Robin Reynolds sat on the bench outside of Horizon High, her legs swinging absentmindedly beneath her.

She smiled softly at the Black-capped Chickadee that hopped around under the trees nearby, reaching into her bag to retrieve a small bag of birdseed she carried around and scattered a bit of it for the small creature.

Chickadees had a hippocampus that expanded in the fall to add neurons and retain more memory when they were gathering and storing seed in the winter, and shrunk back down in the spring, killing off unnecessary information to make room for more later on.

Perhaps, Robin thought in amusement, 'birdbrain' wasn't such a terrible insult after all.

She tugged up the rainbow-striped ankle sock on her left foot, her right one clad in one baring the batman logo, her thoughts drifting as she carefully replaced the seed.

The doubles doors guarding Horizon High burst open to reveal an absolutely livid Norman Osborn, his son trailing after him with a poorly concealed smile.

Of course, to the outside world, Norman was the picture of poise and composition, not a single wrinkle donning his suit or a strand of hair out of place. It was only through years of experience that Robin was able to pick up on the protruding vein on his temple and the calculating gaze that were indicative of his rage.

Behind him, Harry Osborn struggled to match his father's straight face, but his eyes glimmered with a child-like excitement that couldn't be smothered.

"Releasing the frogs in the biology lab?" Norman seethed as they approached Robin, "Are you kidding me Harry?"

"They needed to be set free," Harry drawled out easily, a mirthful smirk playing at his lips.

"I give you everything, and yet you still choose to act like a petulant child," Norman's hands shook ever so slightly as he spoke, "I mean really, what more could you possibly want?"

Robin refrained from letting out a sigh at the question, knowing exactly what it was that Harry was after.

After all, no amount of material goods could replace a father's love, and if Harry couldn't grasp his attention positively, he'd do it in any other way that he could. Including releasing the frogs in the biology lab, hooking up with the teaching assistant, cheating on tests he could have aced on his own, and all the other ploys he had used over the years.

He'd been that way for as long as Robin had known him, that being since the summer before sixth grade.

Harry had ditched the town car his father had sent to take him to the airport for a surprise trip to Aspen – an apology for missing his birthday for the sixth year running – and gotten on the subway for the first time in his little rich boy life.

He had sat down next to Robin, furiously rubbing away the tears in his eyes and looking ahead fixatedly.

"Are you alright?" she inquired, looking at the boy with worry.

"I'm fine," he had scoffed, rolling his eyes and shifting away from her.

He was so sick of people walking on eggshells around him just because his father was rich.

"Alright," she gnawed on her lip, "Where are you headed?"

"As far away from this awful city as I can get," he sniffled.

"Well," she pursed her lips, "That's a little melodramatic."

This response had delighted the young boy so much that he invited the girl to go on an adventure with him, and the two spent the afternoon exploring Chinatown and betting to see who could pat the most dogs by the end of the day.

From then on, their friendship had been set in stone, Harry calling up his father and demanding that his new friend be transferred to his school.

Of course, Robin's moms were apprehensive about the whole ordeal, but when a thick envelope arrived in their mailbox promising full tuition to the most prestigious middle school in New York City, they couldn't refuse.

"Midtown is the end of the line; do you hear me?" Norman was lecturing his son, "It's the last institution that holds any sort of merit for college applications. If you screw this up, you're done."

"Yes sir," Harry saluted mockingly, only serving to make Norman's left eye start twitching uncontrollably.

With a sigh, the eldest Osborn turned to Robin, a pleading look that she was all-too-familiar with twisting over his features.

"Robin, dear, I know it's the middle of the school year, but how do you feel about transferring?" his voice was desperate, "I've heard Midtown has an excellent biology department."

In the midst of his son's antics, Robin was like a beacon of hope to the older man. She seemed to tether Harry, she was the only person he'd ever met that was able to get the boy to behave.

Well, he thought as a frog hopped by them, for the most part, anyways.

She looked at a smirking Harry before smiling up at Norman placatingly.

"The cafeteria food here wasn't very good anyways," she said simply.

"That's my girl," Harry beamed, throwing an arm around her shoulders affectionately.

Norman let out a breath of relief, pulling out his expensive phone.

"I'll call your parents and get everything set up right away," he immediately transformed into business mode, striding over to the Range Rover parked on the curb of yet another school his son had been kicked out of.

"Come on, little bird," Harry urged his counterpart, "A new Shawarma place opened up that I want to check out."

