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The sun was shining, a cool breeze blew through the air, but what mattered the most was Annabeth's hand in his.
Percy couldn’t have been happier that spring break was finally here. Classes had been killing him, but now he and Annabeth were perfectly content strolling through Washington Square Park back in Manhattan. The weather outside was beautiful, and he could have stayed out there all day if it meant he wouldn’t have to stop listening to his girlfriend go on about her new plans to remodel the college library in New Rome. He still didn’t completely understand half the things she talked about, but as long as it kept a smile on her face and the brightness in her eyes when she comes up with something new to add, it didn’t matter.
They didn’t have long before dinner with Sally, Percy’s mom, but Percy wasn’t rushing. He was keeping an eye on the time, but he knew when it came to it, Annabeth would be able to tell them when to get going. He wanted to enjoy his break, and as he squeezed her hand and in return Annabeth leaned closer to him as they both walked together, he knew he would.
“What do you think about a fountain?” Annabeth asked and Percy tilted his head, his eyebrows furrowing in thought.
“A fountain in front of a library? Would that be safe for the books?”
“As long as we keep you away, I think they should be fine.” She chuckled, pushing a loose strand of her honey blonde hair behind her ear.
“Okay,” Annabeth cleared her throat and held both of her hands out in front of her like she was showing him her own mental picture. “So, I’ve been thinking we should keep the aspect of the original Roman architecture, but to modernize it. Obviously. Not too much, but in more subtle ways. Like adding glass to the open walls. It would still give the impression of the traditional styled building, but it would help protect the inside from weathering.”
“Right,” Percy nodded along.
“The library would be one step closer to actually being able to get furnished, instead of it just being an empty homage to the original campers that built it.” Then she pursed her lips as she paused. “Still, the tricky part would be getting the air conditioning and heating systems inside without destroying the integrity.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Percy smiled before pressing a kiss into her hair. “I know you can.”
“Of course I can,” she agreed.
For a couple of minutes, they went back to walking in a comfortable silence. The wind rustled the trees and the sound of people chatting around them made the air of the park welcoming. It wasn’t until Annabeth paused in her tracks, a soft exclamation falling from her lips, that Percy looked up to see what -- or who -- had grabbed her interest.
“Who drew that?”
It wasn’t hard to miss now that she had given a clue as to what she was looking at. Just a couple feet in front of them, sat three teens around their age on a blanket on the grass, leaning comfortably against a tree overlooking the center area of the park. On the blanket, next to a girl with light brown skin and curly brunette hair, was a large pad of paper with a charcoal sketch of the Washington Square Park House and the people and fountain in front of it from a perspective view.
“That’s actually really good.”
“Well, you aren’t the only talented person,” Percy shrugs, chuckling at the soft glare Annabeth sent in his direction.
“No, I mean architecturally wise. Even from her angle, she got the proportions right. Look, I think I can even see measurements. Did she eyeball those?”
“You can see all that from here?” Percy asked even though the answer seemed obvious, squinting his eyes to get a better look. “Huh,”
Glancing over at Annabeth, Percy saw a look familiar. One he’s seen so much, he knew there was only going to be one outcome, even if at the moment, it looked like Annabeth was in the middle of careful deliberation. To help, Percy made the decision for her.
“Let’s go talk to her then.”
Annabeth gave him a smile full of admiration before she grabbed his hand again, this time pulling Percy in the direction of the teens.
Before they reached their destination, Percy took the couple seconds they had to look at the other people there. There were two boys. The one on the far right had black hair and was leaning over a LEGO set. The boy next to him, at first glance, was also putting together the LEGOs, but the more Percy examined, the boy with the brown hair was more just finding pieces and handing them to his friend when he needed them. Percy could tell that his focus was more on the girl, watching with a lazy smile as she reached into her backpack for a pencil sharpener. She wasn’t paying attention to him, but he sure was to her.
Spring break was something Peter had been looking forward to, just like any other kid that went to school. Him and Ned had made plans for nearly every day back when summer had started. And when Michelle had become part of their friend group, while it took a little convincing, it wasn’t hard to fit her in.
