Archive of Our Own

Contrary to whatever Tony’s been claiming nonstop, moving from Tennessee to New York was a huge deal, especially for Harley. The two places were more than a little different, with the people, the atmosphere and the attitudes as factors. Every time he went outside to look at the city he ran into more and more mean people he didn’t want to ever encounter again. Then again, it wasn’t like Tennessee didn’t have these kind of people. Rose Hill, Tennessee was just a smaller place, so the chances of people being jerks were lower. Or at least… you knew who they were, where to find them and how to avoid them, most of the time.

New York offered no such comfort, sending the kid straight into the fire of Hell itself and back. Tony might have forgot to mention the fact that people were seemingly EVERYWHERE in New York and not just here and there, spread around the city. This place really was too much sometimes. Not to mention Harley had to realize why they called it the city that never sleeps. Whenever he tried to go to sleep, instead of silence, he was surrounded by hundreds of voices and noises that kept him up. Suffice to say, his first month at the city wasn’t as good as he would have hoped.

Of course, there were good things too. Like working with Tony. Heck, even just meeting the mechanic after years of only texting and maybe calling was an improvement. When Tony first greeted him after getting off the plane, he simply pulled his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose, observed Harley with a sniff and then pointed at him while looking at the man standing by him, looking way too formal. “This is a teenager. I swear to God, the kid I’ve been talking to is, like, eight.”

And yes, Harley wasn’t eight anymore. He was fifteen, thank you very much. His frame wasn’t exactly the best yet – puberty was something Harley wouldn’t even wish upon his worst enemies – but he looked better than a kid trying to hide in his too large clothes, cold beyond reason. Now he was kinda tall and very slim, with freckles dotting his face and wild, untamed hair that fell into his eyes whether he wanted it to or not. Especially with Tony constantly messing it up by ruffling it with his fingers.

To be honest, Harley suggested moving to Avengers Tower as a joke. Tony was just talking about sending him more plans for the project he was busy with and Harley was sick of hearing his complaints about how it would have been a lot easier if he didn’t have to wait for Harley to reply all the time from a different country. So Harley told him to finally let him live in the tower with him so he wouldn’t have to wait like that again. After that there was radio silence for about three days – which wasn’t very strange because Tony was more than a little busy half the time – before Harley’s mom came to him and asked him if he wanted to move to New York and live at Avengers Tower in order to get better education. Because apparently Tony took his joke as a serious suggestion and talked to his mom about it.

And how could Harley ever deny THAT?

So he packed up all his stuff, said goodbye to his friends, ignored his bully once again in the hopes that he would just let him leave, hugged his sister and promised to send her souvenirs from the Big Apple, patted her mom on the back when she started crying and promised to talk to her at least twice a week… and then he left.

The Avengers at the tower greeted him warmly, if a little stiff, eyeing him in order to understand what his personality and qualities were. Natasha was probably the most intense one. But honestly, Harley didn’t mind. They warmed up to him under two weeks after all. He was the kid who helped Tony years ago, after all. They appreciated that, even if they did seem a little concerned while mentioning how similar his and Tony’s personalities were. In all honesty, he didn’t know whether to take it as a complement or not.

As promised, Harley got to work with Tony in his lab almost whenever he wanted to. The mechanic granted him permission to enter the room even without him in it, so FRIDAY didn’t lock him out and DUM-E and U seemed to like him enough from the start. He wasn’t in the same level as Tony – not even close. But he enjoyed working on whatever projects Tony had in mind, whether it was Avengers related, SI related or simply something that popped into his mind and wouldn’t leave. Harley just soaked it all in, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world.

But after a month Tony came to him with the news. The big news. The ones that made Harley’s honeymoon phase end. The ones that made him cringe, thinking about the way things were in Rose Hill. And yeah, they weren’t that great back home, if Harley’s memory was anything to go by. And it was.

Apparently, Harley still needed to attend high-school, which he completely forgot after everything that’s happened since his arrival. So, naturally, Tony enrolled him in a STEM school in Queens. Then he shoved a brochure into Harley’s hand, patted him on his back, and left him with the knowledge that the very next day he would attend his new school. Great. Panicking a little, Harley didn’t even check out what the name of the place was called and just went to sleep with dread filling his guts. What if the place would be even worse than his school back home? What if there were not one but plenty of E.Js around to torment him? What if he wasn’t really smart enough for a STEM school after all? He didn’t feel smart… then again, he worked with a genius like Tony Stark, so maybe he only felt stupid in comparison.

Anyway, Harley was going to school, apparently. He wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Come on, kid, just get out the door and go find your class.” Happy grumbled lowly, his head tilted down just a little. He looked like driving Harley all the way to his school took a toll out of him and that made no sense because Happy was used to driving everywhere all the time. Then again, Tony DID mention the guy was always like that. So maybe it had nothing to do with Harley and his school.

Looking out the window while hugging his new backpack close to his chest, Harley looked out the window at the building spread before him. The name Midtown School of Science and Technology was hanging above the entrance, letting everyone know what the place was. He let the name sink in, his breath hitching. He was going to faint, he was pretty sure of this.

There were teenagers walking around the front of the school, talking to each other. They all looked like… nerds. Harley gaped at them all, thinking about the fact that – yeah, they were all nerds because this was a school for smart kids. Kids that liked nerdy stuff, like him. They wouldn’t have fit in Rose Hill, just like him, and he found himself relaxing at that. Maybe it wouldn’t be THAT bad after all.

So, taking in a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped out of the car, waving at Happy for a moment before dragging his legs towards the entrance. He kept his head down and avoided eye contact with just about everyone. He didn’t want anyone to pay attention to him. It was bad enough, just being the new kid. He really didn’t want anything embarrassing to happen on his way to his first class.

It didn’t matter what he wanted, though, because a teenager near the entrance stopped him the moment Harley thought he was probably going to be safe. He cringed when the kid said his name. Was there someone around who knew him? Was he going to get bullied right here, right now? God, he didn’t know what to do with his hands and –

He looked up and his breath hitched. It wasn’t anyone he’s seen before. He would have remembered this face. It was a boy around his age with wide eyes that made him look like an innocent twelve-year-old, with flushed cheeks and a shy smile. He was shorter than Harley and looked like he wasn’t exactly comfortable in the school as well. Yet there was something about him that let Harley know he wasn’t new here. How did he know his name again?

“Umm… hi?”

The boy pressed his lips and his fingers tightened their grip around the straps of his backpack. It was honestly falling apart. As were the boy’s clothes and shoes. He looked like everything he had belonged to three people at least before he got it. Maybe he had older brothers, like Ron Weasley and had to get everything they had instead of new stuff.

Clearing his throat, the kid forced a smile onto his face. It didn’t look like he couldn’t stand Harley, though. More like he didn’t know what to do with himself and why he was stuck there. “Hi. You are Harley Keener, right?”

“I think the fact that I’m still standing here with you should be a satisfying answer.” Harley replied although his voice wavered near the end. Was he being rude? Yup. What was he thinking?? Sure, this kid might look like nothing to worry about, but maybe he had friends who wouldn’t have a problem about dealing with Harley.

Luckily, the kid just smiled and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Right. Sorry. Er… my name’s Peter Parker.” His smile turned more genuine. “Principal Morita sort of asked me yesterday to show you around. Said you were new? Umm… if you don’t want any help, that’s okay. I’m not really the best one to show you around unless you want to be associated with the bottom of the hierarchy around here right from the start.” He looked at Harley apologetically. “I’m not really very popular.”

Harley blinked at Peter once. Then twice. His lips titled down and he found himself frowning at the teenager. Peter seemed okay. Sure, he didn’t know what he was like when he wasn’t just trying to get rid of Harley, but he seemed fine. Really, Harley looked around and didn’t see anyone looking at the guy like he was someone that should be mocked. They just moved on with their lives as if he didn’t matter. And the kid seemed comfortable enough not to flinch away from people’s touch.

“I don’t know what you think of me, but I’m not really the popular type either.” He smirked in Peter’s direction, hoping the teen wouldn’t take it the wrong way. The smile on his face was enough to let Harley know he didn’t mess up yet. “Alright, lead the way, Peter Parker.”

Grinning, Peter entered the building with Harley walking beside him, slightly behind. He looked around the place, taking in the TV screens showing a blond girl and a dark boys sitting behind a table and delivering news with a clear green screen behind their backs. There were groups of students huddled together, talking excitedly or simply walking to class. Some opened up their lockers to get what they needed out before the bell rings. Harley even caught a young student flying a drone around the halls, calling excitedly for his friends and following the robot.

Peter didn’t even acknowledge that, but he did clearly see the astonishment on Harley’s face because he shrugged. “Maybe you should get used to seeing this kind of things. People here are crazy. You’d probably march your own projects around here eventually. Just don’t let the teachers catch you because it’s not actually allowed.” He added with a whisper and then stopped next to a locker with a couple of sticker on it. Some where of Star Wars and others were of the Avengers. Harley had to purse his lips at that. He shouldn’t just tell Peter he knew them, after all. “This is my locker.” He winced, as if hit by Harley’s thoughts. “IF it wasn’t obvious, I’m a geek. Not even gonna try and hide that.” Then he pointed at the locker right beside his. “That’s yours. Here, they gave me your password.”

He handed Harley an envelope which he opened quickly, memorizing the number inside and then glancing at Peter who respectfully looked away as he opened the locker. Once it did he quickly shoved inside a couple of books he didn’t currently need. Alright, so Peter seemed fine till now. If Harley had his locker right next to his maybe things wouldn’t be too bad after all. He wondered if they had any classes together.

“What year are you?” Just to be safe…

Peter blinked, as if just remembering he hadn’t said it yet. “Oh, right. I’m a junior.” He answered and Harley’s expression must have shown his disappointment because Peter quickly reassured him. “Hey, I’m sure you’re going to find friends in your year.” His eyes lit up. “Oh, you should try and get into the Academic Decathlon team!” He was basically vibrating in his place, excitement pouring out of him. It was cute. “We have a practice today after school at the classroom over there.” He pointed to a door not too far off and then looked up at Harley with bright eyes. “If you get in we’ll be able to meet at least twice a week for practice.”

And Harley wasn’t planning on joining any clubs in this place, especially any time soon, but Peter Parker… there was something about him that made Harley want to stay around him and just take it all in. He wondered how smart Peter was if he was a part of the Academic Decathlon team of this school.

When he noticed Peter was still looking at him expectantly, he shrugged and tried to look like it didn’t really matter to him, although he knew it was obviously clear on his face, his need to stay around Peter and spend as much time with him, despite barely knowing him. “Yeah, maybe I’ll give it a go.” God, did his voice just break?

Peter didn’t seem to notice, or maybe he just was nice enough to ignore it and move on, because he looked at Harley and held out his hand. For a moment Harley thought he wanted to hold his hand and despite how weird it was, Harley was actually willing to let him, but then Peter asked for his schedule and he pulled the paper out of his bag, blushing furiously.

Two minutes later Harley was waving goodbye at Peter after he showed him his way to the classroom he needed. He wondered when he’ll see him again. Will he go to practice after school? Should he? Was Peter only being nice and suggested that despite not really wanting to spend any extra time with him? He did try and make Harley leave him the moment they’d met, after all.

The bell rang, letting Harley know he should head inside and face the music. God, he was terrified of not finding anyone to befriend other than Peter, and Peter didn’t really count, seeing as they didn’t have any shared classes with Peter being a year older and all that. Just great. Awesome. Fantastic.

Harley wasn’t really into studying and doing homework, but Midtown wasn’t half bad. He found himself a friend his age during his first week – a girl named Gwen Stacy – which, really, made all the difference. He didn’t have to keep his head down because they were ALL nerds. Not just him. And no one mocked him about the amount of knowledge he had swirling in his head. In fact, there were a couple of kids in his class who were smarter than him, which was new to him.

Living with the Avengers made things a bit harder, seeing as he couldn’t exactly tell people where he goes after school and about the people he lived with. He couldn’t even invite Gwen over after he went over to her house a couple of times. She actually asked to go to his place at one point, but Harley made some excuse about his family not liking anyone coming over.

He didn’t really have to lie, since Tony never told him to do so. The Avengers didn’t mind being associated with Harley since he managed to make them all like him. But Harley didn’t want this. He didn’t want to be known as the weird kid who lives with the Avengers. He didn’t want people to line up to be his friends only because he knew those heroes. He wanted to live his life and be himself without any expectations.

