Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter watched as the waiter brought the tray of drinks, the various liquids bubbling and the glasses clinking together as he maneuvered the tray off his shoulder and set it on the sprawling table. Glasses were handed out, straws were pushed in, and then contents were sucked down, leaving only ice. The man with the bald head and large nose laughed at something the brunette woman across from him had said, a large, boisterous laugh that made Peter’s lips turn up into a smile but it was a bittersweet one. 

Peter looked away from the window, the cold wind making the tear tracks on his cheeks burn. The familiar ache of disappointment replaced the second-hand happiness he had gotten from watching the family sitting by the large window at the Italian restaurant he knew he could never actually afford. But still, as he laid near the window sill of the abandoned apartments across the street from the restaurant, he couldn’t help but watch the families come in and to live vicariously through them. 

He imagined that it was him who was seated at one of the plush, maroon booths and was sipping an ice cold coke, smiling at everyone around him, people that loved him. Another tear rolled over his eyelid and across his nose since he was laying sideways now. After one last glimpse of the restaurant goers, Peter turned to face the ceiling above him, fraudulent allusions dissipating, leaving him to marinate in his loneliness. He didn’t think the gaping hole that showcased at least three floors above him could really count as a ceiling, but he wasn’t going to complain either way. Ever since he’d discovered this condemned apartment building he’d actually had a place to stay which beat living on the streets, his prior residence. 

Peter pulled the brown blanket over his shoulder, making the ends no longer cover his feet. Now that he was alone with his thoughts he couldn't help the instant spiraling and panic that overwhelmed him every night along with the terrible realization he faced daily: he was homeless and alone and way too young to really do anything about it. 

Peter once again, for the millionth time, missed his aunt. It seemed like such a lifetime ago he’d been curled up with her on the couch, laughing as she burned the cookies, and talking a mile a minute about anything he wanted. Though at the time Peter had thought he’d had the worst of it after his parents and uncle’s death, the present Peter knew the truth that then he had been truly content. Not like now where he slept on two blankets on the floor of a condemned building. No, Peter thought that this was definitely not an improvement from living with May. 

It wasn’t like with the rest of Peter’s family where he mourned their deaths, though, because May was still alive, just barely. 

Peter still had the day she got her Cancer diagnoses permanently etched in his brain and he doubted it would ever really go away. It's nights like these, lonely and cold, that it just replays over and over in his head and he runs through every scenario, every possible thing that he could have done differently, but to no avail. Nothing he could do would change the fact that May’s stuck in the hospital now, and any chance of her getting out is slim to none. Peter’s just glad that her insurance covers it because no matter how much he wanted to, there’s no way he could pay for that himself. His meager job he had happened to get at Delmars before this had all happened was barely enough for him to buy the necessities, not that he would ever ask for more. Mr. Delmar was already so generous with what he gave him and it’s not like it was his fault at all, the kind old man had no idea that what he got there was Peter’s only source of income. No one knew. Peter was truly and utterly alone. 

The sounds of the constant New York traffic and the wind whipping past the only window in the abandoned apartments that wasn’t broken or boarded up eventually lulled Peter into a restless sleep which only lasted a couple hours until a yell woke him. Immediately awake, Peter shot up, scanning the view out the window for the cause of the commotion. The pedestrians below were turned towards a taxi on the street, shock and fear evident on their faces. Without hesitation Peter grabbed his Spider-Man suit from where he kept it in a cupboard and threw it on as quickly as possible. Just as he’d managed to get it in place he was flinging himself out of a broken window and free falling to the street below, just managing to shoot a web out to stop his fall at the last second and he landed quietly at the scene of the accident. He ignored the shocked faces around him and even the phones that had been whipped out to film, instead focusing on the sobbing man on his knees in the street. 

“Help her! Please!” His desperate, agonized screams made Peter’s heart lurch. He followed where the man's outstretched hand was pointing to see an arm poking out from underneath the taxi. Without hesitation Peter lowered himself to be able to see under the vehicle and then wanted to jump back in shock at what he saw. A young blonde girl, probably only thirteen or so, was crushed under the front wheel of the taxi. The wheel was right on top of her hips which was seriously not good. The girl wasn’t making a sound but there was blood pooling around under her, another really bad sign. Peter jumped back up and positioned himself right by where the wheel crushing her was. He dug his fingers under the wheel well and began to lift. Peter’s muscles strained and his forearms felt like they were going to rip but slowly he managed to bring to wheel up off the girl. 

“Pull her out!” He shouted quickly, knowing he couldn’t hold the car up for very long. Since the man who Peter assumed was her dad was still hysterical another woman dashed up and grabbed the girl by her shoulders, quickly pulling her onto the sidewalk, well out of the way of any vehicle. After making sure that the space under the wheel was completely clear, Peter gradually lowered the taxi until it was flat on the road again. After another quick check to make sure nothing was about to explode or something, Peter turned back to the girl who was lying face up, surrounded by the woman who’d lifted her and her father. Another man stood close by and kept repeating that he was sorry. Peter assumed that must have been the driver who’d hit her.

The girl's eyes were shut now and Peter could barely make out the sound of the slight inhale and exhale of breath. He knew she needed medical help now if she was gonna live. 

“Has anyone called 911?!” Peter called out at the crowd that had formed farther back, watching the scene unfold like a movie. 

“Uh, yes, I am. They said that someone would be here in twenty minutes.” A woman towards the front of the crowd answered back, her phone pressed to her ear. Peter cursed, turning back towards the girl. Emergency services in this city were always backed up, yet another reason why he did what he did. 

Peter knew the girl didn’t have that kinda time. With his advanced hearing he could hear her heartbeat slow down more with every passing moment. He also knew he could swing her to the closest hospital in a quarter of that time. 

Peter knelt down next to where the father was crouched beside her. “If I take her to the hospital on 32th Street and Grand she has a chance.”

The man looked towards Peter with a tearstained face. “P-Please.” He choked out. 

Peter nodded at him, hoping he could convey the seriousness with which he was taking this situation so her father knew he wasn’t gonna fuck this up. 

He slid his arm underneath the girl and pressed her limp body to his chest. She was heavier than he’d guessed and for a second Peter wondered how he was gonna be able to swing while holding her securely in his arms but knew that he had to do this and had no other option. 

Careful not to cause any more damage to the wounds caused by the accident, Peter held her close to himself with his left arm and then shot a web onto the top of the closest high rise with his right. As he pulled himself up and swung through the street Peter only increased his hold on the girl, trying his hardest to keep her from falling to the ground. His heart lurched when halfway through the arch of one of his swings, she slipped down out of his hold but he grabbed in between her legs to keep her secured. Peter would normally never touch someone like this without their permission but in this situation he had no other choice.

After three tense minutes Peter made it to the hospital's emergency entrance, dropping down by the open doors and immediately clutching the girl with both hands. His right arm was burning from swinging one handed and holding both their weights but he ignored it and instead called out for help as loud as he could. 

Her heartbeat was barely there now and Peter knew he had mere seconds to get her help. Luckily two paramedics had seen him land and sprinted towards him with a gurney that he quickly laid the girl onto. As they rolled here away Peter caught one last sight of her broken, bleeding body and wanted to scream. Why would something this horrible happen to such a young girl? Who decided this kind of thing? It all seemed so cruel and unfair. 

But Peter was probably just projecting. After all he’d been to this same hospital many times before to visit May. 

Feeling a strange mix of worry and restlessness now that all the action was over and there was nothing left he could do, Peter shakily took a seat in one of the chairs by the entrance. As he sat down he noticed the blood that covered the front of his suit and made the fabric stick to his skin. Nauseated now, Peter tried to calm himself down.

Once he was ok enough, Peter left the hospital and swung back to his apartment. After landing right into the same window he’d lept out of earlier, Peter glanced at his watch. It was 6:50 meaning school started in seventy minutes. Peter felt numb now as he gathered up what he needed and threw it into a bag before swinging back out the window. The little girl's bloody body plagued his thoughts the whole way to Midtown and he almost stopped for fear he was going to vomit. 

Once he reached his destination, Peter came to a silent stop. He then climbed up the brick wall on the back of one of the buildings until he reached a tiny window on the third floor. Peter knew that this window was always unlocked since no normal person would ever be able to reach it and so he pushed it open and scooted himself in. The window was only about one foot tall and three feet wide so it was always difficult to make it through but once he did he dropped down into the boys locker room and then checked to make sure that the door was locked which it was. After this he turned on the shower and peeled the blood soaked suit off his body. Emotions that he attempted to suppress rushed through him as he placed his suit in the sink and turned on the water. He let it soak as he quickly washed his body off in the shower, using the hand soap from one of the sinks as body wash. Once he’d finished with this he pulled his school clothes out of the bag and threw them on before going to the sink to scrub at his suit. Luckily blood never really left a stain since the suit was red and blue so he didn’t have to scrub much. 

After Peter had finished his routine he hid in one of the stalls until the custodian came around at 7:30 to unlock the bathroom door. Peter then dashed out of the bathroom and went downstairs to the library to access a computer so he could do his homework as his hair dried. 

Peter watched the other students slowly trickle in and felt a pang of longing. They had normal lives, ones that didn’t involve sneaking into their school so they could take a shower. 

Peter figured that he just wasn’t destined to have a normal life and so he didn’t dwell on it. Although he definitely wouldn't mind having a life that didn’t consist of so much loneliness. 

At least he had Ned, he reminded himself as the black-haired boy came up to where Peter set at 7:45 like he normally did. Peter smiled up at him right as he submitted his AP Chem homework. 

“Hey.” Ned called out as he took the chair next to Peter, his normally cheery personality tired from waking up. “Almost didn’t make it to school today cause I stayed up last night playing the new Minecraft update.”

Peter smiled at his best friend, grateful to focus his mind on a much more cheerful topic from what he’d been thinking about previously. The girl's bloody figure had been consuming his mind all morning until now. “I haven’t gotten to play it yet. Is it good?” Ned always had a tendency to make him feel better in shitty situations going back as far as his parents death. Not in a forced or uncomfortable way just in a way that Peter greatly appreciated. 

“It’s so good. They added this new block in the Nether. It’s like this-”

“Morning losers.” 

Then there was MJ. She was another big part of Peter’s social life. And by that he meant the other half, the first being Ned. 

“Hey MJ.” Ned replied as she sat across from Peter and immediately began sketching in the notebook she carried around. “But Peter, you should totally come by my house after work and play. My moms making sugar cookies tonight for her work dinner thingy but she totally said we could have some-”

“Oh Ned’s mommy is making cookies? Sounds like such a fun night.” Flash ridiculed in a mocking voice from where he’d been lounging with his posse nearby. “I bet it is for you, Fatty”

Ned’s face burned as Flash’s friends broke out in laughter, goading him on. Peter watched his friend’s face fall and became angry. He hated that Flash thought he could pick on them just because he considered himself better than them. 

Peter opened his mouth but caught MJ’s hard stare before he could say anything. 

“Don’t. It’s just gonna make it worse.” 

He knew she was right and so he stopped himself. Luckily Ned didn’t let the comment get to him for very long and smiled again. “Wanna head to homeroom?”

Class didn’t start for eight more minutes but Peter knew Ned just wanted to get away from Flash. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

They parted ways with MJ who had a different homeroom and walked to where their class was. “Dude, I saw a clip on TikTok on the way to school of you lifting a car.” Ned whispered in excitement to Peter as they made their way up the stairs. 

All the emotions from this morning's events were brought back at Ned’s words making Peter panic all over again. “Oh yeah.” He replied lamely, concealing his true feelings. 

“I looked it up and that car was over three-thousand pounds! That’s a new record for you!”

“Well I didn’t lift the whole thing, just one side.” 

“Yeah but that was still most of the weight!” Ned argued, his enthusiasm growing. “Have you ever actually tested how much weight you can lift?”

Peter almost laughed at that. “Why would I do that?” 

Ned persisted still, ignoring Peter’s lack of enthusiasm. “So you know your limits, ya know? And also what if you can lift like five-thousand pounds or something and don’t even know? Don’t you wanna know?”

Peter thought that Ned had much more excitement regarding Peter's powers than Peter did. Most likely because he didn’t experience the responsibility that came with them. “I don’t know, Ned. I normally just lift heavy stuff when it’s necessary. It kinda hurts.”

Ned finally relented at this. “Oh ok. Well I bet that you could lift a school bus if you wanted to.”

Chuckling, Peter followed Ned into their homeroom class, appreciating his bestfriends naivety. It was needed after this morning. 

Ned had no idea about the kind of situation that Peter was in which is how Peter wanted it to be. He couldn’t imagine how Ned would react if he knew but he hoped he never had to find out. As far as Ned knew May was healthy and happy and Peter was still living with her. Ned never questioned why they never went back to Peter’s apartment to hang out luckily. Peter didn’t invite him ever but Ned wasn’t offended. Instead he just invited Peter to his apartment hoping that the teen would say yes. He normally did half the time which Ned was happy about. 

They spent the remaining time before class started at their desks, discussing the AP Chem homework and it made Peter glad that Ned didn’t know. He needed moments like this where he could pretend everything was fine and normal. If he didn’t get to have this he probably would have spiraled into insanity long ago.

Chapter Text

It was a cold, lonely night, much like every other night Peter had had the past year. He was perched on the top of a high rise with his arms wrapped around his legs for warmth, watching the tiny cars below. His suit was a sweatshirt and sweatpants he DIYed and not really capable of keeping him warm, therefore causing many cases of mild frostbite over this past winter. His inability to thermoregulate from his spider powers doesn’t aid this problem either. 

He’s was able to make out two people walking down the sidewalk, pressed against each other. They slowly made their way to a part of the sidewalk that was covered with an overhang wrapped in twinkling strings of light and then came together for a long kiss.

Peter got to his feet and turned away. He couldn't watch this. His fragile mental state couldn't handle it. 

It had been two hours since Peter had started his patrol and besides that one lady he helped earlier it had been completely quiet tonight so he headed ‘home’. He couldn't help but hope that it’s because of his presence that the criminal activity in Queens had dropped. Wishful thinking, he was sure. 

He made it home just in time before the rain starts coming down. After he changed into the warmest clothes he has, Peter made his way to one of the empty holes where a window previously had been and let the cool rain fall onto his outstretched hand. He then filled up his water bottle with the liquid and downed it. 

After all of this Peter went back to his little pile of blankets in what was once a kitchen and sat down. He pulled out his most prized and probably most expensive possession, an old CD player that once belonged to his Aunt and Uncle while they were younger. One of the only CD’s he had is a track full of oldies songs. Peter placed the disk into the slot and shut it with a click. The sound brought back nostalgia from when May would put CD’s on when he was a kid. 

Peter brought his candle, the only source of light and warmth, closer to his ‘bed’. The candle cast a yellow hue inside the dilapidated kitchen that contrasted with the deep blue outside. He watched the flame move and the rain hit the glass pane as the muffled old music played. These were some of the only comforts he had and he cherished them as he slipped off into a dreamless sleep. 

The next morning was a Saturday and Peter checked his watch to see that he had two hours before he needed to be at Delmars for work so he grabbed what he needed and headed down the street to a mostly desolate part of town. Here the streets were lined with homeless people, their broken spirits and hopeless faces giving him a horrible feeling in his stomach. 

Peter counted the loose bills and coins that he had and realized he had barely twenty dollars. If he was extra frugal he might be able to get everything he needed with it. 

Inside an abandoned warehouse was a homeless shopping mall. People who had anything to sell were laying out their old possessions, mostly on the ground. Peter darted through the ragged crowd, looking for what he needed. 

The first thing he found was a really old iphone 4 that wouldn’t turn on. Peter had realized that he needed some sort of device when Ned had frantically asked at school why he hadn’t answered any of his texts from the night before. Also it would be nice to be able to do his online assignments anywhere and not only rushed in the library before school. 

Because the phone was broken the old, bearded man selling it gave it to him for seven dollars. Peter gave him ten because the man had a little, most likely hungry baby in a cardboard box next to him. After this he bought two pairs of socks from a bald lady in a dirty, pink jacket for four dollars and then with the last six dollars he bought some chicken soup in a cup and a loaf of bread from a dirty, young boy.

As Peter made his way back to the old apartment building with his ‘new’ items he stopped. A little girl was crouched down inside a tipped over trash can and was chewing on a twig. Peter’s heart panged and he instantly knew that he had to give her his food. 

She looked up at him with tired, teary brown eyes but grabbed the bread and tore into it hungrily when he held it out to her. He set the soup down next to her and after only a moment turned away. 

That was going to be Peter’s first meal in three days but he didn’t care, his super metabolism could fuck itself. He only wished he could feed every hungry child today that wasn’t going to get anything. 

Once again he wondered how the world could be this cruel and unfair to so many. No child deserved to be living like that. 

His stomach rumbled throughout his entire shift at Delmars and with every sandwich he handed out to a customer he was reminded of his own empty stomach. 

It was five minutes to closing when Mr Delmer gave him his tip out and a sandwich wrapped in paper. “Say hi to your Aunt for me. She hasn’t come in in so long I was starting to get worried.”

Peter forced a chuckle that sounded so wrong to himself. “She’s been busy with work.”

“Ah, well tell her too much work and not enough play ain’t good for her. She should let up a bit, right?”

Peter’s smile was disingenuous but he kept it plastered to his face. “Yep. See ya Mr. Delmar!”

The moment Peter left the sandwich shop he made his way back to the girl from earlier as the last light from the day slowly dissipated. She was tucked up in the trash can but jumped up at the sight of him. He held out the sandwich and she only hesitated for a moment before grabbing it and unwrapping it. 

After a couple bites she paused. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Peter replied as his stomach lurched again. He turned back to walk home but his vision suddenly became blurry and his head started to sway. 

He was barely able to make out a figure approaching him, their words fuzzy and unintelligible, as he tipped forward. Peter lost consciousness and the blond haired boy in front of him caught his limp body. 

“Whoa.” Harley said simply as he gently lowered Peter to the floor. He was worried and shocked at the fact that this random person had just passed out onto him.

With the stranger's head now in his lap Harley could make out long dark lashes that brushed against his sharp cheekbones. Pale, sickly translucent skin stretched across muscles and jutting bone, looking like it was struggling to cover it. Dark curls covered the strangers forehead and Harley brushed them away as he felt for any fever. Peter’s skin was freezing which worried Harley. 

A little girl in a trashcan had halted midway through eating a sub to stare at the spectacle. When Harley met her gaze she immediately darted away, still holding her food.

“Hey, wait!” Harley called after her but to no avail. He looked down at the boy in his lap again, clueless on what to do. He’d never had a random stranger faint into his arms and so he was pretty inexperienced in this matter. 

“Hey, wake up.” He called out as he shook the teen. After a couple more minutes of shaking he still hadn’t awoken. Shit, what was Harley supposed to do? He couldn’t just leave him here like this. But it’s not like he had a safe, warm place he could take him back to. 

The more Harley looked at the boy laying in his arms the worse he looked. He was extremely thin, worryingly so. The gap between his thighs was bigger than his thighs themselves. But Harley didn’t have any food either that he could give him. He wasn’t even able to take care of himself right now, much less a random sick guy. 

The longer Harley sat here, clueless, the darker it got until the only light was from a streetlight nearby. 

So Harley did the only right thing he could think of: he picked Peter up and carried him up to the tent he now called his home. Peter was way too light but it made the walk back very easy and quick. The entire way Harley couldn’t help the frequent glances at this sick stranger's face. His plump lips were downturned, like his worries were still etched on his face even during unconsciousness, and there was something about his eyes. They weren’t even open but they still mesmerized Harley. He hoped they would open soon. 

When he got to his little shelter he gingerly laid Peter down on the cardboard in his tent that he used as a makeshift bed. Peter didn’t stir so Harley pulled out the granola bar he’d bought and began to chew, not tasting a single bite. He stared at Peter’s limp face for way too long before he started to feel creepy and instead opted to gaze at the blue fabric of his tent wall instead. 

Time passed, Harley isn’t sure how long, before Peter begins to stir. Harley jumped at the movement, preparing for any kind of reaction this stranger could have. As Peter’s eyes slowly blinked open and met Harley’s the blonde boy felt his heart thump. They were beautiful brown doe eyes that perfectly contrasted with Peter’s pale skin. 

“Wha-Who are y-you?” Peter asked confusedly, taking in the teen in front of him. He had tan, healthy looking skin that accentuated his muscled arms peeking out from under his T-shirt and had blond wavy hair. 

“I’m Harley. You collapsed on me.” Harley stated simply, staring right back at Peter. 

“Oh. Sorry.” Peter replied, still confused. 

“Who are you?”

“P-Peter. Why did I collapse?” Peter was trying to figure out how the hell he’d ended up in this tent with someone he didn’t recognize. 

“I’m not sure. I, uh, didn’t know what to do so I brought you back here. It’s where I live now I guess.”

Peter didn’t seem to recoil in disgust at this like Harley had anticipated and instead stared at the ground, deep in thought. 

“Are you ok now?” Harley asked. “Maybe you need to eat. Here.” He held up the remaining chunk of the granola bar. 

“Oh, uh. No. I’m fine. I just need to….” Peter seemed to be looking around, taking in the shabby tent. 

“Do you have a place to stay? Cause you can stay here if you want. It’s not much but ....” Harley trailed off, also looking around. He wasn’t sure why he was offering to let someone he didn’t know stay with him, maybe it was something about the heavy sorrow that filled those puppy dog eyes of Peters. 

“Well I kinda do. It’s a condemned building but it’s something.” Peter answered, looking back into Harley’s bright blue eyes. He almost didn’t catch Harley’s answer as his mind was filled with the way Harley’s eyes twinkled even with barely any light present. 

“Oh, ok. Well if you want I could… help you get back. I don’t want you to pass out again alone.”

Peter thought for a second before he spoke again. “I mean I don’t want to make you take care of me.” He wanted Harley to stay with him. 

“Oh, it’s no problem. As you can see I don’t have much to do here anyway.” Harley phrased it as a joke but really they both knew it was serious. 

“Um, ok.” Peter agreed. “Promise you're not an ax murderer or something?”

Harley smiled and Peter’s heart skipped. “No promises.”

Chapter Text

They walked together in silence for a moment through the dark streets. Both were wanting to say something but didn’t know where to start. 

“So,” Harley finally stated as he followed Peter through a narrow alley. “Are you still feeling faint?” 

Peter blushed like an idiot, glad that his face was currently turned away from Harley’s view. “No, I’m fine.”

“You sure? Cause I could carry you back if you needed.” Harley phrased it as a joke but knew that he’d already carried Peter before and he’d do it again if necessary. 

Peter’s face burned again, this time visible to Harley as he walked next to him now. “No. I’m fine, really. I don’t know what happened earlier.”

He did know why but he wasn’t going to say. Harley didn’t need to know about his malnourishment, though it was pretty obvious due to his appearance. 

“Seeing me can have that effect sometimes, you know?” Harley continued on teasing, relishing in Peter’s embarrassment. The blush on his cheeks was cute.

“Yeah, right.” Peter replied, shaking his head. He met Harley’s gaze and saw that he was smiling at him. “What? Oh, I bet you take so much joy in my shame.”

“I do actually.” Harley quipped as he stepped over some trash in the street. 

Peter just scoffed. “Whatever.”

Another moment passed in silence while the pair walked together. Then Harley spoke up again.

“So how’d you end up homeless?” Harley questioned and Peter looked at him in utter astonishment. “What?”

“You don’t just ask someone that, you idiot. It’s considered rude .” 

“Ok well it’s also considered rude to fall on someone, isn’t it?”

Peter just scoffed again and Harley waited a minute in silence for him to speak. 

Peter considered just telling Harley to fuck off. Sure, the guy had been nice enough to help him when he passed out but that didn’t mean Peter owed him his tragic backstory. Then again Harley seemed genuine and that he meant well. Peter looked back into Harley’s crystal blue eyes gazing at him and felt the walls he’d built up come down. Damn those kind eyes. They displayed Harley’s innocent intentions clearly. 

“My parents died when I was seven. It was a plane crash. And then I lived with my Aunt and Uncle but my Uncle was shot in a mugging three years ago and last year my Aunt- she- she got sick.” Peter knew he was pouring his heart out to someone he’d just met but at that moment he didn’t care. It was the first time he’d told someone about his aunt and it felt good to be able to speak about it. Maybe it was also something about the fact that Harley was in the same scenario as him- being a homeless teen on the streets- but he felt like he could tell him and have him understand. Harley listened intently, all traces of humor gone. “I didn’t have anyone to take care of me so they put me in foster care.”

Peter felt the emotion well up in his throat thinking about his foster father, Skip. He hated thinking about him and couldn’t believe he was managing to talk about him right now. 

After a long pause Harley spoke again. “What happened?”

“My foster father, he would come into my room at night and- and I would just lay there, unmoving and let it happen. I didn’t want it to but I was just frozen.” Peter blinked back the tears as he relived those awful nights with Skip. He had had the ability to overpower Skip but he never did, not even at the end. 

“One day I just didn’t go home. And so I ended up here.” He finished, eyes downcast now. 

“Peter, you didn’t deserve that and it’s not your fault.” Harley urged him desperately. He really believed it and wanted Peter to too. “That man is sick and should rot in hell for what he did to you.”

Peter pretended to rub his eyes but really he was trying to stem the rising tears. 

“Thank you.” He stated simply. 

Harley smiled sadly at him. “No problem.

They walked on for a moment more in comfortable silence, both deep in thought. 

“What about you? How’d you end up here?” Peter asked once he’d managed to get the wave of tears to subside. 

“Well I came out to my parents as gay and they didn’t really like that. I managed to grab some necessities before they kicked me out and then took a bus all the way here. My friend lives here but I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to see him.”

“That’s so horrible! Your parents shouldn’t have done that.” Peter replied in astonishment and second-hand anger. 

“Yeah, well people from the south don’t take to kindly to gays. I shoulda known honestly.”

“Still. That’s not right at all. We deserve to be treated like humans even if we are attracted to the same sex.”

Harley couldn’t help the small smile at Peter’s admission to also being gay. He’d been trying not to force anything that was one sided but maybe that meant something could really happen between them. Harley tried not to get his hopes up but failed.

“This is it.” Peter announced as he looked up at a building. Harley followed his line of sight to see exactly what Peter described: a condemned apartment building. He followed the brunette to an unlocked door and then up three flights of stairs. In a dark hallway they reached a door that was still open and led into a mostly empty apartment save for a couple armchairs, a table, and the kitchen counter and cupboards. By the window in the kitchen were a couple blankets on the floor that was where Harley figured Peter slept. 

“Cozy.” Harley remarked and he actually meant it. It may not be as good as most people’s homes but it was certainly much nicer than Harley’s current one. 

“Yeah, it’s something.” Peter remarked as he took the bag he’d had across his body off and set it on the counter. He then pulled open one of the cupboards in the kitchen and took out a purple hoodie. It was only then did Harley realize Peter had been shivering while he pulled the hoodie on. 

“You okay?” Harley asked again as Peter crouched down by a candle on the floor and lit it with a match casting the small, dirty room in a warm glow. 

“Fine.” Peter replied curtly as he shook the match out to extinguish it. 

Harley watched Peter watch the candle for a moment, unsure of what to do.

“Well, I, uh, better get going then.” He stated awkwardly, stepping back towards the door. 

“Oh, okay.” Peter seemed surprised by this and- maybe it was wishful thinking for Harley- also dismayed. “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem.” Harley answered with a quick wave. “See ya.”

Disappointed, Harley shut the door behind him as he left the desolate apartment. He’d kinda hoped Peter would invite him to stay.

Peter watched Harley walk out the door and felt a pang in his stomach. Sure, Harley was basically a stranger but in the short time they’d been together he’d already grown accustomed to his presence- idiotic, he knew. He really didn’t want him to leave. He’d been alone for so long that any other human interaction was like he’d finally felt warmth after being freezing for years. 

Wait, what was he doing? He was not going to just let Harley sleep in that tiny tent again tonight even after everything he’d done for him.

Shit, but Harley had already walked out the door. Scrambling to his feet, Peter dashed frantically into the hall. 

He wanted- no needed Harley’s presence. He just hoped that Harley wanted his too. 

Peter sprinted down the hallway and down the stairwell. As he burst out through the door to the apartment complex he finally saw Harley’s back as he walked away. 

“Wait!” Peter called out, panting. Harley turned around and a beautiful smile erupted on his face at the sight of Peter. 

“Please stay.” Peter didn’t care that his voice sounded desperate, he was beyond shame at this point. 

“Ok.” Harley replied simply as he stepped back over to Peter. As the taller, blond teen approached Peter he couldn’t help but notice the way Harley’s heart beat had picked up rapidly. 

“I can go back with you to get your stuff.” Peter offered, gesturing back to the direction of Harleys tent.

“No, it’s late. We should get to sleep. It’ll be fine for a night.” Harley said and Peter nodded before leading the way back inside. 

“Are you sure Peter? I don’t want you to be doing this cause you feel obligated. The tent is ok-”

“No, it’s not that. I….” Peter trailed off and couldn’t meet Harley’s gaze that he felt on him. 

“What?” Harley urged after a silent minute. 

Peter kept his gaze locked on the stairs they were walking up. “I just really would love company. And your tent is not ok.”

“Hey, I take great offense to that.” Harley joked, breaking the tension. Peter just scoffed. He appreciated Harley’s lightheartedness but still felt too solemn to really joke just yet. 

Once they were back in the apartment the tension quickly returned. Peter hadn’t really thought about what he was going to do if Harley actually agreed to stay. 

“Ummm, you can sleep….” Peter trailed off as he arranged one of his two blankets right next to the first one. “Right here. If that’s ok.”

“Yeah, sure. That’s great.” Harley quickly assured him while approaching their new ‘bed’.

“Ok.” Peter replied, nervously rubbing his hand on his pants and taking in his new sleeping arrangement. After an awkward moment he took off his shoes and then gingerly laid down, facing away from where Harley was going to lay just two inches away. He stared out the window in front of him and listened to the sounds of Harley also removing his shoes and laying down with a groan. 

Peter peeked over his shoulder to see Harley. “Sorry it’s not very comfortable. All the mattresses are gone so I had to sleep on the floor.”

Harley looked at Peter. “Don’t apologize. It’s more than enough. Thanks so much for your generosity.”

“Just returning the favor. You’re the one who had to carry me after I collapsed on you.”

Harley chuckled lightly as he gazed up into the hole above them. “Ya know at this point i’m used to cute guys throwing themselves at me like that so it was no issue.”

Peter was glad that he was facing away from Harley so he couldn’t see the way his face turned red at being called cute. But after a second when it faded he turned to lay flat next to him. “Oh, I’m sure.”

“Yeah.” Harley hid the excitement he felt that his and Peter’s shoulders were now touching slightly as they laid side by side. “Once I just tried to walk through a shop and this dude jumped into my arms and begged me to be his boyfriend right then and there. It was crazy.” 

Peter shook his head in mock disbelief but was still smiling like an idiot. “Oh, yeah. Just like when I saw you for the first time and fainted due to the shocking radiant aura you have.”

“Oh, yeah. Just like that.” Harley affirmed, smiling.

“And I’m sure that so many guys have before.”

“Yes. Too many to count.”

“You’re an idiot.” Peter teased through a grin that was impossible for him to suppress. “A cute idiot though.”

“Thank you.” Harley replied, making Peter snort. He then began to shake as a shiver wracked through his body. “Are you cold?”

“Y-yeah, just a little.” Peter’s teeth chattered as he responded. 

Harley wanted to ask something but he was nervous. After what Peter told him earlier about his foster father he didn’t want to overstep any boundaries.

“Do you wanna….” He started but trailed off.

Peter knew exactly what he meant and also understood his hesitance. After a moment of consideration- he quickly knew that he definetely wanted to- Peter replied. “Yes.”

“Ok.” Harley said before he began awkwardly adjusting so Peter could tuck his head into his side. Peter’s head was now right on his shoulder and his cheek was just a few inches from Harleys. Their bodies were also smushed together now.

Peter stopped adjusting after getting comfortable leaving them in a calm silence. After a few more shakes, Peter finally stopped shivering and pressed further into Harley’s side. 

Harley slowly brought his hand up and lightly placed it onto Peter’s back. After the teen didn’t shake it off Harley began rubbing circles against the purple sweatshirt Peter was wearing. 

Peter wanted to burst out into tears of relief. He hadn’t known just how much he’d been craving human contact until this very moment. The last time someone had touched him like this had been May. He took a shaky breath that worried Harley who stopped and slightly pulled away. 

“Are you ok Peter?” He asked, concerned. Peter nodded his head quickly with his face pressed into Harley’s shoulder. 

“Ok. Tell me if it’s too much.” Harley told him as he continued rubbing his hand across Peter’s back. Peter let the comfort he felt from being held wash over him for a moment, feeling happier than he had in awhile. He then slowly lifted his head off Harley’s shoulder and pressed it against his cheek. Harley turned his head towards Peter’s so their lips were just a half-inch apart. Each could feel the other’s breath on their mouths. 

Feeling brave, Peter quickly closed the space between their lips. At first he just held his lips there, unmoving, waiting for Harley to pull away. When the blonde teen didn’t, Peter began to kiss him. Harley kissed back and pressed his tongue deep inside Peter’s mouth. The hand that Harley had had on Peter’s back he now used to press Peter’s body even closer to his so that they were fully together now, kissing greedily and without stopping. 

Peter brought his hand up and began running his fingers through Harley’s hair, feeling the way the smooth curls enveloped his fingertips. 

Both their hearts were beating faster now, two thumping sounds only audible to Peter due to his enhanced hearing. 

After another minute Harley pulled his lips away and looked into Peter’s big Bambi eyes. “You still ok?”

“Yeah, I promise.” Peter assured him and then pressed his head back into Harley’s neck. They both laid there, breathing rapidly for a while. 

“We should probably go to sleep.” Harley finally stated. Peter only hummed in response signaling he almost was. 

Harley smiled. He couldn’t believe that just a week ago he’d been closeted and living at home thinking he was never going to find love with a boy like he so desperately wanted. And now he’d only been living in New York for two nights yet here he was snuggled up with a beautiful guy who seemed to really like him too. Maybe he was homeless now, but Harley was the happiest he’d been in a long time. He even felt like himself for the first time in years. 

Peter actually felt comfortable and safe. For too long he’d been sleeping alone, fearful for the upcoming, unpredictable days. But something about being held like this alleviated all his worries. He didn’t want this feeling to ever go away.

Slowly both boys drifted off to sleep, entangled in each other’s arms. 

Chapter Text

Peter awoke in a jolt, his nightmare about his Uncle’s bloody body still the only thing he could see. He was trying to sit up but something was keeping him held down, only increasing his panic. After a moment he was released, free to curl up into a ball and hyperventilate.

“Whoa, Peter. What’s wrong?” A voice called out from next to him. Peter could still only see his Uncle bleeding out in front of him even though his eyes were snapped open. His breathing became rapid but also choked like he couldn’t get a breath in. 

Harley really began freaking out. When Peter had harshly pulled, trying to get out of his hold, and waking him up, he had let him and now wasn’t sure what to do. “Breath, Peter. Please.”

Peter blinked and suddenly Ben was gone, replaced by the familiar wall of the abandoned apartment. He took in some shaky breaths, still freaked out from the nightmare. 

“Peter.” Harley called out from where he was sitting next to him. Peter jumped at the sound. 

“Oh, hi.” Peter said after a second, meeting Harley’s concerned gaze. 

“Are you ok?” Harley asked gently but with intense worry. 

“Yeah, yeah. Just a nightmare.” Peter assured him but Harley didn’t let up like he thought he was going to.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

Peter considered telling Harley about his horrendous nightmare but thought better of it. Telling him the straight facts about himself was one thing but describing how an emotionally scarring event still plagued him in tremendous ways was another. Best to just move past it and not think about it again.

“No, it’s ok. I’m fine.” 

Harley nodded but still looked skeptical. “Are you hungry? I could try to get us something to eat.”

Peter was starving. But there was no way he was gonna eat a bite when he knew there were people like that little girl who were probably hungrier. “Nah, I’m good.”

Harley was even more skeptical at this. He knew Peter was hungry. It was evident in the way his tiny body looked and felt. Last night Peter’s sharp hip bones had been pressing against him, causing great concern for Harley.

“I’ll get you something and maybe you’ll be hungry later.” Harley told him as he stood up and began walking out the door. 

He was concerned for Peter. He didn’t want to force him to eat but watching him starve for no apparent reason was not an option either. Also he wanted to help out a bit and not just be useless, taking up Peter’s space. 

As he walked, he remembered their kiss last night. It had made him so happy then and it did again thinking about it right now. He hoped it wasn’t just a spur of the moment, one time thing, and that Peter really liked him too. Maybe he’d have to get the bravery to ask him if he did. 

Maybe he would even want to be boyfriends. The thought made Harley's heart flutter, a sign of his excitement at the prospect. He’d never had a boyfriend before but had always wanted one. 

Was he moving way too fast? Sure, but he was choosing to ignore that fact. He’d met Peter yesterday but already felt closer to him then he ever did any of his ‘friends’ back in Tennessee. Maybe finally being able to talk about his homosexuality freely now with people helped make a stronger connection, at least for him, and was one that didn’t feel so fraudulent. 

Harley smiled as he returned to his tent and began gathering what little he had. Luckily no one had come into his tent from what he could tell so his dead phone and the small supply of snacks he had were still there. 

After he’d grabbed everything and packed up his tent, Harley made his way back to the apartment building, reminiscing on when he and Peter had taken this same path earlier. Sure, maybe he was acting like a crazy, hopeless romantic but could he be blamed? Peter was cute, nice, and a male, Harley’s only requirements. 

When he pushed the door to the apartment open with his shoulder and stepped back in, Peter was curled up at the table, covered with a blanket, and working on some device with tools Harley hadn’t seen earlier. 

“Hey.” Harley called out to announce his presence. 

Peter looked up at him, all traces of his morning freak out gone. “Hi Harley.”

Harley smiled when Peter used his name. Sure, it was just his name that everyone used but when Peter said it his heart almost burst.

“Whatcha workin’ on?” He asked as he set his tent and bag down on the floor. 

“I was trying to get this phone to work again.” Peter replied and right as he said this the screen flashed white, turning on. 

“Oh, looks like it worked.” Harley remarked while he took a seat next to Peter. 

“Yeah, it just needed a tiny readjustment and a new circuit board.” He stated simply as he began tapping on the screen. 

Harley snorted at this. His downplay of his work and tech knowledge reminded Harley of a certain billionaire he knew. “Just that?”

“Yep.” Peter responded, now completely engrossed in setting up the iPhone.

Harley remembered that he’d wanted to give something to Peter and so he retrieved it from his bag. “Here I got you some crackers and peanut butter.”

Peter looked up at this and then stared at the food for a second with an unreadable expression. “Oh… thanks.”

Harley waited for him to take it. When he didn't, Harley became nervous. He needed Peter to eat but knew he couldn’t exactly force him. He was hoping that with some slight persuasion the teen would take a bite. “Some might say it’s a weird combo but that’s just ‘cause they haven’t tried it yet.”

Peter didn’t smile or joke back, though, and he didn’t grab any food either. He just stared at it. Harley waited again to see if he was going to do anything. 

“I actually have to get to work soon. I work at the sandwich shop down the street.” Peter then stated as he got up. “I normally get a free sub there so I’m all good.”

Harley couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. He also hadn’t known Peter had had a job. “Oh, ok.” 

“I'll be back in a couple hours. You can stay here if you want.” He added while grabbing something from a kitchen cupboard that he concealed from Harley’s sight. 

“Ok, I probably will.” Harley called out to him as he left the apartment. He sat in silence at the table now, deep in thought. 

That was fishy. He started to realize that maybe he’d been too quick to trust Peter. But then another, hopeless romantic part of him shrugged it off. Peter probably was just going to work. 

Peter held his SpiderMan suit close to his chest, exhaling in relief. He didn’t think Harley had seen it. 

He didn’t actually have work today, it was just an excuse that he still felt bad about. Instead he was going to go patrolling and had been trying to figure out a way to sneak out with the suit without alerting Harley to his alter identity. 

Here he’d thought he’d opened up to Harley but was still keeping a pretty big part of his life secret. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell him, he just wanted to be careful. Even if Harley seemed trustworthy if Peter revealed his identity and then Harley ended up hating him he could use his secret identity as blackmail or just leak it to the public which Peter didn’t want. That’s why it was just safer to keep it undisclosed for now. 

He made his way into the main lobby area for the apartment building and then snuck into a room to change quickly. After that he climbed out a window and shot a web onto the top of a building nearby. 

After launching himself in the air, Peter relished in the feeling of freedom and exuberance that came with soaring through the city like this. There was nothing like it. Ok maybe kissing Harley was. Shit, he needed to stop thinking about it.

Throughout his patrol he stopped two mugging, helped an old lady cross the street, and thought about Harley nonstop. Everytime he tried to be serious the feeling of Harley’s lips on his would take over his whole mind. It would be aggravating if he didn’t enjoy thinking about the beautiful blue eyed boy so much. 

Damn, he was losing his mind. He had to stay focused. 

Peter had slid onto a ledge on a highrise to take a breather for a moment when he really let his mind wander. Remembering the way it felt to have Harley’s hands on him made him elated and he hoped they would do the same thing tonight. 

No, he could not get attached. Harley might not even be there when he got back. And also who’s to say that he wasn’t a psycho or something? Peter didn’t even know him. He could not get used to having his presence already.

Peter thought he heard a strange whirring sound that deterred him from his spiraling thoughts. It was quiet but thanks to his enhanced hearing he could barely make it out. He had just started to look around for the source when the sudden sound of breaking glass and an alarm blaring caught his attention instead. On the street below a man in all black with a bandana over his nose had just crashed through a bank window and fallen on the sidewalk below. 

Peter had already swung down next to him before the man could scramble to his feet. As he did he grabbed the pistol that had fallen out of his hand during the crash and pointed it at Peter. 

“Move freak.” He spit out angrily but Peter could detect some fear in his voice and the way his heart beat wildly. He tried to dart around Peter who immediately blocked his way again.

“Put the gun down.” Peter commanded. He did not want this to get deadly for any of the people who were huddled on the street in fear. 

“Fuck.” The man cursed and began running the other way. Right as he did another man in all black sprinted out of the banks door and followed the first.

Peter shot a web at the second man and brought him flying back, making the pistol in his hand clatter to the floor, luckily without firing. He then webbed the criminal to a lampost who was screaming angrily and trying to thrash out of the webs. Peter spent a second making sure he was secure before sprinting off after the first man who was now nowhere to be seen. 

Peter ran down the street, eyes peeled for where the criminal could have gone when he suddenly saw him racing down an alley to Peter’s right. Peter almost tripped in his haste to stop and pivoted to follow the man into the alley which turned off to the left. As he turned he was met with the criminal who was now cornered due to the alley being a dead end. The criminal spun around, gun still raised and now pointing right at Peter. 

