Chapter 8
It ended up taking the better part of an hour explaining the night’s events to Peter in a way that didn’t expose Harley’s raging crush on his roommate. The conversation had carried over to the living room where they settled onto the sofa. He elected for mostly the truth, just bending the story to sound like Tony had picked up on cues wrong, not that Harley had actually blushed or anything like that at the thought of Peter.
“I’m Morgan’s favourite hero?” Harley smiles softly at the glassy eyed brunette.
“Of course that’s the part you focus on. Yeah dummy, you’re everyone’s hero.” Peter obviously brushes off the comment, shaking his head and averting his eyes from the warmth in Harley’s.
“Right. Even yours, Tony Stark’s biggest fan?” The blonde snorts at the attempted deflection.
“One, definitely not the old man’s biggest fan, especially not after tonight. Two, yeah you actually are.” He explains honestly.
Peter kicks his ankle. “Shut up. Stop trying to flatter me.”
The brunette’s cheeks are a pretty flushed red, eyes still shining in awe at the complement of being Morgan’s favourite hero. He leans back, cheek pressed to his fist as he rests his elbow on the back of the sofa, looking at Harley so sweetly that the atmosphere teeters into a dangerous territory the southern boy is familiar with but is sure the other is unintentionally creating.
The comfortable teasing between them, the relaxed physical touch and warm cheeks, is driving him insane.
“I’m being serious. Darlin’ you have literally saved the world and sacrificed your whole life to do it, of course you’re my favourite hero. You and Tony are both self sacrificing idiots, but if you ask me it’s you who was bravest.”
Silence. Nothing but Peter’s open mouth and shocked sharp inhales of breath as he formulates a response.
“But- It’s not like I risked my life-” Harley cuts him off.
“But nothing. You had to live through the pain, not skip it all in a coma. Tony did an amazing thing but I think even he would agree if he knew.” Peter is once again rendered silent. He blinks for a minute, eyes conveying all of the conflicting emotions of disbelief and pride in his mind. Then he’s suddenly pressed against Harley’s chest.
“Thank you.” He breathes into his neck. The blonde fights a shudder.
“Just the truth.” He gives him a squeeze, refusing to be the first to let go which only encourages the younger boy to remain pressed against him, moving to rest his head on his shoulder rather than accidentally brushing his lips to Harley’s pulse.
Harley feels dizzy from the raging affections fighting inside of him. He pulls himself together and decides to take a risk.
“Silly offer, um. Before you’re officially ‘taken’ again, maybe I could kiss you?” He proposes into the silence.
Peter’s grip on him drops, his whole frame becoming seemingly weightless like the words floating around them in the deafening silence. At the lack of response Harley keeps rambling, realising he’s fucked up.
“Sorry, that was dumb to say. Just figured you might like the option to have kissed a man because you seemed so worked up about not knowing earlier. I didn’t mean to make this awkward-” A hand abruptly covers his mouth.
“Harls, I’m begging you to shut up for a second.” Harley tenses, meeting Peter’s blown pupils, his own expanding to match when his brain processes how hot the brunette looks when he’s interested- holy shit, he’s interested.
The blonde nods, dislodging the hand pressed to his lips. Peter shakily stands and walks over to the window to look across the skyline, quietly gnawing on his lip as he thinks to himself.
“I would, if I had MJ’s permission.” He eventually mumbles. Harley just sighs.
“Yeah, sorry I know you don’t want to hurt her in any way.” Slowly, he follows after the shorter man, moving to lean against the opposite edge of the window.
Peter hums. “I really don’t.”
“It’s cool. Was a stupid offer, anyway. I don’t want to ruin our friendship.” Both unknowingly feel an ache in their chest from the other’s rejection; Harley pained at not even managing to capture what is his last chance, and Peter sore from, well, he isn't entirely sure.
“Yeah, probably for the best.”
It isn’t long after that when the uncomfortable atmosphere, both silently staring out the window, becomes too much for them and they separate off for bed. Both settling in for a night of trying to silence their thoughts in order to sleep.
The next few days pass in a flurry of excitement and nerves, that night forgotten as they focus on finding a way to reach out and explain things to Ned and MJ. Of course, Peter is determined to make sure everything goes according to plan.
“We can’t risk an apocalypse!”
