We built a live streaming infrastructure for a client to serve over 1000 users
At Ugacomp, we remotely work with clients to offer them technology solutions they need. From remote IT consulting and project assessment to designing and deploying technical projects, we proudly boast of handling 'Everything Tech'
We recently got a remote client from Philippines who wanted us to help him remotely design and deploy a live streaming infrastructure with capacity to serve over 100s of real-time streaming users. Below is a snapshot of some of our discussions we had with this client.
(Critical data about the client has been redacted)
Now, our client's live streaming infrastructure would run on top of Microsoft Azure, without him having to self-host physical IT infrastructure at his business premises. For those of you who don't know anything about Microsoft Azure, it is an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform that allows you to remotely deploy and configure both virtual and bare metal servers in the cloud.
In order to get started, we undertook a sequence of activities to execute the configurations as needed. And here is how we went about it;
We setup the appropriate billing and subscription Plan
One of the interesting things that make cloud computing interesting is not having to incur upfront spending like in traditional IT infrastructure deployments. Cloud computing offers cost-effective pricing strategy where you have the options of choosing the right subscription for your business. For the case of our client, we setup Azure's Pay as You Go pricing Plan. This is means that Microsoft Azure would charge the client based on the amount of resources the deployed server infrastructure consumes in a given period of time.
We deployed Ant Media Server Instance
Ant Media Server is an application server designed to handle live video streaming content using User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Ant Media server has two license plans i.e. the free community edition and the enterprise edition license.
We chose the enterprise version because it had all the features and capabilities for enterprise clientele performance setup
The kind of server instance we deployed was 'compute-optimized' with sufficient computing resources to handle high quality video streaming requests from 100s of simultaneous users. We actually opted for 64 Virtual CPU cores and 128 GiB Memory
We configured the DNS records
Our client wanted his Live streaming server IP address to be bound to a custom domain name, which he had provided. We had to achieve this by using Azure's DNS Zones' service.
Using Azure's DNS Zones service, we went ahead and configured the Nameservers and other critical DNS records info required to bind custom domain to the server's IP address.
We integrated SSL certificate to the Server
We used SSH to run a couple of commands that helped us to achieve SSL installation to the server. The good thing is that Ant Media application server ships with SSL certificate that we had to configure with a couple of commands.
Configuring Firewall rules
Ant Media Server Azure instance is preconfigured with all the necessary firewall configurations. Once you fire up its preconfigured VM instance, all the necessary security configurations will automatically be installed.
To be sure if everything was working, we fired up our SSH access to the server and checked if ant media was setup and running correctly. We realized everything was fine as we wanted.
Finally, the client's project was up and running within a day. We tirelessly prioritized our client's work as it was urgently needed to be completed in just one day.
We beat the deadline by 6 hours. It was such an incredible project experience we've ever handled.
Our client was happy for the good job we did, Up to now, he keeps consulting with us on a couple of IT support projects. We're continuously helping him to solve or troubleshoot tech problems on a remote basis
How we can work with you
We help clients from any part of the world to design, develop, configure, deploy or troubleshoot any IT project. If you're in our geographical proximity, we can work with you onsite. However, if we can't connect with onsite, then we can use remote-working model to help you execute any tech project you have.
Our services include;
Designing custom Web applications (apps & websites)
Deploying IT infrastructure in the cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM, Oracle, Alibaba, Digital Ocean, Linode, Contabo, Vultr, SSD Nodes, and more)
Deploying Virtual Desktop environments in the cloud
Configuring VPS servers for web hosting services
IT infrastructure analysis and audit (performance, Security and cost optimization)
Proffessional IT consulting and project assessment
Contractual-based IT support services for businesses or enterprises (onsite and off-site)
Network design and deployment (onsite projects)
Enterprise IT compliance Assessments and Audits
Enterprise technology assessments for businesses and organizations i.e. helping to introduce new tech solutions to your business
Corporate IT trainings for company employees
Onsite IT infrastructure deployment (full-stack configurations and deployments)
Corporate IT Policy formulation and implementation.
Enterprise Software acquisition and licensing
And everything tech as needed by your company or business.
