A/N: Ya know, I've added it to the summary of this story now, but I still feel compelled to put in a warning whenever actual substances are used in a chapter since they aren't in every one. It's only near the end, and not used by anyone remarkably likable or important to the story. Maybe.
Issue Ten: Old Friends
As soon as Sirius arrived at school, Harry greeted him, looking the usual sleepy for a teen asked to wake up at an ungodly hour. "Can't think. Need… caffeine. Sleep. And girls." He took a sip of the coffee he'd brought with him. "Hmm. Need sleep. And girls."
"And here I thought a month-long punishment would leave you rested," Sirius ribbed with only half his usual energy. "You look like the dead, man."
"Yeah, I'm just…" Harry looked away, nervously shuffling like Peter did when he had something to say but didn't speak. "Just going through some stuff. Don't worry about it."
"Uh-huh." Sirius gave his friend a once-over. He thought to follow up on what he wasn't saying, but another arrival showed up, only looking slightly better than Harry.
"Hey, guys," Gwen smiled warmly, despite the bags under her eyes. "How was your weekend?"
"Mine was…" Harry looked away and shuffled again, sipping his coffee to fill the silence. "Good. Spent time with Dad, so… that's nice."
"Oh, cool. Cool…" Gwen trailed off, tapping steadily on her hip.
"I… don't suppose anyone's heard from Peter?" Sirius spoke up, the silence beginning to make him itch a little.
"…" Harry stayed quiet, his full attention on his cooling beverage.
"I… wanted to reach out, but…" Gwen scratched the back of her head, in one of the few moments she ever seemed self-conscious.
"And he hasn't been answering my calls," Sirius sighed. 'I would swing by, but… after that night, it'd feel like spying without an invite.'
"Hard to call without a phone," a familiar voice plugged into the conversation. All three teens turned their heads fast enough to be a record. Sporting a new but second-hand blue jacket, Peter Parker timidly waved at the group. "Hey, everybody."
"Pete!" all three shouted, startling the boy (and most of the courtyard), as they surrounded him.
"Are you okay?" Gwen asked, her tapping completely vanishing.
"Where have you been!?" Harry snapped, irritated but more awake.
"He's clearly okay, and he's right here," Sirius waved both of their questions off. "How's Aunt May? Is she alright?"
"May's… doing the best she can," Peter shrugged. "I've been… kind of hovering around her, making sure she's alright. Only reason I'm here now is because she needs a break from worrying."
"Well, it's great to see you anyway" Gwen gave the short teen a quick hug.
"Yeah, doing my homework wasn't the same without you to grade it." Harry cringed under the cross looks he received from Sirius and Gwen. "A-also I missed you! 100%!"
"Guys, really, I'm okay," Peter waved them off. "I… I wasn't, at the time. But, I just needed a minute. Ben was… the best person I know. Looking back, he was trying to watch out for me more than I realized. I don't think he'd be okay with me and Aunt May moping around without him."
"That's great to hear," Sirius began, only for the bell to cut him off. "What, already? What time is it?"
"Time to continue another day of standardized education, subpar nourishment, and judgmental peers with lower intelligence," Peter said, bumping into Sirius slightly. "Shall we?"
As Peter walked into Midtown, Harry and Gwen looked after him in surprise and confusion. "Does he seem… different?" Harry muttered, following after.
"Yeah…" Gwen adjusted her glasses with a slight frown. "I think- that whole speech he just did. Did he stutter at all?"
"I…didn't hear one. Sirius, did you?" Harry looked back to Sirius, still standing at the initial meeting spot. "Yo, Dog Star! You coming?"
"Huh?" Sirius looked up from the note he was reading, pocketing it. "Yeah, wait up!" As he caught up to them, the note Peter slipped to him weighed his thoughts down.
'1st Period. Meet me after attendance. Where the jocks got shocked,' the note said.
Sirius' curiosity overflowed as he made his way to the broken restroom. 'What is going on? Why would Pete call me out of class? Is everything really okay?' These questions burned in his mind as he went to the closed-down restroom. Due to budget constraints, the repairs were slow-going, so it was still locked off to the public.
Or, at least, it was; as Sirius approached it, he could clearly see the door had been opened, with something jammed between the door and the frame to prevent it from closing fully. Sirius did a quick look around for any followers, adult or student. 'My Super Sense didn't go off, so nobody should be around…'
Sirius entered the restroom carefully, noting that the door was back on its hinges. Inside, he found Peter sitting on the back wall, where the urinals used to be, reading something on his flip phone. (Later on, he would look back and wonder how perpetually poor Peter Parker purchased a new phone. He kicked himself for wondering sooner…) At the other teen's entrance, Peter looked up, a small smile lighting up his face from the flat expression he had worn when reading. "Sirius! You're here! Great! Were you followed?"
