Death
The next morning, John was out of bed before the first ray of sunlight entered his room. It was almost like his body wanted to race the sun, and it won.
'Never in my life did I think that 5 hours of sleep would be enough for me.' His right hand felt completely normal, and his body was so refreshed that yesterday felt like a dream to him.
Still, that wasn't the case. By the time he had left for University, George Stacy had given him a call.
"You sure about turning down the medal?"
"Yes, I am certain." He answered.
George asked him a few more questions, like if he ate anything and about his injuries. The call only ended after his well-being was confirmed and he refused the medal three more times.
This was regarding his bravery/recklessness yesterday. The police department wanted to give him a medal for saving the people from the terrorists. Apparently, he had helped greatly in destroying a plan that could've led to many casualties, since the terrorists were planning to plant a bomb in two places at once.
John could already guess that they probably wanted to trap Gwen into a dilemma, but he became the variable in that plan. And whoever ordered this surely had his eyes on the case.
'Putting my face out there is not a good choice.' The silver lining was that the CCTV at the bank was not working at all, so he wasn't caught on video. And George Stacy had only asked him half-heartedly, like he just wanted to get it over with. He probably had some pressure from above for this.
John would've considered it if there was a cash price, but there wasn't one. Stingy bastards. If the department wanted to use him for publicity, the least they could do was throw in some cash.
He had the 5k in the bank. Actually, it had become 4.5k now; he had to buy clothes and enough food that could feed a family for a month. But to him, maybe it'll last two weeks, a big maybe at that.
He really hoped some crowdfunding app arrived fast. There was still , but he felt a hint of shame asking for money like that since there wasn't exactly a precedent for this stuff yet.
And even if he bought the coding skill and set out to create the app himself, John didn't have the passion, resources, or the time to run the thing.
'Should I get someone to make it?' His gears started turning for a moment before he paused.
He didn't have to worry about it that much. Maybe he'll just put a link to saying that he needed some funding to get illustrations done.
Since he would be drawing them himself, he could claim the money for genuine work. He had been steadily getting used to drawing without feeling the disconnect.
He had already gotten several private DMs, but as someone who had written in the big 2030, he wasn't sure he could trust the copy-paste looking DMs saying 'I can already imagine your work in my head, it would work great as a comic!'
They were always a hotbed of scams, trying to fleece inexperienced and passionate writers. He would never fall for that shit again!
"John!" As he passed the University gates, Peter came running from behind, catching up to him. "Are you feeling ok?"
"All peachy." John nodded as realization dawned on Peter's face.
'I wasn't supposed to ask him that.' Peter had seen John leave the scene in a police car and heard the details over the scanner; he hadn't met him at all yesterday.
"I noticed you were outside the bank."
"You did?" Peter looked at the smile John had. "I was just nearby then, got attracted by the commotion."
"I see…" John had indeed noticed him; his senses were in overdrive, so he couldn't help but notice.
'It doesn't look like he'll tell me if I ask; better let it go.' The conversation slowly drifted away from the Bank and crashed right into Spiderwoman.
"Isn't she amazing? The way she moves through the place, and what she does, it really opens one's eyes." Peter continued to ramble about the specifics.
It looked like he had been following after Gwen's hero activities with unreal closeness. And right on cue, the hero herself arrived like a ghost.
"I feel like if I leave you two alone one more time, I might get a marriage invitation." She said, placing her books on the desk.
"Very funny, Gwen." John gave a dry laugh as Peter shook his head, seemed like awkward jokes and her came in a package.
"I try a bit." She chuckled; her tone was light and upbeat.
"What? I know it wasn't funny, ok?" Gwen smiled while pushing his shoulder playfully.
Because of the notifications, he knew the reason why that smile felt a bit wider today. It made him smile too.
Now, the three of them conversed together: Spiderwoman, the terrorist attack, and the novel Your Name; nothing was off the table.
Going back to class after lunch, John felt his mood improving with each step. The weather was great; he had uploaded the first chapter of 5 Centimetre Per Second by sneaking into the computer lab, only after he had checked under every desk for a certain blonde girl, the EP was already starting to roll in.
He had reached 550 EP, with Gwen's generous contribution, and the number was climbing up steadily. He was a bit over 200 EP away from completing the system mission.
The link was also set up, and John didn't feel as much shame as he had expected. Money did take precedence over everything else. Shame wouldn't fill his stomach after all.
But when he arrived at the lecture, death stood in front of him.
No, he wasn't talking about the actual Lady Death here.
Right behind the kindly smiling professor, two words on the board looked at him like the grim reaper.
Surprise Test
'Wallahi, I am cooked.' John looked at the ceiling, his palms covering his mouth.
The test happened in a blur, and soon John exited the classroom like a zombie. The result in his hand was as bad as he had expected. Even the professor seemed disappointed.
Seemed like the John from before was a good student. That was the one thing that pricked him the wrong way. John himself ran away from all things science, unless it was the sci-fi genre. But the damned John from here seemed good at it.
'The John Grayson here has a full background, growing up in an orphanage, then becoming independent, even the rented apartment.' It almost felt like John had existed in this world long before he had come around.
The only way to explain it was that the system had worked its magic. For that, he was grateful. Not having the TVA busting down his door was good news. Still, there were other people he had to watch out for.
"That's something…" Gwen looked at him like she was wondering how he got in on the scholarship program with that score.
"My face," John said.
"What?" Gwen tilted her head.
"I got in thanks to my face." A confident smirk formed on his lips.
"Show off." At least she didn't deny it. "I'm sure you'll do well next time."
'I wouldn't be so sure of that.' John smiled wryly; too bad the shop didn't have a skill on biochemistry.
Watching him sigh from the side, A thoughtful expression overtook Gwen's face. Maybe he was having trouble studying since he moved to New York from South Dakota; so suddenly, a new place could affect a student's studying proficiency.
He also didn't have many friends in class, and she had only heard him talk for the first time just a few days ago. Honestly, how had she not noticed someone like him so far?
Even if she left his body aside, he had a handsome, almost suave look going on. And it wasn't just her; Peter, too, only had vague memories of him being in the background at the start of the month.
'Could be that he had a hard time integrating and withdrew in the back.' That seemed like the only logical explanation.
But things were different now.
"If it's ok with you…" She got his attention, contemplating each word, "I can help you study; no guarantee it would help, though."
...
Want to support me and read ahead?
Visit p@treon.com/c/Over_The_Moon69 to read 20 chapters ahead.
Change the @ to 'a' first, though.