Chapter Text
Peter braced himself as Miles came down hard, the boy’s fists balled up together and heading straight for his head. Bending down to one knee, he reached up, catching his protégé's attack.
“Strong attack, Miles,” Peter said, groaning under just a bit more duress than he anticipated he would receive from the Spider-Man in training.
“I got you this time, Pete,” Miles boasted. “You’re right where I want you!”
“Oh really?” Peter questioned. As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed Miles by the wrists, rolling on his back. He then stuck his feet in the boy’s ribs just enough to throw him back behind him using the momentum from his roll. Miles tumbled a bit along the roof they were on, though not in a way where he’d be significantly injured.
Just enough to teach him a lesson.
“How do you do that?” Miles asked. “You seem to have a counter to EVERYTHING!”
“Years of experience,” Peter said, walking over to his protégé, “which is why I’m showing you all of this now, so you don’t have to learn the hard way like I did.”
“Okay, so what’s the lesson here exactly?” Miles asked. “Don’t throw down all my momentum at once?”
“Not necessarily,” Peter said. “Sometimes it will take everything you have all at once to stop a bad guy or handle a situation. In this case, the lesson is to pay attention to your body, specifically your balance. I could tell you were leaning forward just a little too much, which I knew I could use against you since I have similar strength and agility to you.”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Miles replied, his voice never ceasing in its enthusiasm. “But how am I supposed to pay attention to my own movements while keeping up with someone else’s too?”
“Why do you think we’re practicing?” Peter replied. “Like I said, the last thing I want is for you to learn all these lessons by getting into some of the situations I have over the years.”
“What kind of situations?” Miles asked, his voice peaking with curiosity. The boy had proven himself to be one of the biggest Spider-Man fans Peter had ever met, and if anything, that had only seemed to INCREASE upon his protégé also receiving spider powers of his own.
“Uh uh, story time AFTER training,” Peter said. “After all, we......”
Peter was stopped mid-sentence as he saw something off in the distance headed their direction. Despite the speed of this thing, his spider-sense wasn’t going off, so whatever it was, it wasn’t a threat.
“We what?” Miles asked.
That was when Peter recognized what, or more appropriately who was coming. He’d recognize that red and gold color scheme ANYWHERE.
“I was going to say that we can’t just dive in headlong without fear of the consequences, like this guy,” Peter said, taking Miles by the shoulder and guiding him in the direction of their incoming visitor. Their guest stopped just in front of the building, his repulsors keeping him floating in place.
“So, the rumors are true,” Iron Man said, his voice still recognizable through his helmet.
“Hey there, Tinman,” Peter spoke up. “What brings you here?”
“Well, when I’d heard that you’d taken on a young spiderling of your own, I thought I’d fly on over and see for myself.”
“Well, here he is,” Peter said, gesturing towards Miles with his arms wide. Miles said nothing in response, seemingly star struck at the sight of one of the founding Avengers members.
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Iron Man said, moving over and landing on the rooftop. He then put his arm around Miles, turning him around as they started walking. “Listen kid, I need to set the record straight on your mentor here.”
“Uhm, Stark, what are you doing?” Peter said, trailing just behind them.
“First things first,” Iron Man said, clearly ignoring him, “his first attempt to try out for the Avengers was a disaster; like, I’m talking as horrifically as your mind can process and then some.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Peter said, starting to reach out to grab the armored Avenger.
“Nope,” Iron Man said, holding out a finger towards Peter, “not finished yet.”
Turning his attention back towards Miles, the man continued.
“Second, a few years later, we actually decided to let him come on a mission with us,” he said, “and it was almost the biggest mistake we’d ever made.”
“What do you mean?” Miles said, finally speaking up. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“Ooooh trust me kid, it was almost that bad,” Iron Man replied. “We were facing Kang the Conqueror; we had to stop a machine that was bringing things from other points in time to our own.”
“What kind of things?” Miles asked.
“You name it kid; vehicles, dinosaurs, pyramids, the whole works,” Iron Man answered.
“Listen, I think that you’re not explaining the whole....”
“Anyway,” Iron Man continued, ignoring Peter entirely now, “he left us in the middle of the fight, thinking he was going to magically be able to figure out how to shut off the machine. We were overwhelmed enough as it was; without all of us fighting, I thought for sure we were all dead.”
“So, what happened?” Miles asked.
Iron Man turned to face Peter’s direction before turning back to Miles.
“Turned out your mentor here knew more what he was doing than we thought,” Iron Man replied. “That little thing you guys call a ‘spider-sense’ helped him avoid the wrong levers and find the right one, sending everything back to its proper time, including Kang himself, and shutting off the machine. He ended up saving all of our lives, as well as the world’s.”
Iron Man walked back over with Miles towards Peter.
“Look kid,” the metal clad man spoke up again, “my point is, I’ve seen this guy go from a no name to someone who everyone in the superhero community has the utmost respect for, so if you listen to him, you just might turn out like him.... maybe even a little better.”
Miles shot a glance in Peter’s direction.
“Thanks man,” he said, “but, I already kind of knew that.”
Iron Man turned to face Peter.
“Kids these days,” he said, shaking his head.
“Uh huh,” Peter replied. “Also, thanks for at least not completely embarrassing me in front of him.”
“Just doing my job,” Iron Man said, “Someone’s got keep you friendly neighborhood types in line.”
“Yeah yeah,” Peter said, “don’t you have a world to save or some boring team meeting to sit through?”
“If the first was happening you would know about it,” Iron Man replied, igniting his repulsors in his hands and feet again, hovering over the building once more. “As for the second.... well, why do you think I’m here in the first place?”
Peter could only shake his head.
“Well, Cap has probably already noticed I’m gone, so I better get back,” Iron Man said. “You know, once your little apprentice here is all trained up, you could always fill that spot we’ve offered you since that day with Kang?”
“I appreciate that, Tony,” Peter replied, “but for now at least, I still think my place is here. After all, someone’s got to look after the neighborhood.”
“Very well then,” Iron Man replied, “just know that the offer is always open if you change your mind. See you guys around.”
He then fired up the engines in his suit, taking off. Soon, he was barely even recognizable anymore.
Peter turned to find Miles staring at him through the mask he’d let the boy borrow.
“What?” he asked.
“Are you SURE you don’t have time for more stories right now?” his protégé asked, practically begging now.
Peter put his hand on Miles’s shoulder.
“Absolutely. Now, where were we?”