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When Peter Parker entered Stark Tower and didn't see Harley Keener, he was worried. Harley almost always beat him into the lab on lab days, even more eager than Peter to start working on their various projects. But Peter wasn't like...worried, worried. Harley had the kind of swagger that let him go pretty much anywhere in the Tower while everyone just kind of watched him with the same awed respect you would give Bigfoot. He was a cryptid. A really flirty, really smart gay cryptid with an adorable Southern accent that came out strong when he was tired and had a knack for mechanical engineering and always had a witty comeback and...okay, maybe Peter was getting carried away. But Harley Keener not being in the lab wasn't worrying so much as odd.
What was kind of worrying, though, was when Peter's Spiderman phone flickered to life by itself with the image of a masked person staring ominously into the camera.
What was even more worrying than that was when the masked man began to speak, using a deep, rough voice that most supervillains used.
"Greetings, Spiderman," the villain boomed, and fear curled up his spine. That didn't sound good at all. "I have something for you. A person, in fact."
It was safe to say that Peter was being worried at this point. He was terrified. Harley...the camera panned over slowly, revealing the familiar blonde boy, unconscious, tied to a chair. Peter's heart beat frantically in his chest, his worst fears coming to life. They must've kidnapped Harley on his way home from school. The school he shared with Peter.
Peter swallowed. Deep in his aching chest, he knew that they'd taken Harley because of Harley's assumed connection to Spiderman. Harley didn't even know Peter was Spiderman, even if Spiderman and Harley had interacted a few times in the Tower. In that moment, he knew that whatever the villains wanted from him, Peter would give it, without question. He couldn't let Harley get hurt, especially not because of him.
"We've hacked your phone, so only you are getting this message. We know you two are friends," the villain continued, sounding like they were incredibly proud of themselves for knowing that definitely-not-secret piece of information, "And if you don't meet us alone, he won't live to see tomorrow."
Peter didn't hesitate to suit up. No matter what, he would get Harley back.
It wasn't hard to find the warehouse in question. Although the masked villain had neglected to mention the address, it had been easy enough to get FRIDAY to find Harley's cell phone. Suited up in stealth mode, Peter crawled up the walls and onto the roof, finding a vent and slipping through. He didn't want to walk in without knowing what was going on, so he decided crawling through the vents would be the best way. Clint seemed to always think vents were the best route, so Peter figured it would be his best bet.
He found the room Harley was in rather quickly, just by following the sound of talking voices. As he got closer, he was beginning to distinguish the voices. One definitely belonged to Harley, and he was rambling loudly, like he did whenever he was explaining one of his passion projects. Peter loved when Harley rambled-- but he couldn't afford to get distracted. He found a vent cover, and he peered through the openings, trying to see what was going on in the room.
Harley was there, still tied to the chair but looking otherwise unharmed. Relief surged through Peter; at least he was okay. There were three other men in the room, all standing around where Harley was. They were all wearing different colored masks, but only one-- the man with the black mask, who was on the video-- was actually armed. Peter desperately wanted to swoop in right away, but he couldn't afford Harley getting hurt. Even if there was only one man with a gun, Peter couldn't be sure that he could snatch the gun faster than the man could fire. One wrong move, and Harley-- the love of his life, who he'd never even confessed his feelings to-- would be dead. It was too risky.
"Any sign of Spiderman?" growled Black Mask, cutting off Harley's rambling.
Yellow Mask shook his head. "No, sir. No one's seen any sign of him."
So there were more guards outside. But that was okay, he and Harley could easily escape through the roof, and Peter could swing them away.
Black Mask rounded on Harley, pointing his gun at him. Peter tensed up, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. "Tell us who Spiderman really is."
Harley scowled. "I already told you, I don't know. I've only talked to Spiderman, like, three times. No matter how much truth serum you pump into me, that's not going to change. Now, back to the actual important subject--"
"Shut up about your lab partner!" Red Mask yelled.
Harley frowned. Peter silently begged him to stay silent. He loved Harley's sense of humor, but now wasn't the time for it. He shouldn't be doing anything to piss these people off. Luckily, Yellow Mask stepped in.
"No, no, I want to hear this," Yellow Mask said, sounding genuinely delighted. "He sounds lovely, Harley."
