Archive of Our Own

Piper wasn’t psychic. She knew she wasn’t psychic. But sometimes, just sometimes, she’d wake up with a feeling. A feeling that told her that she really just needed to stay in bed all day and pretend that the outside world was just a bad dream and that she never had to face it. When she got these feelings, she ignored them like any adult with a job and an ever-growing stack of bills did, and most of the time her day was perfectly average. Good, sometimes. But every now and again, she’d get that feeling and her day would go out of its way to prove her gut feelings 100% accurate.

Today was one of those days.

“I know this is going to sound stupid, but it’s really not you, it’s me,” Shel insisted, Piper’s hand clasped tightly between both of hers. “I just– You’ve got to know that, Piper. You’re amazing, and dating you has been amazing.”

“I hear you,” Piper said, squeezing her fingers with a weak smile. “Um, I do have to ask, though. If the past four months have been so great, why are you dumping me?”

“It’s got nothing to do with you,” Shel repeated, which was starting to make Piper think that it definitely did have something to do with her, at least a little. “I’m just… going home.”

“Home?” Piper parroted, trying to figure out why Shel returning to her apartment required being single all of the sudden. Then her eyes widened. “Wait, do you mean Oklahoma?”

Shel nodded. “Yeah. Living in DC and getting to do so much work here has been life changing, but I just… I need to go back to my family. I miss them and the life I left behind.”

Piper knew all about the life Shel had left behind in Oklahoma. About her family with all her little siblings running around in a house her grandfather had built with his own two hands. About the close knit community of the reservation and the rich cultural history Shel fought so hard to keep alive and well. That shared Cherokee heritage had been the thing that had drawn them together in the first place. For one moment, Piper wanted to blurt out that she also had family in Oklahoma, so maybe they could just run away together, but she decided that would probably be weird and more than a little embarrassing. Besides, Leo would probably kill her if she ran halfway across the country with a girl she’d only been dating for four months. 

Instead, she just gave Shel a gentle smile. “I understand. I really do. And I– I wish you the best of luck. I hope you find everything you’re after in Oklahoma.”

Shel’s face went soft with adoration and she cupped her hands around Piper’s jaw, the chill of her many rings a familiar feeling that caused a twinge of pain now that Piper knew she’d never feel it again. Shel tilted Piper’s face up so she could press their lips together in a sweet, chaste kiss. When she was done, she rested her forehead on Piper’s so they could lock eyes. “Goodbye, Piper McLean. Meeting you has been one of the greatest joys of my life.”

“I love you,” Piper blurted out desperately, helplessly.

Shel didn’t make fun of her, she just kissed her again. “And you made me believe in love.”

Piper squeezed her eyes shut. “You’re really leaving, then?”

Shel sighed and took a step back, giving Piper her personal space back. The January air had never felt so cold between them. “I am. And I’m sorry. I wish… I wish this didn’t have to hurt you. I wish I didn’t have to hurt you.”

Piper took a deep, calming breath before she opened her eyes and put on her most genuine smile. “I don’t. Love is supposed to hurt sometimes. That’s how you know it’s important.”

Shel squeezed her fingers and looked at her like she was the most remarkable person on the planet. “I’m so glad I got the chance to meet you, Piper. I wish you well.”

“Yeah, you, uh, you, too, Shel.” A nearby train let out a loud whistle and Piper flicked her gaze away from Shel’s face for the first time. “I’m guessing that’s your train?”

Shel nodded, and gave Piper one last sad smile. “Well, I guess this is it. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“If I’m ever in Oklahoma, you’ll be the first person I call,” Piper promised. “Now, get out of here. I don’t want you to miss your train.”

Shel chuckled softly, but turned and started walking away. Piper watched her until she disappeared into the crowd, and she couldn’t help but notice that Shel never looked back.

When Shel was out of eyesight, and hopefully out of hearing range, Piper tilted her head back and let out a loud, defeated groan. In addition to the humiliation of getting dumped in public, she’d forgotten to ask Shel for the address of the coffee shop they were supposed to meet Jason and Leo at, meaning she was basically stranded. With a defeated huff, she pulled out her phone.

Me (13:37):

hey whre are we meeting?

Jacy Baby:

??? I thought Shel had the address because you’re still scared of the subway.

😐😐😐 

i did NOT ask fr yor input

☹️

Fortunately, Jason did relent and send her the address without too much more complaint. Unfortunately, he was right and Piper was still scared of the subway, meaning she was forced to pay nearly thirty bucks just to get to this dumb coffee shop Annabeth had told Leo to try. She really needed to take Jason up on those offers to try and teach her the mysteries of public transportation. Again. Not that she really should have been on the subway in her state anyway, seeing as she’d been so lost in thought that she didn’t even realize she’d made it to her destination until her driver loudly cleared his throat and looked at her in the rear view mirror.

“Sorry,” she muttered just loud enough for him to hear as she bundled herself out of the car. Sidamo Coffee and Tea was interesting. In fact, she probably would have called it charming, if she’d been in a better mood. It was a cute brick storefront with dark green trim and big windows that looked in on a little seating area with vintage lighting and cute little chairs. She could already see Jason and Leo at one of the four-top tables, their seats pushed right up next to each other so they could duck their heads together and giggle about whatever it is they giggled about. Piper tilted her head back and groaned again before taking a deep breath and steeling herself to face the music while she desperately tried to come up with some reason why she was showing up to their double date by herself.

She never got the chance.

“I knew it!” Leo shouted, his chair making a loud clattering sound as he shot to his feet, slamming his hands on the table in front of him. A couple of the other patrons glanced up from their laptops and phones to give him a withering look, but he obviously didn’t care. He held out his hand, palm up, towards Jason. “I told you so. Cough it up.”

“We don’t know that’s what happened,” Jason protested, cleaning up some of the smoothie that had spilled during Leo’s grand performance. “Shel might have just had something come up last minute.”

Leo made an incorrect buzzer sound. “Wrong. If it was that, she would have texted me, not you; she would have led with that in the first place; and, lastly, she wouldn’t have come slinking in here like somebody ate the last chocolate chip cookie at her birthday party.” He gave Piper a charming smile as she hunkered down in the chair across from him. “So, Pipes, tell us: Where’s Shel?”

Piper puffed out her cheeks and considered not answering. Then she noticed that there was a third cup on the table – a vanilla latté, just like she always got – already waiting for her, and she heaved a defeated sigh. “Somewhere between here and Oklahoma, presumably.”

“Oh.” Leo blinked, then winced sheepishly. “Sorry, I thought she dumped you.”

Piper took a long sip of her drink, focusing on the flavor of the coffee for a moment, then looked him in the eye. “She did.”

There was a moment of semi-awkward silence before Jason broke it with a defeated sigh and pulled out his wallet so he could hand Leo a twenty dollar bill. “Damn, that sucks. I was planning on getting lunch with that tomorrow.”

“What’s the point of even betting money?” Piper wondered aloud. “You two freaks have shared a bank account since before you were even dating.”

“Green’s not your color, Pipes,” Leo scoffed, unbothered.

Piper didn’t respond, partially because Jason and Leo already knew exactly what kind of codependent little freaks they were, and nothing Piper could say would be anything they hadn’t heard or told themselves already. But mainly because he was right. She was jealous. Kind of. In the two and a half years she’d been living in DC, she’d spent almost the whole time third-wheeling Jason and Leo. Again, kind of. They never made her feel excluded, hell half the time Jason was third-wheeling her and Leo, but there was something that stung a bit about having to stand there and watch her two best friends be madly in love while she remained madly single. She’d dated in that time, of course – Leo once accused her of being on a crusade to deflower every queer-adjacent woman in DC by the time she hit thirty – but none of them had ever stuck. In fact, Shel had been her longest relationship yet, beating out her last record of two and a half months.

Jason was slightly more sympathetic, and patted her hand. “On the bright side, there’s about to be a whole bunch of different chocolates in stores. You’ll have your pick of break-up consolation.” 

Piper wrinkled her nose in confusion at him before horror dawned on her features. “There’s only three weeks until Valentine’s Day!”

“Uh, yeah?” Leo said, furrowing his brow. “What about it?”

“I’m gonna be single on Valentine’s Day again,” she lamented. “I’ve been single every year since Jason and I broke up on February seventh in high school.”

Leo turned to Jason and clucked his tongue. “You dumped her the week before Valentine’s Day? Not cool, dude.”

“She broke up with me, actually,” Jason corrected.

“It was mutual, don’t lie to him,” Piper scoffed. 

“It was not mutual, I did not see it coming.”

“Oh. Oops.” Piper heaved a sigh, then brightened. “That’s it! Jason, dump Leo right now. I need you to date me again for Valentine’s Day.”

“Excuse me?” Leo spluttered, outraged. “Do I get a say in this?”

Piper gave him her most innocent, wide-eyed stare. “Uh, no? Why would you? This doesn’t concern you.”

“Uh, in case you forgot, he’s my boyfriend. I’m not gonna just sit here and let you tell him to dump me.”

“Okay, but I dated him first. I should get first dibs on him.”

“Literally who cares if you dated him first?” Leo scoffed. “You fumbled, I stuck the landing, bitch. Even if you get first dibs, I get final say, and I say a big fat no.”

“Ugh, fine, whatever,” Piper huffed. “He doesn’t have to properly dump you. You can just lend him to me for the day.”

“Out of curiosity, do I get a vote?” Jason asked casually. He’d finished whatever drink he’d gotten and was eyeing Piper’s latté, so she pushed it across the table towards him.

“Hush, Jason, the grown ups are talking,” Leo shushed, pecking a kiss to Jason’s cheek.

“I’m older than both of you.”

“Literally whatever.” Leo turned his attention back on Piper, trying to come off as serious, but failing because he looked way too amused. “Anyway, final answer’s no. I’m not lending my boyfriend to my lesbian sister for Valentine’s Day. Not happening.”

Piper blew a raspberry at him. “Just tell me you want me to suffer and die alone. It will save you on syllables.”

“I want you to suffer and die alone.”

Piper rolled her eyes and stole Leo’s smoothie. “Alright, fine. You win. I’ll find a real date.”

“You can do it, Piper,” Jason said encouragingly. “Anyone would be lucky to date you.” At his side, Leo immediately started pouting, so he rolled his eyes. “Anyone but me would be lucky to date you.”

Piper laughed brightly at them and pulled out her phone. “Alright then. Seeing as you two won’t let me take the easy way out, you’re getting roped into helping me polish up my dating profile.”

The one thing Piper had forgotten about dating is that she hated dating. She liked being in a relationship, but that phase where she was first talking to someone? Or, gag, first dates? She hated it. 

Julia Feingold was nice. She was also smart and pretty and very funny, and a friend of Mitchell, who had overheard Piper complaining about her new single status at work and offered to set them up. Considering Piper’s less than stellar attempts at online dating, she’d eagerly jumped on the opportunity. So, Mitchell had gotten them all set up and Piper held hands with Julia while they walked through the park eating ice cream, and Julia had changed the high score on the pinball machine at the arcade to read PnJ after she’d cheated ( “Finessed,” Julia corrected) her way to victory. All in all it should have been a fine date.

Tragically, Fate disagreed. 

