#Jacob was supposed to be temporary but lmao | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

talltree-writes · 5 years

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New Recruit

Summary: Percy Jackson is just trying to return to normal life after the War, but when mortals start noticing things the Mist is supposed to hide, how will he keep his identity hidden? Especially with Peter Parker getting suspicious of him.

Genre: Mild angst, but it’s mostly just Percy helplessly trying to keep his identity secret

Pairing: None

Warnings: Panic Attack, language, fighting,

Word Count: 5.7k

Author’s Note: This is not canon compliant for anything post- Infinity War. I started (and finished lmao) writing this before Endgame or FFH came out. It’s also not compliant with anything post- Blood of Olympus. Also very sorry about the lack of warnings before, I’m still figuring out Tumblr formatting/etiquette.

~~~~

Percy Jackson stood in the boys' bathroom at school when he majorly fucked up. In hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have been Iris Messaging Chiron in there, but it was the one no one ever used and it was during class anyway, so he figured it was perfectly fine. Until it wasn't.

Chiron listened attentively as Percy spoke. "Yeah, so I was thinking that this weekend I could teach some of the younger kids-"

"What the-?" Percy heard a voice behind him and quickly swiped through the mist and whirled around, already drawing his pen out of his pocket. Standing there, jaw practically on the floor, was Peter Parker, one of the Honors students at Percy's school. Percy put Riptide away.

Percy gaped for a second. What was he supposed to tell him? Did he play it off like there was nothing there, or did he fess up? He'd met Peter before, knew he wouldn't tell a soul if he was asked not to. But there was still the danger of a mortal knowing about Percy's world.

Before Percy could say anything, though, Peter shook his head and turned toward the door. It was then, when the light his face at a new angle, that Percy realized that Peter Parker had been crying.

He didn't hesitate. Whether he had seen something or not, there was something going on with this kid, and he was going to do his best to help him. He'd seen too many half-bloods look like this after the wars. "Wait!" He called out. "Are you okay?"

Peter stopped and hesitated, as if he wasn't sure what to tell Percy. Then, stiffly, like his body was acting against his will, he turned around as a fresh set of tears fell from his eyes. Percy inched closer and noticed the boy's erratic breathing and shaking body. A panic attack. Percy could definitely help with that.

Peter looked like he was going to run away, but his feet seemed uncooperative. "Hey, shh, it's okay." Percy said, keeping his voice calm in an attempt to calm the panicking boy. "Let's try some breathing exercises. Why don't you try to match my breathing?" Percy suggested softly. He breathed in deep and exhaled slowly, watching Peter try to do the same. "Is it okay if I put my hand on your shoulder?" He asked. He knew from personal experience that it was better to ask first.

Peter nodded, and Percy placed a hand on his shoulder and sat with him against the wall. As soon as they sat down, Percy slid his hand across the boy's back so that his arm was around him.

They continued the breathing exercises until Peter's breath slowed down. However, it wasn't until Percy felt him pull away that he removed his arm and spoke again. "Do you want to talk about it? I know that it sometimes helps." He offered. There was a moment of silence and Percy thought he had said something stupid. Who was he to barge into this guy's life and demand to know what caused a panic attack like that? But after another shaky breath, Peter started talking.

"Do you remember last May when the aliens invaded again?" Percy didn't know there had been a first time, but then again, Peter didn't know that he had been kidnapped by a goddess with a temporary split-personality disorder, so he kept quiet. "Something happened that I really can't talk about, but since then I've had pretty back attacks because of it."

Percy couldn't help be a little suspicious. Could he not talk about it because of how scarring it was? Or had he been told not to? Was he keeping some sort of secret? He dropped it though. No use stressing him out when he had finally calmed down. He'd just have to figure that out later.

