times people willingly putting their limbs in the line of sight of her dogs.
“I suppose,” she said. “Although you don’t seem very intimidated.”
They had reached the top of the stairs. “I like dogs,” Percy said. “I have one back at camp. Mrs. O’Leary.”
Reyna knew she hadn’t asked for any of this information, but she found herself wanting to know more about him after seeing the way Aurum and Argentum had responded to him. “Interesting name,” she said, leading him outside into the sunshine. “What kind of dog is she?”
“A hellhound,” Percy said matter-of-factly.
If Reyna hadn’t known shock was the reaction he was going for, Reyna would have probably let her jaw drop. In fact, she could see Jason ahead of them almost turn back in surprise. “I see,” she said calmly. “And how exactly did you get a pet hellhound?”
Percy dug his hands into the pockets of his jeans and shrugged. “From someone I knew once. She’s a handful; Nico and I kind of have shared custody so we can take care of her when the other isn’t around.” He smiled down at Aurum. “I think she’d get along with these guys here. As long as they don’t hurt her, I mean.”
Reyna watched him. Somehow, he was completely like and unlike what she had been expecting all at the same time. “Aurum and Argentum would never hurt an animal,” she said. “They only hurt people.”
Percy raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t look worried. “People?”
Reyna smiled. “Liars.”
For a few seconds, Percy watched her the way she had been watching him. Then a guileless smile spread across his face. “I guess that’s something you guys have in common, huh?” he asked.
He reached down and Argentum pushed his muzzle into Percy’s palm. If his metal teeth cut into Percy’s skin, he didn’t let on.
The Greeks were starting to say their goodbyes. Piper and her elfish friend were laughing at something Frank had said, and in the corner, Hazel and Nico were hugging each other tightly, sad smiles on their faces.
Reyna caught Annabeth’s eye and let her expression relax. It felt like passing judgment.
“I never thought I would say this,” she said, holding out a hand, “but I’m looking forward to Greek-Roman integration. I think it’ll push us leaps ahead of where we are.”
Percy’s hand was warm and full of calluses, almost unpleasantly so. Where her thumb rested, his skin was burned and twisted.
“Same here,” he said easily, and then his gaze slid to the left. He locked eyes with Jason. “I’m all for…” His smile turned almost predatory. “Integration.”
Jason shivered. When Percy walked by him, his eyes fell shut for a second too long.
“Well,” Reyna said, as they saw the delegation off, Camp Jupiter’s messenger leading the way with the two flags held aloft. “That was embarrassing.”
Hazel laughed and nudged her with her elbow. “It wasn’t too bad. At least no one declared war. I’d count that as a win.” She tilted her head up at Reyna. “And I really like them. I don’t know if it’s just Nico’s opinions rubbing off on me, but I think they’re good people. I think we should try to make more of an effort with them.”
“I think Jason is making enough of an effort for both of us, actually,” Reyna said drily, making Hazel laugh again.
At least it was over. She could go about the rest of her day in peace, without having to worry about Jason driving her crazy. For now.
~*~
It was only two days later when Reyna had just started descending the stairs to the very same meeting room inside the principia that she almost crashed right into Percy Jackson.
He looked like he’d just gotten into a fight – chest heaving, hair a complete mess, a high flush on his cheeks, and with eyes brighter than she’d ever seen. He was wearing a button-up shirt – the first time Reyna had seen him in anything other than a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt – that was buttoned all wrong, the collar askew. The button on his jeans was undone too, although they were zipped up, thank Jupiter. The laces on his shoes were untied, and as he grinned and said, “Praetor! Hi!”, Reyna noticed the red marks on his neck, how his mouth looked rubbed raw.
Percy wasn’t supposed to be in Camp Jupiter. And he definitely wasn’t supposed to be in the principia.
“Nice to see you again,” he continued, still grinning like he didn’t have a care in the world. “How are the puppers?”
“What,” Reyna said, “are you doing here?”
Percy’s grin got even wider, like Reyna had made some kind of joke. “I guess you could call it a diplomatic mission.”
Reyna folded her arms. “And what else could you call it, exactly?”
“Percy!”
Jason appeared at the bottom of the stairs in a similar state of disarray, except his smile was even bigger. His attention was so laser-focused on Percy, he didn’t even notice Reyna standing there.
“You forgot your jacket,” he said, and his voice was something Reyna had never heard before. She didn’t think she ever wanted to hear it again.
