Life is a Journey (a theyna fanfic)

Pancakes

Reyna is chewing on broken glass. The comforting taste of iron reminds her she's alive and she's left with the monodrone of waning sleep as her company, smiling with broken teeth and listening to the hum of someone long, long gone.

Thalia's laughter comes fluttering into her ears and Reyna scarcely has a warning of the bed shifting before the sudden weight of bones and paper skin crashes on top of her. Thalia's still a mess of black and white, angles too sharp and lines too thin, but she's alive and Reyna can drink in the sharp pine scent all she wishes without the fear of losing it at the moment. She's never felt more grateful in her life.

A starry sky of dots on a white night sky greet her as the warm breath comes over her face. Thalia grins, showing off razors and blades sharpened for the kill and Reyna bares hers back, letting the morning sun turn her skin a polished bronze.

"Someone's happy," her voice sounds choked and broken and she's never felt happier to hear it that way. Thalia laughs, it's such a gentle thing in comparison with the girl who wields it.

"I'm just... I'm happy to be away from it all, you know?" Thalia presses her face into Reyna's shoulder, resting there and bringing a hand up to play with the loose strands of Reyna's hair. Reyna makes a quiet noise of understanding but is followed by an almost harsh tone of pain when Thalia shifts and jams her elbow into her unprotected stomach.

"Thalia!" Reyna squeaks and Thalia laughs apologetically, carefully moving away back to her half of the bed, immediately Reyna misses the warmth, shifting to try and get her back, but it's too late and Thalia's beginning to sit up in the bed. Reyna grumbles in protest.

"Calm your butt, Clingy," is Thalia's sharp reply, but Reyna has little care for the words when Thalia's smiling like the last few months never even happened. Her chest thuds loud enough that she's sure that Thalia can hear it.

"I'm not the one who was on top of me the entire night," Reyna mumbles in protest and smiles when she receives a pillow to the face.

"Shut up, Reyna." Thalia's face is a shade of pink that Reyna associates with peaches and cotton candy. She doesn't fight the grin on her face.

"What was that about you being cold?"

"I said shut up!" Thalia whacks her again and Reyna raises her hands up in defence.

"Alright, alright!" Her chest feels heavy, not with a restrained scream, but instead from barely controlled laughter. It feels good, not to hide for once. Thalia grins self satisfactorily and stands, stretching her arms wide. Reyna pretends not to notice when her shirt rides up her stomach a bit.

"So," Thalia claps as if she's about to begin a cheer, "do we finally get to ski today?!" Thalia had of course been asking that question since they arrived and despite being cooped up in the mountains for a little over a week now they'd yet to actually adventure away from the cozy Cabin. Whether that was because they were all extremely tired and jet-lagged, or out of sheer laziness, was anybody's guess.

As it turns out, however, a week without wifi and the only sources of entertainment being each other and a stack of board games Percy had found in a closet, things were bound to become chaotic. Reyna answers Thalia with a noncommittal shrug and stands to pop her back. Thalia pouts at her and Reyna simply smirks in response.