Chapter Text
Peter woke up to his spidey senses going crazy. He groggily looked around to see his apartment was on fire. That explained the alarm bells in his head. He grabbed a backpack shoving his suit and anything he could manage to save inside. He reached for the doorknob and winced when it was hot. So that way out was a no go.
Unfortunately there was a crowd outside, and his apartment was so cheap it wasn't exactly up to code. He needed to get out so he could help everyone else. The flames were getting more intense and Peter was running out of options. He was considering biting the bullet when someone grabbed him.
Before Peter could react to being carried he was already being set down outside. A kid in a red ski mask and black hoodie still had his hands on Peter's shoulder, "Are you okay sir?"
How old was this kid? Peter blinked breaking out of his deep confusion, "I'm fine, who are you?"
The kid, still holding Peter's shoulders responded awkwardly, "Uh- just a guy trying to help."
Peter looked at the hand on his shoulder, "You going to let go of me now?"
The kid looked at Peter's shoulder and lifted his hand. Peter's shirt went with it. The shirt was stuck to the kids palm. Peter looked at one of the hands stuck to him, low behold there was a red bump on the top of his hand with two tiny puncture marks. Peter let out a resigned sigh, oh boy.
He looked at the kid tiredly, "You need to relax."
Peter could see the kids panic as he tried to play it off, "I'm totally relaxed."
Peter gave him a deadpan look, "You can't let go unless you relax. Panicking makes it worse."
The kids voice squeaked, "How do you know-"
Peter groaned, "Just– trust me kid."
"I'm not a kid!"
Peter took a breath. He was being a jerk for no reason. This guy was trying to help him, foolish as it was and he wasn't exactly being encouraging. Peter knew what it was like for everyone to see you as just a kid, he should've known better.
"You're right, I'm sorry. Now please, take a few deep breaths and your hands will get unstuck."
Surprisingly he listened to Peter, and one by one his fingers came off of Peter's shoulder. Peter smiled, "There you go! See you got it."
The Young man bounced on his feet, "Ibdid didn't I!"
Peter gave him a thumbs up, "Yes! You did. Now I gotta run."
Peter ran off to an area without people and a few moments later Spider-Man arrived on scene. The newbie was running out of the building carrying a child. When he spotted Spider-man his eyes widened and he ran over.
"Spider-Man! Woah, your actually here. I know it's probably a bad time but–"
Peter pointed to a neighboring building, "Meet on that roof when I'm done."
The mystery hero nodded his head, "Yeah, okay."
Spider-Man looked at the young hero and shrugged, "You can stay and watch."
Swinging into the building he tore through every apartment making sure everyone got out safely. He then went next door to where he lived to rescue his elderly neighbors cats. When he was done the firefighters were doing their work putting out the fire. They did their work and the fire was put out. A weight lifted from his shoulders when he heard that there had been no structural damage, and it would just need some repairs before the residents could come back. He wouldn't be homeless... for long. Maybe the insurance would cover a hotel for him to stay at in the meantime.
He was so focused on his living situation he almost forgot about the kid. He remembered when he spotted him staring at Spider-Man in awe. He didn't have time for this, so he just grabbed the new hero and took him to the roof himself.
Stumbling on the landing the kid kept staring at Spider-Man. Peter tried to emulate Captain America in his stance and voice, "So, you got bit by a radioactive Spider that gave you superpowers, and now you want to be a hero."
The kid fumbled, "Um, yeah. How did you–"
He pointed to the kids hand, "I know what a Spider bite looks like. Now what do I call you? Cause I can't keep calling you 'kid'."
"Oh. My name is Mi–"
Peter shot a web at the kids mouth to keep him from saying anything. The kid ripped it off, "What the heck!? What was that for?"
Peter pinched his nose, "I didn't ask for your name. I asked what to call you. Rule 1 of being Spider-man, you NEVER give out your name."
The kid argued, "But your Spider-Man! I trust you with my identity."
Peter cringed. He couldn't blame him, he was young. But Peter learned the hard way why you don't give out your identity, and it cost him everything. The Mysterio incident happened a year ago. Peter Parker still couldn't bring himself to become close with anyone. He lived as a ghost, barely existing to the world. It probably wasn't healthy to isolate himself like that. He knew that, but it hurt too much to think about letting someone in again.
He didn't know how to explain the dire consequences of trusting the wrong person. So Peter just said, "I'll just call you Mini for now. You want to be a hero right M?"
"Yes!"
Peter looked over the kid. He was kind of scrawny, but Peter could work with that. You didn't need to be buff to be Spider-Man, the strength was already there. Being more lean allowed for more flexibility.
"Alright. I'll help you learn how to be a Spider-man. You can make up your own name later if you want."
"What!? Really?"
Peter shrugged, "Yeah."
Peter sat down casually with his legs crossed. He gestured for the kid to sit across from him. Peter leaned back on his hands scoping the area. Nobody was around and his spidey sense was quiet. Perfect. He rested he rested his elbows on his knees leaning forward.
"I'm going to trust you here, but first I need you to know the severity of what's about to happen. You're identity is the most important thing to you. If people know who you are they can hurt you, and the people you love. Bad guys will find you and people could get killed because of it. This mask protects you from that. At the end of the day you get to be normal. You take off the costume and nobody looks twice at you. You tell the wrong person and everything crumbles. Do you understand?"
