Percy and Annabeth meet a demigod Spiderman and talk about monsters and science stuff that I totally made up :PTell me what you think!

New York City.

Towering skyscrapers, thousands of people, cabs, buses, people honking their horns and yelling, firemen fixing a fire hydrant, flashing billboards . . . Complete chaos.

It was good to be home.

Don't get me wrong, New Rome was awesome, and peace and quiet with Annabeth was awesomer still. But I definitely needed to see my mom and be under the glowing trance of the city lights.

When we finally got off the train, (Annabeth loved it, look at the landscape Percy and Gods of Olympus, it's pretty Percy and this is so much better than a plane Percy) we took the sub toward my mom's apartment.

It was almost three and I was starved so we popped into McDonald's right quick.

Obviously grown too accustomed to the monster free life, Annabeth and I barely saw the thing coming before it was on us. Pretty basic bear-rhino-bull thing going on, armor, swords and stuff. The real entertainment happened in a minute.

I uncapped Riptide and my old friend grew into full form, "Hey ugly. Would you like fries with that?" I threw our beautiful lunch at his face in the name of survival with my left hand and slashed with my right. It didn't do much.

The monster's eyes widened and burned with hatred.

"Percy, the water," Annabeth advised, stepping forward to take the monster's advances. Annabeth was always amazing with a dagger but her sword skills were pretty great too.

I took a breath and tried to focus on where the water was. My senses locked in on the soda dispenser, filled with Coke, Mountain Dew, and a personal favorite, Dr. Pepper, "It's so sugary." I complained, "It's full of sugar and dyes and all sorts of crap."

Annabeth twirled her ivory sword and blocked perfectly, her blond hair flying, "Try!" She exclaimed.

I tried to focus but someone started screaming crazy stuff like, "He's here! Help!" And my ADHD couldn't stop thinking about the voice. It was the cashier that took our order. Could he see through the Mist? Was he talking about me?

"Come on Percy," Annabeth cried impatiently.

I blinked hard, "Right." Water. I filtered the soda of its added ingredients, rising it out of the machine. Ew. Tap water. Gross man.

When I turned to give back up, Annabeth screamed, shrill and loud, like I've only heard a couple times before. When there was a . . . Spider . . .

Flying in over our heads, swung a red suited kid, slinging white strings around our monster in an instant, "Whoo-Hoo!" The guy jumped to the ground in front of our monster and then threw out his hands, more white string, or should I say web, shooting from the kid's wrist and tying itself around our unwelcome guest. The monster toppled to the floor.

Some of the string stuck to Annabeth and she grabbed for it, panic stricken, and managed to get it off.

The guy stood up. He was covered from head to toe in a red costume with blue on certain areas. His eyes were white patches and he seemed to be about my height. On his suit was a thin web pattern in black and on his chest was the symbol of a spider.

Annabeth turned her sword on him, "Who are you? Show yourself."

"Whoa," the guy said, holding up his hands, "I'm not trying to bother you happy blossom."

I stepped between both of them, "It's alright Annabeth. And you," I capped Riptide and then pointed at this crazy dude, "Don't give my girlfriend nicknames."

He nodded, "Fine by me. But we need to get out of here first." Annabeth lowered her weapon a foot, still ready to strike.

Annabeth glanced at me accusingly, like I agreed or something, "Spiders. No." She looked back, "I'm not going with you until you show me your face."

"Great," The guy said, then twisted his hand around, looking at the mortals. He mumbled something, definitely not English.

Annabeth's sword raised again, "What was that? A curse? I'm not afraid of your curses spider boy."

"Not a curse, I just have to cover our tracks," He said, taking off his stretchy mask, showing us his face. Annabeth muffled a gasp. He had dark hair, brown eyes, a sharp nose and a big smile, completely normal, "And it's Spiderman actually."

As soon as we made it back to the street, Spiderman said he had to put his mask back on for personal reasons.

Annabeth walked with me between the two of them and kept staring at our less murderous new friend. I had always thought her fear of spiders was a little irrational but after Athena's enemy, Arachne, all but pushed us into Tartarus, I had to admit, I started to hate spiders too.

Out in front of McDonald's, Spiderman gave a little chant at the building. Nothing changed in my eyes but I had a feeling he was manipulating the Mist.

"Hey dude, it's been great and all but we've got someone to meet today and it's important." I told him.

