First and foremost, I would like to apologise for any mistakes in the Spanish. I'm not trying to romanticize or degrade the language, I simply do not speak it and have relied on books and Internet forums for translations. If I have made any mistake, if my stupid keyboard has deleted any accents that need to be on words- let me know and I'll fix them ASAP.
Secondly, I'm writing this on a request. I'm not in the scoop about what people like in a Leyna story, but I really hope that you enjoy this anyways!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters starring in this story.
Dedication: Chezzy123
Fluency
"Jason sent me," Leo said strolling into the principia with a hand in a bag of pretzels.
"Why?" Reyna asked bent over her paperwork. "He's supposed to be knocked out with pain medicine right now."
"Because he said that even if his leg was busted and he was stuck in the infirmary for the night, someone should make sure that you got some sleep," Leo said. "And this was before they drugged him."
He threw another mouthful of pretzels in his mouth. Reyna ignored him for a while until he spoke up.
"Can I sit down?"
"Yes you may."
Leo sat down right on the table.
"Civilised people sit on the chairs," Reyna informed him.
"Civilised people also start wars about oil and use specific spoons for specific functions all in one meal," Leo said. "They're weird and frivolous. I try not to be like them."
"You're on the path to excellence," Reyna mumbled to herself. Leo heard her.
"Thanks you," he said.
He kept eating for a while, and as the bag emptied, Reyna's patience drained as well. Could he have picked something noisier to eat? Was there a crunchier food in existence than pretzels? And if he got salt or seasoning all over her papers at that, Reyna swore…
It took a few minutes before she cracked, and Reyna looked up.
"Leo," she said. He looked at her innocently.
"Stop eating pretzels." She said. "It's annoying."
"Are you trying to focus on work?" He asked innocently, cocking his head to the side.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am," Reyna said.
"Jason said to make you stop working when the clock hit double digits, so I'm just doing my job." Leo said. He poured pretzels into his mouth straight from the bag and it too everything Reyna had not to hit him over the head.
She focused on her work again. Suddenly she heard some intense groaning and she looked up in alarm.
"Leo. What in the world-"
"I'm getting in shape," he said. "Crunches is step one."
"Not on the table of the principia, what's the matter with you?" Reyna said. She threw a highlighter at him. "Get off or I'm throwing my knife next."
Leo lifted himself off the table, his hands at the hem of his shirt. "Let me just check for abs-"
"Now," Reyna said. Leo got off the table and, to Reyna's delight, on a chair. Her initial happiness was killed by the fact that Leo perched on the chair as opposed to sitting on it.
"You should wait until step two," he said. "I'll be doing push-ups. Piper's going to tape it if you can't be there."
She decided that this wasn't a battle she wanted to fight at that particular moment with him, and so she left him alone.
He was drumming on the table. She ignored him- people did that in the Senate all the time.
He made mouth noises. It was a nervous habit of Jason's, hence it didn't bug her.
He hummed under his breath. Gwen did that whenever she was around to deliver food, coffee, paperwork or news- she was used to him.
But she looked up frowning.
"Was that Spanish?" She asked.
"Yeah," Leo said. "Do you speak Spanish?"
"A little," Reyna said. "I'm Puerto Rican, that's what my family talked at home. I'm far from fluent, though. I haven't spoken in Spanish in years."
"Seriously?"
"Circe insisted on English since that's what the customers spoke, and around Camp we speak English or Latin." Reyna said.
"That's sad," Leo said. "I couldn't bear not to speak Spanish. For one thing, it's embedded in my vocabulary and so I'd have these random missing words all over the place if I stopped filling them with Spanish. More importantly, it's what my Mom always talked to me in. I'd lose a piece of her, you know? Can't do that, nuh-uh, it's unacceptable."
"That's the difference between you and me, I don't remember my father at all. I was two years old when Hylla and I were orphaned." Reyna said.
Leo scrunched his nose.
"But you remember Spanish a bit, right?"
"Hylla and I may have spoken it illegally," Reyna said. "And I have an auditory memory."
"Well here, let's test that theory." Leo said. "Hola, cómo estás?"
"Muy bien, gracias," Reyna said.
"Well that's too easy. Your turn, just say something. A stupid greeting." Leo said.
Reyna scrambled for a while, but the panic was mostly because she hadn't spoken Spanish in a while.
"¿Cómo te llamas tú?"
"Me llamo Leo. ¿Cómo te llamas? " Leo replied.
"Reyna," she said.
"Mucho gusto."
"Encatanda." Reyna said.
Leo started laughing at the stupidity of their conversation. They'd known each other for months, an introduction felt silly and frivolous now. But Reyna smiled too
She felt a bit more confident at this point, and Leo started another conversation. Or an extension of the first, depending.
"De donde eres?"
"Yo soy de Puerto Rico," Reyna said.
"Eres puertorriquena," Leo said.
"Si," Reyna said. "De dondes eres?"
"DeEstados Unidos," Leo said. "Houston, Texas. ¿cuándo es tu cumpleaños?"
Reyna froze for a bit.
"Es el diecinueve de…" Reyna froze up. "I forgot my months," she said putting her hand on her mouth. "Umm… Oh, geez… "
"Don't worry," Leo grinned. "Here, I'll just say a bunch. Marzo, Mayo, Diciembre, Agosto…"
"Agosto," Reyna said. "Es el diasinueve de Agosto."
Leo clapped and Reyna grinned again.
"Cuando cumples?" She asked.
"El treinta y uno de Mayo," Leo said.
"Me lo perdì por un mes," Reyna frowned.
Leo shrugged. He mustn't be used to his birthday meaning much to anyone.
"Feliz Cumpleaños," she said anyways.
"Gracias," Leo said.
They babbled more and more. They ventured away from the subject of birthdays, into the subject of 'what have you had for supper?' which Reyna had tons of problems getting through, and they talked about the war games again which was the end of her.
She screwed up so badly trying to explain that Bobby had gotten hurt; she started laughing. She hid her face in her hands.
"Oh, I'm so bad," Reyna said shaking her head.
"Tu eres muy hermosa,y no puedo dejar de pensar en ti." Leo said softly, instead of the mocking 'yes you are' with joke she'd been expecting.
Reyna's blood froze. Maybe she wasn't that far gone when it came to language, because she knew that that meant. 'You are beautiful' -No, very beautiful- with a 'and I can't stop thinking about you' on the side.
"Gracias," she said softly since she didn't know what else her unprepared vocabulary had to offer to fill up the silence as she found something better to say. Her mind whizzed and she grasped at straws to think of something intelligent to answer.
Leo didn't seem to have expected her to understand, and he flipped a bit.
"Well, you're not that bad, you still remember tons, it's just a go-as-you-talk thing with you. Nothing a little Dora the Explorer can't fix, but seriously it's nearly midnight so Jason would kill me, time for you to stop working." He said very quickly, nearly in a panic, hopping off the principia table and heading for the doors. "Buenas noches!"
"¡Espera!," she said finally grasping her words and the control of her mouth- which was already a feeble enough thing in Latin and English.
But he was already long gone, probably back to the Argo II where the Greeks liked to camp when they visited. Now she remembered all the things that she may have said, as if a folder had been opened in her mind.
Tienes ojos muy hermosos. You have beautiful eyes.
Eres muy lindo. You are so cute
Me encanta hablar contigo. I love talking to you.
Me Encantas. You amaze me.
Gods damn her inarticulate fluency.
I'd like to thank Anon, umminuno101, The Queen of AWKWARD27, Floatfoot and Lemariz for reviewing and letting me know that I'd made a mistake in Spanish somewhere in the text, or that the language was too formal. Thank you very much!