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

calm before the (school) storm

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

Percy's IM with Chiron cleared up a few things for him. Months ago Annabeth had ended up telling Percy that she thought the Labyrinth still existed in other countries, that her quest had lead her through tunnels and caves that resembled the Labyrinth far too well and she hypothesized that it was an older version, a version that was still shifting and changing and alive. Then, the evil wife of Minos has supposedly brought the Labyrinth back, she'd momentarily trapped Hazel and Leo inside of it before Hazel broke them free. Percy wasn't exactly there for that though, he and Annabeth had still been in Tartarus at that point.

Learning all of that after being freed from the depths of hell itself though, Percy had refused to think about it. He didn't want to. He couldn't think about it again, all the pain it had caused, the deaths, the suffering. So it wasn't surprising that it had ended up slipping his mind.

When Hazel had raised part of it in Greece against Nike, it was only there as long as Hazel had been concentrating on it. Percy had simply assumed that after both Pasiphae and Hazel, it had simply gone away fully. He hadn't realized that it was still around though, that it was still alive without a master.

And now it was fully back. It was in the states, not just the ancient world. It was no longer something Percy could forget about. Chiron did try to ease Percy's worries though. He'd informed the young demigod that the Labyrinth was no longer malicious like it had been previously. Some campers had gone in and out on several occasions and remained unscathed. In fact, the Stoll brothers realized they could cause a lot more problems with the Labyrinth at their disposal.

Even with all this reassurance, Percy didn't feel very assured. He couldn't shake that initial fear he'd felt down in the tunnel. Even if the Labyrinth was no longer evil or whatever, it didn't mean that whoever else knew about it had good intentions. That Cyclops, the one with the explosive, there's no way it hadn't come from the Labyrinth, and where there was one Cyclops, there were always more. They were plotting something. Why or how, Percy didn't know, but what he did know was that he was about to have a lot more on his plate than just finishing high school.

𝚿𝚿𝚿

Peter was out of the recovery bed finally. He had to take it slow of course, but he was allowed to sit up and walk around. Despite this tiny freedom, he was anything but free. He was watched by a hawk by whoever was around, whether it be his aunt or Mr. Stark. If they or Miss Potts were busy, FRIDAY or Happy were his jailors.

Pete couldn't be too salty though. The adults were just looking out for him. He couldn't even argue that there was no good reason for it either, he'd seen the bruising when he was finally allowed to use a bathroom and saw his shirtless self. His entire torso was in different stages of the bruising process; there were black and purples, reds, yellows, and even sickly greens. He hadn't even gotten bruised that badly when he'd had that one building dropped on him.

That building. The Vulture. Pete froze where he stood as he was sucked back into the memories of his sophomore year of high school. He should've known better than to start thinking about that.

His smug voice filled Peter's thoughts as the teenager gripped the edges of the mini bathroom sink; "You're young. You don't understand how the world works," he'd said. "Guys like us, you and me? They don't care about guys like us," he'd said. Then he'd said something about Peter understanding. And that all his words were just a distraction. Peter was honestly impressed by how much of that conversation he'd retained, since afterwards his adrenaline and flight or fight response were kicked to ten. Despite knowing that Mr. Toomes, Adrian, Liz's father was controlling the wings, it was like they had their own autonomy as they came at him with their ulterior motive. His ulterior motive. Peter's eyelids spasming and his brows furrowing as he remembered.

He'd been cocky. Thinking that the wings were trying to hit him, trying to hurt him. In the end, he was technically right, but at a cost that still had repercussions to this day. His Spidey-sense may have saved him from the wings slicing him or throwing him around, but it was not enough to let him escape the sudden hundreds and thousands of pounds of rubble that quickly buried him. His jaw clenched and his hands tightened on the sink.

The pain. The fear, they would never truly leave him. The awful encounter had given him a nasty case of claustrophobia, something that wasn't great for a superhero in any big city. Not to mention, if he even thought about it too much he'd get that familiar feeling of dread that would make his breath shorten and his limbs freeze up. Like what was happening now, since he was dumb enough to get sucked back to that night.

He wasn't even aware of the prickle of tears in his eyes and the acceleration of his heartbeat until he heard some footsteps down the hallway that grew nearer. Pete looked up and caught sight of his watery eyes accompanying the bruises on his body. He took a deep breath and finally released the poor sink that had started to strain a bit under the intensity of his grip. Peter scrubbed his hands over his eyes and face, removing the salty moisture and letting out a breath before turning to the attached room where the door had just opened.

𝚿𝚿𝚿

Percy had made his way to the living room after his musing over the information Chiron had given him. Paul was already at work as the fall semester had started about a week ago. Percy however, would not be returning to Goode where his stepdad still worked. He'd been gone far too long and was so genuinely far behind in high school that Goode was no longer a good fit.

He'd tried to lighten the mood when his mom and Paul told him the news with that genuinely awful pun, but some of the tension still remained considering the school would no longer let Percy attend. The only school he'd lasted more than a year at and he'd botched that by amnesia and a war. It wasn't all bad though, Alternative High School, the only place that would take Percy, had a swim team. No one had even objected too much to Percy joining because he's made some silly argument that extracurriculars looked good on college applications and he'd need all the help he could get after his unexplainable absence.

The TV was playing some old Canadian show about a werewolf in high school as he looked over some of his new study materials for the school that he would start the following week. All of the materials he'd been provided had been printed in a font he was informed was called "OpenDyslexic" that was designed to be easier for him to read. He could hear his mother shuffling around in the kitchen behind him and paid her no mind as he skimmed over the supply list and contemplated which things he would still have from before and which things he would have to go on an errand run for.

A few hours later Percy was back on the couch after a lunch break and had dug out his old backpack to look through its contents. While he was doing that, Paul came home and greeted Percy before he went to go to his and Sally's bedroom and put his things away. A conversation heavily muffled by the bedroom door and the length of the hallway later had both Paul and his mom returning to the living room and joining Percy.

"Hey sweetie, can we talk to you for a second?" His mom asked. Percy looked up to find both her and Paul looking uncharacteristically anxious and maybe a little excited. Perce's hand found Anaklusmos and he absentmindedly twirled the pen as he gave a nod.

"Is everything okay?" He asked as he looked back and forth between their faces. The couple exchanged a glance that made Percy's brow pucker in concern.

"We just have some big news that we probably should've told you a bit sooner," Sally twisted her fingers together before glancing at Paul again and breaking into a huge smile.

"We're pregnant!" They said in unison. His mom continued though, "We only found out three and a half weeks ago. Then you came back and we got distracted and-"

"Mom!" Percy's voice stopped Sally's rambling, "mom," he said again until she looked up and faltered.

There were already tears streaming his cheeks and Sally looked uncertainly at her son until his face broke into an equally huge grin and he pulled his mom and stepdad into a hug. "I'm so happy for you guys," he mumbled partially into his mother's hair, "I love you guys so much."