PETER WAS ITCHING TO DITCH SCHOOL AGAIN. He hadn't had this feeling since the beginning of sophomore year, back when he was still bright and shiny and new to the whole hero business; he was still incredibly bright and shiny, but he was getting a hang of the hero thing, no matter what everyone else in his life said.

But he was itching to save the life of his second best friend, so it was safe to say that his playing hooky was going to incredibly justifiable. But, first, he had to finish recruiting Phillip, as Aurora had come into his room to let him know that the boy wasn't going to believe her unless he had proof when he was awake.

"Briar, can't you just talk to him?" he had sighed, after calming down enough to the fact that he had a girl besides Diana in his room, especially since she had manifested out of nowhere, "You know, come to school and chat."

"Maleficent doesn't know that I have any mutations, me staying under the radar is the only way to stay safe," she had replied, "It was already dangerous enough that I went out running to follow you, people must have seen me."

"Don't worry, I texted a guy I know, he's wiped all the footage," he had said, waving her concern aside, "And it's not Ned. I know you think it's Ned, but it's not. I mean, I'm sure he could have, but it's not him."

She had raised her eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Do you want me to ask?"

He shrugged. "I mean if you want to." He definitely did.

Instead of rising to the bait, she just wished him good night, reminding him to talk to Phillip, and disappeared from his room. With a sigh, he had flopped back down against his mattress on the top bunk and picked up his phone, texting his girlfriend about what was happening.

That was how he found himself rainchecking Ned and Michelle, making his way onto the field to go find where Harry sat, as the boy had told him that Phillip tended to sit with them more often that not; Peter reminded himself to schedule a time to hang out with Harry, he missed the boy's company, they had a lot of fun, he was only third best friend because Aurora was around more.

"Hey, Peter!" Gwen Stacy called from where she was leaned over Flash's shoulder, reading the texts the boy received from his boyfriend, "What's going on?"

"You gonna sit with us, Parker, 'cause I could use your help," Flash asked absentmindedly, too distracted to realize that he had admitted to wanting Peter's help; the taller boy wished he had recorded it.

"I'm actually here to talk to Phillip," the boy replied, and they all looked up to stare at him before turning to the boy in question who lowered his sunglasses, looking at him with a confused stare.

Peter pointed towards the side awkwardly, giving a small wave to Diana who was giving him an encouraging look, then at Harry who mouthed something about them catching up later with a wink, and Peter pinked, glancing at his shoes.

"C'mon, man," Phillip called, having stood up, only for Peter not to follow, "I didn't get any sleep last night and I wanna nap."

"Don't be mean," Harry tutted, and Phillip stuck his tongue out, grinning when Harry gave him a similar look; Peter wasn't jealous, he really wasn't.

"I don't think we've really met, I'm Phillip," the boy said, turning towards him and sticking out his hand, and Peter tried not to notice how pretty he was, "You're Diana's boyfriend, right?"

Peter nodded, shaking his hand, trying to smile. "Yeah. Is that all she says about me?"

Philip smirked. "No, she likes to talk about how cute you are. Don't tell her I said that, though, she nearly burst into tears when Harry pretended to tell you. But anyways, what can I do for you?"

Peter paused for a moment, just staring at him. Contrary to popular belief, he was an observant boy, and he could tell when someone was acting, and if the boy was anything like Diana had told him, he was acting for a reason.

"You don't need to do that," he said softly, "Listen, I'm friends with Harry, don't treat me like this. Please. Talk to me like a person, not an icon."

Phillip's smile faltered and he adjusted his sunglasses. "Be my friend and maybe I will. You have something to say or not?"

Peter pursed his lips, forcing himself not to take it personally. "Look. Briar sent me, we need to help her, so you know you're awake, so let's just get going, okay? It's still pretty early, but we're going to lose a lot of time, we need to go."

Phillip tugged of his sunglasses, his mouth dry, staring at the fidgeting boy in front of him who had his hands balled into fists at his side, one finger out to tap at his leg. He searched his face for any sign of mocking or lies, but found nothing but fierce desperation.

"Shit, she was telling the truth," he breathed, all the weight of that night falling onto his shoulders, almost physically affecting him, "Shit, she's gonna die."

"Yeah," Peter said, stepping forward and grabbing at his arm, "We need to go right now. Ditch school with me, I know where she lives, we need to find her."

Phillip nodded shortly, and without his sunglasses on, Peter could see a genuine concern now etched onto his features and pooled in his eyes, which was a slight comfort. "I'll grab my bag."

