It's okay to be saved once in a while too.

Peter finished smoothing the button up he was wearing as he looked into the bathroom mirror. His hair had a bit of pomade in it to keep it in place today, his shirt was covered in tiny arc reactors, a gift from Tony when Target had made an Avengers inspired clothing line. He figured that he looked well enough for his small birthday party Aunt May was throwing. He couldn't believe he was already turning 18 though. This meant he'd already been Spider-Man for 3ish years. And he'd found out Percy was alive around a year ago, even if he hadn't shown back up until a few weeks ago.

Percy. The boy that had plagued his thoughts as of late, and not for fun reasons like his dashing good looks. No, for much more ominous reasons. Unexplainable sightings on other continents and, needless to mention, his disappearing act that lasted almost two years. What Peter wouldn't give for all this mystery surrounding his neighbor to not be an issue so he could focus on other things like academics, superhero-ing, and Percy's smile when he saw Spider-Man the other day.

"Peter! Your guests are starting to arrive! Come here please," Aunt May's voice calling from the other room made Peter jump and forget about his musings regarding Percy. He straightened his shirt one more time and was glad he'd recovered enough to be having this party without tipping anyone off to the fact that he had gotten hurt in the first place. He didn't need his friends catching on to his injuries and putting two and two together that Spider-Man hadn't been seen in a few days.

As Pete turned away from the mirror and went to receive his guests he could hear Aunt May already talking to whoever had arrived. Upon entering the living room he was greeted with the sight of Mary Jane and the Jackson-Blofis family all standing in the entryway talking. Sally, Paul, and Aunt May were talking about who knew what as they gravitated towards the kitchen and it looked like Mary Jane was questioning Percy, as Peter was pretty sure they had never met.

"If you've been neighbors for so long, why haven't you been at any of Peter's other parties?" Mary Jane asked a little too harshly.

Peter looked to see if Aunt May would reprimand her for her tone but it was clear the adults had missed her question. Peter watched Percy shift uncomfortably and rub the back of his neck with his hand. He then watched Mary Jane eye Percy's tattoo as she waited for his answer. Peter felt like a snail, unable to move fast enough to intercept this conversation from where he was on the other side of the living room still.

"I went to various boarding schools growing up and they usually start in July," Percy answered with a little shrug, "and the last two years I wasn't in town around this time."

"Hey!" Peter interrupted as he finally made his way across the living room effectively cutting off whatever other interrogation-like questions Mary Jane was going to throw at Percy.

They both turned to Peter and greeted him warmly, "Happy birthday Pete!" Mary Jane was a bit too loud. Percy was quieter, but his words only differed in him saying "Peter" instead of "Pete".

Neither Peter nor Percy missed the glance Mary Jane sent towards Percy again though. It looked like she was firing up to assault Percy with more questions when a knock at the door called for Peter's presence.

"Where did you get your tattoo? What's it of? Your mother let you have a tattoo? How old are you?!"

Peter internally cringed at the barrage of questions he couldn't shield Percy from as he turned the door handle. Though he couldn't deny there was some part of him that was curious to the answer of what his tattoo was and why exactly he got a tattoo when he was missing for so long.

Peter missed Percy's answers because as soon as he opened the door the world stopped. Standing there like it hadn't been years, like his father's company hadn't mysteriously shut down, like he hadn't left without a word...

Harry Osborn stood on Peter's welcome mat with a preppy jacket slung over his shoulder and an easy smile on his face, "Hey Pete, Happy 18."

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Percy was in the middle of trying to answer the redhead girl who barely introduced herself when he heard Peter gasp. He looked over, forgetting entirely about trying to evade Mary(?)'s questions to see Peter frozen in his doorway looking at another boy around their age. After a moment, the Mary girl turned and looked too. She gasped just as Peter did, but unlike Peter, she didn't freeze up.

"HARRY!" she burst out so loudly that Percy flinched. Then she rushed the boy who Peter still had not invited inside. They hugged and greeted each other like old friends and Percy risked a glance towards the adults. May, Peter's aunt, had an unreadable expression on her face. Her lips were pursed and Percy could not tell if she was happy or horrified by this seemingly unexpected guest. His mom and Paul however just looked a bit confused, neither had any clue who this boy was, just like Percy.