For urgent projects, hire us on Fiverr
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Send us an email; [email protected]. Call us/ WhatsApp us: +256758057003
The on-demand industry has taken giant leaps in the last few years and why shouldn’t it? Who doesn’t like an on-demand service according to their needs and wishes? Every sector from healthcare to transportation, from food to electricals to entertainment & media (online streaming services) has gone into on-demand services owing to greater use of mobile applications.
Let’s look at some of the statistics of on-demand services over the past few years.
According to Statista.com, U.S. consumers are spending $57.6 billion in the on-demand economy to cater to 22.4 million users annually.
What in the world has taken a bigger boom than the online video streaming service? Just have a look at those statistics and you’ll know.
What is an On-demand business model?
Pretty much everything in the name. Providing customers with services according to their terms. In the age when people want immediate access to everything, the on-demand service comes to the fore. It aims to provide services in the shortest possible time and is entirely focused on the speed with which it can provide solutions.
You might want to have a look at some of the different models of on-demand services that are currently available and have taken the on-demand industry by storm.
1. FOOD-ON-DEMAND
Arguably one of the most significant and booming on-demand services, the food on-demand platform has raged the mobile app industry as well. People have started putting just delivery services and have made the most of the time lost due to crises and other factors. People want everything at the comfort of their homes and they are getting it!
2. SERVICE ON-DEMAND
Again, a model that has taken this industry by storm is the service on-demand model. What is there that’s not possible at the comfort of your homes? You have professional cleaning services to electricians to plumbers to getting your hair cut, you name it and you have it at your home.
The boom has even more come into place since the pandemic began and changed the way lives are lived. The on-demand service model has given individuals an opportunity to save time and money (spent on travelling to the place of service) and that’s a good enough reason for this model to be where it is now.
3. TRANSPORTATION ON-DEMAND
A lot of people still don’t have access to their own cars and personal vehicles but need to travel to airports or stations for work purposes. The on-demand transportation services have made the task utmost easy and super reliable with the growing structure of ride-hailing platforms such OLA & Uber.
People are just a click away to booking transportation and making their way to their destinations.
Why has the On-Demand industry grown so rapidly?
Many factors contribute to the success of on-demand models including UI, accessibility, reliability, promotions, up-to-date trends and more. We might look at some of those here:-
1. USER-INTERFACE
A simple to use UI is what everyone looks at and wants. The on-demand service models have done just that and made life easier for people. You have all the options in front of you to choose from and a mere click of a button makes the task done & dusted!
2. RELIABILITY
Building a trust value always comes in handy and that is exactly what customers look for. Booking on-demand services need the reliability factor and the trust factor which most of the sectors have been able to provide thus making this a very successful model.
3. UP-TO-DATE TRENDS
Another fantastic feature which most of the customers love is the updating trends and promotions it keeps on rolling out. Everyone wants to know the latest availability of different services and how they can use it to their advantage.
CONCLUSION
The on-demand service model has certainly made the life of customers way too easy. People have made the most of what they have got and have loved every minute of using these on-demand services. The above statistics show how this market is bound to grow even more with years to come. The factors that have given this industry so much boom are also something that customers most look forward to.
Also read : The future of Digital Marketing
If you wanted to bring your business at next level with help of technology just talk to our technical consultant on 9457741677. email us [email protected]
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Eitbiz - Impact of augmented reality on mobile application development
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Threshold | Peter Parker x Reader x Harley Keener | Chapter No. 1 | Challengers AU
authors note: hello, thank you for reading in advance, i'm not certain how long this will be yet, but expect it to be running for a while, i will attempt to update at least weekly. reader is gender neutral!
i have no warnings for now except that it might contain some sexual content later, and that there is very strong pan/bisexual vibes ahead.
i was inspired by challengers (2024) but like take the tennis and replace it with science.
enjoy.
The table sprawled out in front of you in the too cold conference room, you could see just a ghost of yourself staring back at you in the glass surface. You tapped your pen against your notepad, impatient, nervous, you sat with your back straight, your shoulders tensed, your expression unreadable.
Today was inevitable, of course you had always known that. You were a lot of things, but naïve was never one of them. You reached down into a satchel sitting on the floor under your chair, feeling around for a file, you grabbed it and brought it up to the table, opening it.
