I'm BACK my friends!

Howdy y'all! JAF here with the second chapter of Long Awaited!

I know, its been awhile *ignores calendar that shows months have passed* but I warned you! But I have some good reasons for takin' this long. In order:

I'm terrified of my own story. This was supposed to be a short fluffy silly story that now has a huge backstory that I've half convinced myself to just turn into an actual book (because it doesn't really have any references to The Olympians in any way, ie, original characters, story, ectra.). I at one point was goin' to write it all out here, but thought better of it. It'd be fun, havin' a book out in the world and a handful of people readin' it and thinkin' "Only I know how it ends! Muhahaha!" I find the thought hilarious.

Back in November, my Grandpa died, then in December I went to stay with my Mom, who I hadn't seen since I moved into my Aunt's before the funeral (where I saw her, of course). I stayed with her for the Christmas/New Years/Birthday time of year. I came back, and we (me and my Aunt) decided to work on my Anxiety. I'm now goin' to counseling, have been for since March-ish.

So, yeah. Even though I've had free time to write – I hadn't felt like writing. I have a calendar to help remind me to do things ie, chores, counseling, writing, that sort of thing. So I'm really sorry about not updatin'... And givin' y'all this.

I'm not overly happy with this. I blame pushin' myself to finish and stressin' myself out and wantin' to give y'all something. So here it is! Hopefully the next chapter will be better, and come sooner.

Until then, here's the next chapter!

But first, a round of applause to everyone who reviewed! *applause*

Guest: I'm so glad you like it! Here's the next update!

DearlyFictitious: First off, can I just say I love your reviews!? I'm so glad I read them from A Strange Longing to this one. They make me smile and laugh every time I read them and really helped me get motivated for this chapter! I hope you continue to keep tabs on it!

Izaleana: Thanks! I hope to keep up the mystery (though not for too long)! And I hope you keep enjoying reading!

Now for the summary!

Summary: After a mildly eventful first day, both Peter and Percy retire for bed. They each brushed the encounter aside, writing it off as a trick of the mind, though Peter did come to a startling realization (that shouldn't really be one). Turns out, Percy Jackson was the boy from his blackouts and the boy he saved during the Second Titan War. What could this mean? Will the boys ever truly meet? Or will they forever revolve around each other, but never come together?

That was longer then I thought it would be, but oh well! Will our boys ever meet each other? Or will they always be just one step behind? Also, why's Percy bleeding out!?

Read on and find out!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or Spider-Man. All rights go to their respective creators. I merely own my own thoughts, ideas, and imagination. Thank you for understanding.

Chapter Two: Greetings and Meetings

It could be worse, Peter thought to himself as he pressed down on the son of Poseidon's wound. Percy hissed quietly at the pressure, trying not to give their position away as he winced in pain. His back was propped up against the wall of the small crevice-like cave they were hiding out in, a crack just barely big enough for a grown man to shimmy through their only way out.

Peter grimaced in sympathy as Percy winced again, the Sea Prince's wound was bad, to say the least. Blood flowed at a slow, but steady pace from the three-inch-long gash, the wound curling around his torso, just beneath his bottom left rib bone.

Peter felt a stab of guilt at the sight as he recalled why the demigod had gotten hurt in the first place. If only Peter had been faster, then Percy wouldn't have had to save him.

"Hey," Peter snapped out of his self-pity when he heard the taller boy's voice. Percy was staring at him, dark brows furrowed in concern. "I didn't get to ask earlier, but at you okay?" he asked, nodding down to the cuts and bruising along Peter's arms.

"I'm fine," Peter said, ignoring the way his lungs and ribs ached when he breathed. "It's you I'm worried about. You're the one with a three-inch gash in his side after all."

"Point taken," Percy conceded, sucking in a breath as Peter put more pressure on his wound. He glanced out the opening to the cave, making sure they were still safe. "Sorry about this." he gestured weakly to his torn side.

Peter frowned slightly in confusion. Was Percy apologizing for getting hurt? It wasn't his fault, Percy had only been trying to protect Peter from the attack. "This isn't your fault," Peter told him. Its mine, he continued in his head silently.

