Neal becomes aware of some more of the changes to his body

a/n marvel dont sue me for ripping off spiderman, you will end up disappointed as I have no money or possessions, so dont waste your time

Also holllly shit another chapter so quickly? I know, truly a miracle


Two days later Neal stood on the subway train again.

He pulled his phone out when he got to the Norwood stop, he sent a message to PJ then slipped his phone back into his pocket. He tipped his head back, taking a slow breath, his eyes closed. His music was playing loud through his earbuds, drowning out the noise from the commuters, it didn't stop the slightly sweaty and stale smell of the subway, but he could lose himself for a minute.

The subway had been hard. His senses had seemed to increase after that first night when he heard Emma's heart beating through the house, it wasn't the first time it had happened, all the noise and everything at Emma's birthday meal had been nearly impossible.
He found himself drinking a lot of soda in order to say he needed to go to the toilet, an excuse for a small prelude of silence before being emerged into it again.

The next couple of days were better, there was the noise of two extra people in the house, he found that if he tried hard enough he could blank it out, but it was tiring.
He had of course thought about telling his parents about it, after all it was pretty worrying that he could now hear more than he had before, and then there were the other bits: his desk drawer had gotten stuck and he had pulled the front of it off as he tried to yank it open. But he could hear and see how stressed his parents were, Emma wasn't exactly opening up to them and they tried not to let it get to them but it must be hard. They had spent the past couple of days putting together furniture and moving the old baby things out. He had heard his dad suggesting hiring a skip to take them, after that there was a hushed row in the kitchen while he and Emma pretended not to hear it, the baby stuff ended up in the attic and David had ended up working in his room for most of the evening and his mom had gone quiet.

Even without hearing the announcement Neal knew he was drawing up to his stop, it was muscle memory now, both the sub routes to and from his mom's house and his dad's condo. He slowly opened his eyes and moved towards the door, he hopped out alongside some others from his school as soon as the doors opened.

The cold air hit his face like a steel wall, but he braced himself, his hands holding onto the straps of his backpack which he wore, then started to head down the platform.

He heard the shouting even through the music playing into his ears. He yanked them out and turned just as PJ reached him.
"Peej, what are you doing here?" Neal asked, there was an amused smile on his face as he took in PJ's breathlessness and the fact his face was slightly red, and if Neal was not mistaken there were even a few beads of sweat forming at the line where his hair and forehead met.

"Oh, I was in the area." The boy shrugged, he took a look and Neal's face and could tell that his best friend hadn't believed a word of it. The truth was he had been near to school when he got Neal's text that he was coming into school. "What're you doing here? I thought you'd be able to get out of this with, y'know, everything that's been going on?"

"You mean with my sister rising from the dead?" Neal asked good humouredly. "Mom and dad both offered to get me out of it, but I had already studied for it, and I've gotta keep my position as number one student in chemistry anyway." He smirked, nudging PJ with his shoulder, they began the walk to school.

"You're on."

PJ's smile was the winning one which had many girls in the school swooning, particularly if they saw him give it in his lacrosse kit, but PJ was never interested in any of them. He walked side by side next to Neal as they walked through the tunnel, as they got to the end they emerged above ground once more, they walked down the sidewalk and into the school. PJ grabbed his pass from his pocket before Neal could even think about rummaging through his backpack for his.

"You're pretty…" PJ trailed off squinting as he tried to figure out the right way to put it.

"Dishevelled?" Neal suggested.

"I'm not saying it's not a good look on you," PJ teased, "it's just not normally what you're like."

He didn't ask, he didn't pry, he didn't pressure, so Neal told him the truth, or as much of it as he could admit to anyone including himself.
"It's just weird having my mom and dad in the same house, I swear it's weirder than Emma being home." They were fairly early but it was a competitive school and so there were more than a few people milling around in the corridors, Neal could feel their eyes on him as he passed, the news about Emma being home was well and truly out. He felt PJ's arm slung over his shoulder and he didn't shrug it off. It was grounding. "Like my dad's got all his stuff in the spare room and he'll be fine but then he'll go and grab something from the kitchen but he'll go into the wrong cupboard and then look really lost and down for a while."

"My dad was the same when he came to our house to look after me when mom and Mulan were in the hospital when Rosie was being born, everything had moved, it was like him fully realising it wasn't his home anymore."

Neal nodded his head slowly, a sick feeling grew in his stomach, his parents had been divorced for years but he suddenly realised that he didn't want his dad to not think of their home as his home too. "Emma's pretty cool though." He said, changing the conversation.

