Chapter Text
When Peter bumps into a random guy over at the Avengers Tower, he hadn’t expected it to be THE Harley Keener of all people, though he didn’t know that yet. If he did, he wouldn’t have bumped into him and embarrassed himself until kingdom came in the first place. Is that even the correct use of the phrase ‘till kingdom come’? He doesn’t know.
He should have guessed it, though, what with his Parker Luck™ and all that shebang. He’d managed to bump into some random guy (that turned out to be the other pseudo-son after Tony’s heart) , and his Peter tingle didn’t even warn him in the first place that the other guy was just around the corner!
Peter could’ve gone on and on about how the universe hates Peter since it keeps pushing him in these situations. Seriously, too many coincidences that happen simultaneously after the other is just insanity, and it makes Peter feel like he’s a character in some comic or a fanfic writer’s book. He shivers.
Anyway, Harley Keener. Wow . Harley Keener.
To recap;
He’s gorgeous.
Peter’s left breathless the moment they lock eyes. Because not only did the other guy have the cutest face to ever exist, his eyes were the deepest shade of blue Peter had ever seen. They bore into Peter, beckoning him, pulling him in more profoundly as if sirens were hidden in those depths. It didn’t help that his flowing golden hair accentuated his eyes very well. He looked positively radiant.
They stood there for what was admittedly an embarrassing amount of time, staring at each other, gauging each other as if they were waiting for a signal to move. A million thoughts swirled around Peter’s head, and he couldn’t be bothered to address any of them since he was too busy memorizing the other’s face. Do strangers do this when they first meet? Is this normal??
After a few moments pass, the other boy is the first to break eye contact and is stuttering out an apology to Peter and isn’t that just ridiculous?? Peter was the one stupid enough to bump into someone even though he has all these reflexes and senses! He resolves himself to let him know how crazy his apologies were, though he did leave out his senses and other spidery stuff.
What happened next was a back-and-forth between the boy and Peter about who had been the one who was indeed at fault. They hadn’t reached a conclusion, though, because no one was indeed at fault there, let’s be honest. After a few moments, Peter finally realizes that his brain is supplying him with all these unnecessary details about the other guy. And he kinda doesn’t want it to stop. His brain’s noting things like how the guy’s definitely southern , and wow, that plaid shirt really looks good on him , and does he have a cowboy hat? Peter manages to voice precisely two out of three of those thoughts.
Eventually, Peter somehow manages to get the boy’s name, and darn did his eyes widen in shock because, of course ! Of course, he’d bump into the guy Tony wanted him to meet! Of course ! It’s just the way his luck works sometimes. Out of all the people he could have bumped into! Out of all the people that could’ve been there at this very moment, it just had to be Peter. This had to be some cosmic intervention or something because what.
Harley Keener was wildly different from what Peter was expecting. Though he didn’t know exactly what he was expecting in the first place, it certainly hadn’t been this. Harley is easygoing, laid-back, and funny. He carried himself with an air of coolness and a sort of nonchalance that gave off major idgaf vibes. He’s acutely reminded of MJ a little.
Anyway. Although Harley gave off this aura of impenetrable coolness, Peter could see the massive tension behind it. How it coils around Harley’s body with every breath he takes. And how his eyes seem to hold behind them a maelstrom that threatens to spill over and wreak havoc at any given second.
Peter sees Harley; he sees how his eyes dart around almost involuntarily and how his face is beaded with a sheen of sweat even though it’s frigid inside the tower. Peter sees Harley and sees a man with all his troubles coiled around his throat like a boa, forever constricting until Harley’s breathless and is close to passing out as is.
So Peter does his best to cheer him up, or at least try to get to know Harley better. However, he can’t say he’s doing a lousy job since Harley is receptive to almost all his jokes. It’s hard to tell at first because Harley never laughs outright, but you can see it in how his eyes gleam and his lips quirk up due to amusement. Peter thinks Harley’s smile suits him.
“Soooo..” Peter starts as he glances up at Harley as they exit the tower. He heavily insisted on going with Harley and helping with his luggage as recompense for bumping into him. Harley had tried to deny him at first, but Peter seriously wouldn’t take no for an answer, and Harley eventually relents. Huh. Aunt May always told him his pleading face could be weaponized one day.
“How’d you find yourself in New York, of all places?”
Because Tony never mentioned why Harley’s here. At least, Peter didn't think so. He only mentioned that Harley was coming here and Tony wanted to help him. With what? Peter isn’t entirely sure. But judging by the way Harley’s barely keeping himself together or the way Harley seems tired beyond all reason, Peter can hazard a few guesses.
Harley shrugs.
