Chapter Text
“Oh my god, Peter, what do you think mine is gonna look like?” Ned rambled on as he and Peter walked side by side to the Winter Solstice ceremony. “You think he’ll be really tall? Like really tall? Or… Or… Maybe he’ll have golden scales !! Broooo wouldn’t that be awesome?! How about gold and silver scales!”
“There’s never been a dragon with gold or silver scales, Ned,” Peter laughed.
“Tony Stark’s has gold scales.”
“That’s cuz Tony Stark made those scales for his dragon! You know that. And besides, they’re not gold, they’re a gold-”
“-Titanium alloy, I know, of course, Peter. I’m just really excited!”
“Me too, dude!” Peter was practically shaking with excitement as they walked down the cobblestone street. Tall, tall buildings of stone and metal sprung up on either side of them. And above them, the sky was completely clear and blue - as it was every day.
Up above the clouds, there were land masses - giant islands - that floated in the sky. And in the surrounding air, soaring through the stratosphere, were dragons. Hundreds - thousands of dragons. They were as common as the birds are to us. But they were much larger than your ordinary pigeon or sparrow. No, they were much larger - large enough for humans to ride them, like how we might ride a horse.
Every human’s soul was bonded to a certain dragon’s. When a human is around 14-16 years old, their dragon will come from skies unknown and meet them on the day of the Winter Solstice. Most dragons were normal - they can fly, they have scales, they have sharp talons, etc. But some dragons were born with (or receive) special powers - like breathing fire, ice, balls of pure energy, and so on.
A group of dragon riders with these special dragons called themselves the Avengers, and it was their goal to protect their large island in the sky - known as the City of Marvels, or Marvel City.
Under the floating islands in the sky, under the opaque cover of white clouds that extend for miles and miles, was what’s called the Below. No one knew what it looked like Below. (No one except for one man.)
And on this day, the Winter Solstice, Peter Parker, - a 15-year-old high school student - will finally get to meet his bonded dragon.
“Bro,” Ned said, his voice now becoming more like a whisper, “what if someone gets a special dragon?”
“Nah, no one’s gonna get a special dragon, Ned. No one’s gotten one in years,” Peter said.
“But what if , dude?”
“Bro, I’m already excited about finally getting my dragon . I don’t care if it’s special or not. I just wanna fly through the air again. I wanna fly so bad , man.”
“Yeah, I get it man,” Ned said back. “I mean after… Yeah, I know what you mean.”
Peter just nodded. Ned was referring to the accident that happened only a year ago - an unfortunate accident that led to the death of Peter’s Uncle Ben, his uncle’s dragon, and his Aunt May’s dragon. Luckily, his Aunt May survived and was able to take care of Peter - as Peter’s parents died long ago. But ever since then, the Parker household didn’t have a dragon to ride. Once the dragon your soul is bonded to dies, you’ll never get another, so Aunt May was left to live without her husband or her dragon partner.
Peter missed riding on his Uncle Ben’s dragon as Ben steered him through the sky. He missed the feeling of the wind against his riding goggles, blowing through the curls of his hair. He missed the freedom of the sky. And with his own dragon, he’d get that freedom back.
Peter and Ned finally arrived in the city square. The large, cobblestone courtyard was in the center of Marvel City. Tall buildings surrounded it, climbing into the clear, blue sky. Streamers, windsocks, and other decorations were hung from the streetlamps to celebrate the special day. At the far end of the square was a huge stone stage, where the ceremony would take place.
“Hey losers.”
Peter and Ned turned around to see their friend MJ, holding a book in her hands. It was titled The Ethics of Dragon Racing .
“H-Hey MJ!” Peter managed to say normally despite his rather large crush on her. “What’re you, uh, what’re you doing around here?”
“I’m here to get my dragon? Duh?” MJ looked at Peter like he was an idiot.
He was an idiot. “Right, obviously. It was a joke, y-you know?” He laughed weakly and tried to not run away to the edge of Marvel City and throw himself into the Below.
“MJ! MJ! What if someone gets a special dragon?!” Ned offered his previous topic of conversation to her.