º º º

Aurora paced in her room, worrying on her bottom lip. She had yet to reveal to her godmothers that she did, indeed, have a mutation that she had been keeping a secret all this time, opting to reveal it to them once Peter arrived, with or without Phillip.

She hoped with. She needed all the help she could get.

She didn't have to wait too long after, however, because the sound of the doorbell sent her into action, phasing through the door and racing downstairs before any of her godmothers could even wake up, focusing and ripping the door open to reveal the two boys standing at her doorstep.

"I'm so sorry," was the first thing said between the three of them, Phillip speaking and stepping forward, "I'm really, really sorry."

"It's okay," she breathed, looking up at him, trying to smile, "Come in. I really need to explain."

The boys nodded and walked into the house, looking around, commenting on the nice home—though Phillip did say that having the front door open with the stairs right in front was bad feng shui—following her into the kitchen, sitting at the kitchen island.

"Um, do you want juice?" she offered, taking a few tries to open the door, her hand constantly phasing through before she made a frustrated grunt, nearly ripping it open, "Snacks?"

"An explanation would be nice," Phillip said, wincing immediately after, "Sorry, I'm not usually like this."

"I don't think any of us are usually like this," she sighed, closing the fridge and turning around to face them, "I'm not usually angry, ask Peter. Does he know?" she asked, glancing over towards Phillip who raised an eyebrow.

"Know what?" the boy asked, turning to look at him, "If you're about to come out to me, you don't have to if you don't want to, it's okay."

Peter blinked, but decided to roll with it, trying to smile. "Thanks, man. But I don't really mind. I'm bi."

Phillip smiled. "Me too."

"That's not what we're talking about," Aurora sung, catching the boy's attention, her hands on her hips, "Peter, I don't want to force you, but I think it might be prudent considering—"

"What the hell is going on?"

The teens all jumped, whirling around to find Rosalee staring at them in shock, first staring at the two unfamiliar boys in her kitchen before landing on Aurora, shrieking once she did, causing the other two women to appear, at the ready, gasping when they saw her.

"Rory?" they shrieked, then glancing over to the boys, they adjusted themselves, "Briar?"

Aurora took a deep breath, motioning for all of them to go into the living room. "Okay, I'm gonna explain, I promise, just be quiet and sit down."

"You don't get to just tell us that, what happened to you—" Marisol began, but Rosalee clamped a hand over her mouth, dragging her to the living room and dumping her on the couch, the women all too wired up to think to offer seats to the boys who sat down on the floor.

"I'm a mutant," she said, starting to find her breathing labored, "And I have the ability of astral projection, but I figured it'd be safer if no one knew that I could. I asked the boys to help me, because they're the only non-mutants I had thought to trust."

"You said that you didn't even think of going to Peter," Phillip interjected, frowning, and she paused, staring at the boys with wide eyes.

The brunette groaned loudly, rubbing his eyes. "God, I gotta get better at this, people can't keep knowing." Raising his head, he announced, "Hi, I'm Spider-Man."

There was a pause.

Then Phillip snorted, rising to his feet. "I'm out. Bye."

"Phillip!" Aurora cried, watching as he made his way towards the door.

Phillip scoffed, shaking his head as he stood by the door, too upset to even face them. "What do you want me to say, Briar Rose, that this was a clever prank? I don't like pranks, and I sure as hell don't like getting messed with by literal strangers, so if you wanna apologize, now's a pretty good time—"

He was cut off by his hand getting webbed to the door handle.

He whimpered slightly, just staring at his hand, before looking up and seeing Peter with his arm outstretched, a bracelet on his hand, breathing heavily. "Don't tell anyone. Only Diana knows."

Phillip licked his lips. "Okay. So, you're Spider-Man. I guess you're a mutant. Anything else I need to know before we move on?"

Aurora sighed. "I don't know how you're even going to help me."

Gazelle spoke up then. "You might not. But we do."

º º º

"You can stop apologizing now, I don't blame you for reacting that way, there wasn't really any reason for you to have to take my word for it."

The three teens were all sitting on the couch, Aurora in the middle, Peter on her right, and Phillip on her left, waiting for her godmothers to come back with whatever they were searching for. Neither of them were speaking, as Peter had been directed not to run his mouth off, Aurora had nothing else to say, and Phillip was feeling too guilty to even look at any of them.

"I'm not usually that rude, I swear," the boy mumbled, and Aurora was just shocked at all that he was apologizing.

"I know," she said, forcing herself to focus so she could actually rub his back, "You've always been nice to me. You don't mean it."

