Narrator's POV

"Boys, you're dad's away, so I'm taking you to school." Stephen said, doing his tie in the reflection of the fridge.

"Where did he go?" Oliver asked.

"He has a meeting this morning."

"A meeting? A meeting for what?" Peter asked.

"Who has meetings this early?" Wade asked.

"I'm sure that whatever it is, it's important if it's taking place this early." Stephen said. "Now, come on. Finish your breakfast. I have to be at the clinic in five minutes."

"Done!" Peter said, chugging the last of his orange juice.

"Brush your teeth." Stephen said as he began to get their lunch ready.

"What're we having for lunch?" Oliver asked.

"Healthy stuff." Stephen said.

"Did you put apple juice in there?" Oliver asked.

"Always." Stephen smiled at him.

"Yes!" Oliver smiled.

"Wade, would you please feed Sassy and Rex?" Stephen asked.

"Of course." Wade said, picking up after himself, washing his dishes and putting them on the drying rack before going to the pets' kennels.

"Oliver go brush your teeth." Stephen told Oliver.

"Okay." Oliver said, getting up and going upstairs.

There was a tumbling sound upstairs.

"Honey, are you okay?" Stephen asked, stopping everything.

"I'm okay." Oliver said from upstairs.

"Alright. You've got two minutes. Wade, honey, go upstairs and brush your teeth. I'll take care of Sassy and Rex." Stephen said.

"Oh." Wade said, carrying the dog food in his arms. "Okay." He set it down and hurried upstairs.

Stephen bagged the kids lunches and fed the pets.

"Alright boys. Let's go." Stephen said, opening a portal in the living room.

The three came downstairs. They were ready.

"Bye dad, have a good day." Peter said as he kissed Stephen on the cheek before entering the portal.

"Bye, Peter."

"Bye daddy!" Oliver said, hugging Stephen's legs.

Stephen smiled. "Goodbye sweetie." He leaned down and kissed Oliver's head.

Oliver joined Peter in the portal.

"Hope you have a good day at work." Wade said, giving Stephen a smile.

"Have a great day at school." Stephen smiled back at him and patted his back.

Wade joined Peter and Oliver through the portal.

The three were already on the school campus, just in time.

Stephen closed that portal and opened one to his office. He looked up at the clock on the wall. "Phew." He sighed. "One minute to spare."

///0///0

"New day, new opportunity." Peter said as he faced the school building.

"Hey! Pete."

Peter turned to see Ned, Mj, and Harry walking his way. "Oh, hey guys." Peter smiled.

"Hey Wade." Mj waved at Wade.

"Sup?" Wade said.

"Did you hear that today we're having a guest speaker?" Ned asked.

"Uh, no. I didn't." Peter shook his head.

"Supposedly it's some famous guy from a super advanced technology company or something." Mj said, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever." Harry said. "We all know Stark and Osborn Industries are the best. Right, Peter?" Harry took Peter into a headlock and messed up his hair.

Peter laughed. "Only the best."

"Come on. We gotta save ourselves some seats." Ned said.

Harry let go of Peter.

"Yeah, hold up." Peter said, turning to Oliver. "Hey bud. Have a great day at school today, okay? Stay out of trouble. I don't want to fetch you out of detention." Peter said, messing up Oliver's curls.

Oliver laughed. "Never."

"Mkay. See you after school." Peter waved goodbye to Oliver before joining his friends.

"I have band practice after school today." Oliver said.

"Oh. Well, I'll see you after then." Peter said. He always headed to the smoothie bar around the corner with his friends when Oliver had band practice or when he wasn't fighting crime.

"Okay." Oliver said. He faced the school building. "New day, new opportunity." He said, grabbing both straps of his backpack and walking to the building.

Although Peter and Oliver went to the same school, they had different classes. They didn't even have the same lunch or P.E period.

They took two different career paths and wanted to major in two completely different things, leading them to choose different classes.

They saw each other in the hallway every once in a while, but only long enough to exchange glances or give a quick wave.

Oliver enjoyed band.

Peter liked geography and politics.

They both liked science, but two different sides of science.

