dynamics, 1
Peter walked out of his dorm building with a half eaten protein bar in hand, and it was barely seconds before Harley appeared and bumped shoulders with him. In that moment, everything was almost normal again. As if Friday night hadn’t happened, and as if a tiring, heavy weekend hadn’t passed since.
As if they hadn’t both been running a tight schedule of studying and patrolling and frequently checking in on Gwen and Daisy to make sure things were fine and bringing them food if Harry and Riri hadn’t already done so. As if Peter wasn’t still reeling from the fact that if Gwen hadn’t been Inhuman, they’d be dead. As if Harley wasn’t also reeling from the exact same thing and trying to pretend like he wasn’t having an even harder time dealing with it than Peter was. Peter had the advantage of experience; he’d fucked up before.
“Do you need a hug?” Peter asked Harley almost immediately after the shoulder bump took place. He could see the beginnings of dark bags under Harley’s eyes. The slight hunch of his shoulders was a bit of a giveaway too.
Harley smiled at him, and for a moment looked like he was about to shake his head, but then he stopped walking. “Yeah. I could use one of those right about now.”
So Peter faced him and pulled Harley in, letting Harley press his head into the crook of Peter’s neck. He made sure the hug had enough pressure behind it to help relax Harley’s nervous system and be as comfortable as possible, because his friend needed and deserved it. Peter and Harley both knew that Daisy had called in a friend to come help train everyone, who could specifically work with Harley on fighting with batons. The first training session was at midday – Harley just needed some comfort to get him to that point. Then, he could take seek a mental safe-haven in his growth and efforts to do better.
“Thanks,” Harley mumbled into Peter’s neck. “You’re too nice sometimes, you know that?”
Peter chuckled. “Firstly, even if we’ve only known each other properly for two weeks now, you’re my best friend and I care about you a whole damn lot. Secondly, I needed the hug too.”
“You’re mine too, if that wasn’t clear already,” Harley responded as he pulled away and gave Peter yet another bump with his shoulder. They kept walking – they had a physics class to get to. Gwen and Harry would both be there, which would give them all an extra little bit of normalcy before heading back to the containment facility to train. Peter was a bit nervous still about being around Harry, even if he had said there were no hard feelings or blame. Part of him was scared that they’d go sit somewhere else. It felt like such a silly thing to worry about, especially in the second week of college classes, and yet Peter’s mind rattled about with concern.
It was the squeeze that Harley’s hand gave to Peter’s shoulder right outside the classroom that brought Peter out of his slowly spinning thoughts, enabling him to step inside and take a seat at the same table as the previous week with a modicum of calm. Then Gwen and Harry walked in together, joining Peter and Harley without hesitation.
“Is it weird that I’m excited just by the idea of being in a classroom again? I’d probably be buzzing if I wasn’t so tired,” Gwen announced as she spun around her seat so the back was against the table, and practically fell into it. Peter’s mind chewed on the words for a moment, and then he laughed. Buzzing. Gwen flicked a pair of finger guns at him for getting the joke.
“I get it, I think,” Harley was the first to answer. “It’s nice to have somethin’ normal after what happened.”
Peter hummed. “After I got bitten by that spider, I took a week off school ‘sick’. First three days I was sick; it was pretty awful, honestly. Then I was just trying to figure out how to get my new powers under control. After that? I wanted nothing more than to just go to school and sit in class and learn and go home and do homework. It was an adjustment, even for teenage me who also thought it was all ridiculously cool.”
“Yeah,” Gwen uttered, and then repeated the word. They held a finger up – not particularly high, not where people would notice, but enough for their friends to notice – and sparks danced out for just a moment. “Because now I can do that. And I have a sister that I never knew about before, and everything’s different. This? And Daisy? Both really cool, but it’s like my brain’s only just starting to catch up.”
“Give it a week or two,” Peter advised, because he’d been through this before. “Things will settle.”
Gwen chuckled. “Yeah, that’s what Daisy said. Granted, that was about waiting before confronting my so-called parents.”
“And it was good advice,” Harry insisted, albeit gently. “We’ve all got your back, Gwen. You might be able to move absurdly fast now, but there’s still no need to rush.”
