Chapter 4
Adjusting to no longer being alone was proving to be quite difficult.
Peter has already faced several situations where he doesn’t know what to do. Situations where he had to consider what was socially acceptable for the first time in what felt like forever.
Just the night before, as they were watching movies, Harley fell asleep on the sofa. Not knowing whether to wake him, leave him there, or carry him to bed; Peter froze up for a good thirty minutes before deciding to go with the middle option of grabbing a blanket and manoeuvring his roommate into a more comfortable position on the sofa.
He tediously patted down pillows and switched off the television, unconsciously trying to make it seem as if he was never there until he realised what he was doing and started to overthink it. He hadn’t noticed how much of his learnt behaviour would now prove pointless or weird.
It strikes him again as he lay awake in bed at 5am, having been unable to return to sleep after a particularly bad nightmare.
Should I make breakfast? Coffee perhaps?
He glares at the ceiling as if it is at fault and questions why he can’t make simple decisions. And before he knows it the sun is beaming through the window and Karen is coming to life from the speakers.
“Peter? Are you alright? Your heart rate is elevated.” The AI calls from above, causing Peter to fall off the bed in a flailing ball of limbs.
“Jesus K, do you want to kill me?” He whisper yells at the ceiling, dragging himself to his feet and brushing himself off.
“My apologies, I was staying quiet incase you drifted back off again. Did you know your heart rate doesn’t settle for sleep anymore? Peter, I strongly recommend seeing a doctor.” Peter ignores her concern, heading to the bathroom to rinse his face and make himself look more presentable.
Before heading to the living area he pulls on some joggers, forgoing a shirt as the warmth of the apartment and lack of sleep is making the skin of his neck too sensitive to bare a collar.
As he walks through, he eyes Harley warily, still asleep on the couch. He keeps his footsteps light, not wanting to wake him at the crack of dawn but desperate to get something to eat. But, as he looks at his options all he can think about is the noise; bacon will sizzle, cereal will crunch. So, he picks up a banana and grabs a glass of water instead (oh how he longs for a cup of coffee, but he knows Karen would freak) and wanders over to the window seat, eating as he overlooks the city.
He’s thankful for the soundproofing, barely able to hear the loud nightlife of New York winding down; if it wasn’t for his super hearing he wouldn’t hear it at all.
“Peter?” Harley mumbles sleepily, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. “What time ‘s it?”
The brunette slides off the window seat, slightly embarrassed about being caught awake and just staring out of the window. “Too early,” he snorts, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Harley shrugs and stands up, wandering over to the coffee machine immediately, in need of some caffeine. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, I’m a light sleeper.”
The machine beeps temptingly, Peter reaching for it on instinct only to have his hand swatted away by the blonde pouring himself a cup. He shoots him a warning glare and points at the ceiling. “Karen says no. Not gonna argue with Stark tech.”
He whines like a child, making grabby hands at the older boy’s mug, making him laugh and hold it away teasingly. They continue this back and forth for a little while with no real outcome, both knowing that it’s for the best Peter doesn’t fight an AI on something so petty.
They wind up both sitting on the couch, atop the discarded blanket he had thrown over Harley in the night. Karen does them the favour of switching on the news, providing background noise to the peaceful morning.
“How are you feelin’?” The blonde questions casually, finishing his cup of coffee off with a frown. Peter laughs nervously, running a hand through his hair and curling up on the couch, knees to his chest as he rocks himself slightly.
“I’m good. What’s the plan for today?” He answers with false confidence, trying to sound more secure than he feels. Harley sighs and slumps back onto the arm of the sofa, letting his head fall back for a moment before looking back to Peter. The brunette in question swallows as he tears his eyes away from the expanse of Harley’s throat.
“You don’t have to pretend to be alright, I know this whole situation is a lot.” Harley tells him, eyeing the younger man’s anxious movements. “My plan though… I don’t honestly know, I feel like I just want to get to know my new roommate better and settle into my new life. Fancy showing me around New York, city boy?”
Just like that Peter sits up straighter, posture relaxing and fists unclenching from the soft blanket beneath them as plans rack his brain (as well as a flood of disbelief).
“Really? You’d like that? ‘Cause I already have like a million ideas and you’re signing yourself up for a day of pure chaos.” Harley can’t help but laugh, eyes shining with curiosity through his barely awake lids, crusted shut with sleep.
