Chapter Text
Summer days were never Peter’s favorites when he was younger. It was always hot and sweaty for him, and he looked so awkward in his tank-tops and shorts. Recently, they’ve sucked because he was alone most of the time.
May was off at work, and Peter’s friends (all two of them) usually went on vacations. Sure, here and there he was invited to some of them, and they were of course fun, but it just wasn’t the same after the trips ended.
That’s why he was so fucking happy he didn’t need to worry about any of that shit this summer. He could work in his own personal Stark Industries lab with no interruptions. After the fiasco with Thanos (he still can’t believe he was dead for five years) Mr. Stark wanted him close by.
“Hey Robo!” Peter groaned mentally as he prepared himself for the other person Mr. Stark wanted close by. Harley Keener grinned wide as he approached Peter’s lab. “Whatchu you workin’ on this time, Mr. Robotics?”
Peter grimaced as he replied, “I’m working on my suit. I need to revamp the water resistance; it doesn’t work well with long periods of time right now.”
“Ah! Well, can I help?” Harley asked eagerly, blue eyes glimmering with charm.
“Well, I don’t know…” Peter started to say.
The taller southern frowned. “Pete, if you don’t want me to help, you can say no, you know.”
Peter’s forehead crinkled as he replied, “No, it’s just… I need a break. Maybe I should just go home.”
“Wait!” Harley shouted. “Don’t- why don’t we just hang out instead? You know, chill out, go to a pool or something. Or, hey let’s go to the beach!”
“The beach? Really dude.” Peter rolled his eyes. “Tell you what, I’m going to just take a nap, alone, for a bit, and then we could see about doing something else. This problem has really been annoying me for months now and I’m not gonna solve it overnight anyways.”
Harley pouted but nodded. “Ok, just text me when you’re free.”
Peter never texted Harley.
Peter started to wake up from his hiding spot on the quinjet. Was it a stupid idea to sleep on an aircraft that could take off at any moment? Sure, but if it did, it was likely something big and dangerous happening, so he’d be needed anyways.
So why was it moving now? Frowning, Peter called out, “Friday, what the actual hell? Who is piloting this thing?”
“Harley, sir.” Friday responded.
“Of course he is… Any idea where we’re going?”
“Florida, Miami I presume.”
“…He did this on purpose.”
After finally coming the cockpit, Peter looked to see Harley playing Call of Duty while the jet flew steadily. “Harley, what the fuck? I was taking a nap on here when you decided to hijack the jet.”
“Yea, that’s why I took it. I figured you wouldn’t actually bail out on going to the beach if I put in all this effort to getting us to one.”
“But, I don’t even have a swimsuit!”
“So what! Get a new one. Tony’s richer than shit, he’s not gonna care if we spend a million bucks, let alone the measly, what, 20 for a new pair of trunks for you?”
Peter bit his lip in frustration. “I don’t understand why you wanna hang out with me so much! I’m nobody special.”
“Puh-lease. You’re amazing and funny. You’re easy on the eyes too, so that’s a bonus.” Harley replied, while he shot some guy in the head. “It’s not about being special anyways, I want to hang out with you. Do you really need a reason?”
Peter blushed a little from Harley’s comment. “No, I- ok, fine. Beach day it is… When do we land?”
Harley smirked. “Five minutes. Thank god these jets travel fast, or we’d miss out on most of the day.”
The quinjet landed and Peter had an easy time picking out some purple swim trunks. The two also picked up some towels, sunblock, and funny sunglasses (sunflowers for Peter, hearts for Harley).
Stripping in the Denny’s bathroom was interesting experience, but it wasn’t totally out of the blue. The server just rolled their eyes when they left.
Harley tugged Peter along as the two approached the beach. “Did you tell Tony we even left?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, I left him a post it on his desk.” Harley said casually.
“A post it? Really? And on his desk? He hasn’t been there in weeks, Harley.”
Harley laughed heartily. “I know. It’s funny to seem him stress out about stuff like this sometimes when we do actually communicate. I just hope he doesn’t crash our date.”
Our date? Peter thought. This is a date?
Peter watched Harley as he started to lather on sunblock on his back. Lightly tanned taught skin glistened in the afternoon sun. Peter’s cheeks started to warm. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it was…
“Need some help there, Harls?” Peter asked before he had a chance to overthink his question. Harley laughed somewhat nervously. “Nah- that’s ok! I-uh got it.”
“Hmm, aight. And yeah, Tony is just too overprotective sometimes. I know he means well, but it’s hard to be around him at times.”
“Yeah. And what’s with you calling him Tony all the sudden?” Harley asked, tossing the sunblock to Peter now that he was finished.
“Well, I call him Mr. Stark mostly to piss him off now.” Peter grinned at Harley. “But, you know, it’s just us so I figured why bother.”
“Yeah.”
The day continued as the two played on the beach. They somehow got roped into a volleyball game with some other beachgoers, and after the game they were invited to hang in the shade listening to some of the tunes that a boombox someone brought played on. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Eventually the duo got in the water and finally splashed around.
Before they knew it though, the sun had started to set. The mood was peaceful as the orange and pink hues of the sunlight hit their faces. The boombox was playing some older, more romantic songs at this point.
“You have fun on this spontaneous trip, darlin’? Harley asked.
Peter had to fight his blush from being called that nickname. “Yea, I did. I’m glad you forced me to come.”
The southern boy smiled gently as the wind caressed both their hair and the sun started to dip below the horizon. “You know, I thought you didn’t like me at first, Pete. I was worried I did something wrong.”
Peter frowned lightly. “I thought you didn’t like me. I guess we were both wrong.”
The two clinked drinks as the sun finally went out of sight, and the sound of Iron Man’s thrusters started to get louder.
“WHAT THE HELL WERE THE TWO OF YOU THINKING?” Tony Stark yelled at them.
“GET BACK ON THE JET, NOW.”