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When Harley arrived at Stark Tower, he took a deep breath. It had been almost a year since he’d been back. After he had practically fled, Harley had almost cut off everyone from New York. He shouldn’t be here. He should never have come. Peter would be here. He had no right to drive Peter out of his own city.
He hadn’t heard from Peter and he was anxious for when he’d eventually show up. His first night, it was Avengers night. Harley knew Peter was going to show up. So he might have been hiding and pacing in his bedroom.
“Harls! Dinners ready,” Tony called. Harley took a deep breath. Now or never. He walked out to find the Avengers rough housing in the dining room.
“Hey, come on sit down.” Pepper called.
“Yo, kid, welcome back,” Clint dropped out of the vents next to him. “We almost missed your ugly mug.” Natasha gave him a jerky head nod and a glare. Fuck, of course Peter would have told his mamma spider. He felt himself being shoved into a chair, but he continued to look around. Steve, Bucky, and Sam were bringing in the food. Clint and Natasha were arguing about something. Wanda had glided into the room with Vision right behind her. The elevator dinged and Harley’s head swiveled. Of course, he’d be coming from the lab, but it was only Bruce. Rhodey, Pepper, and Tony were already seated. There was still an empty seat. No one made a comment when food started being distributed. But the empty chair across from Harley was just screaming at him. Had Peter ditched because Harley was there? He shouldn’t have. Harley was the one who shouldn’t be there. Right as Steve served him some pasta, he snapped.
“Where’s Peter?” Utter silence. Harley looked around. Steve’s eyes were wide, flicking between Harley, Tony, and Natasha. Bucky had looked away. Sam and Rhodey were having a conversation with their eyes. Tony was obviously panicking. Pepper was squeezing Tony’s hand so hard, Harley thought it was broken. Vision and Wanda had linked hands, and Wanda was looking away from the table. Clint was half standing, unsure what to do. And Natasha, oh my god Natasha was crying. What the fuck do you do when Black Widow started crying?
“No one told you?” Pepper’s voice was cracking. Harley whipped around to stare at her.
“No one told me what?” Harley was officially panicking now.
“About nine months ago,” Natasha started. Harley turned back to her. She was shaking now, her rage barely contained. “He was being reckless. Had been for a bit, but it finally caught up to him. I didn’t get there in time.” That was when she broke, lunging across the table. Bucky half stood, but stopped when she started pulling Harley toward the elevator. Her grip was shaking, Harley could tell she was barely holding it together.
“FRIDAY, med bay.” Natasha snarled. Harley put his hand over Nat’s.
“Natasha,” he whispered. She glared at him.”Please, just tell me. He’s not dead. He can’t be dead.” Harley felt the tears streaming down his face. Natasha’s face softened, just a little bit, but she didn’t answer. “Natasha!” He half yelled. She pulled him out of the elevator and down the hall. He followed without hesitation. Natasha stopped in front of a closed door.
“After you left, he got so reckless. He had no impulse control. No regard for his personal health. It was a bad fight.” Natasha opened the door.
The first thing Harley noticed was the smell. Over sterilization. Everything was so clean. The lights were low, and the machines made no noise. Then he saw Peter. The boy was practically emaciated. His skin was sallow and sickly. His eyes were sunken in and surrounded by dark bags. Harley’s knees buckled at the sight. Nat caught him easily.
“No. No, no, no, no!” Harley was sobbing now. Natasha held him as he sobbed. For what seemed like forever, Natasha just held him as he cried. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s been in a coma for all of these months. Bruce and Tony have been tearing their hair out. Well, Bruce has. Pepper refuses to let Tony help now.” Harley sobbed again.
“How do, how do we know he’s…” Harley began. Harley couldn’t help it. He slid his hand it with Peter’s. Natasha watched him.
“Wanda was able to talk to him. And, no one knows, besides Wanda.” She said softly. Harley couldn’t pull his eyes away from Peter. “I don’t even think they knew you were that close of friends.” Harley sobbed. He brought Peter’s hand up to his forehead.
“I wish we had never met. I wouldn’t have had the chance to fuck everything up. He’d be happy, and awake.” Harley said. Natasha shook her head.
