Theyna one shots, headcanons, etc.

On Purpose I am Going to Care About You

Thalia was annoyed. No, not annoyed, frustrated. Maybe even exasperated. Yeah, that was a better word.

She was exasperated with Reyna, of all people. It had been 2 months since the Giant War and despite multiple attempts by Thalia to get to know the praetor better, it was like Reyna went out of her way to ignore her.

Something about Reyna intrigued her in a way that most people didn't. And if Jason thought of her as a good friend, why shouldn't Thalia get to call her a friend too?

At the start Thalia didn't really notice. When Reyna excused herself from a conversation or sought out another person when Thalia was in the room with her, she let it slide. But it had come so far as to Reyna literally turning around and walking out of a room whenever she saw Thalia standing in her general area.

Well, Thalia had had enough. So she made the very brave andprobably very stupid decision to walk into Reyna's villa unannounced.

It was a bit of a comical sight; Reyna, armor and all, was sitting slumped over her kitchen counter eating a bag of purple jellybeans. She still hadn't noticed that someone was in the room with her, so Thalia spoke up.

"Any particular reason you're avoiding me?" She said as a way of announcing her arrival. Reyna's head turned fast as lightning and she stood up from the counter, coughing and thumping her chest with her hand as an un-chewed jellybean worked its way down her throat.

After it had worked its way through her system, Reyna stood up straight and glared at Thalia. "Any particular reason you are trespassing on my personal property, Lieutenant?"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "You know my name, Reyna."

"Didn't answer my question." Reyna pointrd out.

"Then answer mine first!" Thalia demanded, running a nervous hand through her hair. Why in Olympus was she nervous right now?

"I, I'm not avoiding you." Reyna said quickly.

"Uh huh." Thalia pretended to entertain the thought. "So you just so happen to remember something you have to do right as I'm walking into a room?" She raised an eyebrow in challenge.

Reyna's face hardened. "I owe you no explanations, Thalia. You seem to have forgotten that I am the one in charge here and you are only visiting."

Thalia sighed, her tone softening. "Reyna, please. Just tell me. I've gone out of my way to try to talk or engage with you, but you quite literally go out of your way to avoid any confrontation. If it's about what happened in Puerto Rico, I thought you had forgiven me." She looked into Reyna's eyes and saw something in them that she couldn't quite place.

"I already told you you're forgiven." Reyna started. "And it's not that... it's not that I don't want to know you, Thalia. I just didn't think you cared at all about me."

"What?"

Reyna swallowed. "Well, after the war, you had the Hunt back together, and your brother, and your best friends. Why you give a crap about me, I don't understand."

Thalia was genuinely confused. "You thought I... that I... you thought I'd just never talk to you again or something?"

"Look, I was saving myself from putting the effort in to know another person who didn't give a pegasus' ass about me. Nobody cares about me. I'm Reyna, the no-nonsense praetor. People care until it gets personal. And suddenly I'm just a stone statue, not capable of emotion or caring about anyone." Reyna rolled her eyes, but Thalia could tell it was more to herself than her.

Thalia had heard enough. "Shut up." She walked over to a mystified Reyna and grabbed her wrists, bringing them up to her eye level and shook them lightly.

"On purpose." She whispered, staring into Reyna's eyes. "On purpose I am going to care about you. Understand?"

Reyna slowly nodded her head, and Thalia could see the apprehension behind them, but also something that looked a little bit like hope. Thalia grinned and pulled her into a hug.

"This does mean that you will have to call me by my actual name you know. No more if that professional "Lieutenant" stuff." Thalia joked, pulling away.

Reyna stood shock still and stared at Thalia, body locked. Thalia searched her eyes. "Reyna? You ok?"

Reyna gave a tight nod and a watery chuckle, which was honestly progress because that was the first emotion driven action Thalia had ever seen coming from Reyna.

"It's just been a really long time since someone's given me a hug." Reyna spoke, looking down at the floor.

Thalia smiled again. "Well we're going to have to fix that now, aren't we?"

And they did.