Sorry for the (brief) delay. Limited time game mode I've been grinding away at and lost track of time.

"Morning, Peter," MJ said with a yawn.

"Morning," I answered back, leaning against the power box. Normally I would have jumped up to sit on it, but I was only about twenty four hours into this whole 'enhancement' thing and still didn't want to risk anything.

"Feeling better?" She asked with another yawn.

"Yeah. Just needed a good night's sleep." I glanced over at her as she grumbled. "You good?"

"No. Mrs. Winterhalter dropped a surprise project on us due by next Friday and she's being a pain about sourcing everything. She wants us using proper researching websites instead of 'going through wikipedia links!'" She groaned and slouched forward. "You'll get another study day going, won't you?"

I chuckled. "Just make sure Flash doesn't get 'inspired' by any of us again and sure."

MJ gave a short breath of laughter. "Perfectly fair."

The bus ride wasn't as bad as I was expecting, especially since I was able to protect myself with earbuds. Some white noise on low volume, and the chatter of the bus, early morning or otherwise, and I was perfectly fine. Yeah, the way my clothes rubbed against my skin every time the bus rumbled was a little grating, but at least it wasn't like the mall yesterday where I literally ended up stumbling into a corridor to collect myself.

Damn. I tapped my fingers on my arm as I looked out the window. Hypersensitivity really wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The worst part was that I don't think a Spider Sense was even in effect yet. This was all just my senses on overload.

"You okay, Pete?" MJ turned her phone towards me. One of the notifications was pulled open, detailing a message from Cindy asking to check up on me and how she wasn't sure if I was good.

I shook my head. "Cindy's just being overprotective again."

MJ smiled and nudged me with her elbow. "Must be nice, having an older sibling be that protective of you."

"Could do without all the teasing, though."

"I'm pretty sure teasing is part of being an older sibling," she countered.

"Yeah, that's why I said 'all'." MJ and I shared a quiet laugh before she returned to her phone, thumbs tapping across her haptic keyboard. "Anything new from the grapevine?"

"Nothing you'd really be interested in."

I shrugged and made a show of lowering my volume. "I wouldn't mind listening for a while."

MJ glanced over at me. After a brief moment, she tapped out of her current chat group and moved to a different one, flicking up several times before scooting a little closer and showing me her screen. "So apparently there's some girls from one of our competing schools that have been making moves on the boyfriends of some of our cheerleaders..."

/ - /

Gym was surprisingly easier than I expected. In my class, other than ball-centric sports, I was usually top three for anything fitness related, and it wasn't that uncommon for me to stay just a step ahead of whoever was first or second in order to motivate them to work harder. Doing that again except as who to set my pace for was simple enough, and no one questioned why I wasn't sweating or breathing hard at the end of everything.

Classes were much the same, and honestly, it felt more like my body was finally able to keep up with my brain. Making connections with the information I was absorbing was always easy, and now my body was reacting to things in much the same way. It almost felt perfect, in a way. And like so many things, that was terrifying.

I stepped out of the way as a ball flew my way, letting it pass harmlessly by. It was just my luck to end up facing off against Flash, someone from the Baseball team, and one of the other Football players, but never let it be said that I wasn't good at my job, even before the bite.

Step one of dealing with an opponent was keeping an eye on their body movements. The way their eyes and head were facing; the way their feet were pointed as they moved around; the way their limbs chambered to deliver blows (or in this case, balls). Most people didn't reach a point where they could reduce their telegraphs, and the enemy team was much the same, focusing more on chucking balls as hard as they could rather than trying to psych me out.

"Come on, Peter!" someone from my team shouted.

I sighed quietly. Was it good exercise in more ways than one? Yeah. Was it starting to drag out? Also yeah. I dove to the side, picking up a ball in the same motion and using it to block one thrown my way, launching it into the air. This sort of stuff I used to have to get lucky with. After the bite, the ideas were as firm as a memory. Flash went down first, my ball thrown with such relative force it curved through the air and clipped him on the side of his leg. Another ball thrown my way by the baseballer was caught and immediately thrown to the side as I spun towards the ball that was only now falling down, curling it into the side of my neck like a shot before flinging it out at Flash's teammate, my fingers gripping the cover of the ball tightly and putting a topspin on the ball as I released it. The ball slammed mostly harmlessly into his stomach, slipping past his hands and reflecting towards the ground.

Mr. Wilson blew his whistle. "Alright! Set it up again!"

"Jeeze, Tiger. How long were you working on that one for?"

"About three weeks, off and on," I answered MJ, tossing the balls she threw my way towards Flash, who had barely been able to take three steps off the field before I won for my team. "Pretty sure I did that shot put a month or two ago and failed."

"Yeah, just went 'wuwuwuwuw!' right to the end of the court!" Flash wiggled his whole arm towards the sky. "That was the most uncoordinated you've ever been, Pete!"

"Hey, you try doing as many spins as I did and keep your balance," I shot back with a grin, tossing another ball his way.

