It all started when people started to realise that Peter’s Stark internship wasn’t fake. Boys and girls alike had suddenly ‘liked Peter for years’ and had ‘just never built up the courage to ask’. Harley knew they hadn’t - they just wanted Peter for his connections to Tony. That was obvious really.
Granted, Harley hadn’t had a crush on Peter for years either, but at least he didn’t like Peter just because he knew Tony Stark. That would be a pointless reason to have a hopeless crush on the guy - Harley knew Tony just as well.
However, the amount of people every day that would ask Peter out on a date, or even just flirt with him, would increase as each day passed. Harley would be lying if he said it hadn’t started to bother him.
It was just because Harley wanted Peter to himself. It wasn’t. He didn’t want Peter to believe these people - even though Harley knew Peter wasn’t stupid - and he didn’t want his best friend to get hurt by people using him. But the huge crush Harley had on Peter definitely had a part to play in Harley’s frustration.
Ever since Harley had met Peter, the former had known that he had feelings for the boy. At first, it was because Peter was beautiful. Then, as Harley got to know him, he realised that Peter’s personality was just as amazing. Harley couldn’t help but to fall deeper and deeper for the boy.
But, suddenly, all of these people were asking Peter out on dates, and although Peter had rejected every single one of them, and had voiced to Harley that he wasn’t going to accept any, Harley was still jealous of these people.
Harley had to hand it to them - they had the courage to ask Peter Parker out. Harley didn’t have that courage.
Harley would always flirt with Peter. Just on the down-low. Gestures like nicknames and compliments about Peter’s appearance and intelligence. Things that always made Peter blush.
However, Harley noticed that these people were saying almost the same things to Peter now, and the only reaction they were getting out of him was a slight eye roll and a ‘no, sorry, I don’t like you in that way.’ It sounded like a childish way to respond - even Peter admitted that - but they wouldn’t go away unless Peter told them how he felt outright. None of these people could take a hint - or didn’t want to.
Harley thought that Peter was more confident because he wasn’t alone at school. Maybe Peter only blushed back at the Tower because he was uncomfortable when Harley flirted with him. Maybe Peter was too shy to reject him when he and Harley were alone. Harley’s mind started to fill with more and more insecurities every time Peter turned down someone who would flirt with Peter in a similar way to how Harley did.
In reality, of course that wasn’t why Peter blushed around Harley. But Harley couldn’t see that Peter reacted differently to him because he actually had feelings for the southerner. Harley didn’t like Peter just because he knew Tony Stark.
Harley was smart, but he could be a dumbass sometimes. Peter wished he wouldn’t be. Harley was definitely the more confident out of himself and Peter, and the latter was terrible at making the first move on anyone he liked. Everyone at the Tower knew that Peter liked Harley, and that those feelings were reciprocated. Well, everyone except Harley.
Surprisingly, Peter wasn’t as oblivious as everyone made him out to be. Of course, it took Tony to lay it all out for Peter in order for him to see that Harley reciprocated Peter’s feelings, but at least he accepted it. Harley, on the other hand, saw it as Peter being polite and just going along with Harley’s supposedly ‘lowkey’ flirting because he didn’t want to be rude.
Harley often wondered why Peter would turn down everyone at school as soon as they flirted with him, but wouldn’t tell Harley to stop.
Eventually, Harley had accepted that he was jealous, even though Peter hadn’t actually accepted anyone yet. Peter had also realised that Harley was jealous (after MJ brought it to his attention), and he was stuck on the decision of whether to carry on rejecting people and keep the situation as it is, to flirt back with someone (just to see Harley get worked up), or to simply straight-up ask Harley out on a date.
It was obvious that the last option wasn’t happening - Peter will never make the first move. Additionally, Peter was too polite to lead people on by flirting back, so carrying on as he currently was seemed to be his only viable option.
Even after coming to this decision, Peter was simply tired of the flirting from people who just wanted to use him. They really thought that he wouldn’t see through their act. So, Peter decided to complain about the whole situation to Harley so much that the latter decided to ask questions. It was a long shot, but Peter hoped that it would get onto the subject of who Peter wouldn’t reject.
Peter could try and hint at the fact that he was going to reject everyone except Harley. That Harley was the only person he wanted, and the only person he’d date. Peter thought that if even Tony had noticed, Harley had to be so, so oblivious. To be honest, Peter wasn’t completely surprised, but he thought it was extraordinary just how unaware Harley apparently was.
