Class time always seemed to pass so quickly.
As for why it passed so quickly, one look at Harry and Peter sleeping facedown on their desks, along with Gwen, who had just woken up and still looked a little lost, told the whole story.
They had spent all of it sleeping.
How could it possibly feel slow?
"These two idiots... Gwen, seriously, you've been away from the band for a long time now. Come on, we're the main members. You're leaving me to hold everything together by myself..."
MJ turned around and looked helplessly at one of them drooling in his sleep and the other snoring, then lowered her voice and spoke to Gwen beside her, who had only just woken up.
The band MJ was talking about was the all-girl band formed at Midtown High.
They had been together for the past two years, competing in all kinds of citywide band contests and achieving some pretty impressive results.
And Gwen was the drummer.
"I think... I probably won't have much time for the band lately..."
Gwen said with a headache coming on.
On one side was being Spider-Woman and protecting the city.
On the other was pursuing the thing she loved.
She had no choice but to pick the former.
"Huh?!"
"You're not seriously telling me that now that you've got romance in your life, you're dropping everything else, right?!"
MJ looked at her in surprise. Even after she and Harry got together, nothing about her daily life had really changed. These two had been glued to each other for years already, so how could they suddenly change this much now?
"That is not it... We still... aren't together yet..."
Gwen's face flushed red as she answered awkwardly.
She already knew how Peter felt, but was she really supposed to be the one to say it out loud first?
She still had no idea whether that idiot was dense or just pretending not to understand.
It was infuriating.
"Should we wake those two up? School's almost over..."
"Probably not. They'll wake up on their own when it's time. Watch. Three... two... one..."
As MJ counted down, Harry woke up right on cue.
Peter, on the other hand, was still fast asleep. It looked like the earlier battle really had worn him out completely.
In the end, Peter had to be woken up by force, and the four of them decided to have dinner at Peter's house that night. Even though Peter was the birthday boy, there was still a very real chance he would end up being the one cooking.
After all, his food was just that good.
...
MJ and Harry went off to prepare a gift, so after school they did not head home with Peter and Gwen.
That meant Peter and Gwen finally got some rare alone time together.
The glow of the setting sun stretched their shadows long behind them as they walked quietly side by side.
"Oh, right. The little gadgets you wanted. This is Electric Webbing, and this one is the Electro-Pulse device. But you'd better set the parameters properly before using it. Last time I cranked the settings too high, I nearly wrecked my own hand."
As if he had just remembered, Peter pulled a few items out of his backpack and handed them to Gwen. Naturally, Gwen did not bother being polite with him. She accepted both items and studied them curiously.
Uncle Ben and Aunt May had also apparently remembered that it was Peter's birthday today, so they had gone out together to buy groceries. They told Peter to bring his friends over, but also said it would be better if he came home a little later. There was too much to buy, and if he got back too early, no one would even be there, so they might as well hang out for a while first.
None of the passing cars on the Franklin Bridge noticed that two figures, one in black and red and the other in black and white, were sitting above them.
"Peter, after becoming Spider-Man, what was the one thing you always wanted to do?"
"When I first became Spider-Man, I wanted to do everything. I thought I could become some kind of savior. But things aren't that easy. Later on, I gave up on that stupid idea. If you're a Spider-Man who can't even protect the people around you, then what right do you have to call yourself a savior?"
Peter said calmly as he looked at the scars left on his hand by the Electro-Pulse.
"You changed because of Harry?"
Of course Gwen knew exactly how Peter got those scars.
Because of Peter's recklessness, Harry now had to wear a prosthetic. She could naturally sense the guilt Peter carried. Back before Peter had confessed his identity, she had simply thought he was heartbroken over seeing his best friend end up like that.
"That's part of it..."
The appearance of the Spider Duo had already shaken New York.
Although all criminals now feared Peter like death itself, there were still people offering bounties on the two Spider-People, and the prices on the dark web were not low.
Where there was a huge reward, there would always be reckless fools willing to go after it.
And this world certainly was not lacking in people who gained superpowers, had their minds twisted by them, and turned into criminals.
Some of them were not necessarily weaker than Peter.
Peter already knew that this world's Kingpin wanted him dead.
But this version of Kingpin was far more powerful and influential than the one from the Ultimate Universe. In New York, if he was not first in influence, he was easily second or third.
Trying to face him head-on was obviously not a wise choice.
After all, Peter had plenty of weak points, and he could not protect every single one of them at every moment.
New York was the kind of place that glittered with temptation and excess. Dreamers came here all the time, chasing beautiful fantasies. But once you saw the truth under that glamorous surface, you realized the city was more like a monster that devoured people whole without even spitting out the bones.
And Hell's Kitchen was that monster's sharpest fang.
Those dreamers whose spirits had already been ground away sometimes chose to try turning their lives around there, even though the chances were terribly slim.
That place ran on its own rules, rules outside the law, survival of the fittest. Gangs and all kinds of factions overlapped and clashed there, jointly ruling the area, even including groups like Hydra, those cockroaches that just would not stay dead.
Just like they always said, cut off one head, two more grow back.
Even in broad daylight, you could be walking down the street and have some hooded Black guy press a gun to your head and ask if you could spare a little money.
At night, it was even worse. Unless you wanted to end up dead in some trash heap where no one would ever find you, you did not wander Hell's Kitchen after dark.
And that happened to be exactly the territory controlled by Kingpin.
But Peter knew that in the Marvel world, Hell's Kitchen was also the training ground for many rookie heroes.
Like Punisher.
Like Daredevil.
Or Spider-Man.
Peter slipped his phone into his pocket and said, "It's still early. Want to go stop some crime with me?"
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Hey, that was a completely pointless question. But where are we going?"
Peter pulled down his mask and said,
"I'm planning to take a trip to Hell's Kitchen. You know the two of us have a bounty on our heads, right? And that bounty was posted from there. So I figured, instead of letting someone cash in our heads for money, the two of us might as well go take some money for ourselves."
After saying that, Peter fired out a web and swung away over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Looking at Peter's retreating back, Gwen pulled down her own mask, adjusted her hood, and sighed.
"He seriously never runs out of energy..."
"Hey, wait for me!"
(End of Chapter)
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