One week went by and things continued on without much issue. It was safe to say that things had truly settled down between them.

Tomoko was just lazing around, taking advantage of the calm atmosphere. She laying on the loveseat, reading a light novel to pass the time.

Peter, on the other hand, was cleaning the living room up. It was unusual to actually see him cleaning up, especially consider how messy his personal room was.

Tomoko lowered her book, seeing him dusting off a nearby stand with a lamp on it.

"What's he doing?" she thought while squinting.

Peter sauntered over to her and snatched the novel out of her hand, "I don't mean to be a bother, but it'd be nice if you helped me out here."

Tomoko rolled her eyes while groaning, "W-why are you even cleaning up?"

"What? Didn't I tell you?" Peter asked.

Tomoko shook her head. She then reached over to try and grab the book from his hands, but he pulled it away from her as he took a closer look at it.

Peter tried reading the book. Unfortunately, he then remembered that he couldn't read Japanese.

"Oh, right. Shame I can't read this," he said. "I'll bet this is one saucy book going off of the two half naked guys on the cover."

"They're not half naked, they're half dressed!"

Peter stifled his laughter, "Distinction without a difference."

Tomoko finally managed to snag the book out of his hands and resumed reading.

As she continued reading she thought, "Probably not the best idea to be reading something that could be misconstrued as erotic in front of him, now that I think about it. Well, I guess it is pretty erotic, actually. Not that I read it for that stuff! I read this for the story! Wait, why am I defending myself like he can hear my thoughts? Hey! He didn't even tell me why he was cleaning!"

"Hold on!" Tomoko shouted.

Peter was pulling out the vacuum from the closet as he looked up at her, "What?"

Tomoko couldn't follow that up, as she was distracted by the sight of him bending over with his back to pull the vacuum out. Drool dripped out of her mouth and she bit her lip as she stared right at his back, looking just below the belt.

"Tomoko?"

She snapped out of her lustful gaze, shaking her head rapidly.

"Uhhhhh, I-I hear you sh-should bend with your knees an-and not y-y-your back. Just some f-friendly advice."

"Yeah, that's a good excuse. I'll go with that," She thought to herself.

Peter rolled his eyes, "Suuuuuuuure. Anyway, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh! You never told me what you were cleaning up for."

Peter slapped his own face, "Riiiiiight. My best friend's coming over to visit. Just yesterday, he was released from a mental institution."

Tomoko dropped her book as her eyes bugged out and her bottom lip slightly lowered in a shocked fashion.

"A mental institution?!"

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"H-how did that happen?"

Peter sighed, "His father. You know the Green Goblin? The guy I talked to you about on our first date?"

Tomoko slowly nodded once.

"That was his father. His real name was Norman Osborn. I already explained what happened to him. As you can imagine, someone who went around as a deranged supervillain wasn't exactly father of the year material. That's putting it lightly. He took up drugs. Eventually, after Norman died, Harry found out I was Spider-Man. He followed in his father's footsteps and tried to kill me."

Tomoko cocked her head in a baffled manner, "Wh-what? Your b-best friend's father also happened to be a villain? Your life i-is so dramatic."

Tomoko then thought about what it'd be like if one of her best friends' parents were a supervillain. First, she imagined Yuu's father as a costumed villain. She couldn't really see it. What was even harder to imagine was Yuu herself becoming some kind of villain in response. Assuming she could even find a costume that would fit her rather generous proportions.

Then she imagined Yuri's mother as a villain. Again, she couldn't really picture it. However, when she thought of Yuri herself as one, it actually somehow fit. Tomoko could see it and that was pretty scary!

With Tomoko lost in her own train of thought, Peter continued the conversation, "Yeah, you could say dramatic. I call it Parker Luck. Either way, he's just about recovered. Not that he remembers his brief stint as the Green Goblin, which probably helps."

"H-how doesn't he remember? That's awfully convenient."

"Guess amnesia just runs in the Osborn family. I'd actually really hate to see what Norman Osborn was actually capable of if he wasn't constantly losing his memories," Peter shook his head after that, realizing he was getting off topic. "Anyway, how it even happened is another long story."

"You s-seem to have a lot of those," Tomoko sarcastically noted as she continued her reading.

"Like I said, it's that Parker Luck! I'd talk about it more, but I'd really like for us to NOT be a bad mood when he shows up."

