Chapter Text
A soft knock at Miles’ window startled him where he was scrolling through his phone, waiting on Peter to call him back and say he was ready to start their thing . Miles opened the blinds, his heart starting to rac e when he spotted the giant white spider backed in red and blue through the slats. He could barely contain his excitement as he quickly opened the window. “I thought you were coming t o the door.”
A mask descended over his head as Peter pulled it over Miles’ face. “I thought you’d appreciate it more this way. Besides it’d be weird if Spidey came to a dorm. Not exactly the vibe I’m going for, if you catch my drift. ”
The fabric clung to Miles skin, but didn’t make it that much harder to breath like he thought it would. “Aren’t you worried about being seen?”
Peter paused , and h e tilted his head like his attention had shifted elsewhere . “Nah. We’re good. Come on. Uh, you’re friend won’t lock you out, will he?”
“No, he won’t even notice. I got my key anyways.” Miles pulled himself onto the windowsill and gulped at the alleyway two stories down. He put his hand on the brick next to the window, willing his fingers to stick there. He put a foot out next, unsure how it worked through his shoes, but grateful that it did anyways. He dangled there for a moment, unnerved at the fact that he was actually doing this and god, couldn’t he have made a cooler exit in front of Peter.
Peter crouched on the side of the building, his hands on his knees while he watched Miles. White lens wide, and somehow Miles realized he was ready to catch him if he slipped.
Miles got both feet and hands on the side of the building at last, using his foot to slide the window back down.
Peter, Spider-man, geeze what should he call him now? Spider-man snorted a laugh and ran up the side of the dorm to the roof. “Come on up.”
Miles followed a little less quickly, tumbling over the edge of the roof. “I haven’t quite gotten the hang of everything yet,” he said, glad for the mask over his burning cheeks.
Spider-man chuckled. “I can tell. That’s okay, don’t forget, I’ve had eight years more practice than you. You’re just reminding me of me when I was your age.”
Miles looked over the edge of the dorm roof, his nerves jitter y even at the short height. “So are we doing this here?”
“Uh...” Peter looked off in the distance, (distracted by something on the horizon?) “Not here. I was going to take you somewhere I could actually catch before you went splat on the pavement . Kinda hard to do in this part of town.”
It was honestly easier to call Peter Spider-man than Peter in the costume. He really did act like a different person. More confident and self-assured. The bad jokes rolled off his tongue easier too.
Bad joke like letting Miles go splat. Haha, very funny Spider-man. Wait. “We’re going higher?” Miles squeaked. He didn’t mean to squeak. He blamed it on puberty.
“Trust me. This is better.” Spider-man stepped closer his arm outstretched as though to pick up Miles.
Miles took a step back. “Wait, can’t I just, I dunno, piggyback or something? That seems like more like a damsel-in-distress kinda carry.”
Spider-man hesitated. “Okay,” he said slowly, as though he were recalculating things in his head. “You just need to make sure you hold on real tight though. And don’t choke me, please. I still need to breathe.”
Webswinging on Spider-man’s back was exhilarating, to say the least. And terrifying. Especially since Peter was distracted the entire time. He kept talking about where he was aiming, and counting and spidey sense. He grilled Miles with practical applications for the physics calculations he had Miles go over the other night. He had him eyeball the angles and length of the weblines that Peter set and how low and high they would arc.
Miles did his best not to choke Peter during the swing through Manhattan and Peter’s continuous chatter and grilling actually staved off quite a bit of the panic that Miles had felt at the first drop. Miles had actually lost track of where they were in Manhattan and hadn’t even realized they’d made it all the way to the East Side until Spider-man had landed on the side of the Chrysler building.
“Here we are. Can you get down to that ledge?” Peter asked, his head turned back toward Miles.
Miles set his feet on the wall, then one hand, and then the other. He half-scuttled half-slipped down to the ledge where Peter already waited on one of the Gargoyle heads , watching Miles make his way down. “ You could have set me on the ledge.”
“I could have, but I’m trying to see what I’ve got to work with here.” Peter gestured for Miles to hop over the railing and join him.
