Chapter Text
When Peter Parker was 6 years old, his parents died in a plane crash.
When he was 6 years old he was also chased by a monster.
It had only been a few days since his parents's deaths when it happened. He had been put into the foster system but still not given a home, not that he was complaining really. He had quietly slipped out of the company's building, where kids who didn't yet have a family stayed. He wanted one final walk of Queens because he knew he might not see it again. He was just walking past Delmar's when something glinted out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look in the direction, but there was nothing there. Frowning, Peter continued, his small steps making little progress across the bustling pavement of morning commuters, when he heard it. A deep, gutteral snarl, like ones you would hear in horror movies he would often spot the older foster kids watching.
Peter turned around slowly, his heart hammering. The crowd had split in two, yet the people kept walking as if they couldn't sense anything wrong. As if they couldn't see the strange creature standing in middle of the pavement, its eyes staring cunningly at Peter, who couldn't do anything but freeze. The creature's head was that of a woman, with sunken features and piercing blue eyes that stared into its soul. But instead of a human body, bellow the woman's head was a huge body of a bird, its wings outstretched over its head, the tips of the feathers razor sharp blades. Its talons sunk into the pavement, the sharp edges causing cracks in the concrete, but it was like nobody except Peter could see it. A little voice in his head was telling him to run, but he knew there was no way he could outrun that thing.
He had basically accepted his fate when a hand dug into his shoulder and pulled, basically dragging his away from the beast, who shrieked in fury, unfurling its wings fully. Peter turned towards the person who was dragging his to see a young guy who was pushing them through the crowd. The teen, who probably wasn't much older then Peter, had curly black hair that bobbed up and down over his sweating dark skin, as he looked around with wide eyes, still holding onto Peter, who had resembled some control and was running with the guy. Yes, stranger danger and all that, but he would much rather go with a sweaty teen than a wierd bird thing that kinda looked like his old maths teacher who would always yell at him. Anyway, as Peter ran, he looked closer at his saviour, he nearly stopped. The guy had horns peeking out of the top of his hair and when Peter looked down, instead of legs, the guy had goddamn hooves.
Before Peter could question everything, the guy pulled him into an abandoned alley, crouching down in front of Peter so he was at his height.
"Okay kid, I need you to listen to me. My name's Afan, and im a satyr, and no, I am not a goat." he said the last part exasperated, as if he had heard it a million times before. "You're a demigod, meaning one of your parents is a god, which is why you currently have a monster chasing you. Im going to take you to camp, its safe there. I know this is a lot to understand but we have to go now." It was very much insane, but 6 year old Peter Parker was kinda gullible anyway, so he let Afan drag him again as they continued running before hailing a bus. A few more bus rides and runs (with lots of looking back over their shoulder), they arrived in Long Island. They were trudging up a hill as the sun began to set, and he was wondering if anybody at the foster house would even know he was gone, when they arrived at this huge gate that led to what looked like a strawberry farm. But when he stepped inside, the scene changed into a huge camp, with a huge white house standing at the forefront in front of the entrance, where a man with a horse's body stood. Why the hell are people fusing their lower bodies with animals. The man-horse walked up to them, his shaggy beard moving as he smiled down at Peter, his deep brown eyes twinkling.
"My name is Chiron, welcome to Camp Half-Blood Peter Parker."
What the hell.
That night, Peter was sat down and told everything. How the Greek Gods actually exist, how they have children with mortals, how monsters try kill these kids. It was a lot to take in, and he had been sent to a cabin called the Hermes cabin, with a tall blonde guy stood, wearing a bright orange shirt that said Camp Half-Blood with a pegasus in the middle. The guy grinned at Peter, extending his hand to shake it.
"Welcome to Cabin 11 Peter. Im Luke Castellan."
It took 2 weeks for him to get claimed.
For 2 weeks, Luke, who he had quickly befriended, tried finding out his godly parent. They tried archery (he sucked), the forges (definately broke a few things), amoungst other things. He had been simply looking over a map of the camp when he head gasps and murmurs around him. Looking around, he turned to see everybody staring at him, pointing at something above his head. When he looked up, he gasped. A grew owl floated above his head, almost glowing in the sky, before it disappeared almost immediately. Then, a boy with blonde hair and square glasses walked up to Peter, his hand out as he grinned.
"Im Malcolm Pace, your brother. Welcome to Cabin 6, child of Athena."
It didn't take him long to settle in to his new cabin. They were all nerdy kids like him, most with glasses and thick books. A blonde girl with stormy grey eyes had come up to him immediately when he walked in, and at first he thought she was going to punch him, but she grinned with all her teeth instead.
"Im Annabeth Chase, your sister. You're 6 too, aren't you?"
They became close very quickly, doing most camp activities together. He could feel the stares from the campers, the unclaimed ones especially, who had been waiting years to get claimed. He couldn't blame them for being mad, really.
One morning, as he waited for Annabeth to come back from the camp's general store, when he saw a girl with jet black hair in the archery area. Curiously, he walked closer, as he watched her shoot the arrows in perfect precision, hitting the yellow zones, as she cheered each time. As she shot the last arrow, she turned to Peter, her blue eyes narrowing on him as she seemed to inspect him, causing him to squirm in his place.
