Chapter Text
“Good afternoon, Dr. Anderson, I was sent here,” a man with exhales heavily with a lush gray mustache and turns to face the young boy.
"Who are you?" The man moves to the far table in order to pick up a thick stack of sloppily folded pieces of paper in the next moment.
“The new intern of this department, Harley Keener,” the man raises his eyebrows, but says nothing, continuing to look for something in the documents.
“Okay, put on a lab robe and go to Miller, he’ll show you everything here,” Miller himself looks extremely dissatisfied, but still looks up from his work and approaches the tall blond.
Harley straightens his hair and begins to walk a little faster to keep up with the young scientist, who is clearly reluctant to talk about the department. The guy lifts his chin proudly when the man notices his young age. Keener became an intern much earlier than the Stark Industries charter allows, but he did so not only thanks to his connections, but also to his good knowledge.
“I think that you will make friends with Peter, he will be younger, but he is a real genius,” the guy is not delighted with these words, because he hoped that he would be the only one who could get into such a company at nineteen.
Peter yawns sweetly and immediately breaks out into laughter when he notices Stark's pathetic attempts to cook something similar to lasagna. The guy closes his eyes and raises his head to the ceiling, trying to calm down, but seeing the expression on Tony’s face he continues to laugh even louder. Tony should get used to the fact that Peter sometimes bursts into such bright positive emotions, but he simply cannot. The man sits down on the table where he was trying to cook dinner a few minutes ago and smiles softly.
“Let me teach you, dad,” Tony hates looking stupid, hates it when people find out that he doesn’t know how to do something, but he just nods.
This boy managed to do in a couple of months what Pepper could not do in her entire life together with Stark. He managed to understand Tony, so their father-son duo looks extremely fabulous and correct. Perhaps this was influenced by the trials they went through together. Sometimes Stark thinks that Peter would have been better off living with May, but he quickly dispels such nasty thoughts. Of course, May is the only one he had left after Ben’s death, it was his life, he felt good. Peter flicks Stark's face a couple of times to get his attention.
"Add nutmeg to the milk and stir. Come on, it’ll run away now," Tony nods and picks up a wooden spatula.
Parker watches Stark's actions out of the corner of his eye, stretching. Slightly toned arms are clearly visible thanks to the huge T-shirt. Tony swears loudly as the milk begins to sizzle, Peter shoots a thin strand of web into the handle of the stove in one practiced motion. Stark twitches and gets burned, Parker rolls his eyes and moves closer, moving the man away from the stove.
“Peter, he shouldn’t be allowed closer than five meters to the kitchen,” Rhodey puts two large bags on the table and almost falls over when a huge bulk in the form of Parker falls on him.
“You said that you would return only in three days, you liar, Uncle Rhodey,” the man laughs dully and ruffles the boy’s hair.
Tony folds his arms across his chest and turns away demonstratively so that the long-awaited attention will be paid to him. Peter lets Rhodey go so that he can still say hello to Stark, who is already starting to play in a one-man theater.
“It’s too late, Rhodey, I’m already offended,” Stark does not hide his smile when they give him a playful slap on the head.
Peter loves his life in moments like this because for the first time in a long time he can feel at ease. As sad as it was, he was not freed from the shackles of depression, because the miracle pills that were supposed to speed up and ease this matter did not work on Spider-Man's super metabolism. Parker hates it when his brain decides it's worth being sad. Everything can be just perfect, and after a few minutes the joy suddenly disappears somewhere. It's quite difficult to explain this to people who don't quite understand that there's something wrong with you.
Parker pulls on his suit, loudly greets Karen, and adjusts his shooters. Peter opens the window and steps out, immediately releasing a new kind of web, clinging to the skyscraper. More recently, a popular avenger has again appeared on the streets of New York, protecting ordinary citizens. Parker still doesn't do this very often, but he tries to get back into action so that ordinary people who are waiting for help from Spider-Man don't suffer from his illness. The eyes narrow dangerously and the guy lands next to a large man and a short girl who has a hand over her mouth.