Miles did, trying to resist the urge to grab Peter. He had to remember that he could stick to things too. So he did, making his feet adhere to the stature. It made him feel a little more secure when he looked out at the rest of the island.
T he evening sun cast the city in an orange glow. Spider-man spent a long moment staring off into the distance, his gaze on the JFK airport in the distance before P eter took a deep breath and turned to Mile s, gesturing to Miles’ hands. “Wrists.”
Webshooters! He was getting the webshooters that he’d seen in Peter’s backpack the other day. He tried not to bounce on his heels with excitement as Peter wrapped each one around his wrists and tightened the wrist bands.
Miles thought he caught a smile on Peter’s cheek as he clapped a hand on Miles’ shoulder. “Ready?”
Miles tried to laugh off his nervous jitters, his face warmed by his breath on the fabric on the mask. “Ahhh, I think the web shooters are a little tight.”
“You get used to it. Just try to keep up.” Spider-man stepped off the gargoyle, shooting a line and swinging out.
Miles took a deep breath, bumped his own fist and leapt. He tumbled through the air, arms flailing a scream ripped out of his throat along with his heart and lungs.
Peter swung by, shouting “Throw an arm out and press the trigger!”
Oh man this was so stupid of him! Why did he agree to do this? He was going to die!
He caught another glimpse of Peter looping back around and realized ‘This is it. If he has to catch me, he’ll think that he started too soon on the webswinging, and it’ll be forever before he lets me try again.’
So Miles stuck his hand out and tucked his middle two fingers into the heel of his hand like Peter had taught him.
He pressed the button.
Thwip
He didn’t really know how it happened, but his hand closed around the webline as it ran past his palm. He still fell, the line tumbling over him. It snapped taut, cracked his body like a whip, which sent a flash of searing pain through his shoulders and all the way down to his broken toe.
Then he was flying. Sailing upwards, and instead of a terrified scream, a whoop tore its way out of his throat.
Peter appeared at his side, in the midst of an arc of his own. He pointed at a building about twenty feet away. “Not so long a thwip this time.” He threw a line at the building they were currently passing, and landed on its side in one of his cool Spidey poses.
Miles stretched his other arm out and triggered another line. He tried to remember to count as he depressed the button. He didn’t snap with the line this time, instead he followed it down like a swing. Like a pendulum, and the tossed his feet forward when he reached the bottom to arc back upward.
Peter swung next to him again, twisting his body in a flip at the peak of his own swing. “One more time!”
Miles hit the apex of his swing and let go. He threw his shoulders forward, somersaulting in the air.
Peter’s alarmed shout barely made it through the sound of Miles’ heart pounding in his chest.
Miles saw Spider-man’s red and blue costume just before Peter smacked into him. Spider-man’s muscled arm snagged him around the waist and took them upward again.
They tumbled onto a roof, Spider-man rolling to his feet, as Miles landed smack on his back.
The wide white lenses stared down at Miles, as Peter’s shoulders heaved, his hands on his knees.
Miles couldn’t stop laughing. “That was so much fun! Can I do that again?”
Peter laughed, breathless. “You are gonna be the death of me! You and MJ.” He stood over Miles, and stretched a hand out.
Miles took Spider-man’s gloved hand and let Pete haul him to his feet. “Seriously, man. I wanna go some more.”
“Okay,” Pete agreed easily. “but maybe make less with the fancy moves until you’ve got more experience, yeah? You took about ten years from me with that flip.”
Miles couldn’t find it in him to be embarrassed, he was way too happy. “Sure thing, Spidey.”
Peter took them back up to the gargoyle on the Chrysler building and had Miles follow the same path as before. Miles followed Spider-man to the docks by the Oscorp factories, and back to the Chrysler building where Spider-man perched on the gargoyle again.
Miles put his hands on his knee, trying to catch his breath, and quell his shaking knees. “That was so wild, Pete.”
Peter tilted his head, though he faced the planes leaving the JFK airport. “Like I said, it is in fact awesome.”
“Can I go again?” he asked Pete excitedly.
“Nah… I think that’s enough for now.” Peter turned to eye Miles, a sigh leaving his chest. “You have school and you’re going to be really sore in the morning.” He laughed and hopped over the railing to clap Miles on the shoulder. “You are going to find out there are muscles you never even knew existed and they will all hurt like hell.”
