Not Always the Hero; Rewritten // (Percy Jackson x Peter Parker)

it'll be okay, it has to be

It's okay to be saved once in a while too.

Once Peter was feeling better from what he'd ended up dubbing "his funk", he realized he had a lot to catch up on. Specifically with Soteria, the AI software. This was when he really started to question the mysterious return of his neighbor. His funk had not allowed him to focus on the important details of "where has he been?" and "How wasn't I notified he showed back up?" However, two nights prior, Percy had helped him out of said funk when they'd accidentally stayed up until 4am talking.

Percy had kept his word and let Peter have a blood sample and when the testing came back with confirmation that Percy was indeed himself, it might've quelled some of Peter's anxiety, but not all of it. There were still so many questions that hadn't been answered, like how when Peter checked with Soteria around the time that Percy would've entered their apartment building there was a figure that had to have been him, but the face was somehow just too blurry to get a read on. It would've been one thing if it was blurry in general, but everyone else's faces in the video weren't blurry and indecipherable, just him. It didn't help his anxiety that now that Pete was feeling better he was able to accurately identify that his spidey-sense went off whenever he was around Percy.

Blood tests may have been one thing, but spidey-sense warning him that Percy was dangerous was another. It wasn't even the strong sense he got when he was in the middle of a fight but instead it was this constant, subtle buzz. Peter wanted to believe it was just that Percy had gone through some stuff, that he wasn't the same kid he'd been before, but the fact that Soteria couldn't identify him...

The more research Peter did, the more confused he felt. A part of him felt incredibly guilty when he hacked into records he shouldn't have been allowed access to, but a morbid curiosity took over the more he read. He knew about the manhunt, Percy being kidnapped at 12, but he had forgotten what all had happened. How did Percy survive the St Louis arch blowing up again?! And a gun fight on the beach with his kidnapper? Okay, Peter remembered that part because he'd had nightmares about it for a week at age 12. The further he went back the more his confusion grew; in fourth grade he'd gotten kicked out of school because at a field trip to an aquarium he'd caused the class to take a dip in the shark pool, in fifth grade he accidentally shot off a war cannon that destroyed his school bus. How?!

Then Peter was looking into the more recent years, after Percy's kidnapping. His 6th grade year he'd been uninvited from his boarding school, Yancy Academy after shoving a girl into a fountain. At thirteen there'd been an accident in the gym of the school he'd been going to and somehow Percy had been uninvited from returning there either. All Pete's research just brought him to the conclusion that Percy was a trouble magnet, not necessarily that there was something nefarious about the other boy. That's where his spider-sense disagreed.

All in all, it was exhausting and Peter didn't really know what to do. He would continue to look into Soteria and why he hadn't gotten a ping for Percy being at their building. He would also end up tracking down all the places Percy had been in the time he was gone. Blurry images that might've been Percy were able to be tracked to Oregon and Washington and even Alaska. Peter was determined to figure this out, and not just because he wanted it to be the Percy he'd known before. He wanted it to be the boy he'd almost told about his web-slinging secret.

𝚿𝚿𝚿

Percy sat on his bed and stared at his room, it was slightly less dusty than it had been when he first came back, but there was still a fair amount of dust here and there if he looked around for a moment. On his desk was some horribly overdue school work that he hadn't even finished before he'd vanished. He felt a spark of guilt when he looked at it, suddenly remembering how he'd had a partner project that winter break and then he took an unexpected nap for 6 or however many months, Perce was still a little unclear on how long he'd been absent for. Hopefully his class partner had been able to do it herself and didn't hate him too much for the extra work he'd left her to do, (and the disappearing act).

The guilt led him to think of Peter. Something was wrong with Percy's neighbor and he wasn't totally sure what. Of course, Peter had explained his anxiety about Percy's surprise departure and his misgivings about Percy actually being back, but Percy had a gut feeling that that wasn't all that was plaguing the brown haired boy.

Regardless, too much time had passed. Neither boy was the same person he'd been a few years prior. Percy wouldn't lightly admit it, but he wasn't even kind of okay. Other than the fact that he'd missed his mom terribly, he was home because he needed a break. Two major prophecies in two years? It was a lot. Things were supposed to have gotten better after Kronos's second downfall. Percy was supposed to have gotten a break. He was supposed to have finished high school as a normal kid living with his mom. He was not supposed to have been kidnapped by a goddess. He was not supposed to have gone through hell itself.

Percy took a shaky gasp of a breath. Tartarus. The thing that haunted him, the thing that made him stay up until 2am willingly, lest he have nightmares the moment he closes his eyes. Percy realized he'd been spacing out, nails digging into the palms of his hands hard enough to leave indents.

If not for Annabeth, Percy wouldn't have made it out of Tartarus. If not for Annabeth, Percy would've- His nails returned to his palms with more pressure than before. Don't think about it, don't think about what you did...

Annabeth. Think of Annabeth. The girl you once pictured a life with. Think of the smartass you'd probably be dating right now if it were the right time. Percy had tried, they both had. It just wasn't in the cards for them, they were better as good friends.

Once more Percy released his balled up fists and took a deep breath. He was okay, he was safe in his mom and Paul's apartment. He wasn't on a quest, he was in New York. He had been home for like a week. He was gonna get re-enrolled in Goode. He was gonna finish high school. Everything was okay, everything was going to be okay. He was going to be normal for a while and combat the darkness that had slithered his way into his heart in Tartarus. He was going to beat it. He would.

A few minutes later Percy scrubbed his hands over his face and left his room to go see what his mom was up to. It might've been selfish, but Percy had never been more glad that his mom was a novelist and primarily worked from home. It meant he wasn't alone, he could just go a room over and nag her about dyeing nacho cheese blue. It meant he didn't have to be alone with his thoughts.