God, I hate the metro," Leo sighed.
Leo hated taking public transportation, though it wasn't like he had much of a choice. He was only 15 and couldn't get a license, even though he wanted to. Though he did have a permit, and he planned on getting his license as soon as he turned 16.
As you can guess, Midtown High is in Midtown. Sadly, Leo lived near the outskirts of Astoria. So he had to cross half of New York just to get to school, a pain in the ass. If you asked him.
As Leo walked through the halls, he couldn't help but wonder.
"What kind of school is this"
Midtown was strange. There were two ways to get in: either by being rich or by getting a scholarship.
Flash Thompson was as dumb as a brick, but he had an athletic scholarship and a rich dad. Peter Parker was poor and lived with his elderly aunt, but he was a genius, so he had an academic scholarship.
"I think Ned has an academic scholarship for computer science, while MJ had a visual arts scholarship for her art or something."
Eventually, Leo reached his first class of the day. A few people glanced at him but quickly went back to their own conversations. Flash was your stereotypical bully/jock, blond hair, muscles that matched his quarterback title, and an average but decent face with blue eyes.
Flash sat in the far left corner of the classroom, a small group of jocks with him.
In the far right corner was Harry Osborn, stereotypical rich kid. Super expensive sweater vest, black gelled-up hair, etc. Weirdly enough, he kind of looked like James Franco—well, if James Franco had a younger half-Korean brother or something. Leo didn't talk to him much. Nobody did. Harry was a loner and kind of a jerk, he didn't trust people for some reason.
"Hey Leo, what are you doing over there? Get over here," a voice called him over.
It was Ned Leeds, best friend of Peter Parker. He looked exactly like his MCU counterpart, minus ten or so pounds.
Ned was seated near the right middle of the classroom, surrounded by the rest of Leo's odd, usual group of friends: Peter Parker and Ned Leeds.
Leo's friendship with them was odd. They were friends—but not good friends, if that made sense. He talked with them every day during school, played video games with Ned and Peter. They were friends, but not best friends.
Seated to the side of their group was Michelle Jones, otherwise known as MJ. She kind of looked like her MCU counterpart; the only major difference was that her hair was a dark brownish red instead of a normal brown.
MJ was weird, to say the least—kind of a loner like Harry. Despite the fact that she sat near Leo, Peter, and Ned, she wasn't really a part of the group. Not in the normal way, at least. She just sort of sat near them, listening and occasionally chiming in during their conversations.
Leo rubbed his eyes as he let out a yawn. "It's way too early for this."
MJ glanced at him. "You look terrible."
He gave her a blank stare. "...Rude."
Leo took a seat beside Peter and Ned. The duo was in the middle of a discussion, probably talking about some show or something.
He met Peter and Ned in his final year of middle school, they were on the same Academic Decathlon Team. Peter was the physics member, Ned was tech, and Leo was math.
You heard correctly, Leo is a math nerd. Can do high-level multiplication in his head, can learn something twice as fast if it's about math, etc.
Except, despite the fact that his best skill is doing math, he's still the dumbest in the group. Leo was smart, while Ned and Peter were geniuses.
"Anything new?" Leo asked.
"Not really," MJ answered for the duo.
"Yeah!" Ned interrupted. He pulled out his phone, an iPhone.
It was kind of weird to see a smartphone in 2007, but it made sense. The Marvel Universe was filled with advanced tech companies. Oscorp specialized in advanced medical technology. Stark Industries created advanced processing chips, though the majority of them were used in military hardware. Even Hammer Industry did something, Leo didn't remember what though.
"What am I looking at?" The phone was too far away for Leo to properly read.
"It's a Brooklyn Heights forum. Rumor has it that some of them ran into a real-life superhero."
MJ raised a brow. "Doubt it?"
Peter didn't say anything, he seemed a mix of worried and nervous.
"No, I'm serious. Apparently, some guy came flying from the sky, sent the guy flying with a single punch, and jumped over a building," Ned explained.
Leo glanced at Peter as Ned continued to ramble. Peter had a kind of awkward face. Most would assume he just didn't care about the subject, but Leo luckily had meta knowledge.
The mysterious guy that punched criminals and jumped over buildings? It was probably Peter.
There's a chance it could be Daredevil, but the odds were slim. A month or two ago, the class had a trip to Oscorp, one that ended with Peter going home early because he had an "allergic" reaction to something in the lab.
A week later, news spread throughout the school that Peter's uncle died. By the time Leo had regained his memories, it was already too late to save Uncle Ben or to steal the spider.
Leo never really met Uncle Ben, but he went to the funeral anyway. He was still Peter's friend, and Leo knew what it was like to lose a parent.
"Alright, everybody, settle down," The Teacher announced as he walked into the class. Mr. Harrington was a good guy, if not a little awkward.
Leo examined his surroundings, and a few more students had shown up and taken a seat. In the opposite corner of the jocks was a trio of cheerleaders, Liz Allan being one of them.
She wasn't important, though, because a couple of seats away was Gwen Stacy.
Gwen was pretty unique, to say the least. She looked like a massive geek, had the stereotypical braces, thick red glasses, and her blonde hair was tied into a ponytail. She was nothing like her punk drummer version in Spider-Verse, the exact opposite actually.
