A/N: Right again. A double update. Double Boom. Also, special thanks to drunkenhamster and Gemmax, whose support has helped tremendously for this fic in particular.
Issue 2: Great Power
Watching as the ghosts of himself and those he would later call his best friends passing into Midtown High, Sirius took a deep breath in and exhaled. 'A lot can happen in a year. I didn't think anything could make things feel… normal. Before, I thought it was bad when everyone was upset Mom and Dad had me out of wedlock. But then Dad… passed, and we inherit the debt from his school loans and Mom's. They shouldn't be able to do that, but nobody was on Mom's side.'
Automatically, Sirius sat down at a random bench and pulled out his old weathered notebook. 'Dad got me this when I said I wanted to draw. The last thing he ever gave me. Before we left Seattle, that therapist said that if I feel closer to his memory by drawing, I should keep doing it. That's how it started, but now I just draw for the heck of it… and to sort out what I'm feeling.'
Settling on an image, Sirius opened the book and began the sketch. 'Who would've guessed that Dad's stories were pretty on the nose? In Midtown High, you can find a group of people who absolutely have your back.' As he began on a certain brunet, he smirked. 'Peter Parker is an odd duck. He's sharp and witty, but you'd hardly hear it over the sounds of his teeth chattering together. We're a little bit alike, in terms of trauma. Even though he's a freakin' genius (excluding Reed, who probably has a robot in his basement), he has no self-respect. He'd lick Flash's shoes if it meant he'd avoid a beating or being stuffed into a locker. Pete lost his parents and is living with his Uncle and Aunt, but they might as well be his parents with how much they care about him.'
Finishing the outline, he switched to Harry's profile. 'And on the opposite side, Harry Osborn wishes his father would disappear, except it feels like he already has. We've gone over to his place a lot, and somehow I've still never seen him! I think I might have caught a glimpse, but I'd have an easier time counting how often I've seen Bigfoot! Or Flash being a decent human being. At least me, Gwen, and Peter have people who are actively poking into our lives. I think Harry's ready to do anything just to get his father to look up from Oscorp.'
Switching to softer pencils, he went over Gwen's outline. 'In the middle, there's Gwen Stacy. Lost her mother, but has her father. He tries to pay attention, but police captains rarely have all the time in the world. And instead of curling into a corner and scratching any approaching targets like I did, she seems to be just fine. Humming when she thinks nobody notices, dancing like nobody's looking. She'd... the coolest person I know. Plus, she's smart enough to keep up with Peter, patient and firm when dealing with Harry, and witty enough to stop me from jumping too far into the emo pool with a life vest. Somehow, she dragged our families together; the Parkers and the Stacys welcomed the Moores with open arms, and I… I learned what it feels like to have your family accept your situation. Gwen's amazing. I don't know whether to thank her for being compassionate or Pete for having such a large head-!'
Sirius' unconscious smile fell as the hairs on his neck stood up. He looked around as it felt like an alarm was going off in his head. Its message: danger approaching. Following the direction the sound seemed to be telling him to look, he turned to his right to see… Flash Thompson, right about to push him from the bench. Reaching out, Sirius grabbed Flash's arm firmly, giving him a glare. 'Bad enough he bullies everyone in Midtown, but now he's doing it in slow motion?'
Flash and his whole crew blinked in surprise, Flash frowning as he tried to pull his arm back. "Hey, doofus! Didn't I tell you not to sit here!? And would you let go of my arm!?"
Sirius' glare was replaced with a look of confusion. "Flash, I don't know what you're on about, but I'm not in the mood." Because he had to be messing with him, right? The star athlete of Midtown High was unable to rip his arm out from someone who never worked out ever? Sure, and next week, Wakanda is gonna reveal they've been sitting on a mound of gold and have just been pretending to be a poor farming village. Closing his book with one hand, because Flash was so committed to this stupid can't move my arm bit (although, Kenny's face of mounting confusion was nearly convincing), Sirius put his materials away, got up to head inside-
RRRRIP!
