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

Chapter three: Know your place

After a week of living with Gabe, Percy had sort of gotten control over the rules in the house.

He had to go straight home after school, and if he wasn't home in ten minutes, he would receive a beating.

He had to make sure there was enough beers in the fridge, and if they were running out of beers, he had to tell Gabe so he could get money to buy more. How he was able to buy it, was a mystery to him until he found out the guy working at the gas station was one of Gabe's buddies.

He wasn't allowed to talk unless he was spoken to.

He wasn't allowed to talk to others about what was going on at home, or else something bad would happen.

He wasn't allowed to bring friends home (like Percy had any, most kids hated him).

He had to know how to cook and call the pizza delivery man.

He had to do his homework, and if he needed help; no he didn't.

He had to clean up after Gabe and when Gabe had had his poker buddies over.

He wasn't allowed to cry or talk back to Gabe.

He wasn't allowed to get a phone.

He wasn't allowed to watch TV.

He wasn't allowed to be loud. He had to be quiet and don't interrupt or bother Gabe.

Percy still wasn't sure if that was all the rules. The big rule book was still on his nightstand. He could only read a little and it wasn't enough to make out what the book said.

His eyes landed on his blue toy car that was sitting next to the book on the nightstand. It was missing a wheel. It had fallen off the other day, and when he had asked Gabe for help, he had received a slap and was pushed back.

Maybe Gabe was in a bad mood... or maybe he didn't like him?

His stomach made a sound. He was hungry. He hadn't eaten in a few hours, so it made sense. It was also dinner time. Percy jumped down from his bed and slowly grabbed the handle of the door and opened it. He peeked out and saw Gabe's bald pate with only three hairs on the couch. He stepped out of his room and quietly closed the door behind him. He slowly sneaked towards the kitchen, careful not to make a single sound. He had just reached the door when Gabe spoke up and Percy froze.

"Punk." He heard him say. Percy slowly turned to look at his adoptive father. He wasn't looking in Percy's direction, so he must have sensed him coming out. Gabe turned his head and looked at him. "Come over here." He commanded. Percy swallowed and slowly made his way over to him. He stood next to him. Gabe held an arm out, slowly Percy reached over, and Gabe grabbed his arm and pulled him over to him. The kid yelped by surprise and was dragged down on the couch.

An arm was wrapped around Percy's stomach, and he was leaned back against Gabe's chest.

"Isn't this nice?" His adoptive father asked him. Percy didn't like being this close to Gabe, recently he had started smelling oddly. Like... it was like a sweet disgusting smell, not like perfume, but a sort of sweet smell like when Percy had forgotten to take the trash out one day. He smelled like the empty bottles that laid around the apartment. Percy didn't know how to explain the smell, he just knew one thing; and that was that he didn't like it.

"Hm?" Gabe hummed.

"What?" Percy asked quietly.

"Isn't this nice?" He asked again and caressed Percy's side with his thumb.

Percy nodded slowly. "Yes."

Suddenly he was pinched in the side, and he jerked away, but Gabe still had an arm around him, so he didn't come far.

"Ow!" He yelled out. Gabe didn't let go.

"You forgot something, punk." He told the seven-year-old. The kid cried out in pain and tried to push Gabe's hand away but failed. "You address me as 'sir'." He whispered into Percy's ear. "Got that?" He asked.

Percy nodded frantically. "Y-yes sir." He stammered and was able to breathe as Gabe satisfied let go of Percy's side and continued to caress him.

One last rule, never upset Gabe, he thought to himself.

He slowly leaned back against Gabe again and rested his small hand on the big man's hairy arm. Percy watched the TV as his stomach continued making sounds here and now. Every time his stomach made just the slightest sound; Gabe would huff annoyed. By the time a show in the TV had ended and a new started, Percy's eyes had grown heavy. He had a hard time keeping them open and fought bravely to stay awake and not let his head fall. But by every passing minute it got harder and harder. Percy swore he only closed his eyes briefly, but that was enough to make him fall asleep.

Gabe removed his eyes from the TV to the kid sleeping on him. He felt disgusted by him. He was a scrawny looking boy and stupid. The kid was stupid. But hey, Gabe thought to himself, at least the kid was obedient. He was so desperate for someone to care about him, that he didn't care who it was. It almost made Gabe want to laugh.

Slowly Gabe let his hand that was previously caressing Percy's side, he rested his hand on his side for some time. Percy turned in his sleep and had his cheek against Gabe's chest. The man looked at him. He lifted Percy's head up and kissed his forehead. Percy groaned and opened his eyes. He widened his eyes and made a surprised sound and tried to pull away, but Gabe grabbed the back of his head and kept his face close to his.

"Shh," his adoptive father shushed. Percy watched him with shock in his eyes. "At least act like you like it." Gabe huffed and kissed his forehead and looked at the tv again. Percy closed his eyes, so he didn't have to look at Gabe. 

Percy didn't remember what had happened after that. He woke up on the floor next to the couch. He groaned to himself and slowly sat up. He rubbed his eyes and noticed the couch was empty. Which was odd since Gabe almost never left it. His body hurt as he slowly got up. He looked down at himself and noticed that his shirt was missing. He frowned and searched the room for it, he found it behind the couch and picked it up and put it on. He glanced at the brown couch, there was something about him that rankled him. He couldn't tell what it was, maybe he'd remember later. 

He made his way into the kitchen as he was hungry. He opened the fridge and searched for something eatable. There were tons of beers in the fridge, Percy turned his nose up by that and searched for food. They had bread, but there was something weird green stuff on it, so he didn't feel like eating it. He moved some beers to the side to get a look behind them, but there was no food. The only food they had was the bread with the green stuff on.

Percy grabbed the bag and closed the fridge then walked over to the small kitchen counter and opened the bag. He was really hungry. He took a slice of bread up from the bag and smelled to it. It didn't smell bad. Should he eat it? He didn't know. And he couldn't ask Gabe because he wasn't here, and even if Gabe had been here, Percy would probably not have gotten an answer, or he wouldn't have asked. The kid debated that the bread was not eatable and that they needed more food. He would buy it tomorrow when Gabe asked him to go out and buy him dinner.

Percy threw the piece of bread back down in the bag and threw the bag out in the trash. Then he walked into his room and closed the door and laid down on his bed.