Chapter 8
All Harley and Peter wanted was a quiet first date.
The Owl Man clearly had other plans.
Peter actually flinched at the sheer volume of one woman’s screech as the 7ft man covered head to toe in feathers walked into the centre of the room and stopped to scan the restaurant clearly looking for someone.
Wide eyed Peter lightly kicked Harley under the table getting his attention making the southern boy quickly focussed his attention back on Peter who was pointedly fiddling with his watch hoping that Harley would understand.
Thank the holy baby Jesus himself that he understood, and he lifted his jacket sleeve quietly showing Peter his own watch that held his Iron Lad armour.
Shit was gonna go down very soon and while Harley had armour he had never actually been in the field.
It was at that very moment that Peter realised he would lay his own life down to protect the boy in front of him. That sudden recognition was even more terrifying to Peter than off-brand Big Bird’s machete over there who he had already had the pleasure of meeting too personally for his liking.
Running on pure adrenaline Peter made the decision to throw his fork towards the emptier opposite side of the restaurant away from the people in hopes to distract Owl Boy.
His plan worked and the Owl once again made a disturbing attempt to twist his head 180 in the direction that the fork had made a loud clattering noise in the silent restaurant.
Oh to see without eyes.
This bought Peter a few seconds to drag Harley full speed to the close by kitchen doors and slam them shut.
Thankfully the two boys were on the same page and as soon as they entered the (praise Jesus) empty kitchen they each tapped combinations into their watches releasing their nanotech suits which formed around them. The kitchen employees must have left through the back exit after seeing steroid induced Hedwig.
“You sure you’re ready to do this Harls?” Peter asked from behind his mask.
“Don’t worry about me, Baby. This is what I’ve been training for, right?” Harley replied easily with an air of confidence.
Peter could feel his cheeks burning at the fact that even in a life threatening situation he still continued to flirt with him.
Side note: Peter decided he would be beyond pissed off if one of them died today because he needed to kiss the boy next to him properly.
Suddenly his Spidey sense sent a shiver down his spine and his ears began to ring as his brain warned him to MOVE.
Peter shoved Harley out of the way as he gold medal limboed beneath a machete missile that had been launched with such force it went through the metal kitchen door.
“Fucking hell that was close!” Harley shouted pushing himself off the counter.
“Okay… so I may have underestimated Tweety’s strength slightly. He was nowhere near that strong yesterday”
“Hold on. Back up. You know this asshole?”
Peter rubbed the back of his neck and looked between Harley and the holes in the door where more machetes were rapidly flying through one after the other.
“He may have stabbed me a little yesterday”
“You fuckin’ what darlin? How do you get stabbed a little?! You are either stabbed or you’re not stabbed, there’s no in between!”
If they hadn’t been in such a dangerous situation Harley would have been angrier that the one he loved had been recently stabbed, but considering Peter’s powers he knew that his advanced healing would have most probably healed the wound by now. Unless he’d done something to open said wound (like bumping into walls/doors /hard surfaces that morning for fucks sake Peter).
“I’m fine Harls! All healed, all good!” Peter exclaimed, he even slapped his arm where he’d been previously stabbed for good measure.
Harley caught the suppressed grunt at the action.
“Mmhmm,” Peter imagined him raising his eyebrows beneath his own mask, “Friday, can you please ask Karen how pretty boy’s wound his doing?”
“Karen says it’s almost healed but its not quite there yet” Friday answered.
Betrayal at its finest.
“Okay we don’t have time for this!” Peter yelled waving his arms, “Lets sort this mess out and you can yell at me for being an idiot later”
Harley hesitated clearly not finished scolding Peter for hiding his injuries, yet again, but he quickly agreed that the owl had to be dealt with first.
“Right on three you set off some blasts and we tag team him before he can react, got it?” Peter explained while doing some lunges in preparation for his sprint attack.
Harley nodded and Peter counted down “Three, Two, One, NOW!”
Shit’s going down.
Numerous repulsor blasts were fired and Peter sprang into action using big bird’s stunned reaction against him.
All of the customers had taken it upon themselves to duck and cover under the tables and out of the way of the line of fire from both parties.
Taking a deep breath Harley followed after Peter and began firing away and throwing punches in the direction of Owl Boy in a desperate attempt to subdue him and stop his rampage.
Grabbing a chair Peter wham bammed him in the back of his knees sending him rather quickly to the floor and Harley took the opportunity to blast him in the face.
“Take THAT Mother Fucker”
Owl Boy recovered fast and got back to his feet whilst Iron Lad did the Renegade mid-battle.
Peter being Peter, he was distracted by Harley and cheered him on joining in from the ceiling.
“ENOUGH. I CAME HERE TO FIGHT NOT DANCE”
“If you say so, sir” Peter replied, and with that he webbed up a table and big daddy splash downed it onto the now very angry Bird Boy.
“Hit it out of the park!” Harley called.
“I don’t dance”
“I know you can”
“Not a chance”
“oOoOh wOaHh”
Owl Man suddenly snapped, bro had had enough of all the dancing around and singing so he whipped out another machete lunging forward and stabbing Peter in the exact same place he’d stabbed him the previous night.
“… aRE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? COME ON MAN. SAME PLACE REALLY?”
Now Harley was pissed.
“Shouldn’t have done that, Bitch”
Just as bird man looked up Harley throat punched with a chair he’d Frisbee tossed.
Nothing but hoarse coughing and what must have been an attempt at shouting came from him.
This allowed Peter the opportunity to jump down from where he had exorcist crawled onto the ceiling directly above angry bird and yelled “BOMBS AWAY CHIEF”
Peter landed on his shoulders where he was able to reach for the clasp on the back of his huge mask/helmet thing removing it entirely.
Harley sent a metal fist his way and knocked him unconscious.
“Hell yeah go us!” Peter cheered going in for a high five and then remembering he’d been stabbed again less than two minutes ago.
“We should probs get that checked out back at the tower” Harley cringed worriedly as he noticed the blood covering Peter’s arm.
“Oh yeah for sure, this cannot be good lol” Peter laughed still high on adrenaline.
The two boys then tied up the Owl Man and the customers all got out from their hiding spots. Many of them came up to the two heroes thanking them, one woman tried to give them money for saving all of their lives but they quickly declined, so instead she insisted that she buy them some food as she assumed their meals had been ruined.
After the authorities had been alerted Spider-Man and Iron Lad hung around to ensure that Feather’s didn’t wake up and as soon as they arrived they made a hasty exit through the back, both not wanting to talk to the police and leaving that to the witnesses.
After changing back into their normal clothing Peter and Harley decided it was best to walk back to the tower and call it a night.
Taking a bite out of his cookie that the woman had bought him Peter looked up at Harley who had his arm around him protectively as if he knew Peter would somehow find a way to make his fresh wound even worse.
“I like you, Harley” Peter said sincerely, “I like you a lot”
Harley stopped walking bringing them to a halt next to a window which reflected the sun’s golden hour onto the two of them.
He placed his hands on Peter’s face and stroked his thumb over his lips.
“I like you too, Peter” Harley smiled, “a lot…”
Neither of them realised how close they were until they felt the other’s breath ghosting their lips.
“Good” Peter whispered closing the gap.
There was little battle for dominance as Harley instantly took control of the kiss deepening it until they were both panting for air.
“Darlin’ would you do me the honour of becoming my boyfriend?”
“Only if you become mine first”
The two boy grinned and went in for another kiss before Harley suggested they continued back to the tower so Peter could finally get to the med bay.