After a few more seconds, Peter seemed to come to his senses. Looking uncomfortable, he spoke again. "Thanks for helping me, uh, Percy? That's your name right?" He asked, looking up at Percy with large, brown eyes. Percy nodded. "Oh thank God, that would have been really awkward it it wasn't. It was really nice of you to help me, though, especially since you're a senior, and I'm only a sophomore, and, honestly, I get the impression that most of you wouldn't have taken the time to do that for someone, especially an underclassman. You're really good at it though. Why is that, by the way? Do you have panic attacks yourself? It's cool if you do, I mean, not cool, but it's alright. I get it, obviously. But what were you doing when I walked in? What was that-"

Percy cut him off before he could ramble anymore. "Don't mention it, dude. I get it, and it sucks. I hope the rest of your day goes better than it has so far, but I need to get to practice." He couldn't let Peter get too far into his questions, and he was definitely remembering the Iris Message from earlier.

He quickly got up, making sure not to displace the younger student too much. Grabbing his bag, he pushed open the door and made his way into the hall. As he did so, the final bell rang, and he slipped into crowd, successfully hiding from the head poking out of the boys' bathroom. He thought.

Coming up beside his mortal friend, Charlie, at their neighboring lockers, Percy busied himself with grabbing the books he needed for homework and his gym bag. He heard the locker beside him slam shut while he was in the middle of shoving his Pre-Cal textbook in his bag and he anticipated the questions he was bound to have to answer. He may or may not have asked to use the bathroom 15 minutes before his Marine Biology class was over without coming back.

"So what was that?" Percy glanced over and saw Charlie's left eyebrow raised as he stood with his arms crossed.

Percy tried to play innocent. "What was what?"

Rolling his eyes, Charlie replied. "C'mon, man, are you okay? You were gone for so long that Mrs. Pruta was worried you had gotten sick or something."

Percy had done well at hiding the details about his life. It was for the best, the fewer people who knew about his world, the better. "Nope, not sick. I just helped out an underclassman and it took a little longer than I meant to. I'll talk to her on Monday. In the meantime, did you possible get the homework for me?" He shot his friend a hopeful grin as grabbed his bag.

"One of these days, I'm just going to let you suffer." Percy's face morphed into a pout. Charlie rolled his eyes again. "Read 13.4 and do the questions at the end by Monday morning. Turn it in online."

"You're too good to me." Percy grinned again. Charlie scoffed his affirmation.

They started walking toward the locker room. In the corner of his eye, Percy saw Peter glance his way, but head in the opposite direction toward the front doors. "So, what are you doing this weekend? Jacob, Ren, and I were thinking of doing something, and you should come. It feels like forever since we've all done something." Percy grimaced internally. Since he had come back, he'd spent as much time with his mom or at camp as possible, which left little time to hang out with his friends from school.

"Sorry, Charlie, I'm going back to camp for the weekend. They still need some help putting things back together." Which was true. They were still trying to get everything picked up after the war. Since it was the school year, most of the campers had gone home, plus the two wars had depleted their numbers anyway.

Charlie pushed open the door. "They ever tell you what happened?"

Remembering what Peter had said, Percy replied, "Uh, yeah, it was that alien attack from last year. It really did a number on the camp."

"That makes sense. I mean, I thought it only affected the city, but I guess any news about the country would be drowned out by everything else. Wonder why they wouldn't tell you that in the first place, though."

Percy shrugged. "I have no idea." After that, Charlie didn't have a chance to bring it up again. His attention was whisked away by the other runners as they started talking about something or another. Percy didn't really care. He grabbed his clothes and, as discreetly as possible, sneaked into one of the stalls to change. There would be too many questions if anyone saw his scars, and Percy really didn't want to relive them anyway.

He walked back in to the slam of locker doors and the laughter of his teammates. At his locker, he threw his other clothes in before joining the wave of boys headed toward the track to start warming up.

As Coach put them through drills, Percy allowed each footstep to help him forget the sophomore who saw his Iris Message.

Peter knew there was something up with Percy. For one, he had pointedly avoided nearly all of Peter's questions, secondly, whatever he had been doing in the bathroom when he walked in was definitely not normal. Besides that, Peter really didn't have any solid evidence that Percy was... abnormal, except for his intuition that said Percy had dangerous potential.

When Percy left the bathroom, Peter kept the tall, dark head in sight even as he kept his distance. This wasn't the first time Peter had to follow someone suspicious. He hid behind a set of lockers and tried to listen in while Percy was talking to his friend, but there was too much noise around him. When he started heading toward the locker room, Peter headed to the front steps with the kids who waited for their parents to pick them up and texted Mr. Stark.

