hey!! this story is almost over believe it or not.
but... if you haven't already, go read Permanent!! It directly follows this story
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All day, it was hard for him to focus. Mr. Delmar had to tell him multiple times to get back to work but Mr. Delmar wasn't mad. He said he'd figured Peter would be anxious.
Tomorrow he'd find out if he got into Midtown Tech.
He started walking home after work, his mind occupied with thoughts of his past. Right now, he would've just gotten home and May would be there. She'd probably be trying to cook, although they'd end up ordering food instead.
Then they'd eat dinner, talking and laughing about their days. They'd settle down and watch a movie and they'd be happy.
No matter what happened in his new life, he knew he'd always miss that.
He hoped the kids were okay too. That police followed his tip so many months ago and the kids were safe now. He wondered what they'd all be doing right now, in the orphanage or in new homes.
When he got home, he went to the kitchen only to find it nearly empty. After gaining his powers, he was pretty sure he got enhanced metabolism too, so now he was always hungry.
Sighing, he grabbed an apple and sat down. He wouldn't have enough money for food until he got paid Monday.
Then, he went out on patrol again. He still didn't have an official name yet but was becoming more known locally. Once he had his web-shooters too, he figured he'd become more known too.
He didn't really care if people knew him, it was more about being able to help people. Once more people knew him, he'd start gaining more trust so that he could help more people.
He was fine doing small things for now though. He mostly helped people getting mugged or beat up. Sometimes he'd help people with carrying groceries or catching run-away dogs. It was nice.
The next day went pretty much the same.
There were a few times Peter messed up something at work, but Mr. Delmar let it go. He really was one of the nicer people Peter had met.
Work seemed to go by the slowest it ever had. It seemed like it had been days by the time he could clock out.
Almost the entire walk home, he was checking his phone, waiting for an email from Mr. Morita, telling him if he got in or not. He had a feeling he would, but couldn't help but worry if he didn't.
If he didn't get in, what would he even do? The other schools around here were either pretty crappy or really expensive. The only other option for him would really be to go to a school far from his apartment and that'd be a pain every day.
Then once he got home, he finally got the email. He got the scholarship! He'd finally get to go back to school! Even if it had only been a couple of months, he missed it.
Mr. Morita sent him his schedule and told him to come in half an hour early on Monday.
Peter felt happier now than he had in a while, even more than when he'd gotten this apartment. Of course, he hoped he would get in, but it was never guaranteed.
He made himself check everything before going on Monday. He checked all his fake documents again to make sure they'd be okay, even his fake ID, and started studying for his classes.
It actually turned out to be an all-weekend thing. He went to the library both Saturday and Sunday, borrowed books for the classes on his schedule, and spent the day reading through them.
Even though he was smart enough to get in, he'd missed two and a half months and didn't want to risk being behind in anything.
He also told Mr. Delmar that he'd have to start coming in after school instead, but Mr. Delmar didn't mind. He actually looked happy for Peter. Confused why he hadn't been in school, but happy nonetheless.
All weekend, he thought about school. He'd even managed to convince Mr. Delmar to pay him on Sunday rather than on Monday so that he could buy himself school supplies. He wasn't sure if that was actually legal or not, but that was the least of his worries.
He bought himself a new backpack, a few notebooks, pencils, a water bottle, and a cheap calculator. He also bought some more food and some cheap clothes so that he'd have more than four pairs for school.
Finally, Monday arrived and he went to his first day of school as Ben Smith. When he walked in, there weren't a lot of people there yet, although it made sense being that he was early.
He made his way to the office to find Mr. Morita and another student. When Peter walked in, he seemed to stop their conversation. "And here he is. This is Ben, and Ben, this is Ned. He'll be showing you around."
A teacher stepped out of a room in the office and called Mr. Morita over. Before leaving, Mr. Morita turned to them. "Alright, well I'll let you get going. If you have any problems with your schedule or classes, you can come talk to me after school today."
Mr. Morita walked away, leaving him alone with the student, Ned.
"Alright," Ned started awkwardly, "I guess I'll just show you where your classes and locker are. What's your first class?"
"Oh, uh, here." Peter handed him his schedule.
After a second, Ned spoke again, nodding. "Okay, we have a lot of the same classes, so that's easy. I'll still show you where they are and where your locker is though."
He led them out into the hallway and started toward their first class. While Ned showed him around, he told him about the different teachers he'd have, their classes, how lunch was, and stuff Ned thought he should know.
