Is Anybody on the Same Page?
They were twenty minutes into interviewing each other when suddenly Percy noticed the other boy tense up. Peter was rambling animatedly about Star Wars when his jaw stiffened, his eyebrows furrowed, and he tilted his head toward the ceiling. The black-haired boy raised his eyebrows. Something was bothering him. There wasn't anything noticeably wrong in the room, Percy couldn't hear or see anything that could've set him off, so he determined it was most likely a personal matter. Maybe he forgot to load the dishwasher and realized he would get murdered when he got home. Or maybe he has homework that he forgot about. Unlikely, since it is the first day of the school year, and no teacher could be that cruel. Except for Ms. B, seeing as she's the reason they're working on this project. That woman will be in Percy's nightmares, no matter how nice she is about his dyslexia or how his classmates perceive her.
Percy cleared his throat as a few seconds passed without Peter moving. "Dude, are you alright?" The brunette's eyes seem to suddenly hyperfocus on Percy's face, before he shakes his head, seeming to have snapped out of it.
"Yeah, yeah. Just- thought I heard something, y'know?" Peter began to fiddle with his Spider-Man pencil. "It was probably just someone in the hallway."
Percy nodded, accepting the answer despite him not having heard anything at all. His senses were heightened from the constant flight or fight mentality most demigods displayed; he should've heard whatever Peter heard. However, he wasn't going to push about it. Him not hearing something was not impossible, nor was it the end of the world.
(But it very well could be. Not hearing something in a fight could mean one more demigod he'd have to bury. One more family he'd have to break the news to. One more friend that'll never see adulthood.)
"Hey, ever play twenty questions?" Peter suddenly asked. The two were making some progress, but it was getting tiring having to come up with things about themselves that were interesting. That weren't life-threatening secrets. Percy had a lot of those.
Percy propped his chin on his hand and leaned into a more comfortable position. "Can't say I have," he said, leaving out the part where the reason he hasn't is because he never had the time to. Saying, 'Hey guys, seeing as we're going to be stuck on this ship for a while, we should play twenty questions!' while on the Argo as potential death was looming over them seemed a bit dumb. "I know the premise, though."
The other boy clapped his hands together a bit too enthusiastically. "We should do that instead of-" He waved his hands carelessly. "-Whatever this is."
Percy shrugged. It's not like twenty questions would kill him. Unless he was playing it with, like, a pissed-off Typhon or something. Or Zeus. Zeus wouldn't hesitate to smite him if he said an answer that was laced with even the tiniest amount of sarcasm.
He opened his mouth to reply when he suddenly heard a sound. Peter jumped, his head immediately snapping to the ceiling. Percy looked up too, trying to determine where the noise came from when he heard it again. It sounded almost as if someone was-
-in the vents?
He looked back down at Peter, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to tell from the other's expression if this was a regular occurrence or something he should be genuinely concerned about. Judging from the horror on the boy's expression, this was probably normal.
Or maybe it wasn't, and they're about to get murdered.
"Is there- someone in the vents?" Percy asked, wondering if he should get Riptide ready. To mortals, it looks like a baseball bat, so hopefully that would be enough to scare someone off. Although, being asked why he had a baseball bat in his pocket isn't something he'd like to tackle today.
Peter panickedly looked over to Percy before saying, "No- it's- probably a rat problem or something," He looked like he wanted to sink into the floor and disappear, something Percy could relate to on a personal level. "I'll uh- tell Mr. Stark about it."
Huh. That's one big rat.
Then again, they were in New York, big rats weren't uncommon.
Peter stood up abruptly and walked out of the room, leaving Percy with the big rat in the vents and their backpacks. He didn't bother going after the other boy, he'd get lost immediately if he tried to navigate through the labyrinth that was the Avengers tower. He wasn't good with labyrinths.
Instead, he grabbed Peter's cheap discarded pencil and began to fiddle with it. After a bit of fidgeting, he decided he couldn't stay still any longer, his ADHD wouldn't allow it. Percy stood up and glanced around the room. What harm would there be in a little bit of snooping? Ignore the fact that there could be a lot of harm.
The demigod put down the pencil and started to walk around the room, swinging his arms as he did so. He took note of the haphazardly erased whiteboard, clearly someone was in a hurry. It was most likely Peter; the boy did mention at some point that he was working in here yesterday. Tearing his eyes from the whiteboard, something else caught his eye.
In the corner, a cupboard was semi-closed, and something was sticking out of it.
Something- red.
Percy glanced back to the door, there was no indication of Peter coming back anytime soon. He also spared a glance at the ceiling. There weren't any holes in the vents that he could see, so it was unlikely that the giant rat was watching him.