To: Mr. Stark From: Spidey gonna be late today. could you look up everything you can on percy jackson? he seems okay, but theres something weird about him

To: Spidey From: Mr. Stark Yah ill let u kno wat i find

To: Spidey From: Mr. Stark b careful

Peter smiled at the last message. The two had developed something of a friendship since the Vulture situation, and Peter was even starting to look to Tony as something of a father figure, even though he would never admit it.

He waited in front of the school for a full three hours while the team practiced. Eventually, he moved to a nearby alley to change into his suit and wait on the roof for Percy. Finally, the entire track team filed out of the doors and started heading home, and Peter quickly caught sight of him.

As Peter trailed Percy, he got a call from Mr. Stark. "Hey, Mr. Stark! Got any news for me?"

"Yeah, kid." Mr. Stark responded, "I did what you asked and pulled up everything I could on this Percy Jackson guy and he's pretty interesting. First of all, his name is Perseus. Like, who even names their kid that anymore? Second of all, there is no record of a father. Like, none. He's not listed on the kid's birth certificate, there are no pictures of his oddly hot mom with a man around the right time. There's just... nothing. Oh, and he's been kicked out of so many schools it's not even funny. He even had a near miss at Goode when he caused some sort of explosion a couple of years ago. Not to mention, his ex-step-dad has been missing for six years and he's been the feature of a manhunt. He also went missing last year for a long time but was spotted in Europe a few times Kid, I think he's bad news. Keep an eye on him, he could be a threat."

From where he was perched on the edge of a building, Peter felt his Spidey-sense go off as a woman approached Percy. From his angle, he couldn't see what the older teen's facial expression, but his whole body tensed. Suddenly the woman launched herself at Percy, skin melting away to reveal a donkey leg and a metal leg. Her hair turned to flame and her already pale skin grew even paler. She honestly looked like a bad villain.

"Hang on, Mr. Stark. There's something happening with Percy. Someone or something just attacked him. I'm going to see if I can-" Just as Peter reached his arm out to shoot a web, Percy pulled a large bronze sword from seemingly nowhere. The two below began to fight in the middle of the city sidewalk while a crowd formed around them.

Peter's vision was doing crazy things. Sometimes it seemed like the woman was a normal lady, and sometimes she was a b-movie villain. "Peter? Pete? C'mon, kid, are you alright?" Mr. Stark's voice overcame the confusion in Peter's mind.

"Huh? Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just a little confused. I'll call you back when I figure out what's going on."

Mr. Stark grunted his agreement. "Stay safe, kid." Click. The call ended and Peter turned his full attention to the duo below him. He crawled closer, clinging to a nearby building, until he could catch some of what they were saying.

Well, hissing, in the case of the woman. "I will have your blood, Perseus!"

Percy was fending her off with some effort, and through gritted teeth, said "Fat chance, Kelly! Braccas meas vescimini!" Peter had barely passed Latin, but he knew enough to know Percy had said something about pants.

Peter watched as Percy feinted right with his sword, and 'Kelly' fell for it, going to guard her left side. Meanwhile, Percy struck her right side and sliced clean through her abdomen. He watched in horror as the woman, instead of falling into two halves, she disintegrated into a golden dust that blew away in the wind.

Breathing heavy, Percy was finally able to glance around at his audience. "Shit." He muttered, bracing himself for the attacks. Instead, he was met with loud speculation.

"What was that thing?"

"Thank God he stopped it!"

"Who is he?"

"Do you think he's a new Avenger?"

"Maybe that's who Spiderman is!"

"Hey, kid, are you Spiderman?"

"No, you dumbass! Spiderman is up there!" The crowd turned to face Peter, and Percy took the opportunity to slip out and run for it. Spiderman settled the crowd as best he could before taking off after him. Maybe Percy wasn't a threat, but he certainly knew about one. Peter needed to call Mr. Stark back.

"Hey Karen?"

"Yes?" The A.I. replied.

"Call Mr. Stark back." There was a ringing in his suit and then-

"What did you find out, kid?"

As he ran across rooftops, Peter suddenly remembered that Percy was the fastest long distance runner on the team. "Only that Percy can fight and he knows about something that we don't. What do you want me to do?"

