Spider-Man: Black and Blue (AU) Chapter 12: To-Do List

[Third Person's PoV] 


Since it was the weekend, Damon and Richard had arranged to meet at different times throughout the day inside the old warehouse they had unofficially claimed as their hangout spot.


Richard had arrived early. He stood on the second floor, leaning casually over the rusted railing, his backpack slung securely over his shoulders. His eyes lit up the moment he spotted Damon entering below. Damon walked in with purpose, his own backpack slung over one shoulder.


“Alright, don’t get mad at me…” Richard began, his tone a mix of guilt and excitement as he started making his way down the metal stairs, his backpack now swinging around to his front. He unzipped it quickly as he reached Damon.


Damon raised an eyebrow, watching with curiosity. Richard pulled out a worn notebook, the cover frayed from constant use.


“I know we agreed to put all the hero talk on pause for a while,” Richard admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. No matter how hard I tried, it kept creeping back into my head.”


Flipping through the pages, Richard revealed sketches—suit concepts, mask designs, and symbol ideas, each one rendered in different colors and styles. There was energy in the pages, an unmistakable passion.


“I’m sorry, alright?” Richard continued, glancing up at Damon with an apologetic expression. “But I really couldn’t help myself—”


Damon held up a hand, cutting him off mid-sentence. He let out a long sigh—not of irritation, but of understanding. Without saying a word, he opened his own bag and pulled out a sketchbook. It was thinner and much less chaotic.


He flipped it open and turned it toward Richard, revealing a bold spider insignia glowing with the same vivid blue as Damon’s eyes. It was dynamic, drawn to almost pulse with energy on the page.


Richard’s jaw dropped. His eyes widened in surprise before a smile stretched across his face, his earlier shame completely replaced by amazement.


“No way,” he whispered, watching Damon flip to more pages—alternate versions of the logo, suit layouts, and finally, a detailed sketch of Damon’s face, half-covered by a stylized mask. The mask bore similarities to Richard’s design, and above the head, squiggly lines indicated heightened awareness—his spider-sense.


“Does that mean—?!” Richard's voice cracked with excitement.


“No,” Damon said quickly, though his voice lacked finality. “Not entirely… Not yet at least.” He paused, his expression thoughtful. “We’re not ready. And we can’t be reckless about this. Not with what’s at stake.”


Richard’s excitement simmered down as he gave a solemn nod. “Right. You’re right.”


A beat passed. Then he looked at Damon, his smile returning, though softer this time. “Can I ask… what changed your mind? Yesterday you were dead set against it.”


Damon scratched the side of his head, his face tinged with a trace of embarrassment. “I guess… we’re growing up. And growing up means doing what you have to, even when you don’t want to.” He glanced down at his sketchbook again. “Like you said… I’ve been given a great gift. And gifts like this come with responsibility. I don’t want to waste that. So… yeah. I might as well put it to good use.”


As he spoke, his thoughts turned inward.

‘Not to mention… I wouldn’t want to disappoint her. If there’s ever a chance—any chance—we could meet again… I want her to be proud of the choices I made in this life.’


Before the moment could get too heavy, Richard grinned and lightly drummed his hands against Damon’s arms. “This is so freaking awesome! Dude, you sounded like an actual hero just now! My blood is pumping!”


Damon rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Calm down, will you? Now comes the boring part—preparing ourselves for what’s to come.”


“Bro, that’s the best part!” Richard exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. “That’s where the training montage begins!”


Chuckling, Richard flipped to a fresh page in his notebook and pulled out a pencil. “We should probably make a to-do list. Something to keep us on track.”


Across the top of the page, he wrote in bold letters:

‘TO-DO LIST BEFORE HERO TIME’


“We’ll need to set a timeframe,” Damon said, arms crossed. “A deadline. Something that keeps us motivated.”


“Agreed,” Richard said with a nod. “But not too long. We don’t want to lose momentum.” He pointed his pencil at Damon, ready to write.


