Chapter Text
It was dark when Peter awoke once more, stretching out and feeling that his wounds didn’t actually hurt as much as they used to. One perk of being bitten by a radioactive spider was that he healed. Fast.
He tugged himself upright, sliding towards the edge of the bed as cold air nipped at his spine through the open-backed hospital gown, the blue fabric hanging loosely off his bandaged body. Though likely there was no real need for bandages or stitches anymore, Peter felt like he had been asleep for weeks, maybe he had, maybe not. But when he twisted all he could feel was a dull pounding of bruises.
Stiffening slightly, Peter slowly eased the long needle of his IV out of his arm, trying not to look as it continued to slide out. After what felt like minutes, it was loose in his hand and there was a small dribble of blood beginning to build up on his skin, glistening, dark ruby red.
Not even thinking he licked it off and tentatively rested his feet on the floor. Whether from his powers or the material it had a kind of tacky stick to it that disconcerted him, and the ice that rushed up his limbs from the floor. Peter hissed low, the cold was not his favourite temperature or feeling, maybe in his heated suit, but definitely not in a flimsy hospital gown and bare feet.
In a smooth movement he tugged his feet back up, sitting on them and glancing around the room for what he should do next. There was no one else with him in the room, just empty beds and blinking monitors. Beside his bed, attached to a long metal pole, was a half empty IV bag, the line trailing down to where he had dumped it on his bed, a small amount of liquid still dripping onto the stiff sheets.
If the floors were too cold, were the walls? Was the ceiling?
Peter crawled across his bed, standing on his hard pillows and reached out with one hand to brush the matt paintwork. Chips of snow-white paint landed in his palm as his fingers grazed the wall with surprising strength. The well insulated walls were cool but not as bad as the floor, heated by the steady thrum of electricity and boiling water in copper wire and pipes.
Grasping at it again, he hauled himself up and started to slowly skitter across the wall, using his powers to keep him attached, lest he fall and hurt himself again. It was a slower craw than he wanted, but Peter found when he moved too fast, nausea overwhelmed him and darkness spotted across his vision in great amorphous blobs.
Soon though bland white walls gave way to the soft wooden planks of the elevator, the lamp dangling from the top of the elevator giving off a warm golden light that heated his pale skin. “Fri—” He had to pause to cough hard, throat dry and sore. “Can you take me to my room please Fri?”
“Of course, Peter, it is good to see you awake. Should I inform the others of your alertness and movement?” Her soft tone echoed around the elevator, quiet enough that it didn’t bother his ears.
“That’s okay Fri, no need. I just need to get changed and then I’ll go talk to them or something.”
The elevator chimed softly as it carried him down several floors to his own, why Tony had thought he would need a whole floor to himself Peter couldn’t say. Though it wasn’t like he hadn’t used the space to his advantage. As the doors slid open he saw the familiar territory of his ‘nest’ really it was just a messy labyrinth of webs that let him tell when someone was on his floor, given, unless they were a threat, he couldn’t sense them.
Crawling through tunnels of thick, bouncy white Peter relaxed, he could feel every vibration in the room, from a small buzzing moth caught several meters away, to the gentle pulse of his lava lamp as it lit up his hammock of a bed. Clothes, a mix of his own and stolen ones, covered the mess of webs before him, familiar, comfortable smells that often helped him dispel some of the weaker nightmares.
After searching around for a while Peter decided on a pair of grey joggers he couldn’t remember getting, an oil-stained shirt that was no doubt Tony’s and an MIT jumper Harley had sent him in their most recent clothes exchange. Despite never meeting in real life yet, when Harley and Peter had begun dating they had mailed each other several sets of clothing so even apart they could have a bit of each other.
The scent calmed him immediately as Peter curled up in his bed against his better judgment. Sleep gnawing at his senses, mixed in with the writhing, tangible fury of hunger.
Peter lay there for a while, considering what he wanted to do next. The others would get antsy and worried if they went back only to find his hospital bed empty so he would have to tell them he was up sooner or later. And he needed to eat, another reason to join the Avengers in the penthouse, there was always some sort of food.
Maybe he could even sleep on the sofa with someone, so he would know he was safe, not trapped under any fallen buildings, the weight of rubble crushing down upon his brittle, hollow spider bones.
As he laid there, weighing the pros and cons, an alarm started up. The flashing red lights and screeching cry were dulled by the mass of webs covering it all, yet Peter could still hear its bellow in Friday’s voice. ‘Intruder in the building, data unknown. Access code used – Spider-man.’
How had someone gained access to his access code? Peter had never written it down, only entrusting it to his own memory, and Tony’s. He didn’t have his suit, nor his phone, he was helpless other than his venom that he would rather not use against a human, or even an alien. It got rather gory and hard to clean up.
Clicking his tongue slightly Peter pulled out a Stark pad, huh he did have a way of contacting people, and pulled up the camera feeds for the penthouse. Everyone was stood, bracing with their weapons raised as the doors were flung open with surprising force. Not human then, unless they had some kind of suit. So, alien or robot maybe?
He was already moving towards the elevator, sticking to the ceiling of it as he scampered out of his web tunnels, eyes fixed on the clear footage unfolding before him. Another suit, near identical to Tony’s though this one was a deep shade of blue and silver, stormed into the room, drawing the helmet off.
Ah.
Peter let down his guard at the sight of Harley’s face. There had been one other person that he had told his code to.
