Raj arrived at school with sunglasses on.
Not for fashion. Not for mystery.
But because his damn eyes sparkled when sunlight hit them at the right angle. And after the Cafeteria Apple Incident yesterday, he wasn't taking chances.
The moment he stepped onto campus, he could feel it—an itch beneath his skin. Not physical. More like… attention. Like someone's eyes were needling the back of his neck with sniper-level precision.
He didn't need spider-sense to know who it was.
Peter Benjamin Parker.
Sure enough, as Raj rounded the corner near the lockers, Peter was already standing there.
Like a guilt-tripped hawk disguised in a Midtown High hoodie.
"Morning," Peter said casually, arms folded, leaning against his locker like he did this every day.
Raj squinted behind his glasses. "You've been waiting for me, haven't you?"
Peter smiled, innocent. Too innocent. "What? Nooo. I've just been standing here. Like a normal person. Doing normal locker… leaning."
"You're not even near your locker."
Peter looked behind him. "Minor technicality."
Raj kept walking, muttering, "I knew I should've teleported in through the roof."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Peter fell in step beside him. "Sooo… did you sleep well? Any strange dreams? Sudden bursts of strength? Glowing eyeballs in the mirror? Existential dread mixed with heat vision?"
Raj stopped mid-stride. "Peter. What do you want?"
Peter raised his eyebrows, a little too quick with his answer. "To help."
That didn't sound like an offer.
It sounded like a diagnosis.
"I'm fine," Raj said.
Peter gave him a look. The kind of look you reserve for friends who tell you they're fine after they've just drop-kicked a vending machine into orbit.
"Fine people don't explode fruit," Peter said. "Or crack floors. Or emit UV radiation when annoyed."
Raj turned slowly. "You scanned me again, didn't you?"
Peter winced. "Not… recently."
Raj groaned. "Do you have a scanner just lying around in your backpack or are you secretly working for NASA?"
Peter whispered, "It's a StarkTech prototype. Please don't tell anyone. Also, please don't melt it."
Raj blinked. "You stole from Stark Industries?"
"I didn't steal. I borrowed it. I plan to give it back once it stops sizzling from your weird… sun-body thing."
Raj stopped walking.
"Sun-body thing?"
Peter nodded seriously. "You absorb solar energy. Kinda like a battery crossed with a nuclear reactor. Which is cool, unless you go supernova during English class."
Raj looked down at his hands. The warmth was already there—quiet and curling beneath the surface. Never cold. Never tired. Just... burning.
"I'm not a threat," he said, not quite convinced himself.
"I know," Peter replied.
Raj looked up.
"You do?"
"Yup. If you were, I'd be webbed to the ceiling by now."
Raj snorted. "And I'd have punched through it already."
"Okay, fair. But I'd do it for the drama."
Peter smiled again, but this time it wasn't a trap. Just... Peter. Being sincere in the awkward way only Peter Parker could be.
"Look," Peter said, "I'm not trying to interrogate you. I just want to understand. I've been where you are. I get it."
"Whatever turned you into... whatever you are," Raj said, pausing, "mine was louder. And hotter. I think I glowed for three days."
Peter gave a lopsided shrug. "Pain is pain. Secrets are secrets."
They reached Raj's locker. He stared at the handle a second too long before opening it gently—he'd accidentally ripped it clean off once. Couldn't risk Round Two.
"So," Raj muttered, eyes on the locker's contents, "you think I'm some kind of freak."
"I think you're someone with potential," Peter said. "And I think you're scared to figure out how deep that potential goes."
Raj didn't answer. His hand rested on the edge of the metal, curling just slightly.
Peter added, voice gentler, "You're glowing again, by the way."
Raj cursed under his breath and adjusted his sleeve.
The golden shimmer had started leaking from his palm—just faint threads of light, like veins carved in fire.
"I can't control it yet," he admitted.
"You will," Peter said. "I can help. If you let me."
Raj didn't move.
Didn't breathe for a moment.
He wanted to say yes. Someone understanding. Someone like him. Even if he was a spider in disguise.
But he also didn't want to trust too quickly.
Not again.
Not ever.
"You know," Raj finally said, "you're annoyingly persistent."
Peter grinned. "Yeah, it's a problem. Aunt May says I was born talking and never stopped."
Raj shook his head. "Fine. We can talk. After school. Rooftop. No bugs."
Peter tilted his head. "Spider jokes? Really?"
"I'm new. Let me have this."
Peter chuckled and nodded. "Rooftop it is."
As he walked away, Peter called back, "Oh! And don't forget—we have Chemistry first period! Try not to ignite the beakers!"
Raj sighed and whispered, "No promises."
He looked back into his locker.
The books looked the same. The notebooks. The homework.
But he wasn't the same.
Not anymore.
And maybe that was okay.
Maybe letting someone else in—even someone in spandex—wasn't weakness.
Maybe it was the beginning of control.