Before I Die (Split Souls part 1)

18: Bonding and Burgers

PERCY PoV

Maybe he's not as bad as I thought.

"Hey, Percy?" 

"Yeah?" I wonder what he'll ask/say this time.

"We're gonna find your mom. Knowing Fury, he'll want you out of my hair ASAP. Security threat, and all. Which means getting you back to your mom. We're gonna find her. I promise you." 

I look him in the eyes, and absorb what he's saying. My eyes sting. He notices, I think. But before he can say anything, I do something I haven't done before. I hug him.

He's surprised, but he hugs me back. "Thanks, T."

"Did you call me 'T'?" He asks, incredulous.

"Yeah. I tried calling a different uncle 'Big Z' but I'm hoping that this one goes over better." I tell him.

He laughs. "You really did that?" He pulls out of the hug to look at me.

"You say that like you don't know me." I complain.

"You're right. I shouldn't be surprised at that." He shakes his head.

"Come on. Do you want to see more sea life demigod style?" I ask him, smirking.

He pales a little bit. "We can warm up to talking to Wendy. I'm thinking we could just swim down a ways and have a look around." I explain, before he can freak out about sharks.

"Oh, um." He hesitates. 

"What are you worried about?" I counter. 

"It's just, y'know. The ocean is dangerous."

"Not as much with a son of the sea god with you. You can't be safer at this point." I smirk. "The others won't be awake for a while. They won't miss us."

"Fine." Uncle T breathes. 

"You can chicken out whenever it gets too much," I say, teasing.

He gains a rebellious look. "Oh, you're on kiddo."

After he gets over his initial worry, he becomes intrigued by the marine life I show to him, and explain. He asks me questions, and I answer to the best of my capability. I learn more about the different species as well, via telepathic comunication.

"This puts an entirely new spin on your 'marine biology' huh?" He comments at one point.

"I mean, why not?" Is my reply.

We decide that we should probably return back to the ship. I think Tony has seen enough of the sea life, and I don't want him to get any ill-effects from being underwater for so long. 

We catch up to the Okeano Spiti, which had drifted a ways since we left. 

"How are we going to get back on board?" Tony questions.

"That's the fun part." I grin at him. I grab his bicep, and reflexively grabs onto mine. "Hold your breath. Leaving the water is more disorienting." I warn.

He nods, and takes a deep breath, holding it. "Ready?" A nod. "Three, two, one!" I use the water to propel us into the air. We land on the deck with a splash. We both stumble, and use each other to balance. Me? I'm off because of the absence of power from the water. Tony's all tipsy because of the difference in pressure and oxygen. I assume, at least.

I look around at the deck, realizing that we splash interrupted a three way spar between Natasha, Clint, and Steve. The three of them were looking at us with wide eyes. Well, in Natasha's case, slightly wider than usual.