Chapter Text
Tony would like to say that he practically knows Peter Parker inside and out. The two were so close that the billionaire considered the young vigilante his son. Peter was an open book and Tony could read him easily, but the genius was quickly being proven wrong on that fact.
Friday was going okay for Peter. Flash hadn’t been the biggest dick today, he had gotten a 100 on his Spanish quiz, and Happy was picking him up to bring him to the tower, where he stayed every weekend.
The junior was standing outside the doors of Midtown with Ned and MJ when Flash had walked out of the school with his little posse of rich kids behind him.
“Who’re you waiting for, Penis Parker?” Flash jabbed. “Your parents aren’t coming to pick you up anytime soon.”
Peter had to keep a hand on Ned to keep his friend from trying to punch Flash. MJ just flipped the bully off as he walked to his nice car.
“Peter, you should just beat him up already,” Ned pleaded to his friend.
“I can’t do that!” Peter countered.
“Yes, you can!”
“Spiderman can,” MJ butted in, “but Peter Parker can’t.”
Ned sighed as Peter nodded toward the girl in acknowledgment. The tech genius didn’t argue with his friend again, but Peter could tell that he wanted to. Before Ned could get anything out, though, Happy pulled up and honked, a signal for Peter to get moving.
“I’ll see ya later, Ned!” Peter exclaimed, doing the secret handshake with the boy. As he walked off to the car, MJ flipped him off.
“Bye to you, too, MJ!” Peter called back happily as he got into the car. He situated himself and buckled up, placing his bag in the seat next to him.
“Hey, Happy!” Peter exclaimed.
“That your girlfriend?” Happy teased gruffly, giving Peter no greeting back.
Peter’s face flushed as he shook his head. Happy gave a snort and the young vigilante looked out the window. He felt really uncomfortable with the man saying that. Why did straight have to be the default? Why couldn’t he just be friends with a girl?
The vigilante popped in some earbuds and shuffled his music, not really caring what was on. He just wanted a distraction from his discomfort. Just before he was going to zone out, watching the scenery go by, his phone buzzed with a text. He looked down at the screen and gave a light smile, one which Happy almost missed.
Happy put the divider up and didn’t bother watching Peter any longer, instead electing to call Tony.
“What’s up?” Tony asked over the call. “You pick up Spider-kid?”
“Uh, yeah,” Happy replied, “that’s the problem.”
“Is there something wrong with Peter?” the man questioned urgently.
“Kind of. He’s not talking my ear off. He’s not talking at all.”
“I’ll talk to him when he gets here,” Tony replied and ended the call. Happy was satisfied enough with that answer.
Meanwhile, Peter continued smiling and typing away at his phone, the device buzzing back every few seconds. It only made the boy’s heart eyes grow wider.
harley <3: hey babe. Just landed in nyc
pete: yesss i cant wait to see you
harley <3: it just sucks we cant see each other until tomorrow :(
pete: yea :( i wanna see you sooner
harley <3: but it is closer than we’ve been since we saw each other in DC soooooo..
pete: i mean yea lmao
harley <3: are you patrolling tonight
pete: ofc
harley <3: maybe you could drop by our new house!!!!!!!!
pete: harley youre a fucking genius
harley <3: i know
harley <3: besides somebody has to make up for you being a dumbass
pete: :(
harley <3: love you <3
pete: love you too <3
Just as the text conversation ended, the car pulled up at the tower. Peter barely noticed until he looked up for a split second and realized they were there. He unbuckled and grabbed his backpack. The boy left the car with a cheerful goodbye to Happy, obviously in a much lighter mood than he had been when the car ride started.
Peter walked into the lobby with a large grin and a bounce in his step-- after all, he was going to see his boyfriend of one year and eight months that very night.
Nobody gave the young boy any looks as he swiped his card, which Tony had insisted on being Spider-Man themed, and made his way into the private elevator. Peter started humming as the elevator ascended, only to be interrupted by a certain AI.
“Good afternoon, Peter. You appear to be very happy today,” FRIDAY said with a hint of amusement in her tone.
“Hey, FRI!” Peter exclaimed, “I’m just having a really good day!”
“I’m suspecting it has to do with a certain Mr. Keener,” the AI responded. Peter blanched, sputtering and stammering, but not quite making coherent sentences.
“Does Mr. Stark know?” Peter finally managed to choke out.
“I have chosen not to divulge that information to him until you are ready,” FRIDAY assured the seventeen-year-old boy, causing him to let out a sigh of relief.
“Have I ever told you how much I love you, FRI?” Peter uttered, looking up to the ceiling of the elevator.
“Not nearly enough.”
Peter could only laugh at the AI’s human-like sense of humor as the elevator finally made it to the top floor of the tower. The young vigilante got out with an even more joyful bounce in his step. He made his way through the hallways of the penthouse until he made it to the door that leads to the lab. Even without his super senses, he could hear Tony’s music blaring from the lab. The music was always a bit overwhelming for the boy and FRIDAY always turned it down right before he walked through the door. It helped the boy and alerted Tony that he was there.
The rock music quieted and the door made a ‘woosh’ sound as it opened for Peter. Tony looked up from his project to the teenager.
“Hey, Mr. Stark!” Peter exclaimed, neatly putting his bag near the door.
