By the time Chen Mo came downstairs, having finally more or less comforted himself after his breakdown, Peter was putting his textbooks on the coffee table.
Seeing him, Spider-Man raised his face, his eyes brightening, and moved the backpack beside him out of the way to make room.
Chen Mo did not sit down.
"Where's Dick?"
"He went to school."
"Those books... are you planning to keep going to school here at my place?"
Peter glanced down. The few books he had just taken out were stacked together, and it really did look that way.
"I already got today off."
Chen Mo stood beside the sofa, a few strands of black hair trapped inside his collar. He had washed his face and looked a little more energetic than yesterday. Only a little. The ends of his eyebrows still drooped, and as soon as Peter looked up, he launched into what he had prepared to say.
"You don't have to keep me company all the time. You can go patrol with Dick later. I'm a grown man. Out of everyone in Gotham City, aside from that zero-IQ crocodile who runs around the sewers and is currently in Blackgate Penitentiary, who could barely last a couple of exchanges with me, who could possibly touch me?"
Peter gave it some very serious thought and found that there really did not seem to be anything wrong with what Chen Mo had said.
"Then what are you planning to do today?"
"Go wander around too, see if there's anywhere I can help, and pick a few lucky criminals to play a little role-playing game with while I'm at it. They get to play punching bags."
As Chen Mo said this, his eyes remained lifeless and the ends of his eyebrows drooped.
Peter immediately packed his