Just before Peter could turn on the vacuum, he heard a knock at the door. He shot up in shock as he thought, "Huh? Harry wasn't supposed to be here for another fifteen minutes!"

He attempted to pull the vacuum back into the closet as quickly as he could. Another knock at the door came as he struggled to bundle up the cord.

"Could you get the door?" Peter asked Tomoko.

Tomoko obliged, albeit not too enthusiastically. She got up from the loveseat, quietly grunting in slight irritation. She staggered over to the door, opening it with a halflidded expression on her face.

Standing in the doorway was a man with a long, thin face. Dressed in a green sweater with a dress shirt beneath and plain, dark brown slacks. He had his arms down at his hips as, his forearms at 90 degree a he waved his hands. He had a wide grin on his face that soon faded into a confused frown.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is this the wrong apartment?" he politely asked.

Tomoko didn't respond. She was too distracted by what was on top of his head.

"Holy crap, it's real! It's him! It's that guy in the picture with the weird hair! Seeing that in-person...!"

She cocked her head, squinting with her mouth slightly agape in confusion.

Right at that moment, Peter appeared behind Tomoko to greet his best friend, "Hi, Har! Long time no see."

Harry's smile returned when he saw Peter, "Heeeey! There he is. I knew this was the place."

Peter pulled Tomoko, who was still staring, aside as he motioned his arm inward, "Come on in."

"Thanks, pal," Harry replied, striding into the apartment. He took a seat, propping his feet up on the coffee table.

"Sooooo, what's happenin'?" Harry asked.

Peter answered as he approached the sofa to take a load off himself, "Nothing much! I will say, you seem quite chipper."

"Of course! Thing's have been pretty good. My therapist and I have been making great progress. Though, something odd has been going down."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Someone's been raiding and destroying some of my father's old factories and labs. Started sometime last week with a research facility in the inner city. Ever since, a string of them have been hit. Stranger still, nothing's been taken from any of them! At least, nothing we've known about. All that's been found are hidden rooms nobody knew was there before."

"Really? Interesting..."

It wasn't too farfetched to assume that those hidden rooms contained the leftover gear of the Green Goblin. If someone was robbing these places for everything they held, they'd have quite the arsenal. Just when Peter thought the legacy of the Green Goblin had been truly buried.

Who could be behind it? Was it Harry himself? Certainly, he was the most likely suspect. Yet, if it was Harry, why would he tell Peter about this? Was it to throw off any suspicions towards him?

For all Peter knew, it could have been Norman himself. It wasn't entirely impossible to imagine he somehow survived the whole ordeal and used the chance to fake his death. The very idea that Norman Osborn actually survived sent chills down Peter's spine.

Ultimately, it didn't matter. Anyone behind the mask of the Green Goblin could become a grave threat. Especially if they somehow learned Peter's secret identity as Spider-Man.

Harry waved his hand dismissively as he continued, "Ahhh, but who wants to talk about that? I can see things have changed around here. After all, I still don't know who this is." He gestured over to Tomoko

"Oh, her? Yeah, that's my new roommate. She's an exchange student from Japan. Gonna be staying with me for the next year." He turned over to her, "Care to introduce yourself?"

Tomoko glared at him for putting her on the spot like that. After a deep breath, she introduced herself, "I-I'm Tomoko."

"Nice to meetcha, Tomoko," Harry said. "I'm Harry."

Peter, in a surprise move, wrapped his arm around Tomoko's shoulders, pulled her in close, and pointed up at her while saying, "She's also my current girlfriend."

Tomoko was taken aback by him pulling her in while also proudly proclaiming their relationship status. Her face turned a bright shade of red as her gaze turned to the floor.

"Weeeeeell, how 'bout that!" Harry said. "I thought you and MJ were goin' steady. Guess that didn't work out, eh?"

Peter shook his head, "We tried to make it work, but something got in the way."

"What a bummer."

"Ahh, I'm not too upset over it. After all, Tomoko's pretty great once you get to know her," Peter replied while nudging her with his elbow.

Tomoko just looked at him with a confused look.

"Bit of a flake, ain't she?" Harry remarked.

Tomoko then turned to him with an offended look on her face.

"What prompted that?! Stupid, freaky haired asshole! I don't even know what flake means!"

Peter pursed his lips with a deep inhale as he thought, "Harry never was exactly great at reaching out to the shy types."

