The Boy Born From the Sea

File: Team Red

"So, you wanna meet my friends?" Peter asked excitedly, swinging from a web upside-down in front of Percy.

"No."

"Come on, please?" The teen stretched the last word as he flipped upright to stand in front of the other. "I promise they're not like Cap."

Percy tilted his head, looking tempted, and he could feel everyone's eyes on him as he remained silent for a few minutes. "I was supposed to meet Fogs in Hell's Kitchen."

Peter perked up. "That means you already know one of them! It's perfect! Please let me introduce you to my friends!"

The demigod sighed but he nodded. "If any of them try touching me, I will not hesitate to break their arms and spine."

"That's fine." Peter said solemnly. "Only one of them would do that and he'd be alright."

Percy looked over at the dining table where Jessica and Bucky were watching with morbid fascination as Tony took apart the cat speaker to give it tiny stubby legs to walk around with. He sighed to himself, an ache in his chest. He needed a distraction from his thoughts, something that could keep him from snapping at anyone of the people closest to him, and it seemed like Peter was offering his own help in the form of his friends in Hell's Kitchen.

Percy thought that, with the addition of Jessica in the Tower, that his mood would improve but even as weeks passed by he just felt more and more... Angry. Wronged. Hurt. He couldn't breathe around all the sympathetic and understanding expressions and the pity-laced words. He needed to get out fast, he needed to be somewhere without any expectations for him.

When Bucky and Tony finally got some alone time with Percy after Jessica bopped off with Peter somewhere, they simply held the demigod close on the couch in their own private floor. Tony was on the demigod's left, humming a song his butler's wife had sang to him when he was a child, while Bucky sat to the right, letting the youngest of the three mess with the fingers of his metal hand, picking them up one-by-one and letting them drop down gently on his thigh.

"We won't be mad." Tony said softly as he carded his fingers through Percy's inky-black hair. "If you need to go away again."

"I don't want to, though." The demigod's voice was quiet but his hands shook minutely as he allowed himself to be vulnerable.

Bucky sighed, flipping over his metal hand so he could intertwine is fingers with Percy's. "Yeah, but you need to. Like Bambi said, we won't be mad. We know everyone here can be... Much." He didn't look over to see Tony's reaction to the nickname, instead continuing to speak. "Plus, I think talking to new people would be good for you. We all have different ways to heal, it's doesn't mean anything bad that your way isn't in the Tower. Tony and I, we're good here with the others. You need something to punch and argue with that's not Stevie."

Tony nodded before leaning his head on Percy's, turning a bit to kiss his boyfriend's temple. "We'll still be here when you get back."

Against his will, Percy felt tears begin to build up in his eyes and he moved his head away from Tony's to bury his face in his hands. "I don't- I don't deserve you two..."

"Oh, beautiful..." Tony's voice was soft and sweet, each word full of love and understanding. "You deserve the world."

Percy couldn't speak anymore after that, shoulders shaking as he let out near-silent tears, curling forward into himself as if he was trying to protect his body from the heartache. Bucky didn't move his metal hand from Percy's thigh and the demigod was thankful for the grounding touch. Tony had gone back to humming, his hand returning to the inky-black hair to card through it and make surprisingly good one-handed tiny braids.