[ONGOING] A god in confinement. A demigod as company. A cell. A promise. A lie. Love. One chance to save what matters to them most: each other.
But, first, they must enter a game of delusion and clarity; divinity and mortality; of truth and lies.
"You are a coward, Perseus Jackson," the rumbling voice of the primordial made Percy cry out in surprise, his breath picking up to a dangerous pace. "But you shan't be any longer. You've been stripped of everything that made you alive, but you're not dead. That makes you a monster. And monsters are my domain. Mine to manipulate; mine to corrupt."
Percy felt an awful twang of pain in the depths of his skull, causing all air to be knocked out of his lungs.
*
When he came to, Percy was in the infirmary of Avengers tower, Bruce monitoring his vitals on a computer screen.
"Bruce," he croaked. At his voice, Bruce's head snapped up.
"Percy, how are you feeling?"
"I need to see my father," he sat up, but was met with an awful lot of pain in his skull, like what Tartarus had induced upon him. Bruce walked over and forced him back into a lying position, shaking his head.
"Sorry, Percy, but you can't leave this room. You need rest after what happened at the party last night," he explained.
"Party? Last night?" Percy furrowed his eyebrows, then the memories of the night before came flooding back to him. Of course. "Oh. What happened?"
"You collapsed and hit your head off the counter; you ended up with a really bad concussion, which explains the dizziness and pain," he went on.
"I didn't hit my head off the counter," Percy shook his head in protest. "Tarta-"
"You did. Tony watched it happen from across the room, as did Loki and Thor."
"But-"
"You need to get rest, Percy. The more you rest, the quicker you'll recover," Bruce said. "Now: basics. These first two days are just gonna be pure rest to gather your bearings. After that, we can begin to introduce some light thinking and physical activities like books, music, short walks and just light chores around the tower. It's important not to go near any bright lights, loud sounds or dramatic movements. This can worsen symptoms, okay?"
"I hate my life," Percy sighed, shutting his eyes. Bruce sighed as well.
"That I can sympathise with," he raised both eyebrows. "Concussions aren't fun. Lucky for you, yours is pretty mild. I'm gonna go get you some breakfast. You must be starving."
"Thanks."
*
"Hi," on the fourth day of Percy's recovery, the door to the infirmary opened to reveal Loki, who had several books in one arm, the other on the door handle. With every passing day, Percy had been growing more anxious to see his father, knowing that Tartarus had mentioned something happening in fourteen days; he had ten days to recover and beg to visit Poseidon, which meant he'd been trying his absolute hardest to rest.
All of the Avengers had visited in that time, even Peter Parker, all except for Loki, so seeing his former cellmate at the door was quite the shock.
"Hey," Percy shifted to a more comfortable sitting position on his bed and beckoned him in.
"You hit your head really hard the other night. When Banner told me that maybe you'd like to read a few things in recovery, I asked Thor to request some of the books from our cell to be sent here," Loki entered and put the pile of books on Percy's bedside table before sitting down on one of the two bedside chairs. "O Károlos Ntíkens sta Archaía Elliniká."
"Charles Dickens in Ancient Greek," Percy translated, almost instinctively. He smiled. "You've been practicing."
"Is that a 'I forgive you for being a terrible person the other day?'" Loki looked at him hopefully. For a moment, Percy was confused; it turned out his concussion was making it exceedingly hard to remember things. Then the events of prior to Tony's party came back to him.
"Is that a 'sorry for being a terrible person the other day?'" Percy asked.
"Yes," Loki replied sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Then..." Percy sighed. "Sure. Just... did you really mean all those things you said? About me?"
"What? No, no, of course not," he shook his head hastily. "I was just... afraid, I think. Scared of you seeing me as anything more than what I actually am."
"What does that mean?"
"My whole life, Percy, I've been this monster. This black sheep. You seeing me as something more than that, you... liking me, I suppose... it scared me. It unsettled me a little. My first impulse was to just push you away," Loki stumbled over his words nervously, which was strange to Percy, because the prince of Asgard was usually so eloquent and so quick to mask his emotions. Now, however, he was struggling to grasp the right words to say, and every feeling was flashing like fireworks over his face. "But I do care about you, Percy. A lot. And I haven't been able to live with myself since I said those things."
Percy pondered on that, not really knowing how to respond, and picked up one of the books. A Christmas Carol. Appropriate, seeing as it was Christmas. "I don't think you're a monster."
"No?"
"No," Percy shook his head, thinking of Tartarus' words to him a few days before. Had that really been him? Had he caused his concussion? Or had he hallucinated it? "I think I am."
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even wattpad wanted me to update😅
also, this chapter is wayyyy shorter than usual, so apologies, but plot-wise things ARE ABOUT TO START PICKING UPPPP