There was a moment of silence as Mr. Stark thought before he answered. "I'm looking at the footage from your suit, and I see what you mean. Bring him in. We need to talk to him, figure out what he knows, and maybe recruit him. I'll send Happy to your location to pick you two up. Oh, and I don't think I need to tell you this, but until we've made a decision about him, keep your mask on. We don't need him knowing about your identity if he's not trustworthy, especially since he goes to school with you." Another pause. "Good work, kid." He finished with a grunt.

The two hung up as Peter watched Percy check over his shoulder and slow down. As he did so, Peter slid down upside down on a web behind him. When he turned back around, Peter was right there, "Hi!" The older teen jumped back a foot.

"What the- where did you come from?" He exclaimed.

"The rooftops. Y'know, you sure were easy to sneak up on." Peter responded in an even tone. "Oh yeah, and after whatever that was that just happened, I'm going to need you to come with me. I have some friends that want to talk to you."

Percy immediately became defensive, hand edging towards his pocket, as if to pull his sword back out. "What kind of friends?" He asked, suspiciously.

"Woah, man, calm down. I'ts just some guys like you and me. They've never seen you before and they want to make sure you're on our side. Which, I mean, based on that fight, I'm pretty sure you are. But y'know, they want to check and blah, blah, blah." Peter shrugged, still upside down.

Obviously caught off guard, the look on his face told Peter that something was terribly wrong. "You saw that?"

Peter answered slowly, trying not to further panic the already nervous-looking Percy. "Yeah, everyone saw it. Didn't you hear what they were saying? They wanted to know if you were me or a new Avenger or something."

All the blood seemed to rush from Percy's face. He started muttering things; he spoke in such a low voice that Peter only caught some of it, even with his enhanced senses. "Shouldn't happen... the Mist.... something's wrong... gotta call Annabeth... have to figure out...' None of it made much sense to Peter who sighed and interrupted him.

"Listen, pal, we've got places to be. Superheroes don't like to be kept waiting."

"Superheroes?"

Peter continued to assure him. "Yeah, you know, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, those guys! They just want to talk to you and figure out what you're about."

Understanding crossed Percy's face. "Oh, those guys who got into that massive fight in Berlin a few months ago. Are you sure they're superheroes? They seemed to do more bad than good..."

"Yes I'm sure. They also happened to save New York a few times. And, y'know, the world."

Percy rolled his eyes and muttered "Haven't we all..."

Before Peter could reply, Happy pulled up in one of Mr. Stark's cars. Peter flipped down, detached from his web, and guided Percy to the car. "So Happy, the driver, is just gonna take us upstate, and then the Avengers are going to talk to you." Percy only nodded, guard up and features determined. Peter could already tell that, without a miracle, getting answers out of him would not be easy.

The car ride was especially awkward. Stilted conversation occupied the trip. With neither willing to give up too much information pertaining to their identities, talking consisted of questions and short answers.

The longer Peter sat near the guy, the more curious he became about him. There was something more to Percy, an air of both power and trauma that rolled off of him, similar to Steve or Bucky, and Peter wanted to know why . Why did he seem so powerful? Why did he know to fight like he did? Why was Percy so calm around a kid having a panic attack? Why, why, why?

After the awkward drive, the car pulled in front of the compound. Mr. Stark, Black Widow and Captain America were waiting out front. "Thanks, Happy!" Peter called as the two got out of the car. He was answered with a wave before Happy drove back to the garage.

When the trio saw them, Peter awkwardly waved, and Captain America turned to Mr. Stark, shocked. "This is the unknown we need to talk to? He's just a kid!"

"Rogers, you didn't see the footage. And it's less that is the unknown and more that he knows of the unknown. There's obviously a threat we haven't known about in the world, and he does." Natasha explained.

Percy piped up, a seemingly easy grin on his face. "I mean, I'll tell you what I can, but I'm really not supposed to tell anyone anything." If Peter hadn't been in the car with him, he wouldn't know what the smile hid. Percy was nervous. About what, Peter didn't know. Perhaps that he would say something that he didn't mean to, but maybe something else.

