What we don't see (Percy Jackson & Avengers)

Chapter two: Play by the rules

Percy walked over the doorstep with wide eyes as he looked around. His mouth was slightly open in admiration. He followed his new father into a room with a kids' bed in.

"You can just put your stuff here." Gabe smiled at him. Percy nodded and put his bag on the bed. He then followed Gabe into the living room and sat down on the couch. Gabe walked over to a shelf and grabbed a thick book. He then walked over to the coffee table and placed the book in it with a loud thud. Percy jumped slightly by the sound and looked at the book. Gabe placed his hands on each side of the book and leaned forward and stared into the kid's eyes.

"If you are to live under my roof, there is a few rules you are expected to follow." Gabe told Perseus with a low voice. He didn't like the tone of his voice, there was something unsettling by it. "Got it?" He asked Percy.

Percy nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yes."

"It's 'yes sir'." Mr. Ugliano corrected the seven-year-old.

"Yes sir." Percy said. 

The man nodded satisfied. "Can you read?" He asked. Percy shook his head and received an annoyed sigh. "Well then..." He said after some time. "Then I guess you'll learn along the way until you've been to school enough so you can read this." He said and pushed the book towards Percy. "Take good care of it. You'll be depending on it." He said and straightened his back. His belly was showing as his shirt was too short.

"Now go to your room, you dirtbag." He told him.

Percy looked up at him. His little smile on his face was gone. He stood up and picked up the heavy book and slowly made his way back to the room he had gotten. He walked in and put the book down on a small nightstand he had. Then Percy sat down on his bed and looked around in the room. It was a small room he had, but he could live with that. He had a small kid's bed, a nightstand, and a basket, probably for clothes he figured. And then he had a window that was bolted.

Percy looked out through his open door at Gabe sitting on the couch watching TV. From where his room was located, he was just able to see the screen of the TV. Gabe was sitting in the couch, so he automatically had his back to Percy.

The child's eyes landed on the big book. He lifted it over on his bed and opened it, curious as to what he would be met by. He couldn't read yet, since he was dyslexic and in school, they weren't very helpful. He started half a year ago in the middle of the year because the orphanage didn't have the money yet.

Now since he moved in with Gabe, he was going to school. Gabe was so nice to pay for it, and for that Percy was thankful, but at the same time he hated it. He was always picked at in school. The other kids were being mean to him and probably hated him.

Two days later, Percy was sitting on the chair at the kitchen table. His leg was bouncing up and down as he nervously fiddled with the seams of his shirt. He knew he had messed up. He was probably being sent back to the orphanage. And he didn't want that, of course living with Gabe wasn't what he had hoped for, but he would never want to go back to the orphanage, then he wouldn't have a family. And having a family was more important to him.

He looked up when Gabe entered the room. He didn't look happy.

"Are you fucking happy now?!" He hissed at Percy.

Percy looked down and wrapped the bottom of his shirt around a finger.

"You fucking broke it, you moron! I can't afford to replace everything you fucking break!" Gabe yelled at him. Percy slowly looked up at the man. 

"I'm sorry sir..." He said quietly.

"'I'm sorry' doesn't cut it!" He yelled. "You're going to pay for that window. Got it?" He spoke. Percy nodded quickly.

"Yes sir." He swallowed. All Percy had done was throw with a small ball, he didn't mean to break a window on accident. He couldn't even explain it to Gabe because he wouldn't listen to him. He would just yell. He didn't even have any money himself, so he didn't know how he was even going to pay. For all Percy knew, he would need a job if he wanted money, but he couldn't get one because he wasn't old enough. Right?

Gabe walked over to the fridge and opened it; there he grabbed a bottle of beer and opened it. He gulped it down quick. Percy watched him as he drank it. He didn't mean to piss off Gabe, his chest hurt now. It always started to hurt whenever he felt bad or guilty. He shouldn't have played with the ball in the first place, then this would have never happened.

His adoptive father walked over to him, still with the bottle in his hand. He looked down at Perseus and snorted. Then he swung the bottle of beer at Percy's head. The small kid flinched and closed his eyes, but the bottle never hit his head. When he opened his eyes and glanced to the side, he saw it had stopped right before it would get in contact with his skin.

Gabe chuckled and drew Percy's attention to him. "You really thought I was going to hit you?" He laughed. "What a dork you are." He spoke. "Go to your room." He commanded.

Percy stood and began walking out of the kitchen. He was pushed harshly out of the kitchen and stumbled into the living room. He quickly made his way to his room and closed the door after him. He had messed up, he looked at the broken window. It wasn't completely broken, there was just a very large hole... so... it was completely broken. His throat contracted and he tried to push the tears back. He hadn't meant for it to happen, he accidentally threw the ball a bit too hard and at the window, he had been aiming for the wall, but had missed.

He wiped a tear away from his cheek and crawled into his bed and under the covers. He curled together in a ball and grabbed the blue car he had taken from the orphanage and squeezed it tightly with his eyes closed.

If he just hadn't thrown that ball, then Gabe wouldn't have been mad at him. Now he would probably send Percy back to the orphanage. And Percy would once again, be without a family. Maybe this was his life. He was destined to disappoint everyone around him. Nobody would ever want him. He was a failure. Even his mom didn't want him. His real mom and dad didn't want him.

I'm a failure. He thought to himself. Would Gabe care if he ran away? Then he wouldn't hurt anyone or disappoint anyone.

It would be better for everyone if you just disappeared.

He curled further together and tried to hold in the sobs. His hands hurt from squeezing the car too hard, but that didn't make him let go of it, it only made him hold onto it harder.

The voice was right, it would be better if he just disappeared, then he wouldn't be a burden.