"Dude, you know Daredevil and the Avengers and you didn't say anything?" Ned protested, sounding betrayed.

Percy felt like crawling under the bed and staying there. "I'm just trying to get through freshman year," he said, dropping his chin into his arms to watch the Lego structure his friends were working on. "It's not fun for me, okay? I mean- I know why you're excited, I totally get that, and I'm glad Peter liked meeting them, you'll probably get a chance at some point too. But I told you my deal with superpower stuff and it mostly just means I'm going to die. I don't wanna talk about it."

That was a whole lot more than he'd meant to say, but it was definitely a rant that had been building up for a while. Both Peter and Ned looked cowed and apologetic, and Percy winced, stretched out on his belly and kicking his feet behind him.

"Sorry, man," Peter said quietly. "I guess we kinda forgot."

Percy managed a smile for him. "It's fine. You're kids, it's not like it's weird for you to be excited about stuff." He tapped the ground, trying to shape his thoughts into words. "I mean... my life is fucked up, but that doesn't mean you should feel bad that yours isn't, you know?"

Peter and Ned looked at each other, communicating telepathically, and then back to him and Peter nodded with a grin. "Sure," Peter said cheerfully, and then, "Hey, you should come here and work on this with us. It's gotta be boring just watching."

Percy scrunched up his nose. "What if I fuck it up? You've been working on this for two weeks."

"These sets are expensive, man," Peter said. "If it falls apart, we'll get twice as much playtime for it, right, Ned?"

Ned snickered. "Yeah, I guess. Uh, still don't do it on purpose, though."

Percy smiled a little, scooted forward, and tried to pay attention while Ned walked him through what they were doing right now. Almost an hour passed with all three of them quietly clicking things into place – though Peter took to giving Percy chunks to assemble so he could roll and flop around while he was working on them, going from his side to his back to sitting up to belly-down – before Percy thought of something.

"Hey, you two have been looking for stuff to pad your resumes with, right?"

"College applications," Ned corrected, but he was sitting up, bright-eyed. "You find something good?"

Percy shrugged, face heating a little despite himself.

"Just an idea," he said. "Mom's been running a lot of fundraisers lately, bake sales and stuff, but she's setting up her first art exhibition for two months from now. I thought maybe you could help out. I'll be there too. Volunteer work is good for that stuff, right?"

"Totally," Peter said earnestly. "What's it for?"

"Domestic violence resources," Percy said, focusing too hard on the Lego construction in front of him. "Mom diversified a bit this time, so there's a couple different sections, but I remember there's a shelter, a legal aid organization, and a counseling service that the money's going to."

"How does an art exhibition make money?" Ned asked, frowning at the Lego starship. "I've never been to one."

"There's an admission fee, and some people donated art for an art auction," Percy explained, put his current chunk down, and gestured for another that Peter passed off to him. He sat up. "And there's a bake sale too. Mom says that there should be snacks there." Also, he and his mom had been baking together a lot lately, and that was easier when they always had baking that needed done. Rachel had been providing most of the money for ingredients.

"You should talk to the office about putting up some announcements or something," Peter said, and cursed when a precarious section he'd tacked on fell and shattered. Percy waited for him to pick up the pieces before poking him, and Peter took a moment to remember what he'd been saying. "Uh, Midtown is a pretty upper-middle-class school for the most part, so it can't hurt to pull some of them in."

Percy gave Peter a surprised glance, and then smiled. "I'll do that. Thanks."

They worked for a while longer. Peter and Ned got into an argument about some Star Wars TV show, and Percy migrated to sit on Peter's desk, still taking the small sections he was given to piece them together.

"Tony gave you a new suit, didn't he, Peter?" Percy asked at last, gingerly opening that topic back up for discussion. Peter brightened immediately, and Ned gave Peter an excited look.

"Yeah! I mean, I'm still super grateful to DD for taking me to that Melvin guy, but this suit is so cool, dude, it's got a bunch of different kinds of webshooters and Mr. Stark is gonna help me integrate my formula into it, and it's got reinforcements all over so it's sturdier than even the new one-"

Percy smiled a little, letting Peter chatter, and tried to remember if Tony had mentioned when he was going to brief Peter about the whole Titan War thing. If Percy was lucky, it wasn't going to happen at all, but Percy was never lucky.


Percy fell out of bed, panting and sweating.

He immediately started to swear, fighting to get free of his blankets, and didn't realize how much noise he was making until he heard a soft knock on the door.

"No, dear, why don't you make some popcorn?" Sally murmured offside, probably addressing Foggy. "I have a feeling we'll be up for a while."

Foggy said something inaudible, and Percy swallowed a couple times, pulled himself free, and called out, "Come in." His heart was racing in his chest, thrumming hard enough for Percy to count the beats.

Sally peeked through, sleep-mussed and concerned, and her eyes, soft with concern, immediately landed on Percy. After a second, she went through and sat down beside him, taking his hand to squeeze reassuringly. "Are you alright, sweetheart?"

Percy grumbled and nodded, most of his mind still lingering on the dream. "Yeah... sorry for waking you up."

"I never mind," Sally said, scooting to put her arm around him. He leaned in without thinking, letting out a sigh. "Do you want to tell me about your dream?"