“Sounds like fun. Give me until at least seven, then we can get to your day of chaos.” He pats Peter on the shoulder as he stands, placing his cup by the sink and heading down the hall, presumably to sort himself out for the day.
Peter smiles to himself watching the other walk away before jumping up, quickly taking himself to the lab so he can take advantage of the holographic displays he knows he can use for his planning.
And that’s how Harley finds him an hour later, standing in the middle of the room with several ideas literally floating around him. He watches silently, freshly clean and dressed for their next adventure, signature jeans paired with an old band shirt cut into a vest for the warmer weather of the day. Peter doesn’t notice his presence as he mutters to himself pulling ideas into a carefully constructed list, clearly passionate about creating the perfect itinerary.
“Almost ready, Spidey?” The brunette startles, whipping around to face the blonde and cursing his senses for not picking up on the other’s arrival.
“Almost.” He mumbles, cheeks flushed a light red as Harley chuckles at the little jump he did. “Print this list for me Karen?”
The AI wastes no time and Harley reaches for the print out only to feel his hand slam to the table. Peter tuts taking the paper for himself and letting go of the older man’s wrist to wag his finger at him. “Don’t ruin the surprise!”
The slightly flustered blonde huffs. “Fine, are you ready to go?”
Peter’s confidence slips, remembering he has known the other less than a week and he may scare him off. So he reigns in his excitement, only mildly swaying on his toes as he nods. “Yep, are you?”
Harley looks him up and down, a hand gesturing to the spider-hero’s attire as he snorted. “Are you sure?”
Peter looks down at his bare chest and flushes, shoving Harley with his shoulder lightly as he brushes past him to his room, only causing the other to laugh harder to himself.
Soon the brunette emerges, actually ready this time and he grabs Harley’s wrist to drag him out the door and to the first location on his list, being teased all the way.
Now if you were to ask Harley where he thought Peter was taking he would say-
Well honestly he wouldn’t know what to say. He barely knows the guy outside of the old memories of past anecdotes from Tony piecing themselves together in the back of his mind. But, without a doubt, he would never have guessed the place they actually arrived at.
The blonde stares at the distant Statue of Liberty in pure confusion, eyes flicking side to side as if some small detail was about to appear to have this make more sense.
“Peter, you do know I have been to visit Tony and he gave me the usual tourist run, right?” The web-slinger smirks, letting him remain confused a second longer.
“I know.” He continues pulling Harley along, grip firm around the older boy’s wrist as he yanks him into a side alley before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a black face mask, handing to him wordlessly.
Harley looks down to the mask, eyes squinting before he looks back up at Peter and tilts his head.
“What? Are we robbing a bank or something? I swear there isn’t one around-” The shorter cuts him off with an amused huff.
“Hey! I’m not that kind of vigilante. I just don’t want anyone to associate your face with me when I’ve put this on.” He pulls the hem of his shirt away from his neck, revealing the suit under it.
Harley fakes offence, hand to his chest and sputtering as he exclaims, “Am I not good enough for you?”
Peter just rolls his eyes at his antics and flicks his eyes down the alley before pulling on his own (much more identity concealing) mask and shamelessly shedding his clothes, stuffing them into a backpack the blonde hadn’t realised he had brought with him.
“Why exactly are you suiting up?” He resigns himself to accept his new accessory, slipping it onto the lower half of his face which totally doesn’t leave Peter fixated on his eyes even more. There’s a soft sigh before the confidence of the suit hits the young hero and he sturdies himself.
“To show you the best sights of course!” He elects not to mention how he isn’t prepared to return to locations that don’t remember him quite yet. Most of the things he can show the other in a way of helping in getting to know him are through his suit adventures from the past two years.
He pulls Harley against his side without warning before shooting up the side of the building, delighting in the familiarity of his friend’s shocked yelp. The yelp quickly turns to a nervous bubble of laughter as they fly through the air, across a perfectly constructed route to the crown of Liberty.
When their feet hit the ground, it takes a second for Harley to detach himself, clinging for dear life despite being safe (at least by Peter’s standards, I mean they’re standing on something solid at least).
“I can’t believe- you just-” He pants, trying to calm from his maniacal uncontrolled giggles at the sudden flight. Peter cuts off the upcoming rants by shushing him, a gloved hand covering his masked mouth while the other gestures to the view.