“That was awful!” Piper declared as she flung open the door to the apartment. The first thing she noticed was that Leo was curled up on the couch by himself so she stomped over and flopped down next to him. She forcibly cuddled into his side, seeking solace. “Pity me.”

“Oh, poor, poor, Piper,” Leo cooed. His voice was obviously poking fun at her but he was also stroking her hair, which felt nice, so she didn't care. “Truly you have suffered beyond anything that a kind god would allow.”

“I have!”

Jason came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on the sides of his pants, likely drying them from where he’d been washing the dishes. “So, what’s happened to Piper?” he asked casually, picking up her feet and dropping them in his lap after he sat down on the couch, too.

“No idea,” Leo confessed. “I mean, I’m guessing her date with Judy–”

“Julia.”

“Whatever. – didn’t exactly go to plan, but I don’t know what happened.”

Jason patted a sympathetic hand on her calf. “Go on, then, Piper, tell us about your date.”

Piper groaned and rolled over so she was staring up at the ceiling. “It was… fine.”

“That’s not what you said when you came home,” Leo quipped. Piper smacked him. “Seriously, Pipes. What’s up with you?”

“If it really was that awful, we’re not gonna make fun of you,” Jason promised.

Piper sighed. “It really wasn’t that bad. We just… didn’t click. Mitchell’s top selling point for her was that she was funny.”

“That’s… good, right?” Jason asked cautiously. “You like funny.”

“I do,” Piper confirmed. “And she was funny, objectively. She just wasn’t funny to me.”

“Woof, that’s rough,” Leo winced. “Was there anything good about her?”

“I mean, yeah, kinda? I guess?” Piper puffed out her cheeks in a pout. “She had a lot of good parts, I just didn’t like them. It was like if someone served me a five-star three meat pizza. I can recognize that it’s a good pizza and understand why someone would love it, but I’m not gonna eat it.”

“That was somehow one of the kindest and most scathing reviews I’ve ever heard about a person,” Jason marveled.

Leo snorted brightly and shifted Piper’s head off of his lap so he could stand. “Alright, well if Piper’s going into her shitty first date phase, we’re gonna need ice cream. I’ll be right back.”

“You know, you could just promise to lend me your boyfriend on Valentine’s Day and you can skip the store,” Piper suggested helpfully.

Leo laughed and thumped her between the eyes. “Answer’s still no, just like it has been the last dozen times you asked.”

“Damn.”

Leo leaned down to briefly kiss Jason before he was heading out the door, tugging on his coat as he left. “I’m getting Cookie Two-Step. If either of you wants another flavor, text me before I get there!”

With that final warning, the door slammed shut, leaving Piper and Jason alone. They sat in companionable silence for a bit before Jason shifted his weight and cleared his throat seriously. “Piper?”

“Oooh, that sounds like I’m in trouble,” Piper taunted. Jason didn’t rise to the bait, though, so she sat up with a slight frown. He was just staring at her with laser precision, much like how she assumed he stared down the opposing council in court. She swallowed. “Jay? What’s up?”

“I need you to stop asking Leo if he can lend me to you for Valentine’s Day,” Jason said plainly, no hint of a joke on his face.

Piper couldn’t help but get her feelings hurt, just a little bit. She, Jason and Leo joked about her and Jason’s dating history all the time. “Um, okay, I guess.”

“It’s not what you think,” Jason promised. Piper just raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. “Look, the only reason I have a problem with it right now is that I know you two, and if you keep it up, he’s going to take it to the next level and either let you have me or invite you on our date.”

“Okay,” Piper said slowly, drawing out the word. She still wasn’t really all that sure what the big deal was, seeing as she’d tagged along to several of Jason and Leo’s dates in the past. Hell, the previous Valentine’s Day, the three of them had hung out and pretended to all be single together. Her presence wasn’t exactly groundbreaking. “Why is that a bad thing?”

“Because I really need to be with Leo on Valentine’s Day. Alone.”

“What, you planning on popping the question, or something?” she joked. Jason didn’t laugh, he just looked at her with his eyebrows up near his hairline. Piper’s jaw dropped all the way down to the street four storeys down. “Wait, holy shit. Really?”

Jason actually cracked a smile for the first time since Leo left, and it was that same breathless, giddy grin he often wore when he was reflecting on how in love he was with Leo. “Yeah, I am. I’m gonna propose.”

“Oh my god,” Piper breathed, shocked speechless. Honestly, she wasn’t sure why she was surprised. She’d known Jason had been head over heels for the entire seven years they’d been friends before they were dating, and for the past two and a half years, they’d been happier than Piper thought was possible. But still. Her best friends were getting married. Her ex-boyfriend was going to ask her step-brother to marry him. She figured she was allowed to be a little shocked for a minute. 

Then that minute passed, and all of her shock was replaced with pure, unbridled joy. 

“HOLY SHIT!” she screeched at the top of her lungs, flinging herself at Jason so she could shake him by the shoulders. “Holy shit! Oh my god! This is– Ah, this is amazing!” She sucked in a sharp gasp and clapped her hands to her cheeks. “Wait, do you have a ring? Can I see it?”

Jason grinned and nodded his head furiously. “Yeah. Lemme go get it.” He quickly got to his feet and scurried off to his and Leo’s room and returned, his hands cupped together like a child with a captured frog.

“Lemme see, lemme see!” Piper demanded, reaching out for him with grabby hands. Jason dutifully handed over the non-descript ring box, which Piper opened with glee. Inside was a dark gray metal ring that had a thin seam of bronze going around the middle of it, set with three crystal clear gems. Piper beamed at Jason. “It’s perfect. Where’d you get it?”

Jason looked very proud of himself. “I had it custom made. The main metal is titanium, and the gems are lab-grown sapphires, so it should stand up to whatever he plans on doing in it.”

“It’s perfect,” Piper said again. She bit her lower lip. “So, who all knows?”

“Just you and Esperanza,” Jason confessed. “I talked to her about it over Christmas. She’s the one who helped me get Leo’s ring size.”

“Oh my god, is that why you came back from gift shopping with her looking like you fist-fought a Giant?” Piper giggled.

Jason refused to meet her gaze. “Maybe.” Piper just giggled some more, so he rolled his eyes. “Okay, so there’s a reason I told you I want to propose.”

“Other than to convince me to not steal Leo’s man?”

“Yes, other than that.” Jason took a deep breath and studied his lap for a second before he looked up at her shyly. “I wanted to ask for your blessing. I already talked to his mom, and she said yes, but seeing as your Leo’s, well…”

“Sister, best friend, platonic soulmate,” Piper rattled off. “Take your pick.”

Jason shook his head and chuckled. “Yeah, that. Seeing as you’re all that, I wanted to talk to you about it, too.”

“You’re such a dork,” Piper teased. “And if I didn’t know for a fact that Leo would find all this old-fashioned junk weirdly romantic, I’d make a lot more fun of you.”

“Okay, but is that a yes or not?”

Piper grinned and pinched Jason’s cheek. “Obviously it’s a yes. You have my blessing to marry my baby brother, you weirdo.”

Jason beamed at her like she’d actually done something. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, go put that thing away before Leo gets back,” Piper ordered, shoving the ring box into his chest. “I know it’s bad luck for the groom to see the dress before the wedding, and I don’t know if that applies to the rings or not.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jason said with a salute. He took the ring back to his and Leo’s room, leaving Piper on the couch to try and comprehend what had just happened.

“My best friends are gonna get married,” she said with breathless, incredulous joy before she burst out into giddy giggling. Maybe true love was real, after all.

Piper was very proud of herself as she approached the front door of Sidamo. She’d managed to find her way here from the other side of town using the public transportation she’d been trying to learn for two years, and she’d done it all by herself. Granted, she’d gotten a little turned around and took the wrong train (look, maps are hard with dyslexia) and she’d sent a mildly panicked string of texts to Jason with a series of increasingly deranged emojis, and she was fifteen minutes late, but she was here. It had taken her tears and her dignity, but she’d gotten one step closer to conquering her ultimate foe. 

Just like last time, she’d immediately spotted Jason upon arriving, and just like last time, he was waiting with someone. Only this time he wasn’t waiting with Leo. Leo didn’t have long black hair braided into a perfect plait over his shoulder. He didn’t wear sharp business suits or a perfectly polished gold wrist watch. He didn’t sit with dignified poise or let his mouth twitch up into a slightly amused smile when Piper tripped over her feet at the sight of him because Piper denver tripped over her feet at the sight of him. She also didn’t feel her cheeks flush or her heart race when they made eye contact.

“R-Reyna!” Piper stammered. “Hi! Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you!” She shot Jason an incredibly dirty look. “Jason didn’t tell me you were coming!”

“In his defense, I sort of invited myself,” Reyna soothed. “Jason said he needed help, and I offered my services.”

“Speaking of, what’s going on?” Piper asked, taking her seat at Jason’s side. As expected, there was a vanilla latté waiting for her, which Reyna pushed across the table.

“Okay, so, I’m proposing to Leo, right?” Jason started. Piper glanced over at Reyna who was nodding in confirmation, which Piper didn’t find all that surprising. After their initial introduction, the two of them had just clicked together in a certain kind of way and Reyna was probably the person Jason spent the most time with, outside of her and Leo. 

“We are aware of the general concept, yes,” Piper agreed. “Is that what this is about? Do you need help coming up with a proposal?”

“No, nothing like that,” Jason said. “I’ve already got a plan, but it’s got a lot of moving parts, and I’m worried that I won’t have time to get everything ready in the next two weeks. I’ve been working on it when I can, but it’s getting close to the deadline, and I don’t really have all that much time to get things together because I spend all of my time with Leo.”

Reyna puckered her brow in confusion. “Can’t you just… work on it in the evenings? Tell Leo that you’re staying at the office.”

Jason looked absolutely horrified at the suggestion. “But then I’d be late for dinner.”

“Okay?”

“I’m never late for dinner,” Jason said seriously. “Not in the whole time I’ve known Leo, and definitely not since we started dating. What if he gets the wrong idea and thinks I’m cheating on him or something?”

“I’m sure it won’t come to that.”

“Don’t count on it,” Piper said seriously. “I live with them. I can assure you, they’re freaks about each other. I mean, Leo probably wouldn’t think Jason was cheating on him, but he would jump to some other insane conclusion. Last time one of them missed dinner, it was a nightmare.”

Jason’s face puckered at the reminder of Leo’s little disappearing act from two years ago, but he dismissed the thought. “Anyway, so I was just wondering if you guys would be willing to help me with some of the arrangements.”

“Of course,” Reyna said with no hesitation. “I’d be happy to help with whatever you need.”

“You can obviously count me in,” Piper added. “So, what do you need us to do?”

Jason beamed at them, shoulders slack like a weight had been lifted off of them. “Thanks, you guys. I mean it, like, really.” 

“Don’t sweat it, just tell us what you want us to do,” Poper grinned.

Jason nodded, then reached into his briefcase to pull out a notebook. It was plastered with lovingly taped on Post-It notes, and Piper recognized some of them as the doodles Leo liked to leave scattered around the apartment. He flipped to the back and took out a folded piece of loose paper, which he laid out flat on the table. “Okay, so, I've gotten most of the work done, but this is what I need help with.”