Washington Square Park got busier the warmer it got, and that’s why they were there at the beginning of the season. It was a chill hangout. Not necessarily full of chatter and laughing, but they were bonding nonetheless. Ned had brought the new LEGO set he and Ned had been saving up to buy together, and MJ brought her art supplies. While they were doing their own separate things, it was one of the best experiences Peter had ever had.
As much as Peter wouldn’t like to admit, he had done less building and more watching. He knew Ned noticed his lack of participation, but didn’t say anything, thankfully. While MJ had been drawing, lost in her own little world of concentration, Peter found himself spending most of his time glancing over at the girl. It was the only time Michelle wouldn’t immediately catch him, and Peter would rather not turn into a tomato around her.
“Hey Pete, give me one of the long grey ones,” Ned spoke, capturing his attention.
“Uh, sixteen or eighteen?”
“Sixteen.”
“Got it.” Peter reached into the pile on the blanket and rummaged through until he found the piece he was looking for. He handed it to Ned across the base they were building, and he snapped it into place.
Peter was the first to hear the footsteps coming up behind them. Whether it was because of his super hearing or because his attention was divided, he didn’t know, but when he turned his head, he saw two people heading in their direction.
They were both teenagers, maybe a little older than him. One was a girl who to his surprise, was making a beeline for what looked like MJ. The other, a boy who the girl was pulling along, had startling green eyes as well as a smile on his face as he kept up with her in long strides. What stood out the most of the two of them however, was that the both of them looked like they had lived through events they shouldn’t have had too. It wasn’t obvious, but Peter could see the similarities from when he looks at himself in the mirror. The distant look masked in their eyes by their current emotion that holds in memories they probably wouldn’t want to relive, the small amount of barely noticeable premature worry lines around their lips and on their foreheads. And unless the light was playing tricks on his eyes, Peter could have sworn he saw faded strips of their hair. Just one each. Like the color had been leached and was now growing out.
Peter would have thought that people like him, people like these two strangers approaching them, they shouldn’t have had to live through life endangering events. But then again, this world wasn’t fair, with superheroes and attacks on New York more often than not. It was Vulture for him. While he didn’t know what the two of them had been through, he knew there were too many clues for them not to have a past. And their lean and toned muscle only added to his theory.
Peter narrowed his eyes a little suspiciously, but he relaxed his face when he couldn’t sense any immediate threat from the strangers. Maybe he was just wrong, and they were just two kids on their spring break like him and his friends.
It didn’t take long for Percy to realize the boy with the brown hair had heard them coming, his eyes -- a deep chocolate color -- were trying to pick apart his and Annabeth’s characters. For a moment, Percy did the same, but he didn’t get long to study him before they were within earshot of the trio on the ground. His eyes met the boys and he couldn’t help but to think there was something familiar in them. Like something told him they had more in common than he might think. He would have to ask Annabeth later. She was bound to know more. She always did.
“Hi,” Annabeth greeted, careful not to let her excitement and interest come on too strong. The girl turned her head at the sound of the new voice. So did the boy with the LEGOs. The other already had his attention on them. This time, his expression was less calculating and more cheerfully optimistic. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I couldn’t help but notice your drawing. It’s nearly perfect. Are you interested in design?”
“Oh.” The girl said, a sound of surprise, as her friends sat in shocked silence, watching. “Art actually. My dad works in construction though. I’ve picked up a few things.”
“Do you mind?” Annabeth asked, reaching to the bag on her side and pulling out a small notebook and a pencil.
“Um, why not?” Annabeth smiled and took a seat next to the girl.
Percy could sense the confusion rolling off the two boys, so he turned to them. “Sorry about my girlfriend,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. “It’s rare she finds anyone she can actually talk to about her interests. So she might keep yours busy for a while.”
The boy with brown hair’s eyes instantly widened, and Percy watched the blood rush to his face as he shook his head in protest. “No-no, she’s not my girlfriend! I mean, we’re just friends.” Percy tilted his head and glanced over at Annabeth, who had looked up. The both of them shared a look that basically said the same thing: okay.
