Peter knows May cares about him. It's about as much of a law as gravity. A smile still forms on his face, growing as Norman speaks from the perspective of a parent. He has always loved Harry, Peter could tell that much, but it is amazing to see them both make progress towards expressing that verbally.
"And a little obvious," Peter adds. Listing all of his teammates in public, even if no one was listening in, would be a little risky. Well, most of his team. Miles, Ben (Reilly), and Amadeus were exempt for obvious reasons. Actually, Ben is a double whammy because he's kind of a clone of Peter and technically like two or three. And yet he's way more grouchy. So much for childhood whimsy. Would enforcing a naptime help? Peter decides to shift his thoughts away from the idea of making that joke in front of Ben. He would for sure get stabbed.
Peter huffs as he's told he wouldn't beat Nova in a race, like the truth offended him. He's still grinning, suggesting otherwise. "Maybe you just haven't seen my best," he boasts, purely making it up for the joke. He wouldn't win a fair race. Keyword being fair. Years of being Spider-Man and often outmatched meant he has gotten pretty good at using tricks to win. Don't tell Loki; the god hates him enough, some offense over copying them might actually get him to the top of the hitlist.
Given Norman's argument about asking someone out as a joke being unkind, Peter shrugs, conceding to that point. Flash has a sense of humor, but a romantic date and feelings like that isn't something Peter is going to mess with for a joke. "Yeah, in that case..." he agrees, trailing off as he shakes his head.
Norman's trailed off 'unless...' has Peter's eyebrows furrowing as he tries to think of the implications of that. He and Harry didn't really ever talk about it, not directly. They found ways in which they slotted together and tried to work on what didn't. Peter knows, at least for himself, that he never stepped back to look at how they fit in their relationship. The idea of trying to do that now with Norman's eyes on him is daunting. It would be daunting even on his own. They are a mess of unspoken adjustments to boundaries, all wrapped up in fear of the other getting hurt, with a few attempts of self-sacrifice on both their ends sprinkled in there. But there is nothing romantic in it, is there?
Like a lie by omission. They never explicitly said romance is off the table to each other, but that doesn't mean it is on the table at all. So, yes? He knows where he stands in his relationship with Harry. Yeah. He probably does.
About halfway through a nod, Peter falters. Why was Norman asking? Shoot, he spent way too much time actually thinking about what he and Harry are to each other. Focusing on why Norman asked would have been a much better use of his time. Is he looking for confirmation of a suspicion that Peter and Harry have been secretly dating? Is he trying to set something up? He did ask what Peter's sexuality was. But he also asked about Harry's. Maybe this isn't a set-up. But what if it is? Saying no, he doesn't know where he and Harry stand, could be fine or it could go terribly. Saying yes as in they're just friends would be technically fine, but he doesn't want to basically reject Harry right to Norman's face because awkward, obviously, but also if Harry felt hurt about that when he caught wind of it, Peter would just curl up and die, andâ
Peter slams the door on his brain. Sadly, that means the answer he comes up with is far from his best. "Um, yeah, I think so. I mean, it's always good to be adaptable, though, like a fluid or a non-newtonian fluid, even better because, you know, they firm up under force." Smooth. Science babble will definitely save that, Parker. his brain oh so helpfully supplied. At least he doesn't fail to make a conversation interesting. It will certainly be interesting to explain to Harry how whatever mess is about to happen came to be. 'Your dad is so good at applying pressure I do not even know what I just admitted to.' Yeah, that'll go over great.