Mr. Stark responded, as if he wasn't expecting the kid to respond. "Uh, no. You'll tell us everything, and once you do, you can stop fighting whatever it is and let the big boys handle it."

Percy's smile grew. "We'll see." He walked forward, right between Captain America and Black Widow and entered the compound. Glancing back at the stunned trio, he asked, "So are we going to do this or...?"

Percy was terrified, and he had no idea why. Okay, maybe 'terrified' wasn't the right word. Nervous, anxious, paranoid. Maybe those fit better. And he obviously had no reason to be. He had faced monsters, gods and primordials and come out mostly okay, a conversation with so-called superheroes should be a breeze. He had made it five years without revealing his secret to mortals, he could go another 60 minutes. Sure, yes, absolutely. He could do this.

He could not do this.

He had only gotten in the car with Pete- 'Spiderman' because he needed to know how Peter Parker and all of those civilians had seen the empousa. They couldn't all be clear-sighted, which left no other option than something had happened to the Mist.

They led him to a small room, very similar to those interrogation rooms you see on T.V.. Spiderman was ordered to stay behind the glass, so Peter could assume it was double sided and he was watching from outside. None of the adults sat, so neither did he. They congregated around the table, Percy on one side, the trio on the other. The two men, Percy vaguely recalled the larger one from the detention videos they had started making him watch recently and the American history books Annabeth showed him, backed up to the corners of the room and allowed the woman to take charge.

"Have a seat." She gestured to the chairs. Neither of them sat. "Okay, let's start with the simpler stuff. What was that thing that attacked you in the street?"

Percy thought for a second about his answer. "It was a threat to me."

The woman smiled sweetly, "Listen, we're not going to get you in trouble. And we can keep secrets- we've all got them."

Percy kept his gaze level. "It was a threat to me and my friends."

The woman's face didn't change, and Percy supposed that she might have been trained in interrogation tactics. "Well, we'll come back to that. How do we fight them?"

"You don't need to. My friends and I can handle them. Besides, they're mostly only interested in us."

"What did you do to earn this attention."

Percy grit his teeth. "Nothing, we're hunted for who we are."

She tilted her head. "And who are you."

Percy's relaxed his features and forced his face into an easy grin; she was getting to him. "I'm Percy Jackson."

"Okay, then, what are-" Percy must have been really unlucky. Because for the second time that day, he got an Iris Message.

"Hey, Kelp Head! Guess what?" Thalia questioned from her place on Nico's back. Despite the situation two had just put him in, he couldn't help but smile. Thalia and the Huntresses had been M.I.A. for the last few weeks, and he was relieved to see that she was okay.

So, even though the three adults were gawking at him and his Iris Message, he played along. "Hmm, I couldn't possibly know, Pinecone Face. It wouldn't happen to be that you'll be at camp for the weekend? That couldn't possibly be it."

"It most certainly be-" she started, but Nico interrupted.

"Percy, where are you?" His face was serious, like he knew that they had just screwed up somehow.

"He's at the Avengers compound, having a little chat." The scrawnier man spoke up.

Both of his cousins looked shocked. "You're doing what?"

Panicked, Percy quickly said, "I'll tell you about it later. See you this weekend!" And ended the call. Defeated, he sank into his chair. "So, you saw that, huh?" Letting the situation sink in, Percy let his head sink down. "What do you want to know?" He muttered into the table.

"Why shouldn't we have seen that?" The one from the history books asked.

Percy responded, picking his head up from the table, but not looking up. "There's supposed to be a force that keeps mortals like you from seeing our world. You can't all be clear-sighted, which means that something is wrong with it."

He continued, "What was that misty thing?"

"That was an Iris Message. My friends and I use it to communicate."

The woman leaned forward. "Why not just use cell phones?"

"They're like a flare to monsters. They're able to find us easier than just by using our scent."

"What kind of monsters?"

Percy leveled his gaze with her's. "How much do you know about Greek mythology?"

Stepping in, the scrawny guy asked, "Like, Medusa, and stuff?"

Percy winced. "Yeah, like her 'and stuff.' Just be careful with what names you use, they hold a lot of power in my world."