Reyna craned her neck and squinted down at the paper before giving Jason a somewhat incredulous scowl. “You haven't booked your dinner reservation?”

“They don't accept reservations more than ten days out!” Jason said defensively. “Plus, the owner is the only one who's allowed to make reservations, and she doesn't show up until five thirty. I'd do it myself, but there's a documentary coming out on the fourth that Leo wants to see, so I'm going to be busy with him all night, and I can’t risk them getting completely booked before I can call them the next day.”

Piper personally thought that he probably wouldn't have even needed a reservation for Nova Roma, seeing as hardly anyone ever visited the little hole in the wall, but she figured she'd allow for Jason to be a little extra neurotic about his big proposal plans. She perused the rest of the list, and was a little surprised to see that in addition to making a few phone calls to finalize plans, there were fetch quests and even a decently massive arts and crafts project on their assignment list. She looked up at Reyna and arched an eyebrow in half a challenge. “Are you really gonna have time for this, Miss Senator?”

Reyna’s eyes sparkled playfully and she leaned across the table to just barely breach Piper’s personal space bubble. “I've always run on a platform of doing what's right, regardless of the effort. I can assure you, I'll make time. What about you?”

Piper’s heart did an embarrassing little pitter-patter in her chest but she leaned back towards Reyna and grinned. “Wouldn't miss it for the world.”

“Well, then, it looks like we'll be spending a good bit of time together, Miss McLean.”

“Looking forward to it, Miss Ramírez-Arellano.”

Jason awkwardly cleared his throat then, and Piper jerked back, her cheeks suddenly vermillion as she refused to look at anything but her latté. She got the feeling Reyna was doing something similar across the table, but she was too scared to take a peek.

“Uh, anyway,” Jason said like he was the one who had embarrassed himself. “Thanks again, guys. It really means a lot to me.”

Piper squeezed his hand and gave him a genuine smile. “We’re happy to help.”

“We are,” Reyna agreed. Then she cleared her throat, though she sounded a lot less awkward than Jason. “Piper, I’ll text you later, and we’ll sort out a schedule to get all of this done?”

“Sounds like a plan!”

Reyna nodded and stood, straightening her already perfectly straight blazer. “Good. Now, my lunch break is nearly over, and I've got an important meeting this afternoon, so I'm afraid I've got to go. Oh, and Jason?” He hummed in response, and he squeezed his bicep with a soft, genuine smile on her face. “Congratulations.”

“Don’t congratulate me yet,” Jason said sheepishly. “He’s still gotta say yes first.”

“And I have no doubt that he will.” She gave Piper a little wave, and her eyes squinted up with her smile. “Goodbye, Piper.”

“Bye, Reyna!” she squeaked, waving back at her and pretending she wasn’t still maroon.

Reyna left, leaving Piper and Jason to sit together in silence for a moment and Piper prayed to whatever merciful god existed that they would just stay silent for the rest of their miserable lives. 

She was not that lucky.

“Soooo…”

“Shut up!” Piper squawked, burying her face in her hands. “No, just shut up! Forever! Never speak to me again!”

“I don’t think so,” Jason laughed, tugging at a lock of her hair. “Come on now. What was that about?”

“Reyna’s cool, okay?” Piper whined. “She’s just smart and pretty and she’s got her life put together. It’s like talking to a movie star or something.”

“We hang out with her all the time, and you never act like that, though.”

“I’m expecting her then. I can convince myself to act normal if I know she’s gonna be there.”

“I’m sure,” Jason said in that one specific genuine tone that let Piper know for a fact that he was mocking her. He hiked up a brow at her. “Well, do you think you’re going to be able to contain yourself for this? Have you and Reyna even spent alone time together before?”

“A few times,” Piper shrugged. “Last year when you and Leo went on that trip, she and I met for lunch almost every day.”

 “Oh, well, in that case, I’m sure absolutely nothing will go wrong.”

“Trust me, it will be fine,” she said, suddenly filled with a fountain of confidence she wasn’t sure she’d earned. “I’ve got this.”

Piper was going to be normal. She was going to be sooooooo normal. She was going to be sosososo normal that Reyna wouldn’t even consider that maybe she was actively trying to not be abnormal. Which she wasn’t, because she was going to be normal. 

The mission was simple. One of Jason’s big proposal plans was going on a walk through the botanical gardens where Leo’s favorite local band would just so happen to be playing. The booking was arranged months in advance, but now that it was getting closer to the performance date, the band had asked them to find a more specific spot as to where they should be playing, which was officially Reyna and Piper’s responsibility. 

As she stood at the gates of the garden, Piper double checked her pockets to make quintuple sure that she hadn’t forgotten the carefully hand drawn map of the route Jason planned to take through the gardens, nor had it mysteriously vanished since the last time she’d obsessively checked for it. Sure enough, there it was, folded up nice and neat and safely tucked into a Ziploc bag on the off chance that the weather decided to defy all predictions and soak her with a surprise shower. Everything was fine, she could do this, and she would be so normal.

“Oh, Piper, you’re early. I hope you weren’t waiting for me too long.”

Piper whirled around on her heel to see Reyna powerwalking towards her with supreme confidence and she grinned. “Nah, I just got here, like, five minutes ago,” she lied casually. Truth be told, she’d taken off at lunch just so she could give herself ample time to struggle with the train system. She’d been waiting for well over half an hour, but Reyna didn’t need to know that because that’s not what normal people did, and, as far as Reyna was concerned, Piper was so normal. “I got done with work a little early, so I figured I’d just go ahead and make my way over here.”

Reyna nodded seriously, like she approved of Piper’s decision-making skills. “Alright then. Shall we?”

“After you,” Piper insisted, bowing at the waist and gesturing forward with mock grandure.

Reyna took the offering with grace and stepped up to the ticket counter with a dignity that evaded Piper even on her best of days. “Two tickets, please.”

Today was not the best of days, and Piper proved that by squawking and tripping over her boots, cheeks burning. “I can pay for my own ticket!”

“There’s a great many things I am sure you’re more than capable of,” Reyna assured her smoothly. “Fortunately, this is something you don’t have to do.”

“I’m buying you something from the gift shop,” Piper threatened furiously as she took her ticket. She whirled around on Reyna and got up on her toes to more effectively put her finger in front of Reyna’s nose. “It’s going to be nice and cute and you’re going to love it.”

“I’m quite sure.”

The girl at the ticket booth sighed heavily as she watched them. “I wish my boyfriend would take me on dates to the gardens and buy me cute things from the gift shop.”

Piper froze for a split second before leaping away from Reyna, cheeks a previously undiscovered shade of red. “I–! She’s not my– Not that I have a problem with that, but we’re–”

“We’re not here on a date, we’re helping a mutual friend plan his proposal,” Reyna explained evenly. “Though, if you’re dissatisfied with your relationship, I do suggest talking to your boyfriend about the kinds of dates you’d like to go on.”

“Yeah!” Piper agreed, nodding earnestly. “And if he doesn’t listen, dump him and date a girl who will.”

“I think that’s enough well-meaning advice,” Reyna decided, steering Piper away. As they left, the ticket girl’s laughter followed them.

Piper hiked her shoulders up around her ears and buried her face in her coat in an attempt to hide her blush. “Well, that was humiliating.” Reyna just looked at her like she was genuinely confused so Piper cleared her throat and gestured over her shoulder at the ticket counter. “You know, that whole… thing.”

“I’m sure she thought you were very charming,” Reyna said with so much confidence that Piper couldn’t help but believe her. “As for her confusion, I see no shame to be had in the idea of someone mistakenly thinking I’m in a relationship with you.” 

“I… guess that’s fair,” Piper agreed slowly. Then she playfully nudged Reyna with her elbow. “I guess I should be pretty flattered if she thinks I’m smooth enough to land a date with the big fancy Senator.”

Reyna’s lips twitched like she was having a legendary battle with a smile that just wouldn’t quit. “Quite, I’m sure. Now, where was the first place we needed to go?”

Piper pulled the map (which was, thankfully, still in her pocket) and smoothed it out. “First stop is going to be the plum blossoms.”

Reyna peered over her shoulder at the map. “I’m surprised Jason was able to get that level of detail. He’s never struck me as particularly… gifted when it comes to art.”

Piper snickered quietly, thinking of the portraits of Jason and Leo hanging in the living room back at the apartment. Apparently, they’d gone on a little “friend date” back before Piper moved in, where the main activity was painting each other. The portrait of Jason wasn’t great, but it was perfectly proportioned and clearly bore the mark of an engineer. The portrait of Leo… was made with love. “Jason didn’t make this, I did. He just described the path. We were going to print a regular map off the internet, but we couldn’t get the printer to connect, and we couldn’t get Leo’s help because we couldn’t why we needed the map in the first place.”

“Couldn’t you have just said that you needed it for a date?”

Piper froze and she whirled around on Reyna, cheeks flushed and eyes wide. “What are you talking about?”

Reyna looked startled at her reaction (which, yeah, fair) for a moment, before frowning in concern. “It was just something Jason said. He mentioned recently that you ended a relationship and started dating again. I’m sorry if I wasn’t supposed to know.”

“No, no, it’s fine; sorry I freaked out,” Piper said, refusing to meet her eye. “I just didn’t expect you to know. I mean, why would my dating life be something that Jason would want to talk to you about? I’m sure you’ve got way more important things going on.”

Surprisingly, Reyna’s cheeks went a bit dark and for the first time in Piper’s memory, she stammered. “I– Well–” She cleared her throat and shook her head, a move Piper had seen her do in more than one debate. “You’re a very good friend of Jason’s. He likes talking about the people he cares about and the things they care about. That includes your dating life.”

“That’s fair,” Piper muttered. She cast a sideways glance at Reyna. “Did he, uh, tell you how bad they’ve been going?”

“He did not,” Reyna confirmed. She gave Piper a look she couldn’t quite translate. “I take it they haven’t been going well?”

“Disasters every last one of them,” Piper grouched. She paused then and squinted at one of the trees with a lovely flat section of ground surrounding it. “Do you think that would be a good place for the band?”

“It has its merits, but I don’t think it’s what we’re looking for,” Reyna said. “Considering the band is meant to be a surprise, the first stop doesn’t seem like the best place to put them.”

“I was thinking that, too.” Still, Piper took a few pictures with her phone and paced the area to gauge its size. “In case we don’t find anywhere better,” she explained.

Reyna nodded solemnly, and Piper felt a burst of warmth in her chest at the approval, then that warmth moved right on up to her cheeks when Reyna offered her arm to escort Piper to their next set of flowers. They slowly meandered their way through the park arm in arm, following Jason’s path exactly, pausing frequently to investigate various potential spots for the band and, quite simply, to smell the roses. 

Finally, they found their spot. The absolute most perfect, most wonderful spot imaginable. There was  a little reading area, just a circle of flat cement surrounded by four ornate stone benches that sat right outside a little hedge maze made of precicely  pruned camelias, all in perfect, sweet-smelling bloom. Jason’s plan was to lead Leo to the center of the labyrinth, and there he’d finally pop the big question. It would be lit up with softly twinkling fairy lights, the air would be still, and the sounds of the band playing just outside would fill any space left between them. It was perfect.

“Well, now what?” Piper asked, rocking back and forth on her heels. 

