"Hi, I'm back," Harry called as he and Peter and Gwen arrived at his penthouse home.
"I will never get over how rich you are," Gwen commented as she looked around the penthouse with amazement in her eyes.
"I'm just glad we became friends before you found out how rich I was, I can't stand gold-diggers." Harry rolled his eyes just as Norman walked into the room.
"Ah, hello son," He said, pausing as he noticed Harry's friends with him. "ah, hello Peter, Gwen." He greeted them with a smile, he couldn't help but approve of Harry's choice of friends. The two might not have been as rich as Harry but they were both certainly smart enough, Norman figured that the three of them together could do great things. "How was school?"
"Oh, it was all really great, apart from one small thing," Harry said as he and his friends all sat down.
"Oh, and what was that?" Norman asked curiously.
"We're being sued." Harry casually answered.
"I beg your pardon?" Norman raised an eyebrow.
"We'll probably receive a notice sooner or later that we're being sued," Harry replied.
"And why on Earth would we be sued?" Norman asked as he sat down opposite Harry.
"Well, Harry kind of accidentally broke somebody's arm," Peter spoke up.
"Kind of accidentally broke somebody's arm?" Norman repeated.
"I think it was his wrist actually," Harry commented.
"It wasn't his fault," Gwen said quickly. "he was defending himself."
"From this person whose arm he broke?" Norman asked before turning to Harry and narrowing his eyes. "Are you hurt?" He asked quickly.
"No, I'm fine, the other guy got hurt."
"Hmm," Norman hummed, resisting the urge to actually praise Harry for that. "tell me what happened."
"Well, it started when the guy tried to bully Peter into his doing his homework." Harry began before he started explaining how he and Flash had gotten into an argument and how Flash tried to throw a punch at him.
"And then Harry caught his hand when he tried to hit him," Gwen added when Harry was nearly done explaining.
"Yeah." Peter nodded. "then we heard a snapping sound."
"Yeah, I think he didn't punch me properly and ended up damaging his own wrist." Harry finished.
"So, to sum up," Norman stared at the trio with his fingers interlinked and resting just under his chin, his voice was as calm as ever but it was noticeably slower than before. "this boy, demanded that Peter do his homework while insulting you all, and then threw the first punch and has then threatened to sue you because he is incapable of throwing a punch properly, is that it?" He asked, looking quite stiff.
"That...would be it, yeah," Harry confirmed in a slow voice as he stared at Norman. "Dad, are you alright?"
"No, son, I am absolutely far too angry to be alright right now,"
Norman answered honestly. "I don't want the three of you to worry about this. If this boy tries to sue us then let him try, I would gladly take him to court, my lawyers will rip him to shreds and I will happily watch it happen."
"Told you," Harry whispered to Gwen and Peter before turning his attention back to Norman. "thanks, Dad."
"There is no need for you to thank me, you're my son and you did nothing wrong," Norman told him in a firm voice. "besides, I'm not letting my hard-earned money go to some undeveloped child with an overdeveloped ego. Children like him were exactly the reason why didn't want you to go to that school in the first place, i'm just glad you found two people worth your time." He finished, gesturing to Gwen and Peter.
"Oh, thank you, sir," Gwen said, blushing slightly.
"Please, call me Norman," Norman told her before standing up.
"that goes for you as well, Peter. I'm happy to say that I think that you're both very good influences on my son and I like to think that he has been a good influence on you. Now, I will go contact our lawyers and tell them to remain ready, after that, I will be busy in my office if you all need me for anything. Your mother should be back in time to make you dinner."
"Thanks, Dad, you're the best." Harry grinned.
"I know," Norman said with a smile before he walked off.
"Wow, your dad's intense," Peter said once Norman was out of the room. "awesome, but intense.
"True," Harry chuckled before going over to put the TV on. "so, what do you guys fancy? Want to watch something or do you want to play on the Playstation?"
"Playstation!" Peter yelled.
"TV!" Gwen velled at the same time.
"Fuck me." Harry sighed, knowing he had better jump in before the two started arguing. "We'll do an hour of TV and then an hour on the Playstation, cool?"
"Yep," Gwen said quickly before snatching the remote from the table that it was resting on. "Now sit down, I have an episode I need to finish."
"What exactly are you watching?" Harry asked before seeing what
Gwen put on the TV. "Batman the animated series?" He blinked.
"Yeah, I like it," Gwen said defensively.
"Not judging, just impressed." Harry grinned before he rushed over to the kitchen. "I'll get some popcorn."
"Thank you!" Peter and Gwen yelled, a minute later Harry came back with three bowls of popcorn and handed two to Gwen and Peter before sitting next to Gwen with his own.
"Oh, thanks for waiting for me before you started it." Harry grinned.
