Chapter Text
May 14, 2017
It started, as many other things did, late at night in the lab.
“Fri, patch a call through to Harley, would you?” Tony raised a mug of coffee to his lips, only to find it had long since gone cold.
The AI responded swiftly and mechanically, a comforting familiar presence in the otherwise empty lab. Peter hadn’t been to the Tower today. “Sure thing, boss.”
Tony had never actually told Peter, but Harley had been contacting him non-stop to come to New York and actually meet Peter. And Spider-Man. Both of whom the kid wouldn’t quit salivating over.
Honestly.
What was even funnier was that it was apparently mutual . Peter had mentioned to Tony that he and Harley already texted pretty often, and given the blush that crept up his neck and ears every time the subject was mentioned, Peter was also having some sort of feelings over Harley. Although at least the spider kid was less vocal about it so he didn’t want to rip his ears out the way he did whenever he talked with Harley over the phone.
Either way, after weeks and weeks of asking, Harley had finally convinced him. Peter, he’d noticed (even though Peter was trying to be subtle about it and not show it), was excited at the prospect of Harley coming over for the summer. So Tony, after having a really long conversation with Mrs. Keener herself (and Pepper stepping in to offer better words than “yeah I’ll protect him, I’m Iron Man”), had gotten the whole thing set up.
So now he was left with the task of calling Harley to let the kid know. And then he’d tell Peter, though there was no telling how quick Harley would be and if he’d get to Peter before Tony did.
Tony set down the Stark Industries mug on the lab table, amidst the clutter of tools and metal scraps, nuts and bolts just as Harley picked the phone up on the second ring.
“It’s half past midnight.”
Tony glanced at his watch, eyes widening. So it was. Fuck, Fri, you couldn’t have warned me? “Sorry, kid. Lost track of time. I can call back in the morning.”
“Nah, I was up already anyway. So what is it that’s so important that Tony Stark is calling me at the wee hours of the mornin’?” The kid’s voice and its slightly southern twang faded away, as if he had set his phone down a ways away to keep working on whatever he had been tinkering on. Tony shook his head bemusedly at the thought. “You’re not gonna crash into my garage again, are you?”
Tony scoffed. “Pfft. No. Actually, I was gonna give you some good news, but if you’re gonna be all sassy I guess you can find out tomorrow.” He gave a loud yawn. “I should get to sleep, and so should you, kid.”
“Fuck you, what is it?”
“No need to sound so ungrateful. And language. I did just manage to pull enough strings to get you to come to New York in a few weeks.”
“Hol’ up. What?”
“You’re coming to visit for the summer, kid.”
“Thank god! Can I get a YEEHAW? FINALLY. It’s not like I’ve been asking for years.”
“Yeah, but you got really insistent once Peter became part of the picture.” Tony smirked, even though Harley couldn’t see. “Also, it’s not like you haven’t been to the Big Apple before.”
"Listen, old man. First of all, that was for two days and I barely remember it. Also, I’m not gonna go around breaking that boundary when Peter has Spidey. Who do you think I am?” Tony could hear the undertone of embarrassment under his smooth response and smirked to himself again.
“Harley Keener, that’s who. Not as if you ever had much of that so-called ‘Southern hospitality’.” Harley scoffed on the other end of the line, and Tony heard a scrape and then the running motor of some sort of drill in the background.
“I let you lay low in my garage when the world thought you were dead. Oh, and fixed and charged your suit, by the way.” He scoffed again, then muttered to himself, “No Southern hospitality my ass.”
The drill turned off. “Thanks for letting me come, Tony.”
Tony smiled. “Hey, I owed you one. Besides, I can’t just let you rot in the middle of nowhere.”
“Hey now. Rose Hill has its quirks. So how long will I be there? When can I meet Peter? Or Spider-Man? Can I work in your lab?” Ah, there was the boyish excitement Tony had been waiting to hear, creeping back into Harley’s voice.