“Now, we send the possible locations to the band manager and wait to see if any of them are approved,” Reyna said, typing away on her phone. Piper got the feeling she was already sending an email to Louise with their list of potential stages detailed down to the square inch.

“Well, yeah, but I was more wondering about what you wanted to do tonight,” Piper agreed. “I mean, obviously our next stop is going to be the gift shop so I can buy you something, but after that do you maybe wanna go grab dinner? I know of a really good Thai place around here.”

Reyna paused her tapping and looked up. “You’d like to have dinner with me?”

“Um, yes?” Piper squeaked. She could already feel her hands getting clammy. “Unless, of course, you don’t want to, I mean.”

“No, I would like that very much; I was just taken aback by the offer,” Reyna assured her. She stuffed her phone back in her pocket before even hitting send on the email, if Piper’s gut was to be trusted. Reyna offered her arm again like she’d been doing all night. “Let’s go to the gift shop, then.”

Piper eagerly looped her arm through Reyna’s, taking up her assigned spot. “We should get matching jewelry,” she said casually. “I wonder if they have some friendship bracelets in the gift shop.”

“And why do we need matching jewelry?” Reyna asked, her voice soft and amused.

“Well, Leo and Jason are gonna have matching jewelry soon, and I don’t think we should be left out.”

Reyna let out a startled bark of a laugh. “Those are called wedding bands, Piper. I think they’re a bit different than your average friendship bracelet.”

“To-may-to, to-mah-to,” Piper scoffed, dismissively waving her hand through the air. “I still think we deserve jewelry.”

“Far be it from me to stop you, in that case.”

Piper grinned for a moment before her nose wrinkled in frustration. “Speaking of Leo, what am I gonna tell him if he asks where I went today? I kinda just bailed on dinner with no warning. It’s not as big of a deal when I do it, but it’s still not normal.”

“Tell him you went on a date,” Reyna said calmly. She said it so calmly, in fact, that Piper nearly tripped, absolutely would have if Reyna wasn’t also the one steadying her. Sensing the shock, Reyna continued. “Leo is under the impression that you’re regularly going on dates, correct?”

“That’s… a really good idea, actually,” Piper said slowly.

“Thank you. Having sound ideas and plans is integral to my occupation.”

Piper rolled her eyes and gently pinched Reyna’s arm. “What am I gonna tell him about the date, though? I can’t exactly say that I walked through a pretty garden with a pretty girl, then we got Thai food. If I keep having good dates, he’s gonna wanna meet my mystery girlfriend.”

“You could tell him that it went poorly,” Reyna suggested. “Perhaps, your date showed up to the restaurant in full pirate garb with a guinea pig in tow.”

Piper gaped at her, delight shining in her eyes. “Excuse me?”

“Just a suggestion, of course.”

“That was not just a suggestion, that was a lived experience,” Piper grinned. “It was way too specific for anything else. Come on, tell the truth.”

Reyna wrinkled her nose at the thought. “Let me just say that there is more than one reason why I refrain from dating. Never again will I accept a blind date set up by my employer.”

Piper giggled madly, clutching to Reyna’s arm like it was the only thing keeping her steady. “Oh my god. Please, tell me you have more.”

“Not many, and none quite like that,” Reyna admitted. “Though there was one time where a girl insisted that we go roller skating for a date, despite never having done it on her own. She, of course, fell and fractured her wrist within the first ten minutes, and we spent the remainder of the date in the emergency room.”

“That is the best thing I’ve ever heard,” Piper gasped between giggles. “I mean, like, sorry for her, poor girl and all that, but come on. That’s priceless.”

“Oh, no, I assure you there was a price, and it did not come cheap.”

Piper half-collapsed into another fit of laughter, held up by her grip on Reyna’s arm, but she managed to compose herself as they walked through the doors of the gift shop. “Okay, okay, enough of that,” she said as sternly as she could while her voice still shook with barely-suppressed laughter. “We have to find something cute for you. And also a friendship bracelet.”

“Does the jewelry not count as something cute?”

“No.”

They split up to go look through all the different items the shop had for sale. They were all pretty or cute or useful, in their own way, but none of them really sparked Piper’s interest. None of them were good enough. Not for Piper, and definitely not for Reyna. 

She was about ready to move on and just buy Reyna a plant when she spied them. It was a modest display, twelve little cubbies on a wooden shelf, each labeled with a month and a flower. Piper trailed her fingers over them until she found August - Aster and pulled out an intricate wood carving of the flower, each one of its delicate petals carefully stained purple. A hair stick, Piper realized in a flash, and a grin grew on her mouth. She thought about Reyna and her long, dark hair, and how pretty it would look twisted up and pinned in place by this one perfect, eternal flower. Without a second thought, she marched straight up to the counter and purchased it, bouncing on her toes in her eagerness to find Reyna again.

“Piper! There you are.” 

Piper turned to see Reyna, who was, to Piper’s surprise, clutching her own bag. “Whatcha got there?”

“Friendship bracelets,” she reported. “Well, technically, they’re necklaces, not bracelets, and they didn’t come in a pre-packaged set like most friendship jewelry, but they do match.”

“Hey! I was going to buy our friendship bracelets,” Piper whined.

“Which is why I got necklaces,” Reyna said almost smugly. “You’re more than welcome to purchase any bracelets that meet your standards.”

Piper puffed out her cheeks in mock indignation, but she couldn’t keep the act up for long. Not when there were secrets to be learned. “Alright, what’d you find?” Reyna handed over the bag and Piper squealed when she saw the necklaces inside. They were both solid gold chains with a little ceramic charm, one of a flower and the other of a bee. “Oh, they’re so pretty!”

Reyna’s answering smile was soft and brilliant. “I’m glad they satisfy you for now. And what do you have? Did you find something you wanted?”

“I got this for you, Miss ‘I like to sneakily pay for people’s tickets,’” she corrected before offering her gift. Reyna slowly retrieved the hairstick, eyes a little wide in wonder. “It’s a hairstick made to look like an aster,” Piper explained. “You were born in August, right? So, that’s your birthday flower.”

“It’s beautiful,” Reyna said, her voice soft and so genuine Piper thought her heart would break. “Thank you very much for this gift.”

“I’m really glad you like it,” Piper said, feeling a little bashful. “I just– You do a lot of really nice things, you know? Any time we go out, you pay for stuff, you always listen when people talk, and you’re just really kind. I thought you deserved something nice, too.”

“Thank you,” Reyna said again like she didn’t know how to say anything else.

“You’re welcome,” Piper said, a smile growing on her face. Then for the first time that night, she was the one to offer her arm to Reyna. “Now, come on. Let’s go get some dinner.”

“So, do you think you can maybe take a break from wooing every girl in DC to offer some attention to your poor, neglected baby brother?”

Piper startled at the sudden voice, then narrowed her eyes up at Leo. He never called himself her baby brother, and, more frequently than not, tried to bite her when she did it. “Depends. What does he want?”

“Please come shopping with me,” Leo whined. “I need to get Jason a Valentine’s Day gift.”

Piper gaped at him. “Valentine’s Day is in four days and you don’t even have your gift? What, did it sneak up on you? News flash: It happens the same day every year.”

“I know, I know! And I did get him a gift!” Leo said defensively. “The thing I originally got him isn’t going to get here in time, and I didn’t think I needed to come up with a backup plan!”

“You should always have a backup plan,” Piper chided. “Now, come on. I can’t let my baby brother get dumped on Valentine’s Day because he’s stupid.”

Leo’s face immediately paled. “Oh my god, what if he actually dumps me? Do you think he would?”

Piper scoffed so hard her throat hurt. She thought about Jason’s meticulous plans and each and every lovingly chosen detail. “No, Jason’s not gonna dump you, even if you show up with a sticky note saying ‘IOU.’” 

Leo’s ass was not listening. “Like, he cares a lot about this kinda stuff,” he fretted, already yanking at his hair. “He made me special Valentine’s Day plans and stuff even before we started dating, and he specifically told me that he made plans for us this year. If I show up with some bullshit, that’s gonna look so, so bad.” 

“Calm down, Leo, nobody’s getting dumped,” Piper soothed. “That man was in love with you for seven years and just waited around for you to get the hint. He’s not going to throw away everything you two have just because your shipping got delayed. Understand?”

Leo looked at her, eyes wide with fear and shining with the faintest idea of tears. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. You’re his manic pixie dream girl, remember?” she teased. He rolled his eyes and shoved her, so she gave him a real smile. “You make him happy, Leo.”

Leo was quiet for a moment before he spoke in a little voice. “He makes me happy, too. He makes me really, really happy.”

“I’m glad. You two deserve each other,” Piper agreed. “Now, come on. Let’s go get a gift that tells him just how happy he makes you.”

Their first stop was, of course, the mall. This was, arguably, an awful decision because it was the Saturday before Valentine’s Day and every loser boyfriend who realized at the last second that he hadn’t gotten a gift was crowding the halls, clogging the air with the stench of their desperation.

Leo was no exception. 

“Maybe I could get him, like, a hat, or something?” he suggested, staring up at the display in front of them. “And matching gloves? I mean, it’s cold here. Everyone needs warm clothes.”

“Yes, by all means, get the incredibly autistic man who famously can’t stand for anything to touch his ears or fingernails a hat and gloves,” Piper drawled. “That’s true love right there.”

“You’re not helping!”

“Considering you were trying to giftwrap a panic attack, I think I’m being incredibly helpful.”

Leo groaned and buried his face in his hands. “What am I gonna do? I can’t just get him a tie or something. He’s not my uncle.”

“Yikes, yeah. We definitely don’t need to twist up this family tree any more than we have.” Leo heaved a sigh, and Piper threw her arm around him. “Come on, it’s not that bad. We just… need to look somewhere else.”

“We’ve looked at every store in the mall, and everything sucks,” he reminded her miserably. “I can’t buy him cologne because I already like the way he smells–”

“Yuckaroonie, don’t tell me that.”

“Decor doesn’t really work because he hates clutter, and he’s way too specific about clothes to do that,” Leo finished, ignoring her input. “At this rate I’m gonna show up with a box of chocolates, a wilted bouquet and a sign around my neck that says ‘Whoops, I tried.’”

“What about, uh, lacrosse?” she ventured. “He was on the team in college and you guys still go see the games, right? What if you got him some merch for that?”

Leo wrinkled his nose in thought. “I mean, maybe? He’s already got this one blue and silver hoodie I got him for his birthday a few years ago that he likes wearing, though. I’ve tried getting him other stuff, but he only wears that.”

“Hmm… What about…” Piper frowned, pressing a finger to her lips. Then, her eyes lit up. “Ooh, pretzels.”

Leo looked at her like she’d grown a second head, which, yeah, fair. “You want me to get him pretzels?”

“No, I want you to get me pretzels,” she corrected. “You kidnapped me before lunch. I’m hungry.”

Leo puckered his face at her. “Fine, you leech. Find us somewhere to sit and I’ll go order. What do you want?”

Ten grueling minutes later, Piper was happily dunking her cinnamon sugar pretzel in a cup of icing while Leo listlessly scrolled through the Georgetown online shop for something that piqued his interest. Eventually, he let out a sharp snort of frustration and slammed his phone on the table face down. “What have you been doing this week?”