"She is?"

"Yeah." He nodded again. "She's a bit," he shrugged his shoulders, "she doesn't really talk about her past much, she's a bit closed off I guess. Mom and dad keep checking on her, I think they think she might disappear."

"That she'll run off?" PJ's interest peaked.

"No, yeah, I don't know, maybe? I guess she has form for doing it, but I think they're more worried about her just magically disappearing."

"Weirder things have happened in your family."

"True." Neal let out a small laugh. "She shouted at them for doing it last night, I think it all just built up, to be honest I don't really blame her." He hadn't liked seeing his mom and dad looking hurt but Emma wasn't used to parents and sometimes they could be hoverparents. "They even offered me a ride to school."

"Why didn't you take it?" They had finally made it to their classroom, they leant on the wall outside of it, side by side, they had some time before their teacher would even get there.

Neal sent him an amused smile, PJ was always offering him lifts, as were his mother, and his father, and pretty much anyone else he knew with a car. He rarely took them up on their offers. "You know I prefer taking the subway."

There was an amused sparkle in PJ's eyes as he nodded his head and smiled fondly at his best friend's quirk. "Yeah I know, you prefer to listen to music."


The day's first few periods passed in quick succession, Neal felt quietly confident about how well he had done on the chemistry test, his french class was boring but manageable, and his english class was truly where he shone, they were studying Hamlet and he knew the play inside and out.

He was heading out of the classroom when he saw PJ leaning on the corridor wall waiting for him. "Are you stalking me?" He asked, walking over to him anyway.

"Sure Nee, I'm stalking you." He laughed. "So you know how we now have free periods for the rest of the day?"

"You know those are meant for us to study in, right?" He narrowed his eyes already suspecting why PJ was bringing this up.

"Come on, you promised you'd do a training session in the gym with me. It'll help improve your swimming, and it'll be empty because everyone's in class, so it'll be just us. Please Nee?"

Neal let out a loud groan as he looked into PJ's honey brown eyes. "Fine." He grumbled reluctantly. "But we're leaving before your team gets there at lunch."

"Cross my heart." He did the appropriate action as he said it.


"Damn Nee, have you been working out without me?" PJ was putting on a fake offended look which made Neal roll his eyes but he couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"Oh yeah, you know me, I'm always hitting the gym." He told his friend sarcastically as he pushed the weights high above him and back onto the bar before sitting up.

While it was true that Neal had outshone any of his past records on the treadmill, the bikes, and now on the weights, on the rare occasion he would agree to go to the gym with PJ, what his friend didn't know was that Neal was holding back.

He had told PJ nearly everything in his life, he had known him since they were babies, together at both mommy and me and daddy and me groups, he had gone on even more playdates during the years between Emma's disappearance and 'finding her bones', and again when Philip's and Neal's parents were divorcing.

But this felt raw, off limits even to himself, he knew that one day soon he would be forced to examine what the hell was happening himself, he wanted to understand it before he tried to explain it to PJ, to anyone. Which meant he would have to hide it as much as possible while simultaneously testing himself.

"Seriously though," PJ chucked him a towel as he spoke, "it's impressive, how'd you do it?"

Due to the lack of any actual strain Neal hadn't sweated, but he used wiping his face with the towel to hide his face. "I guess my dad's genes are finally coming through." He chuckled, making PJ laugh along with him, the curiosity, and what Neal was fairly certain had been concern, was now gone.

"Okay, come on." PJ held out his hand towards his friend, there was a second of hesitancy, PJ could see the suspicion on Neal's face, PJ just smiled and Neal took his hand, allowing him to pull him up.

"What are you up to?" Neal asked slowly when they had been standing there for a second just looking at each other. As soon as he spoke PJ dropped his hand, and Neal swore he hadn't even realised they were still touching each other.

"Follow me."

And much to Neal's regret, he did.


"No. No, no way."

"Oh come on Nee!"

"Peej you're the jock in this friendship."

"You're on the swim team."

"Only because of my power, you're on the lacrosse team, you have all of your dude friends- I literally tried to live in a library when I was seven."

"I know, I was there with you." He locked eyes with Neal.

Neal sighed and let his eyes travel to the huge room behind Philip.

