I'll find sleep, I'll find peace
Harley tugged his jacket tighter around him as he made his way towards home, clenching his jaw in an effort to keep his teeth from chattering.
He’d worked later than usual that night, hoping to get a little extra cash for his troubles. His work had been slowing down a lot lately with how cold it was getting, and he was spending money faster than he was comfortable with. It was just so damn cold out, and it felt as if his energy had been draining away faster lately. Maybe it was just that the reality of his situation was finally starting to hit him. He’d been on the streets for over a month now and as much as he’d like to say he was getting better at it, he really wasn’t.
Everything still sucked. He was still always hungry, and every day seemed to just get colder. He honestly had no clue what he was going to do if it started snowing.
Lay down and die about it I guess.
He was still lost in thought as he entered the scrapyard, hardly paying attention. He had gotten pretty confident that he’d nailed the owner’s schedule by now, and wasn’t still worried about running into him.
So he made his way over to where he stored his blanket, ready to drop his backpack down and hit they hay for the night, when he froze.
What. the. fuck.
There was someone else sleeping in his spot. What the fuck.
Mind reeling, he stepped back, trying to be quiet. He must’ve alerted the guy somehow though, because suddenly the person was shooting up into a sitting position, frantically turning to look at him with wide eyes, and-
And damn, he was young.
Well not- not that young, he was around the same age as Harley, but Harley had been expecting to get his ass beat by some pissed off old guy. Not to be met face to face with another teenager. Who looked like shit, by the way.
For a moment they were both still, chests heaving as their brains tried to process what was happening. When suddenly the other kid reeled back, his whole body flinching. “Oh my god- I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to trespassI didn’t think anyone would be around I thought this place was closed for the night I wasn’t gonna do anything I was just sleeping I’m so sorry I-“
The words left him in a rush as he tripped over himself trying to get back. Harley flinched at the sudden outburst before scrambling over and clamping a hand over his mouth, “shut the fuck up before the guy who owns this place hears us,” he whisper-shouted, heart pounding in his rib cage. The kid was clearly homeless like he was, and he was not gonna lose his sleeping spot just cause this guy decided to panic and alert the whole damn neighborhood.
The other kid had frozen, before cautiously leaning away out of Harley’s grasp. He took a few shuddering breaths before opening his mouth. “I- what? Before who hears us?”
“The guy that owns this place smartass. Do I look like I own this property? I just sleep here. With the blanket you’re stealing, by the way.” He huffed out a breath, trying to calm himself down from the adrenaline that had grabbed him. He needed to get his shit together and not scare this guy even worse.
The other kid blinked, clearly still trying to process everything that had just happened. “Oh.. I’m sorry- I hadn’t realized. I’ll leave-“ he started, already backing away. Harley winced at the horrified expression he was wearing.
He couldn’t just kick this guy out into the freezing cold night, could he? That’d make him an asshole. They were both clearly struggling. Kicking him out just felt wrong.
“Hey, wait. Just- don’t worry about it. You can stay here. There’s no point kicking you out if you’re already here. It’s not like I own this place either, I can’t exactly evict you,” he joked, hoping it’d ease the tension somewhat.
The other kid just looked taken aback though. He paused for a little too long before responding. “Are you… sure..? I don’t want to intrude..”
Harley just rolled his eyes and crawled the rest of the way in with him. “Yeah. I’m sure. My names Harley.”
“…Peter…”
Harley smiled a little. As stupid as this situation was, he felt a little excited at the prospect of talking to someone who wasn’t just an adult ordering him around at work. “Nice to meet you Peter, now give me some of my blanket back. We can share it.”
———
The Peter kid turned out to be a total fucking buzzkill. It was hard enough to get information out of him, but every time he opened up about his life it just made Harley more worried. Seriously, he thought he had issues. The things Peter would just casually drop into conversation had him thinking hey, maybe his life before actually wasn’t that bad.
Still, they’d managed to form a kind of routine together, and having someone else to talk to instilled Harley with a new sense of hope. He found himself caring about Peter more and more, it kind of worried him. He hadn’t been close to someone in so long.
But still, Peter was nice, and surprisingly funny, and the nights were a lot easier to bear with a warm body beside him.