“Yeah,” Gwen responded. “Yeah. So, uh, physics! I have had zero time to keep up with classwork over the weekend for obvious reasons, so I have no clue what today’s class is gonna be about.”
Harley nodded over to the front of the class, where Professor Salisu had arrived and was now setting up. “On Moodle it said this week would be about research methods and organising information. After today’s class we’ll have to start watchin’ lectures online in advance, though, because we’re movin’ into the specifics of different topics.”
“Neat,” Gwen said, with a whole lot of emphasis on the last consonant. “My biology class tomorrow is probably gonna ruin me. The lecturer said something about being content heavy in the first half of the semester and then working on applications after the midsem. At least Salisu’s making it easier, huh?”
Harry gave Gwen a consoling pat on the shoulder, and Professor Salisu began teaching. It ended up being another highly interactive class, in which she would present different aspects of doing effective research and open up to class discussion about each little concept. Half the time it would be an open discussion involving the entire room, and the other half would be table discussions. It worked well, and Peter was hooked. The lesson was even giving him some ideas for how to streamline the project work on his suit. It was especially enjoyable for Peter to see the gears turning in Harley’s head as he grappled with the same concepts and had silent but noticeable realisations.
And then the class was over, and Harry was the first to leave. He practically fled the room as though he couldn’t wait to be somewhere else, which set Peter’s mind to war. If he was being reasonable, it was probably fair to say that Harry just had things he wanted to get done before the midday meeting time; Harry had opted into training with Daisy, to putting his magic to use and doing something about the local crime after his best friend had almost been killed. It was a pretty motivating factor.
Other parts of Peter’s mind suggested that maybe Harry’s tolerance and apparent comfort with the group during class was all an act; that he didn’t forgive Peter and Harley, and couldn’t wait to get away from them. There was also a note of concern amidst his thoughts; what if something was wrong? What if Harry needed help? Sighing, Peter collected his things and got up, intent on following Harley and Gwen over to the queer lounge. It was a pretty nice place, after all. But Peter still just felt tense.
Finally properly noticing the way he was stressing out, Peter stopped right after exiting the classroom, just to feel the sun and wind on his face. He used small things to ground himself, little sensations he could focus on to drive his mind away from wherever it was going. A trick he’d learned from a certain blind lawyer after Peter had spiralled to the lowest point he’d ever been and resolved to never let himself get that low again.
Peter closed his eyes to let his hearing latch onto one particular noise far off in the distance. A bird, chirping. He didn’t know what kind of bird it was; they had never been an interest of his. But the sound was distinctive, and focusing on it helped Peter clear his mind. After several seconds of breathing in fresh air and listening to a bird some hundred metres away, Peter opened his eyes.
“You good?” Harley asked. His face was mostly blank, but Peter could recognise the concern in how Harley’s nose scrunched ever so slightly and his head tilted a little to the side.
Peter nodded. “Am now. Just needed a moment. Sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologise for that,” Harley assured him. “Wanna talk about it?”
He was about to say yes, because Peter knew that talking things through when he got like this was important. Both Matt and Jess had put in work to drill that into him. But then, with his eyes actually open and the crowd from the departing class now cleared, Peter could see Harry. Not too far off in the distance, standing and looking straight at him. Waiting.
Just like always.
So, Peter shook his head. “Nah, I think Harry’s waiting for me. Catch you later? Maybe we’ll meet up with you, Gwen and Riri on the way over to meet Daisy.”
Harley nodded, something soft and indiscernible on his face now. “Sounds like a plan.”
With that, Peter padded over towards Harry with undeniable enthusiasm; Harry hadn’t been trying to flee, after all. Peter had just jumped to conclusions because he was in a jumpy state of mind. It would settle in time – it usually did. Harry gave Peter a small wave as he crossed the rest of the distance.
“We could make this a thing,” Harry said as soon as Peter was within earshot. Well, unenhanced human earshot. “Every Monday, we could go for a walk and hang out a bit after physics, if you want?”
“I’d like that,” Peter agreed easily. Right before everything had gone down, he and Harry had agreed to let their new friendship build without forcing or rushing it, and this was a nice way to go about that. “How are you handling everything from the past few days?”