Everything else, though, was great. The teachers seemed to care. At least… more than the teachers back in Rose Hill. The students in his classes welcomed him without any problem, only smiles and nods of acknowledgement. He was a finally putting some effort into his studies, learning things he didn’t know after years of being in a normal school with the same boring education system that didn’t challenge him.

When Harley moved past a classroom on his way towards the exit of the school he heard the ring of a bell coming from inside and then a voice saying some random fact. He furrowed his brows. He thought all of the lessons ended for today. But then he pushed open the door a little and when he looked inside he found a couple of teenagers and one teacher he already recognized as Mr. Harrington spread around, asking questions and then answering them. There was a girl standing in front of a little stage, notes in her hand. She was the one to ask the questions. On stage were two tables with two students sitting near each one, bells in front of them and their arms ready to press them in case they have the correct answers. The others were doing random stuff around the room. There was a boy who read a magazine lazily, tilted back on a chair. There were two girls whispering in the corner of the room, looking up every once in a while to hear a question better.

On stage was a boy who went to some of Harley’s classes named Abe. Next to him was another boy, probably older than him. Harley let his gaze linger on them for a moment and then he looked at the other pair and his breath hitched. There, on stage, were other two boys. One Harley didn’t know at all who seemed tense and enthusiastic, a red shirt making him almost impossible to miss. And next to him was Peter Parker, in a hoodie and a science pun shirt underneath. His brows were furrowed with concentration and he was hunched over a notebook, quickly scribbling away.

It took them all a moment to notice Harley’s presence in the room. The first one to see him, of course, was Peter. He lifted his gaze as if sensing Harley’s eyes on him, a confused expression on his face. But the moment he saw Harley it brightened and his lips quirked up in a smile that split his face.

“Hey, Harley!” He called and suddenly the room went quiet, the people turning to look at Harley for the first time. Abe and a girl named Cindy were both familiar with him from their shared classes, so they recognized him and waved a little. The others just tilted their heads in confusion, but there was no malice in their stares. Just curiosity. Except for Magazine Guy. He looked at Harley with a look that made Harley’s shoulders tense. “What’s up? I thought you didn’t want to join.”

The truth is, Harley did want to join the Decathlon team. He truly did, since Peter was in it and he could use another familiar face around the school. But he couldn’t bring himself to actually try and get in since he was just too nervous. What if he messed up and didn’t make it? What if Peter was only being nice and didn’t really want him there? What if the team members were all jerks?

But now… they seemed fine. It looked like fun. He actually thought that maybe he really should try and get a spot on the team. Did they even need another member? When he counted them he realized that yes, they did need another member to be the replacement, just in case.

Mr. Harrington, as if reading his mind, got up, his face bright and excited. “Oh, would you like to join? We really need another member before our next competition.” He spoke fast, like there was something chasing him. And according to the stories Gwen told him about the guy, there really was something. Not someone physical. More like a force of bad luck. Apparently every single one of his field trips went wrong one way or another up until now. He even lost one student the year before, a girl named Michelle Jones. There was a fight on a bridge their bus took them through between Spider-man and Doctor Octopus and… well… she fell off.

Actually, when Gwen told him about Michelle she also mentioned Peter. “Yeah, they used to date. They were really cute together, too.” Gwen had said, her voice solemn. “I think the students with them on the bus mentioned Peter was there and then he was just gone the next moment. Really weird. And after she fell and died he showed up again and acted like he already knew the full story. Really weird. No one’s managed to solve Peter Parker’s mystery.”

Harley kinda wanted to try, though.

A week later Harley went to the first practice of the team. He was both flustered and proud to hear he would be taking Flash’s (Magazine Guy) place and push him back to alternate. Peter and his friend, Ned, welcomed him with wide grins and let Gwen and Harley sit with them at their lunch table to tell them more than a few stories about the team’s past.

Ned mentioned Michelle only once. Harley’s eyes immediately turned to Peter at that but the boy only had a distant smile on his face, like he was taken back to that moment. And then he blinked, looked at Harley and started telling him a different story.

It was nice.

The team left to try and spot and contain Spider-man. Apparently SHIELD thought he was a threat that they needed to take down and control. They needed to get a hold of him, and their soldiers were the Avengers. Harley didn’t really have an opinion about the guy quite yet, but he knew most New Yorkers actually liked him. Plus, according to FRIDAY, crime rates went down ever since he stepped up and started helping.

And maybe… maybe he inspired Harley too.

Harley lived in Avengers Tower and had full access to Tony’s lab, which meant the moment the man was out on a mission to capture Spider-man, Harley went right back to working on his own armor. He worked with the same materials as Tony did with his own suit but added his own flare to it.

He started working on it the moment he saw Spider-man from afar. The vigilante landed on the sidewalk next to a little girl. She had tears rolling down her face and no adults connected to her in sight. So he knelt down beside her and spoke to her, his voice gentle. After a few moments Harley watched as he scooped her up in his arms and started wondering around until he spotted Harley.

Then he surprised the teen by actually waving at him and speeding towards him. “Hey!” He said with a voice that clearly wasn’t his. He had a voice modulator, which made sense with the whole ‘secret identity’ thing going on. But it didn’t make the voice any less friendly, Harley realized. “Do you have a phone? Can I borrow your phone?”

Too shocked to really think about it, Harley handed the device to Spider-man, watching as the vigilante turned to face the girl in his arms. He asked her for a number and she quietly muttered her answer, watching as Spider-man typed it in and then held it for her. Hesitantly, she grabbed the phone and then talked to the woman on the other side. Her mother, according to her. A minute later the woman ran towards them, her arms spread out to reach her girl.

The moment they were both walking away Spider-man handed the phone back to Harley and left after thanking him. Harley couldn’t forget that. Spider-man didn’t fight aliens or raided bases of HYDRA. He was just helping people with their everyday problem. And it mattered. It really mattered to a lot of people. Harley wanted to do that too, so he started working on the suit.

His problem was that he didn’t know how to work everything out and he didn’t want to let Tony get involved since he knew the mechanic wouldn’t let him dawn the suit in a million years. It was a miracle FRIDAY hadn’t told him about it yet. So Harley was currently busy glaring at the parts he managed to build correctly and at the rest of the schematics, his annoyance blaring in his chest. He didn’t get that many chances of being alone in Tony’s lab like that and now he was right there and couldn’t do everything he wanted to do because he simply didn’t know how.

Then he phone started ringing. Surprised, he looked down and immediately answered after seeing Peter’s name on his screen. “Hey!” Peter sounded a bit out of breath. “Umm… so I know we’ve never really talked about it, but I’m kinda looking for a place to stay for a few hours and I can’t go home or to Ned’s because his family is visiting and there’s nowhere to really hide without raising any questions.” He yelped. “Hey, careful with the blades! I don’t have the time to sew anything up later!” These words were muffled a bit, as if Peter covered the microphone in his phone with his hand in an attempt to make Harley not hear him. It didn’t work and actually sounded like something Harley should be concerned about. “Anyway,” Peter talked to him again. “Is there any chance I can drop by at your place? I swear you won’t get in trouble for it. Probably.”

Well, that was ominous. Harley looked around the lab, aware of the fact that ‘his place’ was Avengers Tower. He didn’t want to freak Peter out. He didn’t want the boy to look at him any differently because of this. But… but Peter sounded like he really was running out of options. And he had a feeling he won’t explain things to Harley, no matter what. Not now, anyway.

“Oh… yeah, I guess. Just… can you not tell anyone where I live? It’s kind of… I don’t want people to know.”

“Sure.” Peter replied immediately. He really did sound out of breath. Was there really someone with blades running after him? Sounded weird since Peter was the most kind and gentle person Harley’s ever met. Why would anyone try and hurt him? “Just give me an address and I’ll keep my mouth shut. I swear. OUCH! Hey, I’m on the phone! It’s impolite to interrupt.”

Wincing, Harley leaned on the table in front of him, pretty concerned about Peter’s safety. “Umm… Avengers Tower.” He heard the dead silence of the teen on the other end of the line. “Er… yeah. Just get into left elevator and FRIDAY will bring you to where I am.” He hesitated for a moment when Peter still didn’t say anything. “You still there?”

Peter inhaled sharply and Harley could almost imagine his stunned expression at the weird living place of Harley. “Oh, yeah! I… it’s just… wow.” The smile in his voice came back. “Umm… give me about five minutes and I’ll be there.” Another moment and then he added quietly, “Thanks, Harls.” And then the line went dead, leaving Harley to bask in the sound of the nicknames coming out of Peter.

He busied himself with the schematics of the suit until he heard the ding of the elevator. When he turned around the doors opened and a sweaty Peter Parker came out. He had a small limp and his left eye was beginning to bruise. Plus, the hoodie he had on had a trickle of blood on it, as if there was a scratch underneath and the blood just seeped through.

Gaping, Harley quickly ran towards him, supporting Peter’s weight by pulling the other teen’s arm around his shoulders. Peter didn’t object. He simply smiled and let Harley lead the way. Harley wanted to ask him what happened. He wondered if someone attacked Peter, trying to get his wallet or something, but it didn’t really make enough sense. But looking at Peter, he was certain the boy won’t tell him what really happened and why he needed a place to stay.

So he just let the teen drop onto a chair at the lab and then started looking for a first aid kit. Tony had one, right? He had to have one. “So… you live with the Avengers.” Peter spoke, his voice a bit airy, like his lungs had a hard time squeezing and filling. “There’s gotta be a story there. Just tell me you’re not Tony Stark’s secret child.” He said, his voice horrified but his face amused.

“He broke into my garage when I was a kid so I threatened him with a potato gun.” Harley answered and Peter chuckled. He watched as Harley finally spotted a kit and came back to sit in front of him. Without even asking, Peter lifted the sleeve of his hoodie, revealing a long cut in his arm. It didn’t look too bad, but Harley still decided to attend to it. And it wasn’t like Peter objected. “Anyway,” He tried to ignore Peter’s hiss of pain when Harley cleaned the cut. “I helped him and he decided to keep in touch. And I joked about coming to New York… never joke about things like that with a billionaire who can do whatever he wants. He actually talked to my mom the same day and got me here in no time.”

The smile on Peter’s face was only a little strained. He watched as Harley bandaged his arm. “That’s cool.” Then he looked over Harley’s shoulder at the schematics of the suit, his eyes widening. “Hey, that’s not the Iron-man suit.”

It wasn’t a question, so Harley didn’t bother giving an answer.

“Are you… making yourself a suit? Like… a superhero suit?” When Harley shrugged sheepishly Peter’s eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. “That’s really cool! Are you going to join the Avengers?” There was something behind that question, like he was hesitant to know the answer. Like he didn’t want to hear Harley’s answer.

But he asked. “No.” Harley took in the way Peter’s shoulders relaxed a little. Weird, but this whole thing was weird, so who was Harley to judge. “I don’t think they’d take a fifteen-year-old kid on missions.” He grinned. “This is more of a… secret project. So maybe don’t mention it to anyone. Tony would kill me if he knew I was working on something like this. He gets really overprotective all the time.” He winced and Peter’s eyes bulged.

“Wait, you wanna be a vigilante? Like… Nova and Jessica Jones and – “

“Spider-man.” Harley nodded. “I mean, the Avengers don’t really like him right now – they’re actually out trying to catch him – but I think he’s alright. They’re just busy obeying orders to really pay attention.” Harley turned to look at the schematics once he was finished with Peter’s arm and sighed. “But I’m stuck, so it doesn’t really matter.”

For a moment they both remained quiet, just staring together at the screen. And then Peter rolled his chair closer to the table and eyed Harley’s work with his observant eyes. Without words he looked at Harley, as if asking for permission before Harley nodded and Peter started editing the schematics, his brows furrowed in concentration. Harley watched his fingers work for a while before he looked up at the screen.

His jaw dropped.

Peter… did it. He made sense of the things Harley messed up in under five minutes. When he leaned back in his chair Harley watched as the schematics were finally done. And they looked like they might actually work. Now, it would have been easier, but Harley wanted the suit to be made out of nanotech in order to carry it everywhere without looking suspicious. And he knew Tony had the right materials for such a thing considering his own suit was made out of nanotech as well.

