Chapter 2
“Parker!” A voice called from behind. Peter rolled his eyes and slammed his locker. He was having such a good day. How could Flash always seem to sense that? He began walking to class a bit faster than usual.
“Parker!” The voice called again. It didn’t sound like Flash… Peter turned around and scanned the busy hallway. And that’s when he spotted Harley.
“Keener?” Peter called back.
“Dude! Tony got me into school!”
“That’s awesome!” Peter meant it. “You still at the tower?”
“Yea Tony won’t let me find a place,” They hadn’t seen each other in about a month. Peter went camping with Ned for the last bit of summer. And yea Peter felt bad about leaving his Spider-manning behind for a whole month. But, he needed the time off. After all the shit at the beginning of the summer, he felt he deserved it.
“What classes you got?” Peter thought it best to change the subject.
“Uhh, chem, Spanish, algebra, and history.” He said. “You?”
“We’ll have history together.”
Harley smiled. Peter was glad to have a class with him. He missed him over that month of camping.
“Hey, Penis Parker!” Flash called from the end of the hall. Harley’s smile faded.
“You know this guy?”
“Yea he’s… Don’t worry about him. He’s just this guy that likes to annoy me. It’s nothing.”
“Yo! Is that your boyfriend?” Flash asked as they approached.
“Hey, Flash… How was your summer?” Peter asked.
“Wait, your name is Flash?” Harley laughed. “So like on your birth certificate it says Flash?”
Peter shot him a ‘What The Fuck Are You Doing’ look. But, he continued.
“Dude I don’t know if I want it to be a nickname or not. Cuz it’s so dumb.”
Flash looked shocked. Obviously, no one had ever thought to point out how apparently stupid his name was.
“Obviously your family doesn’t love you if they gave you some shit name like Flash!”
Flash snapped. He ran into Harley knocking them both to the ground. Flash was on top of Harley and started punching him repeatedly.
Peter had no idea what to do. Flash was never violent before. He was just a bit of a dick. But never violent. Peter snapped out of his thoughts and pulled Flash off. Harley was laying on the ground. It looked like Flash only got one good hit in. Peter relaxed a bit as he held Flash’s arms. He was fighting against Peter trying to get back to punching Harley.
At this point, a large crowd had gathered. Because that’s just what high school kids did when a fight broke out.
Flash managed to slip from Peter’s grip just as Harley got back to his feet. Flash pushed Peter away and sent him crashing into the lockers. Flash tackled Harley and they both landed on the floor hard. This time, Harley fought back. Flash didn’t stand a chance. Harley got in one solid punch before Peter pulled him off. But, that’s all Mr. Morita needed to see before breaking through the crowd. The crowd dispersed when they saw him.
“You three, in my office now.”
Harley shook off Peter’s grip. They all followed the principle to the office. Peter had no clue why he was sent to the office. He had been breaking up the fight.
They sat in the office for a few minutes before Mr. Morita called in Harley. Peter glanced at Flash. His eye was swollen. He was holding an ice pack from the nurse against it. He looked miserable. Peter couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Even if he was kinda a dick. He didn’t deserve to get his ass kicked.
After about ten minutes Harley was let out and Peter was called in. He sat down in the metal chair and Mr. Morita instantly started talking.
“Mr. Parker…” He paused seemingly for dramatic effect. “You’re not the type to get into fights. What’s happening?”
“I wasn’t fighting… I was trying to break them up.”
“Mr. Keener said the same thing. Do you know what caused the fight?”
Peter hesitated. He didn’t want to get Harley in trouble on the first day. “Flash was saying some stuff and I guess he pissed Harley off… So, they started fighting.”
“What did Flash say?”
Again Peter hesitated. “Uh, he asked if Harley and I were dating.”
“And this caused Harley to start the fight?”
“No, Flash started it. Cuz Harley started making fun of his name.”
Mr. Morita nodded. He seemed to be in thought.
“Now, it says here that Mr. Keeners’s emergency contact is Tony Stark. Do you know who his real emergency contact is?”
“Uh, no... Harley lives with Mr. Stark.”
He didn't believe him for a second. “I know this is Mr. Keener’s first day at a new school. And I know how hard it is to transfer in senior year… Do you think you could keep an eye on him? Keep him in check?”
“Yea of course,” Peter said feeling a bit guilty.
“Alright… Get outta here. Don’t wanna miss homeroom.”
Peter left his office and sat beside Harley.
“He’s calling Mr. Stark,” Peter whispered.
“Yea I know…”
“Don’t tell him what happened.”
“Why?”
“Just please don’t. Promise?”
“Fine…”
“Mr. Parker?” Mr. Morita called from his office. “Do you want to miss homeroom?”
“Sorry,” Peter said rushing to class.
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“He did what?” Tony was shocked. Harley started a fight on the first day…
“All right, I’ll come get him,” He hung up the phone and wiped his hands over his face. God… This kid will be the death of him. He shoved his phone in his pocket and hopped in the car. He drove in silence all the way to the school.
When he walked in, Harley was sitting with his hand resting in his hand. He looked miserable. Tony chose to ignore that.
“Hi,” He said to the very surprised office lady. “I’m here to pick up Harley Keener.”
