All credit to respective owners!

P.S. Guess who played and finished Spider-Man Miles Morales for the PS4? I loved it, but what the hell? Curt Connors is ALIVE?

P.P.S. A lot of what Peter is telling Miles is what I said with my parents when they were pushing me too hard. The workload they pushed on me was too much, it was actually what started my depression, subsequent demand only made it worse. They had these grand dreams where they wanted me to be just like them and continue their legacy. They assumed that I could do what they could do because I was their kid, but I was not their past selves. It took a long time for me to finally say that to them and for them to understand.

If anyone is being pressured beyond their breaking point, just let whoever's doing the pushing that maybe they are holding you to an unreasonable standard. I am not saying you just let go and/or do stupid shit, but move and grow at YOUR pace. That's all anyone is ever supposed to do. Anyone else who disagrees?

Tell them to go pound sand.

Y.A.R.N.

Peter and Miles met up a few days after the symbiote had escaped and Miles had gone back to his mom and passed of his recent mood as having been feeling the effects of the Demon's corruption. While it had hurt to lie to Mrs. Morales, Miles was just happy she accepted that and was happy that her son was back and not acting rude and dismissive. Miles — on the other hand — had felt nothing but shame and guilt ever since he managed to get the symbiote off of him and had been hesitant to go on patrol. Peter had known Miles hadn't been totally responsible for his actions and needed to come to terms with how far he had gone, so he had no problem letting Miles go out and turn in whenever he wanted.

Miles' friend Ganke had been beyond worried and gotten in contact with Spider-Man to talk to Miles about everything. Peter had been a bit unhappy when Miles confessed that he had told his best friend about him being the new Spider-Man, but so far Ganke had been nothing but an asset. The kid was brilliant when it came to hacking and coding, and helped Miles create a material that better worked with his bio-electricity and spider-camo powers that Peter had used to insulate the gift he had planned for Miles. Ganke was bright and acted like a 'guy in the chair' for Miles when he needed help. After Peter explained about the symbiote and what had happened, Ganke had wasted no time in going to Miles and cheering him up, which Miles appreciated greatly.

Miles wouldn't look at his mentor and Peter was willing to wait for days if that's what to force Miles to look at him but that was just wasting time.

'Peter.' Viri urged, voice soft, 'You know what you need to say to him.'

"Miles, Venom was not your fault." Peter said, cutting to the point, "We both were unaware of how it would change you, Viri lulled us both into a sense of being able to trust any symbiote. It also didn't help that it was experimented on and hurt long before we found it. I know you feel responsible, but this isn't your fault alone. I should've seen what it was doing and stopped it long before it got to that point."

At that, Miles looked up, "That's not true! I should've known what I was doing was wrong! I hurt so many people worse than they deserved! I didn't even consider it a bad thing since Venom was taking over!"

"Well now we know what Venom is capable of." Peter replied firmly, "I know you won't let him control you like that ever again, and your venom blast was enough to disorientate and hurt him. If we have to tango with him again, we can take him."

Miles looked down again, "I guess... I just want to say I'm sorry. I should've listened to you when you told me to ease off."

Peter shook his head, "Miles... Don't beat yourself up like this. People saw you fighting the symbiote and they know the truth about what was happening, all we need to do now is make sure it won't happen again."

Miles nodded at that and Peter clapped him on the shoulder, "You don't need to patrol until you think you're ready, you don't have to at all if you need time. Just be sure to tell me when you're good okay? I've got things under control until you're ready to really get back into it."

Harry was glad he could at least walk again without wobbling to the left and right like he was drunk and that his physical therapy was almost over. Some of his activities actually were keeping tabs on his mother's research stations, hoping Peter had been able to at least keep some of them online. When he saw that all of them were functioning and — better yet — funded by Oscorp? He was so happy and thankful he actually started working on gifting Peter the old workspace and tech in Octavius Industries so he could use it as a home and a tinkering area. Peter had a bit of a mixed reaction when he was told, but was much more pleased that he could fulfill Harry's request more than anything else. Even so, Harry wasn't budging on giving Peter a place to stay. He had heard that Peter had been having trouble with his rent before working for Horizon and he never wanted that to happen to his best friend when he could help. Peter deserved to have a home he wouldn't continually have to pay rent for. It also wasn't like Harry was hurting for money with his dad willing to grant Harry a lot of favors as an apology for the time spent in the tank.

While he felt a lot better than he had in sometime and while he was happy to be awake for an actual cycle again rather than intermittent bouts of painful blackouts, but it was uncomfortable to realize that everything had changed and the world was no longer as familiar as it used to be.