“Quiet, bitch,” Peter grimaces, shoots a web at the man and pulls him towards himself.
“Run, ma’am,” the trembling girl nods frantically and runs towards a residential building.
Peter silently wraps the thug in a cocoon of cobwebs and asks Karen to call the police. The guy quickly leaves the dirty street, soaring into the air to the shout of an enthusiastic teenager coming from the direction of the cheap club.
Harley is ready to hit his forehead on his desk when he is once again asked to bring coffee. He never had big dreams, but that's certainly not how he envisioned his internship. Standing near the coffee machine, the guy once again hears about the mysterious Peter, whom everyone loves here, except for some goofball who is about to be fired. Keener already hates this Peter because that these conversations put too much pressure on his self-esteem.
“No, he doesn’t work on Tuesdays, I think he’ll be here tomorrow,” a girl of about twenty-five smiles, talking to an employee from another department.
* * *
Peter loves to go to Stark Industries, the only thing that bothers him there is Pepper, who doesn’t miss the opportunity to get him. Stark offered an internship immediately after "graduation", but it took a long time to persuade. Parker did not want to return to the place where he had once “interned”; in fact, the fear of being rejected also played a role here. Any student who experiences such bullying will have difficulty working in a group in the future. No matter how strong Peter is, he is still a teenager, so he refused Stark’s offer for a long time. But after two weeks of working in the chemical engineering department, he realized that no one was going to offend him.
Peter stands in front of the mirror and bites his bottom lip, wrapping his collarbones. Marlena, a personal psychotherapist, is categorically against such exploitation, but for several months now she has not been able to force the guy to give it up. Parker smiles to himself and pulls on a black hoodie with a pun. At home and in the therapist’s office, he can afford to show his scars, but at work and in public places he is not ready to feel many eyes on him. Peter picks up a huge briefcase and throws headphones, a power bank and a wallet into it. The guy hurriedly goes down the steps and abruptly stops near the black Audi, in which a dissatisfied Happy is sitting.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry, I just didn’t calculate the timing,” Hogan silently starts the engine, but noticeably relaxes his face.
Peter plugs in his headphones and leans against the door, listening to the simple melody. Parker quickly jumps out of the car, saying goodbye to Happy and trying to stuff his phone into his back pocket. The blonde at the reception waves friendly and beckons him over.
“Good morning, Molly,” Peter takes out the candies, that always lie there, from the small pocket of his backpack.
“Good, Pete,” the girl smiles shyly, “Thank you. You have a new intern in your department,” Peter looks at his watch and begins to fuss.
"That's good, sorry, I'm already late."
Peter was never a punctual boy, which caused a lot of problems at school and with friends. This small flaw greatly irritates everyone around him, because they sometimes have to wait for a guy for hours. Parker is used to apologizing for this, but over time everyone gets used to it. In his department, no one pays attention to such delays, because this is Peter, it cannot be otherwise. Yes, at first Anderson yelled at the guy every day because of this, but after working together he simply turned a blind eye to it.
Parker exits the elevator on one of the upper floors, which used to belong to Banner and Stark. Peter walks over to a set of hangers and picks up one of the white ones robes, a small spider is embroidered on the pocket so that it is impossible to confuse it with someone else's work clothes. The guy hears the quiet hiss of another experiment that Veronica is conducting, and goes to his table, greeting everyone along the way.
"Who came to us! Parker, why didn't you come out for so long?" The boss feigns grumbling, but despite his dissatisfied tone, he smiles from all thirty-two.
“I couldn’t get out of the clutches of a monster who doesn’t let little boys out of his workshop,” Peter sits down at his desk and opens the bottom drawer to take out his project.
"Yes, Stark is like that."
Harley walks past several guys with whom he has become friends, and out of the corner of his eye he notices someone unfamiliar. A boy of about sixteen is diligently soldering some part, whispering something under his breath. Keener stops abruptly, hitting some kind of iron stick, which falls to the floor with a loud crash.
