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"Alright kid, what do you say we get out of here and grab some food and energy drinks?" Tony asked his mentee.
"And if somebody takes a photo of you?" Peter looked at his mentor, always ready to prevent one of the smartest minds on the planet from making a dumb mistake. Who would've thought?
Tony Stark was still a hot topic in the media as it was only recently announced that he somehow survived the final snap. If anyone spotted him, countless questions would be asked to the man. It was best to just steer clear of the public, at least for now.
Tony looked at Peter in disbelief, putting a shocked look on his face and placing his good hand on his heart as if he was offended. "Wow kid, you sure seem excited to go out with me for the first time in.." Tony looked at his watch for dramatic effect. "6, nearly 7 years.
"Well when you put it like that.." Peter put his hand behind his neck and sheepishly grinned. But 6 years was a lot of time. 5 of those years they spent apart due to Peter practically being dead, and one year was spent hoping Tony would awake from his coma, while half a year had passed waiting on Tony's recovery once he did wake. The man was told to be careful, but by the time he woke from is coma, his injuries had been greatly improved, thanks to the Wakandan's advanced technology. The man might not even be standing there if it weren't for the help of Princess Shuri and other Wakandans.
Tony chuckled at Peter's awkwardness. "No worries kid, cause I made this," Tony said as he held up a small device, looking like a pencil.
The man hit a button on the pen, and his face turned into that of a man that Peter didn't even know. "Woah." Tony hit another button, and Peter could see the face of his mentor once again.
"That is amazing Mr Stark! I can't believe we didn't think of this before! Hav-"
"Alright kid, I'm going to stop you right there. No rambling. God knows how many times I've already dealt with it before. As much as I love you kid, we gotta get going if we want to finish by 9am. So are you ready?"
Peter shook his head. "Yup."
As the duo exited the labs and headed towards the elevator, Peter spoke up, "Er, Mr. Stark, aren't you going to activate the device?"
Tony smiled. "Take a look my reflection, kid" he said as he looked at a reflective piece of metal. When Peter looked at the piece, he noticed that Tony's reflection was not his own, but that of the unknown man that the pen had turned him into before. This technology was so interesting, Peter had to find out how it worked later.
Perking up as he remembered a convenience store that the duo had once gone to before with a large variety of food and drinks, Peter asked, "Can we go to that one store in Manhattan with those huge drink fridges?"
"Sure, kid" Tony replied, as if the answer was ever going to be anything else.
--
"Mom, we're home," Percy announced as he and Tyson walked into the apartment. Tyson had been staying with the two for a but of time now, after his mom insisted that he stay with them. Percy was a bit annoyed as he always had to look out for Tyson, but deep down he cared about the boy and truly did want to protect him from bullies, since he knows the feeling of being bullied all to well.
It took a while for Percy to even find out that Tyson was a cyclops. Somehow, his mom had known the whole time, but Percy had initially thought the boy was just a normal kid with issues. Dam, the mist worked pretty well, even on Percy himself who could see through it.
"Mom?" Sally had not answered Percy. Usually she welcomed the two home once they arrived, but not today.
Percy and Tyson shared a look. Tyson had come to really care for Sally, as if she was his mom too. Percy acted like he hated it, but he truly was happy for his friend. He clearly didn't know anything about his parents, so maybe sharing his mom with him would help.
The two walked further into the apartment, where they spotted Sally passed out on the sofa in the living room. Percy rushed to check up on her, praying to the gods that nothing bad happened to her. "Mom!" He had already once gone through a scare where he thought he lost his mom, he couldn't let anything happen to her again.
Sally groaned, and both Percy and Tyson let out breaths that they didn't know they were even holding. Sally smiled weakly as her eyes cracked open. "Hey boys, sorry I didn't greet you today, not feeling too well." This had Percy worrying once again. His mom rarely got sick, and even when she did, it was never this bad.
"What can we do?" Tyson asked, always so caring about his pseudo mother.
"How about you go to the store and pick me up some acetaminophen. That should do the trick for me." Percy wasn't buying it. His mom clearly needed to see a doctor and maybe even get on some kind of antibiotics. However, they couldn't really afford anything more than the pain killers that Sally requested, so Percy swallowed down his thoughts.
Taking a deep breath, Percy said, "Alright. Tyson why don't you stay here and watch her while I go to the convenience store?" The boy in question didn't protest, so Percy started to his room to grab some of his saved up money. His mom told him to grab her money from her purse, but he felt better using his own money. He felt like he was really helping more than he was.
Hopefully this illness passed soon.
--
Peter and Tony arrived to the store after about 45 minutes of driving in the New York traffic. Unnecessary? Yes. Were there closer options? Yes. Was it worth it? Also yes.
