Bug boy || Peter Parker

Four

Tate thought that after patching Peter up, that would be the end of their interactions. He didn't really know the guy that well. Peter just blended into the background a bit. He didn't stand out, other for his grades. Midtown was a school of scientists, nearly everyone wore shirts and geeky jumpers. Peter didn't stick out there. Tate, who had been described as poster of a skater boy emo magazine, did stand out a bit. So he didn't bank on Peter and him becoming closer. But Tuesday proved to be full of surprises.

It started in gym. Coach was doing the usual thing of dividing the class into groups and letting them rotate around a series of exercises. Such as laps, squats, sit ups and a cool down time. Tate was on the ten minutes of squats with Callum and Abe. Charley busy jogging around the gym with Jason. Abe was the one who brought up the interesting topic of New York's newest hero.

"Hey have you seen the vid on YouTube?" He asked. Callum, who was the most unfit of them, shook his head. His skin was a pale pink from exertion. Tate wasn't too bad. He'd had to tie the top part of his dark hair up in a small ponytail to keep it out of his face. His undercut needed resaving soon, he noticed.

"What vid?" Callum huffed as he lowered himself down for the fourteenth time. "My legs burn. I'm too lazy for this". Abe rolled his eyes. He checked to see whether the coach was paying them any attention. The old man was reading a newspaper in the corner.

Abe stood up and pulled out his phone. Both Callum and Tate stopped to peer at the small screen as youtube began to load. "Guys look. Some dude filmed this guy fighting a group of robbers on Saturday. Apparently the gang was trying to rob a store", Abe gestured excitedly at the screen. Tate watched as a blurry red and blue figure faced off against a group of four large men. This new superhero was small and seemed to be wearing a weird homemade suit that looked like bad pyjamas. A mask with large bug eyes covered their face. Tate wondered how they could see through it.

"Oooh", Callum winced as one of the men punched the hero in the face. The hero flipped back and responded by shooting a sticky substance at them. The man found himself stuck to the wall. The rest of the fight continued in a similar pattern. The hero would try and stick the bad guys to the wall, the bad guys would occasionally get a punch in. Tate wasn't impressed. He has seen Happy fight better than that.

"He looks like a bug", Callum commented. "Could do with a better suit".

"Pretty cool though", Abe shrugged, pocketing his phone now that the video was over. "New York having its own personal superhero".

Tate snorted. "Obviously not a very good one. Who taught that guy to throw a punch? He's going to break his wrist like that. Superpowers is one thing, but without proper form and technique, he's going to injure himself".

"Yeah yeah mr 'I have been trained to kill men with my thighs'". Callum and Abe burst out laughing as Tate blushed.

"Callum! My friend showed me that move! Stop reading me about it!" He whined.

Abe patted him on the shoulder. "Face it Tate, my man. You are a strong independent boy who could probably kick that new hero's ass. Callum is just jealous because he's a noodle". Callum flicked them both the middle finger as they laughed.

"It's not my fault all this is lethal", Tate grinned slyly, gesturing to his body. It would of had more impact if he wasn't wearing a oversized blue tshirt and yellow shorts. The ponytail also detracted from the look. It also would have had more of a impact if he wasn't a tiny fourteen year old.

Callum nodded in much seriousness. "Yeah. Boys and girls just don't know how to deal with all of...", he peered at Tate with a disgusted look. "...That".

"Oi!"

"Boys, boys. You're both pretty. But unfortunately you can't hold a candle to the one and only Abe!" Abe posed like Usain Bolt and grinned at them. "Accept defeat oh mere mortals". Tate was bent over from laughing. His chest hurt and face felt like it was splitting. Next to him, Callum was in a similar state. Abe had relaxed out of his pose and was watching them smugly.

"I gave up", Tate gasped in between lungfuls of air. His face red from laughing so hard. "Obviously the great Abe is the true king. I am not worthy".

"Yeah you peasant".

"Um hi?" A quiet voice asked. The three of them turned to find Peter standing behind them. The boy looked nervous but he smiled at them weakly. "Can I Talk to Tate for a minute?"

Tate hurriedly tried to stop his giggles. "Hi Peter. Sure". He stood up and followed Peter to a more isolated part of the gym. Callum and Abe watching them curiously.

Tate rested his hands on his hips as he gave the other a once over. The bruises on Peter's jaw had faded into small shadows and the cut on his cheek had scabbed over. The other boy was broader than him, Tate realised. It was hard to notice with the way Peter hunched over, an effect that was aided by his baggy jumpers. But in the sports kit, it was more obvious that Peter was not as small as he appeared. "You okay?" Tate asked. "Your bruises look good".

"Um thanks. The cream really helped. My aunt May didn't freak out as much. She says thanks too".

"It's cool", Tate smiled. "It was nothing. Did you need me for anything?"

Peter scratched the back of his head awkwardly, gaze drifting down to the floor occasionally. He stuttered slightly as he thought of what to say. Tate waiting patiently. "I, um, could you? Could you maybe teach me how to fight?" Now that the question was out, the words came in a rush. "It's just that I don't have the money for official boxing lessons and I heard you taking with your friends how there's a way of punching someone correctly, and May thinks that I need to learn how to protect myself if I get mugged again"-

"Peter slow down", Tate interrupted quickly. "Sure. I can teach you how to punch. Meet me in front of the school at the end of last lesson and I'll give you a quick lesson. That cool?"

Peter closed his mouth, which had been hanging open, and swallowed. "Um yeah. Sounds good. Meet you later".  Tate grinned at him and patted him once on the shoulder before turning and walking back to his mates. Peter watched him for a second before scurrying to where Ned had been waiting on the bench.

"So how did it go?" Ned asked expectantly as Peter sat down.

"He's going to show me how to fight after school", Peter beamed. Ned made excited jazz hand movements.

"That's great dude. I can't believe that you got Tate to agree. The guy is so weird but like cool weird. Not like us. We're just bad weird".

"Bro. Ouch".

"You know what I mean Pete. Tate is the cool, everybody likes him, skater boy. I bet he can do some awesome tricks". Ned gestured excitedly.

Peter hummed, thinking of little skull bandaids. "He's actually a really nice guy".

Ned gave him a look then shrugged, "whatever you say dude".

Unedited
Peter got all busted up because as soon as he got powers he jumped straight into fighting crime. Not stopping to realise that he had no training or knowledge of self defence. So all he was doing was just jumping around like a bouncy ball.
A hero's beginner days are tough.