"Of course not," Sirius shrugged with a smirk. "Plus, with my Super Sense, I'd notice if anybody was-"
Both boys froze up as the door creaked open; both gazes shot toward the sound… to see Gwen slip in, confusion evident on her face. 'The heck? Is she part ninja!?'
"Pete acting weird, I get," Gwen said. "Considering… everything and all. But sneaking out of 1st, the two of you meeting here. Little too obvious something was going on…"
"Gwen?" Sirius began. "Were you following me the whole time? I never even saw you."
"Of course not," Gwen said confidently, hands in her pockets. "Remember, I'm very good at blending in."
'Yeah, but I didn't even notice you with my Super Sense,' Sirius puzzled. 'How did she dodge it? How did I miss her?'
"Anyway," Gwen continued. "What's with the sudden school meeting? Actually, never mind. This works for me."
"Works?" Peter blinked as he stood up. "What's that mean?"
"I… have something to talk about with Sirius," Gwen's calm face gave way to hesitation. "Privately."
"So do I, really," Peter said, turning to Sirius. "It's about that report we were doing the other day? About spiders?"
Gwen's gaze narrowed at Peter's wording. "And… why do you need to talk about… spiders?"
"Why are you curious?"
"Why are you evasive?"
Sirius glanced between both sets of friends, before he broke down in amusement. "Oh God," Sirius facepalmed, his laughter breaking the tension. "I am terrible at secrets."
"Huh?" Both sets of eyes roved to the chuckling teen.
"Okay," Sirius collected himself and looked at Gwen. "It's all right, Gwen. He knows about… everything. I… may have told him first."
"Oh… oh!" The realization hit Gwen and she began chuckling as well. "I… completely forgot! You mentioned that before. That was a busy night… Guess that explains why you're meeting here in-! Wait a second…" Gwen looked at Sirius calculatingly. "The fireworks explosion… that was you!"
"Yeah… It's why I talked to Peter first," Sirius explained. "I was… afraid I scared him. Hell, I scared myself, using a sink as a boxing glove…"
"Oh…" Peter avoided eye contact with the two, adjusting his glasses. "So, you told Gwen…"
"Of course I'd tell you guys," Sirius replied with a smile. "You're both my best friends! I tried to tell Harry, but it was hard to get a hold of him during his grounding."
"More like impossible," Gwen remarked. "Harry's dad practically had him locked up."
"Is that why he was wearing a prison uniform to school the other day?" Sirius quipped, earning a giggle from Gwen.
Peter looked between the two of them with an unreadable expression. "…Look, we've been out of class long enough to notice, so I'll cut to the chase. About the party that night…"
"The party?" Sirius thought out loud. "You mean, the one at the Baxter?"
"The one that, according to the Daily Bugle, never really ended." Peter pulled out his phone, scrolling for a second, before showing them the screen. It was an article, with the headline Rager! Junkies on a Rampage! Below the title, is a blurry picture of a man with red eyes lunging at the unfortunate cameraman.
"I've been keeping up with this whole thing," Peter explained. "It started at the Baxter Building, but events like this are cropping up all over the city."
"Huh," Gwen muttered. "Well, that's a coincidence…"
"More of them?" Sirius groaned. "Just one weekend blowout turned into a police massacre. Can't imagine what the police force looks like now…"
"I haven't heard anything in the news about this," Gwen said. "I didn't think the Bugle was covering it, either."
"They aren't. I had to look up other avenues," Peter supplied. "The Sun and The Globe did cover events like this, but it seems someone high up in NYPD has been keeping a lid on it. Just last night, they officially lost that privilege when just four guys tore apart an apartment building in Harlem. One of those in the attack had a connection to the Mayor's office. He… didn't like not knowing about this before."
"Great," Gwen said sarcastically. "So, drug zombies in New York… I don't see why you called a meeting during school hours for this. You could have called after school."
"Not in this case," Peter said. "Not when we have a chance to get to the source and plug this before it gets any worse."
"Gwen, earlier you mentioned this was a coincidence?" Sirius asked. "What did you mean?"
"Well," Gwen tapped a small beat on her hip as she spoke. "I had a month to think of everything that happened. The thing I wanted to talk about was that party at the Baxter. I think we need to talk to Johnny Storm about it."
"Johnny Storm?" Sirius blinked. "Why him?"
"It was his place," Gwen reasoned. "And he was the only person you mentioned meeting besides Harry. Plus," Gwen's gaze darkened a bit. "That flaming-headed piece of crap owes me from before…" At Gwen's expression, Sirius once more wondered what Johnny could have possibly done to earn such anger.
