Peter's P.O.V.
"For the last time, Nightmare Before Christmas is not a Christmas movie!" Peter said, throwing his hands up in annoyance
"It is too a Christmas movie, it takes place on Christmas, and Christmas is right in the name!" Harley retorted "I feel like we've had this argument a million times."
"The producers confirmed that it was- Shut up," Peter said, his expression turning serious
"Did you just tell yourself to shut up?"
"Yes, now you shut up too, look"
Harley turned, and his draw dropped in disbelief, "No way!"
It was 6:30 on Christmas Eve morning, and Harley and Peter were expecting to be the first two up, but sitting at the table in the Avengers compound kitchen, were none other than Thor and Bruce. They were sitting across from each other at the coffee table, and the sight that met their eyes made the two boys want to scream in frustration.
It was obvious that both of them had been up all night, Bruce's hair was charred and his clothes were creased, meaning that he had been working on his mysterious gamma experiment again, and Thor's usually perfect hair and beard were frazzled and still sparking with electricity, meaning that he too was working on his mysterious late-night project. Not to mention the giant hole in the wall of the kitchen, although in a compound full of superhumans, this was not an uncommon sight.
What was most infuriating, however, was that instead of a single workstation set up, there were two separate tables, meaning that they had been working at separate corners of the room all night.
It was evident that the two men liked each other, anybody with half a brain could see it. The accidental touches and fleeting eye contact were sometimes physically painful to watch, and the whole compound was hellbent on getting them together. But this was proving to be extremely difficult.
As Sam and Bucky had demonstrated when they came out to the media, it was extremely difficult to be a gay couple in the Avengers. They got enough hate without the rocks being thrown through the windows. Sam and Bucky had stayed strong throughout all of the harassment, and it died down a bit eventually, but it was apparent nobody else wanted to go through that. Harley and Peter slunk back behind the door frame, peaking around the corner. Both men looked exhausted, looking down at their coffee with the kind of intense focus you don't usually have while looking at a brown beverage, but something told the boys that the focus was less about what they were looking at, and more about what they weren't.
The next ten minutes consisted mostly of one of the men looking up shyly from their coffee to look at the other and then snapping back down again. In a short time, one of their heads was up, however, their faces would soften as if they were looking at the best thing in the world. Whenever this happened, Harley would bounce excitedly on his toes, and Peter would have to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep himself from screaming.
By the time both coffee mugs were empty, Peter was ready to shove them together himself, finally, both men looked up at the same time. When their eyes met, the two adults turned colours of red that neither boy has ever seen on a human being before.
"I'm going to bed," Bruce said, jumping to his feet
"Me as well" Thor replied, "Don't want to be too tired for tonight!"
Harley grabbed Peter's hand and pulled him at lightning speed towards his room, locking the door behind him.
"I figured out how to get Thor and Bruce together."
"Come on man, you know that's impossible," Peter said, nudging him on the shoulder
"Maybe for other people it is, but not for this super genius." Harley threw his head back flamboyantly, and Peter noticed how when the light hit him just right, a little silver spot in Harley's eye was illuminated, making his eyes, which were gorgeous, to begin with, look stunning.
Peter stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet.
He did not have a crush on Harley Keener
Ok
Maybe a little one
"You ok man?" Harley asked, "Do you need to lie down or something?"
"No, no, I'm ok." Peter readjusted his footing "Now, tell me your plan"
Harley's P.O.V
From the moment he had seen Peter, Harley had known. He had known that he was head over heels in love with this stupid spider boy. Every breath Peter took seemed perfect, every step he took was like the best thing in the world. As Harley walked down the hall to complete his half of the plan, he had to remind himself that this was about Thor and Bruce, not him and Peter.
When he arrived at the door to Thor's room, he rapped twice sharply with his knuckles (Peter always said that he knocked like an old lady from the 1950s) and then pushed open the door.
Thor was sitting on his small desk chair, frantically writing in a small notebook, when he noticed Harley he shut the book quickly and turned to face him.
"Hello young one, is there something I can help you with?" Harley took a deep breath "I was wondering if I could ask you a question?" Thor looked at him in anticipation, his hands folded gently in his lap "What is it young one?
"Do you like Bruce?"
Thor ducked his head "Yes, yes I suppose I do."
Harley was quite taken back by this, he was expecting a lot more pushback on Thor's part "Oh, well, why don't you ask him out?"