Harley had almost reached the point of tearing his own hair out from the constant stress of Peter rejecting plans and reworking everything 50 times until they finally decided it would just be best to do it in person.
So that’s how they find themselves on their way to MIT, the super powered man fidgeting on the back of the bike. His mind races with all the possible outcomes of their plan to ambush and explain everything. They had discussed who to approach first and decided Ned would be easiest to find as he posts frequently about where he is, always and forever a social butterfly unlike MJ.
When they finally pull up outside of the university dorms Instagram tells them Ned is partying inside of, Peter feels himself begin to panic. Stumbling off the bike to stand and look up at the block of flats he tries to manage his breathing.
A hand squeezes his shoulder reassuringly. “I’ll be here the entire time, Peter. If you want to leave, just say the word, this is a big step after all.”
The brunette smiles at him, lifting his hand to meet his in a grateful squeeze. “Thank you.”
With that he stalks forward, trying to let the confidence that usually comes with his suit take over. He reaches for the door and walks inside, straight to the elevator.
Superhearing doing them the biggest favour, they don’t have to stop on every floor as Peter can already tell which one the music is blaring from. He presses the button before he can second guess it and the metal chamber lifts until the doors open to reveal a cacophony of sound.
Peter resists the instinctive urge to cover his ears, assisted by Harley grabbing his wrist and gently pulling him down the hall, pushing through a bunch of clearly half drunk students. The blonde doesn’t seem bothered by them, but Peter can’t help but wonder how they’ve even managed to get that wasted.
Then again, the last party he had attended was several years ago, and though his memory is hazy as he definitely had better priorities than a party at the time, he thinks only a few people were drinking and it was cheap, weak beer.
He looks at the back of Harley’s head as he pulls him along. Didn’t he mention something about a karaoke bar? Was Harley a party person back in Tennessee? He can imagine him being the type to have a fake ID, he gives off that bad boy energy with that leather jacket and the motorbike.
He shakes himself out of his thoughts as he’s led into a room full of dancing strangers. His eyes scan the room, searching for Ned, lingering on the kitchen island covered in what is definitely stronger alcohol than he remembers.
Harley nudges him and leans in to whisper shout over the music. “I think I see him!”
Distantly, Peter notes to remind him he can hear him over the music anyway but decides to leave that conversation for now.
He looks to where Harley is pointing, spotting his old best friend dancing with a group of people he must know. He swallows thickly and unconsciously leans further into Harley’s side who simply throws a grounding arm around him.
“You’ve got this.” The blonde encourages him, waiting for Peter to move rather than pushing him.
“I don’t know if I do.” He whispers to himself before braving the swirl of anxiety in his stomach and stepping forward with his roommate in tow.
He comes up behind Ned, looks to his hand as if it’s not his own when it reaches forward and taps his shoulder.
Ned turns. His smile is gleaming before he registers the stranger in front of him and it twists into confusion and a clear hint of wariness.
“Hey man, do I know you?” He finally says.
Peter takes a deep breath, taking note of how close Harley is and how easy he could just run away.
But he is Spiderman, and no superhero runs from a scary situation, no they dive in headfirst.
“I was hoping you might, actually.” The confusion on Ned’s face only grows as he glances between Peter and Harley who is watching on with a mix of excitement and sadness.
“My name is Peter Parker.”
Peter watches as confusion slowly switches to recognition and shock. Then almost rapidly, Ned turns pale.
“Oh my god!” Without warning the bald man runs into what the two roommates presume is the direction of the bathroom, so they follow hurriedly.
They find him hunched over the toilet, losing the contents of his stomach as all of the memories hit him at once.
The moment his body seems to settle he whips back around, marches straight up to Peter and throws himself at him. The brunette catches him, arms clinging to him just as tightly.
“I’m going to fight Doctor Strange.”
“No you’re not.”
“No I’m not.” He somehow tightens his grip harder, voice cracking as he fills with relieved tears.
“You’re alive. Fuck, I can’t believe it’s been two years- Peter, where have you been?” He rambles into his best friend’s shoulder. He pulls away hesitantly, looking at Harley. “And who’s this guy?”
Peter laughs at the defensive stance Ned takes, clearly preparing to fight the stranger.
