broken

chapter seven

Peter POV

I stand in the living room waiting for everyone. Natasha comes out first, wearing leggings and a plain white top. It's really strange seeing her in something other than her suit. Annabeth and Percy come out together, Annabeth in denim shorts with a lavender crop top, and Percy in jeans and a "Save the Turtles" shirt. I notice Percy looking at Annabeth and smiling every so often.

"Where do you guys want to go for lunch?" Nat asks us.

"Oh! I know," I say, "There's this place called Delmar's really close to my house, they have the best sandwiches. We could get sandwiches then split up?"

"That sounds good," Annabeth says, and Percy and Nat nod.

We head downstairs and out onto the busy streets of New York. Delmar's is about a five minute walk, so we turn down Happy's offer to drive us. As we're walking, I see a few men in black suits pass us, and I notice they're staring at Percy suspiciously. We walk into Delmar's and everyone orders, and as I go up to pay, Natasha holds me back.

"Nope, my treat," she says winking at us.

We walk back out and say quick goodbyes, and Percy and I head to my house.

As we walk into the tiny apartment, I immediately feel embarrassed. Percy is awesome; he's probably used to huge mansions and stuff.

"Look, I'm sorry it's messy and small, and not that impressive.

"No, no, it's awesome! Is that the Lego death star? I used to watch those movies all the time! Me and my mo..." he trails off. It seems like a tough topic for him.

I hand him my extra skateboard. I had only recently taken up skateboarding, finding it was easier to get around and not be seen using my webs. Even though webs are fun. I grab my usual board, painted by MJ, and head out the door, followed by Percy.

We quickly walk to the skatepark. The streets are busy and we don't want to run anyone over.

When we get there, Percy quickly devours his sandwich, and jumps on the skateboard. Wow. Percy can skate. I quickly follow behind him, following him up on the ramp, grinning wildly.

Annabeth POV

I flick my wrist, and seconds later, the axe lands directly in the center of the target. I look over at Natasha for approval (Can you believe that? Me? Looking for approval?). She smiles at me and nods encouragingly. Without thinking, I hug Natasha, and she seems taken aback but quickly returns the hug.

"Sorry, I don't do that often," we say at the same time. We both laugh and I relax a little more.

"Watch this." Natasha smirks at me before grabbing two axes, closing her eyes, and throwing them, resulting in two perfect bullseyes.

"I can do that, too," I say, laughing. I do the same thing, picking up two axes, closing my eyes, and launching the axes with perfect aim. I turn to Nat and give her my famous smirk nicknamed the 'I told you so face' by Percy. Natasha hugs me, and I feel really proud.

Peter POV

I glance at my watch (that also dubs as a web shooter, courtesy of Mr. Stark) and notice we've been skrt skrtin for hours. I glance up at Percy, and see him sweating profusely.

"Hey Perce," I start, "We should probably head out. We've been here for hours." We start heading back when I see a construction sign, and unconsciously quote Drew Gooden: "Road work ahead."

"Uh, Yeah, I sure hope it does," Percy says, finishing the Vine with the perfect inflection.

We burst into laughter, when all of a sudden, something rough, almost like a paving stone or something, hits me in the back of the head. I fall and everything goes black.

Natasha POV

"That's it," I say as we walk into the living room. "I'm adopting Annabeth." I look at her and smile, when suddenly Peter bursts into the room.

"Percy's gone."