The room had been erected a year after the school had first opened, it was funded by a superhero who it was rumoured to have caused considerable property damage to the school's benefactor's own house, and Neal knew for a fact that she had babysat his father when he was a kid.
The room was a huge obstacle course, most of it was up off of the ground, it had bars and rings to swing off and across, ramps like those in a skate park were scattered around the room, it essentially looked like a Ninja Warrior course which had been made to look like a city.
It was an optional part of phys ed classes to run the obstacle course, and every year nearly every single person in each class would try to complete it, more often than not failing. Neal had tried it twice once when he was a freshman and once when he was a sophomore, he had failed both times, the second time he had sprained his ankle and hadn't tried it again.

But now… well now he wasn't sure what he could do, his senses and strength had improved, what else had. And what better time than now? No one was around to witness it, other than PJ, and PJ really wanted him to join in, and whenever PJ looked disappointed it felt like a small knife to the heart.

"One time." He held up his finger as he said it as sternly as he could, he knew for a fact that he was doing a pretty good impression of his mother, but at least PJ didn't point that out.

"Yes!" Neal happily clapped him on the back and bounded towards the start line.

Neal sighed, what the hell was he getting himself into?

When he finally joined his best friend PJ was typing on the tablet pack, as he did some of the obstacles began to move ever so slightly.

"I've put it on one of the easier settings, I can turn it to stationary, if you like?"

Neal's annoyance faded to a fond smile at how worried PJ was at overstepping his limits. "It's fine, if I break my leg I'll just blame you." He smirked. "You owe me for this, you know, Star Wars and Lego marathon at mine this weekend?"

PJ's worry eased and that electric smile appeared back on his face, it was a chilly fall day but Neal felt as warmed as he did in the height of summer.

"Are you sure it'll be okay? Your parents haven't got some family bonding weekend planned?"

Neal laughed but paused. "Better make it Sunday, I think Emma will have dashed my parent's hopes by then." He tried to say it as lightly as he could but it was hard not to sound slightly dejected on his parents' behalfs. But PJ must have noticed the slight change in his tone as he felt his friend's hand on the back of his neck, it was gently squeezed in an attempt to comfort him. The two had always been pretty comfortable with physical contact but Neal had noticed it a lot more recently, and he didn't mind it one bit.

But before Neal could overthink the contact the hand was pulled away again.

PJ explained his idea to Neal, the plan, that PJ would set off first, the course would keep track of where his feet fell and his time, thirty seconds after Neal would set off on his own run.

Neal readied himself, he wasn't completely unathletic, but as he told PJ he preferred books and nerdy things, and he wasn't ashamed of that in the slightest. He watched PJ set off, his eyes on the other boy then on the tablet counting up the time.

Neal waited a little over thirty seconds before taking off.

He had never felt quite so good when he had run, he made short work of some of the smaller challenges before agilely climbing up walls, he didn't even glance at the footholds, and he could have sworn that he missed some of them, but he stayed stuck.

He had gone to gymnastics classes when he was younger, it was part of his parents intentions to get him out of his head and to meet new people, and it worked, and he had become fairly agile, but this seemed to be on a different level, as he leapt from platform to platform.

He looked down at his feet out of habit or instinct or something, but he forgot to tell his body not to jump. He didn't jump far enough.

He was going to fall, they were at least twelve feet in the air, this was going to hurt, and Neal was fairly certain that despite the cushioned floor he was going to end up with a broken hand or wrist or something at the very least.

His hand outstretched towards the other podium he had been trying to jump to, he was nowhere near it, it couldn't save him. He squeezed his eyes shut waiting for impact.

He was falling, falling, n…. Not… falling?

His eyes flew open, and he realised he was flying too.

Okay so maybe not flying, there was some string thing coming out of his hand?!

He let out what was an undistinguished noise somewhere between a yep and a scream, he pulled his hand away and the sting, web?, fell away, he realised he was about to fall again and punched out his other hand, the same material spurted out of his wrist at the platform. It was painless as he swung, landing on his feet on the platform, despite the fact that it came from under his skin.

He stood perfectly still staring at his wrist, the web, and it was a web, fell to the floor and disappeared like dust.

Then he began to run, the only way out was through the course, but he was running on adrenaline and god knows what else.

His sneakered feet slapped against the wooden planks as he raced in the track to the finishing line, PJ was there, he was smiling, but his smile quickly fell and his face changed as Neal didn't stop.


He slammed open the door as he ran out of the obstacle course room, down the corridor until he was inside the pool changing room.