The spark that seemed to be always flickering in Thor's eyes seemed to dim down to a mere glow, "Because I am afraid."
This shocked Harley even more than the first comment. Thor, the god of thunder, a man who could easily pick up Harley and throw him out the window, was afraid? There were a lot of answers that Harley was anticipating, but this was not one of them
His shock must have shown on his face because Thor continued. "I have no other home than the compound, everybody who I loved back home is either dead or wants nothing to do with me. Being this way, gay or bisexual or whatever I am, I fear it may force me apart from the only family I have."
"But Sam and Bucky-"
"Sam and Bucky are humans, as powerful as they are, they are humans. I am a god, and there is a certain way that gods are painted that people do believe they must conform to. And if anybody in the compound holds those values... I can't lose anybody else."
Harley's head was reeling, he was not expecting this, he was not expecting Thor to be so open, but there was something else, something he was still hiding.
"Is that all?" Harley asked, tilting his head slightly, Peter always said he looked like a puppy when he did this. "Something tells me there is something more to this."
Thor laughed slightly, shutting his eyes as if envisioning a distant memory.
"When I was a young boy, I remember I used to run through the palace courtyard with my friends, and there was this one young lady who I would often run past, she was my age or perhaps a bit older." Thor opened his eyes, the light from the chandelier reflecting off his pupils "And I suppose I had a, well as you Midguardians call it, a crush. I would sometimes go out of my way to see her, to talk to her, our relationship never went anywhere of course, but I liked her."
"As time went on, everybody around me was falling in love, starting serious relationships, but as my girlfriends went on my feelings never really grew from a simple schoolyard crush. When I met Jane, I felt something else, real genuine attraction for the first time in my life. I thought she was the one." Thor's eyes were brimming with tears now, and Harley was becoming a bit frightened. He hardly knew Thor, and here he was pouring his heart out while Harley listened.
"When Jane and I broke up, I was upset of course, but I thought I would feel more. In all of your Midguardian movies, the characters will cry for days, but I simply thought about it for a moment and continued with my life, as if it was just another assignment, but then I met Bruce, and I can't even think of hurting him, even for a second."
"But Mr. Thor," Harley said, (he called people Mr. and Ms. when he got nervous) "Why is this keeping you from dating him?"
Thor's fingers sparked "If Banner likes men, which I find unlikely, and he likes me, which I find even more unlikely, I don't want to hurt him. I have no problem with outside criticism, I have had to put up with a lot of it when I was ruling, but Banner is very sensitive. He is terrified of hurting anyone, I don't want to set him up for any more abuse."
Thor was fully sobbing by this point, his tears running down his cheeks and dripping off his beard. Harley had a surge of understanding for him, perhaps they weren't so different after all. Both of them desperately wanted to be with people that they feared they never could, and both of them were terrified of what would happen next.
"If it makes you feel any better, nobody is going to care if you like guys, I can promise you that much." Harley whispered, "I understand how much you like him."
"I love him, I love him. I have never felt this way about anybody else, and I don't know what to do."
The tears were coming faster now. Harley had never seen Thor look so defeated.
"Mr. Thor, If you don't mind me asking, why did you decide to tell me this?"
The faintest trace of a smile flashed across Thor's face "I know how you feel about the Parker boy, It is quite obvious, I think we are more alike than you realize."
Harley felt his face flush, had he been that obvious? Before he could say anything else, his phone buzzed in his pocket, it was Peter.
'All good, meet me on the roof'
"I've gotta go." Harley jumped from the bed where he had been sitting and walked towards the door,
"Keener!" Thor shouted from his desk chair, "He likes you too,"
And before Harley could say another word, Thor slammed the door in his face.
Peter's P.O.V
Peter walked down the hall, watching Harley head in the opposite direction. He was about to go confront Bruce while Harley headed to take to Thor. He didn't know exactly how he would go about this, he didn't doubt that Harley would. He always did know what to do. While walking down the hall to Banner's room he couldn't help but wonder if Harley was thinking about him too, he quickly shook that thought out of his mind. There was no way that Harley liked him, this was about Banner and Thor and nobody else. Banner's room was located at the end of the compound so he had plenty of time to think about what he was going to tell him, but as many times as he rehearsed it, his brain just kept reverting to the way Haley had trusted him to do such an important task. He was daydreaming about what Harley may have been thinking when he bumped into none other than Bruce.
