Chapter V:

Percy made a face.

"What?" Jane asked, looking up from her menu.

"There's no cheeseburgers in England." He muttered, flipping through the pages.

Jane made her own face. "That's right, because we're in England. Food is different over here."

"Is this really food, though Dr. Foster? Are you trying to convince me that black pudding and spotted dick constitute real food to you?" Percy shook his head in disgust. "I mean come on now, what is this crap!"

"What are you in the mood for, then?" Jane asked with a sigh, splaying her menu on the table. "Meat? Potatoes? Veggies? For real, Percy? I'm talking to you like a mother."

"They got pizza here?"

"No, Percy, they don't have pizza."

Jane's chin came to a rest on her hand, her watching the way his hair fell over his eyes as he hummed. There was a warmer handsomness to him, his childish charisma contagious. He was sturdy yet fragile as well. He felt… human.

"How does bangers and mash sound to you?" She asked.

"Bangers?"

"Sausages." She clarified, pointing to it's place on his menu. "That's Erik's favorite."

Percy grinned. "I'll go with that, then."

Jane snorted. "Of course. Everything Erik does, you do, right?"

"Well I wouldn't say that, Dr. Foster. I'd like to think that I have a better sense of fashion than Dr. Selvig does."

"Are you ever going to stop calling me that?"

"What, Dr. Foster?" Percy smiled, eliciting a sneer from Jane.

Minutes later, their beer order arrive, which was when the night truly began.

She was half expecting Percy not to drink at all, but after downing his first glass before she could take more than a couple sips, she thought otherwise. And while her plan was to loosen him up, she was just as toasted, if the growing fuzzy feeling inside her was any indication. Setting her fourth or fifth glass down, she heeded that Percy still looked completely sober, with their table tilting in places it should not be.

"Alright Percy, be real with me, okay? Because you've been killing me with this since you got here." She leaned forward, toes tapping against the floor.

"You haven't been trying to hide that," he laughed. "You might want to work on disguising your stares better, Jane."

She blushed before frowning. "Then tell me, Percy!"

"I would, Jane." Percy enthused in the same patient voice. "If you asked me a question."

She blinked, swaying ever so slightly. Crikey, she could not even remember what she had been thinking about. "I asked it in my head."

Percy smiled, that beautiful damn smile, as he poured himself another beer. She watched him lick his lips, the judgement impairing particles in her bloodstream ridding of her shame.

"If we somehow got the Einstein-Rosen bridge to work, would you use it? Is that why you're here?" It was out before she could stop it, her delivery slippery and heart ping-ponging.

Unhurried, he met her eyes, something inside his suggesting that he did not know the answer. "I… I gotta say that…"

"Yes?"

"I'm not sure." His hand ran through his messy hair. "I don't know, Jane."

"What do you mean you don't know!" Jane exclaimed, maybe a bit to loud. "You don't know what? If you'd do it? Use it?"

The sleeves of his shirt tightened, his face still soft. "There's a lot of things I don't know."

"But you think it's possible." Jane raised a finger at him. "No, you know it's possible. That's why you've been trying to convince me of all these outlandish theories. All of them making sense to some degree, just not in a practical setting. You have an idea of how to make it happen."

"You said it yourself, our biggest problem with the concept is the supply of energy. I have lots of ideas for that, yes, which is why I've taken such an interest in it." Percy's fingers curled around the beer pitcher. "And then there's the other thing with calculating the correct destination. One micrometer off here on Earth is millions of miles out there in space. The computer power we'd need? I'm sure Dr. Selvig and you know better than I do how infeasible it is currently."

"Millions of miles?" Jane's brow knotted, eyes twirling. "Convert that to kilometers for me. Wait... I know miles. Do I?"

"I'm bringing you back to your apartment." He announced, pushing the pitcher away. "You're drunk."

She raised her hand to object, only to realize after that she pointed with her foot instead. Her body seemed to be more anxious to metabolize alcohol than usual. Of course this night, out of all of the others.

"May I?" He asked, extending his hand outwards.

Giggling for some reason, she allowed Percy to slide her out of the booth, wrapping her arm around his as she stood up.

"Such a gentleman."

"I try my best." Percy grunted, shouldering the bulk of her weight. He had to bend down so she could lean against him, making her laugh even more.

A refreshing breeze greeted them as they left the bar, Jane's face flushed as she looked up. "Percy, I'm being serious. What are you doing here? I keep asking and you keep brushing it off."

"What do you mean, brushing you off?"

Jane let out an exasperated sigh, stumbling as she did. "My gods Percy, don't you start playing dense on me now. You show up outside my lab, where I'm doing research that nobody else in the world is doing, asking for a job. Do you know how long it took us to find our last intern? Like two bloody years, because nobody would take us seriously! And we didn't even advertise anything this time, you just popped up out of nowhere! And you come with all these ideas about the bridge, certain that it can work. Why?"

When he answered, he sounded far away. "I already told you before, Jane. This is like the sixth time you've asked me this."

"Right, okay." Her grip on his arm tightened as they rounded a corner. "So what? You're saying this is all fate? I find that absolutely and utterly ridiculous."

"Why can't it?" He smiled two smiles. Or three? Perhaps four.

"Maybe Darcy was right." She slurred, shaking her head.

"Darcy? Your friend from before? What she say about me?"

Jane snorted, rubbing her nose with her sleeve. "Like you were a descendant from the gods or something, which is absolutely ridiculous. If only she'd gotten to stay so you guys could've gotten to know each other."

Percy laughed, scratching the inside of his long neck with his free hand. "That would've been something, surely."

She was sold. This was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most comical conversation they had shared yet. Staring at him now as they trundled down the street of her apartment, she found him lovely. It had been some time since the urge to brush her hand through someone's hair, to curl her lips against another's, had crossed her mind. To hell with all the secret agent stuff. Whatever Percy Jackson was, she adored him for it.

Bloody hell, she was drunk.

Leaning against him fully now, she mused. "You know, I've achieved success before, right?"

"You became a doctor, you're plenty more successful than me."

"No, Percy. Like—Like I've gotten the wormhole to work before."

They came to a complete stop on the sidewalk, nearly sending Jane flying.

"Really?" He asked, grabbing both her shoulders. "What? How? Huh? When?"

"Why do you think this lab's still running." Jane slurred more, smushing her face into his chest. Wow, it felt a lot more muscular than it looked. "A year ago we had a brief second of it working, which is why we're funded by S.H.I.E.L.D.. They want us to try and make a fully working prototype."

She tried staring up at Percy's eyes, but she closed hers instead.

"Do you remember how it was done?" He asked.

"Not reallyyyy, It was by accident."

"Well...that's great news, Jane." She heard him say. "I'm happy I'm here to help."

"Mhm." Jane murmured, falling again on him. "Whoever you are, Percy. I'm glad you came."

"That makes two of us, Dr. Foster."

If he said anything else, she did not hear it, the remaining beer inside her hitting with the force of a thousand hammers. There was no telling how she managed to fumble into the elevator, or unlock her apartment door. Neither was there an explanation as to how Percy was able to guide her to the couch without tripping.

Whatever was left of her energy was spent waving goodbye to him, his eyes winking before gently closing the door.

Satisfied but also mystified, Jane allowed herself to succumb to the call of sleep. The smell of the sea smothered all across her face.

Author's Note:

Thanks again for all the feedback on this story :)

Edit: Shoutout to the reviewer for catching my mistake about British Jane. I guess for this story, consider her a tinge more British than usual.