His dad has been trying his best to be around as much as possible but with how badly his career had been going, he had more work on his plate than before. Salvaging Oscorp was just too important at the moment and hiring scientists and doctors were enough to exhaust both of them as Harry had been taking periodic dips in the tank after it had been repaired. Each dip helped his body, but his sickness was still causing aches and pains to rack his body without warning. Whatever he had before that truly kept him stable seemed to leave a little of itself behind, which was actually countering his sickness to a degree, holding together what his inherited degenerative disease would destroy. He would've have mentioned it to his dad, but Norman would have tried some drastic to make more of it or force it to work better.

It may a small thing, but it was a huge mercy.

Right now though?

He'd take everything he could get.

"Symkaria?" Peter asked in confusion.

"I know you're probably super busy with everything." Mj admitted said sheepishly, "But I was hoping if you could get some off time, we might be able to spend some time together while we were on vacation... That and you are my favorite photographer."

Peter would've normally leapt at this opportunity, seeing as before being accepted by Horizon Labs and Harry's awakening he really didn't have much to worry about aside from his joblessness. The more dangerous of the inmates of The Raft — like the Sinister Six — had been nicely put away and most of the felons were finally carted off. It would be nice to take an actual vacation for once, and spending it with MJ would make things so much better. He wanted to say yes and it took a herculean amount of will not to be that impulsive.

Because things weren't that simple anymore.

"They never are Peter." Viri murmured in his head.

Now he had his job at Horizon Labs and while he hadn't been doing anything but good work — his prosthetic was going through trials and seemed to be working better than his and Otto's first attempt before Oscorp muscled in — he wasn't sure that he could ask for a few weeks off to spend time with his girlfriend in Symkaria or that he was going to be a photographer for her story (not that he would say that since that was a one-way ticket to be fired). A couple of days was his best bet, maybe just a four to five day break would be all he could afford to ask for. He also still had no idea who had tried to capture him a while back and while they hadn't attacked again, he didn't want to be caught off guard. Miles was still wrestling with how badly Venom had ruined his confidence in himself and while several papers had printed the truth about something trying to corrupt the younger hero, he was still trying to make up for the lost time galavanting around with Venom. Peter had finally put the finishing touches on the suit he made for Miles, but wanted to wait until his student was back in top condition or an emergency was happening.

Another disheartening discovery was finally discovering where Spidercide had set up shop before he attacked and Peter was horrified when he found the multitude of dead spider specimens and genetic splicer he found next to a gurney. Peter had looked over the machinery used and shook his head in disgust and disappointment. Whatever or whoever Spidercide was, the machine was not at all safety-tested in any way for what he saw in notes and formula scattered across his old lab. All the Oscorp tech was experimental and prototype stages, not perfectly made and ready for an actual use. In his grief and anger, Spidercide had probably made sure it could do something like what happened to Peter and ignored any possible side-effects or backlash after he was reasonable sure it could do what he wanted. It was probably what attributed to Spidercide's increasing violence and deteriorating mental state that he exhibited before he was defeated. The things was, Spidercide was definitely trying to replicate his abilities and the chemical formulas created were made to be incorrect.

Peter stomach plummeted as he realized Spidercide had a partner who definitely tampered with his formula to treat Spidercide as a LAB TEST. The last thing he needed was another super-villain to deal with with a more refined grasp of Spidercide's abilities.

Then there was a new upheaval with the city, although it wasn't bad or good, it was just happening. With the business power vacuum that had been created by the damaged reputation of Oscorp and Norman having to downside to hedge his bets, a company named 'Roxxon' was moving in to fill the vacuum and establish a power base in the city. They had a presence before, but as soon as Oscorp began to fall from grace, Roxxon started devouring all the properties they could and growing fast. Normally, he was fine with a company that wasn't Oscorp seeing as the whole disaster that cost him Aunt May, Otto, and his previous job was squarely on them but he wasn't so sure about Roxxon or any big company aymore (besides Stark Industries). Sure, Initial reviews hadn't been bad and they seemed to be wanting to renovate the area around Harlem for an clean-energy project. Overall, he didn't have a reason to suspect them, but something about all of it just set him on edge (which wasn't his Spider-Sense). That and there were murmuring of a technologically advanced group that had gone on a spree to clean up the remnants of the Demons, Tombstone's, and even Fisk's forces. Normally Peter wouldn't mind that if they weren't killing anyone, but they were killing the other groups and Peter drew the line there, they needed to be stopped.

And all of that was not counting the rumors that a new vigilante in a purple and yellow get up was around and attacking the weakened Mafia shortly after the fall of Hammerhead. Several enforcers, hitmen, and other various members of the crime families were killed and displayed in a manner much the same as Peter had first seen her commit. He had not run into said person yet, but he knew that it could only be one person who was attacking the Mafia even in their deeply weakened position. He almost hoped he didn't even catch a fleeting glimpse of her even though he knew that was unlikely considering his patrols and responses to any crime.

Peter had never felt more annoyed about his life than right now.

"Can I give you an answer later?" He inquired softly, inwardly grumbling at his Good Ol' Parker Luck.