"It's not yours either, then," Percy grunted, shifting to a slightly more comfortable position and making Peter wonder if he'd spoken out loud. Percy smiled slightly when he noticed the surprised look on the brunette's face. "Sorry, you just got that look on your face, you know? Like you're blaming yourself for me getting hurt."

"Isn't it?" Peter asked harshly, his tone surprising them both. He bit his lip and calmed himself down before continuing, keeping his eyes focused on Percy's injury as he spoke. "If I had paid a little more attention to what was going on, then you wouldn't have had to save me, and we wouldn't be stuck in this cave while you slowly bleed out while we wait for someone to find us before –"

"Whoa, there," Percy interrupted, reaching up to grip the other boy's wrist, mindful of his injuries. "You say that like any of us had any idea what was about to happen. That attack caught us all by surprise, so don't put that on yourself. Besides," he continued, voice softening slightly. "I don't regret saving you, Peter."

Peter flicked his eyes up to meet Percy's, surprise obvious. It was the first time since they – literally – ran into each other that one of them said the others name.

Warmth curled in Peter's gut, and he forced his eyes back down to Percy's wound. That was easier to look at, he decided, carefully wiping away some of the blood. Less confusing emotions. Less... intense.

He didn't say anything after Percy's admission, but he did allow a slight smile to touch his lips.

It could be worse, Peter thought again.

Two Days Earlier...

Peter wasn't sure how to feel the following day.

Despite telling himself that he would not look for Percy Jackson, he hadn't been able to keep himself from looking for him at dinner – and feeling disappointed when he couldn't find him. Now, he was standing next to MJ as she tried, and failed, to hit the bulls-eye of a target fifty yards away.

MJ swore in Ancient Greek as she –once again– missed the shot, glaring when she noticed Peter snickering next to her.

"It's not funny, Parker!" she snapped, though the smile tugging at her lips told him she wasn't actually mad. "How is it that you can snipe a hellhound from the top of a statue, but I can't manage to hit the bulls-eye of a stationary target?" she complained.

Peter quirked an eyebrow at her. "First, did you just use the words snipe and stationary? You've been spending way too much time with me and Gwen, you're starting to pick up our 'nerd lingo,'" Peter made air quotes as he spoke, and gasped dramatically when MJ smacked his arm playfully at his teasing. "Second, you don't even like using the bow. I taught myself how to use it because you prefer a sword and someone had to watch your back whenever you ran off to fight who-knows-what on your own!"

MJ paused for a moment after he spoke, taking in his logic and trying to find the holes in it. When she realized he was right, she continued as though the conversation never happened.

"Anyway, what's got you in such a mood today?" she asked, handing him the bow and arrows for his turn.

"What? I'm not in a mood," Peter denied, accepting the weapons and getting into the correct stance. MJ rolled her eyes at him, clearly not believing him.

"Yeah, and I'm the three Fates. Come on Pete, you know I can always tell when something's wrong," she paused as he fired an arrow, hitting the center easily. A thought came to her and she looked over at him worriedly. "Does it have anything to do with your blackouts?"

Not expecting her to figure it out so soon, Peter startled as he was about to shoot. The arrow went flying, missing the target by a comically large amount, and landing in a gaggle of preteen Campers, sending them scattering.

"Sorry!" Peter shouted, wincing apologetically when they glared over at them. The Campers moved on, grumbling to themselves. The two friends watched them go for a moment before MJ spoke up.

"So it is about the blackouts," she stated. Peter grimaced, lowering the bow and scowling at the ground. "Are they coming back?"

"No," Peter shook his head negative. "I – you remember what I said whenever I woke up?" he asked, making a split-second decision. MJ wasn't going to be happy about his lies, but she was giving him that look that said she wasn't going to believe any of his normal bull so it would be better for everyone if he came clean.

"You always said you couldn't remember anything," she said nodding slowly. A look of realization dawned in her green eyes. "You lied! You do remember them!" she accused. Peter looked away from her guiltily and nodded in agreement. "You lied to us! To me and Aunt May, and Gwen! Why?"