Piper choked on her pretzel, and looked at him with wide, hopefully not guilty eyes. She’d met up with Reyna after work almost every day that week, ironing out plans, contacting venues, and making papercrafts, all for Jason’s surprise proposal. Leo didn’t know about that. Couldn’t know about that, right? “Excuse me?”

Leo gave her a weird look from her reaction, but thankfully didn’t comment. “You’ve been on, like, half a dozen dates. How’s that’s going. I’m kinda overwhelmed thinking about the whole Jason gift thing, and I wanna think about something else for a minute.”

“Right, yeah, no, that makes sense,” Piper choked out. “They’ve, uh, they’ve been fine, I guess. Nothing’s clicked yet, though.”

Leo nodded, then grinned. “Any more pirates?”

“Tragically, no,” Piper laughed. “I’m almost tempted to call her back. Date was awful, but it was the most entertaining one so far.”

“What was her name?”

Piper froze. Reyna’s date had been a man named Edward, and Piper hadn’t bothered to come up with something different. “Uh…”

“Cassanova over here flipping through her little black book, huh?”

“Shut up, I just blanked on her name!” she laughed. “It was Ed…wina. Edwina.”

“Edwina, huh?” Leo mused. “That’s a cool name.”

“Cool girl, other than the guinea pig sidekick,” Piper agreed. Then, before Leo could ask about any more of her fictional dates, she stood. “Let’s ditch this place. It’s just a Mecca of sadness and mediocrity. We’re obviously not going to find anything here for Jason. Whose dumb idea was it to come anyway?”

“Yours.”

“Well, obviously I was possessed by a really stupid ghost, and you, as my brother, should have put a stop to it,” she said, sticking her nose in the air. “For real, though, let’s leave. Everything here sucks.”

Leo agreed with no more protest than his practiced eyeroll and they threw away their trash and hit the cold February streets in search of a miracle. 

“What about LEGOs? He likes LEGOs,” Piper suggested wildly. “Or puzzles! Everybody likes puzzles!”

“I like LEGOs, and you like puzzles,” Leo corrected. “I’m not getting my boyfriend a gift for us.”

“Alright, fine, spoilsport. What about– Hey!” Piper barely caught herself after tripping over Leo, who had stopped dead in his tracks. “What’s the big idea?”

“Piper, I know what I’m gonna get him!” Leo beamed, staring at a poster in the window of a coffee shop. He grabbed her hand and sprinted in the opposite direction. “Come on! We have to hurry!”

“Ah! Leo! Where are we going?” Piper demanded, stumbling after him. He didn’t answer her. In fact, he didn’t say another word for three full city blocks until he yanked them to a sudden halt in front of a navy blue door. “A bookstore?” she wheezed, still catching her breath. “You tried to kill me just so you could get your boyfriend a book?”

“You need to work on your cardio,” Leo said with absolutely no sympathy, pushing open the door to Tiber Books and Papercrafts. “And it’s not just any book, it’s a book Jason really wants.”

“Okay, and? This place doesn’t close for another three hours. No need to rush.”

“I needed to rush because–” Leo gasped in delight as he rounded the corner. “Oh thank fuck, she’s still here.”

The she in question was an old lady, her long silver hair pulled back into the sternest, most severe braid Piper had ever seen, which was saying something since Reyna existed. Her eyes were a very light shade of brown, almost amber, and she watched Leo approach her little table like a wolf watched its prey. “Good afternoon, young man.”

“Hi,” Leo said, sounding oddly breathless, which Piper knew had nothing to do with the run. “Miss Lupa, right?”

The lady, Miss Lupa, apparently, pointedly glanced down at the book displayed at her elbow, emblazoned with her name. “Last I checked, yes.”

Leo chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. “Sorry, I’m just– I’m really glad I caught you before you left.”

Miss Lupa’s lips twitched up in a smile. “Big fan of Roman history?”

“God no, I think it’s boring as hell,” Leo said. Piper wanted to facepalm on his behalf, but he just kept talking and managed to save it. “But I am a super big fan of my boyfriend, and he goes ga-ga over this stuff. I’m pretty sure he’d wet his pants if he was here right now.”

Miss Lupa laughed. “I appreciate the honesty. You know, I am hosting a lecture at the university later this week.”

“On the 17th at seven, right? Oh, I’m well aware,” Leo grinned. “Jason’s had that on the calendar since the moment you announced it. I haven’t seen him that excited in years, and he’s a pretty excitable kinda guy. He kept texting me in Latin just because he could.”

“Good to know,” Miss Lupa hummed to herself. She grabbed a book from her stack and signed it, writing out a lengthy message below her name. She pulled something from her bag and handed it to Leo along with the book. “I’d like to meet this Jason, if you don’t think he’d be opposed to it. Present this to a member of staff after the lecture, and they will bring you both back to me.”

Piper’s jaw fell open as Leo eagerly accepted the offerings. “Thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea what this is going to mean to him.”

“His enthusiasm means a good deal to me as well,” Miss Lupa said. “And, forgive my manners, but I don’t believe I caught your name.”

“I’m Leo. Leo Valdez. My boyfriend is Jason Grace.” Leo gestured over his shoulder, like he’d suddenly remembered that he had a best friend standing there twiddling her thumbs. “That’s Piper, but she’s not involved.”

“I’m here for moral support.”

“She’s not coming to the lecture.”

“I am not.”

Miss Lupa chuckled warmly. “It was very nice meeting you, Mr. Valdez. I look forward to meeting Mr. Grace as well.”

“I look forward to him meeting you, too.”

With that, Leo scurried up to the till and bought the book, handling it and the little card Miss Lupa had given him like they were precious artifacts. When they were back outside, Piper finally got to voice her questions. “What the hell was that about?”

“That lady in there,” Leo said, pointing his thumb back at the building, “is a historian focused on Ancient Rome and Latin and junk. She released a book last November and I tried to get it for Jason as a Christmas present, but it had a really limited print, so everywhere was sold out. She’s basically Jason’s own personal Oprah.”

“And you just stumbled into setting up a face-to-face with her?” Piper marveled. “You lucky son of a bitch.”

Leo looked beyond smug. “I don’t know what Jason’s got planned, but I’m pretty damn sure I managed to beat whatever it is.”

I wouldn’t count on that, Piper thought gleefully to herself. “I’m sure.”

Leo suddenly looked a bit guilty and he cleared his throat. “Have you, uh, gotten anything set up? Found a Valentine?”

Truth be told, Piper had kind of forgotten about her mad dash for a date, far too caught up in helping with Jason’s proposal and spending as much time as she could with Reyna. Still, she had an act to sell, so she just sighed deeply. “No, not yet.”

“There’s still time,” Leo assured her. “You just gotta keep at it.”

“No, you’re absolutely right,” Piper said with a decisive nod. “Just gotta keep doing what I’m doing. I’ve got a good feeling that things are going to start going a bit better.”

True to her word, things did actually go well from there. She’d at least briefly met up with Reyna almost every day since their mission assignment, and she’d been so incredibly normal each and every time. Charming, even, when she was lucky. At the very least, Reyna had given her that little smile and told Piper she was glad to see her every time they met. That had to count for something, right? Maybe if Piper played her cards right, she could convince Reyna to do these little one-on-one meetups even after they had finished arranging Jason and Leo’s magical night.

Speaking of, Piper once again found herself sitting on the floor of Reyna’s living room, working on Jason’s proposal. Apparently, he needed three thousand, four hundred and eighty-five paper stars made, one for each day he’d known Leo. Jason had already done the hard part of cutting out all of the little strips of paper and lovingly writing either something Jason admired about Leo or a fond memory the two of them shared and gotten more than half of them folded. Piper had nearly wept when she heard the concept, and not just because it meant she’d be spending hours upon hours folding paper stars. Even with splitting what remained of the load with Reyna, Piper was spending all of her free time at home in her room, at the office, and even late nights on the floor of Reyna’s living room doing borderline obsessive origami. But it didn’t matter. It was worth every moment, every cramped finger, every papercut for Piper to help make this happen. She remembered Leo as a child, scared, lonely Leo who clung to each and every person who would offer him a scrap of affection. She thought of Jason in high school, so stiff and serious and sad in every way he couldn’t voice. What would this moment mean to them? To know that they would get to grow up and find someone who loved them enough to put in the effort, to know that they’d get to finally have someone to give that effort to? Piper couldn’t help but think about her own love as she folded Jason’s. She wondered who she’d be willing to do that for, or maybe someone who would do it for her. She glanced over at Reyna, folding her own stack of stars, and less than a second later, Reyna looked up and smiled at her. Piper kinda wanted to fold stars forever after that.

She wasn’t allowed forever, though, because no one is ever truly allowed forever. In fact, tonight was the night that they’d finally finished. Not just the stars, either. They’d finished everything. Every star folded, every call made, and every email replied to and printed for confirmation. They were done, and Piper had demanded that they order Chinese food to celebrate. Reyna had eagerly obliged and the two of them had flopped on the couch together in a food-coma and watched an episode of a Korean soap opera. Neither of them spoke Korean, and there hadn’t been any subtitles, so Piper had offered up her own interpretations until Reyna begged her to stop in order to spare her any more laughter-induced stomach cramps.

That was over an hour ago now, though, and Piper was still there. Reyna had offered to let Piper stay as long as she felt like staying, and Piper had jumped on the opportunity. They weren’t doing anything together – Reyna had apologetically explained that there was legislation coming to the floor soon, and she wanted to review it again before that day – so Piper figured now was as good of an opportunity to practice her watercolors as any. 

Reyna was a fantastic model, after all. She was at her desk, perfectly still and poised like a soldier called to attention, or a dancer waiting for her cue. Her hair, loose for the first time in Piper’s memory, fell in a waterfall of black down one shoulder, and her dark eyes were sharp and focused, and the warm light of her desk lamp fell over her features in a way that made her look ethereal. She was an angel sitting there, and Piper was determined to capture even a fraction of her beauty on the canvas.

“Piper?”

“Hmm?”

“What are you doing?”

“Painting.”

“Oh? What are you painting?”

“You.” There was a sharp inhale, and Piper blinked, finally returning to her own head. She looked up at Reyna, who had abandoned her paperwork to fully stare at Piper, eyes wide, jaw agape, and cheeks crimson. Piper suddenly felt a little shy and shrank back. “Is, um, that okay?”

“I– Well, yes, I suppose that’s fine,” Reyna spluttered, far more flustered than Piper even knew she could be. “I was just… surprised. I wasn’t prepared.”

“Oh, well, I’m just practicing, so you don’t have to do anything,” Piper explained. “All you do is sit there and look pretty and I’ll do the rest.”

“That’s my point,” Reyna pressed. She gestured at herself, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a worn t-shirt, her hair in a mess. “I’m not exactly dressed for the part.”

Piper let out a boisterous laugh, and before she could stop herself she said, “You’re gonna have to do a lot more than wear pajamas to not be beautiful.”

Reyna somehow got even darker red and choked on air. Before she could speak, though, Piper’s phone let out a chime, and she fished it out of her pocket.

LeOH-NO (21:28):

ur on a date ya?

is it goin well?

Me:

……………………… 

y do u wanna kno

dam

cant even ask how my own sister is

shame

😐😐😐 

tell me wat u want bicth

do u thunk u cn maeby uuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh stay with her?

all night?

