Chapter Text
“Next on the agenda: the kid,” Tony Stark said. “He’s a good fighter, but I’m concerned that he doesn’t know how to punch. He had the chance to take out the bad guy last Saturday and just missed it completely. We need someone to train him, help him reach his potential.”
The Avengers, minus Peter Parker, who was conveniently at school, were sitting around a conference table at one of their monthly meetings. Everyone was dressed casually in t-shirts and sweatpants, except for Daredevil. He wore his full red suit, complete with the mask that kept his identity hidden. Tony didn’t quite know what to make of the guy. He’d been useful so far, but not even Tony’s extensive database could find out who Daredevil truly was. Daredevil mostly stuck to Hell’s Kitchen, and only really joined the Avengers at night, when a threat affected his part of New York. Something that also unnerved Tony was that he had no idea what Daredevil’s powers were. Possibly enhanced healing, given the way the Devil came back from a fight covered in stab wounds still able to walk, or x-ray vision, since he seemed to be able to see through walls.
Meanwhile, at the mention of the kid, Matt was brought back to his own childhood, his own training. Sure, Stick had helped him reach his full potential at a blind vigilante, but at the cost of extensive manipulation. Matt knew that was exactly what Tony was too: a powerful man who wanted to turn a kid into a weapon. That’s why Matt needed to speak up before anyone else did.
“I’ll do it,” Matt said.
He felt everyone’s gaze immediately point to him, heard a whisper passed between Clint and Natasha, questioning Daredevil’s motives.
“I’m a boxer,” Matt explained. “I had to train for that the way most of you didn’t, no fancy suits or technology. I can help him.”
“Alright,” Tony said after a moment of hesitation. “We’ll try that. Spider-man will come by tomorrow afternoon, and you can start training him in the gym here.”
The next day, Matt met Peter at the official Avengers’ Training gym. They both wore their full superhero suits. The gym took up a whole floor of the skyscraper, full of metal obstacles that jutted out of the floor and walls at the push of a button. Prior to Peter’s arrival, Tony had given Matt a tablet to control the training gym without using voice activation. Matt promptly set it aside, as he didn’t feel the need to use all that technology. Besides, there was no real way for him to use the tablet without revealing his blindness.
Matt heard the security cameras swivel to face him as he moved around the room, pacing. Clearly, Stark was watching them, trying to see if Daredevil would be an effective trainer.
“How’s it going?” Peter waved, walking into the room.
“Tony wanted me to help you punch,” Matt said, not one for a friendly introduction. “So first, I want to see what you can do already. Hit the punching bag.”
Peter hit the punching bag with a force that knocked it a few inches back. He took a step back from the bag and looked back at Matt.
“Again,” Matt said. “Keep going until I tell you to stop.”
Peter punched the bag again, switching between hands every time. “You sure about this? I’m really better at doing flips and stuff.”
“That’s why we’re working on this.” Matt felt a slight hesitation every time Peter punched the bag, a split pause just a second before his fist hit the fabric. And he could tell that despite the intense cardio
Peter was going through, he wasn’t even close to breaking a sweat.
“Is that the best you got?” Matt asked.
“Yes,” Peter said, as he kept punching. His heartbeat sped up with the lie.
“Stop,” Matt ordered, and Peter finally did, turning around to face Daredevil. “Punch me now.”
Peter shook his head. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t,” Matt said. “I can take just about anything. And this armor’s Stark technology; nothing can get through it.”
Peter, seeing no way around Daredevil’s idea, punched him with a force much weaker than the force he used on the punching bag. Matt was forced to take a step back from the effort, but that was it. He tilted his head to the side, then announced that Peter was done for the day.
Tony Stark burst into the room just as Matt and Peter were making their way out.
“That’s it?” Tony asked. “What kind of training was that? The kid just punched a few times, and you didn’t even say anything about his form.”
“That’s it for today,” Matt corrected him. “Now I have a baseline for the rest of his training. We’ll continue next week.”
“But I scheduled a whole hour for you to use the gym,” Tony argued.
“I have to go back to work,” Matt said.
“Where the fuck do you even work?” Tony asked.
Matt ignored Tony and simply turned to Peter, holding out his hand for Peter to shake. Peter grabbed it and felt a piece of paper slip from Daredevil’s hand into his.
“You did good kid,” Matt said, forcing a smile. “For today. I’ll see you next week.”
Peter nodded, hiding the note in his closed hand. He waited until he got home to read it. The note was written with raised letters, which Peter identified as braille. The code was easy to decipher, according to a simple online translation. The note said: Friday 9pm. Fogwell’s Gym. Tell no one.
Peter told Ned about the note the next day while they were walking to school.
“This is a bad idea, you’re not seriously going to go,” Ned said. “Are you?”
Peter shrugged. “The whole training thing was weird anyway. All I did was hit a punching bag a few times. Maybe he’s going to actually train me now. I googled the place, it’s a real boxing gym.”
“What do you even know about this guy?” Ned said. “He’s literally called the Devil, that can’t be a good sign.”
“He took down Wilson Fisk, and he’s with the Avengers,” Peter pointed out.
“Daredevil could easily be a double agent,” Ned said. “Working with the Avengers once or twice doesn’t mean that he’s with them.”
Peter fell silent for a moment, as he and Ned waited to cross the street. “I’m still going to go. I’ve already decided.”
Ned sighed. “Are you going to at least tell Tony?”
“I’m telling you,” Peter crossed the street, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a black Camaro. “Daredevil clearly doesn’t want him to know. You can track me and let someone know if something goes wrong. Not that anything will, I can handle myself.”
