Capítulo 2: New Self
"Eren! What are you doing?" A voice startled the young boy awake. Eren looked up to see his mom standing in the doorway with an aggravated expression, she had just gotten home and was already starting with the yelling. "Why are you sleeping on my bed with your outside clothes on? Go take a shower and change!"
Eren looked around to see that it was completely dark outside, he had been asleep for hours. He looked down at his clothes and saw that his outside clothes were in fact on. Still groggy, Eren yawned. "Your bed? I'm in my room." Eren stretched his arms and scanned the room sleepily, still confused as to how he ended up there. After buying the groceries, his memory went blank.
"It's my bed technically, I paid for it and it's in my apartment. Get off the bed with those dirty clothes." His mother sassily spoke in an annoyed tone. "And when you're done, dinner should be ready. I made your favorite."
Eren sighed before leaning up and sitting on the side of his bed. 'I hope she means pot pie.' Still feeling dizzy, he headed to the bathroom to take a shower and change out of his school clothes. After relaxing in the hot shower for about fifteen minutes, Eren exited, got dressed, and headed to the dining room.
He took a seat at the table, as his plate was already made for him in his usual seat. His mother made chicken pot pie, which was his favorite meal. Though he was excited to destroy his plate of food, the boy spoke plainly.
"Thank you." He said without much emotion, though his face at least showed a small bit of appreciation. There was no smile, but his eyes were somewhat lively.
His mother smiled bittersweetly, being able to tell that despite him being distant, he was somewhat satisfied on the inside. Ever since his father had died, Eren's whole demeanor had changed. He became depressed and sort of pushed himself away from all attachment. This depression went on for ten years, but he kept those feelings to himself.
"You're welcome." His mother responded as she began taking a bite from her plate. After finishing that bite, she spoke once more. "How was your day?"
"Fine. I joined a science club with Dr. Connors, he said it's great for a scholarship. So I guess I'll do it." Eren was scarfing down food as if it were going to grow legs and run away if he weren't fast enough.
"That's great, Eren!" In opposition to his nonchalant way of speaking, she spoke with great enthusiasm. She looked at his face and noticed the few marks that Flash had left on him.
"That boy hurt you again didn't he? I'm sorry, Eren. I know it's hard going to school there and not being accepted for who you are, but it will all be worth it when you get into a good university and get a good-paying job." She looked at the ground in shame. "I don't want you to struggle like how I did. Things are better now, but it took a long time for me to finally be able to provide for us. We were even homeless at one point, all because I'm a nobody."
Eren looked at his mother with a sad look in his eyes. "You are something to me, Mom. It's not your fault. One day, when Parker Industries becomes a reality, we won't struggle anymore." He spoke as if he were sure of himself. Parker Industries was nothing more than a dream that he and his father shared. They were originally going to start the business together once Eren was old enough, but of course, that couldn't happen anymore. Regardless, Eren was going to do it in his father's stead.
Despite his attempt at reassuring her, Eren's mother began to cry quietly. Having no emotional intelligence or skills, Eren continued to try and comfort her like a robot. "It's not your fault mom. Ever since Dad died, you had to work even harder to make up for him not being here. You've done a great job raising me by yourself. Don't cry. Please, I can't handle seeing you this way."
Somehow, the plain words of her son got through to her, perhaps the thought is what counted to her. "Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry."
"No, don't apologize. It's normal to cry, right?"
"Thank you, Eren." His mother wiped her tears, feeling better after his attempts to comfort her. His delivery wasn't the best, it never was, but she still understood what he meant.
"Aren't you off the day after tomorrow? We should visit him after school." Eren suggested. They both hadn't visited his father's grave in years. It was even longer for Eren, having not visited since he was ten years old.
"Yeah, we should. I'll be here right when you get home."
After that, the two of them continued their dinner and talked about other things for a while. After they were finished, Eren headed back toward his room. Still dizzy, Eren flopped onto his bed and fell back asleep.
In the morning, Eren woke up and noticed his room seemed as if everything was upside down. Once his eyes adjusted, he noticed that somehow he was sticking to the ceiling. Panicking, he began to pry his fingers from the ceiling and fell onto his bed.
