Childhood Friends

Innocent Eyes

'Ann'beth! Look at all the fishies! Whoooaaaa!'

Percy had his face pressed right up against the glass, clutching Annabeth's hand tightly as he pointed and fawned over the fish. His eyes were practically glowing with excitement and wonder as watched the colourful fishes swim by. His parents, Poseiden and Sally, stood behind the young children, watching them proudly and talking happily with Annabeth's parents, Frederick and Athena.

'IT'S NEMO!' screeched Percy excitedly, pointing out a bright orange clownfish, whole face alight with innocent joy.

'Wow!' gasped Annabeth, following her best friend's gaze.

The two looked at eachother and green met grey, grey met green. They both had the same delighted, innocent glow to them as they merged, thoughts working together as one. They both smiled even wider, if that was even possible.

'Mommy, daddy, can we get a little fishie?' asked Percy, looking imploringly at his parent, who laughed softly.

'Maybe in a few year,' promised Sally.

'I wanna see the crocodiles now!' Annabeth exclaimed.

She and Percy skipped down to the reptile house, arm in arm, crossing feet as they giggled, oblivious to the world around them, including their parents, who were filming them. Annabeth's golden curls bounced behing her, shining in the bright sun, Percy's black, messy mop a perfect contrast. The chatted happily, laughing and smiling.

They got to the reptile house and went inside. They both gasped, looking around.

'CROC'DILES!' the children laughed, running over to the enclosure which contained the crocodiles, closely followed by their parents.

Nose squished against the glass, they goggled at the sharp fangs lining the mouths of the crocodile, eyes wide in wonder.

'It's so...'

'Cool!'

The two children gave each other toothy grins, showing off their matching gaps from where they had both lost their first teeth.

'Oh, come on Athena, why won't you look at the spider?' Frederick joked, knowing full well that his wife detested spiders.

'No!' Athena squeaked, sounding terrified.

'Well, our Annabeth is braver than you. Annabeth!'

Annabeth whipped her head round at the sound of her name, her bouncy curls whacking Percy in the face, still grinning widely.

'Do you want to hold the spider?'

''Pider?' asked Annabeth, cocking her head to one side, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

'Yes, a spider. Come over here darling.'

Annabeth shrugged, have full trust in her father. As soon as she saw the spider, her eyes grew comically wide.

'Hold out your hand,' one of the people in charge of letting people hold the animals said.

Annabeth did as she asked, looking more and more terrified as the spider was placed on her hand. Her breathing came in short gasps and she looked up at her parents for support.

'It won't hurt you,' coaxed Frederick.

'Frederick! Don't you see she is terrified?' Athena hissed.

Suddenly, Annabeth slumped sideways, eyes closed. The member of staff hurriedly picked the spider off of her as her parents ran to catch her.

'What is wrong with Ann'beth?' asked Percy, looking worried for his best friend.

Annabeth's eyes snapped open and she jumped up screaming ''PIDER!' at the top of her lungs as she did a strange dance that Percy had to giggle at slightly.

Athena quickly crouched down wrapped her daughter in a large, protective hug, stroking her golden curls. 'Shhshsh, you're okay. The spider is gone.'

Annabeth relaxed into her mother, feeling her strong arms around her. Athena gave Frederick a death glare over Annabeth's shoulder and he looked down sheepishly.

Percy walked up to his best friend, taking her hand in his and smiling at her. 'Come on Ann'beth, let's go see the sssnakes!'

Annabeth smiled and just like that, her and Percy were skipping around again. They even got to get pictures holding the snakes!

As they were leaving, they both got ice cream. A lemon flavoured one for Annabeth and a ridiculously blue one (flavoured bubblegum) which turned Percy's tongue blue. They skipped and danced out of the zoo, licking their ice cream cones happily, their innocent laughter ringing out into the air as their eyes shone.

Late that night, Percy and Annabeth laid together outside a bright blue tent. They were looking up at the stars, listening to the sound of a river crashing against rocks. Annabeth was pointing out constellations whilst Percy listened intently.

'That one there... that's Orion. And that one, that's Pegasus. And Andromeda. Oh, and that one's the one you were named after! Perseus!'

Percy grinned, looking up at his constellation before looking around at the stars again.

'What are you looking for?' asked Annabeth.

'Well, I just thought that maybe we should have our own special star.' He gave his best friend a small smile and they both turned back to the stars.

'It should be big and bright!' Percy exclaimed, sounding excited.

'How about... that one?' asked Annabeth, pointing up at the biggest, brightest one she could see.

Percy nodded and turned to his friend. They linked pinkies. It was an unspoken promise that they had come up with years ago. Friend's forever and a day.

The next morning, Sally stepped out of the tent to find her son and Annabeth curled up on the floor together underneath the rising sun. She smiled. They were cute together. Maybe, just maybe...