Flash's friend spiked the last ball in place, backpedaling and gesturing genially that he was keeping his eyes on me, a gesture I returned.

"Alright, ready? Fweet!"

/ - /

My first 'almost' accident was when my Sticky refused to deactivate. Not my webs, but my Sticky. A book I was reading on the discovery and usages of iodine refused to leave my hand in the middle of lunch, and no matter how hard I tried to calm myself down or 'refuse to believe in the Sticky', the book refused to budge. Luckily my other hand was completely fine, and my pinky was clean enough that I could turn the pages that way. Also luckily, no one was really around to notice at the time. MJ was with the rest of her friends catching up on something or other, Flash was doing the same for his sports crew, and Harry was hiding out in a hallway somewhere all by his lonesome.

I tried to do what I could to get him to integrate into my circle of friends, but I'm pretty sure Flash was giving Harry a hard time when I wasn't around. It felt like Harry was crushing pretty decently on MJ and she seemed to be reciprocating his interests, but considering I never saw them hang out aside from some forced interactions like class or trips, it was hard to say whether that was her just being nice or a genuine attraction.

"Hey, Parker!"

I looked up, bringing two fingers to my brow in a mock salute. Even after all this time, it never failed to amuse me how he could say my last name with such joking vitriol. "Thompson," I greeted with equal 'venom'. "What's up?"

Flash dropped down beside me, absolutely no cares about how hard his rump hit the sidewalk. "You been doing alright, man? Everyone's been saying you're getting hard to get a hold of these days."

"I'm not that hard to reach," I countered.

"You've been taking nearly an hour to respond to any of the texts we send to you if it's not during school hours," he deadpanned. "Also, what's up with your sunglasses? You've been wearing them every chance you get."

I opened my mouth and immediately stopped. As much as I wished otherwise, that did sound startlingly true. Between running to distract myself from the upcoming trip, exercising to learn what my new normal was, and studying random things to also try and distract myself from the upcoming trip, I really have been ignoring my phone a whole lot. "Nerves," I said simply. "Also, I think whatever I got sick from left me with a migraine or something. Been sensitive to a lot of stimuli lately."

"Nerd." He scoffed and shook his head. "You going for a run?" he asked, gesturing at my neatly tied laces.

"It'll probably be a long one," I warned him.

"Longer than it's been since we've last done one together?" he asked with a raised brow.

I chuckled. "Maybe. Just let me know when you're wanting to tap out." I rose to my feet smoothly, bouncing a little and reminding myself of where I needed to be in order to be 'human'. In a way it was almost like I swapped from an older beater car to a brand new one; the sensitivity of the brakes and clutch were so much more different than what I was used to that even after a day and a half it was still disconcerting. "Let's go the usual route, but keep going straight instead of taking a right."

Flash immediately set off into a light jog, not looking to see if I was keeping up. "Won't that take us through some hills?"

"Yup." I let him lead for a few blocks to get a sense for his pace before moving ahead a half step. "How's your classes going?" I asked as we jogged in place, waiting for the light to change.

"God, Dad, I'm doing fine, alright?"

I chuckled. "I'm serious, Flash. Last time I checked in on you, you were pretty close to getting barred from doing football."

"They wouldn't stop me from playing, Pete," he countered, "I'm too good! They need me!"

It was probably true. Despite Midtown having a focus in science and technology, that didn't stop the athletics department from trying to pull as much weight as they could. Flash and his peers were probably the best players they had this decade, and a lot of us knew they were trying to milk that for all it was worth. "But what about afterwards? If a scholarship doesn't pan out the way you want." I slowed back down after accidentally moving four steps ahead. "What's the fall back?"

"Probably try and become a coach," he answered after a moment. "That or the military."

I nodded slightly. While I personally didn't agree with selling your body for the government, especially in this day and age, the money from a military pension was no joke. It was basically the same thing as living off interest from a very hefty savings account, or managing to be the author of a constantly played song for the holidays. Spend enough time in the armed forces, and you'd basically have the dream of universal basic income where you could chase after your dreams and not have to work to live. "Doesn't really answer my question, though."

It took Flash a half block before he answered. "Not as good as I should be, by your standards. MJ's been helping me a lot, lately."

"English?" I hazarded.

"Yeah."

It was the issue last time, and I honestly understood it for Flash. Especially in the analysis portion of things, Flash always kind of struggled. Ask him to do math or try to do some science stuff, and he was fine. Ask him what an author was trying to mean by having someone wander off into the woods all on their own and get lost for a day or two with a new approach towards life, and all he'd be able to arrive at was 'they like nature. Like Parker.'

"I'll see what I can whip up. You still have that gym membership?"

"Off 101st and Jamaica, yeah."

"Nice. I'll let you know once I got a plan." Flash thought better when he was moving. Last year in order to help him study, I made some flash cards and pulled a bunch of different prompts from various places that I quizzed him on while he rotated between sets or cardio machines. It worked out amazingly well, even if we didn't do that specific kind of studying all that often.

