beginnings, 7
Go to the kabshab service and try to relax. Head over to the workshop and gear up. Do a bit of training with Harley. Stop a dangerous and illicit arms deal.Just an easy, run of the mill evening. Not stressful at all, Peter.
Peter knew it was going to be a busy evening, and he needed his energy for later. Maybe inviting Harry to talk now wasn’t the best idea, but Peter also couldn’t stand the idea of putting this off. He wanted Harry back in his life, and he wanted their friendship to be a joyous and fulfilling one. Until Peter took Rabbi Isaacs’ advice and spoke to Harry about his residual hurt from all those years ago, the friendship was going to be a painful one.
The thing was, Harry still mattered to him; they may have been young when they were first friends, and it may have been a long time since Harry moved away from New York, but they had been close. So, Peter caved against his better sensibilities and invited Harry to come with him on his way to Beth Shalom. And Harry had said yes.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to portal us there?” Harry asked, spinning a sling ring Peter didn’t even know Harry had around his forefinger. Well, Harry knew or at least knew of Doctor Strange, so maybe it wasn’t so farfetched.
Peter shook his head. He had all sorts of reasons to say no to that, the most pointed one being that he’d slipped up and exposed his secret identity to the rabbi already and didn’t want to take chances like showing up through a portal. “Nah. Besides, it’s only a fifteen minute walk from here. We can walk and talk.”
Harry shrugged, and dropped his hands into his coat pockets. Even knowing how Harry kept himself from overheating, Peter found his summer fashion choices bizarre. He looked… not quite as put together and confident as usual. “Well alright then. So, uh, you wanted to talk. I feel like I should be worried. Should I be worried?”
“Not particularly,” Peter responded as the two set off from the edge of campus. It probably wasn’t going to be an easy conversation, but the whole point was to get things out into the open and enable a proper friendship. “I just… someone gave me some really good advice because I was struggling with seeing you again after all of these years. I kind of hated you for abandoning me, you know? Even if it wasn’t your fault, which I now know.”
“That’s fair,” Harry said simply, without any catches or particular weight. “So… let it out? I’m listening, Pete. I do want to know what’s going on in your head, because reuniting with you was the best possible start that I could’ve had to classes at MIT, and I want us to be friends again. I mean, if you do, too.”
Peter exhaled slowly, and then took in another breath. “I do. I’m trying not to be alone after everything that’s happened in my life recently, and you’re good, Harry. I can tell how that hasn’t changed. And… I’ll tell you about all of what happened sometime, I think. But yeah, I need to let it out.”
After that, they walked in near silence for a few minutes. Peter was letting the words stew in his brain a little more, psyching himself up to say what had to be said, and Harry was simply waiting. Because Harry was good, and apparently far more patient than he used to be, but just as caring.
Another breath, and Peter was ready. “When you disappeared, it hurt me a lot. I was alone until middle school, and I had no friends to go to when the bullying got bad – and that made it hurt even more. Back then, I hated you for not being there when I needed you. And then at the very end of middle school I had a field trip to an Oscorp facility and I half wished that you would be there, and you weren’t. Eventually I learned to move on, and I gave up hoping. I even started spinning silver linings in my mind – like how you knew me pre-transition and you might be transphobic and I wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.”
To his credit, Harry didn’t jump to try and defend himself in that regard – Peter had dealt with people who had quickly jumped to insist they weren’t transphobic, making Peter’s own anxieties all about them instead, and it was really shitty. No, Harry just kept on listening – and Peter knew because he could feel Harry’s attention on him, in a rather comforting sort of way.
“And then I saw you in class on Monday, when I was sitting there, watching people come in and hoping none of my lost friends from Midtown showed up. I hadn’t even thought that you might,” Peter admitted. “And that was complicated. The fact that you remember me makes it even more complicated because of the memory spell, because practically everyone knew who I was before the memory spell, and I couldn’t help but wonder if you remembered because you didn’t accept me as being Peter, even if logically it makes more sense that you just hadn’t connected the dots and realised we were the same person.