“I know you can,” Ned muttered.
When Peter arrived at Fogwell’s Gym on Friday, he worried he’d got the time wrong. The place was completely dark on the outside and appeared empty. Still, the door opened when he turned the handle. It must’ve been a strange sight for anyone who was watching from outside, Spider-man in his full suit walking into a closed boxing gym. The door creaked loudly as Peter pulled it to a close once inside the gym.
Peter felt for the light switch along the wall and flipped it on, illuminating the room with only a few dim lightbulbs. Daredevil was there already, hitting a punching bag with so much force that it was a wonder it was still intact. He was dressed in all black rather than his typical devil suit, with a scarf covering the top half of his face. Still, Peter knew it was the same guy.
“You can take the mask off if you want, Peter,” Daredevil said taking a step back from the punching bag without turning around. “I already know who you are.”
Peter felt his blood go cold, his spider sense telling him to get ready for a fight. “What do you mean? I’m not—"
“I’ve met you before, Peter Parker,” Matt finally turned to face him. “Your voice is easy to recognize. For me, at least.”
“Are you going to threaten me, then?” Peter grabbed the door handle, taking comfort in the fact that there was still a way out.
“I just wanted to talk,” Matt said, sounding sincere. “I thought I could help you.”
“You mean train me?” Peter loosened his hand from the doorknob and felt his heart start to calm down.
“I mean your technique could use some work, obviously,” Matt said. “But I don’t think you need any more training. You’ve been pulling your punches. How hard could you really go if you actually wanted to hurt people?”
Peter revised his previous opinion of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen: a quiet presence who only showed up when you really needed him. Daredevil seemed to know more than he’d been letting on, and Peter couldn’t help but think that Daredevil saw straight through him, as if he was made of glass. It was an uncomfortable feeling, one that made Peter reconsider everything he’d ever said to the man.
“I don’t know,” Peter admitted. “But I’m scared of finding out.”
Daredevil simply nodded in response.
“Are you going to tell me who you are now?” Peter blurted.
“Did you tell anyone you were meeting me here today?”
“No,” Peter said.
Daredevil tilted his head to the side. “When you tell me the truth about that, maybe I’ll tell you who I am.”
For a second, Peter contemplated leaving right then and there. Being around someone that perceptive was terrifying. But a bigger part of Peter was curious about who the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen truly was and what exactly he wanted from Peter. He took off the spiderman mask and shoved it into his pocket, walking over to take a seat on the edge of the boxing ring. Daredevil came and sat down next to him.
“So why am I here?” Peter asked. “Since it seems like you’re not going to threaten me or train me to be a better fighter.”
“Did you know my dad was a boxer? That’s how I found this place; he used to fight here,” Matt completely ignored Peter’s question, which seemed to be typical for him.
“Did you teach you how to fight?”
“Nah,” Matt gave an uneasy chuckle. “He didn’t want me to fight. He wanted me to use my head to solve problems, and I tried that for a long time. I really tried to stay away from this.” He gestured to the ring behind them. I just couldn’t accept knowing that there were things that I could be doing to make everything right when the law wouldn’t work. Night after night I heard sirens and screams gunshots in this city, and I knew I had to do something.”
Matt took a deep breath before continuing. “It’s all come very close to destroying me. I’ve been used by people I thought cared about me and have been barely able to hang onto the friends that do care. You’re young still, Peter, and I don’t want any of this to happen to you.”
Peter’s thoughts swarmed around his head trying to decipher what Daredevil was really talking about. Obviously, what the Devil was saying held some truth; Peter had already had to sacrifice aspects of his personal life to be Spider-man, like having to miss the academic decathlon in Washington DC. He even had to deal with legal troubles at one point, when Peter was charged with fraud and Tony had to hire lawyers from a small firm called Nelson and Murdock to bail him out. It was stressful, but Peter was getting better at managing everything.
“It’s fine,” Peter said. “Sure, I’m really busy because of Spider-man, but I’m doing really well in school, and I’m even part of a few clubs.”
“That’s not it, that’s not what I mean. Being a hero, having to hurt people, it eats away at your morals. It will chip away at the very core of who you are if you let it.”
“I’m not going to stop being spider-man, if that’s what you’re telling me,” Peter argued. “I’m saving lives, people need me.”
Matt chuckled darkly. “That’s what I thought you’d say. In that case, I’ll help you learn to hold back from everyone, even the Avengers.”
“The hell do you know about holding back?” Peter asked, really just hoping to learn more about the mysterious Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.
“I do it every day,” Matt confessed. “In my other life, people underestimate me, which helps me stay under the radar more or less. Keeping Daredevil as a separate identity keeps me sane, and it keeps the people I care about safe.”
“I get that,” Peter said. “I could never understand how Tony and the others deal with all the fame. I don’t want that attention.
“So, do you want my help or not?”
Peter stood up. “I don’t know. I’m doing fine on my own.”
“Tony’s onto you, you know,” Matt warned Peter. “At least he will be soon. He wanted me to train you because he thinks you can’t punch. If you don’t accept my help, you won’t be able to hide for much longer. Then they’ll know how strong you really are. You’ll become the Avengers’ newest killing machine, which I know you don’t want.”
“I’ll think about it,” Peter started walking to the door. “I still have no idea who you are.”
“And you understand why I can’t tell you,” Matt said. “Speaking of, don’t tell anyone anything about this meeting. I will know if you do. If you want to continue, I’ll be here again on Tuesday, same time.”