He crept over to the cupboard and slowly opened it.
Holy Hera.
It was Spider-Man's suit.
Percy inhaled harshly. This could mean one of three options.
- This means nothing. Spider-Man just left his suit in here for some reason.
- Peter was working on something for Spider-Man personally, the kid seemed smart, and it was plausible.
- Peter was Spider-Man.
At first, the third option seemed almost entirely impossible.
But then Percy got to thinking. Something he only does on occasion.
It would explain Peter's fast reflexes when he caught the milk Ned nearly spilled. It would explain his sensitivity to sound, enhanced senses. The boy seemed scrawny at first glance, but Percy could tell he had a bit of muscle, despite him trying to hide it with a hoodie. Him being close to the Avengers? Duh. He is an Avenger. The internship? It was probably a coverup.
Percy wasn't actually dumb, despite what others believed. He could pick up on the smaller details. (except for when it had to do with romance.)
But this?
This has been blaring so clearly into his face all day as if he was a colorblind bull having a red flag waved at him.
Hesitantly, he reached out to touch the fabric. Picking it up carefully, he noticed something was under it. Looking closer, he realized that it was blueprints. Although he had no clue what they were supposed to be for, he could recognize Peter's messy handwriting labeling certain parts.
If he was Annabeth, he probably would've realized this the second he met the other boy.
Then, something dawned on him.
Peter was an Avenger. The Avengers knew who Percy was now. They probably looked at his files by now. If they decide to look into him more or even worse, interrogate him, who knows what they'd find. While it was tempting to get out of there immediately, that'd most likely set off tons of red flags for them.
But he wasn't about to let his demigod life interfere with his mortal life anymore. He already had so much taken away from him purely because of who his father was, he wasn't going to let the Avengers get in his way of graduating. Without reason, they couldn't do anything to him. All he had to do was act as innocent as possible.
And maybe lead them on a wild goose chase.
After all, he wasn't dubbed Persassy for nothing.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he somehow heard the almost silent footsteps of someone approaching the room. Hastily he put the suit back into the cupboard and ran back to the table.
He was just sitting back down as Peter's head poked through the door.
"Sorry about that man, just ah- was telling Mr. Stark about the rat." Man, Peter was a terrible liar.
As the boy crossed the room to his stool, Percy faced an internal dilemma. Should he try and subtly hint to Peter that he knew his identity? What if he did, but he was horribly wrong? That'd be embarrassing. What if Peter freaked out and tried to murder Percy and dump his body into a dumpster? Alright, maybe that was a little dramatic but still.
Peter sat back down across from him and went to grab his pencil, only to realize it wasn't even there.
"Oh- sorry." Percy flicked the pencil over to Peter. "I was just usin' it." He said, going back to the position he was in before Peter left.
Peter caught it but not without raising his eyebrows. "You don't have anything to write on in front of you?" It was half a question and half a statement.
Percy looked down at his side of the table to see that there was, in fact, nothing to write on. "Peter, P-man- no, that sounds weird- there are many different uses to a pencil." Way to go, that definitely sounded natural.
And not at all weird.
Peter ignored being called P-man and shook his head. He looked down at the paper in front of him and began to read over his notes.
"Anyway, twenty questions?"
________
Peter was going to murder somebody, and he means that in an endearing nice way. Clearly, someone was in the vents and he knew exactly who it was.
Clint.
The man probably got a call from Tony telling him to come here so he could embarrass him with the others.
The second Peter walks out of the room, he breaks out into a jog to the kitchen where he last saw the other Avengers. Leaving Percy in there semi-unattended was not a good idea, but he doubted the other boy would pull anything while he was gone.
Finally, he peered around the corner to see Steve and Clint in the kitchen. Tony, Nat, and Bucky were nowhere in sight.
He was going to barge in but seeing as they were in the midst of a conversation, he decided to stay back. His super hearing was great for eavesdropping.
"I'm telling you, from what I heard, nothing seemed off about the kid," Clint leaned back on the counter, taking a sip from the Hawkeye-themed mug he was holding. "They really were just working on a project."
Steve sighed and crossed his arms. "There has to be something that we're missing," Whatever they were talking about, Peter wasn't liking it. "This is probably just Tony being Tony, paranoid as always,"
That was something Peter furrowed his eyebrows at. Mr. Stark wasn't- that paranoid. In fact, he was typically very chill about things that weren't chill. Like, at all.
"Should we just- ask Perseus about it?" Clint said, putting down his mug as he began to massage his temples. "We're the Avengers. I'm sure the kid will tell us what he wants with Peter immediately."
Wait.