He? Who was this "lab partner" Harley was talking about? As far as Peter knew, Harley didn't interact much with the regular interns. Was he referring to someone at school? Peter wasn't in Harley's chemistry class, so he had no idea who Harley had been paired with for experiments.
"We didn't kidnap him and risk the wrath of Tony Stark just to hear him gush about his stupid little crush."
"He's not stupid!" Harley interjected, angry.
Peter's heart skipped a beat. Harley had a...crush? He knew Harley was gay, the other teen was very open with it, but Harley had never mentioned having a crush on anyone before. Peter had always been sure that Harley was miles out of league, but now he knew that he didn't stand a chance. But it didn't matter. Regardless of whoever Harley liked, Peter would still save him. Harley was his friend, and he wanted him to be happy, even if it meant Peter would be his wingman as he asked this lab partner out.
"Unless this crush is Spiderman, I don't want to hear about him," Black Mask said, crossing his arms, his grip on the gun growing looser.
"He's not Spiderman," Harley said dreamily. "He's even better than Spiderman."
Peter's heart sank in his chest. He wanted to take out these guys now, even if it was just so he wouldn't have to hear Harley wax poetry about this mystery guy.
"Young love," Yellow Mask sighed, sounding almost as entranced as Harley. "Give him a break, Tobey. He's a guy in love. It's cute."
"He is cute," Harley agreed, a far-off look in his eyes. "He's absolutely beautiful. He has the body of like one of those Greek statues, except he isn't even missing an arm. He's even got abs. He's the most cutest, most gorgeous, most smartest person I've ever met. I love him. I love him so much."
Love? That sounded...serious. Jealousy coiled in Peter's stomach. Peter was smart. He was...conventionally attractive. How was this lab partner guy better than him?
He's even better than Spiderman. That line shouldn't've hurt. Harley didn't even know Peter was Spiderman, or that Peter had a crush on him (which Peter was now glad for his cowardice, because he could just imagine Harley's mouth tightening as he told Peter that there was someone else, someone hotter and cooler and smarter). But it cut deep into Peter's heart, tearing him up from the inside out.
"You should ask him out on a date!" Yellow Mask said excitedly.
Red Mask groaned. "I cannot believe you, Jake. I'm going for a walk." Red Mask stormed out of the room.
He had a window. If Harley could just keep Yellow Mask and Tobey distracted...he started carefully removing the vent lid. This was his chance, he could feel it. The vent was behind the two guards, so they'd never even see him until he had already hit them.
Black Mask turned to Harley. "This is your last chance. Tell us everything you know about Spiderman."
Harley's face scrunched up adorably. "Um. He works with Tony Stark?"
Peter's fingers curled around the edges of the vent cover, ready to pull it up.
Black Mask groaned. "Yes, I know that!"
Harley shrugged. "I don't know much about Spiderman at all, to be honest. He's not my type, even if he does look very hot in spandex."
Peter almost choked on his tongue, face burning. What was the point of having a Peter Tingle if it wasn't going to warn him about life-threatening things like that?
"What else do you know about him? There has to be something!"
"Shut up about Spiderman!" Yellow Mask hissed. "Back to your lab partner, Harley."
Harley nodded. "Yes! Yes, I love him. He's amazing. He's so perfect."
"I think you should ask him out!" Yellow Mask squealed. "It sounds like he might like you, too."
Harley perked up. "Do you really think so? Because I always thought he was way out of my league."
Peter was almost done pulling off the vent cover. Soon, Harley would be safe, and Peter could bury his unrequited feelings deep into a pint of Stark Raving Hazelnuts ice cream.
"Of course! You said it yourself two hours ago. You work so well together. I'm sure he feels the same way. Besides if he's as smart as you say, then Peter Parker would never be dumb enough to turn you down!"
The vent cover slipped out of Peter's hands and clattered to the floor. What the fuck? That was his name!
"Andrew! What was that?" Tobey's startled words sprang Peter into action. He dropped from the open vent, using his webs to pull the gun out of Tobey's grip. Before either masked villain could react, Peter shot out webs, trapping both of them up against the wall.
"Oh, hey, Spiderman," Harley said, sounding almost bored.
"Hey, Harley," Peter said, doing his best to keep his cool.
"You do look really nice in spandex," Harley said, looking him over. Peter was so glad he was wearing a mask, because he just knew his face was as red as his costume. "Will you untie me now? These ropes are really starting to hurt my arms, and I kind of need my arms, because I need to impress Peter by getting my potato gun even better than before. Because he deserves the best made potato gun in the world."
