It was the first of September, and through the whole month of August, Peter and May had done the impossible so that everything was perfect for the first day. All the bureaucracy regarding Peter not being May's son, all the forms of rules they had to read and sign, purchasing books and school supplies, even full body measurements for the tailored uniform that the school ordered.
The boy wore his uniform, somewhat uncomfortable with the departure from his more casual style. The dress shoes were a far cry from his red sneakers. The gray twill pants, white shirt, red sweater and blue jacket complemented his uniform. It cost more than all the clothes he'd worn in his lifetime.
Fortunately, with May's pay raise, she was able to afford the expense. That didn't stop Peter from feeling guilty though. He swore that somehow, he'd pay her back.
"Did you get your toothbrush?" Asked his aunt, fixing the collar of his shirt. "And your phone charger? Oh! What about-?"
"May!" Her nephew interrupts, having a little fun with her concern. "I've got everything I need. Besides, it's the first day, I don't need to take so much stuff. We'll get our schedules later, then you can remind me of the whole list for the rest of the school year. Ok?"
"Ok..." She says, a little embarrassed. Peter knew that she wanted everything to be perfect, the dream now of being the number one hero wasn't just his now.
"Aunt May, I just want you to know, I appreciate everything you do..." he said, pulling her into a tight hug. "I love you."
"I love you too, honey," she replied. "Have a great first day! And good luck!!" Peter puts on his yellow backpack, and with a wink to his aunt, left the house.
After an almost hour-long bus ride to the M.A building, located next to Washington Square Park, Peter walked in for his first class. He quickly starts running through the empty corridors of the huge place, searching for the first year Class "A". Fortunately, Peter arrives at the corridor where the two rooms of the first year of the heroes' course met.
"This door is gigantic," said the boy, feeling intimidated by the huge wooden door over three meters high. He tried pulling at the door, only to find out that it wouldn't budge. "Oh jeez, am I already late?" Peter started to panic.
"You know the door is sliding right?" He heard a voice and turns around, seeing two people. Peter recognized the blonde boy he'd met at the Entrance Exam. He had the same, simple smile on his face and an aura of calm serenity. But he wasn't alone this time, next to him was a girl.
She was shorter than him and Peter, with equally blonde hair that went down to her shoulders, ending in a pink tone with a gradient. She had a clear skin, blue eyes, sizable cleavage and wore a feminine version of the boys' uniform, wearing a black skirt and pantyhose in place of pants.
The girl looked at the boy funnily. "You only know that because where you live, the doors are all sliding," she said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. "You think I didn't see you doing the same thing on the bathroom door earlier, Mr. Monk?" The teasing was clearly good natured and gets an embarrassed smile from the blond boy.
"Ummm..." Peter wasn't quite sure how to fit into the conversation.
"Oh, sorry. I never did introduce myself at the exam," the boy noticed Peter's visible discomfort. He quickly lowers himself in an oriental greeting, "My name is Daniel Rand. Namaste!" Peter copied the movement, not really sure what else to do. "The shorty here is Gwendolyn Stacy-Poole."
"Shorty!? You little..." She was going to say something else, but decided to just go with it. The girl extends her hand to Peter, "Call me Gwen. He's Danny."
"I-I'm Peter, Peter Parker," he replied, shaking her hand.
"Right! You're the human cannonball I heard all about from the Entrance Exam!" She exclaimed, pointing at the boy.
"Oh, um... I guess," Peter scratched the back of his head sheepishly, not expecting his feat to still be a topic of discussion. He opens the door the right way and makes room for his new colleagues. "After you..."
"Look at this, he's a gentleman..." Gwen winks at the boy as she passed by him. "If your eyes don't go down, you get a point and I don't have to pierce your eyes," she said in a cute, albeit warning way.
She enters, followed closely followed by Danny, who murmurs a slight "Forgiveness," when passing the boy.
After blushing, and feeling a bit afraid of Gwen's comment, he takes a deep breath and began to enter the room. Peter prayed to any cosmic being who could hear him to not put him in the same room as the boy who complained about him in the introduction with Deadpool, or worse, with Flash.
Peter hadn't seen his former classmate during the practical exam, but he knew that the boy, even with a short fuse, had an appetite for destruction. Even if he didn't earn Rescue Points, he'd definitely get enough overall points to pass.
The boy took in his surroundings. It was a decently sized room, with twenty desks separated into four rows. There were several people inside with the most varied ethnicities and external characteristics. But two people in the conversation were the ones who most caught the attention of the boy. Aw hell, he thought.
"Remove your feet from the table!" Peter recognized the dark-skinned boy talking to the last person the boy wanted to see in the same classroom.
"You talking to me, pal?" Flash asked mockingly.
"What you are displaying is a great lack of respect for the heroes who represent M.A, as well as the people who used this table!" The boy tried to argue good sense of the spike hair boy, only to find that he didn't have any.