She scoffed. “Sure, okay. Like that’s gonna happen. A special dragon hasn’t appeared in years.”
“But what if??!!” Ned was basically jumping up and down.
“Don’t get your hopes up, man,” MJ said. “You’re just gonna get disappointed once the ceremony starts. Which should be…” she reached into her pocket for her phone, “Any minute now.”
Suddenly, a dark shadow quickly passed over the city square - a dragon. Peter, Ned, MJ, and the hundreds of other citizens surrounding them looked up at the sky. Another shadow zoomed by. Peter squinted his eyes, but the sun made the circling dragons above them just look like dark silhouettes, and he couldn’t recognise them. Were these the new dragons for him and his peers? No, they couldn’t be. They were much too big - they had to be adult dragons. Who could these be?
A dragon turned, and Peter saw the sun glint off its wings. Peter only knew one dragon that had wings that could reflect light like that - the one with metal wings, the Iron Dragon.
“It’s the Avengers!” Someone in the crowd called.
The crowd began to cheer and shout similar things. Peter and Ned cheered, too, while MJ looked back at her book. The Avengers circled lower and lower until finally they touched down on the huge stone stage at the far end of the square.
All of the Avengers were there. There was Tony Stark, the rider of the Iron Dragon - a beautiful, 18-foot-tall, red dragon that he named Arc. Everyone knew the story of how Tony and his dragon were shot down out of the sky by the evil organization known as the Ten Rings. He and his dragon fell below the islands, below the cloud cover - Below. No one goes down to the Below, and those who fall down there don’t survive. Everyone thought Tony was dead, until three months later, he and his dragon returned - but half his dragon’s body had been replaced with shiny, prosthetic metal parts. And in the center of the dragon’s chest was a glowing blue device - which Tony called the Arc reactor, after the dragon’s name. This device was able to not only keep his dragon alive, but it also gave his dragon special powers - like the ability to shoot energy blasts from his mouth. Tony had upgraded and refurbished Arc’s mechanical parts many times since then, and now his metal scales and limbs are shiny gold, contrasting nicely with his red scales.
Then there were the other Avengers. Steve Rogers had a blue-and-red-scaled dragon named Star, named after the white, star-shaped design of scales on her chest. She was special because she was strong and tall. She was around 22 feet tall - around 2 feet taller than the average adult dragon. Plus, she could shoot disc-shaped energy out of her mouth.
Thor Odinson had a silver-gray dragon with red accents named Mjornir. She was 20 feet tall, and in addition to also being very strong, had the power to shoot lightning out of her mouth.
Bruce Banner had a green-scaled dragon that was very, very large - around 25 feet tall. Back when Bruce first got him, he was very small - almost too small to ride. One day there was an accident in Bruce’s laboratory, and his dragon transformed into the largest, strongest dragon known to humankind, earning him the name Hulk.
Natasha Romanoff’s dragon had scales as black as the night covering her entire body, except for a design of red scales on her abdomen that resembled that on the Black Widow spider, which inspired her name of Black Widow. This dragon was 18 feet tall, and she was the fastest dragon in all of Marvel City, as well as being trained very well in close combat with her teeth, talons, and tail.
And lastly, Clint Barton’s dragon was 19 feet tall and had scales of black and dark purple. In addition to being fast like Black Widow, Clint’s dragon could shoot thin, arrow-shaped energy blasts out of his mouth. He never missed, which earned him the name of Hawkeye.
Peter had never seen them all this close before. He turned to Ned, whose jaw was also hanging open in shock.
“I didn’t know the Avengers were coming!” Peter fanboyed.
“Right?!” Ned fanboyed right back with equal measure. “They don’t come every year or anything, right?! Oh my god this is amazing!”
MJ just shook her head and looked back down at the book in her hands.
Once the crowd was settled, Tony Stark walked up to the microphone at the edge of the stage and spoke into it. “Hello everyone!”
The crowd erupted into cheers again.
