He bets that Nejire wasn't getting beat up by Ryukyu! Or that Togata was getting his ass kicked by that precognition guy! No, only he was learning like that!
Stumbling over to the edge of the ring and jumping down to the floor, Peter walked over to Mirko and sat down.
...
A few minutes passed, Mirko on her phone as Peter quietly took in the pain his body was in before reaching for a water bottle.
"Did you know you're horrible? Like, the absolute worst?" He asked after chugging half the bottle, Mirko snorted and put her phone down.
"Do you not wanna get as badass as me or something? All this bitching you've been doing makes me think you don't! Why the hell are you complaining, anyway? You still got everything in the right place!"
About to talk, Peter paused and looked down at himself.
Was she… was she right? Something said that his body had its bits in the right places, but he honestly didn't even know.
Seeming to think for a moment, Mirko's ears folded a bit before she looked his bruised body over.
"Shit, let's take a 30-minute break instead of a 15-minute one, huh? The chance of your insides being messed up aside, you need a break." She chuckled, putting her hand on his shoulder and making him wince.
Well, at least she acknowledged the state he was in.
That was a win, he guessed.
A few minutes passed, Peter just sat there on the bench and tried to ignore the aching in his… well, everywhere.
Mirko hit really hard, man.
Yeah, she was probably holding back a bit given how he was still conscious unlike how Endeavor left him, but still.
It freaking hurt!
"Is this really how you trained back in your day? Because this feels more like you're just fighting me while hoping I learn something." He asked her, getting a kick to the shin.
First off, ow.
Second off, ow!
Seriously, she kicked him in the same spot she's been kicking him in all day! That had to be on purpose!
"Don't say 'back in my day', brat! That shit makes it sound like I'm old!" Her foot tapped the ground aggressively, Peter guessed it was a rabbit thing. "And I ain't just fighting you cause I wanna fight you, alright?"
Really? Could've fooled him.
"Then what am I supposed to get out of this? No offense, but you've just been kicking my ass for the past three days."
Like, yeah he learned how to punch better on his first day, but he still wasn't comfortable doing it with full strength!
"You gotta learn to stop relying on that overpowered quirk of yours, kid! Didn't I tell you that when you got here or something? Or did I kick you too hard in the head today?"
Well, she did kick way too hard in the head a lot today, but that wasn't the point.
When he got here, she kinda just said he didn't know how to fight and how he relied on his 'quirk' way too much.
But outside of that? She didn't really clarify.
"I mean, can you at least explain that or something?" He asked, leaning forward on the bench while Mirko rolled her eyes and did the same.
"Like I said before, you got a bunch of strong quirks wrapped into one bullshit quirk, yeah? That's why you've been winning so easily against fuckers who got weaker quirks." She said, jabbing a finger into his arm.
Peter held her gaze, nodding for her to continue. He remembers her saying this, but it was probably better for her to go deeper into it.
"Guys like All Might and a bunch of those Avengers you Americans got flying around? They have enough strength to just punch their way through everything. You and me? We don't have that privilege. What happens when you fight someone as strong as you? Maybe even stronger?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
A beat of silence passed, Mirko jabbing her finger harder into his arm.
"You get fucked, that's what happens. So, I'm trying to help you close that gap with those heavy hitters you're gonna go up against by adding skill to your strength. Then hopefully, you're not gonna have any repeats of that museum fight."
Again, Peter nodded before beginning to think for a second.
You know… the idea of adding regular skill to his 'quirk' sounded good, which was apparently an idea Mirko already had.
"Okay… so you're just teaching to add stuff like fighting styles and techniques to my quirk? In case I go against someone I can't beat with pure strength? That's why we've been sparring so much?" He asked, Mirko nodded and propped her elbows on her knees.
"Basically, yeah! The idea is for you to pick how I fight since it'll mostly apply to you. You've been noticing how we fight differently, right?" Peter nodded, Mirko let out a snort. "It's cause I actually know how to fight, you'll learn faster if you pick up on how I do it when we spar."
Again, Peter nodded and rubbed his tired eyes before running a hand through his hair.
"What about stuff like my webs or how I can stick to stuff? Shouldn't I be learning how to use that if you're teaching me to fight like you?" He asked, looking down at his barren wrists.
Guess it made sense why Mirko said he couldn't use his webs or his quirk during the sparring today.
Still, it sounded like a good idea.
They already had kinda similar quirks and styles, so picking up a bit from Mirko's to add to his own way of fighting would be good!
"We'll be doing that later, yeah? Right now, I wanna get you used to kickboxing since that's one of the things I use in my style. Then, we'll do MMA! You're smart enough to figure out other styles that suit you better than me, so we'll work on styles exclusive to you later with your webs."
A style that fit him the best? Given how Mirko did MMA and kickboxing, that probably also worked for him, but there was probably more.
He had more mobility options and could play around with his strength more than her, that's something that set them apart.
Maybe capoeira, since he was gonna be moving around more than her? And maybe even a bit of wrestling! He already kinda knew how, so why not?
Outside of learning more about those two in addition to MMA and kickboxing, what else? Maybe just throw in his own twists to it with his powers.
Spider-sense would probably set his style apart already, and then he added stuff like sticking to things and his webs and a bunch of other stuff!
All in all, it should be pretty unique.
"Alright, that sounds good." He smiled, Mirko grinned and patted him in the back.
"That's what I like about you, Parker! You always trust my sound judgment!" She laughed, Peter didn't get a chance to question that statement before her phone buzzed.
Picking it up, Mirko's ears folded a bit as she read whatever text she got before she turned to him.
"Oi, Ryukyu says she accidentally mentioned she knew me to that flying girl and now she won't stop asking about you." She told him, Peter's mind taking a second before finally processing the words.
Flying girl? Who did s-
Oh, Nejire! That's who she's talking about!
Wait, she was asking about him?
A small blush crept up to his cheeks, that familiar feeling of warmth he got around her swirled around in his chest.
"What, Nejire? Yeah! We uh, we're friends." He laughed awkwardly, Mirko raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down.
"Uh-huh, sure, whatever. Ryukyu is worried I apparently killed you already, so here." She chuckled.
Quickly, the woman put an arm around him and held up her phone while grinning, putting up bunny ears behind his head, and taking a picture of them before Peter even had a chance to react.
Aw, what! Couldn't she have at least waited after his black eye healed?
"There!" She laughed, typing on her phone before looking at him. "You look kinda alive in that! The bruises and the eye bags don't help, but still! Can you believe she doesn't think I'm responsible enough to keep you in one piece?"
For a second, Peter wanted to respond but he ended up stopping himself.
There were only like 15 minutes left of their break, and he'd rather spend them resting than arguing with Mirko about her status as a responsible individual.
Because who knew how long that'd take?
...
If you want to read ahead of the public release, or just want to support me.
You can join my p atreon :
p@treon.com/Huvnn