Harry shrugged, and the two of them set off walking. “As well as anyone could expect, I guess. The most important thing is that Gwen’s alive, and they’re okay. We talked a little bit about what this all means last night, and Gwen’s got a lot on her plate to figure out. I’m freeing up my schedule a bit to be there for them. Greenie was pretty understanding when I said I couldn’t help out with company work for a few weeks. I was doing pretty replaceable stuff anyway, so it’s no big deal.”
“We love a company man who’ll throw it all to the wind for his friends,” Peter teased. “So, you’re coming to training?”
“I’m coming to training,” Harry confirmed. “I never really planned to use my powers to get involved with anything, but then Gwen almost died, because of some assholes trying to leverage a dangerous weapon to gain a bit more power. It’s easier to see up close, and I can do something about it. I’ll… I’m gonna hold back, though. I don’t want to hurt anyone too bad if I can help it, not even the apparent ‘bad guys’.”
Peter nodded, and without even thinking, led Harry left along Main St, off campus. “One of the last things Aunt May said to me was that ‘with great power comes great responsibility’, and I think she’s right… but it’s more complicated than that. You also have to look after yourself. If that means not using your magic to fight crime, that’s okay too. Besides, the world has seen what happens when powerful people get driven over the brink, like what happened with Wa- the Scarlet Witch, so choosing your boundaries is good, I think. But if you’re sure you want this, then I’m not going easy on you in training.”
“You say that as though you’re gonna be training me?” Harry smirked. Someone on the street tried to hand him a flyer for a restaurant. He took it, and wished the advertiser a good day. The flyer was then quickly stashed in his pocket without another glance. “I was under the impression the badass Avengers candidate and her friend would be handling that.”
Peter snorted. “You know, technically I am an Avenger. Mr. Stark invited me to join when I was barely sixteen and then dubbed me one when we were in space. Bet you ten bucks Daisy asks me to help her coach the three of you after we spar.”
“You could just ask me to buy you dinner, you know,” Harry joked back. Idly, Peter realised that they were now on Portland St. The path was familiar; he and Harry had walked it together just a few days ago. “I’m curious to see just what you’re capable of, honestly.”
Peter fidgeted with a piece of scrap metal in his pocket. He was starting to feel restless already; craving something active. Well, training would be active enough. “Heh. Harls was curious too, and got a specialised weight training machine brought in. You might have seen the box that got brought in by drones last night? I want to see if I can hit 100 tonnes or not.”
Harry stopped, and stared at him. “Excuse me good sir, what the fuck? You used to be this tiny scrawny kid with asthma.”
“It’s the testosterone injections,” Peter deadpanned. “Definitely that and nothing else. Didn’t you know being trans gives you the best superpowers? When a trans person figures out what they want their transition or lack thereof to look like and goes for it, they get superpowers.”
“Uhuh,” Harry deadpanned back. “Yes, I’ve been led to understand that the superpower in question is called ‘being hot’.”
Peter’s poker face shattered, and he let out a somewhat more embarrassing snort. The ease with which he continued to banter with Harry and then talk about the most mundane things for an hour as they walked circles around the park just past Beth Shalom lifted an enormous weight off Peter’s shoulders. His friendship with Harry was definitely one less thing he had to worry about. Maybe soon it’d even be something he could fully trust.
Several feelings were coursing through Harley’s mind and body alike as he flew in his suit from the workshop to the containment facility, easily overpowering the thoughts of how he should definitely fast-track designing portable access to the suit. Miniaturisation technology and all its fascinating details just didn’t beat the emotional overflow. For one, he was relieved to know he’d be getting even more training so that accidents like what happened to Gwen didn’t happen again. He was also excited about the training – Peter had trained him a little, but mostly they’d just patrolled together, and Harley wanted to learn and improve more. He and Peter hadn’t had time for more training with the balance they’d decided to strike between this and college, but now Daisy was practically ordering it, and nobody objected.
