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Summary: Finding out his classmate has powers probably should have been exciting. And maybe it actually was... Until it became exceedingly clear that she was more of an unstable, perpetually nervous Pikachu than a mighty Thor. [Slow-burn Peter Parker x OC; Pre-CA: Civil War - ?]

chapter one

school is weird

The hypothesis Cassiopeia had made was immediately disproven as soon as she stepped on school grounds. A group of—cliched as it was—quote-unquote cool students almost trampled her as she walked through the main entrance, and she could actually feel the electrical charges unbalancing as they brushed against her. As they walked on, some of them apologizing to her and some shooting her smug smirks, she could see that the ones lucky enough to make physical contact with her had hair floating around their heads like they just went through a slide in a playground.

"Kkomaengi," Sunny turned just in time to see her brother reach out to ruffle her hair, "your face is going to get stuck like that."

"Oppa! Don't do that to my hair!" She whined, shooing his hand away. Vaguely from some distance she could hear some people commenting about how cute Min-woo—Apollo to them—was and how they felt like they were watching a Korean drama. She scowled at her brother and he just gave her a small smile—and she could swear there were people swooning in her peripheral.

"See you after school Kkomaengi."

"...see you." She grumbled quietly, watching him walk off and join some more of his senior friends.

Her heart panged with a bit of jealousy as he so easily flowed into interactions, and clearly held the adoration of so many. Sunny's school experience seemed to be in the complete opposite direction.

People never bullied her, or even made fun of her, but that wasn't to say that they liked her either. It was more like she didn't exist? She had one friend in school, and she only really saw her once a week in art club. She didn't necessarily hate school, however, she couldn't deny that it was lonely.

And of course, her first class of the day was the loneliest of them all. PE.

Sunny cringed as the school news, with student broadcasters and all, blasted over the intercom. It was clear that whoever the boy was half-asleep every morning that they did this, which was every morning. Once, he even fell asleep and started snoring. It only got worse when his co-host woke him up, because he broke out into a screaming rant about everyone around him being an alien.

That didn't even touch into how terrible they were about actually reporting.

She dragged herself over to the gymnasium locker room, unnoticed by the girls already in there. With a sigh, she pulled her gym clothes out of her backpack and changed into them without a fuss. The locker room was filled with chatter despite the early hour, people talking about anything and everything. The buzz of conversation normally didn't bother her so much, but today she found herself almost running out into the gym as she felt the electricity start to build up in her arms along with her anxiety.

It was such a pain to figure out what was going on with her. Does the electricity need to be released? Can it just go away on its own, dissolve into nothing? What is even happeni—

Cassiopeia Jung—Jung Hye-seon!—may be extreme levels of nervous, but she was also very smart. Like every other student at Midtown, she had to take and pass an exam and an interview to get into the school. So while jitters often overtook her being, she still had the ability to think out a situation.

Which is why she brought a pack of rubber rulers with her to school—I mean, rubber gloves probably would be best, but that's just weird to be wearing that at school. She wasn't quite sure the extent of the powers she currently had, but anything to curb possible outburst and possible discovery was worth trying out. After all, the whole SHIELD debacle, the one where people were going to be killed for being gifted, powered, or just had the potential to become a potential threat—At least, I think that's what was going on, I'm not really that sure—had only gone down less than two years ago.

When she tried at home before she left for school, it seemed that the rulers were doing an okay job of stopping the small sparks of electricity that were making their way out of her hands. Whether or not it was going to be enough was yet to be seen, but all she had to do was make it through the day and then she could go back and wallow in her bedroom.

The problem in PE specifically was that their uniforms had no pockets. But Sunny could also work around that problem!

...by shoving the ruler into the waistband of her shorts like she was Doraemon.

Maybe she was moving around like a little robot, but sometimes sacrifices need to be made.

Stepping onto the basketball court, she could see that most of the other students were taking their time to getting dressed. Not really a surprise considering there was still ten minutes 'til the bell signaling the start of class rang. Sunny swiftly walked over to an open area where no one was hanging around. Most mornings, she would sit on the bleachers and wait out the eternity that was the moments before class began, but she didn't want to risk electrocuting anyone just because they happened to sit on the same metal bench as her.

Not that anyone really noticed the change in routine anyway, the world didn't seem to pay attention to her. She spaced out while observing the people slowly filing out of the locker rooms, the sophomores, juniors, and seniors leaving the gym to find their designated spots for whatever sport they were doing, the kids that just wanted to go back to sleep, the girls in her class that were always talking about becoming cheerleaders—It's a nice goal and all, but our school sucks at sports so I don't understand why they're so excited. Somehow, it always felt like everyone in this class was friends with everyone. Except her.

