Work Text:
It was three days.
Three single days of working with Tony Stark before Harley met Spider-Man.
The two had been working at Harley’s bench, looking over some specs for a new addition to an Iron Man suit. Harley had found a way to reduce the weight of the repulsors whilst also making them 22% more energy efficient. Tony was standing with one hand leaning onto the bench and the other holding a large cup of coffee.
Even though Pepper had asked that Tony let Harley have some regular working hours for the first few weeks, Tony had asked the boy to stay for a few hours longer on this seemingly innocent Tuesday evening. He was going to let Harley go home eventually, he just wanted to have a prototype to work with over the next few days.
Tony had taken a large sip of his coffee and Harley had rolled away on his chair to pick up a pencil on the other side of the room, when FRIDAY spoke up.
“Boss, I have word from Karen that Spider-Man was seriously injured and is on his way to the tower, ETA three minutes.”
Tony choked on his sip and Harley stopped, shell-shocked. He watched as Tony got himself together and rushed around the room, opening a window, scrounging for some towels and muttering to himself.
“FRI, what are the kid’s injuries?” Tony asked the AI.
“All that has been reported is blood loss and a head injury, sir. Shall I ask Karen for more clarity?”
Tony sighed frustratedly. “Yes, FRI! Specifics please.”
There was an agonising silence as they waited for the AI to speak again.
“Boss, Karen is reporting a minor concussion, five bullet wounds and a fractured wrist.”
“What the fuck?!” Harley exclaimed, jumping out of his seat. “Tony, how is Spider-Man alive?!”
Tony just let out a long suffering sigh. Before he could even begin to reply, a blur of red and blue fell through the window, landing on the ground and grunting in pain. Tony rushed to his side immediately, but Harley was rooted to the floor.
Spider-Man got to his feet, wobbling slightly as he did. Tony held him up, offering his arm for support. Blood was darkening the suit at a terrifying rate, and Tony pressed one of the towels into one of the wounds when he noticed. The young hero took over holding the towel with one arm, before reaching to his neck.
Spider-Man ripped off his mask, his hair standing up in every which direction. His eyes were glazed, some tears unshed. There was a damp patch in his hair, something Tony swore fairly loudly upon seeing. He reached for another towel, pressing it carefully to the boy's head.
“What the fuck.” Harley choked out, staring at the sight.
Peter nearly got whiplash when he turned his head to look over at Harley. "Cowboy?! What are you doing here?" He tried to take a step forward to get closer to Harley, but stumbled and had to be caught by Tony.
Harley just continued staring, almost to a point of dissociation. His mind was running thousands of miles a minute and he still couldn’t take in what he was seeing. Spider-Man had otherwise deadly injuries. Spider-Man was Peter. Peter had life threatening injuries.
“Ow- Mr Stark, I don’t feel so good.” Peter said, falling to his knees.
The older man dropped with him, holding tighter to Peter’s arms. “Pete, we’ve gotta get you to the medbay. Harley, gonna need your help.”
“Right- yeah-” the boy rushed over. He helped Tony pick the hero up by his arms, sharing the weight of him. Harley silently noted that Peter was much lighter than he had expected him to be. For someone who seemed to be insanely muscular, he was very light. Almost too light.
They carefully carried him to the elevator, which had been held by FRIDAY. Peter let out a few concerning cries which made Tony’s brows furrow. He whispered some words to soothe the young hero, but Harley knew that they weren’t really working. When they reached the medbay, Helen Cho was waiting for them and it took everything in Harley to not geek out over being in her presence. He would have, if not for the reminder of the real reason he was even meeting her.
Getting Peter onto the bed was easier said than done. The teen was barely able to keep himself standing, more deadweight than anything. He hissed as he was moved even slightly, so being carried and placed onto the bed made him cry out in a way Harley hoped he never had to hear again.
Dr Cho sent both Tony and Harley out of the room once Peter was settled. He needed to be prepared for surgery, and was going to be given enough anaesthetic to be fully knocked out. The pair waited outside, sitting on some uncomfortable plastic chairs.
Pepper came down after a while, holding two cups of coffee and a bag of sweet pastries. She handed them over, and Harley noticed a distinct presence of fear on her face. Which, Harley told himself, made sense. Tony and Pepper knew Peter. He was an important part in their lives. It made sense for them to be worried.