“Hey, Pete. I started making some upgrades to the Iron Spider. Also, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Tony?” the superhero greeted the boy.
“Not going to happen, Mr. Stark!” Peter replied with a cheeky smile. The genius man rolled his eyes, but there was no real anger or malice in it.
Peter practically skipped over and plopped down on a stool next to the genius. Tony began explaining exactly what modifications he was making with the young boy listening diligently.
“What about a parachute that can dissolve in water?” Peter butted in, not looking his mentor in the eye.
“A . . . parachute that dissolves in water?” the man repeated back, looking at the boy, but he wasn’t able to get the boy to look at him. The boy looked like he was deep in thought, trying to work out exactly how to make his idea work. Tony’s question seemed to sound throughout the room despite the fact that he hadn’t voiced it.
“In case I get yeeted into the Hudson River again,” Peter elaborated. Tony took in a breath in realization of what the boy was talking about.
“Yeah . . .” he replied gently, “Yeah, we should do that.”
The two geniuses got lost in their work and only spoke occasionally to add input as to what they should do or to ask the other to pass a tool. There was a tension in the air, though. It felt nearly unnoticeable, but it also hung in the air heavily. It felt like it was suffocating Peter and it kept running through Tony’s mind. Neither wanted to bring it up, though. The longer they put it off, the bigger the elephant in the room got. It was Tony to finally break the ice.
“Are you okay?” Tony asked his mentee softly, almost like the boy was fragile. Peter’s anxiety spiked, feeling like he had done something wrong.
“Of course. Why?” Peter replied, successfully keeping his anxiety out of his voice.
“Happy said you were acting weird when you got in the car,” Tony informed him the boy. Peter’s mood immediately dampened. He looked away from his mentor, biting on his already worn down lip. It was nearly bleeding, but the teen didn’t seem worried, as if he had made his lips bleed a million times before. Tony nearly said something, but wasn’t sure what he could say.
“Well, Happy made this comment and it just . . . kinda . . . it’s stupid,” Peter uttered quietly.
“If you made you this distraught, then it can’t be that stupid,” Tony told him with a gentle smile. Peter sighed and took in a breath.
“He saw me say goodbye to MJ and made a comment about her being my girlfriend and it made me really uncomfortable,” Peter said all in one breath. It was so fast that his mentor could barely catch what he said. Tony took a few moments to process what the boy had told him and then took a second to decide what to tell the boy.
“I’ll talk to him about it,” Tony replied,” but if you don’t mind me asking, why did it make you uncomfortable? Is she your ex or your ex-crush or something?”
“Well . . .” Peter began, unsure of how to say it. “MJ is basically the queen of lesbians and I’m-”
Peter was cut off by the door ‘whooshing’ open and a teenager walking in like he owned the place. Before the boy could even catch a glimpse of the stranger’s face, a very familiar voice rang out.
“I’m honestly offended that you didn’t come down when I broke into your garage a few minutes ago . . .” the boy trailed off, staring at Peter.
“Harley! It’s so good to see you again!” Tony exclaimed, but then stopped dead in his tracks as the two boys stared at each other. He moved his gaze from one boy to the other as they continued to stay frozen. Tears gathered in Peter’s eyes and his hands flew to cover his mouth in shock. Harley had tears in his eyes, but his arms remained limp by his side. Peter stood up, letting his chair clattering break the silence that had formed. Tony opened to mouth to say something, but Peter practically threw himself into Harley’s arms. The other teen caught the vigilante and they held onto each other tightly. Peter buried his head in Harley’s shoulder and Harley rested his chin on top of Peter’s curly brown hair. Both had tears openly trailing down their faces.
Once the two pulled out of the hug, they stayed in front of each other, holding hands together and resting their foreheads against each other's. Peter let out a laugh that mixed with sobs and Harley started laughing, too.
“Not to interrupt your moment,” Tony butted in, “but what, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck?”
Peter and Harley pulled away. They stayed side-by-side and held hands, though. Peter began biting his lip again in anxiety. The other teen squeezed his hand in reassurance. The vigilante let out a breath and stopped biting.
“Well,” Harley began unsurely, “we met about two years ago.”
“Through twitter,” Peter added in.
“Because Peter tweeted out some dumb shit about how succulents and cacti are gay culture.”
“They are!”
“And I direct messaged him to ask him why the fuck he was like this.”
“Keep in mind that this was at two am!” Peter informed Tony, trying to keep himself from being embarrassed more than he had to be.
“And then we kept talking,” Harley continued, ignoring his boyfriend’s comment.
“We exchanged phone numbers and skype users after a month. We kept on talking and, about three months after we exchanged, we began dating,” Peter went on.
“That was exactly one year, eight months-”
“And eleven days ago!” the vigilante cut the other teen off. Harley just laughed and looked at Peter softly.
“So that’s why you were uncomfortable with Happy calling MJ your girlfriend,” Tony said more than asked. “I just can’t believe I hadn’t figured it out.”
Peter just nodded as Harley gave out a small chuckle.
“I mean, you should’ve known. Pepper knew. Besides that,” Peter told him, “MJ is dating Shuri.”
“Makes sense,” Tony said before making a full stop. “Wait! Of Wakanda?!”
Harley and Peter just laughed before running out of the lab to go hide. Or maybe go find a place to watch vines and share soft pecks on the lips. Who knows?