First day at a new school, a big school, full of some smart kids. Smarter than some of the adults back in Rose Hill. Harley Keener, a kid from small town Tennessee is now attending Midtown High School in New York, and he still couldn't believe it.
He wasn't as worried about the admission test, he knew just a little about everything, which was just enough to get him in. The thing that really bothered him was how he would even attend. The school was 14 hours away, and he knew it wasn't going to be a good commute since his family didn't own a good car. Also, the money. His mother lived paycheck to paycheck, so when he had asked her to go to this school, she said no.
"I understand it's a good school, but can't you do the same thing here too?" He heard people talking in the background while on the phone with her, most likely his mom was taking her break. "I mean, come on, what does that school have that Rose Hill doesn't?"
"For starters, higher engineering classes, I could do something more than fix a couple of loose screws on a car." Harley leaned against the wall as he watched his younger sister do her homework. "I could make bigger things. I could help people make their projects and maybe be a part of a big company.”
She sighed. “You might be in a big company, or all the money I could be using on bills will be wasted for this dream of yours.”
“You are such a hypocrite, you know that?”
“You do not address me like that. You hear me?”
Harley groaned, “Yes ma’am.”
She sighed, "I need to get back, Harls. There seems to be more patients than usual." He could hear her move slightly, "I want Abbie tucked in bed when I get home."
"Yes ma'am."
"And your homework better be done as well, young man."
"Yes ma'am."
"Love you."
"I love you too ma."
Harley stood at the doorway for a few minutes, contemplating whether or not it was a good idea to make another call. It would hurt his pride, sure, but it would also give him the biggest opportunity in his life. He scrolled through his phone before finding the contact, he hit call.
“Harley, hello.”
“Hey, Tony.”
That was well over three months ago. It didn't take long after that conversation for Harley to suck up his courage and swallow his pride to ask Tony Stark for help. He was honestly even surprised that the man even picked up his phone. He was more than happy to help Harley convince his mother into letting him go to Midtown.
And how here he was, standing in the office to receive his schedule.
"Name?"
"Sorry." Harley snapped out of his daze when the front desk lady boredly gazed at him.
"How else do you expect to get your classes?" She looked extremely tired. "First and last name." She looked down at her computer before looking back at him. "And ID number."
"Harley Keener. And I didn't get an ID number." She rolled her eyes and began to type on the keys, loudly and annoyingly.
"Get your schedule from the printer." She pointed to the corner of the room.
"Alright then." Harley tried to smile at her, walking over to the printer, he noticed how the ink ran out on the last few lines. "Great." He whispered. He looked at the top of the paper, where it showed directions on how to download the school app and his login to check his schedule and grades. "Cool." He walked out and tried to find his first class. "Here we go."
It took him ten minutes to find his class, by the time he got his schedule, class had already started and all the students were out of the hallway. So when he finally got to his class, the teacher was no more friendly than the front desk lady.
"You're late." Harley had just walked into the classroom, chemistry was his first period, and everyone was already sitting at a lab table and working together. "Why are you late?"
"I'm new here-"
"That-" The teacher cut him off, "is not what I asked." He looked up from his desk to Harley. "Why are you late?"
"If you'd let me finish." Harley furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm new here and I didn't know where any of the classes were."
The teacher sighed, "You can take a seat next to that boy in the back." He pointed lazily towards the back of the room. "Harry, raise your hand." Harley walked to the back of the room to the dark haired pretty boy raising his hand.
"Hello." Harley waved slightly as he sat down.
"Hey." The boy, Harry, didn't spare him a glance, writing down equations lazily in his notebook.
“I’m Harley.”
“Harry.” The boy said. Harley looked around, everyone seemed to be working on something, it looked like their life depended on it actually. Harley wanted to ask the teacher what they were doing, but he looked to be in a bad mood, so he turned to his grumpy deskmate.
“What exactly are we supposed to do now?” The black haired boy just shrugged.
“It’s a scavenger hunt type of thing. Three briefcases at each desk and you try and get the prize in the last one before class ends.” He explained lazily, “The prizes are lame, just a lollipop and a new pen.”
