Work Text:
A month. It took a very shameful month for Peter to learn anything real about him. Well, okay, Percy had kind of purposely made that so. He didn't want Peter to end up on the wrong side of a monster attack again. The empousa that had the teen pinned to a tree wasn't entirely bad, but what unnerved Percy was that he knew Peter saw her for what she was. Also, Peter's reaction to her charmspeak just wasn't natural.
So, Percy had tried clearing Peter away from any form of demigod business.
They had begun to hang out regularly after the official meeting at Central Park, because Peter had voiced his irritation that all his friends were leaving him and, well, Percy was in the city for the summer. Until classes started up at New Rome, he was pretty much free. And! With no more quests to go on, since he finished his final letter of recommendation easily.
And during that time, Percy watched as Peter began to connect the pieces of the puzzle that was Percy's life. Seeing the teenage girl at the park flicker into a dryad, the pigeon barrage fade into a griffin in the sky only to viciously snap back to a flock. He even started commenting on how there were 'way too many one-eyed folk in the alleys now'.
Doesn't make it any less sad that Peter only figured everything out after a month of this stuff popping up more frequently. And it wasn't even a conclusion he made himself!
They were hanging out at the Tower, because apparently that's where Peter spends most of his days and Percy's not going to say no to an indoor pool and free takeout regularly. The very pool they were at now, Percy scowling as he shoved another haphazard bite of pizza into his mouth.
"I'm really sorry about Mr. Stark, he's not normally this grouchy." Peter said from the edge of the pool, staring at Percy who was floating on his back in the water. Clothes still on.
And, well, Percy knew why Stark didn't like him. And it wasn't even that! Stark was a good guy, it seemed, and Percy was the one to start the argument. Something in the billionaire's air rubbed his skin wrong in a way that could only be described as Godly Presence.
It was really only a matter of time before Percy said just the right thing to get Stark to wave his metal arm tell him to 'leave his line of sight this instance.' Which was when Peter had walked in and separated them.
"It wasn't his fault, I don't handle authority well." Percy dismissed, another bite to the pizza gone. "B'sides, we're meant to not really like each other."
Wrong thing to say, fuck was that the wrong thing to say. He practically felt all his half-assed explanations drain as Peter's eyes lock on him. Narrowed, calculating like a predator waiting for their prey to take off running. He'd never admit it, but Percy was pretty certain that Peter would kick his ass if they had a fight, which is weird considering Percy feels like he could win against Jason.
And that man's a horror show when he's pissed!
"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter all but growled. His hands went from gripping the edge of the pool to instead settle on his lap, a habit Percy noticed he did whenever he thought he'd break whatever was in his grasp.
It was then that Percy really grasped what he'd accidentally implied. "Oh- shit, no! I don't think the man's classist." He set his half-eaten pizza slice back into the box and took the advantage of having two free hands to haul himself up onto the ledge, sitting beside his friend instead of being looked down upon. Never give Spider-Man the height advantage. At risk of sounding absolutely mental, "I'm talking about him being a God."
Thankfully, Peter didn't immediately start accusing Percy of being crazy – perks of having actual Gods as friends – but he did just stare. And stare. And stare...
"Tony's not a God?" Peter finally said. His frustrations were draining quickly, and Percy felt less like taking a dive out of the windows and hoping Zeus didn't figure now was the perfect time to zap him out of the sky.
"No, no, I'm pretty sure he is." After putting up with so much bullshit, you start to develop a radar for it. "He's got this, like, vibe around him–"
"Arrogance?"
"–and I'm like 60% sure I saw him bleeding ichor after getting cut by his suit–"
"What is ichor, again?"
"–and he naturally pisses me off by being in the same room as me which only happens around Gods."
"I'm sorry, you've been around Gods before?"
Percy cleared his throat when he realized Peter was having a one-sided conversation with his reasoning. "Ichor is blood of the Gods. You know, golden and thicker." He had no way to describe it without giving the Gods an ego boost and he'd really rather not, so his hands were left gesturing awkwardly.
The explanation must have pulled something out of the crevice of Peter's brain because he went wordless. Hand patting behind him until he found his phone, he quickly unlocked it and opened up the easy access app he'd made for KAREN.
"KAREN," Peter activated her like an Alexa. The AI did not like that comparison when Percy first voiced it. "Show me visual logs of Mission Special Ace." The app did just that, handfuls of different pictures and footage that Percy was only able to catch glimpses of. "After the Rewind, boarding the ship."
The media scrolled past the screen viciously until landed on a specific group. Peter clicked on it and selected a specific video. The audio was junky but Percy didn't need to hear what was going on, he could see it. They were all in space, and by all, Percy means all. Every Avenger, every hero that Annabeth had caught him up to date on. But the footage focused on a limp body, Tony Stark's body specifically.
Missing an arm and spilling ichor onto the ground at an alarming rate.
