Everyone grew quiet at the sight of them -they had decided not to take their masks off yet and Wade had always felt safer with his katanas strapped on his back. The dining pavilion was located on a hill that overlooked the sea. It was framed in Greek columns where torches were hung and blazed and a central fire was burning, bathing everything in an orange glow. The duo was showed to one of the many tables, where Chiron was talking to a chubby-faced guy, with a bright red nose, curly black hair and blue, bloodshot eyes. He introduced himself simply as Mr. D, the camp director. "You will introduce yourselves to the rest of the campers and will answer some of their questions at the campfire," he didn't ask. He ordered.

They were fairly surprised to see not only nymphs and satyrs sitting at the table, but also the delicious food that kept magically appearing on their plates and their goblets seemed to never empty. They did not miss the hushed conversations nor the stolen glances directed at them all along the dinner. Once the last scraps of food were thrown into the fire –an offering for the gods, they were told-, the campers explained that, on Tuesdays, after dinner there was an unarmed combat session and that the two of them were invited to participate. They then left the dining pavilion and headed together to the arena while Clarisse explained the rules. Demigods would get paired up and the first to be rendered unconscious or incapacitated would lose. Even though neither of them was exactly eager to fight with a group of mere teenagers, Wade found it interesting; Peter, not so much.

"But seeing as this is a special occasion, we've decided to level it up a bit. The demigod have been paired up with will be among the counsellors." She exclaimed with a wide grin and…

Hey, writer lady! A word, please!

What the… Wade? Dude, I'm in the middle of writing.

We both know you are either avoiding homework or ignoring your professor's lectures.

Wow, rude! Anyway, what do you want? You've already ruined the moment.

I wanted to ask a favour. Can I get paired up with her? Please?

With Clarisse? No. You don't deserve it.

Pretty please with cherries on top? You look dashing today, you know?

Ugh, Ok. But for the record, you are an asshole.

"Come on, Deadpool, chill. They are just kids." Peter was having a hard time restraining the older man and putting Wade's weapons away from him. How and where on earth Wade hid those, Peter still hadn't found the answers to. "It was just an exercise."

It had been an intense session. Peter had been paired up with Annabeth and Wade with Clarisse. Peter won his encounter. Always careful with his enhanced strength, Peter took advantage of an opening in her defences and twisted her arms behind her back and sat on top of her but Annabeth resulted a fearsome opponent. Her mother wasn't called the Goddess of Strategy and Battles for nothing. She blocked most of his punches and could keep up with his speed -at least for a while. His senses and reflexes were far more superior to hers. Their combat ended after fifteen minutes, both panting and sweating. He had a split lip and he knew he would be bruised all over in the morning. Annabeth, on the other hand, walked with a limp, result of a kick, and wrapped an arm around her ribs. They would hurt for a while. Her eyes shone with respect and a small desire of vengeance. Peter helped her on her feet and she nodded her head in appreciation.

He offered to walk her to the medical tent near the arena. He left her with one of the healers and focused his attention on Wade's fight and was surprised when he noted that his mercenary boyfriend was having a very hard time countering the punches and kicks that were systematically thrown at him. The daughter of Ares fought like a demon; her knuckles red and a crazy gleam on her eyes. She had blood running down her nose and a swollen eye; Wade had lost at least four teeth and his nose was broken.

Their fight lasted almost an hour and it ended when Wade fell unconscious after a well delivered blow to his already injured nose. He saw black spots and everything went dark. Peter rushed to his boyfriend's side and promptly took him to a nearby bench. He put Wade's nose on its place and declined the camper's help when they came to take him to the healing tent. The healing factor kicked in a few moments later and everyone stared in shock the way his wounds closed and how his teeth grew back by themselves in a matter of minutes.

The problem was when Wade woke up.

"My healing factor does not work on my ego." Wade grumbled. "You are so paying for this."

"Come on, dude, give her a rest."

"I'm not talking about Clarisse. I'm talking about that fucker." He snarled, piercing the wall in front of his with his eyes. His demeanour changed in the blink of an eye. "I want to adopt this one. She sure knows how to throw a punch. Can we adopt her, baby boy? Please?"

"No." said two voices in unison.

On the distance, a horn was blown, announcing the end of the day.