He turned back towards the doorway to see the redhead chastising Peter for freezing up. He looked like he was trying to swallow a toad. Percy took a deep breath and walked forward to intercept this small turnout that was slowly encompassing the Parker's front door.

"Hi, Percy Jackson," Percy stuck out his hand at the other guy and slowly took in his appearance. He had light reddish-brown hair, he was a bit taller than Peter and probably pretty close to Percy's own height if not a bit taller. His clothes were expensive and fairly form fitting, showing off his muscular but not overly buff physique.

"Harry Osborn," His handshake was firm but not anything near what Percy was used to. Most likely a normal mortal.

Peter cleared his throat, "Hey Harry, it's been forever. How have you been?" He still looked a little frozen, but at least he was talking now.

Harry looked back towards Peter and Percy did not like the look in his eyes. "I've been alright. Or as well as one would expect after my father's business was forced to leave New York." He said it casually enough but his face had a bit of a stony expression on it and his words had a bite to them that Percy did not understand but certainly didn't miss.

Peter flinched, "Yeah, I'm so sorry about that Harry. It's been weird without you." Despite his obvious nerves, he made eye contact with the taller boy and stood his ground. Percy watched Harry examine Peter's face and finally the expression cleared. Harry gave another easy smile,

"It has been a weird couple of years. It's good to be back though. You can thank Mary Jane's instagram for the tip about the party by the way. Her birthday post for you was a little intense," The girl beside him gasped and smacked Harry's arm. Percy made a mental note that the girl's name wasn't Mary but Mary Jane.

"I won't apologize for celebrating one of my closest friends' birthdays," she snipped.

"It's all right, Mary Jane," Peter assured her, but before he could continue, there was some commotion behind Harry and Mary Jane. More partygoers had arrived.

Three more people that Percy didn't recognize had all stopped seemingly in shock at the sight of Harry Osborn.

"No way!" the guy said. He was a shorter Filipino boy with a mess of brown hair. He was holding hands with a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Harry Osborn?" the blonde girl asked in excitement, "I haven't seen you since middle school!"

Soon heartfelt hellos were shared between all these teenagers who had clearly known each other for some time. Percy took a step back to not interrupt the reunion. He found himself next to the last arrival, she had dark curly hair and medium dark skin. She leaned against the same wall as Percy and doodled in a sketchbook.

"I'm MJ," she said without looking up.

"Percy," he responded, "Nice to meet you." She gave a hum in response and kept making little doodles. One of them looked vaguely like a miniature Peter next to a frog.

The party progressed fairly well after that. Peter seemed to have moved past his shock and all of the teenagers were just vibing. The group of teenagers ended up in a criss-cross circle in the middle of the living room. They played some pretty generic party games like "never have I ever" and "would you rather" but Percy didn't mind too much. Of course, the redheaded girl threw a subtle "never have I ever had a tattoo," into the mix to expose Percy in front of Peter's friend group. Luckily it was brushed over fairly quickly. Undeniably though Percy definitely felt like an outsider, since it seemed like all of Peter's friends had been close since middle school, but it was an ignorable pang.

Until they got to some game called "most likely to," that Mary Jane and the blonde girl, Betty insisted on. The game was all about how well you knew someone and you pointed at whoever you thought was most likely to whatever. Whoever had the most fingers pointed at them was out. Percy didn't know these people though and as the game progressed he felt more and more insecure. And then insulted when the statement was "most likely to be in a gang" and three fingers pointed at him. He retaliated by pointing at Harry Osborn, one of the people pointing his own finger at Percy.

Peter sucked in a sharp breath as the tension in the room rose substantially.

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Peter eyed Percy, who was busy staring down Harry, both boys pointing at each other whilst Betty and Mary Jane were also pointing at Percy. Ned was pointing at Michelle, which Peter secretly thought was hilarious, but the humor was shadowed over by the apprehension in the air.

"Maybe let's not make halfway accusatory comments during a game, Mary Jane." Peter kept his voice level, then realized he should follow up, "Actually, let's not make halfway accusatory comments at all."