His usually so well composed boyfriend looked terrified, his mouth set in a taunt line, eyes puffy and bagged with deep purple smears that made it look almost like he had been getting into fights again. Harley walked up to Tony, ignoring the Avengers threatening him and weakly punched his arc reactor and suit.
“Where is my gods dammed boyfriend Tony?” He growled, in a possessive, snarling tone that lacked the warmth of his usually soft Tennessee accent as the alarms were forcibly powered off by Peter.
Sliding away his Stark pad, Peter crawled down the warm wood-panelled walls and stood, leg bouncing at the entrance of the elevator waiting for it to open on the right level. Worry, this time for his boyfriend, coiled in his gut making him anxious and slightly nervous too.
The doors opened silently into the penthouse, two iron suits lay abandoned from where their owners had stepped out of them to fight. Harley was crying now, looking terrified beyond all belief, and Tony looked concerned, trying to make Harley speak.
Peter broke into a hurried run, aiming for the back of the wild-eyed, messy haired, sun-soaked man before him. Without even slowing for a moment, he knocked Harley, and himself, over onto a patch of beanbags set up for movie night. His arms encircled Harley’s waist, his face in the other’s soft dark hair.
For a second Harley fought back, clawing at Peter’s arms and hissing like a tamed cat turned savage, but as soon as Peter muttered some quiet nothing to him, Harley relaxed significantly, twisting to instead only look at Peter, as if checking he was actually okay.
All of the anger dropped from Harley as he hugged Peter back as tightly as he could, though his voice was still a hiss. “’I love you. Don’t forget that. It hurts so much. Please. I don’t want to die?’ Don’t you ever fucking dare send me that and then never pick up your phone again, I nearly had a heart attack darlin, I was terrified! I only just got over the last time you had a building dropped on you!”
Peter just tucked closer, resting his head on Harley’s bony chest, able to feel each rib underneath his tight skin. they stayed like that for a long minute, hugging for the first time ever, until Steve’s voice brought them back to reality. And the fact that there was several armed heroes standing, awkwardly, around.
“Hey kids? Mind telling us what’s going on? And Pete, why you out of bed?” The super-soldier asked, brow furrowed in confusion.
Sitting up straight on the pile of beanbags, Harley ran a hand through his messy hair and gave his best smirk to the Avengers. “Harley Keener, Iron Lad. Tony’s unofficial protégé and Boyfriend to Peter Parker, the amazing Spider-Man.” He introduced himself in a rambling mess of titles.
Peter laughed softly, and pulled himself up, still clinging onto Harley’s arm like if he let go the man would vanish. “I only got up because I don’t like the med room clothes and then I heard the alarms going off and thought I’d try to help, even if I don’t got my suit.” He explained with a small smile.
None of the Avengers responded, instead they stared like the boys had grown two heads and started chanting backwards in Latin, so Peter stumbled to his feet and dragged Harley off towards the kitchen, muttering something about being starved.
The microwave whirred softly as it heated up the day-old pizza for both of them. Both boys were sat upon the counter, smiling giddily at each other. Peter sighed gently, voice soft as he spoke. “What re you doing here Harls, good Thor you look tired.”
“Why wouldn’t I be darlin? You send me that damn voice mail then drop off the map for a month? Ned and MJ even asked me if you were okay because you weren’t responding to any messages. I would have been here sooner but there weren’t any planes going because of some wildfires and shit. I had to get my suit working well enough to fly that over here. I was worried sick.” Harley chastised, wrapping an arm around Peter’s waist and tugging him closer to his side.
Eyes wide, Peter responded much less assured of himself. “What do you mean a month? Ive been in a com for a month? How messed up did I get?”
“Your ribs were pretty much dust and me and Strange both thought the damage to your spine would have paralysed you by now, so very messed up.” Bruce muttered as he walked by to pour himself a cup of coffee from the machine before slipping back into the living room and leaving them alone again.
“That would explain the back ache.”
“You utter dumbass.”
By the time Tony had recuperated enough to not be blindingly shocked by the fact his son was dating Harley, Peter had already fallen asleep on the sofa in Harley’s lap. Though with how close they seemed Harley would probably know the answer to his burning question.
“Hey kid?” He started, slightly unsure of himself. “I—uh… Pete… mentioned that this wasn’t his first time… being… y’know trapped under a building… do… do you know anything about that?”
Harley just laughed silently at Tony’s nervousness, a slightly bitter laugh though. “You mean when you took his suit for the first time and he was nearly killed, alone with no way to contact anyone for help? Yeah. I know about that.”
Flinching Tony just looked away at his feet, ashamed of his actions. He had assumed it would have been that day, the day he snapped because he had been worried about Peter and yet, like everything he did, he had made it all worse.
With a silent glare Harley carded his finger through Peter’s hair, scratching gently at the boy’s scalp until he let out a soft, sleepy sigh of happiness.
“When he wakes will you tell him that if he wants to we can still do lab day tomorrow. I’ll build him a suit with nanotech or hell vibranium if he wants it. you can come too if you like, I’ve given you full clearance and Friday can help you get around. I won’t let him get hurt because of something like this again.” Tony said weakly, blinking away tears at the memory of peter’s broken body in his arms. “Oh, and Loki is ready to yell at him, then hug him, for scaring them so much.”
Harley just gave a small nod, waving Tony off with a final comment. “If he ever gets put in this kind of danger again, no god will be able to scavenge enough of your soul to make a judgement Anthony.”
Those kids were going to kill him, Tony decided as he walked off, unable to stop goosebumps from flaring across his skin. they were already beating him. Thor forbid their eventual meeting with Shuri, those three would take over the universe single handedly.