“Keener, what the hell!” squeals a short, plump guy passing nearby.
"And who are you?" Peter raises his head and squints suspiciously, remembering Molly’s words.
“Peter Parker, and you’re new, as far as I understand, Keener,” Harley frowns, but does not dare say anything about this.
"Are you still just a child, how did the Mechanic approve you?" Peter loudly lets out air through his nose and gets up from the table to be on an equal footing with the guy, but he turns out to be taller.
“Father couldn’t refuse me,” Peter grins nastily and ostentatiously sits back down.
Harley continues to stand in the same position, blinking stupidly, trying to comprehend the words said by this nasty boy. Peter did not hide his connection with Stark on the upper floors, even if he really wanted to, it would not be possible. Keener realized that they would definitely not make friends with this angel, according to his colleagues, but in his opinion, an imp. A viscous childhood resentment arises in his chest; throughout his childhood after meeting Stark, he secretly hoped that the man would be a fatherly figure for him. No, Tony didn’t promise that, but Harley hoped that a small child who had gone through a not-so-pleasant divorce from his parents wanted a good father, which Stark was in his dreams. The man helped financially, but never took such part in the boy’s life that that same boy so craved. He justified Stark by saying that he was simply not ready to be a father, that he would never have children. Harley continues to look at the child of that same Stark and understands that he will ruin Peter's life only because he wants him to feel what he felt.
Peter was never rude to his colleagues or humiliated anyone with his status. He was unsettled by this unpleasant voice, thoroughly saturated with open hostility. The phrase “just a child” finished off the guy, simply because he sought recognition from his colleagues for his work and knowledge, and not for the voice of his father. So this tall blonde guy also dropped an important part of his project and didn’t bother to pick it up! Where has this been seen? Parker would like to apologize for his rudeness, because he was not used to speaking like that, but when he looked up, he saw only an iron tube lying on the floor. Peter chuckled and continued working.
"Keener, why are you so angry? Did Anderson send you for coffee again?" The girl puts another piece of bun into her mouth and continues to look at the tense guy, “Peter hasn’t eaten anything again, so you can’t force him!”
"And why are you licking his ass like that?" The girl blinks in bewilderment and follows the loudly stomping Harley with her gaze.
Peter hangs up his robe, ignoring the disdainful glance directed his way. It’s almost dark outside, the guy stayed up late, so he’s calculating in his head the approximate time he spent without food. Parker prays to all the Gods that Stark doesn't find out that he didn't go to the cafeteria. Harley quickly leaves the locker room because the whole Peter thing is incredibly annoying. The blonde sees a black Audi with Stark license plates in the parking lot; it’s not difficult to guess who such an expensive car came for. The guy clenches his jaw and walks to the stop to get to a cheap studio apartment in Queens.
Parker jumps into the car and reclines the seat, his back finally relaxes and the guy moans blissfully. Hogan rolls his eyes and pulls up to a traffic jam that, by his calculations, will clear up in about twenty minutes.
“You can sleep, Kid,” Peter hums vaguely and involuntarily remembers the conversation with Harley, his conscience wakes up quickly, which is quite expected.
Peter makes a promise to himself to still ask for forgiveness for his rude tone. Hogan can practically hear the gears turning in the guy's head, but he doesn't ask anything, knowing that he'll dodge the answer. Parker loves going home after a hard day; it took a relatively long time for the base to become a real home. Peter has heard that home is people, he completely agrees with this. He has a family, although small, certainly abnormal and complex, but it is beautiful. Parker falls asleep with these thoughts in the car and only wakes up when he is carried into the room.
“Sleep, Pete,” Rhodey whispers, making himself more comfortable.