“All of that, it compounds. There’s a whole lot of hurt and confusion centred around you, and… I can see that you do accept me for who I am. I know that all of this isn’t your fault, and I don’t blame you for it, not anymore, but I also kind of do. The hurt isn’t just going to vanish. I want us to be like we used to, or something new and just as good, but it’s gonna take time,” Peter finished, trying to make it sound like he was done talking without directly saying so.
Harry picked up on the cue. “That all… makes sense. I mean, except for the whole thing about the memory spell and me not remembering stuff, but that’s kind of a given. There’s a ritual I’ve read about that can restore the caster’s magically sealed memories, but I know better than to mess with a spell that might be as big as you’re describing. The last thing I want to do is try and deny or minimise what you’re going through. Do you want me to back off for a while?”
Peter stopped walking. No, that definitely wasn’t what he wanted. “No, I don’t want that. Just… I think it’s better that we both don’t try to force our friendship back together too fast. I want us to just let it happen as it happens, so we can build something new over all of the complicated mess that our history is, yeah?”
It was just like what Rabbi Isaacs said – forgiving Harry could be about building something new atop all the hurt rather than trying to ignore it or make it go away.
“I can definitely agree to that,” Harry declared, and the duo resumed walking. “It sounds nicer that way, honestly. And hey, now that you and Harley are becoming good friends with my literal platonic soulmate, we’ll have more than enough chances.”
Peter smirked as the tension ebbed away. “You and Gwen are that close, huh?”
“Yeah,” Harry answered, voice all full of fondness and seriousness and weight and intention. “Honestly, I think I knew they meant that much to me from the moment we agreed that even if Gwen wasn’t a lesbian, we still wouldn’t have ever dated. Probably sounds a bit weird, but that was just… in a way, it was proof for me of what we have.”
“No, no, I think I know what you mean,” Peter assured him. His mind brought up thoughts of Ned, who had well and truly been his bi awakening despite the fact that Ned was very much straight. How they had talked it over back in freshman year at Midtown, and agreed that the friendship they had was all they needed from each other. The memory hurt, so Peter shoved it down and away.
Once again, Peter and Harry walked in silence, the rest of the way to Beth Shalom. It was nice that way – there wasn’t anything more they needed to say, and the company was fulfilling on its own. Then, once they arrived, Harry turned his feet the other way. “I think I’ll head back now. This is your thing, I don’t want to intrude.”
“Alright,” Peter nodded, and turned to face Harry. He was tall now, taller than Harley who only had a few inches on Peter; Harry’s shoulders were at the perfect height for Peter to just step forward and lean his head on one of them. Slowly and tentatively, Harry put an arm around Peter’s back, and Peter made no move to stop him. Right then, for just a moment, he wanted some sort of tactile comfort, some proof that they were on the mend.
After a gentle, quiet minute, Peter stepped out of the half-embrace. Harry gave an awkward sort of nod. “Well, I’m off to campus to meet up with Harley. Us billionaire inheritors need to make a plan for how we’re gonna not be ethically corrupt by holding onto all of that money, so… yeah. See you later?”
“I’ll see you later, Harry,” Peter agreed, and Harry stepped through a portal. He hadn’t expected or known about Harry and Harley planning to hang out – especially for something like that – but it warmed him to know that they were getting along. Right now, even when things were still new with both of them, they were the two most important people in his life.
With Harry gone and a whole weight lifted off Peter’s mind, he turned to face the entrance to Beth Shalom. He hadn’t actually been inside yet – or come back here since that Monday afternoon – but he wanted to be there for the kabshab service. It was supposedly a community with a fair few people around Peter’s age, and he really liked Rabbi Isaacs – despite the secret identity mishap. This seemed like a community he wanted to be a part of, even if belief in god or prayer weren’t really his thing.
As it turned out, the inside was just about what he would have expected. To his left were stairs going up, and to his right were classic stained glass windows. Up ahead, a set of open doors led into what looked like the main room for services, with a tray full of kippot hanging on one side right before the doorway, and shelves full of siddurim on the other. Peter could see a few people gathering in there, and he could hear even more.