Harry shrugged, "Ahh, c'mon! I was only kiddin'. No need to take it so personally." He folded his hands, exhaling in an uncomfortable manner. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"What is u-up with your hair?" Tomoko asked out of the blue, unable to hold it in anymore. Peter gave her a baffled look.

"You can't just ask people about their hair like that," Peter whispered to her.

"After how rude he was to me, I have every right to ask whatever I want."

"That's not how it works. Besides, he wasn't being rude. He was just joking."

"If he was joking, how come I'm not laughing. Wasn't particularly funny."

Harry tilted his head, running his hand through his hair, "M-my hair? Sister, I wish I knew! Genetics, I guess. My old man had the exact same style. Anyway, what's up with YOUR hair?"

Tomoko froze. She gulped, unsure how to answer that.

"Ghkt-! M-my hair?! There's nothing wrong with my hair! Don't try to deflect, you cockroach!"

Peter, meanwhile, was chuckling to himself over this whole ordeal.

"Gotta say, Pete, she's got your charm; that's for sure," Harry sarcastically said.

Tomoko scowled, looking like she was ready to wrap her hands around his scrawny little pencil neck.

Peter threw his arm infront of her and shook his head. "I know Harry can be a bit abrasive sometimes, but he's not a bad guy," he quietly said in an attempt to calm her down. "He's my best friend, after all."

Tomoko relented, reclining back in her seat with her arms crossed.

"Anyway, Har, as you probably can guess, I can't exactly become your roommate again. Sorry to say."

Harry waved if off, "That's fine. I'm bunking up with Flash, anyway."

"That so, huh? You two try not to have too much fun without me."

"Aww, wouldn't dream of it!"

"Could I get you anything, Har? A coffee? Some juice? Or maybe you just want some water?"

"Nah, I oughta be going soon, anyway," Harry replied while stretching and standing up. "I gotta meet up with Flash to discuss splitting up the rent."

Peter frowned, "So soon? It was nice seein' ya either way, bud."

"Right back atcha, Pete," Harry replied while pointing to finger guns at him. He then turned to Tomoko, with an unsure expression, "It, uhhh, it was nice meeting you too." He said that with such an insincere tone.

"Y-you too," Tomoko muttered, barely audible. Harry walked out from the apartment after that.

Peter shook his head with his fingers pinching his nose, "What the heck happened back there?"

"Huh?! I didn't do anything! He's a total snob," Tomoko defended.

"Harry isn't-" he paused before finishing that statement. Actually, Harry COULD be quite snobbish. Especially to those outside his friend group. Peter still remembered the first time he and Harry met at ESU. Harry thought Peter was someone who thought he was too good to talk to the others and Peter himself thought that Harry was a snobby jerk. Neither of them knowing that they had their own problems at home that occupied their minds until later on.

"Alright, alright, Harry can be a snob. But, that's just how he reacts to people outside his comfort zone. He still doesn't know you yet. He probably takes your quietness as being standoff-ish, hence him referring to you as a 'flake.' Though, that hair comment definitely didn't help your case."

"His hair is weird! He had it coming."

"I know it is! I've actually always wanted to ask too. I never did, though, since it'd be pretty rude."

Peter slouched back into his seat, now with a tired grin on his face. "You're trouble; y'know that? Complete and utter trouble."

"S-sorry," Tomoko simply said in response, poking her two index fingers in a timid fashion.

"Hey now, I didn't finish. You're trouble, but so am I. Don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet. Still, I'm certain we can make this work."

He stood up, affectionately rubbing her head before he departed for his room, "I need to get going. Patrol the city, that whole jazz. Don't do anything too stupid while I'm gone."

Tomoko didn't have a response. She instead melted in her seat after being patted on the head. As she lay on the couch, she placed her hand where he touched her. She quietly moaned and twitched in pleasure.

Tomoko knew she had to text her friends about this. She might even call Yuu and Yuri to brag about it.

When Peter slipped out the window in full costume, he quickly swung towards the highest vantage point he could find in the shortest amount of time. He made his way to the top of a fairly high skyscraper.

With this view, he had quite a good look at the city. If the Green Goblin's successor was anywhere in the city, odds are he could be seen from up here. He didn't see anything suspicious. All he knew to do was to track down the few Goblin hideouts he did know about for any signs of recent activity.

