Aquaman? Whoops, Wrong Universe: A Percy Jackson Marvel Crossover

Chapter 2: Peter

The day continued on as it normally did—with the exception of Ned and Peter acting maybe, possibly, perchance a little stranger around Percy than normal. Not that Peter would admit that out loud. He knew he was miserable at acting, but denial was his best friend. Peter would stutter every time Percy asked him something, and kept trying to subtly pick up hints about Percy. He tried to steer conversations the way he wanted to go to no avail. Still, Percy seemed the same as he always did. Chill, sarcastic, just along for the ride. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

Ned did what he did best—make the situation worse through outlandish stories to explain the duo's strange behavior. 

For example:

Percy: Peter, why are you stuttering so much? And fidgeting. You sure you don't have ADHD?

Peter: Uh...

Ned: Peter's aunt's, uh, fishing license expired. Which is really sad, because, um, they were going to go camping this weekend to honor his parents' memory—

At this point, Peter was desperately staring at Ned, willing him to stop.

Ned:—and on said camping trip, they can only eat fish from a very specific lake. So no fishing license means no camping trip. 

Both Percy and Peter stared in dumbfounded silence. Fortunately, Percy looked uncomfortable enough with the words "to honor his parents' memory" that he didn't know whether to look sympathetic or offended at the ridiculous cover-up.

Percy: Oh. Uh-huh.

He had then slipped away awkwardly without saying anything else.

Peter knew for sure that Percy had to have noticed their strange behavior, but he never said anything. Perhaps Percy just thought they were going through something and he wanted to be considerate. Everything was frustratingly normal.

Well, until after school. 

Peter was walking back in the direction of May's apartment after going to math club when Percy caught up to him.

"Hey, dude. Any chance I can get a ride back home? My step-dad took the car today."

Peter was just about to say, Sorry, I don't have a car, (which was true, but Peter wasn't sure that Percy would back down so easily) or any other excuse he could come up to get him off of his back, when his mouth stopped forming the words. Peter's spider sense sprang up without warning, making him whip around immediately, and his hand instinctively getting into web-slinging position. Unfortunately for him, Peter hadn't worn his slingers on his wrists today, since he was wearing short-sleeves.

In front of him stood a truck that Peter could've sworn wasn't there a minute ago. Only, when he blinked, it wasn't a truck. Peter's sixth sense was pushing against his head, making a terrible headache form. He grabbed his temples, trying to make it stop. Between painful bursts of pressure, the truck kept shifting into a ginormous snarling dog, its teeth dripping with drool. Its fur was matted with dirt and what looked like... blood? Terror set into Peter's system.

What is this thing? Peter thought foggily.

"Woah! There are giant dogs now?!" Peter managed to scream.

"Peter! Stay back!" Percy yelled as he pushed him away. Peter's head was pounding too much to allow for protest, and he stumbled backwards.

"Don't worry Percy, I've got this!" Peter said, trying to regain his balance.

Peter frantically searched his bag for his web slingers, but he couldn't find them anywhere. He glanced up, and saw that Percy had a sword. Where the hell did he get a sword from?