“He doesn’t regret it. For all the pain you caused him, he doesn’t regret it.” Natasha admitted. Harley looked over and found Natasha’s eyes.
“If he wakes up, and if he’ll have me, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to him.” Harley’s voice never wavered, and he was honestly astounded. Natasha held his eyes for a moment more before she nodded.
“I’ll hold you to that.”
After that Harley moved into the tower. He screamed at Tony for almost an hour when he had come back from the med bay. How could he not tell him? How did no one think to tell him? He and Natasha went into overdrive, making several trips to Wakanda, a mostly untapped recourse. Eventually they brought Shuri back to the tower. She immediately started yelling at the Avengers. T’Challa had to fly in and calm her down.
16 months, two weeks, and four days after Peter Parker told Harley Keener he never wanted to see him again, he opened his eyes. Peter took a deep shuddering breath and listened. He heard another heart beat in the room with him. It was deep and steady, and obviously asleep. Peter’s eyes fluttered open. He was obviously in a hospital, he looked down and his breath caught. Harley’s head was in his lap. His arms were wrapped around Peter’s legs. His hair was too long, falling far past his eyes. Peter looked down at himself. His arms were barely more than bones and skin. He slowly lifted his arm, disregarding the shaking. Peter reached forward stroked Harley’s hair. The boy groaned, but didn’t wake. Feeling a little more bold, Peter dug his fingers in Harley’s hair.
“Pete, go back to bed.” The boy moaned. Less than a second passed and Harley was spring up. Peter flinched back. Harley inhaled deeply, eyes searching Peter’s face. “Peter.” Peter watched as tears started running down his cheeks.
“Harley.” Peter’s throat strained at the noise. He watched Harley’s indecision. He was disappointed when Harley went for the water.
“Drink this.” Harley’s hands were shaking as bad as Peter’s. Peter obeyed, sipping the water that Harley was holding for him. “I should, I should go get Shuri.” Harley stuttered. He put down the glass and made for the door.
“Harles.” Peter croaked again. Harley froze and spun back to the boy in the bed. “Why are you here?” Harley instantly deflated and slumped back toward his chair.
“Because I love you. And I’m a massive idiot. And you’re a massive idiot. I mean what were you thinking Peter? How could you put yourself in such danger? Weren’t you thinking about anything? What about Tony, or Nat? Do you know what it's like to watch Natasha Romanov cry? Hell, what about me?! I know I fucked up Peter. And i will never be able to make it up to you, but god Peter, finding out what happened, it killed me.” Harley was sobbing. Peter was staring at him, jaw dropped. Harley couldn’t stop, he leapt forward and wrapped his arms around Peter. “God, I can't believe you’re awake. God I missed you so much, you stupid spider.” Peter reached up and gripped Harley’s arms.
“How, how long was I out?” Peter whispered.
“16 months.” Harley whispered. Peter froze. He pushed Harley away, eyes wide.
“I’ve been in a coma for 16 months?!” Peter’s breath hitched and his eyes widened.
“Hey, darlin’ calm down. Breathe for me sweetheart.” Harley started rubbing Peter’s back. Peter couldn’t help it. Every time Harley called his sweet southern pet names, he immediately melted.
“Why are you here, Harles?”
“Because I promised you I would always be there for you. And i broke my promise. Sweetheart the worst mistake I ever made was walking out the door. I know, i don’t deserve it, and you just woke up from a coma, but Jesus, Pete. I’m asking you to give me another chance. Just one more chance. I want to prove to you that I'll always be there for you, no matter what.” Harley couldn’t help the sob that escaped him. Peter lightly pushed Harley away. This was it, Harley thought. This was where he was going to be rejected.
Peter on the other hand, just stared. Harley Keener was a man of little words. He was full of snark and sarcasm. Harley Keener did not confess his undying love to a previously comatose Peter Parker. Yet, here he was.
“Harley, you fucked up. You really did. I mean fuck.” Peter took a shuddering breath and met Harley’s gaze. Harley was still silently crying. “But I can’t believe you’re sitting in my hospital room, confessing to me.” Harley tightened his grip again. “I suppose I can figure out a way to forgive you.” Harley absolutely melted. His grin was instantaneous. Tears were streaming down his face as he just held Peter. That’s how Natasha found them 10 minutes later. Harley an absolute mess in Peter’s arms, who was just holding him. Natasha dropped the mug she was holding. Peter flinched at the noise, but looked up at her.