He was also guiltily looking forward to it for a separate reason, one he was trying without much luck to suppress – Harley had already backed out on two Grindr hookups because it felt distinctly wrong. The weight machine had arrived, which meant it was time to test Peter’s strength, and damn if that wasn’t a thought that flustered him easily. Harley couldn’t really deny how he felt about Peter anymore, it seemed like a futile exercise. But if Peter didn’t feel the same, he’d just have to keep it to himself. Maybe one day he’d shoot his shot when things were more steady for the both of them.
For now, he’d focus on the training itself. Daisy had sent him a message – to his personal number that he definitely hadn’t provided – reminding him to make sure he brought his batons with. Apparently her friend was an expert with them. That was a cool thought, too. The weapons spoke to him more than others he’d considered, his definite choice for what to use if he had to get up close and personal.
Well, Harley was at least glad for the time he had alone after splitting off from the other four along the way to their destination, needing to pick up his suit first. His head was a little clearer now that he’d had some time to actually feel the whole mess bubbling around. When he dropped through the aerial hatch entrance and landed on the ground in the middle of the facility, Harley definitely felt more prepared for what was to come.
“First of the bunch, huh?” an unfamiliar voice called. Harley turned around and saw a tall woman with dyed-blonde hair and state of the art lightweight combat training gear. She had makeup all done up to sharpen her features, and from what Harley knew of that domain, he knew it must have been pretty high quality stuff for her to be confident it wouldn’t get messed up when things got active. In a few words, she looked classy and ruthless all at once.
“The others are walkin’, and I flew,” Harley explained. “You must be Daisy’s friend, who I definitely didn’t grant access to.”
“Yeah, she does that,” the woman responded as though Daisy’s behaviour was completely par for the course. “I’m Bobbi. Daisy’s out in her van hacking into Elon Musk’s offshore accounts and draining them dry. And you’re the baton kid.”
“Apparently so,” Harley confirmed. “Hey FRIDAY, can you just confirm that Bobbi here was let in by Daisy?”
“That is correct, Boss,” the AI’s voice declared from overhead. “Our firewalls did not stand a chance. Would you like to alert Miss Potts? The breach fortunately did not result in any systems or functionality being disabled, though it raises numerous concerns.”
Harley shrugged, and had his suit’s mask retract. “Sure, might as well take the opportunity to tighten things up.”
Bobbi shot an amused look at him. “Good, you’re not totally naive. I’d judge you for looking too young, but I joined SHIELD when I was fifteen. Not with them anymore, but it doesn’t leave me much room to talk. Harley Keener, right?”
“Do you know that because Daisy told you, or because you did your own research?” Harley had to ask.
“The latter,” Bobbi answered freely. “Looked all of you up to see what I was agreeing to. Found your connection to Pepper Potts and Stark Industries a little too easily, so don’t count on your secret identity lasting. Daisy mentioned there being a magic user, another kid in an iron suit who once made a functioning vibranium detector for a class project, Spider-Man himself, and Daisy’s kid sibling. Nice that they found each other. Do you think Riri Williams knows she’s on an FBI watch-list?”
Harley just raised an eyebrow at the woman who was supposed to become his teacher. He couldn’t quite tell if she was just showing an open hand of cards or messing with him. Fortunately, the side entrance slid open in time to rescue Harley from having to continue playing whatever Bobbi’s game was, even if it was probably harmless. Peter saw Harley and immediately waved, which sent a warm feeling across his body. Harley stuffed it down, and waved back.
“Told you we should have portaled,” Harry jabbed at the others as they walked further in side. He then looked around, and frowned. “Where’s Daisy?”
“Van,” Gwen answered before Bobbi got a chance, and then vanished, leaving a trail of electricity behind them. About twenty seconds later, Gwen came back in with Daisy in tow. Daisy quickly moved to the centre of the room, signalling for everyone to gather around.
“Right everyone,” Daisy started, folding her arms and standing with a casual sort of authority – like leading or directing a team was just something she was used to. “Bobbi, everyone. Everyone, Bobbi Morse. We’re gonna be training the five of you so you don’t get killed, seeing as you’re all apparently set on crime-fighting. Let’s cut to the chase, and get started. I want to see what each of you are already capable of before we start the actual work. Pure hand to hand first, and then we can throw powers and equipment into the mix. Who’s first?”