“My fellow Avengers and I are here because we have been given the honor of hosting today’s Winter Solstice Ceremony! The dragons will soon be arriving from the Unknown Skies, so will all teenagers from ages 14-16 come to the stage, in hopes that a dragon will come for you today.”
Peter didn’t know if he would be able to move if the Tony Stark was up there on the stage. Sure, yeah, he liked all the Avengers, but Tony was his favorite. Tony was the smartest, and he was a genius with technology. Peter also liked to build electronic devices and stuff - nothing on Tony Stark’s level, but Peter was still very inspired by him.
He looked to Ned beside him, who was also frozen in shock. Luckily, MJ was there for them. She rolled her eyes, closed her book, and dragged her two friends by their arms as she began to make her way towards the stage. “Come on, losers.”
Peter was quickly able to use his feet again, although he was still nervous as all hell.
They reached the stage and climbed up the few stone steps onto it, joining dozens of other teenagers. Peter could see other kids from his school - there was Betty Brant, Liz Allen, Cindy Moon, and-
Oh no, he just caught Flash Thompson’s eye. The boy sneered at him, and luckily turned away, focused more on waiting for his dragon than bullying Peter at the moment. Peter breathed a sigh of relief. Flash tormented him every day at school. It was nice to have a break.
More shadows passed from overhead - small ones, more of them.
The crowd gasped, then went very silent. The new dragons were here - it was only polite to give them quiet so they could focus.
Dozens of new dragons circled above the square. Eventually, a few flew down to meet the teenager they felt was bonded in their soul. Then a few more flew down, then more - until the stage was full of technicolored scales.
Peter saw a crimson red dragon pass by him, then bow her head towards MJ. MJ immediately smiled one of her rare smiles and pet the dragon’s head. A pang of jealousy hit him, but it was okay, he reminded himself - he’d have his own dragon very soon.
Not too soon after, a pale blue dragon landed on the stage directly in front of Ned and bowed his head at him. Ned laughed and waved his hands excitedly, then pet his dragon as well.
Patience, Parker, Peter told himself.
He saw Liz get her dragon. Then saw Cindy and Betty get their dragons. He even saw Flash get his dragon. Where was Peter’s dragon?
Maybe… Maybe he wouldn’t get one this year. He was 15. Usually that was the age most kids got their dragon at, but it was known that some kids didn’t get them until later when they were 16, or even 17 on rare occasions.
But Peter wanted to fly again.
“It seems as though everyone has paired up,” Steve Rogers now spoke into the mic. “There are no more dragons circling in the sky.”
Peter’s heart sank.
“Will everyone please file to the left side of the stage, where you will receive a saddle, harness, and reins for your new dragon,” Steve continued. “Congratulations to everyone who found their dragon partner today! May your journey with your new friend be a long one. Thoses who did not find their partner today, there’s always next year. Please make your way to the right side of the stage.”
Peter dragged his feet as he walked to the right side of the stage.
Well, he thought, at least he got to see Tony Stark and the other Avengers up close. That was pretty cool at least.
Peter joined the small crowd of other disappointed teenagers and waited for his turn to walk down the stairs. Behind him, the stage was quickly clearing of teenagers and dragons as they went to collect their supplies.
Another shadow crossed the ground.
Everyone looked up to see another dragon circling above them.
“Hold up, Cap,” Tony said near the mic. “Looks like we’ve got a late bloomer.”
He touched down on the stone stage. He looked about 8 feet tall, which was small - even for a not-fully-grown dragon. Most of the dragons arriving today were 9-10 feet tall. But luckily, this dragon definitely wasn’t too small to ride. He also had beautiful red scales with blue accents, a thin face with two horns at the top of his head, and large, completely-white eyes. He chirped - as young dragons do - and spun in circles, looking for his human.
Peter felt something tug in his heart. He stepped forward back onto the stage. Normally, he’d be nervous to be the center of such massive attention, but for some reason now he didn’t seem to care. He needed to meet that dragon. Something instinctual in his heart told him that was his dragon.
His dragon.
Peter’s mouth was curved into a huge, permanent smile. His feet moved faster, as he now ran across the huge stage to his new friend.