"Of course." Mj replied, understanding completely, "I've been keeping tabs on New York. I know it might not be possible given everything going on."

"You don't know the half of it..." Peter sighed glumly.

Miles stared at the mask he held in his hands as he stared into the blank lenses, trying very hard to be sure that they weren't accusing.

Was he really as ready as Peter believed he was?

Venom had been a mistake, the whole experience in having succumbed to the influence of the corrupted symbiote had been a nightmare. Miles hoped that they symbiote would never resurface and stayed in the sewers forever, latching onto a rat and never to return. Now looking over the city he failed to protect and instead terrified because of the symbiote was hard enough. Now, going on patrol was a gut-wrenching experience and even with Ganke and Peter both helping him work through his own self-loathing, he was reluctant to patrol alone. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before his phone buzzed and he picked it up to see Peter messaging him.

'Meet me at The Empire State rooftop.'

Miles slingshotted himself to the top of the building, landing in a crouch to see Peter casually sipping a coffee and a bagel wrapper in his free hand. Miles noted that there was an unopened coffee and bagel that was next to Peter who turned to face his protege.

"Hungry?" Peter offered, "I got some for you if your interested."

Miles smiled and picked up the coffee before lifting his mask's lower half to take a sip of the hot coffee. The warm beverage settled in his stomach and spread its heat all throughout his body as he sighed in contentment. With winter and Christmas coming around the bend, the warm food and drink was nothing but wonderful in the recent cold that was settling over New York. Miles was content enough to eat and drink alongside Peter in the silence of the Empire State's rooftop. When the food and drink was all eaten, all that was left was Peter and Miles sitting at the edge staring out the city. Peter's mask fully retracted from his face into Iron Spider suit and Miles pulled off his mask fully, setting it down beside him.

Both of them took a moment to appreciate the snow that was beginning to cover the city, but things needed to be said.

"You're worried about whether or not you're ready aren't you?" Peter said softly, "Recent events shook things up for the both of us."

Miles stiffened before relaxing, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Yeah..." Miles sighed, "I know Venom's actions were not my fault, you and Ganke made that clear and I can see that now. But the way I felt wasn't out of nothing... I was jealous of you in a way, wanting to be just like you and not sure whether I was enough. Now the jealousy isn't there so much as my doubts about whether I should I can be like you."

Peter shook his head, "You're not the only one to feel jealous of another hero. I felt jealous of Iron Man and Captain American, of all of the big name heroes at one point. I wanted to be as open as they were and not have to worry. But I realized that I don't want to be like them Miles. I don't need to do it like them, I got to do it like me. You know one of the first things I said to you right? You don't need to be me, and you shouldn't want to be me. You're Miles Morales, not Peter Parker. Holding yourself to what you see me do and act like doesn't make sense or a good measure of whether you're being a good hero."

Miles hunched over, closing his eyes and taking a slow breath.

Peter placed a hand on his shoulder, "Miles, you got this. You're already doing way better than I did in the beginning and don't think of the times you mess up as a reason to quit, but a way to be better than before. I made a lot of mistakes doing this, don't expect to be perfect just because you have superpowers. I know you can do it because you will be a spectacular Spider-Man, heck you already are."

Miles turned to him, smiling at the praise, "So you're sure about me being Spider-Man one day?"

Peter nodded as he looked out over the city, before turning to Miles tone serious, "I've been asked by MJ to go to Symkaria to help her with my photography skills and so we can actually have a working vacation of sorts. I wanted to go but I needed someone to keep the city safe while I'm gone, and I was hoping you could carry the title of Spider-Man while I'm gone. If you aren't sure, I can tell her I can't, but I think you are ready Miles. No... I know you're ready."

Miles was taken aback at Peter's faith, he wanted to temporarily put aside Kid Arachnid to be Spider-Man while he was out of the country?

Miles eyes blazed with determination, he was going to make everything right. He was going to prove that he could be Spider-Man and be a damn good one.

Miles took a deep breath and grinned, "Take a few photos for me, alright Pete?"

Peter smiled, "Of course Spider-Man. But first, I have a few things I wanted to give you in order to help you out in the field..."

"Dude!" Ganke cheered, "That is so awesome!"

"I know!" Miles said excitedly as he swung back to his apartment.

"I can just picture it!" Ganke said, deepening his voice to sound like he was older and more imposing, "Miles... In my absence, I know that there is only one person — one man — who I can truly rely on to be the protector of New York. That man is you. Therefore I ask you take the title of Spider-Man and wear it well my young protege. You'll do me proud."

Miles chuckled at that, "Something like that."

"Did he give you any new gear to work with?" Ganke inquired curiously, "Like new tech to use in your fights?"

"Yeah!" Miles replied happily, "I'll show you when we I can find a place where there aren't people watching!"