The nanotech were Harley’s main problem since he barely knew how to work with them. It was… yeah, it was beyond complicated. But Peter just gave it a look and worked everything out effortlessly. Harley couldn’t even express his amazement. He just sat there, incredulous, and gaped at the screen and at Peter.

Once he recovered, he quickly started working, gesturing for Peter to have at it. So together they set to work, joking around and passing the time by creating the suit Harley could finally see himself dawning. With Peter’s help and Tony’s advanced lab, the process took no more than three hours before the full suit was ready. Peter and Harley watched the hollow suit with matching grins, looking proud.

“Alright, time to test if out.” Harley smirked and tapped the arc reactor of the suit. The suit retracted immediately, folding into a small watch which Harley beamed at before folding around his wrist. “We did it!” Harley exclaimed, his face turning towards Peter who looked both proud and thoughtful. For a moment he bit his lip but then he simply nodded and looked down at his phone. “Do you know when you’re going to be able to go back home?” Harley asked, suddenly realizing Peter was only there because something bad happened.

But Peter only shook his head. “Still no idea.” He pursed his lips. “I have something you could add to your suit. If you’d like. You don’t have to. I mean, you probably won’t because you could make a better one but – “

“What is it, Pete?”

Blinking with surprise, Peter snapped his eyes up to meet Harley’s, his face a little flushed. Oh, right. Maybe he shouldn’t have just called him Pete like it was nothing. Maybe it meant something to him. Or it was just weird. But Peter didn’t tell him anything about it. Instead he put his phone on one of the tables and connected it with a wire to the computers. When Harley observed the phone he realized it was in a really bad state. And old. Just like everything else Peter seemed to own, unfortunately.

Typing a couple of things, Peter watched the screens and then turned to Harley when a complicated code filled the screen. Harley frowned at it. He couldn’t even pretend to read it. When he looked at Peter with questioning eyes the teen smiled. “This is my AI, Karen.” He explained, and then hesitated before adding, “I made her for Spider-man.”

Oh, well Harley didn’t expect that. He made an AI for Spider-man? Did he know him? Did he give the AI to the vigilante or did he just make it so he’d have it in case he stumbled upon the guy? And more importantly – Peter created an AI all by himself and he showed it to Harley! Wow.

“Yeah, umm… you probably don’t know this, but I take photos of him for the Daily Bugle to help my aunt with the bills?” He coughed. “Anyway, I run into him a lot and I gave him Karen. I figured… if you want… you can add her to your suit too.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “But you don’t have to. I know Mr. Stark probably has, like, ten other better AIs around that you could use instead, so it’s really not a big deal or anything…”

Huffing, Harley took off his watch to connect it to the computer as well. Then he looked at Peter, his smile brighter than ever. “I’d love to.” He gestured for Peter to handle things from there and after a moment’s hesitation from the older teen, he leaned in and started downloading Karen over to Harley’s suit. It amazed Harley that Peter just kept the AI on his phone like that. How did she even function with this old thing? Maybe he would be able to convince Tony let him give Peter a new phone so Karen would work better. As a thank you for everything, of course.

While working, Peter kept on speaking. “Karen’s the name Spidey gave her. Sorry you don’t get to choose your own name for her. She’s connected to the police scanners so if there’s something going on, you can know about it too and get there to help, if you’d like. Plus, she’s just really nice to talk to. Just… to pass the time. Oh, and since Karen is also in Spidey’s suit you’d be able to talk to him, seeing as Karen can connect to herself.” His fingers stopped moving and he leaned back before handing Harley his watch back. “If something’s wrong with her, let me know. I’ll fix it. Or… you can try and fix it? I don’t know... I’ve never seen you work with codes before.” He blushed and shook his head. “Not that I’m great with it or anything. Ned’s the one who knows how to code just about everything.”

“Thanks, Pete.” Harley opened his mouth to suggest trying to test the suit and Karen together when the elevator opened and he turned around to see a frustrated Tony walking out. The man’s steps halted the moment his eyes landed on Peter. The boy paled as well, his expression close to scared, but he was probably just shocked to actually meet Tony Stark in person. Harley quickly put on a smile. “Hey, Tony. Let me guess, you didn’t catch him?” He quickly closed the folder with everything related to his suit and watched as Peter disconnected his phone, therefore hiding Karen, before hiding it in his back pocket.

With narrowed eyes Tony scoffed and stepped towards them, his eyes still taking Peter in. He wasn’t the best vision right now, with his beat-up features. But Harley hoped Tony wouldn’t mind. “Can it, Keener. Unless you want me to ban you from this lab for the next two weeks.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and stopped in front of Peter. “And you are?”

Wide eyes, Peter gave Harley a look before turning to Tony. “Umm… Peter Parker, sir.”

A spark of recognition lit up Tony’s eyes. It wasn’t the first time he’s heard the name seeing as Harley’s mentioned Peter before. He was a good friend, okay? But maybe he forgot to mention to Tony how much Peter resembled sometimes a homeless kid, with his torn jeans and worn-out shirts and hoodies. It suited him, sure. Or maybe Harley was just used to it by now. But Peter could use some better… everything. Except for his brain. His brain was perfect just the way it was. And his face. And everything else. Really, only his clothes needed an upgrade. And his phone. And his shoes.

“Right.” Tony smirked. “It’s good to finally put a face to the name.” He held out his hand for Peter to shake. The older teen hesitated only one moment before complying, his grip probably stronger than Tony had expected because Tony’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. “Just tell me you talk your parents’ ears off about Harley just as much as the kid does to me and I’ll ignore the fact that Harley didn’t mention you coming over before.”

Peter pulled his hand back. “I don’t speak much to my parents these days…” He said, pausing for a moment that allowed Tony’s brows to furrow. “It might have something to do with the fact that they’ve been dead for ten years now.”

The remorse on Tony’s face flashed for a moment and then disappeared behind a nonchalant mask. “Oh, there are two of you now.” He pointed at Harley. “You didn’t tell me he was an annoying shit like you.” Then he stretched his hands and walked past them. “What’ve you two been working on here?”

Looking at each other, Harley winced. “Er… just this clock. Since I didn’t want to buy one.” He showed Tony his new watch and waited with bated breath for the mechanic to call him out on his bullshit.

He didn’t. Tony just hummed and rolled his eyes. “Boring. You have the most advanced lab in the world and all you do with it… is a watch?” He groaned and sat down, looking tired. “I’m disappointed.”

“Whatever.” Harley turned to look at Peter in order to offer going to his room and get some privacy again but Peter’s apologetic smile met him and made him shut his mouth.

“I have to go.” He explained, his smile tense as he looked back towards Tony. “Umm… thanks Harls.” He started walking backwards, towards the elevator. His hands holding his phone tightly. “I won’t tell anyone, by the way.” He looked both at Tony and at Harley’s watch. “Unless you want me to tell…” He trailed off. Then he shook his head. “But you can just do it yourself. Umm… gotta go.” And he turned around and entered the elevator, waving at Harley one last time before the doors closed.

When Harley turned to look at Tony the man had a smug smile on his face. “He’s cute. I approve.”

Face burning, Harley stomped out of the lab.

Only later that night Harley would think about the way Peter’s limp was gone by the time he left the lab.

Afraid to test his suit alone, Harley found himself waiting to meet Spider-man. He wanted to talk to him through Karen, like Peter mentioned, but felt like it might make the guy dislike him. What if it annoyed him? He didn’t want Spider-man to not like him. He wanted to help the vigilante.

But every time he planned on trying to sneak out to try and find him, the Avengers left to try and chase the guy through the city and Harley decided against meeting up with him. He didn’t want to look like a mini-Iron-man, coming to finish the job. Plus, he wanted to meet Spider-man when the guy wasn’t hurt or stressed out. So he waited. And waited. And waited.

Until finally the Avengers had an evening of rest, without chasing the vigilante. Telling them he’s going to head to b ed early, Harley entered his room, tapped the right space on his watch and was instantly enveloped by the armor. For a moment it felt strange, but then he looked around, taking everything in through the suit’s screen.

“Good evening, Harley.” A voice sounded in his ears, almost making him jump out of his skin. But a moment later he realized who it was. Not FRIDAY, about to tell Tony, because she wasn’t connected to his suit. No, that must be Karen, with a smooth, relaxed voice that made him immediately like her. And she knew who he was. Somehow.

“Oh. Umm… hi.” Harley muttered. “Karen, right? How do you know who I am?”

She sounded almost confused when she answered him. “Peter programmed me to. Should I not know this? I can erase your name from my database if you’d like. An affirmation from Peter would also be necessary.”

Peter programmed Karen to know him? When? Did he do it when he transferred her to his suit or did he somehow upgrade her from his own bedroom and it just extended to this version of her? God, he already liked her a lot. He couldn’t imagine FRIDAY ever sounding this nice.

Humming, Harley shook his head. “No, it’s fine. You just caught me off guard.” Then he smiled and pushed his window open. When he looked down over the edge his breath caught in his throat. God, he was really up high, wasn’t he? Falling from this place… this would definitely kill him, Harley didn’t even need to consider this. He gulped and leaned back, taking a step away from the window. If he fell down and the repulsors wouldn’t work it would be the end of both this plan and Harley.

“Harley?” Karen broke through his frantic thoughts. “You seem to be distressed.”

Nodding, Harley leaned on the wall next to the window. “Yup. That seems about right.” He agreed, his voice clipped.

“Would you like me to display the messages Spider-man and Peter left for you in the meantime?” She asked.

Wait. “Spider-man… left me a message? Uh, yes?” He froze, waiting for a moment. And then he saw Peter’s name on the screen and underneath the first message. Hey, Harls. I hope Karen shows this to you before you do anything crazy with your suit – will you PLEASE tell Spider-man when you want to go out? I really don’t want to be the reason you fall to your death after helping you with this insane plan. Oh, and good luck!

The flustered smile on his face would have been embarrassing but nobody could see his face under the armor, so he was glad. Then he asked Karen to show him the message from Spider-man.

Hi, Harley. Heard you’re going to probably try and jump out a window for the first time soon and I thought maybe you’d like to have someone around to make sure you don’t, you know, fall to your death. So whenever you feel like it, just ask Karen to call me and I’ll be at the tower. Oh, just maybe make sure the Avengers don’t catch me anywhere near this place. I don’t think they like me too much.

“Karen?” Harley asked, his breaths finally evening out. “Can you please ask Spider-man if he’s free right now to help me test out this suit?”

The AI almost sounded relived when it answered him, quickly sending the message to Spider-man. A minute and a half later Spider-man said he was coming. A few minutes later Harley heard a knock on the window. When he looked up from his place on the bed he saw the vigilante climbing into the room, his steps light and quiet.

Saluting, Spider-man straightened his back. “Heard you were in need of a lifeguard.” He let his hand fall and watched Harley’s suit for a moment. “This looks really cool, by the way.”

Harley smiled, his faceplate down so it was visible for the vigilante. When he looked down at the suit he couldn’t help but agree. It was red and silver, unlike the Iron-man armor, and the shape of the armor was a little different than Tony’s. It looked like a modulated copy of Tony’s suit. One that actually fit Harley and not the mechanic. He felt safe with it covering his body. Doesn’t make it any less stressful, jumping out the window.

“Thanks. Pete helped with the design. And… everything else.” He stood up and looked at the window with a concerned twist of the lips. “Umm… I don’t know how to do this, really. Probably gonna mess this all up today.” He gulped and shook his head. “You know what, maybe I shouldn’t do it. It’s a crazy idea, going out there like this. Tony would know it’s me under, like, five seconds and then I’ll never be allowed out of his sight.”

Spider-man reached out for his arm and held him in place. “Hey, relax. It’s always scary the first time.” He assured. “But it’s alright. It’s actually fun after you get used to it.” He looked down over the edge of the window and then looked back at Harley with his huge, white eyes. “Want me to get you down and then train somewhere where you wouldn’t accidently die from the fall?” He suggested.

That sounded great, actually. But it made Harley feel horrible. “I mean… don’t you wanna be out there and help people? I… you really shouldn’t be wasting your time helping me. You have better things to do.”