“Sorry,” He apologized as Annabeth turned back to the other girl. He caught a glimpse of the boy's friend and saw he was holding in laughter. If he had to guess, everyone knew about what looked like the crush he had on the girl but the kid himself. “I’m Percy.” He held his hand out to shake, but his gaze drifted down to the LEGO set instead. “Okay, so what are we building?” He dropped his hand and plopped down on the grass, his legs crossed underneath him.
“Oh! Well I’m Peter, this is Ned,” the other boy waved, “and that’s Michelle.”
“And this baby is going to be an Imperial Star Destroyer!” Ned grinned.
Peter couldn’t help but to chuckle out loud when he saw Percy sit down and invite himself into their group. It honestly didn’t feel like him and his girlfriend Annabeth were intruding. And it was definitely a plus that he didn’t find the LEGOs childish. MJ did, or she said she did, as did most people at school.
“Nice!” he exclaimed, carefully pulling the instructions in front of him. “I love Star Wars.” Then he gestured to the LEGOs. “If you don’t mind,”
“Nah man,” Peter watched Ned shrug before glancing at him for an okay, which he already gave. Percy and Annabeth seemed interesting to say the least. Besides, making new friends was always welcome in Peter’s book.
“I used to build LEGOs all the time,” Percy began. “Just putting them together and taking them apart again? Kept my hands busy.” Peter nodded along. “There’s not much room in my dorm for them now, though.”
“You’re in college?” He asked.
“Yeah,” Percy answered. “In Cali. Haven’t stopped working since last September though, Annabeth wanted to make sure we got into the same one with full scholarships.”
“Wow.”
It was a pleasant surprise, Percy and Annabeth showing up. Their plans were a little altered, but it didn’t really matter. As MJ and Annabeth talked about architecture and design, Percy, Peter, and Ned built the Star Destroyer as they told small details about themselves. It was probably the easiest conversation Peter had ever had with someone around his age. Peter didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that it felt like Percy was purposely avoiding some questions, but he couldn’t blame him because Peter was doing the same thing. Or maybe Percy just wasn’t the best at talking to other people, despite the air of cool he seemed to have surrounding him. The funny thing was, no matter which thing it was, they were both bad at it.
“It says it goes here, doesn’t it?”
“The piece still isn’t fitting?” Ned peered over the instructions, glancing between the base and the pages. For the last couple of minutes, the three boys had been trying to figure out what step they had done wrong, because the piece they were supposed to add on wasn’t fitting even though they were sure it was the right one. They even went back a few steps, taking the LEGO apart, but getting nowhere to no avail.
“It’s been ten minutes,” Annabeth's voice captured all of their attention. “It obviously doesn’t go there, Seaweed Brain.” She glanced at where Percy had his tongue poking out in concentration as he tried to force the piece in.
“But the instructions say it does!” He countered, frowning down at the pieces in his hand.
“Seaweed Brain?” Peter asked and Annabeth just smirked.
“Long story,” Percy replied, letting out a loud sigh.
“Just let us do it,” Michelle rolled her eyes, and as if they were already perfecting in sync, her and Annabeth turned around and scooted closer.
“Gods, how do you guys work like this?” Annabeth asked rhetorically as she began sorting through the LEGO pile, creating groups. Percy was about to answer when she cut him off. “Nevermind. I don’t want to know. We’ll just find out what step you did wrong.”
“Well if we’re switching roles, I’d hate to break it to you, but my greatest artistic feat is a stick figure.” Percy said, glancing at the various pencils and charcoal materials laid out on the blanket.
“Ditto.” Both Peter and Ned agreed.
“I’m sure you boy can go entertain yourselves,” Annabeth said with a small smile. “Just don’t take too long, we need to get going soon.”
“You guys want food?” Peter offered. “I’m kinda hungry.”
“You guys planned an outing but didn’t bring any food?” Percy asked, Peter and Ned going quiet. “Understandable. I would do the same thing. Let’s go.”
On a mission to find a food vendor, the three of them picked up conversation where they left off pre-LEGO incident. Soon enough, they came across a colorful slushie truck. It wasn’t food, but there was no way they could ignore it. They would pick up a couple of ice cream bars too, of course. That counted as food, right?
“I’ll take a medium grape slushie,” Ned said at the window as Percy and Peter were taking out their money to split the pay. “What do you guys want?”