He stepped over the stairs in one long-legged leap, handed Percy the jacket, crowded him into the wall, and kissed him.
Reyna barely stopped herself from gasping out loud. A reprimand sat on the tip of her tongue, but then Jason stepped back, and suddenly, Percy’s cocky demeanor had completely vanished. The smile on his lips was small and genuine, like the last time Reyna had seen him. And his eyes were soft, so much so that watching them embarrassed her.
All at once, Reyna felt like an intruder. In her own principia.
She must have made some kind of noise, because they both turned to her. The flush on Jason’s cheeks flooded his whole face and started spreading down his neck, but his smile didn’t falter, only turned a little shy. “Oh. Hi, Reyna.” He giggled in surprise – Jason Grace giggled. “Didn’t see you there.”
“Clearly,” Reyna said, raising an eyebrow at him and trying not to laugh in his face.
“Reyna and I were having a really nice conversation about her dogs,” Percy said, giving Reyna what he clearly thought of as a winning smile. He turned its full force on Jason and it seemed to be infinitely more effective on him. “Thanks for the jacket.”
“No problem,” Jason beamed, smiling even wider when Percy kissed his cheek.
“Well, I better be going,” Percy said, shrugging on the jacket and almost pushing both himself and Jason down the stairs in the process. Neither of them seemed to mind, however. “They expected me back in Camp Half-Blood an hour ago, and my Pegasus gets antsy if I make him wait.”
“I’m sure,” Reyna said. “Thank you for stopping by.”
“My pleasure,” Percy said, his eyes glued on Jason.
The two of them tripped over their feet one too many times as Reyna followed them out to the portico, which might have irritated Reyna if she hadn’t seen the gentle way Percy had looked at Jason a few minutes ago.
They didn’t kiss again, but Percy did squeeze Jason’s hand and say, “I’ll see you later,” before walking away. He kept looking over his shoulder until he disappeared out of sight.
Reyna glanced at Jason. He had a slowly blooming hickey underneath his jaw. “So,” she said, “Did you manage to get him out of your system?”
She expected shock and surprise that she had known about his crush. It was common knowledge among the camp, but Jason had always been painfully oblivious to his romantic feelings, and to others’ towards him, so she had assumed he was oblivious to how plainly he was announcing them too.
But instead he just smiled. “No,” he said. “I don’t think I’m ever getting him out of my system.”
Startled, Reyna said, “You mean –“
“He asked me out.” Jason shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. “We’re going to get some food and then pick strawberries at Camp Half-Blood. I think we might watch the lake at sunset too. He said he wants to see it with me, so…” He shrugged.
Reyna had known Jason since they were young children. She had been with him at his highest highs and his lowest lows, but she had never seen him smile the way he was right now, his whole face transformed with joy, uncaring of anything but that. He was open and unrestrained in a way she had never known him to be, and it struck her how much more she had to learn about her friend. How many more parts of him there were yet to be discovered.
“I’m glad,” she said. “He would be good for you.”
She knew she had surprised him. “Yeah?” he asked. “I thought you might have been getting a little annoyed, actually.”
She rolled her eyes. “Because of all the constant disruptions during our meetings, Jason. Other than that, it doesn’t bother me.”
“Oh.” At least he had the good sense to be embarrassed. “I’m really sorry about that. Honestly, I didn’t even know I was… you know...”
“Being so obvious?” Reyna asked, raising her eyebrows. “It’s okay. I don’t think he realized how obvious he was being either.”
Jason just smiled and bit his lip in response.
“So now that that’s done,” Reyna cleared her throat and was heartened to see Jason immediately draw himself up to his full height and turn to her, clear-eyed and attentive, no trace of bashfulness left. “Go get a shower because I’m sure you need one right now –“ Alright, maybe a little bit of bashfulness. “Then we need to meet with the centurions of the third cohort and head to Temple Hill. They’re not sure which one of their legionnaires actually damaged the Temple of Mercury during training and they don’t want to pass judgment in case they get brought up in front of the Senate later on.”
“Okay, got it.” Jason was already half-jogging away. “I’ll meet you there?”
Reyna watched him hurry off in the direction of the barracks – so different from the little boy she had grown up with but still with so much childlike sincerity in him – and decided she would try to initiate a conversation with Percy Jackson the next time she saw him, just to make sure he actually deserved Jason. An interrogation maybe, and she would make sure Percy’s favorite mechanical dogs were invited.