WHY DO YOU ASK?

well me n jace wnet on a date and uhhhhhhhhhh

🍆💦🥴😏😳

wel not yet but wr goin home now soooooooooo

I H999999999 YOU!

DONT TELL ME THAT!

UR SO GROSS 

D I E

😘😘😘

no

i know where u put that mouth

😗😗😗

Piper abandoned her paint set so she could roll over onto her stomach and scream directly into Reyna’s plush carpet. Above her, Reyna let out a soft chuckle. “Do I want to know?”

“I’m being sexiled from my own home by my brother and ex-boyfriend,” Piper groused. “And, like, they’ve had sex while I’ve been home, I know they have, so if Leo’s kicking me out they’re gonna do some weird shit. It’s one thing knowing they fuck on the regular and an entirely different thing knowing they’re doing kinky stuff, possibly on the couch. Plus, they’re apparently gonna be going at it all night considering I’m not allowed to come home until morning.”

“Oh, that is deeply unfortunate,” Reyna said in a half-teasing tone. “Would you like to stay the night here, in that case?”

As soon as the words hit Piper’s ears, she bolted upright and gave Reyna a wide-eyed stare. “Really? You mean it? You wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course not,” Reyna smiled at her. “I’d be more than happy to have you. Would you need to make arrangements to get your work clothes in the morning? I’d offer to lend you some of mine, but I doubt they’d fit.”

“I- No, that’s fine,” Piper said, flushing to the roots of her hair, imagining herself dressed up in one of Reyna’s smart pinstripe suits. “I can just text my boss and let her know I’m working from home.”

“Good. Do you want to borrow some sleep clothes for the night, in that case?”

Piper shyly looked down at her lap. “Uh, yeah. If you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Reyna said. Honestly, she looked more than a little pleased with Piper’s answer. “I’ll be right back.”

Reyna left, then returned moments later with a bundle of clothes and directions for Piper to change in the bathroom. The pajamas were a matching set of soft flannel pants and a button up shirt, both a rich dark purple with Reyna’s initials embroidered in delicate, looping script on the collar. Considering Reyna was nearly six inches taller than her, the pants sagged around her ankles and the sleeves hung down past her fingertips, but Piper didn’t care. These were the single best pajamas she’d ever worn, and she’d happily spend her life in them if given the opportunity. 

Piper returned to the living room to see Reyna folding the couch away, so she made a confused noise. Reyna turned on her heel and smiled. “That shade of purple compliments you.”

“Thanks,” Piper said, bashfully looking at her toes. Then she cast a glance at the couch and frowned. “Uh, what are you up to?”

“Well, I was planning on setting up the fold out couch,” Reyna explained. “I was going to let you take the bed, and I’d stay out here so you can have your privacy. Unfortunately, the bed part of the couch was broken at some point, so I’ll just be sleeping on the couch normally.”

Piper frowned at the offending furniture. “That’s not very fair. It’s your house, you should get the bed. I can sleep on the couch no problem.”

“It is my house,” Reyna agreed. “Which makes you the guest, meaning you get the bed.”

Piper bit her lip in thought. Then she felt her cheeks start to flush as an idea came to her. “Uh, well, there is one option that doesn’t require either of us to sleep on the couch.”

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“We could, um-” Piper was blushing so hard now that she doubted there was any blood left in her brain. “We could always just, uh, share the bed? I’m sure there’s plenty of room.”

Somehow or another, Reyna didn’t look even remotely embarrassed at the suggestion. She just tapped her chin in thought and nodded. “That’s a good idea. If you don’t mind sharing your space, that is.”

“I definitely don’t mind. Like at all.”

Reyna smiled at her, eyes soft and squinty. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

They went to bed not long after that, which was the earliest Piper had gone to bed in years. Apparently, Reyna went to bed promptly at ten every night, and unless Piper wanted to risk disturbing her while she was trying to fall asleep, she’d have to go, too. Piper couldn’t say she minded, though. She couldn’t really find it in herself to be cranky about much of anything when she was wrapped up in Reyna’s blankets and pillows, the woman herself a mere foot past the end of Piper’s nose. She had her eyes closed, her eyelashes fanned over her soft cheeks and a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. “Piper?”

“Yes?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be asleep.”

Piper couldn’t help but giggle, especially once Reyna opened her eyes just to narrow them playfully. She tucked her chin to burrow into the plush duvet so she could hide her goofy grin. “I can’t help it! It’s like we’re having a sleepover. I feel like a twelve-year-old.”

Reyna arched an eyebrow at her. “Is that a good thing?”

“Well, it’s definitely not a bad thing.”

Reyna huffed out half a laugh, then leaned in to knock their foreheads together. “Go to sleep, Piper.”

“Okay. Good night, Reyna.”

“Good night, Piper.”

They were both quiet for a moment before Piper whispered, “Hey, Reyna?”

“Yes, Piper?”

“Can we get breakfast tomorrow? If you can’t because of work or something, that’s fine.”

Reyna smiled at her so wide half of it was lost in the squish of her pillow. “I think I’d like that very much.”

“Yeah? You don’t have work stuff?”

“No, and even if I did, I’d happily rearrange my meetings to spend time with you.”

Piper immediately went scarlet and buried her whole face in her pillow while Reyna laughed at her. “Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Piper peeked out of her pillow fortress just enough to see Reyna’s face. She was still watching Piper, her eyes soft and sparkling with amusement and affection, and Piper felt her heart thump in her chest. All at once, every moment she’d ever spent with Reyna came rushing back to her. Reyna’s cool, soothing voice, her smile that had once been so rare but now settled on Piper with breathtaking frequency. Her sharp, commanding presence, and her kind, endless patience. She thought about all those times she’d spent reading news articles about what legislation Reyna was backing next, and about all of the amazing work she did. She remembered all those times she’d waxed nearly poetic to Leo about how much she admired Reyna and everything about her. With every memory, she felt her heart beat faster and grow a size larger until she could hardly breathe for lack of space in her chest.

Oh, Piper thought to herself very suddenly. I think I’m in love.

She looked at Reyna again, who had managed to actually fall asleep while Piper was having a spiraling crisis. Her features were softened by sleep, and she somehow looked even more beautiful with snores puffing past her gently parted lips.

Well, fuck.

“So,” Piper drawled, elbow on the desk and chin in her hand. She was wearing her most beguiling smile and biting her lower lip in a playfully confident manner. “I know we’ve been talking a lot recently, and I just can’t help but think there’s an undeniable chemistry between us, so I’ve decided to lay all my cards out on the table and let you pick it up from there. You, me, Valentine’s Day. I know this great place with some absolutely phenomenal saag paneer, and there’s supposed to be a very romantic art walk in the park nearby that night. I figured the two of us could have dinner, walk around a bit and then maybe grab coffee and we can just… see where things go from there.”

“Normally, I’d say yes, but I’m pretty sure my husband has plans for me that night,” Annabeth said, her eyes sparkling bright with mirth.

“Who, Percy? Pft, no, he doesn’t!” Piper scoffed. “Trust me, I asked him!”

“You know, I find that very hard to believe.”

To be fair, it was a pretty unbelievable claim. According to Leo, Percy had been going all out for Annabeth on Valentine’s Day since before he’d even plucked up the courage to ask her to their eighth grade homecoming dance. There wasn’t much of anything – including, rumor had it, appendicitis – that was going to break that near twenty year long streak. Piper flapped her hands through the air dismissively. “Okay, maybe he has something planned, but literally whatever. What could he possibly have planned that could be anything close to dinner with me? Exactly. Checkmate. I’ll call him and tell him you’re canceling.”

Annabeth laughed brightly and gave her a squinty-eyed smile. “I’ll keep that offer in mind. Why don’t you go ask Jason? He’s not married yet.”

Piper nearly had to swallow her tongue to keep from gushing about the wonderful news. Jason had specifically said that she and Reyna were the only people who knew about the proposal. Percy was definitely going to be in Jason’s wedding party, but anything that Percy was told was immediately shared with Annabeth, and Annabeth was allegedly the worst secret-keeper alive. So instead of that, she just forced a laugh. “I asked him already. Apparently, your high school girlfriend asking you to temporarily dump your long-term boyfriend for a day is ‘weird’ and ‘crossing boundaries’ or whatever. Literally no idea what he’s talking about.”

Annabeth didn’t really look like she bought Piper’s story (which was fair because it seemed like everyone in the DC area was aware of just how weird she, Jason and Leo were) but she also didn’t look too interested in questioning it, which was all that mattered to Piper. “Yeah, that’s completely ridiculous,” Annabeth clucked sympathetically. “I’ll tell Percy to give him more paperwork tomorrow.”

“Nah,” Piper said, knowing for a fact that Percy would absolutely do whatever Annabeth said without even checking to see if it was a joke first. “I don’t really want him. Turns out there’s a reason I dumped him in high school.”

“Why are you so mean to me?”

Piper whirled around on her heel to see Jason standing there holding the takeout bags he'd been sent to fetch. She eagerly bounced over to his side and hopped up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “You love it.”

Jason just (fondly (probably)) rolled his eyes and held the bags out of reach when Piper tried to sneak an eggroll. “Come on, we're here to see Leo, not hit on his married coworkers.”

“You never let me have any fun,” Piper pouted as she followed him out of Annabeth’s office. At the sound of the other woman's giggles she shot her a wink over her shoulder. “Think about Valentine’s Day, Annie! You won’t regret it!”

Annabeth didn’t respond other than to wave as the door swung shut, so Piper bounded her way forward to blaze the very familiar trail to Leo’s office. “Hey, how come we're always the one surprising Leo for lunch?” she asked. “Why doesn't he come see us?”

“First off, you only go into your office twice a week and only for a half day, and you both hate my office,” Jason explained. “Plus, if we had to wait for Leo to remember that food exists and is important, we'd never eat.”

“Damn, you’re right.”

“I usually am,” Jason smirked, pushing open the door to Leo’s little office. “You just refuse to admit it.”

Inside, Leo was sitting in his desk chair, leaning all the way back and balancing a pen on the end of his nose. He didn’t turn to look at them  when the door opened but he did say, “Actually, Nyssa, I am working. This is just how I think.”

“You shouldn't lie to Nyssa like that,” Piper chirped, hopping right up on the edge of Leo’s desk. She planted her feet on the front of his chair seat and slammed down as hard as she could, forcing Leo upright with a startled squawk and he banged his forehead on her pointy knees. 

“Ow, Pipes! Literally what the fuck is your problem?”

“They haven't come up with a name for it yet.”

Leo scowled furiously at her, but Jason stepped forward and pressed a kiss to his poor little forehead and he immediately forgot any injuries like a lovestruck ADHD squirrel. “Have you eaten today?” Jason asked, smoothing his hand through Leo’s  curls a couple times before stepping back.

As if on cue, Leo's stomach let out an obnoxiously loud growl and Piper snickered while Leo sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. “Uh, no?”

“Good,” Piper said cheerfully. “Because I brought you lunch.”

“You made me go get it!” Jason protested.

“Yeah, but I paid for it. You're basically just a self-important Door Dasher.”

Jason huffed in protest, but Leo was already reaching for the bags. “Whadja get me?”

