Work Text:
Click pen.
Shift leg.
Click pen.
Glance across room.
Click pen.
Try to focus on calc quiz.
Click p-
“Do you mind?” MJ hissed from behind him, causing Harley to duck his head apologetically.
He did mind, actually. Harley minded very much that ever since he transferred to Midtown Tech for his senior year and a better shot at classes that fit his intelligence and ambition, he’s barely been able to focus on said classes! From the moment he got settled in at the tower (at Tony’s insistence, bless his heart), there was something far more intriguing yanking at his attention. Once more, his eyes slipped over to the mop of amber curls exactly two seats up and one seat over from him.
Peter, himself, was an enigma. Harley was pretty sure he should feel something negative towards the other boy, maybe competition, rivalry, maybe see him as a threat. Instead, all he felt was... warm. Pretty much from the first smile Peter gave him, along with an offer to help him carry his luggage and show him around the tower, Harley was in deep. Hook, line, sinker.
He’d felt like this before, sort of, but definitely not this strong. He was scared of what that meant.
It felt ridiculous, he’d hardly even had a full conversation with the guy! They’d mostly interacted in a professional setting, with Peter somehow being involved in the logistics and upkeep of a famous Queens vigilante’s supersuit and Harley doing Tony’s busy work as part of his internship. Not that he minded. He’d take any opportunity to get to work beside Peter in comfortable silence for hours on end. Shit.
Tonight, however, Peter seemed off. Tired, more so than usual, and preoccupied. Despite only having known the kid for the 3 weeks he’d been at the tower, a twinge of worry tugged at Harley’s conscience. He squinted, an idea popping into his mind as he watched Peter rub his eyes for the fourth time before glaring back at his chem homework. Coincidentally, he’d already done that worksheet in the 5-or-so hours between school ending and Peter showing up in the tower. He vaguely wondered what Peter had even been doing, but quickly shooed the thought away. No time for thinking. He’d surely think-talk himself out of what he was about to do.
Feigning nonchalance, Harley sauntered over as casually as he could and squinted over Peter’s shoulder at the worksheet as if he was seeing it for the first time.
“Oh, ugh, that worksheet was a nightmare. Took me over an hour to finish.” He felt a rush of reassurance as Peter glanced up at him and nodded with a frustrated eye roll.
“I mean... it’s getting pretty late now. I could just send you the answers if you wanted. You seem... tired. Not, like, to be rude, or anything. If you want.” Harley fought a wince at the disjointed attempt at an offer. The anxiety rolling in his chest fizzled into something lighter but equally as potent when Peter’s eyes lit up with relief.
“Really? Thanks, man, you’re a total life saver. My brain is... too fried for this shit right now.” Harley carefully stopped his brow from shooting up at the profanity. Not expected, which probably made it all the more attractive in his book. Damn it.
Ok. Final step. “Yeah, no prob,” Harley chuckled, opening his phone’s contact app and handing his phone to Peter quick enough to not be awkward, but not so quick as to seem desperate, you know?
He watched with bated breath as Peter typed a number in and sent a random emoji from Harley’s recently used page to save the number. Nice! He did it! Maybe not in the way he’d wanted to all month, but he had Peter’s number, that’s what counts. Harley pocketed the phone quickly, reaching out a hand to help Peter off the floor.
Peter flashed him one more grateful smile, reaching for his own phone, hopefully to save Harley’s number too. “Seriously, thanks again. Goodnight, Harley.”
Harley watched him go, feeling like a teen flick protag. He shook himself out of his stupor, speeding back to his room before yanking his phone back out to fulfill his promise. Only then did he notice what Peter had sent. One yellow heart. He wasn’t sure why he was so struck by this. Maybe it just seemed to perfectly sum up how he felt about Peter. Yellow. Happy. Warm. Some fuzzy feeling in his chest. A heart... yeah.
After sending the screenshot and receiving a “thanks! :p” in return, he continued to stare at the screen. From the picture, to the response, to the simple “Peter” at the top of the chat. He tapped the contact name. This was stupid. He opened his emoji keyboard. Are you kidding me. He tapped a single yellow heart. What was he, a 12-year-old girl?