Only to pause as he looked at his now free hand… and the sleeve of the letterman jacket now attached. What the… Looking back, he saw a gobsmacked Liz Allan, and flabbergasted Kenny, and a furious Flash, face red as a tomato. Chuckling nervously, Sirius tried to shake off Flash's sleeve (Why was it not coming off his hand? Is there glue somewhere on him?) as he stepped back from the jocks. "Uh… Not a bad summer look, Flash. I hear sleeveless Lettermans are in…"
Flash glared through Sirius, breathing like a rottweiler about to attack. "You… my… I-!"
"This isn't my fault!" The nervous teen spoke quickly, focusing more on avoiding a beating than what he was saying. "You should tell your mother to stop buying clothes from a bargain bin. Seriously, this had to be one cheap jacket-" The same ringing returned to Sirius' head, but it was hard to hear over Flash yelling wordlessly as he lunged forward.
Whatever he wanted to do to Sirius (the curse words he was using seemed to contradict one another) was never learned, as Kenny stepped in and wrapped his massive arms around Flash, pinning him to his person. "Whoa whoa! Easy, Flash! How about… we take a walk, huh?" Kenny didn't wait for his friend to respond as he dragged him into the school, most of the crowd recording his reaction on their phones.
As Sirius watched them go, finally getting the sleeve off his hands, Liz glared balefully at him. "I don't know how you stopped him like that, but to go and say…"
"Huh?" Sirius blinked at her. "Say what? I was just joking! What did I say that earned me a mauling?"
"What did you-!?" Catching herself, Liz looked at all the students around her, clearly eager for more juicy early morning drama. Finally, she settled a hard glare at Sirius. "You know what? Forget it. Just leave Flash alone." With that, the cheerleader walked around Sirius into the school, leaving him flummoxed as to what just happened.
"Whoa..." Sirius turned to see Gwen, Peter, and Harry, with the latter shaking his head in amusement. "That was absolutely amazing! I've never seen him like that! What did you do and how did you do it?"
'Wish I knew myself,' Sirius thought to himself as he tossed the lone sleeve into the nearest trash can. "Don't even worry about it. Hey, about the other day? On the field trip? I... thank you for stepping up, guys."
"'S fine. Are you alright, though?" Gwen asked, thumbs hooked into her belt loops as her fingers beat out a rhythm on her jeans. "I mean, you hit your head pretty hard."
"Yeah… hit my head." Sirius rubbed where a dull ache on his neck throbbed. "Uh, actually, I have very little memory after the head-hitting ground thing. What happened exactly?"
"After Brainiac pointed out there was a spider missing," Harry began as he led the walk into school, following the rest of the crowd of students as the bell rang, "Superstar here," he elbowed a bashful Peter, "tackled you to get it off! You should try out for the team, slugger!"
"U-uh, it was nothing, honestly," Peter rubbed where he was elbowed. "I m-meant to try swiping it off with my hand, but I k-kinda tripped."
"It was still pretty brave, Pete," Gwen rested a hand on the stuttering boy's shoulder, eliciting a blush from him. "I mean, I didn't go for it, and neither did anyone else."
"Ex-squeeze me," Harry coughed as they stopped at a row of lockers. "I recall someone very handsome and just as brave as wonder boy here stomping the freaky spider flat before it could bite someone."
Sirius shook his head in both amusement and silent response. 'More like someone else. Missed it by that much, Harry. But it's the thought that counts.' "And Gwen? Mom told me how you and your dad helped us. Thanks for that."
Gwen smiled dazzlingly at the compliment. "Oh, that was just Dad! You know what he's like, a police captain even outside the uniform."
"Well, I hope you don't mind, but Mom and I were doing a movie night this Saturday, and we were hoping you and your dad could come too?" Sirius asked. "As thanks and all."
"O-oh!" Peter blinked at Sirius' invitation to Gwen. "A movie night? That sounds… pretty nice."
"A quiet night in, huh?" Harry gave out a lecherous smirk as he draped an arm over Sirius' shoulders. "You wouldn't be making any plans to try something on our 'Big Sister,' right? …Hey, did you get taller?"
Sirius shrugged off Harry's arm and gave him a look. "Harry. Captain Stacy and my mom will be there. How and why would I try something?"
