Our Heroes (mlb x pjo x avengers)

(23) What is This? Show and (Not) Tell?

[Will's POV]

Will pointedly avoided looking in Clint's direction and everyone could sense it. He continued to put on his happy facade, though. He refused to be the reason for everyone's dampened moods.

Don't be a burden, Will repeated to himself. He was already going to be a liability next to all these powerful heroes. He'd rather not affect them more than he had to. Don't be a burden.

"C'mon, Death Boy," Will said to Nico, pulling him up. Steve and the other Avengers led them to their training room.

"This is where we train," Steve announced, pulling open a door. Nico silently observed the area while Will bounced on the balls of his feet. Ladybug and Chat Noir also glanced around nervously.

Chat Noir, who Will had to remind himself not to call Adrien, bounded forward, looking at everything with the curiosity of a newborn kitten. "What now?" Chat Noir asked.

Steve stepped forward and said, "Well, how about you guys demonstrate what you can do for us."

Nico's face was unamused as he replied, "How about you show us what you can do first? Will and I already said we're behind on the times so we have no idea what any of you can do."

Steve was caught off-guard and said something intelligent like, "Oh, um, I, well." He clearly wasn't used to his ideas being rejected by 15-year-olds.

Natasha stepped forward and said, "Alright." She took out a gun and confidently approached a shooting target and shot at it. She hit all the vital points perfectly, leaving Will and the Parisians in awe. She then said, "I'm also handy with knives."

Nico didn't let any emotions show on his face. Will tried not to laugh at him, realizing that Nico wanted the others to be intimidated by his cold persona. He's so cute, Will thought.

The Avengers stepped up one by one, showing off their skills. Bruce decided to opt out, though, not wanting to release his anger on the ship.

When Steve took out his shield, Nico let out a little gasp. "Will, that's Captain America 'Captain America'?!" he whispered in Ancient Greek. Will held back a snort and nodded. Will was more aware of the world outside of camp since he still visited home often, so he knew a little bit about the Avengers' adventures.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to realize," Will responded.

"W-what?" Steve asked at Nico's outburst.

Nico cleared his throat sheepishly and said, "Nothing."

Clint chuckled and said, "He was surprised that you were Captain America. Must've grown up hearing about you." Nico glared at him, blushing slightly. "Shut up," Nico said.

"Heard about me? I thought you said you don't know any of us," Steve said confusedly.

"Long story," Nico replied curtly, avoiding eye contact. 

Will understood. It's one thing to tell people they just met about their connections to supposed Greek myths because then they could at least laugh it off and say they were only pulling their legs. However, it's a whole other thing to say you're a kid out of his time because these heroes have been through enough to know that time travel was very possible and would raise many questions they didn't feel like answering at the moment. 

[Natasha's POV]

Everyone was using the "long story" excuse recently and Natasha was sick of it. She wanted answers that nobody was offering.

"You know the language they were speaking?" she asked Clint.

"Uh, yeah, it's Ancient Greek. They teach it back at the camp I used to go to," Clint explained.