Chapter Text
Peter was startled awake by the buzzing of his phone on his bedside table. The phone rumbled on his countertop, quieting for a moment.
A moment later, the buzzing continued in a rhythmic pulse, one Peter slowly realized was similar to a heartbeat. The ebbs and flows of the buzzing was uneven, but oddly comforting for Peter, who was now slowly adjusting himself with a yawn. His head was foggy- having just woken up out of seemingly nowhere.
Peter sucked in a deep breath as he scrunched his back like a cat, resting his chin to his chest as he stretched his whole body. His muscles tensed as he stretched, the blissful feeling of moving after being still for so long washing over him. The buzzing from his phone ended, and Peter lazily dragged his arm over to the phone, lifting it up to his bed.
As if the person on the other end knew, they called back instantly as Peter sat back. He rested his back against the headboard of his bed, staring blankly at the phone, blinking slowly. He frowned, taking a second to adjust as his eyes trailed over the phone's outline.
The phone lit up in Peter's hand, and Peter instantly recognized the photo of his best friend staring at something off screen. It was his best friend - Harry, who met Peter with a smile as Peter blinked at his phone, dragging his thumb towards the green button to pick up the call. That was at least some motivation to pick the phone up, Harry hadn't called much the past two years while he was away.
Harry's voice broke through the phone, tinny and robotic, but Peter sighed quietly as Harry spoke.
“Pete? You up? It's..” Harry paused, “11. Did you- did you just wake up?” Harry said, his voice cut off shortly, seemingly trying to hold in a laugh. His voice was slightly muffled, seemingly a bit of a distance between Harry and the phone.
Peter yawned, making sure to over-exaggerate the yawn into the mic of his phone, as if to answer Harry, who responded with a quiet chuckle.
“Mmmyeah. Just woke up.” Peter responded finally, wiping away a tear that had welled in the corner of his eye from the yawn. He rubbed the tear on the blanket in front of him, absentmindedly resting his arm down now.
Harry’s voice rang out through the phone, closer this time, echoing around his messy room. In response, Peter yelped as he quickly fiddled with the side of his phone, muting the phone. With a bitter sigh, Peter raised the volume to an acceptable level, placing the phone down on his stomach, his ears slightly ringing from the abrupt change in volume.
Peter shook his hand in the air for a second, opening his mouth to respond, before his sleep-addled brain briskly supplying that Harry wasn't able to see him. He lowered his hand, resting it at his side as he closed his eyes, trying to speak again.
“Wait- wait, sorry, what ? My phone was.. being weird, could you.. repeat that?” Peter asked, blinking his eyes open, looking back down at the phone laying on his stomach. He heard Harry snicker, and a rustling of clothes from Harry's side of the call.
“I was just saying, if you still wanted to hang out, I could probably bring coffee over there? You seem pretty.. out of it, Pete.” Harry said, letting out a quiet laugh. The rustling of clothes quieted, and Peter sighed. Peter groggily ran his palms over his eyes, taking a second to process his words, still a bit spacy from waking up so suddenly.
Right- he had planned to go meet Harry at the.. park? Was that it? Peter's brain buffered for a moment, thinking of what Harry was proposing. What'd he say- coffee . Right.
“Uhh- sure! I totally forgot about that- sorry man, I guess my.. alarm didn't go off? It usually does, I don't know why -” Peter said, interrupted by the chirping of Harry's voice chiming in.
“ It's fine! I got the coffee already- I've been, uh, waiting to surprise you, but apparently you weren't even up, so..” Harry said, chuckling quietly as he trailed off. Peter didn't wait to hear the rest of what Harry said as he sat up quickly, tossing his covers off himself as he jogged down the hallway, the previous tiredness from waking up moments ago vanishing.
Peter heard Harry ask something at his phone, but Peter had left it upstairs on his bed when he jumped out of bed. Peter stumbled across the wooden floorboards, huffing in frustration when a string from his sock snagged on the wooden grain. He tugged on his sock, furrowing his eyebrows when the wooden piece only stuck up more, before he stomped it back down.
As Peter haphazardly pushed the wooden piece back into place, he heard a knock on the door- one he recognized as Harry's knock. Two quick knocks, a brief pause, two quick, one pause- then a final knock. They had made knocks for each other in highschool, something Harry got really into when Peter had proposed the idea. It had stuck into their later years, something they barely noticed now, a part of their day-to-day when interacting with the other. But Peter had to admit, he had missed that knock, strangely enough.
“One second, sorry!” Peter called out towards the front door as he glared at the piece of wood, beginning to shuffle down the single flight of stairs in the old house. The stairs groaned under the weight, and Peter chuckled at the house's quiet complaints.
Peter made it to the door with a few seconds before Harry knocked again. Harry's knock startled Peter as he adjusted his posture right next to the door, a hand on the doorknob. Peter yelped, and Harry jumped back, not expecting Peter to be right outside the door.
“ Pete! Open the door- I have coffee!” Harry said, laughing as he presumably adjusted the coffees in his grasp from behind the door.
Peter cracked the door open, sticking an eye out at Harry, squinting at the ginger-haired man who looked down at him. Peter spoke through the door, his voice slightly muffled by the wooden door in the way.
“... Who is it? ” Peter queried in a sing-song voice.
“Peter, open the door.” Harry retorted, traces of a smile lingering in his voice, though Peter couldn't see him fully.
“Yeah, okay.” Peter said with a laugh, opening the door fully, and gesturing for Harry to enter, giving an over-the-top bow as he pretended to show off his messy living room.
