A routine day at Midtown Science High School passed without much incident. As the weird transfer student, Skyl slipped into Peter's classroom, and by the end of first period he'd already gotten a taste of authentic bullying.
A few boys swaggered over and started messing with him.
"Hey, new guy, you've got that whole genius vibe going on. You definitely did the homework, right? Let us copy it."
"Yeah, come on, don't be selfish. Nerds are supposed to help people."
Peter hurried over to bail Skyl out. Ever since getting his spider powers, he'd gone through a complete transformation and shown off more than once, so he was something of a campus name now. The boys muttered a few things under their breath when they saw him, then backed off.
Skyl honestly didn't mind trading barbs with high schoolers. He'd taught all kinds of students before. When it came to pranks and bullying, Hogwarts had plenty of that too—and theirs was more entertaining.
When young wizards bullied each other, they used jinxes, dark magic items, poisonous potions, magical creatures, and that sort of thing. If the heads of house and professors hadn't kept such a close eye on things, someone might really have died.
Of course, this bullying could kill people too. Muggle kids had their own metal wands, and when it came to firing 9mm Killing Curses, they didn't mess around.
The last class of the morning was a long one, split into two halves with an hour for lunch in the middle. The cafeteria turned lively, and most students chose to eat the food they'd brought from home to save money.
While the other kids were chewing through plain bologna sandwiches, Skyl walked into the cafeteria carrying a large lunch carrier, and everyone who saw it looked like their pupils had just exploded.
The same boys who'd tried to mess with him earlier watched as Skyl laid out a full hot lunch—fried chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a thermos of soup. Instantly, the avocado-and-egg sandwiches in their hands tasted like cardboard.
Peter swallowed hard and casually slid into the seat beside Skyl. "Buddy..."
"What? Aunt May's meat patties not doing it for you?" Skyl reached into his backpack and pulled out another lunch tin. When he opened it, it revealed a whole batch of golden hand pies stuffed to bursting with chicken and gravy, still steaming.
"I just feel like a change once in a while."
"Then trade me the meat patties."
At least when it came to food, Skyl clearly had no intention of treating himself badly. The boys nearby could only watch them dig in, swallowing their own lunches with the help of the aroma alone.
They were already starting to regret not making friends with Skyl.
After school that day, Peter happened to run into Gwen in the hallway.
"Gwen, you look good."
"Oh, it's you, Peter. I remember you."
"Yeah. I know. We literally talked the day before yesterday..." Peter trailed off.
Standing in front of Gwen, this gangly boy lost his nerve every single time as if it were their first meeting all over again. He couldn't handle the way Gwen looked at him with those gray-green eyes. When she blinked, her fine lashes were like a little forest where elves might live, casting a brief shadow over her lower eyelids.
As a superhuman, Peter experienced the world differently from everyone else. When he concentrated, time seemed to slow to a crawl in his perception. One lingering glance was enough for him to take in every tiny change in Gwen's expression. Because of that, Peter understood this girl's thoughts well enough to read her like a book.
His sense of smell couldn't rival a dog's, but it was still far sharper than a normal person's. So he could pick up all kinds of subtle scents on her—the clean smell of laundry soap on her clothes, the faint trace of lavender in her hair, the lingering rose scent of body wash on her skin, along with all the more delicate natural fragrances that came from a living human body.
Sometimes senses that sharp exposed him to things that were less pleasant too—coarse white skin pores, tiny mites crawling across faces, body odor that couldn't quite be hidden, the odd sourness of fermenting food on someone's breath, the sounds of organs shifting inside the body, and so on. But all those details, good and bad, came together in front of him to form a vivid, complete person. Peter accepted all her imperfections completely and saw them as lovable traits.
Conversations between Gwen and Peter always made people smile. They were like two little animals testing each other, both afraid the other might run away. A campus romance was like a smokeless candle flame—small but burning hot, clean and bright.
Skyl appeared soundlessly and took up the role of silent third wheel. The two of them were so completely absorbed in each other that they didn't notice the wizard at all.