* * *
Peter smiles softly at a strange girl as she steps on his foot. Peter lifts the corners of his lips when his colleagues say something wrong. Peter forces a chuckle when Marlena tries to defuse the situation in the office after his tantrum. Peter is ready to suppress his emotions for the sake of the comfort of others, which he has been happily doing for most of his short life. Harley is not like that, he does not believe that it is worth sacrificing himself in any situation. Harley shuts up even the most important person if he crosses the line. Harley stomps on a little boy's foot in a subway in retaliation. Harley doesn't laugh at unfunny jokes because he doesn't need to. They are completely different, they know it.
Harley drinks his bitter coffee, bought in the passage for a dollar from some suspicious man, in a few minutes, because he worked all night on his homework for the university. The guy squints from the bright sun and looks down at his watch.
“Fuck, they’ll kill me,” Harley begins to run as fast as she can, cursing everyone and everything.
Peter is on his third cup of espresso while sitting in the room working on a project he must submit to MIT. All night long, one blue-eyed, blond-haired guy, whom Peter managed to offend on the very first day of his acquaintance, could not leave his mind. Parker accidentally stumbles upon a wall clock, immediately freaking out.
"Damn it!"
Peter presses the almost invisible button on his wristwatch twice. A familiar Spider-Man suit forms on the body, but no longer made of latex. The window in the workshop is constantly closed and darkened so that the owners do not pay attention to the time of day while continuing to work. Parker has a significant advantage; when you have superpowers, it won’t be difficult for you to quickly find yourself in the right place. The guy lands in some dirty corner to take off his suit and walk to the tower without attracting too much attention.
Harley practically flies into the laboratory, but immediately stops when he feels a displeased gaze on the back of his head. The guy turns slowly, raising his hands up, Anderson is looking straight at him.
“I’m late,” Peter states the fact, walking further to his workplace.
“As always,” Anderson snorts, but becomes much stern when he turns back to Keener.
Harley glares at Parker that he's already minding his own business. Keener wants to howl at such injustice, because he definitely won’t be released like Peter.
“Once again, you’ll work for Oscorp,” Harley instantly deflates and nods humbly.
Peter watches this from afar, preferring not to enter into an open dialogue with a person who definitely does not feel warm feelings towards him. The guy pretends to be busy, trying to listen to Anderson's words. Parker suppresses a laugh, remembering that they scared him with the same thing. Of course, no one will be released them to Oscorp, no one wants to lose good specialists. Peter in his life would never stick his nose into this company; he walks three kilometers away from them on the street, because he still contains memories of the bite of a radioactive spider.
“Daddy’s boy,” Harley whispers under her breath, and Peter hears it clearly and hides his gaze in panic.
Keener always had a keen sense of justice, and it became especially obvious after his father left. This caused too many problems and fights at school. Bullys didn't like him, and neither did the teachers. The guy never had a shortage of friends, but he also had a lot of enemies. And now this disgusting feeling scratches at his soul, he wants to go up to Parker and express everything to his face, but something stops him. Perhaps a conscience that still works a little.
The progress of work does not change, all employees of Stark Industries really love what they do. Scientists and trainees often skip breaks in order to spend more time in the lab. Yes, everyone here is a little crazy scientist, ready to do anything to discover something that can change the world. Peter and Harley are similar in this way, they love what they do. Everyone who is close to these two notices this extremely quickly, because everything is so transparent.
Harley feels that his stomach is already starting to eat itself, so he quickly puts aside the drawing he recently started and gets up from the table. Every now and then someone runs around who intends to go to the cafeteria, but remembers something very important. Keener was never the smoothest guy, but that wasn't that big of a problem. The guy walks between two tables and with a slight movement of his hand, which he raised to straighten his wheaten hair, touches the hissing flask. Loud, selective swearing is heard throughout the department, everything around becomes quiet.
"Are you crooked-armed?" Parker falls silent, looks around and nods, saying everything is fine.
Not a damn good thing, everything he had been working on for the last two weeks just fell to the floor because of some crooked-armed handsome guy. The desire to ask for forgiveness for yesterday instantly disappears. The other people, who were firmly convinced that dear Peter could not swear, glance at each other. Harley blinks stupidly and comes almost close to Parker.