"Yeah, well you brought popcorn so I thought I'd be nice." Gwen grinned back before pressing the play button. As the episode began she started to eat her popcorn.
"Don't eat too much, you'll bloat up." Harry joked.
"Shut up." Gwen laughed and lightly slapped him on the arm.
"Okay," Harry said, having gone straight to his room after Gwen and Peter left. "let's start testing this stuff out." He rolled his shoulders a few times before taking off his shirt, he was about to start but stopped when he caught sight of himself in the full-length mirror next to his desk. "Bloody hell!" Harry gasped as he stared at himself in the mirror. Harry had never been particularly proud or ashamed of his body, at least not his current one. He was okay in muscle mass for somebody his age and he had fairly decent abs, but now his abs were no longer just fairly decent. "Is that eight of them?" Harry blinked as he counted along with his abs. "I didn't know you could have more than six."
He realised that it might be a bit narcissistic to stare at himself for so long but he couldn't really help it, plus as far as he was concerned, he was documenting the changes in his body and there were definitely a few noticeable changes. Firstly his stomach had flattened out and his muscles had gotten bigger, not massively so but definitely bigger, he supposed that the only reason his friends hadn't noticed was that he had been fully covered and wore a hoodie. His body was also a lot more ripped than before, he had a lot less fat and more muscle.
"Amazing," Harry whispered to himself before shaking his head.
"come on, focus, Osborn. Admire yourself later, first lest test out this stickiness." He decided before looking up at the ceiling. "Here we go." He let out a deep breath before holding his right arm up, he took another small breath before he jumped up, easily reaching the ceiling. His right hand touched the ceiling and stuck to it, allowing himself to hang from it. "This is so cool." He laughed before he stared up at his hand.
'This is unbelievable, my strength has definitely increased,' He thought to himself. 'I'm holding myself up like it's easy, I might as well be holding a feather.'
Harry slowly and carefully removed his thumb from the ceiling and was thankful he hadn't dropped straight down from the ceiling and onto the floor. He removed finger by finger until eventually, he was held up from the ceiling by just his index finger. He paused and looked down at his own body before staring back at his finger.
"Maybe I need to start putting on weight." He commented, amazed by how easily he held himself up. It wasn't just the fact that he was able to stick to the ceiling, it was also the fact that he felt like he could have held up a bottle of water just as easily.
"Hey Harry," Gwen said as she walked into the room, "I'm sorry I forgot my...
" She trailed off as she goggled at Harry who was now
staring back at her with wide eyes.
...notebook." She weakly
finished, staring at Harry. "What is happening?" She asked in a quiet voice.
"Um...I'm Batman." Harry blurted out.
"What?!"
"I'm Bat-Wayne! I mean Bruce-bat, I mean...fuck!"
"What?!"
"I'm not actually Batman and can you please close the door?!"
Harry hissed at Gwen.
"Oh, sorry," She quickly shut the door just before Harry dropped down from the ceiling. "You were on the ceiling!" She hissed once she shut the door.
"No, I wasn't!" Harry said, choosing to go with Fudge's favourite tactic for dealing with conflict, straight-up denial.
"Yes, you were! I saw you!" Gwen glared at him. "You were hanging from one fricking finger!"
"Shush! Don't talk so loud!" Harry whisper-shouted, apparently that tactic only worked for Fudge. "And what did you come back in here for anyway?! I thought you went home."
"I forgot my notebook!" She whisper-shouted back as she pointed to the book on Harry's desk.
"Oh god." Harry sighed as he ran his hands through his hair.
"Yeah," Gwen said before trailing off, her lips feeling suddenly dry as she stared at Harry.
"Gwen, I..." Harry paused when he saw the flushed look on her face as her gaze moved up and down while she stared at him. ...oi, stop objectifying me with your female gaze."
"W...what?" She blinked, shaping out of her gaze.
"Sorry, I just always wanted to say that." He explained with a small grin.
"I'm sorry for looking," Gwen said sheepishly, averting her eyes before finding his discarded shirt. She quickly grabbed it and tossed it to him before turning her back. "why were you shirtless anyway?" She asked as she waited for him to get dressed.
"I planned on doing some physical experimentation with my body,"
Harry answered as he put his shirt back on, he stopped as he took a moment to register what he had just said. "that came out wrong."
"Oh for god sakes," Gwen sighed before turning around, somewhat relieved yet disappointed to find him covered. "alright, what experimenting were you doing? Sticking to the ceiling?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Harry confirmed. "I figured that Dad would be busy with work and that Mum would be busy watching her weekly TV drama, and obviously I thought that you had left."
"Yeah, well, here's a pro tip, next time remember to lock your door when you try 'physical experimentation with your body'." She advised, rolling her eyes. Harry opened his mouth to respond but stopped as he thought about Gwen's words.
