I’m Not Becoming Spider-Man - Chapter 45: We Survived! (Patreon)

If some fool put on a skintight costume and went out to fight criminals and gangsters because of a comic, wouldn't that end in disaster?

That was why Peter needed to cool the excitement down a little.

"Hey, newspaper club! Principal Davis wants to see you. Bring the two most recent issues with you."

"I have a really bad feeling about this," Gwen said, holding her head.

"Don't worry. Worst comes to worst, we can go underground." Peter patted her shoulder.

"Why does that sound even worse...?" Harley sighed. They weren't producing illegal goods, for heaven's sake.

The three took their magazines to the principal's office. Fortunately, Principal Davis seemed like an approachable man.

"Have a seat." He directed them to the couch, opened a window, lit a cigarette, and began reading the magazines as casually as he might read the newspaper.

All three sat stiffly. Harley leaned toward Peter and whispered, "Are you sure this is all right? Maybe we went too far. What if the comics have a bad influence on the school?"

"I heard Davis loves blondes," Gwen whispered. "Is he angry because we replaced the blonde cover girls? What if he cancels our comic completely?"

"We'll deal with whatever happens," Peter assured her. "If we have to, we'll put a few blondes in the next issue."

When Davis finished his cigarette, he pressed the butt into the ashtray. "Batman is fine. Just make sure it doesn't cause any trouble."

The three students immediately sat up straighter, as obedient as little children.

Davis nodded. "It's interesting, and the students clearly like it. I do have a few suggestions, though."

"Please, sir," Peter said quickly.

"Some of the more brutal scenes need to go. The first two issues are already out, so I'll let those stand. But going forward, ease up on the blood. Bring in a few more upright characters, too, and keep the tone under control. Can you do that?"

"Absolutely!"

"Relax, kids." Davis smiled. "I'm impressed that you managed to create something like this. As long as you don't cut back on the actual school news, the remaining pages are yours to experiment with. The only problem is that teachers have been complaining about students talking about the comic during lessons."

"I don't see that as a serious issue. If they weren't talking about Batman, they'd be talking about rock music or baseball. Still, could you release the magazine on Fridays instead?" he suggested. "They'll have the weekend to get it out of their systems, and classes should run more smoothly."

Previously, the magazines went out on Monday and were gradually taken over the course of the week. Some students even sneaked back on weekends to collect leftover copies. That schedule had been manageable. But nobody had expected The New Batman to become such a sensation that every copy would vanish on Monday.

Moving the release date to Friday made perfect sense.

Davis hadn't flown into a rage or demanded a complete overhaul. He'd simply proposed a schedule that worked better for everyone.

"Of course. We'll make the change," Peter promised. Gwen and Harley finally breathed easy. They'd made it through.

The moment they left the principal's office, the three erupted in cheers.

"We're famous, Peter! We really made it!" Harley exclaimed.

"Don't get carried away. We're popular at one school, and nobody knows how long it'll last," Peter reminded her. "Besides, it's a weekly publication. I'm not sure I can finish a new installment every single week."

"Then we'll help you," Gwen said with a nod. "It can't be that hard, can it?"

...

Quentina still hadn't found a job.

With her talents, she ought to have been able to find work in her specialty, whether in film and television special effects or set design.

Her technical skills were practically at a genius level.

What she lacked was a professional track record.

More precisely, the movie she'd worked on hadn't been released yet. Even though she'd left the project, she couldn't include any of its footage in her portfolio without risking the people behind it coming after her viciously.

So she'd returned home to make some demonstration clips of her own before applying again. Unfortunately, she had absolutely no inspiration and couldn't decide what to create.

She still had some time, so she wasn't panicking just yet.

She could take a sales job at the nearby mall to earn a little cash and keep herself fed. But next month's rent remained a problem.

And if nothing worked out...

"Good evening, Miss Beck." Peter spotted Quentina crouching by her door. "Uh... What are you doing down here?"

"Getting some fresh air. Sitting inside all day isn't good for anyone." She sighed, then noticed the large box in his arms. "What's that?"

"Our school magazine. We picked up the printed copies and need to store them here until we can distribute them on Friday," Peter explained. "We're in the school newspaper club. It's part of what we do."

"All right... But is that really what a school magazine is supposed to look like?" Quentina studied the enormous black bat on the cover. It hardly resembled a typical weekly publication for teenagers.

"Our school gives us plenty of freedom. And if you look inside, there's actual content in there. Hey, if you're free, why don't you come upstairs for a while?"

"Hmm, all right. Here, let me carry some." She gathered a stack of magazines from his box.

They went upstairs together. Peter had taken half a day off school to collect the copies, and since he was already out, he'd decided to come home early and prepare dinner.

Until now, he'd picked the magazines up from the printer over the weekend and put them out on Monday. With Friday becoming the new release day, he had to bring the next issue home ahead of time and store it.

After setting the box down, he poured Quentina a glass of cola, left her a copy to browse, and went to make dinner.

"Hmm..." She flipped through the pages. It was more interesting than she'd expected. A masked vigilante taking on criminals?

"Peter, are there any earlier issues?"

"On the bookshelf in my room," he called back.

Quentina nodded and went to fetch them. But the moment she entered Peter's bedroom, another idea crept into her head.

She checked the bookshelf, then cautiously looked under the bed and beneath the covers. There wasn't a single adult magazine to be found.

Peter was a teenage boy, yet he'd shown no interest in her advances at all. Could it be...?

Was Peter gay?