(Fem.) Percy meets Spidey

33

"Sally's pissed." My spoon fell into the cereal bowl, splashing milk into my face, when May hit me over the head with a dishtowel. I glowered, and she slid the swear jar towards me. "And I'm in high school, I'm allowed to cuss."

"Not in this apartment, buster."

"Ben said I could cuss when I was a freshman."

"And my baby can't cuss until he's in his thirties." She pinched my cheek until I tapped out. Four quarters plunked into it. "Thank you." She took a long sip of tepid coffee--I'd need to fix the machine later. "What's she mad about?"

"I thought I wasn't supposed to eavesdrop on the neighbors?" Already, I'd focused back in on the sound of Sally's voice. "Percy was...right about her mom freaking out on her." My fingers drummed against the table. There had to be a reason for her to be acting like this. Sally was among the nicest people in the building. She wouldn't be this upset if she didn't have a good reason. I said as much to May.

She sighed. "She's probably scared. Even if we're wrong about her father, there's plenty of people willing to use their kids not wanting to see them as leverage against the other parent. You ever try being polite to someone screaming outside their sick kid's door at two in the morning?"

"And that's why I'm not going into healthcare." My Fruity Pebbles were soggy.

"Here we go."

I frowned around my spoon and turned my face towards the wall. That's a guy's voice, but not it's not Mr Blofis

The rest of the words slipped off into another language, and Percy responded to it with the same one. They were quiet and measured, only occasionally pitching up. She'd quickly reign it back to near emotionless. And then the man would respond again, an edge to his tone that raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

I shoved out of my chair and scrambled onto the counter to grab the cookie jar. It was still half full, since we'd made cookies last night. I emptied it, piling them onto a paper plate.

"Are you looking for Percy?" Sally asked.

A sigh. "She's allowed to be here, Sally. I want her happy. She's my baby, and I want her to have what she deserves." There was too much anger and sharpness in that. My Spidey sense rang klaxons. May didn't ask what I was doing when I slipped out the door.

"We made a deal."

"And I'd be more than willing to watch her here. Nothing we agreed to means that she has to be in my home."

I knocked. Sally opened the door and let me inside, mindlessly asking me how I am and how May is. My eyes flicked to the man as I answered with "we're good" and then, "You just saw us" with a laugh.

"This is Percy's father." She didn't offer a name. Part of me didn't want her to. He had black hair, green eyes, and a gaze that swept over me like I meant nothing. He shifted his weight, blocking the hallway to the bedrooms. For a man dressed in a Hawaiian shirt with a tattered fishing hat, he was far too intimidating.

A constant urge to run pulled at my brain. He's dangerous. Something lurked under this facade of a laid-back man. His eyes narrowed; I shuddered.

"What are these for?" Sally's gaze had dropped to the cookies in my hand.

"May bugged Percy to help us make cookies last night, and she left before they were done, so...Uh, is she up yet?" She was. She was definitely awake, because I'd heard her.

"She's still---"

"She's awake and probably eavesdropping." He took a few steps down the hall. A door opened, and he came back with Percy in tow. She slunk behind him like a scolded puppy. Strands of her hair stuck in every direction. Shadows hung under her eyes, which darted between us. Her mouth twitched into a frown. It disappeared into passive apathy when her dad turned to her. 

"You can go back to bed," he said. "I was just about done here. Unless you're wanting to come with me?"

Percy mumbled something and he laughed. Her shoulders hiked to her ears; her face burned red. 

"I can handle my own business."

She waved her hands. "Xéro óti boreís! Merikés forés aft--- den thélo ta prágmata na cheiroterévoun. Den prospatheís, kai to xéro. Allá..."

Sally opened her mouth, but Percy's father beat her to responding. "I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it."

Percy nodded rapidly. Too fast. Like she needed to make sure he knew that whatever she said wasn't an insult. It reminded me of how I'd be when Flash took something I said the wrong way. The thing was, it never worked with Flash, why would it work with him? May and I could hope we were wrong, but the man grimaced. His shoulders were tensed and so was his jaw. He glanced at me and sighed.

"Be good." He bent down to kiss her cheek. "Kaléste me an ta prágmata cheiroterépsoun."

Percy tensed, eyes flicking to Sally before she leaned to kiss his cheek in return. 

I placed the cookies on the kitchen table, offering a wave to Mr Blofis, and went back to the apartment to grab a jacket and shoes.

"I'm going to head over to the Tower and talk to Mr Stark about some stuff." And ask if he could find anything on Percy's dad.

You guys don't get a translation because Peter doesn't know the language (also if any people who speak Greek read that out loud (phonetic spelling instead of the actual Greek alphabet) and it doesn't make sense, blame google translate)

Also, please enjoy this chapter thats kinda crap because *Stress*

See yah