Actually, that's not quite true. Sunny thought, as she turned her gaze to some of the kids on the bleachers. The kids in Academic Decathlon seem a little outcast-y too… but they do have each other.

She only knew a few of them; Cindy, because a fellow Asian face gave her some sense of comfort even though they'd never talked, Michelle, because she had a habit of making odd comments in English, and Peter, because he was her new lab partner in Biology. Before she could ponder even further about them, she was shocked out of her reverie by the teacher dropping his binder on the ground with a resounding smack. Accompanying her shock was a real shock, a small bolt of electricity hovering in front of her face. Oh my god oh my god oh my god reign it in reign it in—

In that moment, the benefits of her invisible status became very obvious as no one pointed out the freaking lightning materializing in the same room as them. It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and she almost collapsed with relief.

"Today we're going to work on, you know, normal exercise stuff." Coach Wilson said disinterestedly. She walked over towards the back of the group at a snail's pace, praying that nothing would go wrong

"What exactly should we do?" Someone chimed from the crowd.

"You know."

"Uh, maybe?"

"Just do some pushups and sit-ups and whatever. Partner up if you want." He drawled, plopping down onto a metal folding chair by the wall. "I'll be watching." And by that, he probably means he won't be watching.

The majority of the class easily fell into the partnerships they'd established at the beginning of the school year, the prospective-cheerleader girls even forming a group since Coach Wilson really didn't care. Sunny tilted her head towards the ground, effectively covering her face with her bangs, already knowing it would be another period of PE spent alone. She buried her face even further into her hair when she heard some of her classmates who positioned themselves where she was standing earlier cry out that they'd been shocked. She even panicked for a second until they broke out in giggles. I might have a heart attack before the day ends.

Sunny walked towards an empty space, focusing on the ruler she could feel pressed against her stomach, hoping she was directing her nerves to the object. She was almost there when Michelle Jones stopped her in her tracks.

"Hey loser, you're back."

"Hello Michelle," Sunny greeted her quietly, confused at the sudden conversation.

"The average intelligence level in English decreased when you left." She said with a blank face.

"..." Is… was that a compliment? "Oh, thank you?"

Michelle didn't even acknowledge her again and just walked away. Why is school so weird? She stiffened as more people exclaimed that they were being shocked. Why am I so weird?

I can't wait 'til I'm in Chemistry next year, the chemicals we have access to are so limited in Biology...

"Mr. Parker."

I wonder if using that can finally reduce the density though? It's just not traveling as quickly as I wa—

"Mr. Parker!" Peter, jolted out of his thoughts, scrambled to look at the teacher. "If you don't mind, Mr. Parker, I think your partner may need some help getting a reading." The biology teacher tilted her head towards his partner and chuckled before checking on the next lab station.

Peter turned to look at his lab partner, who was on her tip-toes trying, and failing, to examine the apparatus they set up. Cassiopeia Jung was, perhaps, more shy, more awkward, and definitely more quiet than him. She flushed, deep crimson splotches filling her cheeks, and stared basically anywhere but him with her eyes widened. "Some help really would be nice," she said quietly, voice barely rising to an audible volume. "I actually can't see the number where it stopped."

"Sorry!" He moved around her to look at the apparatus, able to spot the reading with ease. Thank you growth spurt! "I just got sort of distracted." He scribbled the data down in the table drawn in his notes, then angled it so she could copy it.

"It's okay." She said, smiling weakly for a second, but not making eye contact with him, while copying the number and looking to make sure the rest of their recorded data was the same.

They worked on the calculations in silence for a while, until Peter realized he was missing some information. "Hey Cassiopeia, do you happen to have this written down?" He asked, pointing at the data he needed, but noting the displeasure that seemed to fill her face as he said her name. She nodded and slid her notes on the lab protocol over. "Thanks! And, uhm, d-do you... not like being called by your name or something?"

"Oh!" She squeaked out. "No-it's just…" Cassiopeia ducked her head down, muttering at a volume that wouldn't have been audible if he didn't have enhanced senses. "No one in school usually asks me…" He started to turn red in embarrassment, worried he might have crossed a line with her, but she suddenly blurted out, "You can call me Sunny."

"Sunny?" I wonder why Sunny? That… kind of seems out of nowhere.

"My Korean name is Hye-seon," She explained, still having a staring contest with the lab top below her. "My parents call me Sunny."

