Chapter 4
Peter wakes up to the smell of bacon and waffles, his soft blankets heavy on his shoulders in the best of ways. His face is pressed into the soft fur of his giant sleepy bear that he normally uses as a pillow, with his arm wrapped around his Captain America doll. The little bear’s fur is getting a bit matted, and he had to reattach both arms and an ear after bad nightmares caused him to forget his super strength. But he refuses to get a new one. This was the doll that made him trust Pepper and Tony. This was the doll that made him decide to stay.
He owes a lot to this teddy.
All in all, it’s a wonderful way to wake up in the morning.
That is, until he remembers who he has to meet today.
Peter figures it’s better to get it over with quickly than to let his worries fester and grow, so he rolls out of the comfort of his bed. He debates changing out of his pajamas, but if Harley’s going to be living with them, then he’ll have to get used to Peter’s hello kitty pants and one of Tony’s old MIT shirts that’s too big on him. He’s not intending to change his routines just because there’s someone new here.
He’s not sure he’d be able to handle that right now.
“Smells good,” Peter walks into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Tony’s sitting at the counter, staring into a cup of coffee with no awareness of his surroundings at all. Must have been another all-nighter. Pepper’s sipping her coffee and flicking through her Stark Tablet, while a plate of waffles sits in front of her.
And sitting to her left, must be Harley. He’s…
Cute. That’s the first thing Peter thinks, which is a better start than instant hatred, really. Harley’s got floppy blonde hair that’s knotted from sleep, and these beautiful blue eyes that latch onto Peter when he speaks. Harley’s shoulders immediately tense up, but from the wince he tries to hide, that doesn’t feel good.
Peter scans over his injuries, though he’s not sure whether it’s out of concern or because he’s judging the threat level. Stuff like that still gets confusing for him. Harley’s got a mechanic’s broad, filled out shoulders and arms. He certainly looks like he’s strong for a normal seventeen-year-old. But he is injured, with a deep bruise over his cheekbone, a black eye, a broken nose, and bandaged knuckles. From how he holds himself, Peter bets there are a few broken ribs, and there’s the scent of blood still sticking to him. Probably got stabbed. Lower left abdomen, he can smell the metal of stitches from that area.
Tony and the others hide their injuries so much he’s gotten good at finding hidden wounds. He was good at it before, yes, but it’s only gotten more practice. If he finds Steve hiding one more goddamn concussion, or Clint lying about a broken ankle again, he’s going to lose it.
“Good morning. I’m Peter,” Peter steps up to Harley, holding his hand out. Harley frowns, hesitantly reaching out to shake it.
“Harley.”
“I know.” He smiles. “Are there still waffles?”
“The blue covered plate on the stove. Steve dropped them off,” Pepper looks up. “Morning sweetie.”
“Morning mom.” Peter grabs the blue plate, still full of waffles. Steve definitely gave them an extra plate just for Peter. He eats a lot. Metabolism and all. “Have you slept at all, dad?”
“Hmm?” Tony shakes awake. “Oh, hey Pete. When did you get out here?”
“Jarvis, don’t let Tony into the lab unless he takes a two-hour long nap at a minimum.” Pepper sips her coffee, not looking up from her tablet.
“WHAT? Pep! Jarvis, override that!”
“I am sorry sure, but health directives from Mrs. Pepper cannot be overridden. I’m afraid you’ll just have to sleep, sir.” Jarvis sighs, sarcasm palpable.
“Pepper….” Tony whines. “Peter tell her to change it!”
“I’m staying out of this.”
“Smart.” Pepper stands up, kissing his forehead. “I’ve got to go to the office. Scott and Cassie are coming over for a playdate with Morgan at eleven, so can you make sure she’s ready Pete?”
“Yep. Have a good day!” Pepper waves as she leaves.
Harley still has not said anything besides his name. He’s just watching the interactions, a heavy tiredness weighing on his shoulders and a wariness to his eyes. Even when Morgan comes in, asking both Peter and Harley to watch cartoons, he doesn’t say anything. He just lets her take his hand and lead him to the couch.
It’s not right.
“Hey Morgs, why don’t you watch your cartoons with dad this morning? I want to show Harley all the cool stuff in the labs,” Peter gives Harley what he hopes is an encouraging smile. “See if you can get daddy to take a nap, please?”
“Puppy dog eyes?” She blinks her eyes all big, making her trademark pout.
“Puppy dog eyes for sure. I’ll come back up in a little bit to get you ready for your playdate, alright?”
“Mkay!”
“Dad, Harley and I are going to the labs!” Peter calls over his shoulder as he leads Harley to the elevators. He hears a lot of grumbling from behind him, but he just ignores it.
There’s an awkward silence in the elevator, neither of the two knowing how to talk to each other yet. But Peter hates awkward silences, so he fills it with awkward talking.
“
Sorry if you don’t actually want to see the labs, but Tony said you’re a really great mechanic and you looked really uncomfortable with watching cartoons. You don’t have to stay down here, you can just go back to your room, sorry, I should have asked, I just didn’t know how without bothering Morgan and -”
“It’s fine. Just show me the labs.” Harley snaps.
“Sure…” The doors open, and Peter takes Harley to their personal labs. “Tony will give you access to this floor if you don’t already have it. You probably do. That’s my workspace over there, please don’t touch anything on it, I don’t like people touching my stuff. If you need the chemicals they’re in the gray cabinet there. That’s Tony’s space, it’s a disaster I know, but he won’t mind you taking some of his tools. The Iron Man suits are behind those doors, we keep them closed away so they don’t get damaged the next time Tony loses control of another laser.” Peter gestures around the room as he shows Harley where various things are.
“Do I have a place to work?”
“Oh, yea! Here, we just use this table to heap junk on, so you can set up here! There are also a few other rooms for working with, like, the saws or forges, and one’s got special ventilation for when I have to mix dangerous stuff. I think we have a whole extra lab space that was going to be mine but I prefer working with Tony around. You can use it if you want to be separate from us, I get if you do, but don’t worry Tony turns down his music when I’m here, he knows I’m bad with loud noises and his building is loud enough as is.”
“Do you ever stop talking?” Harley groans.
“Sorry,” Peter deflates a bit. “I was just kind of excited, I guess. I’m still nervous about you being here, but at least I get a new lab partner, right?”
“Don’t worry, I don’t want to be here either. Thanks for the tour, but I’m just going to go back to my room.” Harley barely spares him a look before heading back the way they came.
He doesn’t leave his room much for the rest of the summer. Won’t even join Avengers dinners or team bonding nights, no matter how much they ask him.
Peter tries not to feel like it was his fault.