Why can they do telepathy
Ned, MJ, Peter and Harley were all sitting in the library working on their physics assignment. They had fallen into a comfortable silence, occasionally asking a question or checking that they were doing the right thing. They were more than halfway done, and Harley was getting antsy at sitting down for too long. He began drumming his fingers on the table, swinging his feet to the beat in his head. You’d think it’d be Peter to get unsettled and not be able to focus for long, with his enhanced senses to distract him and fast metabolism that gives him far too much energy, but actually, he had practiced finely controlling his senses and was quite used to them by now, which made him slightly more able to tune out the world around him for a while and focus on whatever task he was doing. It was definitely not the same story a year ago. Harley today reminds MJ of Peter when he first got his powers, only, without the flinching at quiet noises as if someone had just screamed in his ear.
But, even so, it didn’t take that much to distract Peter, especially since he couldn’t ever really, truly tune Harley out, so he noticed when the other boy stopped working and began fiddling.
They made eye contact over the table and Harley picked up his drink, slurping loudly and obnoxiously without end until MJ sighed and looked up. “Please stop. Go outside if you need a break,” she said sternly but she took in the way that neither boy broke their gaze to look at her while she spoke. You didn’t need to be observant to know they were having a silent conversation. After she spoke, Harley stopped slurping at least, and she was about to thank him but the second he stopped, both boys turned to her with scary synchronisation and Peter began slurping loudly instead. Slurrrrpppp.
Before she could start threatening them and/or hurting them Ned groaned. “When did Harley turn Peter into such a troublemaker?”
At this, Michelle smirked. “You mean a little shit? No, he’s always been one, that’s for sure, Harley just brings it out in him. You’re the more sensible friend Ned. I miss the days he only hung out with you.”
Harley pouted at her. “You wish you never met me?”
She rolled her eyes at him as an answer, standing up and walking away without a goodbye, muttering under her breath so quietly that even Peter could only pick out a few words like “idiots” and “dumb” and “friends” said spitefully, even though she clearly wasn’t actually angry.
“So have you two worked out how to telepathically communicate or something? To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Ned started, folding his arms over the desk.
“Huh?” Peter grunted.
“You’re scarily in sync. You both somehow knew exactly what the other would do and turned to MJ at the exact same time. But neither of you said a word...”
“Spiderbaby just gets me, dude. Although, now that you mention it-“
“Telepathic communication technology! We have to try it in Tony’s lab!”
“Yes! And then we will literally be unstoppable!”
Ned groaned again. “Well I think that’s my cue to leave.”
“You don’t have to go, Ned, we-“ Peter began, but he was cut off when Ned waved his hand in a ‘eh’ gesture. “Nah it’s cool. I’m not just leaving you two to be chaotic, I’m actually meeting Betty after this, so...”
“Oooh tell yo girl we said hi! And don’t have too much fun, Naughty Nedward!”
Ned blushed a little before shaking his head at the boy wiggling his eyebrows, “Right back at ya, Harley. Bye, Pete.”
Then he walked away, leaving Harley a little confused, but he dismissed it to start planning the newest technology advancement with Peter. “C’mon darlin’, let’s go invent telepathy and freak out the avengers.”
⎊
Turns out, it’s pretty hard to make a telepathy communication device in one afternoon in a lab (they worked out some theories and drafts but it would take a while to get a working prototype) so they settled for the next best thing. Their freaky friendship connection. Oh, and also morse code combined with Peter’s superhearing helped a little.
The next time they emerged to talk to the team, they encountered Sam, Wanda and Bucky coming back from training in the gym. ‘It’s go time,’ Harley tapped on his arm, not making any audible noise except to Peter, who smirked a little. They had established a few shortcuts, because obviously tapping out morse code wasn’t quick enough to sustain a normal, flowing conversation, and they already agreed on some phrases they would stick to, like ‘hello’ instead of ‘hi’ because they wanted this to be as freaky as possible. Peter’s hearing was also useful in telling exactly when Harley was about to speak, because he could pick out the slight intake of breath and the sound of his mouth opening before he spoke, and his speedy reflexes took care of the rest.
“Hey guys,” Wanda smiled warmly at them, taking a swig of water.
“Hello, Wanda. How was training?” the two voices asked, in time with each other like a harmony, both of them raising their right hand to wave three times before placing it down on their lap. The three of them blinked at the teens, before Wanda cautiously added, “it was great, thankyou? What have you two been up to?”
“Physics revision in the library,” they said in unison, waited a second, then smiled brightly up at the trio.
“What the fuck,” Sam whispered, looking equally as horrified as Bucky.
“Uhhh... okay, you guys want lunch?”
“No thanks, we already ate.”
She looked scared. “Okay, well we’re gonna go make some food now...” she said before walking slowly towards the kitchen, not turning her back to them as she backed away, leaving Sam and Bucky rooted to the spot staring at the two of them.
“Can we help you?” they chimed together, looking up innocently at the men before them.
“What the fuck,” Sam whispered again, at the same time Bucky muttered, “Do they share the same brain now?” while they blinked at the boys, with fear and confusion behind their eyes before scurrying off to join Wanda, away from the scary seventeen year olds. After they left, Peter and Harley could hear Wanda say to them, “It’s better to not ask.”
Turning to face each other, they said “Hey, that was fun! Let’s go scare Steve!”
Because once they fell into their rhythm there was no stopping them.