The next morning, Steve was in the kitchen with Sam and Bucky as they were getting ready for their daily run.
"Mr. Rogers… Mr. Grace is wondering if anyone is up so he can leave his room. Should I release him into your care?" the robotic british voice asked.
"I am surprised that he's up this early. Is Percy up too?" Steve asked.
"Affirmative, he is taking a shower," Jarvis replied.
"Well if Jason wants to run with us, then he is welcome to come into the kitchen," Sam said. There was a brief moment of silence, then JARVIS stated that Jason was on his way.
"I guess we are running inside today?" Bucky asked, slightly disappointed in the change of plans.
"I think we can still go outside to run in the outdoor track field," Steve suggested. At that moment, Jason appeared in the kitchen, still wearing the gray clothes and the white shoes he was given. The silver choker was still around his neck (since he couldn't take it off anyway).
"I heard you guys are going for a run?" Jason said, giving a small smile that Steve and Sam returned.
They walked outside, a little tense, waiting to see if Jason would try to run or fight them. Jason noticed this and held up his hands in surrender.
"I did promise not to try anything," he said calmly. He didn't promise on the Styx, but he wasn't going to leave Percy who was still locked in the room, and he didn't want to go back on his word with no real reason. He still didn't trust these people, but he could understand their wariness towards him and Percy. His words did seem to make them relax as they continued to walk until they got to a large fenced-in-track field.
"You don't have any type of super speed do you?" Sam asked. Jason shook his head. He was faster than a normal human, since he had better reflexes, but he did not have superhuman speed like some of the Hermes kids.
Sam smiled at this. "Finally! so you can stay back with me while the two super soldiers lap us several times." When he said the last part, he gave Steve and Bucky a slight glare. Steve just chuckled.
"Bucky and I are going to do about five or six laps," Steve stated as they all stretched a little to loosen up their legs.
"And we are going to do about three," Sam stated. Jason tilted his head in an are-you-sure-about-that expression. He wasn't super-fast but he did have superhuman agility, stamina, and durability like most demigods. He could easily do five laps as well, but he didn't voice this of course; he just nodded as they all started their run. He was a little surprised at how fast Bucky and Steve were going and how they didn't seem to burn out at the constant speed. He stayed a little in front of Sam as they ran, and true to Sam's word, the other two soldiers lapped them a couple of times. When the run was over, Jason wasn't breathing hard, which the three adults noticed.
"Did you have a good run, Jason?" Steve asked, tossing him a water bottle that the teen easily caught. Jason shrugged, taking a sip of the water.
"I've noticed you don't talk as much as Percy," Sam remarked, sitting on the bench by the track.
"Sorry?" he questioned, not sure if it was an insult or a simple observance.
"No, there is nothing wrong with that, I mean, just look at Bucky," Sam quickly said. Bucky shot him a glare, as if to say 'What's that supposed to mean?'
"I understand that you probably don't trust us yet, but we have no intention of hurting you or Percy" Steve said, noticing now Jason always seemed to be on guard.
"I understand SHIELD's and the Avenger's reasons for detaining us, but you are right in your assumption that I don't trust any of you, and despite what you believe, Percy and I are the good guys," Jason declared, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. The three adults shared a look, feeling the tension rising. They believed Percy and Jason weren't bad people, or at least that was the feeling they were getting from the teens. However, the organization that Percy and Jason belonged to was another story.
"Let's head inside and get some breakfast," Steve suggested after several seconds. The four of them nodded and walked back to the compound in uncomfortable silence.
Inside, they saw Clint was sitting at the bar surrounding the kitchen and, much to their surprise, Percy was in the kitchen and cooking.
"Clint, you're letting the kid cook?" Bucky asked. Percy frowned at Bucky's accusing tone.
"I found out that he liked to cook yesterday during the tour, and since he was up, I wanted to see how good the kid was." He explained flipping through a magazine without a glance at the people that just walked into the room.
"It was your turn to cook wasn't it?" Bucky asked, knowing Clint tried to get out of cooking any way he could. Before he could get a response, Jason chuckled. All four adults turned, confused at Jason's outburst.
"What's so funny?" Sam asked at Jason's still smiling face. He looked at Percy, who was smiling back. The tension in the teen's shoulders from earlier was gone.
"You'll see." He said, chuckling again. The adults turned to Percy to see if they could get an explanation out of him but he was just smiling and was focusing on the food.
"What, they're not going to be poisoned or anything are they?" Clint asked, now a little worried, wondering if it was a mistake to let the prisoner cook.
"No, they're not, but they might be the best waffles you've ever had," Percy stated which caused Jason to laugh again.
"Okay you two are kind of freaking me out," Sam stated, wondering why they were laughing like that about some waffles.
"Join the club," Clint muttered, watching Percy closely. That exact moment was when Bruce came in to get his morning tea. Seeing the group with expressions of worry, confusion, and, in Percy and Jason's case, shared smiles, he shook his head, deciding he didn't want to know before walking back out of the kitchen.
Later
All of the Avengers were sitting around the table.
"So, Percy is the one that made breakfast?" Tony asked for the third time. He was still struggling to wake up, since he usually didn't wake up until much later in the day, seeing as he spent most of the night working. Having all Avengers up this early in the morning was some kind of miracle even though it was now almost 10 AM.
"Yep, he made waffles," Sam said. Just then, Percy came from the kitchen with a huge plate of…blue(?) waffles. Jason and Percy started laughing at the confused looks on everyone's faces.
"Why are they blue?" Scott finally asked as the two teens calmed down and everyone (mostly) got over their surprise that the waffles were blue.
"Oh, good, you see it too. I was worried it was just me." Tony breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't going crazy-well at least not yet.