Peter stepped forward immediately, rolling his shoulders in small circles to loosen them up. The grin on his face told the story of someone who knew something that the others didn’t, and Harry’s raised eyebrows only added to that. Harley was missing something, but he’d surely find out pretty soon. He and the others wordlessly stepped back to make space, and Harley found himself standing between Gwen and Bobbi, while Harry and Riri were over on the other side of the soon-to-be sparring partners.
“Alright Spidey, let’s see what you’ve got. First to lock down their opponent, best of three. Sound good?” Daisy proposed.
“If you’d like,” Peter responded, and damn he sounded confident. He wasn’t even wearing his suit; rather, he had on a pair of stretchy-looking slacks, a white undershirt and an unbuttoned short sleeve floral dress shirt. His web shooters were secured around his wrist and wrapped in fabric that made it look like he was just wearing fingerless gloves. Not fighting gear by any means, and yet Peter made no move to take his backpack and go change into his actual suit.
“Dressed like that?” Daisy questioned, echoing Harley’s own present thoughts.
Peter shrugged. He kicked off his shoes and set himself into a fighting stance. When Daisy made no attempts to move, Peter lashed out with his right arm, aimed straight for Daisy’s face. Suddenly, it occurred to Harley that he’d never seen Peter properly spar with someone. Sure, he’d seen clips of Spider-Man in action over the years, but none of them really showed any extensive hand to hand combat.
Daisy brought up her own arm and blocked Peter’s hand with ease, and then the dance began. He spun his arm to trap Daisy’s hand, and went in for a kick in the same motion, and despite the fact it wasn’t that high, Daisy ducked under it, dragging Peter’s arm with him. He must have been holding his strength back if she was able to pull him around, but it made sense since powers were to be saved for later. From there, it was a constant and quick exchange of blows in which neither combatant got in a solid strike.
Where Daisy’s blows were more heavy and forceful, Peter was agile and elegant – granted, that was only relative to one another. All Harley could confidently say was that these were two incredibly skilled fighters, and he had a lot to learn. Sure, Harley had picked up a little bit of martial arts training over the years, but for someone who actively intended to be a superhero of some kind, he was sorely lacking in that department.
The match went on for a whole minute, with Harley following as best he could. He was vaguely aware of the heat rushing to his face, but it seemed unimportant in the face of catching every detail he could. To know where the bar was, how far he had to go.
Suddenly, Peter was on his back. Harley couldn’t even begin to tell where the moment was that Daisy had caught the advantage, but she’d won the round all the same.
“Shit, Spidey, who trained you?” Daisy asked, holding a hand out to help him up and giving him an incredibly impressed look.
Peter kipped himself up without the help. More heat rushed to Harley’s face. “Oh, right, I trained on and off with Nat for the better part of a year. Plus, I can’t really turn off my spidey sense, so that gives me a bit of a boost. It’s kind of precog, but not exactly.”
Daisy blinked at him. “Nat. Nat as in Natasha Romanoff?”
Peter hummed a casual affirmative. Something sad flickered across his face, and was gone as fast as it had appeared. “Yup. Mama Spider was pretty ruthless, but her training has definitely paid off.”
“Mama Spider, huh?” Daisy questioned, and then glanced over to Bobbi with a smirk on her face. “Hey Bobbi, how do you reckon May would respond to being called Mama May?”
“I think she might actually kill you,” Bobbi answered plainly.
“Not Melinda May, as in The Cavalry?” Peter was now asking. “That explains… a lot.”
“You knew her?” Daisy asked.
Peter shook his head. “Just heard of her, from Nat. And saw some videos of her fighting, because Nat wanted me to study different styles. You fight just like her.”
Daisy hummed, and then without warning, blasted Peter with a cone of vibrations. As he went flying back all the way across the room, Harley almost flew over to check if he was okay. But Peter was fine – of course he was. He’d landed in a crouch, parallel to the ground with his feet sticking to the wall. Plus, Harley didn’t want to miss the beautiful opportunity that was Daisy’s reaction to whatever had just happened.
