Prom/ Jealousy
Harley isn’t sure why he agreed to go to Midtown’s prom. Looking back on the situation it should have been obvious to him that he’d end up feeling excluded at some point during the dance because no matter how hard his friends tired, it wouldn’t change the fact that Harley doesn’t know anyone at Midtown well enough for them to want to dance with him.
In the time that Harley has been in New York he has managed to worm his way into Peter Parker’s inner circle of friends. Harley finds himself considering Ned and Mj his close friends even if he hasn’t known them for more than a few months.
When he walked in on his three friends talking about their upcoming prom, Harley admitted to them that he had never gone to his school’s prom and missed his chance as he had graduated the previous year. He wasn’t expecting his friends to get so upset that he hadn’t been to something as trivial as a dance and he certainly wasn’t expecting the three of them to immediately decide that he should attend their prom.
Despite Harley’s protests, Peter, Ned, and Mj managed to get Harley a guest pass to the prom as well as a nice suit to wear to the occasion. Which is exactly how Harley ended up in the situation he is in now, awkwardly leaning up against the wall of some fancy hotel ballroom while couples around him dance to the rhythm of some song that was likely more inappropriate then school officials realized.
Harley sighs softly and takes a sip of the glass of the same horrible punch that he’s been drinking for nearly an hour now. He glances around the crowded room for a moment before he spots Ned who is dancing with a blonde girl named Betty who he’d apparently dated during his class’ summer trip. His eyes scan the room once again before coming to stop on Peter who is smiling brilliantly at Mj as they dance together.
Harley’s heart clenches in his chest and for a moment he thinks he may be panicking because of how out of place he feels in such a crowded and upscale environment. It takes him another moment to realize that he may be jealous that he isn’t the one dancing with Peter. He shakes his head to try and rid the though from his mind and turns around to refill his cup with the awful punch, just missing the moment that Peter sends a wistful look his way.
-
“Peter you’ll step on my feet if you keep staring at Harley like that.” Mj states blatantly, breaking Peter out of whatever spiral of wishful thinking that he’d fallen into.
His cheeks flush a soft pink for a moment which is luckily hidden by the soft but romantic lighting in the ballroom. He takes a deep breath and returns his gaze to Mj while he tries his best to think of any response that would make the situation less awakened.
“I wasn’t staring at him, I was just checking on him. He doesn’t really look like he’s having very much fun.” Peter says and he can tell by the little quirk in Mj’s eyebrows that she can tell why he’s so worried about Harley.
“Well of course he’s not having that much fun. He doesn’t know anyone from Midtown besides me, you, and Ned and we all kinda ditched him to dance. So now he’s left all alone at an event that’s way out of his usual comfort zone and the cute guy that he keeps staring at hasn’t even asked him to dance yet!” Mj quips but Peter’s mind zeros in on a certain part of her little rant.
“Cute guy? What cute guy? Is it Brad again?” Peter asks and looks around to make sure that Brad isn’t anywhere near Harley.
Mj shorts out a laugh and shakes her head, “Wow you got jealous really fast. I was taking about you, you doofus. Now either get over there and dance with Harley or I’ll go find Brad and introduce the two of them just so that I can draw the look of misery on your face.”
Peter shakes his head vehemently and takes a step back from Mj, “I’m going, alright. Don’t you dare get Brad.” He says with his best attempt at a glare before hurrying over to Harley’s side.
Mj doesn’t mind in the least that she doesn’t have anyone to dance with because watching the two dorks who have been pining for way too long finally get together is so worth it. She watches for a moment longer to make sure that Harley agrees to dance with Peter and doesn’t need to threatened into it before turning away to give her friends a bit of privacy and to find someone who was stood up by their date so she can add another look of misery to her sketchbook.