Peter fidgeted at that, clearly wanting to speak—Spider-Man would have said something, but Peter Parker couldn't—and Phillip caught his movements, as did Aurora, and he reached out across from her to squeeze Peter's knee.

"I'm sorry, man. But I've never spoken to you before, and most people like to laugh at me," Phillip reasoned, and Peter nodded, patting his hand before removing it from his knee.

"So," Phillip said, leaning back against the couch, now more relaxed, "You're a mutant. You know the X-Men?"

Aurora nodded. "Yup. My parents were X-Men, and the one who cursed me used to be one. I don't really know the whole story, but I did live at the mansion until they died. It was fun, but there were a lot of people."

"Do you know Professor X?" Peter asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah. All the original X-Men I know, since the X-gene affects our ability to age, similar to the serum given to Captain America, except his isn't as pronounced, I don't think. I did a research paper on it for bio in freshman year," she explained, always getting excited when she was able to give fun facts about everything; she didn't know much, not really, so when she was able to have some input in a conversation, it made her happy.

"And they can't help you," Phillip sighed, "Not at all?"

"I don't get what it means, but yes," Aurora said.

"I mean, your godmothers have something to help us, so maybe they can aid, but there's something that we have to do that they can't," Peter offered, his leg shaking as he thought, shrugging when the two turned to look at him.

"You think we have to make a potion or something?" Phillip asked, "Because, I mean, if we just need ingredients or something, I can help with that, I'm pretty good at, you know, baking."

Aurora smiled, cooing, "Aw, you are? That's so great, do you bake with your mom?"

He shrugged. "Kind of? It's not really a hobby or anything, it's more of a science, at least in my family. My mom's the head chef at that really fancy restaurant downtown, that's how I met Harry, his dad holds events there a lot. My dad's...he's in the business, but in a different way."

"So if we have to make something, we have you, but they'd probably have to magical or affected in some way, right?" Peter asked, "Because you were cursed, I don't even know X-Men could do that."

"It depends on your mutation, my godmothers have the ability of manipulating the fabric of reality, it's like magic, but it's different than what Wanda Maximoff has, she has chaos magic, at least that's what it'd be called if she were a mutant," she explained, grinning again, "I wrote about that for extra credit in English a few months ago, best score I ever got."

"Our skill sets aren't really made to stop a curse, are they?" Phillip said, tapping his hands against his legs, "I mean, don't get me wrong, guys, you're pretty awesome, but I don't know how we can stop a magical curse."

"In fairy tales, kisses usually solve lots of things," Peter said, reading from his phone where he no doubt must have looked up something akin to 'how to break evil magic spell.'

"You're kidding," Aurora deadpanned, and the two boys shrugged. Making a face, she stomped her foot and sighed. "Okay, follow me."

The three made their way up the stairs, Phillip once again commenting on how the door led right into the stairs, entering her room to find Aurora asleep on her bed.

It was strange seeing herself. She had done it before, but it was strange when she knew she might never wake up. She wasn't entirely how she saw herself in the mirror, almost unrecognizable, but she knew it was herself. She was starting to pale, which scared her, since her skin was rather dark.

"Go on," Phillip said, nudging Peter.

The boy fell forward, but stopped, pushing Phillip over. "No way, you go first."

"You know her better," Phillip argued, pushing him back.

"Yeah, well I have a girlfriend, she doesn't need to know I cheated on her with my second best friend's comatose body. That's creepy on, like, twelve different levels that I can currently think of," Peter shot back, pushing Phillip enough that he fell back on the bed, nearly landing on Aurora's physical form.

"If you don't want to kiss me, that's fine, but there's no need to act so repulsed by it," she called out, reminding them of her existence, and she tried not to show how much watching them hurt her; a girl who always dreamed of finding someone who loved her, it was difficult to see that these two weren't even willing when her life was at stake.

"Sorry," Phillip mumbled, crawling over towards her still frame before flicking his eyes back up to her, "Can you turn around? I just...this is weird, I'm sorry, I don't wanna kiss someone who's asleep, it's not right. Do I have your permission to do this?"

"I brought you here, didn't I?" she shot back, too upset to be nice about it.

"Yeah, but just because you brought me somewhere doesn't mean I'm allowed to do anything, you can say no whenever you want," he argued, not looking at her, his cheeks pink, and she had to admit, she was glad to hear that from him.

"You can kiss me," she said, and he nodded, swallowing.

Taking a deep breath, he licked his lips and closed his eyes, slowly leaning forward.