They actually got along pretty well. Ned was easy to talk to and he was a lot different than Spencer and Adam had been.
Ned even offered for Peter to sit with him. He admitted he only sat with one other person, but Peter gratefully accepted the offer. He wouldn't mind sitting alone, but it would be nice to have somewhere to sit on his first day.
They actually had their first three classes together, so he got to talk to Ned a lot. After the initial awkwardness, he had a feeling they'd end up being good friends.
It was awkward at the beginning of each class though. He had to stand up and introduce himself, and tell the class a few things about himself. It was nerve-wracking, to say the least. He hadn't fully prepared what to say about his past, and obviously, the truth wasn't an option, but he figured it out.
After his third class, he was talking to Ned while on the way to his fourth. Ned had a different class, but it was still in the same direction.
While on their way, Peter turned to look at Ned but accidentally bumped into someone. The guy had dark, combed-over hair, and looked at Peter with disgust.
"Watch it, nerd." He turned around fully and met eyes with Peter, before he continued, "Oh, so you must be the new kid. Look, don't go running into people who are actually important, got it?"
The kid turned back around and laughed at something with his friends. Peter just rolled his eyes; he was used to dumb school bullies.
"Who was that?" Peter asked Ned, breaking the silence that had settled between them.
"Oh, that was Flash. He's kinda the rich snob of the school. Don't worry about him, he's just annoying," Ned answered dismissively.
Peter shrugged and simply replied, "Okay. See you at lunch," as they split ways. Even if Flash didn't bother him, he did remind him of Caleb. When he thought of Caleb, he thought of home, which did bother him.
His next class, chemistry, was pretty boring, but it gave him a chance to briefly see what chemicals they had. He was lucky to see that they had the ones he'd need to make his webs.
After chemistry, in which the teacher talked the entire time, he made his way to the cafeteria.
It was a bit of a struggle trying to remember how to get there, but all he had to do was follow the huge crowd. After waiting in a long line, he bought lunch and found Ned sitting at a table in the back with a girl.
He went up and sat next to Ned, across from the girl. She had thick, curly, brown hair and was tall.
"Hey, Ben. This is MJ. MJ, this is the new kid, Ben."
MJ seemed to be observing Peter, but quickly enough, she dropped the look. "Hey." Although intimidating, she seemed shy.
"Hi," Peter said, somewhat quietly. It was awkward, to say the least, but eventually, Ned broke the awkward silence and it became a bit more comfortable.
Compared to his old school, lunch was pretty short and soon he had to go to his next class. He didn't have either of his last two classes with Ned, but he ended up having both with Flash and one with MJ.
In the first class, with Flash in it, there was assigned seating. Since he came a bit over halfway into the semester, the teacher sat him in the last row. At least he wasn't next to Flash.
All in all, it was a pretty easy class. When he got to his last class, math, MJ let Peter sit with her. Flash happened to sit right behind them and Peter sighed when he saw him.
Flash tried to start throwing comments at him, but MJ spoke up.
"Flash, if you don't shut up I will throw this book at you," she said, not even looking up from the textbook in front of her. Flash sent a glare to Peter, and the back of MJ's head, but ultimately sat back into his seat.
He didn't know what he did to Flash, but whatever it was, it was enough for Flash to set his sights on bullying Peter. Great. The first day of school and he already had a bully.
He didn't let it ruin his day though; he'd dealt with much worse.
After school, he dropped his stuff off in his locker and headed straight to work. Mr. Delmars was actually closer to the school than it was to his apartment.
When he got there, Mr. Delmar immediately asked how it went. Mr. Delmar was nice–he seemed like he actually cared about what went on in Peter's life, and the last time he'd had that was with May.
The rest of the day went by like any other. He didn't go out on patrol, but if he was lucky, he could get chemicals to finish his web-shooters tomorrow! Then, he'd be like a real vigilante.
He still couldn't believe everything he'd done in the past few months. It seemed surreal, like a dream.
Although he knew it wasn't. All his dreams were filled with bad memories of the orphanage, with the occasional one about May or Ben's deaths. This couldn't be a dream, because he only ever had nightmares.
The next day at school, he went to his locker to see Ned waiting for him. He watched Ned's gaze shift down to the bags under his eyes but didn't say anything.
"Hey, Ben," he said while Peter walked up. He was starting to get used to being called Ben and it scared him a bit. It meant he really was moving on from his old life. Of course, that was a good thing, but at the same time, he missed his old life. Parts of it, anyway.