"That's...not bad advice," Harry admitted. "and I will remember that for next time."
"Here's hoping," Gwen sighed. "now, are you going to explain or what? Since when could you stick to ceilings?!"
"A couple of days ago," Harry answered honestly. "something happened to me and I began changing. I think it had to do with the spider that bit me during the field trip."
"The field trip?" Gwen echoed. "I remember you looking quite sick."
"It was a bit more than that," Harry said with a forced smile. "I felt sicker than I had ever felt and then one day I woke up and my senses are thrown into overdrive. I was able to hear a spider walking across the room, it was overwhelming, I thought my head was going to split. Then like the next day I wake up and find a spider standing right next to my face, I try to move back and the next thing I know I am hanging from the ceiling. Gwen, I can freaking crawl across walls."
"Crawl across walls?" She repeated with disbelief before remembering what she had just witnessed a few moments ago.
"Show me." She took a step back.
"Show you?"
"Yeah, show me you crawling across walls." She gestured for him to get a move on. Harry rolled his eyes but did as she said and walked up to a wall before he slowly crawled up the wall until he was on the ceiling and looking down at her.
"Is this proof enough for you?" He asked a stunned Gwen.
"Oh yeah," She weakly nodded. "are...are you uncomfortable like that?" She asked Harry who was still looking down at her from the celling.
"No," Harry shook his head, "that's the weird part, I feel like I can stay up here all day. My limbs aren't tiring at all," He added before he dropped down on the floor, landing next to her. "I haven't tested how long I can stay upside down, but it feels like I could do it forever."
"Amazing, do you know how you can stick to walls?" She asked, looking excited.
"Not sure," Harry admitted. "I have a few theories. I went on google and researched how spiders do it, there's a ton about them using some very small hairs to stick to surfaces. Recently, scientists have come to understand that spiders use something called Van der Waals force, an electrostatic force that attracts all surfaces on a molecular level. The spiders have tiny hairs on their feet, and each hair causes a slight bond to a surface, it's basically like a magnetic hold on something. But I'm not sure if that's the same case for me, I've noted that any part of my body can stick to anything. It's possible that I have these hairs all over my body, but it's also possible that something else is playing a major factor in this." Harry finished, choosing not to mention that he didn't know for sure that his magic was not at least partly responsible for the new changes in his body.
"Like what?" She asked curiously.
"I just have theories," Harry said, adopting Dumbledore's method of not answering the question. 'My role models need work.' He thought to himself.
"Well, either way, this is amazing!" Gwen gushed. "Have you told your parents yet?!"
"What?!" An alarmed look came onto Harry's face. "No, no, no! No, thank you! We are not telling anybody about this! The only reason I'm telling you anything is cause you already found out about it with your master detective skills.'
11
"Yeah, my masterful skills," Gwen resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead impatiently continued. "but why can't we tell anyone?
Do you realise what could happen?"
"Yes, I do!" Harry quickly cut her off. "If we tell anyone then we increase the risk of me getting experimented on and the government taking an interest in me and I am not letting that happen!"
"Harry, the government? Isn't that a bit dramatic?" Gwen asked.
"Gwen, if the government learnt that a boy can have his strength increased and stick to walls then they are damn sure going to take an interest to see if they can do it themselves or prevent anyone else from doing it."
"Aren't you sure you're being a little bit stubborn?" She asked, half-joking.
"Gwen," Harry leaned forward and stared at her with an intensity that Gwen had never seen from him. "I would rather trust you to operate on me with a rusty pair of pink scissors than I would trust the government to not try and take advantage of me, the first one has a higher chance of survival for me. So I am begging you, please, do not tell anyone, the fewer people that know, the better.
Please." He emphasised his point by staring right into her blue eyes with his bright green ones.
"Fine," Gwen said eventually. "I won't tell anyone, but only if you tell Peter "
"What?" Harry asked in a confused voice.
"Harry, he's as loyal to you as a dog, if he was your dog then he'd be called Hachiko."
"Alright, first of all, you both complimented and insulted him with that comparison by calling him a dog," Harry pointed out.
"secondly, I don't know, I think it would be better to keep this to as few people as possible.
"
"Yeah, I agree, with two being the minimum number of people that need to know about your secret," Gwen replied. "Harry, Peter's just as smart as the two of us and he could be really helpful. This will all be a lot easier for you if you let us help you, especially since you don't want to tell your parents, which I'm not entirely happy about by the way.
"…..will think about it." Harry sighed.
"Thank you," Gwen said appreciatively, knowing that was the best she would get from Harry right now. "were there any other changes in your body that you noticed?"She asked.
"Um, increased muscle mass and lower body fat." Harry listed off.
"Hmm." Gwen hummed and decided to turn around and not look at Harry.
"Are you thinking about..."
"Nope!"