Hydra? Like the Monster?

Percy’s expression morphed into one of relief. I mean- if they said no, he'd probably sit down anyway. It's not like they could do anything about it. His nerves were acting up because people hating him on his first day didn't sound appealing. People are bound to hate him at some point though; they usually do.

He plopped down and brought out his lunch, not paying attention to the other occupants of the table. Percy didn't want to bother them too much, no offense to their little gang, but they weren't really his crowd. The tension was so thick, that nobody wanted to say the first word. As he picked up his apple and was about to take a bite out of it, the boy that wasn't Patrick-Pretzel cleared his throat.

"So- your name is Percy right?" The boy didn't seem like a threat in the slightest, just a little awkward and tense. Maybe that's why he was friends with the other boy.

Percy nodded before realizing he should probably say something else, just to make this a little less uncomfortable. "Yeah, what's uh, what's your name?" He winced. Nice one, way to make this conversation less awkward.

"Oh! I'm Ned. Scary girl is MJ-"

The girl, MJ, cut him off with a glare before saying, "But you will be calling me Michelle. No MJ privileges yet dude."

Percy nodded to indicate that he understood, although he truly didn't. It's just a nickname. He'd never bar anyone from calling him Percy- although he would- and has- ban people from calling him Perseus. Nobody called him that unless they planned on having a tasty Demigod for dinner.

Ned continued as if he didn't just get cut off. "-And you've already met Peter here. Boom, introductions out of the way." So that was what the kid's name was- Peter. It wasn't by any means difficult to remember, the green-eyed boy just wasn't paying attention when Peter introduced himself earlier, something he noticed he was doing a lot recently. Well, a lot more than he usually did.

"Cool, cool, it's nice to meet you guys. Uh- I really appreciate you letting me sit here," Percy said, looking directly at Peter. "I would've had to sit by myself or something if you didn't, and that's pretty dam embarrassing." He mentally laughed at himself.

It took Peter a second to realize he was who the boy was talking to, but he recovered quickly. "Yeah- yeah, no problem man!"

MJ suddenly stopped eating her yogurt and pointed her spoon at him, swallowing before opening her mouth to say something. "You were the kid at the St. Louis Arch, weren't you?" She phrased it like a question, but they both knew the answer to that.

"Holy shit- he is!" Ned exclaimed, throwing his arms out and nearly spilling milk everywhere. He would've if Peter hadn't immediately snapped his head over and grabbed the carton before any damage could be done.

Percy eyed the carton warily and opened his mouth to reply. He didn't get a word out before a boy suddenly walked over and leaned on the table. The boy was wearing a burgundy button-up with his sleeves rolled up, and all of him screamed douchebag rich boy. He also happened to have a shit-eating grin on his face, something Percy would've shrugged off if it didn't look so- devious.

"Knock it off, would you? Some of us are trying to eat in peace." The boy said.

MJ looked pissed. Granted, she also looked pissed earlier but he was starting to realize that that might be her normal resting face. Percy, ever the detective, gathered that they didn't like the mystery boy that much.

"Why don't you knock it off Flash." She taunted, emphasizing the name. Hades, if Flash was the kid's actual name, he was going to laugh so hard. How much would you have to hate your kid to name it Flash? Granted, his name was Perseus, but it had a touching story behind it, okay?

Flash's nostrils flared and he stopped leaning on the table, suddenly standing up and crossing his arms. Percy would've laughed at how angry he looked if he wasn't looking directly at him.

"C'mon, you really hanging out with Penis Parker and his weird ass friends?" Ned seemed like he was about to protest, but Peter put his hand on his shoulder as if to say don't, leave it be.

Percy gave Flash a dead stare, there was no way he just called someone a penis unironically. "That's a dumbass nickname man, are we in like- middle school? Cuz' that really sounds like something a middle schooler would call someone who cut in front of them in the lunch line."

Peter's eyes widened as they quickly darted from him to Flash, awaiting the boy's reaction. MJ just snickered, clearly enjoying the show.

Flash's jaw tightened and he stepped forward, getting up into Percy's space. "What the hell did you just say? Do you know who I am?" No, Percy did not in fact know who he was. He just got to this school, of course he wasn't going to know anyone. Not to mention Flash sounded like some Disney antagonist. 'Do you know who I am?' What the Hades? Corny.

In return, he stood up, towering quite a few inches over the knock-off Disney character. "Nah, I don't, and I really don't wanna know. Just screw off and throw your monologues at someone else dude." Percy knew that his height advantage and his scars would make for a scary sight, so he wasn't surprised when Flash finally stood down and began to walk away. He was happy to knock the boy down a peg, he definitely needed the reality check.