An internal report, received just last night from Stark Industries. You skimmed the words over before trailing your eyes back up to the top of the document, you could feel the anger boiling up deep inside of you as you read through it again,
-
Confidential - Internal Use Only
STARK INNOVATIONS
Project: Synthetic Renewable (SYN-R)
Distribution: Level 4 Clearance
After the successful pilot deployments within global civilian infrastructure (SYN-R Phase I), the SYN-R technology has now entered into Phase II, multi-sectoral implementation. New field applications have been explored through partnerships with both public as well as private sectors to the inclusion of, defense, emergency response, and autonomous infrastructure programs.
The SYN-R system’s high modularity, kinetic adaptive energy stabilization abilities, and the extended endurance threshold have positioned it as a leading candidate for the hybrid use and deployment within tactical environments.
Field Applications:
Adaptive Reconnaissance Units (ARU)
SYN-R cores are currently in limited use in the powering of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) for the purpose of extended surveillance missions. The compact cell architecture allowing for the enabling of low-heat and for silent operations which have energy levels exceeding 72 hours of continuous flight.
Partner Org: [REDACTED]
Location(s): Unconfirmed. Field trials in [REDACTED], [REDACTED]
Status: Ongoing
Mobile Infantry Assist Systems (MIAS)
Integration with powered exoskeletal units for military use has increased soldier operational range, recovery times, and ability to adapt to various terrains. Preliminary reports have indicated a 44% increase within combat endurance.
Notable Modification(s): Firmware safety throttles have been disabled, third-party coolant system override has been integrated.
Flagged Concern(s): Device stress testing has exceeded civilian use tolerances, risk of core rupture under prolonged and increased kinetic load(s).
Urban Containment Protocols (UCP)
Limited deployment of SYN-R field dispersal grids for high-crowd density scenarios. Originally designed for civilian disaster field lighting systems, reengineered SYN-R plates have been re-adapted to deploy variable frequency field arrays.
Stated Use: Non-lethal deterrence
Unverified Reports: Internal memos suggest use in [REDACTED] protests
Public Statement Drafted: See appendix, page 17.
Attribution and Legal:
Original development credits for (y/f/n) (y/l/n), Peter Parker, and Harley Keener remain valid through Phase I.
Legal recommends reassessing attribution into Phase III to minimize potential reputational risk.
Consulting contracts might be offered as a courtesy gesture, although are not required.
Patent sub-clauses permit modification for defense purposes under Innovation Emergency Clause (IEC 4.8.b).
Recommendation(s):
Proceed with Phase III development(s) under alternative project name.
Initiate quiet severance from original contributors.
Do not disclose MIAS or UCP usage publicly until post-trial analyses are through.
-
‘Transformative civilian legacy,’ you thought to yourself, what a load of shit.
You flipped the file closed again, pushing it away from you like it had burnt you. You could throw up at the thought of it all.
They were using it. SYN-R.
Your energy cores. The ones which you had thought up, built from scratch in the basement level of Stark Industry laboratories with Harley and Peter, long nights, shaky hands from caffeine overconsumption, you could barely sleep even when you went home. You had worked so hard, you all had. Renewable energy. Something for the people. For disaster relief. For underprivileged communities. For hospitals. Ripped from you just to be put into drones. Suits. Military riot gear. All to use against the very people you had hoped to help.
They stripped out the safeties. They rewrote your firmware.
Your clean fusion completely stripped down into a spine of something you hardly recognized, something that would march into a protest and knock out every civilian phone signal in a five block radius. Something that could power an unmanned machine while it plowed down a crowd of civilians for days on end.
Worst of all, they didn’t even need to tell you.
Somewhere in that first contract, the one that Harley had drafted all those years ago, somewhere between the mission statement and the glowing praise, there laid a clause.
Emergency use. National security.
You could remember reading it.
You remembered not fully understanding it.
You remembered Harley putting a hand on your shoulder, leaning over close to your face and reassuringly saying,
“Don’t worry too much about that, they’ll never use it. It’s all boilerplate. Legal filler. They know our mission, and plus, it’s Stark, they wouldn’t do us wrong.”
You knew he wasn’t lying, but he was wrong, and you couldn’t help but hold that against him.
You hear the door push open, eyes shooting across the room.
His eyes were more sunken then you had last recalled, he looked exhausted, handsome as ever, windswept, but completely run down. Burnt out.
