Beginners' Method

The padlock on the fence didn't mean much; anyone determined could scale it, and from the look of the place, many people had. Graffiti in various stages of fade covered the concrete and metal; there was paint on the wooden boards and chalk on the asphault. The factory lot was remarkably free of litter, though odds were good that it was a whole lot worse inside, and someone had set up plastic crates, a boombox, and a cardboard box covered with a tarp.

The figure in black didn't bother with the fence. Instead, he dropped from the factory itself, landing in a crouch with one hand holding his hat steady. His jacket flapped in a wind that seemed to kick up upon his appearance, bringing an unseasonable chill.

"I'm here," the figure said, seemingly to himself. "Now where are you..."

"Hey," Miles greeted, coming around the side of the building. A bit amused, a bit quizzical, maybe even a little surprised, but he was long past being taken aback by this particular Spider-Man. "You just get here? I was tossing a few things into the dumpster. You wouldn't believe what some people leave lying around."

Parker straightened up, deciding not to mention some of the things he'd seen left lying around. "I might," he said instead, but tipped his hat to Miles before letting his hand drop. His other was already going to his pocket, and he pulled out the Rubik's Cube, the fascinating, colorful little toy that was definitely still puzzling him. "You said... you might be able to help me understand this."

Usually Parker sounded confident and kind of intense even when saying things that, to Miles, sounded kind of ridiculous or parodic, but that he obviously took entirely seriously. It made sense; to them, the world he came from was just his regular life. But sometimes, when it came to emotional stuff or that Rubik's Cube, he sounded almost hesitant, a little softer.

"Well..." Miles half-shrugged, smiling. "I can't promise, but... Yeah, I had an idea. You don't really get thinking in color, right? You see it when you're over here, and in the cube, but it's not something you know."

At least that was how it seemed to Miles. Parker saw things in color when they were in color but he thought in black and white and shades of gray. Even the names of the colors didn't come naturally to him, not even after practice; maybe he even saw them different from most people.

"It does make it hard to understand," Parker agreed. It was kind of like the rest of the Spider-Gang: He loved it, and it was new and alien to him but worth spending time on.

"So, I was thinking..." Miles went over to the cardboard box, pulling the tarp off of it. He reached inside and pulled out two cans of spray paint, shaking them idly to get them ready to use. "Instead of just telling you what the colors are, maybe you can get a feel for them."

Parker paused for a moment. "Do they feel different?"

Right. He was from the 1930s, with totally different slang. Miles backed up, mentally. "No, I mean... Associate them with something other than squares on a cube. Instead of just memorizing them."

"I've gotten better with red, blue, and white," Parker admitted. Spider-colors. He nodded to the spray cans. "Is that what those are for?"

"Yep." To his surprise, mask eyes widening, Miles tossed one of the cans to Parker, who caught it with instinctive ease. "One for you, one for me. We'll do it one color at a time. Watch."

Miles crossed over to the factory wall, a wide section that had thus far escaped being tagged, popped the cap off the can and started to spray. Parker watched as color blossomed onto the gray wall, as Miles began to make a line across it.

"That's..." Not blue, he knew that much now. "Not purple..."

"Green, man." Miles turned his head and grinned at him. "Come on. You come be a part of this, too."