"Hey! Bruce, " Peter said, fumbling with his hands in his pocket "I was just looking for you, can I ask you something?"
Bruce looked at him questioningly but seemed to notice the urgency in Peters's eyes. He nodded shortly, "There's a spare conference room over here, the door locks."
Bruce led Peter in through a door on the left, locking it behind him. Peter had been living in the compound for almost three months and he still managed to find rooms he didn't know existed.
"Peter, what did you have to ask me?" Bruce said, pulling out a chair "It seems pretty urgent,"
"Not exactly urgent, per se but important." Peter grabbed a chair opposite Bruce and sat, smacking his elbow against the corner of the table.
Bruce looked more concerned than ever at this, Peter never bumped into things, ever. It was part of his spider tingle, as Harley called it. Peter didn't even know why he felt so nervous, It was just a simple question, to which he already knew the answer, nothing more.
"Do you-" Peter stuttered, his voice breaking, "Do you like Thor?"
Bruce's eyes widened almost to an unnatural point, "No, no. I don't. Why would you even- don't ask me that! And even if I did- it's none of your business!"
And then he was crying
Peter had been expecting him to get angry, embarrassed, maybe even happy, but sobbing? That was not on Peter's bingo card. Bruce was sensitive and sweet, but he was never a particularly emotional guy, definitely not a crier, but what he saw could warrant no other explanation. Bruce, The Incredible Hulk, a super genius with seven PhDs, was having a mental breakdown over a question about a crush.
"Maybe I do like him," Bruce said, after maybe 30 seconds of crying "I know I do, but if I tell him and he doesn't feel the same... I don't think I would be able to live with myself."
"But what if you don't do it?" Peter said, laying his hand gently on top of Bruces "What if you don't do it and then you end up regretting it and then he goes out with somebody else? What would you think then? The thing is, I know. I know that you will spend your nights and your days, and every waking hour wedged in between wondering 'what if?' What if I had told him, what if I had kissed him? And you will never know."
It took Peter a second to realize what he was doing, to realize that he had just voiced his real feelings about Haley for the first time in, well, ever. To realize that he was shouting. To realize how he was feeling.
Banner looked up at Peter, his eyes hardened with a new sense of confidence that Peter had never seen before in Dr. Banner. "Maybe I will, but kid, you need to take some of your advice. Now If you'll excuse me, I have some coffee to drink."
And with that, Banner walked out of the conference room with an attitude hardly similar to one who had been sobbing not two minutes ago. He left Peter alone with his thoughts.
Taking a deep shaky breath, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone, opened messages, and proceeded to text Harley
''All good, meet me on the roof''
He was going to do this
Harley's P.O.V
When Harley finally clambered up the rungs on the ladder and onto the roof of the compound. This path up to the roof was a secret that Peter and he had found a couple of weeks after he moved in. The ladder opened up into a small area almost completely blocked off by hedges, a perfect area for spying on anyone who happened to be up there. But today he wasn't spying on anyone, today he was finding out the truth. Peter was already waiting for him, and Harley could tell something was wrong. His eyebrows were scrunched together like they did when he was nervous, making an absolutely adorable, yet concerning line across his forehead.
"How did point break go?" Peter asked, adopting Tony's nickname for him "did you get the truth out?"
"Yeah, quite easily actually, he gave me quite a sad sob story. I don't think he'll ever be able to work up the nerve to ask Bruce out, but If Banner makes the first move-"
"That's not why I called you up here." Peter blurted, cutting him off. Yet thing Peter did when he got nervous. "There is something I want to tell you."
Harley was genuinely concerned at this point, "Peter, what's going on?"
Peter took a deep breath, "When I was talking with Banner, I gave him some pointers as to how to ask out Thor, I told him that he had to do it soon or he'll regret it later on and he told me I should take some of that advice and apply it to my own life."
Harley's heart lept into his throat, "What do you mean by that?" He replied, trying desperately to maintain his composure.
"I like you man, like a lot. Now I know that you probably don't feel the same way and I know that this won't get me anywhere but I don't think that I would-" Peter was cut off by Harley's lips against his. A shiver of excitement beyond anything he got from any battle crept up Harley's spine when he realized that Peter wasn't going to pull away.
When they finally pulled apart, Harley broke into a grin, "Do you have any idea how long I have been waiting for you to do that?"