For a moment Spider-man was quiet, but then he spoke again and Harley could hear the smile in his modulated voice. “Think of it this way – if you go out there too then less people would get hurt. I can’t be everywhere all at once. I miss out on plenty of nights as it is because I can’t always get out and patrol. Plus, the Avengers kinda leave me more than a little banged up, so I think having someone out there when I can’t, would be good.” He held out his hand for Harley to take. Harley did. “Now let’s go out there and figure out how to fly this metal can of yours.”

He held Harley with one hand wrapped around the teen’s waist, pinning him to the hero’s side, and Harley had a feeling he sticked his hand to Harley to make sure he wouldn’t fall. With a thought, Harley’s faceplate slammed over his face, concealing his expression. Then they jumped out the window and Harley yelped, trying to suppress an alarmed scream. Spider-man didn’t comment on that, instead sticking out his free hand and firing a web towards the closest building. It caught them and then Spider-man let it go and sent another one. And another one. Each one propelled them forward into the city and away from the tower. Harley’s horror quickly turned into excitement. This was nice. It felt like the wildest rollercoaster.

“This is amazing!” He yelled over the whining of the wind in their ears. Spider-man laughed at that but didn’t say anything. “Oh my Gosh, I can’t believe you get to do this all the time.” He whooped and tightened his grip around Spider-man, finding solid muscles under the spandex of the vigilante. It was nice, reassuring. It made him blush under the safety of the armor.

By the time Spider-man landed on top of a short building Harley was in the middle of laughing from sheer joy, his body buzzing with adrenaline. No wonder Spider-man swung around the city all the time. This felt amazing. It felt freeing, thrilling. Harley could do this for hours and not get sick of it. Although he was certain other people might want to hurl their insides out at the sensation of practically falling and then swooping back up.

And then they started training. Harley tried flying, firing his repulsors towards the sky and moving around in the suit. He was more than a little lucky about Spider-man’s presence because the vigilante kept on catching him every time he fell from the building or tripped over his own two feet. And frankly, Harley kinda liked getting caught by Spider-man. He didn’t sound that way because of the voice modulator, but the way he joked around and talked to Harley made the teen realize that Spider-man was young. As in… close to his age. He was twenty at best, but probably younger. And the Avengers were CHASING him.

Two hours later they found themselves sitting on the roof, their legs hanging over the edge. Their shoulders kept on touching but neither one of them made the move to slide a bit aside to widen the space between them. Harley wasn’t complaining. But soon after they both fell silent his thoughts turned back to Peter, like they always did.

Letting the faceplate melt away, Harley leaned back on his hands. “Hey… can I ask you a question?”

Spider-man gave him a look. “Sure.”

“You know…” Harley trailed off, unsure. Sure, Spider-man said he could ask, but this felt… rude. And yet… “Michelle Jones? The girl who used to go to my school?” He felt bad when Spider-man’s body went rigid, like Harley yelled at him. “She… she was Pete’s girlfriend, right? My friend told me that, but I never wanted to bring it up with Peter ‘cause it’s kinda…” He shook his head and looked away. “Never mind.”

It took him a moment, but eventually Spider-man spoke again. “No, it’s alright.” His voice sounded timid. “She was. Dating him.” He let his head fall. “She trusted me to save her no matter what and I wasn’t fast enough.” His voice turned choked and Harley remembered suddenly that Spider-man was there when the girl died. Which made Harley feel even worse. It didn’t only concern Peter, after all. Spider-man was affected by this as well. “I wish I was.”

Hesitantly, Harley lifted his hand and put it on Spider-man’s shoulder. The vigilante tensed for a moment and then relaxed and fully leaned against Harley, letting his head drop onto Harley’s shoulder. It felt intimate in a way that made Harley aware of every spot of contact between the two of them.

Frowning, he closed his eyes and blurted out the first thing that came into his mind. “I’m gay.” His face paled at once, all the blood draining away and leaving him feeling lightheaded. God, why would he ever say that to Spider-man after one normal – kinda – conversation?? Was he crazy?? “Sorry, just…” He tried to chuckle, but it sounded more like the beginning of a sob so he stopped. “Forget it. I don’t know why I said that.”

He waited for Spider-man to flinch away from his touch with disgust. To swing away. To tell Peter who’d take Karen away and tell Tony about the suit they’d created. But Spider-man surprised him by just shifting a bit to find a more comfortable position. Then his gloved hands found Harley’s hand and he started stretching and folding Harley’s fingers through the armor. Harley didn’t even fight him on that. He just waited.

“Thanks for telling me.” Spider-man said, his voice relaxed and tender. Genuine. Then, “I’m bi.”

Oh. Well, good to know. Even if the person he really wanted to hear this from was Peter, he’d take Spider-man’s confession and bask in it for now. It was good enough. He liked the idea of earning Spider-man’s trust enough for him to trust him with this bit of knowledge about himself. It made him feel proud about himself.

They kept on sitting there for at least five more minutes without saying anything before Spider-man perked up. “Wanna get something to eat and get back to the tower? I think you’ve had enough for one day.” He stood up before even getting a reply from Harley. Then he helped Harley onto his feet. “I know a place.”

Delmar’s was, indeed, a great place. Harley munched on his sandwich while holding Spider-man’s bag with his free hand. The vigilante himself carried them both back to Avengers Tower and up to Harley’s window. They climbed in together, Spider-man quickly grabbing his sandwich, sitting on the ceiling – sure, why not? – and unwrapping it.

Their light conversation ended the moment Spider-man lifted his mask up to his nose. He refused to talk without his modulator and Harley wasn’t about to make him do anything. So he just finished his sandwich, sitting on his bed with his legs crossed and the armor folded back into his watch. He wondered how Spider-man managed to eat upside down without choking but decided not to ask. He wasn’t going to get an answer anyway.

The sandwich was just as good as Spider-man said it would. He wondered whether Peter knew about this place. Maybe he should ask him and then go there with him. Just… as friends. This could be a nice thing to do, right? Friends did this.

It took Harley a moment to realize the sandwich was gone already. He finished it while he was drowning in his own thoughts. He lifted his gaze to Spider-man who crumbled the paper wrapped around the sandwich, done with it, before throwing it to the trash, not missing, obviously. Then he stood up, his head still upside down, but right in front of Harley’s. His mask was still down, his mouth, jaw and nose revealed.

“Thanks.” Harley said, suddenly embarrassed. “For today.” He watched as Spider-man’s lips stretched into a content smile before he pulled down his mask, hiding his features from sight once more.

“No problem.” He flipped down from the ceiling to land in front of Harley. “It would have stood in complete contrast to my mantra as Spider-man had I not helped you, really.” He shrugged and crouched on the windowsill, ready to leave and yet not turning away quite yet.

Harley shifted on the bed in order to sit more comfortably, his legs tucked under him. “And what is your mantra exactly?” He asked, voice hinting for sarcasm, although he was pretty sure he also really just wanted to know the answer. “Helping people who want to jump out of their windows for some reason?”

Snorting, Spider-man crossed his arms over his chest. For a split second Harley’s heart stopped in his chest at the sight of the vigilante hanging there, seemingly able to accidently fall backwards and die at a moment’s notice. But then he pulled himself together. This was Spider-man. He was probably sticking to the surface of the window so he wouldn’t fall like that. Besides, he could save himself from the fate of smashing against the concrete with his we-shooters.

Actually, Harley gave the web-shooters a second look and figured he might as well repay the vigilante with some new ones. Maybe Peter would like to help him build them from nanotech, like his suit. Then Spider-man would be able to activate them quicker. That would be nice, right? Not rude…

Spider-man’s voice cut through his thoughts and dragged Harley back to the present. “No, of course not.” Spider-man tilted his head to the side, as if he was taking Harley in and trying to measure him. “It’s helping Harley Keener when he wants to jump out of his window for some reason.”

Before Harley could react Spider-man was gone.

Turns out Peter liked the idea of the new web-shooters and jumped on the opportunity of creating them the moment Harley brought it up during their next Decathlon practice. So Harley promised to invite him back to the tower the moment Tony, and preferably the other Avengers, went out again, leaving the lab unoccupied.

It was risky, calling Peter over to make new tech for Spider-man, who was still the Avengers’ target. But it also made sense to Harley. Helping Spider-man using Tony’s tech when the man hunted him down for no good reason seemed like some sort of peace offering. And Karen reported Spider-man’s excitement over the idea. Which left Harley happy and content.

He invited Peter the next week when the Avengers left the tower to go out to capture Spider-man again and Peter immediately agreed, promising to be there in a few minutes. Which… was odd. Harley hasn’t been to Peter’s place yet, but he knew it was in Queens when Avengers Tower was in Manhattan. It would take more than a few minutes to get from one place to the other, and yet Peter did make it, not even sweating this time.

The wide grin on his face was almost overshadowed by relief, although Harley had no idea what that was about. He decided not to ask him either seeing as he didn’t want to pry into Peter’s life. And the boy could tell him himself, without Harley’s invasive questions. It was his choice. So instead of asking anything, Harley just let Peter follow him into Tony’s lab where they sat together in front of the holographic screens, their hands flying over the keyboard already. Well, Peter’s were. Harley was okay with only watching and taking it all in.

Something about the way Peter worked in a place that wasn’t where he was used to and yet succeeding without any help was admirable. Harley couldn’t stop thinking about the way he had to ask Tony questions every few minutes, wanting to know where everything was and how to activate the softwares Tony usually worked with. Which Harley was pretty sure he developed himself at some point.

Peter didn’t take long to understand what he needed to do in order to get things his way. He cracked the codes and the principals of working at Tony’s lab under a couple of minutes and from then on just worked in peace, a soft, concentrated expression on his face. Harley was pretty sure he saw the boy switching in the middle of writing a code to a different language, one he’s never seen before. And he tried going through FRIDAY’s coding once. It was a nightmare but he knew the language well enough to at least recognize it.

When Harley asked about the code Peter was using the boy smiled and explained that he and Ned developed a couple of different ones a while back when they were bored and when Peter started working on Karen he worked with that code instead of the ones known to the world since he wanted her to be truly his work and no one else’s. “This isn’t one language, either.” Peter kept on talking, his fingers racing above the keyboard. “We created, like, six different ones. So if anyone wants to crack up Karen’s code… it’d be like trying to understand a sentence made out of six different languages too. It’d be impossible to most people. I bet Mr. Stark would be able to crack it eventually, but… it’d take some time.” And he grinned proudly.

He deserved to feel proud, too. Harley would have never imagined inventing not one but six different code languages and then using them all in a weird mash to create an AI. Hell, he wasn’t that good with coding! This was just… amazing.

And Peter’s work with the nanotech themselves was admirable too. Harley knew he was great with it from working on his suit but seeing it again in front of his eyes with nothing else to do but watch… it made it all the more clear that Peter was seriously in his element while working in Tony’s lab like that. Harley thought he was good with fixing and building things, but Peter was like a whole other level of skilled with these things. It looked like he was born to create and invent. He actually looked a lot like a miniature version of Tony.

Okay, that thought was just weird.

Eventually Peter was done, though, his hands resting on his thighs at last. He looked at Harley with a grin before pulling the web-shooters on his wrists and clicking them together. The black bracelets activated at the contact and Peter smiled down at them, his face lit up with delight.

“Wow, that is seriously cool!” He beamed at the web-shooters and then at Harley, eyes sparkling. “Thanks, Harley!” And before Harley knew what was happening the boy had his arms wrapped around him in a hug that left the younger teen breathless. His brain stopped working, he was pretty sure of this. Was this really happening? Was he dreaming? Was this bubble going to burst and leave Harley heartbroken?

But when nothing seemed to change, Harley carefully put his arms around Peter, returning the hug. Instead of flinching away at the contact, Peter kept on hugging Harley. It wasn’t anything too emotional, though, since Peter’s whole body was still buzzing from the excitement, but Harley still felt content to just stay like this forever.

It didn’t last, though, and Peter pushed away eventually, his smile still lighting up his face. “Wanna see how I make the webs?”

And it didn’t really matter what Peter said, Harley would have said yes to anything that meant Peter staying there a little longer. So he nodded his head and watched Peter gathered all the things he needed, explaining about his makeshift station back at Midtown where he usually worked on the web fluid. “I can’t make it back home since I can’t afford the ingredients. And my room isn’t exactly fit as a lab.” He chuckled slightly. “Plus, May will kill me if I mess up my room. These things tend to explode if I mess up, and it’s really easy to mess up.”

