Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Perseus Jackson was chilling in the park with the ducks. Eighteen years old and a shit ton of trauma under his belt, his form of therapy was to feed the ducks. I mean, ducks are cute right?

So yeah, anyway, he was sitting on a bench, a vacantly pleasant smile on his face as he watched the ducks swimming merrily in the pond.

The trill of a phone cut through the silence. Percy patted his pockets until he remembered, wait. He didn't have a phone because phones gave away demigods' locations like a homing beacon. Must be someone else's then.
He shrugged and sat back, focusing on the ducks once more. Must be nice to be a duck.....floating away merrily, merrily.......

A deep sigh was heard from near. The immense amount of tiredness caught Percy's attention. He tilted his head slightly to listen as the blond, beefy guy picked up his phone to accept the call. "Hello? Yes. Yes, I'm at the park. No, no trouble at all. Yes, I'll be there."
He curtly cut the call without a goodbye.

Noticing piercing, stormy green eyes fixed on him from a short distance, the guy flashed a weak smile. Percy nodded back warily. He seems like a human. Smelled like one too.
Since coming back from Tartarus, Percy had a preternatural sense for spotting monsters. Usually they smelled their hellish home on him and stayed away.

"Hey, kid." Percy startled at the address. He raised an eyebrow as if to say- Who,me?

The blond guy who reminded him a bit of Jason really, chuckled a bit and spoke to him.

"No school on a Tuesday?"

"Nah. I go to university in a few months."

"Really? What are you thinking about studying?"

"Maaannn." Percy groaned. "I'm tired of people asking me that so many times. Makes me nervous and rethink every single one of my decisions. But, uh, I'm gonna study Marine Biology."

"That's really cool." Beefy Jason grinned showing pearly white teeth. Wow.

"Yeah. I love the sea." Percy grinned back.

"Oh yeah, Save the Turtles." Jason 2.0 did a weird little fist pump and looked really embarrassed after.

Percy giggled at this guy trying very obviously to learn the new generation's antics. "Don't forget the bees, man." He teased as the man blushed to the tips of his blonde hair.

"Yeah, uh, anyway, my name's Steve. What's yours, kid?"

"Percy Jackson. Nice to meet you, Steve." Percy shuffled forwards and held out his hand, the manners ingrained in him by Sally coming out to show.

Steve gripped his hand in a firm grip, then winced and loosened it quickly, dropping his hand like hot coal.
Percy frowned at him a little bit.

Steve contritely said,"Sorry, sometimes I can't control my strength all that well ever since Buc- um, sorry if I hurt you, you know."

Percy laughed, confused at his stammering. "Why, would you hurt me? It was perfectly fine, I don't know what you're talking about?

Steve had wide eyes as he stared hard at Percy. Feeling a bit unnerved at the attention, Percy ruffled his hair and stood up, brushing the grass stains from the seat of his pants. Steve scrambled to his feet as well, staring at him the whole time.

"Well, I better go-"
"Wanna race?"

........
What?

"What?" asked Percy.
Steve had a sheepish look on his face as if regretting every decision that led him to this moment.

"I just mean, ah, I mean that I run pretty fast and no one can keep up with me y'know and since you look pretty fit I thought we might be able to uhm, compete?"

Percy stared dumbly at him for a moment. Steve looked like he really wanted to sink to the ground and let it swallow him up(or be frozen in ice at the bottom of the sea).

Percy blinked once, then twice.

"Sure."

"WHAT?"

"Sure, I'll race you."

Percy smiled so wide, it lit up his entire face and his green eyes sparkled like the clearest waters of the Atlantic. Steve looked a bit stunned at the display. A wind picked up from nowhere which ruffled the inky black strands of the grinning boy, as if caressing his joyful face.

"We're the same, man. I haven't had someone able to keep up with me in so long and it would be really fun I think."

Steve still stared at him.(The staring was getting a bit much now.)
"Afraid of losing, old man?" Percy taunted, narrowing his eyes at him.
It shook the other guy from his reverie and he scowled back at him playfully. "Old man?! I'll show you an old man. I am not that old..... technically." He mumbled a bit petulantly.

"Come on, then. Where to?"

"Oh, wanna race from here to the uh... let's stay Stark Tower?"

"Stark Tower? You mean that ugly as shit-"

"Language", Steve barked before he could control himself.