"'Lack of respect'?" Flash teased. "What school in Africa did you study at to join this supporting cast?"
"You know very well that Africa is an immense continent with diverse rich cultures," the boy argued back, not giving up on trying to reason with Flash. "That is why we cannot be named as a single people! I attended the T'Chaka Memorial Elementary School in Wakanda. My name is Azari, son of King T'Challa!"
"So you're a prince? That'll make crushing you a lot more fun! You'll learn how it all works here in the USA," remarked Flash, staring at the boy wickedly.
Azari took a step back, but soon recomposed himself. "That is a very rude thing to say to a classmate," he said. "Are you certain you want to become a superhero?"
"You think I care about your op-," Flash stopped when he noticed Peter standing at the classroom door. Before he could react in any way, Azari followed his vision and recognized the boy.
"It's you..." he said, which drew the attention of most of the students already seated. Several of them recognized Peter from the practical exam.
"Uh, yeah!" Peter tries to come up with something to say, but the different pairs of eyes stared at him and nothing came out.
Fortunately, Azari didn't seem to care and broke the silence. "Good morning, fellow colleague! My name is-", he approached the boy before his words are cut off.
"Yeah, I-I heard!" Peter said to the boy, realizing how tall he was, but also very thin. "Azari, right? I'm Peter Parker, very nice to meet you."
"Peter... I was hoping I'd get a chance to speak with you," said Azari. "I wanted to apologize for my conduct during the introductions over summer."
"Oh!" Peter was a bit taken aback by the gesture, "Uh, don't worry about it, we were all under a lot of stress. Sorry about the 'litter box' jab..."
The corner of Azari's mouth twitched into a smile, "In retrospect, your remark was somewhat amusing. Oh, do excuse me!"
He noticed another student he apparently hadn't met, and walked over toward what looked like a younger version of Groot.
"Hey Peter!!" The boy turned to see Wanda. She's wearing the same uniform as Gwen, but still kept her red bow. She entered with her brother Pietro, who Peter could now get a better look at. He was tall and athletic, with an even lighter skin, blue eyes, and a thin face. His hair was silvery almost white, in a messy style.
"Deadpool said you really passed," said Wanda. "I wasn't sure which class you would end up in."
"Hey Wanda! I heard you passed too," Peter replied. "How's your leg?"
Wanda stuck it forward, giving a slight shake. "Good as new! Night Nurse really is the best!!"
Just then, Peter he realizes the platinum boy next to him. Pietro had one arm around his shoulder in a slightly silly way.
"So you're my sister's private hero?" He said cheekily, watching the two blush. "You should know that she only talked about it for days!!" Pietro gives his sister a grin and sped backwards to avoid her swinging fist.
"Pietro!!" She scolded, red as a tomato. If he hadn't learned of their relationship prior, Peter would've never guessed that they were siblings. They looked and acted nothing alike.
"You done?" Said a familiar voice. "If this keeps going, we'll be stuck here here through tomorrow."
Everyone turns to see a man in a black suit. He wore a red dress shirt, sunglasses, had messy red hair and carried a mobility cane. The man had an air of authority and professionalism about him, as well as an aura that he wasn't to be messed with.
Immediately, the entire class went silent and took their respective seats. "Good, now that I have your attention..." The man walked in and made his way over to the desk, turning towards the class.
"My name is Matthew Murdock," he began. "If any information about me leaves this school, a thorough investigation will be opened. Should we find the person or persons responsible for the leak, expulsion will be immediate if they aren't old enough to go to jail."
While he says this very matter-of-factly, the sincerity of the threat was definitely there. He ends it by giving a sincere smile, "I'll be your home room teacher for the time being, it's a pleasure to meet you all."
Nobody even responds, everyone is both unnerved and intrigued by the blind man. "Who is this guy?" Whispered a short boy in glasses.
"Is he really blind?" Asked a Pakistani girl.
"I think this guy was a lawyer or something," added another girl with long blonde hair.
"Yeah, out in Hell's Kitchen, what's he doing teaching?" Asked the boy next to her.
"My eyesight might be bad, but my hearing isn't," Mr, Murdock said gruffly, sending chills down everyone's spines. Peter went on edge, there was something eerily familiar about this man. And between the voice and hearing that he was from Hell's Kitchen, he just figured it out.
"Daredevil," he muttered softly. The teacher's face turned to the boy slightly, as if he'd heard him. But he cleared his throat and got back on track.
"Now then, I believe each of you was issued a gym uniform, yes?" He asked.
"U-um, yes Mr. Murdock. They're in our lockers," replied a tanned girl, nervously. "Good," said Mr. Murdock. "Everyone throw them on and meet me out in the courtyard..."
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Barber's Chair
• A bit of confirmation, the young Prince is Azari, from the animated Young Avengers movie a while back.
• A few more students formally introduced: Iron Fist and Gwenpool.
• Daredevil's the homeroom teacher!!
