The afternoon sun filtered through the blinds of Peter's bedroom, striping his desk in gold and shadow. He sat hunched over his physics textbook, eyes glazed, pencil tapping absentmindedly against the page. Normally, equations made sense to him. They were his language, clean, predictable, logical. But today, the numbers swam.
His gaze drifted to the Blue Lantern ring resting beside his notebook. It wasn't glowing now, not like it had when he'd stopped that bus. It looked harmless, just a smooth band of deep cerulean, humming faintly if he held it close enough to his ear.
Peter sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You know," he muttered, "you could at least come with a user manual."
"Talking to jewellery now, Parker?"
Peter jerked up, startled, only to find Mary Jane leaning against his door frame, arms crossed, that playful spark in her eyes. She wore her Midtown High hoodie, sleeves rolled up, red hair catching the light like fire.
"Jeez, MJ, ever heard of knocking?"
She grinned. "Where's the fun in that?" She glanced around the room, the cluttered desk, the half-assembled web-shooters, the faint scorch marks on his window frame. "You've been… busy."
Peter felt his stomach twist. "Just a science project," he said quickly, too quickly.
MJ raised a brow. "A science project that involves melted glass and a weird blue night-light?"
He tried to deflect, but she just kept staring at him, patient, curious, the kind of look that made lying impossible.
"Okay," he admitted softly, "maybe not just a science project."
MJ stepped closer, sitting on the edge of his desk. "Peter… is this about what happened on 34th Street? When you saved that little kid?"
He froze. His pulse quickened.
She smiled faintly, reading him like an open book. "I thought so."
Before he could respond, a faint blue pulse came from the ring. MJ's eyes widened as the glow spilled across her hand. "Peter…"
"It's not what it looks like," he said automatically, then hesitated. "Actually, it's kind of exactly what it looks like."
The ring hummed again, softer this time, and MJ reached toward it before Peter stopped her. "Careful," he said. "I don't even fully understand what it does yet. Or where it came from for that matter."
She tilted her head. "Then why are you using it?"
"Because people needed help," Peter replied, the words sharper than he meant. "I couldn't just stand there. I never can."
MJ studied him for a moment, then nodded. "That's what I like about you. You care too much for your own good."
Peter smiled faintly, the tension easing.
That afternoon, Stark Tower was quiet. Too quiet for a man like Tony Stark.
The holographic map still floated above his desk, but it wasn't what held his attention anymore. He'd stopped chasing the blue energy. Now, he was studying the boy.
Peter Parker.
Eighteen years old. Midtown High senior. Brilliant, socially invisible, and somehow wielding a power that rewrote the rules of physics.
Tony leaned back in his chair, flicking through surveillance clips: Peter helping Aunt May with groceries, walking MJ home, stopping at a corner store for milk. Normal. Utterly, painfully normal.
And that, Tony thought, was the interesting part.
"Jarvis," he said, "any sign he's using the power?"
"None, sir. His behaviour is consistent with a standard civilian routine."
"Right," Tony murmured. "Because the smart ones lie low."
He rubbed his jaw, watching Peter laugh with MJ as they walked out of the school gates. It wasn't just the power that intrigued him, it was the restraint. The discipline. Most people who stumbled onto something like that would've lit up half the city showing it off.
But not this kid.
Tony zoomed in slightly. The faint glow from the ring, almost imperceptible beneath Peter's sleeve, pulsed once, steady, controlled. Like it was listening.
That made Tony's gut tighten. Technology didn't listen. Energy didn't respond. This was something else.
He turned away from the screen. "Jarvis, prep some more drones. Nothing visible or intrusive. Keep it fifty meters from the Parker residence."
"Surveillance, sir?"
Tony's voice was flat. "Observation. For now."
As the AI hummed in compliance, Tony walked toward the window. The city stretched endlessly beneath him, alive with motion and secrets.
He wasn't sure yet what secret Peter Parker was holding onto, but whatever it was, Tony intended to be the first to understand it.
Before anyone else did.
"The energy readings from the ring remain outside known parameters," Jarvis noted. "Attempts to replicate or model the field have failed."
"Have we gotten a response back from Bruce yet? I know he would absolutely love to study a new energy source."
"Dr Banner is currently unable to leave the air force base, sir, General Ross has him working overtime on the Gamma radiation project."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "So, in other words, we're on our own. For now, at least."
"That's what it seems like, sir."
He exhaled slowly, the city lights reflecting off the glass. "Whatever that ring is, it's rewriting the rules. And if he can control it…" Tony trailed off, the thought half-finished. "Well. That's a conversation worth having."
He turned away from the display, the flicker of holographic blue fading behind him.
As the lab lights dimmed, Tony stood alone, the hum of machinery filling the silence. He wasn't sure what kind of person the boy would become, or what the ring was capable of. But one thing was certain.
Their paths were going to cross.
And when they did, the world might not look the same again.