"It's time for the campfire. Everyone, let's go." Chiron guided everyone to the amphitheatre, where a huge bonfire shone brightly with orange flames. There were several benches scattered around it. "Today was an intense day. For the first time, we have two mortals sitting among us. Two mortals unlike any we've seen before. We would like you to introduce yourselves and share some stories with the campers, if you'd like." Peter and Wade shifted awkwardly on their bench under the intense scrutiny of dozens of eyes. They looked at each other and clasped their hands tightly.

"Why –why don't you… ask us and stuff?" Peter had never really gotten over his social awkwardness. Spiderman was the confident, chatty one, not him. It was really hard for Peter to be in the spotlight and, after the events of the day and the not-so-impossible scenario that Wade had presented, he was feeling more and more like Peter Parker rather than his alter ego.

Many hands rose up in the air and Chiron, sensing Peter's struggle and mild distress, decided to act as the mediator. He let one of the counsellors, Annabeth speak first.

"Just, what… who are you? I noticed during our fight that you weren't using all of your strength." Her grey eyes seemed to pierce Peter, reaching his very soul. "And how did you do that back at the infirmary?" He noticed the slightest of shivers running down her back.

He cleared his throat and squeezed Wade's hand before answering, "I'm Spiderman." He held her gaze and saw that she wanted to keep on asking. "And this is Deadpool. We are heroes." Someone snickered at the last statement. "I was bitten by a radioactive spider when I was fifteen and I mutated." There was no mistaking it this time, the campers sitting at her table all paled at his words.

"What do you mean you are heroes? Do you do anything else?" asked the next camper, Leo.

"Maybe a more accurate term is "vigilantes". We protect our city from criminals. There's not really much to say besides that. That's the reason for the masks and why we can't give you our names just yet. To protect ourselves and those we care about." He stayed silent for a while. I'm a college student." Peter scratched his head. "Biophysics." There were some impressed murmurs. Wade remained silent.

Will was the next in line to ask. He looked up at Wade.

"Your wounds… Last night and just now in the arena, you healed almost instantly. I've never seen anything like that before… How does it work? How did you get it?" As soon as he had finished, he saw Deadpool's change in demeanour and realised, to his horror, that he had made an enormous mistake and had crossed a line.

Wade tensed his shoulders and his eyes darkened a little at the reminder of the Weapon X program. He tried to ignore the flow of memories that threatened to invade his mind and started breathing heavily. "I don't like to talk about it. Next," he snapped. Peter knew about it and the toll it had taken on Wade. He squeezed his shoulder tightly, trying to reassure the older man that he was nowhere near that awful place.

After a few minutes, Wade had calmed down and they resumed with the questions. How old they were -Peter was 26 and Wade was 34-; if they were sure there weren't demigods -100% sure they were not-; if Spiderman was willing to show the rest of the campers his powers. Peter, after his boyfriend's insistence, agreed to it and, after asking for the Athena cabin not to freak out, took off his shoes and walked over the nearest tree and started climbing it, using only his bare feet. Once he got to the top, he used his web shooters to swing himself and created a simple spider web between two oaks and rested in the middle of it. Applauses and cheers erupted among the campers -even from the children of Athena. He was feeling confident and, as his final trick, he crawled down and flicked his wrists, hitting Wade right on the chest and pulled hard. Wade, not expecting it, was unable to react and couldn't dodge in time and was shot forward, landing at Peter's side upside down on the web. Peter wasted no time in wrapping him with his webs.

Wade laughed as he tried to free himself, but discovered that Peter had done a very good job. The cocoon was tightly weaved and did not provide any freedom of movement, at all. "Well, this certainly brings back memories." he laughed and wiggled his would-be eyebrows suggestively.

"It will dissolve soon enough. Have fun." Peter kissed his cheek and winked at his boyfriend and made his way back to the bench, ignoring the "Wait, what?" shouted at his back. Once he sat, Chiron and Mr. D looked amused and nodded their heads in appreciation.

"Are you soulmates?" a little boy, no older than 9 who was sitting on Piper's lap, blurted out. The campers looked mortified and tried to apologise on his behalf, saying they did not need to answer that. Peter could feel his face warm and he knew that, with his mask still rolled up just above his nose, everyone could see him turning red. There was a laugh, followed by a loud thud and a grunt. Wade had managed to free himself from the cocoon but landed on his head. He got up and trotted back to the bonfire. He sat next to Peter and threw his arms around his shoulders. "That's a story for when you are all grown up." Wade winked.

