There was one thing school kids and office workers alike could unanimously agree on—weekends had an unfair habit of disappearing at alarming speeds.
One moment it was Friday afternoon, with two glorious days of freedom stretching endlessly ahead. Then, all it took was losing track of time for a little while, and somehow Monday morning was already knocking at the door as though the weekend had lasted only a handful of hours.
Billy was convinced there had to be some cosmic conspiracy behind it.
As usual, Happy was on chauffeur duty that morning, dropping Billy off at school before heading back toward Avengers Tower. Just before Billy stepped out of the car, however, Happy couldn't resist offering one last piece of unsolicited advice.
"Keep your eyes off the skirts," he said matter-of-factly. "And keep them on your books."
Billy simply stared at him for a second.
'Sheesh, dude...'
He wisely kept the comment to himself.
Stepping onto the sidewalk, he shut the passenger door and watched the car pull away from the curb.
'No wonder he and Tony get along so well,' Billy mused as the vehicle disappeared into the morning traffic. 'They're practically the same person. The only difference is one signs the paychecks and the other cashes them.'
Shaking his head with an amused smile, Billy adjusted the strap of his backpack and headed toward the school building. His plan was simple enough—stop by his locker, grab the books he needed, and make it to class before the bell rang.
The morning halls were already bustling with students weaving around one another in every direction. Conversations bounced between lockers, laughter echoed through the corridors, and the occasional slamming locker door blended seamlessly into the familiar chaos of another school day.
"Hey, Billy."
The familiar voice reached him from behind.
Rather than stopping outright, Billy merely slowed his pace and glanced back over his shoulder.
Sure enough, Gwen was making her way toward him with a textbook tucked comfortably against her side.
"Oh, hey, Gwen."
He returned the greeting with an easy smile, unconsciously slowing down just enough for her to catch up.
Curiously, Gwen hadn't intended to. Judging by her original pace, she'd simply been planning to greet him in passing before continuing on her own route down the hallway.
Instead, the two naturally fell into step beside one another.
Billy's attention drifted toward the textbook resting in her arms.
"Advanced Engineering?" he asked, unable to hide the note of curiosity in his voice.
Gwen gave a small nod.
"Yep."
Billy let out a low whistle.
"Judging by how ridiculously smart you are," he said, "I'm guessing you actually put that stuff into practice."
He glanced sideways at her.
"You know... building gadgets, tinkering with machines, inventing things... that sort of stuff?"
As they continued walking shoulder to shoulder down the hallway, the pair unknowingly attracted more attention than either of them realized.
A few conversations gradually quieted.
Several students looked up from their lockers.
Others exchanged curious glances.
It wasn't every day they saw Gwen Stacy casually walking through the halls engaged in an easy conversation with someone else—especially not the new kid.
Billy, meanwhile, remained blissfully unaware of the growing audience.
He was far more interested in finding out whether Gwen secretly spent her weekends building gadgets straight out of a science-fiction movie.
"Yes," Gwen replied with a small nod, a subtle hint of enthusiasm creeping into her voice the moment the conversation shifted toward something she genuinely enjoyed. "I dabble in a couple of projects every now and then."
She glanced sideways at Billy.
"How about you? Are you into any of the sciences?"
Though she was just making small talk, the question wasn't random. Since Billy had transferred into the school, he'd somehow managed to avoid nearly every lab session, making it difficult for anyone to tell where his academic interests actually lay.
"Yeah," Billy answered with an easy grin. "I even spend some of my days working as an assistant to an incredible inventor."
He paused for dramatic effect.
"The downside is that he's also a billionaire playboy philanthropist who hardly takes anything seriously." The image of Tony Stark instantly came to mind.
"Well... at least not until things start exploding."
A faint smile tugged at Gwen's lips.
"If that's what you've been doing most days," she said, "then I guess that explains why you've been absent so often."
"Kinda," Billy admitted with a shrug.
By then, they'd reached Gwen's locker.
She stepped aside, spun the combination lock with practiced ease, and pulled the locker door open. Sliding the Advanced Engineering textbook inside, she sorted through a neat stack of notebooks until she found the ones she'd need for her morning classes.
As she worked, another question crossed her mind.
"Tell me something."
She shut the locker, spun the lock into place, then turned to face him.
"How is it that despite your... let's call it spotty and inconsistent attendance... you still manage to get to school so early whenever you actually show up?"
Billy couldn't help but chuckle.
"My guardian is weirdly committed to punctuality," he explained as the mental images of both Tony and Happy flashed through his mind. "Even if I wanted to be late, there's no chance he'd let it happen."
Gwen listened quietly.
She'd been curious about Billy ever since he'd transferred in and whooped Flash's ass at dodgeball, instead of giving in to him and his squad of bullies. Between arriving halfway through the school year and already missing classes within his first week, his situation naturally raised questions.
"As for my attendance," Billy continued, "I've only missed two days so far." He looked at her with mock disbelief.