“Harley,” you addressed him, nodding in his direction,
“(y/n),” he replied coolly, not really looking at you, draping a faded brown faux-leather jacket on the back of the chair before dropping into it at the opposite end of the table.
“Did you ride your bike?” You remembered, Harley rode a motorcycle, or at least he still had as of the last time you had seen him.
“Yea,” he responds to you bluntly, no clear expression on his face, and turns his head down to some papers in a binder, flipping through them, eyebrows knitted together, papers which you could only assume were the same ones which you had received last night. You heard him let out a long disgruntled sigh, before he flipped it shut angrily, scrubbing a hand down his face,
“What do we do?” you asked shortly,
He blinks at you, “What do you mean?”
“About this. About them using it. About the firmware override. About the use against protestors, Harley, how could this happen? How could Pepper let this happen-”
“She didn’t.”
Your stomach dropped.
“What do you mean, ‘she didn’t’?”
“Tony only had 48% of the shares. Pepper inherited those shares. The other 52%? They were all bought out, quietly. They were divided amongst multiple shareholders, but now they're not. She’s still the CEO, but now she’s outvoted.”
You stared at him blankly, “By who?”
“We don’t know, it’s anonymous,” he leans towards you from across the table, “A shell corp.”
“Harley.”
He looks up at you, pointedly, at his name,
“Yes?”
“How long have you known?”
He didn’t respond.
“Harley. How long?”
“I didn’t know.”
“You must’ve.”
“Believe it or not (y/n), I truly have no fucking clu-”
The door opened again. Peter.
He slipped inside and closed it, all in one swift, clean motion.
“Hey.”
You and Harley responded in unison,
“Hey," he echoed back,
Peter sat in the seat beside you, just to your right. Harley leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest.
“Hey, Pete,” Harley said with a tone of mock-cheer in his voice,
Peter looks up at Harley, to you, and back at Harley again,
“Harley.” Peter didn’t rise to it, his tone even, cold.
“Wow,” Harley chuckled, “Look at you. All serious now. Tough guy.”
“Harley,” you warned,
“What? I’m just joking,” Harley looks from you to Peter, “Just like old times, right Pete?”
Peter raises an eyebrow, turning towards Harley who sat with his chair pushed back, legs outstretched, arms crossed,
“Yea, very funny Harley.”
You watched a flicker pass between the two, history. A deep one. One that even Peter hadn’t fully opened up to you about. Resentment and something older than either of them would ever admit. Harley’s smirk faltered.
Then Pepper entered, heels clacking on the floor, pulling a seat out at the exact midway point of the table, not towards you, not towards Harley, pointblank in the middle.
“Hello.” she said,
“Hi.” You all respond back in unison, and not missing a beat,
“Pepper, what’s going on here?” Harley asks, turning his head towards her, the first real emotion you’ve been able to fully read on him today. Clear as day written all over his face, fear.
A pang of guilt hits you right in your chest, ‘guess he was telling the truth,’ you think to yourself, eyes shooting downwards for a moment.
She folds her hands, looking older than before.
“There’s been…An overturn in the board. They’re going against my strong recommendations.”
“Those being?”
Pepper looks to you, and then to Harley, eyes kind, but expression hard,
“To honor the intentions of the original creators.”
Harley leans back in his chair again, two hands pulling his hair back,
“Fuck.”
Two years ago, Pepper would’ve shot him a look and told him to watch his language, but not today. Today Pepper looks down at her hands, withdrawn, quiet, guilty.
“Is there a way to stop this?” Peter asks, looking at Pepper, forcing her to look up and meet his eyes, she clears her throat,
“Well-”
“They’re already using it for all of this-” you try to cut in,
“-Well,” Pepper gives you an all-too-familiar look, the ‘Listen to me when I speak to you’ look, maybe the first time you’ve recognized her at all so far today. You almost smile at the familiarity of it all, when it felt good, when it all felt almost familial…These days you hardly saw Pepper at all.
“There’s no stopping Phase III on paper, and obviously, Phase II has already taken place.”
You heart sinks.
Pepper continues, “But…They want your legacy, not your names,”
You and Peter both look to Pepper, perplexed looks on your faces,
“So…” Harley starts, suddenly his glance shooting to Pepper, “So we make SYN-R unusable."
