One Month

Chapter Eleven

Luckily for Peter, his spider-senses had decided to actually work for the first time in a long time. Mentally, he decided that they could get defective based on his emotions, and then he focused no longer on the thought.

He dodged Natasha's hits and punches as everyone else trained, and when she backed him against a wall, he jumped up on it.

"Unfair," she joked and he grinned before he pushed himself off and flipped to her other side. His ankle hated the landing, but it wasn't as bad as it had been. "Little spider, you test me."

"Just trying to survive," Peter said as he dodged again. He didn't want to hit her and the last couple of minutes had just been him dodging.

"Parker, you have to hit your opponent eventually," Steve called over the crowd of grunts and groans. Peter nodded his head but ignored the comment.

"Don't be scared, Peter," Natasha began as she swung for him, but he ducked and slid by her legs, "I've had people hit me for worse. It's training." She went for another hit, and Peter pulled the same move, except this time, he pulled her leg out from under her.

Natasha landed on her back with a groan. She hadn't been expecting him to take any type of initiative. "Please, don't kill me," Peter mumbled out as he jumped up. Natasha grinned and got back up.

"Not going to kill you, little spider, but keep fighting," she said as she took the upper hand once again. Peter got a few hits in before he stumbled and her knee connected to his stomach.

Peter coughed and tried to regain his posture, but he nearly doubled over as Natasha hit him in the stomach. "Come on, Peter," Natasha said as she left her fist against his stomach, "think of how to fight back." He glanced at her eyes before he willed himself to move.

His stomach ached but not for long, and Natasha chased him as he headed for the wall again. She sped up as they got closer. However, Peter got ahold of the wall and scurried up as Natasha tried to figure out a way to get to him. When she began climbing, he flipped behind her like before and connected his foot to her side.

Natasha fell to the ground and Peter bit his lip. He hated this. "I'm sorry," he squeaked out, but Natasha laughed as she pushed herself back up.

"Nothing to be sorry for," she told him before she mumbled to herself -- "That's going to leave a bruise."

"Don't stall, Parker," Steve called out again, and Peter wondered if he had yelled at anybody else. He hadn't heard Steve, but he also hadn't been paying attention.

"Not stalling," Peter argued as he let Natasha regain her breath. He knew that he would have to continue on an enemy, but Natasha wasn't an enemy. Peter inhaled sharply as Natasha stood up straight. "Ready?"

She smiled and nodded, "Ready."

They continued again, hits, punches, and dodges. Peter tried to take advantage and tried to punch Natasha, only to miss and be kicked to the ground. He spit out dirt and grass before he jumped back up and spun around.

"Keep a strong stance when punching," Natasha warned him, and Peter tried to watch her as he dodged. She had her legs separated and balanced on the balls of her feet. She could move in an instance if necessary.

He tried again only to miss and stumble, "Otherwise, you'll keep getting knocked down." Peter bit his lip as he stood again, and Natasha watched him intensely. She swung, he dodged. She kicked, he dodged again.

"Those little spider-senses of yours come in handy, don't they?" Peter inhaled sharply as he tried to dodge a punch, only to connect with Natasha's other fist. He pushed the palm of his hand against his nose, and he could already feel the blood.

"They sure do," he mumbled as he spit out blood that had trailed into his mouth. He was sure that his teeth were red. Natasha tried the same move again, but Peter dodged to the outside of her body. Banner yelled something over the field but neither of them heard.

"Parker, Romanoff, one of you pin each other!" Steve's words were loud and clear, and the two only nodded their head.

"You look terrifyingly angry," Natasha joked as she lunged at Peter, he slid to the side and grabbed her waist, flipping her to the ground. He pinned her. "Ah, don't get blood on me, little spider."

Peter hastily got up and held his nose. "Sorry," he said as he headed for the steps where everyone else was already sitting. Natasha followed and Steve made some joke about a kid beating her.

Peter ignored them as he sat on the bottom step and held his head up, pinching his nose.

"That's going to hurt when your adrenaline comes down," Sam said as he walked over. He winced at it, and Peter assumed that it was already bruising.

"I've realized this," Peter said, and he ducked his head to spit out more blood. "I hate nosebleeds." He raised his head again.

"Don't we all," Sam laughed before he disappeared. He came back a minute later with a rag, "Here." Peter took it and pushed it against his nose.