"Yeah man, that's fine. Where do you need to go?" He responded.

"None of your business!" Annabeth snapped.

I took her hand and squeezed it, "Take a breath."

She whipped her head around but softened when she saw my face. She breathed heavily and then nodded.

Spiderman took a tiny step forward, "Look lady, I'm not trying to kill you. If I was, wouldn't I have--" He raised his wrists and pulled them back and forth, "--Zew, zew zew-d you both by now?"

Annabeth didn't look convinced, "We know some pretty misleading monsters."

The guy laughed, an honest laugh, "It seems like it. That was wicked sword work by the way. And you," He sounded impressed, "Nice raising the spirits of the soda machine or whatever."

I like this guy, I thought, giving Annabeth a reassuring smile, "Well it's what we do."

"I'm Peter Parker," He held his hand out to me, "Under the mask."

I shook with him, "I'm Percy Jackson. And that's Annabeth Chase. You'll have to forgive any rudeness on either of our parts. Last time we had an encounter with a spider creature, we ended up wondering in a pit of death, fire and unimaginable doom."

"The smell," Annabeth added, "Don't forget the smell." But she shook with Peter.

"Sounds rough," He said, "But we should totally trade stories sometime."

Annabeth and I glanced at each other, "Sure," I agreed.

"I can call if you want," He suggested.

"We don't do phones." Annabeth explained, "They attract the monsters."

"Oh, I can fix that." He said as if we were scared of falling in a side walk crack, "I have to put magic over you but I can do it."

"Just a temporary one then please." Annabeth said.

Spiderman stomped one foot then the other, waving his hands around, looking like a Native American about to go to war. He chanted and stomped around, shimmer started to appear and surround us.

Annabeth cleared her throat nervously and squeezed my hand, "Um. Do you have to dance?"

"No," Peter answered, doing the shopping cart dance, "It's just part of my creative process."

Annabeth and Athena's shared look of disapproval reigned down on Spiderman.

When the bubble of shimmer slowly faded and Spiderdude stopped doing bad dance moves, I had to ask, "Wait. Who's kid are you?"

"My parent's kid." He answered, confused.

I was about to clarify about godly parent and the Mist stuff but his wrist started beeping, "Duty calls." He told us his number, "Gotta go. See ya!"

He backed up and took a running start, shooting web from his wrist. He swung forward between skyscrapers like Tarzan, "Nice fighting with you!" He yelled, barely heard.

Annabeth looked dazed, "Who in the world--"

I realized I was still holding her hand so I squeezed her fingers, "It doesn't really matter now. Let's go meet my mom."

So we left, McDonald's in chaos and Spiderman swinging off in the sky.

The next day, Saturday, we borrowed my Mom's phone and called.

"Hello?" He asked.

I talked to him since Annabeth obviously didn't want to, "Hey man. It's Percy."

"Oh hey! I was wondering if this would be you!"

"Yeah. I think maybe we should meet dude."

"Cool, why don't you come over to my Aunt May's apartment?"

"Sure. Where is it?"

"Brooklyn. On the normal side of town." He told me the address, "She's making lasagna later, if you want some."

"That sounds awesome." I said, catching Annabeth roll her eyes.

I heard her mumble something like, He offered you food, didn't he?

"Great," Spiderman said, "Oh, but no spider talk in front of my aunt."

"No problem. Be over in an hour."

Peter's aunt answered the door, "Hi. Come in, Peter's right here." She was tall with dark, graying hair and a friendly smile.

She held open the door and Peter popped his head over the couch, "Oh hey guys."

He paused Netflix and got up to meet us, dressed in normal clothes this time. To our left was the kitchen and a small bar, to the right was the couch, a chair and a tv with a carpet underneath. Far left lead to the other rooms.

"Aunt May, this is Percy and Annabeth, my friends from school."

Annabeth and I glanced at each other but played along.

"Guys, this is my Aunt May."

"It's nice to meet you," Annabeth said, "Sorry for the short notice."

"Oh no dear, you're fine. The lasagna is almost ready but you can take a seat if you like." She held her hand to the living room and then walked over to the kitchen.

Annabeth and I took the couch and Peter took the chair.

"School with you?" Annabeth hissed.

He shrugged and made sure his aunt couldn't hear, "You had to come from somewhere."

"So," His oblivious aunt called, "How long have you been going to Peter's high school?"