“Hey man. Just put the gun down and we can talk this out.” Peter called out as he tried to keep the criminal from doing anything rash. The way the man was now hyperventilating and how his eyes were darting around, looking for an exit, made Peter think he had mere seconds before the criminal would do something irrational. 

Suddenly the whirring sound from earlier returned behind Peter, though now much louder. Peter debated whirling around to see what it was but needed to keep his eyes on the criminal and his weapon.

“Put the gun down.” A familiar, robotic sounding voice called out and Peter could make out an iron gauntlet raised next to his head and pointing at the criminal through his peripheral vision.  

What the fuck was Iron Man doing here? Peter didn’t have time to dwell on it much though because the man in front of him was now freaking out. 

“Wait!” Peter pleaded right as the gun fired and the gauntlet shot out a flash of light all at the same time. Peter watched as the criminal in front of him collapsed to the floor, unconscious or dead he had no idea. 

After a moment of shock, Peter slowly brought his hand to his stomach and felt a warm, sticky liquid soaking his suit. 

“Are you ok?” Iron Man asked from behind him. Peter just held his hand to his stomach with his mouth open in disbelief for a second before he whirled around. 

There Iron Man stood less than two feet in front of Peter, gauntlet now back at his side. Peter would be fanboying if he wasn’t pissed off. 

“What the fuck? Why did you do that?” Peter demanded. 

“Oh, you mean stun the guy who had a gun pointed at you?” Tony Stark retorted snarkily. “You’re welcome by the way.”

“I had it under control!” Peter cried out.

“Yeah, sure. Jumping up at the slightest sound of action without a plan and getting killed is not control.” 

Peter was pissed . “Why the fuck were you stalking me?”

“I wasn’t stalking you! I needed to talk to you.”

“You couldn’t wait until after I was done apprehending a criminal?!” Peter was shrieking now but was too infuriated to even care. 

“I was trying to keep you from getting yourself killed!” Tony replied harshly. 

Peter was going to spew out some angry threats but a sudden, sharp pain in his core sent him tumbling to the ground.

“Whoa, what’s wrong?” Tony asked, anger replaced with concern. He cursed when he saw the blood stain on Peter’s stomach under his hand. “We need to get you medical attention now .”

The firm, metal arms of the Iron Man suit grabbed onto Peter’s arms and tried to lift him but he resisted. “No. Get off.” He attempted to yell but felt himself losing strength by the second so all that came out was a quiet whine. 

Tony ignored him and pulled him up. Peter could hear him talking to someone else through a comm. “Tell Cho to prep a Med room.”

With his last surge of strength Peter broke out of Tony’s grip, shot a web, and swung out of the alley. His stomach screamed in pain but he persisted. There was absolutely no way he was going back with Iron Man. Sure, he loved Tony Stark but if he went back with him the man would definitely find out his identity. Then he would know that he was a runaway foster kid and would most likely put him back in the system or worse, back with Skip. 

Peter swung all the way back to the apartment building, trying to keep from passing out in pain. He also listened for any sounds of whirring from behind him but didn’t hear any. Stark must have gotten the message and left him alone. 

Only when Peter was about to climb in the broken window did he remember his newest roommate. He peeked over the corner and looked on. No sign of Harley. Being in too much pain to investigate further he pushed himself in and immediately fell onto the floor, wincing.

Why the hell did Tony fucking Stark decide to follow him and get him shot? He had said he had wanted to talk to him and now Peter wished he’d asked what about. 

Shit, did Tony know he was really a homeless kid? Was he coming to apprehend him? Or maybe he wanted to ask him to join the Avengers?

No, that was just wishful thinking. 

After ripping off his mask, Peter looked down at his stomach and groaned. He hadn’t been shot on patrol in almost a year and not since he’d become homeless. This was not going to be good. 

He lifted up his top and pushed one of the blankets to his wound to stem the blood. If he was feeling faint before this gunshot wound was definitely not helping. 

“Peter?” Harley’s familiar voice rang out making Peter freeze. He looked up to see the blonde teen’s shocked face as he stood by the hallway. He must have been in a different room. 

“Um, hi.” Peter called back awkwardly.

“What the hell.” Harley remarked and Peter thought it was deserved. “You’re that vigilante guy? The spider one?”

“Spiderman.” Peter responded simply. There was no point in denying it now. All the evidence was right here in front of Harley.

Harley only then seemed to really notice the blood soaked blanket Peter had pressed to his abdomen. “You’re hurt!?”

“Uh, yeah. Gunshot wound.” Peter remarked, looking back down at his stomach. 

“Holy shit. Uh, you need medical attention. Shit.” Harley frantically began pacing the room looking like he was attempting to come up with a solution. 

“Fuck.” Peter cried out at a particularly painful ache. “I can’t do that. My identity-”

“Fuck your identity! You’re bleeding out!” Harley exclaimed, pointing to Peter’s wound like he had somehow forgotten. “You need help!”

“I need you to calm down so I can deal with this.” Peter urged him seriously. “Freaking out is not going to help.”

“What else am I supposed to do?! You could die!” Harley yelled.

“Open the cupboard on the end and grab the wallet in there. Inside there should be forty dollars, my emergency fund. Take it and buy a first aid kit at the general store on the corner.” Peter carefully instructed. 

“You need an ambulance, not a first aid kit! Fuck!” Harley exclaimed but Peter could see that he was going to do what Peter had said since he wasn’t acting on any of his panic and had stepped over to the cupboard. “Fuck.”

“Just please hurry if you can. This kinda hurts.” Peter managed to say through a gasp of pain. 

“God, yeah. I’ll be back in just a minute.” Harley called out after he’d taken the wallet and was rushing out the door. 

“Great.” Peter replied while he slowly leaned back against the counter and waited for Harley to return, meanwhile unable to stop wondering why the hell Tony Stark had wanted to talk to him.

Chapter Text

To say Harley was freaking out would be the understatement of the year. He was close to having a panic attack the entire time he was looking for the first aid kit in the store and his hands were shaking as he counted out the money for the transaction. As fast as possible, he made his way back up to Peter who hadn’t moved an inch. Harley’s heart almost stopped when he saw that Peter’s eyes were closed. 

“Peter.” He called out, his tone laced with fear and confusion. 

Peter’s eyes fluttered open making Harley’s tense shoulders drop in relief. 

“Hi.” He croaked out and then reached for the first aid kit in Harley’s hands. “Thanks.”

There was now a small pool of blood under Peter and the blanket was soaked. Harley thought he was going to be sick. 

“Please, Peter. Just let me take you to a hospital. I’m scared. What if there is internal damage you can’t fix yourself?” Harley begged, feeling tears brimming. Peter was rooting through the contents of the kit and looked up at this. 

“Harley, I can’t.” Peter’s voice broke but he continued. “They’ll realize who I am and send me back into the system. And that’s not even mentioning the thousands of dollars of medical bills I’d get that I can’t afford or my secret identity that would risk being discovered. And the bullet is shallow, don’t worry.”

Harley nodded at this but still looked close to tears. “Ok. Can I help though?”

“Sure, hold this.” Peter held out the tweezers and wipes he’d taken out of the kit to Harley who knelt down beside him and grabbed it.

Harley watched with nausea as Peter lifted the blanket up to reveal a bloody hole right in the side of his abdomen. Peter then wiped off the wound with the antiseptic wipes and gently began inserting the tweezers into the hole, grunting in pain.

“H-here, let me do it.” Harley offered shakily, grabbing the tweezers from Peter's hand. Peter laid back and Harley slowly began fishing around for the bullet. 

After a particular strong jab Peter winced and grabbed Harley’s free hand that had been by his side. They locked eyes for a moment, both with stress and concern in their eyes. 

“Almost there.” Harley reassured him right before he got a good hold on the bullet and slowly began pulling it out. Peter groaned again but didn’t resist. 

“Done.” Harley stated and dropped the bloody bullet onto the leftover wipes.

“Ok now we gotta stitch… uh…” Peter’s eyes started to glaze over and he tilted forward slightly. Harley caught him before he could fall.

“Peter? Are you ok? Peter?” He tried to shake him to get him alert again but it didn’t work. “Shit, I think you lost too much blood. Peter?”

Peter’s blank, unfocused eyes just faced the floor though and didn’t move. 

“Uh, ok. Stitches. I need to stitch it.” Harley made sure Peter was leaned back against the wall again and wasn’t going to fall before grabbing the kit and rooting through it frantically. After finding the needle and thread he faced Peter again and began trying to thread it. It was difficult to do due to his shaking hands but he managed finally.

The process of stitching Peter up was one of the worst things Harley had ever had to experience. It took several tries and multiple failed attempts before he could even get the first stitch in and then after that there was so much blood he couldn’t even tell where the next stitch should go. There were several times he wanted to give up and just take Peter to a hospital but then would remember what he’d said right before he’d passed out. 

After almost twenty minutes Harley finally pulled the messy stitches closed, sighing in relief. After looking at Peter's unconscious face he became scared again. Was he dead?

Harley pressed his head to Peter’s chest, careful not to touch his wound, and heard his slow but steady heartbeat. He found that the sound alleviated his concerns so he didn’t move away. 

His mind was still reeling at realizing Peter was Spiderman. He’d seen the vigilante on social media before and heard about him in school, but hadn’t thought much of it. After befriending Iron Man, superheroes had sorta lost the shock for him that most people still had. But finding out the guy he’d kinda sorta grown feelings for was the vigilante by almost seeing him bleed out on the floor was a whole new level of shock, one that he’d never expected to reach. 

The sound of Peter’s heartbeat under his ear paired with the traffic noise outside eventually lulled him to sleep after many hours of overworking the information in his brain. It was a dreamless, short sleep that was interrupted when Peter gasped under him. Harley shot up and looked at Peter’s panicked face. 

“What’s wrong? Are you ok?” Harley urgently questioned. Peter was breathing fast but seemed to be mentally present this time after what Harley presumed was another nightmare. 

“Yeah, ‘m fine.” He answered and then began coughing. 

“Is your stomach ok? I was really worried. You passed out.” 

Peter looked down at his midriff like he had been reminded of it just then. “Hurts.” He admitted.

“I could get you some pain meds-” Harley started to say as he stood up but was stopped when Peter grabbed his arm. 

“No, we can’t afford it. Please, just stay.” Peter called out. He sounded needy and weak but at the moment couldn’t bring himself to care. 

“Ok.” Harley agreed. He then laid back down next to Peter and let the brunette lay his head on his shoulder. He was shivering again but since they were down to one blanket now- the one they were laying on- there was nothing to cover them. 

Harley’s heart broke for the injured, freezing, hungry boy in his arms. He wished he had the power to help him. 

He knew someone who could, though. Someone with enough money to keep Peter safe. He still had yet to figure out a way to contact the billionaire though.

Until then he just settled for holding Peter’s broken, shaking, emaciated body as close as he could. 

“Peter?” He called out lightly after a moment.

“Yeah Harley.” 

“Did you ever really go to work?”

There was silence for a moment. Harley was worried Peter had passed out again until he finally spoke up. “Sorry, I didn’t. I do really work there but not today. I just needed something to tell you so I could leave to patrol. I’m sorry.”

There was another silent moment. “Are you mad?” Peter finally asked nervously. 

“No, not mad. I understand.”

Peter still felt guilty. He hated that he’d had to lie and that he broke Harley’s trust. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. Don’t worry.”

Peter couldn’t help the rising emotions that surfaced. “No, I lied to you. It was a shitty thing to do.”

Harley adjusted their bodies so that he and Peter were now face to face, only a couple inches apart. “Peter, please stop feeling bad. I understand that we’ve kinda just met and you didn’t want me to know about your identity. It’s ok .” He stared into Peter’s face for a second longer when all of a sudden Peter closed the gap between them and kissed him. 

Maybe it wasn’t a good time for any kind of romantic interaction but Peter just really didn’t want last time to be a one time thing so to hell with timing. And something about sharing emotional interactions like this with Harley only increased the bond he felt to him and the desire to kiss him. 

Surprised, Harley kissed back. He had not expected Peter to want to kiss right now with the state he was in. Harley wasn’t complaining, though he was kinda worried for Peter still. 

Peter kissed hungrily and without stopping, his lips parting as he inserted his tongue into Harley's mouth. They remained like that for a couple more minutes until Harley broke away.

“Peter?” He asked as Peter dug his head into his shoulder. Peter just hummed in response. “Did you ever get anything to eat?”

Peter’s heart jolted at this. On one hand it was nice that somebody was putting so much concern into his well being like that but also he didn’t want to have to lie again. 

“Uh, I guess not.” He admitted quietly. Harley sat up, moving Peter’s body in the process. When both boys were sitting up Harley fixed Peter with an intense stare. 

“Peter, it might not be my place to say anything… but it seems like you don’t really eat. I mean you’re so thin-”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about me.” Peter tried to end it there and push his face back against Harley's shoulder but Harley didn’t comply. 

“Peter, you seem malnourished. I know you don’t have very many sources right now but-”

“Harley, please. I appreciate your concern but I’m fine. Really.” Peter stated assuredly while meeting Harley’s concerned gaze with a sure one. “Don’t worry anymore.”

Harley nodded and laid back down with Peter back at his side. “You promise you’re not starving yourself? Eating disorders are-”

“God, Harley. Quit it already.” Peter commanded, his temper growing thin. 

“Ok. Sorry.”

They drifted off to sleep again. It was only their second night together but their third time falling asleep like this. They’d spent most of the day today sleeping after Peter's gunshot wound.

The next morning Peter awoke without any nightmares. His stomach was burning and he felt like retching but knew he had nothing in his stomach that would come up. Harley was still asleep so Peter grabbed his new phone and joined the Wifi from the coffee shop next door. He then finished up his weekend homework before finally coming over to Harley and waking him up. Groggily, Harley looked up at him with those crystal blue eyes that made Peter feel thing s.  

“What? What’s wrong?” Harley questioned. 

“Come on. We’ve got to go to school.” Peter answered while pulling Harley up. 

“What? I don’t go to your school.” 

“Yeah but you can shower in the locker room before school starts.” Peter explained. “No offense but you’re starting to smell ripe.”

Harley groaned and then followed Peter as he made his way down to the street. As they began the walk towards Midtown Peter grabbed Harley’s hand. Shocked, Harley immediately shook Peter’s hand off. 

“Oh, sorry.” Peter apologized. He thought that it would have been ok to hold Harley’s hand but maybe he’d crossed a boundary. 

“No, wait, sorry. I want to.” Harley immediately rushed to say after seeing Peter’s hurt face. “You don’t think people will care?”

Then Peter understood. “Harley, this isn’t Tennessee. The people here aren’t homophobic, I promise.”

Harley smiled at that and then slowly wrapped a finger around one of Peters. They walked like this, side by side, talking about pointless things, all the way to Midtown. 

When they approached a brick wall in a tight, dark alley Peter suddenly faced Harley. 

“Ok so you’re gonna get on my back so we can reach that window.” He explained seriously. Harley immediately looked flabbergasted. 

“No fucking way, Peter. First off you’re still injured and second off you could drop me!” 

“I’m not gonna drop you! And I have advanced healing.” Peter defended. 

Harley stared at Peter sternly for a minute and then looked back up at the window. “It’s tiny!”

“We’ll fit.”

“Yeah, maybe you.”

“Hey!” Peter yelled out, offended. “I’ll have you know i’m 5 '8'’ and a half!”

“Yeah, ok Shorty.” Harley mocked playfully. He was only about an inch or two taller than Peter but it was fun to see the shock and playful annoyance on Peter’s puppy dog face.

“Just get on.” Peter finally concluded and Harley obliged, though very slowly. 

Finally after Harley was secure, Peter put his fingertips to the wall and began scaling it, lifting them up off the ground. 

Halfway through Harley got nervous and snapped his eyes shut, unable to look at the two story drop below them anymore. 

When Peter stopped climbing Harley finally opened his eyes. “Climb onto my shoulders and crawl through the window.” Peter instructed. 

Harley was nervous to climb on top of Peter like that. He didn’t want to hurt him anymore. But after a couple seconds to steel himself, he finally obliged. 

It was hard to maneuver and he ended up almost kneeing Peter in the face but he finally pulled through and dropped down into an empty bathroom. Before he could even turn around he heard Peter slip in lightly behind him. 

Peter immediately went to a shower and turned it on. 

“Wait, should you be getting your stitches wet?” Harley immediately wondered out loud. Peter simply took off his shirt to reveal that the wound was already healed up, only leaving behind a nasty scar that matched a couple others littering his abdomen. He also revealed ribs that clearly showed through his skin and rail thin arms with a hint of biceps from his days swinging around in the streets. Harley tried not to gawk but failed. Peter shyly turned away after a second and then slipped off his jeans, now standing in a pair of boxers. 

Harley turned away, his face heating up. He awkwardly flailed about for a minute and then randomly decided to wash his hands in the sink in front of him to give his scattered brain something to do. Suddenly Peter was by his side at the other sink and began soaking his clothes in it. Harley saw his underwear in the sink but couldn’t actually look at Peter. Again he didn’t wanna cross any boundaries.

He heard Peter step back into the showers and stand under the water. Harley realized he needed to do the same and pulled his shirt off. It was disgusting after being the only thing he’d worn in five days so he harshly scrubbed at it in the sink. 

Peter stood under the warm water with his eyes closed for a moment, relishing in the way the water felt on his sore body. After another minute he stepped out of the stream and looked over to where Harley was still scrubbing his clothes in the sink. 

He hadn’t thought that he’d be so openly willing to undress in front of someone else but had surprised himself with his own ease. Even with his past, he still was ok with being so exposed around the other teen. It felt nice to be able to trust someone with this side of him, someone who wasn’t going to judge him. 

When Harley finally removed his last piece of clothing and finished scrubbing it, he began walking towards the showers. There were about ten open stalls, each with white brick dividers but no doors. Inside one to the right he could make out Peter’s form but didn’t look directly at him as to give him some privacy. Instead he picked another shower a little further down on the opposite side. He tried to turn it on but nothing came out. 

After a few more minutes of trying, Peter's voice rang out and echoed through the locker room. “You ok Harley?”

Harley didn’t know if he should bother him or not. “Uh, yeah, it’s just… not turning on.”

He heard Peter's wet footsteps as he walked down to where he was. Harley was hyper aware of Peter’s naked form behind him. 

Peter could hear the way Harley’s heart had rapidly picked up and smiled. Maybe what he was about to do next would be evil but he found himself really wanting to. “Just come to my shower. It works great.”

If Peter could see Harley’s face at that he probably would have laughed out loud. “Um, you sure?” 

“Yeah, sure. Unless you don’t want to.”

No, Harley definitely wanted to. “Ok.”

Harley pivoted around to see Peter smiling at his mischievously. 

“Oh my god.” Harley laughed. “You idiot.”

“Come on.” Peter called as he grabbed Harley’s hand and led him into the shower. Peter held out a hand and felt that the water was a good temperature before pulling Harley under the stream. Once they were both standing under the waterfall of warm water Peter placed his arms around Harley's neck and stood up on his tiptoes to kiss him. Their bodies were pressed together now and Harley felt the electric feeling of oxytocin at having his bare skin against Peters. 

Harley smiled against Peter's lips. This was turning out to be one of the best moments of his loveless life so far. He couldn’t believe he’d been a closeted, lonely gay only a week ago. 

Harley ran his hands up and down Peter’s bare back, feeling concern rise at the way he could feel his spine and ribs jutting out. He needed to get Peter to eat something today. And himself too, actually. Besides those crackers and peanut butter he’d had yesterday he hadn’t eaten anything. He was getting pretty hungry but he knew Peter was a priority right now as far as food went. 

Peter had a hand in his wet hair that made Harley feel things . If he wasn’t so scared he would have told Peter he loved him right then and there. 

After another long kiss Peter broke apart. “I need to scrub you with soap. You’re filthy.” He squirted some soap out of the bottle and began spreading it over Harley's chest. He smiled upon seeing Harley's blush and knew he had a matching red tint on his cheeks. 

“You sure no one’s gonna come in?” Harley asked nervously. As much as he never wanted to leave he knew that school was going to start soon and didn’t wanna get caught. 

“The doors locked so no one but the janitor at 7:30. We still have like fifteen minutes.” Peter reassured him as he spread the soap over Harley's arms and shoulders. 

“Ok, good.” Harley wished they could have all morning but knew that couldn’t. “After, are you going to stay for school?”

“Yeah, I have to. I’ve already missed too many days to skip again. Sorry.” Peter admitted apologetically. When his Aunt had first gotten sick he’d refused to leave her side for two weeks in fear she was going to die and he wasn’t going to be with her. But after a while she’d convinced him to go back since he would lose his scholarship if he missed any more days. He’d still spent most of his free time with her though, since the only other option at the time was being with Skip.

“No, don’t apologize. School’s definitely important. If I hadn’t graduated early I probably would be much worse off right now.” Harley assured him. In truth he’d only graduated early in hopes of moving out of his homophobic town faster. “I actually was thinking about maybe trying to find a job today to get us some extra money.”

Peter looked up at Harley and smiled. Us . He said it like they were a couple. 

“Harley, are we….” Peter started, unsure of if Harley was thinking the same thing as he was. 

“Boyfriends?” Harley finished hopefully. Peter nodded shyly and hid his face in Harley’s shoulder. “Yeah, I think we are. If you wanna be too.”

“I do.” Peter whispered back, positive about something for the first time in a while. They may have had a strange meeting and not experienced the typical teenage romance so far but both boys were sure that they liked each other. 

They stayed like that a moment longer when all the sudden Peter heard the sound of keys jangling behind a door. 

“Shit!” He exclaimed and scrambled to turn off the water. 

“What?” Harley asked, confused, since he was unable to hear what Peter did. 

“It’s the janitor!” Peter hushedly whispered as he pulled Harley into a bathroom stall right before the Janitor got the door open. Peter quickly locked it and stuck to the side of the stall so his feet weren’t visible. Harley put the toilet seat down and crouched on it. Both boys were still completely naked and without anything to cover themselves up. 

“I thought we still had time.” Harley whispered to Peter as the Janitors footsteps echoed through the bathroom. Peter could only make out what Harley said due to his enhanced hearing so he knew the Janitor didn’t hear it. He only shrugged in response. 

“Fucking kids.” He heard the Janitor mumble angrily as he most likely saw their clothes still soaking in the soapy sink water. He probably figured that students had left them there the day before. Peter listened as the sound of wet clothes being taken out of water could be heard only loud enough for his hearing and then were placed in most likely the trash can. 

Shit, they were stuck with nothing to wear now. 

Peter met Harley's frightened gaze and knew he had to figure a way out of this ASAP without scarring Harley mentally, which if his face was any indicator, it might be too late for. 

Chapter Text

The janitor had been cleaning for almost fifteen minutes now. Peter’s fingers were starting to cramp from holding himself up for so long. 

Both boys were dry now and nervous. Peter kept trying to think of a way to get out without the janitor seeing them but couldn’t think of a solution that got both him and Harley out safely. 

Finally the janitor finished and drug his cleaning cart back out of the bathroom at 7:50, leaving them very little time. Peter unlocked the stall door and immediately grabbed the towels hanging and then passed one to Harley who was glad to be able to finally cover himself up. After they both had their towels secured around their waists Peter dashed to the door and peeked through. There were students down the hall walking together and were luckily walking the other way. Peter knew they had to get out of here before anybody came in to use the restroom before school started. 

Grabbing Harley’s hand, Peter made a dash out into the hall, pulling his boyfriend the whole way. He opened the door to a storage room that he and Ned used to hide from Flash in Freshman year and pulled Harley in before shutting the door. 

“Peter.” Harley huffed. “What the hell.” 

Peter turned to Harley and smiled. “No one saw us. Don’t worry.”

“Well I can’t help but worry that we’re now stuck in a random storage room wearing nothing but bath towels.” Harley stated.

Peter shut his boyfriend up with a kiss, not worried right now at all.

Down the hall Ned had just come out of the boys locker room to meet back with MJ.

“He’s not in there either.” Ned informed her and the pair began walking again, continuing their search for Peter. 

“He probably just skipped.” MJ stated simply. 

“No, he wouldn’t do that ‘cause of his scholarship. Unless something was really wrong….” Ned explained. “Oh god, do you think somethings wrong?!”

“Relax.” MJ sighed. “Nothings wrong.”

“Wait, maybe he’s in here.” Ned said as he noticed the storage room him and Peter used to hide from Flash in. He slowly pushed the creaky door open with MJ right behind him and then gasped. 

Peter was lip locked with an unfamiliar boy and had his arms wrapped around his bare shoulders. Both were wearing nothing but towels around their waists. 

“Oh my god.” MJ stated, finding humor in the scene in front of them. Ned was completely aghast with his jaw hanging wide open. Both Peter and Harley scrambled away from each other at the intrusion. 

“Ned.” Peter called out, wiping the spit from his lips. Harley was hiking the towel back over himself since it had almost dropped to the floor. 

“Peter, what the fuck is going on?” Ned asked, still in utter shock. Peter had never heard Ned cuss before but thought it was deserved. 

“Uh, Ned, MJ, meet Harley.” Peter stated awkwardly. Harley waved and smiled at them while holding his towel over his bare body with his other hand. “Ned, could you please get us some clothes and shoes from the lost and found? I promise I’ll explain later.”

It took Ned another shock filled minute before he could slowly nod his head. 

“Hey Harley.” MJ called out with a smirk as she and Ned walked off to retrieve the clothes. 

Once the door was closed again Harley and Peter broke out into nervous but hysterical laughter. 

“Were those your friends?” Harley asked after a long minute of just laughing. Peter nodded, clutching his stomach that now ached.

“Yeah, they were. Oh my god.” Peter groaned now. “Ned’s probably still freaking out.”

“Shit.” Harley said. “They must think I’m a lunatic.”

“Not any more than they think I am.” Peter met Harley's eye and then started laughing again. “So I guess that means, yes, they think you’re crazy.”

Ned and MJ were back again after barely two minutes. Ned was, indeed, still freaking out.

They handed over the clothes which Peter accepted gratefully. “Thanks Ned. I promise I’ll tell you everything. You can go ahead to homeroom and I’ll be there in a second.” 

Ned nodded and he and MJ left them to rush off to their homerooms before the bell rang. Peter gave Harley the bigger set of clothes and then began putting his jeans on which were still much too big. They didn’t have underwear or anything to go under but hopefully could get some later. 

“Harley, just take the stairs down and turn right. At the end of the hall there is a back entrance that you can leave from. If anyone tries to approach you, just keep walking and don’t stop.” Peter instructed while Harley pulled his shirt on. Peter couldn’t help but laugh when he saw it was a Spiderman shirt. 

Harley scoffed. “I am not promoting you without compensation.” He joked. 

“Ya right. I bet that used to be Flash’s.” Peter commented.

“Who’s Flash?”

“No one. It doesn’t matter. You should get going.”

Harley gave Peter a long goodbye kiss, internally screaming. He had an actual boyfriend now! His first ever one. He felt giddy with excitement. 

He then followed Peter’s instructions out of the school and luckily none of the other students or staff tried to stop him. They were all too busy trying to get to class before the late bell rang which is what Peter was now currently scrambling to do too.

The jeans Ned had gotten for him were way oversized and so they rested right below his hips and he was pretty sure the shirt was a girls small so it exposed the bottom of his stomach. He looked like a slut and nothing like himself but just continued on because he had no other option. He walked into his homeroom class right as the bell rang. 

Flash did a double take at his outfit. “Hey Penis, this is homeroom, not hoeroom, you idiot.” 

Flash’s little minions burst out laughing at this, egging the bully on and making Peter’s face burn in shame. He quickly took a seat next to Ned who gaped at him. 

“Who was that Peter?” He whispered angrily. Peter just immediately began apologizing. 

“Ned, I am so sorry. I swear I can explain-”

“You better start right now.” Ned threatened. Peter hadn’t seen him this mad since he’d found out Peter hadn’t wanted to come out as gay to him because he was nervous Ned would judge him. At the time Ned had gone on a ten minute angry rant about how Peter was his best friend and how he’d always love him no matter what but this level of anger and shock was bigger than even that. He knew that Ned only ever got mad at him in concern for his well being. 

“Ok, so I met Harley two days ago-”

“Two days ago?! Peter Benjamin Pa-”

“Boys, quiet!” Their teacher yelled out from where he stood in the front of the room. Ned then continued on quieter. 

“You’re moving pretty fast, aren’t you?” Ned asked, concern replacing his initial anger. 

Peter could understand how it might seem like that to Ned but he hadn’t seen all that Peter and Harley and been through together already. He didn’t understand that they’de quite literally spent almost two whole days and nights with only each other. “It’s not like that, I promise.”

“Wait, so you randomly met this guy and now are sneaking into the school naked with him at the ass crack of dawn?” Ned demanded. 

“No! Ned, it wasn’t like that! We were showering-”

“What!? Together?! Peter-”

Peter slapped a hand over Ned's mouth as the teacher gave them another hard stare. “Yeah, but it’s not how it sounds.”

“Did you at least use condoms?” Ned asked, making Peter’s face burn. 

“Ned, no! I promise we didn’t do… that .” 

“Then why the hell were you showering together?” Ned prompted again, his eyebrows drawn forward as he stared at Peter hardly. 

Peter realized that he was either gonna have to lie or finally come clean to his best friend. “Because… because.” 

Looking at Ned's face made Peter want to sob. He was so kind and concerned and Peter felt bad treating him like this. “Because I don’t live with my Aunt anymore.” He finally confessed. 

Ned instantly looked confused. “Then where-”

“I’m homeless, Ned, and Harley is too. We were sneaking in early to shower in the locker room.” Peter rushed to admit. “May’s sick, she has been for a while now.”

Ned looked heartbroken at this. “Why didn’t you tell me? Are you ok?”

Since Peter was already being honest he just kept telling the truth. “It’s hard sometimes, especially in the beginning, but it’s been getting better. Harley’s helped a lot.”

Ned seemed to need a minute to take this all in and Peter could practically see his brain processing it. Then, like he suddenly realized something, he gasped and looked back at Peter hopefully. “Stay with me! Harley can too!”

Peter considered it for only a second. “No, Ned. We can’t do that. You’re mom couldn’t house us all.”

Ned wanted to argue but knew Peter was right. “Well, what can I do to help? I can bring you guys food and supplies-”

“Ned.” Peter cut his best friend off. “I appreciate you, I really do, but I’m not your responsibility. I can’t ask that of you.”

“You wouldn’t be asking if I’m offering-”

“Peter Parker and Ned Leeds, quiet now or you’ll both get demerits!” Their teacher shouted. Caught, Peter and Ned turn to face the front but then after another minute Ned whispers one last question to Peter. 

“Is Harley your boyfriend?”

Peter smiles, unable to conceal his happiness at thinking about how Harley had agreed to be together officially. “Yeah.” He whispered back and Ned smiled. 

At lunch when they met back up with MJ she was chewing on apple slices and staring at Peter intensely. “That was hilarious.” She commented simply, not having a million questions like Ned had. 

“I’m glad you were amused.” Peter joked. After sitting down he noticed how his friends both immediately dumped food in front of him. 

“Eat up, Parker. Seeing your bony ass was not pretty.” MJ told him, seemingly uncaring about the harshness of her words. Peter would have normally made a joke or something but he was too embarrassed to say anything. 

“Uh, I’m ok.” He told them, trying to give the food back. He was not about to make his friends hungry just so he could eat. 

“MJ!” Ned scolded the girl who just ignored them to read her book. Ned hated seeing his best friend’s shame at MJ’s comment. “But seriously Peter, you should eat.”

Peter saw how genuine and worried Ned was so he finally relented. “I’ll put it in my bag for later and give some to Harley.”

Ned hesitantly agreed and Peter put a bag of apple slices and a cookie in his bag. “Thanks Ned.”

“Don’t worry about it.” His friends replied coolly, trying to save Peter from being any more embarrassed. He then changed the subject to some new video game he was playing and slowly everything seemed to go back to normal. It even made Peter wonder if he should have told Ned earlier about his issues due to the lack of freak out -or at least much freak out- Ned had had. 

“Oh, Ned, I finally got a new phone and made an Instagram account. Follow me back so we can DM.” Peter hadn’t been able to get a number but making the pictureless account would suffice for now to talk to Ned who was happy to finally have a virtual form of communication with Peter again. 

The next period they had was AP Chem but their teacher, Mrs. M didn’t begin her lecture like normal. Instead she explained what they were going to do today instead. “We’re going to be taking a pop test.”

The entire class groaned in unison. 

“Quiet down! It’s not for a grade! Just to test your knowledge.”

That was weird. They’d never taken a test like that before. Peter was still worried despite Mrs. M’s assurance until he got a hold of the test. It was all science facts and technology questions which were his favorite. He flew through the questions, enjoying the advanced problem solving section way too much. He was so absorbed he didn’t even notice it was time to go until Ned was pulling on his sleeve after the rest of the class had emptied out. 

The rest of the day passed by pretty smoothly, save for the lingering looks Ned kept giving him and then the shocked stares from his peers due to his outfit. By the end of the school day he was sick of being stared at and just wanted to go ‘home’.

“Where are you going now?” Ned asked him as they walked out of school. 

Peter knew he meant where was Peter living due to his homelessness. “I stay in an old apartment building with Harley.”

Ned looked surprised by this. “You live together? But you said you hadn’t slept tog-”

“Ned! Shut up!” Peter urged him after seeing Flash walk up behind Ned but it was too late. 

“So Peter’s sleeping with someone now? God, Peter, what are you, whoring yourself out? If the outfits any indicator you’ve gone full slut now.” He sneered, his little posse giggling behind him.

Peter just sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow Ned.” 

As he walked away he heard someone yell “Whore!” followed by more laughing. 

“God, he’s such a little fa-.” Flash scoffed after Peter was out of sight. 

Ned was blind with rage. This moron had no idea who Peter was or what he was going through. He cut the bully off. “Fuck you.”

Flash glared at Ned, smile gone. “What the fuck did you say to me, you little piece of-”

“I said ‘fuck you’ Flash, and I meant it.” Ned stated confidently. “Peter is a thousand time better than you’ll ever dream of being-”

Ned never finished, though, since Flash had punched him in the gut. 

“Fight!” Someone yelled causing a crowd to form. 

Peter was oblivious to his friend's actions as he made his way back to the apartment building. The sight of the street in front of him was beginning to get blurry as he felt his head start tilting forward. He stumbled into a woman walking next to him that pushed him off in disgust, cursing. “Fucking drunk teenagers.”

Peter fell to his knees, feeling the world spin for a moment. It only lasted for another minute before he was ok again and so he pushed himself to his feet and continued walking. He managed to make it back to the apartment and climb the stairs thankfully. As he stepped through the door Harley stood up from where he’d been sitting in an armchair, tapping his phone that he’d charged with Peter’s charger at the coffee shop next door. 

“Peter!” He called out and hugged the brunette. He then pulled back and looked into his eyes worriedly. “Were your friends upset?”

Peter just shook his head. As much as he loved talking to Harley he was currently feeling like shit from Flash’s disgusting comments and his wave of dizziness earlier. 

“Are you ok?” Harley questioned, picking up on Peter’s mood instantly. “Did you get something to eat?”

“Yeah and I brought some home for you too. Ned and MJ gave me half of their lunches.” He told Harley as he pulled the apple slices and cookie out of his pocket. It was slightly mushed but mostly ok. 

“Wow, that was so nice of them.” Harley stated, taking the food eagerly. “Are you sure you got enough to eat?”

“Yeah, plenty.” How could he eat when Harley was obviously so hungry? 

It seemed like Harley wanted to talk more but Peter unfortunately had other plans. “Hey, if you don’t mind, I was going to go to the hospital today to see my Aunt.”

Harley immediately nodded his head. “Of course I don’t mind. Do you want me to come?”

Peter thought about letting him but knew he needed a couple hours alone with May. “No, it’s ok.”

Harley completely understood and didn’t take any offense. “Hey, I’ve been looking at job opportunities and applied to about a dozen today so hopefully I can bring in some income soon.”

Peter smiled. “Yay.” He simply cheered softly. 

Harley smiled back at him. “Ok, well I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah, see ya.” Peter called back as he walked back out, leaving Harley to eat and scroll through more job listings. 

Peter walked down to the hospital in a daze. By the time he’d made it to May’s door he felt close to sobbing. 

May smiled weakly up at him from her bed as he came in. “Peter.” She called out happily. 

“Hi May. Sorry it’s been a while.” He apologized meekly. 

“Oh, no worries. Come here baby.” As Peter came over to kneel down beside her she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held his head under her chin. She could feel his light crying against her chest and became concerned. “Petey, what’s wrong?”

Peter just simply cried for a moment longer in her chest feeling emotionally drained. “I just miss you May.” He finally said when he pulled away, wiping his red eyes. 

May looked at him with worry. “Is that foster family not treating you ok? You look awfully thin.”

Peter shook his head. “No May, they treat me great.” He was lying to her but it was necessary. She couldn’t know the truth, she’d freak out.

She grabbed his hand and rubbed her thumb across it while smiling sadly at him. “Why don’t you have some of my soup? I can’t eat it all.”

Peter almost declined but he didn’t want to disappoint May. And he was really fucking hungry. “Ok.”

May grabbed the spoon out of her unfinished but still warm tomato soup on her tray table and brought the spoon up to Peter’s lips with a hand underneath to catch any drips. Peter didn’t care that May was feeding him like a child because right now he needed to be babied for a bit. He was tired of being an adult at only seventeen. 

After he’d finished at least a cup of soup, May pulled him back against her chest. “I love you, Pete. I always will.”

“I love you too, May.” He replied softly but meaningfully.

Peter must have stayed like that for over an hour but he wished it could be forever. 

Chapter Text

By the time Peter arrived back at his and Harley’s apartment- yes he thought of it as theirs now- it was almost dark and beginning to drizzle. He ducked inside before he got soaked and made his way up the stairs. 

When he walked in for a second time that afternoon Harley was scrubbing the counter with a sponge Peter had never seen before. In fact after Peter looked around for a second more he noticed that everything was much cleaner now. Besides the lack of furniture, the large holes in the walls and ceiling, and the lack of real lights, it almost looked like a real home. 

“Wow.” Peter called out, catching his boyfriend's attention. Harley smiled. 

“Hey Peter!” Harley chirped. “I did some spring cleaning.”

Peter didn’t correct him and say it was actually fall cause he figured Harley already knew. “Looks amazing.”

“Thanks.” Harley beamed. “I had some money that I brought with me from home so I got some things. Look…” Harley told him as he led Peter down the hall. Inside one of the old bedrooms there was now a twin sized mattress on the floor along with the rest of Peter and Harley’s few belongings and some burning candles to create light in the dark room. 

“What…?” Peter started, shocked. 

“I got it at a thrift store for only ten dollars! Can you believe that? It only has one hole!” Harley was grinning proudly, excited for Peter's reaction. 

Peter was still astounded. “Harley….”

“And look!” Harley cut him off eagerly while picking up a large, fuzzy blanket. “I got a new blanket too! It was five bucks!”

Peter smiled, making Harley’s heart soar. “Harls…”

“Harls?!” Harley gasped.

Peter immediately backtracked. “ Harley .”

But Harley stepped up to Peter so he could grab his hands. “No, I like that. It’s cute, Pete .”

Peter blushed as Harley kissed him passionately and rubbed his hands over his back. He then gently led him up to the mattress and then both of them fell back onto it, still lip locked. Harley continued running his hands across Peter’s back and slipped them under his shirt. Peter ran his tongue against Harleys and put a hand through his blonde hair. 

Harley inhaled loudly and then finally said the thing he’d been wanting to for days now. “I love you Peter Parker.”

Peter froze, his heart hammering. Did Harley just say that out loud? Was he dreaming? “I love you Harley Keener.” He finally responded after a tense second. 

Harley smiled and then began kissing Peter, who was laying on top of him, again. He placed his hands back on Peter's waist and gently dug his fingers into the waistband of Peter's jeans. 

Peter quickly broke the kiss, pushed himself up off Harley, and looked down at him with a slight frown. Harley immediately became worried and retracted his hands. “What’s wrong?”

“I just don’t know if I really wanna have sex yet.” Peter admitted. Harley’s jaw immediately flew open and he quickly pulled himself out from under Peter. 

“What?” He questioned, astounded. “I wasn’t- Peter, that's not what I was trying to do…”

“Oh.” Peter looked away awkwardly. “I just thought…” He looked around at the mattress and all the lit candles. Harley followed his line of sight and gasped. 

“No, no! I promise that’s not what all this was for!” Harley immediately assured him frantically as Peter bashfully met his gaze again. “I just wanted to do something nice for you since you’d let me stay here!”

“Oh.” Peter said again, feeling stupid. “Sorry.” 

“No, don’t apologize!” Harley desperately urged him. “It’s ok, I promise. I’m definitely not ready either.”

Harley felt like shit. He’d been trying to help Peter feel better and be nice but now his boyfriend thought he was trying to coerce him into having sex. “I’m so sorry! I did not mean for you to think that that’s what I wanted.”

“It’s ok.” Peter assured him. “Now I feel bad that I ruined your gift and our makeout session.” He admitted sheepishly. 

“Don’t ever feel bad for setting boundaries, Peter.” Harley stated firmly. “I’m glad you did.”

Peter nodded slowly and looked around the room again. Harley wasn’t quite sure what to do now. 

“Do you… wanna makeout again?” He finally asked. “Only if you want to of course. I won’t touch you if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Peter smiled again. “No, I don’t care if you… touch me. Just not… that .” 

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Harley agreed. 

“Here, I have an idea.” Peter told Harley before jumping up and rooting through his bag. He pulled out the old CD player and placed it on the floor next to where Harley was still sitting on the mattress. When Peter pressed the play button old Italian songs began playing- May’s favorite- paired with the sound of rain and traffic below. 

Harley smiled up at his boyfriend who grinned happily back.

Slowly Peter scooted closer to him and pushed their lips together again. They leaned back fully against the mattress and slowly Harley placed his hands back on Peters back. Harley broke the kiss after a moment to place quick pecks all over Peter's face. Peter started giggling which made Harley's heart soar. 

“I promise to never make you think I am coercing you into sleeping together if you promise me you’ll set whatever boundaries you need.” Harley told Peter sternly as he held his blushing puppy dog face right against his own. 

“Harls, you didn’t. I was just being stupid-”

“Peter, I’m serious.” Harley urged. “Promise?”

“Promise.” Peter agreed. “But you can set boundaries too.”

“Of course.” Harley assured him. “Like you’re not allowed to be that cute. My heart can’t take it.”

Peter giggled. “Harley, seriously.”

“I am serious! You’re like impossibly adorable. I’m so lucky I met you” Peter just rolled his eyes. Harley smiled but then sobered. “Ok, I’ll let you know if there’s anything I don’t wanna do… besides that .”

“Yeah, that .” Peter joked, glad that they could make light of his stupid misunderstanding earlier. Peter dug his head into Harley’s chest and smiled. He felt great. He wasn’t alone anymore, he wasn’t hungry anymore, and he wasn’t uncomfortable anymore. Things just kept getting better and better. 