"Wow, you really are an old man." Percy laughed at him even more.

"Whatever. The path is pretty clear right now. You sure you're up to it, kid."

"Less chatting, grandpa. Let's see what you got."
Percy was really excited now, the dreary mood from before gone at the promise of an exhilarating race against the wind. He jumped up and down a few times and stretched his legs a bit theatrically. After all, normal humans did that right? (What do demigods know of normal anyway? )

"On three. One, two, three.." Steve had barely finished calling out when both of them took off like a bullet, swerving around people and cars alike. A few people swore at them but this was New York. A few shenanigans here and there were practically daily news.

Percy whooped as he leapt over cones and barely avoided slamming into pillars. The added danger of a busy road further added to the building adrenaline rush. After the dangers he faced on a daily basis, this was child's play. Steve was behind him, swearing up a storm, trying to catch up to the demon child who was racing like a whirlwind, rushing through the streets easily.

The looming monstrosity that was the Stark Tower was almost upon them. Steve put on a burst of speed to try to overtake Percy but he was always a few steps ahead, his carefree laughter carried over by the whooshing wind.

Percy tumbled down upon the steps to the lobby, beating Steve by a second. They both paused to catch their breath, Percy coughing a bit wheezily but the ever present mirth in his precious eyes clearly shining through.

Steve was in awe. Who was this kid? Or better question, what was he? Some kind of mutant? There were no obvious signs on him except those damn eyes that sent a shiver down his spine everytime he met them. They were eyes that carried a depth of knowledge he could never understand and could never hope to experience.

Percy looked over at him in innocent camaraderie and Steve felt a little bad at bringing him over here under false pretenses. But this little race of theirs meant that he was right. There was something not quite right with this kid. It didn't necessarily mean that he was a danger to them but it wouldn't hurt to be careful nonetheless.

"Alright, old man. That was quite a race, no? Been a while since I ran for the sheer fun of it." Percy ran a hand through the windswept bangs covering his eyes. He hadn't even broken a sweat running the absurd distance.

Steve grinned back. Honestly, he couldn't see this kid as being dangerous. I mean, come on, look at the dopey smile that took over his entire face. He actually wanted to wrap him in his arms so that no harm could come to him. Seriously, wrap him in a blanket and feed him a steaming cup of hot chocolate and the cookies Bucky bakes now and again as a part of his therapy healing.....

"Steve?"

"mmm? Oh yeah. Yeah, that was", his grin matched the smile Percy wore, "that was awesome. I am really glad I met you, kid."

Percy bashfully looked down and shuffled his feet. So adorable, Steve thought to himself.

"Um, I better get home now. My mom must be waiting for me. My friends promised to visit and if I leave them without supervision, my mom starts breaking out the most embarrassing baby pictures and stories. I have to go see that doesn't happen under any circumstances. It'll ruin my street cred." Percy complained but the underlying affection almost broke Steve's heart. Oh god, I wish I could steal this kid. Maybe I could adopt him with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources? Hmm....

Outwardly, Steve waved goodbye as Percy whistled for a cab but waved away the one cab that stopped. He looked up at the far skies instead.
Huh, weird.

Steve went inside the tower, deciding to keep this encounter to himself after all. The boy wasn't capable of evil. And Steve knew how evil could manifest, up close and personal. There wasn't an iota of evil in Percy's bones.

Time to look up illegal adoption techniques. Steve laughed at his ridiculous thoughts.

(That day, it turned out that the entire Tower's water supply had been contaminated but they could never trace the source since neighbouring areas weren't affected. Just the Tower.
Weird, right?)

Chapter Text

Clint Barton was having a good day. The sun warmed his upturned face and the slight breeze ruffled his hair. It was a clear autumn day and so far, there were no alien invasions that needed urgent Avenger attention. So Clint was free to be himself for a while, not the hero Hawkeye.

This time, he sat atop the very peak of a very, very tall skyscraper, swinging his legs childishly over the edge. Looking down at the faraway ground made him feel funny, but he relished the peace and quiet the altitude offered him. Clint took a deep breath to ground himself and-

"Hello?"

Shit, shit, holy shit, I almost fell. Breathing hard from the unprecedented voice startling him out of nowhere, Clint took hasty steps away from the edge. Heart jackrabbiting in his chest and his fear quickly turning into anger, he turned to the owner of the voice and received another shock to his poor heart.