➶

Robin hated Harry Osborn sometimes, she really did.

A prime example would be right now, as she stood outside the entrance of Midtown School of Science and Technology, anxiety washing over her while her best friend was the picture of ease beside her.

"It's... bigger," she commented, picking at the red polish on her nails as she always did when she was nervous.

"All the better to expand our reign of superiority with, my dear," Harry grinned easily.

She shot him a glare, reaching over to elbow him in the stomach. Upon seeing the fear in her eyes, his own gaze softened.

"Hey, you'll be fine," he soothed, "Vendi, vidi, vici right?"

Her nerves lessened slightly at the familiarity of the catchphrase the two often said to each other. They came, they saw, they conquered.

"What if I don't make any friends again, Haz?" she questioned, her voice small and her eyes big with worry.

Robin had always been the shyer of the two, preferring to melt against the wall rather than shine in the spotlight like Harry. This, coupled with the Osborn boy's unavoidable infamy as both the son of one of the wealthiest people in New York and a notorious "bad boy", as the girls loved to dub him, led to a significant imbalance between the two in terms of capability to make new friends.

"Don't say that," Harry chastised, "It's easy. Just smile at someone, and the ball will start rolling from there. You have the most adorable smile."

He accompanied his last sentence with a soft bop on her nose, causing her to scrunch it up and giggle at him.

Harry was soon called over by a group of boys Robin had never seen before – how he knew someone everywhere they went was beyond her – and she was left standing in the middle of the courtyard awkwardly.

Across the lawn, a boy with soft curls and a baby face sported by thick-framed glasses stumbled slightly as Flash Thompson knocked into his shoulder.

"Watch where you're going, Penis Parker," he snickered, eliciting a similar reaction from his friends.

The boy kept his gaze down, shifting the strap of his backpack back onto his shoulder before looking up and locking eyes with Robin.

Just smile.

Timidly, Robin's lips twitched upwards to form a nervous smile geared towards the boy across the way.

His eyes widened at the gesture, and he quickly spun around to see if she had been looking at someone behind him.

Her face fell at this action, assuming he had been looking for a way out of interacting with her, and she chewed on her lip disappointedly.

However, any insecure thoughts were lost from her mind as a blur of blonde and pink collided into her side.

"You jerk!" Gwen Stacy squealed, wrapping her arms around her friend, "How dare you not tell me you guys were transferring to my school?"

Robin sighed in relief at the familiar face, hugging her back with enthusiasm.

Gwen Stacy was Norman Osborn's favorite intern at Oscorp, and was therefore invited to attend all the same stuffy dinner parties and events that Harry – and by association Robin – were forced to attend to keep up appearances of a happy home life.

Gwen was the sun, radiant and warm and full of life, where Robin was the moon, soft and comforting and there to guide you home amongst the darkness, and the two had hit it off instantly, complimenting where the other lacked.

Mostly, they bonded over betting how long Harry's flings would last and the pros and cons of biopharmaceuticals in terms of gene therapy.

"Sorry," she laughed, "I was a little busy trying to fix Harry's daddy issues."

"Oh darling," Gwen laughed, "I'm afraid that'll take longer than any of us have."

"Such harsh words from the man's most precious intern," Robin quipped, giggling as Gwen linked arms with her.

"You know, it could be you if you just accepted Mr. Osborn's offer," the blonde chided.

Robin's stellar track record in all things science, and more specifically biochemistry, had put her on the short list for the Oscorp internship for years, but the girl always declined in fear of accidentally accepting special treatment due to her personal connections.

"Maybe next year," she smiled wryly.

A girl walked over to them, looking at Robin calculatingly with her head tilted to the side.

"You look like you do musical theater," she said after a moment.

Robin looked to Gwen for help, but the girl just rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Uh, no, definitely not," Robin laughed awkwardly, highly confused.

"Hm, maybe I was just predicting the future," the girl beamed, sticking out her hand, "Hi, I'm Mary Jane. You should join our theater program."

"Geez, MJ," Gwen sighed, "Could you give the girl a day to get adjusted before you start recruiting her for your cult?"

"It's not a cult," Mary Jane protested, "Cross country is a cult. Musical theater is a lifestyle."

"I was actually thinking of joining academic decathlon," Robin mentioned, prompting a dramatic groan from MJ.

"Oh God," she lamented, "You're another nerd. Yet again, I am a lone beacon of creativity in a sea of wannabe Stephen Hawkings."