“FRIDAY, snap a picture of Daisy’s face right now?” Harley called out with a smirk on his face, both because this little recorded memory would be priceless, and because he had just completed a successful, unprompted exercise in quick reactions to the unexpected.
The expression on Daisy’s face was one of baffled shock, with perhaps a little unmalicious disgust. Even if Harley wasn’t great with reading expressions, this one was just so exaggerated that it was hard not to understand. Her brows were furrowed, her nose flared and her mouth was wide open. She had taken a step back, and was glancing between Peter and her own hands.
“ARE YOUR BONES FUCKING BENDY?” Daisy howled across the room.
In the span of a moment, Harley had gone from triumphant over his quick reaction to a state of shock. That singular piece of information was something he absolutely didn’t know what to do with; bendy bones? Maybe Harley should have seen it as a ‘whatever’ sort of thing, and yet… bendy bones. Everyone else was now staring at Peter with similar expressions, too.
Peter shrugged. “Yeah? Why are you all looking at me like that? Is there something wrong with bendy bones?”
Harry shuddered. “Peter, dude, that’s… how?”
Peter leapt off the wall, and shot a web up to the ceiling that let him very quickly swing back to the group. “Spider bite? I’ve never really thought about it that much, and it’s kinda handy. Makes me more durable!”
Daisy was shaking her head in horror. “Spidey, I’m not sure you understand. I felt that. Feedback from my quakes, majorly dampened by your bendy fucking bones. Like, I’m not trying to body shame you here or anything but that is one hell of a thing I’m gonna have to get used to.”
“Y’all, I do not get what the fuss is,” Riri remarked, looking more baffled by everyone other than Peter. In contradiction to her very clear stance of not wanting to get involved a week prior, Riri was now here to train because apparently she and Gwen had a thing going on and Friday night had rattled her. The times Harley had spoken to her since, she seemed all business. “So what if he has bendy bones? Big deal, carry on.”
As much as logically Harley knew that Riri was right, that this shouldn’t be any kind of big deal, it was just… his emotional state was rattled by the concept. The whole point of bones were that they were mostly rigid and worked with muscles and connective tissue to hold a body together. Somehow, Peter’s posture was unaffected by the physiological difference, and that in and of itself was baffling. He was just going to have to accept it, though, and move on.
“It really isn’t anything to get worked up about,” Peter insisted. “So, was that the start of the powers-allowed round? No more best of three for the first part?”
Daisy sighed, and visibly collected herself. “Yup. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Over the next thirty seconds, Peter pretty much entirely turned the tables on Daisy. Maybe it was because his bendy bones cut down on her offensive power, or maybe it was because of all his other superhuman abilities. Even when Daisy switched to using her quakes for mobility, disrupting webs and defense, Peter was just stronger and faster. He had Daisy webbed to a wall fast enough, and was then apologetically pulling them away to let her free.
“So you’ve been trained by the Black Widow and you have bendy bones. Well, I’m impressed. I doubt Bobbi and I have much of anything to teach you. Honestly, how would you feel about helping us train the others?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Peter lied, because Harley knew his best friend well enough to know that Peter stepping forward like he had barely five minutes ago was all to lead up to this.
Each of Daisy, Peter and Bobbi then moved to pair up with Riri, Harry and Harley respectively, with Daisy already having a very clear picture of Gwen’s skills from a weekend spent testing and training them. Harley stepped out of his suit at Bobbi’s request. She then proceeded to flip Harley on his ass three times without mercy in very quick succession. From what he could see, Harry wasn’t faring much better. Riri, however, was actually putting up a fight against Daisy, even if she still lost.
“Well, I can work with this,” Bobbi said after helping Harley up for the last time. “You don’t know a single thing about old-fashioned, no-lasers fighting, do you?”
Harley flushed with embarrassment. “Not really, no. I got strong enough to fend off the bullies back home and that was that. I always figured I’d have a suit to compensate, anyway.”
Bobbi tutted at him. “No, bad call. What happens when someone hits you with an EMP sophisticated enough to take down that suit of yours? Or when it runs flat? Or if someone catches you without it on? Any number of situations could get you killed if you don’t have the training to fend for yourself. Is that understood?”
