Heroes of New York

SEVENTEEN - MEETING

Chapter Seventeen

~Peter Parker~

The elevator doors opened onto the common floor, which was empty except for Mr. Stark, who was muttering to himself absently as he swiped at the tablet in his hands.

"Uh, hello Mr. Stark," I said. He startled, nearly dropping his tablet.

"Peter! Kid, hey, already have enough ultra-quiet people sneaking around the tower, don't you start scaring me too." He stood, leaving his tablet on the coffee table. "Ooh, is that my coffee?"

Mr. Stark made grabby hands at me until I handed him the cup and the shopping bag of coffee. He took a deep sniff of the beverage and sighed, seeming content.

I took the other drinks out of the tray, setting the mystery person's drink on the coffee table and holding mine in my hands.

"So, uh, who exactly am I supposed to be meeting, sir?" I questioned, dropping my bad and perching awkwardly on one of the armchairs. Mr. Stark looked up from where he'd already downed half his coffee.

"Right! J, get the kid in here. The other kid, obviously, Parker's already here."

Kid, I thought. Someone my age? Younger?

"Of course, sir." replied JARVIS.

I sipped at my drink as we waited, silently working up the courage to ask Mr. Stark about the mystery person.

Before I could say anything, a door at the end of the hall (which I hadn't even known was there) opened and shut, and I could hear the sound of footsteps and talking getting closer.

" ーAnd let me know when the programme needs replacing because its totally and completely vital to my continued existence, okay? Speaking of ー Oh, hey guys."

Standing in the entryway, talking to JARVIS as if it were a casual, everyday occurrence, was Percy Jackson.

I stood up in shock, only barely managing not to drop my precious hot chocolate all over the carpet.

"I - what - you -" I gaped. "Percy?"

"Peter?" Percy said, with an innocent smile (though his eyes glinted with the same 'I-know-something-you-don't' that I'd seen when I brushed him off after school). He didn't look surprised in the slightest.

Mr. Stark looked between us with a confused expression.

"You two know each other?"

Percy (Percy!) spoke up when it became clear I was still floundering.

"Yeah, we go to school together. Currently project partners in History." Like it was totally normal to meet up with a school friend in the house of a billionaire-superhero that neither of you should technically know.

Percy moved further into the room, snatching up the frappuccino with a quiet 'I assume this is mine'. He then hoisted himself up onto the counter and stared at us expectantly, taking a long drink.

Mr. Stark blinked and shook his head, muttering something to himself about kids these days.

"Right," he clapped his hands together. "I thought introductions would take a little longer than this, so the rest of the team won't be here for another hour, but the gist is this: someone or something is going around putting up weird illusions and messing with people's heads. Mostly with us as far as we can tell, but there are a few other occurrences in the city, and they seem to be getting more powerful. We're gonna have to do some investigating to figure out what's actually going on, but the kid here says its magic."

"I don't just say its magic, I know it's magic. You guys have fought gods and aliens but you can't wrap your head around magic?" Percy shook his head like he was disappointed. "Anyway, you said we've got like, an hour? I'm gonna take a nap, wake me up when important stuff happens."

He hopped off the counter, tossing his empty cup in the trash (how did he drink that so fast? My hot chocolate had barely even started to cool), and collapsed backwards onto the loveseat with his arms crossed over his chest and his legs hanging over one of the arms.

I was still staring silently, glancing between Mr. Stark and Percy in shock and concern.

"I guess we'll just wait then," Mr. Stark sighed, and Percy started to drool. 

Its been ages Im sorry!

But im on top of my assignments (for the moment) and this week is reading week so i might have time to do more but the main thing is that I got pretty much everything else planned which is a big deal also ive never finished writing anything before so this might just be a first?

Anyway, love yall thanks for all the encouragement

also you may have noticed i updated the last chapter as well, that was to change the name bc it was inconsistent and i didnt like it and also this one twice that is to add this authors note okay have fun yall see you whenever be safe!!!