Pepper nods approvingly, like she was trying to lead you to the answer all along, just waiting for one of you to get it. Harley gets up from his seat, pacing around like he always has when he thinks and continues on,
“We make it unusable for military adaptation- break...break the frameware. Destabilize the system.”
You tap your pen against your mouth, looking up to Harley and speaking,
“...Make it fail on their terms…”
“Exactly!” Harley exclaims back at you, and for once in a long time, you can see a spark back in his eye, and when you look over to Peter you can see the same expression of recognition of it on his face,
“You’re right,” says Peter, “They want our legacy, not our names-” he looks over to Pepper as if looking for approval before looking back to Harley, “-If we give them neither, if we can make it a liability…Maybe they’ll walk away.”
When Peter finishes speaking, the room falls silent, but no words are needed. All looking at each other with this mutual understanding, with something that felt like a real plan. With allies. All that could be heard in the silence was the low hum of the lights above the conference table, and the light buzz of an air conditioning unit somewhere along the ceiling. It’s a familiar sound.
It sounds just like the lab used to…
-
Years Earlier.
The buzz of the fluorescents in lab 6B were started to grate on your last nerve. You all worked in silence, Peter fixated on his notebook, scribbling something down before quickly thinking of something else and sketching one thing or another. You envied him for his seemingly endless bounds of ideas and solutions. Harley sat just across from him, a wire in his mouth and a spanner in his hand. You could hear their sneakers knocking against one another every now and then, the aforementioned lighting giving Harley's hair an almost golden glow.
You, yourself, had been staring at the screen of your laptop for far too long. You were starting to feel as if you were having a staring contest the same blank document...And it was winning...
You hadn’t known either of them prior to the project.
You had been added late, and far after them. After all, rumor had it that they had been working here far before everything had happened. Even before the Avengers for Harley. Before the snap for both of them. Niche forums on the internet rumored that they had both been here, or at least have been affiliated with Stark Industries, for a very long time. Harley supposedly even prior to hitting middle school.
Someone on the board had come across one of your many proposals which you had submitted to Stark Industries and had flagged it for analysis by the rest. You guessed that someone up top must’ve seen some type of venn diagram between you and them, and decided that this was a good idea. You weren’t so sure yet.
Peter mumbled something, looking down into his notebook.
You looked up from your laptop in his direction,
“Huh?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Harley responded for Peter, giving you a patent unreadable Harley look, before looking back at Peter.
You shrugged, brushing it off. You didn’t really know each other yet. You weren’t sure if the awkwardness was temporary, or foundational, you hoped for the former. You turned back to your laptop, pretending that you weren’t at all shaken by that most recent interaction.
That undisturbed silence soon returned to the room, except for that hum of the lights and equipment, and the tapping of Peter’s pencil. You could feel Harley watching you sometimes, but when you would try to look back up at him, he was suddenly busy again, pushing his stool back and turning to lean over the core housing module which was sitting on a work bench behind him.
Peter spoke again, breaking the silence once more,
“You’re from Tennessee, right?”
You blinked at him, taken aback at the sudden question directed at you,
“Yea,” you clear your throat, feeling a bit put on the spot, “Oak Ridge, Tennessee.”
“Ah, home of the Manhattan Project,”
“Yea, a lot of the sites at least.”
Peter nods at you,
“I’m from Queens.”
You nodded back, and that was the end of that. Peter didn’t press further, but Harley smiled,
“Jesus fuck, you guys are awkward,” he laughs again, turning towards both of you, you glance up from your laptop again, catching Harley’s eyes, “Relax, it’s only been a week.”
Peter nodded in response to Harley, still tapping his pencil against the surface of the table,
“We’re just a bit…on edge,” Peter shrugged,
“Speak for yourself,” Harley replied, spinning in his stool and then back to you, “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to us.”
He shoots you a wink, and you notice Peter noticing this.
Suddenly feeling even more conscious than before, you hesitated, thinking of what to say in response, slowly closing your laptop, “Have you two like, known each other for a long time or something?”
You were quite certain you already knew the answer to this, but chose to ask anyways; plus, they didn’t need to know you had researched them, not during your first week at least.
Harley gave you a half-smile,
“Yea, we’re a cliché-”
“Roommates,” Peter clarifies for him, “We’re roommates.”