"…I think that's wrong," Peter spoke up, having stood back and watched the two go back and forth with a tight expression. "Johnny hosted the party, but he didn't bring the drugs. That was-"
"No. No way," Gwen cut in, apparently already on the same page as Peter. "Pete, you cannot talk to him-"
"But he has to know-"
"He's practically radioactive!"
Sirius looked back and forth as they argued. He had no clue what they were talking about but wasn't sure how to jump in and ask, let alone stop it.
"We're old friends, Gwen. I'm sure he'll-"
" It's not about that and you know it!" While Gwen's reaction to Johnny was cynical, her new expression was furious. "I do not want any of us near effing Eddie Brock!"
Sirius expected Peter would drop it there; even with his own friends, he was never confrontational. So, it was shocking to see him look back at Gwen with defiance. "Gwen. I know you're mad about it, but this isn't about that. For the sake of solving this, we need to look at all angles."
"He can't be trusted." Gwen stood firm, eyes hard behind her glasses. "If we want to know anything about what happened, we can't trust Eddie Brock. On anything."
Peter snorted. "And you think Johnny the Incredible Airhead is gonna be any better? He probably doesn't even remember-" Peter's phone beeped, his alarm ringing. "Damn… if we stay any longer, they might send teachers to look for us. Sirius, meet me at lunchtime. We need to question Eddie about this whole thing, and that might take the entire 30 minutes to do it."
"Wait, hold on," Sirius protested. "But what's the deal with-"
"I'll tell you later," Peter said, a glare from the lighting shielding his eyes. "See you at lunch." He left quickly after that, leaving a perplexed Sirius and still steamed Gwen in his wake.
"Uh, Gwen?" Sirius spoke soothingly. "Are.. you alright? You seem… really upset."
Gwen looked over at Sirius, but her gaze went through him, clearly not in the moment. Finally, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "I'm… fine. Head back to class, Sirius. I can afford more time than you, I left after you."
"But-"
"I'm fine. Seriously," Gwen smiled as she said it, even if it wasn't as big as her usual one was. Her look stirred something in Sirius' chest, heat rising to his face. "Now go, you considerate ass. Double time."
"U-uh yeah. On it. See ya in a bit." Sirius left the restroom and made a beeline for 1st period. But even as he sat down, his thoughts were once more on other things than school. 'That was like… back during the swing. What the hell is wrong with me? Some sort of exhaustion from my powers? Or… what?'
Pushing that to the side, he focused on all the new information he had about the situation. It took him the rest of 1st period and half of 2nd, but Sirius finally began weighing his options. Gwen's idea to interrogate Johnny was a good one; he even brought his costume, so a familiar masked face might help jog his memories of that night last month. (Plus, maybe he could convince Gwen to explain what the hell Johnny Storm did that earned such a reaction from her.)
On the other hand, Peter was right; Eddie Brock was involved in drugs, and it was the worst-kept secret in school. Pressing him for info should be fine, but it sounded like Peter and Gwen had a previous relationship with him. This was something he'd never heard before, and he'd thought they'd told him everything about their lives. He couldn't deny a certain curiosity to discover what exactly had happened to ostracize Eddie from them.
By the time the 10th-grade lunch bell rang, Sirius' mind was made up. 'Peter's going through a lot right now. Keeping an eye on him is a good idea. Plus, he had a point. If Eddie is connected to Utopium, he'll have what we need. I've seen what that stuff can do back home, and I've been ignoring it. I should have done something when I first learned about it. I won't let someone else get hurt because I didn't think about the consequences again!'
After sending a quick text to Gwen about his choice, she responded with a 'don't like it. pls b careful. ed's a leech.' Looking at the message in question, Sirius looked over to Peter as they were walking through the halls, away from the cafeteria. "What does Gwen mean by 'leech?'"
"Oh, that?" Peter shrugged. "Well… I guess you should know that Eddie, Gwen, and I were best friends in middle school." Sirius blinked at the casual drop of info. "Yeah, Gwen doesn't like bringing it up, so we just… don't mention it."
"Considering this is only the second time I've heard of Gwen holding a grudge for anybody," Sirius pointed out with raised eyebrows, "what did Brock do?"
"He… took something of Gwen's," Peter looked away, adjusting his glasses. "She was rightfully mad at the moment, but it's been years."
"He stole something?" Sirius frowned, wondering if that was all it was. "What was it?"
"Just a charm bracelet," Peter said before they exited the back of the school. "Alright, Eddie should be right behind those dumpsters. He always smokes out here-"
"Which I can tell," Sirius muttered, wrinkling his nose at the smell.
"I'll start the conversation," Peter continued, "but follow my lead. When I give you the signal, jump in. For this to go right, you can't deviate, okay?"
