Chapter Text
Peter woke up, curled around Harley’s form, in the warmth of their Manhattan apartment. At first, he couldn’t make out what it was that had woken him up, because it was still pitch dark outside and Peter was not a morning person. Especially not when he had been out patrolling ‘til 3 am the night before. He couldn’t bring himself to pick up his phone and determine the time either, because that bright light would definitely murder his eyes, and really, he didn’t care. He just wanted to snuggle closer to his boyfriend, close his eyes, and-
There it was again; that stubborn, desperate and far too loud knocking on the front door. With a groan, Peter managed to climb out of bed and make his way through the apartment – accompanied by a furious knocking only made worse by his enhanced hearing which he cursed just about now. Finally, he reached the door, opening it to reveal a familiar blonde.
“Gwen? What are you-“
Before Peter could finish his sentence, Gwen Stacy had pushed past him into the apartment, and within seconds he could hear hurling coming from the bathroom. He could only hope she was throwing up into the toilet and not all over the place. Sighing, Peter closed the door behind his friend, and walked up to the open bathroom door, only then realizing he was still wearing his Spider-Man pajamas. He looked ridiculous, but quite frankly, they were probably past that state, seeing that Gwen was pregnant with his child.
It was a long story.
Gwen and Harley were childhood friends from Rose Hill, until Gwen’s family moved away and they never saw each other again. Well, at least not before they both started their studies at Empire State University and rekindled their friendship faster than either of them could say ‘cowboy’. Jokes aside, Gwen had quickly become one of their closest friends – a friendship that only deepened upon realizing that she was in fact Spider-Woman, who had been fighting alongside Spider-Man for just about the same amount of time that she had been studying at ESU.
To further complicate the very long and complicated story, Peter was trans, and before his medical transition he had frozen his eggs. And if that were the only story there was to it, then him and Harley could’ve used any surrogate out there, but naturally, that wasn’t the only part of the story. See, he had been bitten by the spider before his medical transition. So, seeing that Gwen was the only other person in the world, and the only woman, who had been bitten by a radioactive spider just like the one Peter had, there really hadn’t been much of a choice. There was no telling what an enhanced spider-fetus would do to a normal, human surrogate, and so Gwen had kindly agreed to help them out. With this morning sickness though, Peter was beginning to think she had some regrets.
“Are you okay?” Peter yawned, as he leant against the doorpost of the bathroom, brown eyes glued on the hopeless form by the toilet, which shared very little resemblance to Spider-Woman.
“Do I look fucking okay, Parker?” the blonde snapped, murderous blue eyes meeting his gaze from the bathroom floor.
“No, sorry, I- um, I’ll get you some water,” he managed, quickly making his way to the kitchen to get away from the pregnant lady. He was aware that wasn’t exactly fair seeing that she was only pregnant as a favor to him and Harley – but that being said, Peter wasn’t exactly an expert at dealing with angry women. That was why he had agreed to babysit a sixteen-year-old heiress and Stark, who happened to be like a sister to him but that was beside the point. Pepper Potts, master persuader and Stark Industries’ CEO had called him up earlier that week about an emergency trip to London, and Peter had not succeeded in turning her down.
--
“Morgan can stay with you two, right? Or you could all stay here, whatever you prefer-“ Pepper asked.
“Ms. Potts-“
“It’s Pepper.”
“Pep, I’m not sure we’re the best people for the job,” Peter argued.
“Oh, come on. You could use the practice.”
“I’m pretty sure babies don’t pop out as fully cooked teenagers, Pep.”
“It’ll go faster than you think, Pete. Now, you know I don’t trust many people with her. It’s just for a couple of weeks.”
“A couple of weeks?! Why don’t you ask May and Happy?”
“Hap is coming with me, and you know May is busy with work. It’ll be fine, Morgan really likes you two.”
“She does! And I would like to keep it that way.”
“It’ll be fine. Just make sure she goes to school, and doesn’t drink or get into any trouble. I’ll drop her off on Monday, alright?”
“Ugh, yes miss Potts.”
--
Brushing off the fact that Morgan Stark would be arriving at the apartment within twelve hours, Peter grabbed a glass from a cabinet and filled it with water before making his way back to the bathroom, where Gwen was still sitting on the floor, although now leaning back against the wall.
“What are you doing here? It’s early,” Peter yawned again, as he handed his friend the glass of water.
“I have a job, remember? Not all of us can be billionaire heirs.”
“Yeah, you’re gonna have to be more specific than that.”
“I was headed to said job when your child decided it was a good time for me to get sick, and since I didn’t want to throw up on the sidewalk, I came here.”
“Fair,” Peter mumbled in response, sitting down next to her. “You should go get some rest, the guest room is made up. I can call you in sick.”
“Thanks, Pete. But I don’t think I’ll be leaving the bathroom any time soon,” Gwen sighed, shaking her head lightly as she handed her phone over to the boy. “The contact is Boss,” she added, carefully taking a sip of the water.
With a determined nod, Pete got back up onto his feet and pressed call on the contact saved as Boss in Gwen’s phone, and walked back out into the kitchen to make the call. He wasn’t a big fan of making official calls in the first place, but making them right in front of his friend, well, that was worse.
“Yes?” demanded the strong voice on the other end of the call.
“H-hello? My name is Peter and um, I’m calling to let you know that Gwen Stacy can’t come into work today. Nasty stomach bug,” he managed, unconvincingly. Gah, he always had been a terrible liar.
“Stomach bug, huh? What does she take me for, an idiot? Thinks I haven’t noticed-“ the man on the other end murmured in an irritated tone. “And who are you?”
“I’m… a friend.”
“A friend? I’m assuming you’re the one who put her in this situation?”
“Um… kinda?”
“Yes or no, kid?”
“… Yes.”
“I hope you’re taking good care of her?”
“I’m trying, sir.”
“Alright then.”
Suddenly, the line was dead. Peter was flustered, scared for his life, and shocked all at once, and there was a fit of laughter bursting out from the bathroom. Reluctantly, the young man made his way through the apartment once again, only to find Gwen Stacy laughing hysterically on his bathroom floor.
“You-“ she laughed, trying desperately to catch her breath. “You told my boss we’re sleeping together,” she managed, in between tears. Peter, if even possible, blushed even more furiously and handed her phone back to her.
“I-I didn’t, I was…”
“I swear to god, Stacy, if you’re trying to steal my boyfriend-“ a raspy voice murmured from the hallway, as a newly awoken Harley Keener joined them, wrapping two arms around his boyfriend from behind and planting soft kisses on his neck.
“Ugh, Keener. At least keep it PG when your baby mama is present,” Gwen complained, and as on cue, hurled into the toilet again.
“Oh, come on, we’re not that gross,” Harley grinned, resting his head on Peter’s shoulder as he observed his nauseous friend with mild concern.
“Well, Spider-Baby thinks you are,” Gwen complained, flushing the toilet and taking another drink from the water Peter had brought her earlier. “If you don’t return this favor when I get a wife, I can’t guarantee your safety.”
“Sorry to break it, Gwennie, but neither of us is capable of carrying children,” the taller of the boys smirked at his friend, tightening the grip on his boyfriend.
“No shit, Sherlock? I’m talking about your freakishly tall-person genes.”
“Oh no, if you want it, you’re gonna have to say the word,” Harley teased in response.
“Fine. You’re donating sperm, Keener. Happy?”
“Oh my god-“ Peter exclaimed, eyes wide at the notion, internally reminding himself that he needed to set Gwen up with someone soon. “Our kids are gonna be spider-siblings!”
Maybe he could set her up on a date with MJ? That might work. At least they were both equally scary...