Then Again

Chapter 4

Percy's seventh birthday was approaching, and he was excited for it. Of course, it was only going to be the usual people at the Tower with the addition of Peter Parker and his aunt and uncle. Having the older boy over was the only request he had, and his dad and Jim Jam were more than happy to make it happen. Of course, Peter was ecstatic as well because, for whatever reason, he had felt like he had seen the boy before.

Dreams were a tricky thing, they always were to people who could have them, but they rarely felt so much like memories. In dreams, one does not see faces, not really. All the people one felt they have seen in those moments between wakefulness and not are ones that they have encountered before in some moment in time. The mind rarely invents a face, not when one is truly asleep. It is one fabricated from the hundreds and thousands viewed before like a file from a database.

So, it was a wonder to Peter Parker why he recognized Percy Jackson so clearly in his dreams when he had only just met him the once in the school. Somehow, he knew it was Percy despite the fact that he looked different; older and more world-weary with a grin that saved thousands.

"You need to get up, Parker." Percy had said, his voice gruff from the smoke in the air as he extended a hand towards him. Fighting and screams surrounded them but still the teenager smiled as he helped up the other. "We're not done just yet."

"We got reinforcements?" Peter found his dream-self asking, wiping his red and blue suit as if that would help the dirt that had settled in it. 

Percy looked at him in that one moment, his eyes shining, and he lifted up the sword in his hand as he said, "A few." He faced forward once more and gazed at the battlefield even as his free hand found Peter's. "I had a dream once," He said quietly, a tremor in his limbs. "It was you, me, and the sea."

Peter wasn't sure why he had those dreams, why they felt like memories when he was only so young, but there were times where he would find himself crying during one of the family dinners and he wondered if those were memories, too.

"You ready to go, bud?" Uncle Ben asked as he grabbed the keys from the hanger next to the door and Aunt May wrapped the cookies together to take to the tower. They were store bought but she had transferred them to a different container for appearance's sake.

The young boy perked up and went to turn around when he felt a drop on his hand. He was crying, crying silently, and he knew right there that he had experienced a memory he had already forgotten. "Yeah!" He beamed, using his sleeve to wipe the evidence. He scrambled up and grabbed the small blue gift bag by his leg, double checking he had everything before bounding over to Uncle Ben. "I'm ready! I can't believe we're going to see the Avengers!"

Ben snorted, shaking his head in quiet astonishment. "You and me both. Honey, are you good to go?" He called to Aunt May, who was struggling to shut one of the containers.

"Just about!"

--

Despite the many superheroes attending the party, it was a fairly tame affair. Peter and Percy were content with playing videogames and eating cake, and the two didn't even put up a fuss when it was time to go to bed. Aunt May and Uncle Ben agreed to let Peter sleepover, making sure to carefully inform Tony and Bucky about Peter's random bouts of nightmares or his tendency to cry without even being aware of it. The two Avengers promised to look after the kid because he was a sweetheart and grew on them quickly.

"Do you get scared sometimes?" Percy asked in the quietest of voices from where the two were cuddled together on the young boy's bed.

"Sometimes." Peter confirmed before pausing. "A lot of the times. Aunt May and Uncle Ben say I cry a lot."

Percy shuffled a bit until he could look up at the older boy with big tired green eyes. "I cry a lot, too. Remembering hurts."

"Does it hurt your head?"

The six-year-old shook his head before tapping the other boy's chest with his knuckles. "Remembering hurts."

"Oh..." Peter exhaled in realization before nodding, burying his face in fluffy black hair to hide the tears lining his eyes. "Yeah... Remembering hurts."

"Mr. Tony says I'm smart for a kid."

The older child took a shaky breath, his voice quiet. "They don't know but they will. We can't tell them."

"They have to ask." Percy agreed, a trembling hand fisting in Peter's blue sweater. "Do you- Are they scared?"

Peter did his best to shrug with the other boy's head resting against him. "I don't think they realize the possibilities."

He nodded, releasing his grip to snake his arm around the older boy's waist. "Remembering hurts but I don't want to forget."

"Not one line." Peter, despite experiencing the dreams that made him want to scream and cry, found himself admitting to feeling the same. They were something precious that he never wanted to forget. "I'm glad I met you."

"When?" Percy asked curiously.

"Both times." He answered, tightening his hold on the boy.

The younger hummed, a light tune despite the previous conversation. "I never had a birthday party before."

"Never?"

"Never. Always too busy."

"What did you think of this one?"

Percy smiled to himself, feeling his eyes drifting. "It was nice and warm."

--

"Did you have fun?" Uncle Ben asked when he picked up Peter in the morning from the Avengers Tower. Aunt May had to work overnight at the hospital, so she was currently getting some rest at the apartment. He didn't mind picking his nephew up, of course he didn't, but he couldn't help but get intimidated by the number of superheroes around him. 

"Yeah!" Peter beamed at his uncle, throwing his overnight bag into the car before climbing in himself. "Loads and loads! We played videogames and ate cake and Bruce Banner made a cookie as big as my head. Bruce Banner! There's a picture of him in class!"

Ben laughed, starting the vehicle and checking the mirrors. "That sounds awesome. Did Percy like your gift? You never told us what it was."

"It's a secret." Peter grinned cheekily and turned to look out the window when Uncle Ben focused on driving in the New York traffic. He tracked the clouds with his eyes and couldn't help but picture them in different places on another day where a boy grinned at him and held his hand and told him he dreamt of him.

Please don't let me forget.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

words: 1,122

song: Smoke and Mirrors - Imagine Dragons (audio)