Absently, and not for the first time, Tony wondered why on Earth Peter hadn’t told Harley about Spider-Man. He’d told the kid Harley could be trusted, and even though they’d clearly hit it off over the phone, for some reason Peter still had the other kid under the impression that he was dating his alter-ego. Which would certainly get really interesting when Harley came to New York and, as he was bound to do, asked to meet Spidey.
“Your mom said you can stay all summer, but if you’re learning something. So yeah, I’ll be putting you to work in the labs.” He paused. “You know there’s been a shit ton of media attention on Peter recently, so, I mean, hopefully we can keep him more out of the spotlight this summer. And yes, you hormonal teenager, you’ll get to meet Peter and the whole cohort.”
“Fuck off.”
“Hey. Language.”
“Says you.” Tony could hear the eye roll through the phone.
“Anyway, you might want to bring a potato gun.”
“Do I get to meet the Avengers?”
Tony laughed. “Go get some sleep.”
“Says you,” Harley repeated.
“Yes, yes, I’m a terrible role model and all that. Now go to bed or your mother will cancel this whole trip.”
“Yessir. Goodnight!” Harley chirped, before promptly hanging up on Tony.
Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, even though he was smiling. “These kids are gonna be the death of me, Fri.”
“Perhaps, sir,” she responded amusedly.
---
Peter was still awake doing homework when the text came in. He’d spent a long time out as Spider-Man today before going back home to the apartment (where May had yet again burnt her newest recipe), and since it was almost finals week, he was now stuck rubbing his eyes tiredly and staring in vain at the English paper before him.
Chem and math, he could do. But man, fuck English.
His saving grace, apparently, was Harley.
Text from: cowboy
12:47 AM
cowboy: guess what
cowboy: im coming to new york this summer!!
peter-man: so its confirmed?!!!
cowboy: yep all set up. In only a few weeks you will be graced with my presence
cowboy: its weird we havent actually met. I feel like I know you so well already
peter-man: yesssss
peter-man: this summer’s gonna b so fun
peter-man: me too, man. Its weird
peter-man: we haven’t even FaceTimed. am I gonna b surprised by ur voice when we meet
cowboy: eh, probably not. Tony likes to make fun of my accent though. but you will be absolutely floored by the beauty that is my face
peter-man: lmao ive seen yr face harley u may b smart enough not to put it on twitter but i do follow u on Insta
cowboy: I’m wounded. my face is much prettier in real life
cowboy: however, now we cannot ft or call bc we gotta save our voices for the real meeting
peter-man: ok, I see u. Fair enough
cowboy: thank god im comin to ny i finally get to meet the internet famous SPIDEYPARKER
Peter hesitated. Now that Harley was actually going to be coming for the summer, he had to figure out what the fuck he was going to do about the whole Spider-Man situation. Mr. Stark had left it open to him, telling him he could tell Harley if he wanted to. But now he didn’t know what to do.
Damn it. He should have told Harley about this way back when the whole Twitter mess first started. Peter hated the thought of keeping a secret from Harley when they’d been getting along so well. But now that he’d been keeping it a secret, he didn’t know how Harley would react if he found out. Maybe he’d get mad at Peter. Especially after thinking he knew him so well when Peter was really hiding such a big part of his life from him.
Peter glanced at the paper in front of him again, blinking tiredly at the yellow highlights he’d made so far. He could annotate this during lunch tomorrow.
peter-man: yea, it’ll be fun
peter-man: hey, I’m off to bed. ttyl
He switched off his phone. Whatever Harley responded with, he could deal with it tomorrow too.
---
May 17, 2017
Harley had packed within almost two days of receiving Tony’s call. Sure, it wasn’t like he was leaving for another two weeks, but a sixteen year old kid could be excited, right?
Abby, his younger sister, had been jumping around the house as soon as she’d learned Harley was going to New York and was going to meet the infamous Peter. “Can ya get his autograph for me , Harley?” She giggled.
Their mother, who was carefully putting away the breakfast dishes, scolded her. “Hush now, Abigail. I don’t see the big deal with this Peter anyways.”
Abby rolled her eyes. “He’s been all over the media, Ma! Jus’ cuz we live in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean you can’t see stuff on the news!”