“That does sound lame.” Harley agreed, looking over at Harry’s paper. “What are you doing then?” It didn't look like the dark haired boy was doing anything at all like the other students were, he didn't even have a briefcase.
“I'm catching up on missing work, go get a packet and start working on a couple of pages.” Harley nodded. He walked up to the teachers desk, getting the packet he needed.
“Why are there so many pages? My old chemistry class didn't work like this.”
“You're in Midtown now.” Harry yawned, “They move fast paced here.”
Harley flipped to the first page, there were certain things that he knew and filled out easily, it wasn't until the fourth page where he got stuck. But before he could ask Harry, the bell rang and everyone began to pack up. Harry stuck a post it note on the front page of Harleys packet,
“That's my number, you can call if you need help on any of the work.”
“Thanks.” Maybe this counted as a friend, Harley felt hopeful. Up until he needed to find the rest of the classes.
When he got back to his apartment, the first thing he did was slump onto his comfortable bed. He debated if he should just go to bed, but he had so much work to do. He had multiple packets for all his classes, the same thickness as his chemistry one, and he had so much to catch up on.
Math was always his strong suit, so he started with that. Then english, then history. Finally his chemistry homework. He took out the packet and his phone, copying the number down, up until the last digit. “Is that one?” He studied the number. “Seven?” What is this handwriting? He clicked seven and dialed the number.
Just two rings and he picked up. "Hello?"
"Hey, Harry. I know you said to call if I had any questions, this chem homework is something else." Harley sighed,
"Oh uh, this-"
"What exactly is question number one on page four in the packet asking?"
"Uhm this isn't Harry." He heard the voice say,
"Oh. Sorry. I thought this was my friend." Harley cornered his eyes, feeling his face go red from embarrassment. "Bye now."
"Wait!" He put the phone back over his ear. "I'm good at chemistry. If you want, could I help you with your homework?"
"Much obliged." Harley smiled before looking down at his homework. "Uh, the question is asking me to draw a bunch of circles for molecules." Harley read the top of the page, "And I don't know what that means."
"Uhm, usually they tell you a certain molecule. What's written?"
"3NaCl." Harley reads out.
"Well, that one's kind of easy." The guy says.
Harley spaced out most of the time while the stranger explained how to draw the circles and how many and why. It wasn't until he was on his last one where he finally got it right by himself.
"I don't know how I could thank you."
"Maybe say thank you." The stranger laughed,
"Yes sir, thank you- uh." Harley thought hard, "I'm sorry did we not introduce ourselves?" Harley laughed, "No I don't think we did."
"I'm Peter," the guy said, "And please don't call me sir. Makes me feel old."
"Well, I'm Harley. And how old are you?"
"I'm sixteen. So don't call me sir."
"I'm seventeen." Harley leaned back on his chair to stretch. "It was nice to meet you Peter."
"Likewise." Peter hummed, "Uh, I gotta go. Hopefully you understand chemistry better."
"Thank you."
"And feel free to call anytime, I'm happy to help."
"I might just take you up on that offer now." Harley laughed, rolling his chair back to stare out at the window. "You take care of yourself now." Harley heard Peter hum, then hung up.
It didn't take long for Harley to call again, yet again with his chemistry homework, only three days later. "Hey Peter."
"H-hey Harley!" The boy sounded like he was out of breath, when Harley asked if he called at a bad time, Peter replied with "I clocked out for my break.” He paused shortly, “Yeah, I’m on my break." He panted again, "What's up?"
"More chemistry." Harley smiled to himself, "Not really my strongest subject."
"Well, lucky for you, it's one of my strongest."
"Do you have an A?" Harley asked as he spun his pencil around his fingers,
"No, I have a B in AP Chem."
"AP?" Harley basically yelled out before hushing his voice down. "Are you some sort of genius or something?"
"Or something." Peter laughed, "What's got you stuck?."
"Oh yeah." Harley checked his paper, "Lewis dot structure."
"Great, let's get started."