"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to do that?" Peter said, still looking shocked "So are we like- dating now?"
Harley beamed even brighter, his insides turning "I would like that. I would. But do you mind if we don't tell anyone at the compound, for now at least?"
The other boy nodded, "Okay, okay that's fine. I'm just really happy we could make this work, now let me tell you about the other couple,"
Peter laughed a bit as he recounted the story of how easily Bruce confessed, Harley thought that his retelling of laying his hand gently on Bruce's hand and calmly giving him advice seemed a bit out of character, but he wasn't going to call out his new boyfriend, not today anyway. When Peter finished his side of the story, he looked up calmly waiting for Harley to give his retelling, and he did. Listing out all of Thor's fears about coming out and dating Bruce. He revealed a new softer side of this god, and when he completed his story they agreed that Bruce needed to be the one to confess to Thor, as the god of thunder would never put his love's life in danger.
"Wait," Peter said, "What's the plan for the party?" They were slumped against the back wall now, Harley's head resting on Peter's shoulder. He loved the way his boyfriend's warmth and breath controlled his own gentle movement.
Harley laughed gently, "You don't remember? Come on man, I've told you this a million times!"
"I'm sorry, a lot of things have happened since then!" Peter swooped down and planted another kiss on Harley's lips.
"Well..." Harley tried to shake off the adrenaline from yet another kiss with Peter "I made both Thor and Bruce promise not to work tonight and because Thor is Thor, and has his weird Asgardian sleep schedule, he will not go to bed unless literally, everyone else is already asleep. Bruce will not go to bed unless Thor goes to bed, because of his massive crush and wanting all the opportunities possible to creepily watch him. Rendering this, my good man, a paradox." Harley stroked his chin elegantly, making Peter snort with laughter.
Harley started up again, after fully absorbing how he had made his new boyfriend laugh. "All during the party, you and I will be subtly showing both of the subjects all the amazing things about the other. Think, how cute Bruce is when he's taking drink orders or the way Thor teases people when they try to pick up Mjölnir. Then we go to bed, and see what happens in the morning."
Peter nodded curtly, a small smile dancing across his lips "T-minus 12 hours and 45 minutes until party time."
Peter's P.O.V.
Good grief
This could not be possible
He, Peter Parker. Was now officially dating the most amazing boy in the universe.
It simply couldn't be possible
These last twelve-and-a-half hours had been the most agonizing time of his life. The time until the party seemed to be infinite. Was it too much to ask to be able to pull an epic scheme with his boyfriend, without having to wait an eternity and then some? When the time finally arose, Peter straightened his tie and went to meet Haley outside the door to the living room. As Harley explained the plan for the final time, all Peter could focus on was the way that Harley had specially styled his hair for the occasion, his curls neatly arranged in the calm yet the chaotic way that only Harley could manage. God. He was head over heels in love with this boy.
Just as Harley was teaching to pull open the double doors he stopped and turned, reaching out a hand for his boyfriend's shoulder. "Please don't tell anyone about us, not yet. I don't mean to seem ungrateful but-"
"Harley," Peter said, looking into his eyes "I get it, I won't tell anyone, not until your ready."
"Thank you, thank you so much."
With that, Harley pushed open the double doors, exposing the view inside.
Lying on the couch were Sam and Bucky, Sam was asleep with his head on Bucky's chest, while the latter stroked his boyfriend's hair with his metal arm. Natasha and Clint were leaning on the bar, wine in hand and talking about who knows what complicated ethical puzzle. Tony, Thor, Carol, Steve and (To the boy's excitement) Bruce were gathered around the coffee table, Carol was leaning back, grunting and pulling on Mjölnir, while Thor laughed and the others edged her on.
"I'll take care of that, you go enjoy yourself, we'll switch soon enough," Harley said, nodding towards his boyfriend.
Peter made his way over to the couch where Bucky and Sam were sitting, cookie platter in hand and plopped down next to them.
"Well," He said, munching a cookie "You are adorable."
Bucky laughed slightly, squeezing Sam's relaxed hand with his metal one, "I suppose we are Pete, I suppose we are."
"How do you do it, date each other I mean. With the media being how it is." The words were out before he could stop himself, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"No, no, It's fine." Bucky shook his head "I don't know how we did it, it was hard, you know. But I love him, and he loves me, and somehow, together we did it."
