"Nice meeting you too. And thanks for that back there."
After shaking his hand, Amadeus's gaze dropped to the shock device on Peter's wrist.
"If you don't mind... could I take a look at it?"
"Sure, no problem. Here."
As Peter removed the device, he quietly studied his new classmate.
He was starting to suspect the identical name was not a coincidence at all. If this Amadeus Cho really was the Amadeus Cho of the Marvel Universe, the seventh smartest person in the world, then why was he calmly attending high school? Somebody like that should have been working on a doctorate at an Ivy League school by fifteen.
Peter had a vague feeling his high school life was about to get a lot stranger.
"The internal structure is simpler than I expected. Maybe I should make one for self-defense too." Amadeus examined the device carefully, then gave an embarrassed little smile.
So Amadeus was at least smart enough to copy the shock device.
Great. That was one more piece of evidence for Peter's theory.
"Based on my middle school experience, stuff like that just makes them hit harder," Peter said as he took the device back, privately regretting that he still could not work something like it into his web-shooters. At least not with the kind of batteries he could actually get. "The best way is still to work out more and get strong enough that they don't want to mess with you. Like me. I got picked on in middle school too, but once I started training with my uncle and learning how to fight, I got beaten up less and less every year."
"All right, guys." Gwen's voice cut in at exactly the right time. She gestured at the crowd around them. The students who had gathered to watch still had not fully drifted away. "Are you planning to stand here and talk until dark? Because I don't love being stared at like I'm in a zoo."
"Right. Oh, this is Gwen. My childhood friend, neighbor, middle school classmate, and guardian angel. You know, the kind that scares off bullies or drags me to the nurse's office."
"Hi. Nice to meet you all."
Gwen cleanly cut off any chance of them turning the spot into a permanent conversation circle.
"If we keep talking here, we're never leaving, Peter."
"Oh. Right." Peter hurriedly shifted topics, his hands moving before he even realized it. "We were just talking about club recruitment. Want to go take a look together?"
"Sure. We're all freshmen anyway."
The four of them headed toward the courtyard, where club booths were drawing loud, eager crowds. The sports and social clubs were packed, but the three boys ignored all the usual pitches and, with almost suspiciously perfect agreement, drifted away from the mainstream clubs and toward the ones more suited to nerds.
"They really do have a tabletop club." Peter stared at the nearly empty booth, which stood in sharp contrast to the rest of the campus. "And... wow, nobody's here. I thought people liked Dungeons & Dragons."
"It's fun at parties," Harry said, shaking his head as he moved on, clearly not interested in committing to long-term roleplaying. "But as a fixed club activity..."
Peter glanced at him thoughtfully.
He had been so distracted by Amadeus's name earlier that he had only now started asking the obvious question. Why was the person appearing around Peter Parker named Harry Lehman instead of Harry Osborn? Thinking back to Norman's face, and now that the idea had occurred to him, there really was a resemblance.
Could Harry actually be the Osborn heir hiding under another name?
Amazing.
A world-ranked genius pretending to be an ordinary student. An Osborn heir hiding his identity.
None of it was confirmed, but Peter had already accepted both possibilities as fact. After all, he himself was Spider-Man. Even setting aside his own circumstances, whatever the truth was, the two of them were already making his life a lot more complicated.
"I suddenly had a feeling these next four years were going to be anything but normal." he muttered.
"What?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. She knew Peter well enough to know he was not talking about normal high school excitement. "Because the school doesn't have a LEGO club? Or because without enough fellow nerds, you're doomed to spend another four years on the edge of society?"
"I don't think I was exactly isolated in middle school..."
"Wait, Peter, you like LEGO?" Harry's eyes lit up, cutting him off. "Seriously?"
"Uh, yeah? Is that weird..."
"I've been trying to find someone to build the Millennium Falcon with me! I bought it forever ago, but nobody would build it with me. That thing is huge. There's no way I'm doing it alone!"
"Hold on," Amadeus cut in. "You mean the newest one?"
"No, the Ultimate Collector Series one. UCS 10179!"
"Oh my God! You actually have that one?!"
Amadeus blurted it out, and even Peter was startled. A five-hundred-dollar LEGO set was completely outside his range. There was no chance he could ever ask Uncle Ben for something like that.
It was honestly a little ridiculous.
The cost of Harry's one LEGO set was higher than Peter's two spare Spider-Man suits plus all the gear that went with them.