Once more, Sirius found himself looking Peter over; a month ago, he was stumbling over every five words. Now, he was talking with purpose, and no hesitation. He wanted to be proud of this new bravado, but he was still questioning where it had come from…
Sirius shook his head. 'Focus. I'll talk to him about it later. Right now…' Following behind Peter, the pair rounded the dumpster to find Eddie, glassy-eyed and holding a blunt between his fingers.
"Hey, E-eddie," Peter said, suddenly dipping his shoulders and looking down at the ground in a clear submissive nature. "It's… been a while, r-right?"
"Huh?" The dirty-blond teen blinked at the intrusion on his quiet time, not looking like he was seeing them standing there. "Wait… Parker?"
"Y-yeah," Peter smiled in his familiar nervous cadence and stance. "H-how've you been?"
"Hm," Eddie looked away, taking in a drag, holding it in before exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Guess it has… Whadda ya want, Parker? Unless you're here to settle Trust Fund's tab, I ain't got nothin' to say…"
"H-harry?" Peter questioned what Sirius was thinking, before shrugging. "Yeah, that makes sense…"
'It does?' Sirius looked at Peter incredulously. 'What other secrets are my friends hiding!?'
"But that's not it," Peter shook his head. "Rather, I was w-wondering if you'd heard about all those coked-up people running around lately."
That made Eddie focus on them more than his weed, the roach pausing halfway to his lips. "What… do you mean?"
"I mean," Peter adjusted his glasses, gaze sharp though he was still hunched over. "A lot of these stories involving people going on a rampage mention designer drugs found at the scenes. W-would someone like you… know something about that?"
Eddie snorted, took a drag, then belched the smoke in Peter's face. "Piss off, Petey. Do I look like I know about every drug in New York. Whatever vials the pigs found at whatever party they found them at ain't got nothin' to do with me."
Sirius bristled at Eddie, entertaining the idea of making him eat that blunt. 'Peter said to wait… but for what, exactly?'
Peter coughed at the obstruction in his face, before speaking again. "Well, I don't want to pry, but I'm sure you know something."
"Yeah?" Eddie gave the two an amused smile. "And why's that?"
"I never mentioned they found vials," Peter said, seemingly fighting back a grin.
Eddie blinked, trying to recall what he said before. He failed because he was too high to think past 5 seconds ago. "But didn't you say something about Utopium?"
"Never even mentioned the name." No longer stuttering or hunching, Peter looked up at Eddie with toying amusement.
"Uhh…" Steadily losing his high, Eddie got up from leaning on the wall. "You know, what I've got somewhere to be, so-"
"Sirius," Peter said. "Please 'ask' Eddie to stay." He gave the taller teen a meaningful glance.
With no further prompting, Sirius stepped over and shoved Brock back to the wall with one hand. As the overly thin teen looked bewildered by the show of strength, Sirius smiled. "Please stay, Brock. Or I'm telling Misty and Ash."
"Wha…?" Brock muttered before hitting Sirius' arm with all the power of a limp noodle. "Dude, let me go."
"We will, Eddie," Peter smiled pleasantly at the pothead as if they were chatting over drinks. "But we need to know where those drugs came from. You need to tell us something."
"Hey, come on, guys," Eddie pleaded half-heartedly. "I ain't doin' nothing wrong. Plus, a lot of guys like what I got. You hurt me, it's all gonna come back on you."
"We're not trying to hurt you, Eddie," Peter pointed out. "But we need to know where the Utopium's coming from."
"I, uh," Eddie looked from Peter to Sirius, his buzz fading more and more as he struggled to get out of the grip. "I… can't say."
"Can't or won't?"
"Like, seriously can't!" Eddie looked around as if waiting for someone to come out and cap him now. "The guy who I get it from… he freaks me the hell out! It's like he's got eyes and ears everywhere. I can't-" Looking around again, he lowered his voice. "I couldn't say his name without painting a target on my back! I'd be dead before the day was out!"
Peter and Sirius traded looks before nodding. "Okay, so how do we contact him? Like, if we want a meeting?"
"W-well…" Eddie looked up, thinking and muttering to himself. "I-I can get you a meeting. But, they don't contact me until I run out of supply, with enough money to buy more."
"And… how much is your whole supply?" Sirius asked, his wonder overriding the request to follow Peter's lead.
"10,000 dollars."
"10,000!?" Sirius gaped, letting Eddie go in shock, and dropping him to the ground.
"Dollars?" Peter asked, equally flabbergasted. "As in U.S.?"
"Yeah," Eddie groaned, rubbing his sore butt. "Hey, can I go now? Lunch is almost over, and I have to be… anywhere else to be but here."
A/N: List of people Gwen doesn't like: Johnny Storm, Eddie Brock.