"Calling it spotty feels a little exaggerated, don't you think?"
Gwen folded her arms, unconvinced.
"Midterms are coming up," she reminded him as the two resumed walking, eventually stopping beside Billy's locker. "You transferred here when the semester was already well underway. Whether you've only missed two days or not, you've still got weeks of material to catch up on if you plan on passing."
Billy unlocked his locker.
"I see..."
His response sounded perfectly calm.
Inside, however...
'Oh, shit.'
'Midterms.'
That single realization crashed into his brain with considerably more force than he allowed to show on his face.
He quietly swapped out a couple of textbooks before shutting the locker.
Gwen watched him for a moment, one eyebrow slowly arching upward.
"For someone who's missed nearly half the semester's lessons," she observed, "you seem remarkably calm."
Billy blinked.
"Really?"
He pointed at himself.
"That's the impression I give?"
Gwen nodded without hesitation.
Together, they continued walking through the increasingly crowded hallway, weaving between groups of students making their way to class as conversations echoed around them.
Billy rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well," he said, "I figure there's no point stressing over problems that already have obvious solutions."
Gwen looked at him curiously.
"I just need to catch up on everything I've missed."
A grin spread across his face.
"And for that... I'm definitely going to need your help."
He looked at her sincerely.
"So... would you be willing to help me study for midterms?" There wasn't a trace of joking in his voice this time.
Gwen considered the request for a few seconds.
"I can't promise anything," she admitted. "My schedule's pretty packed these days."
She offered him an apologetic smile.
"But... I'll see what I can do."
Just then, two familiar figures appeared farther down the hallway.
Ned enthusiastically waved the moment he spotted Billy.
Peter, meanwhile, walked beside him looking unusually distracted, his mind clearly occupied by something else entirely.
Billy returned Ned's greeting with an upward nod of his chin.
"Thanks," he said, turning back to Gwen. "You're a lifesaver."
He placed a hand dramatically against his chest.
"You'll literally be saving my academic life."
That earned exactly the reaction he'd hoped for.
A soft laugh escaped Gwen before she could stop it.
The sound was light, genuine, and surprisingly infectious.
Billy found himself smiling in return.
"We'll catch up later then," he said as they reached the point where their paths split before first period.
"I guess so," Gwen replied.
She had barely turned to leave when Billy spoke up one last time.
"Oh... and, uh..."
She glanced back over her shoulder.
"Cute hairpin, by the way."
For a brief second, Gwen instinctively reached up to touch the small hairpin clipped neatly into her hair.
A warm smile spread across her face.
"Thanks."
With one last smile, Gwen turned and disappeared into the bustling hallway, leaving Billy to head in the opposite direction toward Peter and Ned, who were waiting by a row of lockers.
"Hey, Pete."
Billy reached out his hand as he approached. Peter instinctively met the gesture, and the two exchanged a quick dap. Even then, Peter's attention lingered on Billy for only a brief moment before his eyes drifted back toward the same point they'd been fixed on moments earlier.
Billy followed Peter's line of sight before looking over at Ned.
"What's his deal?"
Ned answered without the slightest hesitation, as though he were commenting on the weather rather than exposing one of his best friend's most closely guarded secrets.
"Oh, that's just Peter's daily routine," he said matter-of-factly. "Admiring his crush from a distance instead of actually walking over and talking to her about how he feels and not keep playing the friend card."
"Ned!"
Peter practically snapped out of his trance, turning toward his friend with a look of utter betrayal.
"What?" Ned blinked innocently.
"You were literally staring at her."
Peter let out an exasperated sigh.
Billy, meanwhile, finally pieced everything together.
'I see...'
'Our friendly neighborhood hero's got girl problems.'
The thought alone almost made him laugh.
'It's kind of hilarious when you think about it.'
'The guy regularly throws hands with monsters, supervillains, and criminals without blinking... but talking to the girl he likes about how he feels scares him more?'
Billy traced Peter's gaze once more until he spotted the source.
"Ahh... Mary Jane."
MJ was making her way toward the classroom just as students began filtering inside ahead of the morning bell.
With a knowing grin, Billy casually draped an arm over Peter's shoulder as the three of them started walking in the same direction.
"You've got good taste, my friend," Billy said. "But instead of standing around admiring her from halfway across the hallway and torturing yourself by staying in the classmates category... why not just make a move and get it over with?"
He shrugged.
"Think of it like ripping off a Band-Aid. Sure, it'll sting for a second, but at least it's over."
Ned nodded so vigorously he nearly bounced.
"That's exactly what I've been telling him!"
He pointed accusingly at Peter.
"You've got to actually do something instead of admiring her until somebody else asks her out first."
Billy nodded in agreement.
"And trust me," he continued, "it'll feel a whole lot worse if you find out later that you actually had a chance."
Peter looked over as Billy simply kept talking.
"Imagine discovering months from now that she would've said yes... but because you were too scared to tell her how you felt, you spent all that time watching your opportunity slowly walk away."