And Harley loved him too. He thought of his love admission earlier and grinned madly. 

Harley was also thinking about the same thing while he held his boyfriend close. God, life in New York was so much better than Tennessee. 

They both drifted off, content in each other's arms, for the fourth time ever.

The next morning Peter awoke with a start, awaking his boyfriend. 

Harley was immediately alert. “Peter? Peter, are you ok? Was it a nightmare?”

It had been a really bad one. Now instead of Ben being the one bleeding out on the street it was Harley. Peter couldn’t exactly tell Harley that he’d dreamed of him bleeding to death though. “I-I’m fine.”

Harley nodded, his panic subsiding. “Hungry?”

Peter shook his head and then stood up. In the middle of the night he’d woken up and then changed out of his uncomfortable jeans that he’d fallen asleep in and into a pair of boxers. He quickly threw on a different pair of jeans and replaced the tiny girl's T Shirt with his gray Stark Industries hoodie. 

Harley had changed last night too before Peter had gotten home. He was still wearing the Spiderman shirt but now had a black jacket over it and blue pajama pants. Peter recognized them as some of the few pieces of clothing he’d brought from Tennessee. 

Peter walked out to the kitchen and rinsed his mouth out with water from his water bottle and then used more water to brush his teeth without any toothpaste since he had none. He did this all by a broken window and spit everything out into the alley below. 

Harley grabbed his phone from where it laid next to Peters and opened it to check on his job applications. So far they were all still pending. Frustrated, he placed his phone back down and laid back on the bed with his hands on his face. He heard Peter walk up next to him and pick up his own phone. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked as he began tapping on the cracked screen.

“Oh, just haven’t gotten a response yet.” Harley admitted. He’d only applied to entry level jobs so he was hoping at least one would hire him. 

Peter figured he was talking about his applications even though context hadn’t been given and hummed sympathetically in response. He’d seen an instagram notification from Ned on the notification wall on his lock screen when he picked up his phone so he was kinda distracted by that. When he read the message his stomach dropped. 

Ned_The_Koolest392 at 9:32 PM: hey i wont be at school for the rest of the week i got suspended

Peter immediately tapped out a response as soon as he’d gotten over the initial shock. What could Ned have even gotten suspended for? He was perfect.

InstagramUser493049 at 6:42 AM: WHAT NED WHAT DO YOU MEAN SUSPENDED???!!! THATS NOT RIGHT!!! THEY HAVE THE WRONG GUY AHHHDKFJUFDODJFOIJFOIHF!!!!!!

He hit send and waited eagerly. Ned didn’t respond fast like normal so Peter just pocketed his phone and hoped he would soon. He could not imagine Ned doing anything bad enough to ever require getting suspended like this. MJ, sure, but definitely not Ned.

“What?” Harley asked after seeing Peter's furrowed eyebrow. 

“Ned just messaged me and said he got suspended but I have no idea why.” Peter explained, angry, but not at Harley. 

Harley seemed to realize something bad though. “Shit, you don’t think they found out he took those clothes for us yesterday, do you?”

Peter's heart dropped. He hadn’t thought of that. He’d jump off a bridge without his web shooters before he’d ever let Ned take the fall for helping him. “Oh, god.”

Harley looked at Peter’s tense face worriedly for a moment. “What are we gonna do?”

Peter anxiously ran a hand through his bedhead hair. “I’ll come clean to our principal and say I made him. I’ll lose my scholarship but I can enroll in public school or something.”

“Shit.” Harley simply said in response. 

Peter sighed and grabbed his school bag. He’d kept forgetting to bring it to school because he’d been so distracted and Mrs. M had threatened him with detention yesterday if he’d left it at home again. He jumped when his phone buzzed and rushed to pull it out. 

Ned_The_Koolest392 at 6:53 AM: no it was me i kinda got in a fight with flash after you left yesterday

Peter’s mouth dropped and he started typing again furiously. 

“What?” Harley prompted nervously.

InstagramUser493049 at 6:54 AM: NED WHAT?!?!?!? LIKE A FIST FIGHT?? OVER WHAT??

“He said he got in a fight which is really not like him.” Peter explained, still staring at the three dots that signaled that Ned was typing a response. 

Harley watched nervously from where he was still sitting on the bed.

Ned_The_Koolest392 at 6:57 AM: he said some really horrible things and i was sick of him getting away with it so i told him to fuck off and then he punched me and then Mr. Smith interrupted before anything really bad could happen but by then Flash was faking tears and saying that i attacked him and since everyone was too scared to not take his side he believed him and then i got suspended for the rest of the week and now my mom is pissed and if she sees me on my phone rn instead of cleaning like shes making me shes gonna kill me

Peter read the paragraph and immediately deciphered the ramble: Flash said even more disgusting stuff about him after he’d left and Ned, ever the selfless amazing friend, defended Peter and now was unjustly punished for it. Peter burned with rage. 

InstagramUser493049 at 7:04: NED YOU DID NOT HAVE TO DEFEND ME TO FLASH! thank you BUT NOW YOURE IN TROUBLE!! UGHHHFHDH I HAAAATE FLASH

Peter explained his and Ned’s conversation to Harley while Ned typed a response. “And I know that Flash said something disgusting and then Ned spoke up for me because he’s the best friend I could ever ask for but also a moron so that’s why Flash punched him.”

Harley nodded, mad for Peter’s friend, but also shamefully relieved that he wasn’t suspended for helping them like Harley had worried previously. 

Peter was broken from his angry rage when he caught a glimpse of the time. “Shit, I gotta get to school!” He called out. After planting a quick kiss on Harley’s forehead and a whispered ‘I love you’ he began the long walk to Midtown. He texted Ned the whole way, trying to make him understand that Peter loved him for trying to defend him but he was an idiot for going up against Flash like that. 

When Peter got to school he decided to skip his whole shower routine thing since he was still mentally scarred from last time. Instead he quickly used the bathroom, washed his face, and headed straight to the library in hopes of finding MJ.

When he finally reached her at 7:50 she was reading a book in the corner. 

“MJ,” He demanded as he approached her. “What happened yesterday?”

MJ didn’t look up and just flipped her page. “Ned got into a fight with Flash.”

“Why didn’t you do anything!” He immediately exclaimed. 

“Why didn’t you? You’re the one who’s a superhero.” She argued, still engrossed in the pages of whatever she was reading. 

“I-” Peter started to defend himself but stopped. Wait, what? “You know?”

“You and Ned aren’t the most discreet in the world.” She merely explained. 

Peter suddenly became nervous. “You’re not gonna tell anyone… are you?” He didn’t know MJ as well as Ned and didn’t trust her as much either. 

“Who am I gonna tell?” She inquired and Peter realized she was right. Besides him and Ned, MJ didn’t really talk to anyone else here. 

“Just… don’t tell anyone please.” Peter finally concluded, still bothered that she found out.

“It’s not me you should be asking, it’s your big-mouthed friend. You guys are way louder than you think, you know.” MJ turned back to her reading. “If anyone ever actually listened to you two your identity wouldn’t be so secret anymore.”

Peter’s barely remaining ego burned at her harsh words but he tried not to let it show. Instead he sighed and walked off to homeroom. After seeing Ned’s empty desk next to his he sighed again. This week was gonna be long without him. 

And the beginning of the day was boring and lonely until Mrs. M approached him. “Peter, will you come with me?”

Shit, maybe they'd still discovered what happened yesterday morning. Peter tried not to panic as he followed his AP Chem teacher right to the principal's office. Peter swallowed hard as he followed her in. 

“Hello Peter.” The principal, Dr. Reed greeted him happily. Ok, so maybe he wasn’t in trouble. “How are you today?”

“Good….” Peter replied unassuredly. 

Wait, had they realized he’d run away from Skip? Were they putting him back in foster care? Peter's heart rate skyrocketed as he began to panic. 

“Peter, I have great news.” Dr. Reed exclaimed, surprising Peter who’d already run through all the worst case scenarios. “Yesterday you took a test sixth period, do you remember that?”

Yeah, Peter remembered it. It had been a fun test. “Yeah?”

“That test was to determine your knowledge and critical thinking ability for a spot at a certain company's internship program. Can you guess which one?” She entreated. 

Peter looked back and forth from both women nervously. “Uh, I don’t know.”

“It was Stark Industries, Peter. They’ve examined your score and selected you to be an intern for their company.” Dr. Reed told him with a smile. 

Peter’s mind short circuited. “S-Stark Industries?”

Mrs. M smiled and spoke up eagerly. “It’s really a great opportunity, Peter. You can make your own hours and will be working with trained professionals on high level technology.”

Peter just stared blankly at her for a moment. He was unable to wrap his brain around what she was saying. “W-what?”

“Peter, I’ve taught you in my class for two years now and I think that you would be the perfect person for the position. I’m not surprised in the slightest that you were chosen.” Mrs. Reed kindly told him with confidence. 

Peter opened and closed his mouth repeatedly like a fish out of water for a full minute. “C-can I think about it?”

Dr. Reed seemed disappointed he wasn’t jumping for joy and begging to start working right now. “Of course, Peter. Just know that if you wait too long the spot will go to someone else.”

No, they couldn’t give it to someone else, he wanted it. “Wait, no.”

Dr. Reed smiled at this. She handed him a stack of papers. “Just have your parents sign this and bring it in tomorrow and you can start before the end of the week. 

Peter took the papers, feeling sick. He knew he had no one to sign it really, unless he wanted to convince May to. She wasn’t technically his legal guardian anymore though, but there was no way in hell he was going back to Skip to have him sign it. 

He didn’t say any of this, though, he just thanked them and walked out of Dr. Reeds' office right as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. 

Peter spent the rest of the school day in a daze. He didn’t even notice Flash’s crude comments or dirty looks. 

By the time Peter was walking home it really hit him. He was selected to be an intern for Stark industries, his dream since attending the Stark Expo as a child. 

God, he couldn’t wait to tell Harley. When he opened the door his boyfriend jumped up and began talking before he could. 

“Peter, I got an interview!” He exclaimed while wrapping Peter in a tight hug. 

Peter smiled widely. “Wow, Harley. That’s great! Where?”

“It’s at a diner down the street!” Harley told him excitedly. “It’s fifteen dollars an hour!” 

Wow, that was five dollars more than Peter made at Delmars. “That’s so good!”

Harley laughed, picked Peter up, and twirled him around happily. After finally setting him down, he spoke again. “I could make enough to get us an actual apartment!”

That seemed like a stretch. He was thinking maybe they could start being able to afford to buy necessities like batteries and socks, not something that big. Apartments here were insanely expensive, something Harley might not be familiar with after growing up in rural Tennessee. 

“Awesome!” Peter simply replied instead. “I actually have good news too.”

“What?” Harley insisted eagerly. 

“I got an internship at Stark industries.” 

“What?! That’s amazing Peter! I’m so happy for you!”

Harley hugged Peter again, completely thrilled past words. 

Peter pulled out the papers he’d been given earlier and skimmed through them. 

“Oh, and it’s paid!” He exclaimed in shock. He would have done it for free but wasn’t about to complain. 

“How much?” Harley inquired eagerly. 

Peter smirked. “Seventeen an hour.”

Harley took mock defense. “No fair! You get paid more?!” He was actually glad that Peter would be making so much. Now they could get their own real apartment even faster. 

Peter skimmed through the contents of one of the pages. “Yeah, but I’ve got to get a parent or guardian's signature.”

Harley seemed to consider this for a moment and then realized something. “Could your aunt…?

Peter shook his head. “She’s not technically my guardian anymore since I went to foster care. My last guardian and the one currently listed would most likely be Skip.”

Harley scowled at Skip’s name. He now understood the issue Peter was explaining. He would not let Peter ever go near Skip again for anything, including a signature on a form. 

“Here, let me see it.” Harley urged and Peter willingly handed the paperwork over. Harley took one of the pens Peter had left out on the counter and began writing. 

“What are you doing?” Peter stood on his tiptoes to be able to see over the top of the paper that Harley was now holding up to examine. 

“Just forging some signatures.” Harley replied with a shit-eating grin. Peter ripped the paper out of his hand and stared at it. 

“I’m pretty sure that’s a felony.” He remarked upon seeing ‘Steven Westcott’s’ surprisingly neat signature. “What if Skip reported me missing and I’m not listed as his foster kid anymore?”

“If that had happened then you most likely would have been apprehended by CPS at school already.”

“But doesn’t CPS check up on foster kids? Wouldn’t they know by now?”

“I’m pretty sure they only do that every week for the first couple weeks and then every sixth months after that.”

Peter nodded as he made the connections. “And I ran away from Skip four months ago.”

“Yeah, so if he hasn’t reported it yet, which he most likely hasn’t, he’s still technically your foster father.” Harley concluded. “But if he even so much as comes within one mile of you-”

Peter shook his head, exasperated at Harley's obvious protectiveness. Internally he was so happy that his boyfriend cared. “Got it, you’ll kill him.”

“Yeah. Painfully too.” Harley added with an evil look in his eye like he was imagining all the horrible things he would do.

Peter couldn’t help but smile. A tiny, cruel part of him wouldn’t hate to see Skip suffer a little bit like Peter had had to when he’d lived with him. 

“Well, I’m gonna leave you to your sick scenarios so I can go patrolling.” Peter told him as he wrapped his arms around Harley's shoulders and gave him a long, heartfelt kiss. “I’m so happy for your new job.”

“And I’m happy for your internship.” Harley replied as Peter broke from the kiss and took his suit out from the cupboard.

“Thanks Harls.” Peter grinned while he removed his clothes and pulled the suit on. He tried to ignore Harley’s shocked face upon seeing his body. He knew he was beginning to look severely underweight but really couldn’t bring himself to do anything about it. 

Peter had always had a massive guilt complex and a desperate need to help everyone else before he ever helped himself. Every time his stomach constricted in pain from lack of sustenance he thought of how many people just in Queens alone were so much hungrier and then him and this drove him to continue on without eating and give any food he had away. 

The question was how much longer was he going to continue on like this? Harley would say not very long from the looks of his body.

“Peter….” Harley’s voice broke and tears began welling up. Peter immediately felt guilty upon seeing his boyfriend's face. “Why?”

Unable to think of what to say, Peter just stood there for a minute. He wasn’t sure how to explain the drive behind the eating disorder he’d developed and so he said nothing. 

Overcome with emotion, Harley gently approached Peter and placed his hands on either side of his face while a tear slipped down his cheek. “Please, please eat. I can’t lose you. You’re quite literally all I have in the world right now.”

Peter became choked up too. He wanted to eat, he did, but he just couldn’t. All rationality had left him, leaving behind only disordered thoughts that consumed him.

“Whatever you want to eat I’ll get for you, I promise.” Harley whispered, unable to get his voice louder in this state. “I love you Peter.”

Harley pulled Peter against his chest and the brunette let him, feeling like shit. He wanted to make Harley happy again, he really did. But he couldn’t. This was how he was. 

“Harley, I’m sorry.” He finally whispered back as Harley quietly sobbed into his shoulder, overcome with anguish at the thought of Peter getting sicker or even dying. “I have to go.”

He gently pulled away and after another guilty glance at Harley, he pulled his mask on and noiselessly slipped out the window. 

Peter swung aimlessly, ignoring the tears that were now making the fabric over his face wet. 

Chapter Text

Peter had just finished webbing a woman who’d been trying to steal a car to the brick wall behind her when he heard it again. The whirring was impossibly quiet but he could faintly hear it.

Peter whirled around and peered up into the sky above for any sign of Tony Stark while the police who’d been called by a bystander finally arrived, late as usual. 

Feeling antsy at the fact he was being watched, Peter swung up to a rooftop nearby. Since it was almost midnight he’d been about to go home and face Harley after their disagreement earlier but now that he was being followed he knew he couldn’t lead Tony back to where he lived. 

Peter flopped down on the edge and dangled his legs over, resting his aching body, and waiting for Tony to finally approach. Slowly the whirring sound grew and Peter could hear a light thud as the suit landed on the ceiling behind him. 

“What do you want?” Peter called out as he turned his head to the side, remaining otherwise motionless save for his dangling legs. 

“It’s nice to see you too.” Tony replied sarcastically and Peter couldn’t help the frustration that grew. Sure, Tony Stark had been Peter's idol for years and he was about to accept an internship at his company but he was still kinda pissed at the man for what happened at their first meeting. And Peter wasn’t normally one to hold grudges but what Tony had done had kind of had a lasting impact- about a two inch deep one in his abdomen. 

“No offense but I’m not exactly thrilled to see you.” He muttered back. 

Tony wasn’t going to lie, that hurt. Not because he was offended- because he’d had way worse stuff said and done to him before- but because it confirmed what he’d been scared of since his last encounter with Spiderman: that the vigilante was pissed at him for getting him shot.

He needed Spiderman on his side and was mad at himself for royally fucking it up so bad during his first attempt to gain the webslingers trust. He retracted the face plate so he could talk to Peter face to face- or face to cheap mask at least. 

“Look, what happened before wasn’t my fault. That guy was trigger happy anyway and someone would have ended up shot whether I was there or not.” Tony had a bad quality of never admitting he was wrong that wasn’t really helping him win Peter’s approval in the case. In reality he was trying to get a better look at Spiderman to check for any real damage that had been done. “Now quit being butthurt and listen for a minute.”

Peter turned back at him and Tony could feel the glare through the thin pajama looking suit he was wearing. “What?”

Tony was glad Peter was finally going to listen now and took advantage of it. “I’m reforming the Avengers team and you’re gonna be on it.”

Peter stared at him a minute longer, mind reeling. Past Peter, the one from a couple years ago, would be going insane at the thought of being an Avenger but the present Peter had a different perspective on the team of superheroes. He saw them misuse their power and responsibility and then bicker amongst themselves while shit happened right below their noses that they did nothing about. It was the kinda thing that Peter normally intervened in. And where were they? Lounging in their tower? Training for the next ‘real threat’ which would result in hundreds or even thousands of casualties and disastrous damage?

No, the present Peter had seen too many horrible things go unstopped by the earths ‘mightiest heroes’ to really have hope in them anymore. 

“Why?” He finally called out.

Tony frowned at this. Why what? Why choose him or why was he reforming the team?

Tony opted to answer the easier of the questions by pulling up a hologram video of Peter stopping a trolley that had been out of control with his webs. “How much did this way? Seventy, eighty thousand pounds?”

Peter watched his past self in shock. He hadn’t realized anyone had gotten video of that moment. 

“And what are those webs made out of? Who makes them?” Tony continued questioning relentlessly. “I’ve tried to get a sample but it always dissolves right after I get one.”

Peter looked up and met Tony’s serious stare. “I make them.”

In his highschools chemistry lab because he’s a fucking kid. But Tony doesn’t know that. 

“Hmm, impressive.” Tony commented, genuinely impressed but only showing a slight interest on his face. “You make the pajamas too?”

Peter was confused for a second before he realized Tony was referring to his suit. “I’m kinda on a budget.” He responded simply. If Tony only knew… Not that the billionaire could ever relate of course. 

“Join the team and you’ll have all the resources you could need.” Tony assured him. 

Peter thought about that for a second. Unlimited resources?

He thought about the hundreds of homeless people he’d seen since he himself had become homeless and how he could use those resources to improve their lives. 

“Ok.” Peter finally stated confidently. Now knowing it would be beneficial for the people he so desperately wanted to help Peter couldn’t not agree. 

Plus a tiny, immature part of him was still freaking out about the idea of being an Avenger. Maybe he wasn’t so bitter after all…

“Ok?” Tony asked for confirmation. Peter simply nodded in response. 

Tony stepped towards Peter and held something out in the palm of his gauntlet. Peter realized that it was the newest model of the StarkPhone. 

“For when we need to contact you.” Tony explained. Peter just gaped at him. 

Sure, Tony had billions to blow but giving a brand new, probably thousands of dollar phone to a stranger was still baffling to Peter. With what seemed to be no other choice, Peter shakily accepted the phone. 

Without another word the faceplate came back down over Tony’s face and the man blasted away. Peter was left still shocked on the roof clutching the phone. 

Had that really just happened or had he passed out again?

After an unknown amount of time passed Peter finally composed himself and began swinging back home. He landed on the wall two stories up from the broken window he normally came in through and crawled upside down to it. When his head had peeked over the top edge of the window he could see Harley standing there and then jumping back at his sudden appearance. 

“Peter.” He called out softly. Peter simply clung to the wall with only his torso and head, still upside down, hanging over the window. He wasn’t sure if he should go in or not or if Harley was still upset with him. 

Harley, fortunately, seemed calm now. He approached Peter and then reached up for the mask that was still on his face. Harley pulled it down so Peter’s upside down lips were exposed and then passionately kissed them as he cupped the sides of Peter’s head. 

They stayed like that for several moments, lips smashed together, and hands roaming. Finally Harley broke apart and Peter dropped down through the window and stood upright next to his boyfriend. 

“You were out so late.” Harley whispered with concern. 

Peter immediately felt guilty. He hadn’t meant to stay out this late but also hadn’t known Harley was waiting up for him. “Don’t you have your interview tomorrow? You should be asleep.”

“I was worried.” Harley explained as he wrapped his arms around himself. The harsh wind from the broken window was making him freeze. 

“Don’t be Harley.” Peter urged him. “I’ve been doing this for years and nothing bad has ever happened.”

Harley frowned. He knew from first hand experience that that was wrong. “But when you didn’t come back for so long…”

Peter loved Harley, he really did, but he wasn’t about to stop doing what he did because his boyfriend was worried. “Harley, with great power comes great responsibility. I can’t not do my job-”

“I know, I know Peter.” Harley urgently cut him off. “You are always helping everyone else. But I’m worried that you’re not helping yourself too.”

Peter just sighed. He didn’t have a response to that so he simply walked past Harley and began changing out of his suit in a dark corner where Harley couldn't see him this time. 

When he finished he put the suit and his new phone away, brushed his teeth, and headed to their bed. “I’m tired. Why don’t we talk later?” He didn’t want to talk about this ever again. 

Harley followed him down the hall from a distance. “Ok.” He softly agreed. He was exhausted too. 

Peter laid down on the tiny mattress and was closely followed by Harley who immediately curled into him. Peter wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's cold body and stared up at the ceiling while deep in thought. He thought about what had just happened earlier on the rooftop and considered telling Harley about it. 

He almost did but something stopped him. Harley was already fretting so much over him just being Spiderman, if he knew that Peter had just become an Avenger he’d probably freak out even more. Peter really didn’t want that. He didn’t want to have to choose between Harley and his responsibilities. 

Instead Peter remained silent until both boys had finally drifted off to sleep in the early hours of the morning. 

After only a couple hours of sleep Peter woke up. He brushed his teeth and then grabbed the phone Tony had given him. It flashed on and Peter saw that it already had service and a new text. 

Tony Stark at 2:46 AM: bring your suit and web shooters to the tower and I’ll configure you updated ones.

Peter couldn’t help the excitement that bubbled in his chest. He’d dreamed of working with Tony Stark in his lab for years and now it seemed like it was actually going to happen. Ok, maybe he still did possess some of those old fanboy tendencies.

Harley shuffled into the main room groggily as he rubbed his eyes. Peter immediately shoved the StarkPhone in his bag, out of sight, and pulled out his regular one to finish up his AP Lang homework. 

Harley picked up the box of crackers he’d bought the other day and began munching on them. He stared at Peter while the brunette typed. “Want some?” He finally asked. 

“No, I’m good.” Peter responded without looking up. He knew Harley had a concerned and disappointed look on his face without having to look at him. 

Peter grabbed his bag and the internship papers and then kissed Harley goodbye. “Good luck with your interview.”

“Bye.” Harley called out as Peter left. 

Peter completed his normal shower routine in the locker room before school started and then sat in the library and pulled out his phone. 

InstagramUser493049 at 7:46 AM: hey ned can i drop by your house after school for a minute?

Peter had wanted to do it yesterday but he’d had to patrol. He needed to convince Ned to stop getting himself in trouble for him and also tell him about his internship and the Avengers thing. 

Ned_The_Koolest392 at 7:47 AM: yeah ofc whats up?

InstagramUser493049 at 7:47 AM: i just have a lot to tell you

Ned_The_Koolest392 at 7:48 AM: kk

Peter missed having Ned at school like crazy. MJ was across the table reading a book but it wasn’t exactly the same with her as it was with Ned.

At lunch Peter dropped by Dr. Reed's office to give her the paperwork.

“Thank you Peter! If this all goes in right you’ll be able to start on Thursday.” She happily informed him, making him nervous. If it went in right. That was a big, fat if. 

As soon as school was over Peter rushed to Ned’s apartment, desperate to see his best friend.

Mrs. Leeds let him in and he thanked her before knocking on Ned’s door.

“Yeah?” he heard Ned call out and so he pushed the creaky door open.

“Ned,” Peter began. “You are the best friend I could ever ask for but why would you do that? Flash is a dick, I know, but I thought we’d agreed long ago to just ignore him so this kind of thing wouldn’t happen-“

“Peter! Peter!” Ned yelled, cutting off Peter's ramble. “Don’t worry about it.”

Peter stared at his best friend's kind face as he was sitting still on his bed for a long, quiet minute. Finally he closed the space between them and knelt next to him on the bed as he enveloped him in a hug. 

When they broke apart Peter met his friend's eye again. “I have a lot to tell you.”

He first described when he got the internship which made Ned freak out- “You’re going to be working for Iron Man?”- and then just when Ned didn’t think it could get any better he explained what had happened on the roof.

“What?!” Ned exploded, jumping up. “You’re an Avenger?!”

Peter couldn’t help but smile at Ned’s outburst. It was the same kind of excitement that he used to have about this kind of thing when he was younger. “Yeah, Mr. Stark wanted me to come in so he could upgrade my suit.”

Ned screamed for a long time at that, making his mother slam the door open angrily.

“Ned, quiet down this instant!” She exclaimed over the noise. “You’re already on thin ice right now, don’t make me-“

“Sorry mom! Sorry!” Ned rushed to say as he shooed her back out and closed the door. Peter watched in amusement from where he was still sitting on Ned’s bed.

“Peter, you are by far the coolest and most amazing person I have ever met.” Ned stated seriously. 

Peter shook his head. “No, that’s all you Ned. I promise”

They spent several more hours discussing- or more Peter just answering Ned’s thousand questions and even being forced to reenact all of what Tony said exactly how he said it for Ned- when suddenly Ned realized something.

“Wait, you need to go now!” He cut off one of Peter's answers. “He wanted to upgrade your suit!”

“Oh, yeah.” Peter simply responded. Ned lost his mind again.

“Go, go, go! Right now!” he yelled as he pushed Peter out. “You can’t keep Tony Stark waiting!”

Peter sighed and hugged Ned goodbye while promising to tell him how everything went and then began the walk back to his apartment. 

As he walked through the door he found that the apartment was empty. Harley must still be at his job interview.

Peter quickly changed into his suit and then swung to Stark tower. Upon reaching it he realized that he wasn’t exactly sure where to go. After running through all his options Pete opted to just land on the large balcony near the top of the building. A couple seconds after he dropped down though he heard a whirring sound but one different from the now familiar Iron Man repulsors. Instead there was a cylinder shaped white drone with the Stark logo and a gun on it hovering just three feet from his head. 

“Unidentified trespasser. Initiate protocol 4583.” It beeped out at him right before blue lasers shot out of the attached gun, grazing Peter’s shoulder. 

“What the fuck?” Peter exclaimed as he dodged another lazer attack by jumping to the right at the last minute. The drone was quick to respond by pivoting and shooting out another laser which Peter had to lean back to avoid resulting in him falling down backwards. His arms went out to support his fall and his injured shoulder burned at the movement. 

The drone crept closer to him, pointing the barrel of the weapon down to face him. Peter crawled back, his mind scrambling for what to do to avoid getting shot in the chest. Peter put his arms up to cover his face.

Right as he heard the drone fire up to shoot another laser it exploded. Peter lowered his arms and was met with the sight of Tony right behind where the drone had been. He was wearing grease-covered clothes that Peter had never seen the man wear in any of the media he’s seen him in and was wearing just the gauntlet that he’d used to destroy the drone on his still raised arm. 

“These fucking drones…” He mumbled as he lowered his arm. He then called out louder to Peter. “Come here.”

Peter slowly raised himself up and clutched at his injured shoulder. He’d had worse before but it still stung. As he approached Tony the man noticed the wound. “Are you hurt?”

“It’s ok.” 

The billionaire began walking back in and Peter assumed he was supposed to follow him so he did. They walked through a side of heavy duty automatic doors and into a very messy and spacious lab that Peter couldn’t help but admire in awe. There was probably millions of dollars worth of hightech equipment in here that he would kill to be able to use. 

Tony glanced back and seemed to notice that Peter had slowed down and was now looking around the room. 

Tony chuckled and took out a white, metal box from a cabinet. “Sit.” He commanded. Peter took the seat next to where Tony was now rooting through the contents of the kit. 

Peter was staring at a taken apart Iron Man suit on a table in front of him when all of the sudden he hissed in pain as Tony wiped an alcohol wipe across the wound on his shoulder. 

“So Spidey, where did you make your web shooters?” Tony pried as he prepared the needle and thread to stitch Peter up. 

Peter’s mind went blank for a second, leaving him without a lie he could give. “Uhhh… I don’t know.” He finally replied lamely. 

“You said you made them, right?” Tony questioned. He had just finished the first two stitches and was surprised to see a lack of reaction and then figured his stitching ability was just that good. He really could have asked Cho or one of the hundreds of trained professionals he had to come up and do it but for some unknown reason he’d felt like doing it himself. Maybe because he was directly at fault for his security drone shooting Spidey in the first place. 

“Y-yeah. I did.” Peter responded shakily. 

“Ok, so where did you make them?” Tony was beginning to doubt that the webslinger had really made the shooters at all after this reaction and his initial impressed feeling was beginning to waiver. 

“In my room.” Peter semi-lied. Sure, he’d finalized some of the schematics in his old room at May’s apartment like once or twice, but Tony didn’t need to know that. 

In his room? Tony was growing suspicious. He needed to get this guy's identity so he could run several thorough background checks. Tony finished the stitches and then began walking to one of the semi neat lab tables that he had and then pulled up his Spiderman file. It was projected as a blue hologram of a suit design. 

Ever since he’d decided to recruit the vigilante he’d been already building a suit for him but now that Spiderman was here he could really begin creating it. 

Tony tapped on several icons and Peter looked on incredulously. He was living out so many of people’s dreams- including his own- of being able to witness the genius in action in his lab. 

“Ok, take that pajama set off and I’ll get FRIDAY to take a reading of your dimenions. Weight, height, all that for the suit.” Tony told him while tapping at the suit's schematics. After a moment passed where Peter didn’t move Tony finally looked at him. 

“Spidey, I’m gonna need you to comply if I’m gonna be able to upgrade your sweatsuit.” Tony told him impatiently. He was trying not to lose his temper on this guy but mostly failing. It wasn’t his fault the stress of getting the immature, idiotic, stubborn Avengers to recuperate was getting to him. 

Peter was currently frozen, panicking. He had been under the impression Tony had known he had wanted to maintain a secret identity and was going to respect that. “Uh, I can’t.”

Tony balked at this. Did this kid not realize who the fuck he was? Tony could punt his little fucking-

God, Tony needed to stop thinking about his anger towards Steve and calm the fuck down. “Why not? Are you not wearing something underneath?”

Peter quickly shook his head at this. The two stared at each other for a moment, neither saying anything, when Peter finally came up with a solution. “I’ll take the suit off but the mask stays on.”

Tony finally understood- well, not really understood. After all, he'd never really maintained a secret identity in the first place- why would he do all this and not take credit for it?- but at least he now knew why Spidey was apprehensive about taking off the suit. “Look, I’m not going to publicize your identity but I do need to know it if you’re going to be on the team.”

Peter sighed. “Then thank you for the opportunity- and the stitches- but I can’t join under those conditions.”

Tony couldn’t believe this. The little shit was fucking walking away? 

Tony watched him leave, frustrated. Was his secret identity really this important to him? It was honestly as impressive as it was frustrating. Then in a rare moment of compromise for a man who never really had to, Tony called out to Peter. “Stop. Just stand by that table and undress with the mask staying on.” Tony commanded like he was the one who had made this plan and not like he’d been compromising with a random bug themed vigilante he’d picked up off the street. 

Tony turned back to his suit schematics and began working again, only knowing that Peter had complied by the sound of him walking back over and then taking off the suit. 

After a moment FRIDAY put Peter’s body stats and measurements on the screen and after just a brief glance Tony could tell they were inaccurate. “FRIDAY, rescan.” He commanded, even more annoyed now. FRIDAY didn’t fuck up like this.

When the scan came back the weight was somehow even lower by a couple ounces. “What the fuck FRIDAY?” Tony called out as he turned towards her mic, catching sight of Peter’s semi-naked form in the process and immediately stopping. 

The body in front of him, only covered by a pair of shorts and a mask, was completely gaunt and sickly. Numerous scars and wounds littered Peter’s body and the skin that wasn’t scared looked pale and translucent like it would break under the slightest graze. Tony was at loss for words for one of the first times in his life. 

Peter covered his body with his arms self consciously and awkwardly stood under Tony’s stunned gaze. 

Tony was in an unusual state of shock and anguish- unusual because he never showed that side of him, especially to a stranger. Finally, after swallowing hard, he found words. “What happened?”

Peter’s brows furrowed under the mask. He was aware that his body was not a pretty sight but he didn’t expect to get such a reaction from the billionaire. “It’s just old scars from patrolling.”

That had not been what Tony had been referring to though. “Are you ok?” He finally followed up his first question with. 

“I’m fine.” Peter awkwardly responded. Did Tony have to know that he was feeling extremely embarrassed and also dizzy right now? Hell no. 

Tony shakily stepped off the stool he’d been perched on and began rooting through a cabinet. Peter watched on, just wishing this moment would be over as fast as possible. 

When Tony found what he was looking for he pulled it out and held it out for Peter. It was a bar he’d designed for Steve with his advanced metabolism and since FRIDAY’s scan had alerted him to Peter’s advanced metabolism he knew it was necessary. 

“Mr. Stark, I’m fine. I promise.” Peter immediately went to say but Tony didn’t care. Nothing Peter said right now would keep the horrible, unexpected feeling of shock and worry that had completely overcome Tony. 

“Take it.” Tony forced, practically shoving the food in Peter’s face. 

Peter hesitantly did and then set it on the table. Tony was gonna make sure he took it with him. “Can I put my suit back on or…?”

Tony had been so distracted by Spiderman’s body he’d completely forgotten about telling him he could dress again or anything about his suit design. Still feeling off, he turned back and began inputting the information into the design to customize it.  

Relieved, Peter pulled the suit back on and then watched over Tony’s shoulder while he finalized the design. Peter was beyond impressed at seeing his childhood idol work on something that was for him. He was almost too impressed and distracted to really see the number for his weight at the corner of the screen but his stomach dropped when he finally realized it. 

Ninety-five pounds? Since when did he weigh that little? 

Peter now understood why Tony had been confused at the number and concerned about Peter after seeing his body. He was getting severely underweight. 

But so were all the other homeless people in New York who hadn’t eaten in a much longer time than him. Peter glanced back at the protein bar Tony had given him and immediately knew he was going to give it away. 

When Peter turned back to the screen Tony was transferring the finished suit design to his 3D printer. He swirled off the stool and walked the short distance to the printer with Peter trailing behind him. 

Peter watched, slack jawed, as the design from the computer was created with a laser right in front of his face. When Tony finally pulled it out after about five minutes he was surprised to see it was flimsy like cloth and not hard plastic like most 3D printers created.

“Ok, try it on.” Tony commanded and turned away to mess with something else. He was still feeling like shit from seeing Peter’s frail body the first time. 

“This is so cool, Mr. Stark!” Peter called out as he pulled the surprisingly sturdy but light fabric over his skin. 

“Yeah, I know.” Tony replied, stone faced. He was trying not to get emotional in front of Peter right now but was failing so he walked away.  

Chapter Text

Peter felt sick to his fucking stomach which was not the reaction he’d expected after interacting with his childhood idol like that.

The stitches Tony had done on his shoulder still burned but not nearly as much as his chest did right now. He felt like he was on the verge of a panic attack which was not something he could really have while he was swinging back to the apartment building.

He was so distraught he barely even acknowledged the significant improvement the new suit had. His newfound advanced agility from the suit was very appreciated as he tried to make it home as fast as possible before he really freaked out.

He’d been slowly spiraling into panic since the moment Tony asked him to undress. And the billionaire's reaction after that had only made it so much worse.

Peter was fucking tired of people getting upset and angry at his appearance. It was awkward and exhausting and he just wanted to get away as fast as possible when it happened.

Peter swung in through the window and lightly landed on the ground right as his already quick breathing rapidly picked up into full on hyperventilation. He curled into a ball protectively and attempted to remove the cloth over his face but his stupid, shaking hands wouldn’t work and his desperate breaths were becoming even harder to get in and-

“-ter! Can you hear me?” A frantic voice called out desperately. Peter choked on a sob and tried to focus on the voice. After a long moment during which he tried to calm himself he could finally make out hands on his shoulders and opened his eyes.

Harley’s frightened face was right above him and that’s when Peter realized he was laying down now. 

“Harl…” Peter tried but his vision was blurry and he felt like he was on a ship at sea in a storm and not solid against the ground. 

“Peter?!” Harley shrieked, trying for the hundredth time now to get Peter to snap out of whatever state he was in. Harley had no idea why he was like this though he could make a pretty educated guess on the cause. He knew he needed to get him to eat. 

A silent tear escaped Harley’s eye as he shakily stood up from where he’d been kneeling down next to Peter and retrieved the sub he’d gotten for his boyfriend at his new job today. It was supposed to be a surprise gift but now was going to be a resuscitation tool. 

Harley dropped to his knees next to Peter and saw that he was now slack jawed and unconscious. 

“Peter!” Harley cried out. His chest squeezed painfully with anguish and another frantic tear trailed down his cheeks that were burning painfully. 

Peter didn’t move still and his eyes remained closed. Harley was once again lost on what to do. He knew Peter was quite literally all he had in the world right now and he hated that he was suffering from this eating disorder. 

Harley let out a muffled wail, failing at keeping any semblance of composure. He wanted to be strong so he could figure out what the fuck to do but was miserably failing. 

Peter was dying in front of him and he was doing nothing . 

Harley sobbed hard for another moment and then while attempting to compose himself he realized what he was gonna try to do. 

He ripped off a tiny piece of bread from the sub and then gently pulled at Peter’s chapped lips until his mouth was parted enough for Harley to be able to push the bread in. He then leaned over Peter and watched the bread soften on his tongue as it was submerged in his saliva. 

It would be disgusting if it wasn’t for the fact that Harley was so concerned about getting nutrients in his boyfriend's body. 

Peter twitched and Harley hoped he was waking up but he didn’t. Harley pushed another small piece of bread into Peter’s mouth. 

After about three more pieces Peter abruptly coughed and began choking. 

“Peter? Peter, breathe!” Harley cried out as Peter rolled over and spit out saliva and a piece of bread. 

He coughed twice more and then took in heavy and deep breaths finally. Harley quietly sighed in relief and waited for Peter to do something, anything to indicate he was okay and that Harley shouldn’t call 911 right now because that’s what he really wanted to do. 

“Peter?” Harely tried again but softly now. Peter rolled over onto his back and looked up at Harley’s tear filled, beautiful blue eyes. 

“Ugh, I don’t feel good.” He groaned and lightly coughed again. 

“Peter, you were having a panic attack and then you just passed out.” Harley frantically explained, trying to make Peter see how urgently he needed to eat. “You scared the fuck out of me.”

Peter glanced up into his boyfriends tired eyes and felt guilty. He didn’t mean to make Harley worry like this. He was seriously becoming a burden to him, he knew. Hell, they’d only met cause Peter’d fucking passed out right onto Harley. 

He was a fucking problem no matter what he did. He didn’t just not deserve to eat, he didn’t even deserve to fall in love or be treated kindly by Harley at all. 

He didn’t fucking deserve anything. Everyone knew it, even the goddamn universe knew it. Why else would everyone he loved die or become sick?

The only people who didn’t seem to know it were Harley and Ned. They’d probably pay for that mistake eventually though. 

“I’m sorry.” Peter choked out, overcome with self-hatred and misery. He knew he should just leave Ned and Harley alone and let them live in peace without him but was too selfish to bring himself to do it. He knew he couldn’t make it without them and so he was willing to let his awful luck bring their inevitable destruction. God, he was such a fucking selfish dick. 

Self-hatred filled tears rolled out from his eyes and down his cheeks and he hiccuped pitifully. Some superhero he was…

“Peter…” Harley somberly spoke. He was way beyond even knowing what to do anymore. 

“I-I’m so sorry.” Peter cried, eyes squeezed shut while he laid on the floor. Harley dug his hands under Peter’s shoulders and lifted his upper half up so it could rest against him while he tried his goddamn hardest to comfort Peter in any way he could. 

“Please, Peter, eat and this will all be better.” He murmured with his cheek pressed up against Peter’s hollow one. 

Peter wanted to. He really fucking did. But how could he?

“Harley…” Peter breathed and his chest constricted from the pain of having to disappoint his perfect boyfriend so severely. “I can’t…” He heartbreakingly finished in a pitiful whisper. 

Harley stared at the tile floor for a long moment, thinking. 

Peter needed help, professional help. Soon. Before he fucking died. 

But Harley couldn’t do anything tonight. They couldn’t afford shit at any hospital and he had nothing, absolutely no resources. 

“Peter, you deserve to eat.” He finally urged. “Nutrients are necessary for life.”

Then, apprehensively he finally asked after a long, silent moment: “Do you not want to… live?”

And Peter genuinely didn’t know how to respond. For so long he’d been surviving on fight or flight mode, just trying to deal with whatever shit he was facing that day, that he really hadn’t been living for a long time. 

Not until Harley had come in.

“I d-do? I don’t know. I’m tired.” He answered unassuredly and then promptly changed the subject. He forcefully removed himself from Harley’s protective grip and swayed onto the mattress. Harley followed him closely. 

“Peter.” He called out and there was anger in his tone now mixed with the same despair from earlier. “You’re fucking killing yourself.”

Peter didn’t respond, just blankly stared off at the wall next to where Harley was standing. 

“You say it’s so hard to watch your aunt slowly die because of her sickness but then you don’t fucking care that it hurts just as much for me to watch you.” Harley’s emotions were causing him to lose his composure but at the moment he didn’t care. It’s not like Peter actually cared about how he felt anyway, not if he was unwilling to try to fix what was causing his negative emotions in the first place. 

And finally Harley knew what he had to do. It was manipulative, it was cruel, it would fucking hurt , but it was his only choice.

He stared at the broken, brunette boy curled up on the tattered mattress. 

“Peter.” He called out making Peter finally look up at him with tearfilled eyes, making what Harley was about to say even more difficult. “I’m not willing to just sit around and watch you die anymore.”