It was a teenager. Wind tousled hair and wearing typical streetstyle clothes, he looked very normal. What was not normal, was that he was sitting astride a HORSE on top of a BUILDING.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FU-

"Are you okay, dude? You're not like, planning to jump or anything are you?"

The boy's eyes were eerily focused on him, as if waiting for his answer to decide whether or not to interfere.

This whole situation was freaking Clint out.
Now, call him a hypocrite but normal people didn't spend their free time on the inaccessible roof of a towering skyscraper. Clint might genetically be nothing special, but give the guy some credit, he trained with superhumans for a living. He already had an instinctive balance and uncanny aim true to any mark but the added strength and stamina were earned through blood, sweat and tears (a lot of tears, damn you Steve Rogers and your perfect record).

The kid in front of him was still waiting for an answer. Clint took a second to size up the unknown entity.

He looked like one of those troublemakers on the streets, a spark in his bright eyes that made you look around warily to see if you were the victim of a prank. Tall and decent-looking, Clint supposes but the most bizarre thing about him was his pet(?) horse.

Like, how did he even get it up here? It boggled Clint because he could not, for the life of him figure out any answer except teleportation. And the kid didn't really look like he had any kind of unnatural powers.

The horse chuffed at him and he had a feeling it was giving him the stink-eye. It was of a glossy black colour and quite muscular except....
The air around his flanks shimmered ever so slightly like a mirage.

The horse whinnied again, this time the kid's eyes widening and then narrowing at him. Clint crossed his arms defensively and asked him quite rudely, "Who the hell are you and how did you come up here? And for god's sake how did the horse get up here?"

The boy regarded him silently for a moment.  He opened his mouth to speak, closed it and opened it again to finally ask, "Have you ever heard of the Greek Gods?"

Clint was beginning to think he was hallucinating. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his dilemma. He even pinched himself to wake up if this was a dream but alas, all it resulted in was a sore spot.

"Uh", he mumbled intelligently then berated himself for being tongue-tied in front of a kid. "I know Norse Gods?"
he finally got out.

The Boy's eyes narrowed further and this was really starting to freak Clint out, oh my god, someone save him from the situation.

"Hmph", the teenager said, "you could be a legacy perhaps. I do sense the faintest trace of ichor in you. Have you manifested in any blessings or gifts?"

"Huh?"

The Boy sighed and sat down at the edge and gestured for Clint to do the same. "Come sit with me."

Clint, in all his recklessness, decided to see where this lead. He plopped down beside the mysterious guy as the horse trotted off to the other side.

"My name is Percy Jackson and what I am about to tell you might change your life."

**************

"HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT."

"Um, are you okay?" Percy was starting to worry if he had made a mistake telling Clint Barton about his demigod lineage. He was definitely too old for the typical life of a demigod and Percy was not sure if it okay to make him aware about the monsters that plagued the lives of the children of the gods.

But looking at the lithe form of the self-professed master archer( Clint liked to brag), he could imagine that this man could take care of himself against his enemies.

Though the thing that prompted Percy to open his mouth and reveal the truth to him was that Percy could sense an innate sense of loneliness that emanated from this man. And say what you will about half-bloods, they took care of their own. The first and foremost thing each child had had drilled into their heads was that this was now their family.

A family that might be broken, full of drama, fights and skirmishes but in the end, they stood back to back with their weapons in hand, fighting to their last breath while protecting their own.

(It was why Luke's betrayal had hurt each and every camper so much. He had broken their trust.)

(Family, Luke. You promised.)

"You won't be alone now. You'll have us with you." Percy blurted out since he could see the pitiful arch of Clint's back as he clasped his head in his hands.

Clint barked out a harsh laugh. "What, a group of children running around, trying to save the world? Newsflash kid, so have I. I have done things you could never dream of. Why did you even tell me this, huh? So I could lay awake at night, scared of the big, bad monster? "

Percy gritted his teeth as his anger rose sharply at Clint's condescending tone. " I told you this because we know from a very young age what it's like to feel different from others, to have no one that understands you. And what I am offering to you is a family of battle hardened soldiers who are familiar with death and loss more that you know. We watch each other's backs, we stand beside one another and if you think for a minute that I'm going to let you stand there and talk shit about my family like that, you're dead wrong. I could push you off this ledge myself as an offering to Zeus."