— — — — —
“I’m so God damn tired of all these people trying to use me. When will they stop?” Peter complained. He and Harley were sitting in their joint lab, upgrading Peter’s web shooters.
“When you accept someone.” Harley replied, all but completely deadpanning the conversation. Peter decided to try again.
“But I don’t want to accept any of them, Harles.”
“Why not?” Harley put his tools down on the desk, making Peter jump. Harley immediately felt bad. Admittedly, he’d put them down a little bit harder than he’d planned to. “You want the whole ordeal to be over, but you won’t accept anyone. If you said yes to someone, people would probably stop flirting with you as much as they are.”
“Yes, you’re right.” Peter started, placing his tools on the desk too - a lot lighter than Harley had a minute ago. “But the person I want to ask me just hasn’t asked yet. I’m not going to accept someone who’ll use me, or someone I don’t feel the same about - not that the people flirting with me actually like me. They just like Tony.”
“How can they not have? Literally everyone has asked you out. Whoever the hell you like must have done at this point.”
“But he hasn’t.”
“So they’re a he?”
“That’s what I just said, didn’t I?”
“Yeah.” Harley picked his tools back up, and started to work on the web shooters aggressively. Peter grabbed his hands.
“Stop. You’ll either hurt yourself or break the web shooters. Then you’ll feel guilty. Why are you so angry?” Peter asked, a concerned expression plastered on his face.
“Doesn’t matter.” Harley snapped. Harley saw a slightly pained look flash over Peter’s face. “Sorry, darlin’, didn’t mean to snap. I’ve just… got things on my mind.” Harley put his tools down again and sat down, putting his head in his hands. “God, I’ve worked myself up, haven’t I?”
“Yeah, you have. Wanna talk about it?” Peter sat down opposite Harley, and brought his chair closer, so that his knees were touching Harley’s.
“Not really. But I guess you’re gonna make me?”
“I’m not gonna make you say anything. But I am gonna make you get all of your emotions out. Say what you want to say, cry if you need to.”
“Fuck it.” Harley whispered to himself, before removing his hands from his face. Peter saw the tears welling up in Harley’s eyes, and automatically wiped away one that had fallen down his cheek.
“Peter- I just… can’t deal with this anymore. You’re asked out every single fucking day and I have to stand there and watch. I have to stand there and watch the person I want to hold and kiss an love be asked on dates by people who just want to use him. I don’t want you to be used, sweetheart, no matter who you date. Even if I can’t have you, I want you to be treated right. And one day, I think you’re gonna say yes because you genuinely like someone, and they won’t care about you, and you’ll grow to love them, and they’ll just break you. And I don’t wanna watch that happen, love. I can’t watch that happen.”
By this point, Harley had a couple of tears falling down his face. He couldn’t help it. He hated that he couldn’t stop them. It was built up anger and sadness, and now it was all coming out at once.
“Harles, when I said that the person I wanted to ask me on a date hadn’t yet, I was talking about you. Because I was to hold and kiss and love you too. And I know you wouldn’t use me, because you’re one of the sweetest people I’ve had the opportunity of knowing.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Harley sounded broken. His voice was cracking every few words, and it took all of Peter’s will power not to pick him up, lift him to the sofa, and cuddle him until he stopped crying. But he knew that Harley needed to talk about these things - even if he didn’t want to. Harley wasn’t good with emotions. Tony had told Peter that before he’d introduced the boys to each other.
“Because even though I knew how you felt, I couldn’t bring myself to make the first move. I’m sorry, Harles. I didn’t even realise how you felt about these people until a couple of days ago. Even then, I didn’t think that you were taking it as personally as you are. If I thought that, I would’ve shut it down days ago. I thought you knew I felt the same way about you. I thought Tony had told you.”
“He did. I just didn’t believe him.”
“How? It was obvious.”
“Not to me it wasn’t.”
“Harley, every single compliment you’ve given me makes me go all warm inside, and even I know that shows on my face.”
“To be honest, I thought it was because you were struggling to reject me because we weren’t in public, and it was just us two.”
“If anything, I would find it easier in private. Anyway, now you know that I would never reject you if you flirted with me. Or asked me on a date, for that matter.”
“What are you suggesting, Parker?” There we go. That was the sarcastic Harley that Peter knew. Peter grinned.
“That you should totally ask me to go on a date with you.”