He wouldn't be successful in this pursuit, though. This was because the Goblin's successor wasn't in New York City. He was close, though. Instead, his first operation as the horrible Hobgoblin would be at Ryker's Island. He would initiate a bit of a prison break, so that he could get at one prisoner in particular.

The prisoner he had in mind was Quentin Beck. Beck could be quite useful in his operation. Especially as Hobby himself had no experience in engineering. However, Quentin Beck was all too adept at creating bizarre gadgets, seeing as how he was the magnificient Mysterio. Who better to turn to, to both teach him how to properly reverse engineer Osborn's technology and perhaps how to make new, stranger weaponry?

Besides, Beck was a master of illusion. His brand of trickery could be used to more properly insure the Hobgoblin's identity would never be truly exposed. Still, that trickery could just as easily be used against him. It was something worth being paranoid about. For that reason, Hobgoblin would need to keep Beck on a short lease if they were to partner up.

First, he still had to focus on freeing Beck from prison. He had a boat stationed just outside the island. As close as one could be without drawing the attention of the guards.

Hobgoblin flew in, instantly being noticed by the guards patrolling the borders of the island. Hobby had been practicing for a week now, getting a feel for how the glider controlled. He also had to get a grasp on how to use the Green Goblin's gear to it's max potential. He knew that if he didn't get it right the first time, he'd risk serious jailtime alongside ruining his reputation.

It was all too thrilling an experience, more than he even imagined it could be. Avoiding the gunfire and retailiating with his own set of fun toys. Seeing them run and scream, all as he laughed maniacally. No wonder Norman Osborn let himself be consumed by the identity of the Green Goblin!

Now that the guards were properly disposed of, he swooped down to the currently empty prison yard that was in the center of the facility. He threw another array of bombs at the prison walls. These were specialized bombs, meant specifically to clear through walls. While one bomb wouldn't have worked, it seemed that throwing multiple was enough to melt through the thick steel.

Any guard that approached him got a face full of his finger blast, knocking them clean out. Might've even killed a few.

He flew into prison. The tight corridors were of no issue. To further hide himself, he threw down gas bombs that shrouded him. His mask allowed him to see through the smoke, as he made his way to the prison cell that contained Quentin Beck.

He also decided to free a few other prisoners on the way with some bombs, just to further sow the seeds of chaos and allow him to make a cleaner getaway.

Finally, he arrived. The cell of Quentin Beck. He aimed his finger at the control panel near the door and blasted it wide open. The door slid open, leading to a stark white inner cell with only the bare essentials. Sitting on the bed hanging from the wall was a man with light skin, a strong jawline, a black bowl cut, and some wrinkles on his face. It was Quentin Beck.

"Who are you?" Quentin questioned.

"I'm the Hobgoblin, and I'm your ticket out of here!" Hobgoblin explained with a raspy, throaty voice. He forcefully grabbed Quentin by the forearm, and pulled him onto the back of his glider, "I'll explain later. Come along, now! Be sure to hold on tight!"

With the choices of rotting in prison until he could escape himself, or coming along with this new criminal, he had to think for a moment. Well, it beat staying another night in the cell. Quentin stepped onto the back of the glider and gripped onto Hobgoblin's back for dear life. Hobgoblin threw another set of explosives at the ceiling, leaving a clear hole for his exit. The two departed, all as Hobgoblin cackled.

Just as he thought it might, the prison riot he enacted was the perfect distraction from his escape. He flew towards the boat he set near Ryker's, but he did not land on it. Hobgoblin instead flew beside it and signaled for it to start moving without him. The man piloting the ship saluted him, and it took off.

Instead, he flew towards a boat that was much further away. Hobgoblin landed on the ship's deck, stepping off of his glider. As soon as he landed, the ship too started driving away in the opposite direction of the other one. He was breathing heavily, hunched over with his hands on his knees. That was so exhausting, much moreso than thought it would be.

He collapsed onto a nearby lounge chair, still heaving. To the side of the chair was a stand with a wine bottle and two glasses.

"I didn't think it'd be so hard," he muttered to himself. "Norman couldn't have possibly done this all by his lonesome. He must have had some kind of secret. I've still yet to read through all of his journals. The answer must be in one of them..."

Meanwhile, Quentin Beck was still standing. He awkwardly shifted his gaze around, still utterly confused as to what happened.

Hobgoblin beckoned to him, "Quentin, dear boy, why don't you take a seat?"

