Peter had spent the last two weeks going through life like a normal teenager. He went to class, hung out with Ned, and ignored his problems until they went away. He hadn't spoken to Hestia in the two weeks after their conversation. He had thought about it for hours and realized she was right. Acting like that it didn't happen didn't change the fact that it had happened. By running away from the Greek world he was dismissing the sacrifices made in the Second Titan and Giant Wars. Despite his conclusion, things were still awkward with Hestia. He didn't know what to say to her. He didn't know if he even had to say anything.

These thoughts were swirling through his head as he made his way back to class. The hallway was empty except for a student walking towards him. As they got closer, Peter realized it was Liz and he could feel the heat rush to his face. He hadn't spoken to her since the trip to DC, where they had exchanged a few awkward sentences.

"Hey," he called out. "I thought you had calculus fifth period?"

Liz gave him a soft smile as they met in the middle of the hall by the trophy case. "Yeah, I was just doing some homecoming stuff."

He awkwardly nodded his head. "Cool, cool. Um... look, I want to apologize for almost missing the Decathlon."

"Peter, it's fine, you were sick. Last week, Decathlon was the most important thing, but then I almost died," Liz reassured him.

"Yeah, I know." His heart started to pound. He could hear a few different voices in his head, all of them contradicting each other. But the voice that stood out the most was Annabeth's, asking him to move on, to not be stuck loving a ghost who couldn't return. "It's just, I feel like I almost let you down because... I like you."

Liz smiled and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I know. You're terrible at keeping secrets."

Peter huffed out a laugh. "You'd be surprised."

A moment of awkward silence passed before Peter realized that she wasn't rejecting him. He decided to take a risk and ask her out. "I-I know that you probably already have a date to homecoming-"

"Actually, I was so busy planning it that I never really got around to that part," she cut him off.

"Would you want to go with me?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I'd love to," Liz beamed at him. Her cheeks were red and he admired the way that the light filtered through the window to frame her face. He stared at her for a few seconds past socially acceptable before a blush bloomed across his cheeks.

"I'll text you," he said, trying to move past the awkwardness.

"Cool."

"I'm actually going that way," he told her, the heat in his cheeks increasing. He walked past her, flashing her another smile. Once she was behind him a giant grin broke across his face. It quickly turned into a look of panic when he realized that he had no idea what he was going to wear.

He managed to get through the rest of the day with minimal panicking. As soon as the bell rang he ran out of the room towards the front of the school. He was halfway to the bus stop before he remembered that he was supposed to wait for his cousins outside. He groaned and pulled out his phone to send them a text on their groupchat as he continued to the bus stop.

He quickly typed out, "Forgot about you guys so I'm at the bus stop and not dead."

Nico, whose name was Death Breath in his phone, was the first to respond, "Wow, rude."

Thalia, also known as Pinecone Face, texted back almost immediately after Nico. "How could you leave me here with this idiot?"

Percy chuckled at their antics but didn't respond. It felt like five years had passed before his cousins eventually made it to the bus stop right as the bus was pulling up. The trio got on the bus and it quickly pulled away. He had to brace himself as it swerved dangerously into oncoming traffic. Beside him, Nico was also looking sick.

"Remind me why we take the bus?" Nico asked miserably.

"There's nothing crazier than a New York bus driver," Thalia agreed.

Despite the crazy driving, nothing could stop his good mood. His smile was still stretched across his face like it was painted there.

"What's got you in a good mood?" Thalia asked.

"I asked Liz to homecoming," he told them in a sing-song voice.

"Congrats," Nico smiled and clapped him on the book.

"Never do that voice again," Thalia deadpanned.

"Which voice?" he teased. He increased his voice an octave. "This one?"

"I swear to the gods, do it again and I'll stab you in front of all these people," Thalia threatened.

"Fine," Percy conceded, dragging out the 'i'. He smirked and raised his voice even higher. "How about this voice?"

Thalia immediately elbowed him in the stomach, knocking all the air out of his lungs. He hunched over and started coughing violently; the other passengers on the bus took a step away from him.

"You want to try that again?" Thalia hissed.

Nico was just standing there, watching them with barely concealed amusement on his face. He made no move to help Percy. After a minute Percy straightened out again and admitted defeat. He knew to not push his luck.

The bus stopped and the trio got out before starting to walk in the direction of the apartment. They still had to walk another two blocks before they could get home. There was something else that he had wanted to talk to them about.

"So, I was thinking," he started hesitantly, "after homecoming, maybe next time you guys go to Camp Half-Blood I could join you."

He continued walking with his eyes focused in front of him, not turning to look at his cousins' expressions. That turned out to be a mistake because it took him a full minute to notice that they had both stopped in the middle of the street.

