Chapter 5
On the first day of school, everyone swarmed Peter demanding to know about Tony Stark, whether they could get an internship, did he know the Avengers, all these questions that nearly made him break down before he could even get to his first class. He wound up hiding in the special education room for the first two periods before he could brave leaving again, and he only managed to do it then because he had both Ned and MJ in that class and May told him he could come back whenever he needed.
At lunch, he got mobbed again, but MJ yelled at them all to go away.
After then, things were fine. People gave him all sorts of awed looks, and sure he still got questions, but it just generally died down over the course of the next week. People realized he was still the nerdy, weird Peter Parker they ignored for the past three years. They moved on to the second biggest news of the semester.
The new kid.
They didn’t mob Harley like they had Peter though. Flash had gone up to him the first day, thinking he found another tough, bully alpha to add to his posse. Peter’s not sure where he got that from, really. Sure Harley’s worn leather jacket, combat boots, ripped jeans, and deep scowl marked him as someone you probably shouldn’t annoy. But he was just trying to blend into the back of the room, not make a scene. Flash tried to goad him into mocking Peter for… he’s not even sure honestly.
He was a bit distracted by Harley slamming Flash’s face into the desk and growling out “leave him alone. And don’t talk to me again.” Thankfully the teacher wasn’t there and Flash didn’t tattle on Harley, or else Peter was worried he’d get detention on his first day.
For the next three weeks of school… nothing else happened. The omega girls would fawn over Harley, all of them digging the silent bad boy type. Harley never talked to anyone, not even at home, his isolation in his room continuing. He ate lunch in the metalworking shop, never joined clubs or study groups, and just… didn’t talk to anyone.
It was worrying Tony and Pepper to no end. It was worrying Peter too really. He didn’t want Harley to feel so alone here. Sure, he could guess why Harley was isolating, he probably was finding it hard to trust anyone again, especially peers, but he didn’t think that was a good enough reason. Worry over Harley had Tony getting nightmares and pulling his old 72 hours awake sessions again.
Something had to change.
“Hey guys, I’m going to eat with Harley today,” Peter announces to his friends during third period.
“He’s made it pretty clear he doesn’t want to talk with us, Peter.” Ned frowns.
“I didn’t say I was inviting him to eat with us. I’m joining him in the metal shop.”
“Did he agree to this?” MJ glances up from her sketchpad.
“I’m not giving him a choice.”
“Good.”
With MJ and Ned’s approval, he skips the cafeteria and heads down to the metal shop a few periods later. Harley’s backpack and lunch are abandoned on one of the tables, sandwich untouched in his lunch sack. Harley himself is listening to music over headphones as he works in the back with a welding iron, one of the old, slightly rusted ones the school has. Tony has better ones, Peter knows, but Harley’s still working here, rather than at the lab.
“You know, Tony’s got better equipment,” Peter says once the fire is off. Harley jumps, slamming up his face mask and pushing off his headphones to glare at Peter.
“I’m aware.”
“So why are you working here?”
“Why do you care? Why are you here - get out!” Harley cries.
“Nope! What are you working on that you can’t work on at home?” Peter opens his lunch, munching on his sandwich…es. Sandwiches, plural. They ran out of protein bars so he’s stuck shoving down three sandwiches for lunch to keep up his energy. It’s annoying. He’s getting so sick of turkey.
“It’s none of your business Parker!”
“I’m making it my business.”
“That’s not how it works!”
“Is now.” He’s been trained in the arts of annoying by a five-year-old. He’s gotten quite good at it.
“No! Get the hell out, Parker, seriously! Can’t you tell when a guy wants to be alone?” Harley stomps over to where Peter’s eating. He hops off the stool, rushing forward, under Harley’s arm, to get up close to whatever he was welding.
“It’s a… an Iron Man chest plate.” Peter frowns. He’d recognize the design anywhere. Different mach, closer to the first one than any of the actually good suits Tony’s got now. Probably the best Harley could do with the materials around here. It’s not even the right alloy.
“If you wear this you’re going to ice over, you know.” Peter frowns. “Also, I can think of at least ten different ways this could be better just now. Make it eleven…. Twelve…”
“Okay, okay, I got it alright! Listen, just go away, please,” Harley’s all but begging, but Peter doesn’t listen. Instead, he flips over the plate, getting closer to see the port for the arc reactor. The wiring isn’t in yet, just the framework right now, but he can already see problems with it.