It only took Harley thirty minutes to understand what Peter was teaching him. Sure it was longer than he thought, but science wasn't really his thing, he was more of a math person. "That's the last of it." Harley stretched in his seat, "Hey, what time do you need to get back to work?"
"What?" Peter sounded confused, "Oh yeah. Uh, I get back on in five minutes." He said slowly.
"Oh, that's nice, I didn't take up all your time." Harley spun in his chair, waiting for Peter to respond.
"It's fine, I enjoy talking to you."
"Likewise, darlin'." He heard Peter go silent. "Uh-"
"Where are you from?" Peter asked, "Sorry, I just never noticed how southern you sound when you talk."
"I'm from Rose Hill, Tennessee."
"Oh, I know a friend who went there once."
"Really?" Harley sat up, "I'm surprised, no one really visits. Who was it? Maybe I know them."
"Uh, no one is important." Peter laughed, "He's just-" Harley heard a few people yelling in the background before Peter whispered. "Hey, I'm sorry. I have to go."
"Oh, okay. You take care of yourself now."
"Yes sir." Harley liked to think Peter smiled when he said that, but it was kind of hard to imagine that when the only thing he could picture was his voice.
"Bye Harley." Then the line went silent, Harley still held the phone up to his ear.
"Bye Peter."
The next call, Harley was walking around his apartment, bored. "Howdy." He said once Peter picked up the phone.
"Howdy?" Peter laughed, how Harley loved when he laughed. "I didn't think people said that anymore."
"Well, they don't around here, that's for sure." Harley smiled as he walked into his kitchen. "Hey, do you think if I left deli ham in the fridge for a week, it's still good to eat?"
"Uh, maybe? I don't know, I eat a lot so everything seems good to me." Peter mumbled, Harley heard ruckus in the background. "I think it should be fine."
"Awesome." Harley began to take out the things he needed to make a sandwich. Their call ended two hours later when Peter said he needed to go fast, Harley didn't get a chance to say bye.
It became a regular occurrence where Harley would call Peter, then after some time, Peter would call Harley. They would talk about chemistry, but because of Peter's help, Harley actually started to catch up with the rest of his class. So they substituted chemistry lessons with actual conversations.
"Where are you from?" Harley during one of their daily calls, walking around the kitchen to find something to eat.
"We've been calling for a month and I've never told you?" Peter laughed. "I'm from New York."
"No way." Harley stopped. "I'm in New York too." He smiled excitedly.
"I thought you said you were from Tennessee."
"I am. But the first time I called you was my first day at school." Harley explained as he ended up taking a cup of noodles out of his pantry. "I meant to call my friend Harry, but I messed up the number." He started to heat up some water. "I live in an apartment in Queens."
"Stop." Peter laughed, "No way, I live in Queens. I've lived here my whole life." Harley heard a small commotion in the background.
"We have to-" The line cut. "meet up sometime." He looked at his phone before calling Peter again, only being left with an automated voice machine, telling him that the number he dialed was no longer in service.
He was met with that same voice box every day for the next two weeks. Two, very long, very boring, weeks.
"Hey." He flinched when a body softly slammed into him during lunch, it was Harry. "Dude what's up with you. You've been down for, like, a week."
"Two weeks." He directed the black haired boy, "For two weeks I've been trying to call my friend and he doesn't pick up."
"Who's your friend?"
"His name is Peter." He looked at Harry, who looked like he was waiting for more. "I don't know his last name."
"How do you not know his last name?" Harry laughed, "Just talk to him next time you see him."
"He doesn't go here. I've only talked with him through the phone." Harley huffed to himself, playing lazily with the food on his tray.
"I didn't know you did that sort of thing." When Harley sent him a questioning look, the older sighed. "Like online friends." Harley just rolled his eyes, "Well, we need to get you back on your feet." He handed Harley a folded piece of paper, to which the younger unfolded.
"Winter formal, buy your tickets now." He read out. "You want to go to this?"
