A STORM IS BREWING | PERCY JACKSON

Chapter Thirteen

Percy slowly closed the door to the apartment as Ned walked down the hall. After the initial shock had worn off Ned had asked a million questions about Spider-Man. Eventually, Percy had to force him to leave, promising to answer more questions at school the next day.

He turned around to face his family, meeting their expectant stares and grimacing at the thought of the upcoming questions about to be hurled his way.

"Why were you late?" Thalia demanded.

Percy chuckled nervously, "About that..."

Hestia raised her eyebrow at him, unimpressed.

Percy cleared his throat before explaining, "So, I was swinging home after meeting with Strange, which, was useless because we didn't find anything new, when I saw these guys robbing an ATM. I went to stop them and then they pulled out this advanced tech that literally tore the ATM out of the wall. So, yeah, that's my excuse."

He had been fidgeting throughout his explanation but it got worse as Hestia set her intense gaze on him.

Hestia let out a deep sigh, "As long as you're safe. It's been a long night, you three head to bed and we can talk more tomorrow."

Thalia and Nico looked on the verge of protesting before a stern look from Hestia sent them on their way. Percy followed behind them, wanting nothing more than to sleep for hours. Knowing his luck, he probably wouldn't get any sleep due to nightmares.

***
Peter arrived early to school the next morning. He had a feeling that Ned would have more questions and wanted to get them out of the way. He quickly said goodbye to his cousins and made his way to his locker where Ned was already waiting.

"'Morning, Ned," Peter greeted.

Ned didn't bother to respond properly, he started to immediately ask questions, "You got bit by a spider? Can it bite me? Well, it probably would've hurt, right? Whatever. Even if it did hurt, I'd let it bite me. Maybe. How much did it hurt?"

Peter just smiled and shook his head, "The spider's dead, Ned."

That unfortunately didn't deter Ned from asking more questions. "Were you at Delmar's last night? I saw it on the news. It was totally trashed."

"Yeah, I was there."

Ned quickly changed the subject, "Can you lay eggs?"

"What? No!"

***

Ned managed to hold off until Chemistry before asking another question. "Can you spit venom?"
"No."
"Can you summon an army of spiders?"
"No, Ned. Now pay attention, this is going to be on the quiz."

***

"How far can you shoot your webs?"

Peter groaned and banged his head on the table, which attracted the attention of his classmates and teacher. At that point, he didn't really care what they thought, he just wanted the day to end.

***

The worst of it was in gym class. Coach Wilson was playing a fitness video of Captain America that made Percy want to jump in the Lethe.

Ned was still asking him questions. Peter ignored him, letting the sound drift to the back of his mind. He snapped out of it when Ned pushed him, before looking at him expectantly.

"What?"

Ned rolled his eyes, "I asked if I could be your guy in the chair? You know how there's a guy with a headset telling the other guy where to go? If you're in a burning building, I could tell you where to go. There'd be screens around me, and I could swivel around. I could be your guy in the chair."

Percy contemplated it for a second before his mind produced the vision of his friends dying because of him. He refused to let Ned become another one of those people. He replied without hesitation, "I don't need a guy in the chair."

Ned pouted for a minute but didn't bring the subject up again. The two were distracted by Liz and her group of friends having a conversation about Spider-Man.

"Peter knows Spider-Man," Ned blurted.

Percy cursed in his head. He tried to deny it but instead ended up agreeing to bring Spider-Man to a party that Liz was throwing.

He wanted to be mad at Ned but understood that his friend was just trying to help. He would just have to figure out a way for both Spider-Man and Peter Parker to be at the party at the same time.

***

Ned and Peter pulled up to Liz's house later that night. They could already hear the music that was blaring from inside. They quickly said goodbye to Aunt May and walked up to the front door.

Percy had tried to get his cousins to come along but Thalia had told him it was lame and Nico melted into the shadows before he even got a chance to finish asking. He would be alone in case he needed a quick escape.

After a brief, but strange interaction with Michelle, they found Liz amongst a group of seniors. She quickly broke away from the conversation to greet them.

"Hey, guys. I'm glad you could make it."
"Hi, Liz."

"There's pizza and drinks so just feel free to help yourselves,"she told them. A crash from their left drew her attention. "Sorry, I got to go. My parents will kill me if anything is broken."

She disappeared into the crowd of people, taking Peter's hope to actually have a conversation with her. Ned tried to pressure him into changing into his suit but he refused. If he ever went on a date with Liz, it would be as Peter Parker, not Spider-Man. He would not use his suit to try and get a date with someone.

***
Peter cursed himself as he took off his clothes, revealing the bright red and blue suit underneath. He had been successfully ignoring Ned's attempts to have him put on the suit when Flash approached.

The other boy was quick to start insulting Peter, calling him crude names and making fun of him. Peter got irritated and that led him here, doing the exact thing he had promised to not do.

He was about to swing down when there was a large explosion of light to his right. He stared at it for a moment, wide-eyed, before pulling on his mask. He looked at the house remorsefully before turning bad swinging the opposite direction.

Sorry for the short chapter, hopefully the next one is a bit longer. I'm trying to update more regularly but no promises. Thank you to everyone who has commented and voted.
<3 S