Harley snorted as their mom aimed a playful swat at Abby’s hay-colored hair. “I’m sure Peter will give you an autograph if you’re this insistent, Abbs.”
“You’re gonna pester the hell outta that poor boy this summer, Harls,” their mom said. “I shouldn’t’a let Tony take you.”
“I promise I’ll behave, Ma.”
She huffed, smiling, and turned to Abby. “And I thought you were more interested in Spider-Man, anyways?”
Abby giggled. “No, ma, that’s Harley! He’s the obsessed one!”
Harley felt his cheeks heat. “Am not! ” He swatted at his younger sister, but she danced out of the way.
Abby began singing. “Harley and Spider-Man, sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S--”
“That’s enough outta you, young lady. Go on, you should be gettin’ ready for school.”
Abby grinned at Harley and skipped off to her room, floorboards creaking beneath her feet as she did.
His mother turned back to him. “I’m thinkin’ this summer will do you some good, Harley. Lord knows you can’t stay in this small town forever.” She smiled, the skin around her blue eyes wrinkling easily from the exposure to the sun.
He leaned in and gave her a hug. “Thanks for letting me go, ma.”
She ruffled his hair. “Now, you’d better get your work in this week with Jack before you leave town. You know he needs help working the horses.”
Harley sighed. “Eh, better than school.” Jack, the old man who owned the ranch the Keener’s house was on, wasn’t exactly nice, but he never went out of his way to attack him the way Harley’s ‘schoolmates’ did. In Jack’s mind, Harley was good at riding horses, and that was all he cared. So Harley had built up a habit of ditching school to work with Jack. Not that school was doing him any good.
His mother gave him a sad look. “I hope you make some friends in New York this summer. If only people ‘round here weren’t so damn stubborn—”
Harley cut her off. “Not all of ‘em.”
Macy raised her eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. “You get your sister to school, now.”
“Always, ma. I’ll be down at Jack’s later today.”
Harley ignored the knot that had begun to form in his throat. He was going to New York City — he could last a few more weeks here. And like he’d said, not everyone in Rose Hill was terrible.
---
Ned groaned, throwing his head back on the chair. “Ugh. End me. Please, Peter. You have super strength. You could snuff me out right now, and that way I wouldn’t have to do the chem final.”
MJ simply raised an eyebrow. “Or, you know, you could ask Peter to help you with chem, cuz he’s stupidly good at it?”
Peter narrowed his eyes. “That almost sounded like a compliment, MJ.”
“Pfft. In your dreams, loser.”
The three of them were spread out in Peter’s living room, stacks of notebooks and highlighted notes and flashcards haphazardly thrown all over the floor. Well, at least in Peter’s case. MJ was flipping through a single notebook.
“Ned, you’re gonna be fine. You’re really good at chemistry!” Peter tried, rolling over to his stomach and propping his head up with his hands.
Ned shot him a “really?” look. “You’re the genius, Peter. Not me.”
“Says the guy who hacked Stark tech on his first try.”
“Yeah, but that wasn’t chemistry .”
Peter heard a key unlock the door and May came in. “Oh, hi there, guys. Peter, I thought you were working in the super-cool-new-lab-that-was-made-just-for-you today with Tony?”
Peter let his face fall into the floor. His voice came out muffled. “Hi, Aunt May. No, I have to focus on finals. Remember what Principal Morita said?”
May shuffled to the kitchen. “Was it along the lines of, ‘if you don’t ace all your classes you’ll have to take summer school because you’ve missed so much class this year’?”
MJ laughed as Peter let out a defeated, “Ha ha.”
Ned piped up. “Speaking of which, you still haven’t taken us to see the lab? When do we get to see it?”
“It looks exactly like the lab I worked in with Mr. Stark before, Ned. Just smaller. But if you really want to go —”
“What kind of question is that? Of course!”
“After finals.”
MJ clicked her tongue. “I don’t think so. You’ll be way too concerned drooling over Harley Keener once finals are over. That, or you’ll be dying in summer school.” She reached a hand to Ned’s shoulder and audibly sighed. “It looks like Peter will be abandoning us this summer.”