Percy sighed before sitting back down and continuing to eat his food. He didn't even notice the way the trio in front of him were totally stunned. Once the boy finally noticed the awkward silence, he slowly looked up.

"Holy shit," Ned said, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. "You just stood up to Flash."

The black-haired boy waved him off. "It wasn't that hard, he wasn't even trying with his insults." Percy paused before continuing. "Is his name really Flash?"

MJ laughed. "Nah, his name's Eugene but everyone calls him Flash. Trust me, he did not get the nickname for being fast." He wanted to ask how he got it, but a vague image was appearing in his mind and he suddenly realized he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Huh, never mind," He chose his next words carefully. "He doesn't seem too fond of you," Percy said, pointedly looking at Peter.

The brunette sighed. "He just uh- thinks I've been lying about some things for a while," He then quickly adds, "Not that I have been, lying that is." The boy was fidgeting, something Percy related to all too well. He decided not to press for details, but he didn't have to anyway as Ned quickly cut in.

"He has an internship at Stark Industries." The boy wore a proud smile on his face, but Peter just looked away sheepishly.

Percy's eyes narrowed. "Stark Industries, like, Tony Stark?" He wasn't too caught up on the mortal world yet but he remembered the Hephaestus cabin throwing his name around a lot. Almost all of them idolized the man, an exception being Nyssa who would shake her head whenever he was mentioned.

"Yeah, I was a... special case." He seemed to be bracing himself for something, but Percy didn't know why.

He shrugged. "Alright, cool." The demigod went back to his food as Peter sat there stunned for what felt like the tenth time that lunch period. "You just- you believe me?"

"Yeah? Should I... not?" To him, working at a billionaire's company is cool and all, but he's still a billionaire. At the end of the day, Tony Stark has so much money that he can afford to feed thousands of families and have money left over. The man gets to live in his ivory tower and various penthouses when there are people out there wondering where their next meal will come from. Not to mention he's Iron Man. While Percy admittingly doesn't know much about the Avengers, or what they do, he is aware of the mixed opinions people have of the members. 'How could these people call themselves heroes when they also cause destruction that causes people to lose their lives?' Ouch.

To be fair, Percy has had his own fair share of destruction, also leading to casualties. He's aware that in the midst of war, people die. That's just how the world works and no amount of "Superheroes" can fix that. It's impossible to save everyone. Percy had to learn that the hard way. Maybe he does understand the Avengers more than he thought.

"Huh. I just wasn't expecting you to believe me."

After that exchange, the group descended into a more comfortable silence. Peter continued to look through his syllabuses while the other three continued to eat their lunches. After a couple more minutes, Percy was already packing his bag when the bell rang. He shot up and quickly walked out of the cafeteria, not because he didn't enjoy their company, but because he was just ready to go home. The whole Flash confrontation took the little joy he had left from the day. The boy had heard Ned trying to say something to him but didn't hear what it was as he was already gone.

Percy made his way to his 6th-period class, English. This was the moment he had been dreading from the second he had walked into the school. He hoped that his issues with ADHD and dyslexia were on his file, otherwise he'd be having a horrible time. Most of the other seniors didn't have to take an English class as they already had their required credits, so it didn't necessarily surprise him when the room was full of juniors.

A few girls were hanging around one of their desks, the group whispering and looking at everyone else. In the back left corner, a group of boys were loudly talking as if they were the only ones in the classroom. The teacher was nowhere to be found so Percy assumed he could just sit wherever he wanted. He chose the back right corner so he had a clear view of the door and could look out the window. Definitely not helping with his ADHD, but it gave him something to look at once his dyslexia started to act up.

He set his backpack down and sat down at the desk. The boy put his hand under the seat for only a split second before touching something sticky. The face that was made was not vogue-worthy.

Eventually, the rest of the class filled in the seats around him. All of them except for the one next to him. Great. Percy assumed that word got around of him being the St. Louis Arch kid, which was something he would've much rather kept a secret. You become a wanted terrorist once and suddenly that's all you're known for? That's dumb.

The teacher walked in and the class became eerily silent. "Hello, class! As most of you may know, my name's Ms. Brewer but you can call me-" She paused mid-sentence and wrote something on the board. "-Ms. B." The woman turned around and gave a warm smile, scanning the room. "I see a lot of familiar faces, but a couple new ones as well," Her gaze landed on Percy and he knew she was just talking about him. "So I'm looking forward to getting to know you all."