“Blue raspberry,” Peter and Percy looked up when they both answered the same thing and shared a grin.
“You guys are gross,” Ned rolled his eyes. “Two medium blue raspberry slushies, and five ice cream sandwiches please.”
“Um, grape is gross, Ned,” Peter laughed as his friend turned around from ordering.
“Exactly. Blue is supreme.” Percy held his hand up for a high five, and Peter happily reciprocated.
“Do you think MJ and Annabeth would’ve wanted slushies?” Ned asked, sighing, and making Peter and Percy pause.
“We’ll give them our sandwiches,” Peter offered, groaning as the three realized they didn’t take that fact into account.”
After paying, they started making their way back across the park to where Annabeth and Michelle were still sitting in the distance, both of them laughing as they built the Star Destroyer for more efficiently than Peter, Percy, and Ned had been. Even in the distance, it looked like they had built two times the amount from when the boys left.
“Alright,” Percy started after taking a sip of his slushie. “Favorite band.”
“Fall Out Boy.” Ned answered immediately and Peter hummed in agreement with a mouthful of slushie. “Anyone from like the early 2000s, actually.”
“I’m more of a classic rock guy,” Percy said. “AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi…”
“Who’s Bon Jovi?”
Peter blinked as Percy gasped, maybe a little more dramatically than what was necessary. “Okay,” Percy began slowly. “You gotta know Bon Jovi. Livin’ on a Prayer? Wanted Dead or Alive? It’s My Life ?”
“Sorry man,” Percy watched as Peter shook his head apologetically.
Percy was ready to sell one of his favorite bands when suddenly Peter looked up. Percy noticed Ned went silent, noticing as his friend seemed to detect something they weren’t. The casual look Peter had was long gone, and instead he looked worried. Like something bad was about to happen. If Percy’s eyes would focus in time, it would even look like the hairs on his arms were standing on edge.
“Hey, are you okay--”
“Um, I’m gonna -- I’m gonna head to the bathroom real quick, okay?” Peter said, rushing his words and handing over his slushie and the bag of ice cream to Ned, who looked ready to take it. Percy couldn’t figure out what he was missing. Peter then reached for the backpack on his back, but instead of giving it to Ned, he just clutched it in his hands as he began to take backwards steps. “Uh, I’ll meet you back!”
“Okay?” Percy said with a suspicious look before he turned to Ned. “Um, I guess we’ll meet him there?” he asked Ned as he turned back to him, getting ready to continue walking back to the girls.
What Percy wasn’t expecting was to hear a scream pierce the air, and a moment later, see Annabeth nearly running in his direction, a confused Michelle trailing after her.
“We need to go,” Annabeth commanded once she was within earshot.
Percy knew that tone of voice. There was a monster nearby. He let out a long sigh, squeezing his eyes shut. It's spring break. They opened once Ned chuckled.
“Woah! It looks like a giant seagull is stealing peoples food!”
“Um, I don’t think that’s a seagull, Ned,” Michelle said hesitantly, squinting her eyes as she tried to see in the distance.
Percy turned his head in the direction Michelle and Ned were facing, and he knew Michelle was right. He saw feathers -- it was definitely part bird -- but it was also part human. A harpy. Glancing back at Michelle, he saw Annabeth give her the same look. Wondering if Michelle could see through the Mist was a question that could wait for later. Right now, there was a harpy seemingly terrorizing people in Washington Square Park.
“Uh, you guys can go back. We’ll be right back.” Percy told Ned and Michelle, him and Annabeth already taking steps toward the fountain where people were starting to get up and run around in panic.
Percy heard Michelle ask a question, but him and Annabeth were already running, so he wasn’t exactly sure what it was.
Skidding to a stop on the pavement, the fountain to his left and Annabeth on his right, Percy could clearly see the harpy swooping down from the sky. She had muddy brown feathers, with hair to match, and the claws on her feet were a little too large for her body. She must have been really hungry to come out in a public place like this. Or she sensed a demi-god. Two, in this case. And one of them was a child of the Big Three?
Percy could see that she wasn’t very good at flying either, her wings flapping but she kept swaying to the side and barely catching herself. The cause probably being her large feet. Other than the fact that they were the same species, this harpy had nothing similar enough to remind him of Ella.
