Hey, guys! GreenWithAwesome (GD), here. My first non-Pokémon story on this site! Yay, I'm expanding XD

Anyway, I've been a fan of Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus for a while now, and I've just started reading Mark of Athena (no spoilers, please). Leyna (Leo/Reyna) is pretty much crack (it's never going to happen, let's be honest), but it's still cute in my opinion. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus or its characters. If I did, this would be canon. XD

Anyway, I hope you like it.

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Today was perhaps as close to a perfect day as it could get. The sun was shining happily over Camp Jupiter, spoiling the earth with its blissful rays. The birds were chirping, singing their song of glee as the fountains dotted around refreshed the grass. The forum was bustling with activity, with campers making deals on wares or sipping cool ice tea with friends.

The Via Principia was almost left abandoned. Today was the day off – the praetor had allowed it. Everyone was taking advantage of the great weather, having fun and generally goofing off.

Reyna let herself smile, as she sat up on top of the hill to observe the scene. Her camp… it was a beautiful place. It was nice once in a while to appreciate this beauty. They weren't under attack, for one thing, and that was enough to make anyone pleased.

Just in the distance, she could see her mother's temple. It wasn't easy being daughter of the war goddess, and even harder being praetor. She didn't complain though – it was much better than combing hair at Circe's all day.

She fingered with her plait, which fell on her right shoulder. Mm, it was good to be praetor. Challenging, yes, but rewarding, especially when she could watch her fellow campers at peace with themselves.

That was the thing. She herself wasn't at peace. Ugh, she hated even thinking about such a touchy subject on a day like this, but she couldn't help it. About a mile in front of Bellona's temple was Jason Grace – you couldn't miss his short cut blonde hair, and even his bright blue eyes could be seen from this distance. Reyna wondered what she'd be doing if Jason was her boyfriend. It'd be a lot different – she'd be a lot different, no doubt about it.

But, hey. He had Piper now. She was standing just a couple of metres from him, laughing at something. Reyna didn't hate Piper. Jealous? Hades, yeah, but hate? No. If Reyna passed her in the street, then she would give a curt nod. If they spoke, then they spoke. If Jason was happy, then Reyna was happy, and that was enough for her.

It was probably stupid to be thinking about such things, since they had been dating for a while now. Not to mention she had no chance against a daughter of Aphrodite. But Reyna always wondered if it was not Jason, and if it was not Percy, then who? There must have been someone out there who remembered she wasn't just a battle machine.

The gentle breeze blew in Reyna's black hair as she stood up. Oh well, she had more important duties to do then worry about something so silly. When he appears, he appears.

Then a thought passed her mind – Oh gods, what if Mr Right comes in the form of a scrawny eighteen-year-old who consults teddy bears for advice? What if she ended up with him because there was no-one else? Their kids would be slaughtering Barbie dolls and Action Men before they turned one.

She'd rather date a donkey. While Reyna didn't hate Octavian… she didn't particularly like him either. He's sorta' that creep who just hangs around, bribing everyone for anything he wants, except he can speak teddy.

The idea made her cringe. If worse comes to worst, she'd leave Camp Jupiter in pursuit of a nice, mortal man. Yep, good plan.

"Hiiii there, Reyna!"

She jumped, almost leaving her skin behind. Being so wrapped up in thought had made Reyna unaware of what was going her. That was pretty poor for a daughter of Bellona. She glanced to her side; Leo Valdez, in all his peppy engine grease glory, strode up to her whistling the tune to Wonderful World.

"Hello, Leo," she greeted, regaining her usual composure and glaring it him (her 'nice' glare) with her obsidian eyes. He grinned. As per usual, his sleeves were rolled up, he smelt like a petrol station and his black hair made him look like he had only just got out of bed.

He noticed her glancing upwards, "Oh, don't mind that. I only just got out of bed." She shook her head in dismay.

"If a Roman knew that, they'd probably feed you to the dogs," she quipped, keeping her rigid and blank expression.

He laughed, "Good; you won't tell anyone, will you?" he plonked himself down and beckoned her to do the same, patting the dry stone steps. She hesitated, but followed lead. Soon after, Leo held his hand to his nose and cringed.

"Holy Hephaestus, it smells of upsexy!" Reyna was taken aback. She… smelled? Every morning, she would put herself through a rigorous cleaning routine to make sure the stink of sweat she received during training was gone with the wind. Hey, Circe hadn't taught her nothing about personal hygiene. But… was this 'upsexy' scent good or bad?

"What?" she said, coking an eyebrow, "What is 'upsexy'?"