Time to meet even more new people, and perhaps make a friend or two. Peter grabbed a kippah on his way in. He didn’t see any clips in the tray, so he could only hope that it wouldn’t fall off. It probably would. He took a siddur too, even if he wasn’t sure he’d actually end up opening it. He more or less expected to sit there quietly this week, and maybe participate a little more another time.
He definitely didn’t expect to see the MIT queer club’s vice president looking at him with an eyebrow raised the moment he walked in.
“Um… hi?” Peter managed, not sure how else to react. Despite knowing that this was a community that actively engaged college students, he hadn’t expected to see anyone he already knew.
Ox snorted. “Sup. No need to look like a deer in headlights, you know? I don’t bite!”
Peter relaxed a little, and channeled some of the confidence that came naturally as Spider-Man, and had to be developed over time as Peter. “Just surprised, is all. You come here often?”
Ox let out a little hum. “Yeah, have been for a few years now, since I moved to this neck of the woods. Nice little part of my routine – plus, it helps that my boyfriend over there is one of the Rabbi’s kids.”
Peter glanced over to where Ox was pointing, and saw the Rabbi standing further back in the room, looking like he was giving instructions to two younger boys in front of him. One of them was almost as tall as the Rabbi, with a very chaotic mix of fluffy blue and green hair, wearing a leather jacket and a pleated skirt. The other was maybe an inch or two shorter than Peter, with short messy blonde hair.
“The colourful one is my Lucas; he skipped out on college to take on an electrician apprenticeship, and the younger one is Teddy. Nice kid, has a sterling record of punching homophobes at his school,” Ox explained, with a fond smile across their face. “Danny took both of them in after the Snap. He’s a pretty cool guy, if you’re up to it I’d recommend going to have a chat with him after the service.”
Peter chuckled a little at that. “Oh yeah, I know. I actually met him earlier this week and got some pretty great advice from him. Mind if I sit with you for the service? I don’t exactly know anyone else here, other than the rabbi himself.”
“Sure, of course,” Ox responded easily. “I reckon you’ll like it – Danny runs his services much more casually and communally than a lot of rabbis do.”
And Peter definitely did like it, a lot. Maybe he would be a regular synagogue-goer while he was at MIT. After just a single kabbalat shabbat service, Peter already felt like a part of the community.
Gwen + Harry (DMs)
Gwen: guess who’s getting laid tonightttttt
Harry: well, it’s definitely not me
Harry: who’s the lucky sapphic?
Gwen: …you know who
Gwen: leaving for campus around 9:30, we decided to meet at her dorm room >:)
Harry: you sure you don’t want me to give you a ride? It’ll be kinda dark
Gwen: you’re not a taxi service, witchboy
Gwen: I’ll be fine dw
Gwen: Anyone tries to hurt me and i’ll just start unloading my backpack at them
Gwen: i guarantee you they’ll run for the hills
Harry: …
Harry: you’re a menace and i salute you
Harry: stay safe. let me know when you get there and when you get home if you don’t stay over?
Gwen: yeah ofc
Gwen: tbh it might not even pan out
Gwen: she said its her first time and i dont wanna pressure her into anything
Harry: well you’re not doing the walk of shame back home in the dark if she backs out ok
Gwen: ugh fine
Gwen: only if you admit that you just want an excuse to portal places
Harry: ….
Harry: shhhhhhh
With a little under an hour remaining before Peter and Harley needed to get over to the trade site and begin laying low, there wasn’t much time for any sort of ordinary patrolling. At the very least, Peter wanted to make one stop and uphold a promise he made the week prior. When Peter brought it up, Harley hadn’t even remotely objected; he was just as shaken up by the incident they’d intervened in, and was just as dead-set on making a difference for the safety of Cambridge’s queer community.
The shelter was over in the Riverside area, which was conveniently not too far from the Brookline and Pacific corner. They had time, and if there was no crime to bust, maybe Peter and Harley could stay and chat with the shelter kids. First and foremost, though, Peter wanted to make sure Jessie had safe passage to New York if she hadn’t already left.
“You alright, there?” Harley asked as he flew across the night sky with Peter on his back. “You’re not usually this quiet.”
