The cafeteria buzzed with teenage noise—tray clatter, laughter, sneaker squeaks, and the occasional cry of horror at the sight of school meatloaf.
Peter wasn't there. According to Ned, he'd ducked out early for some independent science project, probably something radioactive, unstable, and deeply nerdy.
Raj moved through the line with mechanical calm, loading his tray without looking at what he grabbed. His mind was elsewhere, locked somewhere between Peter Parker's strange stare and the way that beaker had bloomed like violet lightning in his hand.
He found an empty spot at the edge of the room, near a window. The sun had shifted since morning, but a gentle warmth still filtered through the glass and kissed the back of his neck. He angled himself toward it, pretending he wasn't doing exactly that.
He'd barely taken a bite of whatever passed for rice here when a tray thudded down across from him.
"Look who rose from the grave."
Raj looked up.
MJ sat across from him with her usual deadpan expression. She stabbed a tater tot with clinical efficiency and raised a brow.
"You gonna explain where you've been, or do I have to assume witness protection?"
Raj blinked. "Hi."
She squinted. "That's not an answer."
"I wasn't aware there was a quiz."
"There is now." She popped the tater tot into her mouth and chewed like a judge about to sentence someone to life without parole. "Start talking, sunshine."
Raj held her gaze for a moment. MJ's stare had the effect of making even people with nothing to hide feel like criminals. It was sharp, cold, and somehow also endlessly bored.
He chose his words carefully.
"Just needed space. Lot on my mind."
MJ tilted her head. "Is that code for mysterious transformation arc? Because you're radiating main character energy right now, and it's kind of suspicious."
Raj choked slightly on his water. "What?"
She gestured at him. "You. You used to slouch more. Now you walk around like someone turned up your gravity slider to max confidence. And your skin—don't take this the wrong way—but you're glowing."
Raj fought the urge to glance down at his hands.
"I think that's just the sun."
MJ narrowed her eyes. "No one glows from cafeteria sunlight, Raj. Not unless they're secretly possessed by a star god or made a deal with the devil during spring break."
Before Raj could respond, another tray clattered down next to MJ.
"Hey, you guys talking about the glowy forehead thing?" Ned plopped into the seat, breathless from what Raj assumed was running across the room after seeing MJ sit down.
Raj smiled awkwardly. "There's no glowy forehead."
"Are you sure?" Ned leaned forward with the intense curiosity of someone who once tried to hack a vending machine just to see if he could. "Because Peter said you looked… off. Like in a cool way. Like, 'he might be secretly a superhero and hiding it' off."
Raj did not blink. "Peter said that?"
"Not in those exact words," Ned admitted. "But he had that look. You know. The squint he gets when he's deciding whether to investigate something or run away from it."
MJ sipped from her juice box. "Honestly, I thought Peter was exaggerating. But now that I'm up close? You do look upgraded. Like you got hit by a radioactive smoothie."
Raj sighed and dropped his fork. "You guys know I was gone for like… three days, right? People don't evolve into new species in a long weekend."
MJ poked her fruit cup with suspicion. "Tell that to puberty."
"I'm serious."
"So are we."
Raj met her gaze again. For a second, the teasing slipped away, and he saw something else beneath it. Not fear. Not even curiosity.
Caution.
Like she was watching for cracks.
Like she knew what it meant when someone started to act like a different version of themselves.
Raj softened his voice. "It's just been a weird few days. But I'm fine. Really."
MJ didn't respond right away. Then, almost imperceptibly, she nodded. "Fine. But if you start floating or shooting laser beams out of your eyes, I'm blaming the school lunches."
Ned grinned. "Or the gym showers."
Raj gave a small laugh, relieved to steer the conversation away from cosmic suspicion.
The rest of lunch passed in light chatter—Ned going on about some obscure tabletop game he wanted Peter to try, MJ doodling disturbing yet oddly elegant caricatures of their classmates, and Raj… watching.
Not staring.
Just watching.
Because with every minute, he was noticing things more clearly. The sound of gum popping across the room. The flicker of a fly's wings near the ceiling. The pulse in MJ's neck when she laughed. The rhythm of footsteps outside the cafeteria doors.
It was like his body had upgraded without asking his permission, and now it was tuned to every frequency the human world ran on.
And underneath it all, the sun hadn't left him.
It pulsed faintly against the back of his spine, like it had threaded itself into his bones and was patiently waiting.
Not pushing.
Just… waiting.
As they stood to leave, MJ paused and looked over her shoulder.
"You're not as good at hiding as you think."
Raj blinked. "What?"
She didn't repeat herself. Just gave a little smirk and walked off.
Ned ran to catch up, waving. "Hey! Wait, tell me what that means!"
Raj stood there a moment longer, his hands in his pockets, his skin still faintly warm from sunlight that had long since faded from the window.
He looked down at the floor, then at the ceiling.
Then he whispered to himself, almost amused—
"I really need to work on that."