“Chinese,” Piper said, grabbing a carton of lo mein. “I went to this new place the other day, and it’s so good.”

Leo’s interest piqued at that. “I’m guessing that was on one of your little mystery dates? Which one?”

“Uh…” Piper trailed off, desperately trying to remember some of the stories she’d told Leo, but all she could think of were the moments she’d spent with Reyna inventing those stories. “Amelia. I think.”

“I thought you went rollerskating with Amelia?”

“And we got dinner after! That’s perfectly normal!” Piper said defensively. Leo was still looking at her funny, though so she moved on. “Besides, it’s not like you have any room to criticize my dating prowess. You were single for seven years before you got with Jason.”

“Actually, he wasn’t!” Jason corrected cheerfully. “He dated this one girl for a little over three years right after college.”

Leo turned maroon and spluttered in outrage while Piper gaped at him with wide eyes. “You dated someone for three years? How have I never heard about her?”

“Because we aren’t supposed to talk about her,” Leo said, glaring hotly at Jason.

“I have got to know.”

Jason was more than happy to oblige. “So, it was this girl named Calypso–”

“Don’t say that name in front of me!”

“–and, like I said, she dated Leo for right at three years,” Jason continued, ignoring Leo’s protests. “But, honestly, they should have broken up after about eight months.”

“You’re just saying that because you were in love with him,” Piper accused.

Jason shrugged, not denying the claim. “Yeah, that, but also they just made each other miserable. They would fight, like, all the time, but only about really petty stuff.”

“Like what?”

Leo let out a tortured wail and buried his face in his folded arms, so Jason combed a soothing hand through his curls. “Well, there was this one dress shirt Leo got as a joke with flaming racecars on it. He wasn’t planning on keeping it, but Calypso hated it, so he wore it basically any time they went out in public.”

Piper could hardly stifle her giggles. “You were in a mutually toxic situationship for three years?”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Leo pouted. “And it’s partially Jason’s fault, seeing as he kept picking fights with her.”

Piper looked Jason over, trying to connect the image of the mild-mannered, earnestly kind man she knew as her best friend to someone who would pick fights with someone’s girlfriend out of petty jealousy. “Wait, really? You did that?”

“Yeah,” Jason confessed easily. “I hated her, but to be fair, she hated me first. I did sort of escalate things, though.”

Now Leo actually looked interested. “Wait, you did? How?”

“Remember when she asked you to move in?” Jason prompted. “It was right around your first anniversary, and our lease was coming up, so she figured you two would take the next step.”

“So what? I was the one who told her no, not you. You didn’t even know she asked until after we had a fight about it.”

“Yeah, but I was the one who sent her a text saying ‘Sorry your boyfriend would rather live with me than you.’”

Piper nearly fell off the desk, doubled over and wheezing while Leo spluttered. “Jason!”

“Things did not get better from there,” Jason concluded. “I’m pretty sure half the reason they even stayed together was because neither of them was willing to admit defeat.”

“What finally made you guys break up?”

“Calypso moved to California,” Leo shrugged. “She was doing stuff with her music, and she got a good offer so she took it.”

“That’s… oddly anti-climactic.”

“Calypso published a song about him about a month after they broke up,” Jason offered, but Leo glowered and pinched him on the side. “Don’t even think about showing her that, motherfucker.”

“Yes, dear,” Jason said placatingly as he kissed the top of Leo’s head. Still, the playful look he gave Piper clearly said that she’d be getting a song recommendation later that afternoon. 

“Maybe I should ask Leo’s ex to be my Valentine, seeing as mine won’t,” Piper mused. “Do you think she’d find that funny?”

“I don’t care how funny you two find it, you are not cyber-stalking my ex-girlfriend.”

“Oh, you mean like how you cyber-stalked Reyna just because she was talking to Jason?” Piper taunted. 

“Shut up! That was different!”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Well, who do you suggest, then? Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I’m kind of out of options at this point. I’ve asked pretty much everyone we know with a pulse, and everyone has said no. Multiple times in some cases.”

“Wait, really?” Jason asked, sounding genuinely startled. Beside him, Leo looked equally shocked. 

“Uh, yeah?” Piper said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at them. “Why?”

“We’re just surprised Reyna said no is all,” Jason explained with a shrug.

Immediately, Piper’s face flushed, her gut squirmed into a bashful little knot, and her heart started madly fluttering in the back of her throat. “Well, I haven’t asked her, obviously.”

“Why not?” Leo scoffed. “It’s obvious you’re in love with her, and this is as good of an excuse as any to ask her out. She’d say yes.”

“I– No!” Piper spluttered. “That’s crazy!”

“What? Her saying yes?”

“No! Well, yes that, too,” Piper stammered. “But I meant the me being in love with her thing!”

“Wait, you’re saying you’re not in love with her?” Leo asked. “I just figured the two of you were doing the whole lesbian sheep syndrome thing.”

“What?”

“You know, lesbian sheep syndrome,” Leo prompted. “It’s that thing where two women are into one another but they’re both waiting for the other to make a move, so nothing ever happens.”

“Shut up, I know what lesbian sheep syndrome is,” Piper snapped. “But that is not what’s happening here! I didn’t even know I was into Reyna until recently!”

“Wait, really?” Jason gaped. 

“Yes!” Piper huffed. “Besides, even if I was in love with Reyna the whole time, she’s not into me, so it still wouldn’t be the sheep thing.”

Leo snorted so loud it sounded like it hurt. “Yeah, right. Anyone with eyes and a brain can see that Reyna is obviously in love with you.”

“Shut up. You thought she was in love with Jason and had a whole mid-life crisis about it,” she scowled. “Your opinion doesn’t mean shit.”

Leo pouted and Piper thought she’d maybe crossed a line into mean territory but Jason spoke up before she could mutter out an apology. “Well, what about my opinion? I’ve never thought she was in love with me, but I do think she’s into you. I mean, I’ve spent a lot of time with her the past two years, and I’ve never seen her look at anyone the way she looks at you.”

Piper bit her lip and actually let their words sink in. She thought about all the time she’d spent with Reyna, all of those genuine, tender smiles she reserved for Piper, and the casual way she’d run her fingers down Piper’s arm sometimes that always sent a shiver down Piper’s spine. She felt oddly vulnerable as she looked between Jason and Leo, only to see that every ounce of playfulness and teasing had vanished completely from their faces. “Wait, you guys are serious? You really think she’s into me? Like really really?”

Jason and Leo shared a glance before Leo reached out and squeezed her fingers with a grin. “Yeah, Piper. Really really.”

The world around her seemed to screech to a stop with those four little words. The walls seemed to close in around her for a moment before her heart burst with joy, brightening everything around her. She leapt off the desk with a manic grin. “I gotta go! I’ll see you at home later!”

“Wait, where are you going?” Leo demanded as Piper was shoving her arms into her coat sleeves.

“I’ve gotta go see Reyna!”

“You can’t go see her,” Jason protested. “She’s in session right now!”

“I know! Bye, guys! Don’t eat my eggrolls!”

Then, before either of them could say anything else, she was sprinting down the hall and out into the bright February afternoon. She didn’t really have a plan on what exactly she was going to say to Reyna once she was standing before her, but she did have a heart full of love and determination, and she figured that was more than enough.

Piper soon learned that she did, in fact, need more than a heart full of love and determination. As it turns out, storming the Capitol Building with the intent to break into the Senate Chamber and publicly declare her love in front of one hundred of the most politically powerful people in the United States of America was… Well, quite frankly, a shitty idea. Fortunately, the security guard who had stopped her and informed her that she was, in fact, committing a felony, was a sweet old man who’d been working there since the 70’s and he’d been very understanding. Since Piper had been so willing to cooperate, he’d even offered to let her stay in his office until Reyna came down and bailed her out instead of locking her in the Capitol brig or whatever they had. 

Unfortunately, phones were not allowed in session, which meant that Piper had to wait for Alejandro’s alleged message to Reyna, and he warned her it would be left unanswered for an indeterminate amount of time, and she was stuck.  

“Sooo,” Piper said, drawing the word out as long as she could. “Alejandro. Tell me. Do you like being a security guard?”

Alejandro looked up from his computer to lock eyes with Piper before he returned to his work with an amused snort. “It has its moments.”

“You get a lot of hopeless romantics trying to break in and publicly confess their love or am I special?”

“You will definitely be a highlight of the week.”

“You old flirt. I bet you say that to all the pretty girls,” Piper grinned, resting her chin and elbows on the desk. “Speaking of, will you be my Valentine? I’ve been asking everyone with very little luck.”

“I’m afraid the missus wouldn’t like it very much if I said yes.”

“Damn. Second time today a marriage has foiled my plans.”

Alejandro gave her one of those sparkly-eyed, crinkly old man smiles. “Oh, I’m sure someone will swoop in and save you just in the nick of time.”

As if summoned by his words, the door to Alejandro’s office swung open, revealing Reyna. Her eyes were wide and a little wild, she was out of breath, and her suit was even a little rumpled, which led Piper to believe that she’d sprinted the whole way there from the Senate Chamber.

Piper had never been happier to see her. “Reyna!”

“Piper!” Reyna swiftly crossed the small office to stand close to Piper so she could look her over like she was checking for mortal injuries. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Piper said gently. “Alejandro and I have been bonding.”

At the mention of Alejandro, Reyna stiffened like she just realized someone else was in the room with her. She took a step back to give Piper some unwanted personal space and dipped her head. “Mr. Jiminez, thank you very much for your graciousness. I am sorry for any inconvenience.”

“No inconvenience at all, Senator,” Alejandro said with that same almost mischievous smile. “Miss McLean and I had a fine time.”

“Still, it was very kind of you,” Reyna insisted. “And I do hope we can keep this between us.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Thank you. Piper and I will go now.”

With that, Reyna took Piper’s hand, pulled her to her feet and started leading her out of the office. Before she walked out of the door, she waved at Alejandro over her shoulder. “Bye, Alejandro!”

“Bye, Piper. Good luck.”

Reyna led them through the hallways to the nearest set of elevators without a word. Reyna was still holding her hand, but it was more the hand holding of an agitated mother dragging her child away from the toy aisle than anything romantic. Piper felt like she could choke on the tension as they rode up to her office floor in silence. She gulped heavily. “Are you, um, mad at me?”

Reyna took in a deep breath through her nose. “Sometimes I wish I could be,” she said, her tone a little sharp. “What were you thinking, Piper? If someone other than Mr. Jiminez had stopped you, you could have been in serious trouble.”

“I just… really needed to talk to you.”

“So you thought it would be a good idea to invade a session of Congress?”

“I just thought it would be dramatic; I didn’t know it was illegal,” Piper said a little sulkily. “I kinda got caught up in the moment and I didn’t really think about it.”

Reyna sighed, but Piper could see the way the corners of her mouth twitched. “Unfortunately for me, I can’t really hold you accountable for that, seeing as it’s one of the traits I admire most about you.”

Piper felt her cheeks flush and her heart flutter. “So, you’re not mad at me?”

Reyna looked exasperatedly fond as the doors opened. “No, I’m not. Now, come with me.” 