Peter hummed. “Yeah, it’s just been a long day, even if nothing bad’s happened. I’m pretty sure I aced the chem test, which means I have more time to not be in class, and I spoke with Harry to clear the air a little before heading to a service at the new synagogue I wanted to join up with. Now this, and then we have that weapons deal to sort out. It’s all just… a lot. You? How was your day? You and Harry hung out, right?”
“Oh yeah, it was pretty cool. We did some brainstormin’ and decided that when we take over Stark Industries and Oscorp, we’re gonna divert most of the company profits to sustainable free housin’,” Harley explained with a little cheer in his voice. “Harry’s a really cool guy.”
“He really is,” Peter agreed. Having crossed most of the distance to the shelter already, Harley started his descent. “He seems kinda like a typical arrogant and haughty trust fundie at first glance, but he’s really just not. One of many things about him that hasn’t changed in all these years. Alright, you ready for this?”
“Sure am,” Harley answered, and the two of them touched down on the ground, right outside the shelter.
Peter was the one to knock on the front door and enter first. He stepped into a dimly lit foyer with some couches and bookshelves and a few people milling about. The building did not look like it was in good shape, but it also wasn’t in unlivable disrepair. Even so, places like this needed more funding and support – though Peter wished they weren’t necessary in the first place.
A kid in the corner turned, and stared. “Spider-man?”
Peter gave a little wave, and Harley stepped inside behind him – which only elicited even more bewildered staring from the few people in the foyer. “Hey, is someone named Jessie Schultz around tonight?”
The kid from before shook their head. “Uh, she headed out for New York a couple days ago – I think Ari got a text yesterday saying she’d found a shelter to stay at.”
Peter let out a sigh of relief. “Okay. Good. That’s good. So, uh, are you guys alright here? Relatively speaking, I mean.”
Another spoke, this time, after a dry sort of laugh. “Hah. Relatively speaking about sums it up. Yeah, we look out for each other as much as we can. Everyone gets fed a couple times a day, and nobody’s been snatched in, like, a month. Are the rumours true? About you and Iron Lad being, you know…”
Peter turned to glance at Harley. He’d already decided that he wanted to be open about his queer identity as Spider-man, but didn’t know where Harley stood on that matter. Harley gave a little nod. “Yeah, it’s true. We’re as queer as they come!”
“Mhm,” Harley confirmed. “I am exceptionally gay. Say, who’s in charge of this place? I wanna make sure y’all can reach us if anythin’ goes down and you need help.”
“That’d be Ari,” another kid answered. “Here, let me give you their details. You really mean it? You’d look out for us?”
The disbelief these kids had tugged something harsh at Peter’s mind. The way that one of them had spoken about the gap in time since the last ‘snatching’ as though they were just resigned to it being something that happened. It was fucking awful, and it was obvious there was no real government funding to look out for these kids and help them stay afloat. Two meals a day? It could’ve been worse, but still… “Of course we will. You know, I went to see the Stonewall Inn once when I was younger, just to take it in. There was this old guy watching me as I stared at the building, who approached me when I noticed him. You know what he said? He asked me if I was ‘family’. It was a code our community used in his time to find one another. It’s a good one, right? Because we’re family. We look out for each other. If you guys ever need anything, reach out. One of us will swing by.”
A while later, Peter and Harley both left the shelter feeling more shaken than they’d expected, but also lighter. They were here, and they could help. Peter had a suspicion Harley was going to talk to Ari about more than just providing protection – with the money he’d inherited, he could do so much more.
Accounting for the incredibly necessary stealth measures, it took the duo a short while to make it over to the intersection. After leaving the shelter, they’d essentially needed to disappear and stick to the shadows, so there was no chance of anyone involved in the Basilisk Egg deal expecting their presences. The slower pace gave Peter time to do a little bit more last minute strategizing with Harley, especially with regards to waiting until the right moment to strike.