“We’ve been living together since college,” Harley continues, eyes flicking over to Peter for a moment, “I mean, I met Tony when I was, ten? When I was like ten or something, and he kind of helped my family out…A lot, and from there I always kind of worked with Stark Industries, and I ended up going to undergrad in the city, and started working here with Peter right after.”
“So-so, you met here?” you ask,
“No, no, we met way earlier, like, when I was sixteen-” he looks to Peter for confirmation, who nods to him, “-sixteen. We connected through Stark, figured it made sense, being the two youngest affiliates and all.”
“And how did you meet Tony?” Yet another question that you knew the answer to.
“Oh- I’m actually also from Tennessee. Rose Hill, Tennessee, to be specific”
“Ah, the battle of Rose Hill, that makes sense.”
“Yea, exactly. Times of crisis can have a funny way of bringing the right people together.”
“And you-” you turn to Peter, now speaking to him, “How did you get here?”
Peter looks at you, startled for a moment, before pausing for a moment like he was trying to remember how exactly he had ended up here,
“Um, I-,” he pauses, seemingly thinking once more, “-I was scouted through a high school program, I guess they thought I showed promise or something like that.”
Harley and Peter shared a look, like they knew something you didn’t. You decided to ignore this.
The next few hours in the lab remained on the quieter side, but far less awkward than before. You finally felt like you might be getting somewhere with them. Hopefully.
Just as you were packing up your things to go, you were stopped by a hand on your shoulder,
“(y/n),” it was Harley,
“Harley,” you responded back,
“Drinks?”
You blinked back at him. “With you?”
“-And Peter,” he said, before you could finish.
Peter offered you a soft smile from just behind Harley, “It’s Friday.”
You hadn’t even realized.
“Sure,” you replied.
-
When you got to the bar that night you had managed to slip into a tight corner at the back of the bar, close enough to feel each other's breaths, the crowds around you seemed to press you even further into one another. It was very crowded, but you didn’t much mind the noise and business of it all, it made watching easier.
You stood, slightly angling yourself outwards, not brushing against either of them. Not because you were afraid per say, but they already seemed to belong to each other in a way that made you opt to stay a bit out of reach. The way they leaned into one another, almost the entirety of their thighs, their shoulders and the top half of their arms touching, the way that they seemed to speak in half-thoughts at times that only they seemed to understand. You had felt a certain pull to ask something along the lines of, ‘So, what’s the deal with you two?’ but the words seemed to sit heavy in your mouth. After all, asking would’ve meant admitting that you had noticed.
The bar had an industrial kind of feel to it, it was warmly lit, and they made a strong drink, you could feel the alcohol burning your nose every time you brought your cup up to your mouth.
You watched the drink in your hand, swirling the liquid around. Across from you Harley cracked some kind of joke, with Peter huffing into his shoulder. You laughed too, about half a second too late, always an echo, never the joke, but you were watching…You were learning a rhythm.
Harley’s fingers were a whisper away from Peter’s, and Peter didn’t move away. He never did.
About halfway through the night, you felt a tap on your shoulder, you turned to come nearly face to face with a woman.
Red hair, blue tips, green eyes. She was very pretty.
“Hey!” she shouts over the crowd and music,
“Hi?” you respond, a bit confused,
“Hey!” Harley shouts back at the woman, jumping into the interaction, and despite this, the woman maintains eye contact with you,
“What are you drinking?” she asks,
“Oh I’m-” it was this moment that you realized you actually didn’t know what you had been drinking, Harley had ordered for you and Peter, he said it would be on the house that way.
“It’s a Death in the Gulf Stream!” Harley interjected again, Peter cracking up a bit beside him, the woman and you gave both of them a perplexed look,
“A what?” you asked, Peter laughed again, responding,
“It’s like a pretentious drink Harley likes to order- it’s like some lime, gin, type thing,” Harley nods at him, seemingly in approval of his response.
“Yep, that’s me, so pretentious,” Harley lightly smacks Peter’s arm, resting his hand close to his after, their fingers nearly touching, you turn back towards the woman,
“Yea, that,” you take a sip of your drink, “It’s good though- this place is heavy on the pour though.”
“Oh yea- I know,” the woman responds, “I’m a regular, I was just curious, looking to try something…new, I guess.”