She once again led Piper down the hall to a frosted door that read R. Ramírez-Arellano in black letters. Inside was a desk where a young woman with bright pink hair was furiously typing away at something. When she noticed Reyna and Piper, she gave them both a knowing smile. “Hey, Reyna. Do you need me to push back your two o’clock?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, please clear my schedule for the rest of the day,” Reyna confirmed. “Thank you, Lavinia.”

“No problem!”

Reyna sat down at her desk, and Piper sat down in one of the seats opposite her. The room was incredibly ordered and neat, almost to the point of being sterile. Piper felt very, very small as she twiddled her thumbs in her lap. “So, uh, now what?”

“That’s precisely what I was going to ask you.” Piper startled, and Reyna arched her eyebrow. “You were the one who felt the need to attempt a felony just to tell me something. What was it that was so important that you couldn’t send me a text?”

“It’s, uh, not something that I’d be super comfortable sharing over text,” Piper said, shifting uncomfortably in her very comfortable seat. She couldn’t help but think of all the times she’d sat in front of the principal growing up, which wasn’t exactly helping her nerves. 

“Alright then. You still could have arranged to meet up,” Reyna pointed out. “I would have been more than happy to meet you for dinner whenever you’d like.”

Piper swallowed thickly, and stared at Reyna’s desk, unable to speak. She’d been so confident when she walked into the building, ready to bare her heart in front of everyone, but now that she was sitting in front of the one person who mattered, she couldn’t help but doubt. Reyna was a Senator, a powerful, collected woman who was doing so, so much good in the world, and was right on track for the Presidency. And what was Piper? A children’s book illustrator who had to share an apartment with two other people and still managed to overdraw her account because she was too impulsive and excitable and forgot how to be an adult half the time. 

Humiliating tears started to burn at the corners of her eyes, but then she caught sight of something. It was the one and only knick-knack in Reyna’s office, a delicately carved flower, each painstaking petal stained purple. It was in a vase like it was a real flower, and Piper spied a long black hair still wrapped around it from the last time it had been used. Piper thought about Reyna again. The real Reyna, not the Senator. She thought about Reyna offering her arm to her, and Reyna giggling through bad date stories for Piper to tell Leo. She thought about all their time together, laughing at sitcoms they didn’t understand and sharing breaths crowded together in restaurant booths where the proposal preparations were the last things on their mind. She thought about Reyna’s kindness, her patience, that little smile she seemed to save just for Piper. She thought about the cold bee charm that sat between her own collarbones at that moment, gifted by the woman before her. As she thought, something warm bloomed to life in her chest, growing and growing until the words couldn’t stay trapped behind her teeth any longer.

“Will you be my Valentine?”

Reyna furrowed her brow in confusion and frowned. “I– Well, yes. Certainly. Was that really what all this fuss was about?”

“Not really,” Piper admitted. “It’s more that I’d really like for you to be my Valentine for, like, the rest of our lives. I’d like to see if we can make that work. Together.”

The air went still the moment the words left Piper’s lips. The silence that followed was a bit scary, but she didn’t regret them, not one bit. This was who she was. She loved loud, she loved fast, and when she found someone, she held them tight and jumped in feet first. All she could do now was sit and wait for Reyna, who looked both ways before crossing a one way street and had her schedule mapped out until she was on her deathbed, to decide if she was willing to be dragged along.

“What do you mean by that?” Reyna asked, studying her with the careful consideration that Piper had admired from the first day they met.

“I mean that I’m about 95% sure I’m in love with you,” Piper explained. “I think I have been for a while, I was just too convinced that you wouldn’t be interested to actually consider it. But these past few weeks with you have just been so good that I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I’m not asking for you to say it back, not yet, but I’d like to maybe go on a date with you, if that’s okay.”

Reyna was silent for another long stretch of time before her mouth twitched in that one special fond way. “I think it’s a bit ridiculous to think I might refuse your offer, seeing as I’ve already asked you on a date before.”

The world came to a loud record scratch, and Piper gawked at her. “Excuse me?”

Reyna did one of her pretty, stately laughs where she curled her hand up in a half fist in front of her mouth like an anime princess, and when she looked at Piper, her eyes were so far beyond fond. “Do you remember when Jason and Leo went on their trip last year?”

“Uh-huh. We ate lunch together every day,” Piper confirmed. Then she froze. She thought about Reyna telling her about a strawberry festival happening that weekend and asking if she’d like to go. She thought about how she’d eagerly agreed and promised to tell Jason and Leo so the four of them could go together. She groaned. “Wait, that was you asking me on a date? I thought it was just a fun friend thing to welcome the boys back home!”

“I see that now,” Reyna said fondly. “At the time, I had assumed that was just your attempt to let me down gently, so I didn’t bring it up again.”

“Noooo,” Piper whined, dragging out the word as she hid her face in her hands. “I’m dumb, Reyna! You gotta say things over and over or I’m not going to get it.”

Piper heard Reyna stand, still unwilling to face her shame, and then warm, steady hands were being cupped around her jaw. She allowed her fingers to fall from her face as she looked up at Reyna who was smiling at her. It wasn’t the small, special smile Piper had come to love, this was something bigger, even more beautiful. A smile Piper had never seen on anyone, much less directed at her. “You are many things, Piper McLean,” Reyna said, voice sweet and rich like honey. “You are kind, you are brash, you are thoughtful beyond words, and impulsive in the most infuriating ways. You are wonderful and any day spent with you is a blessing. You are many things, but you are not dumb.”

Piper felt her eyes water and her cheeks ached from how wide she was smiling. She wrapped her fingers around Reyna’s wrists and her heart sang as she finally spoke the words that a tiny, secret part of her had been wanting to say for two years. “Reyna, will you kiss me?”

Reyna’s eyes shone in adoration as she leaned in to do just that. 

“You are not wearing that!” Piper hissed venomously, lowering into a half-crouch as she all but bared her teeth at her opponent. 

Across the room, Leo was mirroring her posture, dressed in a pair of ratty jeans and a button up shirt printed with flaming racecars. “You can’t tell me what to do!”

“It is Valentine's Day!” she growled, lunging for him. “You cannot wear a stupid meme shirt you beefed with your ex-girlfriend about!”

“Jason’ll think it’s funny!” Leo countered, expertly dodging her. “Besides, he already told me we’re just going to Nova Roma and the gardens! I don’t need to dress up for the Ritz!”

Piper’s mind immediately flashed to the email the photographer sent her two days ago, confirming that they would be in the exact right position to capture Jason’s proposal in all its meticulously-planned glory. “That’s not the point! Go get changed!”

“No!”

Piper let out a battlecry from the depths of her chest and flung herself at Leo, furniture be damned. There was a crash she was pretty sure meant a replacement lamp was in their near future, but she didn’t care right then. She and Leo wrestled for several minutes (there would later be accusations of biting, but she would deny every one of them) until she managed to get a good grip on the front of his shirt and she yanked it as hard as she could to the side. Several buttons popped off, shooting across the room like champagne corks, and Piper stood above him triumphantly. “Ha!”

Leo gaped up at her. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Lots and lots,” she snapped back. “Now, go change your shirt.”

Leo grumbled loudly but unintelligibly as he got to his feet. When he saw Jason standing there watching the whole thing, he petulantly stomped over to him like a toddler who had their favorite toy taken. “She’s fucking feral, Jason. We have to put her out on the street. It’s eviction time”

Jason hummed softly in thought and kissed Leo’s hair before answering, “I don’t think you would be very happy with that for long.”

Leo’s face puckered in distaste, and he shot Piper a withering glare. “Fine. At least tell her you would have been okay with me wearing the car shirt. It would have been funny.”

“You look great in all of your shirts,” Jason said, diplomatically avoiding any confirmation. Leo was too pleased with the compliment to notice, especially once Jason started combing his fingers through his curls. “Why don’t you go put on that red shirt you like so much? You look really good in that color, and I have a red tie I can wear. We can match.”

“Fine, fine,” Leo huffed dramatically. “I guess if this is going to be a tie event, I can dress up a bit.”

“I appreciate the effort,” Jason confirmed as Leo stomped past him. As soon as Leo’s back was to him, he turned to Piper and mouthed a very obvious THANK YOU before trotting down the hall after Leo.

Piper watched them go with a sense of keen satisfaction before there was a sharp knock on the door and any and all thoughts of boys vanished from her mind. She bounded over and flung open the door with a beaming smile. “Reyna!”

Reyna was standing there, looking perfectly polished in her black slacks, knee-length peacoat, and dark purple blouse. Piper felt a bit underdressed in her paint-stained jeans and oversized army jacket she’d stolen from Leo, but she didn’t really mind. She figured she’d always be a bit underdressed standing next to Reyna, but that was okay, especially when Reyna looked so pleased to see her. “Piper. Are you ready to go?”

“I am,” Piper confirmed breathlessly, stepping out and looping her arm with Reyna’s. So, what are we going to get up to?”

“Well, I’m afraid there weren’t too many places available for last-minute dinner reservations, but I found something I think we’ll both enjoy,” Reyna said. She’d pretty well taken over planning their Valentine’s date from the moment she’d agreed to it, and Piper was more than happy to give her this, though she warned that she would be planning (so far as that word applied to her) some of their future dates. Reyna’s expression had puckered at the thought of releasing that kind of administrative control before it relaxed and she assured Piper that she was looking forward to it. Piper had no idea what they were going to do when it was her turn to pick, but she was looking forward to it, too. 

Once they were in the elevator, Reyna gave Piper an amused, curious look. “May I ask why you look like you lost a wrestling match?”

Piper barked out a laugh before grinning. “I’ll have you know I won that wrestling match, actually. Leo was trying to wear a stupid joke shirt and refused to change. We put too much work into this proposal for him to ruin it, so I made the shirt unwearable.” 

Reyna’s brow furrowed in frustrated confusion the same way it did every time she heard about Leo being Leo. “That man will never cease to baffle me.”

“I’d say it gets easier, but he still throws me for a loop sometime,” Piper confessed. “I think Jason may be the only person alive who isn’t confused by him, which is good, seeing as he’s trying to get himself hitched.”

Reyna hummed softly as the doors dinged back open, and she led them out through the lobby. “I hope everything goes well for them tonight.”

Piper chuckled softly as she thought about all the hours she, Reyna, and Jason had spent on planning. About the custom ring sitting in a velvet box in the pocket of Jason’s favorite coat. Of the way Leo always brightened around Jason and Jason always softened around Leo. “I’m sure they’ll be fine,” she said firmly. “More than fine. They make each other happy.”

“I’m glad,” Reyna smiled. “They deserve that much at least.”

“They do,” Piper agreed. Then she beamed up at Reyna. “But right now, I’m kinda focused on something else. There’s this woman that makes me really happy, and I’d like to make her happy right back, if I can.”

The look Reyna gave her nearly stopped Piper’s heart before sending it right back into overdrive. “You already do.” Piper’s breath hitched and she got up on her toes to kiss Reyna, right there in front of everyone. Reyna’s hands immediately went to her hips to steady her.

Piper knew that she wasn’t psychic. But sometimes she got a feeling. Sometimes, she felt she really and truly knew how something would end. In that moment, kissing the breath out of Reyna’s lungs, she knew that she wasn’t alone. That she’d never be alone again. That Valentine’s Day would be her favorite holiday forever. 

She knew that she was happy.