“He better take some time off after this.” Pepper sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t.
“Pep, you and I both know that five measly bullets aren’t going to stop him.” Tony laughed.
Harley felt his heart stutter. It seemed that being Spider-Man was more insane than Harley could have imagined. Any normal person would have been knocked out for weeks, but Peter would just get back up?
“You’ll get used to it, kid.” Tony said, having noticed Harley’s thoughts. “Peter’s tough. He’s survived through so much worse.”
It was true. Only a few months ago, Peter had been so injured that he hadn’t made it back to the tower. Tony had been training with Natasha when FRIDAY had alerted him to a critical issue with the young hero. They found him on a rooftop, Peter’s limbs all scarily uneven, his breaths both ragged and too quiet, and way too much blood.
He had only rested for two days before jumping back into work. He took a few days off of school, but Natasha found him sitting upright, laptop on his lap with one of his interns (Malia, who had found out about the whole secret identity thing only two weeks into her internship) running him through one of her projects. While Nat didn’t love the sight, she had to admit that it was good to see him able to perform normally even though he was still fairly injured.
Harley just wanted to go and check on the boy. He had never seen someone so close to death. He had never felt so much unfounded fear before. The entire idea of someone so powerful just… being so close to losing everything. He knew that superheroes had it tough. He had been in contact with Tony for long enough to know that. But it was different to see it in person.
After a solid two hours of quiet discussion and even Harley having a new idea for his repulsor prototype, Dr Cho came out to let them know that Spider-Man was out of surgery, and would be waking up soon. Everyone jumped out of their seats, but Pepper held Harley back from entering the room.
“I’m going to need you to stay calm when you come in here. We can’t make him agitated, we need to prevent any of his wounds from opening. I know you’re worried, but you need to stay calm.”
“Okay.” Harley nodded his head rapidly, trying to make himself acknowledge that this was real. He was going to see Peter, but not when he was being himself dressed in one of his suits or in a hoodie, but when he was in a hospital bed and injured.
“Hey, cowboy. Thanks for helping me not bleed out on the lab’s floor.” Peter was sitting up slightly, head bandaged and wires and lines attached to him.
Harley took note of how he was still smiling widely, as if he wasn’t just bleeding out on the lab floor a mere few hours ago. If it wasn’t so concerning that Peter had obviously lost his understanding of what a severe injury was, he would have been enamoured with the sappy smile.
“Oh my god.” Harley choked out. “What the fuck, sunshine?”
Peter's smile wavered slightly at the broken voice, and waved Harley to come closer. “I’m okay Harley, I’m okay. I’ve had so much worse. ‘Tis nothing but a scratch.”
Harley just shook his head as he wandered closer to the bed, sliding into the chair next to Peter as he felt his limbs turn to jelly. He studied Peter’s face, who understood what was happening.
Tony still took time to scan over Peter whenever he was injured. May did it after every patrol when he stumbled in even a few seconds too late. Pepper did it sometimes, after a more serious injury. Malia did it the first time she stumbled into him in the medbay, after finding out he had been injured. She spent an entire hour watching over Peter, and he understood. He knew he’d do the same thing if he were in their place.
“Harley,” Peter said softly, bringing Harley’s gaze to his eyes. “I’m okay.”
“Peter-” Harley’s voice cracked and he placed his hand on top of the other boy’s. “I thought my heart was gonna split in two when I saw it was you darlin’. You were so hurt.”
“Harls, I’m okay. Look at me, I’m okay.” Peter said, moving his hand to squeeze a few of Harley’s fingers. “You know, I told Mr Stark you’d find out my identity before your first two weeks were over.”
Tony snorted from across the room, and that made Peter’s smile widen slightly. Harley just shook his head and looked down at the ground. Pepper sighed exasperatedly, but it was fond.
“I’ve only known you for three days, Mr Parker, and you’ve managed to impress me on new levels. Howd’ya manage it all, darlin’?”
Peter shrugged. “No idea honestly.”
Harley smiled at his casualness. Peter had been incredibly humble the entire time they had known each other. He had also been far too nonchalant about his talents, it seemed.
