Peter stifles a yawn with the back of his hand in chemistry, trying his hardest to stay awake and alert. Unfortunately, staying up all night daydreaming about how cool it's going to be to have a famous vigilante as his teacher isn't conducive to being well rested.
Ned gives him a slightly concerned look from where he's sitting beside Peter at the lab bench and subtly moves his hands across the table like a spider while raising an eyebrow at him.
Peter nods once in response, before focusing back on the teacher who's explaining the lab they'll be doing today. It's laughably easy compared to what Mr. Stark has him doing sometimes, but it's still necessary to get a good grade. Once the teacher's done talking and they've collected the necessary equipment, there's finally enough of a buzz of conversation in the lab that Peter feels safe talking to Ned about the night before.
"So, catch any bad guys?" Ned asks curiously as he pours water into a graduated cylinder carefully.
"Nope, not a single one."
Ned wrinkles up his face slightly and gives Peter a funny look. "Then why are you so tired?"
Peter glances around them to check that the people at the surrounding benches are all absorbed in their own work before he leans in and whispers to Ned. "I was hanging out with Daredevil. He's gonna teach me how to be a real hero."
Ned drops the beaker he's holding, but Peter snags it out of the air before it can hit the ground.
"Oh my God that's so cool—what's he like?" Ned asks in a barely-contained whisper.
"He's… nice. Mr. Stark said he's all dark and badass and scary, but he's actually really nice. He told me I wasn't bad at fighting," Peter replies softly as he measures out the different solutions they'd been given to test. "I gave him my number and he said he'd be in touch. He had a legit burner phone. It was kinda neat."
"Daredevil has your phone number?!" Ned whisper-shrieks.
"He said to call him Mike. Jessica Jones was there too."
"She's the one who can fly, right?"
"I think it's actually jumping. And she was kinda drunk, but she's friends with D- Mike, so that's pretty cool. She told me that he's got superpowers too, which is weird because I thought he was just a normal guy. He's got like, some sort of psychic thing I think. I dunno, I'm not really sure."
"I can't believe you're so chill about this. You're on a first name basis with Daredevil . He's like, New York vigilante Jesus. He was the first one of you guys that actually got a name—that actually made a difference . He paved the way for people like you, Peter. God, that's so cool."
"Mr. Stark told me he tortured a guy right in front of them one time," Peter blurts out. "Like, I know he's a grown-up and that he deals with really bad people like gangsters and human traffickers, but he's like… major leagues. It's kind of intimidating, even though he's nice."
"Woah. That's kinda effed up and scary, but like… did he say why Daredevil tortured the guy? Cause, not that I'm defending torture, maybe he had a kinda good reason why?"
Peter shrugs. "He just said they were trying to get answers out of the guy by talking, but Daredevil was too impatient for it."
Ned shrugs. "Well, he's dark and broody, but he does it to protect people, so he was probably doing that to protect someone. And I guess I can sorta get behind that."
"Mr. Leeds, Mr. Parker," the teacher calls from the front of the room. "Your water's boiling over. Stop talking and work."
They both scramble to turn off the hot plate and Peter ends up mildly scalding himself in the process, but it's nothing that takes longer than the rest of class to heal.
Peter doesn't get the chance to continue his conversation with Ned before he leaves school and heads off to Avenger's Tower. The only homework he has to do today is write an essay analyzing symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird because, apparently, that's something he'll need to know about in the real world. Again, he wouldn't voice that opinion out loud because MJ would glare at him and tell him it's an important book for everyone, especially white people, to read because it shows the way that white voices are always valued above voices of color, even when the facts don't side with them.
When he gets to the Tower, Friday welcomes him with a polite, "Hello," and takes him to the floor Tony's on; this time it's the Avenger's common floor.
As soon as he steps out of the elevator his phone buzzes with a text message, and he pulls it out to check. It's from an unsaved number and says " I told you I'd be in touch. " He smiles at the message, but before he can type a response Mr. Stark notices him. Jessica Jones is there too, sitting across from Tony and drinking what's either scotch or whiskey; Peter's not quite sure what the difference is because he's never tasted either, and the smell of both burn his nose.
