If Only (Adopted)

Tony's POV:
When I walked into Percy's room to wake up the oversleeping man, the sight I was greeted with was by far not what I was expecting.

JARVIS had been unable to wake him up, so I'd come myself.

Percy was in still asleep, thrashing about in the throes of a nightmare. His sheets were tangled around his limbs, sweat coating his skin in a fine sweat. And there was a cloth in his mouth, gagging his sounds of unrest. The scars along his chest and arms explained why the man always wore longer sleeved shirts.

"JARVIS, summon the Avengers, they should see this." I said. I wanted to examine the scars, figure out how he got them, but first it would be better to wake the guy up. I'd probably get strangled if he woke up to me examining him.

I grabbed Percy's shoulders and shook him, just what I thought was hard enough to wake him up.

And boy did he wake up alright.

Percy jolted upright, his head banging into mine. His eyes were unfocused and as he pushed me onto the floor I realised that I'd probably made a mistake. He gripped my collar and dragged me up against the wall, an arm at my throat, pinning me in place.

"Tony!" Somebody yelled, but I couldn't distinguish whom the voice belonged to. My eyes were locked on Percy's, who didn't seem to fully understand where he was or what he was doing. My air was running out quick when Thor yanked him away. Percy instantly reacted to his new enemy, a fist raising to sock the god in the jaw, but Thor caught Percy's hand in a firm grasp.

"Perseus! Snap out of it!" Thor commanded. Percy mumbled something unintelligible through the cloth in his mouth. Thor pulled the cloth out. The god patted Percy's cheek - which looked a bit more like a slap from my point of view - to snap him out of it. It worked at least, and before them now stood an alert Percy Jackson.

Percy frowned, looking at the circus that had gathered in his room and noticing the tense statures. "What happened?"

"You tried to kill me!" I yelped. I couldn't help it, he'd given me quite a shock. Percy looked taken aback.

"What? This is my room, why were you even in here in the first place?" He demanded.

All eyes turned to me, wondering the same thing.

"You ignored JARVIS' wake up call, and the cameras in your room had been disabled so I was afraid you'd run away and went to check. Then you were having a nightmare so I woke you up and you flipped out on me."

Percy sighed and ran a hair through his messy black hair. "Apologies, but you should've just left me alone."

When Percy brought a hand up to his face, I noticed the faint pink marks on his cheek where the make shift gag had been tied too tightly. "What's with the gag?"

Percy froze, hesitating. Then in a fluid motion he ripped the fabric out of Thor's hand and chucked it the other side of the bed where nobody could see it.

"What gag?" He asked.

I stared at him unimpressed. My expression matched those of my companions. Aside from Thor, who looked at Percy with sympathy.

How come he gets to know everything? No fair.

"The one that's left marks on your face." Natasha stated bluntly.

Percy flinched, tying his head to the side, away from the majority of us. "I get nightmares most nights. Bad ones. I don't like to wake people up with my uh... discomfort. Hence my given method." He explained, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Nightmares? What about?" Clint pressed.

Percy's face morphed into an ugly scowl. "Be glad I told you that much, my private life is absolutely none of your business." And then he was gone.

Percy showed up again after breakfast, only to herd us into seats in the living room. He stood before us stiffly, as of e only tolerated us because he had to. I'm pretty sure that was exactly the case.

"What've you called us for?" Steve asked, allowing the man his chance to speak.

Percy seized it. "We have to formulate a plan to rescue Loki."

There were sighs around the room, one from my own mouth. It's was about Loki again. Surprise, surprise, the Trickster was all Percy would talk about. Loki this, Loki that.

"Y'know, I'm incredibly tempted to leave that god wherever he's landed up." I spoke.

"Amen to that." Clint muttered and received a harsh glare from Percy.

"How do you know he's not intentionally where he is? Maybe he's hiding?" Bruce suggested.

Percy barked a sharp laugh. "Believe me when I say he's not where he wants to be."

"And how would you know that?" Natasha urged. I had a feeling she wanted to know anything about this potential target that she could get her hands on, but all she got was Percy tapping the side of his head, giving nothing away. "You tell us to trust you, but give us nothing in return."

"I didn't say to trust me, I said to believe me. Those are two very different things." Percy said. I had to admit, that was a valid point.

"Either way, trust is a two way street." Natasha argued.

"Not always, if you want to get technical. But we're getting sidetracked. Back to the plan." I grumbled and leaned back in my seat.

"Do you know where he is, Perseus?" Thor prompted.

"Some place called the Black Fortress." Percy said. Thor went rigid upon hearing the name.

"If you know where he is, why don't you just go get him yourself?" Clint deadpanned.

Percy snorted. "Oh well I wonder how I'd break into another planet with no particular skill or transportation to get me there." The sarcasm in his voice was thick and obvious.

"That sounds like a 'you' problem." Clint snarked, not liking how he was being spoken to.

"Well guess what, now I'm making it an 'us' problem, so get over yourself." Percy snapped.

Thor stood up, an unusually grim look on the god's face. "We are rescuing my brother. The Black Fortress is a place no creature deserves to be left in, regardless of what they've done."

~~~~

Ta da. It's still Tuesday in my time. Well now, things are advancing and soon the rescue mission for Loki shall begin!

Peace,

BTSWD
Borntosingwithdrama