“You should go home, Harley. He’ll still be here in the morning. I’ve called your aunt, Peter, so she knows you’re not going to school tomorrow. You need to stay in here tonight under observation. One of your wounds was deep so healing might be a little off.” Tony said, placing a hand on Harley’s shoulder.
“Nah, old man.” Harley said, making Peter laugh (and then cringe at the pain in his stomach) and Tony grumble under his breath. “I’m gonna stay here. I’ll let ‘im sleep but I won’t be able to settle if I don’t stay here.”
Tony’s eyes flitted over to Peter who nodded. The man sighed, knowing he should have expected it. The two had gotten on like a house on fire since they met, and had been almost inseparable whenever Peter made his way to the lab after finishing up his work with Pepper. It made sense that they’d want to stay together.
“Fine. But I expect you to be in the lab at 9 Harley. And Peter, once Cho clears you, you’re going to your room in the penthouse and recovering there. I’ll come up for lunch and we can discuss taking you home.” Tony sighed.
Both boys nodded in understanding, so Tony turned to leave. Pepper walked over to Peter, brushing the hair from his face before kissing his forehead. “If I hear from any of the interns that you’ve been doing work on bedrest again honey, I’m banning you from M-2.”
Peter frowned but nodded again, his smile turning into a pout which Harley barely held himself back from kissing away. They watched as the two adults left the room, followed shortly by Dr Cho who said that she would check in on Peter at 6AM unless alerted to any issues.
Harley spent the next few moments of silence staring at Peter again. Checking he was really okay. Ensuring he was safe. It was like he didn’t trust it yet. The surprise of Peter being Spider-Man still not settled.
“Come here.” Peter said softly, moving over on the bed.
“What?”
“Harls, come lie here with me. I know that look. I’m not fragile. You won’t hurt me. And maybe I also could do with just having you next to me.” Peter explained.
Harley hesitantly joined him on the bed, his heart finally slowing down when he felt Peter tuck his head under his chin. The feeling of that ever so soft hair which smelled like apples, his hand intertwining with his, the knowledge that this was all real.
It wasn’t like Harley had never seen an injured person before. His mom had once been hospitalised with a severe burn after an accident at work. Abbie once had appendicitis and had been in hospital. Hell, once there was an explosion in the garage and he had ended up in urgent care with facial lacerations that luckily didn’t scar. He just hadn’t ever seen something so dangerous.
“I am so glad you’re okay, sunshine. I think I’d have been more glad if I didn’t see you so close to death though.” Harley joked.
“You’re gonna have to get used to it, sweetheart.” Peter said, his smile evident even though Harley couldn’t see it. “Oh. Why were you here so late? I stumbled through at 11 but you’re meant to clock off at 7.”
Harley snorted quietly. “Collapsed, sunshine. The word is collapsed, not stumbled. But me and Tony were working on some updates for the Iron Man suit and we-”
Harley’s soft voice lulled Peter to sleep easily, as well as just having him there. Having someone to lean into, someone to wrap their arms over him, someone to exist with just for a moment. Peter needed moments like these, but he resented that he only got them when he was hurt. Even his time off from Midtown meant working and running around.
Peter knew he had signed himself up for it. He chose to get a head start on working with Pepper. He could have had a few more months. He didn’t have to balance everything. It was his choice. He just wished that maybe his choice wasn’t as time consuming as it was.
He needed a few days to himself. In only a few months, he would be done with highschool for good. He would have the summer before college where he wouldn’t be as busy. He would be travelling to and from Queens less. May was going to be away on a training course for a month and a half, so Peter was supposed to spend his time at the tower, only going back occasionally to check on the apartment.
Those days would be the ones where he took on more work at SI. More paperwork, more meetings, more organising interns. Maybe some more time in the lab with Harley and Mr Stark. Hopefully the odd day to lounge around. Hopefully a day or two where he could leave New York, take a trip somewhere pretty and serene.
Peter woke up the next morning to a gentle shake of his shoulder. He curled into the warmth more, hoping that he could be allowed just a little more sleep. His body ached and he was exhausted. More exhausted than he had felt for a while.
“Wake up, sunshine.”
Harley.
“Yeah, Pete. C’mon, wakey wakey darlin’. Dr Cho needs to examine you but she can’t if you’re stuck to me.”