"Peter! Come join us, kiddo. We were just talking about you," Tony says with a grin, waving Peter over.
"You texting a girl?" Jessica asks out of the blue. "You're smiling at your phone."
"What? Oh, no. It's just a reminder from my teacher," he lies, glancing up at her from his phone for just a second before he tucks it back into his pocket. "Why were you guys talking about me?" he asks curiously, hoping to a God that he doesn't quite believe in that she hasn't ratted him out about the Daredevil thing.
"He's getting me to pass on a message to Daredevil. Blah blah blah, leave Spider-Man alone, blah blah blah I'll kill you and everyone you love if you hurt him—"
"I didn't say that," Tony replies, and Jessica just smiles back at him.
"It's the thought that counts."
"I really hope that's not how you think all the time."
Jessica just shrugs and gets up, ruffling Peter's hair on her way to the elevator. "Bye Stark, bye kid. I'll see you around."
"Bye Ms. Jones," Peter calls back as the elevator doors shut behind her.
He goes to sit at a chair nearby to Tony after that and pulls out his laptop and book to start working on the paper. He glances up after a moment when he feels Tony staring at him, and he tilts his head slightly in a silent question at the man.
"What?" he asks after that doesn't get a response.
"What'd you do last night?" Tony asks curiously.
"Um, I patrolled a little after I left here, and then I went home," he answers. It's not technically the truth, but he was out doing Spider-Man stuff, so if he stretches the definition that can easily count as patrolling.
"Alright. You just look tired; wanted to make sure you're okay."
"Oh! Yeah, I had some trouble sleeping, but I'm okay," Peter assures immediately.
Tony nods and they both go back to working on their separate things, Tony doing something between his tablet and the hologram being projected in front of him while Peter switches between Sparknotes, his book, and an empty Word document that's existence becomes increasingly more frustrating with each passing minute. Well, it isn't completely empty; it has an MLA heading in Times New Roman, twelve point, double spaced.
Eventually Tony gets up to go do something and Peter manages to sorta get started on writing. Writing the introduction is always hard, but he struggles through it and comes out with something at least half-way legible. The paper isn't due until the next Monday, so it isn't like he needs to get it done tonight. A few more minutes of unproductive frustration and glaring at his keyboard are enough to make Peter realize he won't be getting any more of this essay done tonight, so he saves and closes the document. Much to his surprise, it's already nearing six forty-five and he remembers he never replied to Daredevil's text.
He whips out his phone to see that the unsaved number sent another message, this one just being the juncture of two streets deep in Hell's Kitchen along with a time: W 43 rd and 11 th , 7:00 . As soon as he sees that he scrambles to shove everything back into his backpack and heads up to the roof, putting the costume on once he reaches the privacy of the rarely-used roof access stairwell. He doesn't get to the building until a couple minutes after seven, and when he lands on the rooftop, Daredevil/Mike is already waiting there for him.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologizes immediately, as Tony's story of Daredevil torturing a guy comes to the forefront of his mind. "I was writing this essay for class and, ugh, I got like nothing done but when I looked at the clock it had been like three hours. Writing's just so hard, y'know?"
Mike smiles at him. "It's a lot easier if you just write the thesis first and then your body paragraphs. Save the introduction for last. You're a sophomore, right? So this is just a five paragraph essay?"
Peter nods. "Yeah—do you have to write a lot?"
"Sort of. I mean, I made it through seven years of college, so that was a hell of a lot of writing."
"Seven years? Are you a doctor? Because that would make sense; Mr. Stark said you refused to get medical care. Is that cause you do it yourself?" Peter asks, giving the man a funny look.
Daredevil laughs softly. "No, not at all. I have someone who helps me with that sort of thing."
"How'd you get someone to help fix you up? I can't really imagine you put an ad on, like, the Craigslist personals: M for Vigilante Doctor."
Mike laughs harder at that, and Peter takes a second to appreciate that, along with the man's smile. It reminds him just the faintest bit of Uncle Ben, and as much as that hurts, it's still comforting in its own way. "Not exactly. She found me bleeding out in her dumpster. Or more accurately, her neighbor found me bleeding out in her dumpster, and he got her because she's a nurse."