Upon entering the store, Peter felt something. His senses were trying to tell him something. They weren't warning him, but they were informing him of something in the store. Weird.
Well, whatever it was wasn't dangerous, and that was all Peter cared about. He wondered what it was that his senses were informing him of, but he figured he would find out soon enough. He made sure to keep his guard up, even if whatever it was didn't seem dangerous. Could never be too careful.
Nothing that seemed weird really stuck out to Peter as he and Tony walked through the huge store to the energy drink section. They were going to be staying up pretty late for their current project, and Pepper had yelled at them multiple times in the past week about their coffee consumption. At this point they were happy to settle for any kind of alternative as long as they wouldn't be yelled at by Pepper. Technically she said no more coffee, not no more caffeine.
Their project? A teleportation device, obviously. Peter had stated how annoying it was so get place to place in New York when he wasn't Spider-Man, which had resulted in Mr. Stark's bright idea to build a teleportation device. Was that even possible?
Thankfully, it was Thursday and Peter had a half day and Friday off due to teachers institute. The two could finish their project with the help of their new energy drinks (if it was even possible), and spend the weekend doing something fun. Not that the lab wasn't fun, just that they haven't got to do anything that normal people do for fun in a long time.
"RedBull or Monster?" Tony asked.
"It's like you're asking me to choose between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. My heart says Monster but RedBull is honestly better." Peter replied as he opened the fridge filled with tons of RedBull cans.
"I have no idea who those people are kid, but I'm going to have to trust you since I've never had any of these before."
"Oh we are so watching a formula one race this weekend after we are done." Peter was surprised to see that they had the white peach RedBull flavor in stock, despite it being the middle of December. Oh well. "This one is the best flavor," he said, holding up the can to his mentor.
"I can already feel a heart attack coming on," Tony joked as Peter pulled out 3 more cans from the fridge. The boy gave him a serious look, obviously not liking it considering Tony's very real heart issues. Maybe he should leave the humor to Peter, kid's got a natural calling for cracking jokes anyways.
As the two headed towards the food section of the store to grab the most unhealthiest snacks it offered, Peter suddenly stopped and his whole face lit up as he said, "Percy!"
Tony was confused as of what was going on, but that confusion faded as he looked in the direction Peter was looking in and spotted a boy who all but ran to Peter, trapping him in a hug. "Peter!"
Tony motioned to Peter that he was going to grab some stuff while he talked to this new boy. He couldn't give two shits about the boy as long as he didn't hurt Peter, which seemed unlikely based off how they were currently hugging.
Slowly stepping back, Peter grinned at his little brother. "How have you been little bro? It's been a while."
Percy's smile widened at the nickname. "I'm pretty good.. my mom not so much though. She's really sick, which is why I'm here." Based off of Percy's tone, Peter could tell the boy was not too happy.
"Hopefully she feels better soon. Has she seen a doctor?" Based off of Percy's body language, Peter could tell right away that she hadn't. If she was as sick as it seemed, she needed to see one as soon as possible.
"She hasn't," well that confirmed Peter's thoughts. "As soon as I saw how sick she was, I had a feeling that she should go to the doctor, but we don't really have much money for her to see one." Percy looked at the ground, slightly embarrassed. On the other hand, Peter knew the feeling all to well. Growing up, his family ever only had enough money to just barely scrape by. He often felt horrible for spending money, even if it was on necessities.
Peter was lucky that now he had Mr. Stark to help out. He and May adamantly declined his money various times, but the man was stubborn. Tony had bought Peter and his Aunt a significantly better apartment than their older one, claiming that it was just him giving back for the help that Peter provided in the lab. Even so, the man gave Peter an unlimited credit card that was linked to his bank account, telling him to use it if he ever needed to.
Still, Peter stayed away from using his mentor's money, even if he was a billionaire. He had just grown up that way, humble. But thinking about all the help that Mr. Stark had provided the Parkers, maybe he could help out the Jacksons too?
"Hey," Peter said, stepping closer to his brother once more to place his hand on his back. "I know what it's like, I told you about my early life, right?" Percy nodded his head. "I think I know a way that your mom can get an exam without having to pay anything. Are you okay with that?"
Percy looked up. "Wait, really? How?"
"Just follow me," Peter said as he used his senses to guide the two to Tony.
Arriving to the back corner of the store which had many options for chips, Peter spotted his mentor.
"Hey Mr. Stark," Percy's eyes widened, but Peter washing attention to the man in front of him who turned his head so quickly it must have given him whiplash.
"Geez kid, can't be sneaking up to people with heart problems like that," Tony and Peter laughed together, as Percy's initial surprise from hearing the name faded. Oh yeah, the boy must have thought it was a person who coincidentally shared the same last name as one of the richest men in the world due to the face changing pen. Peter never really told his brother about the crazy aspects of his life. In his defense, he never really got the chance. Okay maybe he had quite a few, but telling other demigods about his normal life was hard, alright? He'll tell him later.