The dragon saw Peter and chirped again happily, his eyes forming into crescent shapes. He galloped over to meet Peter, his feet stomping on the stone of the stage floor.
Peter flung his arms around his dragon’s long neck and hugged him. Many people in the crowd said ‘awe’.
Peter and his dragon made their way to the left side of the stage to wait in that line instead. He turned around to look back towards the Avengers and the audience, suddenly very nervous again.
Tony Stark was staring right at him, smiling.
Peter quickly turned back around before his nervousness made him explode.
Peter talked to his dragon and told him everything about himself, as was everyone in line. Dragons were very smart creatures - some people said they’re just as intelligent as humans. While they couldn’t speak in anything else but chirps, screeches, and roars, they could perfectly understand the human tongue when it was spoken to them. They could even read and understand human writing. So Peter rambled on and on, telling his new dragon friend everything he could think of. “My name’s Peter - Peter Parker. My best friends are Ned and MJ - they’re over there. See? You could see them up ahead…”
Peter talked so much it seemed like he wasn’t breathing. His dragon listened, excitedly stomping his feet, his white eyes forming happy crescents.
“-And did you see the Avengers over there?!,” Peter continued. “Do you know them? Do you know their dragons? Are their dragons famous where you come from? Cuz they’re special, you know. They got powers! Do you know about them?”
Peter’s dragon nodded his head.
Peter let out a shaky breath - his dragon answered him. This was really happening. This was so cool! “Really?! Do you have a favorite?”
Peter’s dragon turned around and gestured his head towards the Iron Dragon.
Peter’s eyes lit up. “Me too! Tony Stark and the Iron Dragon or my favorite! They’re so cool!”
Peter’s dragon twisted his neck around to look at Peter again. He continued to smile with his eyes.
While his dragon was turned around in this way, Peter could have a really good look at his wings. “Woah…” He leaned forwards and touched the membrane between each ‘finger’ of the dragon’s wings. “The membrane on your wings is so thin. I can kinda see your veins in it.”
His dragon tilted his head.
“No no no, it looks cool! It looks like… spider-webs!” Peter smiled. “I’m gonna call you Spiderwings. Is that a good name to you?”
His dragon’s eyes smiled with crescents again and nodded.
“Alright! Great! Spiderwings, yeah, I like that name, too. Oh! And I can call you Spidey for short! That’d be so cute!”
Spiderwings turned to completely face Peter again. He stomped his feet excitedly in front of him. Peter laughed.
Soon they were next in line, and workers helped fit a nice, comfortable harness and saddle onto Spiderwings. They then walked back into the city square. Since the main ceremony was over, most of the audience had gone home, but some people still remained to look at the new dragons.
Here in the square, Peter met up with Ned and MJ again.
“Peter! Oh my god!” Ned ran to him excitedly. “I thought you weren’t gonna get a dragon! I was so upset!”
“Me too!” Peter said back.
“I’m so glad you got one, though!” Ned then held his arms out and presented his pale blue dragon. “This is Luke. Yes , I named him after Luke Skywalker, but he agreed to it so it’s fine. I named him that cuz he’s the color of Luke’s lightsaber! Or wait, that lightsaber was originally Anakin’s… Whatever, whatever! I wanted to name him Luke. And anyway , he’s pretty much the coolest dragon here - don’t mean to brag or anything.” He crossed his arms confidently and Luke stood tall behind him.
“Awesome! Nice to meet you, Luke,” Peter said. “Guys, this is Spiderwings,” he gestured to his dragon.
“Brooooo that’s an awesome name!” Ned raved.
“Thanks. Um, how about you, MJ? What's your dragon’s name?”
MJ smiled again - Peter didn’t know if he’d ever seen her smile twice in the same hour - and looked up at her dragon. “This is Athena.”
“Wow,” Peter said in awe. “S-She’s really beautiful.”
MJ squinted. “And therefore she has value?”
“N-No! I didn’t mean it like that! I only meant-”
“I’m just messing with you,” MJ smirked.
Peter’s brain took a second to understand that everything was fine before breathing a sigh of relief.