May laughed from the kitchen, where she was already whipping out bowls and ingredients to no doubt make something terrible. “I can’t wait to meet this Harley. Are any of you staying for dinner?”
“Thanks, Mrs. Parker, but I actually should be heading out in a few minutes,” said MJ.
“Same here,” said Ned, shooting Peter an apologetic look. “But I’ll stick around for a little longer. Peter, chem. Please. Or kill me. Your choice.”
Peter rolled his eyes, ignoring the buzz of his phone and pulling out his chem notes.
---
Over dinner (Thai it was, as May had ended up burning the lasagna), Peter picked at his food. It had been a long week at school so far, and finals coming up wasn’t the worst of it. For some reason, everyone had decided the last few weeks of school were the perfect time to befriend Peter Parker before summer break came and they didn’t see him until next year. As if trying to text him and budge up to him now was going to make them best buds all of the sudden.
“What’s up?” May asked, attempting to snatch a noodle with her chopsticks. It slipped off. “I know that face. Was it not going in for the internship? Summer school?”
“Nah,” Peter sighed, sitting back in his chair. “Everyone’s just being… weirdly nice?”
May’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I’m gonna need more of an explanation.”
“Remember when the whole thing started, and someone leaked my phone number and everyone was texting me, trying to get into my ‘fame’?” May nodded. “Well, it’s like that again, except people keep trying to talk to me in the halls, ask how ‘Spider-Man’ is doing, taking pictures when they think I’m not looking, stuff like that. I’m… I’m just really sick of it.”
Aunt May set down her chopsticks and leaned forward. “I know, Peter. And, to be honest, the fame isn’t going to go away. Maybe not for the rest of your life.” She frowned. “I was talking with Pepper yesterday, and she told me how hard it was for Tony to manage the fame at first.”
Peter scoffed. “No way. Mr. Stark?”
May nodded. “As weird as it sounds, I don’t think anyone can really be unaffected by fame. Everyone really wants to get in on it until they realize what it’s actually like.”
Peter didn’t respond, his mind thinking back to the hateful and overtly sexual comments and messages he’d gotten. “I kind of just wish this hadn’t happened.”
“I know it sucks right now, honey, but there’s so many good things that came out of it, right? You have a Stark internship, you even got your own lab. You met Harley, and not to mention the whole Avenger thing. You’re a brilliant kid, Peter, and I know everything’s hard right now, but it’ll get better, okay?”
“You sound like Ms. Potts.” Peter smiled a bit.
Aunt May attacked the noodles with her chopsticks again. “What can I say? Do you think I’d make a good CEO?”
“Duh. You’d be the best.” Peter smiled a bit more, heart feeling a little less heavy, and dug into his own noodle bowl.
---
May 26, 2017
Group chat: brainless idiots + MJ
guy in the chair: WOOT!! GOODBYE SOPHOMORE YEAR!!!
MJ: Well, as long as Peter doesn’t have to do summer school.
guy in the chair: i got my fingers crossed for u peter
peter-man: eyyyyyyyy i PASSED all my classes no extra school for me
guy in the chair: EYYYYYYY
MJ: [i’msurroundedbyidiotsscar.gif]
MJ: So when does Harley get here?
peter-man: three days!
MJ: And are you going to tell him about Spider-Man?
peter-man: no
guy in the chair: you baffle me
guy in the chair: Ten bucks says he figures it out in the first ten days.
peter-man: i will not take that bet
MJ: Ten bucks says he figures it out in the first five.
guy in the chair: oh your ON
MJ: * You’re
---
May 29, 2017
The day Harley Keener arrived, Peter was supposed to be at the Tower by ten a.m. Well, it was ten a.m., and Peter was kind of really still swinging around Queens, because there was a high-speed car chase. And he had to stop a bus from being crushed. Again.
“Peter, there is an incoming call from Mr. Stark,” Karen said through his suit.
“I can’t right now, send him to voi—”
“Mr. Stark is forcing the call through, Peter.”
“Well , shit .” Having a built-in phone created by Tony Stark had its downsides. One of those downsides was that Tony himself could force his calls through now.