The kid looked at him eyes bright. Peter wondered if he looked like that when he met Mr. Stark. Slowly Peter pulled his mask off. He held out a hand, "Hi, I'm Peter Parker."
The kids eyes widened before pulling off his own red ski mask and taking Peter's hand, "Miles Morales."
Peter shook his hand, "It's nice to meet you Miles."
Miles studied Peter's face, "Why me?"
"Because for this to work we need to trust eachother. I want to be there for you. If something happens I can't help you if you don't know where to find me. You need people in your corner."
Peter took a breath and tried to quell his anxiety. This was a huge risk, especially after last time. He needed Miles to know he was genuine though. Peter wasn't going to be some larger than life figure hiding behind a mask, keeping his distance. He was going to be right there with Miles every step of the way.
"Before we start with any of the hero stuff, which we will get to, let's get to know eachother. So how old are you?"
"I'm 13, which I know you probably think I'm too young. But I have these amazing powers, and if I don't help people with them... what's the point?"
Peter smiled, "I'm 18. I was actually around your age when I started out. You have parents? Family you live with?"
Miles nodded, "Yeah! My mom is a nurse and my dad's a police captain. What about you?"
Peter took a breath, feeling the weight in his chest, "No. No I don't have anyone. I grew up with my aunt and uncle but they're– they're both gone now."
Peter cleared his throat, "So, how are you in school?"
Miles shrugged, "I skipped a grade, and got accepted into some private school on scholarship so good I guess."
"What subjects do you like?"
"I like science and math."
Peter lit up, "That's great! What kind of science are you into?"
"Physics is my favorite, but biology is cool too."
Peter smiled, he could definitely work with this.
"I'm a chemistry and engineering guy myself. Built my own webshooters."
He detached his shooters from his wrist and handed one to Miles for him to look at.
"Woah, you built this yourself?"
Peter nodded proud of his work, "Yup, came up with the formula for my webs myself. You keep that one, I've got extras in my bag I managed to salvage. I'll teach you to swing sometime."
Miles looked from the webshooter to Peter with a huge smile on his face, "Really? That's awesome!"
Peter sighed, what he was about to do would either ensure the kid takes this seriously, or scare him off. But he needed to do this. When he started out he didn't have anyone to tell him what he was getting into. He had to learn the hard way the sacrifice, and danger this life posed. He wasn't going to let Miles go into this blind like he had.
"Listen, being a hero, it's great. But I need to tell you it's not all having fun swinging around and beating up bad guys."
Miles smile faded into a more serious look. He was giving Peter his full attention, soaking up every word.
"There is going to come a time when you can't save everyone. It's going to hurt. You can't blame yourself. You may have superpowers but your still human. Sometimes you have to weigh lives, including your own. Choosing between saving the person you love or letting the bad guy get away. Or your life and the cities. These choices are not black and white. There is no right awnser, you do what you feel is right."
Peter took a breath, "I sacrificed everything to save some bad guys, because I believed they could be saved. I did do it but it cost me my whole life. Doing that hurt more than anything I've ever felt, but I don't regret it. They get a second chance."
Peter wiped at the tears forming in his eyes, "Just before I started out my uncle told me that 'if bad things happen, and you have the power to stop those bad things, those things happening are your fault. If you see things happening, you have a responsibility to do something about it.' I didn't listen and it got my Uncle Ben killed. You're choices have weight, and real world consequences. I'm not trying to discourage you, I just want you to know what you're getting yourself into."
Miles took in everything Peter said, "I think I understand, but even with all of that it's like you said. I can't stand back and let people get hurt if I have the ability to do something about it. That includes you."
Peter was taken off gaurd at the kids maturity. As well as him saying he didn't want to see Peter get hurt either. It had been a long time since someone cared about Peter Parker.
"You're a good kid Miles."
Peter stood up, "Well I've got to find a cheap hotel or something, meet here tomorrow- wait what day is it tomorrow?"
"Saturday."
"Good, good. Then yeah, tomorrow at 10am."
Peter put his mask back on and watched the kid go. He would probably find an abandoned building to squat in for the month until the repairs were done. Now he had a kid looking up to him, he couldn't let Miles down. He loved Mr. Stark and appreciated everything he did for him. The tech was amazing and he learned some hard but important lessons. But Tony fell short as a mentor in a lot of ways. He didn't listen and wasn't there. Tony didn't know what it was like to be on the ground fighting every day. He didn't listen. Peter wouldn't be like that. He was going to be better.
Right now, there was work to do. He had to do his regular patrol, check in on potential threats that had come to his attention after the multiverse incident. People like Doctor Conners, or Otto Octavius, especially Norman Osborn. Nothing had happened with them yet, but knowing what happened in other universes Peter wanted to be ready in case it did.
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Norman Osborn patted his son on the back. This was one of his greatest inventions. Though it wouldn't hold the title for long, he was looking forward to what the BioChem department was cooking up. Unfortunately their experimentation with spiders was a dead end, but what they learned from it was invaluable.
"Son, this is our glider prototype. It's fast and smooth. It will get you where you need to go faster than Spider-Man himself."
"That's great dad."