Harley didn’t even wait for Peter’s response before he’d turned and began gathering his few items. 

Harley knew he was important to Peter. He knew he was all Peter really had because Peter was all he really had too. But he also knew he was gonna have to lose him for a bit if he didn’t want to lose him forever. 

Peter physically shook from the emotions Harley’s words had just caused. 

“No, please.” He begged, pleaded, anything for Harley to just stay. 

He was fighting an internal battle. The cruel, harsh part of his brain that told him he didn’t deserve to eat was currently dueling the part of his heart that screamed it wouldn’t be able to survive without Harley. He wouldn’t be able to go back to living like how he’d lived before Harley now that he’d experienced what living with him was like. 

Harley turned back and the bitter look in his eyes made Peter's chest throb painfully. He never wanted Harley to be upset and now he was the one fucking causing it. “Are you willing to get better?”

Peter wanted to scream yes and get Harley to stay but he was held back by the self loathing that kept him from eating in the first place. It was probably safer for Harley to get away from him. 

“But… I’ll miss you.” He finally choked out dismally, feeling lightheaded again. 

“I’ll miss you too.” Harley breathed back. He watched Peter stare at him, choking back sobs for another moment before he couldn’t take it anymore and continued down the hall. 

This had to work, Peter had to change. Cause if not he was gonna become- 

Harley didn’t even want to think about what would happen if Peter didn't accept this and ask him to come back. The thought was too heart shattering. 

He picked up his bag and with one last look around, finally left, gently shutting the door behind him. 

He’d never even told Peter about the job he’d gotten, something he realized as he walked away. He’d had a whole night planned out of celebrating but that was too late now. 

Seeing Peter close to dying on the floor yet again was really too much. Leaving him was necessary if he wanted to stop this before it was too late. 

Harley still didn’t regret it, even as the tears began to fall again. 

Peter felt completely empty, physically and emotionally. He was already weak from malnourishment and Harley had just stabbed him right through his fucking heart. 

He still sat on the mattress and continued staring at the wall for countless hours, mind spinning. He only finally fell asleep after he’d cried enough to pass out from exhaustion. But he found as his alarm went off the next morning and he was awoken that he was numbly going through his usual morning routines, letting the familiarity distract him from the feeling of the large, gaping absence in his life. 

He didn’t even remember walking to school but looked up and was sitting in homeroom. He glanced around and met Ned’s concerned gaze. 

“Peter? Are you here now?” Ned questioned, concerned. 

“Huh, uh, what?” Peter stupidly replied. He saw Ned visibly lose tension in his body at his reaction.

“Dude you were, like, completely absent from your body all morning.” He explained, sounding freaked out. “You were like a zombie.”

“Oh.” Was all Peter could think to say back. 

“Did… something happen?” Ned asked apprehensively like he wasn’t sure if this was gonna trigger Peter to go back to being unresponsive. 

How the fuck was Peter gonna explain anything that had happened last night to Ned? How was he-

How was he supposed to live without Harley?

Suddenly tears were pooling in his eyes as the memories resurfaced and he tried and failed to choke them back. 

Ned panicked after seeing this. Peter rarely cried, and never in public. Something was really fucking wrong. 

“Hey Penis, what’s wrong?” Flash called out when he noticed Peter because he was always watching, waiting for a chance to mock him. At his words the rest of the class turned and saw Peter crying in the back. “Your mommy not here anymore?”

The look Ned shot Flash at that comment could have killed. He internally seethed for a moment before raising his hand. “Can me and Peter go to the bathroom?”

Their teacher looked lost on what to do but immediately agreed. “Y-yeah, of course.”

Ned felt everyone’s gaze as he led his teary best friend to the bathroom. 

When they were finally alone Peter really broke down, simply explaining that Harley had broken up with him. 

“Why?” Ned questioned almost immediately.

Peter didn’t want to tell him why. It was too painful to explain. Instead he just shrugged. 

They spent the rest of the period in the bathroom talking. Ned tried his hardest to comfort Peter but he’d never seen his normally stable bestfriend this upset. 

He must seriously be in love with this guy, Ned figured. 

As they made their way down the hallway after Peter had composed himself they ran into Mrs. Reed. “Peter, you ready to start the internship today?” She chirped happily. 

Peter forced a smile at her and walked past her. He could feel guilty about his rudeness later.

“God, and I forgot about that.” Peter told Ned who was watching him, still with concern. “My first day’s gonna suck.”

“You’ve got this, Pete.” Ned tried desperately to cheer Peter up. “It’s gonna be the coolest day of your life.”

But as school ended and Peter made his way to Stark tower, he realized this really wasn’t going to go well. Breaking down in class was embarrassing enough but this was a whole different, much worse level. 

But he still couldn’t help but become amazed when he entered the large lobby of Stark tower. He spent a good minute just looking around before he finally made his way to one of the many receptionists. 

“Um, h-hi?” He called out.

“Name?” The receptionist asked as she typed loudly. 

“Parker. Uh, Peter.” Peter awkwardly responded. “Peter Parker.”

The receptionist continued typing on for a long moment before she finally looked at Peter for a moment while she handed him a card and instructed him where to go. “Don’t lose that card or you’ll be arrested by security.”

Peter nodded and made his way to one of the elevators. He waited until the number said ‘73’ like the lady had instructed and then rushed to get off. 

There were multiple other young people already in the room, talking amongst themselves, and many held similar cards so Peter knew he was in the right place. 

He awkwardly stood to the side, alone, for a long minute, trying his goddamn hardest not to think about Harley or pass out, a task that proved to be very fucking difficult. 

Finally an older woman with black hair who looked important while wearing a labcoat with a Stark Industries logo on it stepped up and the group of interns quieted. 

Peter couldn’t help but notice how her bright blue eyes reminded him of Harley’s and immediately had to choke back the upcoming emotions that thought brought. God, he needed to fucking compose himself. It was his own fault Harley was gone and also his own doing. 

They wouldn't have ever worked out either way anyway. It was a known fact that good things never lasted for Peter Parker. 

“Welcome.” The woman called out, addressing the huddle of new interns. “My name is Claire and I’m an employee in the technological industry of Stark industries. All of you have been tested and chosen to work alongside me on many fascinating and in depth projects this year. So if you’ll all follow me I will show you some of these ongoing projects.”

Claire led the twenty or so interns through the amazing rooms full of working interns and employees and Peter let his mind focus on the information in front of him instead of wallowing in despair like he had been all morning. 

After the tour Claire showed them around their new lab stations (Peter couldn’t help the excitement he felt at getting a lab station at Stark Industries) and then began instructing them on their first project.

“We’re going to be starting on something more advanced but will be a true test to the knowledge you all already possess.” Claire explained. 

Peter watched in horror as drones exactly like the one that shot him yesterday were brought out and displayed. 

“These drones were initially designed by Tony Stark himself and he has tasked us with proposing advancements to them that he himself might utilize when finalizing the new design.”

Was this because of what had happened earlier? God, Peter thought he might die right there. 

Peter was so lost in thought that he realized he’d missed the rest of Claire’s instructions only after she’d finished speaking and all the interns around him were already hard at work. 

Shakily, Peter glanced over at the drone displayed and then at the lab station in front of him. 

Were they supposed to create new drones? He had no fucking clue, he hadn’t heard most of the instructions. But at least he was in his element so he began pulling tools he knew he’d need and found himself becoming absorbed in the task at hand. He’d always been completely narrow sighted and focused when working on technology and today was no different, Harley be damned. 

He knew he was going to have to improve the weapon’s and intruder functions on the new drone if he wanted to fix the issue from earlier so he configured a new design that implemented an improved security database system and also an apprehending tool that utilized a recycled web design. There were already tons of recycled parts he could choose to build his drone so he didn’t have to make it from scratch but instead organize the different parts into his own creation, something that would be much quicker than making something completely original. 

He found that being absorbed in his work completely distracted from thinking of Harley until he’d almost finished his drone.

Unfortunately he’d caught a glimpse of Claire and her fucking blue eyes with gold specks in the center that reminded Peter so much of Harley’s it was unbearable and now Peter was cold and also hot and shaky and running out of oxygen and trying not to freak out-

He haphazardly finished the last programming on his drone with his mind not really present right as Claire announced that their time to work was over. 

Peter connected the heavy duty SI battery to his main system and the drone beeped to life as Claire’s voice rang out without Peter comprehending a word. 

The drone lifted off the ground as the rotating circular discs he’d designed to produce lift and thrust on the machine automatically turned on like he’d programmed them to. It hovered for just a moment before it darted to the right and then up again, something he hadn’t programmed. 

By now Claire and everyone else had noticed his drone that was flying above their heads. “Whoever’s drone that is, can you please stop it? We’re not flying them today.” Claire commanded but was impressed. She’d never had an intern finish a project like this so fast. 

“Sorry.” Peter called out but right as he held his hand up to the drone to grab it a white spray like what a fire extinguisher sprayed was shot at his hand and the force was powerful enough to send his hand flying back into the shelf behind him and become stuck. Peter immediately tugged at the restraint he’d created but knew it was useless. He’d created it to be super strength resistant since it was designed for Stark Tower after all. 

Peter looked back at his drone, betrayed. He hadn’t programmed it to do that. At least he didn’t think he had. He’d kinda been out of it at the time. 

“Shit.” He stated as he watched the drone face another intern where she stood and cover her lower half in a layer of the web-like fluid so she was cemented to her chair. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Peter tugged uselessly at the now completely solid fluid on his arm, keeping him locked in place while the entire room was catapulted into absolute chaos. 

Almost every intern had been glued down to something and he could make out Claire screaming as she was shot in the chest by the drone’s fluid. 

Peter thought he might just die right then and there. Everything was going to shit and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it. He was helpless, something he despised.

He watched as three security guards who’d just burst into the room with their guns raised were doused in the web fluid and then cemented down to the ground. 

Shit, shit, shit. Peter scrambled for something, anything he could do, and then spotted a large and heavy screwdriver on the shelf next to him. He extended his body as far as it could go to be able to reach the tool with his unrestrained hand and barely managed to grip it. 

Once he had it secured in his hand he raised his arm and flung the screwdriver right at the drone, knocking it off its balance just long enough that one of the nearby security guards could launch his armored body at it and crush it as they both fell to the ground. 

There was a long, tense pause now that the drone was destroyed. Most of everyone was still stuck from the web fluid or cowering somewhere out of reach. Peter thought he was going to die. 

And then he almost does when the elevator opened and Tony Stark steps into the room. 

“Who caused this?” He immediately bellowed out after taking a long glance around the distraught room. 

The intern stuck near Peter raised a shaking finger to point it at him and he swallowed hard. Tony met his fearful gaze and began marching towards him. 

“What’s your name?” He asked when he reached Peter who could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on him and wondered why Tony wanted to know his name before he killed him. Maybe for legal reasons…

“Peter Parker, sir.” Peter gulped. “I’m so sorry-”

“Is there a dissolvent for this?” Tony asked, abruptly cutting off what was going to be Peter begging for forgiveness that he knew he didn't deserve. 

Peter looked at the bottle of dissolvent he’d made earlier as part of the whole project- something he was grateful for now- and Tony followed his eye and retrieved the bottle. Peter swore that with every move the billionaire made he was going to strike out at Peter.

But instead, to his surprise, Tony began applying the dissolvent onto where Peter was glued down at his hand. With just a touch of the clear liquid the hard, white substance melted away and he could pull his arm free. 

Wait, so Tony released him so he could kill him better? Peter was beyond confused now and still scared out of his mind. 

“Come with me.” Tony commanded and Peter doesn’t hesitate to follow the man as he walked back towards the elevator he came in from. Along the way he stopped by Happy Hogan. “Release them.” He stated as he handed the bottle of dissolvent over to the head of security who nodded in obedience. 

Tony stepped onto the elevator and Peter followed him in, waiting for the blow to land but it never came. Instead they just stood next to each other in complete silence as the elevator rose. 

Peter was shaking now in anticipation for whatever brutal punishment he’s sure to get from the complete mess he just caused but even when the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Tony simply stepped out and Peter followed him. They walked like that all the way to Tony’s lab that Peter recognised from when he was in it the day before. Not that Tony would know that of course. 

Tony took a seat at one of his own lab stations and began tapping away at the holographic screen in front of him, still completely silent. Peter was surprised when he saw the man pull up his own drone blueprints he’d created earlier that afternoon and then turned to face him. 

“How old are you?” He asked, surprising Peter again. 

“S-seventeen, s-sir.” Peter struggled to get the words out due to the anxiety he was feeling. Facing Tony as Ironman earlier seemed so much easier than when he was seeing him as just Tony Stark for some reason. Peter would have figured it would be the opposite but maybe it’s scarier now because he’s not Spiderman but instead just the fuck-up who couldn’t even be an intern for one day without creating a massive scene. 

“Hmm. Impressive.” Tony merely hummed and turned back to the blueprint again. “This drone is advanced, not the work of any average teenager, or even an advanced one. Where’d you learn to create tech like this?”

“Uh, umm, I just work on it by myself at home.” Peter managed to say and it reminded Tony of something Spiderman had said to him in this same room yesterday. 

“What’s the sticky stuff?” Tony questioned. 

Peter became even more confused. Was Tony just gonna interrogate him instead of punishing him? 

“It’s a sodium hydroxide based adhesive that hardens upon making contact with the water that’s on skin.” Peter explained. 

“So it won’t harden when hitting a normal surface.” Tony finished for him. “Interesting.”

Peter swallowed hard, still staring at Tony nervously while the man kept examining the blueprint. “Will you calm down?” Tony finally urged, uncomfortable with the fear pouring out of the kid. 

“Wait, so you’re not mad?” Peter confusedly questioned, not letting himself become too hopeful yet. 

Tony looked back up at him. “About the drone thing?”

Peter quickly nodded. What else would he be referring to?

Tony pulled up the messy coding Peter had absentmindedly created. “You see this? It’s really fucking impressive.” Tony remarked and then pointed at a specific line of code at the bottom of the screen. “But this is where the fuck up was that caused all that. You negated the code that specified targets so that only the people who were supposed to be here would be apprehended.”

Tony met Peter’s shocked face. He couldn’t believe the billionaire was actually praising him right now. 

“No, I’m not mad. That lab has seen worse fuck ups then that. But this-” He gestured back to the code. “kind of mess up is surprising to see among what is otherwise very advanced coding.”

Peter was stuck in some sort of weird dream, he decided. That’s what all this was. He was still dissociating since Harley broke up with him. 

He was so lost in thought he realized he never answered the man who’d just continued on examining the blueprints. 

Fuck, Peter needed to say something. But what was he supposed to say right now?

“Sorry.” He finally settled on lamely. 

Tony ignored his apology. “Look at this.” He directed and pulled up a different set of holographic blueprints. 

This was even fucking worse. They were undoubtedly his web shooters but with some new changes. 

“It’s kinda similar to your drone.” Tony commented.

Did Tony realize he was Spiderman because the drone design was similar to his web shooters? Shit, Peter was immediately paranoid he was about to be discovered, so much so that he was shaking as he stepped up next to Tony at the table to be able to see clearly. 

Tony had been struggling to make sense of the Spidermans complicated web shooters and had been working on it nonstop since he’d seen the vigilante yesterday. It was a perfect opportunity to really see what this kid was capable of and also maybe sorta get some assistance. (Not that Tony would never admit that he needed help) 

Peter pretended to study the design he already knew like the back of his hand since he’d been the one to create it. Tony didn’t know that though which was why he was feigning. 

He could see what components Tony had added and immediately knew what was not working. 

“Can I?” He asked apprehensively with his hand raised up to the hologram. Tony nodded back and he immediately removed one of the new features. Tony looked over his shoulder with interest. 

Peter knew what the upgrades were supposed to accomplish, but he also knew why they wouldn’t work because he’d attempted to implement them before and after some testing that almost killed him, he knew they were the opposite of beneficial. So he quickly picked through them and began adjusting to make it work.

Tony’s furrowed brows raised in surprise after watching Peter immediately remove most of the upgrades he’d added last night and then began adjusting and creating his own. 

Using Tony’s tech made it so Peter could now fully create in any way he wanted and he was able to truly design his web shooters how he’d always wanted them to be, designing multiple new and upgraded functions that completely beat Tony’s.

After about fifteen minutes he finally glanced back up at the billionaire nervously and saw he looked confused and in awe at the same time, an expression Peter had never seen him have. Peter hoped it was a good sign and he hadn’t broken Tony Stark. 

“Holy shit, kid.” Tony finally remarked, still gazing at the design. Who the fuck was this kid and how was he this fucking good? Tony was beyond stunned. 

Peter shifted his feet nervously, hoping he hadn’t led Tony to believe he was able to upgrade the webshooters because he was actually Spiderman. Luckily it didn’t seem like the case. Instead it seemed like Tony just thought he was a fucking genius. 

“How did you learn all this?” Tony finally asked. 

“Ummmm…” Peter stalled, unsure. “I… read a lot.” He finally thought to say lamely. 

Tony’s brows furrowed in disbelief. “What book-”

“The internet.” Peter was quick to respond. “There’s lots of websites… and stuff.”

He was aware he sounded like an idiot. It wasn’t far from the truth anyway. 

Tony seemed to think for only a moment before responding. “You’re working with me now. Come in tomorrow at four, we’ve got more projects to do.”

Peter immediately thought he’d heard wrong. Just an hour ago he was convinced Tony was going to kill him for creating such a scene earlier but now he wanted him as what- a personal intern? There was no fucking way.

He couldn’t wait to tell Harley-

Shit. He’d been so distracted since the drone thing he’d completely forgotten about last night. Immediately all the negative emotions from earlier washed over him, canceling out his excitement and confusion at what Tony was offering. 

Tony misread his sudden mood change though. “You don’t want to?”

Peter jumped at this. “No, I do!” He scrambled to clarify. “I just… are you sure.. Me?”

Tony gave him a stern look. “Kid, I’m gonna be completely honest: I’ve seen a lot of talented people in the tech industry- I fucking own the biggest one after all- but this-” He gestured to the webshooter design. “This impressed me, which is something that doesn’t really happen, especially from random teen interns.”

And Tony was complimenting Peter again. This had to be a fucking dream. 

“T-thank you.” Peter finally replied. 

Tony nodded and then looked at his watch. “Shit, it’s past nine. Are you hungry?” He asked but didn’t wait for a response. “FRIDAY, get me everything on the menu from that great Thai place me and Rhoday went to the other day.” He ordered the AI. 

“Oh, Mr. Stark, It’s ok, I’m fi-” Peter tried to say. 

“So what websites and stuff ?” Tony asked as he began walking out of the lab. “You don’t mind going to the penthouse instead? Pepper won’t let me eat in the lab anymore since the spaghetti incident.”

Since Peter had been cut off from trying to decline Tony’s offer he had no choice but to follow Tony as he made his way into the elevator. 

“Just like…” Peter tried to think of what he could even say. “Like ones about coding and… yeah.”

“Oh, so like tutorials?” Tony clarified. He wasn’t even sure why he was interrogating this obviously nervous kid but yet he was. Maybe it was something about how his timid personality was so revitalizing after dealing with the people he had to daily. 

Normally Tony didn’t like having people in his lab but he didn’t mind Peter. The kid was entertaining as much as he was impressive. 

“Yeah, tutorials.” Peter finally responded, breaking Tony from his thoughts. 

“Interesting.” Tony remarked as the elevator door opened, revealing the grand and spacious penthouse to Peter who looked around in awe. 

While looking around Peter spotted a tuft of blonde hair peeking out from over the edge of the large sofa that faced away from the elevator door. It was hair that looked kinda like…

The person on the couch turned around upon hearing Peter and Tony enter and Peter's heart instantly dropped. 

Harley Keener was staring back at him from where he’d been lounging on the couch, scrolling through his phone. 

“Peter?” He demanded, shocked. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Peter immediately called back. Tony glanced at the kid next to him and realized that the timid boy from earlier was gone and had been replaced with a shocked and hurt looking teen. 

“Wait, what’s going on here?” Tony asked, looking back and forth from both boys who were currently staring each other down from across the room. 

Harley stood up and walked around the couch so he was now only a couple feet away from them, never looking away from Peter. “What are you trying to do Peter? I said I’m not doing anything with you until you get better.” Harley harshly questioned. “Are you stalking me now?”

“I couldn’t be stalking you if I had no idea you were even here!” Peter cried out defensively. “Why are you even here?”

“Me and Mr. Stark are friends.” Harley answered and finally looked up at Tony for the first time since he’d walked in. Tony was still beyond confused at what was even happening. 

“Wait, you two know each other?” Tony tried to figure out but neither boy answered for a long moment and just glared at each other. 

“Boys, some clarification is needed.” Tony demanded, losing his patience. 

“Harley, please can we talk about it?” Peter called out, taking a step towards the blonde, seething boy. 

“I told you, I’m not going to watch you continue doing this to yourself so unless you’ve changed, we’re done.” Harley retorted. 

Peter began tearing up. It was like the hell that last night was but part two. “I can’t.” His voice broke as he whispered back. 

“Sir, the food has been delivered. Would you like to have it brought up?” FRIDAY cut in, slicing the tension in the room. 

Harley shook his head in disappointment. “Doesn’t matter, Tony. It’s not like he’s gonna eat anything anyway.”

The tears in Peter’s eyes finally fell at that and he watched Harley quickly leave the room with his arms crossed. 

“Peter, what-” Tony tried again but Peter spun around and rushed past him with tears on his distraught face. 

When Peter was back in the elevator he immediately pressed the first floor button followed by the door closing button. He watched Tony’s confused face staring at him and become covered as the doors slid shut. 

Harley and Tony were fucking friends? He’d never mentioned that ever . Peter would be pissed if he wasn’t aware of the fact he’d never told Harley he had gotten an internship either. But he’d had a good reason. He wondered if Harley did too. 

Or maybe Harley just kept lots of things from him. Why had he ever been so quick to trust him?

“Idiot.” Peter called himself right before the elevators opened. He quickly left the building and began walking the short distance back to his apartment building. 

Harley was probably telling Tony he was a self-destructive maniac right now. There was no way he would be able to go back ever again and become Tony’s personal intern. 

He’d been so happy when Tony had offered it but of course the universe had other fucking plans. It always did. 

Peter finally looked up through tearfilled eyes as he realized he’d reached the apartment building. But as he went to walk around to the door to go inside and finally have peace to really break down a woman who’d been standing by the entrance stepped in front of him. 

He realized she was a CPS worker due to her suit and badge right as she spoke. “Peter Parker, my name is Jane Campbell. Would you please stop and listen for a moment?” 

The woman phrased it as a question but Peter quickly realized he didn’t have much of a choice when he could make out two police officers standing about ten feet away, only visible now that he’d really taken in his surroundings. 

This was bad. This was really bad. Shit, shit, SHIT!

“We know that you left your foster home four months ago and since you have no remaining relatives-” Jane started to say. 

“No, I have May, my aunt.” Peter tried. It was stupid, he knew, but he might be able to bullshit his way out of this. “I’ve been living with her.”

Jane seemed to get a hard look in her eye and she paused. “Peter…”

Peter stared at her, anger and distrust clear on his face. He just wanted a fucking break . 

What Jane said next made him want to scream and run away and throw up and rip out his own fucking hair all at the same time. 

“May passed away last night.”

Chapter Text

The elevator door closed and Peter was gone. Tony just stood in shock for a long moment. Then he turned around and followed Harley down the hall he’d disappeared down earlier, confused and slightly annoyed.

When he’d heard last night that Harley was trying to see him from Happy he’d been quick to let the now teenage boy come up and had been surprised at the state Harley was in. The last time Tony had seen Harley he looked like a little boy but he was now almost a man. He’d also been surprised to see his dirty, ragged appearance, puffy eyes, and bags of belongings like he was on the run. 

Whatever Harley had been doing or wherever he’d come from, Tony guessed was bad. When he’d tried to ask about it though, Harley refused to answer his questions and simply asked if he could stay with Tony a bit, which Tony agreed to. After all, Harley had let him stay at his home all those years ago. Of course he was going to return the favor.

But now he had accidentally reunited Harley with Peter, someone he obviously has some sort of history with. Tony really wanted to figure out what it was. Not only was he curious about what Harley’s had been doing that caused all this but also he wanted to know more about the mysterious intern who had brains that could rival even his. 

Tony knocked on the door of one of his many guest rooms which was the one Harley was currently occupying. Tony thought he could hear sobbing that stopped when he knocked.

“Harley?” Tony called out, attempting to make his voice sound as comforting and sweet as possible but failing. God, he seriously needed Pepper right now. Why’d she have to go on that business trip to Japan? She would be way better at dealing with teenage drama then he was.

The door opened and Harley’s blotchy, tear stained face met his. “Is Peter gone?” He immediately made sure.

“Yeah, he stormed out.” Tony assured him. “Mind telling me what all that was about?”

Harley’s eyes filled with emotion again like he was remembering something. “Peter’s… he’s…”

He wanted to tell Tony the truth about him and Peter but couldn’t bring himself to. Growing up in a severely homophobic town made him extremely hesitant to tell anyone his sexuality, regardless of how much he trusted them. 

Tony continued staring hard at him with his arms crossed and Harley knew he deserved the truth since he was the one providing for Harley right now.

He decided to tell the semi-truth. “Me and Peter had a fight last night, a really big one, and I told him I didn’t want to see him again unless he changed.”

Tony nodded, grateful that he was finally getting context. “And you think he came here to try to talk to you?”

Harley hesitated. Did Peter? He honestly didn’t even know. “He’s your intern?”

“He was a regular SI intern until I brought him up to my lab today. I can’t see how he would have planned that, though.” Tony explained.

Harley nodded. “Then I don’t think he was trying to get to me. I never told him I knew you or was coming here.”

“Why?” Tony questioned. Normally kids love bragging about meeting him.

Harley really didn’t know. Maybe a part of him always knew something could happen with Peter and that he’d need a safe place with Tony. But it was probably just because it was hard to explain and he figured Peter wouldn’t even believe him.

“I don’t really know.” Harley finally responded truthfully. He kinda wished he was willing to tell Tony the whole truth about him and Peter but he still didn’t. “Do you mind if I just go to bed now?”

Tony frowned at him. He could tell he wasn’t getting the whole truth. “We'll talk more later.” He finally concluded and began walking away.

As Harley stepped back into his room he sighed. The same overwhelming feeling of guilt washed over him. It might seem like he didn’t love Peter after his actions but it wasn’t true. To him, what he was doing only demonstrated how much he truly cared about Peter. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t be willing to part with him like this to attempt to keep him from continuing on with this self destructive and most likely fatal behavior. 

But still he felt really fucking guilty. He had not been prepared to face Peter again like that and his resolve had almost broken. It would have been so easy to take Peter’s damaged body into his arms and beg for forgiveness for every horrible thing he’d said and have everything return back to normal. But that would mean Peter wouldn’t get better and so he’d forced himself to continue being an absolute dick to his lover.

But what if it didn’t work? Peter had been living a full twenty four hours now without Harley and still hadn’t changed. 

Suddenly images of Peter exhaling his last breath all alone, thinking Harley hated him filled Harley's mind and more tears rolled down his face. He would not be able to function anymore if that happened, the guilt would rip him to shreds. 

He tried to have hope, hope that Peter really loved him enough to get better. Because any other option was simply unimaginable.

***

Peter screamed. The sound echoed off the city’s buildings and streets and reverberated down alleys. 

The officers jumped forward, preparing for him to lash out but instead his voice broke and he was overcome by a fit of hysterical sobbing.

“Peter-“ Jane tried to reach out a hand to him but he flinched back. When he tried to get away from her the officers blocked his way and he was trapped. 

Without any care or consideration about their well-being, he bolted past them, knocking Jane down in the process. He was too far gone to even care that he had.

May, his sweet and loving aunt was gone. There was nothing he could do anymore but yet he still reacted. 

He raced down the alley behind the apartment building, fell down onto his hands and knees, and watched his tears drip onto the dirty pavement under him. 

He needed his aunt but knew he couldn’t have her so instead he needed- he needed Harley, but fuck, he couldn’t have him either. 

He needed a plan. The cops were going to be looking for him now, they were probably going to be at his school, they knew where he lived-

Shit, he needed to get his suit before they did. Panic joined in the mix of overwhelming emotions he was feeling and without any apprehension he began scaling the brick wall of the apartment building and then climbed into one of the windows, not even aware of where it led.

Fuck, his aunt was gone. He’d never get to see her smile, or laugh again. He’d never get to hold her hand-

He stopped as he fell against the wall, completely overcome with emotions. He didn’t feel present in his body, he didn’t feel like he was even a person right now.

How could this actually be reality? His life was sick, and twisted, and completely fucked up.

He had no one. 

No one but Ned.

He only realized he had put on his suit and was carrying his belongings in a bag over his shoulder when he lept out the window and began swinging to Ned’s apartment. He was acting completely on autopilot since his mind was too jumbled to really be able to do anything. If he was doing what he wanted to do right now he’d be on the floor sobbing.

Or on the ledge of a building. 

No, he couldn’t do that. That was the selfish way out. 

But it’s not like very many people would even be sad. Not May, not Harley, not his parents or uncle Ben. They were all gone. 

Fuck, May was gone. 

His vision of the sky above him became blurry from tears and the edges were turning black. A feeling of lightness overtook Peter mid swing like his body weighed nothing and he felt like he was floating. 

His eyes fluttered shut so he didn’t see the roof of a skyscraper quickly coming towards him as he fell through the air. 

Peter was barely aware anymore as his body slammed down onto the roof. It had been only about a two hundred foot drop but had felt like he’d been suspended in the air for a long time. 

Peter lay, facing the sky, with his limbs splayed out awkwardly. He didn’t have enough strength to even feel them, much less move them. His cracked and dry lips were parted but he couldn’t get any air in. 

This is how he was finally going to die. He was never gonna make it to Ned’s, he was going to be completely alone, weak and frail. For some reason the thought didn’t even bother him. 

He felt light as the air he was struggling to get into his body. He wished he could see the stars above but the light pollution was too strong. 

He pictured May. Her warm hugs, her minty breath, the look in her eyes she’d get before she was about to say something witty. He loved her. He was going to miss her. 

And then he imagined how she would react if she could see him now and suddenly his chest hurt. 

“You’re strong, Peter.” May had told him once. “A fighter. I’ve always admired that in you.”

May had believed in him. She shouldn’t have but she did. She would have wanted him to get up and get to Ned. 

But Peter didn’t want to try anymore. Trying accomplished nothing. He tried to keep Harley, he tried to save Ben, he tried to be there for May. In the end he’d only failed. 

But if he didn’t try he would definitely fail. It was a lose, lose scenario. But he figured he might at least attempt for May. She would want him to. 

Peter finally inhaled a full, complete breath and slowly began being able to feel his screaming lungs as they filled with air. When the numbness left and he became aware of the pain he gasped. It was like lightning shocking his toes and going all the way up to his head. It was excruciating and he just laid there for a moment and let it overtake him. 

It was what he deserved for not being with May when she passed. For not doing more to help her. For making Harley leave him. For being a burden to Ned.

Peter lifted his head up off the ground first, sending jolts of pain down his neck and spine. He then positioned his hands on the ground by his side so he could hoist his upper half up into a sitting position. Tears streamed down his face from the feeling and he almost collapsed midway through. His right arm was on fire.

He then crawled his way to the ledge, dragging his left leg that didn’t want to move at all no matter how much he willed it to. Once he had his chest on the ledge he was able to make out Ned’s bedroom window on the building about five hundred feet away. He’d been so close to reaching it before he’d fallen. 

Peter shot a web onto the top of the building and then with his left arm pulled on the web so his body fell over the ledge and began swinging right towards the window. He was going way too fast and had not enough control so he smacked into the brick wall next to the window and immediately stuck to it with the limbs that hurt the least. 

“Ned!” He yelled out, voice hoarse and anguished. The wind was whipping past so he figured Ned wouldn’t be able to hear. If he even was in his room. Peter definitely hoped he was. 

“Ned!” He screamed out again in desperation. A long moment went by before the window luckily slid open and Ned stuck his head out. 

“Peter!?” He cried out upon seeing his best friend clinging to the wall looking like he was in excruciating pain and emotional turmoil. Ned, ever the amazing best friend he was, stretched as far as he could out the window and grabbed Peter’s right arm, the one that wasn’t clinging to the wall due to how much it hurt. 

Peter tried to shuffle closer to Ned but his foot lost its hold and his left arm wasn’t able to hold up his weight making him completely lose contact with the wall. He began falling but was stopped by the hold Ned had on his right hand. Peter screamed when his entire body weight was held up by just his injured arm. 

Ned was panicking. His grip on Peter’s arm was not secure and at any moment he could slip out and plummet to his death. “Peter!” Ned screamed over the rushing wind, lost on what to do but putting all his strength into holding Peter tight. He panicked again when he noticed the arm he was clutching was twisted unnaturally and he could see the bone sticking out at Peter’s forearm. Shit, had it broken when he slipped? Or had it already been like that? 

Even though he knew he was hurting Peter he tugged harshly at his broken arm, pulling him further up to the window sill. Once he was raised enough, Peter slapped a shaky hand down onto the windowsill and clutched onto it with just his finger tips. 

Ned pulled Peter up at the same time he pulled himself up with his other arm until they were both falling back onto the floor on top of one another. 

Ned took in a relieved breath but was quick to scoot himself out from under Peter and get a good look at his best friend. 

Peter’s eyes were closed now, his breath was ragged, and his limbs were bent unnaturally. With his skin tight suit on Ned could make out just how sickly skinny his best friend had gotten. The kind of skinny that he’d never seen in real life before. Until now, that was. 

“Peter!” Ned breathed, shocked and worried at the same time. Peter didn’t respond. “Peter.” Ned’s voice broke and he began to silently sob of the state of the broken boy in front of him. 

“-ony St-” Peter managed to whisper and Ned barely caught it. 

“Tony Stark?” He tried to clarify but Peter didn’t speak again. 

Did Peter want Ned to call Tony? He was probably the only one that could help him now so Ned figured yes. 

But he didn’t have Tony Stark’s number. Ned’s eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think of a solution for the terrifying situation at hand. 

Peter had an internship at Stark Industries and he was an Avenger. He probably had Stark’s number. 

Ned roughly ranked the bag Peter had up off his shoulder (He could apologize for it later when Peter wasn’t dying on the floor) and began rooting through it frantically. When he opened one of the side pockets he found a Stark phone and figured it must have Tony’s contact in it. 

He almost cried in relief when he finally opened the contact list with his shaky, frantic hands and found it. The only contact in the phone was Tony Stark. 

Ned immediately pressed the call icon and pushed the phone against his ear, watching Peter’s slow breaths as he did. 

After three long rings Ned did actually cry in relief when the call connected. 

“Yes?” Tony Stark demanded, sounding pissed off for some reason. Ned didn’t think about it for more than a second. 

“Please, Mr. Stark, help me!” Ned desperately cried out. “Pete-”

“Who is this?” Tony cut off Ned’s frantic ramble. Ned wanted to scream in frustration. Peter was dying, he needed help now . 

“Peter’s on the floor and he’s really injured and he’s dying!” Ned exclaimed. 

“Peter? Look, I don’t know who you are or how you got Spiderman’s phone-”

Then Ned realized: Tony didn’t know who he was talking about. 

“Spiderman!” Ned corrected himself. “Spiderman’s dying on my floor!”

“Who is this?” Tony asked again. 

“Spiderman’s friend!” Ned yelled out. “Please help him, he’s dying!”

“Peter or Spiderman?” Tony questioned, completely confused. 

“Both! They’re the same person!” 

Peter and Spiderman were the same person? 

This kid wasn’t referring to Peter the intern, was he?

And then in an instant Tony realized. It all made sense. The similarities in the drone and web shooter designs, the way Peter had been so quick to understand the web shooter design, the way they both sounded the same and were around the same size which was worryingly small-

Shit, Spiderman- Peter was dying. All the concern Tony had about Spiderman merged with all the concern he had about Peter until he was about to hyperventilate. 

“Where are you?” Tony immediately asked harshly to whoever he was talking to- Peter’s friend or something. 

“M-my apartment. It’s Apartment C on Hillsborough Street in Queens.” Ned told Tony. “Please hurry.”

The Iron Man suit was already enveloped around Tony as he opened the large door to the balcony on his lab and shot into the early morning sky. 

“FRIDAY, put those coordinates in and apply full power.” Tony instructed his AI as he soared across the sky that was turning pink from the sun rising. “Ned, I’m gonna need you to describe Peter’s injuries quickly.”

Ned hiccuped as he let out a sob and looked to Peter again. Peter was unconscious now and sprawled on the floor still. “H-he looks really bad.”

“Specifically, kid.” Tony urged. 

“The bone on his arm is sticking out and-and his leg’s… twisted weird, and his breathings weird.” Ned explained. 

“Do you know what happened?” Tony questioned. The indicator on his holographic screen told him he was four minutes away. Almost there…

“No, h-he came in through my window and he was just like this. I don’t know…” Ned sobbed. He would care that he was sobbing to Tony Stark if he wasn’t so scared for Peter. 

“Is he breathing okay enough right now?” Tony continued urging the sobbing kid on the phone. He knew if it was a matter of not being able to breath at all he wouldn't have enough time to save Peter. 

“Yeah, but it’s really strained and it’s getting weaker. Please hurry.”

Right as Ned said this Tony reached the building. “Ok, quickly: what floor?”

“The sixty-sixth.” Ned told him. “It’s the seventh window from the right. It’s open.”

Tony followed the instructions and reached the scene. Inside what looked like any average teen boy room a black haired boy was kneeling beside Spiderman’s unconscious form with a phone against his ear. He turned when he heard the repulsors and then stood. 

Tony hovered by the window for just a second before landing with his knees on the windowsill and then used his arms on either side of the window to push himself in and step onto the floor. Ned backed away to give Tony space to see Peter. 

Peter looked even worse than what Ned had been describing and Tony’s heart lurched. He might not be able to save him from this. Not that he showed that to Ned who was already worried enough for both of them. 

Frowning, Tony realized he was going to have to figure out how to get Peter back to the Med bay as quickly as possible without injuring him further. He crouched down next to Peter’s crooked, frail form and scooted his iron clad arms under his injured body. 

“I’m taking him to the tower to get help.” Tony called out to Ned as he made his way back to the window with Peter hanging limply in his arms. 

Ned nodded quickly and another tear slipped down his face. He was going to be far behind Tony but he was still going to meet him there. 

Tony struggled to get both his and Peter’s bodies back out through the medium sized window but when he finally did he immediately applied full power again and enveloped Peter completely in his arms as he flew. 

Putting the suit on autopilot, Tony had FRIDAY evaluate Peter’s body and his vitals. 

“His blood pressure is low. His breathing is strained from the breaks in his ribs. The radius in his right arm is fractured and the fibula in his left leg is broken. He is severely underweight and malnourished.” FRIDAY listed. 

Shit. This was not good at all. Tony stared down at the brown curls whipping in the wind in his arms. He couldn’t see Peter’s face since it was tucked up into his suit protectively. 

“FRIDAY, alert Cho of his condition and have her prepare for our arrival, alerting her of our ETA.” Tony instructed. He glanced down at the ETA as he said this and saw they had seven minutes until they arrived. Tony pushed his repulsors even more. He could fix whatever damage this caused to his suit when there wasn’t a dying teen in his arms. 

Finally, finally Tony landed on the balcony outside the Med Bay, one he’d specifically designed for this exact reason. With his dangerous occupation he could never be too safe when creating safety features, something that came in handy now. 

Cho and several other doctors pushed the glass doors open and rushed out with a gurney that Tony promptly set Peter onto. In just a second he was being whisked back inside and Tony followed close behind. 

He was going to continue following as they rushed down the hall to the emergency room that had been prepared but something stopped Tony. 

“Peter!” He heard Harley cry out sounding completely heartbroken and frantic. Tony spun around and saw Harley running up next to him, most likely to reach Peter. Tony stopped him with a shaking arm. 

“Harley, stop.” He murmured without any heat and to his surprise Harley did, though he immediately burst into tears. 

“What happened?” He demanded after a particularly harsh wrack of sobs. 

“I don’t know.” Tony answered truthfully. 

But Harley knew. He knew he’d been too late. Even leaving hadn’t been enough to fix it, Peter was too far gone. All Harley had accomplished was making it so he was alone as he died. He let out another heart wrenching sob. 

Tony didn’t know what kind of relationship Harley and Peter had but after seeing Harley’s reaction he knew it was a strong one. 

Another reason why he needed Peter to survive this.

Chapter Text

It was dead silence in the room except for Harley’s occasional sniffle and the sound of him nervously and absentmindedly shaking his leg. Tony watched on from the seat next to Harley in the waiting room, trying and failing to comfort him. 

It was crazy to think that just a couple days ago he’d been completely kid free and now he was frantically worried about two kids like some sort of father. It was as upsetting as it was weirdly rewarding.

Peter had gone into surgery four hours ago and Cho had taken Tony aside separately and explained the risk that this surgery had due to the severe weakness and malnourishment of Peter’s body. There was only a fifty/fifty chance that he’d live through it but if they wanted to save his arm it had to be done immediately. The limb had been completely shattered and then the pieces were scattered after Peter had been dangling by his broken arm over the side of a building. Even if the surgery was successful there was a lot of irreparable damage done. 

“Does Peter have any family that we would need to inform of his condition?” Cho had asked Harley after Tony had had no idea. 

Harley’s met her intense gaze with a broken expression. “He has an aunt… and me.”

Tony nodded and tried to pat Harley’s shoulder comfortingly. The boy just broke into tears again. 

Tony knew that this meant Peter was an orphan. His heart once again ached for the poor teen. This , this was the proof that Tony Stark had a heart. 

Finally, after two more long hours Cho made a reappearance, still clad in her surgery scrubs. Harley immediately jumped up to his feet and Tony followed suit. 

“He’s alive.” Cho started, alleviating their worries. Tony thought Harley looked like he was going to pass out from relief. “His arm is severely damaged and will require more surgery in the future but we kept it from having to be amputated today. His broken leg is in better shape and is already on its way to begin healing, same with the breaks in his ribs. The problem is that with the severity of his malnourishment all his body's advanced healing is being used to keep him from dying of hunger.”

Harley choked on a sob. Even this, which was the best case scenario, was still outrageously bad. 

“Well, can we get him to eat something?” Tony demanded. He wanted the kid to get proper nutrients as quickly as possible. 

“Unfortunately, we have him in a medically induced coma currently to try to conserve the energy he has left and aid the healing process so we wouldn’t be able to physically get him to eat.” Cho explained sternly. She looked exhausted but Tony appreciated that she was taking the time to explain. “We can start refeeding him artificially but if we do too much too soon his body will reject it after starving for so long.”

Tears slipped out of Harley’s eyes but he didn’t care. His entire focus was on Peter and his well being only. 

“Can I see him?” He choked out desperately. 

Cho gave him a sympathetic look. “Unfortunately he’s still under emergency protocol until he’s cleared which means no visitors. I’ll let you know when that changes.” She explained. “Has anyone contacted his aunt?”

