Percy Jackson One Shots and Short Stories

#65 - The Avengers (AU) (Part VI)

Chapter 65 - The Avengers (AU) (Part VI)
published: Monday, 3 August 2020

"Iron Man!" Jason's voice shattered his reverie.

Percy blinked, the haze over his mind dispelling gradually.

"You're staring," came Frank's voice from his left, a smirk on the archer's face.

Percy felt his cheeks burn and was, more than ever, grateful for the faceplate hiding his expression.

They were in the middle of a battle against Dr Doom — yes, again, the guy was incapable of taking a break — and Percy had just dropped Frank off on top of a building. The wreckage that was an avenue on Queens spread out around them, and Percy found his gaze wandering to Annabeth, who had hurtled through the air, arms throttled around the neck of a Doombot as she hacked at its head with her shield.

"I wasn't," Percy lied easily. "Got distracted talking to JARVIS." Frank didn't look convinced, but Percy flew away before he could hear another comment.

"Chatter," Annabeth warned, breathless. "I've got two bots on my tail. Jason, help me out here?"

"On it, Annabeth," the god replied, and Percy was greeted by the sight of Jason flying towards her, grappling with the Doombots trailing after her.

Percy landed beside the Hulk, defending Leo from above while he took out the bots on the ground.

He glanced around. "JARVIS, how many more are there?"

"You have cleared 65% of Doombots."

Anything to distract him from the knowledge that this tiny crush was starting to become a problem. The thing was that Percy got crushes all the time.

A waitress who smiled at him. Piper, who'd been his assistant for so long and looked out for him.

Few culminated in actual relationships. In fact, Percy could probably count the number of relationships he'd ever had on one hand.

That being said, crushes tended to disappear or, if he started sting them, evolve in deeper feelings. The waitress didn't make him feel butterflies anymore. He'd fallen in love with Piper, then consequently out of love.

It had been a month since he realised that he had feelings for Annabeth, and he hadn't acted on them, but they were still there. In a way that made him have to catch his breath when they went to galas and she wore a blue dress — it should be illegal to look that good — or made him stammer when she drifted too close into his personal space.

It was incredibly annoying because it had taken three months for them to be on speaking terms, and six months to become friends. There was no way he was going to screw this up because of some feelings.

But his body apparently wasn't corresponding with his mind correctly, because, well, refer to the aforementioned incidents.

Not to mention that the team had finally fallen into step with each other. Percy wasn't willing to risk that or this new fragile family.

It's a small crush, he told himself. You'll get over her in a week, tops.

An explosion of rubble and dust a few yards away alerted Percy to the fact that Jason had just plummeted from the sky into the pavement. The god's resounding groan filtered through the helmet as he lay limp in the ground, pained from the impact.

"Jason! I need an extraction here," came Annabeth's frantic voice. "I'm about to decapitate this bot, and I need you to catch me. Jason? Can you hear me?"