If Harley wasn’t already struggling to breathe, he was sure he would have forgotten how to. The city thrives before them, stunning views of the contrails disrupting the clear blue backdrop to the skyline. The buildings reflect the sun in such a way that it bounces back the colours of signs and the like against the water, creating a watercolour effect an artist could envy.
“It’s not just the view.” Peter starts, drawing Harley’s attention to him. “This is where my new life started so- well I thought it was a good place to begin.”
It takes just a second for the importance of this place to register in Harley’s mind and in seconds he is beside the younger man. He slings an arm around his shoulders in a way bordering on too friendly, but Peter doesn’t mind, sinking against his side instinctively, craving comfort upon letting this vulnerable side of himself show.
“The end of the apocalypse happened here?” The blonde breaks the deafening silence with his soft tone, earning a nod from the masked man he holds. “Damn… hard not to think of when you can see this statue a mile away, huh?”
He turns to look at Peter when his question goes unanswered. “Does it not upset you?”
“What? Oh, no it kind of calms me actually.” Harley blinks at him, tilting his head in an intrigued manner. “Being here reminds me of why I’m suffering, but in a way that helps, it reminds me there is a reason. Do you get what I mean?”
Harley shrugs. “Not fully but I guess I can understand. It umm…” his eyes dart around, breaking eye contact with the vigilante, “It’s nostalgic?”
Peter hums, side eyeing his companions nervous behaviour. “That sounds about right.”
They let the silence fall over them again, just allowing themselves to take it all in for a moment. Harley could almost convince himself he was starting to feel his friends longing.
He couldn’t imagine how it must feel to lose everyone and everything you had ever known in an instant. He doesn’t know what he would do if suddenly his mom and sister didn’t recognise him.
He unconsciously tightens his arm around Peter, eliciting an understanding chuckle from him.
“Come on, I don’t want you depressing yourself too much with my backstory. And besides, those tourists have been taking pictures of us for the past ten minutes.” He gestures below at the poorly dressed onlookers sporting various ‘I <3 NYC’ merchandise.
Harley’s face burns. “That’s why you wanted me to wear a mask.”
“Of course, can’t have you being targeted for knowing Spider-Man.”
They make their way back to the mainland, Harley desperately ignoring the lingering flush on his cheeks.
When had he grown so attached to this guy?
He tries to think back to all the times Tony mentioned his mysterious intern. He tries to piece together the moments that led him to feeling so fond of this person who for all intents and purposes is a complete stranger.
“He’s like Bambi I swear to you kid. All long limbs he hasn’t grown into and doe eyes you don’t know how to say no to. He keeps hogging my bots too! How am I meant to compete with-“
He looks to the suited man holding him tight as they swing across the buildings. His gaze lingers on those covered eyes. Tony had said doe but Harley would argue to his grave that Peter is more of a puppy. He’s certainly grown into his limbs now, toned despite his lack of nutrition the past several years.
His thoughts trail off as they come to a stop in a random alley, his body struggling to wake and hold itself upright almost sending him falling into Peter.
“Sorry, I was zoned out. Where are we now, mister cobweb?” He receives an unimpressed glare for that unimaginative nickname.
“We’re getting food of course. Karen would skin me if I didn’t start adjusting to a better diet now that I can.” Harley shudders, fully believing that statement.
“Getting food where exactly?” He asks, glancing around at the dirty alleyway walls.
“Well, that’s up to you. But, if you want to unlock more of my traumatic lore you should think cheap and easy.” The red and blue clad man attempts to joke but it receives only a weak laugh laced with concern.
“You know, I think I know as much about that as I can stomach right now. And, you don’t have to tell me everything, unless you want to.” The blonde reminds him, pulling off the mask he had forgotten was on his face.
Peter definitely doesn’t well up at that.
The young vigilante removes his mask, nodding at his new roommate with a wobbly smile before moving to pull on his pedestrian attire once again.
He turns back to Harley, adding some pep to his step once again as he walks out of the alley, expecting him to follow. “That definitely makes it easier to just enjoy ourselves, but I thought you wanted to get to know me?”
“I do. Remember all my silly questions? I want to know stuff like your favourite colour dumbass. Your trauma is yours, share it as you see fit not as a day dedicated to catching me up. This is meant to be fun.”
Unable to contain himself, the brunette flings himself at Harley, wrapping him in a bone crushing (not literally though his strength probably could) hug.
The blonde wheezes, though he doesn’t hesitate to settle his arms around the younger man in return.
“Thank you.” Peter murmurs, loosening his squeeze on the man. “I think I needed to hear that.”