The woman took back over with an annoyed glance at her smaller companion. "You said these monsters track you by your scent. What makes you smell any different than us?" She asked.

He hesitated. This is what he had been trying to avoid, but knew the questioning would inevitably lead up to. He could lie, but he had a feeling the woman would know, but that left telling the truth or not speaking at all. He could tell the latter option would get him nowhere with this group. He had a feeling he could the two guys, but probably not the woman.

Percy took a deep breath. "Because we're children of the gods." He finally said.

The scrawnier man rubbed his temples. "So you're telling me you're Thor's id? And he just never told us that he and his god friends had kids?"

Percy froze. They knew Thor? "Not exactly... I'm the child of Poseidon. You obviously know the Norse gods are real, but the Greek, Roman and Egyptian gos are also still alive. Um... is there any chance that Thor is here, right now?"

The woman narrowed her eyes. "No, why? Do you and Thor have a past?" They were obviously going on the defensive.

Percy quickly explained. "No! I've never met him! But most gods of storms don't like children of Hades or Poseidon, or their counterparts. I don't know how he feels about us. But I've never met Thor personally." He sat back in his chair and contemplated the three in front of him. "You know, you never introduced yourselves. That was quite rude of you, actually."

The men in the back balked. "You mean you've never heard of us before?" The scrawny one asked.

"I mean, I've seen big guy over there in those detention videos and my girlfriend's history books, but that's it. Spiderman said you guys were superheroes and saved the world."

"So you're telling me that you've never heard of Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, or Natasha Romanoff until now?" The woman asked evenly. She didn't blatantly show her shock, but there was a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

"We were all in Europe at the same time, and I saw some news footage of what happened in Berlin, but otherwise, no. We tend to stay out of mortal affairs, and no one watches the news where I live. Most of the time, we're training." He shrugged. "I'm guessing you're Natasha, which leaves Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Now, normally I don't soak in everything Annabeth tells me, but I do remember her telling me about the super-soldier Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, and no offense, Mr. Stark, but you don't look like a super-soldier, which leaves Beefcake over here." Percy finished with a smirk on his face. If they'd done their research, they would know what he was like in school, which would mean they wouldn't think he was very smart. Well, just because Percy couldn't write a good essay didn't mean he wasn't smart.

Stark looked mildly impressed with his correct deductions and Natasha continued her interrogation. "Well, now that we know who you are, what can you tell us about how to fight these monsters? We'd feel safer trusting some professionals than a bunch of inexperienced kids to take these things down." She smirked back, thinking that she had the upper hand.

She did not.

Percy's features suddenly took a dark turn. "I'd say you're the inexperienced ones, Romanoff. You have no idea what you're talking about.

Stark rolled his eyes. "Try fighting aliens and reversing the effects of magic stones that killed half the population."

Shooting forward in his seat, Percy banged his fists on the table and stood as he said, "Try watching your friends die as you face off against not one, but two primordial beings because you're the center of two dumb prophecies. Try walking through literal hell with your girlfriend, where around the corner are more assholes you sent there three years ago. Try living a life where at any point, a monster you killed when you were 12 could come back and attack you again. Try that on for size, dickwad. Then tell me which of us is inexperienced."

Tony Stark, and Percy supposed everyone else, went slack-jawed, but he couldn't tell because his vision had gone red. He hadn't lost all of the friends he did just to be told that he was less experienced because he was a little younger. He'd for two wars for Hera's sake! He deserved some damn recognition. "Look, I'm on you're side if that's what you're wondering, but I don't appreciate being told I'm less experienced when you have a 15 year old in high-tech spandex staring at me behind the glass." He said, frustrated.

"How did you-" Stark looked incredulous.

"It wasn't hard. His voice cracked a few times in the car, and no one's voice craks that much except a guy in the middle of puberty. I figured Peter was around 15 or 16, so that was a bit of a guess, but you confirmed. And I've known it was Peter in the suit since he started following me at the school. Peter had already been following me around and when he suddenly disappeared and a spandex-clad kid took his place, it didn't take much to put two and two together." Percy had nearly completely calmed down. The subject wasn't his past anymore, which gave him a moment to calm his temper.