"I wasn't! Not at first at least," Peter glanced around, noticing that they were still on the archery field. Probably not the best place to talk about this, he thought. Peter motioned for her to follow him off the field, she made a face, clearly not happy with him, but followed anyway. They didn't speak as they made they're way towards the woods. Once just inside the treeline, they stopped and Peter turned to her.

"I wasn't lying, not at first," Peter repeated, running a hand through his hair and gripping the bow tightly with the other. "I didn't remember anything. But I had... feelings, I guess. I felt this weird, I don't know how to describe it other than an odd longing in my chest. There were other emotions too; worry, fear, sadness, impressed. But mostly that odd longing. I didn't know what it meant, and I still don't, but now... Sometime in June, I can't remember when exactly, I suddenly started to remember. I started having dreams about what happened during the blackouts. I was with a boy, I talked to him, helped him with some things I guess.

"In my last one, there was this feeling of giving up. Not like, dying giving up, but giving up someone giving up. Does that make sense?" he asked, watching as she took in his word vomit and calming herself that he wasn't suicidal. Her brow furrowed in thought, trying to piece together everything he just said and make some sort of sense of it.

"So basically... your blackouts were your soul going and helping someone? And then you dreamed about them afterward?" MJ asked tentatively. Peter frowned, he hadn't thought of it like that, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility when you knew gods and monsters existed.

"Maybe," he agreed.

"But what does this have to do with why you're acting so weird today?" she asked, taking in the fact her best friend pretty much had his soul stolen for a few hours before returning to his body in stride. Has Peter mentioned that he loves his almost-sister? He should have if he hasn't because he does.

"Well," Peter hesitated. It was kind of embarrassing, not that he was going to put it in words. "I realized, yesterday, who the boy I saw in my blackouts was. It was the same one I save on the bridge during the Titan War last year..." MJ's eyes lit up, surprising Peter.

"That's great! Then we'll find him and ask him if he knows anything about the blackouts! Who is it?" she asked, hoping to get some answers to why Peter had been blacking out randomly for years. And maybe size up this 'dream boy.' Peter was her pseudo-brother after all. Couldn't have him chasing after some dream boy without her first making sure he was suitable for him. Peter hadn't said anything, but she noticed pretty quick that he was crushing on the mystery boy.

"That's the thing, MJ," Peter hesitated then glanced out at the Camp and influx of Campers going about their business. "I think it's Percy Jackson."

He glanced back over at her just in time to see her expression turn from hopeful, to horrified.

Percy got the feeling that he was being talked about behind his back again. Not that that was hard to figure out, of course, everyone and their cousin seemed to be talking about him and Annabeth.

Don't they have anything better to do than talk about Annabeth's and I's break-up? Percy thought, heading away from the stables and vaguely wondering if his silent complaint was grammatically correct. He shook his head as he passed some Romans attempting to play a game of volleyball with some Apollo campers.

Percy hadn't seen any other signs that the mystery boy existed since the day before. Not at breakfast, though it would have been easy enough to miss one brunette in a sea of people with the same hair color. Nor had he seen him all day, though Percy had been keeping an eye out, just in case he hadn't been imagining things the day before. Now it was getting close to dinner, and Percy was half-convinced he was delusional when Gwen Stacy – one of Annabeth's sisters– jogged up to him.

"There you are!" Gwen gasped, bending over slightly as she tried to catch her breath. "I've been looking for you for the last hour! Where have you been?"

"Uhh, I've been with the pegasi – " Percy started.

"Never mind, doesn't really matter," Gwen interrupted, waving a hand dismissively.

Then why did you ask? Percy but back the words, knowing he'd regret it if he said them out loud.

"Anyway, you need to come with me. MJ's been looking for you, and she's not someone you want to get on the wrong side of," Gwen informed him, already turning around to lead him who-knows-where. Percy stalled for a few seconds, trying to remember who MJ was, but followed the blonde girl anyway. She looked oddly familiar, now that Percy thought about it...