"Ah, that's cool!" He squeaked, feeling like he got caught and that she'd been able to hear his thoughts. "Sunny then." Peter murmured, before a teasing smile took over his face, some burst of bravery hitting him as he realized that he might be the less socially-challenged one for a change. "Sorry for earlier, I guess I thought I could space out because I forgot you were so short…"

Sunny scrunched her nose when she glanced back up at him—as much as she could through her hair, turning violently in shock at his words. He panicked internally as she scrutinized him because they weren't exactly close. They weren't even friends. They only met at the beginning of the spring semester a few weeks ago, when their biology class switched seats and they ended up partners. She was even absent for more than a week. His panic lessened, however, when her shoulders relaxed when she saw the teasing look on his face. "You've got no room to talk Peter, you may be taller than me, but it's not like you're actually tall."

That's true. He turned a little red, but still chuckled. "As long as I'm taller than you, that's all that's necessary."

They both laughed, somewhat awkwardly since they were awkward people, but more comfortably than their usual two-second interactions as they moved to walk to the front of the classroom, where a box was set up for them to turn in their completed assignments. "That's not even hard to do considering how… not tall I am."

"As long as you know!"

"You're so mean," Cassiopeia—Sunny! I need to remember that!—looked at him for the first time without hiding behind her bangs with the most minuscule smile, before heading back to their station to start cleaning up. "Oh! I need to hurry! U-uhm. I usually eat in the art room, but before I left Flash went there and decided it'd be cool if he sat on top of my usual desk and fired off lame pick-up lines at the upperclassmen." She rambled, her volume decreasing with each word.

Peter grimaced. "Yeah, that sounds like a Flash thing." Oh no, she's going to dump the chemical I need in the waste container! "Hey, I can take those! You can just put away the micropipettes!" Peter quickly shuffled over to her side, his blood rushing with embarrassment and adrenaline, and a buzz filling his ears. I hope that wasn't suspicious...

Sunny glanced over at him, looking just as surprised at his outburst as he was. "O-okay that's cool. Thanks Peter."

"No problem!" Sweet. Now I just gotta figure out how to come back and use the hot plate…

He walked out of the room to meet up with Ned after putting the chemicals in the cabinet near his lab station that he knew nobody used. As soon as they saw each other, it was entirely reflex at this point to do their handshake. They were talking excitedly about the new game that they spent the weekend playing when they passed by the art room with its door wide open.

Peering inside as they made their way to the cafeteria, Peter noticed Sunny sitting by herself, with nothing but a juice box, some snacks—ones he recognized from the pantry at Ned's house, and the earphones shoved in her ears. Even though everyone else in the room was having a blast, Sunny was just there, alone.

In fact, through the rest of the day, he realized that seemed to be the case for her all of the time.

In the hallways, alone.

In their math class, alone.

After school—as he rushed to Decathlon practice after making some web fluid in the empty biology lab—walking around campus, alone.

He actually started to feel really bad as he filed through his memories of her. He'd never seen her really hanging out with anyone, or even talking to anyone for more than a few seconds, and they were five months into the school year. Peter might not be a social butterfly, but he at least had Ned, and even some of the other members of Decathlon, band, and robotics were friendly with him.

But Sunny? Had he ever seen her anything but alone?

While they were leaving school to head to the subway and make their way home, Peter couldn't stop himself from asking Ned. "Hey, do you know Cassiopeia Jung?"

"Uhh, kind of? She's in my history class, but she doesn't really talk. She did let me borrow a pencil once though, it was a really cute one with a Jigglypuff on top!" Ned chirped, happily reminiscing about the pencil he once used. Peter looked at him amusedly, before he clapped his hands together. "Oh! And her older brother is really good-looking. But how could he not be, his name is freaking Apollo."

"Apollo Jung, huh, how did I not realize they were siblings?"

"Because you didn't want to be racist and assume that they were related just because they have the same last name." Ned said in a nonchalant tone.

Peter blushed. "Th-that's probably kind of true." Ned laughed and patted him on the back consolingly.

"Why are you asking about her anyway? Do you like her?" Ned shimmied his shoulders, and Peter laughed swatting his hand at him.

"No, you know I only have eyes for Liz!" They both sighed as they thought about the pretty junior girl. "I just noticed that she seems to be sort of… alone all the time is all."

"You know, that is true." Ned nodded, his mood slightly deflating. "But, she's your lab partner right? Maybe you could just talk to her a bit!"

"...Me?" Peter said incredulously, with an eyebrow raised.

With a delay, Ned grimaced, as if he'd only just remembered that they were not exactly the best at communicating either. "Good point."

glossary:

kkomaengi: kid

a/n: cassiopeia is a cutie. (I will most likely be using Cassiopeia & Sunny the most to refer to her)

Thanks for all the favorites and follows, I was pleasantly surprised with all the interaction this fic got even though it only had like a thousand word prologue!

I've been stuck on the idea of my faceclaim for Apollo being Mino from Winner, because he seems like he'd be a good older brother.

Hope you enjoyed the start of this story, and please let me know what you think (: