Am I (Not) a Hero?

[Peter Parker's POV]

I woke up feeling like a new person. 

This happens to me way too often, doesn't it? Ha. Ha-ha… But nonetheless, my physical condition was excellent. 

However, considering how damp the bed was from sweat, I clearly didn't sleep peacefully. 

It's time for a shower.

I was surprised when I checked at the time because it was five in the morning. 

Why did I wake up so early?

'It's probably because I fell asleep around seven in the evening? Wow, seems like I overslept.'

That didn't happen to me often in my past life.

Usually, I had to hold on until my body shut down by itself. I worked on it for half of that time and avoided it for the other half. 

I picked out the last clean pair of clothes that didn't look too worn out and walked to the bathroom... 

After taking off my t-shirt, I admired the sight of my muscular body.

Turning the lock on the door, I decided to check the standard spider gear.

Looking closely at my index finger, I flexed it slightly, and only now did I notice that I hadn't put on my glasses… 

That's already good news. 

I didn't see any spider hairs on my fingers, but that's not the main thing.

A small, short claw emerged from beneath my ordinary human nails. I felt shock, along with disgust. 

This didn't belong to Spider-Man, Peter Parker.

I quickly checked my teeth for any inclination to elongate and inject venom. 

Thankfully, those features weren't included, but the claws were a strange addition… Wasn't that Miguel's thing from some future Earth in 2099?

'Ugh, I'm certainly not xenophobic, but this is a bit gross. Alright. Alright. Now for both hands.'

The sight didn't improve, but now I had some sort of melee weapon. 

Did I even need it? 

The claws retracted with a light tickle. 

It wasn't painful like Wolverine; it felt more natural, like a kitten, and there was little natural about it, but it was more creepy.

I set this experiment aside for now because I don't want to test anything in the house for durability. 

It's time to check the next mutations.

'Well, Spider-Man can't crawl on walls. I'm sure there's some logical explanation for the absence of spider hairs. Like in the comics… though in the comics, it was explained by some ridiculous metaphysics. Is that legendary biomagnetism coming into play? However, discussing anti-science in Marvel is like preaching to the deaf.'

I pressed my hands against the wall and kicked off my slippers. I climbed up by putting one foot against the wall and raising one hand in the air. 

'Wow, cool… But how do I get down?'

I thought, hanging from the ceiling.

My hands lost their magnetism, and I sprawled between the bathroom and the sink to avoid banging my slightly less pale face against the tiles.

'Well, safe abilities checked. I'll test the rest at that old warehouse where Peter used to hang out with Harry and MJ.'

After washing off, I took another look at myself in the mirror. 

Of course, it wasn't ideal, but it was more than enough for me. I flexed my biceps, bending my arms.

'Sono Chi no Sadame-e-e!'

It came to mind on its own. 

Unfortunately, the cool lettering didn't appear around me. I touched the powerful yet not bulky muscles of my arms. 

They didn't look like they could lift a coal wagon, but they definitely were capable of that.

'Some people are going to have to watch their backs in dark alleys now. Otherwise, accidents are unavoidable.'

I smirked, showing off my perfectly ordinary, healthy human teeth.

After changing, I headed to the kitchen, startling Aunt May with my new silent stride. 

The moment I said "good morning," she jumped and dropped a clean plate that I caught in slow motion.

'So that's what it means to have a reaction that exceeds human levels by forty times. It's incredible because the world barely moves. I wonder how Quicksilver feels about his ability?'

While Aunt May prepared food, I returned to my room and found a thin blue half-sporty jacket to hide the changes in my body. 

Additionally, I had to put my glasses on the very tip of my nose so they looked like they fit but didn't get in the way. 

I should remember to buy a similar pair but with regular lenses or come up with some excuse about contact lenses, but I doubt that would pass with Aunt May and Uncle Ben.

I also had to rummage through Peter's stash and gather all dollar savings into a pile. 

It was time to create a suit and all that. I also needed to check when that damn wrestling match for the cash prize would take place. 

It's nothing personal Sandman.

Peter didn't remember his real parents, but his uncle and aunt took care of him as best they could. 

I had to protect them as a tribute to Peter whose body I now possessed.

After breakfast and saying goodbye to them, I got on the bus. 

Flash started teasing me for being scared of the spider, but all he got in return was my indifferent stare. 

The fear of the beatings was gone as if it had never existed yesterday. I could handle everything this ordinary guy could throw at me.

Neither Gwen nor the other girl who had been bitten on the leg were on the bus. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find Cindy, so I settled for Jessica's company.