Robin laughed, chastely thinking that her dramatics were incredibly similar to those of her best friend.

As she walked between the two girls who had quickly fallen into an argument about the merits of fine arts versus traditional curriculum, she felt a glimmer of hope that this school wouldn't be as bad as the ones before it.

➶

"Jiminy Christmas," Robin muttered bitterly, fiddling with the dial in front of her new locker as her cheeks flushed in frustration.

Gradually, she became aware of a presence hovering awkwardly beside her, and she turned to see the boy from earlier that day fidgeting nervously.

"Oh," she breathed out, a smile taking over her features, "hello."

"Uh, h-hey!" he spoke, his voice taking on a softness to match her own.

"These lockers are hard to use, huh?" she tried to make conversation, unsure of why he had approached her but delighted nonetheless.

"Yeah," he laughed jerkily, "although, it might help if you use the right combination."

He leaned forward, swiftly entering the combination to the locker she had been trying to force open and pulling it open, quickly retrieving his physics textbook from inside.

Robin's eyes widened comically as she realized she had essentially been trying to break into the wrong locker, and she let out a groan of embarrassment.

"This is... not my locker," she mumbled.

"Oh, uh," he immediately began to fret at the upset look on her face, "no, but you can have it if you want! Like, we could switch or something, I don't know. I'm not super attached to it or anything."

He wasn't really sure what to do when girls were upset. Recalling that his Aunt May liked chocolate when she was feeling down, he immediately began patting down his pockets in search of something sweet.

"I am so sorry," she rambled right back, "I promise I wasn't trying to steal your stuff. Okay, saying that makes it sound like that's exactly what I was doing. Uh, did you know that hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards? It's so they can back up from flowers after they drink from them."

"Oh, that's- that's cool," he nodded rapidly, "I'm Peter, by the way. Peter Parker."

He was slightly confused as to why the pretty girl who had already managed to befriend two of the most popular girls in school on her first day was talking to him about hummingbirds, but he wasn't complaining.

"Robin Reynolds," she smiled shyly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "No relation to the actor, although I am a fan of his work in Deadpool."

"Robin," he beamed at her excitedly, "That's a type of bird."

He winced as he realized what he said, but luckily the girl just laughed, agreeing that it was indeed a type of bird.

"Damn it Haz," Robin whispered to herself when, upon further inspection of the number messily scrawled on the paper Harry had given her, she realized that the digit she had thought was a four was a nine.

She shuffled down five lockers and approached the correct one, the combination granting her access with no further hiccups.

Peter hovered unsurely, debating on if he should attempt to continue on with the conversation or take his basic knowledge of bird types elsewhere.

"So," he finally decided on small talk, "Another guy is starting with you today. Two transfers on the same day, that's pretty crazy huh?"

"Not really," a familiar voice caused Peter to tense slightly, watching as Harry Osborn butted into the conversation, wrapping his arm around Robin's shoulders like it belonged there.

"Hey Haz," Robin spoke distractedly, preoccupied with setting up the whiteboard in her locker, "This is Peter Parker. I tried to break into his locker."

"Yeah, I know Peter," Harry smiled, the tightness of his usually carefree smirk going unnoticed by the girl, "We go way back."

"Right," Peter nodded, "We used to hang out when we were younger. It's, uh, nice to see you again."

"You too," Harry said, in a tone that suggested it was anything but.

"Uh, I gotta go," Peter rubbed the back of his neck nervously, jerking his thumb behind him, "Class and stuff."

"Oh, okay," Robin smiled at him, unaware of the awkward tension between the two boys, "It was nice meeting you, Pete. I'll see you around, yeah?"

Peter immediately flushed red at the nickname, an excited smile on his face.

"Yeah, definitely," he beamed, "I'll see you around."

With that, he turned on his heel and rushed off.

"I think you scared him off," Robin frowned at his retreating form.

"Who, me?" Harry grinned wolfishly at her, "I'm nothing but an angel."

"Yeah, okay," she snorted, "Maybe in another universe."

➶➶➶

me forcing myself to write Peter and Harry as not best friends in order to further the plot

anyways AHHHHH i'm so excited for these soft dorks to fall in love and fix the gaping hole left in my heart by infinity war!! and i am so SO excited for robin's character development hdsjksd my little baby bird

love you to the moon and back,

[ sign off courtesy of thisangel ]