“Hey! Penis Parker!”
Peter sighed in relief too soon.
He turned around to see Flash with his dragon - one with black and white scales. “Of course your dragon came late, Parker. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was too dumb to find his way here!” He laughed, and Flash’s dragon gave a screech of his own laughter.
“Shut up, Flash!” Peter said, feeling very defensive. No one would talk like that about Spiderwings.
“And look how small he is!” Flash continued to laugh. “Even for a kid dragon he’s small! Just like you, Penis!”
“I said shut the hell up!”
Spiderwings turned to Peter, a confused look on his face. Peter looked at him sorrowfully and pet his head between his eyes. “Don’t listen to him, Spidey. That’s just Flash. He teases me all the time, but whatever. Just ignore him.”
Spidey stepped back. He snorted through his large nostrils, his eyes squinted angrily. He stomped his feet and ran at Flash’s dragon.
“Wait! Spidey!” Peter called after him. “I-I said don’t listen to him!”
Spidey slashed at Flash’s dragon. Prepared for the attack, his dragon headbutted Spidey and slashed at him back. It turned into an all-out fight. People were starting to surround them - it was very rare to see dragons fight other dragons. And from very close by on the stage, the Avengers couldn’t help but watch, too.
Some workers that were handing out saddles and harnesses rushed over. “What’s going on here?” One asked.
“H-His dragon just randomly attacked mine!” Flash said with as much fake-stammering as he possibly could. “He’s crazy! He needs to be put down!”
“You insulted him first!” Peter tried to defend himself.
Flash’s dragon gave an extra heavy swing of his tail at Spiderwings, clobbering him to the ground in front of Peter. Peter rushed over to him and placed a hand on his side, petting the smooth scales. “Spidey, are you okay? Are you hurt badly?”
Spidey stood up and shook himself off.
“O-Okay, good. Good. Listen, I mean it - don’t worry about Flash-”
Peter was interrupted by Spiderwings growling at Flash’s dragon. He once again ran towards him, and this time was able to bite down hard on the dragon’s shoulder.
Flash’s dragon screeched in pain. It attempted to fight back, but after a few seconds, he fell to the ground - unconscious.
Peter’s jaw dropped.
Dripping from Spiderwings’s mouth was a dark, gooey liquid - Poison.
“O-Oh my god,” Peter covered his mouth.
“What the hell was that?!” Flash shouted as the workers looked over his unconscious dragon. “Is he gonna be okay?”
“It looks like he’ll be fine,” one worker said. “He just needs some antidote and some rest. But… I think if that dragon were to bite a human, they wouldn’t survive.”
Flash’s dragon then woke up - although his movements were still very sluggish. The workers helped them out of the square and to a care center.
Peter just stared blankly at Spidey. “You… You didn’t have to do that.”
Spidey just shrugged, giving off an heir of ‘he deserved it.’
Behind Peter, Ned screamed. “OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! PETER HAS A SPECIAL DRAGON!”
“Ned!” Peter looked back at him. “Don’t sound so excited! We could’ve just killed Flash’s dragon!”
“DUDE!” Ned ran up to Peter and grabbed his hands, shaking them frantically with excitement. “He only did it to defend you! Plus, through it we learned that your dragon has poison powers, Peter! Just like a venomous spider! Wow, you really did pick the perfect name, didn’t you?! Oh my god! This is amazing! You have a special dragon! I knew it, man! I knew this would happen, but nooooo none of you wanted to believe me!”
Ned kept fanboying to himself, while Peter tuned him out and looked at Spiderwings.
“I mean… Thanks for defending me, I guess,” he said.
Spiderwings held his head high - proud. His tail swung from side to side.
“But seriously, don’t just do that again, okay? I don’t want you to get in trouble. Don’t do that… unless I tell you to. Deal?”
Spidey thought this over, then nodded.
“Good! Good, okay.” Peter breathed.
Over on the stage, the Avengers just stared.
Tony smiled. He looked up at his dragon, who gave him a knowing look. He looked back at the boy in the city square. “Interesting.”