"That's kinda scary. So, you would've just died if she hadn't found you?" Peter's definitely freaking out a little internally because even though he has a healing factor, a bad enough wound could land him in a similar situation and he has no plan in place for when that happens. Hopefully, a nurse who isn't his Aunt pulls him out of the dumpster he's gonna end up in.
"Absolutely. And that's an important lesson to learn. When you're young you feel like you're unstoppable, and I can't really imagine it's any less like that for someone with your powers. You need to acknowledge and accept that serious injury and death are real possibilities in this line of work. It's obviously different with your powers than it is with mine, considering you have superhuman strength which is usually accompanied by a healing factor of some sort, but the fact remains that what we do is dangerous and unpredictable," Daredevil explains somberly.
Peter's still a kid, but he's been through a lot and considers himself to be fairly perceptive about things like loss and grief. He's not sure if it has something to do with his powers or if it's just his intuition, but he feels a certain sadness radiating off of Mike.
"Mr. Daredevil, have you lost someone who's in our line of work..?" he asks softly, mentally kicking himself for saying Mr. Daredevil .
Daredevil gives him a sad smile and nods once. "Yeah. She uh… it was bad. Death happens. None of us are invincible, and with how much danger we put ourselves in, it seems almost inevitable that it'll happen someday."
"That's pretty dark…"
"It's the truth." He shakes his head a little as though he can shake the grief away. "But enough about that. For tonight I want to see you in action," Daredevil replies as he walks towards the edge of the roof.
"In action like stopping bad guys?" Peter asks as he follows a little way behind Daredevil.
He gets a nod in response as Daredevil steps up onto the concrete ledge that borders the roof of the building. Daredevil stands still and tilts his head slightly in various directions until he seems to focus in on something in particular. "Follow me," he says simply, before jumping and rolling onto the next roof over.
Peter knows that parkour is one of Daredevil's gimmicks, but it's pretty impressive to see in person. If he didn't have his abilities, there's no way in hell that Peter would be able to keep up, the guy has absolutely no hesitation in making jumps that most people would need to pray about before attempting. They finally come to a stop about three blocks away from where they'd originally met, and Daredevil crouches at the edge of the roof, motioning for Peter to do the same.
"That store right there is being robbed," he says softly, pointing to the electronics store across the street. There are—"
"Three men inside," Peter interrupts, earning himself a surprised look from Daredevil.
"I have really good hearing," Peter explains with a shrug.
Daredevil nods in acceptance and turns back towards the building they're observing. "There aren't any civilians nearby, so this is a pretty low-risk scenario." Before Peter can even protest that sentiment, Daredevil's already explaining. "I know you're capable of high-risk scenarios, but there's no reason to throw you straight into one while you're in unfamiliar territory. This is just for me to see what you can do, alright?"
Peter nods. "Alright, I won't disappoint you."
Daredevil smiles at him. "I know you won't."
Peter takes a deep breath and checks the web shooters one last time before he jumps from the roof and swings down to the street level. He glances back over his shoulder, and to his surprise Daredevil isn't where he'd been just a few seconds prior. With a final deep breath, Peter opens the already broken door to the shop and looks to the three men who are perpetrating the robbery. None of them seem to have noticed him, so he takes that chance to listen in on whatever it is that they're doing.
"Hurry up," one man says, glancing towards the alleyway entrance of the shop. "We need to get outta here before Daredevil shows."
"Really? You're still talking about him? C'mon man, there's so much other shit he's probably dealing with. We aren't even hurtin' anyone," one of the others responds, holding his arms apart, gesturing to the rest of the neighborhood. "I'm sure that somebody, somewhere is getting' mugged or raped or something. Daredevil ain't gonna bother with us."
"Wow, you guys are the most optimistic burglars I've ever met," Peter announces, webbing up two of the robbers simultaneously.
The third man fumbles to pull his gun from where it's shoved in the waistband of his jeans but takes long enough that Peter can easily web him to the wall. He walks over to where the men are all cursing now and looks down at them.
"You guys might not be punching someone in the face, but you're still hurting people. You're hurting the owners of this store, for one. You don't know what their financial situation looks like."