As she was about to start class, the door suddenly slammed open. Percy flinched and everybody's head snapped over to see who it was.

Peter.

"Mr. Parker, I'm glad you decided to join us. However, next time I prefer you do it quietly. And before the bell rings." Ms. B said with the same smile on her face.

"Ah- I'm sorry Ms. B, I got a bit caught up. Y'know people crowding the hallways trying to figure out where their next class is." Peter huffed out, clearly embarrassed from all the eyes on him.

"You may sit wherever you like." She replied.

Peter's eyes looked around, trying to find an empty seat before landing on Percy and the one next to him. The boy significantly brightened before he made his way past the rows of desks to get to the seat. As he sat down, Ms. B started to talk.

"I know that you've all probably got around 100 syllabuses today so I'll make this brief." She took a stack of papers off her desk and began to pass them out. "I trust you all to go over the syllabus and give it to me by the end of the week. There's nothing too special on there, at least nothing that you haven't heard already from your other teachers."

She handed out the last paper and made her way back to the whiteboard. "I know it's the first day and you'll all hate me for this, but I do have a mini-project I'd like to assign." The whole class sighed, except for Percy who full-on slammed his face onto his desk.

Here he was thinking this lady seemed nice and boom, project. At least the rest of the teachers had the courtesy to just drone on about their expectations for the school year. First days are meant for painful icebreakers and figuring out who's in your classes, not torturous projects.

"Now, now, this project isn't as bad as you're thinking. You'll be working with somebody else-" Kids started looking at each other and already planning on who they were going to work with. "And I'll be assigning partners." Way to crush dreams.

Percy didn't quite mind having to work with other people. Peter on the other hand did not look happy. Admittingly, Percy glanced over to the other boy when Ms. B announced they were working with partners, hoping that Peter would be fine with working with him. The brunette's leg was jumping up and down, he was fidgeting and kept glancing toward the door. Sure, projects suck but they didn't ever cause Percy to look that nervous. Something else had to be going on. He didn't care though, it wasn't any of his business.

"Alright, first up we have Liz and Cindy..." Percy was looking out the window, waiting for her to call his name when he saw it. A Cyclops. Normally, he would come up with some dumb excuse so he could sneak out and take care of it. This time, he wasn't so sure what to do. Sure, he could leave but then he'd miss the explanation of the project and he really couldn't afford to get in trouble. Then again, the Cyclops didn't seem to be bothering anyone, maybe he could just leave it be? If he saw it attack then he would-

"...And finally Percy and Peter." What? Oh, right the project.

He looked back over at the other boy and saw his eyes widen. They made eye contact so Percy offered a small nod, the brunette then looked relieved. Huh. Weird.

"This is a simple project just so you can get to know your peers and I can get to know you." She then picked up another stack of papers and began to pass them out. "You will be interviewing your partner and getting to know them over the next few weeks. By the end, you'll write an essay," She paused and looked at Percy. "Or make a slideshow about them."

He inwardly sighed, apparently, she actually did bother to read his profile.

"Now, the contents of your project can include anything from their favorite color to their fondest memory. Anything about them is fine as long as you don't say anything negative." Ms. B paused by a group of boys' desks. "And do not, I repeat, do not write your partner's project for them. I will know, I always do." The boys all deflated, apparently that was their plan.

"I'll give these last few minutes of class to you to get started. I do expect you to be able to work on this outside of school but if you have any questions or issues then feel free to talk to me after class." Ms. B sat down and then everyone got up to find their partners.

Since Percy's partner was coincidentally sitting right next to him, he just turned his desk to face him. "So, how do you want to do this?" Percy started, not really knowing what to do.

The paper in front of him would have been helpful if he were able to get past the first paragraph.

Peter nervously wrung his hands as he seemed to be thinking something over. "I uh- if you're cool with it we could go to my internship after school to work on the project?

"Your internship?" Percy's eyebrows furrowed. "Wouldn't you y'know, have to do work there? Won't that be a distraction to everyone else?" He wasn't complaining, he definitely didn't want to bring Peter back to his apartment when other demigods have lately been using it as a sanctuary to go to when they get attacked. It would've been kind of awkward to explain why a bunch of kids kept showing up all scraped and cut up.

"No, no, it's perfectly fine. Mr. Stark lets me hang around even when I'm not working, he won't mind me working with you." The boy says nonchalantly.