“This is Harley.” He answers first, smiling at his roommate gratefully as he stands by the door to keep anyone from interrupting. “Maybe you should come with us and we can give you the full story?”
It takes approximately three hours, a trip to the nearest burger place, and a lot of tears to catch Ned up on everything. At which point, the three of them are wandering back to the dorms where the party still rages on, Ned having convinced them to stay the night at his dorm and relax before approaching MJ tomorrow because she’d kill them for disrupting her sleep.
Peter had been uncertain about agreeing, not used to a party atmosphere and knowing they’d be unable to avoid it until it died down entirely as Ned mentioned his roommate had offered their room as the ‘smoking’ room and had set it up to have defenses against any dean coming to investigate. When he had looked at Harley for his view however, the blonde had looked pretty interested and he didn’t want to disappoint him, so he went with it.
Well, that and maybe he was a little bit curious himself. Scientifically, of course, he was intrigued how alcohol would interact with his metabolism.
He was totally not curious what Harley would be like tipsy, or dancing like he had mentioned in the kitchen before offering to kiss-
Definitely not thinking about that.
“So, Harley. What’s your story?” Ned asks as they walk the pavement between dorm blocks.
“Nothing all that interesting. Tony Stark crashed into my life when I was a kid, inspired me to be unapologetically myself even in a small, cruel town, and I took his advice. Now I’m a stereotypical country gay with a flare for theatre and a skill in mechanics which pays the bills a lot better than musical theatre does.” Ned blinks at him, glancing at Peter as if to question if that was a normal response. Peter just shrugs.
“Cool. Cool. So, uh-” He trails off, clearly not knowing where to take the conversation from there. Peter huffs and elbows Harley, begging him to take pity on his awkward friend. He does so with a light chuckle.
“It’s alright, Ned. I don’t bite, not unless you ask nicely.” The man in question reddens slightly at the jokingly suggestive comment but otherwise grins as he realises he can banter with the distinctly intimidatingly attractive man and not be bullied for it.
“Well, I heard people experiment in university-” Peter chokes at Ned’s response, stepping between the two of them in a fluster.
“Nope, not happening.” Harley and Ned laugh, reaching for the other as they joke about being star crossed lovers while Peter pushes them away from each other.
They find themselves back inside the right building and stumbling into the elevator through the laughter until it tapers off to light chuckles.
“Don’t worry, Pete. I won’t steal your boyfriend.”
Before either of the roommates can correct him the doors are opening and Ned is stumbling through to get himself and them a drink each.
Peter looks up at Harley who seems to be just as embarrassed as he imagines he is himself. “We- we don’t act that much like a couple. Surely?”
Harley thinks of all of the small interactions he had caught Ned eyeing throughout their catch up, like the way they constantly found ways to touch whether it be brushing their hands together while walking or leaning against each other in their seats. He rubs the back of his neck and winces at the shorter man.
“I mean, we kind of do.” Peter shushes him, clearly remembering the same moments.
“Okay, maybe. Damn it, I’ll correct him.” He rushes off to follow Ned, the crowd not bothering him in his focus and losing Harley in the process as he struggles to follow his practiced manoeuvring.
He finds his friend pouring out some weird concoctions in the kitchen from earlier. “Ned, why do you think me and Harley are dating?”
“Because you are, aren’t you?” He answers before handing him the drink he’d made. He’s clearly amused by how flustered his friend is.
“No, we’re definitely not.” Peter insists, cautiously sipping the drink before deciding it tastes harmless enough and taking a solid gulp to calm his nerves.
Ned smirks. “Sure, Pete.” He says stubbornly.
“No Ned, seriously. I love MJ, you know this.” The brunette pushes, growing frustrated at the lack of understanding and the fact he is having to make this clearer than he thought necessary.
“And you haven’t been with her for two years dude, it’s normal to be with someone else by now. Plus, he’s super hot, you did good.” Peter groans and downs half his cup before placing it harshly on the counter and glaring at his friend.
“Ned, you aren’t listening! There’s nothing going on between me and Harley.” Ned huffs and crosses his arms over his chest.
“Look man, even if you two aren’t official there is some clear chemistry you can’t lie-”
“But there isn’t!” Peter interrupts.
Clearly irritated by the interruption, Ned’s face grows mischievous. “So if you looked at where Harley is right now you wouldn’t be jealous?”
