Peter stood in the boxing ring, leaning against the corner post as he waited for Steve to finish getting into his training attire. The older man walked into the room with a small bag over his shoulder, whistling loudly to get his attention. Peter's eyes shot up and and he waved at the taller man who climbed under the bottom rope and stood up.

"Right, I've got something to tell you" Steve said.

"And that would be?" Peter asked.

"You suck at being a superhero" Steve shrugged, digging around in the bag and taking out two pairs of red boxing gloves, throwing one pair over to Peter.

"Thanks buddy" Peter sighed.

"No problem, but I'm going to make an attempt to fix that" Steve chuckled, pulling the gloves on and rolling his neck "Have you ever boxed before?"

"No, but I've seen a few movies" Peter said with a shake of his head.

"Like what?" Steve asked, bouncing on his feet and throwing a few jabs to warm himself up.

"I think... a little bit of Raging Bull and three of the Rocky movies... one, three and a tiny bit of two" Peter said, picking up the gloves and pulling them on.

"So I'm gonna tell you now that this isn't going to be anything like what you've seen in those movies" Steve said "The fights in those movies were choreographed by Stallone and the others and a load of the punches they throw don't even make contact" Peter nodded, rolling his wrists and flexing his fingers inside the gloves before looking back at Steve.

"Quick question, why are we boxing right now instead of something like Tai Chi?" Peter asked "Surely that would be helpful against super-villains, right?"

"No" Steve said "Most of the super villains in this world are scientific disasters and the occasional mad scientist, barely any of them will be skilled in actual fighting and it'll probably be nothing more than a slug-fest between you and them"

"But what about Elektra?" Peter asked "She isn't your every day thug"

"We'll deal with her in time, I had a talk with Black Widow and we both realize that we had way too much confidence in your abilities as a fighter so we're going to take it back to a much more basic fighting style" Steve explained "But don't think that boxing is just a fighting style for people who aren't good at actual martial arts, boxing is one of the best fighting styles for stamina conservation and durability despite its simplicity"

"Right... so how are we gonna start?" Peter asked.

"We're gonna go through a few rounds and I'll see how you're doing during those" Steve said "Ready?"

"Not really" Peter sighed, putting his hands up and taking a deep breath. Steve eyed up Peter for a brief second before moving towards him, shuffling his feet slowly as Peter moved towards him. Peter made the first move, and the first mistake, of the fight. He threw himself forwards with a powerful right hook that Steve managed to dodge by leaning back before ducking forwards and landing a left jab on Peter's face, causing him to stumble back, allowing Steve to follow it up with a powerful right hook to the side of the face.

"Fuck!" Peter yelled as the blow sent him careening to the floor, his head slamming onto the dusty matt as his body lay out flat.

"That was pretty bad Peter, you just got knocked down in the opening seconds of the first round" Steve sighed "Get up" Peter pushed himself back up to his feet and held his hands up again, shuffling forward and throwing a right jab at Steve's head only to have the more skilled fighter duck to the side and land a left hook into Peter's side, causing him to fold slightly, upsetting his balance and open him up for another powerful right hook knock him to the floor.

Steve shook his head, lowering his hands and shaking them briefly as Peter growled angrily, pushing himself up and bringing his hands up once more.

"The mistake you keep making is that you're putting all of your weight into your swings and not keeping your core straight" Steve instructed "When they saw 'throw a punch' they mean the punch Peter, not your entire body"

"Doesn't that make it hit harder though?" Peter asked.

"Yes, and for some people that works" Steve nodded "Buts for most people its a terrible idea to try and punch through your opponent, because if you're not packing the power to knock them out in one then you're not only gonna tire yourself out faster than you would normally but you leave yourself open to some brutal counter-attacks"

"So what should I do?" Peter asked with a sigh.

"Boxing, despite being easy to get the hang of, isn't a defined fighting style like Tai Chi or other martial arts, its a base model for people to adapt their own strategies and styles from, that's why there's no 'one way' to box and win" Steve explained "You're gonna have to try out a few different styles in practice before you actually step into the ring with someone"

"Right... so what d'you think I'd be good at?" Peter said.

