Raising Cain

Ohana means family

Nico had to admit, randomly jumping out of the shadows to scare his friends was absolutely hilarious. Yes, he knew it technically classified as being mean but it was so funny seeing their shocked expressions. Besides, he was the son of Hades, the one practically known as the dark god, he was allowed to have a slightly dark sense of humor. Anyway, he and Thalia demanded semi-regular(ish) times to meet Percy after the latest mess with HYDRA and Prometheus. Their cousin had a habit of getting into trouble without meaning to and he had been facing his demons alone for far too long. Also they missed having him around camp but that was one thought that would probably never be voiced, only shown through their actions. So anyway, they would pick a day and meet up and today they were meeting at the Avenger's tower.

Popping into the lounge, he laughed at the stunned faces. They lived with gods and super soldiers yet shadow travel never failed to surprise them. It. Was. Hilarious! He had Thalia in tow since they figured it was easier to show up together and for Nico to take them both through shadow travel. She promptly smacked him on the head as he laughed, even as a small smile graced her own lips.

Percy chose that moment to walk in with Pietro, both their arms laden with boxes of pizza. His face brightened as he saw them, eyes lighting up with genuine happiness. "You're early!" He exclaimed with child-like enthusiasm. His excitement was contagious and everyone present couldn't help but smile at it. He found pleasure in such a small thing as his cousins showing up early, it was truly amazing considering what he had been through.

"Why on earth is there so much pizza? You have enough to feed a small army." Nico asked the question that had been in his mind since the approximately twenty boxes of pizza appeared.

Percy grinned wide at that. "Well, considering Steve and Thor alone eat enough for a small army, we've learnt to be prepared." He ignored the indignant cries of denial from the mentioned parties and continued. "Tony and Bruce require food during and after 'sciencing' and a lot of it." Bruce smiled sheepishly, the other guy enjoyed food like pizza and shawarma and tended to eat a lot of it. Tony smirked shamelessly, cheese pizza was sacred and as a result it was to be treated as the food of the gods and eaten without shame. "We don't argue with Natasha or Wanda. If they want a different pizza than the rest of us, they get a different pizza than the rest of us." Thalia nodded at this, song with the other two females. It was quite simple, you don't mess with women who can and will kill you if displeased with you. You especially don't mess with a women's choice of food because she will stab you with her favorite seven inch heels which double as weapons in any situation. Clint silently whimpered as he remembered the last villain who decided to attack the girls on their night out. The stains had never quite left Natasha's shoes.

Percy passed a slice of cheese pizza each to Nico and Thalia, before taking one himself and leaving the other boxes on the table so everyone could take whatever they wanted. "We're watching Star Trek right now. Wanna watch a bit before we head out? Kirk is cool, you'd probably like him. Maybe."

Nico and Thalia shrugged. It wasn't as if they had a reason not to and Percy's baby seal eyes were not ones you could say no to.

◇◆◆◇

They never made it out of the tower. After Star Trek Natasha insisted on seeing how well Thalia could handle herself in hand to hand combat. So of course, everyone went down to the gym to see how it played out. And promptly decided never to underestimate any female ever again. A sparring match ensued unlike any they had ever seen before. Thalia lasted a whole fifteen minutes against Natasha. Even Clint had only managed ten, twelve at most. So they were suitably terrified. Well, except for Percy and Nico that is, both of whom just smirked knowingly. Thalia kicked ass and both of them knew it.

◇◆◆◇

A day of lazing around, doing absolutely nothing was just what they all needed and evening rolled around with no one realising it. Pepper walked in at eight to find them all lying around on the couches. The three demigods had commandeered one for themselves, the Maximoff twins were on another with Clint. Bruce and Natasha were on the loveseat and Tony, Steve and Bucky were lying on the floor together against a sofa. They were half asleep and so absorbed in whatever they were doing, that none of them registered her presence. She smiled softly seeing the adorable scene and quietly told Jarvis to take a picture. Said picture would find its way into all their phones, Tony's lab and Steve's wall. Times when they were all together and just relaxing were few and far in between so moments like this were cherished when they came around. The reason they worked so well together was because they weren't just a team. They were family. Moments like this reminded them of that.