The Spider Family

Both.

Tom in trouble because of Andrew pulling him into whatever highjinks he - or his friends - caused himself is one thing, because Andrew knows his brother is inevitable going to be poking his nose into things as Spider-Man and dragging him along a few of the kinds of shenanigans the Red Team can get into can only help prepare him for when Tom’s facing things alone.

A kind of learn on the job mixed with simulation.

Tom running into danger because Andrew himself needs help or because he’s a hero and helping is what they do, that is a completely different thing that calls forth all kinds of Overprotective Big Brother urges.

“Oh, I can see your mom. There’s even a spiderbaby!”

What- Andrew wanted to ask even as he turned to where Wade was pointing. “Dad?”

Honestly, he wasn’t expecting to see anything - was certain Wade was making something up so he’d look away and let the man steal the last taco - let alone his dad swinging by with his brother under one arm. He certainly wasn’t expecting for his dad, on the apex of his swing, to just drop Tom.

“Dad!” Andrew shouted, tugging his mask down completely even as he dove off the roof.

It’s not the first time Tom sprun a question on him out of nowhere, but Andrew  was still startled when his brother asked, “When they came, why didn’t you fight?”

He broke off the web he’d been swinging on, launching himself at the nearest building and clinging - Andrew had a feeling that this conversation wasn’t one he wanted to have while swinging hundreds of stories up in the air. “What?”

“The Chitari,” Tom answered, landing higher up then him and opting to simply stick to the wall in a seated possition rather then his crouched one, and Andrew felt his stomach sink. “When they came, why didn’t you fight? Since I found out about, well, everything-”

His little brother shot him a glare - and Andrew was not in anyway jealous that the Oficially Tony Stark-approved Spider-Man suit had eyes that could emote - at that but he only shrugged. It wasn’t as if he didn’t find out about the whole Spider business until he was a teenager, less to do with him being old enough to keep a secret and more that his powers started coming in - puberty was weird.

“I’ve been looking into everything Spider-Man and Spidey have been up to-” Andrew mentally translated that as Tom and Ned looking up loads of videos on YouTube. “-and while Spider-Man was helping out during the invasion, Spidey was absent. So, why didn’t you fight?”

Why didn’t you help is what his brother is really asking, why did you let people die is what Andrew felt was being asked.

“When the Chitari came,” Andrew answered slowly, tilting his head to look up at the sky - a news copter had apparently taken interest in their sudden stop - instead of his brother. “I was faced with a choice. I-…I chose the one I could live with,” He swallowed then bit out the damning truth, “I chose to be selfish.”

“You…” Tom sounded horrified and he squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that the mask would make the action not matter. “You didn’t want to fight. You didn’t fight because you. Didn’t. Want. To.”

“You had a responsibility!” Tom shouted, going from horror to anger and from being seated to standing. He stayed where he was, now looking up at his younger brother. “‘With great power comes great responsibility’ we are told that again and again, from the moment we even got our powers! It’s a promise we make - to use our powers responsibly, to help people - when we put on the suit!”

“Why do you even wear that suit?” is the final thing Tom says to him before launching himself off the building and swinging away.

Somehow, Andrew is entirely unsuprised when the news’ headlines the next day read SPIDEY: NEGLIGENT OR A COWARD?

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“When they came, why didn’t you fight?”

“I chose to be selfish.”

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