"Well, from the way I've seen you fight, I figure we should start with fast hits and faster dodges" Steve suggested "I've studied modern boxers since I woke up and one person I'd suggest, for dodging that is, is Mike Tyson"

"Tyson?" Peter asked "I thought his strategy was to try and punch through people?"

"It was, but his dodging was to cover his face as best as he could and move fast and erratically enough to either avoid or shrug off his opponents punches" Steve explained "If you're gonna emulate someone, I'd pick Tyson's dodging technique, c'mon, lets have another quick brawl" Peter nodded his head and moved towards Steve again, this time watching Steve's movements and not throwing his own punch.

"Good idea, let me make the first move and see how I fight" Steve nodded. He then moved forward with three right jabs, two of them missing Peter just barely, the third one skimming his face as it was slightly more delayed than the first two, but the third dodge forced Peter to throw himself into a brutal left hook that slammed into his jaw and sent him spinning to the side.

A grunt came from Peter as Steve moved around to his other side, forcing him to stop moving, and continued to jab at his middle before throwing a right hook. Peter was able to duck under the sweeping force of the hook but was caught off-guard by a strong uppercut to the chin that caused him to stagger back.

"Don't go down" Steve growled, watching Peter catch himself on his foot before pushing forward with a right hook of his own. Steve dodge the attack easily, this time stepping to the side to get to Peter's unguarded left before throwing two sweeping hooks that caught Peter in the kidney area. Peter grimaced in pain and was once again forced to contort his body in a pitiful attempt to cover his exposed spot.

Steve then stood up to his full height and brought an angled punch down onto Peter's face, sending him to the floor.

"Alright" Steve said "You're not doing as bad as I thought you would"

"I think I'm gonna disagree" came Widow's voice from the side of the ring. She had entered the room during the scuffle and had taken a seat by herself, her left leg crossed over her right and her fingers linked on her knees and she leaned back.

"I would've thought he could move away from you when you start to move yourself" she sighed "Letting us and yourself down again are we Parker?"

"That's kinda my thing so far" Peter sighed, rubbing his bruised face with one of his gloves. Peter's Spider-Sense went off again as Steve swung another punch for his head. He ducked under the punch and retaliated with a jab to Steve's gut, this time the attack landing. Peter then backed off and stood up to his full height before realizing that he'd lost his advantage on Steve and the taller man went on the offensive again.

"Your endurance seems to be keeping you on your feet Parker" Widow commented "Most people who waste as much energy in punches that miss are unconscious by the end of the first round"

"Thanks Widow" Peter growled, receiving another two hit combo to the stomach and then to the face.

"You're forgetting to keep your hands up Peter" Steve said "Even when you throw a punch you've gotta keep one close" Steven then proved the point by throwing a jab to Peter's face as the teen threw his own, then slamming two brutal right jabs into his nose.

"Stay up" Steve said, watching as Peter straightened up and followed with a feinted left jab and an awkward right uppercut that missed completely. Steve then changed his own angle to one that forced Peter into a corner where he began to repeatedly slam uppercuts into Peter's stomach before steeping back and landing another powerful hook to his right eye.

Peter was thrown into the corner where he found it difficult to stand, all of the wind in his system being knocked out of him, sweat dripping down his face and his body being in throbbing pain.

"Come on Parker, it wasn't that bad" Widow said with a roll of her eyes.

"No pain Peter" Steve said.

"What?" Peter asked in an agonized tone.

"No pain, ignore it" Steve said.

"Its a lot fucking harder than that" Peter growled.

"No, no it isn't Peter" Steve said "The only thing that's reminding you of how it hurts if the fact you're paying attention to it" Steve continued "Ignore it and keep going, say it with me; no pain"

"No pain" Peter panted.

"No pain!" Steve barked.

"No pain" Peter wheezed.

"Peter, get up!" Steve ordered "No pain!"

"No pain!" Peter managed to cough out, pushing himself back up to his feet and wiping the sweat off his brow.

"Alright, let's go kid!" Steve yelled, slamming his gloves together and holding them back up by his face, bouncing from foot to foot. Next Chapter: Confidence Boosting Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 40 Minutes