A big seagull. Percy laughed to himself as he pulled Riptide out of his pocket, uncapping the pen and feeling as his sword took weight in his hand. The Mist made the mortals see monsters as normalized as it could, but a big seagull seemed to be pushing it a little. It didn’t matter though, because the ‘seagull’ had cleared nearly everyone away, making his job easier than if there was an audience.
“Percy!” Annabeth shouted over the screeching of the harpy. “Wait until she’s about to catch herself, then blast it!”
“Got it!” He called back, already willing the water from the fountain to his command. He just needed to wait for the right moment.
“Get ready,” Annabeth muttered and Percy raised the water. “And... now -- ahhh! ”
Annabeth letting out a scream caught him off guard, and the beam of water shot into the sky. Instead, hitting a red and blue blur in the sky, knocking the figure out of the air and tumbling to the ground.
The harpy screamed, now alert of their presence. Okay, so maybe she was just hungry. Percy was distracted by what he hit -- on what scared Annabeth -- to focus on the harpy. It didn’t take long however, to see that it was one of New York’s self proclaimed superheroes. More specifically, Spider-Man.
“Percy watch out!” Annabeth called, gathering her bearings before he did. Tumbling out of the way, he dodged the harpy’s claws that were aimed right for his face as she swept right over him.
“Percy --? Woah, is that a sword?!” Percy heard Spider-Man call out, but now wasn’t the time to answer questions. Or ask some.
It had taken Peter a moment to reorient himself after getting blasted in the chest with water from what felt like a hydro pump. But when he did, the first thing he noticed -- after the weird bird lady -- was Percy and Annabeth standing a couple yards away, fierce looks in their eyes, and a bronze metal glinting in their hands.
As he jumped back up, dodging a claw, her sparing no time to attack after going after Percy, he shot two webs to the top of the fountain, slingshotting himself to perch on the top.
“Okay, I knew Fisk was up to something, but science experiments gone wrong? That’s pretty out of character if you ask me.” Peter spoke to the lady, trying his hardest to keep her attention on him instead of his friends down on the ground.
Aiming his wrist, Peter webbed her mouth shut creating a distraction that would hopefully bring her down. As per his plan, she tried screeching and grasped at her mouth with her hands. But instead of in the moment that she wouldn’t be flying that Peter was going to take to launch himself at her and bring her to the ground, another blast of water shot through the sky, nearly doing it for him.
Peter’s head quickly turned to Percy again, his hands, one still holding a sword, out in front of him. Putting two and two together, he realized that Percy was controlling the water.
“Cool,” Peter laughed, watching as when the bird-lady got low enough, Annabeth surged forward and slashed at it. Her attack was a near miss, the bird-lady kicking off the ground to launch herself backwards to avoid the strike.
This time, Peter dropped down just as she flapped her wings again. He felt a little bad, hearing a soft crunch as his feet collided with her shoulders, and he cringed. His weight pushed her back to the ground, and Peter flipped off, landing on the ground just in time to see Percy swing his sword in a large arc. His blade slashed right up her torso, and in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, the bird-lady vanished in a puff of golden-brown dust.
Peter couldn’t believe what he just witnessed. There was no body, no trace of the bird-lady at all. The pavement was wet from the water, and that brought his attention back to Percy and Annabeth, who, to his dismay, were staring right at him.
“Uh,” Peter waved. “Thank you!” He called, running to get a jump start before he shot a web toward a nearby tree to get off the ground.
He knew he couldn’t talk to the both of them, because he would give up his identity way too quickly. Especially because he was so unprepared to see the both of them with weapons in hand and fighting a bird-human hybrid in the middle of Washington Square Park. But he also knew he couldn’t go too far away. Peter Parker was supposed to be in the bathroom.
But rhen Karen alerted him that both Percy and Annabeth were hot on his tail, Peter realized that at the moment, it didn’t matter where he went. Not when they were following him. He needed to lose them first.