“What day is it today?” Damon asked, pulling out his new phone. He’d just replaced it after shattering the previous one.


Richard checked his own. “It’s February 10th.”


Damon thought for a moment. “Alright. How about six months? That should be enough time to prepare without dragging things out. That puts us at… July 10th. Right at the start of summer break, which gives us plenty of room to actually begin doing something by then.”


Richard nodded, scribbling it all down. “Six-month prep period… deadline: July 10th. Got it.” He twirled his pencil in his fingers. “Alright, let’s start listing the things we’ll need to accomplish before we even think about stepping into the field.”


“First, we need to get used to my abilities,” Damon said, his voice calm but focused. “They need to become second nature—instinctual. No hesitation.”


“Get accustomed to abilities,” Richard repeated, nodding as he wrote it down in his notebook with quick strokes. “Check.”


“After that,” Damon continued, starting to pace slowly, “we need to see if there's any way to improve on them. Push their limits. See just how far they go.”


“Right, train and enhance powers… got it,” Richard murmured, jotting it down quickly before jogging a few steps to keep up with Damon. “What’s next?”


“Not just physical stuff,” Damon said. “Mental too. I want to find out just how much my brain’s been enhanced—how much smarter I've actually become. If I’ve got a gift upstairs now, I want to unlock every bit of it.”


“Study really hard... basically become a genius,” Richard said with a grin. “Okay, mental training added. Oh—and we’ll need to design a suit. A real one. And make sure your identity stays a secret. No face reveals, no dumb mistakes.”


“Right. A suit. And a name,” Damon added, glancing at Richard. “A real superhero name. Something that sticks.”


“Second identity, codename, outfit... added,” Richard said, scribbling fast. “This is starting to feel very real.”


Damon smirked. “We’ll both be sixteen by then too. Don’t forget to include getting a driver’s license.”


“Oh, shoot!” Richard exclaimed. “I almost forgot! That’s a big one. Definitely adding it.”


“And while we're at it,” Richard added, arching a brow, “We’ll need to get my gear ready too. Y’know—to be your ‘guy in the chair’.”


“My guy in the chair?” Damon echoed, unsure.


“Yeah!” Richard said, lighting up. “Like, I stay back at base, listen in on police radios, track down info on the fly, guide you through missions, tell you where to go next. Tech support meets mission control.”


Damon gave him a skeptical look. “And where are we supposed to get a police radio? Those things aren’t exactly sold at Target.”


“Well,” Richard said with a shrug, “isn’t your brother in the academy? Maybe ask him for one?”


“Oh sure,” Damon replied sarcastically, smirking. “Let me just call up Dane and ask, ‘Hey bro, you mind handing me a spare police scanner so I can go play vigilante in the city?’ That'll go over well.”


Richard laughed. “Hey, I’m just throwing out ideas. Or we save up and buy the gear online. We can find most of this stuff if we look hard enough—maybe even refurbish some old tech.”


Damon nodded slowly, conceding the point. “Alright. You’ve got the list so far?”


Richard glanced down and read aloud from the page: “Okay. So far, we’ve got: One—get accustomed to abilities. Two—train and enhance said abilities. Three—study hard and test mental limits. Four—develop secret identity and suit. Five—get our driver’s licenses. Six—gather tech and set up operations. All within a six-month window.”


They both stopped walking, turning to face each other with a simultaneous grin spreading across their faces. That spark of excitement—the kind you only get when a wild idea turns into a real plan—lit up between them.


Without a word, they raised their hands and dapped each other up, following it with their ridiculous but perfectly coordinated secret handshake: fist bump, finger snap, double tap, and shoulder nudge.


“There’s no turning back now,” Damon said, grinning from ear to ear. “We’re committed to this shit.”


“Damn straight!” Richard shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “New York better keep a lookout, ‘cause there’s a hero in the making, baby! WOOOO! LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!”


Their laughter echoed through the warehouse, loud and boisterous, as if the future had just been set in motion.