Technology?

Eh, Oliver liked it to a certain extent. Nothing too much really.

His day went on, with a book always to his nose, getting homework done early and spending time in the library. He didn't have any friends at Midtown High. You'd think he would have plenty of friends with his charming and friendly attitude, but no one really wanted to be friends with an eleven year old. He was the youngest one there, so there really wasn't anyone he could relate to or have similarities to. For that matter, he didn't try to talk to anyone. He was always quiet and about.

"Alright guys. Great job today." Mr. Davis, the band director, told his class as they put their instruments away.

Band practice was over.

"Don't forget to wear your blue uniforms on Friday's football game."

Oliver disassembled his flute and put it in it's small black case.

"Is Short-Stack coming on Friday too?" A boy with a french horn joked.

Everyone looked at Oliver and laughed.

Oliver had learned to ignore them. He was always invited to come to the games, but never came because he would stand out too much.

"Alright, alright." Mr. Davis said. "Let's not start." He said, looking around for his sheet music.

Oliver packed his things and left the band hall, waiting outside for Peter. He knew his brother was either at the juice bar with his friends or busy fighting crime.

He looked down at his colorful watch, tapping his shoe.

Looks like his brother was busy fighting crime with Wade.

"Looks like I'm walking." He said to himself. He began to walk down the streets.

Although he didn't walk by himself a lot, he enjoyed it. You never knew what kind of things you'd find out in the streets in New York. There was always something new everyday.

Oliver was very observant, so he would notice things right off.

He walked into a very known corner store in New York.

"Hey, Oliver."

"Afternoon Mr. Delmar." Oliver would say, picking up an apple out of fruit produce stand. He walked up to the counter, his eyes barely peeking over it. "Got any fresh oranges?" He asked, placing the apple on the counter as he stood on his tiptoes.

"Just had a truck come in this morning." Mr. Delmar said.

"I'll take two." Oliver said, placing money on the counter.

"Alright." Mr. Delmar got two oranges for him. "Where's Peter?" He asked.

"He's got a group study session." Oliver made up a little white lie to cover his brother's secrete crime fighting up.

"Oh. Boy really likes school, huh?" Mr. Delmar joked.

"Oh, yeah." Oliver nodded, smiling. He took his fruit. "I'll see you later."

"Take care, kid." Mr. Delmar waved.

Oliver excited the store, fruit in hand, and continued his way toward the Sanctum.

Well...not before having adventures around New York.

He would walk to Battery Park Underpass and sit in one of the benches, watching the ships sail by. He would admire the Statue of Liberty. He'd feed the squirrels and feed the ducks.

And once he had enough, he'd head home, but not this time. Oh, no.

"Watch out!"

"Hm?" Oliver turned around, the image of someone on a bike heading for him was the last thing he saw before he hit the ground. "Ow." He groaned.

"Argh..." Someone else groaned. "Ah! Oh my gosh. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry."

"D-Don't worry about it." Oliver said, sitting up, rubbing his head.

"Ah! Did I do that?"

Oliver knew whoever was taking to him was talking about his black eye. "No, no. It's been there." He said, finally focusing his sight on the person who was talking to him.

It was a very pale skinned boy. About his age.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"It's fine." Oliver said.

"I would've never run into you if it weren't for these dumb ducks!" The boy turned to the ducks and growled. A loud growl erupted from him and he grew slightly larger. There was a green grow in his eyes and hands. Two holes formed in his cheeks, showing sharp teeth.

"Whoa." Oliver was amazed.

"Yeah! Go away!" The boy shouted as the ducks quacked and waddled away in fear. He turned to Oliver. "Here, let me help." The boy said, extending a hand for Oliver to take.

"Thank you." Oliver thanked him and got up.

"I'm Dylan, but you can call me Sleeper." Said that boy.

"I'm Oliver." Oliver said.

"So, what happened to your eye?" Sleeper asked.

"It's a long story really." Oliver said.

"Tell me." Sleeper said, turning to Oliver.

"Well... if you insist." Oliver began.

And that's how a beautiful friendship began.