“My little spider.” Natasha’s voice wobbled. Nat leapt forward, enveloping the two boys in her arms. “FRIDAY get Shuri in here.”
“Yes Ms.Romanov.” FRIDAYs voice was low enough that Peter didn’t flinch.
“Nat,” Peter gasped. Tears rolled down Natasha’s cheeks.
“You never do that again, you got it. I never want to see you in this bed again.” Nat whimpered. Peter couldn’t help it, the tears started falling. Shuri ran in.
“Move, move. You two idiots, move.” Shuri did her best to push Nat and Harley away. They both settled on the edge of the bed. “What do you remember?” Peter took a deep breath. Shuri started tapping away on her tablet.
“Wanda?” He said with a shrug. “That sounds so weird.” Shuri shook her head.
“Wanda talked to you, in your head.” Natasha said soothingly. She rubbed his hand in between hers. Peter nodded.
“Well your vitals look great. They never really looked bad, which we all assumed was the spider DNA. But you’re still going to have a massive amount of physical therapy.” Shuri’s voice was low. “How are your senses?”
“Terrible. Everything is so loud. Touching things is painful.” Immediately, Harley and Nat pulled away. “No, don’t.” Peter reached out and pulled them back. Shuri watched with interest.
“Even with the muscle atrophy, you have a shit ton of strength.” She made a note on her tablet. “FRIDAY, keep all of the lights at 10%. Inform Stark of everything. Tell him I need the best noise cancelling headphones he can make. I’m not sure what to do about the touch.” Shuri’s eyes darted around the trio.
“I, I don’t care.” Peter said, squeezing Nat and Harley’s hands. Shuri nodded.
“Okay, I'll be right back.” Shuri let herself out. Less than a minute later the door slid open again. Tony and Pepper ran into the room. Tony’s hair was sticking up.
“When was the last time you slept?” Peter asked, his nose scrunching. Tony spun around to Pepper. Harley snorted.
“You’ve been awake for less than 20 minutes and you’re already sassing Tony. Fuck, I missed you sweetheart.” Harley pressed his forehead against Peter’s cheek.
“Jesus, kid.” Tony moved forward and enveloped Peter, tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Oh my god, move.” Pepper pushed Tony away and took his place. Peter took a deep breath. His family was here. Harley was here. Everything was going to be okay.
Peter was in the hospital for another week before Shuri let him out. His recovery was incredibly fast, due to his mutant genes. He gained his muscle mass back at an alarming rate, almost worrying Bruce and Shuri. Harley was with him through it all. He slept on the side of Peter’s hospital bed, until one night, Peter pulled him onto the bed with him. After that, Harley was always touching him. Helping him with physical therapy, helping him eat, hell even helping him bathe. At one point they had been close enough for this. Harley helping Peter shower wouldn’t have made Peter stutter and rub the back of his neck. Harley assured him that is Peter wanted, he’d leave, but Peter told him no. He wanted to be this close with Harley again.
After he was released from med bay, Harley started getting nervous. What if Peter didn’t want him around now that he was healthier? What if he didn’t want Harley in his room? All of his thoughts were thrown out the door when he found Peter asleep in his room. Tony had made him start helping in the lab now that Peter was awake.
Harley froze at the sight of Peter curled up in his clothes. He was just adorable. Peter blinked open his eyes owlishly.
“Sorry, I. Sorry.” Peter flushed. “I didn’t mean to.” Peter was just getting up when Harley un froze.
“What are you sorry for, sweetheart? I just, I just forgot how lovely you looked in my bed.” Harley climbed up the bed and laid next to Peter, who was blushing.
“Nats on a mission, and I’m barred from the labs.” Peter explained.
“Peter, you never need an excuse to come in here. You’re always welcome with me.” Harley pulled Peter into his chest. Peter let out a content sigh. After that, well Peter practically moved into Harley’s room. Not that Harley was complaining. They were happy, and Harley would always make sure Peter was happy.