“Of course sir,” She said giving him the suspension slip. Tony turned and left the office. Harley followed. They walked to the parking lot and climbed into the Audi.
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“You wanna talk about why you got suspended on the first day?” Tony began as they pulled out of the parking lot. “No, wait. Scratch that. Before class even started.”
Harley rolled his eyes. “He started the fight…”
“Who?”
“Flash!” He could tell by Tony’s expression that he had heard that name before.
“And how did he start it?”
Harley hesitated. Parker didn’t want him to talk about it to Tony. “He was talking shit… So, I started talking shit back. And he just attacked me.”
Tony shook his head. “Can you ever learn to shut up? You’re just like Peter.”
That confused Harley. Peter was so quiet the whole interaction with Flash. “He broke it up.”
Tony scoffed. “Yea of course he did.”
That confused Harley even more. Scrawny Peter Parker went around school breaking up fights? The thought made him laugh.
“What were you thinking?” Tony asked.
“I’m not just gonna sit there and take that shit! You’re the one who taught me to fight off assholes.”
“Not on the first day of school…”
“This is bullshit! I was doing it for Peter.”
“What?”
Oh shit… He didn’t mean to say that. Shit. Peter was going to kill him.
“Whatever, forget it.”
“No no no, what do you mean you were doing it for him?”
Harley sighed. “This guy’s been bugging Parker… I couldn’t just stand there and watch.”
“What do you mean bugging?” Tony looked confused.
“He… He was just being a dick.”
Tony rolled his eyes. But, he didn’t press it any further. Thank god…
They rode in silence for the rest of the trip. Harley couldn’t help but feel like shit. And his face kinda hurt.
When they finally arrived at the tower, it felt like a two-hour ride. Harley slipped out of the car and retreated to his room. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. This whole thing was bullshit. He plopped into bed and stared at the ceiling. His room was still pretty empty despite the fact he had lived there for two months. He had brought a garbage bag of clothes, his laptop, and all the tech stuff Tony gave him when he was 11. He had a new poster on his wall of Iron Man that Tony so graciously gifted to him to lighten up the room. He tried not to look at it. It made him feel weird. He couldn’t really tell why.
Of course Tony had grounded Harley. But, where would he go? It’s not like he had friends to go out with anyway. So, he just sat in bed and watched Netflix. A few hours later, there was a knock on the door. He ignored it thinking it was Tony. He really didn’t want to talk to him.
“Dude, It’s me,” Peter said from behind the door.
“Fine,” Harley said from his bed.
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Peter opened the door and slowly walked in. Harley was watching The Office. Peter leaned against the door unsure if he was welcome.
“So, Tony knows…” Peter began.
“I know… It kinda slipped out.”
“It’s ok.”
“No, it’s not! Who even are you? You can break up fights? You can break through duct tape? You can backflip over a chair? You know everything about me but I don’t know shit about you!”
“Harley-”
“If you’re not gonna tell me what the fuck is going on, then please leave me alone,” he finally turned to the door. His face was bruised from where Flash hit him. It didn’t look too bad. But, it probably hurt.
Peter hesitated. He couldn’t tell him yet. Harley wouldn’t tell anyone of course. But, it wasn’t the right time.
“I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know. What am supposed to say?”
“I don’t know! You know what? I don’t even care anymore.”
Peter sighed. Harley turned back to the tv. So, Peter did what Harley so obviously wanted him to do. He left.
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‘What a dick.’ Harley thought as the door shut. This whole thing was bullshit. Why did he even bother to go to school if he would just get suspended on the first day? He turned the tv off and began packing. He would rather be in Tennessee than in this shit hole. He got his garbage bag of clothes and his backpack and headed for the car.
He was in the elevator when it stopped. The doors opened and in walked Peter. They exchanged confused looks before Peter stepped in. The doors closed and they began their long descent. Harley leaned against the wall.
“Where you going?” Peter asked after an uncomfortably long pause.
“I’m leaving.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going back to Tenessee.”
“Uhh… Are you sure you want to?”
“What are you gonna do? Stop me? Tell Tony?”
“No… But, I don’t think you should go back. You can’t quit just because you got in one fight.”
“Who cares?”
“Me…”
There was a loaded pause. Harley soaked it in. Peter cares about him… That’s a first. He leaned his head against the wall. Shit… Someone cared about him. He slid his back down the wall to the floor. He sighed and buried his face in his hands. What the hell was he doing?
“I can’t leave…” He said.
“Thank god. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to drive all the way to Tenessee with you.”
“You would’ve gotten in the car?”
“Obviously. You can’t drive 15 hours on your own when you don’t even know where you’re going.”
Harley smiled. Maybe Peter really did care about him.
“You’re full of shit Parker. You couldn’t stand five minutes in a car with me.”
“You wanna bet? We could test that right now. You could drive me home.”
“You’re on.” The doors dinged and they both stepped into the car.
Peter was right. He could stand more than five minutes in his car. They liked all the same music, they talked about science and all that nerdy shit. It was his first time having this kind of moment with Peter. When they weren’t talking about school, or Tony, or duct-taped to chairs. It made him feel better about the whole situation. He had to stay in New York. How else would he talk to Peter?