“What?” Peter asks cluelessly, following Ned’s eyes across the room to where his abandoned roommate had been roped into conversation with some random guy who was looking at Harley as if he was water and the man was dying of thirst.
And Harley was leaning into him, taking an offered drink and seemingly listening intently to whatever the guy was saying.
Peter’s chest aches.
“Nope. Not jealous at all.” He hisses, picking up his drink and downing what remains before handing the empty cup back to Ned. He just looks at him with understanding, turning to fill the cup while speaking reassuringly.
“Peter, it’s not the end of the world if you have a crush. Hell, it’s natural! But this might be your last night to do anything about it.” He hands the fresh drink over which Peter instantly continues sipping to distract himself from shaking.
“Even if-” He glances side to side, eyeing the distance away that Harley is before dropping his volume. “Even if I did like him, which I don’t know if I do or if he’s just confirming my sexuality with his dumb smile and pretty hair and-”
Ned tilts his head in amusement and he stops his rant, rerouting the conversation to what he intended. “Even if I did like him-” He repeats. “I don’t want to hurt MJ.”
Sighing and taking a drink from his own cup, Ned rolls his eyes and corrects him. “As if MJ would care about you liking someone when you haven’t been together for two years. You know her better than that dude, be real, what’s actually holding you back?”
Peter’s eyes drop to the amber liquid in his cup which he watches swirl for a moment as he rolls his wrist.
“I love her, and I want her back.” He begins. Ned nods to confirm he’s following the explanation. “But, I’m not dumb, and Harley flirts all of the time so I know he at the least finds me as attractive as I find him but-”
“But what?”
“What if it’s more than that? What if he actually wants more and I give him false hope just to break his heart when I go back to MJ?”
Despite all the pushing Ned had been doing previously, he now goes silent. “Oh. I hadn’t considered that. But he does know your plans right? So if he agreed to fool around it’s technically his own choice and he can handle himself.”
“Well, he actually offered to kiss me already-”
Ned’s pushing comes back full force. “Jesus, Peter! And you said no? Are you blind? Have you seen the man?”
Peter shushes him, looking around to make sure nobody’s listening to the conversation and noticing Harley had now been dragged to dance with the mystery guy, which was so unfair because now Peter had to ignore the way his roommate’s hips rolling made his brain feel foggy.
“Look, it’s not that simple, okay? What if it makes things awkward? We live together as well, remember? It’s not like I can just go and kiss him randomly then act as if nothing happened.” Ned purses his lips.
“Well, what if it was more of a joke?”
“What do you mean?” Peter asks, not following Ned’s thought process.
“I have an idea.” The brunette grimaces.
“Ned, I don’t think-”
“Peter, buddy, do you not think MJ will call you dumb for not working out your feelings before approaching her?”
Well, Peter’s responding silence demonstrates just how little he can argue with that logic.
“Exactly, so let me work some magic, just so you at least have a chance of knowing whether you actually like the guy or if it’s just physical.” Ned’s confident, at ease smile reassures something within Peter and he finds himself nodding his consent.
Suddenly, Ned is climbing on top of a table with an empty bottle in his hand and whistling for the room’s attention. With more confidence than Peter has ever seen him have, all eyes turn to his friend and he calls to them-
“Who wants to play spin the bottle?”
Now, Peter understands the plan.
He sees Harley readily going along with the idea along with multiple other people in the room and follows along to where Ned is forming a circle of players and placing the bottle in the centre.
It’s as he’s settling into place across the circle from Harley, giving him a small smile as he does and receiving one in return, that the guy that had been flirting with Harley starts complaining.
“Isn’t this game a little childish?” He’s pouting, clearly fed up with having his moment interrupted.
“A little, which is why I have my own rule.” Ned starts, making everyone look at him curiously. “Every kiss is judged by the group, if they decide there is some tension between the couple in question, the couple has to go into the bathroom for seven minutes in heaven.”
The pouting guy perks up as the group starts whooping and cheering at the additional rule. Peter has to pinch himself not to react, not only at the knowledge Ned will most definitely push for that if he and Harley have to kiss, but also that this other guy is looking at Harley as if he’s taking Ned’s words as a challenge.
Then Peter realises he’s going to have to watch Harley kiss other people.
Damn it, Ned.