"What the fuck was that?" The boy leaned up out of his bed, staring at his hand. Despite his blank stare, the boy was scared. "What?" He once again muttered as he pressed his fingers together, feeling them sort of stick together as if he had dry glue on them.
In the corner of his eye, he managed to see himself in the mirror, noticing some slight changes in himself. He approached the mirror and noticed that his physique had completely shifted. He went from being lanky and thin to having the body of a Greek god.
'Holy shit.' He continued to look at his new body as he flexed in the mirror. 'I wonder if Cindy is into buff guys.'
As thoughts of his crush flowed through his mind, the young man forgot that he once wore spectacles on his face, as his eyesight was now clear as day without the help of glasses.
While he flexed and posed in the mirror, he could hear the front door open and his mother's voice. "I'm going to work. See you tonight, Eren."
This triggered Eren to glance at the clock, realizing he was running late for school. Quickly, the young man got dressed and ran out the front door without breakfast. Like a track star, the boy sprinted to the bus stop, getting there in what felt like one-fifth of the usual time it takes. He made it just in time, getting on the bus and taking it to the hell hole he called school.
Half an hour later, he found himself in front of the place he dreaded more than anything, Osborn Academy. He sighed, gripping both straps of his backpack as he began marching toward his personal hell. Before he can even make it to the front door of the building, his head began to ring warning bells.
The sensation was overwhelming, it gave his body the same feeling as when you'd hear the sound of your alarm from someone else's phone in public. His fight or flight was screeching loudly in his head, overwhelming him.
'Dodge?'
'Run?'
'Hide?'
'Fight?'
'Run?'
'Fight?'
'Run?'
'Fight?'
'Run!?'
'DODGE!'
In almost an instant, the young man dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding a football that would have otherwise smashed into the back of his head. The ball was thrown with such speed, that it hit the glass door at the school entrance, shattering it into pieces.
Eren Parker stood frozen. 'What was that?' He monologued within himself. He didn't move his body, it moved as if his mind and body were separate, it acted on its own.
"Paaaarkeerrrrr!" A familiar bully's voice screamed from behind the young man, causing him to slowly turn his head. Flash and his lackeys began to stomp toward the young man, causing his shoulders to droop down in disappointment. 'Man...' The boy thought. 'Can I at least get to a single class first?'
Before he knew it, the four footballers were in front of Eren, punching their palms with their fists as if they were stereotypes. "Parker! Why didn't you catch that? You know what this means, right? Your mom has to pay for it."
Though unnoticed, a single spark of electricity discharged from Eren's index finger, becoming aggravated by his school bully. He didn't know where it came from, but he had the confidence that he could take the bully down in one punch. Before he could do anything stupid, Harry Osborn placed his hand on his shoulder. "Don't." He whispered to the boy. "I got this."
"Leave him alone, Flash. You know who my father is, I'll make your life hell." The two rich boys stared each other down for a few seconds, though Flash lost the battle to the only boy above him in the food chain throughout the entire school. Flash scoffed before walking away with his minions, leaving both Eren and Harry behind.
Eren sighed. "Thanks." He began walking toward the school, though Harry followed him with or without his permission.
"Yeah, don't mention it. I'm glad he bought it, my dad does not care what goes on in this place." Harry smiled slyly as he walked beside Eren, prompting the young prodigy to exhale out of amusement.
Eren stopped, looking back at Harry with a confused glare. "So you just lied for my sake? Why?" Eren couldn't understand the gesture. They'd hardly known each other for a day, yet Harry was being buddy-buddy with him. It was almost suspicious.
"I don't know, I just see you getting pushed around by that guy all the time. I know why you can't do anything about it, I heard you talking to Dr. Connors about it..."
There was a brief silence between the two, only being broken by Harry speaking again.
"The reason is different, but I know what it's like for people to treat you differently because of who you are. I don't have many friends..."
This intrigued Eren. To think that someone else, someone of Harry's status, also struggled with something similar made him feel a little bit less disconnected from the world. However, he still feared forming a new attachment with someone, it was bad enough that he was practically head over heels for Cindy.
Regardless, the two boys walked into the school together, having a mostly one-sided conversation as Harry talked about himself, his interests, and the girls at school that he thought were cute. Eren would respond with "Mhm." or an "I see." after each sentence. He sounded disinterested, but he did enjoy 'talking' to him.