Stark huffed and crossed his arms, but didn't say anything. "Okay, so you know about us, and we know a little about you, but in order for us to trust you, we're going to need some answers."

"What kind of answers?"

"Some answers about your past." Steve was all business again, past the shock of Percy's ordeals.

Percy sat back in his seat. "What do you want to know?"

"Well first of all..."

Peter had no idea what do do with this new information. He supposed it shouldn't be that shocking, especially when Thor had been visiting a week ago. But Thor was from Asgard, an alien planet. Percy was from New York.

"...And if you remember that 'natural disaster' from a few years ago around the Empire State Building, that was me and my friends trying to save Olympus from being invaded by our collective evil grandfather inhabiting our friend's body." Percy explained.

Peter couldn't see anybody but Percy's facial expression, so he could only imagine the confusion Mr. Stark's face when he said, "Wait, Olympus, as in Mount Olympus? But I thought that was in Greece?"

Percy rolled his eyes as if he had had to explain this multiple times to many people. "It was, but with the movement of the spark of Western Civilization came the movement of Olympus. So right now it's above the Empire State Building on floor 600." Percy, at this point, had kicked his feet up on the table and was fiddling with a pen from his pocket. "Oh, and, uh, the Underworld? That's in Los Angeles."

Seeing the back of Cap's head shake, Peter could only imagine the shock he was going through, but before he could say anything, Natasha interjected. "What weapon makes you so special against all of these threats?"

"Now you people are asking the real questions." Percy grinned. "There are metals called Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold that only people from our world know about. The trick with these it that mortals are unaffected by it. But on the flip side, mortal metal does nothing to monsters."

Percy was having fun with this now that all of the cards were on the table.

"Jesus Christ, kid, who are you?" Tony exclaimed.

Percy took his feet from the table and wiped the grin off his face. "I am Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and savior of the gods twice over. I've done far more shit than you could have ever imagined, and maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be able to tell you about it one day. Do you need anything else, or can I go save my mother from the heart attack she's bound to have when she comes home from work and I'm missing. Again."

Tony uncrossed his arms as Cap stepped forward. "Yeah, we've got one more question," Cap said. "Care to join the Avengers?"

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dollarstoreartspam · 7 years

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Fireworks

Lmao I tried to write a fanfic sorry it's the first time I've really done something like this??? Idk I wrote it instead of socializing at a 4th of July party ------- Ricky Pickering was 15 and just completed his first year of high school. He should, he supposed, be proud of himself. Well, he's sure he would be proud had he done any of the work himself. Which was how he found himself walking down the street, an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, that urged him to go and thank Jacob Portman. Jacob Fucking Portman. He didn't know what he was doing, it wasn't like it was new, making a loser do his homework; but something about the chubby rich kid was messing with his emotions and he didn't like it. He had reached the front stoop of a house that had no business looking as fancy as it did in a Florida suburb. He ran his fingers through his newly bleached hair nervously. He honestly wasn't sure if he liked it white, but no other colors where sticking with him. The only thing sticking to him was the undying need to thank Jacob Portman. He could still turn back. He should turn back. Instead, he lifted his fist slowly, and knocked. ---------- Ricky Pickering was in Jacob Portman’s bedroom feeling somewhat regretful of his choice to knock. “Uh... hey.” Jacob looked confused. “Th.... thanks. I guess. For making me pass 9th grade I guess. My mom made me say that. Yeah.” “You told your mom that I helped you cheat your way through freshman year?” Jacob’s confused look became more skeptical, still confused, but lined with skepticism. It seemed that Jacob always looked confused to Ricky. “Well... not exactly.” Ricky shoved his hands deeply into his pockets. Then a boom shattered through the room, shattering the awkward silence into a split second of panicked flinching. “Ugh I hate this time of year.” Ricky muttered to no one in particular. “At least the fireworks are pretty.” Jacob said, instantly ducking his head and blushing furiously, as if calling something pretty was embarrassing. “I dunno, never seen ‘em.” Ricky said offhandedly, hoping to end this conversation and head home. This comment apparently had the opposite effect, as the boy standing in front of him looked