Harry chuckled, strolling into Peter's house with two coffees in hand, his gaze scanning over the room for a moment before he turned back to Peter. He glanced up at his head, quickly averting his gaze, but doing a double take as he turned away, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.
Peter couldn't help but grin aswell, snickering slightly at the man in front of him as he shut the door. Harry leant against the railing of the singular set of stairs nearby, his arm set behind him.
“What?” Peter asked, cocking his head to the side as he looked back at Harry. He furrowed his eyebrows playfully, seemingly unable to get rid of the grin on his lips.
“Nothing, nothing. I just like your.. new style.” Harry said, his eyes flicking back up to the top of Peter's head.
Peter stuck out his bottom lip slightly, bringing his hand to his head, patting around before he noticed a tuft of hair sticking up.
“Bedhead, I think.” Harry answered before Peter could ask what it was, crossing his arms the best he could with one coffee cup in hand. The other arm was slightly hidden behind his back, folded behind the railing Harry leant against, presumably holding coffee for Harry himself.
Peter groaned as he realized how messy his hair was, brushed in different directions as he was sleeping. He could hear Harry chuckling from behind him, and Peter gave a short exhale out his nose in response. If only he had taken his time to get up and get ready- but no. Peter wanted to meet up with Harry, he'd have to deal with his hair over there.
Peter sighed, running his fingers through his short hair, fixing the overlapping pieces of hair that sat up awkwardly. Straightening his hair, Peter turned to face Harry, raising his eyebrows in a questioning manner, almost as if to ask if it was fine now. Harry seemed lost for a moment, but perked up slightly after he realized what Peter was asking of him. Harry glanced over his hair, his expression blank before he gave Peter a thumbs up.
The brown-haired man chuckled, shaking his head slightly. He lowered his eyebrows, briefly scanning over the walkway of his room. There were a few books astray, some stacked near shoeboxes and boxes of moving supplies. He quickly dismissed the thought of cleaning up, Harry had seen his room in worse conditions before.
Peter's face lit up as he remembered about the coffee, swiveling to face Harry with a grin etched into the corners of his lips. He looked over Harry's folded arms, one which was still holding the cup of coffee slightly in front of him. The two had just been able to talk about Peter's hair without having to say a thing, maybe their mental telepathy carried over so Peter didn't have to mention the coffee?
Harry furrowed his eyebrows as Peter approached, looking like Peter had asked him something obscene. Peter chuckled, reaching for the coffee cup Harry was absentmindedly holding onto, who was currently tapping his fingers on the cupholder wrapped around the cup.
“Uhh, the coffee, Harry?” Peter asked, his lips quirking up into a brief smile. Okay, no mental telepathy. Bummer. They'd have to work on that.
Harry's eyes widened slightly, taking a break from blankly staring forwards and straightening his posture.
“Right! Right- yeah, here.” Harry said quickly, his arm shooting out to hold the cup in front of him like it had burnt him. Peter hesitantly took the coffee, chuckling as Harry set his arm on his hip.
“Coffee, right.” Harry mumbled, casting his eyes downwards to the worn down wooden floor the two of them were on. Harry noticed the grain of the wood going traveling away from his feet, noticing where some of the wooden floorboards had been etched away through people living in the old house. ...What else was there to look at? Should he be looking up at Peter?
The awkward silence stretched for a couple seconds.
Harry kept staring down, slowly taking in a deep breath like it was the last he'd ever take.
Peter eventually cleared his throat, absentmindedly rocking himself slightly back and forth on the balls of his heels.
“Sorry about the mess, I didn't really.. unpack much yet. I forgot we were going out- I didn't think I'd need to..” Peter trailed off, his eyes darting around at the assortment of moving boxes, his eyes catching on a fine layer of dust starting to accumulate on top of a couple boxes near the corner.
“...Clean up.” Peter finished.
Harry snorted. “You mean cleaning the dust on those boxes? Pete, at this pace you'll be finished moving in by the time you retire.”
“Well- eh, I'm getting there. I've been thinking about opening them. That's a start.”
“That.. is definitely a start. ” Harry responded sarcastically. He exhaled a breath sharply through his nose, making Peter think he was trying to hold in a laugh. Peter chuckled along, but the silence eventually started to creep back into their conversation.
Peter was suddenly reminded why he had brought up the room, and he glanced around the room, his eyes glossing over the singular cushioned chair in his living room. Peter clicked his tongue, thinking of somewhere to sit for the moment.
“I don't exactly have anywhere available to sit at the moment… My dining table’s still in construction- but my room’s set up?” Peter offered, waving a hand vaguely towards the stairwell behind Harry. Harry looked over his shoulder, and for a second, Peter caught a faint glimpse of him smiling over his shoulder.
“Pete, we both know you have one chair, and that’s it.” Harry said, grinning slightly while shaking his head.
“Well, from what I remember, since I was last up there. Has anything up there changed since then?” Harry continued after a second.
“Mmm… no, not really. I could always sit on the floor though?”
“You're not sitting on the floor in your own house.”
“Would you rather sit on the floor?”
“...Nah.”
“My point exactly,” Peter laughed, shaking his head.
Peter eventually nodded, taking a step towards the stairway Harry was near, making eye contact briefly as a silent “follow me.” Harry caught on, grinning and returning the look, while pushing off of the post he was leaning against. Finally, the telepathy was working again. This was progress.
“Alright, alright, I'm following you. Lead the way.” Harry laughed.