They started working on the web fluid, easily falling into the teacher-student atmosphere. Peter told Harley what to do and how, sometimes jumping in to adjust his grip on things or to slow him down while pouring something into the mix. And Harley found himself intrigued by the process. Chemistry wasn’t his strong suit and he didn’t find it as interesting as engineering but the formula of the webs was… he’s never seen anything like it. When he asked Peter about it the boy told him he came up with him by himself.

“I couldn’t really come up to anyone and ask for help because… Spider-man’s a secret. So I just sat in my room and studied till my eyes started tearing up. It took me longer than I’d like to admit, but eventually I found this formula and it worked. I try different things with it when Ms. Morita is less focused during class, but this is the one I make the most since it’s the normal webs. Nothing special about them.”

They made two mixes of webs, just in case, and Harley helped Peter pour the fluid into the container of the web-shooters, careful about the small thing. Peter didn’t seem too worried. And when the container was full Peter quickly put it in and aimed his wrist at the ceiling, where there was nothing he could destroy. Harley watched with fascination as a web was shot, sticking to the ceiling and staying there, firm and strong and thin.

His finger touched the web cautiously, scared he’d somehow destroy it. But Peter simply grinned happily. “Wow.” Harley said after a moment or two. “I can’t believe you came up with this.” He smiled brightly down at Peter who already had his eyes trained on Harley, taking everything in. “This is amazing, Pete!”

Bashful, Peter rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, disconnecting the web and leaving it dangling from the ceiling. “O-oh. Thanks.” Then he looked at the web with concern. “Umm… Hold on, I’m gonna dissolve this. I can’t have Tony Stark see Spidey’s webs in his lab.” He quickly pulled out of his pocket a small vial filled with something blue in it, almost glue-like. With steady fingers, he poured a single drop on the web. And in the blink of an eye the web dissolved, turning to dust on the floor. Peter smiled. “I learned to always carry this around.” He admitted and Harley really wanted to hear the story behind THAT.

Just when he was about to open his mouth and ask, there was a hissing sound from behind him and Peter’s alarmed call of, “Take cover!” A hand pulled Harley down and under a table before there was a splat sound and the entire lab was covered in white, gooey stuff. Carefully emerging from under the table, Harley gaped at the scene before him. There were sticky webs EVERYWHERE. Beside him Peter sighed.

“I forgot about the other flask.” He muttered grumpily and then looked down at the dissolving material in his hand. “I really hope this is going to be enough.”

“Where are you going?” Natasha asked the moment Harley moved past the common room in flurry of motions. He was busy trying to find his phone when Natasha called him out in front of all of the Avengers. They were all sitting there, watching a movie after getting their ass kicked by Spider-man. Apparently, he didn’t like being chased around the city by them. Go figure.

Glaring at her from the floor where he was sprawled with his cheek against the tiles, Harley paused his search under the fridge for just one moment. “None of your business.” Then he quickly turned back to looking for his phone.

Someone laughed, he thought it was Clint, and then the same voice yelped in pain and muttered something about Nat’s habit of hurting people instead of taking a joke. Harley couldn’t care less though. He was late. He was so, so late. And this was HIS idea. He couldn’t be late to the thing HE came up with! That was just rude. Then again, Peter wasn’t the most punctual person out there either.

It wasn’t that big a deal, really. It was only… ugh. Okay, to Harley it was a big deal. He walked out of Decathlon practice that day with Peter, chatting about random things and about Flash’s attempts at getting the right answer when it wasn’t even his turn (He was wrong anyway). And then he asked Peter about Delmar. He knew Peter must have known about the place since… why wouldn’t he? Only Harley was new to the city. And he was right. Peter’s face lit up at the mention of the place, his smile bright and enthusiastic. So Harley asked if he’d like to go there.

At first he thought Peter just didn’t want to, because the older boy told him he had homework to complete today and that he couldn’t skip doing them again. It would have been a valid excuse had Peter not been… Peter. The teen could solve any issue, answer any question, in the middle of the night with his mind still foggy with sleep. So homework was no problem for him. So this must mean he just didn’t want to join Harley there.

But then he suggested meeting there later that day and Harley’s sunken heart rose again, beating faster and faster. They agreed on going there four thirty since that should give Peter enough time with his homework, or whatever it was he was covering with this lame excuse. And only after Peter away towards the subway, waving at Harley over his shoulder the young teen realized Peter basically told him to pick him up from his apartment. A couple of minutes later and his phone pinged with a text from Peter with the address.

And now it was close to four thirty and he wasn’t even out of the tower because he couldn’t find his damn phone!

“Ugh, where the hell is it??!” He cried in frustration, his hands almost shaking. He didn’t want to miss this. He really didn’t. And he would have gone without his phone, he would have, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember Peter’s address right now and he didn’t want to get lost in the middle of Queens without his phone. He was aware of Karen’s presence in his suit. She could help him. But he felt like that would just be stupid. Plus, Peter would probably be able to see Harley’s interaction with her and that would just be embarrassing.

From the couch, Natasha smirked. “Oh, you mean this?” She asked and the next time Harley looked at her she had his phone clutched between her fingers and an amused smirk on her face. The other Avengers ranged from entertained to confused at the scene. Tony barely even paid it any attention, though, too busy working on something on his iPad. Stomping towards her, Harley reached out his arm to try and grab it, but Natasha pulled the phone out of his grasp with a swift motion. “Oh, no. first tell me where you’re going.”

Frowning, Harley balled his hands into fists. “You’re torturing me. This is torture.” He looked around at the others in the room. “Won’t ANYONE help the helpless kid who’s only trying to go out and have a life?” He asked, his eyes mainly focusing on Steve who averted his eyes, as if knowing Harley’s look would convince him to come and help. Great, even Captain America turned his back on him now. “Tony!”

The mechanic lifted his gaze, stared at Natasha and then at Harley, something in his eyes shifting. Then he looked a little down and Harley had the feeling the man was staring at his watch. But the moment was gone before he could tell for sure and Tony looked down at his iPad again, seemingly unbothered. “Where are you going, Keener?”

“Oh my God.” Harley huffed. “Unbelievable.” He scoffed and turned to Natasha. “I’m going to Queens to meet Peter, alright? Happy now?” He made another move to get to his phone and this time Natasha let him. Narrowing his eyes at her, he pointed the phone at her chest. “Not cool, Nat.”

The woman only shrugged before leaning back in her seat. “Peter Parker… isn’t the kid you have a crush on?” She asked and when Harley only kept on glaring at her she smiled slyly. “Is this a date, Harley?”

“No!” He yelled and then stormed out. Because it wasn’t a date. They didn’t call it a date. So what it he technically asked Peter out? Friends went out all the time to hang out together. This was the same thing. And it wasn’t their first time spending time alone together after their sessions at Tony’s lab. This was just… them hanging out. Again. Even if he was going to pick Peter up for some reason. He felt like that was a date thing, but then again… he didn’t have that many friends before. And city life was different, so… he couldn’t really be sure. Maybe it was normal here.

He took the subway to get to Peter’s place, hoping he’d get off at the right stop. His phone told him he was already late. Like… half an hour late. This was… yeah, this wasn’t going that great so far. And, of course, he didn’t have a place to sit on the subway, so he had to stand beside two kids who had a phone held between them and a video playing. They were sharing their earbuds, oohing at the screen. When Harley looked down he noticed it was a shaky video of Spider-man and him stopping a robbery together.

Yup, that was a thing now. Whenever Harley could, he used his suit to join Spidey on his patrol. He thought at first that the vigilante would shove him away and try and do his own thing without Harley, but instead the guy looked out for him. Their first few times were rocky and made Harley feel like he was going to pass out simply because of all of his mistakes. Lame mistakes, really. Things Spidey knew because he was used to being out there. But instead of berating him, the vigilante supported him, telling him all of the embarrassing stories he had from his first few months out and about.

And the moment Harley got the hang of it, Spidey loosened up a bit, his lenses drifting towards Harley less and less in the middle of their patrol to check up on him. And Harley WAS getting better. People called him Iron-lad because his suit looked a lot like Iron-man, but he was obviously young. Spidey thought it was a great name and rolled with it, using it during patrols instead of Harley’s real name for the sake of keeping Harley’s life out of this. Honestly, Harley was surprised the Avengers haven’t talked to him about it yet, because who would go out with this kind of tech all of a sudden if not Harley? But maybe his involvement with Spidey preventing them from connecting the dots. After all, how could the teenager living with them side with Spider-man and not them?

He would have felt bad about it had it not been for the couple of times the Avengers tried taking him down too. Spidey helped him out back then, drawing their attention and leading them away from Harley. Because really, they were after Spider-man, not Harley. But they did hit him a couple of times and then Harley had to prevent himself from flinching or showing any pain around them. He didn’t want them to know. They just couldn’t.

“They are so cool!” One of the boy watching the video said once the video was over. “I wish I could be a superhero.”

The other boy nodded. “Me too. But I wanna be Spider-man. He’s so much cooler than Iron-lad. He has real powers when Iron-lad is all… a suit.”

Shaking his head, boy number two scoffed. “Iron-lad could take Spider-man any day. I’m telling you, Iron-lad would be the next Iron-man.” Then he gasped and grabbed his friend’s arm tightly. “Oh my God, do you think he’s related to Iron-man??”

Harley quickly got off the subway after that, glad he was finally there and away from this awkward conversation. It was weird, being talked about by people without really getting any of the credit for the things he did. He wondered how Spidey got used to it. Maybe with time…

His legs took him hesitantly forward, eyes eyeing the names of the streets and the numbers on the buildings until he reached Peter’s one. Then all he had to do was use the elevator to reach the seventh floor and there he was, in front of Peter’s apartment. His heart was hammering against his ribcage. He wondered how loud it was if he could hear it as clear as day. Then he rasped his knuckles against the door and waited for a moment before a woman opened the door with a smile, her long, brown hair surrounding her face.

“Hey.” She was young and full of life, her features relaxed and happy. She looked like Peter. Not in their features – Harley knew she wasn’t blood related to Peter. But she had this kind of aura to her… like life just excited her. Like she could see the good in everything and anyone. Just like Peter. Definitely Peter’s aunt. “You must be Harley.” She said warmly and let him in, closing the door behind him. “I’m May.”

Blinking and trying to gather up his thoughts, Harley smiled awkwardly. “Oh, nice to meet you Ms. Parker.”

“Please, call me May.” Then she looked at the hall with a smile that looked more like a smirk. “Peter’s down the hall, second door to the right.” She gestured for him to head on with her head, her legs already taking her towards the kitchen where Harley thought he smelled something burning in the oven. “Just brace yourself for his messy room. I don’t know how he even finds himself in there.”

Murmuring a thank you, Harley forced his legs to move towards Peter’s door. That was happening. That was… yeah, it was actually happening. His knocked on the door twice before hearing a muffled answer, a thump and then the sounds of things falling down and hitting the floor. A couple of seconds later the door opened to reveal Peter, face red and hair a complete mess. He looked at Harley with the most nervous smile Harley’s ever seen on the boy’s face and then moved aside to let Harley step in.

Peter’s room was… yeah, it was messy. The floor was flooded with hoodies and sweaters, the top bed out of the two – why did he have a bunkbed? – was filled with a couple more clothes, small electronic parts, Lego pieces and books. On the table to the side there was a computer clearly made out of scraps, a couple of taken apart things Harley was pretty sure Peter found in the garbage (yeah, he’s heard of that part of Peter’s life. Harley used to do it too), and the old phone Harley could barely look at after getting used to Stark tech.

“Umm…” Peter sounded self-conscious. “If you could just… ignore the mess… that would be great.” He said and tried shoving a couple of sweaters under the bed. “It usually looks a little less like there’s been a hurricane in here. I guess I’ve been too busy to really tidy things up.”

Humming, Harley turned to Peter with a smile. “I don’t mind. My room usually looks almost the same.” Then he frowned when Peter cradled his hand close to his chest. “What happened to your wrist?” He asked.

“Oh!” Peter looked down at his wrist, as if surprised to find it there. “I fell. On it. Didn’t land very well, but it’s alright. It’s nothing serious.” He smiled and almost managed to hide the wince of pain from Harley. Almost. “Umm… wanna go?”

