May took a deep breath as she pried open the door to her nephew's bedroom. It was messy and unorganized, with the nanobot charger filed away in the corner. Sunlight cracked through the window, rays sprawled over the room, revealing the teenaged boy fast asleep in his bed for the first time in ages. Most days she would have let him sleep in, just happy that he was getting rest period. But unfortunately, by law, she was required to wake him up today.

"Peter, baby.", the woman called as she made her way to his bed. "It's time to get up. First day of school." "Mmm.", he groaned, barely starting to stir. May shook him a little, finally getting some motion out of him. "Don' wanna go. Do I have to?" "Yes, unfortunately." Peter huffed a long sigh as he propped himself out of bed. "Ok, ok.", the teen groaned, bleary-eyed. May gave a soft smile, running a hand through his hair for a minute. She gave him a kiss on the forehead before getting up and leaving the teen be.

He hasn't been able to sleep well--actually, he's had trouble sleeping at all--since the field trip to Europe in the past summer. Because of the former or the latter—not going to lie, it may be some of both—it got really hard for him to talk to anyone, even in his social circle. He hadn't text Ned until immediately after school was out. Everything was, er, is, mentally and physically draining him. Conversations are hard to make whenever you're dead on your feet.

Likewise, it's been hard for him to suit up and go help people in the night as Spider-Man. He still does it though; he'll do it 'till he's dead. People's lives aren't going to be at stake just because he's been a little down in the dumps. Not again.

I really need to clean my room., Peter thought as he maneuvered around the bedroom to get ready for the day. It took him longer than normal, finally opening the bedroom door nearly 15 minutes later. At that point, he really only had time to brush his teeth and grab a banana from the fruit bowl before dashing out the door. He knows that the fruit is only going to hold for a minute or two, rather than to lunch, but the boy still hopes anyway.

He barely makes it to the subway in time, grabbing a handle just as the doors shut behind him. The small victory lets him release a breath that he had been holding. It looks like he wasn't going to be late for the first day of school. That's the first time in a long time.

"Well, well. Look who it is.", a familiar voice called from the side. Peter jolted up in surprise, possibly in slight unwarranted fear as well. Flash Thompson posed no threat to him, not for a while, but it seems old habits truly do die hard. "If it isn't Penis Parker. How are you, man? No one's heard from you since the trip. People were starting to think you died or something.", the bully started talking, tone light and casual, as if they were old friends.

"Why're you taking the subway? Didn't you drive to school?", Peter thought aloud, eyebrows furrowed. Instinctively, he took a defensive position. "Yeah, my car got taken away after an insurance claim raised the rates. Turns out that sh*t's expensive." "Huh.", Peter responded with an absent nod as he pulled out and untangled his earbuds. "So, how're things going with MJ? I imagine that disappearing from the face of existence may take a toll on the relationship.", the decathlon member tried to start up, hinting at a teasing tone. "Didn't cut off contact with everyone, Thompson.", Peter remarked, sticking one bud in his ear and pulling out his phone.

He was scrolling through the apps for his music when he found an app that looked... out of place. The icon was colored a deep red and black, making the striking silhouette of an eye. It was definitely not there last night, which meant that it had installed itself somehow. Without much thought, Peter deleted the app off his screen. Please don't be a virus. An infected phone was the last thing he needed right now.

You'd think that Thompson would have taken a hint at the universal sign of 'I don't feel like talking' that is putting in headphones, but nope. The teen kept on talking, rather getting defensive whenever he realized that Peter wasn't listening. "Hey, c'mon man, you don't need to do that to me.", he taunted. At this point, Parker just shut him out, rather looking outside in anticipation for his stop.

"Parker? Dude? Hellloooooo?", Flash called out, now getting annoyed. Great. At least their feelings were mutual at this point. "Hey Penis, I'm tryin' to talk to you.", he threatened with a scowl. "What's up with you anyway? You shut down after the trip. Like, I get a lot of stuff happened, and it was pretty scary, no one was as messed up as you. What kind of wimp do you have to be to break down like that?", he started teasing. "Leave me alone, Flash.", Peter instructed with a dull tone and stoic face. The subway doors slid open, and the two stepped out.

"What? I'm just trying to have a conversation. For all the years we've shared classes, I don't think we've shared more than three sentences with one another.", he defended, earning a scoff from Peter. "So why the sudden interest? This a new thing you're trying out to belittle me even more?", Peter bit back, looking away. Flash shut up at the question, a shocked, maybe even hurt expression on his face. Peter checked the time before bolting up the stairs, Thompson following. "Leave me—", Peter started, getting cut off. "Dude, this is the first time I've ever had to take the subway to get to school, and I think I might get lost.", Thompson admitted, though obviously humiliated about it.

Peter turned around with a raised eyebrow, glancing away in thought. He remembered the first time he had to use the subway to school and getting lost. Little Peter seemed to take an entire tour of New York before finally making it in time for lunch. His gaze caught back to Flash, he sighed inwardly. Why did he have to be so selfless?

"Alright, come on.", the brunette relented, making his bully perk up and follow in his footsteps. The two walked out of the station and into the busy streets of New York, just as the rain started to sprinkle. "Aw man. Those clouds weren't there earlier.", Thompson commented, pulling up his hoodie.

"Guess we better hurry then.", Peter responded, grabbing the other's arm and dragging him towards the direction of the school. Getting the message, the raven-haired teen followed suit.

As the two walked down the path Parker had memorized to second nature, Flash gazed at all the people and shops that were either opening or already serving customers. He seemed in strange awe, as if seeing it all for the first time. Peter was beginning to suspect that today was a first for a lot of things for the teen.

The teen glanced up at the sky as the sudden rain ended, catching view of a butterfly fluttering in the air. The gray of the breaking clouds highlighted its stark light blue. It entranced Peter so much, he almost obeyed his instinct of following it. He could tell that, apart from the interesting location (Seriously, what was a butterfly like that doing in the city, at this time of the year?), there was something special about the insect. The teen just couldn't deduct how.

The two kept walking to Midtown High, though neither was actually looking forward. Nor did either hear the distorted sound of Peter's phone receiving a notification. Or notice how the color of the water after they stepped in a puddle would change. The only thing that began to make the boys notice that something was off was when the butterfly suddenly disappeared from the sky. Once Peter's focus of attention was gone, he furrowed his brows and started getting a read of the place. Something about it felt weird.

Flash's stupor ended when he started coming across the stores he was familiar with, meaning that they were close. With that notion, Thompson started taking off, making Peter jog to keep up. The two teens made the final turn around the block, only to come across a building that was very, very, VERY much not Midtown High.

"A...castle?"