Percy's eyes glittered harshly and the air was charged with power, raising the hair of the back of Clint's neck. At that very moment, a strong wind ripped through the air currents, and reminded Clint of the whisper of death. He closed his eyes and swallowed his shout of fear.

"I am....sorry about what I said. It's just that this is unbelievable. This absolutely cannot be happening right now. Having Thor show up out of nowhere was a mind trip in itself and now you're saying that someone in my family may have procreated with a GOD?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying".
Maybe the truth wasn't such a good idea. What had he done? Annnabeth was going to kill him.

"Do you, maybe, have any idea as to which god?" Clint was almost afraid to know.

"Since you say that you are an archer, I would maybe guess that you're a legacy of Apollo. Though it could be one of the minor gods but, I suspect it's an Olympian because his gift still runs in your family even when you are not a direct descendant."

"Oh, okay." Clint breathed out deeply, trying not to hyperventilate. He could be related to Apollo, the god of music and archery. He was going to cry into his pillow tonight.

"Hey." Percy clasped a hand on his shoulder and gave him a small smile. "I'll take you to meet my girlfriend, Annabeth, okay? She explains everything a lot better than me. She'll instruct you how to handle it. And don't worry, Apollo is one of the better guys. You could have done a lot worse, buddy."

Breathing out a shaky laugh, Clint stood up on wobbly legs. His world had just turned by 180 degrees and nothing would ever be the same again. But, and it hurt like hell to admit this even to himself, he was a little excited to meet the people Percy had promised would be accepting of who he was. Maybe, for the first time, he wouldn't be a freak. He could just be Clint.

"I don't trust my legs to support me anymore", he moaned in distress suddenly. "How the hell am I going to get off this building?"

Percy smirked and yep, that one was definitely a troublemaker.
"Oh, don't worry too much. Blackjack can take us down. He's a Pegasus."

Clint frowned. "What's a Pegasus?"

Sweeping a hand to indicate to his horse, Percy grinned. "Look closer, dude. Past the Mist."

"What's the mi- WOAH. HE HAS WINGS?!"

Percy's carefree laughter rang through the air and Clint softened.
I wouldn't mind having him as family, you know.

Meanwhile:
Apollo smirked at Poseidon in the Council Room. His uncle was practically vibrating with anger at that thought of another one of those Avenger bastards trying to claim his son as their own. The archer had caught Apollo's eyes a while ago and now he kne why. Hmm, he might have to introduce himself to his legacy.

"Hey, Uncle P, do you think Tony Stark might want to adopt Percy too? He does have a lot of money to forge documents-"

A slam of Poseidon's trident and cracks spread across the throne room floor.

Zeus sighed wearily. His brother's snot-nosed brat was more trouble than he was worth, honestly.

Chapter Text

Annabeth was at peace. The love of her life was in the kitchen right now, cooking her 'the most fantastic meal of her life' apparently, all the while humming a song as he worked and pausing to throw her a cheeky wink or a gentle smile in her direction. Percy did that sometimes, looking at her in a stupor as if realising for the first time she was actually here.
After Tartarus, the shows of affection ratcheted up a notch as the both of them realised how quickly a demigod's life could be over so they had to cherish each and every second. It made her feel warm to be surrounded by such love.

Annabeth's laptop was open on the coffee table, websites displaying a plethora of technical terms that made Percy's head spin whenever he looked too long to try to decipher them. Annabeth grinned at him as he shot the poor laptop a dirty look, while gently shoving it out of the way to place a delicious smelling plate of spaghetti topped with black olives, garlic and feta cheese. Her mouth watered at the aroma.

Percy slumped on the couch, stretching out his joints as they popped in place. Wrapping an arm around his precious girlfriend in comfortable familiarity, he bundled her up against his side as she leaned forward to peer at the dish in interest.

"Go on. Try it." He coaxed her.

Needing no further prompting, Annabeth twirled the fork around and took an uninhibited bite, eyes widening and then closing in relish as the flavours wrapped around her tongue.

Swallowing the mouthful, she turned to Percy in suprise. "How the hell do you manage to cook so well?"
Percy smiled gently, the boundless ocean of love in his eyes making Annabeth want to melt into a puddle of goo. "What, you think Sally Jackson didn't teach her son to treat a girl right?", he teased.