The rest of the school day went smoothly and Eren once again headed home to an empty apartment. Upon entering, he sighed before locking the door behind him. With a blank mind, the boy walked to his room before dropping his bag and approaching his bed. He nearly lept on it before remembering his mom's words: "Why are you sleeping on my bed with your outside clothes on?"
Eren sighed, immediately changing into basketball shorts and a t-shirt before lying down in bed. He stared at the ceiling, thinking about what had transpired that morning. He looked at his hands sadly. He wasn't very interested in having powers, he knew that having them would only complicate his life further.
Despite having no interest in using his powers for anything at this point, his science brain couldn't help but begin to activate. He was going to keep his powers to himself, however, he wanted to see his capabilities.
He knew he could stick to walls, run faster, and somehow sense things before they happened, but he wondered what else he could do. He thought about the spider that bit him, realizing his powers must be related to the spider somehow.
'So... do webs just shoot out my ass? Everything down there seems normal to me...' He stared blankly at the ceiling before taking a glance at the glowing orange New York cityscape outside of his window. He imagined himself swinging through the city, building to building, shooting webs from his hands and soaring through the air.
'Nah, that's stupid.' He tried to dismiss those silly thoughts, but his brain just couldn't stop running at a million miles per hour.
'Could it be possible?'
'What if I just made them?'
'Web shooters.'
'No... It'll be pointless.'
'But it'll be fun...'
'Fuck it.' The boy leaned up from his bed, glancing over at his desk to see it filled with chemicals and science kits that his mom either bought or he 'borrowed' from school. He walked over to his desk and sat down on the chair before immediately grabbing a pen and paper to start jotting down the different chemicals he could use to make his so-called web shooters.
'Salicylic acid.'
'Touline.'
'Methanol'
'Carbon Tertacholide.'
'H-heptane.'
'Potassium Carbonate.'
'Ethyl acetate.'
'Hexate.'
'BHA.'
'Sodium Tetraborate.'
'Okay... these should work. Now I just need to figure out the exact percentages.'
And so, the boy genius began mixing the chemicals together, trying different ratios and percentages until they began actually forming webs. It took a few hours, but he had finally done it.
He lifted his pencil in the air, one that he had stuck in the fluid, and began pulling it upward. Eventually, the webbing attached to the pencil became so tense, that the pencil was forcibly yanked back down into the beaker, frightening the boy.
'Okay... now I just need to figure out how to shoot this stuff. Eren glanced over at a water gun that lay on the floor of his room, sparking an idea.
Finding some superhero gauntlets that he had used for a Halloween costume, Eren made some adjustments to them, creating a contraption inside of them that operated in a similar fashion to a water gun, just with more power to ensure they could propel the thick webbing.
The finished product was bulky and slightly unintuitive as the trigger for them stuck out across his hand, however, it worked. With just the press of a button, he could sling webs across his room, using them to lazily pull objects to himself. The webs also dissolved after a certain amount of time, leaving nothing behind.
Once the web shooters were completed, just like that, he was bored again.
Eren sighed, lying backward on his bed with his arms spread as he looked at the ceiling. 'Well, there's that. Now what?' Eren stared blankly at the ceiling, thinking of what he could possibly do with his new invention.
'I could sell it... but they'd probably just see it as some silly science project a child made.'
'Maybe I can do stunts or something. Like a YouTube channel or maybe I could IRL stream myself swinging around the city...'
'No... that's too much effort.'
'But I can make money doing that though... Mom said I can't get a job, but I don't think you need an adult's permission to make money from streaming.'
Eren sighed. 'Fine, I'll try streaming, I guess. She won't accept the money, but maybe I can just hand it to Mr. Ditkovich directly.'
With that thought, the boy went to a streaming site and created a brand new profile. All that was left was to create a name.
'Hmm... Human Spider? Ew, no.'
'Maybe... Spiderman. No, no, this needs a hyphen...'
'Spider-Man. I like it, but... Now I sound like a superhero. No thanks.'
'How about... The Phantom Spider. Yeah, I like that one. The Phantom Spider it is.'
It was getting late, so the boy decided to hold off on the streaming and wait for the next day. Eren put away his web shooters, stashing them beneath a shirt that lay on the corner of his desk, before lying in bed and closing his eyes.
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