Tony was ashamed to admit he hadn’t even tried yet. He’d been too worried about Harley waiting all alone to be able to really find any of Peter’s relatives. “Not yet.” He finally responded. 

Harley collapsed back into the chair and put his head into his hands. Tony awkwardly sat back down next to him and started rubbing his shoulder again. He needed Pepper. What the fuck was he even supposed to say to comfort Harley after all that?

Cho gave them an apologetic look and then left without another word as Harley broke down sobbing again. 

“Harley, it’s gonna be okay. He’s alive and he’ll get better. I’ll make sure of it.” Tony assured him. 

Harley sobbed harder for another moment but then took a calming breath. “Y-you don’t u-understand, Mr. Stark. This is a-all my fault-” He broke off into hysterical weeping again. 

“Were you the one who broke his bones?” Tony questioned without an ounce of sympathy in his voice. He was still trying to get used to being more apathetic still. 

“N-no, but-” Harley started.

“Then you didn’t cause any of this.” Tony concluded. Harley didn’t look assured but remained quiet now. 

Since there was nothing left that they could do there, Tony led a shaking Harley back up into the penthouse and got him something to eat and drink. He then wrapped him in a blanket and…

What else was he supposed to do? It’s not like he had his parents' behavior to model himself after in this situation. They would have thrown him against a wall if he’d acted the way Harley was right now. ‘Emotions are for the weak’ his father had always said. Tony knew it was time to break the generational abuse. 

“Do you wanna… watch a movie?” Tony finally decided on. Maybe mindless entertainment would help. Luckily after a long pause Harley agreed. 

Tony could tell Harley wasn’t paying attention to anything on the screen but he just continued pretending to watch with his own mind also scattered. 

They spent the rest of the day in mostly awkward silence until Harley finally decided to go to his room and remained like that for the rest of the week. Every time Harley made a reappearance he looked even more like a zombie. Tony didn’t know if he was sleeping or not but it’s not like Tony could even judge. He had been surviving on expresso and five hour energies alone all week and hadn't slept either. 

Finally, finally Cho let them know that Peter had been moved into a regular recovery room. He was still in a medically induced coma but Harley didn’t care because he could actually see him now. He needed to see Peter in the flesh to be able to convince himself he was really alive. 

The walk to Peter’s room felt like a march to an execution. All week Harley had been imagining every horrible thing he would see and feel when he finally was reunited with Peter but now that it was actually happened he felt almost crippled by anxiety. What if Peter didn’t want him there? Harley’d fucking left him to die without looking back. He was really the world's shittiest boyfriend and didn’t deserve to ever fall in love again after that. 

When they reached the room Harley thought he might just throw up from anxiety. Tony sensed this next to him and put a hand on his shoulder, something he’d started doing whenever he saw Harley panicking. Harley knew Tony was bad at emotions and he appreciated the effort he was putting into trying to comfort him although it didn’t do much unfortunately. 

And then finally Harley saw him and what seemed like a million emotions coursed through him at once. First was an overwhelming relief that shook him to his core. Peter was alive and breathing. But then came a crushing guilt. He hadn’t been there for what was probably one of the hardest moments of Peter’s life, a moment he had caused. Then, lastly, shock. No amount of imagining could prepare him for the sight in front of him. Peter looked like a child in the hospital bed. He was so small, and so fucking broken. His leg was in a large and heavy cast, propped up, and his arm was locked into some sort of medical splint that looked painful and wrapped in a ton of bandages, but luckily Harley could see that he had a feeding tube in his nose that was taped to his pale cheek and wrapped around his ear. 

Harley stared, mouth opening and closing repeatedly in shock like a fish out of water, and his whole body shook. After a long moment he felt Tony leading him to a chair beside Peter’s bed. 

Tony had been worried the kid was about to pass out at the sight of his… Well Tony still didn’t know what kind of relationship he and Peter even had. It seemed much closer than friendship. Were they brothers, cousins, bestfriends? Tony had no clue and didn’t ask. It didn’t really matter anyway. 

Harley had been too focused to notice Tony leaving. The billionaire hadn’t wanted to interrupt what was obviously an emotionally distressing moment. He also was getting uncomfortable with the clear distress Harley was in and his inability to do anything to help. 

Harley stayed in that chair for an amount of time unknown to him and watched the slow rising and falling of Peter’s chest as he breathed. He watched the nutrients enter Peter’s body and felt some sort of relief. 

Finally, after almost an hour of consideration, he gently grabbed Peter’s non-injured hand and held onto it, careful not to touch the IV in his hand that was covered in tape. 

Harley also scooted his chair closer until his head was right next to Peters. He thought of every night they’d spent together on the floor or that old mattress and realized how much everything had changed. They had gone from not having more than a couple dollars to being financially supported by one of the richest men in the world. Before Peter had been rapidly deteriorating without any kind of help or support system and now he was severely injured but at least he was able to get better. If this had happened before they’d had Tony to help who knows what Harley would have done. 

Suddenly Peter’s hand that was still in Harley’s twitched. Harley immediately glanced back up at Peter’s face and saw that his brow was now furrowed. 

“Peter?” Harley rasped, his voice sore from lack of water and use. His heart was beating rapidly now, worried and hopeful at the same time. 

And then Peter’s big, brown, beautiful eyes met Harley’s which were immediately tear filled. 

Peter seemed confused and distraught but didn’t move again. Both boys just stared at each other for a long tense moment. 

Harley felt too guilty to say a single word. What was he supposed to even say? ‘I’m sorry I left you while you were obviously suffering, but look I'm here now holding your hand so let’s just forget about it all.’ No, Peter was probably going to fucking snap at him any moment for holding his hand but selfishly he couldn’t bring himself to let go. 

Peter opened his mouth and inhaled raspily, not looking away from Harley’s face. 

He was extremely disoriented and for some reason couldn’t remember when or where he’d fallen asleep before waking up in this weird, white room. But Harley was here so he was safe. He wasn’t sure why Harley seemed so upset though or why he was even here. Did he forgive Peter? Peter couldn’t remember for some reason. 

His body was numb and he felt too weak and tired to try to move. Harley continued crying and gazing at him with concern. Peter wished he could figure out why. 

He coughed, trying to alleviate the pain in his dry throat but it only burned more. This inside of his nose throbbed all the way down to his throat like he’d just inhaled a soda through his nose or something. He hated the feeling and finally found the strength to lift his hand up to his face. He was surprised to feel a flat surface on his cheek that covered a tube that led into his nose. “Wha-”

“Peter.” Harley finally choked out. He’d been worried when Peter had taken his hand out of Harley’s grip but his concern had only grown when Peter had started touching the feeding tube. “Please don’t touch that.”

Peter seemed bewildered and disoriented, looking around the room slowly. He felt like something major had happened, something he was forgetting. 

“Harley, what…”

Harley teared up and Peter looked at him worriedly with his eyebrows drawn together. “Peter, do you not remember?”

Remember what? Peter had no clue what he was supposed to be remembering. He shook his head. 

The heartbeat monitor had significantly picked up, indicating the nervousness Peter was feeling. He knew something really bad had happened but couldn’t figure out what. At least Harley seemed to have forgiven him. 

“You came through Ned’s window and were injured.” Harley explained in simple terms. He himself didn’t know how Peter had been injured so he was hoping Peter would remember and would be able to tell him. 

“Oh.” Was all Peter managed to say. He realized he was in a hospital room when he looked around for the first time. Injured? He didn’t remember-

Oh my god. May.

Peter’s chest exploded in pain, the familiar feeling of loss. He burst out into tears, ignoring the way that sobbing made his ribs ache. 

Harley panicked. What had caused this? Had Peter remembered something? “Peter?” He tried but Peter was sobbing too much to even hear him or had just chosen to ignore him, Harley didn’t know. 

Without any other option Harley pressed the call button Peter had on his bed and stood up away from Peter’s bed. In just a couple seconds the door flung open and Cho ran in followed by two nurses. 

“What happened?” She immediately asked Harley upon seeing Peter. 

“H-he woke up and then got upset.” Harley rushed to tell her, watching them check on Peter’s vitals and start trying to calm him down. 

“Peter, you are in the Med Bay at Stark tower. You’re okay. You’re going to need to take some deep breaths.” A nurse told Peter as she leaned down next to him and grabbed his free hand that he was using to claw at the tube in his nose. 

“Let me go!” He yelled out, overcome with grief and panic. 

May was gone, Ben was gone, his parents were gone, Harley was… 

Harley was here. Peter opened his tearfilled eyes and tried to find the blonde boy again. He finally saw him standing in the corner with his arms drawn over himself. He met Peter’s eyes and gave him a long, somber look. 

“Harley.” Peter finally called out, calming down. Cho and the nurses backed up so that the boys were now facing each other without anyone in between. Peter held out his free hand towards Harley. “Please.” He called out. 

Harley smiled sadly. He hadn't thought that Peter would want him to come close again. He had kinda figured he’d been the cause of his freak out but it almost seemed like his presence had been the cause for Peter finally calming down. 

He barely hesitated before immediately rushing back over to Peter’s side. 

“Hi.” He awkwardly called out once he was standing next to Peter’s bed, looking into his sad puppy dog eyes again. 

“Harley, May died.” Peter choked out in response and another tear dripped down his face. Then, Harley understood. 

“Oh.” Harley stated. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” 

Peter shook his head and held out his arm again. Harley looked to Cho for approval and after she nodded he carefully got onto the bed and laid down against Peter’s side. Peter seemed relieved to have Harley there and grabbed his hand, finally calm again. 

Cho and the nurses quietly left the room, sensing that there was no longer any issue they could help with and that Peter and Harley needed a moment alone. 

“Peter, I’m so sorry.” Harley finally said, voice cracking, after a long moment of just staring into each other’s faces. 

“You’re not mad at me?” Peter whispered back unassuredly. 

“I was never mad at you.” Harley explained. “I love you and I was trying to keep you from hurting yourself any more. That’s why I had to leave. I needed you to see that you needed to change.”

Peter slowly nodded his head. “I didn’t mean to upset you, I just felt too guilty to eat anything.”

Harley’s face twisted in heartache. “Peter, you always deserve to eat. If not for yourself, please, for me?”

Looking distressed and like he was fighting an internal battle, Peter struggled to reply. “Okay.” He finally managed to whisper. 

Harley knew Peter had a lot to work through before he’d be able to fully heal from his eating disorder but this was a good start. It meant he was willing to try, which was more than Harley could ever hope for just a couple days ago. 

“I love you.” Harley told him. 

Peter smiled at him. “I love you too.”

“Do you still wanna be boyfriends?” Harley asked and Peter giggled, a beautiful sound that made Harley’s heart soar. 

“Yeah, boyfriends.” He replied, squeezing Harley’s hand. 

“I really am sorry, Peter.” Harley assured him. “I said so many horrible things, and your aunt-”

Peter cut him off. “It’s okay, really. I’m sorry for putting you through all that.”

“No, I’m sorry for leaving you when all this happened.” Harely gestured at Peter’s injuries. Peter hadn’t really looked at them yet and honestly didn’t want to. He knew they were bad, he remembered the pain of dangling over the street below as Ned held onto him. 

“Where’s Ned?” He asked, remembering the stress he’d put his best friend through. 

“I actually don’t know. I haven’t seen him.” Harley told him. 

This made Peter really anxious. Ned was the most supportive friend Peter had ever had, there was no way he wouldn’t be here unless something was wrong. His mind began to race and Harley mistook his silence as tiredness so he didn't continue the conversation and instead opted to snuggle closer to his boyfriend. 

Chapter Text

Tony was shocked. He’d uncovered horrific death after horrific death in Peter’s family and it just kept getting worse. 

His parents had both died when he was a child in a plane crash and then his uncle had died in a shooting that Peter had witnessed. And then to make it even worse the aunt Harley had been talking  about earlier had died the night before Peter had been brought here. Tony felt an unusual sense of second-hand grief for the broken boy who was still healing in the Med Bay. 

He was trying to figure out a way to fix the brokenness Peter came from and resolve the issue of getting him a place to stay but currently failing. Peter was Spiderman- a fact he was still coming to terms with- and that meant he couldn’t just put him into the foster system or try to find someone to adopt him. Even with Tony’s connections it would be hard to find a family who would want an almost adult kid with superpowers. 

Tony had also found on the report that Peter had stayed at one foster home once but had run away after only a couple months. His stomach dropped when he researched the foster father and found that he had been arrested a month ago on charges of child molestation. That fact made Tony slam his laptop down and take a much needed break from his research. 

The kid needed help, that much was obvious, and he hadn’t been getting it in the past. It was also obvious that Tony was probably the best suited as far as finances went to try to give Peter that help. The problem was he wasn’t much of a father figure and couldn’t ever imagine him, the world's most incapable parent, taking on the world’s most traumatized teen. 

But after thinking through the rest of his options he knew it was probably one of the least insane which was saying a lot because he thought it was absolutely absurd. 

So that afternoon Tony called up his lawyer and he talked through the logistics of it and slowly it started to seem to be less crazy, maybe even doable. 

Fuck, was Tony actually considering adopting a teenager?

But then he thought about Harley too. The kid didn’t want to talk about his past much but Tony knew he didn’t get along with his parents which is what led Tony to believe he had ended up running away from them. That would make his homeless looking appearance when he arrived make sense. 

And Tony couldn’t exactly let him return to being homeless could he?

Fuck, was he considering adopting two teenagers?

Tony called his lawyer again. 

And then he called CPS. They told him that they had been searching for Peter for two weeks now and had attempted to apprehend him the day after May died. 

The day Peter was injured. 

“Mr. Stark, since you are not Peter’s legal guardian you cannot house him anymore.” The CPS worker told him. 

“Well then how do I become a legal guardian?” Tony had decided he was not going to give Peter or Harley over to these people who would not be able to help him properly and had already failed Peter countless times before. 

After that phone call he’d decided he should probably break the news to Pepper. 

“What have you done now?” She immediately asked after picking up on the first ring. 

“I adopted two kids.” Tony simply stated.

“Uh huh.” Peter merely replied unimpressed like she thought Tony was joking which was understandable. Tony thought the idea of him being a dad was a joke too. 

“No, I actually did. Their names are Peter and Harley.” 

“What?” The sound of Pepper pulling the phone away and talking to someone else in a rush made Tony worry. She seemed surprised and frantic, not a good sign. But Tony had already decided he was going to do this so it was too late to change his mind. 

“Tony, I’m coming home right now.” She told him harshly. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

“See ya soon Pep!” Tony simply chirped back and hung up. He was going to give his fiance a heart attack one day if he kept pulling stunts like this but that was why he loved Pepper. She could always keep up with him. 

He’d left Peter and Harley alone that morning to be able to have some space but he figured it had probably been long enough that he needed to check up on them so he made his way back to the Med Bay and opened the door to Peter’s room. 

A blanket was pulled up high on the bed, covering two bodies underneath. Two tufts of hair, one dark and one blonde poked out of the top of the blanket. 

Tony watched for a second, unsure of if he should interrupt or not and just opted to loudly clear his throat. 

Harley threw the blanket off over his body, revealing Peter who was sleeping now. Harley frantically scrambled off the bed and stood at attention next to it like he hadn’t just been curled up with Peter on it. His face was red as a tomato and he was panting slightly. 

“Hi Mr. Stark.” He awkwardly called out. Shit, Harley thought. He was waiting for Tony to snap at him, cuss him out, call him slurs, all things his parents would have done, but Tony didn’t.

“Hello Harley.” He said and his initial shock faded into a teasing smile. “Whatcha up to?”

Harley’s face burned even more, a shocking feat. “I was just… uh… checking up on Peter. He’s doing much better.”

Tony looked at the sleeping boy on the hospital bed. He didn’t look better at all but Tony knew Harley was just trying to deflect from what had just happened. 

“Make sure you don’t hurt Peter more when you’re snuggling with him.” Tony stated in a stern voice but he was really finding humor in teasing Harley and watching him get embarrassed. 

“Wait, so you’re not… mad?” Harley asked apprehensively. 

“What, that you’re cuddling?” Tony attempted to clarify. “As long as it doesn’t mess with Peter’s recovery I don’t care.”

Harley nodded and seemed relieved. “Me and Peter are boyfriends.” He finally rushed to say. 

Tony couldn’t understand why he would be mad about that. “Wait, did you think I was homophobic?”

Harley shrugged and looked away guiltily. “A lot of people are so I wasn’t sure…”

Stepping forward so he was face to face with Harley, Tony put a hand on his shoulder and met his bashful gaze. “Just keep it PG and I don’t care.”

Harley immediately nodded frantically. “You don’t have to worry about that Mr. Stark.” 

“Come here.” Tony murmured and pulled him into a hug. Was this a fatherly moment he was having? Maybe he could do this dad thing after all. Why had he been so worried in the first place?

Suddenly Harley burst out crying into Tony’s shoulder. Shit, he’d thought they were having a moment but now Harley was upset. Maybe he’d been too quick to assume he was actually doing this right. 

He pulled away from Harley and looked him over as he bawled. Nothing was physically wrong. “What happened?”

“Mr. S-Stark, I’m so w-worried!” He sobbed, tears streaming down faster than Tony had ever seen before. “Peter’s so hurt physically and emotionally and I don’t k-know what to do!”

Tony, ever the methodical problem solving business man, tried to fix the problem the best way he knew how: money and resources. “I’ll hire the best doctors, therapists, and nutritionists I can get. He will get better.”

Luckily Harley’s tears alleviated at this and he looked over at Peter’s sleeping form with a concerned gaze and a trembling lip. “Ok.” He finally concluded. 

Smiling, Tony patted Harley’s back. He felt like a successful father figure again after solving the problem. Except then Harley turned back to him and another tear slipped down his cheek. “But he’s really upset about his aunt and I don’t know what to do.”

Tony froze. He wasn’t exactly capable of coping with family loss himself. “Uh, we can get a really really good therapist for him.”

“But what should I do, Mr. Stark?” Harley questioned.

Shit, what was he supposed to say to that? If it was Tony he’d lock himself up in his lab for days on end to cope but he couldn’t exactly recommend that. 

“Just help him recover.” Tony finally replied and was impressed with himself. That sounded fatherly and encouraging, right? Or was it corny? God, he hoped not. 

Harley nodded and pulled away from Tony so he could sit back down next to Peter on the bed and look down at him. 

“I’m becoming your legal guardian.” Tony randomly stated. Fuck, he’d wanted to wait for a good time to say that but it had just come out. 

“What?” Harley turned back to reply, shock evident on his features. 

“For you and Peter. Otherwise you’ll be put in foster care.” 

Fuck, Harley was crying again. But then he stepped off the bed and up to Tony and wrapped his arms around him, sobbing into his chest. “T-thank you, Tony.”

Tony smiled. Yes, victory in the end. He hugged Harley back for a long moment before they both finally broke away. Before either could say anything though the door opened and Cho stepped in. 

“Hey.” She called out to them and then stepped over to Peter’s side. “Has he woken up yet? We decreased the sedatives this morning.”

“Yeah, he woke up for about thirty minutes a couple of hours ago but he was still kinda out of it.” Harley explained while rubbing his puffy eyes. 

“Hmm.” Cho hummed as she adjusted one of the many medical devices littered around Peter. 

Tony and Harley simply stood and watched her for a long moment before she turned back to them. “We need to get him back into surgery.” She told Tony.

“For his arm?” He clarified. Not that it mattered, really, he just wanted to know exactly what was going on. He trusted Cho and knew that whatever she recommended he would sign off on. 

“Yes, we’re attempting to reconstruct the bones to be able to return his ability to use it.” She explained.

Tony nodded and turned to look at Harley who was staring at Peter’s sleeping face. 

Harley was hating that his boyfriend had to go through all of this. He wished he could just kiss him and make everything better but knew that couldn’t ever happen. 

“Tony, can I talk to you alone for a moment?” Cho asked and Tony quietly followed her out into the hall, leaving Harley alone with Peter again. Tony was worried about leaving him while he was upset but he needed to talk to Cho.

“Peter and Harley are both minors who don’t have a guardian currently-“ Cho started.

“I’m fixing that right now. I’ve been talking with a CPS worker.” Tony assured her confidently. He found himself taking pride in the fact that he was going to be their guardian.

“Well, I’m going to need the foster parent to meet with me soon to receive parental authorization-“

Wait, what? Tony thought she’d understood that he was going to be the parental figure. “Cho, no, I’m adopting them.”

Cho stopped and stared at Tony for a moment in disbelief. “You’re adopting them?” She repeated like she’d heard him wrong although Tony had spoken assuredly.

“Yes, I’ve already started the process and should be listed as their official guardian in about a week but until then I’ve gotten CPS to approve any medical treatment you give him.” Tony explained.

While Tony and Cho continued their conversation about technical issues, Harley remained by Peter’s side, back in the chair by the bed and clutching his hand again.

He was so relieved that he and Peter had gotten to make up after their fight and he’d been able to apologize for all the shit he’d said. He was also relieved that Peter was finally getting the help he desperately needed. He just wished he had forced himself to try to reach Tony before things had spiraled so out of control. Harley had been stupid and just assumed that it was going to be too difficult to reach Tony without having any form of virtual communication with him but in reality it hadn’t been that hard. Maybe it was due to his comfort in living with Peter that he hadn’t really tried until he wasn’t with Peter anymore. No matter the reason, Harley should have tried to contact Tony before just leaving Peter in hopes it would knock him out of his disordered state.

And looking at Peter while he was like this just reminded Harley of his failure to his boyfriend and how he’d done him so wrong. He knew Peter deserved better than him. Hell, Peter deserved better than all the shit he’d been through. He was an absolute angel and Harley wished he knew that too.

Unfortunately after a time way too short for Harley, Cho entered the room again with more nurses and told him that they needed to prep Peter for surgery. Harley nodded tearfully and gave his boyfriend one last hand squeeze and look before he whispered his goodbyes to Peter’s unconscious form and left.

Without a clue as to what to even do besides worry now that he couldn’t be by Peter’s side anymore, Harley began the long trek back to Tony’s penthouse. 

He thought about the job he’d managed to get right before all this had happened and smiled sadly. He’d never even showed up for his first day, too busy and too far to ever make it. And it wasn’t like he needed the money anymore when Tony was willing to help. But it was kinda bittersweet to think about how he could have been working right now and trying to build a life for him and Peter if things had ended up differently.

But he was glad that things had ended up how they did besides Peter’s injury of course. Peter just needed to recover and Harley needed to make up for all the shit he’d said to him and then it looked like they would be alright.

Although he had no idea where they were going to go if Mr. Stark didn’t want to house them anymore. Or if CPS wouldn’t let him.

But Harley was distracted from that thought when he reached his room and heard a buzzing sound. Immediately curious, he tried to figure out what the sound was.

Peter’s bag had been set on the desk in his room, saved from his body when the emergency medical staff had begun treating him. Now Harley could make out the distinct buzzing sound coming from the bag.

He went to open the bag but hesitated. Peter had said he had forgiven him but would he really be okay if Harley went through his bag? Surely if he wanted to be boyfriends again he wouldn’t really care.

Harley unzipped the black bag and found the buzzing phone that had been so loud it had been audible through the thick fabric.

It was still buzzing as Harley picked it up and the screen indicated that an Instagram user called ‘ Ned_The_Koolest392 ’ was calling Peter and had called him almost five hundred times before that, all which had been missed.

This was Peter’s best friend, right? The black haired boy Harley had seen after the shower incident at the school? The one who had saved Peter by calling Tony when he’d been injured?

And suddenly Harley became panicked when he read the most recent of the many messages Ned had sent.

Ned_The_Koolest392 at 7:32 PM : PETER ITS AN EMERGENCY I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!!!

Chapter Text

Flash had secrets, everyone did, but his felt so burdensome that he struggled to contain them.

It had been a shock when Flash was a kid and he’d realized that the other boys around him actually liked girls because that has never been something he’s experienced. He hadn’t known if he liked boys either though so he thought he might just not experience romantic attraction at all.

Until the day he saw Peter for the first time. Then he had known he did.

Peter was perfect, from his big warm eyes to his soft laughter at the back of class to his kind, selfless nature. And his hair, god, Flash had spent way too many hours in school daydreaming about how it would feel to run his fingers through those curls. 

But Flash had never fallen in love with anyone before this and didn’t even know how to flirt with someone. What was he even supposed to say? Walk up to him and confess that he often wrote Peter Thompson with a heart in his school notebook when no one could see?

No, Flash was ashamed of loving Peter. He’d seen too many people hated for being their true selves so there was no way he could ever bring himself to be. And the resentment that came from that would always bear its ugly head when Flash saw Peter. Like when Peter would step into the room with his perfectly shaped legs and would smile at Ned, displaying the cutest dimples that Flash would do anything to see directed towards him.

And unfortunately, for reasons Flash didn’t quite know himself, that resentment came out directed at Peter. Once it had started he hadn’t been able to stop until he’d called Peter every horrible thing he could think of when in reality all he wanted to do was throw himself at his feet and confess his love.

There was also fear too. With every lingering glance and uncontrollable smile he gave Peter he became more paranoid that someone would discover how he really felt. To keep from suspicion he upped the horrible treatment. By junior year he was flat out bullying Peter and at night would sob while remembering the hurt look on Peter’s perfect face until his whole body burned.

But then something else also happened Junior year, something that became another crippling secret for Flash.

He has been on his last straw for months now and one night has not wanted to face the next day. Another moment spent harassing Peter when all he wanted to do was take him in his arms and love him forever was unbearable. He’d stepped out over the railing and had just his heels on the edge of the balcony, holding onto the fence behind him to keep from toppling to his death but as each finger slowly slipped off the rails, he found he was doing nothing to stop it.

And as he finally fell and began plummeting to the ground below he felt only regret. Regret that he had ever started harassing Peter. Regret for every cruel remark he’d made. Regret that he’d never be able to touch those beautiful curls and have those Bambi eyes stare up at him lovingly.

But his body had harshly been jolted to the side as someone caught him right before he hit the ground. He was no longer falling to his death but soaring over the skyline. Spiderman’s strong and sturdy arms enveloped him tightly, keeping him from what had seemed to be an inevitable death moments before.

When Flash became upset or depressed after that incident he would remember those couple of minutes that he’d spent soaring through the cool night hair, finally bring held by somebody, and feel happy again. That moment had been like a drug to him, it felt terrific and he ached for it during every moment he didn’t have it.

Then, unfortunately, Spiderman had landed gracefully at an emergency room and had finally turned to speak to Flash.

“There’s so much to live for, trust me.” He calmly told Flash in a way that really made Flash believe it was true. 

“No matter how bad it gets, you'll always have people who love you.” Peter had been referring to his aunt when he’d said this, something that he was later convinced jinxed her since it was that same night that she got her cancer diagnosis. 

And then as fast as he appeared, he swung away, leaving Flash to spend what ended up being one of the worst two weeks of his life in the psych ward. 

This was coincidentally the same two weeks that were the worst for Peter since he spent them at May’s bedside as she received her chemotherapy treatment. 

But Flash realized something during his time there, something besides what they tried to teach him during inpatient: that he was able to love someone else besides Peter. He now also loved Spiderman.

When he’d finally been released and had returned to school he immediately began deflecting any kind of rumors or suspicions about his disappearance in cruel ways that put others down. Like for instance calling Peter the F slur for breaking down crying, something he had been doing recently. 

Though Flash immediately hounded him for it in reality he was seriously concerned. Unfortunately it wasn’t the only change he’d noticed in Peter lately. His beautiful hair had become unkempt, growing past his ears and seeming to be more tangled. His clothes were often wrinkled now and stopped looking freshly cleaned. He seemed more anxious and withdrawn and Flash often saw him staring off into the distance, zoned out. 

And he was skinny. Like really skinny. 

The day he’d walked into class wearing that outfit- god, Flash had almost died when he had seen it- Flash could see his prominent hip bones from where they poked out underneath the crop top. His abdomen- his beautiful abs that Flash could stare at for hours like he was only seeing them for the first time- were beginning to look almost skeletal. 

To say that Flash was only concerned would be a gross understatement. He felt like exploding from worry the entire school day, fighting the desperate urge to turn back and stare at Peter. 

Everyone thought Flash hated Peter, Peter included, but in reality there was no one Flash cared about more. It was at this time when Peter was so obviously going through something that Flash came the closest to confessing his true feelings to him. If he could just take him in his arms and kiss the pain away maybe Peter would be okay again but he never did, something he came to regret when Peter stopped coming to school a couple of days later. 

Flash was panicking but his exterior demeanor remained completely still. After overhearing one of Ned and Peter’s conversations, something he often eavesdropped on, Flash had learned that Peter was at the max amount of days he could miss while being able to keep his scholarship so if he was skipping now something was seriously wrong. 

At lunch he was still freaking out but was also maintaining joking banter with his friend’s at the new girl in their classes expense. Flash knew he may not be good at much but he certainly knew he was phenomenal at keeping up a facade. 

“Where’s that little slut?” Andrew spat out as he scanned the cafeteria for Peter. They’d recently only been referring to Peter as things like slut and whore to harass him after his outfit- oh god just thinking about it again made Flash wanna die from just how much he had adored it- and all the boys at the table laughed at Andrew’s comment. 

“Probably getting it on with Coach Hunt.” Someone, at this point Flash didn’t even know who, remarked. All the boys laughed again at this. They had been making jokes about Coach Hunt being into young boys ever since they’d found a photo of him with his arm around a teen boy in his office. It was sick, Flash knew, but he just laughed along. He was pretty sure the boy in the photo was Coach Hunt’s son but it didn’t really matter either way. Once the boys in the group started harassing somebody for something it tended to never end unless they truly ran out of jokes, something that generally didn’t happen. 

Maybe that was part of why Flash found it so hard to break his habit of terrorizing Peter. It seemed to be the way his friend group worked so maybe it was just how he worked too. Although he was also pretty sure he was the only one in the friend group who liked guys, not girls, so he knew he wasn’t much like them in the first place at all. 

“Oh, Coach Hunt, daddy…” James moaned as he humped the air in front of him, imitating Peter getting fucked by their coach. It was sick, it was disturbing, Flash thought he might throw up, yet he still laughed along. 

“No, but really where is he?” Flash broke the genial mood by saying. Shit, that was not smooth at all. They all immediately looked at him and he felt himself melting under their cruel gazes. 

“Who fucking cares.” Andrew called out and they all agreed. Flash found himself nodding along too, mentally berating himself for his fuck up. He could not show them that he gave a single fuck about Peter or he was done for. 

“What I wanna know is where Spiderman went.” Mohammed stated. “He’s been absent for a while.”

This was equally as concerning for Flash. The vigilante hadn’t been out in about a week, the same amount of time Peter had been gone. 

It’s almost as if they had both found that Flash secretly loved them and were together now to laugh at him. It’s almost as if…

That was such a crazy thought that Flash accidentally giggled to himself aloud. 

“What’s so funny?” Andrew demanded immediately, cut off from whatever he’d been talking about when Flash had laughed. Caught, Flash decided to make his crazy thought into some sort of joke. 

“What if the slut is also Spiderman?” He told them while smiling wickedly. “That skin tight suit really is a whore’s outfit.”

Flash had almost been too focused on his friend groups roaring laughter to notice Ned’s face nearby. He hadn’t seen Peter’s best friend until after he’d made the insane comment but when he noticed him he was confused by the face he was making. 

Ned looked shocked and… worried and… 

Wait.

Fuck. 

Was Peter Parker, the complicated love of Flash’s life, also Spiderman, his savior?

••●───── 🕸️⋅🕷⋅🕸️ ─────●••

When Peter awoke from his second surgery in a week he was as disoriented as the first time. Luckily he was able to make out Harley’s angelic face nearby and so he relished in the feeling of safety that overcame him at his boyfriend's presence and relaxed. 

As he regained feeling he could feel Harley’s hand in his and smiled. God, he could get used to this. Not that he wanted to lie around in a hospital bed forever but it was really nice to have Harley’s here so close all the time. He could really never ask for a better boyfriend. 

Then, like an infection, the familiar feeling of guilt washed over him. Was he really going to spend weeks in bed, wasting thousands of dollars of resources and being pumped full of calories someone else needed more? There were people currently dying while he lavished in the luxuries he didn’t deserve. 

“Peter?” Harley called out with concern. Peter’s eyes had opened again but he didn’t seem to be mentally present. Should Harley call a nurse or something?

“Peter?” He tried again. Luckily Peter seemed to become present this time. He met Harley’s gaze but didn’t smile. “What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” Peter croaked, his voice sore from lack of use and also from the tube that was in it, giving his body the nutrients he needed to recover. 

“Is anything hurting?” Harley continued questioning. He couldn’t help it, he’d been concerned for Peter’s wellbeing for so long now that he was immediately ready to do anything he could to help now that Peter could tell him what he needed. 

Peter seemed to take a second to think about this. He peered at his casts with a slight frown. “Uhhh, ‘s kinda 'umb.” He eventually slurred. 

Harley looked at the broken limbs too. “At least it doesn’t hurt.” He opted to say. “Are you hungry or…” Harley asked while he glanced nervously at the feeding tube taped to Peter’s face. He wasn’t sure exactly how it worked but the nutritionist who had come in earlier had evaluated Peter’s metabolism and levels of malnourishment and concluded that to start Peter would need fifteen hundred calories pumped into his body by the tube daily. It seemed like way too little and Harley wished they could just put in three thousand a day to offset the days he'd had none but he knew that wouldn’t be good for Peter’s starved digestion system. Though he couldn’t help but ask what Peter’s hunger levels currently were. He didn’t want him to still be starving. 

Peter grew uncomfortable at this question. What was he supposed to say? ‘Yeah, I’m not hungry anymore and it really makes me uncomfortable cause I know I don’t deserve it more than other starving people’. No, that would be fucking idiotic to ever say out loud, not to mention it would only increase the extreme worry he could feel practically radiating off Harley. 

Instead Peter just changed the subject. “Ned?”

Harley had been going to mention that to Peter, he had just been waiting for a good time. “Uh, Ned’s not allowed to visit you right now.”

“What?” Peter demanded as confusedly as he could manage in his current state. “Why not?”

Harley squeezed Peter’s hand comfortingly, sensing his frustration. “He’s been texting and calling you and I… well I hope you don’t mind but I read them just cause I was really concerned and he called like a thousand times-”

“Harley, 's fine, I don’t care.” Peter assured him before desperately asking again. “Why not?”

“His mom grounded him.” Harley explained with a wince. He did not want to upset Peter from this news, the reason he was going to wait for a good time to tell him. 

“Why?” Peter immediately responded and Harley could see the anger and confusion brimming. Harley knew it wasn’t directed at him but he couldn’t help but get upset by Peter getting upset. 

“Why don’t you talk to him?” Harley just suggested and picked up Peter’s old phone from where it had been plugged in on a nearby table. Peter held out his non injured hand to grab it but Harley didn’t give it to him. “I’ll do it.”

Peter’s frustration grew at this but he took a calming breath and relaxed as much as he could in the bed. He had a feeling that Ned’s grounding had been caused by him though and so he felt really fucking guilty. Ned had been nothing but the best friend he could ever ask for, even being the one who saved his life, so he definitely did not deserve it. 

“Peter?” Ned picked up on the first ring. 

“Hi Ned.” Peter answered in a small voice to his phone that Harley was holding near his face on speaker mode. 

“Oh my god! Peter!” Ned yelled out in relief.

“Hi.” Peter repeated, smiling. He was so glad to be able to talk with Ned after everything that had happened. 

“Are you okay?” Ned, ever the most concerned friend, immediately demanded. 

Harley met Peter’s gaze at this. It was something he had been wondering for a while too. 

“Ned, I’m fine.” Peter urged him. It was hard for Harley to believe that statement when all the evidence to the contrary was right in front of him. “All thanks to you.”

“Peter, I would do it over and over again any day for you.” Ned assured him confidently. “Of course not that I want you to almost die every day.”

Peter chuckled making Harley smile. “I promise it won’t be a daily thing.”

“Good.” Ned stated. “Also, Peter, I kinda have bad news.”

Peter’s smile vanished. “What?”

“I overheard Flash making a joke about you being Spiderman at lunch yesterday but it kinda sounded like he might think you actually are.” Ned apologetically explained. 

There was a long, tense pause. Peter lay completely still in the bed staring at the ceiling. The only sound in the room was the heart monitor and various other medical instruments.

“What?” Peter finally managed in shock. Why would Flash ever think that he was Spiderman? The guy harassed him all the time for being ‘feminine’ and weak. There was no way he of all people would be able to realize Peter's identity.

“But, I mean, I don’t think he’s gonna actually do anything or tell anyone.” Ned began rambling frantically. “He’s, like, just wondering why both you and Spiderman disappeared at the same time.”

Harley was lost. He had no idea who ‘Flash’ even was or how he came to the conclusion that Peter was Spiderman. Even though it was true, it definitely wasn’t obvious. ‘No offense, Peter’ Harley thought. He didn’t exactly resemble the webslinger while he was currently unable to really move from the bed. Not that Harley would ever rush him too, he wanted him to heal on his own time.

While Harley’s thoughts spiraled, Peter finally gained his voice back. “Did anyone agree with him that I’m Spiderman?”

Ned shook his head but then remembered Peter couldn’t see him. “I don’t think so.”

This was bad but Peter currently had other questions he needed to ask. “Ned, why are you grounded?”

There was another long pause. Peter and Harley waited on their end of the phone for Ned to finally speak up.

“I don’t want you to feel bad but…” Ned started but was cut off.

“Ned Leeds, you did not get in trouble for me?!” Peter yelled out, angry but not at his best friend. Well, kinda at his best friend. Ned needed to stop being so nice and taking the fall that only Peter deserved. And again Peter felt guilty for going to Ned when he was injured like that and causing this whole scene in the first place.

“I know you’re already blaming yourself but I promise it’s not your fault.” Ned urged him like he could read his mind. “I would help you a thousand times over even if it meant getting grounded for life.”

Peter was overcome by emotion at this. Fuck, he had a great best friend. And a great boyfriend too, he was reminded as Harley squeezed his hand comfortingly.

“Ned, was it because I…” He tried to say but became choked up and couldn’t speak any longer.

“It was because there was blood on the carpet. I told her I spilled kool aid but she still got mad. Also because Iron Man’s repulsors woke her up and she thought it was something in one of my video games.” Ned honestly explained.

This only made Peter really begin sobbing though. “Ned, I’m so sorry… you should have told her it was me…”

“Peter, shut up right now.” Ned commanded but his voice was breaking too. “I told you I’d do it anytime.”

“I don’t deserve-“

“Peter Benjamin Parker, you deserve the world and more.” Ned told him without an ounce of doubt. 

“I second that.” Harley added on from where he was still standing by Peter’s bed still. Peter hated that once again he was crying like a baby in front of people but these two had already seen him at his lowest too many times to count to really make it embarrassing. 

“T-thanks guys.” He finally managed to reply. “Ned, when can I see you next?”

“I’m only grounded through today so I can come in tomorrow if you're ready for visitors.” Ned told him in a calm voice that displayed his gentleness for Peter while he was emotional like this. 

Harley answered before Peter could. “Cho said that Peter could have visitors tomorrow if the stitches on his arm begin healing correctly.”

“Ok, just let me know.” Ned replied. “I gotta go. Love ya Pete!”

“Bye Ned, love you.” 

The phone call disconnected leaving them in silence again. 

“Harley?” Peter called out meekly.

“Yeah Peter?”

“Will you…?” Peter began as he held his arm up invitingly. Without hesitation Harley crawled into the bed beside him and snuggled up to his side. 

“My scholarship…” Peter started saying dismally and Harley was quick to alleviate his concern. 

“Tony paid your tuition so you’re now a regular student and don't need a scholarship.” He explained quickly. 

“Oh, wow.” Peter simply stated, unable to express his shock at this. That was like… thirty thousand dollars. Holy shit.

That was enough to buy meals and supplies for hundreds of homeless kids. That was enough to provide a shelter for someone who didn’t have one. That was enough to be able to afford thousands of jackets for people as winter came. 

And it had all just been solely spent on Peter. 

He felt like he was going to be sick and then shortly after that thought he actually was and vomited up a strange looking orange liquid all over himself and Harley. 

Looking shocked and disgusted, Harley peeled himself up from off the bed and looked at the gross puke covering his chest and arm. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” Peter immediately began calling out to him but couldn’t say another word because he was vomiting again.

Freaking out slightly, Harley scrambled for the call button, getting it covered in puke.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” He desperately urged, not wanting Peter to feel guilty, something that was impossible. 

Peter only sobbed again though and Harley couldn’t help but think he looked like a child right then. A very sick, very upset child crying in his bed while he waited for someone to help. It was a mean thought that Harley immediately brushed away. 

A nurse bursted in only a few short moments later and stopped when she saw the scene in front of her. “Oh dear…”

“I’m sorry!” Peter called out frantically again, feeling self-loathing consume his entire mental state. God, he couldn’t just go five minutes without fucking something up. 

“It’s okay, Petey.” Harley softly called as the nurse began pulling out some cleaning supplies.

“He got it on his cast.” She called out to Cho who’d stepped in a couple of seconds ago followed by the nutritionist and was assessing the situation with her eyebrows furrowed. She rushed over at this to see the damage. 

“I’m sorry!” Peter called out again tearfully as Cho looked over his arm cast. 

“It’s okay, Peter, nothing some wipes can’t fix.” She urged him gently while she began wiping him off. “Once you’re cleared you can take an actual shower and be completely clean.”

Peter sniffled and met Harley’s gaze. The blonde was standing to the side now, arms bent awkwardly at his side to avoid getting the puke on anything. The disgusted look on his face made Peter feel like shit. 

God, how could Harley even like him when he looked and acted like this? He was nothing but a fucking problem and Harley was an angel. He shamefully looked away from his boyfriend. 

“Refeeding syndrome.” The nutritionist, Harley didn’t even know his name, explained. “It was too many calories at once.”

Nodding, Harley stepped back over to Peter’s bed awkwardly as the nurse continued wiping off his cast. “Peter, hey.”

Still looking guilty, Peter looked up at him with teary eyes through his lashes.

“It’s okay.” Harley cooed softly. He did not want Peter to feel guilty at all.

Peter didn’t seem to believe him and looked back down ashamedly.

Unsure of what to do, Harley just stood there awkwardly. “Is it okay if I go shower real quick?” he finally asked apprehensively. Peter simply nodded.

Still sort of hesitant, Harley made his way to the door. As he was walking out he noticed the therapist Tony had hired- and made sign like a million NDA’s- coming down the hall and was relieved. Peter needed someone professionally trained to alleviate the shit ton of guilt he was having right now.

As Harley made his way into the penthouse he ran into Tony who looked up from his phone he’d previously been typing on while walking through the main room. 

His eyebrows shot up when he got a glimpse of the mess on Harley. “Whoa, what happened to you?”

Harley didn’t seem to be in a good mood though and just sighed. “Peter threw up.”