Peter, nodded, lost in thought, but was interrupted by Harley whisper-shouting his name from across the room. Peter turned, and his eyes landed on Bruce and Thor walking across the room towards the bar.
"Good talk, gotta run," Peter said, backflipping off the couch. He walked, as casually as he possibly could, having just performed a very impressive maneuver, towards the bar. He planned to snuff out any of the awkwardness that was undoubtedly surrounding them, but he quickly realized that that was not necessary. Thor and Bruce were laughing and talking almost as easily as if they were best friends, and not two guys with suppressed, undying love for each other. Apart from the occasional blushing and nervous twitches, they seemed almost normal. Peter stopped a couple of feet away from the two men and watched with great interest as Bruce reached down into the bar cooler.
"What do you want?" Bruce said, pulling out a series of drinks from the cooler
"Just a beer, if you don't mind." Thor stood awkwardly, obviously trying to figure out the best way to position his hands on the bar table.
"Of course good sir," Bruce said, in a horrible British accent. Thor blushed a whole new shade of scarlet that seemed to mean that his godly brain was going to go into overdrive at even one more word from Bruce.
It was a rare moment when you saw the alert, repressed and terrified man that was Bruce Banner relax and crack that kind of stupid joke, but when you did, the joy on his face was irreplaceable, and everyone at the compound agreed that these were more frequent when he was around Thor.
The next couple of hours were filled with a similar type of regime, following and observing both men. Now and then Peter would throw Banner a 'go on' glance, or say something to nudge one of them in the right direction, but most of the night was relatively uneventful.
Slowly, people became to trickle out of the room. Most of them would slowly trudge off to bed, faces flushed and hair tousled. There was one instance where Natasha ran from the room screaming with laughter while Clint chased her with a handful of darts, and did not return, but this wasn't particularly out of character for either of them, before long it was just, Harley, Thor, Bruce and Peter.
"Well," Harley said, standing up from his seat on the couch "Better go to bed, you coming Peter?"
"Yeah, one second." Peter followed Harley out of the main room, the second they were out of earshot both slumped against the wall, Peter was so exhausted he felt positive his brain was melting.
"Great job man." Harley said, "I bet that by morning they'll-"
"Be quiet, they're talking." Peters's stomach seemed to jump into his throat as he pressed his ear to the door, Bruce's voice rang out from the main room, light and intelligent, but this time so full of fear that it almost sounded distorted.
"Come with me to the roof, Thor, I have something I want to tell you."
Both boys looked at each other, and then made a mad dash towards the hidden ladder.
Harley's P.O.V
Harley and Peter were jammed together, both peaking out of a gap in the hedge, Bruce and Thor were both standing not twenty feet away from them. Bruce was chewing his lip softly, his eyes looked terrified. Thor looked more confused than anything else.
"Thor," Bruce said
"Bruce." Thor retorted, his eyebrows raised "Did you call me up here to tell me something?"
Banner breathed deeply, his fists clenched. "Well, I had a heart to heart with a certain spider-themed 17-year-old, and he made me realize something, the specifics of which are.. unrelated, but it did make me decide to do something I have wanted to for a very long time. When I met you, something about our relationship felt.. different. I assumed It was because we were good friends, and at first I was. But then my feelings for you started to grow, and I came to a realization. I like you, a lot. And I know you don't, but I knew that If I didn't tell you this then I would never be able to live with myself, I would just keep asking myself 'What if?' So here I am, we can go to bed now, I just wanted you to know."
Harley was sure that his organs were going to melt inside of him, Peter was squeezing his hand so tightly that he thought it was going to cut off circulation to his fingertips.
Thor's eyes widened "No, no, no, no. It doesn't work like this!"
Bruce seemed crushed like Harley had never seen before, "I understand that you don't feel the same, you don't have to-"
"NO! I do, I do feel the same way but I never get this far, I don't know what happens now. My brain is overloading." Tears were dripping down Thor's face, although his eyes were brighter than ever.
Bruce's smile was enough to light a thousand cities, it was a look of pure joy and excitement. "How about.. you kiss me?"
Thor leaned in, and when their lips finally met, Harley could not contain his excitement any longer, he lept up from behind the bushes "IT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!" He yelled his eyes wild.
Peter tackled Harley, and when their lips met, It was like nothing else imaginable.
They were all together
They got there at the end