His kit bag was always in his locker there, one of the privileges of being on the swim team, and he just about had the presence of mind to change into his trunks before throwing himself into the empty pool.

The pool was cold as he launched himself into the middle of the pool. It chilled his bones but it also calmed him. Breathing underwater was always his power even from a very young age, it was second nature. But when he did that he would breathe in the water as though it was oxygen. This time when he jumped into the pool somehow he brought a bubble of air down with him as he sunk to the bottom.

"What's happening to me?" His voice broke as he asked himself the question, he was completely alone in the room, and in the world, he felt so helpless, he was nearly seventeen but he felt as though he was seven again.

He wanted his mom, he wanted his dad, he wanted PJ, and Emma, his cousins and step aunts and uncles, he wanted anyone, anyone to tell him that it was okay, that it was going to be fine. But how could he put this upon anyone else?

Was he a superhero now? He didn't want to be a superhero, he wanted to pass eleventh grade. He wasn't a hero.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, cross legged on the bottom of the pool, but eventually the adrenaline wore off and his muscles and bones began to ache from all the working out before he had freaked out.

He felt calmer, a lot calmer, the water always did that for him. He took a slow breath in, then pushed himself back up.

The first thing he noticed was that despite being under the surface for so long his hair was completely dry, so he hadn't imagined the air bubble protecting him. The second thing he noticed was the clock on the wall, he winced knowing a class would soon be here. It was only as he climbed out of the pool that he realised that he wasn't alone. PJ was there, he was holding a towel, PJ's own towel.

Neal walked towards him PJ wrapped it around him like a cape, like they used to play as children, but he kept hold of it even when it was around Neal, he was holding onto the towel keeping Neal with him, they were so close Neal swore he could feel PJ's spearmint scented breath on him.

"Nee..."

PJ's voice was quiet, his face unsmiling, unguarded, and a mix between worried and pensive, it was a rare look on PJ, and Neal found that he loved that secret face PJ kept hidden from the rest of the world.

"What's going on?"

"Huh?" Neal was jerked back to reality and found himself confused.

PJ let go of the towel and stood back a little, his posture stiffened, there was no smile on his face but the vulnerability crackling through his brown eyes had faded to normal confusion. "You just ran out on me and then sat on the floor of the swimming pool for half an hour. What's going on? You looked like you saw a ghost, did something happen? Did I do something?" He looked considerably more worried when he asked if it was his fault.

"No, no, of course not." Neal reached out and squeezed PJ's arm, it made it a little wet but he didn't seem to even notice. "I just nearly slipped and it freaked me out a bit." It wasn't a lie, not completely, but Neal still felt bad.

There was a pause as PJ evaluated Neal, who was scrubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, PJ finally let out a laugh. "You scared me man, you know some junior nearly jumped in to save you? I stopped them, told them you could breathe, I'm not sure if they believed me but they were clearly willing to risk it."

PJ's good humour left a sour taste in Neal's mouth as guilt worried his stomach, but it was also a relief, Neal let out a snort. "Well better to lose me than to upset the captain of the lacrosse team." He joked, giving PJ a playful shove.

"I'd have saved you." PJ's smirk was missing some of the cocky heat and which made it come out somewhat solemn.

But Neal's mind was on the bubble he had somehow formed under the water. It dawned on him why the person must have thought he was drowning. It was the same reason why when he was a small child his parents had always panicked when he was swimming trying to reach the bottom of the water, with no bubbles yet a lot of splashing.
"How could you tell? I don't make bubbles."

"I would know." PJ replied, his whole heart in his words.

They were silent again, for a minute, for two minutes, for enough minutes that they were teetering on the beginnings of something else, something more. There was the sound of younger kids, bursting into the room on the other side of the pool, excited chatter and a teacher yelling them not to run.

Neal sucked in a breath and PJ took another step back, Neal could practically feel the distance between them, as though releasing the pressure against a balloon. He felt an ache inside of him.

And like that the moment was completely over.


The rest of the day went like a blur to Neal, they both took showers, then moved to join the rest of their friends for lunch. They had afternoon classes, and there were conversations, and inside jokes, and food, but Neal missed all of it. He was there, physically, of course, but he felt as though he was watching a movie where the audio wasn't quite synced, he felt delayed, his mind on himself instead of on his art teacher or his friends. He covered it up well.

He had not covered it well.

