Peter walked down the hallway toward the infirmary. He had an appointment with Night Nurse to finish healing his wrists. Her initial treatment the night before was thorough, but she wanted to make sure the was no residual damage that she'd missed. Arriving to the ward, he knocked on the closed door.

"Come in!" She called through it, and Peter stepped inside. Claire was seated in front of a cot treating another patient. He was heavily bandaged, and the boy couldn't tell who it was.

"Oh Peter, just have a seat over here," said the heroine. "I've been using my Quirk a lot today already, and I need a little break. Give me 5 minutes?"

"Yeah, of course!" Peter replied. "Take as long as you need!"

Claire smiled gratefully, picking up her clipboard. "Get some rest, Matthew. You've earned it after yesterday..." She addressed the bandaged patient before stepping into her office.

Matthew? Peter thought, looking curiously at the man. Then that must mean, he's-

"Hello Mr. Parker," said the muffled voice of the boy's teacher.

"Um... Hi Mr. Murdock," Peter replied, not sure how to address him. "Or do I still call you Daredevil?"

"Mr. Murdock would be ideal when I'm not in costume. Whether or not we're on campus," he replied.

"Right," said the boy. He sat in awkward silence on his own cot, trying not to stare at the heap of bandages.

"I don't need eyes to see something's on your mind," Mr. Murdock put in.

"Oh... Just, thinking back to when we first met..." Peter replied.

"Yes, that was quite an... eventful summer for you," said the teacher, a bit hesitantly. "My condolences for your loss, by the way..."

"Thank you," said Peter.

"You made quite the reputation for yourself in the underground," Daredevil went on. "Even if I didn't outright approve of an unlicensed minor doing that sort of thing, I can't deny the results you were getting. Those notes you made on the Tracksuits were very thorough.

"Wait, you read them??" Peter looked at him skeptically. "But... you're blind, right? How did you-?"

"My secretary, Karen had them transcribed into braille," Murdock explained. "And my business partner, Mr. Nelson, has the originals stored somewhere safe for a later time."

"For when you go after the Kingpin, you mean?" He asked.

The bandaged lawyer nodded, "He's always been tough to hammer down, and these last few years he's been extra careful. Still, he's going to slip up one of these days. And when he does, there'll be a mountain of evidence to use against him."

Peter nodded, "I'm glad I could help with that, at least. How's Forest Hills doing, anyways? I haven't really been out there since, well, you."

"I make it a point to stop through once or twice a week while I'm patrolling," Murdock replied. "Tracksuit activity is down, people are starting to have hope again."

This made the boy smile a bit.

The teacher paused before speaking again, "...I sensed you, at the warehouse that night."

Peter's smile dropped immediately, the memory of that incident still fresh.

"When I learned of what happened," Murdock continued. "And the name of the man who died, I seriously thought you were going to kill that punk. Imagine my relief when you didn't..."

Peter said nothing for a moment, "Is that why you didn't come after me?"

"More or less," he replied.

"I could've stopped him earlier," Peter went on. "Before he went into my home, I saw him robbing a place. I could've stopped him, but I remembered what you told me. 'Leave it to the pros,' or something like that. And an hour later... Well, you know..."

The blind hero was silent, as if reflecting on what could've been prevented, "If my words had any part in what happened, for whatever it's worth, I'm sorry..."

Peter shook his head, "I don't blame you, I was doing something stupid and would've gotten caught at some point anyways. I'm more to blame, I still could've stopped that guy. But I let my bad mood get the best of me, and I let him go."

"It weighs you down after a while," said Murdock.

"What does?" Asked Peter.

"A guilty conscience," he replied. "I know a little something about that."

"Yeah... Mr. Stark mentioned that a while back, said it wasn't his place to explain though," said the boy, letting the statement dangle.

Murdock sighed somewhat, "Hand me that drink on the table? Arm's bandaged and I can't reach from here."

"Sure," said Peter, grabbing it and holding it close to the teacher's uncovered mouth.