It also left Peter with time for his mind to run afoul of itself; this was going to be Harley’s first time dealing with something beyond simple petty crime, and it had also been a good month since Peter had handled anything of this scale either. There was a serious degree of danger to this; those thugs from earlier in the week had sounded confident that one of these eggs could take him down pretty much straight away. And with Harley being as new to all this as he was? It was risky having him come along. But… Harley had to start taking on the bigger matters eventually, and Peter wanted to be there to help when he did. There was always going to be risk.
And yet, even with that understanding, it felt like there was something more. Like Peter had missed something important. A foreboding sensation, an irrational sort of worry that something was going to go horribly wrong. Peter shook himself to try and clear those thoughts away; he couldn’t let himself be distracted by something like that. Such pessimism would only drag him down.
“Alright, we’ve gotta go silent now,” Peter whispered into his comms setup.
“Sir yes sir,” Harley whispered back a little playfully. They’d already split off, each headed for a different rooftop near the intersection – the beginnings of the plan involved dividing enemy attention. Divide their attention, and then make a grab for the eggs as soon as they’d been identified. Take away the biggest threat first. Harley had wanted to keep his stealth mode active when it got to the fighting, but Peter insisted otherwise. If they didn’t know where their targets were, the collateral damage risks increased tenfold.
Once in position, it didn’t take long for Peter to spot two cars staking out the intersection. He could vaguely hear a tiny bit of chatter, allowing him to identify one of the voices in the nearer car from amongst the voices he’d heard last time.
Twenty minutes to go.
It wasn’t that Harley was excited. He wasn’t, really. He didn’t underestimate the gravity of the situation at all. These basilisk eggs sounded like nasty business, not to be taken lightly. But this was also more than anything Harley had handled in the suit before. He’d passed all of the training protocols Pepper ran him through at the Avengers Compound, and he’d done quite a bit of dealing with local petty crime in Cambridge. He’d been out on his own last night, too – though Peter didn’t know that yet. Harley just wanted to prove that he could do it on his own, and he had.
Did he feel ready for intercepting a dangerous weapons deal? No, definitely not. But he suspected that he was never going to feel ready. He just had to do it. He had to be at the top of his game, and make sure he and Peter succeeded without any collateral damage. Harley had his blasters pre-set to one of the lower settings – powerful enough to do some real damage to the enemy, but not so strong that he’d actually kill anyone. His batons were holstered over his shoulders, ready to draw if he had to get in close. The suit was at almost full charge. He was currently doing a breathing exercise Peter had taught him, which helped him keep calm and focused.
He might not have felt completely ready, but he was as ready as he could be. When a van with darkly tinted windows approached the intersection, Harley kept himself low to the rooftop and watched for the information Darlene brought up on his display. He’d already given her instructions on the way over, meaning neither him nor the AI needed to make a single sound.
The plates on the van were unidentifiable, not matching any registered vehicle. This was it. Six people were inside; two heat signatures in the front, and four in the back. From the looks of it, the four in the back were already holding guns. He couldn’t get anything more from Darlene, but that was enough for the moment.
All six people got out of the van, one of them carrying a singular black case. The two stakeout cars quickly became vacant too, and another three people emerged from a building at the corner. The trio from the building approached the ones from the van. One of them was gesturing to another, who held yet another black case. If Harley had to guess, the case possessed by the ones emerging from the building was full of money, and the one from the van had the weapons.
Peter had said that the moment to intervene was no sooner than when the cases were being handed over. The guards of every single person involved in the trade would be up, but it also left the least time for anyone to escape with the target items. So, Harley watched as patiently as he could when one case was opened to reveal stacks upon stacks of cash, and the other was opened to reveal a set of strange crystals. Harley didn’t know what he was expecting these ‘basilisk eggs’ to be, but it wasn’t that.
The cases were both closed, and handed over.
“Now,” Peter’s voice came across the comms line at a bare whisper. Harley saw his friend leap down off the building diagonally across the intersection from where he lay, and walk casually over towards the trade while making a steady stream of sarcastic banter. Right, Peter was drawing attention. Now, it was Harley’s turn.
Firing up his thrusters, Harley lifted off from his own rooftop and disabled the retroreflective stealth mode. “Sup, bitches! Who’s ready to tango?”
