All I see is green (7/?)
Ship: Harley Keener/Peter Parker
Summary: Peter Parker feels on top of the world! Getting good grades in high school, spending time with Tony Stark (!!!) on his weekends, and at night, he roams the city as the hero known as Spider-Man! Everything changes when a new student shows up at Midtown who seems determined to take it all away from him.
AO3 | FF.net It did not take long for Mr. Stark, Harley and Peter to fall into an almost familiar rhythm together. They moved around the lab gracefully, passing around tools at each other’s slightest of whims, and barely spoke as they worked diligently. Mr. Stark and Peter were both bent over the Spider-Man suit, whispering and humming as they worked on their respective tasks, and Harley had crawled under the hood of one of Mr. Stark’s more neglected cars, switching out the engine in what had to be a record time, in Peter’s uneducated opinion.
They must have been a few hours in their work session when Harley’s phone disturbed the flow by ringing obnoxiously.
“Please, excuse me,” Harley muttered absentmindedly, dropping his tools on the tray next him and taking the phone out of his back pocket. Neither Mr. Stark nor Peter missed the little grin that appeared on his face as he recognised the caller and picked up quickly. He walked out of the lab to take the call, but not before the others heard him say: “Hi, Flash!” Oh… Peter turned back to the web shooter he was fine-tuning and tried to ignore the drop of his stomach.
Mr. Stark hummed in thought. “Flash? Is that the kid you mentioned-”
“It’s nothing,” Peter interjected firmly. His issues with Flash were his own. It would be unfair to turn Mr. Stark against a boy he had never even met before, especially since that boy was Harley’s best friend. He had told Mr. Stark about Flash before, when questions arose around the fresh bruises on Peter’s arm. He still remembered the way Mr. Stark’s reflection turned from anger to furiousness when Peter explained that he did not play hooky in order to go on patrol during school time, but instead was repeatedly thrown into walls and lockers as he walked down the hallway. Mr. Stark had demanded the kid’s name, and Peter had given in but not before he made Mr. Stark swear not to do or say anything. “I can take it,” he remembered pleading, “if you make him stop, he might start harassing somebody who is decidedly less equipped to take it.” Mr. Stark had reluctantly given in, because God knows that man would be a first-class hypocrite if he got on Peter’s case about being self-sacrificing, on the condition that Pete would be honest with him if it got any worse. Peter, of course, hadn’t.
“Peter, is Harley friends with the kid who used to bully you?” ‘Used to’, Peter mentally scoffed.
“Mr. Stark,” he replied firmly. “Whoever Harley is or is not friends with is respectfully none of our business.” Mr. Stark looked taken aback by Peter’s bluntness, not used to hearing such seemingly unprompted defiance from the teen.
“Dully noted,” he responded, keeping his eyes on Peter as the latter turned back to his web shooter. A silence fell over the pair once again, before it was broken once more by Mr. Stark’s voice, uncharacteristically quiet.
“I know I’ve broken your trust over the past week,” he spoke carefully, as if weighing every word before letting it leave his lips. “And I know I haven’t done nearly enough to make up for it. I also know you’ve probably already forgiven me a long time ago, despite what you may be telling your Aunt May, because your self-preservation skills are arguably worse than mine. I know you feel let down by me not informing you about Harley and his arrival. I know you feel like I don’t trust you, and yet demand of you to trust me. I understand that that level of trust takes time to be build back up again.” Peter felt warmth bubble up in his chest and a familiar burning sensation behind his eyes. Mr. Stark saw straight through him. Although he seemed to be missing one detail… “But Peter, I ask only one thing of you in the meantime. Be honest. Either to me or your aunt. We need to know what’s happening in your life, kid. I know you like to protect everyone around you, but God knows we want to keep you safe just as badly, okay? Talk to us.”
Peter could only nod as he furiously wiped as his eyes, stubborn tears spilling over onto his cheeks. At that moment, the door to the lab opened back up again and Harley stepped back inside, grin on his face.
“Tony, I have a favour to ask- Woah, is everything okay?” Harley felt the smile slip off his face as he noticed Tony’s serious expression and Peter’s red-rimmed eyes. The latter nodded and turned back to his project, whilst Tony nodded and scraped his throat.
“What’s up, kiddo?” Harley shook his head a little. Not for him to know, then. He ignored the slight twinge of… something… in his chest at the reminder that Tony and Peter had such a strong emotional connection and focussed on his mission.
“Ah, not much. My friend called me to ask if I wanted to come to a party he’s hosting this weekend,” he replied, unable to stop the grin from spreading across his face at the memory, slipping his phone into his back pocket. “Apparently, it’s his birthday this week, and he invited the whole year group to come over and hang out at his place!” Tony grinned back at Harley, but behind him, Peter’s movements stilled for a split second, before resuming as if nothing had happened.