Sometimes Skyl used Legilimency to quietly peek into other people's minds. That was one of those little secrets Legilimens kept to themselves. Young Dumbledore had the same habit. In any case, mind readers almost never admitted they were snooping through other people's privacy.
The things these two were saying in their heads were much more interesting than their awkward out-loud conversation.
Seeing the way their eyes were practically sticking to each other, Skyl finally interrupted.
"Peter, stop being mushy. If you want to confess, just say it."
Gwen was obviously startled, and Peter reacted exactly the same way.
"Dude! How long have you been standing there?"
"A full two minutes," Skyl said teasingly. "I kept waiting to see which one of you would ask first, but the sun's practically setting."
Gwen calmed herself and greeted him. "You're Skyl, the transfer student who brought all that amazing food to the cafeteria at lunch."
"That's right." Skyl inclined his head. "Gwen Stacy, model student and top of the class. Now that I've met you in person, I'm not surprised at all that Peter can't forget you. He'd cross time itself to save you."
Gwen's expression turned odd. "What do you mean, cross time to save me?"
Peter hurriedly cut in. "Ah! Ah! Nothing, haha, Lin, let's go. Gwen, great seeing you, see you later."
He dragged Skyl out of the academic building and across the lawn, then said awkwardly, "Lin, you're way too direct. You'll scare Gwen."
"I haven't even mentioned that you spent hours outside her bedroom window last night watching her," Skyl said with a grin.
Peter's face turned red instantly, and he hurried to defend himself, insisting that what Spider-Man did couldn't be called spying. It was covert protection.
"Speaking of Spider-Man, Peter, remember what I told you about destiny?"
"I do. You said Spider-Man always loses the people close to him." Peter tensed up. "Did something happen to Uncle Ben?"
"No. At this point we can confirm that what happened last night really was an accident. I ran into an old acquaintance at school, and he personally agreed that the core theme of Spider-Man Goes Back to the Future should be saving people." Skyl sounded relaxed. "Come on. Next stop. We're going to save Gwen directly."
The acquaintance Skyl meant was, of course, Stan Lee. The old man had the Creator's special gift of being everywhere. He was working as the librarian at Midtown Science High School, and since Skyl visited the library everywhere he went, the two of them had happened to cross paths.
"Do we really have to rush this much?" Peter asked, reluctant to move on.
"The food truck's energy is decaying constantly. We don't have time to linger. First we destroy the decay-rate formula. That way Dr. Connors won't be able to successfully develop the Lizard serum. No Lizard, and your father-in-law lives."
Neither of them was the type to drag things out. Once they thought of it, they acted. After destroying the formula, they traveled again that same night.
The two of them took the food truck two years into the future.
On that cold night, the vehicle stopped in front of the clock tower, and the moment Peter saw the building, his legs went numb.
Because this tower was the place where Gwen had fallen to her death.
They had returned at exactly the right point in time. Spider-Man had just defeated Electro, and the Green Goblin had appeared and kidnapped Gwen.
"Come on. Let's go save your girlfriend."
Skyl took the lead, and the sight of his back steadied Peter, who had almost fallen into panic.
They stepped into the clock tower.
"Harry! Where are you?" Peter shouted.
The Green Goblin's voice came down from the top of the tower. "Peter, you finally came. I thought you'd run away."
"I'm here! Let Gwen go, she's innocent!"
"You said you loved her, Peter. You took away my hope, and now I'm taking away yours."
The Green Goblin Osborn shoved Gwen from the top of the tower, sending her screaming into a deadly plunge.
"No—don't!" Peter threw up his hand, only to realize he wasn't wearing his web-shooters, which meant he had no way to catch Gwen quickly.
He saw every instant of her fall with absolute clarity, including the single tear that slipped from her gray-green eye.
Peter's heart felt like an ocean frozen solid by that tear, all life gone from it.
At the critical moment, Skyl raised a hand and softly said, "Wingardium Leviosa."
[Levitation Charm]
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