Although Peter was a hundred times unwilling, he was still forced into it. In the end, he had no choice but to obediently stay behind and rehearse.
As for who forced him—Who else but Tony Stark?
Originally, Tony wasn't supposed to know about any of this.
Until Peter had a moment of brain-freeze and asked,"Tony, did you know my school is holding an anniversary performance?"
"Yeah. They sent it to my schedule a couple days ago. If I have time, I'll go."Tony Stark sounded slightly breathless, probably exercising.
Peter knew he liked jogging at home, so that wasn't surprising.
"But do you know they're putting on a Spider-Man play for the school anniversary? And I'm the lead! Me!" Peter said indignantly. He felt he absolutely did not have time for this.
Since this whole thing started because of Tony Stark, Tony should be the one to fix it.
If someone had to act in this play, anyone else could do it.
"Huh? What did you say?" Tony paused for a moment.
"I said—"
"Wait, don't talk."Tony moved the phone away—or maybe covered the mic. His voice was muffled, but with Peter's hearing, he still heard it loud and clear.
Tony shouted,"Pepper! Check if we have anything scheduled for New Year's Day! Cancel it. Cancel everything!"
"Why?" Pepper Potts' voice grew closer."That day you promised the King of Java we'd attend the royal performance and discuss his request about building a factory—"
"Forget it. Cancel it. Cancel yours too. We're going to do something much more important and way more fun," Tony said, clearly amused.
"What thing?" Pepper genuinely couldn't guess.
"Heh—Peter, prepare well. I'll definitely come watch," Tony said into the phone.
Then he hung up.
Peter: "???"
That's not what I meant at all.
If he had to perform as Spider-Man in front of teachers and classmates who didn't know his real identity, Peter could grit his teeth and bear it.
After all, everyone except him would think it was just acting.
But performing as himself in front of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts—two people who knew who he really was?
That was peak embarrassment!A full-scale social disaster!
Just imagining it made Peter feel waves of secondhand embarrassment blasting through his skull.
And when he called Tony again…
"Hello. Your call has been blocked by the recipient."
Peter: "????"
Even more outrageous—he was informed that his lab would be undergoing routine equipment maintenance for the next few days, and he shouldn't come in.
Good news: maybe the equipment was being upgraded.
Bad news: combined with everything else, he knew exactly whose terrible idea this was.
Damn it!
Peter felt like he had a thousand complaints stuck in his throat with nowhere to release them.
And then, when he got home, he found Aunt May already knew.
"Peter! You're playing the lead in the school anniversary play? Oh my gosh, how could you not tell me sooner? I need time to do my hair, take care of my skin—when was the school anniversary again? Oh right, I remember—blah blah blah—"
Aunt May bustled around the house like a headless chicken, talking nonstop, giving Peter a massive headache.
The worst part was his enhanced hearing. Even after shutting his bedroom door, he could hear her clearly.
Peter: …I'm tired. Let the world end.
How did Aunt May find out?
Who else?Tony Stark, of course.
Aunt May said Tony called her personally to ask if she wanted to attend.
Peter suddenly felt like he had been forced into some bizarre family sitcom.Why did this feel like a kid performing at school and his overexcited dad telling everyone to come watch?
"Tony…" Peter lay on his bed, grinding his teeth.
—
There was nothing he could do.
Things had reached this point.
No matter how unwilling Peter was, he could only accept it.
So every afternoon after school, he was forced to stay and rehearse.
Since it was a stage play, the most important thing was the script.But with Peter's super memory, memorizing a few lines only took a few minutes.
Still—he had to stay.
There were movements, blocking, and coordination with the other actors.
As for the other actors—Forget it. Just look at the cast list (the team spent a long time on this, considering diversity requirements—America, after all).
[Spider-Man — Peter Parker][Black Cat — Betty Brant][Villain Jeweler — Charles Murphy][Woman Whose Jewelry Gets Stolen — Sally Avril][Thief 1 — Seymour O'Reilly][Thief 2 — Abraham Brown][Police Officer — Cindy Moon]
The Academic Decathlon team originally had four girls; now only three remained.
Sally Avril was chubby—plenty "well-rounded"—but imagining a round, ball-like Black Cat…That's not a Black Cat, that's a fat orange housecat.
Obviously not suitable.So she was assigned the role of the woman whose jewelry got stolen.
Cindy Moon, a Korean American girl (① see author's note), hadn't developed much yet—neither curvy nor seductive. Not suitable either.
But they still gave her a role: the police officer who arrests the jeweler and thieves at the end.
Why?Because there were seven roles, and only two were originally female. For fairness, they needed a third one.
As for Michelle Jones—she had no interest in performing. Social anxiety. Said she'd rather die than go on stage.
There was one girl who actually fit the Black Cat role perfectly: Liz Allan, the former Decathlon captain—tall and popular.
Unfortunately, she'd transferred to New Jersey.
With no other choice, they had to look for outside help.
Eventually they thought of Betty Brant.
Betty was a blond girl, not a Decathlon member but the school's news host.
Her figure was decent—good enough for Flash, the "director," to reluctantly approve. Mostly because if he rejected one more girl, the rest of the cast would probably beat him up.
Plus, as a frequent on-camera host, Betty was fairly popular.
Realistically, they couldn't find anyone more suitable.
As for the boys—there weren't many requirements. Just maintain certain…balance. For example, you couldn't let certain types play the villain…
Living in a country steeped in this culture, everyone understood the rules.
① Fun fact: Cindy Moon in the movies is the girl sitting next to Abraham during the Academic Decathlon training scene in No Way Home. Surprising, right?But judging by her portrayal, she probably won't become Silk. In the comics, Silk has a pheromone attraction to Peter because they were bitten by the same spider, around the same time.If she had been bitten, she would have shown a reaction—and if she wasn't bitten then, she never will be.
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(End of Chapter)