Quentin gulped, sitting in the opposing lawn chair.

"You said you'd explain to me what this was all about. What do you want with me?"

Hobgoblin was pouring out some wine for the both of them as he said, "Yes, yes, of course. As I've said, I'm the Hobgoblin. Something of a successor for the Green Goblin. However, admittedly, I'm no genius like he was. That is why I brought you here, Quentin. You're so brilliant- ahh, but before we continue, can I offer you a drink? You do drink, don't you?"

Quentin silently nodded. Hobgoblin handed him a glass.

"Anyway," he continued after a sip, "I think you can help me figure out his technology. Who better for the job than you?"

"What're your rates?" Quentin bluntly asked.

Hobgoblin chuckled, "Straight and to the point; I like that. I'll pay quite generously. In fact, I'll even give you a place to stay. This boat is taking us to Long Island, I've rented a condo by the shore just for you. Well, it's actually for both of us. But, it's where you'll be living. I'll just be visiting."

"Nice," Quentin commented. "Heck, I'm in. I'm gonna need my Mysterio gear, though."

"Taken care of. I already have a man inside Ryker's who'll retrieve it for you."

"Excellent."

Hobgoblin stood up from his chair, "If you'll excuse me, Quentin. I have to make a small personal call. Drink as much wine as you wish while I'm gone!"

He retreated to his private quarters below deck, being certain to lock all access to it.

It was a humble bedroom, dimly lit. He removed his mask, revealing the tanned, thin face of the man beneath. His hair was short and colored a very light blonde, almost stark white.

He sat on the bed and reached for his cellphone phone on a nearby table. It was an expensive brand.

He called someone on it. No answer. Not that it mattered, he'd just leave a message.

"Hi, Mary Jane, it's Roderick Kingsley. I'm going to have to cancel our photoshoot for tonight. Something just came up, I'm sorry. We can reschedule for another day. Don't bother trying to call me back, I'll be busy all night. I hope you'll understand. Thank you."

With that taken care of, he hung up. His voice in his civilian identity was a complete contrast to his voice when behind the mask. It was light, smooth, and almost sophisticated.

Back above deck, Quentin Beck relaxed in the sun. It was nice day outside, far better than the dreary weather of the past week. He was quite suspicious of this Hobgoblin character. Anybody trying to continue the legacy of someone like the Green Goblin was probably untrustworthy.

However, Quentin would ride this for as long as he could until things turned sour. Then he would do what he did best, he'd disappear. He took a big gulp of his wine as he thought, "It's good to be back."

Chapter 10 is done. If you've read any of my previous stories, then you might think the Hobgoblin is one of my favorite Spider-Man villains. He appears in the leading antagonist role so often. He is one of my faves, but I actually prefer the Green Goblin. I use Hobgoblin so much since he's so versatile. He's also very underutilized in the comics, so there's a lot of interesting directions to take his character.

I did consider using the Green Goblin at the beginning of writing this, but decided not to. I feel that Norman Osborn's mere presence would overtake the story, alongside dragging down the mood a lot. So, I chose the Hobgoblin instead. Eagle eyed readers might actually notice I namedropped Kingsley in Chapter 5.

I also did debate whether I wanted to keep his identity a mystery for longer, but that would be pretty pointless. Not like anybody else BUT Roderick Kingsley was gonna be the man behind the mask.

One more fun fact about this chapter; I actually nearly wrote Harry Osborn speaking in almost exclusively dated 60s lingo. He still does drop some, but I had to stop myself from including more. Made it too hard to take his character at all seriously.

Anyway, let's look at the reviews.

Cool Doggo - It was inevitable!

NinjaMiyuki - I've got plenty of plans for these two left, don't worry. In particular, there's been a lot of focus on Peter's cast, what with this story taking place in his home and all that. There will be a point where I'm able to shift focus to Tomoko's cast and I cannot wait for that.

Guest - Glad you thought so. More is on the way!

Before I go, I'd like to apologize for what's been going on with the previous chapter. is having a weird error where the latest chapter keeps appearing and disappearing. I don't know what's going on. For anybody who has been unable to catch it at the right time, hopefully the error is gone when I upload this one. Or, it'll at least make it so you're able to read the previous chapter.

Welp, that oughta do it. As always, thanks for reading. I hope I'll see you in the next chapter.