He wound up swinging out of the park, hoping that Ned could come up with a good excuse as to why he went missing. Hopefully blaming it on the panic. Peter tried his hardest to lose Percy and Annabeth within the nearby buildings, so he could double back and change, and with any luck, they would give up and head back as well, but they seemed to be intent on tracking him down; they ran through the crowd, light on their feet and dodging people like they were nothing. Obviously, they had experience in a chase.
Peter, beginning to panic himself, wasn’t looking where he was going. He turned into an alley, not expecting it to be a dead end, and smacked himself face first into the brick wall. He groaned in pain, peeling himself up and quickly attaching a web to the roof so he wouldn’t fall to the ground. He turned over himself, and his feet caught the web, holding it between them. Peter closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief; he wouldn’t have any broken bones today, but when he opened them he found himself face to face with Percy. Annabeth three steps behind them.
Both of them wore a look of fury, and Peter nearly dropped himself again. Percy brandished his sword in both hands, holding the blade out in a warning as he stared right into Peter’s eyes, a swirling storm in his, while Annabeth’s were a stone cold grey. She held out her own dagger, ready to attack.
Peter had had some creepy battles. The Vulture last year, Rhino could have gotten a little work done, but Percy and Annabeth? They were scary . A couple emanating power and intimidation.
“How’d you know my name?” The question was simple enough, in a tone that if Peter had his eyes closed, he could have mistaken it as casual, but having seen it leave Percy’s mouth, he knew it was a demand.
“You saw the harpy. Are you a demi-god too?” Annabeth’s voice was the same, if not scarier.
“A harpy? What?” Peter didn’t know how to answer those questions, and in result, Percy stepped closer.
“Wait!” Peter called out, seeing no other option in the moment and reaching for his mask. “Guys! Guys it’s me!” He pulled down his mask, exposing his face. “It’s Peter!”
Percy was confused for a minute. Blinking, he looked at Spider-Man across from him, his mask now off to display a face. He lowered Riptide. It was Peter. He was upside down, but it was Peter.
“Huh,” He tilted his head sideways as if that was going to help him see better. “I think I’ve seen this movie. I’m not kissing you, just so we’re clear,”
Behind him, Annabeth was still standing a little guarded. Spider-Man . He wondered how that was going to work out now.
“Huh? What? No-no.” Peter cleared his throat as he flipped himself upright, landing on his feet in front of Percy. Part of him wished he’d stayed hanging, because he felt like if Percy had wanted too, one move and he could take Peter with no problem. Especially with their height difference, Percy having a good five inches on him. Just a moment ago, he had seen a side of Percy and Annabeth he hadn’t seen until just now, and he knew for sure that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of their glares ever again. The memory already threatened to give him goosebumps.
Percy laughed, twisting to look between Peter and Annabeth. “Sorry dude,” Then he paused. “You’re Spider-Man?”
“Oh. Um, that’s me!” Peter smiled shyly, before looking at Annabeth. Percy had seemed to take the news pretty well, judging from the fact that just a minute ago he was ready to slice his throat. Annabeth on the other hand, looked a little uneasy.
“Why spider ?” She asked, spitting out the name like it was an acid.
“Well, I got bit by a radioactive one,” Peter shrugged, kicking his foot against the ground. “So I figured I should work ‘spider’ in there somewhere. A lot better than The Human Spider, at least.”
Annabeth just shuddered.
“Spiders aren’t uh… her thing .” Percy explained, and Peter sent an apologetic smile in her direction. “So you’re a superhero, huh?”
“And you’re a -- what did you say? -- demi-god?”
“Half human, half god,” Annabeth said, gulping before she sheathed her dagger. She still glanced at Peter’s suit hesitantly, but at least she wasn’t going to stab him.
“God? Like-like Thor?”
“More like Poseidon and Athena.” She corrected. “Greek deities.”
Peter smiled before a laugh broke through. “You- you mean the Greek gods are real too?” He asked, wide eyed and grinning.
“Their Roman counterparts too.” Percy continued. “Big difference. Don’t mix them up. Oh! And so are the Egyptian ones.”
“Woah!”
“Percy!”
“What? We can trust Peter! He has his own secret to keep. Right?”
“Hm?” Peter looked up at Percy and Annabeth again. “Oh! Yeah! Yeah, your secret’s safe with me!” He promised.