"Yeah, yeah," Peter rolled his eyes. "Anyways my uh-" he paused in the middle of his sentence, playing it off as a cough. What was he supposed to say? If he said brother, Tony would wonder why Peter never told him he had a brother, and would ask about why there were no files that said the two were brothers.
Luckily, Percy helped him out. "Cousin. Nice to meet you, I'm Percy Jackson, sir." Tony knew that name sounded familiar, but he didn't know what from. He'd research the kid later, he's sure. Something seemed... off about him. He didn't seem dangerous, it just seemed like he was hiding something.
Tony's attention went back to Peter as he continued his sentence. "Yes. Anyways what I was going to say was that I was wondering if you would be able to do us a favor."
"Go on,"
"So Percy's mom is really sick right now, and I was wondering if uh there was something you could do to help?" Peter's voice squeaked at the end of his sentence. He was still embarrassed to ask his mentor for help.
Thankfully, Mr. Stark smiled and replied with, "of course kid. Anything you need", Tony then pulled out a sticky note and a pen from seemingly nowhere and wrote on it. After finishing and looking it over, he handed the piece of paper to Percy. "Alright kid, bring her to this address, and say you were sent by Tony and tell the front desk person the numbers written on the bottom to confirm."
Percy was wordless. "I- Thank you so much, sir! You have no idea how much this means to me."
"It's no problem." Tony smiled, knowing he had done a good thing for this kid.
"Wait Pers, are you able to read it?" Peter asked, knowing the typical demigod dyslexia probably wouldn't help his brother if he wanted to make it to the right place.
Percy looked down at the note. "Well, not really, but Tyson will be able to help me."
"Tyson?" Peter had never heard that name before. Maybe one of Percy's friends?
"It's a long story," Percy shrugged. "Basically he lives with us now. It's complicated. We will catch up later and I'll tell you everything. I promise."
Peter hadn't noticed, but Tony was now on the other side of the aisle, continuing to look at food while he talked to his brother. He trusted the man would pick out some good snacks. Well, it was almost fair after Peter had been the one to choose the drinks. It was nice that Mr. Stark knew when to and when to not engage in a conversation. It probably helped that the man had grown into hating meeting new people.
"Well we better see each other soon, it's been months, and y'know I would like to see my little brother more now." Peter grinned and ruffled Percy's hair.
"What if we had dinner one night at my place? I'm sure my mom won't care. You can bring your aunt and she can meet my mom too."
"That would be awesome! How about 2 weeks from now at 6?" There was no way for the brothers to plan later, as they couldn't really use phones. Well, Peter had accomplished creating a phone with bronze to prevent monsters, but Percy did not have one. Maybe Peter's next little project would be making one for his brother.
"Perfect. I will let my mom know!" Percy was excited. He really wanted to talk more to his brother, considering that they did not get much time together over the summer due to his quest. He also wanted to know more about the man that Peter was with without the man being in the same building.
Peter looked back at Tony, who's face looked like it was saying I'm ready when you are. He didn't want to keep his mentor waiting for too long, so he asked, "is there anything else I could help you with? Literally anything."
Percy thought for a second, debating if he should even ask for anything else, considering Peter had just ended his worry about his mom going to the doctor. But something in Peter's soft expression as he looked as his brother told Percy that it was okay. "Do you have any drachmas by chance?" Percy reluctantly asked.
"I usually carry one with me," Peter pulled a golden coin out of his pocket, and handed it out to Percy.
"Wait," Peter was so ready to give him a drachma. Percy felt greedy. "Are you sure? 'Cause I don't really need one, I just wanted to Iris Message Annabeth. It's not that big of a deal, really."
Peter grinned. "Well now you are definitely taking this. Go talk to your girlfriend." Peter took Percy's hand and placed the coin in it. Percy looked up with a reluctant expression, still not sure about taking so much from his brother.
Wait girlfriend? "Annabeth is not my girlfriend," Percy said with a huff, "she's just my friend." Percy could never imagine Annabeth being his girlfriend. That would be insane.
"Yeah sure." Peter smiled and ruffled Percy's hair once again. Looking back at Tony who was now scanning items, Peter said, "well, I guess it's time to go, I should probably go and finish my project, and you should go get back to your mom"
"You're right," Percy wrapped his arms around his brother and squeezed tightly. "Thank you so so so much. I am so grateful for you."
"Anytime. Bye Percy, see you soon!" Peter broke the hug, starting towards Tony.
"Bye Peter! See you in 2 weeks!" And if Percy had a smile on his face until he got home, that was only for him to know.