“I heard that,” said Mr. Stark’s voice in his ear. “Language. Also, by the way, where are you? You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago.”
Peter winced. It wasn’t that he’d forgotten, he’d just… lost track of time.
“Sorry, Mr. Stark, I was just cleaning up this mess—”
“On 168th street? Yeah, that’s what F.R.I.D.A.Y. said. Car chase, wasn’t it? Hopefully you caught them and are on your way right now , Pete.”
“Uh, yeah. Mmhmm, I’m on my way.” No, he wasn’t.
“No, you’re not. As a matter of fact, your tracker says that you’re still heading along 168th.”
“Mr. Stark, I’ll be there as soon as I can—”
“I’m watching you.”
Big brother’s watching , Peter said to himself ironically as Tony hung up, swinging around a corner to keep the dark blue SUV in his view.
---
Peter swung through the sliding window on the 90th floor of Stark Tower at no later than 10:42 a.m. In his defense, the guy in the blue SUV really didn’t want to give up without a fight. Turns out all he had in the end was some hard drugs in the seat cushions.
Peter landed on all fours on the ceiling and made sure the bedroom was empty before slipping down, taking off his mask, and pressing the button in the center of his chest. The suit instantly loosened and dropped to the floor, leaving him in just his boxers. He had barely kicked the suit under the bed and reached haphazardly for a white t-shirt in his closet when the door to his room opened.
And Harley Keener walked in.
Harley Keener, who was (something that somehow Peter hadn’t noticed, hadn’t realized, in the months of following the guy on Twitter and Instagram and as Mr. Stark had neglected to mention) hot.
(Maybe he was just more attractive in person.)
(Or maybe Peter had just been ignoring his feelings and they all just hit him at once.)
Blonde curls spilled down in front of his blue — blue, such a pretty blue — eyes. He was wearing jeans and a grey flannel with the arms rolled up to his elbows. His skin was golden, as if kissed by the sun. And he had freckles — freckles splattered over his nose and forehead and cheeks, which were turning red very quickly.
Right . Because Peter was very nearly naked. Great first impression, Parker.
“Whoops, sorry,” Harley squeaked. And he turned around and walked out.
Peter stood in the center of his room, frozen, for a few minutes. Did I really just meet Harley Keener like that ? In my boxers ? He smacked a hand to his face. God, I’m such a dumbass.
---
Harley was probably overreacting. Right?
Tony had said the bathroom was down the hall and to the left. Problem is, there were two doors to the left. He’d opened the one at the end, thinking it was the bathroom—
And found himself face to face with a familiar boy, the one whose pretty face had been all over the internet for several months now, in nothing but boxers.
And yes, Harley would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought Peter was hot before, when all he had to look at were old Instagram and Twitter posts and of course, the endless stream of paparazzi photos. But now, the boy Harley had been pining over for months now was standing right in front of him, in nothing but boxers. Were those abs?
It took Harley a moment to realize he was staring. (Yes, those were abs.)
As soon as he did, he mumbled out an apology, and left as quickly as possible. He entered the other door — the bathroom, this time, thank God — and stood for a second, contemplating what had just happened.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. What had Peter been doing in that bedroom in nothing but boxers? Harley reddened at the thought and pushed it away. Peter was in love with Spider-Man. And yeah, they’d been talking for a while over text, but… the first time they actually met, in person, he hadn’t just barged in on Peter changing, but he’d visibly paused and checked him out. Harley hoped, knowing how futile it was, that Peter hadn’t noticed.
Fuck. Harley pressed his hands to his ears, hoping it might cool them down. He’d really just made a massive fool of himself. It’s fine , he told himself. This isn’t gonna be awkward at all. After taking several breaths, he walked back to the lounge, where Tony was waiting.
“Did you find the bathroom okay?”
“What? Oh, uh, yeah.”
Tony frowned at him. “Something up?”
Harley hoped he wasn’t still very red. “Uh, no. Nothing.”
“Well, Peter should be here any minute now.”
Great . So he can look me in the eye and I have to pretend I wasn’t staring at his abs.