“The universe guided me here,” Harley said, waving his hand between them. “I consulted with the forces from beyond through my phone, and they determined that I had to go to New York. It is what it is now.”
Peter tilts his head inquisitively at Harley, his brow furrowing. “Through your phone?”
“Yes.”
“Like… Siri?”
“If you consider Siri a force from beyond, then sure, why not.”
Peter glances exasperatedly at the other boy and his little smirk. Here’s another thing that Peter notices about Harley, he’s sarcastic but in a funny way. Harley has a penchant for such dry humor that Peter’s reminded of MJ once again.
“Hail Siri, cosmic goddess of managing to do literally everything except what you ask her to do.”
Peter sputters a laugh at that and swears Harley’s smirk is twitching as if threatening to widen against Harley’s wishes. “That’s why I use Alexa.”
“You can use Alexa on your phone?” Harley asks suddenly.
“Uh yeah? You didn’t know?”
“...No. I thought you had to buy like the speaker thing?”
“ The speaker thing ??”
“Y’know, that round ball that you speak into so that Alexa can do her stuff.”
Thus they spent the rest of the walk to Harley’s car somehow talking about conspiracy theories regarding AI and if they’re really collecting information from the general public. Harley swears they do, and Peter has a tiny suspicion, too, so he’d really like to bring this up with Tony. Surely all those big corporations aren’t all that clean, right? They ponder more theories together as they walk.
“Hey, Peter?” Harley says eventually, during the lull in conversation as they are walking.
“Hm?”
“How are you related to Tony?”
Peter promptly sputters at that because, huh? How the heck did Harley make a connection like that without Tony telling him? Or perhaps Tony did tell him about Peter, and he’d never bothered to inform Peter about that. Hmm, now that Peter thought about it, Harley’s eyes did widen a bit when Peter introduced himself as if Harley was already familiar with his name.
“Uh- I’m his Intern.” Harley’s eyes flash toward Peter’s own, and after a moment, an understanding seems to have come to Harley as he nods sagely. “That makes sense. I was wondering what a boy my age was doing there.”
Peter quirks his head, a question forming in his mouth, “Say, how old were you again?”
“I just turned 20, like, three months ago,” Harley answers. Peter finds himself grinning wider. “No way! I’m turning 20 this August!” Peter’s laughing then, and they do a quick high-five. They find the rest of the journey to Harley’s car quite companionable and entertaining.
Peter notes that they reach the car in no time.
Opening the trunk, Peter’s eyes bulge at what looks like an honest-to-god, possibly devastating weapon. His eyes flash to Harley the next instant, his mouth hanging open. Peter stutters incomprehensible words at Harley as he tries to understand why this whole thing is in Harley’s trunk.
The weapon takes up literally more than half of the trunks’ space, Harley’s bags looking pitiful in comparison as the weapon overshadows them.
“Whaaat is that!!” Peter wildly gestures toward the weapon, his voice rising a few octaves.
Harley’s smirk grows even more prominent. “That- Peter, my friend, is the most powerful weapon in all of existence.” Peter’s eyes bulge even more. “This weapon can eviscerate entire countries, it can take down gods, it can destroy reality itself!”
Peter gulps nervously. Harley’s most likely joking here, a touch of his sarcastic personality coming out in droves. But there’s also the tiny chance he could be dead serious right now. The mind of a genius can reach heights that have never been attained before, so who’s to say Harley isn’t a self-made reality-destroying being with all his genius? So Peter settles to question him.
“How?”
“How? How what?”
“How does it destroy realities and stuff?”
“Ah..” Harley pauses dramatically, making Peter nervous. “Potatoes.”
Peter chokes on incredulity. “Potatoes??”
“Yes, Peter, potatoes. World-destroying, reality-bending potatoes. You should fear me.”
Peter couldn’t help it. He throws his head back and bursts out laughing. The absurdness of the situation has caught up to Peter, and he’s reeling with unadulterated laughter. In hindsight, a reality-bending weapon wouldn’t be in a car trunk, of all places. Its muzzle doesn’t even look properly functional to shoot death rays or something. For all intents and purposes, the barrel’s circumference looks like it’s geared to shoot– well, potatoes.
He laughs louder.
Harley shoots him a triumphant smirk, and even amidst Peter’s laughter, his brain still takes the time to register that Harley looks really good when he smiles. Or smirk for this instance. He’d really really like to see more of that smirk/smile, and he’d really like to hear his laugh too.
Peter takes a few more moments to calm himself down, and eventually, Harley shoulders the potato weapon thingy while Peter tries for Harley’s luggage. Peter notes that Harley must be traveling light because the bags weigh almost nothing, even without his spidey strength. They spend a few more moments checking to see if they missed anything important, and then they’re off.