"Alright, before we continue our lesson, can anybody here—" Mr. Harrington's voice slowly turned into background noise.
The perk of living another life, Leo already knows everything school is supposed to teach you. He was twenty in his past life, freshly graduated and done with high school.
Then again, considering this world had Captain America and Hydra, history is probably a little bit different. Doesn't matter, that's a problem for future Leo.
Throughout the day, Leo tried to recall what he knew of this world, who existed in this universe, what level of tech it was at, and a bunch of other stuff he had no idea how to figure out.
Mutants were a thing. Leo had seen the occasional crazy racist protesting or rioting on the news. Leo personally was neutral toward them—didn't really hate or like them. He didn't think they were inherently evil, but he knew a few mutants were just terrible people.
Mainly because the majority of them proved they couldn't use their powers responsibly. Just because you say you're sorry doesn't make it okay to forcefully enter an innocent person's mind.
As for the Fantastic Four, Leo never heard of them. So either they don't exist, or they haven't left for space yet.
Tony Stark was still The Merchant of Death, and while he didn't look exactly like Robert Downey Jr. They looked like he could be related, like a half-sibling or cousin.
"I have to do some research," Leo thought to himself.
___
Leo's POV
The school bell filled the hallways.
"Finally!"
School was just as exhausting as he remembered, but at least it was over for the day.
[Quest completed.]
"Yes!"
I really wanted to use his Gacha System but was smart enough to know it was probably a bad idea in public.
"Hey Peter, Leo," Ned called out.
"Yeah?" Peter and I responded in unison.
"Are we still playing the new map tonight?"
Ned was talking about a game that was basically the Marvel version of COD, sort of the same story. Except the main villain was just changed to Hydra, there was also the occasional reference to Captain America.
"Sorry, but I can't. I have homework I need to catch up on. Maybe next time," Peter explained.
"I got chores, man. Sorry," I lied. Well, technically I did have chores, I just wasn't going to do them at the moment.
"That sucks, I really wanted to play the—" Ned's complaint was cut off as he was shoved to the side.
Flash came out of nowhere, pushing Ned and slamming Peter into the locker.
"What the hell! You alright, Peter?" I tried to help Peter get back up, but Flash shoved me back.
"Stay out of this, loser!" Flash threatened with a smirk. "This is between me and Puny Parker."
"Seriously, Flash? The day's almost over. Can't we just save it for tomorrow or something?" Peter let out a groan.
Which was weird considering Peter's spider-enhanced body, I'm assuming it didn't really hurt him. Probably acted like it did so people weren't suspicious of him, trying to keep a good cover.
"That's where you're wrong, Parker. Your beatings are daily." Flash struck his palm with his fist. A few of the jocks behind him smirked. A few were just staring at their phones.
Everybody else was either trying to ignore the situation or just staring.
As much as I hated to admit it, I understood why. Like most schools, athletes got special treatment. So even if it was reported, Flash wouldn't get in any serious trouble.
"The fuck is wrong with Flash? He's in high school but he's still acting like a dick." Bullies always pissed me off.
Ever since I could remember I hated bullies, I always wanted to beat the shit out of one. Sadly, Flash was three times my size. So I'll have to be smarter, which means I have to cheat.
With everybody distracted, I walked up behind Flash. Bent down and locked eyes with Peter.
Peter's eyes widened in fear. I just smiled in response. I grabbed Flash's leg, and pulled.
In an instant, Flash fell forward, landing face-first on the ground. Half the crowd snorted, while the rest just laughed.
Flash raised his head and scowled. He stared at me, pure anger in his eyes.
"Well, the show's over."
I locked eyes with Peter once again. "Run!" In less than a second, I booked it down the hall. Peter and Flash stumbled to get back up, luckily Peter was faster and was able to escape before Flash could catch him.
___
"Jesus... Christ." Leo was exhausted.
Panting like a wild animal, the other metro riders glanced at him in confusion.
The next hour or so was painful. Leo had no water, so he had to ride the metro dehydrated and out of breath.
"Maybe the Gacha will give me something to help with running," He couldn't help but hope.
[5 XP has been earned for helping Peter Parker with his bullying problem.]
"Shit?" Leo frantically looked around. He was half expecting people to be looking at him in shock or fear, but nobody was.
"Looks like I'm the only one who can see the system screen. Good to know."
___
An hour later, Leo reached his home. He couldn't help but feel lonely. The house was completely silent, but that didn't matter—because it was time. Time for Leo to use the Gacha.
Suddenly, he let out a trio of violent coughs. His lungs felt like they were burning.
"Maybe after some water."
After chugging a cup or two of water, Leo took a seat at the end of his bed.
"Finally." He rubbed his hands in excitement. Enough stalling. It was time.
"Uhm… What do I say? Show me the Gacha?"
[Current GP: 10]
[1 GP = 1 Card (0% chance)]
[3 GP = 3 Cards (20% chance)]
[5 GP = 5 Cards (35% chance)]
[7 GP = 7 Cards (50% chance)]
[10 GP = 10 Cards (75% chance)]
"Like they say in Vegas—go big or go home. DRAW 10"
The Gacha screen displayed a multicolored light, which kind of felt dramatic.