Midtown High School's hallways had turned into a superhero runway today. Peter, dressed as the Tenth Doctor, had barely stepped through the school gates before the sea of colorful spandex made him squint. A Captain America shield-shaped backpack bumped into his shoulder, while a student dressed as the Joker was drawing smiley faces on the glass with a marker. Meanwhile, the giant screen hanging in Midtown High School was still looping the student council announcement: "By vote, all events during this year's Homecoming Week will adopt a superhero theme."
Peter found it a little strange, but didn't care too much as he passed by. In the United States, school student councils had enormous power—enough to alter the school's organizational structure. At some schools, the student council president could even call for a vote to change math from a required subject to an elective.
Perhaps this was one aspect of America's happy education.
Not particularly bothered by it, Peter stuffed away his bag and curiously looked around. Instinctively, he felt that something was off. His Spider-Sense gave a faint prickling warning, but after looking around, he found nothing. Instead, when he turned his head, he saw the Dalek shell Harry had brought locked onto his locker. Peter smiled knowingly, took out his books, and left.
Only then did Carl, who had been hiding in the back dressed as the Hulk, dare to come over. He tentatively touched Peter's locker, and after confirming that he really couldn't open it, he left in disappointment. He failed to notice Peter quietly returning in the distance to glance at him.
"So Carl's been watching me. Is he planning to put something weird in my locker and scare me?"
After confirming that the person watching him wasn't dangerous, Peter muttered as he entered the classroom. Whenever someone watched him, his Spider-Sense would give a slight reaction, but judging from its intensity, the other party posed no threat.
Still, having Carl watch him every day wasn't a good thing. Sooner or later, Peter should find an opportunity to teach him a lesson and stop him from constantly thinking about bullying his classmates.
Thinking this, Peter entered the classroom and greeted Harry. "I saw your Dalek shell. You just locked it onto your locker door like that?"
"What else was I supposed to do?"
Harry shrugged. He was sitting on a base modified from an electric wheelchair. "I'm kind of regretting dressing as a Dalek. It's inconvenient to move around, and it's hard to carry things. I should've gone as a Cyberman. Look, everyone else is wearing superhero costumes, while I can only... sit inside this thing."
"No, no, Daleks are cool. A pepper shaker covered in armor plates, with an eggbeater-like laser and a toilet plunger stuck onto it..."
"Man!" Harry couldn't help rolling his eyes. "The more you say, 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 a suit similar to the Tenth Doctor's. We didn't have an identical one at home, so I had to make do."
"Oh, the one played by David Tennant. Pretty cool."
After awkwardly chatting for quite a while, they still hadn't seen Amadeus. Seeing that class was about to start, Peter took out his phone and made a call. Fortunately, Amadeus didn't seem to have gotten into any trouble. He merely asked in a stuffy voice, "Hello?"
"Hey, Amadeus, are you okay? You didn't come to school today."
"Oh, Peter. I asked the teacher for leave. I've got a slight fever today."
Amadeus's voice sounded muffled, and he did seem to have a pretty bad cold. Peter hung up with a trace of concern, and Harry asked as well.
"Is he okay?"
"Just a fever... He should be fine." Peter looked at Harry after speaking. "Do you know where Amadeus lives? Maybe we can visit him after school."
"I don't know. I only know he's staying with some local family. He's never said where he lives."
"I don't know where you live either. In fact... only you guys know where I live." Peter spoke in a deliberately unhappy tone as he looked at Harry. Harry immediately began stammering, hemming and hawing for a long time before finally sighing. "My relationship with my dad isn't very good. He's always been strict about my friends, ever since I was little. So, sorry."
"You don't need to apologize."
Feeling even more certain that Harry was Harry Osborn, Peter offered his friend a little comfort. Then he saw Harry watching Spider-Man videos again. "I wanted to ask this last time. Why does it feel like you watch Spider-Man whenever you have free time?"
"It's nothing. Homework, I guess you could put it that way."
As time passed, the classroom scene grew even more absurd. A girl wearing a Black Widow costume was collecting homework. Their math teacher—the middle-aged man who always wore plaid shirts—walked in wearing an elongated rubber face. "Good morning, students. I'm Mister Fantastic, and today I'll be teaching precalculus."
"Davos, teacher."
Harry, looking completely resigned, spoke as another boring day—or rather, peaceful day—began.
With the Avengers gone from New York, the entire city seemed to have quieted down. After class, Peter checked his phone as he walked. Even today, there were no special cases that needed Spider-Man's attention. Just as he began feeling much better, he saw Carl and another student who looked unfriendly opening his locker. Carl seemed extremely nervous. The moment he saw Peter, he immediately patted his companion on the back, and the two quickly left.
"Hey! Carl!"
Having no idea what had happened, Peter walked over to his locker, opened his bag, and checked whether anything was missing. But Carl hadn't taken anything. Peter frowned. Was Carl planning to put something in his locker to prank him? Or was he looking for something?
"What exactly does he think he can find..."
"Find what? Smart guy? Or what should I call you now? Suit Superman?" Someone knocked on the open locker door. Peter knew who it was from the voice alone. He took a step back and saw Gwen leaning against the locker. As expected, Gwen hadn't dressed as any superhero or villain at all. She was still wearing her usual outfit. Peter stepped back and adjusted the collar of his dark blue suit.
"Hello. I'm the Doctor."
"...Doctor what?"
"Just the Doctor. I knew you'd ask that." Peter laughed again when Gwen completely failed to get the joke. After confirming that nothing was missing, he shut the locker door—he carried the Spider-Disk with him, so no one would find it.
Wait... Could Carl be looking for my old suit again?
"Carl got someone to pry open my lock. I suspect he was planning to stuff something strange into my locker. They were dressed as Thor and Hulk, yet they were doing something like this." Peter shifted the topic back. "So why are you dressed as Gwendolyn Stacy?"
"I am Gwen Stacy. More accurately, Theme Day started before I could decide who to dress as. Worse yet, this damn theme is going to last an entire week." Gwen sighed. Peter thought Gwen's beautiful blonde hair would make her perfect for cosplaying Kara, but she didn't seem aware of that herself.
After rubbing her beautiful blonde hair, Gwen finally explained why she had come. "Speaking of Theme Day, the Homecoming dance is this weekend. Have you found a dance partner yet?"
"Let me guess. You and your new friends had a competition to see who could find a partner first, and you came running to me first, right?"
"Impressive, smart guy. So?"
Peter could only respond with a slightly self-deprecating smile.
"No one cares about Peter Parker, or the Doctor, so Gwen, I can tell you without worry."
"You've got this one in the bag."
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