The Mysterio Suit? He didn't know why but that name left a bad taste in his mouth.
Wait, he got it!
"What about… 'Stark: Quake' and 'Advanced: Quake'? That just feels right, you know?"
...
Midoriya hummed, smiling as he opened the app back up to write the names down in his notes. "I like it!"
"Good thing I still got the other suit, it'll have to be a placeholder until we can get these done. Thanks for making it after my first one, by the way."
It still amazed him how Midoriya was willing to make a second version of his suit that was made especially for stealth, but he wasn't going to complain.
"No p-problem." The boy closed the app once more and went to pocket his phone. But before he could, Peter noticed something.
Instead of the vibrant All Might 15th-anniversary phone case the boy usually had, a purely dark green case with black accents was in place.
That didn't feel right…
"Hey, what happened to your All Might case? You never took it off." Peter asked, instantly noticing how the green-haired boy's expression darkened at the mention of the name.
"I-I, uh, sold it along with all my merch," Midoriya said quietly, looking away. "Guess I just grew out of it."
What? That made no sense! Midoriya was the number #1 All Might fan, and he sold all his merch? What could have happened? All Might must have crushed his dreams or something for him to-
Wait.
Crushed his dreams.
Midoriya's voice echoed in his mind.
'A person I really l-looked up to told me I co-couldn't be a pro h-hero.'
A person he really looked up to.
It wasn't hard to piece it together.
"He told you that you couldn't be a hero that day, didn't he? It was All Might." Peter asked, his voice as soft as it could be.
"Y-Yeah," Midoriya confirmed, his voice barely a whisper
"Wanna talk about it?"
"N-Not r-really." His gaze fell to the floor, a sad look on his face.
"Alright, man." Peter outstretched a hand and placed it firmly on his shoulder. Suffice to say, he would look at All Might differently now, he didn't even have it in him to make a joke in his mind.
A peaceful silence washed over the support studio, the two boys being the only ones in the room. It was a silence that was quickly broken.
"He was wrong, you know?" Peter asked, lowering himself to his friend's eye level. Midoriya only looked up with a sad look in his eyes and a raised eyebrow.
"You're more of a hero than most in my class, man. I don't know how he didn't see that." Peter told him, giving a fond smile as Midoriya wiped a single stray tear from his eyes.
"T-Thank you, P-Parker…"
"Hey, call me Peter. We're friends, right?" Giving him one last firm squeeze on his shoulder and shaking him slightly, Peter finally let go.
Izuku only gave a smile and a nod, they both finally stood up from their seats.
"Hey, wanna go to lunch? It's not over for another 15 minutes or something." The brunette asked the boy, stretching where he stood.
Before Izuku could respond, Peter felt his spider-sense ring. He whipped around the room to scan it for any dangers, only stooping when a deafening alarm started to blare.
"WARNING! LEVEL 3 SECURITY BREACH!"
"WARNING! LEVEL 3 SECURITY BREACH!"
"WARNING! LEVEL 3 SECURITY BREACH!"
The automated voice repeated the same message over and over, Peter could hear the stampede of panicked footsteps outside the door, screaming and yelling being drowned out by the blaring.
'What the hell is going on…?'
...
"Do you understand why you're here, Parker?"
Man, did he understand? He was pretty sure he was supposed to be in modern art history by now or something, although he'd take any chance to not be near midnight.
That woman terrified him. His spider-sense constantly rang when she approached.
Alright, UA day number 4! A bit of stuff has happened since yesterday's minor security alarm deal.
The main thing is that Peter was now sitting in front of the school's guidance counselor, hound dog.
"Uh, not really? Although I guess it's not because I'm already excelling." He gave a light chuckle, the dog-like man in front of him seeming to do the same.
"I'm afraid not, Parker. You see, many teachers have noticed your… exhaustion since school has started. The bags under your eyes are not unlike Aizawa's very own."
What? C'mon! He didn't see Bakugo or Rumi get sent to the counselor cause of anger management! Why did it matter if he's a bit tired?
"Really? I guess I never noticed."
While he would love to play dumb to get it over with, part of him felt like he should actually… talk about stuff, you know?
It was a weird feeling.
"Hmm, although that isn't the main reason as to why we are here." The hero typed something into his computer before opening a drawer on his desk and pulling out a worksheet.
The 'Self-Preservation in The Hero World' worksheet he'd done in homeroom.
Damn it.
"As you may know, Aizawa gave out this worksheet this morning to see how 1-A deals with self-preservation as a hero. Self-care, being able to maintain personal relationships, understandable patrol hours, and the like."
He failed it, didn't he?
"You somehow failed it, being the first student in 4 years to do so. I don't know how, but you failed a worksheet on how to have a healthy hero career."
Damn, was it that bad? If anything, he was pretty sure Aizawa had the same unhealthy hero lifestyle.
"Have you been developing friendships so far?"
"Uh, yeah, yeah I have. I have a couple friends in my class and one in the support course, so I'm not a loner or anything like that."
"Good, any trouble at home? Anything that should be brought to our attention?"
Alright, that got Peter a bit weirded out. Trouble at home? May was probably the most caring person he knew!
"What? No! No, of course not! May wou-" He sighed, watching as hound dog observed him from across the room. "May isn't like that, she's basically my mom."
"Alright, forgive me if that question made you uncomfortable, Parker."
"It's fine, just… I just can't imagine May being like that."
The hero gave a nod and a hum, he cracked his knuckles before continuing.
"Your past vigilante activities have been brought to my and the staff's attention. Does anyone else know of them?"
He'd forgotten how much he hated counselors, they were basically therapists who weren't paid enough.
Peter looked down to avoid the man's piercing gaze, why did he feel so on edge? "Only 2 close friends know so far, along with my aunt."
He left out the part about Bakugo, he just didn't have it in him to think about the ash-blonde.
The hero gave a hum, typing away at his computer once again. Peter wondered how a literal muzzle-wearing dog-man winded up a highschool counselor.
"Would you care to tell me how you came to partake in vigilantism? It'll help me understand you a tiny bit more, Parker."
"… The death of my uncle, I guess." Peter saw how hound dog's brow was raised at the statement, but he continued. "My quirk didn't uh, manifest until about 2 months before I came to Japan, but even growing up quirkless the idea of heroics never interested me, you know?"
His mind couldn't help but flash to Midoriya.
"Strange that a kid your age wouldn't be keen on becoming a hero, why would that be?"
You know, Peter knew that this guy was trying to dissect him. But, he didn't care enough so he just went with it.
Besides, it might be good to get some things off of his chest.
"Yeah, I was always interested more in science and technology, but those things take money."
"That's where the underground fighting started?" The man inquired, seamlessly typing away at his computer.
Peter only nodded and intertwined his hands together, a weird feeling rising in his stomach. Regret? Sadness? Guilt? Might be all three for all he knew.
"I saw some flyer and just… went in, you know? Said that I had a part-time job to explain why I suddenly had money. Well, after my uncle got a job offer and we moved here, I decided to just do the same here like I did back home."
...
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