Coffee and Crushes
7 days till Christmas
Peter hummed the tune to a song he didn’t know the name of as he finished up with fixing some damage to an Iron Man suit. Mr Stark had let him and Harley work on together. Peter glanced over at him.
He was wiping sweat from his forehead with his shirt, exposing his beautiful, washboard abs to Peter’s eyes. Peter blushed a deep red and turned back to reattaching the last few wires. Placing the soldering iron down carefully, he turned around. Thankfully, Harley had dropped his shirt back down, covering his muscles that Peter would probably stare at all day if he could.
Peter had met Harley through Tony. Apparently, the older man had crashed into his garage when he was younger and Harley had fired a potato gun at him. They’d stayed in touch and, when Harley came to finish his senior year at Midtown High, he’d been introduced to Peter. Harley had made Peter blush the moment he met him. Little he know, that Harley felt the same way. Everyone they knew just wanted them to get together because Is was so obvious that they liked each other.
“So, you wanna get coffee now that we’re done?” Harley asked in his southern accent. God how Peter adored that accent. This is where you answer now, Peter!
“Uh, yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’ll see if Ned and MJ want to come.” He wasn’t sure that they’d want to have coffee at 11:36 pm on a Wednesday, but they did have the same sleep schedule as him.
“Sounds cool.” Harley shrugged.
Peter shot them a quick text, getting replies that they were coming mere moments later.
“They’re meeting us there.” Peter told Harley. The two waltzed into the elevator.
“Hey Fri, ground floor please.” Peter said at the same time as Harley told the AI: “Ground floor, thanks Fri.” The two looked at each other in surprise and let out an awkward chuckle. Peter loved Harley’s laugh.
As the elevator doors opened, the two hurried into the lobby, out the doors, and towards their favourite café. The bell above the door dinged as they entered and the barista looked up, seeing them and giving them a smile. There were three other customers in the café, an older man with glasses that Peter swore he had seen before, a young girl in a leather jacket with blonde hair, and a middle aged man with a bald spot and a beer belly.
Harley sat down in a booth, Peter close behind him.
“So, you ready for Christmas?” Peter asked. Harley laughed a little.
“Not really. I’ve still gotta get a few more gifts.”
“Well if you need help, I’m right here.” Peter offered. Harley grinned at him. It was at that moment a waitress came up to them. She had black hair slicked back into a ponytail and wore a navy shirt with a tan apron over the top. Her name tag read: ‘Audrey’.
“Date night?” She asked. Peter blushed.
“No, no, no, no, no, we’re not dating.” He stammered, gesturing between him and Harley.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Audrey apologised. “Are you two ready to order?”
“Uh, no, sorry. We’re waiting on two more people.” Harley explained. Audrey nodded, her ponytail bouncing, smiled, and walked away.
“That was awkward.” Peter chuckled nervously. Harley nodded and followed suit, quickly running a hand through his blonde-brown curls. They fell back into place perfectly. God, Harley was so gorgeous and perfect.
“Why do people always think we’re dating?” Harley wondered.
“Maybe because you two are so oblivious of each other’s pining.” MJ snorted. They boys whirled their heads around to see MJ in all her glory, Ned by her side.
“How did we not hear the bell on the door?” Peter whispered to himself as his friends shuffled into their booth, effectively squishing him up against Harley.
Audrey seemed to have noticed that they now had four people rather than two and came to take their orders.
“Could we please grab a decaf cuppacchino, a black coffee, and two with milk? Thank you.” (Haha I know nothing about coffee) Ned ordered, having had coffee with the other three enough times to know everyone’s preferences.
“Yep, that’ll be done shortly.” Audrey grinned, looking up from her notepad that she had scribbled the coffees down on. She hurried to the counter and told their orders to the barista.
While their coffees were being made, the group discussed what they were doing for Christmas that year. MJ was going to spend the day at her dad’s and Shuri, her girlfriend, was flying over to spend it with her. Ned was going to spend the entire day at his Lola’s. Harley and Peter were both going to spend Christmas at the tower with the Avengers and all their kids.
Soon later, the coffees were ready, and the conversation died down a little bit as everyone was focused on their drink.
“So,” MJ broke the silence after a sip of her decaf, “do you guys know what colleges you’re applying to next year?”
“MIT.” Peter, Harley, and Ned all said at the same time. Peter his his giggle expertly in his drink. “Me too.” MJ shrugged.
The four kept taking until MJ and Ned were finished and had to go. Ned out some money on the table for his drink and then walked out of the café with MJ by his side, leaving the two lovebirds inside.
“Why don’t they just kiss already!” The girl muttered as they left. Ned just laughed.