"Wow..." Gwen looked at the two of them, who had instantly locked onto the subject with alarming intensity, then turned to Peter. "Okay, I should probably get out of here. The rock band is way more my scene. I won't interrupt your LEGO summit. I don't understand a word of this anyway."
"All right, see you later, Gwen. Oh... actually, no, I've got something to do after school today, so I might not be able to head back with you? Probably tomorrow."
"Might?" Gwen gave him a half-smile. "Why are you saying that like a question?"
"Anyway, that's the deal. Call if you need anything." Peter hurried to patch the sentence up. "Uh, make lots of good new friends. You know. New school and all that."
"Relax, genius. I'll definitely be more popular than you."
After watching Gwen wave and head off, Peter turned back around and walked straight into the smug expressions on Harry and Amadeus's faces.
"What is that look supposed to mean..."
"So you're sure she's just your neighbor?" Harry asked, eyebrows dancing.
"Of course she is! Also... a really good friend!"
Peter cut himself off fast, but Harry ignored him and looked at Amadeus.
"What do you think?"
"He's way too intimidated by her."
"I'm not intimidated."
"So the girl named Gwen is just incredibly controlling?"
"Okay, fine, maybe I am a little intimidated."
Peter decisively abandoned that topic.
"Weren't you two just talking about LEGO? So where were we?"
"Right, yes, that." Harry picked it right back up. "My house is a little... inconvenient, and Amadeus is with a host family. So we don't really have anywhere to build it. Can we do it at your place, Peter? Your family won't mind, right?"
"No problem. Just set a time." Peter answered without hesitation. "Honestly, Aunt May will probably be thrilled that I can bring friends home to hang out."
The three of them kept talking as they passed booth after booth.
Without a word, all three of them lingered in front of the anime club for a short while, then walked away together, and none of them dared sign up in broad daylight.
Harry got sidetracked by the tennis club, while Peter and Amadeus ended up talking with upperclassmen from the astronomy and geology clubs. In the end, though, both Peter and Amadeus ended up turning those clubs down for money reasons.
"Astronomy needs expensive equipment, and geology barely counts as science," Peter said with a final sigh.
"Completely agree. Geology is basically rock gossip." Amadeus said at once.
Harry, who had just been politely rejected by the tennis club, looked at the two of them in disbelief before asking cautiously, "I mean, I'm interested in science and all, but is geology really that bad?"
"Yes!"
The two young geniuses answered in perfect unison.
Then Peter suddenly noticed something.
"Wait. Is that girl... cosplaying Sherlock Holmes?"
At a booth a little farther away, one with almost no foot traffic, a pretty girl with Latina features was wearing a classic dark Ulster coat and a standard deerstalker hat, the exact same kind Gwen had given Peter. She was waving the club flyer in her hand and calling out:
"Detective Club recruitment! Interested? Anyone who can answer the entrance question can join! Interested, you three?"
"What does a detective club usually do?" Peter asked, mildly interested. "Take on little school jobs and investigate stuff?"
But his question only seemed to deflate the older girl a little.
"No. Hardly anyone at school actually asks the Detective Club to do real deduction work. Mostly we just pick a time to hold reading discussions, design mystery puzzles, that kind of thing..."
"I'm joining."
Amadeus answered instantly, and the other two stared at him.
He explained himself at once.
"Why not? We barely have to do anything. Read a few books, answer a few questions, and we get the credits."
"Sorry, but I don't want to disappoint you," the older student said, now clearly offended by that explanation. "You still have to pass the entrance test. For example: a wealthy man who loved code games dies unexpectedly. His will is locked in a five-digit safe, but nobody knows the code. The only clue left on top of the safe is a calendar with March 15 circled..."
"31415."
Peter and Amadeus answered at the same time.
"March fifteenth... oh, Pi Day!"
Harry only needed a second before it clicked.
"You two really do think fast."
"All right." The older girl sighed. "I think the three of you can probably get into the Detective Club. Here's the registration sheet. Fill it out, and when you get to the club room, just say Jessica sent you. I'm the club president."
The three boys silently nodded, then waited until they had walked a little farther away before discussing it.
"The club president is personally recruiting people?" Harry muttered. "Does that sound like a healthy club to you?"
Peter did know of a detective named Jessica Jones, but unfortunately she really should not have been a high school student at this point.
The three of them kept walking until Peter suddenly stopped in front of a giant display screen. It showed part-time job listings around Midtown High, and one in particular caught his eye: a web maintenance position for the Daily Bugle.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Nothing." Peter looked away. "I just saw something interesting."
(End of Chapter)
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