Percy finally tore his eyes away from Harry, lowering his hand as he did. He looked at Peter for a moment and his expression lightened. Peter thought he was going to say something but instead he offered a small smile to the birthday boy. Then he leaned back on his hands, seemingly no longer bothered.

Peter hoped that that would be the last strained moment of the day. His birthday should not have been this stressful. Luckily though, the air cleared again and everyone was laughing and joking once more. Percy got up to bring the chips and dips from the kitchen to the living room because they were all starting to get peckish and Peter offered to join him since it was his home.

"Sorry about Harry, I didn't know he was going to be here," Peter said in a very low voice. He didn't want to clue his aunt and the Jackson-Blowfis's who were all still chatting around the kitchen island.

Percy offered him another small smile, "Don't worry about it Pete, things happen." Peter nodded and nothing more was said between the two boys as they grabbed multiple bowls of chips, veggie and fruit trays, and dips for all of them. They were going around the kitchen island when a knock on the door caused Michelle to get up and answer it.

Mr. Stark practically let himself in once the door was open, "Happy birthday Mr. Parker," he hailed more jovially than Peter was used to seeing from the Avenger. Most of Peter's friends looked shocked at the arrival of Peter's infamous boss from his internship. Everyone except Harry, who looked furious for a heartbeat.

Peter watched as Harry's micro expressions smoothed out as Mr. Stark's gaze swept around the room and took in all the inhabitants and decorations. Harry looked as surprised as his peers by the time Tony looked at him. However a glance with Percy let Peter know that he hadn't imagined the look on Harry's face.

"Damn, I sure hope my birthday isn't this eventful," Percy murmured to Peter before he took a few more steps into the living room and gave a respectful nod to the billionaire as he set the food on the coffee table. Peter gave an absentminded nod of agreement even though Percy had already gone and sat down.

As awful as it was to want, Peter desperately wanted the day to be over. It was far too stressful a day to happen right before his senior year of high school started. First Harry shows his face in New York for the first time since they were in middle school, and then Mr. Stark has the bright idea to show up at his party like that wouldn't raise so many questions about his "internship". Peter wanted to throw up. Of course, he would do his best to not do that, but still.

He barely listened to the excuse Mr. Stark gave about visiting his favorite intern on his birthday and did his best to not slip into a state of dissociation.

Ever since his conversation with Percy, ever since he'd learned the name for it and some of the symptoms, his dissociation had gotten easier to manage. Or at least to see coming and take preventative actions. It wasn't perfect, but he was really working on being present. Nonetheless, he felt himself slipping.

"Let's eat!" Aunt May announced and thank goodness. Maybe food would help. Peter didn't know, but he was willing to try. Soon everyone was eating and everything was once again lighthearted with the exception of Harry pretending he wasn't extremely tense and had been since the moment Tony Stark had shown his face.

Who could blame him though? according to the rumor mill, Tony Stark is the reason that Oscorp and the Osborns all but fled New York.

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Peter did not fully escape his birthday without dissociating, but it could've been so much worse than it was. After a few hours his guests slowly trickled out with promises to see him at school and hang out soon. Harry made no such promise, but did tell Peter that they would see each other again soon. Which was a little ominous, but Peter had faith in his old childhood friend and didn't think much of it.

Percy left after his parents did. Aunt May and Mr. Stark were still talking in the kitchen and the only teenagers that remained were Percy and himself. Percy gave him some well wishes, a card that himself and his parents signed, and a small seashell. Then he apologized for the hectic day, despite the fact that he had no part in it being as chaotic as it was.

It was nice, this moment with Percy. It was peaceful and warm-feeling. Soon Percy too was departing, "Good luck with school Pete. Don't stress too much, okay?" he said good-naturedly and then Peter was alone in the living room.

Peter let out a sigh that if asked about, he would deny to his dying days. There was something about Percy that was just different from the rest of his friends. He was different from the rest of his friends...

No matter. Today was not a day to overthink, it was to celebrate and relax.

After a little bit longer, Mr. Stark came over to give Peter his gift before he had to head out again. Peter opened it and his jaw dropped,

"No fucking way..."

"Language !"

Author's Note ! 

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