Did they think that something was going on between him and Percy?
Now that he thought about it, he might've sounded a bit too excited at the prospect of bringing Percy to the tower while he was on the phone with Mr. Stark. That might've been where this stemmed from, not to mention him dragging Percy off to a private room.
Oh my god.
This was probably the most embarrassing day of his life.
Look, Percy was attractive, Peter knew that. While he did find himself staring at the other boy's sharp features a little too hard sometimes, he didn't particularly like him like that.
Not as much as he liked a certain someone.
This was a conversation that needed to end before Peter found himself wanting to die more than he does right now.
He waltzed into the room as if he wasn't listening to them a few seconds prior. Their heads snapped over to Peter as they watched him approach. Steve gave Clint a nod and the two turned to face him.
Steve gave him a warm smile before speaking. "Hey Pete, how's your project turning out?" He didn't find it amusing that they were acting so nonchalant.
His eyes stayed focused on Clint. "Were you- in the vents again?" Sure, he was close with these people, but it didn't stop him from admiring them. Peter still got red in the face whenever one of them even did so much as to compliment him.
It wasn't even a question that needed to be answered because they both knew he was.
Clint had the audacity to look a bit sheepish. "We just had a few questions about your friend, Perseus-"
He cut him off. "He prefers Percy." Peter then realized he was doing nothing to dispel their assumptions.
Both of them stared at him for a second before the man continued. "Right. We have some questions about your friend Percy." He said, emphasizing the nickname. "Nothing bad, just wanted to know who exactly is in the tower right now."
"He is a civilian after all." Steve inputted.
Peter sighed as he realized there was virtually no way out of this. The most he could do was to answer their questions to the best of his ability. Resigned, he gave them a small nod.
______
Steve watched as Peter sat down at the kitchen island. He didn't like what was happening one bit. The boy was clearly uncomfortable, and it wouldn't do any good to grill him with questions right off the bat.
The second Clint had arrived, Tony sent him to spy on the teens. It wasn't hard for anyone to figure out which lab they were in, it was the one Peter used all the time. Not good.
The likeliness of Perseus- Percy- stumbling upon something he shouldn't see is too high for his liking. Especially if he was affiliated with Hydra.
Steve decided to start simple. "How did you two meet?"
"I was his tour guide. He transferred to my school this year." Peter said, nervously fidgeting in his seat.
Percy only transferring this year seemed like a red flag. Typically, people move during freshman or sophomore year to not disrupt their kids' social lives. What if he showed up just to get to Peter? Was this his plan? Or was Steve just being overprotective like Tony?
Steve pursed his lips and thought about his next question. "Do you-" He paused. "Do you know about what he's done?" This was a tricky one. If Peter didn't know, would it be best not to tell him? As much as he hates the idea, they could use Peter to find out more about Percy. The kid not knowing would make it easier for him to act natural, although he'd figure out what was happening rather quickly. Steve's got to give it to him, he's smart.
If Peter did know...
Then why bring Perseus to the tower? To bring him to the attention of the Avengers? This entire ordeal left Steve with more questions than answers, there was a lot more to this than they originally thought.
Peter shrugged. "Well- yeah. Everybody knows about the whole kidnapping-arch-thing," The brunette licked his lips. "Everybody at school figured out who he was by third period. Nothing really gets past them, y'know? Especially the journalism kids-" Steve zoned out as he started to ramble nervously.
Clint, who Steve forgot was there, cleared his throat to get Peter's attention. He stopped his chattering, expression sheepish. "Peter. If you knew then why'd you bring him?"
Peter tilted his head. "Well, he lacked criminal responsibility, right? He was cleared."
"He blew up a school bus with a cannon."
"Okay? Their fault for bringing a bunch of kids around a real cannon. Of course something was going to go wrong." Peter replied, crossing his arms.
As true as that might be, he still did it. Not to mention the shark tank. A one-time incident could be excusable, but multiple? It'd have to be one hell of a coincidence that all this happened to one kid by accident. There was something more sinister going on here.
Both Steve and Clint were put off by Peter's sudden attitude, he was never like this. There'd be no reason for him to be this defensive over a boy he had just met earlier that day.
Was Perseus somehow... manipulating him?
Making him think he was a friend?
Steve didn't like jumping to conclusions, but it seemed pretty obvious. All of the pieces lined up. The black-haired teenager could've paid off the teacher to get them to do a project.
"Getting to know each other" could just be an excuse to get into the tower and make Peter think he's secure.
The two men exchanged worried glances before dismissing Peter.
"I'm going to talk to Stark." Was all Clint said before hurriedly walking off.
They were going to shut Perseus down, no matter what it took.