There it was, out in the open, no doubt about it. Peter was Harley's lab partner, the guy he'd been gushingly rambling about for the last two hours (if Yellow Mask, Andrew, was right).
"Yeah, yeah, I can untie you."
Peter rushed into action, brain still buffering, trying to process the full extent of Harley's words.
"When I get back to Avengers Tower, I'm definitely going to have a movie night with Peter," Harley said, as Peter tried his best to focus on untangling the heavily-knotted rope. "Ooh, maybe if I can pick something scary, he'll snuggle with me on the couch. I can put my arm around him. Who knows? Maybe I can even work up the nerve to kiss him."
Wow, that truth serum really was something? The last of the ropes fell away, and Peter helped Harley to his feet.
"We should go."
"I hope everything goes well with Peter!" Andrew called as Peter helped Harley out of the room.
"I swear to god, Andrew, you're insufferable," Tobey said.
Harley was leaning heavily against Spiderman's side as they made their way down the empty hallway. While he'd wanted to take the vents, it didn't seem like Harley was in the shape to do that. In fact, the truth serum seemed to be fading, judging by the way Harley was groaning like he had a hangover instead of talking about how much he wanted to kiss Peter. Which Peter was glad for-- glad Harley wouldn't spout off anything that would make him flustered and glad that once they got to the Tower, he could kiss Harley when Harley was in his regular state of mind.
And he was going to kiss Harley. He'd figured they'd danced around each other long enough, if Harley had been pining after him half as long as Peter had been pining after Harley. Which it sounded like he had.
"God, that sucked," Harley groaned. "Remind me never to drink truth serum again."
Peter laughed. "Glad to see you're okay."
"Okay? I want to crawl into a hole and die. I said so much embarrassing stuff back there."
"It wasn't too embarrasing," Peter said consolingly. It wasn't nearly as bad as some of the stuff he'd sent to Ned about Harley, anyway. "I only heard the last few minutes, of course, but it wasn't embarassing at all."
They stepped out into the cool autumn air, not another guard in sight, and Peter crouched down a little so that Harley could get on his back. He swung up to the next nearest building with his webs, building up speed as they swung through New York, Harley's warmth seeping in through Peter's costume. It wasn't long before they reached Avengers Tower, and it was too long all at once, and as soon as they landed safely on the roof, Peter spun around to meet Harley's eyes, confession on the tip of his tongue, and--
"You're not going to tell Peter anything I said, are you?" Harley said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Peter froze. This wasn't how he wanted this to happen. Was Harley really ashamed of what he said? Was he ashamed of liking Peter?
"Why not?" Peter asked, trying not to sound hurt.
Harley smiled sardonically. "Have you seen him? He's...you know, he's Peter Parker. And I'm just a nobody from Tennesee and I don't want to have to hear him reject me."
"He's not going to reject you!"
"No, seriously, you don't have to lie to me just to make me feel better. I just want things to stay exactly the way they are."
"Well, maybe I don't!" In the most dramatic way possible, Peter ripped off his mask, exclaiming for the whole rooftop to hear, "I'm in love with you!"
Harley's eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open. "You're Spiderman?" He stepped closer. "How?"
"There was a radioactive spider. It's a long story. But Harley, how could you think I don't like you back?" Peter stepped forward, tightening the gap between them. "I think I've liked you since I first met you at the Tower."
"Not that this is a competition, but I had a crush on you when Tony showed me pictures of his twink intern with adorably messy hair and too big sweatshirts," Harley said quietly, his eyes trained on Peter's lips.
"Can I kiss you, Harley?" Peter asked, and his heart was pounding so loud in his chest that he thought it might burst.
Harley nodded, and Peter wasn't sure which one of them closed the gap first, but it didn't matter, because Harley's lips were on his and Harley's hand was on his waist and suddenly, everything was clicking perfectly into place. Harley broke the kiss first, staring into Peter's eyes with a gentle look, and if Peter was a weaker man, he might've swooned.
"I believe you said something about us cuddling on the couch?" Peter asked, hopeful.
Harley chuckled, and it was the best sound Peter had ever heard. "Yeah, I think we could do that."
Hands clasped together, Peter lead Harley into Avengers Tower, wondering if he was finally getting some luck from the universe.