The Midtown High music room was already alive with noise when Jack arrived.
Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, spilling across the polished wooden floor and casting long shadows between rows of chairs and music stands. Guitars rested against amplifiers along the wall while cables snaked across the ground like tangled vines. The faint smell of old wood, metal strings, and dust hung in the air.
Jack dropped his backpack beside a chair and picked up his guitar. He rolled his shoulders once, trying to shake off the lingering fatigue, then sat down on the stool near the center of the room.
A quick strum. The chord came out wrong.
Jack frowned slightly and tried again. Still wrong. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand before adjusting his grip on the guitar neck.
Across the room, Gwen Stacy stopped mid-riff. Her fingers hovered above the strings as she watched him. "Okay… hold on."
The music died down almost immediately. Peter Parker leaned forward slightly behind the drum set, resting one drumstick against the rim of the snare.
Gwen tilted her head. "Jack."
He looked up. "Yeah?"
"You look like you haven't slept in days."
Jack chuckled lightly. "I slept." He stretched his neck slightly. "Just… not a lot."
Peter pointed a drumstick toward him. "Yeah, that tracks. You've looked exhausted all week."
Jack leaned back on the stool and shrugged. "Busy."
Gwen crossed her arms. "That's not an explanation." She stepped closer and leaned against a nearby desk, studying him carefully. "Seriously. What's going on?"
Jack considered the question for a moment. If he didn't answer properly, the interrogation would only continue. So he gave the explanation he had been using lately.
"I've been writing."
Gwen blinked. "Writing?"
Peter leaned forward. "Like essays?"
Jack shook his head. "A novel." Peter sat up straighter. "Wait, seriously?" Jack nodded. "Yeah." He lightly tapped the side of the guitar. "I figured I should try something creative." Then he added casually, "And honestly… I've been dealing with a few financial problems lately. So writing seemed like a good thing to try."
Gwen's expression softened immediately. "I didn't know you liked writing."
Jack smiled faintly. "I'm still figuring it out."
Peter leaned forward on the drum stool with clear interest. "That's actually really cool." He pointed at Jack with a drumstick. "But when you finish it, you're letting us read it."
Gwen nodded immediately. "Oh absolutely. That's mandatory."
Jack laughed. "Alright, alright. You'll get to read it."
Peter spun one of the drumsticks between his fingers. "So what's it about?"
Jack paused. He hadn't thought too deeply about how to explain it. "Well… it's kind of a mystery. Strange things happening in a city. People trying to figure out what's really going on."
Peter nodded thoughtfully. "That's a solid premise."
Gwen smiled. "Yeah, I'd read that."
They resumed playing. The rhythm slowly built again as drums, guitar, and bass filled the room. For a few minutes things went smoothly.
Then Jack missed another chord.
Gwen stopped again. "You're rushing the timing."
Jack sighed. "I know."
Peter chuckled. "You're definitely sleep-deprived."
Jack gave him a look. "You try writing all night and see how easy it is to play guitar in the morning."
Peter shrugged. "Fair."
Then he suddenly remembered something. "Oh right." He grabbed his phone from the nearby chair and unlocked the screen. "Did you guys see the news this morning?"
Gwen nodded. "You mean Tony Stark?"
Peter turned the phone toward them. A news broadcast played across the screen, the headline bold and unmistakable.
STARK INDUSTRIES CEO TONY STARK MISSING AFTER ATTACK IN AFGHANISTAN
A reporter stood outside Stark Industries headquarters. "…billionaire inventor and CEO Tony Stark was reportedly attacked during a weapons demonstration overseas. Military officials say Stark's convoy was ambushed shortly after the event…"
Peter's excitement faded slightly. "That's actually pretty bad."
Gwen leaned back against a chair. "I heard about it on the radio this morning."
The reporter continued. "…Stark Industries confirmed that they are cooperating with military officials to locate Mr. Stark…"
Peter slowly lowered the phone. "Man." He shook his head. "Tony Stark is like… my science role model. The guy built some of the most advanced technology in the world. He's basically a genius engineer."
Near the window, Mary Jane Watson finally looked up from her phone. "Your role model?"
"Yeah." Peter nodded. "I mean it sincerely."
MJ smirked. "Oh, I know why you like him."
Peter narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "…Why?"
She leaned back in her chair with a satisfied expression. "You want to grow up and be a billionaire playboy like Tony Stark."
Peter nearly dropped his drumstick. "What?! MJ, no!"
Gwen burst out laughing. "Oh my god."
Peter waved his hands defensively. "I meant his science work! The engineering!"
MJ grinned. "Sure you did."
Peter groaned loudly. "You guys are impossible."
Jack chuckled quietly, adjusting his guitar strap. The dynamic between those three never got old.
Peter leaned back against the drum seat and sighed. "Still…" He looked down at the phone again. "I hope he's okay." His voice had lost the playfulness. "For someone that famous to just disappear like that… that's huge."
Gwen nodded slowly. "Yeah. It really is."
Peter scrolled through the news feed for a moment longer. Then he frowned slightly. "Huh. Did you notice something?"
"What?" Gwen asked.
Peter turned the phone so they could see the screen. The articles were all about Tony Stark — wall to wall coverage from every major outlet. "Last week every news site was talking about that Blur guy. That speed vigilante." He scrolled again. "But now… nothing."
MJ shrugged from her chair. "Well yeah. A missing billionaire genius beats mysterious runner guy."
Peter nodded. "Fair point." He locked the phone and tossed it onto the desk. "Well… we still have a band practice to finish."
Gwen lifted her guitar. "Agreed." She glanced at Jack. "And you're playing that chord correctly this time."
Jack smirked. "No promises."
The room slowly filled with music again. Drums echoed across the walls while guitars layered rhythm over melody, the sound building steadily until it filled every corner of the space. For a while everything felt completely normal — just another afternoon at Midtown High, four teenagers making noise and pretending they weren't actually getting better at it.
But outside the school walls, New York was quietly changing.
Tony Stark had vanished from a desert halfway around the world. The media had shifted its attention away from the Blur entirely.
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