The Boy Born From the Sea

File: Team Red

"It's been a while since you've came to see me."

"Yeah, I guess it has."

"And what motivated you to visit my office today?"

"Same as last year, you know this."

"Have you tried the coping mechanisms I taught you?"

"Shit didn't work."

"Did you try speaking to someone?"

"..."

A soft sigh. "Perseus, healing can only begin when you take the first step. You can't hide at the bottom of the ocean forever."

--

The closer it got to the month of August, the more chaotic Percy became.

It was like the man's body was on a timer, slowly ticking down to something, and it caused him to be a bit... More than usual. Of course, Tony and Bucky were aware, or at least somewhat, of what Percy was experiencing. They still had not gotten the full story, the demigod only able to stutter through a quarter of it, but they never pushed for more. They both knew how hard it was to talk about the horrors someone has been through, to reveal the skeletons in their closet and not know the reactions they would receive. The two men knew Percy trusted and loved them but they also knew that it was hard sharing secrets one had kept close to their being for what seemed like forever.

Somehow, Jessica could tell that something about Percy (or Jack, as she continued to call him) was off despite the fact that he still acted fairly the same around her. However, instead of asking him about it, she approached the situation with the tact of a emotionally-stunted Gen-Z and supported his chaotic ideas with gleeful fervor.

In fact, it was Jessica's way of interacting with said man that secured her a room in the Tower (not that she hadn't had one before because, honestly, Percy had been fully prepared to reverse Clint's ugly truck straight into the side of the mutant academy for her). She never treated Percy differently even when his eyes grew distant and a scowl marred his face. She would take full advantage of her spider strength, slamming the door open while blaring Allstar from a tiny cat speaker held over her head.

Of course, the twelve year-old was followed by her (unofficial) mentor Peter Parker, who swore up and down that he knew a guy that knew a guy that knew a guy that would love to hang out with Percy. He wouldn't say who, looking over at one of JARVIS' cameras with shifty eyes and saying it was classified. From what anyone was getting from that was that the guy that he knew would definitely not be approved by, quite possibly, everyone in the Tower. Well, no, if the guy would get along with Percy then Clint would have a grand ol' time with the dude.

That being said, Percy was in the process of chasing down Jessica, who was holding the cat speaker like it was something precious even as it started playing the cursed version of the Monsters Inc theme next to her ear. Peter was following along while crawling on the ceiling, taking videos on his phone to send to the Avengers and his Aunt May. Of course, JARVIS could have sent his own copy of the videos but they didn't have Peter's startled commentary or the way he'd zoom in uncomfortably on people's faces.

Everything calmed down after Natasha stuck her foot out and tripped Percy, sending him careening out an open window on the 82nd floor that Thor had broken that morning. Jessica and Peter had a half moment to be startled before they remembered that Percy was a spiteful being and he would be undoubtedly fine.

True to their thoughts, Percy crawled into the window a few minutes later after scaling the side of the building like on of the monkeys from The Wizard of Oz. He looked five seconds away from hissing and Steve, someone who wouldn't hesitate helping someone in need, walked out of the room without giving the demigod a second look. The super soldier was doing an admirable job at keeping away from the man, something that Clint still hadn't managed but only because he's fairly certain that Percy put a tracker on him somewhere, what with how many times the man found him hiding in the vents.