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Right after class ended, Jasper saw Peter Parker grab his backpack and rush out of the classroom. He didn't even need to guess—Peter was probably off helping an old lady cross the street or something.
Jasper had no plans to go help anyone. With his bag slung over one shoulder, he strolled down the street at a super chill pace.
Just then, Ned came up to him and asked, "You heading to Peter's place?"
Jasper wasn't really close with Ned, and he had zero interest in going to Peter Parker's house, so he just shook his head and replied, "Nah."
Ned nodded and quickly took off. He and Peter were pretty tight—they hung out all the time. But Peter hadn't told Ned that he was Spider-Man. Hopefully, if Peter's identity ever gets exposed, he won't drag Ned into it.
Jasper figured he'd find a spot to grab a drink or something.
Before long, he ran into Gwen Stacy at a cold drinks shop. She was sitting with a pretty handsome guy.
Before Jasper could even say anything, Gwen waved and called out to him.
"Hey, Jasper!" Her voice was loud and cheerful.
There was no way Jasper could pretend he hadn't heard that.
Keeping a calm expression, he looked at Gwen and the guy and said, "Wow, what a coincidence! You two on a date or something?"
Gwen just smiled like it was no big deal, then invited Jasper to sit with them.
But Jasper didn't want to be a third wheel, so he said, "Nah, I'm just grabbing something and heading out. You guys have fun."
Gwen didn't insist.
Jasper said goodbye, bought a cold drink, and left.
Right before he walked off, Gwen gave him a friendly wave.
Jasper politely waved back.
Poor Parker… Who would've thought Gwen already had a boyfriend?
He sipped his drink.
There were still quite a few people around. Jasper noticed a young street performer doing a show, but it didn't interest him, so he didn't stick around. Around here, some homeless folks with talent would often perform like this to earn a bit of cash.
Then—"WAAAHHH!"Spider-Man suddenly came flying out of nowhere and smashed into a car.
Jasper: "..."
Slipped up?
Spider-Man quickly scrambled to his feet.
"BOOM!!" A man with a weird-looking weapon jumped down from a tall building.
"BOOM!!" The guy blasted Spidey away with the weapon, and the loud bang made some of the more timid people scream in fear.
Jasper noticed a woman in a business suit bent down and quickly leave the area. She moved with practiced ease, like she was used to this sort of thing.
Jasper didn't run. He just watched the fight between Spider-Man and the guy with the weapon.
Spider-Man saw Jasper too, but didn't say anything—this really wasn't the time to catch up.
Jasper wasn't sure if Spidey needed help, so he decided to hang back and see how things played out.
He moved over to a nearby corner to get a better view of the fight.
Hopefully, Spidey would be able to take this guy down.
The guy's weapon was seriously powerful and kept giving Spider-Man a hard time. The two of them were pretty evenly matched.
At one point, Spider-Man even picked up a whole car and chucked it at the guy—but a second later, the guy used his weapon to blast the car into a pile of scrap.
Then—BAM!! Spider-Man landed a punch straight to the guy's face.
The guy flew back from the force of the hit and immediately passed out.
Seeing that the guy was down cold, Spidey finally let out a breath of relief, and disappeared before the cops showed up.
The fight didn't last long, but they still managed to break a bunch of stuff.
Jasper noticed a lot of people looking terrified. Can't really blame them—if any of the shockwaves from that fight had hit regular people, they'd be dead for sure.
So yeah, it made sense that people were scared.
Jasper took another sip of his drink. A few seconds later, the police arrived and arrested the unconscious guy.
Jasper turned to leave but bumped into Spider-Man again around the corner—he was clinging to the wall nearby.
"What's up?" Jasper tilted his head at him.
"There's someone out there selling crazy-powerful weapons. You saw what just happened. Those things are insanely dangerous. I need your help," Spidey said. He looked like he didn't think he could handle this on his own.
Jasper tilted his head again. The Chitauri hadn't invaded Earth yet, so where was this tech even coming from? Then again, with all the aliens living on Earth these days, it wasn't too surprising stuff like this was floating around.
Still, Jasper didn't plan on getting involved. He pointed to a giant screen showing Tony Stark and said, "You need his help. Trust me—when it comes to tech, he's the guy to go to. Also… whatever you do, don't tell anyone I have powers like yours."
Spider-Man glanced at Jasper. He clearly didn't like the idea of going to Iron Man for help. He really wanted Jasper's support. But Jasper wasn't budging, and honestly, this was pretty in-character for him.
Seeing Spidey hesitate, Jasper added, "Look, Tony Stark is insanely smart when it comes to tech—you know that. He's your best bet. If you try to handle this alone, not only are you gonna be in danger, but you could get innocent people hurt too. If you really care about them, go to Stark."
Jasper said all that with a serious look on his face.
Spider-Man thought about it for a moment, then said, "Alright. I get it."
And with that, he climbed up the wall and disappeared.
Jasper took another sip of his drink, hoping that Tony Stark wouldn't find out that he had powers similar to Peter Parker's.
Otherwise, he might end up getting roped into a fight with Captain America or something.
Jasper's neighbors were a Japanese family. Every time they saw a white person, they'd bow and talk like servants. It gave off this creepy submissive vibe that Jasper really couldn't stand.
So fake and phony. It seriously annoyed him.
"Hello, Jasper~!" A woman in a kimono looked at him with a sweet smile.
Jasper frowned and kept walking like he hadn't heard her.
"Hello, Jasper~!" The kimono woman came closer and greeted him again.
He couldn't pretend anymore. He turned to face her, thinking she kind of looked like one of those AV actresses.
He gave her a stiff smile and said, "Hi, Miss Kobayashi."
Her name was Kobayashi. She'd moved here with her daughter about two years ago.
Her daughter was actually a really cute kid—but super arrogant. Totally not what you'd expect from a stereotypical "little Japanese girl."
All in all, Jasper didn't really like Kobayashi or her daughter.
"Jasper, how about coming over for dinner tonight?" she asked sweetly. She was clearly trying to set Jasper up with her daughter—that's why she kept inviting him over.
Dinner? This kind of setup, seriously? Jasper's mind immediately went to a bunch of NSFW scenes, and he quickly shook his head and said, "Sorry! I've got plans."
Kobayashi nodded and didn't push it.
"....."