"There are totally ways around that," Harry smiled, a spark in his eye. "You and Gwen could be sitting on the far end of the couch, got a blanket over your laps, and no one can see what your hands are doing-"
"H-harry!" Peter gaped at him, cheeks flaming.
"Too far, man!" Gwen's gaze sharpened, the tips of her ears going a bit red.
"The man has a gun, you perv!" Sirius whisper-screamed. "And if I tried that, Gwen would use it on me before he could!"
Unperturbed, Harry's smile didn't falter at his friends' mortified faces. "So, does that mean if neither of them was there, you would risk it?" Everyone was spared the number of retorts that question brought up as the bell rang, and they all rushed to class.
Sirius figured he could forget what happened before school by throwing himself into his lessons. This proved more difficult than he expected. In Algebra, he gripped his pencils hard enough to break and could not get past putting his name at the top of his quiz. In history, the pages kept sticking to his hand, and by the end of class, most of his supplies were attached to some part of his body. And in Language Arts, he fell asleep and was startled awake… breaking his desk and chair with his flinch. Yeah, he wasn't having a great day. How the teacher and the class chalked it up to terrible desk material, and his sudden growth spurt was great, but even Sirius was beginning to suspect that was bull.
The nervous teen was absolutely relieved when lunch rolled around. Heading to the usual table, he saw Gwen already there with her school lunch. 'Lucky,' Sirius glanced at his lunchbox. Before he could head over, he heard a sniffle. Not odd to hear some of the students crying, like Johnny when he saw his grades in science, but Sirius didn't notice anyone cry nearby. A quick glance around the room, and following that weird sixth sense again, he noticed way across the room… was Liz Allan, a girl who was never seen without a smile or her entourage, sitting alone and rubbing at her eyes. The 'Power Couple of Midtown' were never apart. Where the heck was Flash? Or even Kenny?
Deciding to not bother the girl that seemed ready to castrate him earlier, Sirius went over to Gwen's table and sat across from her. "Hey there. Is that… a pencil on your neck?"
Sirius tensed and grabbed at the implement before pocketing it. "M-must've stuck to me when I fell asleep in ELA! So, how was Gym?"
Gwen groaned as she pushed her cream corn around her tray. "Don't get me started! Stupid nerd arms… why is that stupid rope so important? Nobody in New York is going to be climbing ropes!"
"Yeah, I hear ya. Want some lunch? Mom packed-"
"Not after the first time you got me with that," Gwen's accusing glare melted into laughter as Sirius joined in. "God, her chili pepper meatloaf! That was…"
"An experience?" Sirius supplied. "You should have tried it as leftovers. The spice… gathers. I'll leave it there."
"Please do," Gwen said as she took a bite from her black bean burger. "Hey… about this morning? Harry was… yeah, sorry, he was out of line. I swear, some days you can't be prepared for the crap that comes out of his mouth…"
"Yeah," Sirius said, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "That kind of stuff's like 4th or 5th date territory."
"Right?" Gwen jabbed a fork in the air. "I mean, if we were dating, then-!" Gwen's voice seemed to catch suddenly, and Sirius was treated to something he'd never seen before: all of Gwen's ears going red, along with her eyes going wide. "I-I-I mean! I meant if I was dating someone! Not you! Not that there's anything wrong with you! You're artistic, and kind, and really stand up, and- I'm just… gonna stop talking now…"
As the frantic blond began drumming her fingers on the table, her own nerves clearly showing through, Sirius chuckled at the display. "It's fine, Gwen. I know what you meant. I don't know if I want to go dating anyone right now, but if I was…"
"Right!" Gwen said a little too sharply, before repeating more calmly. "Right. Yeah, big if. Huge if."
"Billboard-sized," Sirius offered.
"Maybe even planet-sized!" Gwen added, joining in the game.
"Yep!" Sirius took a (small) bite of his lunch before looking around. "Where are those two?"
"No idea," Gwen looked at her phone for the time. One hand gripped the device, while the other beat out a steady beat on the table. It was a clear broadcast of her nervousness. "They only have half of lunch left. We should-"
"Go find them. Yeah, my thoughts too." Maybe it was nothing, they both thought. Maybe Harry, the most unaware rich kid to ever exist, and Peter, Midtown's number one locker filler, were perfectly okay… but was that a bet anyone was willing to make?