"Well, this girl is going and I sort of want to go with her." Harley smiled when Harry looked away, blushing slightly. "And I can't go alone. I was thinking that, maybe, while we're there, we find you a girl too."
"Yeah." Harley looked back down at his food, "I'm not hungry, here."
"Nice." Harry slid the tray towards himself before starting to eat the untouched, but messy food. Harley wasn't as excited as his friend about going to the formal. On the way back home, he tried calling Peter again, but to no success, he called his mom.
“Oh, that sounds nice.” she cooed at Harley's mention of the winter formal. “You got a girl in mind?”
“Ma.” Harley warned.
“Right, sorry.” She sighed, “A boy. How ‘bout that Harry kid?” she suggested, “He seemed nice.”
“He is. But he's my friend and he's not my type.” Harley kicked the snow as he waited for the bus to arrive.
“Well, what is your type?” his mom asked. “I could see you going for a nice brunette.” He heard his little sister in the background complaining about something, “Hey Harley, I might need to call you later, Abbie just told me about this project due tomorrow.”
“She doesn't do any of her homework without me there.” He laughed, finally seeing the city bus pulling up.
“Right.” His mom hummed, “I’ll call you later. Love you.”
“Love you too, Ma.”
Harley didn't have a lot of time to look for a nice suit, or an expensive one for that matter. He looked in the mirror, wearing the only suit that fit him from the thrift store near his apartment. "You look nice." Harley spun around when he heard a voice, "What's the special occasion."
"There's a formal tonight and my friend wants me to go." He turned around again to the mirror, struggling with his tie. "I didn't expect you here, Tony."
"Yeah, well, your mom called and asked if you were still alive." The billionaire walked in the bathroom to take the tie out of Harley's hand and throwing it behind his back. "Don't wear the tie, you look like you're going to a job interview, not a party."
"Thanks." Harley fixed his hair before showing Tony his outfit. "How do I look?"
"Unbutton the top two buttons, lose the blazer and you're good." Harley did as told and immediately liked the way the outfit looked on him better. "Need a ride? I can have Happy take you on the way back to the tower."
Harley shook his head before checking the watch on his wrist, "Harry is supposed to be here any-" as if on cue, there was a loud beep coming from outside the apartment. "Shit, I have to go. Are you leaving now too?"
"Yeah, I'll head out with you." Tony hummed before following behind Harley, who was trying to put on his shoes fast. They both walked down the apartment stairs to the front door.
"Harry Osborn?" Tony looked outside the small window next to the door. "You're friends with Harry Osborn?"
"Yeah, is that a problem?" Harley asked, stopping right in front of the door.
"Well, he's only the heir to my rival company." Tony laughed,
"He says he isn't the heir." Harley shrugged, "As far as I know, he hates his dad more than you do."
"Everyone hates his dad." Harley rolled his eyes, "Anyway, have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Tony watched as Harley opened the door and walked out, only to follow behind him before going to where Happy had parked. "And don't do anything I would either." He shouted.
"Noted, thanks again." Harley called back as he walked faster towards Harry's, very expensive, very shiny, car.
"Was that Tony Stark?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows, "Like, the Tony Stark?"
"Did I forget to mention that? He's sort of fathering me at the moment."
"He’s fathering you? Is he playing dad?" Harry's eyes just got wider.
"God no. He's just paying for my needs, like school funds and my apartment. That's all."
"Okay, that's a conversation for another time."
It didn't take long for them to arrive at Midtown, though, there were a lot of cars dropping off some of the kids. They both got out of the car and ran fast inside, since they usually wore jackets during December, the lack of no blazer did not give Harley any justice against the cold winds.
Once they walked in, they had to give their tickets to the blond girl from their school news program. Betty, if Harley remembered correctly. The lights were dimmed, the gym looked nice, actually clean. Harley followed Harry around the crowd, the black haired was clearly looking for someone, that’s when Harley heard it.
It was that voice. The voice he's been trying to call for the past two weeks, right here, in this gym. He looked around, ignoring Harry to try and find the source of that voice.
Peter.