After spacing out for a second, he tuned back into what Ned was saying. Something about Ned's locker being close to Peter's.
For a bit, they talked about different things and found they actually had a lot in common. They liked Star Wars and Legos and honestly, we're both pretty big nerds. They also both loved the Avengers, but more specifically, Tony Stark. Peter liked Bruce Banner too, although Ned wasn't as interested in his work.
He also ran into Flash again, who had no hesitation in making fun of him. His sixth sense had started warning him every time he came up, even though he wasn't necessarily dangerous.
When he got to chemistry, his mind started going into overdrive. He needed a way to take some of the chemicals without anyone finding out. He could get in huge trouble if he was caught, especially since it was only his second day.
Everything started going perfectly, and his plan fell into place. His teacher, Mr. Duncan had fallen asleep once again. Ned said he fell asleep a lot and usually people just left early.
It worked out well for him though. The class, at least the people still there, sat there anxiously waiting for the bell to ring. He'd written a list on his hand of which chemicals he'd need.
When the bell finally rang, all the students left, and he was lucky to see that Mr. Duncan had slept through the bell. He had to be quick though; he could still wake up while Peter was grabbing them.
He was nervous taking them, but probably not as much as he should've been. To be fair, it wasn't his first time breaking the law. Every time he even thought about it though, he winced internally. He didn't like that he'd broken so many laws.
Peter went towards the cabinets at the back of the classroom and opened them up. They squeaked slightly, but he knew he was fine. He was relying on his sixth sense thing to warn him.
He'd found that it warned him for more than just punches or incoming danger. It warned him of things like this too. Once, he'd been walking past a park, and it warned him of something about to hit him in the side of the head. He'd caught what turned out to be a ball and definitely freaked out a family with his weird reflexes.
He looked at the chemicals he'd written down, quickly found and grabbed them, stashing them in his backpack. He thought about storing them in his locker but didn't want to risk getting caught, so he settled for keeping them in his bag.
Then, he made his way to lunch. MJ and he still didn't talk a lot, but Ned had told him this morning that she didn't talk to new people much, so it would be a while.
The rest of the day flew by, and before work, he dropped his backpack off at home. The last thing he wanted to do was take a bunch of chemicals to the deli.
The entire few hours he was working, he was filled with nervous energy. He couldn't wait to get home and start making the web fluid. He was practically bouncing off the walls.
Once his shift ended, he made himself a sandwich like normal and rushed home. He probably looked crazy walking home, unable to keep at least a small smile off his face.
When he got to his apartment building, he practically ran up the stairs to his apartment and immediately started taking the chemicals out to make the web formula.
It took about two hours, but finally, he found the perfect formula. He had to make a few tweaks to his original plan and had to keep testing different proportions, but finally, it seemed to work.
He put his finished web-shooters on and put the new web formula in them. To test it, he started by shooting it at his wall.
With more speed than he'd been expecting, it shot out and stuck to his wall and Peter stared at it with amazement. He grabbed on, and pulled to test the strength and stickiness, only for part of the drywall to rip out of the wall.
He stared with wide eyes but started laughing. It worked! He'd done it!
Quickly getting dressed in his suit, he found a pretty much abandoned alley to keep testing the webs and web-shooters.
He shot it at the wall and jumped, pulling and hanging on it. So far it held up, but now he had to test if it would hold up if he swung on it.
He climbed up to a ledge a few feet off the ground and shot a web at a beam between buildings. If it broke or didn't work, he'd be able to react in time to catch himself so he didn't fall, but if it worked like it was supposed to, he would swing.
He took a deep breath and held it as he jumped. He almost lost his grip on the web but managed to hold on, and to his amazement, he swung! Although he did fall off onto his back once he peaked on the other side. He groaned standing up but still couldn't hold back his excitement.
With some practice, he'd be able to swing from building to building! He'd also have to work on the calibration and work on aiming it overall, but they worked. That's what counted.
It gave him hope. It was looking like he really could be a vigilante or even a superhero someday. He'd been hoping he could be the whole time, but there had always been doubts if he could really pull it off.
But here he was, with his own suit, powers, and now a signature weapon, or in his case, device.
May and Ben would be proud of him. They always believed in doing the right thing and helping people. It's why Ben was a cop and May was a nurse, and now, he was helping people too.
Peter smiled. No matter how hard his new life might get, he knew May would always be proud of him, and that alone would be enough to help him get through it.