“That sounds fun! I’m glad you’re already making friends,” he responded, turning back to the Spider-Man suit as well. “Do you know if there will be alcohol involved?”
“I don’t know,” Harley responded honestly, “I don’t really know these people, what they’re like in that regard.” He picked up a tool and twirled it around in his hand, eyeing the car with scrutiny.
“Pete, you must know, right? What are the Midtown parties like?” Harley glanced over his shoulder to see Peter shrug in response to Tony.
“Fuck if I know,” he muttered, bending even further over his work. Tony gave him a light shove, which didn’t seem to affect Peter at all.
“Mind your language, kid! What’s gotten into you?” At Peter’s lack of response, Tony’s head cocked as if realising something, and he leaned in close to Peter, whispering something Harley couldn’t catch. Peter simply shook his head in response, and Tony sighed, backing away. Harley watched them for a moment, before clearing his throat.
“I’ll be responsible, Tony,” he emphasised. “I’ll stay away from any alcohol, and I’ll call you if I want to leave, okay?” Tony looked up from his work and offered Harley a wide smile.
“I know, Harles.” Harley nodded and smiled back. Both men resumed their respective tasks, neither noticing Peter’s eye roll, and the comfortable silence returned.
It’s incredible, really. The bustling nature of New York City, with its screaming, ever busy and hurrying inhabitants, it’s loud, honking cars and pigeon shit, so in-your-face and unavoidable. Yet it all faded into background noise when Peter was swinging. The feeling of the breeze on his face, and the roaring wind in his ears was all-encompassing, yet freeing, allowing Peter to take a break from his overactive senses to just exist.
“Hey, Spider-Man! Over here!” Well, ideally, that is…
Peter’s head snapped in the direction from where the sound came, a dingy alley way, and instantly changed course. The person who called him over did not appear to be in distress, but Peter wasn’t in a hurry. No harm done if he made a pitstop to talk to a Spider-Fan. Peter cringed at his own thoughts. For nothing other than dramatic effect, he decided to stick to the wall before rounding the corner into the alley way. From his position, just slightly overhead, he noticed that the person calling out to him was none other than Flash Thompson, who, if his frantic looking around was anything to go by, had completely lost track of Peter after calling him over. Peter decided to crawl across the wall until his face was mere inches from Flash’ neck before speaking up.
“You called?”
The resulting scream sounded like a dog’s squeaking toy, and Peter couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped out in response. Flash turned around, dramatically clutching his chest, panting. He dropped his hands the second he registered who was across from him and took a deep breath, smoothing his hair and letting a sly smirk appear on his face.
“Hello, Spider-Man, I’m glad you’ve come.” Peter dropped to stand on the pavement in front of Flash as a show of seriousness. As intended, it spurred the latter on to resume talking.
“Uh, I was actually wondering if, uh… Would you like to come to my birthday party this weekend?” Under his mask, Peter’s eyebrows shot up. For a kid of a CEO, he is very bad at diplomacy.
“Your… birthday party,” Peter responded slowly, letting his voice modulator do its work. “Birthday… Wait, who are you again? Am I supposed to know you?” Peter is not proud of the satisfaction he felt when he saw Flash’ smile falter.
“Uh, maybe? My name’s Flash, I’m… You’ve saved my life, actually. You… you stole my dad’s… You know what, forget I said anything.” Flash turned around to walk away and Peter was surprised to find the satisfaction had grown heavy and now sat like a pit of guilt in his stomach. Oh, why did Ben and May raise me to be decent…
“Wait up!” Flash turned around to face Peter again, the look on his face still dejected. “I, I was just messing with you, Flash, of course I remember you!” The frown on Flash’ face turned into a blinding smile. “However… You gotta know, man, Spider-Man is not a party trick. You can’t book me, I’m not a clown-”
“No, I know,” Flash interjected. “I know, but I just…” He looked down. “There’s this guy I like… I’m trying to impress him, and I know he’s a big Spider-Man fan, and I’m hoping that seeing you there, and seeing us interact might-”
“You know what, fine,” Peter jumped in. “I can’t stay long. I’ll pop in, have a chat with you and I’m out, okay? I have better things to be doing.”
“Yes, yes, of course.” Flash was practically jumping up and down with excitement. “Just in and out, that’s totally cool. Thank you so much, man!” Peter shook his head, envisioning Harley’s grin when he had come back from his phone call with Flash. He looked so happy. And if Peter can help him maintain that happiness… Well, he had something to make up for anyway. Peter sighed and jumped up against the wall again, crawling upwards, but not before turning around to Flash one last time.
“I’ve gotta be honest with you, man,” he spoke into the echoing alley. “If you want this guy to like you, just be yourself, okay?” Flash turned bright red and Peter turned around, vaulting himself onto the roof and off, slinging away.