Wait a second... it was her! Percy stopped in his tracks, eyes widening slightly in realization. Gwen looked familiar because she was – and not just because she was Annabeth's sister – but because she was the blonde girl from yesterday! The one with Peter! Which lead Percy to the logical conclusion that 'MJ' was probably the redheaded girl that had been with them. Which in turn meant –

"You know Peter?"

The words slipped out before Percy could stop them, startling both parties. Gwen froze where she was a few paces ahead of Percy, then slowly looked back at him, eyes wide. Her green eyes met Percy's, wide and searching for... something. He didn't know what, but the hairs on the back of his neck started to rise as her eyes narrowed.

"How do you know Peter?" she demanded, her kind voice now hard and wary. Not that Percy could blame her, he'd be wary too if someone knew the name of his friend and had never met them before.

"I..." oh boy, how could he respond to that?

Well, you see Gwen, can I call you Gwen? I've been hearing your friend's voice in my head for years, and saw him in a vision when I walked into the Styx, remember when I did that? Oh, and his name, which I never knew before, was the only thing I remembered for months when I had lost my memory last year. Oh yeah, and I've been feeling this strange longing in my chest whenever I think about him, even though we've never met before. Hey, do you think you can introduce us? Yeah, because that would go over well – not!

"Err, I," thankfully, Percy didn't have to answer the girl (who was visibly getting more and more irritated with his lack of answering). Right at that moment, Annabeth herself ran up to them, carting along a book that probably belonged in a museum, but was likely just sitting in the attic or Chiron's bookshelf.

"Percy! There you are! I've been looking all over for you! Where have you been? Never mind, I have something you need to see – oh, hey Gwen," Annabeth broke off, noticing her half-sister. "Umm, how's you and – uh – Mary Jane?" Annabeth's demeanor shifted as she said Mary Jane's name, unsettled and agitated.

Mary Jane... MJ? The pieces clicked together in Percy's head and he mentally slapped himself. Of course, how could he forget! Mary Jane Watson, Annabeth's own personal rival or whatever she was. Honestly, Percy had no clue why those two seemed to hate each other, but something about the other just rubbed them the wrong way.

"She's good," Gwen replied, a bit stiffly. "We broke up a few months ago. Actually," she continued, not giving Annabeth any time to respond to that little bombshell, "she wanted to speak with Percy, so if you don't mind...?"

Annabeth, who had looked a bit sympathetic when Gwen mentioned her and MJ's break-up, immediately became on guard. "Why? What does she want with Percy?" Annabeth demanded, scowling slightly.

"That's between her and Percy," Gwen huffed.

Said Percy was looking between the two blonde girls, as though watching a tennis match. He was also feeling a bit unsettled by the conversation, as he was clearly a key component of it, but not at all part of it. It was weird, and a bit unnerving, to stand by as your best friend/ex-girlfriend got into an argument with her half-sister about you and said half-sister's own ex. So Percy did the smart thing:

He stayed well out of the conversation.

Baa-Doo! Chapter DONE! Finally!

I'm so, so sorry for this. I kind of hate it, but like how I ended it. Sort of? It's shorter then it was originally goin' to be, but I didn't really know how to continue from this, so here we are. Things should be pickin' up next chapter, but no promises.

Anyway! Did you like it? Hate it as I low-key do? Let me know! Maybe you just want to scream "Bongos"? Go right on ahead and leave a review!

Now, to the questions!

Peter has finally told MJ about his blackouts, or rather, that he remembers his blackouts, and just who the blackouts are about. But why is MJ horrified by the news that it's none other than Percy Jackson himself? Why did she send Gwen to look for Percy, and why does she want to see him? Why do Annabeth and Mary Jane hate each other? What is in the book Annabeth's holding, and why was she looking for Percy? Will Percy and Peter ever meet? Will we find out why Percy is bleeding out in a cave with Peter? Will Percy meet with MJ, or go with Annabeth? Will we ever learn what those rhyming words mean?

Find out next time in... Chapter Three: How to NOT Capture a Flag.

So until next time my fine, furry friends! ~JAF logging out!