A little over an hour had passed by the time we got back to school. Flash had worked up a decent sweat while I was only slightly perspiring. "Thanks for the run, Flash." I tossed him one of my protein bars, something I purchased while I was out and about yesterday. "And good work keeping up. I know repeated bursts is more your thing, but you managed really well."

Flash leaned against the lockers and continued panting. "Fuck... fuck you, Parker," he breathed out. "God, are you training for a marathon or something? You kept raising the pace."

"Or something." I chuckled. "Think your coach will let you skip cardio today?"

"Ugh, not unless I come in like this." He began stumbling off, waving a hand weakly in parting. "See ya, Pete."

"See ya." I watched him leave for a brief moment before I closed my locker, frowning when my hand refused to remove itself from the door. "Freaking kidding me?" I grumbled. I took a few deep breaths before eventually managing to pull my hand off, disguising the attempts by leaning my head against my locker and pretending I was just trying to catch my breath.

As I walked through the halls back outside, I pulled my phone out of my pocket after it vibrated.

#Pete.#

#Thinking aboutt getting Thai 2nite.#

#Want in?#

#Sure, what time?# I sent back to Cindy, lazily moving to the side of the hall as some freshman ran my way.

#B in Queens in an hour.#

A whole hour to myself, right? I spun my phone in my hand, managing two whole rotations before catching it. I could probably do some free running somewhere. Be stupid and see if I could roof hop. I was able to jump up a whole story at that construction site, and if memory served me right, I was able to make the distance for the standard alleyway. A whole street might be a different story, but provided I kept decently hidden?

I placed my hand on a wall. "Believe in the Sticky, Pete," I muttered to myself, managing to pull away without any problems.

/ - /

One thing I was intensely grateful for? Enhanced senses didn't mean overly sensitive taste buds. Sure, I could probably point out every ingredient used in a dish like a top chef if I actually knew all my ingredients, but that didn't mean every granule of salt or pepper was clearly distinct and isolated. Really it was more textures were more significant. How tender meat was, the softness of rice, the thickness of the sauce; it was enlightening in ways I wasn't expecting and I found myself eating proper meals much more slowly, even compared to pre-bite standards.

"You forget lunch today?" Cindy remarked off-handedly.

"It's just really good today," I deflected, using my spoon to point down at my gaeng daeng. The chili seeds were wonderful explosions of heat and while the mushrooms could have used a little bit less cooking for my tastes, the eggplant and chicken were absolutely perfect. I ran my tongue over my upper molars, savoring the hints of sweetness that the curry held. "Okay, maybe I am a little bit hungry."

She chuckled, bringing another spoonful of tom yum goong to her mouth. "Something happen while you were out yesterday?"

"No?" I raised a brow.

"MJ told me you kept staring at random things, and not in your usual 'lost in thought` kind of way." She reached over and poked me between my eyebrows with the butt of her spoon. "Your old man crease kept forming the entire time."

"I do not have a—" I reached up and rubbed my head, feeling the exact crease she was talking about.

Cindy grinned. "Hah, see?" Without hesitation, her expression morphed to one of mocking consternation. "I'm Peter Parker, and I'm lost in thought thinking about how to cure cancer and making grasshopper farms industrially viable!" She puffed up her cheeks and cupped her chin, making various sounds of fake thought.

I rolled my eyes and let her have her fun. If I didn't have rice that was completely soaked in curry, I probably would have thrown a few grains at her face, public or not. "Anyway, how's work been the past few days?"

"Nope." Cindy leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. "We're not side-stepping this, Pete."

I sighed. "Can we not talk about this for a while?" I grumbled.

"Is the issue life threatening?"

"No."

"Is it life changing?"

I shifted and looked to the side. "Not yet," I mumbled.

"Pete..."

"Not yet," I repeated, more clearly.

Cindy sighed. "How worried should I be?"

"Very minimally. It's not life threatening and I'm being safe about everything."

She leaned forward. "Are you hanging around the wrong crowd?"

"What? No!" I let a brief spurt of annoyance flit across my face. No matter how offended I might have been by the insinuation, that was no reason to let myself be as loud as I was. "It's just a me thing, nothing else."

Cindy leaned back once again, arms still crossed. She continued to stare at me as I resumed eating, and it was only after my third spoonful that she did the same. "Okay, I believe you."

"Just like that?" I asked in mild disbelief.

"Just like that." She put her lips to a shrimp, deftly removing its shell with her fingers and teeth before biting the whole thing off at the base of the tail. "Either you're overestimating your abilities and need to come to me or our parents for help, or you know exactly what you're doing and are going to tell me about things down the line."

I stared down at my food. No matter how many times she did stuff like this, it was always still surprising. "You're a really amazing sister, Cindy."

She chuckled. "Helps that I have an awesome brother."

Next chapter will be June 12th.