The final bell had rung and he was just heading back from the changing rooms with his swim stuff in his bag, he had grabbed PJ's towel too he could wash it and return it, he knew his best friend's schedule as well as his own, PJ didn't have practice that night, it was his day to pick up his sister from kindergarten as his mom and step mom would be working.

But as soon as he made it back to the main building his shadow had returned.

"If you don't tell me what's going on I'm not going to give you my commentary during our Star Wars marathon."

Neal didn't even turn his head, but he did smirk. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Hey!" PJ protested his fake hurt was ruined by his chuckle. He pulled Neal to a stop, using his arm he swung him around to face him. PJ was grinning his wild, electric, smile. "You love my commentary."

"Sure I do, bud." Neal shot for sarcasm but fell just short, he too was grinning.

"So… What's going on, and don't say that nothing is, I know you, I know something's wrong, please tell me? Please?"

"I…" Neal looked around helplessly as though looking for something to save him, all he could find was the trophy cabinets, Neal knew there were some swim team photographs of him, and many of PJ, he had looked at them often enough. He couldn't lie to him, he couldn't think of one, and PJ was so concerned that it was breaking him. He was going to tell him, the bite, the increased speed and agility, the air bubble under the water, the web coming from his wrists, that spider, that bite.

"Hey, isn't that your folks?" PJ's voice had brightened up once again and even before Neal turned to look at him he knew he would find a smile on his friends face.

"What?"
He followed PJ's pointed finger towards the entrance where sure enough Mary and David were talking to the headteacher, Emma was stood between them, she was wearing the leather jacket she had worn any time she had to go outside, and what looked like the red plaid shirt she had been wearing for the past two day, he was sure that his mom didn't like that.
"Oh, crap, yeah. I forgot." He was feeling a little confused, a feeling he was getting used to recently, he walked over to his family with PJ hot on his heels.

Emma looked miserable, or annoyed, or something of the like, Neal didn't have a clear read on her yet. He walked over, it wasn't too weird to see his parents together, after all they had been living together for the past few days, and they tried to come to his swim meets which meant they ended up sitting together, and any academic award ceremonies. But in this context it was so disjointed to see.

The head teacher looked up, Mrs McNally, she was doing her winning smile she did when there were guest speakers at the school or she was giving an assembly on the success of the school. No doubt intent on fully winning over all of them, particularly Mary and David. "Ah, I'm sure you know one of our student councillors, Philip, he and your brother are rarely apart.

Neal could feel people staring as they passed on their way home, their eyes prickling his skin, he stiffened.

PJ held out his hand to Emma with an easy smile, she looked confused and wrinkled her nose ever so slightly at it, but he had done it in such a casual way that she actually took it and shook it. "I go by PJ. We haven't met but Nee's told me about you." There was no idealisation and no demonetisation in his tone or his look, no expectations or warnings.

"We were just picking up some stuff for Emma to catch up with the rest of her peers." Mary Margaret told the boys, she looked so proud every time she said Emma's name. Neal would have been jealous had his mom not looked the same way every time she said his name.

"We were also just about to go on a tour of the school," David added, "then we have some paperwork to sign, if you both stick around we can drop you off home PJ."

Emma had looked so uncomfortable at the idea of going on a tour with this teacher and Mary and David that Neal felt suddenly bad for going to school and leaving her stranded with their parents, her strangers. "We'll take her."

"Pardon?"

"I mean," Neal's confidence wavered ever so slightly again but he bolstered himself, "PJ and I are official tour guides, we can show her around while you guys sort out paperwork and stuff, I'm sure Em's sick of having to watch paperwork being signed." He addressed the latter part to his parents. He watched them share a look before nodding.

"Meet us back here in twenty, kids." David told them.

Neal could see the worry in his eyes which he tried to hide when his eyes flickered to Emma, then quickly away, at least that was something his parents had in common - they were terrified to let Emma out of their sights.
"Sorry about that, I thought it was probably the only way to get them to leave."

"It's fine." Emma brushed off quickly. Then shared a smile with him when he didn't just carry on. "Really Neal. Thanks for getting them to give me a quick breather."

"Anytime." He stopped himself from adding sis or something of the like to the end, they weren't there yet. "You ready for the tour?"

"We're really doing that? I thought you were just getting me out of having to spend time with your hoverparents."

"They're your hoverparents too." Neal shot back, with a smirk.

"Don't worry, we'll give you the actual essential tour of where to get pizza and coffee and stuff like that." PJ added wanting to make a good impression on his best friend's sister.

"You just became my new favourite person."


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