Annabeth giggled and leaned into her boyfriend. "She definitely did."
The silence that fell over them for a while was filled with the kind of understanding years long relationships bring.

Percy's eyes fell on the laptop on the table, the cursor blinking on an email draft. He squinted his eyes, reading the text and turned to Annabeth in surprise.
"You're applying for an internship at Stark Industries?"

Annabeth swallowed the mouthful of food in a hurry and faced him, her body language showing a bit of unease. "I'm sorry Percy, I wanted to discuss it with you but I feel like I have an opportunity open in front of me that could really help me out in the future for job experiences and with references from a credible company, I could aim for high positions-"

"Woah, Beth. Slow down, please. I'm not accusing you or anything like that, honest. It's just...." He cut off with a sheepish look.

"What?" Annabeth asked curiously.
"It's a really ugly as shit building, you know. For the Architect of Olympus, that's a real downgrade."
Annabeth blinked at him once, twice, then burst out laughing so hard she fell upon Percy, laying them both flat on the couch. Percy snickered as he wrapped an arm around her to keep the both from tumbling down.

"Oh, baby", Annabeth said, her grey eyes melting into adoration. She peppered kisses onto her ridiculous boyfriend's face which did send them falling from the couch and onto the carpet below and even then she didn't stop. She never wanted to.

***

Percy was sitting in the lobby of the Avengers Tower, trying to keep his leg from bouncing too much and sending sporadic smiles to the assistant at the desk. Seeing his clear ADHD signs, the assistant looked at him with pity and said, "Your girlfriend's going to be out any minute now. Her internship interview is almost over."

"Thanks man." said Percy, his relief almost palpable.

At this very moment, the doors to the inner part of the building opened and Percy jumped to his feet, ready to rush to his girlfriend. Seeing the redheaded woman exit however, completely took the wind out from his sails and he melted back to his seat, utterly despondent.

Natasha Romanoff narrowed her eyes in amusement. Being a fairly attractive woman, never had she seen a man be so disappointed after seeing her. Signalling to Daniel at the welcome desk with a wink, she walked over to the guest seats and took a seat beside the guy. He never even looked up at her, just continued fidgeting with a cheap ballpoint pen in his hands.

"Hey."

No answer.

"Hello," came a reluctant reply after a while, the voice sounding miserable. (Never say Sally didn't teach her boy good manners.)

Natasha tried again."Are you waiting for someone?"
She didn't know why she wanted to talk to the poor guy but the sad picture he made was really funny and she wanted to know why he looked so sad, like a lost baby seal.
(And no, it wasn't because he ignored her, shut up, Clint.)

The dark-haired youth shook his head as if to clear it and picked up his head to look at her. Natasha got a clear view of his extremely bright green eyes, though they looked sort of dulled. The boy, and he was a boy who was probably not of age yet, tried to smile at her though it was more of a grimace.
"I am waiting for my girlfriend. She's here for an interview."

Natasha was intrigued. "What's her name?"

The guy furrowed his brows. "Why'd you wanna know?" he replied quite rudely, his grip on the pen now quite firm.

Cataloguing this abrupt change, Natasha relaxed her body language and tried for her most friendly smile.
"Just making small talk. You looked like you were waiting for her for quite some time so I wanted to see if you were bored. Hey, your girlfriend must be really special for you to wait for her all this time."

He didn't quite look convinced but the mention of their relationship must have mollified him. "I think being patient for your significant other is the least you can do but yeah, she's the best," he replied with a clearly besotted grin. "Did you know she has already designed and helped construct buildings for really important people? Stark Industries would be crazy not to hire her on the spot. She's super smart and not to mention, even though we both have dyslexia, she is always top of her class and is about to graduate as the valedictorian. Her architectural plans are a thing of beauty even to a non-professional eye. Also, she can beat me at wrestling anytime..."

Sitting there wide eyed as he suddenly perked up and waxed poetic about his girlfriend, Natasha was kind of jealous at the unconditional love he seemed to hold for her. The girl was truly lucky to have an adorable, infatuated, handsome boy so in love with her. She just wanted to pat his head and offer him a milkshake.(Maybe put him in her pocket and take him home too.)