She looked you up and down before going on,
“My name is Shela, by the way,” looking at you expectantly,
“I’m (y/n), it’s nice to meet you.”
“New to the city?”
“Yea- I take it you’re…?”
“Born and raised,” she responds nodding at you, she looks over to the front door of the bar, eyes lighting up like she was seeing someone she knew, “Oh shit- my friends are here, hope to see you again?”
You nod back at her smiling, “Until we meet again.”
She gives you a final smile before walking off to join a group,
“Well, well” Harley said, grinning at you over his glass, “Didn’t know you had game like that.”
Peter didn’t look at you, he was looking out to the area of the bar where Shela had walked off to.
“What? Me? No, no.”
“No-no what? She was totally into you!”
“No! She was just being nice."
“Mhm, nice, sure,” Harley starts to teasingly make a kissing motion before reaching into his back pocket, phone vibrating, “Oh shit.”
“What’s up?” Peter asks, sounding slightly concerned for a moment,
“Oh- It’s, I have to take this, it’s my sister, I’ll be back.” Harley started pushing his way through the crowd to get to the door as he brought the phone up to his ear, telling the person on the other end to give him a second until he got outside.
Leaving just you and Peter. You stared at each other awkwardly, Peter bringing his drink up to his mouth and taking a long sip, you clear your throat,
“So, you two are,” you think for just a second too long,
“Are what?” he responds before you could finish your sentence,
“-Are close?”
Peter doesn’t look up at you, he swirls what's left in his glass, the ice clinking against each other. “We’ve been through a lot.”
“Like, together?”
You can see Peter’s mouth twitch at one of the sides, he still doesn’t look at you, “Yeah.” He responds, vague, final, definite, all at once.
You lean back slightly, your eyes narrowing at him slightly, suddenly very aware of how entirely vague the inquiry was itself.
“And- what does that mean?”
Peter glances up at you, sharp, unreadable, “I don’t know, depends on what you think it means. You’re the one who asked.”
You laugh for a moment, involuntarily, “That’s not really an answer.”
Peter smiles for a moment, shrugging, finally meeting your eyes, “Maybe I don’t know what you mean.”
He was being difficult.
“I-”
He cuts you off, “Do you ask everyone this stuff?”
“What stuff?”
“The type of stuff you just asked.”
“I don’t know I’m just like- making conversation.”
“So, you’re not at all curious?”
“Not really.”
He nods slowly, like he didn't really believe you, “Harley is a great friend.”
You study Peter for a moment. The way his jaw had shifted slightly when he was angry- or annoyed. The way he hadn’t moved his hand from the position it had been in when Harley had touched it last. There was something oddly territorial about him, about both of them. Or maybe they were just possessive, protective? But it simultaneously could have been nothing at all, you couldn’t really tell, the lack of clarity pissed you off, but most of all, it excited you.
A minute had passed in which neither of you said anything. Peter’s glass was basically empty at this point, Peter shifted beside you, your shoulders brushing for the first time that night, he didn’t move away.
“You know…” Peter starts, gazing up at you, a mischievous glint in his eye, “You sure do ask a lot of questions for someone who says that they’re not curious.”
You laughed softly, “I’m just, observant.”
Peter nods, a faint smile- or maybe that was a smirk, on his lips,
“You’re good at that.” he says,
“At what?”
“Watching people.”
Your shoulders still touching.
He pauses and then speaks again, “You notice things. That’s what you’re doing right?” He turns his head to you, meeting your eyes, noses close, before speaking again, “Not judging, just…taking inventory?”
You didn’t respond for a moment, just held his gaze.
“Maybe,” you respond, “Or maybe I’m just trying to figure out what the fuck I’ve gotten myself into,” you half-joke, laughing with him,
“Yea, that makes two of us.”
And then-
“Miss me?” Harley’s voice cuts through the air as he slides right back in not just beside Peter this time, but right in between the two of you. Your whole right side was touching his left side, and his whole right side was touching Peter’s.
“Back so soon?” you ask, joking,
“Yea- Family crisis averted,” he grins looking at you, and then at Peter, still grinning, “Turns out my sister wanted to know if I still have that ugly ass yellow jacket she hates.”
Peter laughs in response, it was seemingly not the first time which he had heard of this supposedly ‘ugly ass’ yellow jacket, Harley goes on,
“So, what’d I miss? You two trauma-bond already?”
