Swimming/ Hurt/ Comfort
Harley couldn’t wait for summer break to come so he and Peter could stay at the lake house and spend more time together. It had already been decided that Peter would meet Harley, Pepper, Tony, and Morgan at the cabin as soon as the second week of summer began. Harley wanted him to come the first week but he understood that Peter wanted to spend some time relaxing and hanging out with his Aunt May.
Harley practically goes stir crazy while waiting for Peter to arrive at the cabin. He spends most of his time playing games with Morgan to keep himself distracted from how much he misses his boyfriend.
-
By the time that the second week of summer rolls everyone in the lake house is sick of hearing Harley complain about being bored and missing Peter. Everyone is pleased to hear the sound of a car pulling up outside because it means that Harley will stop moping around and complaining to anyone who will listen.
Harley bolts out the front door to go greet Peter while everyone else waits inside to let the boys have a moment alone together. Happy trudges inside with Peter’s suitcase and gives Tony an exasperated look.
“I might lose my mind if I hear one more story of how the kid misses Harley’s accent or Harley’s cuddles or Harley’s anything!” He grumbles. “I even rolled up the divider between us and he just kept knocking and asking when we’d be here because he didn’t know how much longer he could go without a hug from Harley!”
Tony just shakes his head fondly and peaks outside to see the boys clutching onto each other as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. “Trust me, Harley wasn’t any better. He kept flopping over on the couch melodramatically and acting as if he were dying from lack of seeing Peter.”
Morgan nods in affirmation and explains how Harley would complain that Peter wasn’t at Morgan’s tea party with him or that Peter wasn’t playing hide and go seek with them or swimming in the lake with them.
-
Harley pulls Peter into a tight embrace as soon as he makes it outside. Peter just laughs happily and scoops Harley up into a bear hug.
“I missed you...” Peter whines and then pouts childishly. Harley just rolls his eyes and kisses Peter softly before pulling away. Peter follows Harley as he pulls away and steals one more sweet kiss before allowing his boyfriend to truly pull back.
“Come on! Hurry up! Lets get your things put away so that we can catch up on cuddles, kisses, and hugs.” Harley says as he drags Peter into the house. He lets out an exasperated groan when Tony stops him from dragging Peter to his room.
“Harley I get that you’re happy to see Peter but at least give us the chance to say hi to him before you drag him off to do god knows what.” Tony rolls his eyes and gives Peter a little side hug but Peter pulls him back in for a real hug.
Peter drops down to one knee to hug Morgan as she comes running over to him. She giggles happily as Peter scoops her up and then sounds her around. “I missed you.” She grumbles and wraps her arms around his neck.
“I missed you too but don’t worry, I’ll be spending the next month here with you and Harley and Tony and Pepper.” He assures her and holds her close for another moment before setting her down and moving on to greet Pepper.
“Okay, you’ve had your chance to say hi. I’ll now be taking my boyfriend to get settled and then later on we’re gonna take a dip in the lake.” Harley huffs and resumes dragging Peter to his room.
-
Peter is nudged awake by Harley a few hours later. The pair had fallen asleep, cuddled close together on Peter’s bed. The smaller boy whines softly and tries to hide his face again Harley’s chest and go back to sleep but Harley has other plans for them. Harley nudges Peter again which results in the other rolling over to face away from Harley and try to curl up and go back to sleep again.
“Peter please, I just want to go swimming with you for a little bit. We can cuddle and nap again after but it is going to get dark in like two hours and you know Tony won’t let us swim out there unsupervised while it’s dark and I really don’t want him interrupting our time together.” Harley whines and nudges Peter over and over again until the other finally lets out a whiny grumble of agreement.
“Okay fine! Stop pushing me. I’m awake already.” Peter whines and slowly sits up against his headboard. He blearily rubs the sleep from his eyes and yawns, his adorableness has Harley’s heart clenching and he feels slightly guilty for making Peter get up. His guilt vanishes when Peter pulls off his t-shirt and Harley catches a glimpse of his abs. “Well, are you just gonna sit here after you made me get up or are you going to go get changed into your swim trunks?” Peter asks and throws his shirt at Harley’s face. He just laughs as Harley mutters something unintelligible before heading to his own room to get changed.
-
The teens meet each other out by the lake less than ten minutes later and Peter takes his turn staring at his boyfriend’s abs. “You’re looking good Keener. I can tell that you’ve kept up with the training schedule that Nat gave you.” Peter smiles and stands on his tip toes to give Harley a quick kiss before beginning to wade into the lake. He recoils at first but pushes himself to continue on a little further into the water.