There was a moment of silence before Annabeth spoke again. “So you aren’t a half-blood,”
“Nope. Both my parents...well, they were human. As far as I know, I mean,”
“But you can see through the Mist.”
“The Mist?”
“A magical veil that protects mortals from seeing mythological creatures and things.” Percy clarified and Peter nodded along. “It’s a little unusual that you can see through it. You saw the harpy and attacked, after all. But it’s not impossible. Rare. A few people can see through, like my mom.”
“I do have like a sixth sense,” Peter rubbed his neck. “It kinda helps me know about bad things before they happen to me or someone else, so maybe that has something to do with it.”
“Maybe,” Annabeth said, her voice a little distant like she was drifting into thought.
“This is so cool dude!” Peter laughed. “You were water bending like in Avatar! Can Annabeth do something like that too?”
“Hey! See Wise Girl, I told you someone else would call it water bending!” Percy cleared his throat when Annabeth just narrowed her eyes. “Uh, Annabeth can’t. Her power is pretty much being the smartest and most sensible out of all of that. Trust me, that’s a real superpower.”
“And what about your sword?” At this point, Peter was just a vessel of curiosity.
“This old thing?” Percy dug the cap out from his pocket and pushed it against the point of Riptide’s blade, taking a little too much pride in watching Peter’s amazed look as it shrunk back into pen form. “Riptide is nice. Never lose her either.”
“That is sooo cool, man!” Peter exclaimed. “Wait, you’re Percy Jackson, aren’t you? The guy who was on the news a couple years ago?”
“Heh yeah, that was me.” Percy chuckled nervously. “What about you? What are your other powers?”
“I think you boys can fangirl over each other when we get back. I think I’m going to leave the excuses up to you two.” Annabeth was the one to bring them back to their senses, Percy and Peter both realising that they just left their friends back at Washington Square Park. “And we need to hurry, unless you want to tell your mom we’re going to be late. Estelle needs to stay on her schedule, so we can’t be the ones to mess it up.”
“Right.” Percy agreed, and Peter getting the hint, started to pull his mask back on. “Does Ned and Michelle know?”
“Ned does…” Peter admitted, trailing off.
“Ah,” He said in understanding. “Well, I know Spider-Man now. I don’t think I’ll let him go without finding a way to talk to him again.” Percy said with a way too obvious wink. “Come on!”
Peter grinned before pulling his mask down the rest of the way, shooting a web and following Percy and Annabeth out as they exited the alley. He turned a different way once they reached the park, hiding in the trees until he could reach the bathrooms to change again.
So Peter was right about all of his initial guesses. But instead of trouble, he found intrigue. And not only did he potentially make two new friends, but he unearthed a whole new world to learn about. Besides, he had a feeling that the story of his friendship with Percy was just beginning, and by the grin Percy had sent up to Peter, so did he.
“I swear, Peter started giving me grey hairs even faster than ageing once I found out he was Spider-Man,” May exclaimed, looking over at Sally and smiling down at the baby girl in her arms. “He’s only a kid, you know?”
“Trust me,” Sally chuckled. “Percy’s been at this since he was twelve.”
“Twelve?!”
“I know,” She shuddered, the memories...were not the best. “But he loves his life, and the people he keeps in it. There’s no way I could have told him to stop. It seems like he’s mellowing out now, though. Or, more like, people aren’t dragging him into something he doesn’t need to be in anymore.”
“Oh, you’re lucky.” May snorted. “Pete goes out in that costume at least three times a week looking for trouble. And if he gets lucky, sometimes the trouble finds him!” She sighed. “But I could never tell him to stop. He has these powers, and he loves using them to help the people who can’t defend themselves. How am I supposed to say no to that?” Sally nodded her head, completely understanding where May was coming from.
“I think one thing’s for certain,” Estelle babbled happily and Sally smiled. “At least our boy’s can take care of themselves and the people they love.”
“I agree, one hundred percent.” “Let’s just try to keep them from doing anything too stupid together.” She quickly added, her eyes widening when she turned to look at Percy and Peter through the window to see Peter shooting water out of a Super Soaker and Percy contorting it into different shapes mid-air, May quickly following her gaze.
“Agreed.”