Flash Thompson, still lying on the ground, had finally come to his senses.
Now he understood completely.
Jonathan might not look particularly imposing, but getting hit by one of his punches felt almost no different from being struck by a car.
Flash was no match for him.
Although Flash was arrogant, he wasn’t entirely stupid.
He understood the importance of knowing when to yield.
So he simply went limp and played dead.
No matter what happened, he refused to get back up.
His reasoning was simple: as long as he didn’t move, no one could claim that he still wanted to continue fighting.
Seeing this, Jonathan almost burst out laughing.
He shook his head and couldn’t be bothered with Flash any longer.
Once the fight was over and there was nothing left to watch, the surrounding students quickly scattered.
As soon as the crowd thinned, Flash seized the opportunity to slink away in disgrace.
Before long, only Jonathan and Gwen remained.
Once their surroundings quieted down, Gwen smiled brightly and linked her arm through his.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
Jonathan genuinely wasn’t pretending to be clueless.
For a moment, he truly didn’t understand which part she was asking about.
“Your moves.”
Gwen tilted her head, her eyes filled with curiosity.
“When did you learn to fight like that?”
Jonathan had never received any formal combat training.
Still, he made a mental note of the idea.
If the Dimensional Gate ever led to a world built around martial arts, learning there would be worth the trip.
“That wasn’t any formal martial art,” Jonathan admitted.
“Street fighting?”
Gwen blinked and deliberately teased him.
“When did you start running the streets?
Aren’t you afraid my dad will arrest you?”
Faced with her mischievous question, Jonathan began to understand why his former, timid self had always struggled to handle this girl.
But he was different now.
With a beautiful girl practically throwing herself at him, it would be unforgivable not to make a move.
Without another word, he wrapped his arms around Gwen’s waist and began tickling her.
Gwen clearly hadn’t expected him to do something like that.
She was caught completely off guard.
“Hahaha!
Stop—stop it…
Hahaha…”
She laughed so hard that she could barely straighten her back, and tears nearly formed in the corners of her eyes.
Students passing by couldn’t help glancing in their direction when they heard her laughter.
Gwen didn’t mind in the slightest.
Compared to the dull and timid Jonathan from before, she clearly preferred this slightly mischievous, more assertive version of him who knew how to make her laugh.
The two continued joking and playfully shoving each other all the way home.
Every now and then, whether intentionally or not, Gwen would press herself against him.
The occasional brush of that softness caused heat to surge through Jonathan again and again.
Before long, however, they arrived back in their neighborhood while still fooling around.
When Jonathan saw his house just ahead, he could only stop somewhat reluctantly.
Seeing that he couldn’t do anything about her, Gwen immediately wore a smug little expression.
Still, their teasing had to end once they reached home.
After all, Jonathan lived alone. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
He couldn’t possibly cook for himself every day.
That was why he ate almost all three of his daily meals at Gwen’s house.
George and Helen genuinely welcomed him.
They both knew how tragic the boy’s past had been.
Sometimes, Helen even took better care of Jonathan than she did Gwen.
It had once made Gwen wonder whether Jonathan was their real child while she was the one they had found somewhere.
However, in front of George and Helen, Jonathan still had to restrain himself somewhat.
The following day, at Oscorp Industries…
Today was the day Midtown High School would be touring the company.
Since Gwen had already secured an internship at Oscorp, she happened to be the one leading the tour.
Wearing a white lab coat, she walked ahead of her classmates, occasionally turning around to make a playful face at Jonathan.
Jonathan watched her while glancing at the envious expressions of the other students, feeling slightly emotional.
Even American students raised in a relatively carefree education system began becoming more practical once they were old enough to start thinking about life after graduation.
The students who envied Gwen could roughly be divided into two groups.
One group envied her for having already secured a promising, well-paying job.
The other group was less practical.
They simply thought that working in such a futuristic, high-tech environment would be incredibly cool.
Peter Parker clearly belonged to the second group.
His eyes shone as he took in the bright white walls, floating three-dimensional projection screens, and the various instruments, containers, and bottles covering the researchers’ desks.
This was the world he longed to become a part of.
He wanted to conduct genuine scientific research, just like his father had.
Peter had inherited his father’s brilliant mind.
And because of that intelligence, he had realized earlier than most that his parents’ deaths had not been as simple as they appeared.