“No, someone should just stop putting flasks on the edge of the table,” Parker gasps at such impudence, he literally opens and closes his mouth a couple of times.
“But it seems to me that someone shouldn’t wave their arms while walking between the tables in a dangerous laboratory,” a gambling spark lights up in Keener’s eyes.
“I don’t think so, it’s just that someone shouldn’t have boasted about their daddy yesterday,” the guy emphasizes the last word, exhaling it languidly, practically in the ear of a blushing Peter.
“Oh no, dear, yesterday someone shouldn’t have asserted themselves at the expense of my age, you’re not the only one who can be smart,” Keener abruptly moves away from the guy and walks away from the laboratory.
Peter has one peculiarity that bothers him - he is always looking for flaws in himself. Even after working with a psychotherapist for such a long time, Parker could not understand and accept that he was not always to blame. So after such a skirmish, Peter blames himself for going too far. Peter squats down to remove the pieces of the ill-fated flask. It’s still quiet around, but the guy is afraid to look up and stumble upon the condemnation of his colleagues, which is not there at all.
Harley sits down at an empty table and aggressively stuffs fries into his mouth. The words this boy said were too true and painful. He didn’t want to admit that he was wrong, no one likes to do that. Keener intends to come over and apologize for his rudeness, but Peter never comes to the cafeteria, and then unnecessary pride appears. Parker doesn't look offended, and the hatred for this guy still hasn't gone away. I still want to take revenge on someone for my broken childhood, I want someone to understand him.
Peter gets ready very quickly, because for once Natasha is coming to visit them. Over several months, she visited only twice, but during this time Parker managed to get close to her. The guy stuffs cigarettes into the inside pocket of his jacket, hoping that Tony won't find them after all. The habit has not gone away; it has even become worse. Now holding a cigarette between his lips and exhaling the slightly bitter smoke was the best and most anticipated event of the day. Today Peter didn’t have time to go to the smoking room because he had to scrub the floor of a caustic substance that spilled due to Keener’s fault.
Tony taps out a made-up tune while Natasha rides in the elevator with four boxes of hot pizza. Peter looks at his Instagram feed, simultaneously liking photos of his work friends. The sound of the notification echoes throughout the room, Tony turns to Peter for a few seconds, but quickly returns his full attention to the closed elevator door.
Group chat: Don't blow up the laboratory
Miller
Peter never reads messages in this group, do you understand?
Monica
Not yet…
Miller
Have you seen today's scene????
Julian
Lord, yes! I thought no one would start this conversation, did you see the sparks?
Miller
YES. I thought that they would have sex right on this table.
Rachel
Guys, maybe we shouldn’t discuss this here? They may still read it.
Monica
In general, it doesn’t matter, I’ll write fanfiction about them, I’m sure they will
together.
Harley
Reply to message from "Rachel"
Read it.
Peter raises his eyebrows as he reads each new message. Natasha, who came with food, quietly looks at his phone and grins knowingly. Parker covers his red face with a cold hand, making an incomprehensible sound. Yes, Harley really seems like a nice guy, especially his voice and hot whisper in his ear. The guy sits up straighter and turns his gaze to the worried Stark.
"Is everything okay, Bambino?" Peter nods uncertainly and puts a piece of pizza into his mouth.
Nothing is good, Peter thinks for the umpteenth time that day.
Harley arrives at his apartment and turns on the light, the emptiness of the room overwhelming. There is no time to prepare normal food, and no skills either. Keener strips off most of his clothes and goes into the bedroom to spend the rest of the evening on his bed in front of his laptop. Thoughts about Peter creep into his head, only in some wrong sense; for some reason, it is in bed that the realization comes that brown eyes look incredibly attractive. At the same moment, a notification comes to the phone; all this time, the general chat for interns and scientists was dead, until this day. The messages make him smile; Keener would like to joke something indecent, but is stopped by the fact that everyone will see it. He just wanted to anger and embarrass Peter, who can instantly turn crimson. So that only Parker could hear it, and not the entire department.