Those abs. Damn, he was ripped, what the hell — ?
Harley’s thoughts were cut off again. Peter Parker had just entered the room, clothed this time, his brown hair mostly slicked back with a few curls popping out at the front. There was no indication of any abs or toned muscles under his shirt — if anything, Peter looked pretty small — and Harley briefly wondered if he’d hallucinated it.
“Well, look who decided to show up.” Tony was glaring at Peter.
Peter had the good sense to look bashful, and in that moment Harley subconsciously — or perhaps consciously — decided that there was literally nothing prettier than Peter Parker’s brown doe eyes. Fuck, Keener, stop falling in love with him. He’s with someone else. “Sorry about that. I got caught up.” See? He probably was out WITH SPIDER-MAN and that’s why he got caught up. But all of Harley’s thoughts melted away as Peter caught his eye. “Hi, Harley. Can’t believe we’re finally meeting. You’re… taller than I thought.” Peter didn’t let slip any hint of what had happened earlier.
“You’re shorter than I thought. And god dammit you sound like a New Yorker.” Harley quipped back, hoping they could both forget what had just happened. Indeed, Peter was maybe a half a head shorter than him.
“Well you sound like a cowboy. Just as I predicted.”
“Would shaking hands be awkward given we’ve known each other for several months?”
Peter let out a small laugh, and Harley caught Tony rolling his eyes. “Maybe. But hey. Formal introductions are nice, right?” He stuck out his hand.
Harley shook it, trying to ignore how strong Peter’s grip seemed. Keep it together, Keener. Tony will know something’s up. “Tony never shuts up about you.”
Tony scoffed. “That’s rich coming from you, kid.” Thankfully, he didn’t mention anything else. “You know, I was awkward as a fifteen year old, but you two are so much worse.”
“I’m sixteen, old man,” Harley protested.
Tony ignored him. “Anyway, I was gonna make you join me and Pete in the lab today, but Pepper thinks you should get a tour of Stark Industries today instead. And, since I’m Pepper’s little bitch, you will be getting a tour of Stark Industries today instead. Led by your good pen pal Mr. Parker here.”
Peter groaned in protest, and Harley tried not to let his heart sink. Maybe he’d just scared him off when he’d busted into his room while Peter was changing and Peter didn’t want to spend time with him now. Or maybe he had a date with Spidey. Nice move, Keener.
But instead, Peter said, “I had to give my own class a tour of Stark Industries, Mr. Stark, remember how that went? Anyway, I’m pretty sure I promised Harley he could meet MJ and Ned, actually, so…”
“Yeah, and he has all summer for that. Just show him around the main levels, so he doesn’t get lost. That’s all I ask. And you’ll have all the time you want to work in the lab later, kid,” Tony said, putting his hands on Peter’s shoulders. “ And I’m sure Harley also would like to see New York City in all of its sweaty, hot summer glory.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “I doubt it’s hotter and sweatier than Tennessee, Mr. Stark.”
Harley grinned. “As true as that may be, it does snow in the winter in Rose Hill. But summer is terrible. Bet New York ain’t got nothing on it.”
Peter smiled and looked up at Harley. Harley’s heart skipped a beat when he noticed Peter’s dark, thick eyelashes. Big brown innocent eyes, like Bambi. His eyes are so pretty.
STOP IT. Jeez.
If Tony noticed anything odd about Harley, he said nothing. Instead, he said, “See? I knew you two would hit it off. Now don’t blow up the Tower. Please.”
---
Peter decided he’d take Harley down to the higher level labs first, the ones located below his own lab on the fifty-fifth floor. He didn’t expect Harley to turn to him in the elevator and say, “Sorry I walked in on you earlier. I thought it was the bathroom.”
Peter let out a laugh, hoping he didn’t sound nervous. “No worries.” And then, jokingly, “Just don’t tell Spidey.” Why would you say that? Why? Now he’s gonna latch onto the Spider-Man stuff.
Harley scoffed, grinning “I’d never. Not that I’d have any way to tell him.” Harley cleared his throat. “Speaking of which, do you know when he’ll be around the Tower?”