He subtly gestured ahead of them.
"Literally."
Peter and Ned instinctively looked forward just in time to see MJ disappear through the classroom doorway.
The opportunity vanished along with her.
Peter sighed.
"Like you'd know," he muttered, giving Billy a skeptical look.
Then, with a faint smirk that carried equal parts curiosity and challenge, he added, "And what would you know about matters of the heart?"
"I kid you not when I say I have absolutely no experience in that department." He frankly replied.
Billy's honest admission earned him a look of complete disbelief from Ned, while Peter slowly turned to stare at him with a raised brow, looking as though he'd just caught a self-proclaimed relationship expert confessing he'd never actually been in a relationship.
Before either of them could call him out, the warning bell rang. Lockers slammed shut throughout the hallway in rapid succession as students began streaming toward their classrooms. Billy took a few steps forward alongside them, refusing to let the conversation end there.
"But," he continued, raising a finger for emphasis, "that doesn't mean I can't lead someone else to a treasure I haven't managed to find myself."
Peter glanced sideways at him, the skepticism on his face only deepening.
"Huh... sure," he replied, his voice dripping with just enough sarcasm to make his opinion perfectly clear.
"That doesn't even make sense, dude," Ned chimed in, shaking his head as the trio merged into the flow of students heading toward class.
Billy simply grinned, unfazed by either of their reactions. "You guys are missing the point." He gestured between the two of them as they walked. "Think of me as the coach. The guy who draws up the winning strategy, motivates the team, and leads them to victory... even if he isn't the one out on the field playing the game."
He shrugged with an easy smile.
"At least... not yet anyway."
- - -
At 177A Bleecker Street, nestled within the heart of Greenwich Village, stood the Sanctum Sanctorum—an unassuming building to the average passerby, yet one that served as Earth's foremost bastion against mystical and interdimensional threats.
Deep within its ancient halls, inside a vast library lined floor to ceiling with weathered tomes, forgotten manuscripts, and scrolls older than many civilizations, the Sorcerer Supreme sat behind a broad wooden desk. Several books lay open before him in organized disorder, their yellowed pages covered in archaic scripts and symbols.
Rather than relying on magic to sift through centuries of accumulated knowledge, Stephen Strange patiently flipped through each page by hand, his sharp eyes scanning every line with unwavering concentration.
"It's still weird seeing you read like a normal person."
The calm voice broke the silence of the library as Wong entered, steadily closing the distance between them.
"You could've used magic to finish that stack a while ago."
Without looking up from the book in his hands, Strange turned another page.
"Using magic might cause me to overlook exactly what I'm searching for, Wong."
His tone remained measured, though the fatigue behind it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide.
Wong folded his hands behind his back as he stopped beside the desk, studying his friend for a quiet moment.
"Ever since that boy you mentioned appeared," he observed, "you've hardly allowed yourself any rest."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Yes, I know the recent surge of unexplained oddities and incidents is reason enough for concern. But this..." His eyes drifted toward the mountain of books surrounding Strange. "I've never seen you become this fixated on finding answers, and about a prophecy of all things."
Only then did Strange finally lift his gaze.
"Something feels... wrong."
He slowly closed the book in front of him, resting one hand upon its worn leather cover.
"Beyond the strange incidents themselves, it feels as though something is quietly taking shape beneath our noses."
His expression darkened.
"And what concerns me most isn't that I don't know what it is."
He met Wong's eyes.
"It's that whatever it is has managed to slip beneath the Sanctum's defensive wards without triggering so much as a single warning."
A brief silence settled between them.
For someone like Stephen Strange to admit uncertainty was rare.
For him to admit fear of the unknown...
That was even rarer, for there aren't many things that could remain as an unknown to him for long.
"I see."
Wong gave a slow nod before remembering the reason he'd come.
"Well... there is news from Hong Kong."
That immediately caught Strange's attention as he straightened in his chair.
"Their search into the prophecy Solomon spoke of centuries ago appears to have uncovered something."
Before Wong had even finished speaking, Strange was already rising from behind the desk.
"Why didn't you lead with that?" he asked, already making his way toward the open space at the center of the library.
Wong remained perfectly composed.
"I believe," he replied dryly, "I just did."
Strange couldn't even argue with that.
Reaching the center of the room, he raised both hands and swept them outward in a practiced circular motion.
Golden sparks erupted from his fingertips.
Reality itself seemed to tear apart, forming a brilliant ring of crackling energy that rapidly expanded into a stable portal.
Without breaking stride, Strange headed toward it.
Just before he crossed the threshold, the Cloak of Levitation sprang from its stand as though possessing a will entirely its own. It darted gracefully through the air before settling neatly across his shoulders, its crimson fabric billowing proudly despite the complete absence of wind.
Only then did the Sorcerer Supreme step through the portal, disappearing from the Sanctum in a shower of fading golden sparks.