"Great! I've been defending this pillar and stuff, it's been super fun! Did you get thrown off yours?" She asked, Peter only nodded up at her. "Man, that sucks!"
Wait, how was she still holding him up? It was as if he weighed nothing!
And man did his face feel hot right now.
...
"Thanks for catching me and all but could you, y'know." He motioned with his head, with Nejire taking a second before understanding what he was saying.
"Oh! Yeah, sure, yeah! Sorry." With a bit of redness in her cheeks, Nejire dropped Peter to the ground with a thud. "Oh, I should've just let you down normally! My bad."
Peter doesn't even respond, simply getting off the ground and cracking his neck.
Man, did his hand hurt.
Sighing, he opened and closed his hurt hand, it hurt enough to make him wince but he could deal with that for now. The timer on the giant screen displayed 1:30, meaning Peter was starting to run out of time fast.
Great.
He thought this event was supposed to be fun! He sure wasn't having any right now.
Pulling up his shirt enough to show his abdomen, Peter ignored the wolf whistles from the crowd as he reached into his belt and pulled out new web cartridges.
"So uh, thanks again for catching me and stuff." He said, ejecting the used cartridges and loading in the new ones.
Nejire only nodded slowly, her eyes staring at his abdomen still for some reason.
"I guess… see you later?" Peter shrugged, aiming one wrist towards the pillar he used to be on.
"What? Y-Yeah! Sure, yeah, totally. Uh, good luck and stuff!" The girl quickly said with a growing redness on her face that Peter missed, with the boy shrugging again and swinging back up.
Again, his spider-sense buzzed occasionally on the way, allowing him to dodge all different kinds of stray projectiles with one being a second detached arm.
Who kept throwing those?
Using the ledge as a springboard, Peter sprung up above the surprised-looking teen currently on the pillar, his lenses narrowed as he landed in a crouch again.
"Alright, round 2! Let's go!"
Shooting a web at the incoming punch, Peter flipped over his opponent and yanked his fist into his own face with a loud clang.
The golden boy let out a groan, with Peter shooting two webs at his feet and pulling them out from under him.
He tried to grab him while he was down but the boy rolled out of the way faster than he expected, sending a strong jab that Peter barely sidestepped with warning from his spider-sense.
You know, Peter wonders where he'd be right now if he didn't have it.
"Hey, the chance to talk this out is still on the table by the way! Totally offering this for you and not because my hand really hurts!" Peter grinned under the mask, flipping over a sweep kick as the boy got back up to his feet.
"You're that spider fucker, huh?" The boy asked, Peter only narrowing his lenses back at him.
"What, did my dashing good looks give me away?"
"If I beat you here and now, I'll surely get a shit ton of internships from big names!" He declared, rushing at Peter with a roar.
Huh, truly a master of in-fight banter!
Maybe Peter should ask this guy for a few tips.
As the back of his skull rang, Peter flipped over the attack and landed a kick to the golden boy's back that made him stumble towards the edge.
"One minute remaining, listeners!" Mic announced, his commentating finally reaching Peter's ears.
Faster than he had expected, the boy caught himself and shot around with a jab that hit Peter directly in the stomach and sent him towards the opposite edge.
Ow.
Peter shot two webs that covered his mouth and eyes, letting his opponent work to rip off the webbing as he got back to his feet.
Which was really hard right now.
"C'mon Parker, shake it off…" He muttered to himself, shaking his head as the sound of webs ripping reached his ears.
His spider-sense blared in his head, making him sidestep a headbutt on instinct before Peter grabbed the guy's head and threw him over his shoulder and to the ground.
The crowd kept getting louder, a ticking sound came from the timer on screen as the fighting below him got more and more desperate.
Man, he really wanted to sit down right now.
Just as the knocked down teen was about to open his mouth, Peter webbed it closed again before webbing both his hands to his chest.
"Dude, can you be quiet for a sec? I might be getting a migraine right now and you're not helping." Peter said, watching as the boy kept letting out muffled curses and kicked around.
Lazily, Peter grabbed him by the leg and began to drag him over to the edge. Once there, he gave him one last look before just throwing him off and letting out a tired sigh.