Harley gulped. “Yep. You painted a pretty clear picture there.”
“Alright,” Bobbi nodded. “We’ll have to wait until everyone’s done with their first three rounds before I get you in that suit of yours. Don’t want to mess with anyone else’s matches, especially when you’re as mobile as you are. For now, I have one question. Do your batons have some kind of recall feature?”
Harley blinked at her. “Recall?”
Bobbi produced her batons, and threw both of them right past Harley without warning. On each side, a baton skimmed right past Harley’s ears. Bobbi flicked her wrists, and the batons flew right back to her. “Recall. Think you can make yours do that on your own?”
“Yeah,” Harley barely answered whilst processing what his new mentor was like. She didn’t just enjoy messing with him, she was also ruthless. Sure, he was excited to learn from her, but he was also terrified.
“So what’s your whole deal about holding back?” Peter had to ask as he and Harry went at it with their powers now in play. Before, Peter had been tossing Harry around like it was child’s play because he clearly didn’t know how to protect himself physically against a trained fighter. Now, Peter was having some trouble getting close with any kind of direct assault.
Harry shrugged, his hands moving as a conduit for his powers as he grabbed a hold on Peter and threw him back. “I dunno how well versed you are in the different kinds of magic, since back when we were kids I didn’t know either. Other than the few little tricks I’ve picked up in the Sanctum, my power is typically shunned.”
Peter managed to flip backwards out of Harry’s magical grasp, and then flung himself to the side to throw Harry off with some more erratic movements. “Not much. The Avengers all thought the Scarlet Witch’s magic was some kind of raw energy manipulation from the Mind Stone, but clearly there was more to it.”
Harry hummed. He threw several dark bolts in Peter’s path, but none of them landed. “Despite the moniker, the Scarlet Witch’s powers are known as Chaos Magic, rather than witchcraft. Mine is called several things depending on who you ask. Dark magic, Witchcraft, Chthonic magic, and various unflattering names in several different languages. People don’t tend to like it, especially thanks to one particular witch who went around killing all the others and attracting all the wrong kinds of attention.”
“So you’re worried about people judging you?” Peter asked, and then slugged a fist across Harry’s face – which wasn’t really a great way to let him answer. He offered Harry a hand up, and then a couple minute’s truce before the last of three testing rounds.
Harry rubbed his face, and then used a little bit of that cooling magic on his face so it wouldn’t bruise as badly. The cooling magic looked different to what he fought with, and more like what Peter had seen from Doctor Strange. “A little, yeah. I didn’t want to be in the limelight, since I quite enjoy having autonomy and making my own life choices. Don’t get me wrong, though, I’m choosing this. I just… the power I inherited wasn’t small. Even if I don’t end up being public enemy number one thanks to all the prejudice, I’d be painting a target on my back if my strength was known. This is the kind of power that can be stolen.”
Peter squinted at that. “Huh. So is it a blanket no to going all out? I just wanna know what we as a team will be working with here, since it looks like we might actually become a team.”
Harry’s hand dropped back down as he ended the spell. His cheek looked a little red, but nothing too bad. “Not an outright refusal, no. I’ve got one reason I’d stop holding back, and that’s to protect my family. Dad and Greenie of course, but also Gwen. And there’s room for that family to grow, too.”
“Alright,” Peter said. He could accept that. “Let’s go again. This time I want you to show me the absolute upper bound of the power you’re comfortable using generally, and training-wise we can work on finesse and efficiency so you can do more with less.”
“Sounds good,” Harry agreed, and threw himself back into the fray.
Harley found himself infinitely grateful for the short break between Bobbi grading him on his in-suit fighting skills mid-fight and regrouping for the ‘official’ training. Bobbi had already started pushing him hard, managing to take him down every single time even while he was suited up and in the air. She was just that good.
He was also grateful for the small kitchen installed in a room off to one side of the containment facility – which really needed an easier name to say, honestly. The kitchen was stocked with long-lasting food supplies, so that if anyone had to camp out in the facility they wouldn’t go hungry.