"And let me tell you...BETH!," he shouted suddenly then looked quite ashamed of his outburst then immediately breaking out into a grin. Natasha followed his line of sight and spotted an athletic looking blond girl wave with enthusiasm at the vibrating boy beside her. When her attention shifted from him to her sitting by his side, her grey eyes narrowed quite dangerously. Natasha felt a new kind of respect for a fellow woman.

Stalking towards them, 'Beth' was immediately seiged upon by a bear hug.
"I got the position," she declared with a huge smile.
"See! I told you, they would be crazy not to hire you. I even told, um," he looked towards Natasha apologetically, "sorry, I didn't catch your name. I'm Percy and this is Annabeth."

"Natasha." She put out her hand towards Annabeth first which turned out to be the best move as the blonde girl smirked at her.

"Um." Percy shifted from foot to foot as he watched them both in confusion.

"He was waiting for you for a long time," she tried to explain. "He looked really sad, like a-"
"Lost baby seal?" Annabeth grinned sharply.
Natasha let out a bark of laughter.

Percy frowned, looking offended at all of this.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't have left him waiting long. Together till the end right?", she smiled turning to the boy beside her.

"Always." Percy smiled back, then took her hand in his and started asking questions about how the interview went.

Natasha smiled to herself, her eyes soft and happy and turned to Daniel who had also watched the whole scene play out. "They are really cute, huh?"

(From that day on, Natasha would find herself to have built an immunity to seasickness, an ability to always find the nearest body of water when she got lost, and the freshest olives on her pizza.
Quite strange.)

Chapter Text

Annabeth's successful interview for an internship at Tony Stark's company had really stirred things up in the Jackson-Blofis household. Sally had hugged her for a long time and peppered kisses on Annabeth's face while she blushed quite strongly at the praises Paul showered on her.
Percy's heart felt full at how well his girlfriend meshed with his family and honestly, he could die pretty happy right then.(It was NOT a challenge nor an invitation, please ignore if you are a deity/Moirai/primordial.)

The next couple of months proved how well suited Annabeth was for the task. Upon witnessing her knack for planning and her brilliant mind, she was promoted to the upper levels of the super secret labs where Tony Stark was rumoured to haunt the premises in a sleep deprived state.

Although Percy was not privy to the details of what exactly Annabeth worked on, it was his solemn duty to share in her giddy excitement at working with renowned experts. Due to Annabeth's promoted status, she was also given the opportunity to meet the Avengers, apparently for whom the "top secret" experiments at the lab took place. She could also invite a person of her choosing to accompany her.

Now, Annabeth was in a dilemma. She just couldn't decide on who to take with her. Her status as an SI intern had already spread at camp. Leo, once he heard of the offer, was clamouring to be the one to meet Tony Stark and impatient to talk his ear off about his inventions. Malcolm, her younger brother was less visibly excited but the hopeful spark in his eyes was too much even for Annabeth's hardened heart. Piper wanted to meet the Black Widow as she was an avid fan of her general badass aura as a woman.

Now, Percy had never expressed interest in the Avengers, the so-called saviours of the world, but Annabeth wanted to share every aspect of her life with him. Not in a co-dependant way really, but just as Annabeth would like to see the park Percy loved to skate in, she wanted him to see the place she worked and where her ideas impacted the world.

When she shared her line of thought with Percy, he gave her the softest, most loving smile. Bringing her face close to his in his calloused hands that cradled her so carefully, he bumped his forehead to hers in an act of aching adoration.

"The choice is always yours, Annabeth. When you're the supervisor of the entire lab, you can arrange tour groups for the entire Cabin 6 and 9 and I'll be the trip chaperone.", he smiled and Annabeth laughed at his convinction that she would be the highest authority everywhere. "You should never hesitate to invite someone else," he continued, "because I'll always be there for the next time."

This solidified her decision. Of course Annabeth Chase would always choose Percy Jackson at every moment of her life.

********

Percy and Annabeth stood in front of the Avengers Tower and stared up at it. Percy blinked and turned to his girlfriend he had his arm around. "Really Annabeth, how do you bear to be around this awful thing?"
Annabeth snorted loudly. "Don't let Tony Stark hear you, he is disproportionately proud of his tower. I suggested blasting off the entire thing and building another, better one but he looked at me like I was crazy."

