Chapter 16: The Fool II

Duncan sat in the back of the room, inside the physics lab. It was just another ordinary day, and the teacher was calling them in one by one for attendance. The attendance was going well at first because no one was absent when their names were called, but when it came to a specific name, the person didn't answer because, well, he wasn't there.

"Peter Parker?" Miss Warren called.

Because Peter was Duncan's physics lab partner, the class was focused in where he sat. Because Peter never skipped class, the class thought that something had occurred to him or that he was sick.

"Mr. Plagmann, do you know where Mr. Parker is?" inquired the teacher, attempting to locate the boy.

Duncan simply shrugged. "I don't know, Miss Warren. Probably sick; he was unwell yesterday when we went home after the tour."

"Okay…" Miss Warren mumbled to herself before writing that Peter was absent. "Then you'll have to finish the assignment for today on your own, Mr. Plagmann; if possible, deliver the assignment to Mr. Parker as well, because today's task is very significant for your overall grade in this class."

He nodded, seeing no reason not to, as he was looking for an excuse to visit him anyway. "Sure, I'll pay him a visit after school."

"Thank you, Mr. Plagmann," Miss Warren remarked. "Anyway, let's get started; please pass out this paper to everyone."

The teacher then began to give some papers to the student in front, before spreading it to the rest of the class.

—

Tuesday, after school. Duncan stood in front of a bulletin board near Mr. Wilson's office. He was staring at a list of names written on the board.

It was the football team's announcement. It indicated not only who had made it through the tryouts, but also who would be on the starting lineup.

He went down the list and spotted his name.

"QB - Duncan Plagmann."

"Shit," the girl next to him exclaimed abruptly.

"A deal is a deal." Duncan smirked at the girl, Gwen.

"Fine," she muttered. "What the hell, you're also in the starting lineup..."

"Hm?" Duncan turned toward the paper that shows the starting team, and he also saw his name there among the offense players. Duncan could only raise his brow, but he didn't say anything.

"All right, you can come to my performance," the girl sighed.

"Where and when is it then?" Duncan inquired.

"You'll have to find out for yourself," the girl shrugged.

Duncan frowned. "We made a deal, Gwen."

"No one said anything about telling you where it will take place or when it will begin. You said you could figure it out on your own," Gwen smirked.

"Oh, you shithead." Duncan made a clicking motion with his tongue. "Fine, you win. I'll go to your music club and talk to your buddies about it."

"Wait what?"

Duncan shrugged. "Maybe one of these days I'll catch you practicing. I'll see you later then."

Following that, the boy moved away from the bulletin board, leaving the girl alone.

"Wait!" exclaimed the girl, nervously. He ignored her and continued going.

——

Duncan stood in front of an apartment door. He looked around and noticed that it was peaceful around the apartment in front of him—no noisy neighbor, no fighting yells, no moaning sounds—just silence, but then again, it was only in the late afternoon.

Without delaying it any further, the boy knocked on the door in front of him. When no one answered or opened it at first, he knocked again, and that's when he heard a woman's voice inside.

"Coming!" said the voice to Duncan. The boy received proof that someone was actually inside the establishment, so he simply waited patiently up front.

The door opened soon after, revealing a mature-looking woman who, in Duncan's opinion, was far too attractive to be an aunt.

"Hello," the woman said, pleasantly smiling. "Do you... need something?"

"Uh yeah, is this Peter Parker's place?" Duncan tried to confirm.

"Yes. Do you need something from him?" she said, before turning back for a second. "Peter! Someone is looking for you!"

The woman returned her attention to Duncan and described the problem. "He's feeling a little under the weather right now."

"Yeah, that's why I'm here." Duncan stated. "I'm Duncan Plagmann, and I'm his lab partner in physics class. I'm supposed to give him the class assignment."

"Oh, then come on in," she responded as she opened the door for him. "Sorry for making you come all this way. He was okay yesterday; I guess he caught a cold overnight."

"It's fine, really." Duncan said as she guided him through her home. Soon later, the woman arrived at a specific door. She knocked on it and yelled at it.

"Peter, Duncan's here. He's supposed to give you your assignment," she said. "Open the door."

"Um, I can't do that right now, May; just leave the paper in front of the door." Peter spoke from behind the closed door.

"What do you mean you can't do that? Your friend came all the way here, and you're not going to greet him? Come on, Peter, open the door." the woman stated.