“Ah, I forgot, you’re thirsty for my boyfriend and can’t wait to meet him.” Peter rolled his eyes, internally smacking himself. Why hadn’t he told Harley about the Spidey thing? He could tell him right now. But the more he referenced Spider-Man, the deeper he dug his own grave.
Come on then, out with it. Tell him, quit stalling. Why are you stalling anyway? It’s not like Harley’s gonna hate you for being Spider-Man.
A smaller, more selfish voice in the back of his head spoke up. If you told him, you might actually have a chance at being with him.
Peter shoved the thought away. He’d met Harley in person for the first time ten minutes ago. This was a stupid crush — pure physical attraction — and it would go away soon enough.
Harley’s voice brought him out of his reverie. “Hey, you good? I’m not actually gonna steal Spidey from you.”
Peter quickly responded. “Yeah, sorry. Just spaced out for a bit. Um, I’ll take you to the interns lab first. You can meet some of them.”
Peter didn’t miss the frown on his face at the change in subject, but Harley moved on quickly. “Ah, how could I forget. You actually do work for Stark Industries. I know about Spidey’s tech, but Tony mentioned you also help out with Avengers gear?”
“Yeah. I work on his weaponry, mostly. Sometimes I help out with other Avengers gear, but I haven’t really got the chance to work on some of their stuff. The rogues, I mean.” Peter winced. “After Geneva, they all moved to the compound. I haven’t had the time to actually do stuff with their gear for the most part. And Mr. Stark sometimes lets me work with Iron Man designs, but… well. I figure you’d do really well with that after the Mandarin, huh? So I mostly work on Spider-Man’s gear, yeah, his webshooters, and updates to his suit, work on his AI, stuff like that.”
Harley ignored the comment about the rogue Avengers, thankfully. “Man, I’d love to get to work on an Iron Man suit again. But that’s so cool! I know you won that competition by recreating the webs to get the internship. But does Spider-Man shoot his webs from his wrist or, I mean, how does it work?”
Peter grinned. This he could talk about all day. “Well, he doesn’t make his webs biologically, if that’s what you’re asking. He manufactured a sort of web fluid, and then I designed webshooters for him. They attach to the wrist of the suit, and I fill them with web fluid cartridges, and he can shoot them using the mechanism on the webshooter.”
“That’s gotta be a really powerful device. I mean, he shoots those webs really fast and far, right?”
Peter launched into a long and detailed explanation of the mechanism in the webshooter that shot out the webs, and how he and Mr. Stark had worked to create different webshooter combinations.
He stopped talking when they left the elevator, and winced. Harley was probably bored of him already. “Sorry. I was probably boring you with that.”
“Nah, actually, I think it’s awesome. I love mechanics and stuff. Remember, I did help Tony fix his suit during the Mandarin.”
Peter smiled. “True. You must’ve been a genius to do that at what, age ten?”
“Eleven. But yeah. And no more than you, darlin’.” Harley paused, as if measuring his words. “You’ve gotta be a genius for Tony to love you so much. And, I mean, the press has been all over you for months now.” Peter really tried not to blush at that. “Pretty much the whole world knows what a genius you are now.”
“Yeah. Kinda wish they’d go away most of the time.”
Harley seemed to sense Peter’s discomfort on the topic. “Yeah, I bet that was a rough time.”
Peter smiled as he glanced at Harley out of the corner of his eye. If he didn’t know better, he’d say the other boy froze at the look. “Yeah, it was. Still is. Come on. I’m gonna show you the higher level labs first.”
He led him to Lab 7712A’s door, which was covered in hazard warnings. The walls of the lab were almost entirely glass, so the interns and chemists inside saw them coming. Peter scanned his black badge at the door and F.R.I.D.A.Y. spoke up. “Access granted. Welcome back, Peter. Would you like to authorize guest for entry?”
“Yeah. Give him level one access for now.” At Harley’s questioning look, Peter explained. “Mr. Stark probably hasn’t put you in the system yet, but you’ll be in soon enough. For now, you’ll need me to access pretty much everything.”
