Three-Years-Old
If you looked around Hestia's Nursery, you would think it was a happy place. You would be correct. After all, most of the kids there loved Hestia's, what with the abundance of coloured blocks, pretty crayons, and mini slides and tunnels. Most of the kids there loved it there.
Except for Jason Grace.
Jason Grace was, for lack of better words, a hella adorable toddler.
He had soft blonde hair and pouty lips (at the side of which stood a small scar). Of course, the piercing electric blue eyes were a little startling at first, but when you got used to him, you would probably smile at the sight of him in his tiny "nursery suit".
Oh yeah. And he was rich.
I'm talking mega rich. Like, wears designer clothes to a nursery kind of rich.
After hearing this, you're probably asking, "Why on Earth does this kid not love life? Life obviously loves him, right?"
Yes, it did. But the other kids didn't.
Once again, I would like to stress on the fact that Jason wore a suit to school. On casual days, he wore slacks and dress shirts. Basically, he dressed like a snob. This was probably because his father was one.
Zachary "Zeus" Grace was the CEO of Olympus Airlines, one of the most successful airlines in the world, but being rich did wonders for one's personality. (And by wonders, I mean bad things.) For one thing, he slept around a lot, which was why Jason was the son of a lady named Beryl, who was dead now. Zeus was already married to a lady named Hera, who adored Jason but hated Zeus. Both of them decided that what Jason looked like reflected on their own reputations.
Basically his reason for his dressing like a snob. (Besides, no one wanted to argue with Hera Grace if they could help it. Arguments with her tended to end in pointless catfights and not a lot of people wanted to partake in that.)
Jason's suits were custom designed by a family friend, Adelaide McLean, who went by Aphrodite in the fashion industry.
So while adults loved him, kids hated him, thinking of him as a snob. They didn't play with him, share with him, or talk to him. The only time they looked at him was when they glared, and that was when they were giving initiation to the newbies.
See him? Yeah, that's Jason Grace. He's a snob. Don't talk to him.
This usually meant that Jason would be left sitting miserably in a corner, drawing something with a stubby blue crayon or playing with a few blue blocks.
And so it was for three weeks.
Until she came.
Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano was beautiful, even for a toddler. She had long black hair, glowing dark eyes, and the regal physique of someone much older than her.
She also didn't give a crap about what other people thought.
That was why when a skinny blonde boy named Octavian pointed to Jason as if he was a cockroach, Reyna simply shook her head, disgusted, and tottered off to play with the blocks.
(She claimed to be building a war fort with only purple and black blocks. No one had the heart to tell her that there weren't enough blocks to make something as big as she wanted to.)
Jason Grace was bored. Completely and utterly bored. He didn't feel like colouring, not that his tiny blue crayon could colour very much, and building the same thing out of the same blue blocks got tiring really quickly.
He didn't want to go down the slide (it reminded him of water slides, and he hated water, unlike his cousin, Percy) or go through the tunnel (it made him feel like he was underground, which he also didn't like, unlike his other cousin, Bianca) and the only other options were drawing, blocks, and talking to other people.
He decided on blocks.
But where to get more…
Jason noticed a girl in a corner opposite to him, building a fortress of purple and black blocks.
(Personally, he thought that grey would have looked better than black, but those were already claimed by Annabeth Chase, and no one wanted to take her blocks. No one.)
He crawled over and took some blocks from the pile that she hadn't used yet, not asking because, well, no one had ever really taught him manners.
(Remember: His parents were snobs. No one talked to him. How the Hades was this kid ever going to learn manners? It's not like anyone had ever thought to teach him.)
Something prompted him to look up and suddenly he couldn't look away. The girl's eyes captivated him, holding him in an icy gaze. Her eyes moved down to look at the blocks, then back up to him.
Jason shivered.
The girl's eyes narrowed as she got up and walked away. Jason's eyes slid dejectedly over the blocks to the floor.
Alone. Again.
Just then, he felt something cold wet his hair and dribble down his neck. He shrieked (a very high-pitched shriek, almost as high as Octavian) and glared up at the girl, who was standing above him, a stern look in her eyes and a water bottle in her hands.
"Why you do that?!" Jason squawked. The girl rolled her eyes.
"You took my blocks."
"I not know they your blocks," Jason pointed out. The girl huffed.
"They are." Jason frowned.
"I know now." A pause. "What your name?"
"Reyna."
"Jason."
The two kids shook hands formally, just as they had seen their parents do when they met someone new.
"Can we be friends?" Jason asked, hopefully. Reyna nodded.
"Sure. But we need rules."
"Rules? What are rules?" Reyna scrunched up her face, trying to explain.
"They… Things you do so things not go crazy. That how Mommy say it." Jason nodded as if it made perfect sense.
"Okay. What rules?" Reyna tilted her head, thinking.
"Rule Number One: No taking my blocks without asking," Jason smiled.
"I have better rule."
"Oh, really?" Reyna raised her eyebrows.
"Yes. We share our blocks." Reyna tilted her head again, something Jason noticed she did a lot when she was thinking.
"Okay." They shook hands again.
"Friend-Builders?"
"Friend-Builders."
Toddlers -and some parents- took double takes the next day when they saw Jason Grace -the snobby kid- and Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano -the girl who hardly talked to anyone- laughing and playing together.
Aphrodite -who had come to drop off her daughter, Piper McLean- smiled as she saw the two kids.
She had a gut feeling that their fates were intertwined.