“Oh.” Tony simply responded and decided not to say more. Harley looked really bad, dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, furrowed brows from worry, and body closed off due to discomfort. 

Tony wanted to do something fatherly and comforting but the best and only tactic he knew- hand on the shoulder- was not going to work when Harley’s shoulder was currently vomit covered. 

He just stood completely still and watched as Harley tiredly made his way to his room. 

Fatherly moment opportunity wasted. 

Chapter Text

Right after Harley had left a different man had walked in and introduced himself to Peter as Dr. Donaldson or ‘just Nick’. He was a short man, about mid thirties, with short and well kept red hair.

“So, Peter,” he started by saying. The fact that he knew Peter’s name without him having ever said it didn’t surprise Peter like it should. He was currently drawing so much attention to his disastrous, messy self that everyone in this entire building probably knew who he was by now. “How are you? Are you okay?”

That same fucking question. How did it look like he was? If the thick casts on his limbs and fucking tube down his throat didn’t indicate just how shitty he was currently feeling than what would? 

God, Peter needed to calm down. This guy hadn’t done a thing to him yet and he was acting so aggressively to him. 

“I’ve been better.” He finally answered honestly and without heat. Nick nodded and took the seat next to Peter’s bed that Harley had been sitting in, all the while keeping his eyes locked on Peter who had nervously looked away. 

All the other nurses and doctors had filed out of the room already after cleaning up the fiasco from earlier leaving Peter behind with this stranger. He wished Harley was here to make it easier but also he was afraid to see him after he’d upset him by literally spilling his guts on him. 

He suspected that Nick was probably a therapist and actually wanted him to actually spill his guts, something that Peter didn’t really wanna do. 

Except for with Harley. Talking with him was so easy, even when it was a difficult subject. Except for the whole eating thing. Harley tended to get upset when they talked about that and Peter didn’t like it.

“Now, I know you’re probably tired right now but I just wanted to get to know you a bit before our first session, ice breakers and such.” Nick told him, confirming Peter’s suspicions. 

God, this was really bad. When Ben had died May had tried to get him a therapist due to his constant breakdowns but after checking the prices she’d realized it wasn’t possible due to just how expensive they were. And knowing how Tony was he’d probably gotten a really expensive one. 

The always-present knot of guilt in Peter’s chest tightened. 

“Are you okay with that?” Nick questioned apprehensively. Peter realized he’d completely forgotten to respond. “I can come back at a different time.”

“Uh, no. It’s okay.” Yes, please go away. 

Peter was too much of a people pleaser to ever really say he wanted the man to leave though. 

“Okay, great.” Nick chirped and adjusted the notepad he had on his lap. 

For the next thirty minutes Nick carried the entire conversation that lacked any real seriousness or mention of Peter’s current predicament. Here Peter had thought he was about to be interrogated about his deepest issues but instead Nick was surprisingly pleasant to talk to and Peter found himself even relaxing a bit. If that was possible after all the shit that had just happened. Hell, at one point he might have even laughed at a joke Nick told about Tony’s communication skills. 

The pair were interrupted when the door creaked open and Harley poked his head through. “Can I come in?”

Nick turned to Peter in a questioning way and Peter found himself immediately growing tense again. He loved Harley, he really did, but he was also worried that Harley was pissed at him for earlier. 

“Peter, I’m not mad at you.” He immediately called out after noticing Peter’s hesitance. He really knew him too well. 

Nick looked between the two boys who were currently having a stare off and slowly stood up. “Guys, it’s important to have open communication in a relationship so you should really talk about what happened to clear the air.”

This guy knew literally everything, holy shit. Peter wondered if he already knew most of everything about Peter’s shit from what Tony had told him when he’d become Peter’s therapist. Was he only asking him all those questions earlier to try to build a connection or something? It was kinda freaking Peter out a bit. 

Harley was also freaking out but because this man spoke like he knew of Peter and Harley’s relationship. He took a couple calming breaths and tried to remind himself that this wasn’t Tennessee and he wasn’t about to get hate crimed for his sexuality but still those trust issues were rooted deep. If this guy was going to help Peter he probably needed to know about their relationship and so Harley tried to not get upset about it. 

Finally, after an intense moment where both boy’s mind’s were racing Peter finally spoke up. “You’re not mad?” He questioned sheepishly while shielding his mouth with the blanket. 

“No.” Harley confirmed again and shook his head. “I never was.” Peter had a guilt complex that rivaled anyone he’d ever seen and he wished he could see that Harley wasn’t going to get angry over a little incident like that. 

Or maybe those trust issues were actually his fault from when he’d fucking left Peter during one of the hardest times of his life. 

Harley tore across the room and wrapped Peter in a fierce but non damaging hug, desperate for him to understand that Harley really did love him. 

Nick slowly slipped back out the room, seeing that his job there was done at the moment. 

Pulling Harley into the bed with him, Peter was physically relieved at knowing there wasn’t any anger between them. “I’m still sorry.”

“Peter Benjamin Parker, I will hug you to death if you say shit like that again.” Harley teased with a faux stern look. Smiling, Peter rolled his eyes. 

Harley placed his hands lightly on either side of his boyfriend’s head and kissed him. It only lasted a moment though because Peter pulled away and covered his face with his arm. 

“What?” Harley immediately questioned while gazing at Peter’s covered face searchingly. 

“Ugh.” Peter simply replied, the sound muffled from the bicep over his mouth. Pulling his arm away gently, Harley met Peter’s shy gaze. 

“Peter, open communication, remember?” He reminded Peter, bringing back Nick’s comment from earlier. Peter just sighed and looked like he didn’t know if he should really be truthful or not. 

“It’s just…” He finally started and Harley patiently awaited for him to finish while still holding his arm. “How are you still attracted to me like this…?”

Harley took in Peter, his large golden brown eyes, his soft porcelain skin, his gorgeous lips, and knew he’d never seen someone more perfect in his entire life. 

“Peter…” He began, trying to figure out how to phrase this correctly. Peter stared back at him, looking like he had no idea just how absolutely dazzling he really was. “I could stare at you for millions of years and still see new perfections every day. There’s no one I’ve ever met before you that I have ever wanted to kiss, to touch, to hold as much as I have you. Your presence is like a physical need and I feel sick without it.”

When Harley finished Peter was just gazing up at him incredulously with his mouth hung open.

“That’s…” He was completely lost for words. It didn’t completely alleviate his mound of insecurities but he still found himself able to pull Harley in for a kiss, not even trying to respond with words anymore. 

And it was like before again. Harley’s hands rested on either side of Peter’s head and Peter’s roamed across Harley’s back. And for the first time in a long time everything felt right in their relationship. 

Harley’s thumb brushed across the tape covering the tube on Peter’s face and he immediately retracted his hand so he didn’t mess it up. The last thing he wanted to do was prohibit the nutrients entering Peter’s malnourished body. 

Unfortunately Peter grew tired after a little while longer so he had to cut their makeout session short with a whispered apology that Harley told him off for. 

“Is it okay if I stay in here tonight?” Harley whispered in Peter’s ear while he was cuddled up in the crook of his neck. They had finally found a good resting position that was comfortable for both of them and didn’t hurt any of Peter’s injuries. 

“Please.” Was all Peter replied with before he squeezed closer to Harley and slowly started to drift off to sleep in the cold hospital room while wrapped in Harley’s warm embrace. With his eyes closed he could almost imagine he was still in the abandoned apartment building on that old mattress with Harley.

Meanwhile Tony was having a bit of a predicament. 

“Tony, what the hell were you thinking!?” Pepper demanded, her face contorted with emotion. Tony was sitting on the sofa under her angry gaze, letting her say everything he knew he deserved to hear. “I left for three days and now you’re a father ? Why can’t you ever just behave when I’m on business trips!?”

“Pepper,” He began while she took a breath, face bright red. “I’m only adopting them for the six months left that they have until they’re adults.”

“How are you planning on taking care of two teenage boys for six months?” She demanded. “You don’t even take care of yourself!”

Ouch. Tony knew it was true but it still stung. “They had nowhere to go-”

“No, Tony, that’s not your job to take in orphans.” She stated sternly while fixing him with a harsh stare. “That’s what CPS is for.”

“I know but-” Tony tried to say but was cut off. 

“I thought you had been occupied with the whole Avenger’s situation.” Pepper began pacing back and forth in front of the sofa now. “But no, you’ve taken on a very large responsibility that you won’t be able to handle and I’ll have to end up fixing.”

Pepper slammed herself down on the end of the sofa and held her face in her hands, the stress evident by the creases in her forehead and tired tone. 

Suddenly Tony felt bad. He knew he was a lot to deal with sometimes but he truly hadn’t realized that Pepper, the capable person he knew, was becoming overwhelmed by it. “Pepper, I promise they aren’t a big responsibility. I actually get along really well with them.”

Pepper looked up at him and her lip was trembling. Shit, Tony really felt bad. “Tony…” She groused.

“I thought you wanted children.” Tony tried. Hadn’t she been going on about having kids right after they’d gotten engaged? 

“Yeah, I wanted to have a baby and move out into the countryside, not this…”

Grabbing her hand, Tony smiled at his fiance reassuringly. “I promise when you meet them you’ll love them.”

Pepper stared at him softly for a moment and broke out into a sad smile. “God, Tony, you really are going to be the death of me one day…”

Happy that she wasn’t yelling anymore, Tony squeezed Pepper’s hand and smiled at her. 

“Do you even know these kids?” She questioned while rubbing the tenseness from her brow. 

“Oh, yeah.” Tony responded without hesitation. “I met Harley forever ago when I broke into his home and Peter’s, well, he’s Spiderman-”

Pepper’s eyes snapped up to meet him at this. “What?”

“Yeah, turns out Spidey’s actually a homeless teenager.” Tony said like it was humorous. “Who would have known?”

“You’re adopting a vigilante?” Pepper demanded, upset again. “Tony!”

Sighing, Tony shook his head. “It’s not like that Pep. I promise.”

“Tony.” Pepper repeated, defeated this time. She held her head in her hands and slumped over. Tony watched on without moving. Pepper tended to be much more emotional than he was and so he was also lost when moments like these happened. Should he try the hand on the shoulder comforting method? For some reason he didn’t think it would work as well on Pepper as it did on Harley. 

He hated that his reckless behavior caused her distress but it was just how he was. Tony had never been raised to not be able to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and so when he wanted something he tended to just go for it, something that seemed to upset Pepper who was a very methodical and planning person. 

At least Tony wasn’t being a total dick this time, he was doing something selfless for once. Adopting orphans was like the definition of good samaritan, although from Pepper’s reaction to it you’d think he just dropped a nuclear bomb on an innocent civilization. 

Pepper finally looked up and brushed her haphazard hair back with a long sigh before finally meeting Tony’s clueless gaze again. “Okay.” She simply stated. 

Like always, Tony ended up getting his way. He still smiled at his victory though. “You’re gonna love them.” He told her as he stood up and began pulling her to the elevator. “Oh, also, Peter’s kinda injured right now so he’s in the Med Bay. Harley’s with him but he’s okay. They’re dating by the way.”

Tony pulled Pepper into the elevator and pressed the button as she stared at him aghast. “They’re dating ? You adopted a teen couple! ? Tony Anthony St-”

The doors opened and Tony began pulling Pepper down the hall, promptly cutting her off. 

He knocked on the door only twice before throwing it open and dragging Pepper into the dark hospital room. 

“Shit, what time is it?” Tony whispered to Pepper. He could make out two unmoving forms in the bed and realized they were most likely sleeping since it was probably night. Tony didn’t really keep up with what time of day it was since he was awake pretty much all the time except for the rare crashes he had at random locations throughout the week. 

“It’s almost eleven PM, Tony.” Pepper chided in a harsh whisper but at the same time was peering at the bed to try to make out the boys. 

“Oh, well, they’re sleeping.” Tony stated the obvious. He wanted to talk to them though. He went to shake them awake but Pepper grabbed him and pulled him back with a jerk. 

“Tony!” She scolded. “You can’t wake them up!”

“But…” Tony tried. He wanted to talk to them. 

It was Pepper’s turn to pull and she did, harshly. Tony stumbled as they went back into the hall. 

“Ok, Tony.” She started, facing him. “Lesson in parenting since you’ve decided to become one: you can’t wake kids up in the middle of the night. They need rest so their brains can properly develop.”

Tony gave her an unconvinced stare. “I never slept as a kid and my brain developed great.” 

Pepper raised an eyebrow in disbelief but didn’t try to argue. 

They continued back down the hall towards the elevator and Pepper suddenly turned to Tony and fixed him with a serious look. He stopped and faced her, preparing for the next angry rant.

“Tony…” She started, surprisingly calm. “Are you sure you can do this?”

“Yes.” he answered assuredly. In reality he was doubting himself and his ability to raise two kids, even for a couple months because oh my god he was actually going to raise two kids, what the hell. 

None of these thoughts were visible in his expression, though, and he tried not to feel guilty about his secrecy. He kinda had a bad habit of always appearing self confident even when he wasn’t and that bad habit was currently bearing its ugly head. 

Pepper seemed to accept this answer though and stopped pressing. Even when the CPS workers came that next morning she stood by his decision and aided him as they worked through the mound of paperwork and rigorous adoption process. She still technically had never meet the boys who were still asleep- it had been ten fucking hours, Tony had had no idea someone could sleep that long, but Pepper said Peter probably needed it. 

“Congratulations Mr. Stark.” The CPS worker said through a smile. “You are now the legal guardian of Peter and Harley.”

That statement sent a wave of panic and thrill through Tony. “Great.”

And finally he and Pepper made their way down the hall again around ten o'clock to Peter’s room in the Med Bay. This time when they opened the door the boys were awake and immediately snapped their heads at the intrusion. Harley had been sitting on the foot of the bed with a CD player in front of him and Peter was sitting up against the headboard flipping through CD’s, looking significantly better although he still had the tube and casts. 

“Hey guys.” Tony called out to the pair. “This is Pepper.”

Peter’s face brightened as he saw Tony’s fiance. “Oh my god, no way! Pepper Potts?!”

Smiling, Pepper waved at him. “Hi.”

Peter shrieked like a fangirl. Harley grinned at him, amused. “Oh my god! You’re so cool!”

“Hey!” Tony interjected, playfully offended. “Where was this reaction when you met me?”

“Sorry, Mr. Stark.” Peter apologized quickly. “But I thought you were gonna kill me when we met.”

Tony scoffed in faux shock the same time Harley jumped off the bed. “Hi, Mrs. Potts.”

“Pepper is okay.” She politely corrected him. 

“Oh, okay.” Harley replied. “I’m Harley. This is Peter.” He gestured at the teen who was still fangirling over Pepper.

Pepper waved at them again and Tony spoke up. “Boys, we just finished meeting with the CPS workers to finalize the adoption.”

While Harley looked delighted at this, Peter, unfortunately, did not. “What?” He questioned with a furrowed brow. 

Shit, Tony forgot that Peter had been asleep when he’d first shared the news about the adoption. “I’m adopting you because I don’t want you in the foster system.”

Harley’s smile grew and he looked towards Peter and instantly became concerned, smile dropping. Peter appeared shaky and pale and didn’t meet any of their gazes. “Thats…” He tried but couldn’t finish. 

Tony had never considered that Peter wouldn’t want to be adopted by him. How could he not be ecstatic right now at this? He was going to go from being homeless to living with a billionaire. This should be the happiest day of his life. 

Soul crushing, mind consuming guilt filled Peter until he wanted to sob. Tony had already spent countless, valuable dollars and resources on him and wanted to do that permanently? Peter did not deserve that. Why him? Why not any of the other homeless kids? Was it because he was Spiderman? That wasn’t because of his doing though, he had just been randomly bitten by that spider. Someone else deserved it, someone better than him. 

Harley could see the self deprecating thoughts consume his boyfriend and he grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Peter slowly met his gaze through his lashes. 

“Hey.” Harley called out softly. “Are you okay?”

Pepper and Tony watched on awkwardly. It was obvious Peter was not happy with this news and that he and Harley were having an intimate moment. 

“Tony.” Pepper called out softly and pulled on his hand as she retreated to the door. 

No, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go. People didn’t act like this when Tony gave them things. Did Peter not like him? Did he know that Tony wasn’t really capable as a parent figure? Maybe money wasn’t enough and he really valued the fatherly traits that Tony didn’t possess. 

Tony had known Harley for years and had a strong bond with him but Peter… Well, they had really only met a little while ago and hadn’t really spent more than one consecutive night together. But still, he was Tony Stark, the kid had to worship him. 

Tony had been the cause of him getting shot that one time but was he still really bitter about that?

Guiding Tony down the hall by the hand, Pepper could practically see Tony’s brain overworking the situation that had just happened. 

She loved Tony, she really did, but once again it seemed like he had bitten off way more than he could handle and Pepper wasn’t sure she would be able to fix it this time. 

Chapter Text

“Peter!” Ned called out loudly as he finally saw his best friend. Peter had been cleared earlier that morning by Cho to be able to get out of bed and was now being wheeled around the tower by Harley. 

Ecstatic, Ned didn’t even stop to gawk at Peter’s casts and the feeding tube, much to Peter’s relief. He instead threw himself- gently, of course- at Peter and embraced him. 

Ned squeezed Peter while smiling brightly and Harley watched on from where he was standing behind Peter with his hands on the handles of the wheelchair. He was so happy Peter had Ned because their relationship seemed to be so beneficial to Peter who visibly untensed from the hug.

“Peter,” Ned gasped when he finally pulled away. “I was so worried about you! I promise I would have come in sooner but my mom was being so pushy and she’s just been really aggravated recently and I don’t even know why. Well, I mean I kinda do, she’s just been mad about, like, me being loud and ‘disruptive’ and stuff but it’s so stupid, like, it’s not my fault I have to do loud stuff sometimes and there’s no need for her to get all mad.”

Peter gazed up at Ned as he rambled with an apologetic frown. Whenever Ned finally took a breath Peter spoke up. “I’m so sorry-”

“Uh uh.” Harley interjected while shaking his head. He’d banned apologizing for Peter earlier. 

Ignoring Harley, Peter continued on. “I’ll tell your mom it was my fault and-”

“Peter.” Ned was the one to interject this time with a more serious expression. “It doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is that you’re okay and healing.” 

And gaining weight, Harley mentally added. Peter had been getting nutrients through the tube for a couple days now but still remained visually the same. Harley wanted to trust that the doctors knew what was best but he couldn’t help but wish they could just up the calorie count a couple thousand or so to help more.  

“Thanks Ned.” Peter replied although his tone was dismal. In fact Peter had seemed downtrodden this entire morning so far. Was it the news that Tony had given them earlier? He had looked really upset at it. Harley wished he could just read Peter’s mind so he could know. 

“Of course!” Ned chirped, a sharp comparison from Peter’s demeanor. There was a short awkward silence where they all just stared at each other. 

“So, Ned,” Harley finally spoke up while meeting Ned’s gaze for the first time during the conversation. “You wanna walk with us? We were just trying to get out of that stuffy room.”

“Oh, sure.” Ned immediately agreed and began walking alongside Peter and Harley down one of the many halls in the tower. There was no real destination or time constraint so they simply wandered.

“How’s your arm?” Ned asked Peter after falling in step next to him. 

Glancing at the aforementioned limb, Peter frowned. He was on too much medication to really feel it but memories of dangling over the street by the broken limb reminded him of just how much it had hurt. 

When he didn’t respond after a long pause, brain elsewhere, Ned started rambling again. “I really, really hope that I didn’t injure it anymore than it already was, but you were going to fall to your death and I would literally be so extremely upset if you died and I guess that a broken arm is better than being dead so it was better in the long run but, like, I’m still so sorry about it. Can you still use it? Oh, well probably not in that cast. But, like, can you still feel it? I would feel horrible if your arm became paralyzed by me. Well, also by whatever broke it in the first place.” Ned watched Peter’s blank face as he talked. “What did break it in the first place?”

That was something Harley had been really curious about too, although he’d been too afraid to ask in fear of freaking Peter out. 

There was a tense pause in which nothing was said. They continued on walking while Harley and Ned awaited Peter’s response with a bated breath. 

“I, uh, p-passed out” Peter finally forced himself to say after seeing that they weren’t going to let up. “While I was swinging.” He swallowed harshly and waited for Harley to begin yelling about how ‘if he just ate this wouldn’t happen’ but thankful it didn’t come. 

“You passed out?” Ned instead clarified in disbelief. Peter simply nodded in response, staring down at his feet as the floor rolled past underneath. 

Then, like a shot to Peter’s heart, he heard a sniffle. His eyes widened and his back straightened as he internally screamed. 

Harley was crying. He had made Harley cry. God, he was such a fucking mess.. 

Ned, however, was either oblivious or just chose to not acknowledge the tears Harley was wiping off his cheek as they continued walking down a random hall. “When are you going to be able to come back to school?” Ned questioned with his eyes fixed on Peter. “MJ’s hasn’t said anything but I know she’s really worried and kinda suspicious about your sudden disappearance.”

“What’s today?” Peter responded by asking.

“Saturday. Why?” Ned replied with confusion. 

“Then I’ll be back Monday.”

The sudden stop almost made Peter’s body jerk forward. Ned stopped too, staring back at Harley who Peter couldn’t see from his position. 

“No.” He could hear the hurt and firmness in Harley’s voice. “Just because you’ve been cleared to get out of your room does not mean you can go to school.”

There was another tense pause. Ned looked back and forth between Peter and Harley nervously. 

“I can’t miss any more days.” Peter tried to argue while nervously twisting the fabric of his long sleeved gray shirt.

“You’re no longer on a scholarship, so-” 

“Yeah, but I still need to learn .” Peter retorted as he glared back at Harley, the anger from having money be wasted on him resurfacing at Harley’s comment. He was acting like a bitch, he knew, but at this point he was too tired to stop himself. 

Ned backed away nervously, unsure of what he could do to prohibit the rising tension. 

“Peter, you are really sick.” Harley firmly stated as he stepped up in front of him so he could speak face to face. “You need to eat and heal, not sit in a classroom.”

They’d been bound to blow up at each other again eventually, Peter knew, but it still didn’t make it hurt any less. Him and Harley didn’t agree on this and both were persistent in their ways. 

Burning with rage, Peter glared at his boyfriend. “Why do you care? Why can’t you just leave me be?”

“Because I love you!” Harley yelled back, growing flustered as his face heated up. Ned took another step back. “Why can’t you see that you’re not a burden and that I actually want you to be okay because I fucking love you?!”

This silenced Peter for only a second as he choked on a sob, but unfortunately his disordered thinking spoke up for him. “Loving me means controlling every fucking thing I do?!” He demanded angrily.

“This,” Harley harshly started as he gestured to Peter’s broken, emaciated body. “Is what happens when you have control. So sorry that I’m trying to keep you from killing yourself but I actually kind of fucking want you around. You’re the first person I’ve ever been in love with and I can’t bear to watch you do this to yourself. What kind of person would I be if I didn’t do anything?”

Peter was pissed, but not at Harley, at himself. His lip trembled and a tear slipped over his cheek as he looked up at Harley who was breathing heavily after his rant. 

“I don’t want to make you miserable.” Peter finally choked out. 

Harley’s face broke. “You don’t, Peter, you make me so happy. That’s why I want you to get better.”

Peter felt guilty- big surprise, he knew- but Harley’s words cut him to his core. 

“I-I want to e-eat, I want to make you happy, but I c-can’t.” Peter spoke as he hiccuped on sobs. 

“Why?” Harley breathed out desperately with a brokenness to his voice. 

Curling in on himself protectively, Peter tried to avoid Harley’s question. He knew why he did it, the thoughts were always swirling in his brain, but he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to express them and have Harley understand them like he needed him to. 

“Can you take me back?” He finally whispered pitifully. “I’m tired.”

Harley inhaled loudly and begrudgingly stepped back behind Peter to push him back to the Med Bay. He didn’t want to end the conversation, he’d been so close to finally getting Peter to acknowledge the cause for the problem he had, but he could see the way Peter curled up defensively and knew they were getting nowhere. 

Hesitantly, Ned followed the pair at a distance. He did not mean to cause an argument with his questioning and hoped that he hadn’t created strife in Peter and Harley’s relationship

It took a long, awkwardly silent five minutes for the three of them to make it back to the room. With one look at Peter upon arriving, Ned knew that his best friend was feeling like shit and probably just wanted to be alone. 

“I’ll see you… later, Peter.” He called out hesitantly. Peter seemed to be broken from his bitter state at this and realized that Ned probably was feeling guilty which in turn made him feel guilty. 

“Uh, yeah, er, sorry Ned.” He stupidly responded, not properly conveying his apology. Ned just gave him a weak smile before disappearing out the door. 

Peter had known this would happen. The two last people he loved, Harley and Ned, both couldn’t deal with him anymore. He really was a fuck up. 

Harley had rolled him up to be next to the bed and Peter just awkwardly sat next to it. He didn’t feel like trying to move and inevitably falling over and he also didn’t feel like asking Harley for help so he remained still, mind blaring. 

Unsure of what to do, Harley stood by the door. He wanted to fix the discourse between them but he wasn’t willing to relent yet. Even though he knew Peter was artificially getting nutrients he also knew that if the tube wasn’t there, Peter would still be starving himself. Unless he was just going to be tubed for the rest of his life, Harley needed to find a way to alleviate Peter’s disordered eating thoughts, a task that was proving to be really fucking difficult while trying to maintain their relationship. Harley had already tried to end things in hopes of improvement and it had backfired horribly. 

“Could I just… be alone?” Peter called out. Harley stared at him silently for a long moment and Peter hoped he was deciding that yes, he would leave him alone again. 

“Do you want help…?” Harley asked instead, gesturing to Peter’s predicament by the bed. Peter quickly shook his head and then continued staring at Harley expectantly. 

“Ok.” Harley responded while he hesitantly walked to the door. “Love you.” He murmured as he shut it behind him.

Immediately Peter got to work, ignoring the tears that streamed down his cheeks. Standing up proved to be a difficult task due to the amount of pain medications he was on. He could barely feel his stiff limbs, enveloped in hard plaster, but he still maneuvered himself so he was leaning against the wall as a lifeline to keep from toppling over. 

He hated himself, he hated the problems he caused, he hated the resources he wasted. Tony, Harley, and Ned didn’t deserve to have to put up with him and he didn’t deserve their efforts. 

Harley had brought down his bag of belongings including his suit when he’d brought him May’s CD’s to listen to earlier and Peter hefted the bag over his shoulder. Next, Peter tried to get his shoe over the foot that wasn’t in a cast and after three failed attempts, barely managed to get the tennis shoe haphazardly onto his socked foot.

He wasn’t going to lay here anymore, useless, and causing issues. He was gonna lose it if any more resources were wasted on him. 

As Peter was limping across the room he glanced at the mirror visible through the door to the bathroom and saw his appearance for the first time in a while. He tried not to notice his zombie-like face and instead focused on the tube that went into his nose. 

Peter yanked the tape off his face in a painful jerk and then pulled on the tube. It burned in pain all the way down his throat but he kept pulling, feeling the tears fall faster and the tube slid all the way up his throat. It was disgusting, it hurt like a bitch, but finally Peter pulled the end of the tube out of his nose and dropped it on the ground. He would not be needing it anymore and he resented the fact that he’d ever had to have it in the first place. 

Now came the hard part: figuring out how to get out of here without getting caught. 

Chapter Text

Peter guessed that they were even now. They’d both left each other once.

Climbing into the vent had proven to be extremely difficult while on so many medications and having two broken limbs enveloped in casts. The vent was tiny and he’d barely been able to cram his shoulders through. Then he’d struggled to get his bag that was on his back through too but after lots of readjustment, he’d squeezed in.

The entire time he was fitting his body into the vent he was paranoid that someone was going to walk in and see him dangling from the ceiling, half in the vent, with his legs hanging out over the floor underneath. But his spidey sense didn’t alert him of anyone approaching so he continued pushing through.

If Peter couldn’t stick he would not have been able to climb up the vertical vent in the ceiling. Luckily, the vent shifted horizontally to the left after only a couple feet so he didn’t have to climb up for long. 

As he began army crawling through the tight vent he couldn’t help but panic. He didn’t have claustrophobia but the cold metal walls seemed to be getting even tighter the farther he went, although it was only a trick of his mind. 

He considered going back for only a moment before his resolve was strengthened by the thought of continuing on being a black hole for money, sucking up people's time and resources with his trivial problems. No, Peter couldn’t live like that. No matter how comfortable it might be physically, it wasn’t mentally comfortable at all.

He knew he needed to speed up if he wanted to make it a safe distance away before anyone realized he was gone. He made the mistake of imagining Harley coming back into the room, seeing the open vent, and knowing that Peter had run away. A shot of pain rang through Peter’s chest at the thought. He loved Harley, he really did, and he didn’t want to leave him. But his need for independence outweighed his need for Harley’s affection.

His shoulders had cramped up from the confined movement right as he reached an intersection in the vent. Each direction looked the same except for one that went to the right for about ten feet before dropping down. Knowing that down meant being closer to the exit, Peter turned right and when he reached the drop off of the vent realized something: he wasn’t able to turn around and go down legs first in the small vent. He was gonna have to climb down head first, meaning if he slipped and he fell he’d come crashing down fatally onto his head.

Peter swallowed hard and began carefully pushing his body weight over the edge until he was fully upside down, gripping the metal wall of the vent with only his shaking fingers and feet on his non injured limbs. He slowly made his way down by letting go and catching himself after he’d slipped down a couple feet. Sweat pooled around his hands, making it even more difficult to stick to the metal. 

Finally, after almost ten full minutes of sliding down the vent he reached where it pivoted to the right and he pushed his body through the turn, shaking even more now. When he was finally flat again he rested his exhausted, sore body for only a moment as he took a couple deep breaths.

Somewhere to the right he could hear the sound of people talking, muffled through the wall. Then he realized that there was an opening up ahead and he crawled up to it. Through the grill of the vent he could see what looked like a meeting room. A man and a woman in business suits were conversing and Peter didn’t stop to listen.

He had no idea where he was in the building. He knew that the Med Bay was on the sixtieth floor or so but he had no idea how many floors he’d gone down through the vents. He also had no idea how he was gonna get out of the vents from the inside. He’d gotten in earlier by loosening the screws on the grate but those screws were on the exterior and he was in the interior. He’d have to get to that issue when it arised, he figured. 

Unfortunately that issue arose only a couple minutes later when Peter reached another grill leading into a deserted hallway. He would have continued crawling except he could make out an elevator in the hall with a sign reading ‘floor eight’ above it. It wasn’t the main elevator that went into the lobby, he could tell, but instead one of the smaller staff elevators that were littered throughout the sprawling building. If he could take the elevator downstairs without running into anybody who could stop him he would be free to escape. 

Thinking of the people that loved him as the ones he wanted to escape from made his chest ache. They had never been anything but amazing to him- hell, meeting Tony was like a dream come true and Peter was fucking in love with Harley- but this was what he knew was necessary. 

Peter placed his uninjured hand on the grate and pushed as hard as he could, which right now wasn’t very hard. If he couldn’t rely on sheer physical strength to get out of the vents then he was going to be stuck. But luckily, after only a short second, the screws snapped and he was able to remove the grate from where it had been secured. He maneuvered it past his body and placed it behind him in the vent, not wanting to throw it to the ground and create any noise. Then Peter struggled to push himself out of the vent with one hand and foot but after a lot of frantic scrambling and maneuvering he managed to slip down onto the floor beneath him without a sound. Looking both ways, Peter checked to make sure no one was coming before he continued to the elevator silently. 

His spidey sense alerted him to a camera near the ceiling in the hall and he eyed it nervously before he picked up the pace. His hope was that if Tony did see him in the footage it was after Peter had already left the building, giving him enough time to hide himself before Tony started the inevitable manhunt for him. Peter wished that the man wouldn’t though. He didn’t want them to waste time and manpower trying to find him when they could be doing something actually productive. But Harley probably would want them to and since Tony and Harley seemed to be so close the manhunt was going to ensue, much to Peter’s dismay.  

Peter had pressed the button and was flat against the wall next to the door, out of vision as the elevator doors opened. His spidey sense told him the elevator was empty, though, so he quickly darted in before the doors closed. 

Peter pressed the first floor button and stepped back into the corner but was surprised when the elevator began to rise instead. Mind racing, Peter frantically attempted to change the elevator's direction but there was nothing he could do besides frantically spam the first floor button. Then he realized just in time before the doors opened what the elevator rising meant: someone else on a floor above was about to get on. Peter sprang up onto the abnormally high ceiling of the elevator and barely managed to stick before two people walked in. They kept their heads slightly downturned, keeping them from seeing Peter glued onto the ceiling only about four feet above them. 

Peter almost slipped and fell when he realized who was really below him. He hadn’t thought that they would ever take this elevator

“He said that?” Tony questioned, continuing on a conversation Peter had missed the beginning of. He sounded uncharacteristically unsure.

“Yeah, but I don’t think he meant it like that.” Harley responded, the top of his blonde fluffy curls right under Peter’s face. “He’s just upset because he doesn’t think he deserves any of this.”

“This?” Tony questioned as he looked over at Harley and for a terrifying second Peter thought he was gonna glance up and notice the injured teen pressed up onto the ceiling above him. 

“You paying for things, us caring about him, really any help at all.” Harley stated with a sigh. “He’s got a guilt complex bigger than the sun.”

The statement shocked Peter. He had no idea that Harley had been so able to see clearly through him. It was upsetting to think that his boyfriend thought about him like that even if it was true. Also Harley’s tone of voice indicated that it was a character flaw, an inconvenience, which it was, but still, Peter’s chest ached. 

As they finally reached the floor they wanted and the elevator doors slid open. Peter felt his fingers begin to shake as his boyfriend and childhood idol stepped out of the elevator. 

“Sir?” He heard FRIDAY call out as the doors slid shut. 

Shit, he’d forgotten about the AI that could see everything in the building, including his pitiful escape. She was most likely alerting Tony of it now meaning Peter had to get out as soon as possible. 

Luckily the elevator descended all the way to the first floor without any more stops. Peter silently dropped down onto the floor as the doors opened, revealing another hallway. He crept out into it, senses alert for any other people in the hall. Unfortunately right as he sensed the security guard approaching she could already see him. 

They both froze and made eye contact right as her walkie crackled to life. “All security, teenage caucasian boy with brown hair, eyes, and an arm and leg cast is currently-”

Shit, that was quick. Peter tried to dart past the woman but she quickly stepped to the side to block him, clutching her walkie to her face. “He’s in the south west hallway on the first fl-” 

Without using his advanced strength, Peter pushed the woman against the wall so he could race past her. His heart was racing now as he ran, her yells audible as she chased after him.

There was a set of double doors at the end of the hall and Peter pushed through them, emerging at the side of a large conference room. There were over a hundred businessmen and women seated in the room and their heads snapped towards the loud intrusion. 

“Peter!?” Peter heard Pepper’s familiar voice call out. This only made him panic more as he dashed across the room, just barely escaping the security guard who’d been chasing him as she came up behind him. Papers flew as he leapt up onto a table and ran-limped over it, causing multiple people to yell out. On the other side of the room he could see another identical set of double doors with a red emergency exit sign over it. If he could just make it to them before he was caught…

There was about a ten foot distance from the table he was currently running along and the doors so Peter jumped, suspended in the air for a long moment that seemed to pass in slow motion, before he crash landed through the doors. That would have definitely made his broken limbs scream in pain if they weren’t still completely numb. 

Sunlight shone down on Peter and he was temporarily blinded from it as he continued running forward without a clue as to what was in front of him. His sense didn’t go off so he assumed he wasn’t about to run into a wall or something. As his eyes finally adjusted to the light he could make out the street in front of him and also the swarm of Stark Industries security guards led by Happy Hogan who looked pissed. Peter barely had time to feel bad, though, before he was leaping up onto a six foot tall brick wall and running along it, away from the security team. Peter jumped down onto the opposite side of the wall. Meanwhile, the security was still stuck on the inside of the wall. 

After a quick glance Peter realized he recognized the buildings in front of him. The little white walking man icon on the metal light pole across the street indicated he would not be run over so he sprinted across the sidewalk and made it to the other side of the street right as the time to walk ended and the stopped cars began racing forward again. Glancing back briefly, Peter was able to make out a couple of the security guards who’d managed to make it over the wall come to a stop on the other side of the street as the cars sped by between them. 

Peter raced down the first alley he could find and after a quick doublecheck around for precaution (he would be able to sense someone's presence if anyone was there) he began scaling the wall. His fingers were already exhausted from everything that had happened before but the adrenaline and fear of getting caught drove him forward.

Finally, Peter reached the top of the building and didn’t even glance around before he’d collapsed onto the roof, exhausted and breathing heavily. The strong resolve he’d had at the beginning of the escapade was rapidly deteriorating, leaving him feeling drained.

Then there was the unmistakable sound of whirring coming from directly in front of him. “That was quite an escape.” 

Peter tried to urge his body to move, to fucking run, but nothing worked. His brain felt slow, his vision was swimming, and the Iron Man suit in front of him was blurry. Plus he was pretty sure the pain meds were wearing off if the excruciating feeling was anything to go by. 

Gasping for breath, Peter squirmed on the ground and lifted his head up to meet Tony’s gaze. Surprisingly the man hadn’t done anything to him yet. He hadn’t even yelled at him. 

Tony wasn’t surprised. Teenagers were notorious for doing stupid overdramatic things. Hell, he’d done way worse than this when he was a teen. But Tony was hurt. Here he’d thought that since he was attempting things were just going to work out and that Peter was going to adore him. But instead the kid was trying to fucking escape from him. Some father figure he turned out to be…

“I’ve got him. He’s okay.” Tony quietly spoke into his comm so Peter couldn’t hear. Happy and Pepper on the other end could, though, and they would tell Harley. Tony then silenced his comm.

The kid looked really fucking bad. He was gasping for breath like he couldn’t get enough oxygen and there were tears running down his flushed cheeks. Peter wasn’t even aware he was crying. 

Tony would be rushing Peter back to the Med Bay right now if the indicators on his suit weren’t alerting him of Peter’s heart rate and air intake which were both at non lethal levels. 

Instead of exploding with rage from his negative feelings like Howard would have done, Tony stepped out of his suit and kneeled down next to Peter’s collapsed form on the roof. “Kid,” He started in a calm voice. “What’s going on?”

Peter gulped and met Tony’s gaze with fear in his eyes. “I’m s-so so-orry.” He choked out, admitting defeat after realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to get away. 

“Hey, it’s okay, really.” Tony assured him soothingly. “I just wanna know what’s wrong.”

Body racked with sobs, Peter violently shook while sprawled out on the roof. 

This whole scene was giving Tony deja vu from when he’d retrieved Peter from Ned’s room all those days ago. It was an eerie feeling. 

“I-I-” Peter stuttered out, his voice shaking. “I don’t d-des-”

Unsure of what to do, Tony placed his hand on Peter’s shoulder and felt him take in a deep breath. Peter seemed to relax a bit. Was it from Tony’s hand being on him? Tony began to gently rub at Peter’s back and could feel him untense. 

Comfort and touch starved, Peter could feel the calmness from Tony’s gentle touch replace the panic from before. 

“Peter, I know you think that you don’t deserve to be helped, I know you’ve survived for a long time on your own, but it’s okay to accept help. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.” Tony told him without any heat. He was kneeling on the ground now beside Peter and rubbing his back slowly. Peter’s breathing had evened out now. “In fact I know you're a wonderful person. Harley knows you’re a wonderful person. Pepper knows you’re a wonderful person.”

Peter had leaned so far into the touch that he was on Tony’s lap now, his body going still as his sobs subsided. It made Tony’s ego soar. Turned out he was actually really good at this whole fatherly comforting thing. Or maybe it was just easy because Peter was simply comforted by physical touch.

Tony wasn’t as good as finding the words to alleviate Peter’s bad feelings, though, so he just wrapped his arms around the small teen and rocked him back and forth.

Peter was crying again now but for a different reason. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt the love of someone parental. Yes, he had Harley but that was a different kind of affection. Peter hadn’t been aware of just how much he’d been craving to be comforted like this. It didn’t alleviate the towering pile of worries he currently had but it definitely helped him forget about them for a bit. 

The pair stayed like that for a long time, neither saying a word. It was an important moment for both of them since they’d both discovered something they had previously been missing. For Peter it was the gentle affection of a parental figure and the reassurance that he wasn’t a bad person for accepting help. For Tony it was the chance to heal from Howard’s mistreatment by being able to provide the kind of care he’d desperately ached for during his childhood. 

This experience was altering Peter’s mindset. Maybe instead of rejecting help in fear of being selfish he could work on attempting to provide the kind of comfort to so many others that needed it too. It was a hard mental adjustment to make but he tried, even when the self-deprecating part of him was screaming that he didn’t deserve it. 

Peter could have stayed like this forever but it was getting really cold and his injuries had begun screaming in pain now that his metabolism had burned through the meds. “Mr. Stark?”

Tony looked down and met Peter’s innocent gaze. He was content in the bond they’d started to form and hoped they could continue to build on it. “Yeah Peter?”

“Are you really adopting me?” He questioned apprehensively. 

“Yep, you’re stuck with me.” Tony told him and grinned. “Can’t escape.”

Tony watched as Peter’s cheeks turned pink at the reference to his actions from earlier. The embarrassment only lasted a moment though. 

“Can we go… home?” Peter felt his chest warm at the question. Home . He finally had one. It just took a little longer for him to accept it and accept that he could take help.

“Of course, Petey.” Mr. Stark told him. His suit enveloped him again and in one fluid motion he lifted Peter up into the air bridal style. 

“I can walk.” Peter tried but it was weak. They both knew he couldn’t really. He did not have enough strength left after fighting for so long by himself. 

Tony smiled down at him, not that he could see through the face plate. “You don’t need to. I’m here.”

The wind whipped past Peter’s face as they flew the short distance back up onto the balcony outside the lab at the tower. He closed his eyes and hoped that this wasn’t going to end horribly like things normally did for him. His Parker luck could not screw it up this time.

As they entered the lab they were approached by a frantic looking Harley who became ballistic when he saw Peter laying limply in Tony’s arms. 

“Peter?” He screamed out, the sound digging into Peter’s heart even more with each time it echoed in the large lab. 

“He’s okay.” Tony assured him and Harley’s shoulders visibly untensed. “Let’s get him back to the Med Bay.”

The trio began the short walk back to Peter’s room. Harley kept trying to meet Peter’s gaze but Peter avoided it. He felt ashamed facing Harley after he’d quite literally ran out on him. 

When they finally reached the room Tony gently placed Peter back onto his bed. Cho and Happy followed them into the room. Peter hadn’t even known they had been behind them.

Cho made quick work of checking over Peter who was still looking anywhere but his boyfriend’s face. 

“Did you pull out the feeding tube?” She asked without any judgment. Peter nodded tearfully in response, looking apologetic. 

While Cho began the preparations to get a new tube inserted, Harley approached Peter’s bedside assuredly. “Are you mad at me?” He whispered his concern. 

