Chapter Text
“What’re you thinking, Seaweed Brain?” Annabeth said, interrupting Percy’s line of thought as he stared over Camp Half-Blood.
“That we need a vacation,” he said immediately.
She blinked, a little taken off-guard by the ready answer. Her whole body pivoted to give him her undivided– albeit baffled– attention. “Um. What?”
“A vacation,” Percy repeated. His head turned until he was staring her straight in the face. The expression was somewhere between dead, resigned, and stressed. “If I have to run into a single S.H.I.E.L.D. agent within the next two weeks, I cannot be held responsible for what I might do.”
Despite the honesty of the statement, Annabeth laughed. “Alright then, Percy. You want a vacation? Tell me all about it.”
–––––•~∞~•–––––
“Riptide, do you really think…?” Skye asked quietly on the Air Bus, just her and Coulson in the room.
Coulson pursed his lips. “I don’t know. He never struck me as the type to sow dissent, but…”
“But we don’t really know him,” Skye contintuned quietly. “And he doesn’t really know us. I mean– sure, we run into him, like, a stupid amount of times, but I’ve always been under the impression that he doesn’t want to see us. So it doesn’t make sense that he would… I don’t know, want to make us distrust each other.”
“Keep what he said between us, for now,” Coulson said quietly. “I’ll look into it.”
–––––•~∞~•–––––
Pepper paused upon walking into the common room. She’d known that Tony was looking to install something, but she hadn’t known exactly what.
“Tony, what is this?” she asked slowly.
The other Avengers present had gathered to check it out out of sheer curiosity or boredom, Pepper was sure, but they didn’t quite have the context necessary to understand why Pepper was… well.
Tony hummed, turning to look at her with that slightly manic, slightly sheepish look that said he knew what she was thinking. “Saltwater fish tank, Pep.”
It was a pretty big one, too, all things considered. Sleek and fitting with the Tower’s current aesthetic. And set in the top corner was a familiar blue bow.
“Mhmm,” Pepper hummed, looking between Tony and the fish-filled tank in exasperated resignation. “And the bow?”
Tony nodded sagely. “A reminder.”
Bruce, Steve, Natasha, and Clint were all watching with curiosity and confusion. They’d clearly guessed there was something else going on here.
“A reminder of what?” Bruce asked.
Tony paused, glanced at Pepper, and then looked slightly apprehensively at the fish. He patted the tank. “Fish are friends. Not food,” he deflected.
Clint looked at him quizzically. “Did you just quote Finding Nemo ?”
“Ground rules!” Tony said, clapping as if to bring the conversation on track. “Be kind to the fish– what goes around, comes around. Don’t feed them after midnight.”
“What are they, Gremlins?” Natasha cut in.
Steve looked between them uncertainly. “What are Gremlins?”
“Do not threaten the fish,” Tony said louder. “Address them by their given names.”
Pepper closed her eyes.
“Don’t tap on the glass. Jarvis will tattle on you if you do,” he continued.
“What is happening,” Clint whispered.
Pepper walked away.
–––––•~∞~•–––––
Stark Industries seemed a little surprised when Tony Stark launched a new initiative for cleaning up the oceans, but somewhere, Percy Jackson saw the headline and laughed.
–––––•~∞~•–––––
“Alright, campers!” Percy called, standing on the beach. “Today we’re working on fighting when you’re on unstable ground.”
There was a pretty good turnout for this activity actually, for a variety of reasons.
One: they were going to get tips from Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon and survivor of two demigod wars, numerous quests, and an actual Alien Invasion.
Two: Percy Jackson was incredibly easy on the eyes. Tanned skin, defined muscles, hair that looks perpetually windswept in the best way, and those eyes. Everyone knew he and Annabeth were a thing, but who said the campers couldn’t look?
Three: Percy Jackson was not wearing a shirt and he was ripped as hell.
Percy got out Riptide and started giving demonstrations, lunging this way or moving that way to give the audience an idea of what they should be doing.
What he didn’t realize was that a few of the campers had brought their phones.
–––––•~∞~•–––––
Social media erupted hours later.
Thanks to some very careful spoofing, the exact origins of the pictures and short videos were impossible to determine or trace.
They all featured the same thing: A young man with a familiar sword working out on the beach, his scarred and chiseled body on display, and a pair of swim trunks on. He looked fierce, but also like a god made man. None of the posted content showed anyone else, and the exact particulars of his face were impossible to pin. All that could be seen was a blurred expression, and– on occasion– bright, sea-green eyes.
The fan clubs online went nuts.
–––––•~∞~•–––––
“Social media has been in an uproar since yesterday afternoon when images were posted of what appears to be the mysterious Riptide-”
Everyone’s attention was on the TV in an instant.
“-practicing some of his moves on a beach. Many speculate-”
“Holy shit,” Rhodey whistled, having come over to visit Tony. They shared a significant look. (Since as far as the others knew, Rhodey had never met Riptide, so he couldn’t exactly comment.)
“Look at those scars,” Bruce murmured, looking somewhere between horrified and sad.
The picture was swapped for a compilation of short clips, some of them comparing the kid’s moves side-by-side with what they’d seen in New York when he battled the Chitauri.
Steve glanced between the TV and Tony. “Can you find where these were taken? Maybe we can actually talk to this kid.”
Tony pursed his lips. “Maybe.” Could he? Again, maybe. Depending on whether people posted them where they were taken, and then there was whether or not he would still be there. And of course there was the issue of whether or not Tony really wanted the kid to be found.
Still, it would be best to at least make it look like he was actually looking.
(Tony doubted he’d find anything anyway.)
–––––•~∞~•–––––
“So, what do you think about London?” Percy said out of nowhere, in the middle of doing his coursework.
Annabeth looked up. “London?”
“For vacation,” Percy clarified.
His girlfriend looked at him judgmentally. “And I’m sure this location has nothing to do with the list of active locations of interest to S.H.I.E.L.D. that I’m not supposed to know that Leo has.”
Percy’s pen paused before he ducked his head lower and kept working. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Sure. And definitely nothing to do with the news salivating over the campers’ clips of ‘Riptide’.”
Percy hunched further, and when he spoke he sounded hunted. “The what of who?”
“Right,” she said, disbelieving. Then she sighed. “Fine. I’ve always wanted to see London.”
Annabeth tactfully ignored her boyfriend’s sigh of relief.
–––––•~∞~•–––––
They took a cruise, naturally. Putting the son of Poseidon in the sky inside of a metal tube would never be a good idea. And Percy had never been on a cruise ship before— barring the Princess Andromeda, of course. And Percy had no fond memories of that ship.
So they spent eight days at sea, enjoying the salty air and each other’s presence. Annabeth would read and sketch and Percy would swim or train with her outside of view when they weren’t studying. Sometimes they would find a secluded place with a view to sit and talk or to call friends and family back home. All too soon, they were docking in England.
They were just starting their self-guided tour through Greenwich when the weird shit started happening.
Percy closed his eyes and looked to the sky.
“Why me?” he groaned.
Annabeth just laughed.