"Harley?" Harry tried looking where Harley was, then the dirty blond heard it, his laugh. He turned around once again, only to stop and stare at this group of friends laughing with each other.
"You can't be serious." One of them, the shorter one said. "You didn't actually do that, did you?"
"He's right, I'm surprised that-" He didn't recognize the short buy and the taller girl, instead he stared at the boy they were talking to. He was shorter than the girl with frizzy hair, but taller than the boy with straight hair. He was wearing a dark gray buttoned up shirt, matching with the other boys shirt and the girls dress.
"Girl in the gray dress?" Harry wrapped his arm around Harley's shoulder.
"What?" Harley shook his head before glancing at Harry.
"The girl? You like her?"
"No." Harley shook his head before looking back at the boy. "I don't like girls- that girl!" He corrected himself. He looked back at Harry.
"So who is it? One of the guys?"
"Uh, the one with curly brown hair."
"Peter?" Harry looked at the trio, "You like Peter Parker?"
"You know his name?"
"Yeah, I was in his AP Chem class before I transferred down to regular." Harry mentioned this like it was nothing, but to Harley it was everything.
“You knew and you didn't tell me?”
“You told me that your online friend, Peter, didn't go to Midtown.” Harry tried to justify. "Alright, let's go." Harry grabbed Harley by the wrist.
"What? Where?" Harley tried moving against Harry, but the taller had more strength in that moment to drag Harley between the couples talking to each other on the dance floor.
"Hey, Peter." Harry called to the small friend group.
"Oh, hey Harry." Peter looked over at the two. "Hi." He smiled at Harley.
"Howdy." Harley bit his tongue. He had a million other things to lead with, and he said Howdy? Howdy is the word he went with. Not hi, not hello, not how are you, not my name is-
"Harley." Peter cut off Harley's thoughts. "Harley?"
"Peter."
"Ned." They both looked over at the shorter friend, Ned. "I'm Ned."
"I'm Harley." He said slowly.
"I'm Peter."
"Yes, yes, we know." Harry waved his hand around before slightly shoving Harley closer to the shorter. “Harley, don't you want to ask Peter something?”
"Uh- do you, uh, wanna go take a walk?" Harley coughed awkwardly. He and Peter just stared at each other. And then three people staring at the two of them in this very awkward situation. The girl with frizzy hair cleared her throat,
"Oh, yeah- yes." Peter nodded, he looked back at his friends, who urged him to follow Harley. Harley spared a glance at Harry, who just gave him a thumbs up.
They were quiet as Harley led Peter outside towards the parking lot near the football field, only until the taller cleared his throat. "So, uh, I tried calling you."
"Yeah." Peter nodded, "I was sort of hoping you did." Peter kicked a small rock into the snow. "Something happened to my phone, it completely shattered."
"Mid call?" Harley watched as Peter just walked slowly.
"Yeah." Awkward was the only way Harley could describe this conversation. "Yeah, mid call."
"Y'know," he took a deep breath. "Now it don't matter whether I have you on the phone now, if I could talk to you in person." Peter nodded, Harley held his breath. “You helped me a lot, y’know. I was wondering how good it’d be if we started something here.” Peter stopped, Harley turned to look at him.
"Harley." Peter smiled, "We just met, it doesn't make sense to start something new."
"See, I felt we started something the first time I called you." They were a few feet apart, just staring at each other. "I felt something every time we called. Every single time I hear your voice, when I hear you laugh. I knew."
"Harley, you can't mean that." Peter laughed.
"And what of it if I do?" Harley stepped closer, "I know what I feel for you is real, and it'll only get stronger if I have you here." He reached for Peter's hand.
"You know, your accent is very attractive." Peter interlocked their fingers, "I never thought we would meet. I never thought I would hear your voice again after my phone broke." He laughed.
"I'd like to think fate brought us together. Now that you aren't so far away.”
"Well, now I'm right here."
"Yes you are." Peter smiled, Harley didn’t waste time to pull him in for a hug.
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Hi, hopefully you liked the story. I was thinking about writing a second chapter with a time skip but I don’t know if it would be wanted:)