Right, they were supposed to leave to Delmar’s. Harley nodded and watched as Peter grabbed his phone and his keys before exiting the room and the apartment, telling May he’d return later. Harley nodded at her as well, receiving a smile from the woman. As they walked with Peter leading the way – thank God – Harley apologized for being late. Peter brushed it off, though, claiming he hadn’t even noticed. Which was nice of him, but Harley arrived at Peter’s place over forty minutes too late. It was hard to miss.

He let it go, though.

It wasn’t a long walk, but Harley felt like it just might take forever. He couldn’t shake Nat’s words out of his mind. Was this a date? Probably not. A date isn’t a date unless they say it is, and no one said it was a date so Harley had to keep himself together and act like this was just them going out to eat and hang out like NORMAL PEOPLE. Because this wasn’t a date, obviously. Peter didn’t say it was. Harley didn’t say it was. This was perfectly normal.

But he couldn’t help it. And he couldn’t figure out what to say or do to make this a normal hang out instead of something nameless and awkward. He kept on thinking about Peter’s reaction to his thoughts. He would probably hate it seeing as his GIRLFRIEND died less than a year ago. Almost a year, though. Yeah, it was nearing that point, but it was too soon, right? And Harley had no way of knowing what Peter’s sexuality was anyway, so…

Ugh, his brain was spiraling.

Somehow, though, Peter kept the two of them talking about things the entire way. He didn’t sound awkward or annoyed at Harley for his clipped answers. Instead he basked in his own stories and explained things to Harley without caring about getting any elaborate response. He just seemed to be happy to be around Harley. Which was crazy in and of itself, but Harley wasn’t going to complain about THAT.

Once they’d reached Delmar’s, Peter grabbed Harley’s hand with his not bruised one, not noticing the way Harley went rigid at the touch and walked inside with Harley half behind and half beside him. Delmar was inside, leaning against the counter and smiling at Peter. He gave Harley a look, assessing him, before probably deciding he wasn’t a threat or anything to fuss about and turning back to Peter.

“Mr. Parker.” The man greeted with a booming voice. “Why so late?”

Smiling brightly, Peter’s hand squeezed Harley’s a little, his eyes fixed on the cat sitting not too far away. “Oh, nothing really. Just wanted to come with Harley.” He nudged Harley forward. “Do you know what you’re gonna get?” He asked, his hand finally letting go and allowing Harley to think in order to pet the cat. Did Peter call him Murph?

Honestly, Harley had no idea. Last time he was there was with Spider-man and he just took what Spidey took since he didn’t know the place. But maybe he could try something else this time. He looked up at the kind of sandwiches the place had to offer before settling in on number four. He watched as Delmar and the other worker in the place set off to work on Peter’s and Harley’s orders, chatting with Peter and between themselves the entire time.

When Harley pulled out his wallet to pay, however, Peter stopped him without saying a word, handed Delmar ten dollars for both their orders and then gestured for Harley to follow him outside, his mouth already taking a bite from his sandwich. He looked really happy. When Harley tried his own he found it just as good as his last order at the place if not better. Okay, so trying new things could be good.

They stopped at a small park not too far away and sat on a bench near the playground where there were kids playing around with their parents watching. Peter was talking again, his mouth moving faster than Harley thought was possible. Dear God, this teenager could talk forever. And despite being sick of his sister chewing his ears off, Harley found he didn’t care about Peter’s rumblings. It was nice. Probably because it was Peter.

“Why’d you pay for me?”

Peter went quiet at once, his big, brown eyes locking onto Harley’s face. For a moment he just blinked at him and then he shrugged. “I dunno. I just felt like it.” He replied somewhat stiffly. He pressed his lips together, his brows drawing together. “You just let me work with all these cool stuff in Mr. Stark’s lab and I… it seemed like a nice way of saying thank you, I guess.” He didn’t sound too sure.

Harley looked at his sandwich. “But I like working with you, Pete.” He let a tender smile onto his face. “Building things with you is fun. You don’t need to thank me. Maybe FRIDAY for covering for us, but I just… I like it. No need to thank me.” Then he looked at Peter. “Plus, I live with a billionaire. I’m pretty sure I have enough money to pay for my own sandwich. I don’t need you to spend your money on me. You told me you work at the Bugle to get extra money as it is. So keep it to yourself and spend it on things you actually want.”

Eyebrows furrowing and hands messing with the paper wrap of the sandwich, Peter looked down at his lap. “But I wanted to do it.” He took another bite from his food and lifted his legs so they were resting on the bench, his injured hand wrapped around them to keep them close to his chest. He still didn’t look at Harley.

They sat there in silence, eating together and thinking separately. Harley wished he could hear Peter’s thoughts. He wanted to know whether or not he somehow insulted the older teen. He didn’t mean to. He just really didn’t want to feel guilty for making Peter spend all his money on him. He could probably convince Tony to pay the Parkers’ bills if he wanted to. Peter didn’t need to pay for Harley’s food because he needed to save the money. For… whatever Peter Parker might want.

When Peter brought up his work at the Daily Bugle it was to explain about his connection to Spider-man. But later on he just complained about Jameson, the worst boss ever, and how he was getting so little payment every time for his photos, he was frustrated. But he didn’t quit. Probably because he was good at his job and didn’t mind it. Plus, the hours were almost entirely up to him. And Spider-man, but Spidey was mainly out when Peter could walk around the city freely too.

“Is this a date?”

Harley’s hands flew up to cover his mouth the moment the words left his mouth. He was horrified. Absolutely HORRIFIED. His sandwich fell to the ground, forgotten and his entire body was frozen. Did he really just ask this out loud? Was he seriously this bad at keeping his thoughts to himself? What was he thinking??

Beside him, Harley was aware of Peter’s pause. He was still holding onto his sandwich, but the motion of bringing it up to his mouth was put on hold in favor of, probably, freaking out too. The boy wasn’t exactly frozen like Harley – he still twitched like he always did – but he wasn’t bouncing in place like before. And then he lowered his hands and rested his food on his thighs, his hands drumming the paper wrap.

“Umm… no?” He offered in reply.

And oh God, Harley knew that. He didn’t need Peter to confirm his fear of being rejected. He didn’t need Peter to think he was desperate to hang around him. He didn’t want Peter to freak out and leave him there. He didn’t want Peter to never talk to him again, because hanging out with only Gwen was nice, but Peter was a different thing entirely. Apart from liking being around Peter, the guy was also his connection to Spider-man. What if he took Karen away or told Tony about Iron-lad? What if he told Spidey about this and then the vigilante would also stop hanging around him? What if by asking this he doomed his future as… Spidey’s partner? Were they partners? Sure felt like it.

“Unless… you want it to be?”

Harley’s thoughts came to an abrupt end at that. He blinked once, twice. His body finally unfroze and he turned to look at Peter who looked at him with wide, cautious eyes. As if he wasn’t sure how Harley might react to that. He looked at him timidly, like he was afraid of Harley’s reaction. Which just didn’t make any sense because Peter was the one who was going to leave Harley behind here, not there other way around. Harley could never stay away from him, after all.

When Harley just kept on gaping at Peter, the older teen fidgeted in his place, his legs still held up to his chest. “I mean… you just… I just thought… it’s just that…” He swallowed and then closed his eyes tightly. “I like you.” The words came out in a whisper Harley wouldn’t have believed was real had he not been watching Peter’s lips forming those words. Then the boy opened his eyes and looked at Harley with hope and fear laced together on his face. “And, I mean, it freaked me out at first because I thought it was too soon, since MJ… you know. But Aunt May said it was okay to move on and who am I to disagree with her when she actually has an experience with this kind of thing, right?” He chuckled awkwardly before burying his head in his knees, his shoulders hunched. “Sorry.”

“No, wait. Don’t apologize. I’m just… it’s…” Harley gulped, his eyes still wide. “You LIKE me?”

Peter gave him a look. “Yeah? Wasn’t it obvious?” He almost sounded wounded. “Ned always catch me staring at you during lunch. It’s even more embarrassing than MJ catching me staring at her. Because Ned is always oblivious to this kind of stuff. I thought… since Ned knew… that it was just really obvious.” He pursed his lips. “You didn’t know?”

When Harley shook his head Peter just groaned and turned back to covering his face with his hands and knees, his sandwich squished in the middle. And Harley just didn’t know what to say. Peter liked him? Peter liked him. Peter Parker liked him, Harley Keener, for some reason. It felt surreal. Could it really be happening or was Harley imagining this whole interaction? Maybe he hit his head during patrol with Spidey and it left him with weird hallucinations?

“I like you too!” Harley blurted out all of a sudden, his cheeks warm. Peter peeked at him. “S-sorry, I just… I realized I didn’t… say it back.” He thought he saw hope in Peter’s eyes. “So I said it. Now. That I like you.” When Peter lifted his head with a small smile Harley felt a little better. “And sorry for not being tuned according to Ned’s radar, but…” He shrugged. “You didn’t know either, did you?”

“Ned told me you liked me but I didn’t believe him.” Peter admitted in a small voice. His smile grew and grew, turning into a beaming face. He was almost glowing. His eye shined. “Say it again.”

It was still nerve wracking, but Peter’s enthusiasm made Harley feel like he could overcome this with ease. So he tried to loosen up. “I like you.” Harley caught Peter’s hand in his own and waited, allowing Peter to squirm out of it. Instead, the older teen laced their fingers together. “I like you, Peter Benjamin Parker.”

Giggling, Peter let his head fall onto Harley’s shoulder. Harley took an intake of air but then let it out, feeling content. Peter liked him back. Peter liked him back and it felt amazing. As someone who never had someone like him like that, Harley found that being LIKED by Peter Parker was probably one of the best things he could ever experience. It felt so good that at some point Harley joined his giggles and the two of them just couldn’t stop for a few minutes, attracting glances from the people and kids around and yet not caring.

The look May Parker gave Harley and Peter that evening when they returned to the apartment holding hands was one of both amusement and happiness, like she was expecting this to happen. Instead of commenting about that, though, she only told them to wash their hands and get ready for dinner. Under Peter’s inquiring eyes she admitted that dinner would actually be pizza she ordered for them since, just like Harley thought, May burned their dinner earlier.

Peter led Harley down to his room, his entire body still buzzing with excitement. Harley knew he was probably grinning like a maniac too, but it was always nice seeing the absolute glee Harley’s confession brought to Peter. There was only one moment back outside when Peter said he had to tell Harley something, but only once they were back in the house. His eyes dimmed a little at that and he looked at Harley as if he was scared of whatever it was.

By the twitching of Peter, he was gathering the courage to spit it out now. Harley sat on Peter’s bed in the meantime, his eyes taking in the room again and then Peter’s anxious, pacing form. Every few seconds he turned his head to look at Harley only to bite his lips and shake his head, his lips moving as if muttering to himself, although no sound came out.

“Pete, you don’t have to tell me. Whatever it is – you’re allowed to have your secrets.” Harley tried to assure him, but Peter only gave him a look like he had no idea what he was saying. Which… Harley didn’t mind. He just wished he could make Peter relax again. Peter. Peter. Peter. Peter. Peter. Peter, who agreed to be his boyfriend earlier that day, grinning like the idea of it was both impossible and exciting. That Peter. The Peter he couldn’t get out of his head.

He could already hear the Avengers taunting him, claiming it was obvious even to them and they didn’t listen to him babbling about Peter as much as Tony did. God, Tony would have a field day! Maybe Harley would keep it to himself for a while, until things weren’t as fresh? He could do that, right? People did that.

Harley was pulled out of his head when Peter took a broom from the corner of the room and pushed up a loose board from the ceiling. Instead of only dust falling down, a bundled up, red and blue suit came down. And it was very, VERY familiar. Harley’s mouth fell open as he stared at it with wide eyes before looking at Peter.

Because it was one thing for Peter to create Spidey’s tech and take photos of him. But it was another thing entirely to have the vigilante’s suit in his room, hidden from sight. Peter inhaled heavily from his place, his hands already working to hide the fabric in his laundry basket. When he turned back to Harley, the younger boy’s expression was still frozen in shock.

“I’m Spider-man.” Peter mumbled, his eyes looking into Harley, as if trying to see through him. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but only Ned knew and he figured out by accident too. And I didn’t even want you to know I knew Spider-man, but then the Avengers came after me when I was out and I couldn’t go back here because I knew Mr. Banner was around here, knowing I live close by. And Ned’s parents asked me too many questions. So I called you and you said I could come to Avengers Tower which was ridiculously dangerous but…” He shook his head. “I am so sorry, Harls.”