Leo smirked, "Nothing much, how about you?"

Tumbleweed rolled by. Leo was trying hard not to burst into a fit of giggles. Reyna blinked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"What?" she said, confused. Leo doubled over, howling with laughter and clutching his stomach, "What's so funny? I demand you tell me!" She glared at him, but he was in too much of a laughing fit to notice.

"Don't ya' get it? 'What is 'upsexy'?', 'What is up, sexy?'? Hahahah!" he had to cover his mouth, "Oh, man, that's hilarious! I tried that on Annabeth the other day but she sniffed me out quicker than I could say it!"

He must have finally spotted Reyna's face, since he shut his mouth and the laughter died in his throat.

"Er…" Leo looked at the ground, feeling awkward, "It was supposed to be funny."

To be honest, it was funny. Seriously lame, but funny. They weren't as lame as the Lares' jokes, at least. However, she was conditioned not to find these things laughable. The straight, serious face was the way to go. Never showing any weakness… or sense of humour.

"Right," she said, moistening her lips.

Leo scoffed, "Well, jeez, sorry to Reyna your parade."

She gazed at him again, with a hard face.

"Tough crowd."

"I'll have you know, Valdez," she regarded him coldly, "That I find your jokes excruciatingly punbearable."

Leo looked at her uncertainly. Did she just… make a joke?

"'Punbearable'?" he repeated, as if he was calculating what to say next.

"Indeed," Reyna's poker face was unmatched. He couldn't read her at all, and he sucked at reading people so it made it twice as hard. He fiddled with his thumbs, unsure whether she was teasing or not.

The son of Hephaestus decided to play along, "My jokes are god-like. Don't make fun of them." He smirked, suddenly having a rush of hilariously bad gags to tell.

"You know, the Argo II was a pain to park. I mean, I can't just leave it in the Ares. But anyway, Terminus was gonna' give me a parking ticket if I didn't pay. So I had to go find Demeter. It made me pay six denarii – six! I have good Fortuna, though, so I had enough dough in my toolbelt. I Saturn-ed around, and boom – Terminus appears in front of me in a Ceres of explosions, complaining as usual-…" he struggled for words after that, like a freshly squeezed orange out of juice.

"Jeez, thinking of all of these puns is getting on Mi-nerves-a…"

Reyna couldn't handle it any more. She chuckled, covering her mouth in her own fit of giggles. Leo, who looked totally baffled for a second, laughed too. They quietly enjoyed the moment for a few minutes before they silenced.

"Ju-no, I've never seen you laugh."

Reyna sighed. The sun was still high in the sky, yet she felt like she had been sitting there for hours. She knew it had only lasted seconds. It was crazy how Leo could do that.

"Yes, well," she said, sitting upright and returning to her old self, "My job doesn't warrant laughing."

Leo punched her arm, a little harder than he intended to. She looked a little bewildered at this gesture.

"Nah, you gotta' laugh! Laughing is good for the soul; It helps you loosen up a little!" He grinned, stretching his arms out. There was a fresh wave of petrol smell, before he muttered, "I'm not good with organic mechanisms, but I can still laugh…"

"Pardon?"

"You gotta' lighten up once in a while, Rey. Can I call you that? Look at Jase," he looked over a said blonde boy who had grabbed his girlfriend and was swinging her around, laughing madly, "They can still have some fun while being responsible."

This was true. Jason never took his job too seriously. Even Percy liked to inject some laughs into their meetings. Perhaps there was no harm in Reyna letting her hair down once in a while. She considered this prospect.

"I suppose," she said, after a while. Leo patted her back and finally stood up.

"Think about it," his skin seemed to glitter in the sunlight… or maybe it was the oil, "Yeah, I gotta' go now. This is Festus' feeding time. Actually, that was about an hour ago, but I was sleeping. See you around!" he waved before bounding off down the hill to his flying ship.

Reyna sat for a while, thinking. He was funny, that son of Hephaestus. Suddenly, Reyna felt warm. Imagine if Mr Right appeared as a skinny Spanish boy with rolled up sleeves, engine grease as a perfume, and curly black bed hair.

And then she thought… that'd be nice.

Fin.

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Sorry for any OOCness. I haven't quite fleshed out Reyna yet. DX

Yeah, this was written on total whim. So apologies if it is really obvious that I had no direction. :F

Either way, I hope I have satisfied your Leyna needs. And enjoyed the story. Reviews appreciated. :)

~ GD

(Image by Jackie-lyn on dA, who is not me. If you would like me to remove it, please message me. Thanks.)