More than half of the enemies turned to face Harley, which was exactly what he and Peter needed. So, Harley got to work. Bullets started spraying wildly through the air, and Harley made moves to avoid them. His suit was bulletproof, but there was a mix of not taking chances and leading the enemy on in his mind. Well, it was time for blasters – and Harley’s aim was pretty damn good. His first shot landed a hit on a gunman’s wrist, sending the gun careening to the ground. It would leave a pretty nasty burn, too. Harley’s goal was to put the enemies out of commision without killing them – and the best way to do that was to prevent them from firing weapons and knock them unconscious.
Across the intersection, Peter was making slightly slower work of his own assailants – his suit wasn’t bulletproof, because Peter had insisted once, firmly, that he didn’t ‘deserve’ anything better than what he currently had, unless he could make it himself. Well, it wasn’t like Harley had much room to argue, since he too had refused to take the nanotech suit Pepper had offered; he wanted to use nanotech only when he could build it himself.
Harley’s display had a little green box tracking the case with the basilisk eggs. At the moment, it sat on the ground beside one of the gunmen. Peter was best suited to grab it, but he was too held up. Harley had to cause more of a distraction. Maybe… yeah, he had an idea.
The first thing Harley did was fly across the intersection, almost in Peter’s direction. He still stuck to the air while Peter was lower to the ground. Now, every single one of the enemies was faced northward, in his and Peter’s direction. Step one, complete.
Next, Harley started firing from his palm blasters. Not with his usual precise aim. His shots were almost random, spraying across the area to try and make him look like a bigger threat. It worked, and gave Peter an opportunity to slip across to the other side, so he could grab the case from behind, and dash off to secure it somewhere safe. Step two, complete.
Well, except for the fact that one of the gunmen was now picking up the target case. Picking it up and opening it.
Gwen had taken a few minutes longer than they’d planned to get out the door and on their way. Despite the air of confidence she tried to put up, she was a little nervous. Her date for the night was gorgeous, intelligent and witty, and had no experience with sex whatsoever. Gwen wanted to make this a good experience for both of them. The pressure was on. But she got herself going all the same. She slipped her earbuds in and put in some music to keep her mind occupied. And yeah, maybe they did turn up the volume a little louder than usual.
Damn, the drumline on this song is fucking incredible, Gwen thought to herself as she started jogging down the road. The further she got, the more it sounded like the drums were banging off-beat. It was unusual, made Gwen feel just a little bit apprehensive. Like something was wrong, but they knew that was just their anxiety talking. So, Gwen kept moving. The sooner they got to campus, the easier this would be.
The directions were pretty simple. She just had to turn off her street onto the intersection of Brookline and Pacific St, and head down Pacific all the way to campus.
The case came open, and Harley saw the gunman grab one of the crystals. One of the basilisk eggs, which could apparently turn a struck victim to stone. It was a one hit and it’s over sort of deal. So, yeah, maybe he panicked a little. Peter couldn’t get a clear shot at the case or the particular gunman, which meant it was up to Harley to make sure that crystal didn’t go anywhere.
The guy’s arm wound itself back in preparation to throw, his eyes locked onto Harley. Yeah, Harley really didn’t want to die. He didn’t want anybody else to, either. That crystal had to be dealt with. As quickly as he could, Harley reached out one of his hands and lined up his shot. If he managed to hit the guy’s wrist, like he had done with the first gunman he’d shot down, the crystal would just fall harmlessly to the ground, right?
The man’s arm started moving forward, harshly. Harley shot a pulse from his blaster. The pulse struck its mark.
But the gunman didn’t drop the crystal. No, all Harley’s shot had managed was to push the guy’s arm, botch his aim. The crystal still went flying.
Suddenly Peter was in the air, screaming. He was reaching out, firing a web after the crystal.
Harley turned, and saw where the crystal was going. Where it was travelling, barely just faster than Peter’s web. He saw a familiar shock of chin-length straight blonde hair.
Gwen.
They didn’t even have a chance to react before the crystal struck her face and shattered.
Right in front of Harley’s eyes, Gwen Stacy turned to stone.