(Not) An Almost Normal Life (A Percy Jackson-Avengers Crossover)

Bonding-Time

Percy's pov:

"Oh."
I didn't know what else to say to that. I knew through my own experience that 'my condolences' didn't help the case. Although it would be sincere- I really liked Tony Stark, too, and I didn't even know him in person. But still, Peter's statement confused me. "Didn't you just have an internship?," I asked carefully, even though I knew that should've dropped the topic.

"I was a higher intern- or am- and sometimes other interns and I joined his seminars or were allowed to join him in his special laboratories. That's always been the best part of the internship."

"Oh, I get it." I stroked his back awkwardly. "I know that 'I'm sorry' doesn't help, but... I really am sorry for that."

Peter looked at me with damp eyes. The pain in them was almost as great as the one I was feeling that moment. On one side, it really hurt to see a good friend suffer like that. On the other side, when I looked into his young, pain-filled eyes, I saw those of countless demigods that had lost their friends, siblings or even their love.
Or I saw the young halfbloods, that didn't know what was going to happen to them, when they were determined to save the godly buttocks of our immortal family.

And I saw the pain of Piper and Jason- I thought of Leo. Another young hero who sacrificed his life to save everyone else'.

"Thanks," Peter smiled weakly.

I returned the gesture. "We don't know what happened yet, but I'm sure that when we'll get to that part of the war, we will be sad, but we'll be even more grateful for who Tony Stark was and for all he's done for humanity. The biggest honor we can give him now, is the global recognition he's deserved since the battle of New York. He was a hero and he died a hero, I'm sure about that."

I didn't know if my rambling was helpful, but Peter didn't look angry or something.

"But, to actually find out what happened, we have to go back to class. And personally, I'm curious about what happened. We have to honor Iron Man's last battle!"

Peter nodded slightly, his gaze distant. "Think so...," he almost whispered.

"Okay, but one last thing: How did you break your table like that?"

His head yanked back so abruptly I feared he'd get a whiplash. "What?"

"There is a fist-big hole in your table! What the hell happened?!"

"I- what? No clue."

I looked at him suspiciously. "Hmm."

Peter wiped his nose on his sleeve and sniffed a last time. "Are we going now? I really gotta get out of this stench."

I nodded, and together we exited the boys' restroom.

But, dudes! The restroom smelled perfectly fine- not terrible like the usual public toilets! And my sense of smell wasn't bad. What was he talking about?

What was up with this boy?

~~~~

Peter's pov:

Oh man, I couldn't allow myself another outburst of emotions like that. I had to learn how to control my feelings, but especially after Beck that seemed to be impossible.

I'd had many fights, wounds and powerful enemies, but none of these took as much of a toll on me as Beck did. I wasn't sure how much time I would need until I could trust people again, but Percy, oddly enough, was an exception- although of all people, his background was suspicious.

He just had this trustworthy aura- even though Beck had had that as well. From now on, I'd be even more careful. The information I had already given to Percy had to be enough for now- until I could trust him more.

But after London, my spidey sense was extremely strengthened and able to warn me of dangerous people. Next to MJ one of the few positive sides of the trip.

And I didn't have a bad feeling about Percy.

Sitting in Mr. Smilling's lesson was pure torture. I knew what happened. We just talked about Wakanda today, but still: Familiar names brought up painful memories.

Natasha's name. She'd died. In the story we talked about today, everything sounded cool; she was the badass ninja who could destroy everything and everyone, even without superpowers. But she had died and that affected all of the Avengers very much.

Recently, I'd really gotten to know Scarlet Witch, Wanda, and it felt good to talk to someone close to my age. She was only 21 years old and knew how I was feeling. She'd lost her parents, her brother, her love and couldn't even say goodbye to her sister -Natasha.

Wanda missed Nat and often cried on my shoulder. And loosing Vision had broken her.

And every time someone mentioned Vision's name in class, I had to think of Wanda's pain and the nice android, who'd fought alongside me on the airport in Berlin.

Wanda was mentioned- she was broken.

Bucky's name was mentioned- his best and oldest friend was isolated from nearly everyone but him, and he watched how his friend was getting closer and closer to death.

Steve's name was mentioned- I've always been a huge fan, and he was dying. I could hear his last words to me, the ones he'd spoken at Mr. Stark's funeral with a sad smile on his face, ringing in my head. You really meant a lot to him. He had started a family and he was fine, but he couldn't forget you. He couldn't give up- because of you.

When someone mentioned Rhodes's name, I thought of his best friend. Staring into emptiness with a half burned face.
We won, Mr. Stark, we won!

It hurt so much to know that he would never look at me with this annoyed but affectionate expression again.

It felt great when I could finally run out of the class room, and, impolitely, fled from Percy straight to Ned and MJ. I would apologize for that later, but at this moment I just had to talk to my closest friends.

In the cafeteria, I spotted MJ's curls almost immediately and sprinted to her. When she saw me coming, she looked irritated, but still returned the hug when I fell into her arms. "What is it?"

I breathed deeply. "Our new topic in history is the Infinity War. It's just too much."

She hugged me even tighter and I gratefully leaned into her touch. MJ knew that she didn't have to talk and I was so grateful for her, and that she was simply supporting me quietly.

"Thanks," I murmured when we slightly loosened our tight hold on each other.

"What for?"

"For being such an amazing girlfriend. Thank you."

MJ broke our embrace until she only held my shoulders. "Oh Peter," she smiled and gave me a very quick kiss on the lips. As short as it was, the spiders in my stomach still went crazy and I couldn't help but smile back.

But the moment passed quickly, once we were painfully reminded of the fact that we still were in the public school cafeteria, although it hadn't felt like it.

"Eehrm, as much as I want you two to be happy, you know that I don't feel comfortable with you being all lovey-dovey."

I blushed crimson red, whereas MJ was glaring at Ned, but sat down on a chair and waved at Percy, who was entering the cafeteria right at this moment. Once he reached us, he looked at me worriedly for a split second, but the only thing he said was: "Hey MJ, hi Ned, what's up?"

After exchanging "hellos",MJ buried her nose in a book and Ned, Percy and I started a discussion about Star Wars.

It felt normal. It felt good.

This evening, I would visit the Avengers headquarter once again, after going on patrouille, and meet Wanda. I would probably also talk to Morgan, if Pepper is there, too. The little girl was really cute and so much like her father.

Everything seemed so normal. Not weirder than usual, at least. I couldn't help but enjoy the silence as long as it lasted.