“Is it honestly that cold?” Harley asks as he makes his way to the dock, preferring the just jump in method to the gradually getting used to the water method that Peter is using. He doesn’t wait for Peter’s reply, instead he jumps off the edge of the dock and swims over to meet his doe-eyed boyfriend. “Sweetheart come on in already, it’s not even that cold.” Harley laughs and gently takes Peter’s hands to lead him further out into the water.
Peter lets Harley lead him out into the deeper water toward the center of the lake and after a few more minutes of getting used to the water Peter finds the temperature bearable. He grins at Harley and takes off toward the far side of the lake, “Race ya there!” He yells over his shoulder and just laughs when he hears Harley’s complaints about cheating, head starts, and super strength making him have super speed while swimming.
Peter is making his way back across the lake before Harley can even make it to far end. He decides to try and catch Peter instead of making it to the end of the lake and turns back to swim after his boyfriend. Once he’s close enough to tackles Peter under the water with a playful shout.
-
Peter isn’t sure what happened, one moment he was racing Harley across the lake and the next he’s being plunged under the water. His mind hurls him into a memory and all he can think about his the parachute that is encasing him. His limbs are stuck and he can’t swim to the surface. He’s drowning, he’s going to drown all because the vulture dropped him into a lake and his parachute got stuck around him.
He struggles to free himself from the weight that is dragging him down and in a moment f panic he tries to scream and call out for help but ends up sucking in a lungful of water instead. It feels as though his lungs are burning, he desperately needs air but still can’t seem to free himself and kick to the surface. Finally someone has come to his rescue and he gets pulled up out of the water and he barely manages to register that it’s Harley carrying him out of the lake and not Tony this time.
-
Harley feels Peter struggle in his arms and he holds his boyfriend close to keep him from swimming to the other side of the lake and officially beating him in the race. It only takes him a moment longer that Peter isn’t kidding around and something is seriously wrong.
Peter is sinking down further into the lake and his movements are short as though he’s truly trapped by Harley’s arms which he knows is not really the case. Harley lets go for a moment hoping that Peter would swim up to the surface when he realized he was free. When Peter just continues to struggle under the water and even gulps down a lungful of water in his panic Harley knows that he needs to get his boyfriend out of the water.
He grabs Peter around the waist and kicks as hard as he can toward the more shallow area of the lake. Once he’s reached a place where he can stand up he scoops Peter up in his arms bridal style and races out of the water and toward the house. He screams for help before laying Peter down in the grass. He rolls his shivering boyfriend onto his side and is relieved when Peter easily coughs up the water he’d accidentally breathed in.
“I’m so sorry Peter. I promise you’re gonna be okay. You’re safe. You’re alright and you’re not wherever your mind took you. You’re at the lake house with me and Tony and Morgan and Pepper. You’re okay just please breathe for me baby.” Harley rambles and rubs his hand up and down Peter’s back.
Tony comes sprinting out of the house and Pepper follows shortly behind him, carrying two fluffy towels in her arms. Tony drops to his knees besides Peter and immediately cards his hands through his hair.
“Kid listen to me, you’re alright. You’re not back in that lake that the Vulture dropped you in. He’s still locked up kid. You’re safe. I promise you’re safe.” He coos and glances over to Harley. “You’re safe here with me and Harley who feels really guilty about whatever happened and I’m sure you’re gonna be mad at him for blaming himself.” Tony rambles.
Peter splutters and coughs but he is slowly coming back to reality. His eyes focus once again and he pushes himself up into a sitting position with a little help from Tony. He coughs a few more times and gratefully accepts the fluffy towel that Pepper wraps around his shoulders.
Harley opens his mouth to begin apologizing but Peter cuts him off with a sharp look. “Don’t you dare say you’re sorry. I should have warned you that I still haven’t recovered completely from what happened with the vulture. So uh, for future reference, getting submerged in water without warning really freaks me out and so do small enclosed spaces.” Peter rambles, his voice is a little rough from all the coughing he’s done in the past few minutes.
Harley just pulls Peter into a tight hug and is quickly joined by Tony and Pepper. “I’m still sorry for that. I was dumb for doing that. I assumed I couldn’t possibly hurt you because of your powers but I was wrong. Now lets get back inside I think promises you more cuddles and another nap.” Harley says and helps his boyfriend to his feet once their group hug ends.