Percy dissolved into giggles at her perfectly deadpan delivery. Annabeth grinned and tugged at his hand to lead him up the steps and into the building. Percy waved at the receptionist, who he remembered from last time and Annabeth said hi to him as she swiped her card. Upon reaching the elevators, Annabeth realised her miscalculation when Percy's hand turned clammy at the sight of gleaming steel doors.
The traumatic incident of Tartarus had hit him more as Percy's entire being craved the freedom of the open ocean and being so deep underground had weakened him considerably.
Annabeth had balked at the elevators on her first day as well but her previously broken ankle had ached terribly when she tried to climb 50+ sets of stairs. She had gotten used to them through sheer willpower alone.

"Percy...??" Annabeth tugged at his hand to invoke a response from her still boyfriend. Releasing a tense breath, Percy smiled wanly at her. "No stairs?", he asked weakly.
Annabeth shook her head, and said "My ankle doesn't support me for that long and my lab is on the 52nd floor. What do you want to do?", she asked him, resolving to leave if he couldn't go up with her.

"Race you then? Let's see if I can be faster up the stairs than you on the elevator." Percy was making a valiant effort to not let this ruin Annabeth's special day but he was honestly struggling to breathe at the thought of being locked up inside those doors. Annabeth considered for a moment.
"Are you really sure?", she asked him once more.
"Yeah, Beth. I can do this. We'll meet up at the 52nd floor, no problem."

Saying so, he jogged for the utility staircase, leaving Annabeth narrowing her eyes at his retreating back. She pressed the button that would take her up. Damn bastard had gotten a head start on her and she didn't like losing nonsensical races.

*******

Percy heaved a little for breath as he caught up to the 49th floor. Just a few more to go.

He was just about to try and conquer the next step when all of a sudden, a side door slammed open and a man stomped out and banged it shut again. Percy froze as the short man took a few lungfuls of deep breaths as though trying to regain control over himself. Deciding he couldn't just ignore a struggling person, he cautiously ventured closer to the sweater-clad man.

"Are you alright, sir?" (He looked like a teacher, and shut up, he was respectful sometimes). The man jolted in surprise, almost slipping on the stair and catching himself by the railing. "Yes", he whispered, then cleared his throat and attempted again.

"I'm fine, thank you for your concern. May I ask what you're doing here young man?"

Percy grimaced. "Personal grievances with the elevator. I like the stairs better." He attempted a wan smile.
The bespectacled man huffed a laugh and sat down heavily on one of the steps, leaving a few inches for Percy to pass, of course.

Percy, surprising both himself and the stranger, sat down in that space instead. The guy looked so much like his stepfather Paul that he felt inclined to offer him a shoulder to unload on (those shoulders had held up the sky, another man's secrets were incomparably light to bear).

The man sighed long and heavy and resigned to another stubborn teenager. "Do you-" he stopped short and seemed unable to go on any further. Percy sat still to let him gather himself.
"When there is a monster living inside of you, how do you make yourself human again?", he finally whispered, his whole body shrinking inwards, not expecting anyone to understand. Everyone just ran away screaming.

Oh man, Percy thought to himself, I ask myself that everyday.

Green eyes looking straight ahead into nothing, he replied "When you look at yourself in the mirror every morning, you make a promise. That there are people in the world who look at you and see only love and every good thing about you. You remain human for them. That monster, is a part of you whether you like it or not. And you make a promise to these people who love you that the monster would try to save the world for them, even if all it knows is how to destroy."

(Perseus, the destroyer, the protector, beloved. )

Bruce Banner looked at the young boy in open-mouthed surprise and something inside him shifted. An open wound starting to heal perhaps.

Percy Jackson gazed back steadily, a strange sort of fire burning in his eerie eyes. "Do not give up Hope, not when you've already come so far."
(His scarred hands had warmed Pandora's jar, where Elpis, the spirit of Hope, had whispered encouragement that would keep her prisoner but allow humanity to survive.)
Thus saying, he leapt up from his position in one smooth motion and continued jogging upstairs. Bruce could only stare.

Later that day, he would reminisce about that strange boy and his stranger words and how the Hulk seemed a little quieter, a little less angry and almost seemed to cooperate with his directions. And he would feel a fierce desire to try to protect that boy from anything which might try to steal that hope from him.