aghast. “You... you WHAT?” Jacob grabbed Ricky by the wrist and pulled him to the window. “You've never seen fireworks? That is unacceptable.” And that is how Ricky found himself sitting on Jacob Portman’s roof, converse sliding down the shingles, and head turned to the starless sky. And then the world exploded into light. Bright golden fire streaking across the sky, mixing with multicolored sparks. He was sure he looked like an idiot, with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. The sky was burning with colorful light and his ears were ringing. He vaguely heard Jacob make a comment after a particularly bright firework, about how the red ones where his favorite, and Ricky mumbled in assent. But he honestly couldn't process how someone could choose a favorite from the shower of colorful sparks raining above him. Little by little the fireworks slowed, and the shows around them came to an end. The sky became starless and the magic stopped. “You know... this doesn't make us friends, Portman.” He said on his way down the stairs, and Jacob nodded nervously. It was a week later, when he was halfway through dying his hair bright red, that Ricky realized, perhaps he did want to be friends with Jacob Portman. The asshole. ------- It was New Year's Eve, and Ricky Pickering was on Jacob Portman’s roof again. Both were pretending that they had other friends who were just too busy that night, and both pretended to believe the other. Ricky wasn't tricking himself into thinking this next year was going to be an less shitty, but it was easy to pretend, when magic was bursting across the sky and Jacob Portman was ruffling his (now dark blue) hair and wishing him a happy new year. Fireworks were still new, and loud, and bursting with temporary hope. His eyes still firmly affixed to the sky, he mumbled, ‘this doesn't make us best friends, Portman’ but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than the boy next to him. ------ It was “independence day” but Ricky wasn't feeling all too patriotic. The grass beneath him was hard and scratched at his legs through his jeans. Jacob’s parents had thrown a party and his unofficial best friend had wanted to get out of his house ASAP. The town park’s firework show was severely lacking, a mess of children and perfectly legal fireworks that were anticlimactic and ended too quickly. “Let's get out of here.” Jacob sighed in exasperation, throwing an arm over his eyes dramatically. Ricky tossed Jacob his phone, telling him to look up someplace secluded and far, and drove to the nearest gas station. Car loaded with illegal fireworks and the GPS of Jacob's unnecessarily expensive phone reading out instructions over the radio, the elder drove, and drove, and drove. They arrived at the beach at 2 AM, it was technically the 5th of July, but the two boys sat next to each other, toes in the sand, taking turns lighting cheap gas station fireworks and watching the sky light up with a 5th of July fireworks display that put the town’s show to shame. -------- Ricky’s hair was green now, it was December 31st, but the two boys were at the same beach as the year before. They had planned it out better this year, they had snacks, and Jacob’s Bluetooth speaker was blasting some terrible pop song that neither really liked. Pulling the cooler from his car to their chosen seating spot, Ricky produced two beers to an appalled looking Jacob. “That's... illegal.” “Shut the fuck up dude” Ricky snickered shoving the lukewarm alcohol into his friend’s hand. By the time midnight came it had begun to pour. The fireworks were soaked and a clearly intoxicated Jacob was pouting in the wet sand. Ricky, who was less drunk but far from sober, was reclined next him, and in a rash entire unthought out burst of adrenaline, rocketed up and shoved his lips against Jacob's. And the world burst into bright golden red light. Fireworks exploded behind Ricky’s closed eyelids and he quickly realized that Jacob was not pulling away. Stupid, emotional, obnoxiously heterosexual Jacob Portman was making out with Ricky Pickering in the pouring rain. Perhaps, he thought, they were both much more drunk than first anticipated. And almost as soon as it started, their personal firework show ended. They both slept in the car, Jacob sprawled in the back and Ricky curled up in the passenger’s side seat. When they woke up in the morning, neither talked about the night before. The ride home was silent. ----- The next Fourth of July Jacob Portman is missing. Ricky sits in his bedroom, tapping his cigarette on the ashtray next to his bed. If he squints his sleep deprived eyes, the glowing ash looks a little bit like a bright red firework. But not really. He lets the explosions boom over head, and closes his eyes. This time the world doesn't burst into golden and red tendrils of light. “God I hate this time of year.”

#lmao this is so bad #I'm on mobile so I can't cut it #long post #sorry I just really like Ricky #it sucks im sorry #mphfpc #ricky pickering #jacob portman

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