Peter blinked awake, taking a few moments to adjust to the lights and the sounds. He relaxed, feeling himself unstick from Harley. The other boy slipped off the bed, much to Peter’s disappointment. He frowned but then went back to being neutral. He knew how this worked. The sooner Cho did her checks, the sooner Harley could go back to being next to him.
He winced as Dr Cho pressed over the wound on his stomach. She swapped the bandages out, making a note of the slower healing. His other wounds were almost healed, not needing more than a bandaid. His responses were good, saying that his concussion was gone so he just needed to wait for the cut to heal, and his fractured wrist had regained most of its movement without pain. One day of having it braced, and it would be back to normal.
“I’m going to keep you until 9, Peter. I’ll change your bandages again then you can go and sleep in your room. You’ll be right as rain tomorrow but you need to stay on bedrest today to combat the exhaustion from your healing.” she said, writing some notes onto the tablet kept at the end of the bed.
“Thanks, Dr Cho.” Peter said, head hitting the pillow again.
The doctor left, leaving Peter and Harley alone once again. This time, Peter didn’t have to ask. Harley clambered back over, this time tangling their legs together and placing his chin on Peter’s head. Peter felt himself drifting off again, comforted by Harley’s presence. The other boy was warm and soft and safe.
Harley watched as Peter fell back asleep, his eyes closing gently and his breaths softening. He wasn’t tired himself, more than content to just watch Peter. He wanted to see Peter more often. Not like this though. More on dates, in the lab, in his bed, on his couch, in the office, anywhere but in the medbay. They had only seen each other for about two hours since the day Peter managed to spend time in the lab on Sunday, only a few days ago.
He knew that he and Peter barely knew each other. The way they had become so attached so quickly wasn’t usual. But he couldn’t bring himself to care. Not when the literal embodiment of an angel was in his arms.
After Dr Cho cleared Peter to leave a few hours later, Harley walked Peter to the penthouse. Peter kept trying to convince Harley to let him find his work laptop - the spare one he kept in the penthouse, but he had no such luck. Harley wasn’t letting him work when he was supposed to be resting.
Instead of going down to the lab straight away like he was meant to, Harley took some time just being with Peter. He peppered kisses over his face, loving how Peter melted into him with each one. He would have skipped going to the lab altogether if Tony hadn’t sent a message through FRIDAY telling him to go down.
He wandered down to Tony’s lab, cringing as he realised that he was wearing the same clothes as the day before. He needed a shower, some fresh clothes, and maybe a hairbrush.
“Tony, please tell me you’ve got some clothes I can change into.” he said as he walked into the lab.
Head stuck in a hologram projection, Tony replied “Go ask Peter.”
Harley groaned, but then smiled. Any excuse to spend more time with Peter. So he turned back and went straight back up to the penthouse. He knocked on Peter’s door, not wanting to walk in on him while he was changing or to startle him if he had gone back to sleep in the two minutes he had been away.
When there was no response, he pushed open the door. He wasn’t there.
“FRIDAY, where the fuck is Peter?” he asked exasperatedly.
“Mr Parker has gone to floor 34 and is currently heading into lab M-2.”
Harley let out a startled laugh. He knew Peter was a workaholic. That had been evident since he had learnt about the boy. Peter didn’t stop, even if he needed to. Harley had hoped that the severe injuries would have kept Peter in bed though.
Peter had changed into one of his more casual suits, chucking over one of the labcoats he kept in his closet. Having a room at the penthouse was useful in many ways. He really needed to thank Mr Stark and Ms Potts for that. He walked in the lab, and Malia was the first to greet him.
“Mini Stark! What’re you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be at school?” she asked, surprised to see him in the labs on a day he definitely wasn’t supposed to be in. His meeting with her and Charles over their project wasn’t for another few days too.
Peter whispered to her, “Spent the night in medbay. Needed something to do that’s not lying down.” He then raised his voice to a normal level, “I thought I could be of assistance. But I can check in on some other labs if you’d prefer?”
Anya spun around on her seat, arms crossed over her chest. “Mr Parker, be a dear and do some of this paperwork. I have to go and check in with Celine in C-3. I can leave my interns with you, right?”
“Yes ma’am.” he said, highly aware of the fact that he was actually her boss.
“Great. I’ll be back in an hour.” she said, pushing away from the desk. She wasn’t going to look a gift horse in its mouth. Not when she was struggling to find someone to look after her lab for an entire hour.
