Forever

chapter five

"Yeah, but—"

"Whatever," Harley cut him off. "I'll just look it up." He glanced up at their teacher and hid his phone under the desk.

Peter looked over and saw that he was right, so the answer was A. He couldn't help the smirk that settled across his face.

Harley huffed. "God, you don't have to be a damn know-it-all."

"You're just saying that because you were wrong."

Peter rolled his eyes as he watched Flash turn around from the seat in front of him. "He's right, Penis Parker, you are a know-it-all."

"I'm sorry, I don't remember asking you." Flash looked dumbstruck and Harley continued before he could reply. "Turn your dumbass around, Flash."

He briefly glared at Harley and muttered, "Whatever," before going back to his own work.

Peter was tempted to ask what that was about, but figured he'd get an answer along the lines of "Would you shut the hell up and help me finish this damn worksheet" so he didn't bother. Harley went along like nothing had happened.

When class finally ended, Harley was the first out and Peter was the last. Thank god that was over with.

By some stroke of luck, he didn't see Harley the rest of the time at school or in the lab once he got back home.

"You wanna help me with this, kid?" Tony asked once they'd finished Droney. He was working on a part of his newest suit.

Peter agreed and started over, before pausing as his phone buzzed.

"Who's that?"

"Nico. We were planning on hanging out tomorrow."

Tony frowned. "Yeah, okay." He didn't sound particularly pleased.

"Is... is that okay?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah, of course. Why do you ask?" He was still bent over the new part, rearranging and soldering different wires.

Peter wrung his hands. "You just seem, uh... well I dunno. You seem not okay with it."

Tony sighed and stood up, wiping his hands off on a dirty rag. "No, it's fine, kid. Honestly? I don't like him much. He seems off."

"Oh."

"You can still see him and whatever, kid, just..." Tony looked like his attempt at parenting without any sarcasm was physically paining him. "I don't know. I don't like him."

Peter nodded solemnly. "May doesn't like him either."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she, uh... she said he gave her bad vibes or something," he muttered.

Thinking about it, there wasn't much both Tony and May could agree on, but the fact that they both disliked Nico... Well, nothing bad had happened and Nico was still nice to him, so he saw no reason to act on anything yet.

Tony hummed but dropped the subject. "Have you called her recently? She'll come after me if you don't, ya know."

"Yeah, she probably would. Maybe that's why I haven't."

He laughed while Tony looked at him in mock offense. "I've given you everything, and you're gonna throw me to the sharks, huh?"

Peter was laughing while he replied, "Survival of the fittest."

"You know what..." Tony trailed off, grabbing the bottle of cologne sitting on his desk. It was peppermint and Peter had learned the hard way that he'd gotten that part of the Spider's DNA too. It drove his enhanced smell crazy.