Sirius and Gwen split up, Sirius' search taking him all the way to the quietest corners of Midtown High. After checking for any teachers or administrators in the area, and finding nil, Sirius spotted a familiar object near one of the bathrooms labeled 'No Man's Land': Peter's Captain America pencil case. Picking it up, and checking to see if it stuck to him, the teen muttered, "Pete never lets this go. Something's wrong…"
"He-!" Sirius turned to hear a muffled yelp from the restroom. One he'd heard when Flash first shoved him into a locker last year. Looking into the restroom, he saw Peter… surrounded by three burly jocks. Friends of Flash, not that he could remember their names. "P-please let me go! I d-didn't do anything t-to you!"
"No, but your loser friend did something to Flash!" the lead one said. "He got sent home because of the freaky prank he pulled!"
"And he destroyed his jacket!" the jock to the right the leading thug spoke up. "Those things ain't cheap!"
"B-b-but I'm broke! Ask a-anyone!" Peter cried. "My lunch is on layaway! I don't have-!"
"Shut up!" Jock Thug #1 pushed Peter over; the tiny teen fell awkwardly on his arm, trying to protect his glasses from hitting the ground. "This is about respect, not money, four-eyes!"
Peter looked up at the trio, a mixture of fear and… something else in his gaze. A cross between tired and... something indescribable. "Did… Flash send you guys just to beat me up?"
Jock One just laughed with his friends. "Nah, we ain't gonna hit you! Your little boyfriend embarrassed Flash, and we're here to get even for him! If Flash is going sleeveless," the third jock opened the stall door as Jock One continued, "How about we give you a new hairstyle?"
Peter's fearful gaze doubled. "W-wait! S-swirlies are very d-dangerous! You could break my neck! Worse, if you break my glasses, it'll take forever to fix them!"
As Peter's whole face drained of color, Sirius saw red. Rage pounded in his ears to the beat of his heart. Pushing the door open hard, he rushed in before the group knew he was there. With a single kick, the third and silent jock went flying with a scream into the stall. Ignoring the crashing sound, Sirius got into a fighting stance in front of Peter. "Touch him and die!"
The surprise attack put the bigger teens in shock; rooted to the spot, they tried to rationalize seeing Sirius Moore roundhouse kick a defensive lineman flying through the air like a very buff pigeon. Sirius was frozen as well but for slightly different reasons. His body felt powerful but light; it was a new feeling, and even though he'd never fought before, damn if it didn't come to him naturally now. He felt the electricity coursing through his veins – from the kick, from the thrill of the next hit – all of it! (He was so caught up in the rush, he failed to notice his sunglasses had slipped off his face. His eyes seemed to flash in the light, which only further scared Peter's attackers.) Calling on that feeling, he clenched his fist hard enough that his knuckles turned white.
"Here's a message for Midtown's 'King,'" Sirius hissed. "If Flash wants me… he can come get me himself!" Swinging forward, he slammed his fist into the first jock's face. The resulting hit turned into fireworks as literal sparks exploded on impact! A bolt of electricity arched to the second one, and both of their bodies seized and spasmed before falling back unconscious.
"Sirius…" Peter's breathless whisper of fright brought Sirius' rising adrenaline back down to simmer. Looking back at him, he saw fear, shock, and curiosity on his friend's face as he looked at him and the room around him. Sirius looked around for the first time since his anger haze and… holy shit, this place was a disaster!
Sirius' entrance had both torn the door from its hinges and slammed it into the wall where it stayed embedded. For his high kick, Sirius had used the sink and counter as leverage… but the counter had stuck to his shoes, so it had been used as added power to his kick on the barely conscious jock on the broken porcelain that had once been a toilet. To the average observer, you wouldn't be at fault to think that the South American boogeyman called Grande Monstro Verde had been through the restroom. "Uh… these restrooms are… really shoddy, huh?" Sirius shrugged with a self-conscious chuckle as the restroom door fell to the floor with a reverberating thud.
A/N: And we finally have our first fight! Took a minute to get there, huh? If you had a question, leave a comment. I thrive on feedback. Until next time!