Even though Annabeth and I graduated last June, she must have just assumed we were a year younger.

"Just since August," Annabeth answered confidently, "We're going to graduate here hopefully."

"Where did you live before?"

"Near Los Angeles," I said.

"Wow. That sounds nice."

"It was," Annabeth said, "But alot of our families are here and the architectural college is close."

"Oh. Are you going to study architecture?"

"Yes ma'am."

Aunt May slammed something and then something else, "Peter, can you get drinks? We just have to let it cool."

We all stood up and Peter gave us a satisfied look, "Both of you deserve Oscars." And then he poured everyone Sprite.

The lasagna was great, even Annabeth admitted, and after we ate, Peter said, "I think we're gonna go play video games in my room." He gave us a questioning look.

"Only if you have Call of Duty," I said, grinning.

"Dude. You know I do."

We thanked his aunt for lunch and then followed Peter back to his room which was crammed full of stuff.

"You're aunt is mortal." Annabeth said, as soon as he clicked his door shut.

"I don't know what you mean." He answered, taking a stack of books from his chair and putting them on the floor. He plopped on his bed, "Like, seriously, I don't know what you're talking about."

Annabeth sat at the edge of his office chair.

I choose the bean bag, "Cool. I haven't seen one of these in years." I said, poking it.

"Do you know anything about Greek mythology?" Annabeth asked seriously.

Peter shook his head, "Nah. Just Zeus and Apollo. I don't even know what they do."

"They're real." I said, "Zeus, Apollo. My dad Poseidon. Her mom Athena. And a ton more."

"Wait. You're dad?" He demanded.

"Poseidon is the Greek god of the sea and horses. That's why Percy is strengthened by water." Annabeth said, "And Athena is the goddess of wisdom in battle which is why I told him to use the water."

"You guys are pulling my leg."

"Why would we?"

"I'll bite. So what does that make you?" Peter gasped sarcastically, "Are you gods too?"

He seemed to be taking this pretty well actually.

"No," I said, "My mom is mortal. I'm a demigod and so is Annabeth."

"Duuuude, that's so awesome." He said.

"Most of the time it isn't. Monsters of Greek myth are also real, and they enjoy killing little halfbloods. That's what you found us doing, fighting one."

For a second, I can see the wheels turning in his mind at a million miles per hour, just like Annabeth, "But. Why can't everyone else see the monsters?"

"Its called the Mist," I answered, sitting up in my bean bag awkwardly, "Hecate, the goddess of magic, controls it."

"Just as you seem to." Annabeth told him, reading my mind, "To mortals, that whole thing in McDonald's will likely be blamed on a busted sewer pipe or an accident in the kitchen or something else."

And click, he got it, "That's the reason you could see it too. You could see me."

"I don't know of any gods or goddesses with spider powers--"

Peter interrupted, "It wasn't from that. I got bitten by a rare poisonous spider in a lab one day. I have these wildly attuned senses now and I can walk up walls. The webbing was of my own invention though."

Annabeth didn't seem to care until the word invention, "Wait, what? You designed that webbing?"

He grinned, "I don't exactly shoot it out of my ass." I laughed a little.

I'm pretty sure Annabeth's eye twitched, "Is it true to spider's silk?"

"As much as I could make it. I've carried like, three hundred pound robots with it before and it never breaks."

"Would you mind if I took a look at it?"

Peter grinned at her and then me, "I think she's warming up to me." He hopped up and dug in his closet, pulling out a weird arm bracelet. He handed it to awestruck Annabeth and then sat down again, "That's the prototype."

Annabeth carefully examined his mechanism, "Oh I see. You mixed the chemicals here," She tapped the box like thing attached to the forearm, "and launch it as a spray."

Peter nodded, "Making the web wasn't the hard part. I had to find a way to make the web expand as it was shot or I would never have enough. My whole suit is rigged with cartridges."

"So you caused the reaction before the web was shot and then some sort of diffuser to shape it . . ." Annabeth murmured.

"Yeah. I could go into all the science and stuff but your boyfriend looks kind of lost."

Annabeth turned to me and I laughed, "Trust me bro, I'm used to being lost."

He smiled, "Anyway, back to the Mist."

"Right," Annabeth pressed her lips, "Can you explain what you did? With the chanting and the glitter ball?"

"Oh that? I told you, it's completely unnecessary. I just like chanting when I get--"

"No, the magic part."