Peter sat in her chair, barely wincing when the hole in his stomach twinged in pain. He saw Malia give him a look of concern, but he waved her off. He looked at the mountain of paperwork in front of him and frowned. A lot of it was budget related. Something the labs weren’t supposed to be worrying about.
“Peter,” Charles said, walking over, “Can you check this equation? Something’s wrong but I can’t figure out what. I don’t want to mix the chemicals until I’m confident.”
“Gimme.” Peter said, holding a hand out but keeping an eye on the computer where he was reading one of the emails he had received that morning. When the tablet landed in his hand, he placed it in front of him, and deleted the email from the legal team. It wasn’t something he could sort. Pepper would get to it when she got to it.
“You’ve used the wrong concentration. Oh and then if you use the inverse rule you’ll get a result that won’t be deadly. But make sure you add some water in the second step. If you don’t, it’ll be volatile. Please keep these in the fume hoods too. I don’t want to be evacuating this floor.” Peter said, making the notes before passing it back.
“Thank you sir.” Charles said.
Peter grimaced. “Don’t call me sir. Please.”
“Sorry Junior.” Charles replied with a smile.
Peter just grinned and waved him away, turning back to his computer screen. He made sure he read through his flagged emails before going back to the paperwork. He sighed when one file was a letter of resignation. Daniella, one of the injured scientists, was changing departments. She was going to switch to the international communications team. Peter was happy that she was going to be staying with the company and finding something better suited to her, but now he was going to have to help Anya choose which M-3 intern to promote early.
He signed paper after paper, organised each file into their respective folder, made notes on sticky notes for the things Anya was going to need to look over herself. He was concentrating, so he didn’t notice someone new entering the lab. He didn’t notice how everyone went silent, before the interns began whispering amongst themselves.
“Hey darlin’, what happened to bedrest, huh?” Harley asked quietly, arms draping over Peter’s shoulders.
Peter flicked his eyes over and his heart dropped. “Oh fuck.” All of the interns looked over, surprised to hear their boss sound so defeated and put out. “I can explain, cowboy.”
“Yeah, okay Pete.” Harley laughed. “You need to go back upstairs, c’mon.”
“Oh. I can’t.” Peter muttered, eyes flicking over the interns who turned back to their work. “Gotta wait for Anya, Harls.”
Harley sighed, but it was fond. “How long?”
“Another half hour.” Peter shrugged. He then turned to really look at Harley, realising that the sleeves on his shoulders were definitely not the same as the ones that had been wrapped around him earlier that morning. “Did you shower? Is that my hoodie?”
Harley sighed, straightening up. “Yes and yes, sunshine. I used your shower because I didn’t want to just sneak around the penthouse to find another one. And Tony sent me to ask you if you had spare clothes, but then you weren’t there so I just took the first things I saw. This is insanely comfortable by the way, sunshine.”
“I know, Harls. It is mine after all.” Peter said softly, turning back to the computer screen. “You’re not wearing a lab coat. Go get one if you’re wanting to stay.”
“Aw man.” Harley complained. “Fine, but only because Pepper would kill me if she knew I was in R&D and not following the rules.”
“Also go find a spare chair. There should be one in the break room. You can help with some of this paperwork when you get back.”
“Yes sir.” Harley said teasingly, drawing a grimace from Peter.
“Go Harley.”
The blonde walked out of the lab, laughing. Peter could feel the interns staring at him, and he tried to ignore it. He tried to keep his head down, focusing on his paperwork. It worked all the way until Malia was at his side, coughing unsubtly.
“So, Mini Boss, who was that?” Malia asked innocently.
“Harley. Mr Stark’s new intern.” Peter replied, eyes never straying from the page he was reading.
“You guys are close?”
“Sure. Did you need something, Malia?”
“Just wanted to know who the newbie was. Also, you need to get a better poker face. Your blush was so bad and I think everyone in here knows it.”
Peter looked over and saw everyone nodding. “Whatever, you guys. Get back to work. I’m sorry for the distraction but he’s a leech apparently.”
Malia snorted but went back to her bench, where she continued gossiping with Charles. The other two interns just laughed, and Peter knew that when he left the lab, they’d be chasing after Malia for any and all details she had. It wasn’t an unknown fact that Malia and Peter were closer than Peter and any other intern.
