mentorship // irondad and spiderson ★

(4) sickness

"Right away, boss." The AI closed the elevator doors and started descending them to the correct floor.

Peter had the side of his head resting against the elevator wall and his arms crossed, a dazed expression on his face, as he looked the opposite way from Mr. Stark. He was enjoying the cool temperature of the metal wall, too uncomfortable to remember he was supposed to be acting healthy.

Tony watched the kid, silently amused by how much pouting he was doing.

"I get you think it's unnecessary, kid, but I have to be one hundred percent sure that you are prepared. That includes a few sessions of training, no matter how boring it is to you." He stared the teen down, happy when Peter stood up straighter and nodded.

"Yeah, I get it, Mr. Stark." He mumbled, feeling too queasy in that moment to argue.

"Good. Now let's warm up first before I get into what I actually want to show you." Tony clapped once as the pair walked off the elevator and onto the training room. "Why don't you do a quick lap while I get the equipment?"

"Uh–"

"Great." Tony was already walking away before Peter could come up with something to say.

Peter shook his head, telling himself he could handle a simple lap around the gym.

He jogged at his normal pace, before realizing it was entirely too fast. He slowed to half that pace, holding his stomach with one hand as he finished the run.

Tony had finished setting up the equipment and was watching Peter run sluggishly. "Off your game today, Mr. Parker?" Tony questioned aloud when Peter managed to finish his lap.

"N-no, I feel fine." Peter was too proud to admit he felt like dying after a single lap. He could normally do ten—maybe even fifteen laps without breaking a sweat. "I just don't think I need to keep training today." He mumbled, trying to secretly catch his breath.

"I'll say it again. You got to learn the basics like anyone else, I don't care that you have enhanced senses. It doesn't mean you can skip this training."

"But–"

"Enough." Tony raised a hand to silence Peter, which worked, but not without an annoyed glare from the teen. "Let's start, now." He showed Peter a few of the self-defense moves he learned from Rhodey, noticing the kid sweating quite a bit.

Peter was not doing well. His vision was starting to go blurry every couple minutes and his mouth was desert dry.

It took so much effort to listen to Tony's instructions that he hardly had anything left in him to actually complete the moves.

"I really..." He had to pause and catch his breath, "don't want..." Another attempt at a deep breath, "to do this anymore." He panted, letting his arms go limp at his side and stop punching the pads Tony was holding for him.

"Peter. I'm not messing around. You can't skip the more boring training and just focus on your spider things. What if you get caught without your webs? You gotta know how to defend yourself better without the suit." Tony was getting fed up with Peter's lack of effort.

"Mr. Stark, I need a few minut—"

"We started less than ten minutes ago. I've seen you go for hours. Do a few more reps then take a water break."

"But, I–"

"Peter, if you aren't going to take this seriously then we can call it a day and you can go home, is that what you want?" Tony was getting impatient now.

"N-no." Peter choked out, feeling absolutely terrible both physically and now emotionally. He hated when Tony used that disappointed tone with him.