Nodding absently, Harley moved his eyes from the laundry basket where he knew the suit was to Peter’s trembling form. Oh God, he was scared of Harley’s reaction. Quickly, Harley stood up and crossed the room to stand in front of Peter who didn’t protest when Harley hugged him, his head immediately falling onto Harley’s shoulder.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay, I’m not mad or anything. It’s… I get it. I live with Avengers. So if you even wanted to consider telling me about it, this must have been, like, the last thing you needed to convince yourself it’d be a bad idea. I get it.” He meant it. “Everyone knows Spider-man’s identity’s a secret. I wouldn’t expect you to tell me right away who you were, or at all. You just said so yourself – your best friend knows about it because of an accident.” When Peter tightened his grip around Harley, Harley did the same. He thought he felt his shirt getting wet around his shoulder and his hands flew to Peter’s hair where they started messing up with his curls. “It’s okay. It's okay, I promise. I’m not even sure why you told me now, to be honest.”

Peter sniffed. Yeah, he was definitely crying. Harley didn’t mind. He was happy to be of any comfort. It was nice. “It doesn’t feel right to hide it from you if we’re dating.” He mumbled into Harley’s shirt, his voice muffled. His fingers gripped the shirt’s fabric. “Just don’t die, Harls.”

Breath hitching for a moment, Harley shook his head. “I have all of the Avengers looking out for me, a suit of my own and now you? I don’t think I CAN die.” He said and was glad to hear Peter’s faint chuckle.

Eventually Peter pulled away, his eyes red and his cheeks having tear tracks on them, but he smiled at Harley liked nothing happened and his hands quickly pulled up a camera that was sitting on his table. After a moment of messing around with it he turned it towards Harley who leaned down to see the screen. There was a photo of Spider-man there, like the ones the Daily Bugle always had published. But this time Harley was there too, in his armor. They were both in the same frame standing back-to-back and looking like a well-oiled machine. Harley for a fact knew that a moment later he messed something up, but it was seriously cool to see Spider-man and him paused during a fight a couple of nights ago.

“I need to see the rest,” Peter explained. “But Jameson’s gonna want some pictures.” Suddenly Harley wondered how Peter managed to both be Spider-man and take photos of the fights. God, this was probably hard to do. “Do you mind me giving him anything with you in it? I don’t know if he’ll use it. He tosses aside half of the pictures I get, but… he might use it?”

May called them for dinner, saying the pizzas have arrived. Peter still looked up at Harley. So the boy grabbed his hand and led him towards the door. “I actually think this might be the coolest thing to ever happen to me, and I live with the Avengers.” He confessed and Peter kept on laughing as they made their way to the living room.

“Wow! Can you believe it? Five boy against one girl.” Peter said, crouched on the top of a building with his head cocked to the side. Above the alley next to the school and near Peter, Harley hovered in his suit, his lips twisting at the sight. There were five boys surrounding a girl. They were all around the same age, so Harley thought it was safe to assume they were all at least from the same school.

The girl’s back was pressed against a wall and her bag was on the floor next to two of the boys who ran through its contact, pulling out an old phone, a Hello Kitty wallet and a lunch bag. At the voice of Peter, though, they all looked up, jaws dropping to the floor. One of them even squealed with delight at them, as if their appearance was taken straight out of his dreams.

Peter jumped down first, flipping off the roof and landing between the girl and the boys, his small frame – compared to the teenagers his own age and Harley himself – looked like enough in front of a bunch of primary school kids. Harley landed beside him, a little shakily, but not too bad. For a moment he almost lost his balance, though, and Peter’s hand almost instantly flew up to catch him. He stopped himself before touching Harley and instead just looked at him for a moment, as if silently asking him if he was alright.

“Alright, can you just fill me in real fast? What are we supposed to do with kids?” Harley gave Peter a look the boy couldn’t see behind the faceplate of his mask and then looked over at the admiring kids who still looked up to the two of them. Even the girl was still there, no longer afraid. She kept her distance from the boys, but apparently was curious enough to stay.

Holding up the backpack, Peter handed it over to the girl. “Umm, what you do whenever you see kids misbehave, Iron-lad.” He turned to look at the boys still fiddling with the girl’s stuff. When they noticed Peter’s attention on them they paled a little and looked down at the three things they took with guilt on their faces. “Hey, guys. Do you mind giving these back. I don’t believe they belong to you.”

They didn’t even hesitate before handing the things to Peter, looking sheepish and thoroughly scolded. Peter delivered the three things back to the girl who thanked him shakily, her eyes shining. She pushed everything into her backpack and then, finally, ran out of there, sending the boys and Harley and Peter one last glance before exiting the alleyway. That left only the two of them and five bullies. Great.

Without hesitation, Peter crouched on the ground in front of the boys, looking at all of them. They seemed entranced by him. Harley felt just like them most of the time around Peter, to be honest. The difference was that they adored him and Harley simply really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really liked him. Like, REALLY. He would have been jealous of them getting his boyfriend’s attention otherwise.

“Alright, guys. I think we should talk.” He said patiently, his voice soft. He usually mocked thugs and criminals, but those were kids he was dealing with. Harley wondered whether he should lower himself to the kids’ level too but decided against it pretty quickly seeing as his suit and body were nothing like Peter’s. The boy was used to flexing his body and bending it. Crouching was his signature posture. Harley… Harley was stuck inside a metal suit. He preferred to just stand there and try and look less tense.

One of the boy hunched his shoulders. “We’re not criminals, Mr. Spider-man.”

“Are we going to go to jail?” Asked another.

Shaking his head, Peter looked around. “Nope. You’re not criminals and you won’t go to jail. You’re right. But this was still wrong.” He looked at each and every one of them, giving them all his attention. “You can’t take something that’s not yours. You know what that’s called?”

A boy gasped and covered his mouth with both hands. God, they were young. “Stealing.” He whispered, horrified.

A different boy shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He looked both at Harley and Peter with defiance. “No. That’s not true. My brother always takes my things. And my Mom. And my Dad. And they don’t go to jail because of it so it’s not stealing.” He folded his arms in front of his chest.

“But what if it is??” The previous boy pressed. “Oh no, my parents would kill me.”

“Hey, relax boys. No one’s going to kill you.” Harley cut in. He cringed at his own voice, fearing he would say the wrong thing, but Peter looked at him as if waiting for him to keep on talking, so Harley kept on going. “When you family takes from you they usually have a good reason. Sometimes they don’t, but sometimes they do. There’s a difference between stealing and being led to jail and stealing and being scolded.” He paused for a moment but Peter still didn’t say anything.

The defiant kid sniffed. “You have a funny accent.”

There was a burst of laughter from Peter but he quickly shook his head and stifled it the best he could, his shoulders still shaking. Harley rolled his eyes. “That’s right. I moved here from… somewhere else. In the south.” He went up to the kid who only looked up at him with an annoyed glare. “And back there when I went to school people always took things from me without my permission, just like y’all did.” He looked straight into the boy’s eyes. “It’s called bullying, buddy.”

Peter stopped laughing and instead just sat there, ignoring the way one boy was itching closer to him, his hand outstretched to touch his suit. When he finally did it Peter let him, ruffling the kid’s hair with his free hand. “It happened to me too.” He chimed in, sounding unsure. When Harley looked at him he found Peter looking at him, his expression unreadable through the mask. “And let me tell you, it feels horrible to be on the receiving end of that.” The boys’ heads hung low at the words. Even the defiant kid looked like the wind was knocked out of him. He avoided Harley’s eyes at all cost.

The boy touching Peter lifted his head and looked at Peter. “What do we do now?”

“You apologize.” Peter replied easily and the smile in his voice could easily be heard. “Next time you see that girl, go up to her and say you’re sorry. What do you say?”

They nodded solemnly. “Yes, Mr. Spider-man.” And then they left, with the boy beside Peter giving him a high five before running to join his friend. The defiant kid looked at Harley for a long moment, though, not joining his friends and instead staying with the two of them. “My real Dad’s in jail and he said that if I want something, I gotta take it, otherwise I won’t have it.”

Harley winced. “I don’t mean to burst your bubble or disrespect your father, but this is some really shi – terrible advice.” He corrected himself midsentence. “I guess that’s why he’s in jail. Sorry, kid. Here’s my advice,” He knelt down in front of him, feeling only a little bit uncomfortable. “If you want something and it belongs to someone else, ask if you can have it, and if not, move on and look for other things you’d like. But never take it just like that. That’s wrong. Got it?”

“It’s Christopher, not kid.” The boy objected and then left without another word. Harley hoped he’ll be okay.

“Well, that was fun.” Peter commented. He stood back up and walked up to Harley, lazily dropping his hand on Harley’s shoulders. It felt nice even with the suit of armor on. Everything Peter-related felt nice. Always. It was a rule made by the universe and Harley loved this rule. “You okay?”

Nodding, Harley turned to Peter, his faceplate lifted. “You never told me you got bullied too.”

Peter shrugged and leaned against Harley. “Flash and I went to elementary school together and back there he had a whole gang. I’ll give you three guesses about who their favorite punching bag was.” Harley didn’t need to see Peter’s face to know he rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, Harley could only wince. He knew what that felt like, that’s for sure. He was about to tell Peter about E.J when the older teen tensed and unhooked himself from Harley. “Mask on, Harls.” He warned.

A moment after Harley let the faceplate drop back into place, his muscles tense and ready, he saw the Avengers closing in on them, weapons at the ready. Ugh, not again. They just finished school half an hour ago! Couldn’t they catch a break from this chase? Harley really just wanted to fight crime with his boyfriend. Normal teenage stuff.

First, Nat and Steve arrived on Steve’s motorcycle, their faces stern and cold. Clint was probably on the roof above them, getting ready to fire his arrows down on them. Bruce was standing there awkwardly, his hands fidgeting and his expression apologetic, like he didn’t want to be there more than Harley and Peter did.

And lastly, Tony landed, engulfed by his shining red and gold armor. Harley felt the worst around him. He didn’t know if it was because Tony was the one housing him, because he stole materials for Tony to build this suit, because the suit was basically some kind of copy of the Iron-man armor or because he was lying to Tony this whole time and let him hurt Harley when he knew for a fact that the man would never do that had he known Harley was the one in the suit.

“I miss Christopher.” Peter mumbled, his body rigid. He didn’t like fighting the Avengers, that much he had told Harley the moment they actually sat down to talk about him being Spider-man. And he didn’t like being caught by them when Harley was around because Harley, apparently, shouldn’t suffer being chased by them. Unlike Peter. Harley scoffed at that back then and he still did now. Even if he really did feel sick to his stomach at the prospect of fighting these people.

Tony’s faceplate lifted to reveal a bored mechanic. “Alright, another chance to bring yourself in, Spiderling.” Tony said, no real heat behind his words. He knew Peter’s answer already. Then he gave Harley a once over. “You too, Copycat. Surrender and this will all finally be over with.”

Peter’s hand grabbed Harley’s. “Get out of here.” He whispered urgently. “Like, right now.”

Frowning, Harley turned around, ready to leave Peter and the Avengers like he always did. He wasn’t good enough to fight them all yet. He was still learning from Peter. But… but his chest squeezed at the thought of leaving Peter again only to see him later through a video call with bruises and injuries littering his body. He couldn’t leave. He couldn’t let him go through this alone.

So he shook his head and rolled his shoulders, getting ready. “Not this time, darling.”

He expected Peter to object, but the boy seemed preoccupied with something else to really do anything to make Harley leave. “Did you just call me darling?”

“…Yes?”

Laughing, Peter flipped onto the wall of the building next to him, his wrists aimed at Nat and Steve. “Did anyone ever call YOU that?” He teased the Avengers while webbing Nat and Steve’s legs, pulling them from under them. The duo fell to the ground with a thud and Peter was quick to web them up. Harley released the breath caught in his throat. Alright, Peter didn’t hate it.

He jumped into action, looking for Clint on the roof and aiming his repulsors at the guy while making sure it wouldn't hurt him too bad. He didn’t want to disable him. Just to make him give up and rest for this fight. His aim wasn’t great, though, so it took him a while to actually hit Clint. Luckily, once he did the man fell down on the roof and Harley swooped in and tossed away his bow and arrows.