Harley poured himself a tall glass of water, and then leaned against the metallic kitchen island in the middle as he emptied it in quick gulps. The door to the kitchen slid open, Gwen walking in with a wry grin on their face. They had been the only one exempt from the grueling ‘test’ sparring, but it was fair enough after a whole weekend practically locked up in here.
“I have a theory,” Gwen announced.
Entirely unsure where this was going, Harley set his glass down and turned to face her with an eyebrow raised. “A theory, huh?”
“Somebody here is having a big ol’ gay crisis,” Gwen smirked.
Harley flushed. But… he didn’t shut them down, either. He didn’t know Gwen that well yet, but wanted to be friends with her. Besides, maybe it’d be helpful and just nice to have someone to talk to about this. “Perhaps.”
“I get it,” Gwen said as she jumped up to sit on the middle of the island. “He’s got a certain something something going on. You gonna do anything about it?”
Harley sighed, and turned around to lean against the sink and keep facing Gwen. “Nah. Pete’s been through too much shit for me to risk throwin’ a spanner in the works of our friendship right now.”
“You might wanna get a handle on the whole-” Gwen gestured towards Harley’s face, “-visible obvious crisis thing, then.”
Harley rolled his eyes, flustering easily enough just at that. “And what about you and Riri, huh? ‘Girl you hooked up with at a party’ is what I remember Harry saying last Wednesday.”
This time it was Gwen’s turn to get flustered, and that brought pleasant satisfaction to Harley’s mind. Eye for an eye, and all that. “Aren’t I allowed to be cool and mysterious? But yeah, I’m not entirely sure what’s happening there now. We weren’t really talking about dating but then Riri goes and shows up all stressed out on Friday after the drama, and has stuck around since. And I’m definitely down for that, but…”
“Shit’s all different for you now?” Harley offered, and Gwen nodded. So this wasn’t a poke-and-prod teasing session, that was just the icebreaker.
“So different,” Gwen said, rattling her fingers against the countertop without restraint. “You sure you wanna open this can of worms?”
“Try me,” Harley could only insist, because he could see how restless Gwen was and how much they clearly wanted to talk. And he wanted to be the kind of friend who could listen to and support the people he cared about.
Gwen hummed, and then the words just started spilling out. “Like, you know about the whole ‘wow I have powers now’ thing and the ‘holy shit I have a sister’ thing but you know what I was even less prepared for? The ‘guess what Gwen all those people who called you sinophobic slurs were onto something, because you’re half-Chinese’ thing! I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do with this now, except I do but there’s a whole lotta shit to unpack there that I don’t know if I have time for.”
Harley chewed on the words in his mind as best he could. Secret cultural heritage stuff was pretty out of his area of expertise. “In all seriousness, have you considered therapy?”
Gwen blinked at him. “Huh.”
“You hadn’t, huh?” Harley said, and it prompted to realise that maybe he needed to consider therapy for himself. Considering what had happened and where he’d been mentally about a year ago, it was actually startling that he hadn’t. Sure, he wouldn’t have found a good one locally, but Pepper could have organised it for him and found someone he could meet with online. Maybe he just wasn’t ready yet. “Wanna make a therapy pact?”
Gwen eyed him curiously. “Therapy pact?”
“If you agree to look for a therapist and give it a go, I will too,” Harley offered. “Sort out our shit. I’m guessin’ you didn’t wanna lean too hard on Harry?”
“God yeah,” Gwen confirmed, and hummed a little while experimentally making electricity shoot out of her finger in a circle. “You going to do therapy about your big ol’ gay crisis?”
Harley clicked his tongue, and smirked almost mirthfully. “Noooooope, but I’m not ready to open that can of worms, I think.”
“Oh,” Gwen said. “Shit, sorry.”
Harley shook his head. “Nah, you’re fine. So what do you say to sorting out our shit with professionals?”
“Therapy pact,” Gwen nodded, and they shook on it. “Here’s to being actually healthy somehow.”
“What a concept,” Harley joked. “Wanna come with while I remind Peter that the super soldier weight machine is here and see how much he can lift?”
Gwen hopped off the counter. “Dude, are you gonna be okay seeing that?”
Harley scrunched up his face in amusement. “What kinda question is that? Of course not, but I am far too curious to be sensible about that.”