"Thanks," he said, drinking through the straw. After a moment, Peter set the drink down and Matthew began to speak. "You remember I told you about that boxer? 'Battling Jack' Murdock?" He asked.

Peter nodded, "Yeah, he was- wait... His last name... a-and yours-"

"He was my father," summed up the lawyer turned teacher. "And I was his biggest fan. On the night he died, he fought against 'Crusher' Creel. The winner was supposed to get a title shot."

"I remember my Uncle telling me about that one," said Peter fondly. "He saw it in person, thought your dad was going to be the next champ after he won that fight."

Murdock nodded, "Except he wasn't supposed to win it."

The boy tilted his head, "What do you mean?"

"Dad's manager was involved with some shady people, connected to a guy who ran things in Hell's Kitchen at the time," he explained. "He'd arranged a few matches for him with them, not saying they were rigged. The point was to build his reputation, so when he fought someone big, they could bet against him. They wanted him to take a dive."

Peter's eyes widened, "No..."

"Yeah," Matt nodded. "I only knew about it because around that time, I was getting a handle on the enhanced hearing aspect of my Quirk. I overheard them threatening him just two rooms over."

He smirked, however, "But Jack Murdock never took a dive in his life, and he wasn't about to start then. He left me in the care of a neighbor, and had her bet all his savings on his match. It's what paid for my law degree."

"And your dad..." Peter began hesitantly.

"Was shot that very night, just outside the venue," the hero finished.

"I spent a good while trying to find his killers," he continued. "I actually made my first costume out of material from his old boxing robes."

"The red and yellow one?" Peter asked.

"That's it," he replied. "Eventually I found them, got one to confess to pulling the trigger. He's serving life without parole."

Peter looked confused, "What about the other one?"

"Died," said Matt grimly. "I was chasing him down a subway tunnel when his heart failed."

"Oh..." Peter was unsure how to respond to that.

"I guess my point is, I get what you went through," Matt went on. "That's why I let you go that night. It shaped who you are as a person, but you didn't let it define you. I heard about that fire rescue a few weeks later. Well done, by the way."

The boy blushed slightly, "I just... couldn't stand there and do nothing. Not again..."

Matt nodded, "Exactly. And yesterday, you did it again. You've definitely got what it takes to be a pro, but you need to be careful. Think before you act once in a while, might save you a bit of pain." He motioned towards Peter's wrists.

"Yeah, I'm... working on that," the boy replied.

"Still, not a bad way to start your career as a hero," the teacher nodded. "'Spider-Man', that's what they called you in that video, right? Things are only going to get more complicated from here on out. You sure you can handle it?"

Peter nodded determinedly, "I knew what the risks would be before I even applied to this school. But I made a vow on my Uncle's memory, that I would become the world's greatest hero. I can't let some creep in a Halloween costume scare me off!"

Matt smiled broadly, "Quite the ambition. I'm interested in seeing just how far you go. No pun intended..."

The boy grinned when his teacher looked up, as if hearing something, "Sounds like Claire's coming back."

Peter turned around, and as if on cue, the door to her office opened and the Night Nurse returned to her duties.

"I'm glad we had this chance to talk, Peter," said Matthew. "But once class is running again, you're back to being just another student. And this conversation we had today, never happened. Understood?"

Peter shrugged, "What conversation?"

"Alright you two," Claire came over. "Mr. Murdock needs to rest, Peter. Let me finish up here and I'll be right with you."

"Yes ma'am," Peter nodded, leaving his teacher's bedside.

"Parker?" Mr. Murdock called, making the boy stop and turn.

"Yes?" He replied.

"Thank you... for yesterday," the hero said, nodding slightly.

Peter's eyes widened slightly, and he broke into a big smile, "You're welcome."

Claire closed the curtains to Murdock's cot as the boy walked to the other end of the room, patiently waiting his turn.

.

.

.


Barber's Chair

• So this was meant to be a sort of filler in between "seasons". It was set up a while back that Peter and his teacher would have a heart to heart. The two have a lot in common, after all. Plus given how they met back in the 10th chapter, I thought it fitting that they'd finally get to speak again in a neutral area.