Peter finally met Harley’s eye at this looking beyond confused. “What? Why would I- no, Harley… I wouldn’t- aren’t you mad at me?”

Harley quickly shook his head, wringing the fabric of his hoodie nervously. “No, of course not. I was really worried.”

Harley saw the words ‘I’m sorry’ forming on Peter’s lips and he quickly raised a hand to shush him. “Don’t.”

“Sorry.” Peter apologized for almost apologizing then realized his mistake. “Sorry.” He said again. 

Smiling softly, Harley shook his head at his boyfriend's naivete. He would have been berating him if he wasn’t so worried. 

Harley didn’t like that Peter didn’t have the tube in anymore. Every second that passed without it was another second that Peter was getting worse, not better nourishment wise. It was steps back in the recovery process, something Harley definitely did not want. 

“I love you.” Harley whispered as a reassuring goodbye before Cho urged him to step back so they could begin reinserting the feeding tube. Peter never got the chance to respond but Harley tried not to worry about it. 

He knew Peter loved him too, he was just affected by a lot of negative thoughts. Harley’s goal was to alleviate those thoughts as best he could. 

If he couldn’t Peter might not make it, no matter how much Harley tried.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week continued on pretty uneventfully after that. Peter got the feeding tube reinserted which alleviated some of Harley’s concerns about his physical wellbeing. There was still a lot that he had about Peter’s emotional wellbeing though. 

Harley stayed by Peter’s side the entire week in the Med Bay. He was with Peter all the hours that Peter just slept, he was with him when he struggled to even get up to use the bathroom, he was with him when he’d break down. All in all, Harley never strayed from Peter’s side. He wanted to make up for the time he hadn’t been there. 

The only times Harley left the room was when Peter’s therapist, Nick, initiated a session. That was when Harley went upstairs to take a much needed shower and change into fresh clothes and that was when Harley finally let the strong front he maintained for Peter drop and allowed the tears to fall, mixing in with the water pouring down. 

During their sessions Nick didn’t immediately demand answers for Peter’s running away like Peter had assumed. He knew the man knew about it, Tony had most likely informed him. But instead he continued on with the same mindless chatter.

“Does your school have a PA system…? Mine never did and so my job used to be handing out sheets with the morning announcements.” Nick informed Peter who was watching on with barely concealed disinterest. He didn’t want to be rude but he wasn’t in the mood yet to match Nick’s bright disposition. “I remember there was this one day that the printer broke and I had to hand right out every sheet myself. It took so long.”

Peter nodded along politely. Nick smiled at him. “Do you miss your school?” He suddenly questioned. 

There was a long pause where neither spoke. Peter had to swallow back the bile in his throat so he could finally respond. “Y-yeah.”

Nick’s smile seemed to turn bittersweet. “Do you wanna go back soon?”

Of course he did. Peter simply nodded his head in response.

There was a scraping sound as Nick scooted his chair closer to Peter’s bed and leaned in like he was about to tell him a secret. “Ya know, me and Ann, your nutritionist, were talking about it.”

Peter had thought that Nick was about to tell him to give up on wanting to return to school because it wasn’t happening but his demeanor didn’t seem to indicate that. Hopeful now, Peter couldn’t help but lean in closer. 

“We both agreed that if you could eat a meal yourself that we could start talking about getting you back out there.” Nick said as he gestured out the window airily. “Nothing crazy, just one meal. Whatever you want to eat.”

Nick had transitioned into a topic so much more serious than what he’d been talking about before that Peter’s mind was lagging. There was a long, silent pause where he just thought about what Nick had said, staring off at the wall in front of him blankly. 

One meal? He could do that, right? It wasn’t like he wasn’t already getting multiple meals worth of calories pumped into his body every day now. But then again, the actual process of cutting, chewing, and swallowing food seemed incredibly daunting, something that Peter immediately berated himself for. He was fucking Spider-Man, he could stop a car with just his hands. Why was the thought of eating one single meal making him panic? 

Cause you’re pathetic , the self deprecating part of him bitterly informed him. 

“I can see that is quite a lot to process right now.” Nick stated, breaking Peter from his spiraling thoughts. “There’s no rush, of course-”

“No,” Peter cut in with more force in his voice than he’d had this entire past week. Granted, that wasn’t really very much. “I- I wanna try.”

Immediately, though, he doubted his ability to actually try. Every time he thought about food his chest constricted and it became hard to breathe. 

“How does that make you feel?” Nick softly questioned like he could see the thought process of Peter’s brain. Peter met his gaze and felt vulnerable, yet at the same time like he almost wanted to attempt to explain how he felt. Maybe if he did, recovering would be easier. Maybe then he wouldn’t be such a burden on Harley. Maybe then he could go back to school. 

“I-I’m, uh, I’m…” He stuttered out. He knew this was going to be difficult to express. Nick waited patiently though. “I d-don’t know if I’ll be able to.”

Nodding, Nick didn’t appear to think that Peter was stupid at this statement like Peter had feared so he continued on. “I wanna try, I do, but it just feels so… selfish .”

Nick spoke up after this. “It feels selfish to eat?” He clarified. Peter nodded jerkily in response. “Peter… food is fuel for life. Without it you’d die.” He stated bluntly but softly. 

Peter knew this. Of course he did. But that didn’t stop the twist of guilt he felt any time he considered eating anything. “It’s just… hard.”

Their gazes met again and Nick’s was filled with a sad sort of understanding. “Is it hard because you think you don’t deserve it?”

Tears sprung to Peter’s eyes as he slowly nodded his head. It was a difficult thing to admit out loud but being able to gave him hope that maybe this could be something he could finally resolve. He thought about all the problems he had caused and turmoil he’d created by not eating. He thought about Harley’s broken face any time they discussed it. “I w-wanna… get better.”

Nick leaned forward and clasped his hands together, looking at Peter intently. “The fact that you want to change is a really good sign for your recovery, Peter. It’s going to make this so much easier, I promise.”

A tear slid down Peter’s cheek and he hastily wiped it away. It was embarrassing to cry in front of a stranger but he couldn’t help it. At least Nick didn’t seem to be judging him. “C-can y-yo-you…” Peter’s voice shook so much that he had to take a couple deep breaths before he could finally get the full sentence out. “Can y-you bring m-me something to… e-eat?”

Nick smiled at this. “Of course.” He replied soothingly then stood up and walked into the hall to get the meal. 

Peter was fucking shaking. It was pitiful, really, he knew. But the thought of what he was about to do was terrifying. Getting nutrients artificially was already difficult enough but putting food into his mouth? He felt close to having a panic attack over it, something he knew was not normal. Something he wanted to change. For Harley, for Tony, for Ned…

For May.

Dread pooled in Peter’s stomach as he waited for Nick to return and when the man did, followed by Ann who was holding a tray, Peter thought he might just deny everything he’d said earlier and refuse to eat. But that would be the weak way out and Peter needed to be strong. 

They set the tray down on the table that went over Peter’s lap and he just stared at it for a long minute, still shaking. It was a plate of plain chicken with mashed potatoes and a bowl of steamed broccoli. 

“If you want something different I can get whatever you want.” Ann told him after he’d gone another minute without moving. 

He shook his head. It wasn’t the contents of the food that bothered him but the actual process of eating them. 

God, this was truly pitiful. Shame filled Peter, overtaking the guilty feeling. It also motivated him enough to finally pick up the fork and stab at one of the smaller broccoli pieces. It was surprisingly soft and the fork went through it easily. It would be so simple to put the piece in his mouth and chew it up. He could imagine himself doing it, imagine there wasn’t any issue with eating the vegetable, imagine how May would be happy if he did. 

Peter parted his dry lips and pushed the green vegetable into his mouth right as the door opened and Harley stepped in. 

“Peter?” He called out in shock upon seeing him with the fork in hand. Peter wanted to spit it out, wanted to give up, but the unbridled joy on Harley’s face stopped him. Slowly he bit down on the piece of broccoli and felt it squish between his teeth. The flavor of salt and butter erupted on his tongue, surprising him.

He ate something. If it was a normal person, that wouldn’t seem like much of an accomplishment. But to Peter it was.

Everyone in the room watched as Peter chewed slowly and robotically and then swallowed loudly. 

Harley stepped forward lightly, worried that any small noise would scare Peter and keep him from eating another bite. But luckily, once Peter had started, he continued eating the steamed broccoli almost vigorously. Peter had forgotten just how hungry he’d really been until he’d begun eating. 

After finally making it to Peter’s side, Harley sat down in the chair at his bedside and watched on with awe and content. Peter glanced at him while attempting to chew a particularly large piece of broccoli and tried to speak around the food in his mouth. “Hey.” He called out like he wasn’t eating for the first time in front of Harley. Like this wasn’t a huge fucking deal. 

“Peter, I’m so proud of you.” Harley called back and his voice became choked on the last words. “You’re doing great.”

Smiling in return, Peter brought a piece of chicken to his mouth. “I was really hungry.”

“I know.” Harley placed his hand on the arm Peter wasn’t using comfortingly. “But it’ll be better now.”

Peter ate every last fucking bite of the meal. It had not been something he had meant to do at all but he’d found that he’d swallowed the last bite of mashed potatoes and that his plate was now empty. Harley was beaming at him. Peter felt sick. His stomach felt like it was going to explode, his hands were shaking, and the guilt was eating away at him. 

His mind was spinning too much to really pay attention as Ann and Nick took the tray and left. He barely noticed Harley’s body pressed against his in the bed until he’d heard him begin to lightly snore. How had he fallen asleep so fast?

Peter felt too awake to fall asleep beside his boyfriend. The food that was slowly being digested in his stomach was giving him an energized feeling he hadn’t experienced in weeks. For too long he’d been surviving on adrenaline and fumes and now having actual nourishment felt weirdly exhilarating. And also really fucking depraved. 

Peter didn’t ever fall asleep that night and he never curled up into Harley like Harley was into him. 

The next morning when Tony, Ann, Cho, and Nick came in, waking Harley, Peter could barely look at them. God, he was such a fucking idiot. 

“Hey, kid.” Tony chirped, smiling at Harley’s sleepy face as the blonde teen faced him with squinted eyes and fabric marks on his skin from where he’d been pressed up against Peter. 

“Wha’?” Harley merely called back, still half asleep. Peter, on the other hand, was sitting up and completely wide awake. 

“Hey guys.” Nick called out. “How ya feeling, Pete?”

“Fine.” Peter immediately lied. Nick, unfortunately, didn’t look convinced but didn’t comment further. 

“Sorry for waking you, boys, but we wanted to discuss Peter’s return to school.” Cho explained. This seemed to wake Harley up and he pushed himself into a sitting position beside Peter who swallowed hard. 

“The X-ray we did yesterday showed that the breaks are healing nicely, Peter.” Cho began. “Your ribs are fully healed and your leg and arm aren’t far behind. I’ve never seen healing as advanced as yours, Peter, it’s truly remarkable.”

Peter smiled weakly at this to attempt to be polite. Although the fact that all these people knew he’d tried to escape from them kinda ruined any politeness he could offer. 

“You are cleared to go back to school but with some conditions.”

Conditions? Peter should have figured that eating that meal wasn’t the only thing he was going to have to do. 

“The tube needs to stay in at all times. The calorie intake has been upped to three thousand calories which is the minimum requirement you need daily. You’ll also need to eat one thousand calorie meal a day which Ann will oversee.” Cho listed. 

Peter felt sick. Three thousand calories plus another one thousand calorie meal? That was a lot. Harley seemed to sense his panic and squeezed his hand reassuringly. 

“You should be okay to walk but try not to use your right arm, okay? I’ve sent your school a note to let them know that you won’t be writing anything for a while.”

How was he supposed to take notes? What about for quizzes and tests? God, Peter hated this. But it was entirely his fault.

“Any questions you have Peter?” Nick cut in after Cho had finished and Peter had remained silent. 

“Yeah, uh, how am I supposed to… get to school?” He asked. He’d used to walk to school every day before but the tower was triple the distance from the school than he and May’s apartment was.

“Happy’ll drive you.” Tony told him. 

“Oh, uh, thanks.” Peter responded in a whisper. “I think that’s… it.”

“Peter is going to have a way to get help if he needs it while at school, right?” Harley spoke up. “What if something goes wrong?”

Not surprisingly, this made Peter feel guilty. He shouldn’t make Harley this worried over simple things like going to fucking school. God, he was always such a problem. He was Spiderman, he could dodge bullets and apprehend criminals, yet the thought of going to fucking school worried Harley. 

When did he become such a weak problem?

“ Peter will have the phone I got him that he can use during any emergency.” Tony answered smoothly. 

“What if they take it, though? He needs to have it on him at all times in case-”

Tony stepped over to Harley and ruffled his hair, effectively silencing him. It was the newest dad move he’d learned after the shoulder grabbing one became old. He was pretty proud of it. “Peter is going to be able to have his phone the entire day. I’ve already talked to his teachers.”

Peter watched some of the stress in Harley’s body alleviate at that and he finally nodded. 

Everyone but Tony and Harley shuffled out after this and Peter was too lost in thought to really even notice it until it was just Tony leaning in front of him. 

“Kid? You good?” He asked and Peter realized that Tony had been talking to him. 

“Uh, yeah, sorry.”

Harley gave him a stern look at the apology from where he was standing by the door but luckily didn’t interrupt to scold him like he normally would. 

 “‘Kay.” Tony simply responded and pulled the chair that Harley normally occupied up back next to Peter’s beside while Peter watched on awkwardly in complete silence. Once Tony had adjusted enough he sighed loudly and finally began to speak. 

“So some of the Avengers are here.” 

“Oh.” Peter hadn’t even been thinking about the Avengers since, well, since before all this shit had happened. The last time he’d spared the team a thought was when Tony had asked him to join and he’d agreed. Did this mean Tony wanted him on the team still if he was bringing it up now? Peter had kinda figured that after the horrifying amount of weakness he’d displayed to his childhood idol that the man would reject him now as if the idea of poor, weak Peter Parker fighting alongside the Avengers was a joke. 

“I’ve planned a sort of impromptu meeting tonight.” Tony informed him. Was this the part where he informed Peter that there was no way he was going? “I don’t know if you’ll be up to it, they’re kinda a lot and right now you’re, well, already… overwhelmed.”

Weak. Broken. Useless . There were a lot of words Tony could have used and Peter thought they would all fit. 

Tony didn’t mean to say that. He was trying to avoid mentioning Peter’s current state since he could sense the insecurity Peter had about it but of course he’d gone and fucked up. Instead of trying to clarify he promptly brushed past it. “Only if you want to. I thought I’d just let you know.”

An Avengers meeting? Even though Peter didn’t have a high opinion of the group of hero’s he had to admit that being part of their meetings sounded exciting. It also sounded like something he wasn’t good enough for. Imagine him rolling in with a fucking tube in his nose and his pitiful injuries and the team just laughing him out of the room. Peter didn’t think he’d be able to handle that, it would be too shameful. 

Even on the other side of the room Harley could sense Peter’s emotions rolling off him in waves and he quickly closed the distance between them and grabbed his non injured hand. Peter squeezed back, smiled weakly up at Harley, and then looked at Tony again. “Uh, I’m not… sure.”

“That’s okay.” To Tony’s credit he did actually seem understanding as he leaned back in the chair. “You can think about it.”

After another weak smile, Peter figured that their conversation was over and he could finally fall asleep. He was fucking exhausted. 

“One more thing.” Tony continued and Peter squashed down his disappointment but then felt bad about it. This man was spending thousands- tens of thousands of dollars on him- and taking him into his home. Of course he could talk to Peter as long as he wanted to. 

“Before the adoption can be finalized, you still have to be interviewed by a CPS worker. I tried to get it waived but they’re kinda strict about it, weirdly enough.”

Swallowing back the bile in his throat, Peter was quick to respond. “Uh, that’s okay. If it is w-with you, of course.”

Tony seemed kinda surprised by this. “Yeah, of course it is. I just wanted to check with you . They’re just gonna ask you if I’m treating you right and giving you the necessities and all. Simple stuff. Should be easy.”

Peter nodded wordlessly and Harley squeezed his hand again. 

“Okay, well one more thing and then I promise I’ll shut up.” Tony half joked. He could see Peter opening his mouth most likely to assure him that he could talk as much as he wanted but Tony spoke before he could. “Since you’re cleared, Peter, we need to get you an actual room. As nice as this is…” Tony gestured around at the mostly blank hospital room. “You’re gonna need a proper place to stay. I was thinking the guest room next to Harley’s.”

At the mention of his boyfriend, Peter glanced over at Harley who was smiling reassuringly. “Y-yeah, that would be gr-good.” He managed. “One question though.”

“Shoot.” Tony replied coolly. 

“Does this all make me and Harley siblings technically?”

Tony couldn’t help the chuckle. He’d only seen Peter be sullen for so long that even this semi-joke was a relief. 

Harley was smiling too. “I don’t think it’s like that.”

“Yeah, okay bro .”

They all laughed at that and for the first time in a while the atmosphere felt light. Harley hoped that the events over the past few weeks were just a rough patch and it was going to be better now. 

“You two be careful now.” Tony joked with fake sternness. “If the media finds out I’ve adopted an incestuous couple I’m done for.”

Though it was supposed to be lighthearted Peter couldn’t help but frown at the mention of the media. He hadn’t really realized until now that being adopted by Tony meant almost certain media attention. But of course it would, Tony was probably the most famous person in the world. Him adopting two kids, especially after his track record, was definitely a reportable story. But Peter didn’t want to be famous. He didn't want his and Harley’s faces plastered across every news source. 

Tony seemed to sense his sudden mood change and became serious again. “Hey, I’m not gonna let them report on you. As far as the media’s concerned I’m still a reckless, childless, playboy.”

Though this alleviated Peter’s growing concern he still couldn’t shake the feeling that imagining becoming famous gave him. 

There was a long awkward pause after this that Tony eventually broke. “Well, we should get you out of this stuffy room, then.”

The process of gathering what little Peter had and transporting it plus him to the room only took a couple minutes. When Tony went to open the door Peter’s mouth opened in shock. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting but it definitely wasn’t this . 

The room was massive . It was probably bigger than the entire apartment he and May used to share in Queens. The ceiling was twice as high too. Everything was clean, immaculate, and brand new. There was also a childlike looking Spiderman duvet on the bed that clashed with the expensive, modern look of the rest of the room. 

“Mr. Stark…” Peter started but had no idea what he was even going to say. This was too much. He didn’t need all this. He didn’t deserve all this. 

“You can decorate it however you want and make it homely but hopefully it’s okay for now. I can have Pepper hire some interior decorators if you wanna redesign the layout. And we can repaint the walls to be any shade you want-”

Tony met Harley’s gaze that said ‘shut up right now’ and so he did right as he realized Peter looked completely overwhelmed. Shit, had he overcompensated? He’d wanted the kid to like his room but now he seemed upset. 

“This is…” He finally started but never finished. What was he even supposed to say? 

Did Tony not realize that Peter was just a useless kid? Why was he giving him all this? Peter didn’t feel worthy. 

Tony stood by silently, completely lost on what to do and luckily Harley seemed to take the initiative while giving Tony a look that said ‘I got this’.

As Tony wordlessly retreated Peter turned towards Harley and seemed to be gasping for breath. “I-I-”

“Shh.” Harley coed comfortingly. “It’s okay.”

The blonde teen grabbed his boyfriend's hand and led his shaking form over to the bed gently and guided him to sit down on the cheesy Spiderman duvet. Harley then kneeled next to Peter on the bed and gently rubbed his hands over his shoulders. “Hey…”

“Harley, this is so much.” Peter finally gasped out and god, Harley just wished for once Peter could see himself how Harley did. If he just knew how perfect he was then he wouldn’t be freaking out right now.  

“I know.” Harley murmured and pulled Peter’s shaking body against his own. He could tell that this sudden wave of emotion was about more than just the room. Peter was overtired and overwhelmed. He needed to get Peter to calm down and get to sleep. After a couple more minutes of holding him and rubbing his back Harley finally broke apart and wiped away a tear that had slipped over Peter’s cheek with the pad of his thumb while gazing into his broken eyes. “It’s going to be okay.”

Harley then scooted up on the bed and pulled the tightly tucked duvet open before guiding Peter under it and then making sure the blankets were tightly secured around him. 

“Don’t leave.” Peter called out in fear even though Harley hadn’t even moved like he was about to leave. 

“I’m not going anywhere.” He calmly replied while slipping under the blanket next to Peter who immediately curled into his side. 

The only sound for a long minute was Peter’s ragged breathing until the brunette finally spoke up. “I’m sorry you have to take care of me all the time.”

Harley turned towards Peter’s insecurity ridden gaze and pushed a stray curl out of his face. “I love you, Peter, and I would never not help if you needed it.”

“I know… I love you too.” Peter whispered back as he dug his face into Harley’s side again, readjusting several times to keep the tube taped to his face from tugging painfully. “I just don’t want you to become my caretaker instead of my boyfriend.”

After pressing a kiss to the top of Peter’s head Harley whispered his response. “I’m not your caretaker, I’m just in love with you.”

“I’m in love with you too.”

Neither of them spoke again after that as they slowly drifted off.

Chapter Text

“God, you’re so fucking weak.” Harley spat out, the burning disgust evident in his features. Peter could feel the words dig into his chest like sharp blades of glass. “The only person you care about is yourself.”

“N-no, that’s not t-true…” Peter stuttered out, his entire body violently shaking. He took a step back and could feel his heel hanging over the edge now. Harley was like a wall in front of him, keeping him from moving off the ledge.

“Yes, it is Peter.” Harley told him. “That’s why you deserve this.”

Peter watched Harley’s sneering face become smaller as he fell backwards. Harley had pushed him off the edge of what he now realized was the roof of Stark Towers. He could tell because he watched the building zoom by as he fell.

The feeling of his stomach dropping from falling was still present when he woke up with a large gasp, throwing himself into a sitting position. Harley was still sleeping next to him, his face lacking the cruel disgust that it had had in Peter’s dream.

Taking several deep breaths, Peter tried his best to alleviate his frantic heart. After a long moment he threw the covers off his legs and shakily stood up. It was dark in the room and the only light came from the large floor to ceiling windows that showcased Manhattan below. It would be a peaceful sight if Peter didn’t feel close to having a panic attack currently. 

He almost did, though, when he caught a glimpse of the digital clock on one of the bedside tables. It was 6:37? Had the Avengers meeting already started? Peter was going to be late.

He almost fell over while attempting to change out of his sweats and into jeans but managed to grab onto the dresser for support before he crashed onto the floor. Though he could have shown up earlier in the plain gray sweats, he kinda wanted to make a first good impression. This was, after all, the fucking Avengers. It was a big deal no matter what Peter thought about the team. 

Once he’d finally managed to get his clothes on, Peter dashed out of the room, leaving Harley still asleep in his bed. Peter then limped all the way down the hall and emerged into the main room of the penthouse.

At his intrusion Tony stopped mid sentence in what was probably a very important statement and turned to face Peter who’d halted in the doorway. On one of the couches in front of where Tony was standing sat Clint Barton, Sam Wilson, and Thor. Natasha Romonov was perched on a stool and Bruce Banner leaned against the counter next to her. They all stared at Peter who gulped. It was an odd sight seeing the Earth’s mightiest heroes casually lounging around the penthouse.

“Ah, Peter, I thought you would show up eventually.” Tony called out and gestured for Peter to come closer which Peter immediately complied to, albeit a little too hastily. “Guys, this is our newest addition, Spidey.”

“Tony, what the fuck.” Clint called out and Peter flinched at the harshness of his words. “That’s a kid.”

The rest of the team was also looking at him with unconcealed objection. Tony tried to wave it off. “He’s not going to be doing any of the big stuff. Think of it as more of a learning opportunity.”

The Avengers took in Peter’s battered state and youthful appearance and were not happy.

“When did this become a baby-sitting service? This is serious.” 

“ That’s Spiderman?” 

“I don’t like this Tony.” Natasha said, staring at Peter in a way that made him even more self conscious.

“Guys, guys,” Tony called out, quieting their disapproval. “Calm down. Peter is more than capable, I’ve seen so myself, so quit whining and let’s move on.”

This statement confused everyone in the room. The Avengers had never seen Tony have anything nice to publicly say about anyone, much less a random kid. Peter was confused because he knew Tony had seen how weak he was. Hell, he’d literally had to carry Peter to safety just a week ago. Hearing him call Peter capable when Peter had thought the man was only helping him out of pity due to Peter’s weak state was a surprise.

Tony then launched back into his speech and Peter quickly darted to an armchair off to the side, embarrassed and ashamed. Sure, no one would look at him, especially now, and think he looked like an Avenger but hearing the team’s evident disgust and objection really showed him just how weak he looked.

“-and it’s still up in there as to what Ross is going to do about the President's statement. He doesn’t seem to be backing down, though, fucking bastard.”

Were they talking about the Accords? Peter could only assume so. He didn’t know much about them though he probably should since they affected all enhanced individuals, including himself. 

“Has Steve seen the effect this is having on the public?” Clint asked.

Tony’s jaw hardened at the mention of the supersoldier. Him and Steve hadn’t talked since their ‘falling out’ which had been caused by some certain information revealed about Steve’s best friend. He’d been debating contacting the man for this meeting but remembering the traitorous rage he felt during their little ‘argument’ had stopped him. Fuck Steve and all of his rightousness bullshit.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Tony spat out, unsuccessfully hiding his anger at the topic. The rest of the group didn’t even look surprised at his outburst. 

“Don’t you guys think it would be better to talk things out instead of throwing childish fits?” 

“You guys are really going to act like this?”

“Hey!” Tony yelled out, effectively silencing any more unwanted questions. “Let’s get back on topic please!”

For the next hour the rest of the team discussed topics that were much too important and complicated for Peter to really understand so he remained quiet in his corner, watching the conversation continue on without him. His chest still ached from the comments earlier and he couldn’t help but wish he could crawl back in bed with Harley right now and let out his childish emotion in peace. But he knew running away would only prove the Avengers' concerns about his maturity level correct. 

“Well, great talk.” Tony called out as he rubbed his furrowed brow, effectively cutting off what was spiraling into a vicious argument. “Team training tomorrow afternoon at four, you’ll all be there.”

The Avengers began standing up, breaking into individual conversations, and Peter finally made his escape. Tony watched him go with a pang of guilt. He could tell that everyone’s disapproval hurt the kid and only worsened his poor self esteem. Tony made a mental note to talk to him about it later. 

When Peter finally made it back to his new room he immediately crawled up beside Harley and shoved his head into his chest. 

This woke Harley up who immediately became concerned at his boyfriend's sudden clinginess. “Hey.” He called out in a crackly, sleepy voice. “What’s wrong?”

Peter didn’t seem to want to talk so Harley just settled for rubbing his fingers through his hair in an attempt to comfort him. 

***

“You have your phone?” 

“Yes.”

“And your lunch? I think you might have left it in-”

“Yes.”

“What about your English report? You finished it, right?”

“Yes, mom .”

Harley finished tying Peter’s right shoe and stood up, giving Peter a jokingly hard stare. Why he had insisted on treating Peter like a toddler, Peter had no idea. 

“This is what happens when you have control.”

Peter shook his head like it would physically remove Harley’s past words. 

“Don’t talk back to your mother, young man.” He stated in a teasingly stern voice. “But really, are you gonna be okay?”

Without having really stopped to think about it himself, Peter quickly nodded his head to reassure Harley. It didn’t really matter to Peter if he was ready or not, he was going to go. The thought of spending one more pitiful day doing nothing in the tower made him feel sick although he did like spending all his time with Harley. 

Now that Peter was going to be gone he had no idea what Harley was going to do so he asked him. Surprisingly Harley’s worry lines deepened at the question and it was Peter’s turn to be worried. 

“Uh, I’m going to court today for the custody battle.” He explained. 

“What?!” Peter demanded, all thoughts of school quickly vanishing. Custody battle? Today? Harley hadn’t said anything about that before. 

“Yeah, my parents are putting up a legal fight against Tony. They’re being real bitches. But Tony’s lawyers are going to fight it today to try to finalize the adoption.”

Why hadn’t Harley said of this until now? Peter’s mind was reeling at this information. “Are you okay? Are you gonna see them today?”

Harley sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. Peter hated the exhaustion he could see evident on Harley’s features. 

He had caused that.

“Yeah, but I’ll be with Tony the whole time, they won’t talk to me.”

As Peter stepped closer to Harley and grabbed onto his nervously fidgeting hands he looked searchingly into his blue eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”

Sighing again, Harley broke eye contact to stare at the floor like he was shamefully trying to evade Peter’s concerned stare. “I didn’t want to stress you out more. Plus it’s going to be okay, I trust Tony to be able to beat them. They’re just putting up a fight as one last attempt to make me miserable.”

Peter brushed one of his hands against Harley’s cheek causing the blonde boy to slowly meet his eye again. “Harls…” Peter didn’t even know what to say so he simply pulled Harley into a hug which lasted a long moment before Harley eventually broke it.

“Hey, it’s almost seven thirty. You need to go.” Harley reminded him in a soft whisper. 

Peter looked searching up at Harley, concerned. “Are you gonna be okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” Harley stated firmly as he led Peter to closer to where Happy was waiting just around the corner. “You need to get to school. Tell Ned I said hi, ok?”

“I will.” Peter replied and then quickly glanced around to make sure there wasn’t anyone else in the Towers parking garage before giving Harley a speedy kiss. “Bye.”

The ride to school was stressful to say the least. Peter's leg shook nervously as he watched the street go by outside, trying not to overthink and failing. It had been over a week since he’d last been to school and was nervous to return. It was all reminding him of when May had first gotten her cancer diagnosis and he’d missed a lot of school. When he’d eventually returned, unable to skip another day, there had been a lot of unwanted questions and stares. This thought also made him think about May which was upsetting too. He really missed her and was beginning to think the pain was never going to lessen. She’d been gone for almost two weeks now and it still hurt as much as it did during that horrible moment he’d found out she was gone. 

Peter was also worried about how he was going to explain his appearance. With the casts and the tube there were bound to be questions. 

When they made it to the school Peter realized Harley’s worries were accurate. He wasn’t ready. He forced himself to step out of the car anyway and watched Happy drive off with a sense of panic that he squashed down. 

It was fucking school. Peter could do it. He’d eaten an entire full meal now, school was easy in comparison. 

But as he tried and failed to maneuver up the steps with his broken leg, receiving many stares in the process, he knew this day was going to be hard. 

“Peter, let me help.” Ned called out as he rushed up to him and for the millionth time Peter was thankful he had Ned who grabbed Peter’s arm for support and assisted him in slowly limping up the last remaining stairs. 

“Thanks Ned.” Peter huffed out once they reached the top. “Hey, I’m sorry for what happened the other da-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ned interjected, cutting off what he knew was an unnecessary apology.

“Thanks Ned.” 

They made their way to the library after that and Peter tried his hardest to ignore the stares he received. He knew he looked like a mess and hated the reminder. 

“So you’re not dead.” MJ called out in a monotone as Peter took the seat next to her at one of the tables in the library. She was currently reading a book called Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Woman’s Anger and had her legs up on the table. 

“No, not dead.” He called back and pulled out his phone. Harley had already sent him a text message asking how he was doing. 

“You look like shit, though.” She stated as flipped a page.

Although Peter knew it was true he didn’t appreciate her pointing it out. “Thanks.” He answered sarcastically. 

Luckily, though, MJ either didn’t care enough or didn’t want to comment on Peter’s disappearance further. He did catch her staring at the cast on his hand after a couple minutes though. She probably knew that it was something to do with his alter identity, she just didn’t know the details. 

Ned and Peter talked about random, unimportant stuff all the way up until they walked into homeroom and Peter found himself grateful for the casual conversation with his best friend. It was always such a welcomed distraction from whatever shit he didn’t want to think about. One of those being the stares of his classmates as he took his seat in the back of the class. Surprisingly enough he’d managed to walk by Flash without receiving any sort of cruel comment which was a relief. He wasn’t sure if he should be concerned or grateful. 

By lunch Peter wanted to throw up from the constant attention he was receiving. He pulled out the lunch Ann had made for him and looked down at it in disgust, lacking any sort of appetite. Ned gave him a concerned look. “Are you good?”

“Y-yeah… I just gotta pee really quick. Be right back.” He called out as he darted towards the bathroom leaving MJ and Ned to worry alone. 

The closest bathroom to the lunch room would be filled with students so Peter took the long route to the bathroom by his AP Chem class that was always empty during lunch. After washing the nervous sweat off his face with shaky hands he glanced at his reflection in the mirror. Now wonder people were staring at him. He would be staring at him too. He looked like shit.

The sound of the door opening broke Peter from his self loathing thoughts and he quickly rushed into a stall to avoid seeing any other person. He could hear the other person in the bathroom right outside the door to the stall he was currently on the verge of a panic attack in. 

“Peter, open the door.”

Peter felt like he couldn’t breath as fear overtook his entire mind. Sure, he was enhanced and could defend himself against any non enhanced student in the school but this was different. This was Flash. All sort of upperhand Peter thought he had vanished when it came to the bully who had the ability of making Peter feel like the most insignificant piece of shit. 

Shakily Peter opened the stall door to reveal Flash standing just a couple feet away.

 “W-what?” Peter tried to scoot past Flash but felt a hand firmly grab his. It wasn’t like Flash grabbed his wrist or his shoulder to keep him in place, no, he held Peter’s actual hand, a weirdly intimate and scary gesture that made Peter’s stomach drop. It was a small distinction but he noticed it.

Flash wasn’t moving now and just looked into Peter’s eyes with an emotion that Peter couldn’t place although it definitely wasn’t the usual disgust Flash displayed for him.

 “What do you want, Flash?” Peter attempted to sound strong but failed. He’d faced opponents way worse than Flash but still, something about the way Flash was currently staring at him was freaking him out.

Then in a rush Flash closed the distance between them and shoved his lips against Peter’s. He ran his hand aggressively through Peter’s hair with one hand and clutched Peter’s other shoulder firmly to keep him in place with the other. Frozen, Peter didn’t move as he felt Flash part his lips with his tongue and push it into Peter’s mouth harshly.

Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck.

What was even happening right now? 

Peter finally retrieved some semblance of control over his body again and attempted to push Flash away. He then turned his head to the side so Flash couldn’t kiss him anymore and Flash finally let him go, enabling him to take a couple of shaky steps back.

“What the fuck?” Peter called out in confusion while wiping Flash’s spit from his lips. He thought Flash hated him and was disgusted by him. Why would he ever wanna kiss him? Was this a prank? A dare? Surely that was the only reasonable explanation.

Flash’s heart was racing. After years of longing, wishing, and waiting he had finally kissed Peter. He’d imagined this moment countless times and now that it had finally happened he couldn’t help the feelings of elation. Although in his imagination Peter never looked as confused and disgusted as he did currently but Flash figured that was probably deserved.

“What the hell was that for, Flash?” Peter demanded making Flash flinch. When Flash still didn’t answer Peter tried to escape past him but Flash grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.

“Wait.” He finally managed to say. Peter met his eye and Flash could see the hurt evident there. “I-I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?! Flash, you just kissed me.” Peter cried and Flash could see the misery that he was feeling but continued on. 

“Yeah, uh, I… like you, I guess.” Flash admitted quietly. Peter thought he had to have heard wrong. This was for sure some kind of prank. “I’ve liked you for as long as I’ve known you.”

“Flash, you harass me every single day. What the fuck are you talking about you ‘like me’?” 

“Yeah, uh,” Flash pushed his hair behind his ears and looked at his feet bashfully, an emotion Peter had never seen him express. “I guess I’m just not very good at flirting.”

“Flirting? Flash, you’ve called me every slur imaginable. You hate me.” Peter tried once again to get past Flash again but the bully didn’t let him. 

“Yeah, I said I was sorry.” 

Peter had thought he had been apologizing earlier for randomly kissing him against his will but that had been Flash’s apology for everything ? He almost wanted to laugh. 

Flash mistook the delusional humor that Peter was having as joy. “So, you like me too?”

Speechless, Peter just stared at his bully who looked completely serious still. Was he still dreaming or something? What was going on? “No, Flash, I don’t. And I don’t think you like me either.”

This time when he stepped past Flash the black haired boy let him. Peter was almost to the door, mind still reeling from disbelief, when Flash spoke again. “I know who you are.”

Frozen now, Peter’s mind scrambled for what Flash meant by that. Who he was? Did Flash mean that he knew he was gay? Was that why he was confessing his ‘love’ to him? As some sort of sick joke? 

Slowly pivoted around and faced Flash again who was trembling. “What?”

Breathing heavily like a bull, Flash merely held out his phone straight out in front of Peter. “You’re Spiderman.”

With a horrible sense of dread Peter realized he recognised the moment in the video. It was when he had been scaling the building near Stark tower when he’d been attempting to escape Stark Tower. The camera was angled like it was at the building on the other side of the alley and only Peter’s back could be made out but it was obvious he was scaling a wall with just his fingers. Then the Peter in the video paused and turned his head back, making his face distinguishable. 

When had Flash gotten this video? Had he taken it? Peter hadn’t felt anyone with his Spidey sense that day. Had he been on too much medication and in too much distress to feel it properly?

This entire altercation was making his head spin. First Flash randomly kissed him, then confessed his feelings for him, and now was confronting him about his alter identity? It was like a fever dream. No, it was a fucking nightmare.

“T-that’s not me.” He tried but Flash didn’t even believe it for a second which made sense since the evidence was right there. 

“I know who you are and I have proof so unless you want this video on every social media platform, you-”

Before Flash could finish Peter was lounging at the phone still held up in the air but unfortunately Flash managed to move it behind his back before Peter could reach it so instead Peter crash landed on Flash and sent them tumbling to the floor. 

“Give me the phone!” Peter yelled out as he tried to wrestle the device from Flash desperately. He cried out in pain when Flash grabbed his injured hand and twisted it, sending Peter toppling off Flash and onto the ground next to him. Then Flash took the opportunity to lunge on top of Peter and straddle him while holding the phone out of arm's reach. 

“Flash, get off!” Peter cried out as he tried to buck Flash off. Unfortunately his body had decided that this was the perfect moment for him to be on the verge of passing out so he didn’t have the power to get Flash off like he would otherwise. 

“Peter,” Flash started in a stern voice. “If you don’t want your identity to be leaked then stop fucking fighting.”

With a large sigh Peter finally went still leaving both boys staring at each other on the bathroom floor while breathing heavily. Peter was laying flat on his back and Flash was sitting on top of him. 

“What do you want, Flash? You want me to love you? Because I don’t.” Peter spat out and it was the cruelest Flash had ever heard him sound. Or maybe that was just because his words sent knives deep into Flash’s heart. 

Instead of answering Flash leaned forward until their chests were pressed together and closed the gap between their lips. Tears slipped from his eyes at the confirmation that of course Peter didn’t love him back , Flash verbally abused him constantly. Still, with Peter so close he couldn’t help but feel like he would die if he didn’t get to kiss him again. For a magical three seconds for Flash, Peter was too shocked to resist but then came to his senses and ripped his face away, spitting onto the floor in disgust. 

“Flash stop!” He begged and Flash could hear the unbridled desperation in his voice. “I have a boyfriend!”

This stopped Flash from grabbing Peter’s head again like he’d been about to. Boyfriend? “What?”

Peter yanked himself out from under Flash and backed up into the tile wall of the bathroom, curling into himself protectively. “Yes! So stop fucking kissing me!”

Shocked, Flash didn’t move for a long time, just stared at Peter with his mouth agape. Peter had never mentioned a boyfriend before that Flash had heard. “S-since when?”

“Since almost a month.” Peter wanted to just tell Flash to fuck and to run- god knows that's what he deserved- but the video Flash had stopped him. “So fuck off, okay?”

“B-but…” Flash started looking positively heartbroken and for a second Peter thought he was about to cry. Then in an instant a horrifying look crossed his face, one Peter knew well. It was the look of anger he got whenever he was about to do or say something horrible to Peter. “I don’t care, boyfriend or not. You don’t do what I want and your identity is leaked.”

Suddenly a feeling of dread overtook Peter. Whatever he wanted? What did that entail? This was all getting to be too much and painfully reminded Peter all too well of those horrible nights with Skip. “N-no, ple-ease.” He begged and shamefully felt tears come to his eyes. 

Flash tucked his phone into his back pocket as he stood up, maintaining eye contact the entire time. He hated that it had come down to blackmailing Peter but also that’s the only reason he’d ever had the nerve to do this in the first place. The moment he’d gotten that video he’d known he could finally confront Peter about how he really felt and if it went wrong he’d have a tool to stay in control. 

“I love you.” Flash called out as the tears finally slipped down Peter’s cheeks and he let out an anguished sob. The sight was so heartbreaking to Flash that he had to leave without another word. It took him an extra moment to unlock the door he’d locked when he first came in to keep anyone from coming in and during that moment Peter’s sobs sliced through his chest like swords. 

Now that Flash was gone Peter couldn’t help the convulsing sobbing. It was all so overwhelming and reminded him too much of painful memories he tried his very hardest to forget. 

The worst part was the blackmail Flash now had on him. There was no way Peter could let Flash reveal his identity. He knew he couldn’t survive in a world where people knew Peter Parker as Spiderman and vice versa. But the other option was excruciating too. Flash could make him do whatever he wanted and Peter had no room for arguments or complaints. 

What was he going to make him do? As the possibilities ran through his head he found himself becoming dizzy and nauseous and barely made it to the toilet before he was throwing up. After a long moment of just dry heaving he glanced down to see chunks of broccoli and chicken along with a pink colored liquid that he figured was the nutrients from the tube. 

So much for actually trying to retain food. 

Peter had never felt so guilty in his life.

Chapter Text

“Peter? Peter?” Ned called out as he checked the bathroom. Lunch had ended three minutes ago and Peter had never returned. The lunch he’d brought was still laid out, untouched, at their table. “Peter?”

“He’s not in there.” Ned told MJ who was waiting outside as he left the boys bathroom. 

“One of the other ones?” She proposed and they began making their way towards a different bathroom, narrowly avoiding the other students in the hall who were rushing to class. 

This whole situation felt so familiar. Peter being missing and Ned and MJ worriedly looking for him. In fact this exact situation had happened a little over a week ago when they’d walked in on Harley and Peter kissing in the closet. It gave Ned a terrible feeling of Deja Vu. 

When they reached the entrance to the bathroom MJ took her spot leaning against the wall like she normally did and Ned went in, hoping he wasn’t about to see something horrific. The sound of vomiting was clearly heard in the small, almost empty bathroom. 

“Peter?” Ned tried as he fearfully made his way closer to the sound. The door was open at the stall on the end of the row and as Ned reached it he could see Peter hunched up on the floor and vomit in the toilet. 

“Oh my god…” Ned murmured. Was Peter sick? 

Had he made himself sick?

Ned knew Peter had an eating disorder, it had been evident for a while. It had seemed like he was getting better and Ned couldn’t tell if that was because Peter wanted to or because Tony and Harley were making him. Either way he obviously was not really getting better if he was making himself throw up. 