Peter decided to step in the conversation before Wade said something no child should hear. "What he's trying to say is that yes, we are soulmates." Peter smiled at the little boy who seemed content with the answer and started fidgeting with some pieces of metal.

After that, they shared a couple of stories of adventures they had had and, in exchange, the demigods told them a few of theirs until it was time to the campers to go back to their cabins to sleep. Everybody waved the duo goodbye and they took that opportunity to talk to Chiron about their plan to go to the city.

"Chiron, we know it's late but we need to go to the city. We need to confirm something and we think it would be best if we did it at night," Peter spoke.

"To confirm whether this is your universe or not." the centaur was not asking.

"Yes."

"Although it is not allowed for the campers to leave at this hour, you are not demigods, so I cannot stop you. I'll let you go on one condition. Follow me." He turned and headed towards the cabins. They wanted to ask what the condition was, but something told them that he would not answer. He stopped at the limits of the cabins and asked them to wait there for a bit and he left, only to come back four minutes later with two counsellors.

"You can go to the city, but you have the smell of demigods on your clothes. It could attract monsters. They will have to accompany you." He said as he pointed at each boy at his side.

"But Chiron," Nico, the pale one, protested "we are children of the Big Three. Our scent is the strongest. Even more so when we are together. It will be much more dangerous if we go with them."

"I took that into account, but they don't know how to fight monsters and if I send only one of you, the other will follow one way or another. Am I wrong?" He looked at them with an eyebrow raised. He seemed to already know the answer. "Go and you will have tomorrow off." he smiled and left.

"Well, I'm never one to refuse extra sleep so, let's go." Nico ushered as he fastened a black sword to his hip.

"Wait, Nico." The green-eyed boy, Percy, pointed. "We have to talk about how we are getting there. Argus will not take us at this hour and we don't have enough money to call a taxi. Not to mention that Blackjack and the others don't really trust you and you can't shadow travel with all of us."

Nico frowned. "You are right… Styx."

"I have a teleporter…" Wade started.

"Deadpool," Peter cut him "your teleporter is the reason we ended up here in the first place. It is out of question." Wade pouted but added nothing else. "How about go in pairs?" The demigods looked at him suspiciously. "Look, we understand you not trusting us and we didn't want to get you involved in this. We have the address, you have the means of transport. The faster we move, the faster we can come back and, hopefully, the two of us will be gone by next morning."

The teenagers exchanged gazes and nodded.

"Okay, I'll go with Deadpool," Nico commented. "Pegasi get nervous around those who smell like death and this guy just reeks of it. We will shadow-travel."

"And I will take Spiderman with me. I'm sure Blackjack and Guido will be happy to go on a mission together." Percy smirked.

"Wait, pegasi? You are planning to ride to Queens?" Wade tilted his head and looked beyond confused.

"Flying is the fastest way to travel," Percy laughed. "Let's head to the stables."

They marched in tranquil silence under the bright stars, the sounds of the nearby forest and their footsteps the only disruption. A light breeze flew around them, giving them goose bumps and making them walk a little closer to each other, looking for some shared warmth. They followed the demigods across the camp and headed towards a big wooden building near a cliff. The sound of hooves and the specific smell indicated that they had arrived. Percy asked everybody to wait there and opened the door, disappearing inside for a couple of minutes, only to come back with two magnificent creatures that left Peter and Wade mesmerized, their mouths hanging slightly.

"Are you telling me these guys are real? Like, flesh and blood real?" Wade squealed and tried to touch the black one, only to have him retreat nervously and neigh. "The only ones I've seen, were robots. Full of missiles and shit… Indeed, Yellow. She'd love one of these," he whispered and he stepped back.

Peter slowly approached towards Percy and the pegasi. The one in the middle was a pure black stallion; it was nuzzling against Percy's shoulder but its eyes never left the two men. He stopped a few meters away and waited for the green-eyed boy to tell them what to do next. He called the other horse, Guido, and told him to get closer to the masked man and to let him mount himthem. The two of them studied the newcomers for a moment before letting Peter pet Guido's necks, his white coat seemed to glimmer under the moonlight. It felt soft to the touch and he could feel the firm muscles underneath and even his pulse.