"My powers? Like I said, spider bite, freaky senses, gecko stickiness."

"No," Annabeth said forcefully, "You were manipulating the Mist."

Peter shot me a look like, Dude, is she always this crazy? I shrugged in response.

"What I did . . . Um. It wasn't quite erasing their memories, but I made them believe they didn't see Spiderman come swooping in the to save the day--no matter what sort of catastrophe they saw. I'm fantasy to them. I'm a hero but I'm not real. Does this make any sense?"

We nodded, "Yeah, I guess. You found a way to be a famous hero without anyone recognizing you." She said.

"Exactly. I always assumed the spider bite gave me that power also but . . . I'm guessing you guys know better." He looked as us expectantly, ready for us to give him all the answers.

But we didn't have them unless, "What about your parents?" I asked.

He looked at his hands, "They died when I was a kid."

Annabeth spoke softly, "And there's no way either one of them was like, an all powerful immortal right?"

"Impossible." He said, and then somehow read our faces, "And they loved each other. Like, annoyingly too much. I am not a child of some weird Greek myth."

Thunder cracked outside and I wondered if Zeus had heard him. Zeus wasn't fond of being called weird. I'd know.

Annabeth wasn't through, "What about your grandparents?"

"Both of my grandmothers died before I was born." There was a silence, "Wait. You think I could actually be a demi-whatever?"

"Spider bites don't do this to normal people." Annabeth said strongly, "It must be Hecate descendants, one of her daughters . . . One of your parents has to have been a demigod."

"How about you tell us a little bit about your parents?" I asked.

"Um." Peter wrinkled his nose in thought, "Well. They were both scientists, they didn't like the beach or going on trips."

Annabeth coughed, "Athena."

"But they really liked insects." Peter added.

I coughed back, "Not-Athena."

Peter held the back of his neck, "My dad liked robotics."

"Hephaestus." Annabeth offered.

"Not capable of being a grandmother." I said.

"Apollo," Annabeth pointed out, "He wouldn't mind."

Peter held up his hands, "Look. I don't know what you're both talking about but I did not have misty powers before my spider bite."

"One of your parents, possibly a descendant of Hecate, put magic over you so you wouldn't discover your ancestors. As a protection from the monsters they probably grew up running from. The spider venom overrode the magic since your parents were there to . . . Hold it."

Peter sighed.

"What's wrong?" She asked. It was kind of funny that I could tell she cared. She was trying to help the guy with spider powers, what a plot twist.

"Nothing, I'm just. This stinks. When I discovered my spider powers, it became a whole knew world for me. And now, apparently, I'm still missing something. I don't want to have to find myself all over again."

"You'll be fine," I assured him, "You're not only taking care of yourself but a bunch of New Yorkers too. Obviously you have powers strong enough to live normally and destroy monsters."

"Right." He said.

"Not to mention some pretty clever sarcasm." I added.

He laughed once, "So I've been told."

"Hecate is also the goddess of crossroads." Annabeth told him quietly, "You can come with us to the demigod world or you can stay and do your friendly neighborhood Spiderman thing. It's up to you."

He smiled, "I think I'll stay. I would like to hear a bit more about the mythology stuff though."

"Where should we start?" I asked Annabeth.

"How about Luke, Thalia and Grover?"

"Great." I grinned, "You should get comfortable."

We told him about Camp Half-Blood, the Labyrinth, Kronos, my amnesia, the Romans and Greeks, Gaea and Arachne along with a little bit of Tartarus and finishing with New Rome.

He told us about his girlfriend Gwen Stacy, Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus--which, alas, I found hilarious--Electro and a ton of other monsters.

We actually did play some video games, which Annabeth somehow won several times.

About four hours after we came, Annabeth looked at her watch, "Gods of Olympus! It's five o'clock already."

"We should probably go," I said, getting up with some difficulty out of the bean bag chair.

"Okay. Thanks for--," He waved his hand, looking for the right word.

"No problem." I told him, "We'll call when we get back to New Rome."

He smiled at Annabeth, raising his eyebrows, "Still scared of me?"

"You look less scrawny in the suit." She replied, holding back a laugh.

"I'll walk you out." Peter told us, grinning.

I held my hand up as we stepped out the door, "Bye, thanks for the food!"

"It was delicious." Annabeth agreed beside me, "See you at school Peter."