"I- It's just that it's quite messy right now, so D-Duncan, just leave the paper; I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Ugh, this boy," she complained. "Sorry about him; if his uncle is here right now, he'll give him a piece of mind. He's lucky he's at work right now."

"His… uncle?" Duncan inquired, a little perplexed.

"Yeah, I'm his aunt," she explained. "His parents are... not around anymore."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that." Duncan muttered. "Then, I'll just leave the paper here."

"Oh no, this boy should at least learn some decency to greet his guests." his aunt commented. "Peter, I'm opening the door!"

"W-Wait!"

His aunt opened the door to his room, which, as it turned out, wasn't locked in the first place. Duncan could see the mess inside. There are a lot of things broken, his sheet is on the floor, and even his mirror is broken.

"What the heck is going on here?!" his aunt gasped. Duncan could see that Peter was on the bed, his entire body covered in his other blanket. "Peter! What did you do last night? Even your mirror is broken!"

"I told you not to come in!" Peter protested.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry about this," Peter's aunt sighed, looking at Duncan. "Peter, you'll clean this up right now!"

"I was about to!"

"Oh no, my dinner," she suddenly whispered to herself. "Duncan, on second thought, you should just leave the paper on the table there and go home. Let Peter clean this up. I was making dinner, so you can just go out the door after you're done."

"Yeah, thanks, Mrs. Parker." Duncan spoke as Peter's aunt left the room in a hurry. Duncan just looked around again and shook his head. "What the hell did you do last night?"

Duncan started to pick up some stuff that was on the floor and put it on the table.

"Y-You don't have to do that." Peter said.

"I know," Duncan stated. "But this is just sad, dude; it's like someone was murdered in here."

As Duncan continued to clean up the mess, he noticed that Peter didn't even move from his bed. Duncan frowned at the sight.

"Well? Do you need help standing up as well?" questioned Duncan.

"Dude, it's fine, just go home; I'll clean this place right after—"

Before Peter could finish his sentence, Duncan tried to pull the blanket away from him, but it didn't work; the blanket looked like it was stuck with Peter. Duncan tried to pull it away softly again, but it still stuck to Peter's hands.

"Yep." Duncan sighed, and Peter was panicking.

"L-look, I can explain!"

"Explain what?" Duncan said with amusement.

"I-It was the spider; it bit me, a-and when I woke up, my body was sweaty, I couldn't see clearly, and I-I suddenly had six packs. When I tried to stand up, the blanket was stuck to my hand, and I-I couldn't let it go—"

"So you've been here this whole time?" questioned Duncan again.

"Well, where was I supposed to go?" Peter said. "If May finds out about this, she'll just panic!"

Duncan just sighed at the sight. "Jesus Christ, Peter. Just try to calm down."

"W-What?"

"Calm. Down." Duncan repeated. "Take a deep breath, breathe in, breathe out, and let your heartbeat lower a bit."

"Okay… Okay…" Peter took a deep breath and released it a couple of times. Suddenly, his hands and the blanket became unstuck, which made the boy half surprised and half happy.

"H-How'd you do that?" Peter asked, eyes wide open.

"I didn't do anything." Duncan shrugged. "You're the one who did it."

Duncan, seeing that he got what he came from, put down the paper on Peter's table. "Anyway, here's your assignment; the deadline is this Friday; don't accidentally rip it apart cause you won't have a replacement; and please, clean this shit up; it's depressing to look at it. I'll see you tomorrow."

As Duncan was walking towards the exit of the room, Peter suddenly touched his shoulder. When Duncan turned around, he could see that the boy was in a rather awkward position. He only had one foot on the ground, and the other was in the air.

"Wait," he said. "Don't tell May or anyone else at this point."

Duncan raised his brow. "Or what will you do to me?"

"W-Well… Nothing." Peter stated.

Duncan sighed. "You're bad at this. Fine, I'll keep it a secret. Just do your assignment, and I'm all good."

"T-Thanks."

And then suddenly, Duncan's world turned dark once again, and a voice echoed in his mind.

[I am Thou, Thou Art I…]

[...Thou hast acquired a new vow…]

[...It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity…]

[...With the birth of the Fool Arcana, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall guide thee to freedom and new power…]

As the voice finished speaking, the darkness went away, and Duncan found himself in the same position as before.

"Can you let go now?" asked Duncan with a raised brow.

When Peter tried to remove his hand from Duncan's shoulder, it became entangled in Duncan's shirt.

"I-I can't..."