"The hell are you doing here? Ain't you the new guy from Queens?" one man asks.
"Yep, that's me. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. And obviously, I was in the neighborhood," he says as he walks behind the cash register and picks up a piece of paper and a pen. "I'm gonna call the cops, so you guys just wait here for them, okay?"
He finishes writing his note and webs it to the wall above the third man.
Caught these guys in the middle of robbing the place. They're pretty useless as criminals if we're being honest. -Spider-Man
"Well, hope I don't see you guys around!" he says cheerfully, waving at the men before turning to leave.
The street is silent when he heads back out onto it, and he can feel the hairs on his arms stand up. A quick look around finds the source of his Spidey sense freak-out to be Daredevil again, watching him from a rooftop. It's a different one from the one they'd both landed on earlier, so Peter doesn't need to cross the street this time to make his way up. He climbs up the side of the building and does a roll over the ledge to land sitting down next to Daredevil who's looking at him in clear amusement.
"So, how did I do?" Peter asks curiously.
"You did great," he says with a smile. "I told a beat cop about a block away that there was something over here he needed to see. Let's get out of here."
Daredevil leads them back to the rooftop they'd met on at the beginning of the night before turning to Peter once again.
"So what exactly are your powers?" he asks.
Peter hesitates for a moment. "Um, well, I got bitten by a radioactive spider. Hence the whole spider theme. I can stick to walls and ceilings and stuff, but the webs are just some tech that I built to kinda… help the spider aesthetic. I also have super-strength and sort of enhanced senses. Like good eyesight and hearing and all that—better than it was before at least. And I have this thing I like to call my Spidey sense. It just sorta goes off whenever something bad is about to happen, like a warning system. What about you? I don't think you got bitten by a radioactive Devil."
Daredevil laughs softly at that. "No, definitely not. There was a chemical spill of sorts. Left me with extremely enhanced senses. I can hear a heartbeat from more than a block away."
"Why Daredevil though?" Peter asks curiously.
"You'd have to ask the journalists that one. I didn't come up with my name—I never meant for things to get this big. I just wanted to help people. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the violence though; I usually leave people pretty bloody, and some bad people controlled the narrative of the media at that time, so they decided to compare me to the Devil. A friend of mine made the costume, and they were still calling me The Devil of Hell's Kitchen when he made it, hence the horns. I guess the name was just a little too long to be catchy so they shortened it to Daredevil." He smiles at Peter. "I was kind of the first one to do the whole vigilante thing, so the media wasn't the best at naming things yet."
"You were the first person to really be a hero to the people," Peter replies, noticing the way Mike cringes a bit at the word 'hero'. "You are a hero. You're the reason I knew I could make a difference and help people with my abilities. I mean, at the time I thought you were just a normal guy. But I thought, if Daredevil's just a normal guy and he can save all those people and make that much of a difference, then I can do something with my abilities too. I'm sure other people were inspired by you too—even if they won't admit it. Maybe Ms. Jones even."
"Jessica's very adamant about the fact that she isn't a hero."
"Well she is one, and so are you."
"You're a hero too. I heard about what you did with the Vulture, that was really impressive."
Peter beams at him. "Thanks, Mike. Hearing you say that… just wow."
"Actually," Daredevil says, "my name's Matt. Mike's my fake real name."
Peter smiles even brighter at that. "Okay, Matt. I gotta go, y'know, still gotta look out for my neighborhood and all that… but I'll text you or something."
"Alright, Peter. Have a nice night—good luck on your essay," Matt says as he waits and watches turn and swing away.
When Peter gets home he revisits the scraps of an essay he has with Matt's advice, and Jesus Christ, it's so much easier to write like that. After he gets the first body paragraph finished, he opens up a new, blank document and hesitates before typing up a title. Who is Daredevil? He doesn't really want to unmask his newfound friend and mentor, but he's so damn curious that it hurts. He really doesn't know much, but he has enough to at least type out a few bullet points.
Enhanced senses—hearing especially?
Seven years of college, not a doctor though
Lost someone in the superhero biz
Matt
It isn't a lot to go off of, but it's a starting point.