Outside the house, we made our way to the neighbors'.Their home looked a lot like ours. My father knocked on the door, and less than two minutes later, a woman with brown hair streaked with gray answered.
"Hello, Miss May. Is your nephew ready?" my father asked with a warm smile.
"Gabriel's on his way. And you must be Adrian, right?"She greeted my father, then looked down at me with a kind smile.
"Yes, ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss May," I replied politely.
"What a polite young man! You can call me Aunt May."She gently patted my hair.
"Okay, Aunt May!" I responded with a cheerful smile.
As she welcomed us inside, we heard footsteps coming down the stairs. A man, whose brown hair also showed signs of age, appeared first. Right behind him was a little boy — absolutely adorable, with soft brown hair and big brown eyes. He looked a bit shy.
"Ben, Peter, you're just in time. Adrian and Gabriel are waiting."
"Good to see you again, Gabriel. And this must be Adrian."The man—Uncle Ben—greeted us. While he and my father began chatting, my attention shifted to the boy beside him.
Peter. He was so cute. And there was something about him—a warm, kind aura that even my Haki picked up on. It was rare to sense that from anyone, let alone another child.
He seemed nervous, so I gently let go of my father's hand and reached for his instead, smiling.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Adrian!"
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Fr… Peter."He stumbled over his words a bit, his cheeks turning a soft pink.
Unbeknownst to either of us, a simple, innocent thought flashed through Peter's mind:
'He's so beautiful... Could he be to me what Aunt May is to Uncle Ben? A life partner, I think Uncle called her…'
It was a childish notion—pure, without deeper meaning. For now.
At the school gate, my father bent down, kissed my forehead, and whispered in my ear.
"My love, I'm leaving you here now. Mommy should pick you up later, okay?"
"Okay, Daddy."
Then, looking at Peter standing quietly beside me, he added:
"Umm… I don't want to ask too much of you, but… keep an eye on Peter, alright? I don't know why, but I have a weird feeling today. And you're a little more mature than most kids your age."
"Okay."
I didn't really understand the first part, but I accepted the second. After our goodbyes, I took the paw of my pet—whom I had named Pet—and walked through the school gates.
As my father turned to leave, he muttered to himself,"I feel like my son's being stolen..."He had noticed Peter's blush and how his eyes remained glued to me. Still, he didn't dwell on it too much. After all, we were just kids.
Inside the classroom, the teacher introduced us, and I sat beside Pet. Two boys soon introduced themselves—one named Harry, the other Ned.
Both were nice and friendly. Harry, in particular, seemed very charismatic, though I did pick up on a hint of tension from him. I didn't give it much thought at the time.
Then there was a boy named Flash, who clearly had it out for Peter. I didn't like that.So, I looked straight at him and released just a tiny trace of my old power.Even though we were children, bullying could still happen—and being physically a child meant the consequences for defending others would be light. But more than that, I didn't want anything to hurt Peter's self-esteem.
And just like that, we became friends.
I quickly realized Peter loved science—just like Ned and Harry. Though Harry had better social skills, Peter's eyes would light up when he talked about experiments or inventions.
As for me? Maybe because of the system or my past life, school subjects didn't really excite me.Still, science here was intriguing. After digging into the internet and some books, I learned about something called the super serum. It reminded me of the T-virus or similar things from other worlds I knew.
There was also talk of Stark Industries and other fascinating research programs.Occasionally, strange and mysterious events would pop up online or on TV—only to vanish just as quickly… as if someone didn't want people knowing too much.