He watched as the boy kept struggling against his bindings all the way down to the soft ground, most likely cursing him out on the way. Peter could only sigh for a moment and hold his hurt stomach with one hand.
Where do these guys keep coming from, anyway? Don't they have someone else to beat up for their pillars?
Just as Peter was about to take a moment to catch his breath, his spider-sense screamed in his ears and made him duck below a spout of yellow flame.
Great, was Endeavor here to take his pillar, too? It wouldn't surprise him at this point
Wait, was it Endeavor?
His spider-sense rang again, allowing him to sidestep a flaming tackle coming from behind him. Even so, a few of the embers still graced his already scarred forearm.
A burning ball came to a stop in the air before him, flickering for a few more seconds as Peter stared at it before revealing the person inside.
It was a girl about his age, with bright purple hair braided into a ponytail. She looked way taller than him and was wearing a deep scowl.
Great, it was Endeavor junior.
Before he could even get a word out, dozens of fireballs were shot his way and forced him to flip all over the hexagonal platform he was standing on.
"Hey, how about we introduce ourselves with our name and a thing we don't like? I'll go first! I'm Peter and I don't like fire!" He joked, shooting a few webs that were easily dodged by the flying girl.
The girl didn't respond, simply crashing onto the platform and taking swings at him with her flaming fists.
"Not a talker, huh? Then how about we hug this out?" He joked, ducking between wild swings before taking a flaming knee to the stomach.
Ow.
He needs to practice paying attention while quipping!
Coughing, he flipped over her shoulder and landed behind her before shooting a web that the girl barely dodged.
Dodging yet another blast of fire, Peter swept her leg from under her only for her to jump over it and punched him in the face.
God, ow !
Why would anyone want to participate in the sports festival? It's just been him getting punched a bunch!
His lenses narrowed at her, the masked teen grabbing her leg that was very much on fire and spinning her around.
After a dozen or so rotations, Peter slammed her onto the platform before throwing her into the air while hoping she'd just give up.
In mid-air, the girl used jets of fire in her hands and feet to right herself and stop her fall. She cursed under her breath, flames flickering all around her body as the two stared each other down.
Alright.
He just needed to keep his distance from her and prioritize using webs so he doesn't get burned. If she gets too close then h-
A giant horn blared across the stadium, catching both of them off guard as the crowd exploded into cheers and applause at the end of the event.
Wait, that's it?
"Oh, what a battle, seeing young men and women give it their all is always prime entertainment! ladies and gentlemen, here we have our 42 students who will pass on to the second event!" Mic announced, the platforms beginning to lower back onto the ground as the cheers and roars continued.
Over on the giant screen, the 42 students who would pass on to the next round were being showcased, Peter was able to see Nejire, Togata, and Amajiki among them.
It's over?
Thank God, that stuff was exhausting!
The fire girl took a look around her surroundings before adapting a sad expression and flying back to the ground.
Peter couldn't help but feel a bit bad for her, you know? There were a bunch of people who grew up watching this thing and wanted to succeed.
Even so, he felt as if he shouldn't talk to her or anything since she probably blames him for failing.
Either way, he should probably go catch up with his friends and see how they're doing.
And go to Recovery Girl, he was in a lot of pain right now.
...
With a sigh, he pulled the mask and goggles off of his face and put them back into his pocket, finally comfortable doing so since no one would see him in the hallways.
Hopefully.
Peter walked without paying attention to what was in front of him, looking at his phone and texting May while making his way to where Recovery Girl's office was.
As he walked he failed to notice a suit-wearing man going the opposite way, ending up on the two of them bumping into each other.
"Hey, my bad m-" Peter began to apologize and looked up to see the man's face before the words died at his throat.
Holy shit.
The man looked down at him through his glasses, taking a moment to study the boy before a smirk appeared on his lips.
"Oh, hey! You're that spider kid! Fancy running into you here, huh?" He chuckled, fixing his tie without taking his eyes off of him.
Holy shit.
"Uh, I am so sorry! I-I wasn't watching where I was going, Mr. S-" With a wave of his hand, the man cut him off mid-sentence.
"Please, Mr. Stark was my father!" He laughed, extending out a hand towards him. "Call me Tony."
...
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