They get odd looks as they traverse back to the tower, and Peter knows 100% of those looks were on the contraption on Harley’s shoulder. Heck, who wouldn’t do a double take on a dude literally carrying something that looks like a weapon around New York? New Yorkers are tough- but not THAT tough. Sure, they’d make no notice of rats on the street or maybe homeless people struggling to survive, but they drew the line with weapons.
Arriving at the tower had been no different because as soon as they stepped through the lobby doors, every pair of eyes darted toward them. Peter feels his forehead sheen with sweat at the gravity of the people’s stares. He hurries them both toward the elevator, greeting the front desk receptionist with a smile, and off they go. Peter finds himself thanking the heavens that the elevator had been big enough to spare Peter the discomfort of having a pseudo-gun shoved in his gut.
They talked most of the way, mainly about the most mundane things. Peter finds that Harley is really good at deflecting questions, especially when a topic approaches an uncomfortable point for Harley. Peter backs off the moment he feels that Harley starts to shut down. It isn’t very hard for him to shut down too. In general, emotions seem to be a tricky topic for Harley. Peter had asked him how he was feeling now that he was in New York, and Harley had stuttered a bit before somehow smoothly guiding the conversation to how PETER felt about living in New York. He was so skilled at it that Peter hadn’t realized he had fallen for it until he had finished answering the redirected question. It was really jarring.
Peter elects to try again later as they approach their destination.
Moving out of the elevator, they are greeted with an empty lounge. And after further investigation, they determined the floor to be completely empty, and thus they moved toward the rooms. Peter thinks that Tony’s probably in the lab or on the Avengers floor anyway, so it’s best not to look for him and disturb him. Peter notes with elation that their rooms are right next to each other. He leaves Harley to get settled in and moves toward his own.
From his room, Peter can hear Harley shuffling around, and he’s distinctly aware that he can listen to Harley in the first place. Is the soundproofing inadequate? He’d never had a next-door neighbor in the tower before, so they never really had a basis for his enhanced hearing. He can hear Harley unpacking, hear him as he flops to his bed, and eventually, silence.
He’s left with his thoughts as he lies there on his bed.
Harley had been like a breath of fresh air to Peter. Because Harley had known when to make the correct jokes or when to talk at the right moment to really catch Peter’s attention. He had deliberately managed to fall in step with Peter and hadn’t lagged in any sense of the word. In fact, it feels like Peter is the one struggling to catch up with Harley. With Harley’s cutting humor and his whirlwind of a personality, Peter’s struggling to catch up.
Though… Struggling sure is a drastic term. Peter doesn’t know why, but he finds himself enjoying his time with Harley. It feels like they click. It definitely doesn’t feel like a struggle keeping up with Harley. Peter sort of enjoys it. Relishes it even.
There had been a time when Peter had worked too quickly for anyone to adapt. He had developed his genius at an age where it was the norm for them to not even know numbers. But Peter had already memorized the multiplication table and knew how to deal with fractions.
When their teacher was telling them all about the wonders of space, Peter had managed to not only enumerate the planets within the solar system but also list the closest stars to Earth!
Suffice it to say, Peter had literal droves of information inside his brain, with the said brain running at miles per second as a new thought passed through his mind in the next instant. The only thing that Peter is objectively lacking is social intelligence.
You see, there’s a reason he isn’t popular. He just did not have an ounce of coolness to him. He did not operate like the other kids, he did not like the same things, he did not do things the same way as the others, and he definitely did not say things that others found relatable. To them, Peter was this alien who spoke of strange things. They couldn’t understand Peter. So they did what humans did best. They attacked.
They would shove him into lockers, trip him, and push him over the stairs. They would do many horrible things, and Peter would just take them. He’d stand there and take the abuse because, eventually, he was informed that they were acting this way only because of how he was. They were acting this way because Peter wasn’t like them. They acted as if it was all Peter’s fault for being different. Peter got it cemented into his head, then.
Which is why he never asked for help from the adults. He felt terrible because he was lying to his uncle and aunt, but back then, he felt as if he had deserved the abuse. It was drilled into his head, told countless times over broken pencils and unshed tears. They were only like this because of Peter and how he acted, so the least he could do was try to act like them and hope they stopped, right?
Wrong. Peter hadn’t realized until he was a little older that everything about the situation was wrong. He shouldn’t have been beaten down for existing; he shouldn’t have been ostracized for being different. There were so many things wrong with the picture that Peter was left reeling over the injustice done to him like a broken camera.
