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Two days later—Peter Parker showed up at Jasper's house with a whole group of people.
Jasper tilted his head and asked, "So... what's up?"
Gwen Stacy patted her backpack and said, "We're here to finish our summer homework."
"Yeah!" Mary Jane nodded in agreement.
Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Can't you just do that at home? Why come to my place?"
He found the whole thing kind of annoying. A big group like this? Way too much hassle. Plus, with so many people around, Shadow-Spidey had to hide in the shadows the whole time.
Still, it'd be rude to kick them out. So Jasper let them in and said, "I'm gonna go grab some snacks."
And just like that, he dipped.
At that moment, Michelle Jones stood up and said, "I'll... I'll come too!"
So she followed him out.
Gwen looked around and said, "Did we piss Jasper off or something?"
Peter shook his head. "Nah, he's not like that. He probably just wanted to play video games or something. But now he has to hang with us instead. Bet he's just quietly suffering."
Meanwhile—Michelle caught up to Jasper and asked, "You're really just walking to the store?"
She'd honestly thought he'd swing there on webs and swing back.To be honest, she was kinda hoping for it—getting a taste of what web-swinging feels like sounded amazing.
Jasper looked at her. "You wanna swing on webs?"
Michelle stood on tiptoe, hands clasped together. "A little... but it's okay if it's too much trouble."
Jasper considered it. Since Michelle already knew his secret, taking her web-slinging to the store wasn't really a big deal.
He looked at her and said, "Then you'd better hold on tight."
If she didn't, she might get the full bungee-jump experience—which she probably wouldn't enjoy.
Michelle looked at him, blushed a little, then wrapped her arms around his neck and gave a small jump.
Jasper caught her effortlessly. "Ready?"
Michelle took a deep breath and nodded. Wow... he actually looks really handsome from this angle...
The next second, Jasper raised his wrist and thwip—a web shot out.
So this is how it works... Michelle thought, totally fascinated.
And then—They were airborne.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!" Michelle screamed. Her heart felt like it was in freefall. She was scared out of her mind and couldn't stop screaming.
Jasper: "..."
"I'll put you down," he muttered. Her screaming was like a siren going off right next to his ear.
"No—don't! AAAHHHHH!!" Michelle kept screaming anyway.
Soon, they arrived at the supermarket.
Michelle's legs were shaking as she clung to Jasper. "That was intense..."
Jasper, used to it by now, didn't find it exciting at all.
They went into the store, bought some snacks, and walked back out.
Michelle looked at him with sparkly eyes. "Wanna go again?"
Jasper looked her over—she gave off total "noob but loves the thrill" vibes.
He nodded. "Sure."
By the time they got back to Jasper's place, Michelle's legs were practically jelly. Jasper had gone way faster on the return trip, and her heart could barely take it. She almost asked him to stop mid-swing several times, but was too embarrassed to say anything. She didn't want him to laugh at her.
"Welcome back! Thanks for the hard work!" Mari greeted them with a big smile.
Jasper stepped back and frowned. "This is my house. Why are you here?"
Mari smiled sweetly. "Peter invited me."
She'd seen Gwen inside earlier and narrowed her eyes—wanted to see what she was doing at Jasper's place.
Then Peter had gone and invited her in.
Jasper muttered under his breath, "Stupid little weeb..."
Luckily, no one caught what he said.
Mari just kept smiling at him like nothing happened.
The group stayed at Jasper's place working on homework until late afternoon, then most of them finally left.
Except one.
Mari stayed behind and said, "You've got a nice group of friends."
Jasper looked at her and replied, "Shouldn't you be heading home now?"
But Mari plopped down on the couch, clearly not planning on going anywhere just yet.
Then she pulled up her skirt slightly, showing off her long legs in white stockings.
Okay... those are kinda nice.
"Pretty, right?" she said, tilting her head and proudly showing off her legs.
Jasper looked away. "Go home. Now."
Mari giggled and stepped closer. "You're so cute~!"
That line made Jasper cringe. It was a bit too much. Honestly, kinda gross.
He looked her dead in the eyes. "If you don't leave, I'm calling the cops for trespassing."
Mari blinked, then finally said, "Fine, fine~"
And just like that, she left.
Once she was gone, Jasper headed back to his room and finally got to play some games. Thanks to all the guests earlier, he hadn't had time. Now it was finally game time.
Half an hour later—Jasper stormed out of his house, furious.
He was going to follow the internet cable and beat someone up.
What happened?
While gaming, a total noob in mid lane got obliterated, then had the nerve to blame the team.After that, he started trolling, stealing jungle creeps, and even typing in all-chat to leak teammates' positions.
Jasper couldn't take it anymore and started flaming the guy in chat.
Then the guy—this dumb mid-lane noob—had the balls to drop his location and said, "Come find me if you've got guts."
That was it. Jasper snapped.He memorized the guy's address and used Shadow-Step to teleport straight there.
He arrived in a dark little room where a young dude was hammering away at his keyboard.
Jasper walked up, peeked at the screen—sure enough, it was that guy. Still flaming people in-game.
Jasper had had enough.
He grabbed the guy and gave him a solid beatdown.The guy was totally stunned—he had no idea why someone suddenly barged into his room and started wailing on him.
After giving him a good thrashing, Jasper turned and left.
The dude wiped the blood from his nose and stared at the screen.Wait... was he here because of... that?
He started to feel a mix of fear and injustice.
Back home, Jasper shut down his computer.He was done with gaming for now.
Just then, Shadow-Spidey hugged a book and said, "Wanna go to the library with me?"
Jasper tilted his head. "Why? Can't you just read here?"
Shadow-Spidey looked at him and replied, "Because of me, three people already lost their jobs."
"....."