Miles threw his fists onto his hips and his shoulders. “Pshaw, I’ll be fine.”
Miles could see Peter’s grin through the mask. “Sure. If you say so. Call me in the morning and say that.”
Miles decided that hes knees needed a break so he casually slid to the ground with his back to the Chrysler building.
Peter glanced down, lenses narrowed in the mask.
Miles wondered if that thing could read heart rates. The mask Peter had given him was just a mask with a lens designed to filter out the sun. “Why are you staring at the airport?” he asked, hoping to distract Pete from checking over Miles. Miles was fine! His arms were a little (read: a lot) sore, and his toe really hurt, but he was great. Webswinging was better than slam-dunking Jordan the other day! Maybe something Spidey-related was going to happen and Peter was looking for it. Miles could help!
Peter was silent, his gaze back on the planes. “MJ’s going to Symkaria.”
Miles jaw dropped. “What no way? Why?”
Peter tilted his head. “She’s a reporter. And there’s a civil war going on there that needs to have attention brought to it. She’s doing what she thinks is important.”
“And you’re just letting her?”
Peter stiffened, so obvious in his skin tight suit, and whipped around to face Miles. “Gwen, right? Let me tell you, that if she finds out who you are, the most important thing you can do is to not step in every time you think they need you. Also, you don’t ‘let’ her do anything. She does it, even if you’re left cleaning up the mess.”
Miles ducked his head between his shoulders, he hadn’t meant to touch on an apparently sore spot. “Er sorry, Pete. I’ll remember that.” Miles didn’t like the silence that fell between them so he asked, “When’s she coming back?”
“Not sure, actually. Depends on what she finds. Could be a couple weeks. Could be a couple months.” He shook himself. “You want to webswing more or listen to me whine?”
Miles was bouncing again, grin wide.“I thought you said...”
“Well, I figure practice makes a safer Spider-man. Still need to get you back to the dorm. No more jumping off bridges, you here?”
Miles pumped both his fists. “Yes!!”
~*~*~*~*~*~
Peter blinked at his ringing cellphone for a few seconds before the name registered. “Miles? You okay” he asked, his voice thick with his disturbed sleep. He hadn’t seen what time it was, but he knew the kid woke early for school. Earlier than Peter liked to get up for work.
“Hey Peter.”
Miles had a strange note in his voice that had Peter sitting up in his bed.
Miles took a deep breath and started talking without any further preamble. “Remember how you said that I would find out I have muscles I didn’t know existed and that they’d hurt. I didn’t believe you, but you know what Peter?”
Peter grinned, flopping onto his back and pulling the covers back over his shoulders. “Lemme guess,”
Miles started wailing, “You were riiiiiiiiiiiiight. Owwwwwwww. Oh my god, my arms are like lead weights. And my toe is killing me.”
Peter covered his laughter with a cough, pulling the phone away from his ear (but not too far away, because Miles was still wailing (‘You’re even laughing at meeeee Peeete.’) “Didn’t I tell you that?” he asked when he was convinced he could say it without chortling.
“I thought I’d at least get some sympathy for the broken toe thing.”
Pete couldn’t stop grinning. “And you’ve got my sympathy,” he said sincerely. “But if you’re serious about the Spider-man thing, a broken toe isn’t going to be enough to stop you. Or you wouldn’t have agreed to it in the first place. You’ll be fine in a week or so. You wrapped it like I told you, right?”
“Yeah. And you’re right. And it really doesn’t hurt as bad as it did the first night it happened. I probably woke you up too, didn’t I?”
Peter nodded, his eyes sliding close. He remembered he was on the phone and said, “’s okay.” He took a breath and thought he might have sounded insensitive to the kid’s pain earlier, “You ‘kay though? Didn’t dislocate your toe or anything?”
“No. I’m fine, Pete. How about I let you go back to sleep and I’ll get ready for school?”
“Sounds good.”
Miles hung up, and Peter let the phone slide onto the pillow next to him.
He’d have to look at his schedule and work another day with Miles in. It would be fun, and it was good that both Spider-man and P.eter wouldn’t be always so alone.