Peter snorts, says nothing,
Harley looks to you, more directly this time,
“Let me guess- You interrogate Pete?”
You raise an eyebrow, “How’d you know?”
“Lucky guess,” he shrugs, “You seem to be the curious type.”
He then looks across the room, eyes falling on either a taller person in the corner with shorter blonde hair, or the person next to them with the longer black hair and bangs, you weren’t certain of which it was.
“Hey Pete- think they’d want to join the list?”
Peter looks at Harley,
“Jesus, really Harley? Tonight?”
You leaned forwards, stretching your neck to look at both of them,
“What list?”
“Harley," Peter says again,
“What?” Harley looks to Peter, then to you, “Don’t act like it’s a secret-” all charm, “My wall tally! My room. Anyone who joins is in good company, plus, it’s real organized, I mean, really organized, first letter initials and everything, the S column is starting to outpace the P’s.”
You blink at him, “You’re fucking with me.”
“Oh, I assure you he’s not.” Peter deadpans back at you, rolling his eyes,
“I’m not.”
“I- wow.” you respond, in slight disbelief,
“What? Curious?” he leans in closer to you, “Wanna join?” he asks, almost whispering it directly in your ear,
“Are you serious?” you ask,
“I’m always joking,” he responds, lowering his voice again, “Unless I’m not,” to his right, Peter smacks his arm- not hard, but definitely firmly, Harley doesn’t flinch, just smiles wider, like he doesn’t mind it at all.
“That’s…gross,” you say jokingly,
“It’s archival,” Harley responds, “I’m a connoisseur of history, and I like to remember where I’ve been, Peter gets it.”
“Do I?” Peter responds, seemingly half-joking and half-serious,
“I like to take stock. I need to know how many,” you watch him closely, watch Peter watching him closely, “It’s a reflection on me more than anything else.”
You watch both of them now. Harley is pressing his leg harder into Peter’s, like it’s an instinct. Peter is very aware of it, but doesn’t shift to move. Neither of them are looking at each other, but are feeling each other. They’re always feeling each other. You can tell. You can always tell.
Harley leans forwards, looking over at the bar, clearly considering another drink.
“So,” he looks at both of you, turning his head back and forth, “Who’s buying the next round? You two got government stipends or what?”
“We’re all paid by Stark funds, you know that,” you laugh softly, “Plus, you invited me, remember?”
“Exactly, a courtesy round would just be the polite thing to do.”
You look at him, Peter stifling laughter,
“I’m fucking with you, it’s all on me.” Harley makes his way over to the bar, and you can hear Peter muttering something under his breath,
“What?” you ask, uncertain if he wanted you to respond or not, Peter clears his throat,
“Nothing, it’s just,” he looks down, “He’s the one with Stark inheritance after all.”
“He- what?”
Peter looks at you, sharp but not unkind, “Stark inheritance,” he repeats to you, then shrugs, like he hadn't meant to say anything at all,
“You didn’t know?”
“How would I-”
Peter shoots you a look again, knowing,
“You mean you didn’t Google us at all before coming here?”
“I-” you pause, “Yea, I did.”
“That’s what I thought,”
“But, no, I didn’t know.”
“Well, now you do.”
There was something very heavy about it. Like it left a bad taste in Peter’s mouth.
You don’t press further.
“It’s okay though, of course,” Peter says flippantly now, like he never cared in the first place, “I was given…something else.”
You look at him, slightly perplexed that either of them might receive inheritance at all, especially Peter, someone who he had seemed to have known for a much shorter period of time in comparison to Harley,
“You can ask.” Peter speaks first, breaking the short silence,
“Okay, I’ll bite.”
“A letter.” He says it so simply, you nearly miss it,
“A letter?”
“A letter,” Peter says while nodding, “That’s what I got from him. After.”
“What did it say?” you ask gently,
Peter shrugs at you, casually, “Some advice. A few regrets. A reminder to stay out of trouble, which was funny, especially considering that he-” he stops himself.
You had many questions, but chose to not ask any of them.
Instead, “Sounds more valuable than cash.”
“Sometimes,” he starts, “Sometimes it feels more like a curse wrapped in stationary.”
You knit your eyebrows together at that, “Peter- was that really all he gave you?”
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