“No problem.” He responds, trying not to think about how small the vigilante felt in his arms.
From then the day devolved into the chaos Peter had more wanted to accomplish, this time without the awkward pauses when Harley didn’t know how to respond to his anecdotes.
He guides Harley to a little family owned shop, ranting the entire time about how they deserved their money way more than any big corporation. They spend a ton of money on a mountainous picnic of goodies. With the bag of treats acquired he takes his companion to a little tree alcove in a nearby park, covered in little daisies which he wastes no time in picking to thread into tiny chains.
As Harley settles beside him, unpacking the bag to lay out their food, he can’t help but laugh at the childish activity.
“Don’t laugh, it’s fun.” The brunette pouts, shoving an already perfectly made chain into his chest.
“Ouch, sorry! I just thought it was a bit odd to see you do.” He rubs at his chest as he explains, reaching for a blueberry muffin before stopping to pick up the chain. “Damn, how did you make that so fast?”
“Practice.” Peter shrugs, nimble fingers making quick work of another chain. “When I first got my powers and was struggling with the whole sticky thing, I started a habit of threading things together constantly. Thread, flowers, wires- it helped to gain control by focusing on something small.”
Harley snorts, “So, you basically found a way of making spiderwebs?”
He receives the blueberry muffin he had gone to pick up, to the face for that.
After rolling around in hysterics for a while, they both calm down and start snacking away, Peter’s stomach screaming for food after the busy morning.
“I’ve had enough talking about myself today I think, tell me about Rose Hill, country boy.” Peter orders, settling to lay on his back in the grass and stare up at the clouds. Said country boy follows suit, laying beside him and clearing his throat.
“Well, it was certainly a lot different to how it is here. In both good and bad ways.” Brown eyes turn to look at him.
“How so?” Harley sighs and lays on his side to look at the younger boy.
“For one, if someone saw you alone with me like this you would have more than blueberry muffins thrown at you.” Those puppy eyes of Peter’s widen at that, the boy subconsciously leaning in a little, desperate to comfort his friend.
“Harley…” The blonde shakes his head and rolls back onto his back, the sudden proximity wracking his nerves especially with the conversation topic.
“It’s not all bad like that, Pete. I promise.” The brunette settles at that, though he still wishes he could get to Tennessee and have Spider-man deal with the assholes that threw things at his Harley.
His Harley?
He sits bolt upright, startling the southerner beside him. “What? Did you hear something?”
“I- uh- yeah yeah.” He tries to take the opportunity to get away and consider his thoughts but Harley grabs his shoulder to keep him in place.
“Whatever it is, it isn’t your problem today, hero. Remember you’re banned from throwing yourself into dangerous situations ‘til Karen clears you.” Peter swallows and nods, laying back down despite the anxious twitching of his fingers. He just hopes Harley continues to believe his behaviour is from being unable to act and not the realisation he had just had of how attached he is.
They don’t explore much further than the park after that, Peter happy (far too happy in his opinion) to just listen to the stories of the country until the evening chill sets in and they have to head back home for a proper meal.
The duo, too wrapped up in bickering with each other about what to eat, don’t even register Karen ordering takeout for them until there is a knock on the door. Harley and Peter remain mute in their confusion, staring at practically the entire Chinese menu the blonde placed on the coffee table with great struggle.
“Sorry boys, you turned into toddlers for a moment, I had to act.” Both boys flush at the AI’s blunt explanation, grumbling their thanks as they sit down.
“Harley started it.” Peter whines childishly, the boyish nature of his tone pleasing his companion who was happy to see him still letting his guard down at the end of a long day.
“Aww poor baby, was I being mean?” The blonde teases, his shoulder being shoved hard in retaliation.
“Don’t be weird.” The web slinger cringes at the joke, though his face remains a little red at the pet-name.
“Boys if you don’t start eating now I will ground you.” Karen, ever the loving mother bot threatens.
“I’d like to see you try.” Harley smirks only to watch in horror as shutters start to close down on the door and windows while Peter cackles. It’s only once he apologises that Karen releases the minor lockdown protocol.
With that they actually eat a decent meal to make up for the lost calories of the day, dipping into each different thing their makeshift mom had ordered to pick out their favourites.
It’s later that night when they’ve said their goodnights that the thought pops up.
Holy shit, just how attached am I?
And this time, it wasn’t Peter thinking it.