Chapter Text
"Come on Peter! You've been cooped up in that lab all semester." This was Harry Osborn, Peter's childhood best friend and thorn in his side. The two sat under a tree on the green of Empire State University as Peter furiously wrote code on his laptop.
"Harry, as much as I would love to go party with you and MJ tonight, I have to do more work for Octavius. I'm so close to getting a job with him after graduating."
"One night Peter. Please? Can't he let you off for one night?" Harry brought out the puppy dog eyes. Peter never could resist those.
"Okay fine. I'll go wrap up now"
"It'll be worth it, Pete! I promise. Otto can let you off for one night."
Harry did have a good point. Only he didn't know how behind Peter really was. Being Spider-Man has put him back weeks.
-
It was 9:00 as Peter strolled into the trashiest frat party he had ever been to. He wondered if they were all this bad or if it was just his current state of sobriety. Inside, he found Harry and Mary Jane starting a game of beer pong.
"Peter!" shouted Harry, jumping in between sips of his beer. "You're late."
"I'm here at least," Peter responded.
"Hey Tiger," Mary Jane waved.
"Dude I need some help, she is kicking my ass over here. You English majors are seriously hardcore" said Harry, slurring his words.
"That doesn't sound very fair, for the two of you that is" Mary Jane laughed, sounding much more sober than Harry. He must have been losing to her pretty badly.
"Alright, let's do this." Peter decided it would be best to throw the game as not to give away his superhuman reflexes, but he did his best to make it a close game for MJ. It wasn't very hard to do that as his teammate was hammered before the game was over.
After Mary Jane won the game of beer pong, the group found the quietest corner of the frat house to hang out. Peter and MJ were a little tipsy, but Harry was wasted. He was slouched up against Peter's shoulder. Peter definitely didn't mind this. He wasn’t sure when he realized it, but he has been crushing on Harry for a really long time. He could never tell him that. It would ruin their friendship.
"Y'know... I always kinda liked you, Peter."
"I like you too Harry." Peter chuckled. "We've been best friends since we were 10 years old."
"Phhhh! That's not what I meant." Peter's eyes went wide, and his eyes met Mary Jane's, who must have felt so awkward. Could Harry be about to tell Peter he felt the same way?
"I meant that I like you like you. A lot actually. And... wait? Did I just say that out loud? Oh god!" Harry shrieked nervously.
"Harry, it's ok. I... I feel the same way. I've liked you for a really long time and I've just never had the courage to say it. You're my best friend, and I didn't want to ruin that."
"Really?" Harry sniffled on Peter's shoulder. "You really mean that Pete? You don't have to say that if you don't mean it."
"Yeah, I do. I don't know where, or who, I'd be without you Har" Peter said, pulling Harry into a tight embrace.
"Well, it's about goddamn time!"
Harry and Peter were snapped back to reality when they remembered Mary Jane had been there this entire time and were still holding each other as they turned to look at her.
"You two... You've liked each other for so long, and yet neither of you knew about the other. And it was so obvious! Gwen and I even made a bet about how long it would take you two to end up together. In our Freshman year! And I lost. Because I said 'No, I think they'll figure it out soon,' but here we are. Anyways, I love you guys, and I'll leave you some space to talk about this. Sorry, rant over."
The two men stared dumbfounded as Mary Jane walked away, before turning their attention back on each other.
"So, Harry Osborn. Would you like to go out with me on a date?"
"Well, I guess," Harry sneered.
"Great! I can take you on a tour at Octavi-"
"Uh uh! If you want all of this, you're taking me out on a real-ass date, you nerd." Harry said as he buried his face in Peter's neck.
"I suppose I can make time for dinner."
"And a movie," Harry mumbled from his neck.
"Whatever you want, Harry," Peter said as he held his... He doesn't know what to call Harry yet. But they had nothing but time to figure that out.
-
Half an hour after she left them, Mary Jane returned with their friend Gwen Stacy to find Peter trapped under Harry's sleeping body.
"What did I tell you?" said the redhead.
"Idiots," Gwen scoffed. "You are two of the smartest and dumbest people I know. So are you officially going out now?"
"Yeah, we're gonna grab dinner and a movie next week."
"Dinner AND a movie? You must really like this boy, Peter," said Gwen.
"Yeah, what do we have to do to get you away from your science experiments for that long?" Mary Jane laughed. "Kill someone?"
"Something like that," said Peter. If only they knew.