A shudder ran through Percy's body, and he pressed against her, trying to focus on her warmth. "In a minute," he mumbled, still breathing hard.

Sally murmured soothingly, and with the ease of long practice, coaxed him to his feet and out into the living room. Foggy had filled a bowl with his makeshift trail mix, popcorn and pretzels and all-blue m&ms, and he offered it to them when they sat down. Percy managed a grin for him and took a handful, and picked through it while he tried to organize his thoughts.

"It was one of those dreams," he said at last, without looking at either of them. It was still dead dark, something about the night stifling sounds even when they were present. "There was a bubble around Manhattan, and all the campers were inside it, everyone else outside. Manhattan was swarming with monsters." Sally hummed, soft and encouraging, and Percy picked out an m&m to eat before he continued. "Typhon was standing over the city, and someone I didn't recognize was facing Luke." Pretzel, m&m. "Athena... said that to save a friend, I would sacrifice the world." He picked another pretzel up, but couldn't bring himself to eat it, just fidgeting with it instead. "I fought against Tony and Steve, and... a bald woman told me that my instincts come from the oldest magic, and if I don't trust them, I could lose everything."

He stopped, staring down at his hands, and after a couple minutes, Foggy whistled.

"That's a wicked nightmare," he said sympathetically. He shifted, like he was gearing up to continue, but Sally set a hand on his arm and shook her head. Percy pulled his feet under him.

"Demigod dreams tend to be prophetic," she explained in an undertone, "Percy's more than most." Foggy stared at her, and Sally smiled sadly and looked at Percy. "You know that it may not have been what it looked like, Percy. The situation is always more than it appears."

Percy nodded. "But it looked really, really bad," he mumbled, stomach churning. He squirmed and buried his face in her shoulder. "Typhon. I woke Typhon. He's huge, Mom. The size of a mountain."

Sally hugged him, humming into his hair. "It was out of your control, Percy," she said softly. "You were fighting for your life."

Privately, Percy thought that in that case, he should have just let it happen – but he knew better than to say that to his mom, so he stayed silent and tucked against her.

"Why would I be fighting Steve and Tony?" he asked instead, without looking at either of them. "How much do I have to mess up to get to that point?"

"You don't have the full story," Sally reminded him, reaching down to squeeze his hand. "Maybe they were being controlled. Maybe they didn't have enough information. Maybe it was a ruse. You don't know, sweetheart."

"And hey," Foggy added, leaning over. Apparently he'd regained his bearings. "If Captain America and Iron Man and people you don't know were there, that, uh, that bubble can't have meant much. You and the other kids weren't alone after all."

Percy unwound a little, though the despondency didn't completely leave him. "Yeah..."

"You should tell Tony," Sally added, kissing his forehead when he tensed. "You know he's been making plans to try and take the burden off the children. Maybe he can plan for that bubble you saw."

Percy made an unhappy noise, but nodded.

"Sorry," he muttered after a moment. "I've been spending way too much time sulking lately."

"You're having a hard time right now," Foggy said, making Percy turn to look at him. Foggy smiled a little and waved his hands aimlessly. "It happens, you don't have to be sorry for it. You're allowed to be upset when bad things happen."

Percy half-smiled, glancing up to catch Sally's warm, grateful smile, and sat up a little against her. "I'll talk to Tony tomorrow," he said with more confidence. "He might be able to find the two people I didn't recognize and figure out who they are. Um, can we put on that movie about the Great Barrier Reef?"

"The documentary, you mean?" Foggy teased, but he turned the television on.

Percy fell asleep halfway through the documentary, and woke up with a crick in his neck, still curled up against Sally with Sally asleep on Foggy, who was snoring. It was day by then, early but not quite dawn – about the time Percy usually woke up at camp, Percy guessed. Also, Foggy's phone was ringing from Sally's bedroom.

Percy went to pick it up, glancing at the caller ID before he accepted and said, "Hey, it's Percy. Foggy's asleep, you want me to go wake him up?"

"Percy!" Matt echoed in surprise, and after a moment his voice turned rueful. "No, it's fine – it's about the Rojas case, but it can wait. Everything alright over there?"

Everything was great. Percy had a nightmare and woke everybody up for the third time this week. "Fine. Hey, is it true that your dad was a boxer?"

The slightly-too-long pause told Percy he might have tumbled into a touchy subject. "Yes, he was. Why do you ask?"

"Sorry," Percy said before he could stop himself, and rocked on his heels, embarrassed and uncomfortable. "Um, I was wondering if you could teach me. Celestial bronze doesn't work on mortals, and I don't, um, I don't like..."

"You don't like being defenseless," Matt finished for him, surprisingly understanding.

"...Yeah." He squirmed. "I know I'm not supposed to harm mortals, but..."

"I can give it a try, if your mother clears it," Matt said, when Percy didn't finish his thought. "But don't they give unarmed combat lessons at camp?"

"Yeah," Percy said, more confidently. "But the big one at camp is wrestling, and I don't really have the muscle for that. Boxing seems more my style anyway."

"Ask Sally," Matt said. Percy thought he could hear a smile in his voice. "There's an old gym in Hell's Kitchen where I can teach you after hours. Though I warn you, I've never tried teaching before."

Percy relaxed and grinned. "That's alright. Thanks, Matt. You want me to let Foggy know you called?"

"Please, if you don't mind."