Locker 124.
17-year old Ryan was heading for this locker, which happened to be his.
For some reason a couple was making out in public next to his locker.
"Do you mind?"
The two excused themselves, lucky that.
He got the key from his pockets, and was ready to unlock it. A basketball hit him, and he dropped it.
Flash's way of saying 'mornin..
"Morning, Ryan."
"Mornin." He ignored the slight pain on his shoulder.
As always, Flash came to him to criticize his accent.
"You gonna speak with that accent of yours to me?"
"I get it."
"Good looking out, Ryan."
Finally, that airhead left him alone as he unlocked his locker, and took his notebook and a few pens.
He closed his locker and noticed Peter was there.
Why is he always showing up out of nowhere?
"Hey."
He gave him a slight nod before leaving for his class.
"Flash again, huh?"
"Never wears out."
"Of course."
The two ended their conversation as Ryan entered the classroom for Biology.
Ryan was adopted by May and Ben when Peter was about eight. The two have been close since, but he can't help that Peter is always who Aunt May and Uncle Ben care about. They weren't technically his Aunt and Uncle, but they insisted they should call them the same.
Ryan was once seventh in his class, and he's currently 10th. Aunt May said it had to do with too much time on the computer. Uncle Ben said he gave too much time to Alice, his pet Maltese.
All he could say was nothing. Maybe they're right. Maybe not. All he know for sure is he's doing nothing wrong.
The class went by fast. As he was leaving to go home, he noticed a bunch of students screaming the same thing.
"EAT IT! EAT IT! EAT IT!"
He went over to see what's going on. As usual, it was Flash holding a student upside down.
"Eat your vegetables, Gordon!"
Maybe it was pride. Maybe he just felt bad for the student. But something inside told him Flash had to stop.
"Dude, put him down. It ain't funny."
Flash didn't even budge.
"Get outta here Ryan, or I'll make you eat it instead."
"That's low." He thought it would make him stop, but he still hung him upside down.
He finally thought of something: calling Flash by his real name.
"Hey, Eugene, stop it!"
He threw the student, and walked straight to Ryan, completely angry.
"What did you just say?" He didn't reply, and Flash was ready to strike.
"Ryan!" Peter was screaming from the crowd.
But that didn't stop him from punching Ryan in the face.
The teen fell struggling on the ground as Flash started shouting again.
"ANYONE WANT SOME MORE? HUH?!"
There's that girl, Gwen, who Peter admires. Ryan is okay with her but he's not into romance right now.
"Flash. I'll expect you at home this afternoon? I hope you did homework."
"Whatever."
The crowd breaks up, and soon it was only Peter and Ryan there.
"You okay?"
"If you mean getting hit in the face, then yes."
Peter laughed. His adoptive brother always had time to joke.
"Come on, buddy. They're expecting us." Peter said as he offered a hand to pull him up, which he accepted.
After the two got home, the couple gave them tasks, as always.
"Peter, you're going to help me get that stuff down. Ryan, you help your Aunt May cook dinner." announced Uncle Ben as he and Peter went downstairs.
"I'm cooking spaghetti and meatballs tonight. Don't tell your brother."
"Ugh... do we have anything else, you know... meat loaf?"
Aunt May chuckled.
"I'd love to make you meat loaf, but we're out. I'm going to the grocery on Saturday, you can come if you like."
"On second thoughts, I can manage."
The two never liked spaghetti. They just taste too foreign.
"Put the bowl in the oven... there."
He did what he was instructed, and turned it on.
"Good. Now give me that bowl."
He took a pair of mitts and handed it over.
Uncle Ben came upstairs with a handful of things.
"I'll help you with that."
"No thanks, I can manage."
He went back to helping Aunt May, then Peter came out with a briefcase he hasn't seen before.
"What's this?"
"Oh. That's your father's briefcase."
"No, why did you keep it there? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Your father was a secretive man, Peter."
"Guys, let him keep it." He had to interrupt.
Obviously they spat back.
"Ryan, this is family business. This has nothing to do with you. Now please, just go back to where you are."
Family business again. Peter again. It's always him.
"I think I'll pass."
He went upstairs, and everyone seemed to notice his anger.
They discussed for another 10 minutes until Peter went to their room.
They had a bunk bed, so Ryan was at the top.
"Who's the cute puppy? Who is it? Who is it?"
Peter heard Ryan talking to Alice, and he chuckled.
"Uh... Ryan? Are you busy?"
Hearing this, he was very embarrassed and put down Alice.
"Er... no. You need something?" Ryan said as he went down the bed.
"There was some sort of formula I found in Dad's briefcase. Mind helping me out?" Peter said as he gave the notebook to Ryan.
Ryan took the notebook, stared at it for five seconds and handed it back.
"Aren't you the smarter one? It's written right there. Decay rate algorithm."
"Yeah, I know, but what's it replacing?"
Ryan shrugged.
"I do have this book. The formula was mentioned somewhere."
He opened their drawer, got the book and tossed it to Peter.
"Now I'm pretty sure those aren't regular zeros at the beginning, and they certainly don't use Danish letters in formulas. Whatever it means, find it out yourself. Now can you please let me get some rest?!"
A dumbfounded Peter just stared at him while he went back to the top.
I should just let Ryan rest... but I have to find out what happened to him.
He was browsing through his father's items when somebody buzzed in.
"Yeah, one sec, one sec."
It was Uncle Ben, and Ryan just ignored him and tried his best to sleep.
"You look just like your father. Can I come in?"
"Yeah, okay."
"Listen... I'm here to talk about his briefcase. And about your brother."
Ryan couldn't sleep with his name being mentioned, so he decided to listen secretly.
"I know it's been rough without your dad. And it's been rough for Ryan too."
"Look, what I'm trying to say is, tell him I'm sorry for that family business thing."
He was mad at Uncle Ben. But what's the point of being mad if you have no reason to?
"Okay, I'll tell him."
Before he left, he said something to Peter.
"Oh, and Curt Connors was the name of that guy in the photo. Your father and him were inseparable. Good friends. After what happened... we never saw him again. He just disappeared."
"I get it."
"Good night, Peter." Uncle Ben said as he turned off the lights in their room.
Curt Connors...
That name reminded Ryan of somebody he once knew.