"You're the new kid aren't you?" he nodded, as she beckoned him forward, thrusting the bow into his hands. "Go on, I wanna see how well you can shoot, owl boy."
The answer was, very badly. She winced when his first 3 arrows landed far from the target board itself, before she began correcting his stance and technique, showing him to properly stretch back his hand. After about 2-3 hours, he was finally landing it in the red zones, as she cheered for him. He grinned at her, handing her back the bow.
"You're a fast learner owl boy. Im Kate, by the way. Kate Bishop, daughter of Apollo, if that wasn't obvious."
Him and Kate became fast friends too, and although she was 4 years older than him, they were still best friends. When summer ended, and campers who didn't stay all year began heading out, he decided he would do the same, despite Annabeth's protests. His parents may be dead, but he still had his uncle and aunt, who would probably be worried. So he left, heading back to New York, to a nearby police station, claiming he had been lost. May and Ben came to pick him up and after lots of fretting, they signed the adoption papers, taking him in.
Over the years, he went to camp regularly. He trained with Luke, and despite his asthma and glasses, he was a skilled fighter and began to learn to fight with a range of different weapons. He was usually sought after for his stratergies though, which usually helped them win Capture the Flag as he would find hidded routes and pathways that only the Athena cabin knew about because of him. He started going to the forges often, learning how to make his own weapons. When he was 10, he finally finished his first own weapon. It was a double edged spear made fully of Celestial Bronze, that was cut down the middle, so if he pulled on either side, it would come apart to make two swords. It took a lot of trial and error, but he finally managed it. He made other weapons too, daggers, axes, scythes, etc.
Then when he was 11, he got a quest. It was a fairly simple one, sent by his mother himself (who he had only met once so far), to retrieve her shield. He, along with Maria Lopez, a child of Hephaestus, and Lucas Zor, a child of Apollo were sent on the quest. He knew Annabeth was a little jealous; she had been waiting for her own quest for years.
But now, he was so glad she hadn't come.
They found the shield in a cave after a week of exploring and avoiding monsters. They had met a satyr named Arnold, who joined their quest till they made it back. They entered the cave, weapons ready, when they were attacked. By spiders. It was a fear all Athena kids carried because of their mother's feud with Arachne, meaning when Peter saw the arachnids, he immediately froze, his body locking as they scrambled from the mouth of the cave, their hairy legs crawling to them much faster than normal spiders.
They had tried to run, but by the time they made it out, Maria and Peter had been bit; Maria having been bit 5 times and Peter once. They thought they were safe when suddenly Maria collapsed, her body seizing as Peter and Lucas yelled, Lucas trying to use his healing powers on her. But it was too late. Maria was dead.
Some part of Peter had almost expected it. He knew. He knew having more than three people on a quest always led to tragedy; three was the lucky number. But when the satyr had joined them, he had hoped it wouldn't be true. He wished the spider bite would kill him too then, as he held his friend's dead body in his arms, sobs racking through his body as he hunched over her.
But Parker luck was a cruel thing. After the quest, they spent a few hours at camp before Peter left immediately after Maria's funeral. He couldn't look anybody in the eyes. When he got home, however, he spent the night hunched over the toilet, throwing up, thinking it was finally his time, that the Fates had cut his string. But the next day, he had woken up different. VERY different. He didn't need his glasses anymore, and when he tried to leave his room, he crushed the door handle in his hands.
What the hell.
It took him a few days to figure out his newfound powers. He could stick to walls now (which was hella creepy), and his metabolism had grown by a LOT. He spent the days after the bite cooped up in his room, trying to figure out the powers, which is how he found himself in an argument with Uncle Ben. He was worried about him, but Peter didn't want to put him in any danger, not after Maria, so he left the house. And Ben followed him.
And then he got shot.
As he watched his uncle's grave get lowered into the ground, holding a weeping May, his uncle's last words echoing in his mind; "With great power, comes great responsibility", he felt a newfound determination course through him. That he could use his new powers. Not only for demigods, but for mortals too.
Spider-Man appeared on the street soon after, the red and blue vigilante swinging through Queens and helping to drastically reduce crime. His fighting experience meant he didn't need much training, and was soon taking down large gangs and thugs.
A month after Spider-Man's first appearance, Peter went back to camp. He regretted it immediately, when he stepped through the threshold of his cabin and his siblings all stepped away, fear etched in their faces. And he couldn't blame them really. He knew they felt it, felt his spider presence, just how he did. But it still hurt, watching his family be scared of him. He was about to leave when Annabeth surged forward, grabbing his wrist, making him turn around to see her sad smile.
"You're our brother Peter. Nothing is changing that." and he had never loved his sister more. It took the others a while to get used to, but they did eventually, although they still sometimes flinched in his presence, but it was better than nothing.