He felt angry. Because those kids destroyed who Peter was fundamentally. He felt ashamed because he had foolishly let them, believing that they were entirely in the right. And lastly, he felt elated. Because there was nothing wrong with him in the first place. The realization that those kids were mistaken relieved him and made him feel pleased because he knew that who he was wasn’t synonymous with the treatment he was being subjected to.
So yeah. Peter could be a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions, all muddled together until they were too difficult to decipher, just like Harley.
But where Peter had been hard to decipher, Harley was an enigma. Granted, Peter didn’t know him well (Or at all, really.), but Peter had been curious about the boys’ genius for quite some time now due to Tony’s rants. And when he finally met him, he was different from what he expected.
He almost seemed– dejected? Like something was weighing him down, his every action felt like he was pulling slabs of Earth behind him. Harley moved as if both sure and unsure of himself. He acted confident at times, but Peter could see where Harley slips off in real-time, and his entire demeanor changes momentarily. The Harley that switches at that moment is full of anguish and pain. Despair.
Peter really doesn’t know what to think of Harley. But he knows that he would do everything in his power to help Harley, just like Tony had been planning.
Because Peter thinks. He could really use a friend right now.
So he would let Harley sleep off the worst of the fatigue and have a brief respite from whatever was tormenting his mind. And hope that maybe, just maybe, the day would shine brighter upon them tomorrow.
~
It seems that Peter forgot about the time when he decided to doze off. When he wakes up, it’s already dark outside, and the glare of the city skyline is painted across his suite’s windows. He scrambles upwards and moves towards his phone over at his nightstand, a small shadow in the dark of his room; 8:38 it reads. Peter scrambles towards his door and onto the hallway that leads to the lounge. As he’s walking, he hears a collection of voices in what he assumes is the kitchen, so naturally, he decides to go there and investigate.
When he arrives, Tony and Pepper are seated at the table with one Harley Keener across from them. His eyes widen, and he takes in the scene before him. Tony sees Peter after a short moment and beckons him to join them; Pepper doesn’t miss Tony’s actions and looks in the direction of Peter is in. She smiles at him as he approaches. Harley glances at Peter as he comes closer, waves at him too, and pulls up the chair beside him.
As Peter situates himself on his chair, Tony turns to Harley while waving a fork at Peter.
“Harley, meet Peter, the intern.” He then turns to Peter, “Peter, Harley From Tennessee.”
Harley rolls his eyes at Tony and glances toward Peter. He catches a tiny wink from Harley as he introduces himself once again as if they hadn't already met.
“Hello there, Peter, nice ta’ meet you. I’m so glad to finally meet the Intern that Tony’s been speaking so highly of!” He reaches his hand for Peter to shake, and Peter takes it, a smirk plastered on his own face.
“Yeah, likewise, Harley from Tennessee. Tony’s told me a lot about you.”
“Oh, did he now?”
From Harley’s tone of voice, Peter could tell that he was utterly teasing. But there’s also a hint of curiosity in it. Peter catches Tony rolling his eyes as if he’s heard this multiple times by now.
“Yeah! He told me of this genius kid he met a while back. He wouldn’t shut up about it!”
Tony opens his mouth to interject, but Peter beats him to it.
“He kept going on and on about how this genius kid would really be great friends with me, or how he could do so much good for the world with his brain, and how he was hilarious and overall just an interesting character. Oh, have I mentioned that he’d be really great friends with me? ‘Cuz I think Mr. Stark mentioned that plenty.”
Harley stares at Peter, his mouth agape and his eyes trained directly on Peter. It’s like he’s trying to read into Peter’s soul and discerning whether he’d been telling the truth. Which, of course, he was. There was a time after Tony and Peter had met when Tony just wouldn’t shut up about Harley and his geniusness. He could go on and on about how a kid in the middle of nowhere just had this bundle of talent and greatness within him but was tragically shackled by problems Tony never got to know about. Tony talked about his time and time again with this fondness that never seemed to deplete, no matter how much time passed. And although he doesn’t hear much about Harley recently, he still came up occasionally enough that Peter was constantly reminded of the ghost of a Presence Harley had.
It was kind of annoying if Peter was being sincere, but he wouldn’t deny that seeing Tony being all ‘reminiscing the past’ warmed Peter’s heart so much.
Harley speaks eventually, and it’s like a storm behind his mind has cleared just a bit. He smiles at Peter and quirks his head sideways the way Peter notices he always does.
“Well, I, too, think we can be great friends, Peter Parker.”
“Likewise, Harley Keener.”
“Wait- Pepper, did I mention their last names at all? How the hell do yo-”
Peter and Harley burst out laughing at Tony’s dilemma. Though Harley’s more like a quick snicker, Peter notices it anyway. They spend the rest of the dinner with smiles and their hearts at ease.