This confused the demigod even more. "Wait- you personally know Tony Stark? I thought you just interned in the building. I didn't realize you worked with him." It seemed odd that Peter was a billionaire's personal intern but Percy was no Flash, he believed him.

Peter's face went red as if he just realized what he just said. "Yeah, you can see why not a lot of people believe me." He said sheepishly, once again starting to fidget.

"Cool. Let's just get started." Peter seemed thankful for the topic change as he got out a notebook to start writing stuff down. Percy pulled out his Valdez 2000 and hit record, it was easier this way so he could try and copy down the information when he got home. The younger boy seemed to notice this, but he didn't mention it.

The two got to know each other and Percy found out that Peter's favorite color was red, he was on the school's decathlon team (not that he knew what that was), he was a huge Star Wars nut, and his favorite superhero was Spider-man.

Percy had to agree.

In return, he told him about how his favorite color was blue and how he and his mom always try and make their food blue when the opportunity shows itself. He didn't however tell Peter about the reason why. He's just met the kid, there's no way he was going to expose him to his childhood like that. Percy was talking about his little sister, Estelle, when the bell rang.

"Hey, can I get your phone number so we can talk about the project?" Peter had asked, already packed up and halfway out of his seat.

Percy shrugged. "Sure." He gave Peter his phone number and the boy texted him to confirm his number.

Unknown Number: hey its peter :)

Percy: sup

Peter waved at him as he left the classroom and Percy began to pack his bag up. He was the last one in the classroom so he began to hurry.

"There's no rush hun, I wanted to talk to you about something before you left anyway." Ms. B said.

Percy's head snapped up to look at her. She was sat down at her desk, typing away on her school-issued laptop. Ms. B was a brunette and had curly hair. Her outfit seemed normal for a high-school teacher if not just a tad bit rumpled. Probably from the hassle that is teenagers. He threw his backpack over his shoulder and stood up.

"Uh- yes, ma'am? Is there a problem?" His hand tightened over his backpack strap. There was no way he did anything wrong, it was his first day. He made his way over to her desk, dread filling his entire being.

"No- no. Of course not." She wiped her hands on her pencil skirt before turning in her chair to face him, her legs crossed. "I just wanted to go over some expectations and some things I saw on your file."

Ah. Right.

He nodded to signal her to go on, and suddenly he felt a lot more nervous.

"I noticed it said you have ADHD and dyslexia, is that right?" She asked, not unkindly. He nodded once more. "If you ever need, you can stay after class and I'll give you a rundown of the assignment."

Well, that was surprising. Percy hadn't ever had a teacher offer to help him like that. He was always marked off as the "lost cause", they thought there wasn't any reason to help him, and he'd get expelled before the month even ended. Fair assumption, he usually did, but it still hurt.

Taking his silence as a cue to go on, Ms. B kept talking. "Of course, you can ask Peter if you need any help. The boy's exceptionally smart, and I'm sure he won't mind."

Percy gave her a genuine smile. "Thanks, I mean it. Like- I really appreciate it." She then relaxed, as if relieved he didn't pummel him into the ground for offering to help. "I might just take you up on that Ms. B."

"Of course, I'm glad to help. I'll write you a pass so you can go to your next class without getting written up."

He took the pass and headed to his next class.

The rest of the day flew by incredibly quick. Percy had MJ in his psychology class and Ned was in his gym class. Unfortunately, Peter was only in his English class. It's not that it's a total issue, he just wanted more time to talk to the smaller boy about their project.

The final bell rang and Percy made his way out to the front of the school. His phone buzzed, indicating he had a new message.

Peter: hey im waiting by the right hand side of the building lol

Percy: aye aye captain

He looked up from his phone and turned toward where Peter said he was. Looking through the sea of kids excitedly chatting about their first day, he saw Peter standing near a large tree. Shoving his phone back into his sweatpants pocket, he started walking toward him. Before he even got within 5 feet of him, Peter whipped around. Almost like he sensed Percy walking up. Percy furrowed his brows but brushed it off. He was probably trying to look around and see where he was.

"Hey! Our ride should be here soon." The boy said with a smile. "I uh- just a warning, I did tell Mr. Stark not to be so- flashy." Percy had no clue what that was supposed to mean.

Five seconds later he definitely did know what he meant.

Pulling up to the front of the school was a Gods dam (haha dam) limousine. Clearly, Peter saw his jaw drop as he quickly started to explain.

"Mr. Stark really likes to spend his money." Percy could've sworn he also said something along the lines of, "...And apparently embarrass me."

Peter started walking toward the limo and Percy saw no other choice but to follow him.