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Honestly, he doesn’t think too much about his swings. He just... freestyles it, you know?
There's no use explaining it. He's got as much luck explaining to his Dad that his custom name tags around the city are his signature, his mark. Not "doodles" on "stickers". (“Dad, c'mon, that’s like saying those old songs you listen to all the time is noise.“ “Careful, son, that’s the King of Pop you’re talking about.”)
It just feels right to twist, turn, twirl in a thousand-foot-high dance in the air. Strike a pose with every dip and crest as he rides the wave of the swing. The sky itself a skate ramp that Miles rips through, aerials and airwalks at the takeoff-
Basically, Spider-Man is just cool like that.
Miles Morales sums it up as such when his roommate, Ganke Lee, points out a particularly flashy swing and pose on yet another viral video that's got the whole school buzzing and Miles preening by the start of the week.
Ganke accuses Miles of flexin’.
Miles accuses Ganke of being a hater.
Ganke isn’t any more impressed, but whatever. Ganke doesn’t get it, because Ganke’s a hater.
(Straight up lie. Ganke is one of the few "normal-ish" folks, aside from May, that Miles can trust his identity to. Ganke's cool.)
So, when Peter B. Parker eloquently sums up the kid's swings as “kinda like falling. but, you know. with style”, Miles' thoughts, in order, are:
Did this dude quote a cartoon?
And:
Oh. That's exactly what it is.
Peter called him sticks for arms and legs soon after, effectively ruining the moment and any chance of having a special thanks credit in Miles’ future award-winning biopic. Tentative title: Falling with Style. Because, swiped from a 20-year-old kid movie or no, the phrase is starting to grow on him and will be used to its fullest artistic potential.
Miles rushes home that night after his nightly Spider-Man rounds. Fingers trembling from fatigue; sparkling with inspiration. Draw. Under the desk light that same evening, he sketches out the phrase. When he’s satisfied, he tests it out on a wall (dad-approved, privately owned). And when he’s finally satisfied with the way the ‘falling’ curves over the ‘style’ in bright neons and blues, he snaps a picture of it. A new wallpaper to hopefully impress Gwen with.
Peter catches a glimpse of the finished piece on Miles' phone after a quick glance the next day. He casually mutters something complimentary to uphold his Irrelevant Man-Ego. As if his heart isn't stirred, swelling at Miles' artistic adoption of Peter's messy (awkwardly paternal) attempt to acknowledge the boy's blossoming development into his own unique Spider-Man.
And Miles meets this casualness with an equally smug toss of his shoulders to protect his Too Cool for School Teen-Ego. As if being praised by the guy he looks up to isn't the highlight of his entire week.
“Best work yet.”
“Pretty cool, ain't it?”
Falling with style. It really does have a nice ring to it.
“Yeah,” Ganke eventually agrees at length when Miles catches him after class the next day. Ganke tests out the phrase. “Kinda corny, kinda cool... Fits you.”
Miles rolls his eyes. Whatever, hater.