For the first time in a long while, Harley was almost happy.
———
Peter already loved Harley. Their initial meeting had been one of the scariest moments of his life, but he quickly realized how much he’d lucked out. Harley was smart, and funny, and would put up with him talking for hours. He couldn’t imagine being this talkative around Skip.
It was weird, too. Harley was mean, but in a completely different way than Skip was. Harley would rib him and tease him, but he still seemed to actually care about him. It was never in a way to make Peter feel bad, it was just… playful.
The teen kind of reminded him of MJ in that sense, but thinking about that just hurt. He’d probably never get to see his two friends again, and it’d been his decision. His fault. He tried not to think about it for too long.
He really had let down everyone in his life though, hadn’t he? He got Ben killed. He abandoned his two closest friends. He betrayed Skip.
He wouldn’t let Harley down though. He wouldn’t hurt another person in his life. He was going to be better. He had to.
And things really had been getting better since meeting Harley. The two had clicked so fast, he already couldn’t imagine living on the streets without him. Harley gave him a reason to keep going every day, to keep pushing. And there was less to worry about now that there were two sources of income. It was still two mouths to feed, but now they could share stuff like blankets and toothpaste and everything else.
Everything somehow just didn’t feel quite as big with someone else around.
Figures it wouldn’t last.
Peter was heading home for the night, smiling as he carried his guitar case. He’d been playing at the bar tonight, and it’d been amazing. He loved playing there, he always got good tips and he swore the LPB&G had the best food in New York City. He was practically giddy from excitement as he headed home, restraining the urge to skip as he flapped his hands erratically. He couldn’t wait to get home and tell Harley about his day.
As he turned the corner to their street though, he paused. He swore he heard something.
He was just about to wave it off and keep going when he heard it again, clearly this time. Shouting.
Someone was screaming from inside the scrapyard. Harley was inside the scrapyard and someone was screaming.
Dropping his guitar case, he broke out in a sprint towards the sound, ignoring the pain that shot from his ankle at every step. Praying that he wasn’t too late.
Too late like he was for Ben.
Without thinking about it he scaled the barbed fence, the wires ripping at his jeans and cutting his hands and legs and he maneuvered over it. That didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but getting to Harley as fast as he could.
The shouting was louder here and he could finally make out the voice. It wasn’t Harley’s voice, it was an adult’s. Had he been caught?
Turning the final corner around the building he felt his lungs seize up. Harley was on the ground, arms braced in front of his face as he curled up protectively around himself. The owner of the scrapyard was standing over him, kicking him over. And over. And over. And over. Screaming profanities about trespassing and private property and damn street thugs.
Peter ran in on instinct. Panic overwhelming him as he saw Harley getting hurt. Sprinting over, he shoved the guy as hard as he physically could, throwing all his body weight behind the push.
Which wasn’t a lot. Peter was small and starving and did not have a lot of body weight to throw around. The push barely got the guy to stumble back a little, but it was enough to get Harley out of kicking range.
It was enough to get the man’s attention on him instead.
He froze as his eyes made contact with the man’s blue ones. The same blue eyes Skip had- suddenly he wasn’t in a scrapyard, no, he was defenseless and scared in a bedroom trying to figure out what he’d done wrong this time. Trying not to cry as Skip bore down on him.
He wasn’t surprised when the first hit landed.
He was surprised when he felt someone grab him from behind. Did Skip have a friend over? Were they not alone-?
And then suddenly he was in the scrapyard again, and a man who wasn’t Skip was shouting and Harley was pulling him away screaming back just as angrily and they were both backing away like Harley was planning on running and dragging Peter with him and it was all too much and too confusing.
The man jerked forwards as if to chase them, but his eyes landed on the power suppression bracelet on Peter’s wrist. His eyes got impossibly wider. “I SHOULD’VE KNOWN YOU WERE FUCKING MUTANTS! YOU GODDAMN INHUMANE PIECES OF SHIT BETTER GET OUT BEFORE I FUCKING KILL YOU-“
He continued screaming as Harley continued pulling Peter away, and then the man turned and began marching towards the building. Peter let out a breath of relief before coming to a horrifying realization as the man reached for the door handle.
He was letting his dog out.