Then when he was 12, Percy Jackson arrived at camp. His Spider sense thrummed, not in a 'danger' way, but as if it could sense Percy's power. And it was right, as Percy was claimed as a Son of Posiedon. A child of the big three. A forbidden child. Percy was nice though, and when he found out Peter was Spider-Man, something every camper now knew, he had freaked out. ("You're Spider-Man! Thats so cool, your powers are INSANE." "Dude, you can control water and probably cause earthquakes, your powers are way cooler." "I can probably cause WHAT?")
It was no suprise when Percy immediately got a quest, and he chose Annabeth and Grover, a satyr that Peter was good friends with. Peter noticed how Percy's sea green eyes lingered over Annabeth for a second too long, and how Annabeth would smirk at him as she would tease him. Someone's got a crush.
They returned 2 weeks later, having stopped a war between the gods, and Percy's story of how he had fought and won against Ares, the god of war himself, regaled through camp.
What hit him the hardest though, was Luke's betrayal.
Luke had gone on a quest a few years before, for his father, and returned with a huge scar over his eye. Since then, Peter sensed something different with Luke. The way he sneered slightly when the Gods were mentioned, or how he carried himself with hate. He bought it up with Annabeth, but she dismissed him, being somewhat protective of Luke after Thalia. After he got bit, his spidersenses would always buzz around Luke. But his betrayal had still come as a suprise, when Percy collapsed from poison just outside the woods, and they had discovered Luke was working for Kronos, who was trying to come back to life.
The next few years were insane. Each year they faced new threats as Kronos grew, till the Battle of Manhatan when Peter was 15, when they fought Kronos and Peter watched Luke, his first friend at camp die, his blue eyes glossing over as Annabeth weeped next to him. So many people died during the battle. Silena, the daughter of Aphrodite, the traitor who died a hero. Most of the Apollo cabin, who weren't experienced fighters, leaving Kate and a few others the only Apollo kids. Then Percy made the Gods swear to pay attention to their children, to do what Luke always wanted. The summer went fast; they had the funerals for their brothers and sisters, giving their farewells. They restored camp, and Annabeth and Percy FINALLY got together (the third wheeling was getting on his nerves).
Then Percy went missing for months, and new campers arrived, called Leo, Piper and Jason. Soon, they found out about the existance of ROMAN demigods and that they had a whole camp too. The prophecy of the seven came true and Gaeia was rising. While the seven were on the quest, he visited the Roman camp, which is where he met Yelena Belova, daughter of Bellona. They became fast friends, and he introduced her to Kate, who was her age. When they met, he knew he was in for MORE third wheeling (he really needed a child of Aphrodite right now). While the seven were on the quest, he spent time in both camps, ensuring they were defended from monsters, and trying VERY hard not to punch Octavian through a wall. He became close with Reyna, the praetor at Camp Jupiter, who had been impressed by his stratergies and planning.
When the seven returned and Gaeia attacked, they were ready. They fought with all their might, defending their camp. The aftermath led to a lot of chaos and destruction but they had won. There were casualties and destruction but they had won.
A few months later, Peter got a quest. He chose Kate and Yelena as his questmates, who spent the whole time flirting with each other. Then things went wrong. One bad move, one wrong step, and then they were falling into the pit of Tartarus. They made it out a week later, but it wasn't the same. Peter's brain had made him forget the worst of it, a trauma response according to Chiron. But nightmares and flashbacks plagued him every night, and he would wake up in a cold sweat, shaking. The only people who understood were Kate and Yelena, and Percy and Annabeth, who had fallen in on their quest to defeat Gaeia.
The months that followed were busy. He became an Ambassador of Minerva at Camp Jupiter, attending the meetings to help them discuss stratergy and planning with the campers, who had come to respect his wit and battle plans after the battle with Gaeia. He became Head Stratergist at Camp Half Blood, aiding campers on quests and leading his cabin to victory every Capture the flag game.
His mortal life was crazy too. At 14, Tony Stark, his mortal hero, had turned up to his house, asking him to help fight the Rogue Avengers in Germany. After a few months, when he had defeated the Vulture (he swore that guy was a harpy or another crazy monster), he and Tony grew close, having Lab Days and movie nights at the tower. Then the Rogues were pardoned and returned, and although there were tensions at first, they grew comfortable again, immediately softening towards Tony's bright and chirpy intern.
Then, when he was 16, a little while after the Battle of Manhatan, May died. There was a house fire in their old creaking apartment, and he couldn't make it to her in time. He had called Tony, sobbing on top of a nearby rooftop, watching the firefighters clear the area below. Tony came immediately, flying faster than ever in his Iron Man armour, holding his kid as he sobbed in his chest, cradling the back of his head. Tony didn't even hesitate to sign the adoption papers, getting Peter moved into the tower officially within 2 days.
At age 17, Peter Parker was a twice over orphan, with the AVENGERS as his family, dating his best friend MJ and having Star Wars marathons with Ned and part of the Midtown Decathalon team. He was also the web-swinging vigilante Spider-Man, who threw quips and was a strong fighter. He was also the demigod son of Athena, having survived two wars, literal hell and more, and the stratergist fo TWO different demigod camps.
So yeah, Peter somewhat expected his different lives and lies to come crashing down soon enough. He just didn't expect it to be so soon.