Mistake #1
Peter has never claimed to make smart, healthy choices. In fact, his choices are usually of the dumb, painful type. Case in point, he now works at the same cafe as MJ.
Was it intelligent? No.
Does it hurt every time he sees her or Ned? Immensely.
Was he going to quit? Also no.
And just his luck, he worked with her this afternoon. Ned is sitting in his usual seat and Peter kind of wants to cry. He hears the bell ring to signal another customer and he looks up, putting on a Smile™. When he sees who it is he has to take a second to reboot. Harley Keener. His replacement. Don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t hate Harley or even blame him. After Peter was forgotten, someone had to take over Stark industries. Harley was doing good things with it. He thinks Tony would be proud. Like, Harley had invented a new toy for kids, a potato gun. It’s exactly what it sounds like. He’d also invented another kids’ toy that…. Nevermind.
Long story short, Harley had done things at SI that Peter thought were really really cool. Especially for someone that supposedly was exactly like Tony. Peter’s Smile™ turned into a real excited grin as Harley walked up to order. C’mon Peter. You got this. Don’t be weird.
“What can I help you with?” Harley looked him over with a glance before looking at the menu. “I’ll take a muffin and your number, Darlin’.” He grins at Peter charmingly. He freezes. He didn’t stick to the script!!! What do I do with this???? Peter blinks back into action, forcing another Smile™ as he tries to get his bearings and beat back the embarrassed blush. “That’ll be $2.80.”
Harley hands over a ten dollar bill and grins. “Keep the change.”
“Oh boy. A whole seven dollars. Now I can quit my job and join the circus.” He replies sarcastically before immediately regretting, realizing how rude that was, and stuttering out an apology. “I mean, thank you.” MJ is laughing behind him and he thinks he should just die now. It would be nicer than being broke. Peter zones back in to hear Harley apologizing and he kind of wants to die again.
“I’m sorry, that was rude. Here’s your coffee.” He grabs the cup from MJ and hands it over, only seeing that she had written his number on it after he’d given it to Harley. I hate my life. Now, Harley wasn’t ugly, far from it. He had gorgeous hair and eyes. He was definitely objectively attractive. Peter just had bigger problems. Namely, rent. He zoned back in to Harley saying something he probably should’ve listened to and walking out again. At least it was over.
He finished the rest of his day robotically, going in and out of dissociation (Yes he’s aware it’s unhealthy. No, he doesn’t care.) until he gets home. Home being a one room apartment with a mattress, a table and chair, and three shoe boxes. One held his suit, one held his keepsakes, and the other had scraps for him to tinker with. All of which sat at the bottom of his closet. The table had a laptop, a plate, and a fork. He chose to ignore his miserable apartment in favor of suiting up. He was going to be Spider-man until he passed out or died tonight. He didn’t know which he preferred. He sighed and climbed out his window that faced a back alley, swinging into action. At some point during the night he paused on a roof and thought about the interaction. That's going to be relevant later.
He continued to patrol, swinging back to his apartment to sleep when he could no longer keep his eyes open. Everything could wait until tomorrow. Or the day after. Or next week. Actually, never was a great idea.