And yet. One heart didn’t feel like enough. He tapped again. “Peter 💛💛 ” it now read. Two looked weird. Maybe just... one more? To balance it out, right. He looked at it again, realizing how sappy it was, and dropped his phone on the bed, burying his face in his pillow as if it would hide his lovesickness from the world.
- - -
Maybe he was imagining it, but things after that felt... lighter. He and Peter would talk about things besides school and the workshop. He learned that Peter liked cats more than dogs. Ok, so that’s not much, but it felt big at the time. He learned that Peter and Ned still collected Legos. Nerdy, but somehow adds to his charm. Harley also learned that Peter lived in Queens, and that his aunt was a nurse who often worked overnight shifts, so Peter was alone pretty often.
He hadn’t expected Peter to actually get excited at his offer to have a sleepover at the tower on some of those nights. Harley knew Peter had his own room for a reason he didn’t bother asking, but the implication was that they’d be doing this together. He couldn’t help but grin.
And so, there they were. Playing Mario Kart in sweats and pullovers, snacks spread around them, bantering lightheartedly.
“How can someone be so good at calculus and so bad at Mario Kart?” “Shut up, just because I can do math doesn’t mean I can drive! I’m still gay!”
Harley almost dropped his controller, completely losing his lead, much to Peter’s joy. How had this never even crossed his mind. He’d been pining after a guy for over a month, and never even bothered to wonder if he actually even swung that way.
But he did. There was hope. A grin grew on Harley’s face as he shoved his shoulder into Peter’s with a borderline maniacal giggle, stealing his lead back.
Harley won again, despite Peter’s pouting about him cheating. They dropped their controllers, silently agreeing to take a snack break as an alert lit up Peter’s phone. He tapped it open, immediately chuckling at whatever it said.
“What’s so funny?” Peter shook his head.
“MJ just sent me a dumb tweet.” Before Harley even had a chance to reply, his phone lit up where it sat between him and Peter.
“I sent it to you,” Peter started, before he glanced down at the notif of his name followed by the stupid hearts. Harley felt his heart stutter to a stop. Fuck.
“W-, I-, when-,” Harley felt himself flounder as Peter eyed him strangely. There was no saving this, so he just braced himself. It was nice while it lasted. There was a beat of silence before he glanced up again, met with the screen of Peter’s phone. Their chat was open, with Harley’s name sitting at the top, surrounded by two pairs of yellow hearts.
“We match,” Peter smiled, but Harley noticed for the first time that the smile seemed a little nervous, too. He quickly schooled his stunned expression before returning the smile. “What a coincidence, huh?”
“Well, it wasn’t a total coincidence. I just saw it and it felt...”
“Right.” Harley finished for him.
Peter grinned. “Right.”
Harley twisted his shirt sleeve over his hand. Ok. This was a good sign, wasn’t it? Dare he assume that the hearts in Peter’s phone meant the same as the matching ones in his own? Maybe Peter just meant it in a friendly way. Yellow was a friendly color, right? Still, Peter seemed nervous, all twitchy smiles and tapping fingers. That had to mean something, didn’t it?
Well. If he didn’t do this now, he’d most definitely lose his nerve forever.
“Hey, would you ever want-“
“So am I reading this right, or-“
They both stopped, chuckling away their nerves with quickly reddening cheeks. Before they could lapse back into anxiety-riddled silence, Harley nudged Peter gently.
“If you were wondering if we’re on the same page here, it’s safe to say that I’m pretty far gone over you, so hopefully th-“
Oh. Peter was kissing him. After the couple seconds it took to register this fact, the other boy had started to pull back before Harley’s hand found Peter’s chin and gently pulled him back in.
This was nice. Ok, way better than nice; perfect, even, or at least even better than Harley’d imagined it... which he would admit he did quite often. He finally pulled away, resting his forehead against Peter’s and matching his grin. He didn’t dare to push it, or even ask any questions yet, just sitting and drinking in the moment. It took a whole damn month of pining to get here, anyways. And the help of those stupid, goddamn yellow hearts.