"No one.. None of us knew what happened with him." Peter said, tilting his screen so the demigod could see it better. "Thor was quiet about the whole thing but we figured it was just because he finally got his brother back and couldn't think of the words. Stark made a full recovery, so we just said it was an alien disease or something and moved on."
A wince slipped between Percy's teeth as he sucked in a large breath. "Oh.. Oh yeah no.." He said, almost apologetically. "That's ichor." His hand landed on Peter's shoulder, like an anchor to this world. He'd seen the young hero get quiet and dazed when faced with life changing information – when the information didn't hurt anyone.
His efforts weren't appreciated, apparently, as Peter whirled on Percy and jabbed an accusatory finger into his chest. "How do you know about this stuff?!"
Seems like he wasn't going to just take Percy's word for this and run along.
"Well, uh." There goes all the walls he built up to keep Peter away. Because once the teen wants to know something, he will know it. It'd be safer with Percy's guidance. "Let's.. Get away from the water. Don't want you falling in."
After a minor argument, Percy was able to convince Peter they should go up to his room so Percy could explain. Which found Peter sitting on his bed and Percy sitting on a chair a good distance away.
"So.." Percy drawled.
"So." Peter matched. His eyes were narrowed, like they'd been since Percy first let anything slip.
"You know how sometimes Gods have children with humans?" A nod. "And how those children go off to be hunted by basically any bad thing to ever exist, including monsters?" Another nod. "And how sometimes these demigod children are born with powers and abilities given to them by their Godly parent?"
Percy added a little extra flair by pulling the moisture out of his clothes and hair, gathering it into one spot on his upturned palm in Peter's direction. So hanging out with Nico and Will made him a bit more dramatic, sue him!
While he expected Peter to be caught off guard, he didn't expect the full shriek and jump up of surprise. "Njord?! You're Njord's son?!" A pause as he waited for an answer, arms extended.
Distantly, the name rung a bell and Percy had to stop himself from laughing. "No! By the Gods, no, never!" He tilted his hand and dropped the water into Peter's, actually laughing at the gasp that earned. "Poseidon's son, actually."
"Poseidon exists? Why didn't Thor and Loki tell me!"
"Probably to protect you, once you realize the Greek monsters exist, it's pretty dam hard not to see them everywhere." A slight chuckle at his own inside joke that typically would earn him an exasperated look. Not today, though.
Percy watched as Peter's eyes widened slowly, glints of recognition sparking in them. He settled back down on the bed, one hand fisted in the sheets started tapping, recounting every particularly odd thing that happened in his already odd life.
Thankfully, the rest of Peter's reaction was relatively normal. If Percy were to describe it to anyone else, they'd freak out. But his friend had norse Gods for uncles, and a witch who can twist reality as his aunt. Oh, and apparently a God as a legal father. Wait..
Peter had just opened his mouth to probably ask more questions, but Percy beat him to it. "Holy shit, are you a demigod?"
That made the brunette pause, jaw slowly shutting before opening again, and ending with his lips pursed together. Peter placed his elbows on his knees, resting his head on his thumbs now that his fingers took on a hooked L shape. "We'll get back to that in a second," He decided. His brows were furrowed as he frowned. "Tell me everything else— starting with why I couldn't see them head-on and why I don't hear anyone talking about the monsters."
At his friend's request, Percy launched into an explanation everything he could think of. The Mist and how it worked, a few locations of important Greek and Roman architecture, a very brief summary of the two wars — Peter's choice to keep them brief after he saw the clouded look in Percy's eyes — both Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood, and finally–
"The hostage situation was you kicking Ares' ass?!" Peter exclaimed through breathless giggles after Percy had done a summary of all his 'terrorist charges'.
Viciously nodding, Percy couldn't help but laugh too. "At 12! He still fucks with my weapons sometimes, he's so petty over it." His head turned to the window and he cupped a hand around his mouth. "Make sure your favourite son knows I called him that!" Outside, thunder rumbled through the cloudless sky in response to his yelling.
The reaction actually made Peter frown. Funny in concept, sure, but actively defying Gods like that was dangerous. He went to ask how Percy survived for so long, but the demigod fanned his hand dismissively.
"Anyways, enough of my godly pains in the ass." Percy huffed, leaning backward in the chair with his arms perched behind his head and crossing his ankles as he stretched. "Now that you know Stark is a God, what are you gonna do?"
"Oh, easy. Never tell him." The snort that earned made Peter think he made the right choice on that. He laid down on his bed almost completely, his legs still dangling off the edge. They both relaxed in the silence — the only noise being the squeak of the chair Percy was sitting on as he swayed back and forth — until Percy lurched forwards again.
At Peter's noise of confusion, Percy turned his attention to the brunette. "Stark is legally your father." Peter nodded, not sitting up to look at his friend head on. "Does that make you legally a demigod?" Well, that made Peter shoot up.