He stood there for a moment before sighing and running back to where they were still standing. He grabbed them both by the arm and dragged them forward. Nico let out a shriek of surprise and Thalia yelped as they finally started moving again. When he thought they could walk on their own, Percy let go of their arms and went back to walking next to them.

"What made you change your mind? Every time we've brought it up before now you've gotten upset," Nico finally asked. He had a fair point. 'Gotten upset' was putting it lightly. The last time his cousins' had asked he had glared at them and left the room. He then proceeded to ignore them for at least the following twenty-four hours. After a month they had just stopped asking altogether.

"Hestia yelled at me," he admitted sheepishly, not going into further detail.

"Thank the gods. I was wondering how long it would take for you to get your head out of your-"

"Thalia!" Nico exclaimed.

"Alright, fine," Thalia grumbled, "some would think you were an old man with how old fashioned you are."

"I was born in 1924," Nico deadpanned.

The three of them burst out laughing, the people around them rolling their eyes. Percy relaxed as his cousins started talking about some guy in one of their classes. Harry, or something, he thought. He wasn't really paying attention. He was just happy that they didn't ask too many questions. Within two minutes they had made it to their apartment building and Percy couldn't contain his excitement. He ran past his cousins and into the building. The landlord yelled something at him but it fell on deaf ears in his attempt to get upstairs. He tried waiting for the elevator for approximately five seconds before he just decided to take the stairs.

He was panting by the time he reached the apartment door on the third floor. He dug around his pockets for his keys before haphazardly shoving them into the door and swinging it open. He slid into the kitchen where Hestia was standing with a raised eyebrow, already waiting for him.

"I need your help," he told her frantically.

She smiled at him and walked into his bedroom. They spent the next hour getting ready for homecoming. She helped him pick out a suit and make a Windsor knot with his tie. After he managed to tame his curls he was officially ready for the dance; Hestia had already picked out a corsage for him. At some point, Nico joined them and they had to spend another hour finding him something to wear.

By the time they had finished, Thalia was sitting in the living room, completely ready. She was wearing a blue velvet knee length dress with a black leather jacket. She had a silver clip in her hair that resembled her circlet from her time as a Lieutenant of Artemis.

"You guys take forever to get ready," she snarked.

"Thalia, be nice to your cousins," Hestia reprimanded. Thalia ducked her head in embarrassment.

Percy furrowed his brows. "Who are you guys going with?"

"I'm not going with anybody. I'll probably just hang out with MJ or Harry if he's not to busy with his date," Thalia told him.

"Who's he going with again?" Nico asked. His cheeks were red though, so the question was most likely an attempt to draw attention away from himself than an actual interest in the answer.

"I can't remember, starts with a 'G' I think," Thalia dismissed.

"You didn't answer the question," Percy pointed out.

"It doesn't matter, you'll see once we get there," Nico grumbled. "Anyway, Thalia and I have to go pick them up so we're leaving now, bye."

Nico grabbed Thalia's arm and shadow-traveled away before Percy could interrogate him more. Percy chuckled, he had a good idea who his cousin was bringing anyways.

"We should go before you become late," Hestia told him. "Remember to close your eyes."

She put a hand on his shoulder and the two disappeared in a flash of bright, white light. When Percy opened his eyes again they were standing outside of Liz's house.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Open the door for her," he started. He waited for Hestia to give a hum of approval before continuing, "Tell her she looks nice, but not too much because that's creepy. And when I dance with her, put my hands on her hips."

Hestia gave him a small smile. "I'm proud of you Peter."

He hesitated a moment before answering. "Percy," he corrected. "I'm Percy Jackson just as much as I'm Peter Parker."

Hestia wrapped her arms around him tightly, careful to not wrinkle his suit. Her voice was quiet and tickled his ear as she repeated, "I'm proud of you Percy."

She let go of him and straightened his tie. "Now go have fun."

Peter grinned at her before walking up to the front door, pink corsage in hand. He rang the doorbell and waited as someone came to answer it. There was a faint ringing at the base of his skull. He furrowed his eyebrows and dismissed it as nerves. A broad smile spread across his face as he thought about dancing with Liz.

The door swung open and the smile faded from Peter's face and the feeling of horror grew. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, a clear indication of danger. He was frozen in place, unsure of what to do.

"You must be Peter," the Vulture said. He was grinning which Peter thinks is wrong after all the destruction that he's caused. He hoped that this was a mistake. That he just managed to find the guy he's been chasing because the Fates couldn't be that cruel. His hopes are dashed when the man continued, "I'm Liz's dad."

I'm so sorry that I didn't have this out sooner. I accidentally deleted the entire chapter and had to rewrite it. I'm surprised by how decent this chapter turned out. I thought that I was going to hate it.

Let me know what you guys think

<3 S