Peter let out a nervous laugh and hopped swiftly on the beautiful creature's back, right behind his wings. Peter promptly thanked them for the job and that seemed to lighten the rigid posture of the white stallion, who neighed merrily. Peter gave Percy the address they needed to go to; Percy mounted the black pegasus, who he called Blackjack and gave instructions to him and his friend and then he told Peter to hold the horse's necks and to relax.

"We should get going, though," Nico urged. "Before the harpies arrive."

The other demigod nodded and told Peter to prepare himself. Percy gave the signal and Blackjack started running towards the cliff, extending his wings until his hooves were galloping through the air instead of ground. Guido followed behind and his rider could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins. It was somewhat different from swinging with his web-shooters but he liked it nonetheless.

Wade and Nico watched them until they were nothing more than dots in the sky.

"Let's go," the pale guy commanded. And walked to the entrance of the forest, where the top of the trees stopped any moonlight to filter through their branches, enveloping everything in darkness. "Tie this around your waist and, under absolutely no circumstances you can let go of my jacket. Otherwise you will be lost in the shadows forever. Am I clear?"

"Aye." Wade mocked a military salute and swiftly tied the rope as the demigod said.

"And not talking. At all," Nico added, earning a pout from the older man and reluctantly obeyed. "At my signal, you jump. Two… Three… Four. Now!" Both of them jumped and Wade could feel the shadows engulfing them, drowning the stars and every sound around them. Even the warmth seemed to abandon them. Including the voices in his head. His grip on Nico's shoulder tightened as they navigated across the most absolute darkness Wade has ever felt; the touch was the only way he had to know that the demigod was still with him. To feel that he was still there. Wade lost track of time and any sense of direction. He wanted to say something, anything, but, for once, the Merc with the Mouth decided to follow orders and shut the hell up.

After what felt like decades, he felt a hand grab his gloved wrist and pulled him closer.

They found themselves in an alley.

Wade shivered and rubbed his hands against his arms, trying to get rid of the cold that seemed to have settled deep down inside his bones. "That was colder than Shiklah's shoulder after…" {[The divorce]} his boxes replied Wade ignored them and turned his gaze to the sky. There was no sign of the others yet.

"Who's Shiklah?" Nico tilted his head in confusion.

"My ex-wife."

"You were married?" Wade snorted at the demigod's incredulous tone.

[Of course he wouldn't believe you.]

{Yeah, neither did him. Nor us.}

[She was way too beautiful for us. We knew it wouldn't last.]

{Like she could really have loved something other than his bloodlust…

{[Because that hideous face of his sure as hell not.]}

Shut up.

"Yeah, and then divorced. Look! There they are!" Wade changed the subject and started waving his arms at the figures that had just landed on a nearby rooftop. Peter used his web-shooters to get him and Percy to the ground. The pegasi were left on the rooftop, grooming themselves. They crossed the street and met Wade and Nico on the alley. It was the alley right next to the building where Peter and Wade's apartment was. They all breathed in deep and headed to the front door. Wade picked the lock and the four of them walked across the hallway and up the stairs until they reached the fourth floor. They stopped at a particular door. Wade touched the threshold, looking for the panel lock he had installed less than a year ago. He clenched his jaw and turned his hands into fists. "Fuck. Fuck!" he hit the wall.

He found nothing.

"This can't be happening," Peter ran his hands through his head and then tried to rest a hand on Wade'ss shoulders, but the other man shook it off angrily. Peter's heart sank but told himself that it was a normal reaction, that he had no reason to feel hurt. "We could still go to May's house… to the safe houses…" his voice trembled, lacking conviction and filled with dread, quieter than a whisper.

"They will not be there. You know it. We should leave before someone finds us…" Peter said with feigned calm. He grabbed Wade's shoulders firmly and dragged him out of the building, ignoring the way the older man squirmed and tried to break free, but to no avail. Peter was stronger because of his arachnid super-strength. He put Wade down when they reached the alley but did not let him go. He pulled themcloser and hugged tightly, until he returned Wade's embrace. They stayed like that, silently mourning for the situation they were in. Their shoulders started shaking, overwhelmed by the events of the day, tears threatening to roll down their cheeks. They mourned for the people they had left behind and were unsure when -and whether- they would see them again. Ellie, Evan... May, Johnny… They worried about all of them. They needed to find a way… a way back to their universe.