Midtown High's hallways had turned into a full-blown superhero runway today.
The moment Peter walked through the front doors dressed as the Tenth Doctor, he was nearly blinded by the sea of colorful tights everywhere. A backpack shaped like Captain America's shield bumped into his shoulder, and some student dressed as the Joker was busy drawing smiley faces on the glass with a marker. Meanwhile, the giant screens around Midtown High were still looping the student council notice:
"By vote, all activities for this year's Homecoming Week will follow a superhero theme."
Peter found it a little strange, but not strange enough to care. At some schools, student councils could wield an absurd amount of power. At some schools, student body presidents could even organize votes to change the school structure itself, like turning math from a required class into an elective.
Maybe that was just part of the school culture.
Not caring too much, Peter stashed his bag, glanced around curiously, and felt something slightly off. His spider-sense gave him a faint sting, but when he looked around, he didn't spot anything unusual. Then he turned his head and saw the Dalek shell Harry had brought chained to his locker door. Peter grinned to himself, grabbed his books, and walked off.
Only then did Carl, hiding in the back and dressed as Hulk, dare to creep over. He tentatively touched Peter's locker, found that he still couldn't open it, and walked away in disappointment, never noticing that Peter had quietly circled back and watched him from a distance.
"So Carl's keeping an eye on me. Is he planning to slip something weird into my locker and scare the hell out of me?"
After confirming that the one watching him wasn't really dangerous, Peter muttered to himself and headed into class. Whenever someone was actively monitoring him, his spider-sense would give off a faint reaction too, but judging by the intensity, Carl wasn't much of a threat.
Still, having Carl keep staring at him every day wasn't exactly ideal. Sooner or later, Peter was going to have to teach him a lesson and get him to stop bullying people.
Thinking that, Peter walked into the classroom and greeted Harry.
"I saw your Dalek shell. You really just chained it to your locker?"
"What else was I supposed to do?"
Harry shrugged. He was sitting on a base made from a modified motorized wheelchair.
"I kind of regret dressing up as a Dalek. It's impossible to move around properly, and I can't carry anything. I should've gone as a Cyberman instead. Look around. Everyone else is wearing superhero costumes, and I'm stuck sitting inside this thing."
"No, no, no, Daleks are awesome. It's basically an armored pepper shaker with an eggbeater laser and a toilet plunger..."
"Man." Harry rolled his eyes. "The more you describe it, the more I regret it. What about you? What did you bring, Doctor Peter?"
"I didn't bring anything."
Peter said it half-jokingly.
"I'm just wearing something close enough to the Tenth Doctor's suit. We didn't have an exact match at home, so I made do."
"Oh, the David Tennant one. Nice."
The two of them awkwardly chatted for a while, but Amadeus still hadn't shown up. Seeing that class was about to start, Peter pulled out his phone and called him. Luckily, nothing terrible had happened. Amadeus just answered in a congested voice and muttered, "Hello?"
"Hey, Amadeus. You okay? You didn't come to school today."
"Oh, Peter. I called in sick. I've got a bit of a fever."
Amadeus sounded stuffed up enough that he clearly really was sick. Peter hung up with a trace of concern, and Harry immediately asked,
"He doing okay?"
"Just a fever... he should be fine, I guess." Peter turned to Harry. "Do you know where he lives? Maybe we could go check on him after school."
"I don't. I just know he's staying with a host family somewhere local. He's never actually told me where."
"I don't know where you live either, actually. Come to think of it... you guys are the only ones who know where I live."
Peter said it in an exaggeratedly wounded tone and looked at Harry. Harry instantly started stammering. After fumbling for a while, he finally sighed.
"My relationship with my dad isn't great. He's always been harsh about my friends. So... sorry."
"No need to apologize."
Peter gave his friend a little comfort, feeling even more convinced that Harry really was Harry Osborn, then watched him pull up yet another Spider-Man video.
"I've been meaning to ask. Why are you always watching Spider-Man stuff whenever you get a free minute?"
"It's nothing. Homework, sort of. You could say that."
As time went on, the classroom scene only got more ridiculous. A girl dressed as Black Widow was going around collecting homework. Their math teacher, the middle-aged guy who always wore plaid shirts, walked in wearing a rubber stretched-out face and announced:
"Good morning, class. I'm Mister Fantastic, and today I'll be teaching precalculus."
"Devastating, sir."
Harry said it in the flattest tone imaginable, and then another dull, ordinary, or maybe just peaceful, day began.
With the Avengers out of New York, the whole city seemed to have quieted down. During the break between classes, Peter checked his phone while walking. Even today, there wasn't a single urgent case that Spider-Man had to handle. He was just starting to feel a lot better when he saw Carl and another student who looked equally unfriendly standing with his locker open. Carl looked tense as hell. The moment he saw Peter, he immediately slapped his friend on the back and the two of them hurried off.
"Hey! Carl!"
Peter, having no idea what that was about, hurried to his locker, opened his bag, and checked whether anything was missing.
Nothing.
Carl hadn't taken a thing.
That made Peter frown. Had Carl been planning to leave something in there to mess with him? Or had he been looking for something specific?
"What exactly did he think he was going to find...?"
"Find what, smart guy? Or what should I call you now? Mister Suit-and-Tie?"
The locker door was tapped from the other side. Peter already knew who it was from the voice alone. He stepped back and found Gwen leaning against the locker. Unsurprisingly, Gwen hadn't dressed up as any superhero or villain at all. She looked exactly like herself. Peter stepped back another pace and straightened the lapels of his dark blue suit.
"Hello. I'm the Doctor."
"...Doctor who?"
"Just the Doctor. I knew that's what you were going to say."
Peter laughed while Gwen still clearly didn't get the joke. After confirming once more that nothing had been stolen, he shut the locker door. The spider-disc was on him, so there was no way Carl could've found that.
Wait...
Was Carl looking for my old suit again?
"Carl got someone to pick my lock. I think he wanted to stuff something weird into my locker. They were dressed as Thor and Hulk, and they still pulled something like that." Peter shifted the topic back. "So why are you dressed as Gwendolyn Stacy?"
"I am Gwendolyn Stacy. More accurately, I still hadn't decided who to dress up as before theme day already started. Even worse, this stupid theme is supposed to last the whole week."
Gwen sighed. Peter personally thought her blonde hair would make her perfect for a Supergirl costume, but she clearly had not had that realization.
After absently running a hand through her beautiful hair, Gwen finally got to the real reason she had come over.
"Speaking of theme day, Homecoming is this weekend. Have you found someone to go to the dance with yet?"
"Let me guess. You and your new friends made some kind of contest over who could find a date first, and you came straight to me the second it started, right?"
"Impressive, smart guy. So?"
Peter could only answer with a self-mocking little smile.
"Nobody cares about Peter Parker. Or the Doctor. So, Gwen, I can safely tell you..."
"You're definitely going to win."
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]