They weren’t even friends, really. She was still his employee, he was still more of a mentor to her more than anything. They could joke around, but they spent most of their time working on projects, discussing anomalies, talking about upcoming ideas. She came and sat with him in the medbay sometimes, she would join him for lunch if their breaks collided, she’d send him the occasional update about her cats. Maybe they were kind of friends.
Peter kept his head down in the paperwork, ignoring when Harley joined him once again. He just pushed over the pile he had already gone through, telling Harley to organise it. He pretended that Harley wasn’t there. He couldn’t become distracted. He had to sort out Anya’s paperwork, and then go back to the penthouse and pretend like he didn’t break the only rule Pepper had set for him.
They worked in relative silence, only the clicking of keyboards or the movement of tools across benches in the background. Occasionally, one of the interns would come over and ask for a new set of eyes, or ask to take a break. At one point, Charles came over with another plan that needed looking over.
Peter took the tablet, telling Charles to get a coffee while he worked on it. He scribbled notes over mistakes, highlighted anything that was too dangerous for his intern level, and even wrote a note asking Charles to ask Anya about pairing up with one of the M-1 teams.
Harley watched intently as he did the work, abandoning the paperwork to just study the way Peter threw himself into the science. Harley knew Peter liked the science, but he hadn’t seen him get to be so involved with it. The times they had seen each other in SI, Peter had been in business mode. Coming or going from meetings, yelling into a phone, walking besides Pepper. Peter rarely got the opportunity to be so involved.
“Well, I see you’ve brought along someone to help you then, Mr Parker?” Anya asked, walking up behind the two boys.
“I didn’t bring him, he crashed in here because he has attachment issues.” Peter murmured, signing one of the files.
Harley just looked offended, jaw dropping. “Wow, sunshine. I resent that.”
Anya just sighed, and pushed Peter from her chair. Peter explained what he had done with the paperwork, pointing out the files that needed her attention first. He also quietly apologised for distracting her interns, and for letting Harley join him. He didn’t explain why he had joined, but Anya was too busy to question it anyway.
When Harley came back from placing his chair back from where it came from, Peter had gathered his things and was ready to leave. He waved goodbye to the interns before linking his hand in Harley’s. He ignored the squeal from Malia, and the “I knew it!” exclamation from Anya. He could deal with a few rumours from them. They had probably made up their minds beforehand already.
They walked over to the elevator in silence, riding up to the penthouse. Tony was there waiting for them. Peter’s expression dropped, and Harley laughed. It was to be expected. Harley hadn’t made it back to the lab, so Tony would have questioned FRIDAY about it.
“You’re banned from M-2 kiddo. You’re banned from helping in all of the R&D labs actually. One week of focusing on your stuff with Pepper. You’ve got to remember that you’re more important now. You’re going to burn out if you keep working when you’re supposed to be resting.” He said, arms crossed over his chest.
“But Mr Stark-”
“No, Pete. Take a break. Go watch a film or play a video game or something. No work, no SI, no Spider-Man.” Peter sighed, looking down at the floor before Tony continued. “Also let go of my intern. He was supposed to be in the lab with me ages ago and instead he’s been following you like a puppy.”
Harley huffed in annoyance and rolled his eyes but made no move to untangle his fingers from Peter’s. Peter just smiled, keeping his eyes on the floor.
“Fine, fine. Keener you get the day off. Parker, I’m only letting him stay with you because I know you’ll go back to work if you don’t have someone holding you here. Happy’s coming to take you back to Queens at 5. I’m going to the lab, I’ll see you in tomorrow's Avengers meeting.” Tony sighed, stepping into the elevator. He left mumbling to himself, something about teenage boys.
The two spent the day holed up in Peter’s room, eating snacks and watching some of Peter’s favourite movies. Peter also did constantly try to pull out his work laptop but every time, Harley would pull it away and shake his head. Each time he pouted, Harley peppered soft kisses over his face to bring out his smile instead.
“Thanks for staying with me, cowboy.” Peter murmured as they hugged goodbye when Happy came to take him home.
“Always, sunshine. I’ll see you on Friday.” Harley replied, kissing Peter’s cheek.
“See you on Friday.”