"Kids, we found it, are you up here—What is going on?"

Phillip startled so badly that he threw himself off Aurora's bed, caught just in time by Peter before he hit the ground, being lifted bridal style before dropped to his feet, the boy holding onto him to help regain his balance.

"We were trying to see if the kissing thing works," Aurora explained, and Rosalee groaned loudly, shaking her head.

"Look," she sighed, thrusting a parchment like scroll into her hands, "This is what was found before Maleficent disappeared and your parents died. We can't read it, but I think you and these boys can."

Peter and Phillip walked over towards her and leaned over her shoulders, watching as she unfurled it, Phillip commenting on the dramatics of making a scroll in the twenty-first century.

"There only one thing on it so far," Phillip said, furrowing his brow, "Do you think they'll appear as we get them?"

"Probably, she's dramatic like that," Aurora grumbled, holding up the scroll to the light shining from her window, hoping to see more words, but to no avail, "So I guess we start with number one."

"What does it say?" Marisol asked, she and Gazelle having walked into the room a few moments after the teens started reading.

She only became more frustrated when she read it out. "It just says to go to the mansion, it doesn't even say what to get there."

"It'll probably appear when we get there," Peter suggested, "You know, like all the other ingredients, she's trying to keep us in suspense and break us down, but we're not gonna let that happen."

"Wow, that was a pretty sweet pep talk, you practicing?" Phillip asked, and Peter ducked his head, mumbling for him to shut up.

Aurora rolled her eyes at the both of them. "Can you guys help us travel?" She looked up at her godmothers who shared a look and shrugged, nodding.

"We got you the scroll, I don't see why not," Rosalee said, waving her hands, opening a portal.

Aurora walked over towards it, trying to step through, only to wind up still in her room, as if she had just taken another step. She blinked, turning around and trying again, only to receive the same effect.

"I'll take that as a no," Phillip said, clapping his hands together, "Lucky for us, I know someone who has a car."

º º º

"Please, Flash."

"No way, Parker, I just got my new car back in Christmas, you were there," Flash argued, crossing his arms over his chest, "And why aren't you in school, you were my lab partner today."

"Shoot, I'm sorry," Peter sighed, standing on one end of the gate, not wanting to step back onto school property, "I'll make it up to you, I promise, but it's really important that I get your car, Spider-Man texted me and asked to help, we're friends, remember?"

"I remember, but why didn't he ask Diana, she's my sister, and she's a lot closer to me than you are," Flash argued, but he was already pulling the keys out of his pocket, "And why's Phillip hiding behind a tree, are you sure this is Spider-Man business?"

He pulled the keys just out of Peter's reach, narrowing his eyes which darted between Peter and Phillip, then over to his keys.

He mumbled lowly, "You better not be cheating on Diana with Phillip, I will actually kill you."

"I'm not," Peter hissed, jumping forward and snatching the keys, pulling away before Flash could make a grab for them, "I love my girlfriend, okay? But this is important. Thank you, Flash, this time it'll get back safe."

Peter ran off before Flash could call after him, racing towards the new car and jumping into the front seat. Phillip immediately grabbed the keys out of his hand, however, motioning for him to move.

"You can't drive, but I can. Go on, backseat," Phillip said, pushing his shoulder before jumping in, "Briar, you coming? C'mon, shotgun."

Aurora reappeared from where she had been hiding in the bushes by Flash's car, phasing through the car before forcing herself to concentrate, able to sit on the seat.

Phillip raised an eyebrow. "You gonna be okay having to concentrate that long? Do you wanna just astral project there, you said that if you focus enough, you can just appear there."

She took a deep breath, nodding. "That's a good plan. I'm probably gonna need my energy when we get there. I'll get back home and have my godmothers tell me. Peter, text me when you get there, okay?"

The boy nodded, giving her a thumbs up. "I got you, Briar. See you there."

The girl smiled and, with that, she disappeared.

Peter immediately vaulted into the seat, buckling up and giving Phillip a smile, pulling out his phone and setting up the GPS. "Ready to go?"

Phillip shrugged, turning on the engine. "Let's go visit the X-Men."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 05.07.18 )

This chapter was a whole lotta nothing, same as the other, and I'm so sorry about this story, my God. This is actually a lot different than what I had thought of in my mind, there's a lot more suspense involved, which I think is kinda cool.

For those who read Lonely Hearts, but don't know, Flash has a boyfriend by this point in the story, so he and Gwen are still broken up, as I never did confirm if they were back together: they're not.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!