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“I can’t believe you thought that was a good idea,” Harry said, shaking his head as he grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl in Peter’s lap. “Like, you knew your girlfriend was in the crowd, and yet you still kissed someone else on stage?”
Peter threw his head back with a groan, banging his head on the wall behind the couch. Both Harry and MJ winced at the impact, but Peter seemed unfazed. “I know, I know! I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I know what you were thinking,” Harry said as he knocked his shoulder into Peter’s, causing Peter to lazily turn his head to look at him. “You were riding on the high of being popular for the first time in your life.” Harry then turned towards MJ, who was sitting in the armchair across the room. “Still, it was pretty shitty. I get now why you were so upset.” He then unceremoniously shoved the handful of popcorn into his mouth, with more crumbs than he was comfortable admitting ending up on his shirt
MJ shrugged. “I mean, it was shitty, don’t get me wrong,” and here she sent a glare Peter’s way that held little to no heat, but Peter shifted uneasily beneath its weight regardless, “but it was really the fact that he used our kiss that got me.”
Harry frowned, his brow furrowing with confusion. “Your kiss?” he asked around his mouthful of food, earning him a light kick from Peter. He swallowed his popcorn but still nudged Peter with his leg in retaliation.
“He was upside down,” MJ answered simply.
Harry’s frown deepened, and he sent Peter a questioning glance.
Peter sighed. “When we first kissed years ago, it was after I had saved her from some thugs as Spider-Man. I was hanging upside down, and she rolled up my masked and kissed me as thanks.” Peter then blushed a bit as he turned towards MJ, the tips of his ears pink. “If it’s any consolation, the kiss with you was much better.”
MJ raised a brow. “For you, maybe. As I recall, that was your first ever kiss.” Peter’s face flushed a bright red at that, which made MJ smile softly. “That was pretty good for a first kiss, though.”
Harry, meanwhile, had stopped listening. When he had seen Spider-Man kiss Gwen Stacy upside down, he hadn’t thought much of it, his memory at the time a complete mess. Once he regained his memories and things had settled down, he understood all the baggage the kiss had carried, and how it had helped cause the fallout between the three of them in the weeks that followed. Now, once again, he was forced to look at the kiss in a new light.
Harry swallowed thickly as he turned to look at Peter, his face still a bright red as he and MJ continued their banter. Harry imagined, just for a moment, how it would look with Peter hanging upside down, his face just as flushed, with his hair falling downward in disarray-
“Harry? You okay?” MJ suddenly asked, breaking him from his train of thought. Peter turned to look at him, the blush fading away as he frowned at Harry in concern.
Harry’s mouth felt inexplicably dry. “I just…” He paused and took in a deep breath as his mind scrambled to gather his wits. “I was just wondering,” he began again, sitting up straighter and leaning forward so his face was closer to Peter’s, “when do I get to do the upside down kiss?”
In an instant, the blush was back on Peter’s face, this time stronger than before as his face was just a few shades shy of matching the red of his Spider-Man suit. Across the room, MJ let out a loud snort, but Harry paid her little mind as he focused on the way Peter stammered.
“I-I… I can’t do that!” Peter exclaimed, and Harry scoffed.
“Why not? MJ got to do it! And Gwen, who you weren’t even dating.”
“Actually,” MJ chimed in, and the laughter in her voice reassured whatever small part of Harry worried she would take offense to him asking for a try at “their” kiss, “Peter and I weren’t dating when we kissed. It was towards the end of our relationship, Harry.”
If Harry had learned that information even a few months ago, he would’ve been angered by it. As it was, it only spurred him onward with his newly acquired quest. “See?!” he exclaimed, gesturing towards MJ as he scooted closer to Peter. “You’ve done it twice with two people you weren’t dating, but you won’t do it with your own boyfriend?”
Something in Peter’s face softened at that, and Harry couldn’t deny the way his heart skipped a beat; everything between them was still so new, even though they had been friends since they were small children.
Still, Peter wasn’t convinced. “But it’s like MJ said,” he argued, gently placing a hand on Harry’s chest and pushing him back, “that was our kiss. I already-”
“Peter, please,” MJ cut in, causing both men to turn and look at her, “this situation is entirely different to what happened with Gwen, and you know it. Besides,” she leaned back in her seat with a small shrug, “Harry’s right. He is your boyfriend; it isn’t exactly fair that he’s the only one who hasn’t done the kiss yet.”
Honestly, if Harry wasn’t trying to get a kiss from Peter, he’d kiss MJ for her show of support.
Peter, meanwhile, deflated, his main argument against the kiss finally stomped out. He glanced towards Harry, who quickly gave Peter the same pleading look he used in the past when trying to convince Peter he needed help with homework, and sighed.
“Fine, fine,” he said as he stood, setting the bowl of popcorn that was in his lap down on the coffee table, “I can see I’ve been beaten.” He sent Harry a teasing smile before jumping up onto the ceiling. Harry sat up straighter, his heart pounding; no matter how often he saw Peter use his powers, it still sent a thrill down his spine when Peter decided to show them off.
But then Peter lowered himself from the ceiling by his web until his face was even with Harry’s, and suddenly Harry’s heart was pounding for an entirely different reason. His earlier fantasy about Peter hanging upside down did the real thing little justice, he found.
“So,” Peter began, a rare smirk on his face as he took in Harry’s bright blush, “are we gonna kiss or-”
Harry lunged forward and pressed his lips against Peter’s before he could finish the sentence. Across the room, MJ gave a loud whistle, and Harry would’ve responded by rolling his eyes or giving her the finger, but he found himself a little too preoccupied.
He had been surprised, the first time he and Peter had kissed, just how good Peter was at it. He wasn’t sure why he had assumed Peter wouldn’t be a good kisser, for Peter was no longer the awkward teenager he once was and Harry had seen how breathless Gwen had been on stage, but it had caught him off guard, nonetheless. This kiss was just as surprising, somehow, even though they had kissed several times in the interim; Peter seemed more in control, somehow, more confident.
When they pulled apart, Harry silently swore that the two would share many more kisses like that. Judging by the dopey grin on Peter’s face, he was certain it wouldn’t be too hard to accomplish.