'I'm getting bold, huh? 'Settled for' is far from the right word. I was rather enjoying it. What can I say? In my past life, fate deprived me of the attention of busty goth girls.'

"Peter, are you okay?" 

Jessica said.

"Yeah, yeah, couldn't be better." 

I replied with a smile, hiding my glasses in the case at the bottom of my backpack. 

They annoyed me and blurred part of my view. Honestly, no one at school knew just how badly I had seen before except maybe Harry. 

The real Peter would feel extremely uncomfortable going without them, but he would have managed just fine.

"Well, compared to the you from yesterday, yeah." 

She nodded, studying my face. 

"However, you look even better than usual."

"'Even better'? So it turns out I'm not such an eyesore during the day?" 

I smiled, teasing her a bit.

"I-I… never said you were an eyesore." 

She flustered and shifted the blame.

"All questions go to Cindy."

'Damn, if only anyone knew I was flirting with schoolgirls… But how can I stop? Especially since I'm not serious… And biologically, we're the same age.'

"By the way, have you seen her? It seems we still haven't discussed everything about superheroes."

"No, probably she felt worse after the bite… I haven't seen Gwen either."

"Wait, so the second girl who got bitten was Cindy after all?" 

I really thought I had imagined it. 

It's no wonder when everything is swimming before your eyes.

Was she a heroine from some comic or an original character? 

Maybe she was in that very cartoon where all the Spider-Men were gathered together? 

It's too bad I didn't get a chance to watch it. 

I didn't live long enough, sadly.

"You didn't notice?" 

She was surprised.

I didn't pay attention to the strange feeling of anxiety before the answer.

"How could you notice when everything is going black before your eyes?"

I shrugged carelessly.

A feeling of danger signalled, and time slowed down. A delicate female fist approached my shoulder. 

What a danger… False alarm...

"I knew you needed to be taken to the doctor." 

She frowned after she punched me.

"I really appreciate that you care about me, I do. But I absolutely don't want the people of this evil corporation poking around in me with needles and scalpels. What if they got curious about what kind of results their artificial spiders?"

"Ugh, sometimes I forget how much of a nerd you are… What other universal conspiracy theory are you going to tell me?"

"Well, listen." 

I said completely seriously, leaning closer to her face and speaking as quietly as possible. 

"The government is hiding that the wolves in the woods are actually free. You can take home as many as you want."

She stared at my serious face for a long time before she sighed heavily.

"Sorry, but I'm going to check your temperature." 

She placed her hand on my forehead. 

"If Gwen and Cindy were spouting the same nonsense, I'm not surprised their parents left them at home."

"Don't you believe me?" 

I asked playfully, looking at her eyes.

"No, you're right about something." 

She allowed herself a faint smile. 

"But that information wasn't worth the CIA putting us under surveillance and listening to our phones the whole day."

"Does the young miss have something to hide?" 

I parodied one of our most annoying teachers.

A new signal of danger went off, and Jess hit me in the shoulder again.

"Not your business." 

She huffed.
 
"Ow, that's domestic violence." 

I replied jokingly. 

"You're not even my girlfriend; who gave you the right to hit me?"

"Someone has to bring you to your senses." 

She said, turning away from me, and she seemed blushing.

"Oh, come on. I'm just spouting harmless nonsense. Really, I should be pitied, not hit. I'm a poor guy who got bitten by some artificially engineered spider on a field trip. At least I'm not the only one."

"If you hadn't thrown it into the crowd, you would have been the only one." 

She rolled her eyes.

"God told us to share with our neighbors."

I just joked, not wanting to take any blame for the situation.

"And besides, you should be thanking me that it wasn't you."

"Could you have thrown it at me?"

"I could have, probably. Anything is possible in life." 

I said, lifting an imaginary skull in front of me, and she hit me lightly again.

"Ow, seriously. That's not the only way we can have physical contact. Kisses and hugs are allowed too."

This time, I quickly raised my hands in a defensive gesture, only to realize that my annoyed comment didn't provoke her.

Instead, it turned her into a blushing mess.

"This one is broken; bring a new one." 

I thought to myself with a chuckle.

So, I made it to school by joking around and simultaneously doing my homework and a bit of Harry's work. 

If only I had a cloned robot to do all the boring stuff for me while I enjoyed life…

Nothing seemed to trouble me, but suddenly, a brilliant idea struck me. It was so amazing that I felt proud of my genius for a moment. 

I could almost feel a whole sun lighting up above my head instead of just a light bulb.

"By the way, since there are actually real androids in this world, I could create my own 2B and A2. In French maid outfits and swords…"

...

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