“Well then, I’ll do that. Tomorrow. In school. Right in front of everyone else. Then I’m gonna kiss you. Does that sound good?”
“I- I have to wait that long?” Peter was blushing again, his previous confidence withering away a little.
“Mhm. I’ve gotta do the dramatic gestures and all that comes with it, darlin’.”
“I guess you do.”
— — — — —
That’s exactly what Harley did. The first person to flirt with Peter the next day was Flash. That was new. Most of the people who would flirt with people would do it time and time again, hoping that he would say yes if they kept going for it. However, Flash had never even glanced at Peter. In fact, he’d tried to keep up the rumour that Peter was lying.
Harley almost laughed at Peter’s expression when Flash came up to him that morning.
“Hey, Parker. Looking good.” Flash gave Peter a once-over, as if he was checking Peter out. Peter lookde surprised at first, and then almost disgusted - but Peter managed to cover that up as soon as Flash looked back up at his face.
“Yeah, he is, isn’t he?” Harley spoke up before Peter had the chance to respond. By now, the small group of three had attracted the attention of the majority of the other students in the hallway. Harley could see Ned and MJ out of the corner of his eye, and he was pretty sure that MJ was recording the whole events, but he couldn’t be sure. A few students had also got their phones out, but after a quick glace, Harley assumed that they were all texting.
Of course, nearly everyone had tried to date Peter at this point, but never Flash. Yesterday, Flash had still been insulting Peter at almost every opportunity he had. But today, he was flirting with his former target. But today, he was flirting with Peter.
Another turn of events for everyone watching was that instead of standing on the sidelines like he usually did, Harley was joining in. Everyone had realised that Harley had feelings for Peter, but they were too determined to get to Peter that they hadn’t realised that Peter reciprocated those feelings for Harley. However, no one ever saw Harley as a threat, mainly because they knew that he wouldn’t confess to Peter. But, as it turns out, they were wrong.
“Can’t you see that Peter and I are having a conversation? One which doesn’t involve you?” Flash retorted. Harley just laughed. Flash turned to Peter. “Aren’t we?”
“I mean, I technically didn’t respond, so, by definition, it wasn’t a conversation…” Peter trailed off as he saw Flash’s expression turn from frustrated to angry. Then he continued, a small burst of confidence coming through (possibly due to Harley’s close presence, but who knew?). “And, uh, Harley and I were having a conversation before you got here, so you technically interrupted our conversation.”
“But I’m clearly the more interesting person here, so you should go out with me, not him.” Flash argued back.
“Hold up, no one said anything about Peter going out with anyone.” MJ had come over now, her phone still - presumably - recording, but placed in a pocket in her jacket.
“And no one said anything about you interrupting this conversation.” Flash shot back.
“Eh, that was better than your usual ‘comebacks’. But I’ll think you’ll find that Peter is definitely not interested in you, Eugene.” MJ shrugged and walked back to where she originally was.
“Is she right, Parker?”
“I- yes. She was. When is she not?” Peter replied, smiling. Thank God for MJ.
“Well, if you’re not interested in me, or everyone else here, who the hell would you be interested in?”
“Someone who isn’t just in it for the benefit of having connections to Tony Stark.” Peter deadpanned.
“Who would even look at you if you didn’t know him? You’re not really anything to look at.”
“First of all, me. I would look at Peter all day. Second of all, that’s not what you were saying just two minutes ago.” Harley butted in before Peter could reply - he wasn’t going to lose his moment. Flash just huffed, and walked over to his group of friends. Harley watched him leave, turning towards Peter. “So, darlin’, wanna be my boyfriend?”
“Definitely. Waited long enough.” Peter grinned, and Harley gave him one in return, before holding Peter’s chin and kissing him. It was only a second or two long, considering that people were still filming, and neither Harley nor Peter enjoyed the attention too much.
— — — — —
It was lunch time before Harley, Peter, MJ, Ned, and Betty had managed to get time to themselves. And, of course, they wanted to talk about the events that happened that morning.
“So, Keener, finally get your head out of your ass?” MJ smirked, speaking up first.
“Well, yeah. I had a bit of a breakdown last night, and Peter managed to get me to see the obvious.” Harley smiled, glancing over to Peter.
“Good. Now we don’t have to witness the constant pining between the two of you.” MJ smiled at the two boys as they both blushed slightly.
MJ could tell that they were perfect for each other, just from that one look.