He let Harley in. For the most part, the interns ignored him and kept their eyes focused on their projects. Sandy looked over at Peter as soon as he walked in. Her hair was tied in its usual ponytail, plastic goggles pushed up on her forehead, white lab coat swishing around her ankles as she worked.
“Peter! Glad you dropped by! Who’s this?” Harley had begun scanning the bubbling beakers and Bunsen burners around the room as soon as he’d walked in. He had a look of distaste on his face — not unlike Ned in chemistry class.
“This is Harley. Harley, this is Sandy, she’s in charge of this chem lab, which, if I do say so myself, is the most sophisticated chem lab. Harley’s spending the summer here. He’s, um…” Peter paused, unsure of how to introduce him.
Luckily, Sandy had recognized his name. “You’re the guy who Tony Stark tweets back at, aren’t you? ‘At Tony Stark Broke Into My Garage’? I’d like to know the story behind that.”
Harley laughed. “That’s me. Every word is true, but I’ll spare ya the long story.”
“Where’re you from?”
Harley’s smile grew tight. “Ah, you picked up the accent. Yeah, I’m from Tennessee.”
Sandy chuckled. “Don’t worry. A few months in New York and you’ll drop the accent. I’m from Louisiana myself, and you can’t hear it on me. Anyway, I’m assuming Peter’s in charge of giving you a tour?” The both of them nodded. “Well, feel free to look around, but I wouldn’t touch anything. Like Peter said, this is the best chem lab. But it’s almost only college interns who work here. And Peter, when he feels alive enough to drop by and say hello.”
Harley moved away and started looking through the various test tubes, all holding liquids (or in some cases, sludges). Once his back turned, Sandy looked to Peter with eyebrows raised. Peter rolled his eyes, well aware Sandy knew he was ‘with’ Spider-Man.
“How’s the polymer fabrication going? Still trying to find a way to increase tensile strength?” she asked, watching Harley carefully as he poked around the chemical experiments.
Peter sighed. “Yeah.” He’d found himself ranting to Sandy when he came down to the testing room in this chem lab to experiment with his newest web fluid and it didn’t go how he wanted. “Nothing so far has been working, but I still have hope that I’ll find the right combination. Is Henry here today?”
“No, he’s off this week. Should be back next Monday. Did you want to ask him about some other options?”
“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll talk to him when he gets back. Spidey’s getting impatient, but it’s not like he has no webs.”
Sandy laughed slightly at the remark. “Yeah, well, you should drop by more often anyway. I know the media’s been… pretty crazy lately, so just take care of yourself. I mean it.” Peter huffed fondly. “So, is Harley going to join us this summer in the labs?” She dropped her voice a bit, so Harley couldn’t hear from where he had picked up a conversation with another intern. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, Peter could hear her excitedly and elaborately explaining her work. Harley looked only mildly interested.
“No, I don’t think he’s even interested in chemistry. I’m guessing he’s going to be working on some mech-e projects with Mr. Stark.”
She tugged him over to her work station, where everything was organized neatly, down to the paperclips in their cup. “Huh. Kid must know Stark as well as you do.”
“Probably better. He met Tony when he was eleven.”
“What, out in the middle of nowhere, Tennessee?”
Peter hesitated. He probably shouldn’t share anything about the Mandarin or the Iron Man suit. “Yeah, who knows.” He ignored Sandy’s narrowed eyes. "Anyway, I’ll drag him down here if you want to see him.”
“I don’t think I’ll have to, Peter. If you’re down here, that kid’s gonna follow you.”
Peter scoffed. “Yeah, sure. Now quit pestering me.”
Sandy crossed her arms as she plopped down in her chair. “Fine. But I’m watching. And get your ass down here more often.”
Peter smiled, sensing Harley approaching behind him. “Will do.”
“What’s next, Parker?”
“Well, there’s a lot more in the R&D department, and then several floors past that there’s a ton of offices and business workers.”
“Yeah, let’s avoid that.”
They left the lab, still talking, and Peter ignored the shit-eating grin on Sandy’s face as they got into the elevator.