“Umm… I’m going after Mr. Stark.” Peter’s voice came through Harley’s suit thanks to Karen. “Wanna keep an eye on Bruce and the others I webbed up? I’m pretty sure he could cut their webbing and I wanna keep them stuck there for now. Handling Iron-man’s bad enough.”

“Sure. Be careful, Spidey.”

Peter scoffed. “When am I not?” Then he yelped. “Hey, we’ve talked about this already! Stop trying to ruin my suits! I never ruin yours!”

Rolling his eyes, Harley returned to the alley, his repulsor ready. Peter was right, of course, and Harley found Bruce working to unstick Natasha and Steve. Humming, Harley drew the scientist’s attention to himself and the man quickly dropped the knife he was using, stepping away from the super soldier and the spy.

“No need for any violence.” Bruce said, voice soothing.

Harley huffed out a laugh. “Pretty sure we’re the ones who are being nonviolent, Doc. You’re the ones attacking Spidey. When will you just finally leave him alone?” He ignored Peter’s babblings through the comms as he fought Tony. Instead he shook his head. “You’re going to regret this.”

“Is that a threat?” Nat hissed out, eyes cold.

“No. It’s a fact. If you ever get your hands on him, you’ll get it.” He replied just in time to see an agonizing scream both through the comms and from the air above them. The next moment Peter was on the ground, his limbs shaking and his hands pressed against the sides of his head, where his ears were. He twisted on the ground, clearly in pain, although Harley had no idea what’s going on. He ran over to Peter and dropped to his knees, his hands ghosting over his body but not touching. He didn’t know what was wrong. What if he made things worse? “Karen, what’s happening to him??”

When the AI replied she sounded panicked. “There appears to be a loud high-pitched sound hurting him, Harley.” She said, voice hurried. “His ears are bleeding.” She informed him and Harley’s breath hitched. His heart was beating loudly in his chest. Blood was rushing in his veins.

“Can something block it?”

There were voices behind him, telling him to step away from Peter. To leave him there and give up too. But Harley couldn’t focus on them because Peter was still suffering right there and he had to find a way to help. He knew it was probably the Avengers responsible for this. Probably Tony’s idea. He had to disable it, though.

Karen was helpful. “Your suit is capable of blocking most of the sound.”

Not giving it a second thought, Harley disassembled his suit right there and quickly took the watch off, ignoring the alarmed calls from behind him. He put the watch around Peter’s wrist and activated it, watching as the suit enveloped itself around Peter. Once the metal covered the older teen’s head he stopped twisting, finally relaxing by a fraction. His hands were still pressed to his ears, but he didn’t seem to suffer as much.

Gently, Harley ran his hands up and down Peter’s arms, not sure about what else he could do. “Hey, you’re okay. You’re okay, darling, you’re okay.” He muttered over and over again, his eyes a little blurry with tears. Please, make Peter okay. He didn’t want him to be left with anything permanent. Could he suffer from something forever with his enhanced healing? “Hey, talk to me. Please, say something. Say you’re okay. Tell me you’re okay.”

There was a hand on Harley’s shoulder but he pushed it away, his eyes locked onto Peter’s frail frame. He was already smaller than Harley, but right now he looked even smaller, gentler, weaker. God, Peter always told Harley not to die on him, he had never put into account the fact that Peter might be the one to die first. But he wasn’t going to die from Tony exploding his ears with sounds. Nope. Not gonna happen.

“Harls?” Peter’s voice cut through Harley like a knife. It was a soft and faint and weak and barely above a whisper. His right hand went up to take Harley’s one. “Harley?”

Nodding, Harley leaned closer, trying to stop Peter from shaking. Or maybe he was the one shaking? He couldn’t tell. Maybe they were both shaking uncontrollably. It made sense, seeing as they were in a really stressful situation. “I’m here. I’m right here. Are you okay?”

For a moment there was no reply and then Peter’s disguised, timid voice spoke again, this time sounding a lot more scared. “I can’t hear you. I-I can’t… I can’t here anything, Harls.” He tightened in grip around Harley’s hand, almost breaking his fingers with his strength. “Harley, this isn’t funny. Say something.”

He was completely frozen in place. Behind him someone cursed but Harley couldn’t bring himself to care. He couldn’t hear? Peter couldn’t hear? What? Was this going to stay this way? Could Spider-man keep being Spider-man without his sense of hearing? He sure hoped so. Maybe a hearing aid would help? But that was just ridiculous. He couldn’t imagine Peter ever losing his hearing. It was one of the things he counted on – Peter’s excellent senses, enhanced by the spider-bite that gave him his powers. He couldn’t just lose one of them now!

Breathing and trying to keep himself from completely panicking, Harley made sure he was right in front of Peter and his lips moved slowly. “It’s okay. I’m going to fix that, alright?” He waited and then Peter nodded hesitantly, his head bobbing up and down and his limbs still shaking and holding onto Harley. “Okay. Okay, come on. You’ve gotta stand up.”

Pulling himself up, Peter stood up on shaky feet, his hand still holding onto Harley as if he was his anchor. Harley didn’t want to let go either. He just made sure Peter was somewhat alright before turning his glare towards Tony. His mask was up, revealing his shock and horror. But the moment he noticed Harley was finally facing him it switched to concern.

Taking Peter forward with him, Harley stopped right in front of Tony. “Fix this, Tony. You caused this – now fix it.” He ordered. He knew he had no power over the man, not at all, but he had to try. And luckily, the man simply nodded, his face pale. Harley turned to Peter. “They’re gonna find out who you are, Spidey.” He said slowly.

Peter’s first reaction was a flinch, but then he sighed and nodded, leaning against Harley fully, his body weight barely enough to make Harley stumble. “Okay.” Peter whispered. “Okay. Just… don’t leave me.”

He wasn’t planning on it. “Is this sound you used against him gone now? Can he take down the armor?” He asked Tony and after a jerky nod, Harley’s armor retracted, leaving Peter in his Spider-man costume and Harley’s watch. Wearing it again, Harley put on the armor and lifted Peter up onto his arms. There was no way he was going to actually swing away like this. Peter didn’t even fight him on that and just tried to curl as close as possible to Harley. Giving one last look towards Tony, Harley stepped back. “I’ll meet you back at the MedBay.”

Dr. Cho greeted them at the tower, immediately taking charge and taking Peter away with the other doctors taking her orders and setting off to work. Harley wasn’t allowed to stay in the room while they took care of Peter, so he waited outside, his armor gone and his leg bouncing up and down – a habit he probably acquired after hanging too much around Peter.

A couple of minutes later Tony came there as well, his face still pale and his hair a mess. He looked like he used to right before and after a panic attack and Harley sighed, knowing it was both because of him and what happened to Peter because of Tony. Hesitating for only a moment, Tony sat on the chair beside Harley, his hands fidgeting with his phone but not doing anything with it.

“Any news yet?”

Harley shook his head. “Is Clint alright?”

Tony simply brushed it off. “Can’t feel a thing.” Then he looked down at Harley’s watch. “I knew there was something weird about this little thing. Just couldn’t prove it.” He leaned back in his chair and his eyes glanced over to the door that hid Peter from their eyes. He looked both thoughtful and concerned. “It’s Peter, isn’t it? Spider-man?”

“Yeah.” Harley said simply. Then he rubbed his eyes with his fingers. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about this, alright? I should have, especially since I used your lab to make this, but I just knew you wouldn’t let me use it, like, ever. So I hid it from you. And I wouldn’t have actually gotten much further with it had it not been for Pete. Seriously, this guy is a genius. You’d like him.” He balled his hands in fists. “But you shouldn’t have blasted his ears like that. That was really low, Tony.”

The mechanic didn’t even object. He only nodded twice. “I know. I didn’t know it would affect him this much.” He sounded like he was going to be sick from what he’s done. “I talked to the team and especially Steve – we’re dropping the Spider-man mission. No more chasing him or attacking him or God knows what else. Nat even suggested letting him come here in case he needs any medical care. I think she likes the idea of knowing another spider.”

Huffing out a strained laugh, Harley smiled for a moment and then dropped his head on Tony’s shoulder, feeling exhausted. “Sounds good.”

“I’m really sorry, kid.” Tony said after a moment. “Tell that to Peter as well, okay?”

“Tell him yourself. He’s been suppressing his fanboy mode for so long, he’d love seeing you when you’re not trying to kill him.” Harley tensed only a little when Tony rested his hand on his back. “So long as you don’t kill him, I might just forgive you.”

“Oh my God, you’re Tony Stark.”

Harley glared at Peter the moment Tony and he entered the room where Peter was resting after his treatment, annoyed at being ignored. “Hello? Caring, amazing, friendly, protective boyfriend over here?” He pointed at his chest. “But oh, no. Ignore me for the sake of the man who’s been trying to capture you for months now. Please, go right ahead.”

Peter giggled and held out his hand for Harley to take. Despite being annoyed, Harley did. He didn’t sit on the chair next to Peter’s bed, instead lying on the bed right next to Peter who moved aside to make some space without saying another word. Tony took the chair near the bed instead, his face blank. His hands betrayed him, though, and kept on twitching.

“Umm… hi, sir.” Peter turned to Tony, his smile lopsided and awkward. “Are you okay? You look a little pale. And restless. D’ya need water? Have you eaten anything? Maybe you should. You look like you might pass out right here.”

While Harley snickered, Tony sighed and shook his head. “No, no. I’m fine. How are you doing? They said you’re hearing’s back?”

Beaming, Peter bobbed his head up and down. “Dr. Cho said it’d be all healed in a few hours thanks to my healing ability thing.” He shrugged. “It sucked when my hearing first came back though. I forgot what it’s like for the world to be quiet.” He looked at Harley. “Are you okay?”

Unbelievable. He was in the MedBay after losing his hearing and instead of focusing on himself, he asked both Tony, who hurt him, and Harley if they were alright. Just… unbelievable. Harley’s only reply was to cover Peter’s mouth with his hand, a smirk in place. “Oh, that’s better.” He nudged Peter. “Let us worry about you for a change, will you?”

On his chair, Tony slumped. “I’m sorry, kid.” He looked at Peter and then gave Harley a quick glance. “We all are. I’m just the one tasked to come and say it to your face too soon after hurting you. Just tell me if you need anything and I’ll get it, alright?” He didn’t wait for Peter’s answer before he left. Harley wanted to be upset with him, but he knew Tony wasn’t great with emotions and dealing with anything that was more stressful than killing aliens (which… this was. For him), so he just let it go. Besides, Peter looked like he accepted the apology already.

They stayed there together for a while, talking about random things, like school and their next Decathlon meeting. They decided to study together soon since their competition was coming up and both Harley and Peter wanted to be at top shape. Especially because Liz kept on nagging everyone about it. It was her last year. It made sense.

After a while Harley twisted and shifted until he was on his side, leaning his head on his hand and looking at Peter. The older teen was looking up at him with a smile. He said his hearing was getting better with every passing minute, which was great. It was GREAT. Harley was so relieved he could cry.

“Can I kiss you?” He asked instead, because crying seemed like something Tony might be doing now. He preferred actually having a good time after realizing Peter wasn’t going to stay deaf forever.

Peter’s smile turned into a pout. “What, just like that? It’s not followed by anything romantic at all, just you wanting to kiss me in the MedBay? I thought I meant more to you.”

Scoffing, Harley shoved him lightly. “Was there something romantic before you and MJ kissed?”

For a moment he feared that was the wrong thing to say, but Peter didn’t seem like it hurt him. He just smiled with a faraway look in his eyes before his blinked back to the present, a goofy grin back. “Nah. We started dating because she kissed me out of the blue. It was the opposite of romantic. It was so surprising I actually had to take a couple of seconds to realize what was going on.”

“So what are you even complaining about?! This is way overdue!” He laughed for a second but then quickly leaned down to meet Peter’s lips before he’d be able to talk himself out of it. It was his first kiss. First kiss with someone. First kiss with Peter. It wasn’t perfect and it lasted less than a moment, but it still left him lightheaded and happy and content and whatnot. Peter’s huge grin was enough of an indication that he felt the same, even if he could probably tell it was Harley’s first kiss. He looked down at Peter and found his huge, brown eyes locked on his. “Wanna go to the common room and guilt trip the Avengers into watching a movie they hate?”

Brown eyes sparkled up at him. “Hell yeah.”