“...Peter?” Ned tried again. He’d probably said Peter’s name a hundred times today already. 

Peter choked and then broke out into hiccuped sobs while still kneeling over on the floor. Ned watched him in shock and uncertainty. Whatever had caused this was not good, he knew. 

After kneeling down beside Peter on the cold tile floor he lightly placed a comforting hand on his back and looked at his downward facing face searchingly. “What’s wrong?”

In a disgusting gesture Peter wiped his snotty, sweaty face on his sleeve. “N-Ned.” He choked out. “F-flash knows my identity.”

“What?!” Ned exclaimed, shocked. “How?!”

Choking back a sob, Peter stuttered through a brief explanation of the altercation and the video, leaving out the part where Flash kissed him and confessed his feelings. Peter trusted Ned, he really did, but it almost seemed too ridiculous to even talk about it. If it was anyone else, maybe not, but fucking Flash? 

Peter was also ashamed of the fact that he’d just cheated on Harley. He’d been trying so hard to be a better boyfriend after all the shit that had happened the past week and now it had all gone to hell. How was he even supposed to face Harley after this?

“I think we should call Harley.” Ned called out, completely unaware of Peter’s thought process. All Ned knew was that Peter didn’t look good- even worse than normal- and Ned was not capable of taking care of this sort of problem. 

“No!” Peter exclaimed, wiped his pace again, and stood up. “I-I’m fine.”

They both knew it wasn’t true. Ned simply watched Peter’s splotchy face with empathy. “We could call Tony and-”

“No.” Peter repeated more firmly. He was not going to bother Harley during the court case. That was a level of pitiful neediness Peter did not want to reach. 

Ned was looking at Peter’s hands for a reason Peter couldn’t figure out. Ned realized there wasn’t any vomit on Peter’s hands and so he didn’t make himself throw up. It gave him short lived relief until he heard Peter sniffle again. 

“Are you feeling okay? Like physically?” Ned asked as he was eying Peter up and down for anything wrong with his body beside the injuries he already had of course. 

“Yeah, ‘m fine.” Peter was very much not fine. He washed his hands in the sink and ignored his most likely awful looking reflection in the mirror and Ned’s stare he could feel on his back. 

“What are you gonna do?” Ned questioned apprehensively while taking a hesitant step closer to Peter. 

What was he going to do ?

Whatever Flash wanted.

Peter shrugged and wiped his wet hands on his jeans as he left the bathroom. Ned scrambled to follow him out. 

“What if he posts it?” Ned fretted aloud. 

Peter didn’t want to think about that possibility. He knew he was willing to do anything to keep that from happening. The question was what was that going to have to be?

“Don’t you think you should go home?” Ned continued questioning after Peter hadn’t responded. “You don’t look so good…”

“It’s okay, Ned.” Peter reassured him a little too harshly. Ned was just trying to be a good friend. It wasn’t his fault that Peter was currently on the verge of a panic attack. He couldn’t go home, not now. The thought of interrupting Harley’s court case with his idiotic problems he caused himself was horrifying.

MJ met up with them as they exited and gave Peter a long look. “You look even worse now.”

“Thanks.”

They made it back to the lunch table in the now empty cafeteria and Peter looked down on his untouched lunch with a pang of guilt. He was supposed to eat that. He quickly packed it up with shaking hands for later. Harley didn’t have to know. 

When Peter walked into AP Lang and saw the back of Flash’s head he thought he was gonna throw up again. Luckily he managed to choke it down and fall into his seat.

Flash looked back torward him and fucking grinned. Peter wanted to scream.

The rest of the school day passed by painfully slow. Peter spent the hour in AP Lang gripping his pencils so hard he snapped three causing his teacher to give him multiple long stares. He felt too sick to feel bad.

When the last bell finally rang he dashed out the front of the school in a daze. Ned walked beside him and struggled to find something, anything he could say to make this better. Luckily MJ still wasn’t commenting. 

Peter parted from his friends with a small goodbye and climbed into the back of Happy’s SUV, relieved to be going back to the tower. No, he was actually stressed to go back and have to face Harley. He really relieved to be away from Flash. 

The feeling of disbelief was wearing off as Peter watched the buildings pass by out the window and it was replaced by utter realization at what had happened. 

Flash was blackmailing him into a romantic relationship.

Peter would throw up again if there was anything left in his stomach. 

The rest of the car ride passed in a daze and Peter only realized that they had arrived when Happy finally spoke. “Tony should be back soon.”

Back from Harley’s court hearing. Peter shakily nodded his head and dashed up to his room as fast as possible with his injured leg. As soon as he reached the overly large and clean room he felt the panic attack he’d barely managed to keep at bay all day surface. 

“N-no.” He choked out through rapid breaths as he pushed his palms into his tearfilled eyes. Wouldn’t the universe just give him a break for once? He was so tired of the constant curve balls that hit him so hard it felt like there would never be a way to recover. It was like there was only inevitable destruction for him no matter what he did. But knowing he deserved it, he accepted his disastrous situation with a cry of anguish and fell to his knees. 

Harley was gonna be back soon, he needed to pull himself together. But every time he tried he pictured the feeling of Flash’s touch burning on his skin and another sob was ripped from his chest. 

Peter had no idea how much time had passed before he felt a hand on his shoulder. Unprepared to face his boyfriend, he selfishly pulled away. 

“Peter.” Tony, not Harley, called out. “What’s wrong?”

While wiping the tears from his cheeks, Peter turned to meet Tony’s worried but soft gaze. “Nothing.” He immediately lied in a shaky voice.

Though his untruthfulness was obvious, Tony, luckily, decided not to push. There was a long, silent pause save for Peter’s soft sniffling until Peter could hear a rustling sound from behind him that he was too tired to wonder about. That is until he saw Tony pull out the bag of food he never ate from his backpack. 

Tony gave him a long searching look. Feeling ashamed, Peter choked on another sob. He couldn’t exactly explain to Tony why he didn’t eat the food Ann packed for him so he remained quiet and hoped he would just disappear. 

“Peter…” Tony finally called out and then gently pushed the curls that had fallen over Peter’s eyes behind his ear. “Are you okay buddy? Why didn’t you eat?”

The soothing tone of Tony’s voice alleviated some of Peter’s panic and he felt himself relax against his touch. “I’m sorry…”

“Hey, no, it’s okay.” Tony immediately reassured him after Peter shamefully lowered his head. “Come here.” Tony stood up and pulled Peter up too in the process. He then led Peter out of his room and to the kitchen and guided him into a chair at the large table. 

After making sure Peter was secured and wasn’t about to get upset again, Tony walked the short distance into the kitchen. Ann had prepared several meals already that were sitting in the fridge marked ‘Peter’. Tony placed one in the oven while glancing back at Peter who was curled up at the table, staring at the placemat in front of him blankly. Tony’s heart broke for the millionth time for the shattered kid in front of him.  

Tony started the timer on the oven then apprehensively took the seat next to Peter and tried to meet his gaze but Peter didn’t look up. “Do you wanna talk about it?” It being whatever had made Peter upset was implied. 

Unfortunately Peter just shook his head. He didn’t want to give Tony another reason to consider him weak by explaining the events of the day to him. He tried to change the subject to something he was really worried about. “Is Harley okay?”

Tony’s eyes darkened at this making the pit in Peter’s stomach tighten. “...It didn’t go great today.” Tony finally answered, choosing his words carefully as to not upset Peter more. Peter’s question had also reminded him of the other kid he was taking care of that needed comfort. 

“Is he okay?” Peter repeated with his anxiousness written all over his face.

“I don’t know.” Tony answered honestly. “I was going to check on him.”

“...Could you please?” Peter asked shakily, knowing he couldn’t do it himself right now. All the times Harley had put his own issues aside to care for Peter and Peter couldn’t even do the same for Harley now. He was actually a horrible boyfriend, he knew, but the thought of seeing Harley while he could still feel the ghosts of Flash’s touch on his skin was terrifying. 

“Will you be okay here?” Tony questioned cautiously. When Peter nodded Tony got to his feet. FRIDAY would look after Peter, he knew, but he still hated leaving him when he was so obviously upset about something. 

Peter didn’t even know how long he was staring down at the table in front of him, mind wandering, before he heard someone enter the room. It wasn’t Harley or Tony this time, though, but Clint and Natasha. They had been in the middle of a conversation before they abruptly stopped, noticing the puffy-eyed boy sitting at the table. 

There was a long silence in which no one spoke before Clint finally did. “Hey Peter.” He called out across the vast room. Peter stared back at him, looking like a deer caught in headlights. “Do you mind if we come in for dinner?”

Clint knew that Peter lived here and also that he had some sort of relationship with Tony who Clint was currently trying to not piss off more. This meant he did not want to upset the already upset looking boy at the table any more by bothering him in what was his home, not Clint’s. 

“Uh, yeah, you’re fine.” Peter called out shakily. He would leave and let the two Avengers have the space but he felt glued to his chair, waiting for the next horrific event that was sure to come. 

With another long, silent gaze Clint and Natasha began walking towards the kitchen again and resumed their conversation while preparing their food. Peter felt his hands curl into fists and had to close his eyes as he took several deep breaths. He knew the Avengers thought he was weak and ill suited to be on the team and Clint and Natasha’s presence only reminded him of that fact. 

After a couple minutes Sam came into the kitchen and also stopped when he noticed Peter but luckily didn’t try to talk to him and instead joined Nat and Clint in the kitchen. Then Bruce and Rhodey followed. They all stood in the kitchen conversing in hushed tones while sending Peter confused glances. Peter wanted to curl up and die right then and there. 

“Mind if I sit here?” Sam asked as he gestured to one of the many chairs at the table. Peter quickly shook his head and Sam placed his plate of food down at the table before sitting. Peter saw Nat and Clint exchange a glance before slowly coming to sit down next to Sam. On the brink of tears again, Peter just wished Tony would come back soon and save him from this hell. He even wished Harley would come although that would probably only result in a bigger problem. 

The Avengers ate in awkward silence for a long moment, each looking up at Peter in what they thought was an inconspicuous way but Peter noticed it each and every time and he could feel their pity and confusion. He knew he looked like a freak sitting here amongst the Earth’s mightiest heroes with a tube in his face and an emaciated body. 

When Tony and Harley came into the room they both stopped in shock. Peter was sitting in the middle of the table curled in on himself and the rest of the team was seated around him, eating. 

“Peter.” Tony called out and Peter shrunk more at the anger he could hear in Tony’s voice. Whatever Tony was about to say next was cut off, though, by the timer going off. Though it looked like Tony wanted to argue, he shut his mouth after a long moment and went to get the food out of the oven instead. 

Harley watched this all happen with wide eyes for a moment and then upon seeing Peter’s hurt face quickly made his way to his boyfriends side. “Hey Peter.” He called out, ignoring the stares of the team around them. He took the seat next to Peter who still hadn’t met his gaze. Peter was shaking, Harley noticed worriedly, and he wanted to pry to figure out what was wrong but couldn’t do that with the audience they had. Harley glanced up at everyone else at the table who quickly began eating again, realizing they had been caught staring. 

“How was school?” He finally settled on asking as he looked back at Peter, noticing the way he flinched slightly at the question. Peter’s hands were curled up into fists but were still shaking and Peter looked anywhere but at Harley.

There was a long, tense pause. Each Avenger glanced up to peer at Peter questioningly who was looking down at his lap. “G-good.” He finally managed.

There was obviously something wrong. Harley credited it to the plate of food that Tony set down in front of Peter. The brunette just stared at the stir fry like it was a bomb about to go off. 

How the fuck was Peter supposed to eat right now? Harley did everything for him, was always caring for him, and always putting Peter before himself and how was Peter repaid him? By fucking cheating on him. 

The Avengers were all watching him with their judgemental stares probably reassured in the fact that Peter was much too weak to ever be able to be one of their teammates. And Tony was probably wishing he’d never had the misfortune of meeting Peter and having to put up with all his shit in the first place. 

All of this paired with the tremendous amount of nausea Peter currently had kept him from picking up his fork. Tony had gotten a plate of whatever the rest of them were eating and both him and Harley and began eating while watching Peter not participate. 

Tony was not happy. He’d wanted to be able to have Harley and Peter meet the Avengers eventually, not when both of them were so obviously distraught. Tony had been about to tell the team to just fuck off because he hated the way they were watching Peter but right as he was about to Sam spoke up. “Peter,” He started, causing Peter to finally look up. Harley watched on worriedly from the chair next to Peter’s. “Can I just say I’m a big fan?”

Peter’s brows flew up in surprise. “W-what?” He finally spoke up and his voice was hoarse from emotions.

“I’ve seen that video of you stopping that bus. It’s really impressive.”

Impressive? Sam thought Peter was impressive? Peter thought they all considered him weak. “Oh, thanks…”

Harley grabbed Peter’s hand under the table and Peter tried to suppress the beginnings of a panic attack that it caused.

“How did you become that strong?” Sam continued and Peter realized he was complimenting him. “ Are you enhanced like Steve?”

At the mention of the super soldier Tony stiffened from his seat on the other side of Peter.

“Uh…” Peter began and felt his mind blank as all the Avengers watched him. “N-no… Er, yes. I mean… it’s complicated.”

Peter noticed the way Natasha had her eyes glued to the food in front of him and then to the tube in his nose. The way it was so blatantly obvious that he experienced disordered eating was embarrassing for Peter and he felt his face heat up. Just fucking eat.  

“What happened?” Bruce interjected and then added after a glare from Tony. “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah…” Peter started lamely. Harley was rubbing his fingers over Peters and it was making the pangs of guilt shoot through him like bullets. “I was bit… by a radioactive spider.”

“What?” Harley and Bruce both exclaimed with the same shocked looks on their faces. Peter realized he’d never told any of this to Harley. 

“Ummm yeah.” Peter replied stupidly. 

“Peter.” Tony interjected, cutting off the next round of questions. “You need to eat that.” He reminded as he gestured to the plate of food Peter still hadn’t touched. Peter stared down at it like it had personally offended him. Harley seemed to sense the panic Peter was feeling and squeezed his hand again reassuringly without knowing that he was indirectly the cause for Peter’s inability to eat. 

There was a tense pause after this. Everyone watched Peter as he had an internal battle over the meal. Peter looked up and saw their pitying glances, felt Tony’s disappointment, heard Harley’s whispered reassurances, and wanted to explode. “C-can I eat it later-”

“Peter.” Tony cut across sternly. Harley felt Peter’s hand wrapped in his jerk at the harsh tone. 

“Please? I just can’t… right now.” Peter choked out and was mortified when he felt tears well up in his eyes. This could not be any more shameful. 

The team felt pity for the broken boy sitting in front of them. “Tony, give him a break.” Natasha tried and Tony glared at her. 

“No. He can’t skip another meal.” 

Peter ducked his head down defeatedly as the tears finally slipped. The Avengers argued in front of him. 

“He was doing fine until you guys came!” Tony yelled. 

“We didn’t cause this! We were just minding our own business!”

“No, you guys were interrogating him! Look, you made him upset!”

“Tony, there is obviously an underlying issue that doesn’t have to do with-”

“Guys, stop! You’re making it worse-”

“Couldn’t you all just leave him alone?!”

“You’re the one who regrouped the Avengers in the first place-”

“Not so you could terrorize my family!”

“Guys, stop!” Harley yelled out as he stood. The arguing stopped. “This isn’t solving anything! It’s making it worse. Work out your own issues without bringing Peter into it, okay?” There was a long pause after that.

Peter just wanted to self-destruct. Mortification burned through his entire body. He wished he were just normal so none of this would be happening. 

“Peter.” Harley called out softly after another moment. Peter didn’t move. 

“P-please can I go?” He finally choked out without looking up. He couldn’t face them and he didn’t want them to see his tears. 

“Fine.” Tony replied feeling like shit. Some father figure he was. He should never have let any of this happen. 

Peter scooted out of the chair and slipped off into his bedroom while covering his face the entire time. Harley watched him go without knowing what to do. It seemed like everything he’d tried to do to help had been unsuccessful and made Peter pull away more. Something was wrong, he knew, something more than just what it seemed. 

It was painfully silent as Harley scooted back down into his seat and glanced at Peter’s untouched meal next to him feeling defeated. Peter was supposed to be getting better but this wasn’t better. 

Tony sat with his head in his hands and his elbows on the table, looking distraught. The Avengers slowly resumed eating while glancing at him guiltily. 

“Sorry.” Clint finally broke the silence. Tony didn’t respond. 

Chapter Text

When Harley opened the door to Peter’s room the brunette teen was nowhere to be seen. For a terrifying moment Harley thought that Peter had run away again but then heard the sound of something falling to the floor in the bathroom. 

“Peter?” He called out as he approached the closed door to the bathroom. “Can I come in?”

“Please just leave me alone.” He heard Peter beg in a broken voice. Unsure, Harley didn’t move or speak for a long moment. He wanted to help Peter and be able to comfort him but at the same time he wanted to give him the space he wanted. 

“Ok.” Harley finally responded. He doubted Peter even heard him and the lack of any response only solidified the thought. 

When Harley reached his room he immediately buried himself under the blankets in his bed feeling horrible. As he felt his worn out body sink into the sheets he couldn’t help but wish he was back in that condemned apartment building with Peter which was a surprising thought since he’d been so desperate to reach Tony and get an actual home during that time. But things did not seem to be getting better now that he and Peter lived in the tower, in fact they only seemed to be getting worse. Even with all the help Peter had now he was still struggling. And sure, it’s not like Harley had expected him to be totally fine as soon as they got here but it had seemed like he had been slowly startling to recover but not anymore. Something had happened, Harley knew, and he needed to figure out what. Was it something Harley had done? Or Tony? Was it the Avengers? Harley knew that Peter felt inferior around them, he could feel the insecurity radiating off his boyfriend when they were even discussed. 

Was it something that happened at school? Harley wouldn’t know because he wasn’t there. But he knew someone who was.

Harley Keener at 8:46 PM: hey ned

Harley was glad he’d gotten Ned’s number earlier. The only thing they ever messaged about was Peter but it was handy.

Ned responded almost instantly which was normal.

Ned Leeds at 8:48 PM: hey harley. what’s up?

Harley Keener at 8:48 PM: did something happen at school today? peter’s acting different

There was a long moment where the dots signaling Ned typing popped up and then disappeared repeatedly. Harley could tell that Ned was trying to figure out what to say. He took that as a bad sign.

Ned Leeds at 8:51 PM: yeah peter got rlly upset during lunch 

Was it over eating? That’s what Harley assumed.

Harley Keener at 8:51 PM: what happened?

Another long pause. 

Ned Leeds at 8:54: i don’t know if he wants me to say

So something definitely did happen. 

Harley didn’t want to press Ned when it was obvious that Ned didn’t want to betray Peter’s trust so Harley wished him goodnight and put his phone up.

He wanted to just talk to Peter and figure this all out but he couldn’t. Peter wanted to be alone. He probably didn’t want Harley to see him when he was upset like this.

This disappointed Harley for multiple reasons. He’d wanted to be able to talk to Peter about all the shit that had happened at the court hearing today and be comforted. Seeing his parents for the first time since he’d ran away had been difficult and he knew that being able to be with Peter would take the sting away. It was a selfish thought but he couldn’t help but wish that Peter had been fine today and hadn’t gotten upset at dinner. Harley shouldn’t be thinking like that, he knew. Peter had his own set of issues that were much more severe, even life threatening. Harley’s stupid mommy and daddy issues were nothing in comparison.

Harley fell asleep shortly after that, dreaming of Peter.

Peter, on the other hand, never fell asleep. He laid in the massive bed and stared out the floor to ceiling windows that overlooked Manhattan.

Shame gnawed at his very being so roughly he wanted to claw at his skin to relieve the pain. How could he let this happen? How could he be so stupid? He’d practically handed Flash the key to making him miserable and then became stuck in his horrific manipulation. 

Peter stared out the window and suddenly wished there wasn’t a glass pane so he could stand on the edge and let himself fall without ever catching himself. It was a selfish, cowardly way out of his dilemma and he scolded himself for considering it, choking down the longing that left a bad taste in his mouth. The feeling reminded him of how it felt to have to kiss Flash and once again Peter was brought back to that horrible moment in the bathroom. To think that when morning came he’d have to return to school and face it all again made the thought of leaping out the window even more appealing. But no, he couldn’t. Harley didn’t deserve that.

He also didn’t deserve to be cheated on. Peter was so fucking disgusting.

Tears slipped down Peter’s cheeks as he watched the sun slowly rise into the skyline, lighting up the city in a yellow glow. It made him want to scream.

He had to do something. Desperation clawed at his throat. But if he did Flash would leak his identity. Peter would be targeted by every criminal with a grudge against Spiderman in the city. He’d have to drop out of school, avoid public interaction, and be personally criticized. His entire life would be changed forever. 

Peter figured dealing with Flash for however long he had to would be better than dealing with his leaked identity forever. 

As he forced himself to begin putting on his clothes, not even caring what they were, he considered skipping school but didn’t entertain the idea for long. Although every fiber of his being ached for him to stay home and avoid the inevitable disaster that going to school would bring, he knew Flash well enough to know that he wouldn’t take kindly to Peter skipping today and now that Flash had the kind of leverage he did, Peter didn’t really have a choice but to obey. He steeled himself mentally before finally opening the door and walking out into the main room. 

Harley was there on the couch, scrolling on his phone. He smiled up at Peter who forced one back. I’m lying, I’m cheating, scream at me like I deserve.

Tony was in the kitchen talking to Ann and Nick who hadn’t yet noticed him. “I tried, but he said he couldn’t eat it. And he didn’t eat the lunch either!” Tony exclaimed, sounding mad. Peter caused that.

“Peter!” Harley called out loudly, announcing Peter’s presence to Tony and the others so they’d stop talking about him. Tony seemed to untense as he finally looked at the broken brunette frozen in the doorway.

“Hey, Pete.” He called out, attempting to squash the awkwardness in the room. “How did you sleep?”

He didn’t. “Fine.” Peter stepped further into the room, making sure to not get near Harley. His boyfriend's presence was causing the guilt to consume him and make it hard to breathe. 

“Peter, you need to eat before you go-” Tony tried but Nick grabbed his arm to silence him and stepped forward. 

“Hey, Peter.” He called out with a sincere looking smile. Peter glared at him. He was not in the mood for one of their ‘talks’. Nick didn’t seem to realize that, though. “Can we chat real quick?”

They all watched him hopefully like he was actually going to tell them everything. “No.” 

He couldn’t tell Nick what was wrong. He couldn’t tell anybody. Not if he wanted to keep Flash from leaking his identity. Not if he wanted to keep them from being disgusted with him. They didn’t know that, though, so Peter tried to squash down his rising anger. They were just trying to help but Peter knew he didn’t deserve their help. 

“I’ve got to go to school.” Peter tacked on after a long pause to answer the confusion he could see on their faces and to be less rude. 

“It’ll just take a moment.” Nick assured him but Peter shook his head and stepped back towards the elevator. 

“Sorry, I can’t. Later, maybe?” He was going to avoid Nick for as long as possible. He wasn’t sure how long he would be able to lie to the man so staying away from him was necessary even if Peter hadn’t minded getting to open up to him earlier. 

Peter was almost to the elevator when Harley jumped up to hug him, trying not to notice the way Peter stiffened. “Bye, Pete.” 

“Uh, bye Harley.” Peter choked back. He stepped into the elevator and was surprised and slightly agitated when Tony followed him in. 

“Uh…” Peter began, looking up to the billionaire in confusion. 

“I’m driving you today.” Tony explained simply without leaving any room for argument as the elevator began descending to the parking garage. 

Hundreds of questions flooded through Peter’s mind at this but he didn’t voice any of them. Tony seemed pissed. 

They reached the part of the parking garage separate from the rest that was reserved for all of Tony’s personal cars. Or at least some of his collection. The rest were in his lab or other properties. Tony pressed a button on his keys and a baby blue Chevrolet Corvette parked near the front of the line of sports cars lit up as it unlocked. Tony was getting into the driver's seat when he noticed Peter who had his mouth gaped open and was frozen fifteen feet away. 

“Come on.” Tony tried to coax him but the teen didn’t move. 

“Mr. Stark…” He began, disbelief all over his face. “We can’t go to my school in that .”

“Not up to your standards?” Tony joked because he knew Peter thought the faniciness of the car was absurd. He stepped away from the car. “You're right, the Mclaran Senna would be better suited.” Tony urged as he gestured to an even more expensive looking sports car that was bright fiery red. 

The look on Peter’s face at this made Tony chuckle. “Don’t worry, kid, I’ll drop you off a block away from school.”

After a lot of hesitation, Peter finally stepped up to the passenger side of the car and gingerly pulled the handle like even his light touches would ruin the car. Tony shook his head and smiled as he took his spot in front of the wheel. 

After making sure Peter was wearing a seatbelt, a fatherly gesture that surprised both of them, Tony put the car in gear and went flying out of the garage and onto the street causing Peter to be pushed back into his chair at the force. He grimaced nervously and had a death grip on the handles.

“Relax.” Tony assured him. He was smiling at Peter’s reaction, finding humor in the shock on Peter’s face. “I’m not gonna crash.”

Peter didn’t reciprocate the humor though, Tony noticed, and instead wrung his hands together anxiously and watched the building flash by out the window. Tony kept glancing at him nervously. He kept trying to guess what was wrong but the problem was that there were so many things that it could be that he wasn’t even sure which thing it was. Peter could be upset about the fact that his Aunt had just died, or any of his other family members before that, or maybe it was the fact that his eating disorder seemed to be worsening recently. Or Maybe Harley had told him about how his parents were fighting the adoption process as hard as they could, keeping Tony from being able to finish adopting Harley like he had Peter. Maybe it was the fact that Peter hadn’t been able to go out as Spiderman for so long because of his injuries. 

There was a long pause as both of their thoughts whirled. 

Whatever the problem was, Tony was going to find out. Soon. 

When they pulled to a stop a block away from the school Peter lifted himself up out of the car and murmured his thanks before shutting the door and trudging off to school. 

Tony would feel bad for what he was about to do if he wasn’t so damn concerned. 

“FRIDAY, deploy a Stealth Drone that stays locked on Peter. And record and footage taken.” 

“On it boss.”

Maybe Peter didn’t want to open up to him or Harley but he might to his school friends. He had known them for a lot longer so he most likely trusted them more. And one of the drones that Tony had created during a paranoia filled episode would be able to record any conversations he had. 

It was an invasion of privacy but the concern Tony was feeling outweighed any kind of logic. 

“FRIDAY, pull the footage up on my phone.” 

The video of Peter walking through an alley to the school popped up onto Tony’s phone. He put the car in park and leaned back as he heard Peter sigh. The drone was tiny, only two or three inches long, but he’d designed it to pick up on anything it’s target did or said. 

Peter wasn’t necessarily a target, but he was keeping a secret and Tony needed to know what it was, for Peter’s wellbeing. And his mental assurance. 

Peter was walking up the steps to the school when he finally stopped. There was muffled chatter from all around him but Tony could make out one voice yelling out louder than the rest. 

“Hey, Penis!” A nasally sounding voice called out. Peter’s shoulders visibly tensed and the monitor in the drone picked up on his elevated heart rate. He turned towards Flash as the bully approached him. Tony’s brows furrowed as he watched the interaction. 

“W-what?” Peter choked back and he sounded absolutely devastated. Tony’s grip on his phone tightened. 

“Follow me.” Flash said through a smirk before he started walking back towards the direction he’d come from. Tony was surprised when Peter followed after him after only a moment of hesitation. 

“Follow them.” He commanded FRIDAY through grit teeth as he watched Flash lead Peter to the side of the building and through a large, wooden gate that surrounded a small alcove for the school’s trash. 

Peter had his head down and was clenching his fists. He looked uncomfortable but didn’t move. Flash crept closer to him. 

“You didn’t blab, did you?” He spat when he was only a couple inches away from Peter. Tony leaned forward. Whatever this was, it had to be the cause for Peter’s sudden change in mood. He looked more uncomfortable than Tony had ever seen him and Tony had thought that he’d already witnessed some of Peter’s worst moments first hand. 

“No.” Peter responded and for the first time in a while he actually had some bite to his tone. 

“Good.” Flash had a hungry look in his eyes that Tony hated. Then he grabbed Peter’s shoulder and locked their lips in an aggressive kiss. 

“What the fuck.” Tony reeled. 

Chapter Text

Harley collapsed backwards onto the couch and stared at the floor with a feeling of overwhelming dread. He had been so focused on getting to Tony Stark and then on Peter’s wellbeing that he’d never even considered there still being problems if those things were handled. Well ‘handled’ was a loose term. Peter definitely wasn’t completely recovered yet. He was still skipping meals and now was acting so distant and moody. His demeanor paired with the stress of trying to figure out the legal logistics regarding Harley’s parental guardianship status was beginning to overwhelm Harley to a point he couldn’t really handle. He felt on the verge of a panic attack for a couple days now and as he felt his breathing pick up he knew that it was finally about to crash down on him. At least Peter and Tony had left as well as the rest of the Avengers so Harley knew he was alone while he mentally fell apart. 

Crippling thoughts of Peter’s wellbeing declining more and him ending up back with his parents kept him firmly seated in the couch, paralyzed with panic. The only movement he could manage was the rapid inhale and exhale of breath and the unstoppable full body tremors. His leg was shaking so bad he barely noticed the vibration of his phone against it. After a semi-normal breath he gripped the phone with trembling fingers and angled it towards his flushed face. 

Over ten missed calls from Tony. Once again he felt his heart rate spike back up and stop all at the same time. 

Whatever the reason for all the calls was, Harley knew it was not good. He answered the call with a miraculous jab of his trembling index finger. 

Tony’s frantic voice greeted him. 

It took a while for Harley’s distressed brain to make sense of Tony’s words. 

“-bad happened and I don’t know what to do. Peter’s in serious trouble right-”

Serious trouble? The panic in Harley’s chest made him feel like he was going to vomit. 

“W-what happened?” He finally managed to choke out while he could hear shuffling coming from the other end of the phone. 

“I don’t know who this boy is but I’m about five seconds away from stepping out there and blasting him.” Tony growled, seemingly ignoring Harley’s question. 

“Tony, what-”

“He’s leaving. Wait.”

There was the sound of a car door opening and then slamming and then shoes slapping on concrete and heavy breathing. The sound made Harley’s breath catch. His lungs screamed for air as his mind screamed for a reassurance that everything was okay. 

“Hey!” Tony yelled out followed by a loud bang. The phone dropped from Harley’s shaking hands. 

• •●───── 🕸️⋅🕷⋅🕸️ ─────●••

Peter broke away from the forced kiss and stepped back as far as he could before the brick wall hit his back. Flash glared at him with dark, sinister and hungry eyes. It shot a stab of fear into his chest and for a moment he didn’t feel like an enhanced vigilante at all. He felt like a trapped mouse waiting for its inevitable death. He slammed his eyes closed and pressed his cheek into the wall behind him, paralyzed with fear. 

He should have never been so reckless and let Flash have this sort of power over him. What a stupid mistake. Flash’s hands reached out to him and roamed over his chest. 

“I live in Apartment 380C in Park East on 24th Street. If you’re not there by five tonight the video is getting uploaded.” Peter opened his eyes and met Flash’s threatening ones. “Don’t try to pull any tricks because trust me, I’ll know and your entire life will be ruined.”

Peter swallowed the bile in his throat and felt his body begin to shake. “P-please…”

To Peter’s surprise, Flash actually looked apologetic for just a moment. It didn’t excuse everything he was doing, not at all. 

But to his utter relief, Flash pulled his hands away and began taking steps towards the open gate, keeping his eyes locked on Peter’s. As he stepped outside the large wooden fence that enclosed the trash area, Peter felt himself collapse down against the wall and to the concrete ground as the full gravity of the situation slammed into him. It was a realization of what could happen to him without any way to stop it and it scared Peter in ways no villain he fought ever could. 

He watched Flash grin wickedly before he was slammed to the side from another person. They landed on the ground on the concrete, out of sight from Peter due to the fence. He could hear them struggling. 

And then, “Give me one reason I shouldn’t blast you right now.”

Tony stood over Flash’s frightened form with his repulsor pointed directly at his terrified face. The repulsor was the only piece of the Iron Man armor he was wearing and the sleeve of his shirt was slid up to his elbow so it could fit properly on his bare arm. His other hand was gripping a phone tightly. 

Flash shrieked and tried to wriggle out between Tony’s feet but Tony kicked him in the side, stopping him and causing him to let out a cry. 

He would have done worse too if Peter hadn’t suddenly grabbed his arm. Tony’s face spun to meet Peter’s distressed one. 

“Don’t hurt him!” He yelled out in desperation. 

What was Peter saying? Tony wasn’t just gonna hurt him. He was going to make him suffer and then kill him .

“Please!” Flash cried out desperately and Tony was about to stomp his stupid fucking mouth but stopped when he felt Peter pull on his arm. 

“Tony no!” He cried out desperately. Tony did stop and he turned back towards Peter. 

“Peter, he fucking assaulted you.” Tony spat, his anger directed at the piece of shit under him and not the heartbroken brunette boy he was talking to. Peter still flinched back at the words though. 

“P-please don’t kill him. Please, Mr. Stark.” Peter begged as his body was wracked with sobs. The fact that Tony was so concerned about Peter’s wellbeing was the only reason he stepped away from Flash as he turned fully towards Peter. 

“Peter...” He hummed, stuffing his burning rage down so he could comfort the broken teen in front of him. Now that Flash wasn’t held down anymore he scrambled backwards frantically, lacking all the overconfidence that he exuded just five minutes before. Tony watched him sprint away over Peter’s head that he had pressed into his chest and knew that it was not going to be the last time he was going to see Flash Thompson, he would make sure of it. But for now he had Peter’s shaking form in his arms and could feel the cloth of his shirt becoming wet from tears. Not that he personally cared, he’d burn every piece of clothing he owned for Peter, but he hated that the teen was upset. It was all that stupid kid's fault, he knew. He was going to get revenge. 

Maybe it was petty, but Peter Parker had gone way too long without justice and Tony couldn’t stand for it much longer. 

After a long moment, Tony pulled away from Peter and looked down into his tearstained, ashamed face. “Are you okay?” Was his first question quickly followed up with “I’m not mad, this isn’t your fault.”

Peter covered his splotchy face with his pale, long fingers as his shoulders were wracked with another wave of sobs. Tony’s heart broke yet again for his adoptive son. He’d been through way too much. 

Before either of them could do anything else, though, a frantic, muffled voice suddenly became audible to them after having previously been drowned out by everything that had just happened. “Tony, Tony what’s going on!? Tony!?”

Tony had completely forgotten about his call with Harley and brought his phone to his ear. “Harley, I’m sorry-”

“Tony! What the hell is-”

“Look, we're coming back now. No one is hurt.” Tony wanted to reassure Harley that everything was okay but one look at Peter reminded him that it really wasn’t. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Since there was really nothing more that they could do there and Peter’s tears had subsided, (he still wasn’t really saying anything still) Tony guided him back to the car and made sure his seat belt was fastened securely before flooring it. He kept thinking about what he’d just seen and all the anger was coming back, evident in his aggressive driving. He only became aware of this though when Peter let out a soft shriek when Tony narrowly avoided a collision while weaving through two trucks. He tried to take a calming breath and slow down for Peter’s sake. The last thing the kid needed was anymore trauma considering the amount he already undoubtedly had. 

“We’re almost there kiddo.” Tony tried to reassure him but it came out more as a growl. With his free hand he was also typing out instructions for Happy on checking up on Harley.

It normally would have taken twenty minutes to get home but Tony did it in eight. Peter didn’t ask about going to school today still, a sign that he thought Tony was pissed at him. Tony was too angry to correct that now, but not at Peter, at the boy who just assaulted him. 

They pulled into the parking spot they had only left forty-five minutes ago and there was a moment of silence after Tony had turned off the car and they were both sitting there. 

“Mr. Stark, I’m so sorry-” Peter tried but Tony wouldn’t let him. 

“Peter, nothing that just happened was your fault at all . I know you think it was but I promise you it wasn’t. That kid-” Tony had to take a deep breath to keep his anger at bay at the thought of the teen that did this. “It’s solely his fault. And he will be dealt with.” 

After that Tony pushed himself out of his seat while Peter panicked. “Wait, please don’t hurt him!” He also scrambled out of his seat and met Tony at the back of the car, his still splotchy face panicked. “I can deal with him! You don’t have to do anything.”

Tony had been about to start the walk up to find Harley who had no doubt freaked out and also needed help but Peter’s comment stopped him. “Peter, you are not in the correct mental state to deal with any of this guy’s bullshit. Your method of ‘dealing with it’ was completely shutting down and just enduring it which is not going to work.”

“You don’t understand!” Peter cried and he was shaking again. “He has a video of me that clearly shows my identity. If I didn’t do what he wanted, he was going to reveal my abilities to everyone!”

There was a short moment that Tony just stared at Peter, taking this in. Then, “FRIDAY, hack into that motherfucker's phone and erase any footage or anything that involves Peter Parker.”

Peter’s mouth gaped open at that and he rushed to follow Tony as he stepped into the elevator. There was a long pause where neither of them spoke. Tony was too angry to. 

Finally he managed to. “Peter, I want you to promise me that from now on if anything happens at all that you tell me or Harley or Pepper or anybody , okay?” Tony urged him in a serious tone. “You can’t handle this by yourself.”

Peter met Tony’s tense gaze and his eyes welled up with tears. Just like that Tony’s anger dissipated again and was replaced with the need to comfort. Before he could do anything, though, the elevator door slid open. 

“Peter.” Harley called out, his voice wobbly and broken and relieved . He stepped up to his boyfriend and looked him up and down to reassure himself that he was actually okay. Then he noticed the tears that had slipped over Peter’s cheek and pulled him into a hug. 

Tony stepped past the boys, content that Peter had someone there who was much more suited to alleviate his emotional turmoil and approached Happy who was looking on at the scene with a look that said ‘what happened?’.

Tony knew he owed all of them an explanation but also even thinking about talking about what had just happened made his anger burn again. 

“I’m sorry.” He heard Peter call out shakily to Harley as he looked up and met his boyfriends concerned gaze. “I really let you down.”

That did make Tony turn back. He was not going to let Peter think like that. “Peter, none of this was your fault.” He assured him again with more force than he meant. 

“What happened?” Harley questioned with a look of dread. 

“I-I cheated…” Peter managed to reply with a sob. A look of horrified confusion crossed Harley’s face and Tony knew he needed to step in. 

“You were blackmailed and assaulted.” He corrected but this only increased Harley’s panic. 

“What?! What happened? Are you okay?!” Harley immediately demanded. Peter sheepishly met his gaze and could see the tiredness in his eyes behind the panic. He caused that.

Suddenly Peter just wanted to hide away and save the people around him from the trouble he caused. They didn’t deserve it. To his embarrassment, the frustration only brought more tears to his eyes.

Before anyone in the room could do or say anything, Pepper stepped through a doorway and took in the crying teen standing near the elevator surrounded by Tony, Harley, and Happy. “What’s going on?”

Harley wrapped Peter into a protective hug, deciding that now wasn’t really the time to be demanding answers even though he was dying to know, and seeing that Peter was finally getting the comfort he needed, Tony stepped away and approached Pepper. She had a searching look in her eye and he gently assured her that everything was okay.

Even though it wasn’t really.

The image of that sick freak forcing himself on Peter was still in the forefront in his mind and he felt like he was going to be sick from anger and worry. He couldn’t even imagine how Peter was feeling right now.

“Peter…” Harley breathed as he pulled away and wiped a tear off Peter’s cheekbone with his thumb. 

“I-I’m so sorry.” Peter choked out, unable to meet Harley’s gaze. Harley didn’t deserve to have to deal with him and he shouldn’t be comforting him, not when it was Peter who was entirely in the wrong, not Harley. 

“What happened?” Harley finally managed to ask again. Peter remained silent for a long moment but Harley could see him swaying on his feet and realized the only thing keeping him from collapsing right now was Harley’s comforting hands on his face. With a pang in his chest, Harley gently guided Peter over to the sofa. Happy followed but kept his distance still. 

Finally, Peter answered Harley’s question. When he began to speak Tony stopped his whispered conversation with Pepper and listened attentively to Peter’s shaky words. “Fl-lash Thompson had a video of me climbing a wall without my suit on…”

This gave Harley even more questions but he kept quiet to let Peter speak. 

Tony was listening at the same time he was having FRIDAY run multiple background checks on ‘Flash Thompson’. So that was the little shit’s name.

“He said if I didn’t… If I didn’t… comply, he would post the video.”

A horrible look of realization crossed Harley’s face as the pieces began to come together. Peter had said he had cheated and Tony had said he was blackmailed and assaulted…. “Oh my god…”

Peter finally met his gaze with a broken one. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Harley was too shocked to answer for a long moment. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

At this Peter’s heartbroken expression only worsened. “I was scared.”

As the tears began to fall Harley pulled Peter to his chest so he wouldn’t see them. His face twisted and contorted with emotion as he realized what this all meant. 

“He never… never forced you to have-” Harley started but Peter cut him off.

“No.” He answered firmly then paused for a moment. “But he would have if Tony didn’t step in today.”

Harley squeezed Peter tightly at this, wishing he could reverse time and have Tony do something earlier. He was going to fucking kill Flash.

“Promise me you’ll come to me if something…” Harley hoped harder than he ever had that nothing like this would ever happen again. Peter seemed to understand what he meant.

“I promise. And I’m sorry.”

Harley pulled away from the hug and looked into Peter’s big, broken brown eyes. “This wasn’t your fault, okay?” He told him urgently because he needed Peter to believe it too. 

“Okay.” Peter breathed back because he knew that’s what Harley wanted to hear. Still the crippling guilt remained in his stomach. He almost wished Harley was screaming in rage at him right now because he knew that’s what he deserved. 

Pepper sat down next to the pair and gave Peter a side hug. “Hey Petey.” She breathed. Peter leaned into the touch. 

Burning with rage at the person who caused the tears still streaking Peter’s face, Harley stood up and approached Tony with a burning gaze. “Where is he?”

“He’s at his home.” Tony answered because he already knew exactly what Harley was asking about. 

“I’m going to fucking kill him.” Harley spat in a low voice so Peter couldn’t hear him. He knew that Peter’s selfish nature would never let him kill the fucker who did this. 

“As much as I agree with you, and trust me I do because I almost did kill him, we have enough evidence to do this the legal way.” Tony urged Harley, his voice containing some of the anger he was currently feeling too. 

“What evidence?” 

“My drone got everything on video.”

Harley glanced back at Peter who was currently against Pepper’s side as she spoke soft, comforting words to him. “Show me the video.”

“Harley…” Tony murmured and Harley turned back to him with animosity in his gaze. 

After a moment Tony relented and pulled out his phone. In just two swipes he had a video playing that showed a birds eye view of Peter walking with his head down. The more the video played, the more Harley thought he was going to be sick. 

“That fucking bastard.”