“The port’s dented, you’re going to get sparks that could fry the suit. Or you.”
“Damn it I know! Get away!” Harley grabs his shoulder, yanking him away. “It’s still hot, you’re going to get hurt.”
“Hmm?” Peter glances down at his hands, which, yep, are blistered from the still cooling metal. “Oh, yea. It’s fine.”
“That’s not fine, you need to go to the nurse! Jesus fuck, Tony’s going to kill me,” Harley presses his hands to his face, the muffled sob clear, even if Peter didn’t have heightened hearing.
“Why are you building an Iron Man suit?” Peter asks.
“It’s stupid.” Harley mumbles.
“No, stupid is Bucky in Steve’s showgirl thing because he lost a bet with Sam. Building an Iron Man suit isn’t stupid. Although... trying to build it in here instead of the multimillion-dollar lab you have complete access to is stupid though...”
“Did he really wear it? Tights and all?” Harley snorts, moving his hands slightly. Peter can still see the tears on his cheeks.
“I’ll show you the video if you tell me why you’re making a suit.” Peter grins.
“Fine…” Harley sighs, turning around to sit by his lunch. Peter follows, digging into his second sandwich. “I… I assume Tony told you why I came here?”
“Yep. Your town sounds awful, and not just because of cow shit.” Peter frowns. “Though cow shit is pretty bad.”
Harley snorts. “It’s not bad once you get used to it… but… I guess…” He lets out a frustrated sigh. “I just want a way to be able to protect myself! In case it… if it happens again. You know? I don’t want to feel that fucking defenseless again. I cant.” Harley’s voice cracks at the end. He won’t look at Peter.
“Makes sense. Though I would suggest something smaller than a full suit then, so you can carry it with you all the time. Gauntlet watch maybe? Or nanobots. A clunky suit like that’s not going to be enough if you get jumped again. It's not fast enough.”
“I know.” Harley groans, rubbing his temples. “I just didn’t… I don’t want Tony knowin’, okay? He’s going to get all concerned and mother hen me and I don’t want that. I’ve got that enough with mama calling me every day and textin’ every hour, and he’s bad enough thinking I don’t have friends right now.”
“Do you have friends?” Peter raises an eyebrow in challenge.
“Well….”
“Didn’t think so.”
“Fuck you, Parker.” Harley scowls. It’s not as mean as his normal one is.
“How about tomorrow you come join MJ, Ned, and I for lunch then? Get Tony off your ass a little. They’re chill, and no one will bother you if you’re with us. If you want we can sit with Mary in the special ed room if you really want to avoid the cafeteria.”
“You are a special ed kid then? I thought that was just a rumor Flash made up.”
“Is there a problem with that?” Peter narrows his eyes.
“Nah, just curious.” Harley shrugs. “Are you going to tell Tony?”
“I won’t tell him. If you promise to start working in the lab instead of here.”
“He won’t want me makin’ a suit.” Harley frowns. "I know, I asked him if I could. He says I'm not ready for one."
“But he doesn’t have to know, now does he?” Peter gets a devious grin. “There’s the extra lab we can work on it in. I can steal one of Tony’s old designs and we can build it to your specs. We can tell Tony you just want some privacy, he’ll just be happy you’re out of your room. And we can whip you up a gauntlet, keep you safe while the suit gets to you and all… But you have to let me help okay? The only person who knows the suits better than Tony is me.”
“Fine.” Harley gives in. “Can we use the Mach 42 design?”
“That’s not the newest.” Peter frowns. “Why that one?”
“Sentimental value, let’s say,” Harley smirks a little. Oh.
“You know I still don’t know how you met Tony. Any chance it has to do with Mach 42?” Peter asks.
“He broke into my garage wearing a poncho from a wooden Indian, I threatened him with a potato gun, and he tore up half my town when these glowing asshats attacked.”
“Oh so a normal Tuesday for him then.” Peter nods. Harley laughs. It’s a very nice sound. Peter decides he likes happy Harley a lot better than angry Harley.
“Somethin’ like that.” The bell rings for the next period class.
“See you after school?”
“Sure… Hey, Peter?” Peter pauses at the door to look back at Harley. “Thanks.”
“What are friends for?”
“Oh we’re friends now?”
“I’ll consider it.” Peter gives him a wink, before heading to class. He probably should get his fingers wrapped though. Holding a pencil is going to be annoying for the next hour, and Ms. Purl has such long lectures… Fine. Nurse it is.
And after school, the fun will begin.