He'd debated it for the last ten minutes, standing out in the hallway, but finally, he knocked on the door. After a few seconds of shuffling, with the sounds of crashing and subsequent cursing to follow, Harley opened the door.
"Hey, what's up?"
Taking a deep breath, Peter looked up at him. "I think I'm gonna break up with Nico."
Harley had been encouraging him the past few days to end things with Nico since Peter had told him everything. At first, Peter had been hesitant, but he was finally starting to see everything wrong Nico had done because of Harley.
Almost instantly, a smile grew on his face and he was grinning. His eyes were bright. "Really? That's great, Peter."
Peter couldn't help but smile back at him; it was contagious with Harley. "Thanks. I was hoping you could drive me?"
"'Course, Darlin'. Let me get my stuff and we'll go."
The drive was quiet. Peter's eyes were glued to the window, hands constantly fidgeting while he thought about what on earth he was supposed to say. It went by much too quickly and soon enough, Harley was pulling up to his house.
"Do you want me to go in with you?" he asked, eyes flitting down to Peter's hands, who couldn't stay still.
"No. No, I think it's better if just I go," he breathed, looking over at his house.
"Alright, well, I'll be right out here then if you need."
"Okay." He nodded, looking at Harley again and getting out. "It shouldn't take too long."
Taking another breath, he walked up to the door and knocked. God, where had the time gone? He was just at home a few minutes ago, it felt like. He needed more time. The sight of the house already made a pit form in his stomach; knowing what he was here to do only made it worse.
"Peter? Hey, babe, what're you doing here?" he asked, smiling, opening the door more so that Peter could go in.
While Nico had apologized, Peter never actually made up with him. That didn't stop Nico from continuing to text him like nothing was wrong.
Hesitantly, he stepped in and turned to Nico, frowning. "Look, Nico..." he sighed, watching his face fall. Thinking out his next words carefully, he said, "I don't think our relationship is working out anymore."
His face morphed into one of confusion and disbelief. "What are you talking about?"
"I think we should break up."
"Our relationship is working out fine. Or I'm trying to make it work, at least. If you actually tried too, it could. Are you really going to end things because of one stupid fight?"
"Maybe that's all it was to you, but not to me, Nico. It was more than that. You really hurt me." He wrapped his arms around himself, standing while Nico leaned on the door.
"Well whose fault was it that we even had that fight?" he spat incredulously. Then, a new light came into his eyes, a new thought. "Oh, don't tell me this is Harley's idea? He's been turning you against me, hasn't he?"
"No, it's not about him. I don't like how you treat me or– or how I feel around you anymore."
"What're you even talking about, Peter? I only ever treat you how you deserve. When you never listen to me or do what I ask, there's only so much I can do," he accused.
"That's just it," he cried, throwing his arms up. "You're too controlling. And... and I don't deserve to be treated like that. I want to feel loved, Nico, not scared and that's how you make me feel."
"Maybe I get mad sometimes, but you have to try to help me. I love you, though. You can't just throw that away. I love you, Peter, come on."
And though he tried, he couldn't help the stray tears that fell. "No, you don't. You don't love me." Peter watched as his face morphed into one of anger and before he knew it, Nico had shoved him. "This" Peter continued, motioning between the two of them, "isn't love. Don't you get it?"
Nico tried to hit him, but Peter blocked it, catching his fist. To hell with hiding his strength, this was worth it. He struggled against Peter's hold, trying to pry his fist away.
"This is what I'm talking about. I don't want this anymore. I don't want to be with you anymore, Nico."
"I love you, Peter." he practically growled, stilling in Peter's grasp. "Where else do you think you'll find that? You're really gonna leave the only person who loves you behind?"
"That's not true."
Nico swung and hit him in the face before Peter could focus again. It was a blur of hits and struggling and trying to defend himself without hurting Nico. When he slammed the door shut having finally left, he heard a glass shatter on the door.
He rushed out and got in Harley's car, glassy eyes with red spots dotted across his face and arms. Peter didn't look at him, but could practically feel anger radiating off of him. Everything was a blur. Before he knew it, Harley was out of the car, door hanging open, running up to his house. Peter watched his shirt ripple in the wind behind him as he ran.
Peter grabbed his door, closed it, and quickly followed. The door to Nico's house was left open too, and when Peter ran in, Harley was on top of Nico, fists bloody.
"Harley! Harley, stop! Come on." Peter finally pulled Harley off of Nico, trying to avoid looking at his bloody, bruised face. Harley was breathing hard and disheveled but went with him.
When they got in the car it was quiet. The drive home was much longer. Neither said anything until they were back at the tower and Harley parked his car. Before Peter could get out, Harley stopped him.
"Peter, wait." When Peter sat back down, closing the door, he continued. "Sorry, I ran in there. I hope you're not mad at me about that, I just lost my temper a bit."
"No, it's okay," he said truthfully.
"So I take it he didn't handle the news well?" Peter just looked over at him, as though it wasn't already clear. "Sorry," Harley continued. "How're you feeling? Are you okay? You're not hurt bad, are you?"
He sighed. "No, I'm not hurt. And... I don't know. I probably should be glad that I don't have to see him anymore, but I'm just upset. I don't know, I don't want to talk about it right now."
"That's okay, Darlin'. For the record, it is a good thing you broke up with him." Harley softly smiled at him for a moment, before sighing and opening the door. "So, wanna go play Mario Kart?"
For the rest of the day, he hung out with Peter. Even when Peter didn't want to leave his room once they finally got there, he stayed. He brought dinner to Peter's room and brought the plates out afterward. He stayed and they talked until Peter had fallen asleep lying next to him.
When he woke up, he was alone. There was a note from Harley though.
Didn't want to wake you up or for Tony to see and ask. Harley
Peter smiled softly at it. It was weird though; he couldn't help but think of Harley. Were they still friends? Because when he thought of him, it felt like more. Like they'd crossed a line somewhere past friends and he didn't know what.
The thought of being in a relationship almost made him sick right now though. After things ended so... harshly with Nico, it felt wrong and he wasn't ready for it.
Despite feeling lighter after breaking up with him, he still didn't feel any better. He was glad not to have to worry about what he did or said, but the whole thing still just put a pit in his stomach.
Stretching, he got up and checked the mirror. There were only a few minor bruises, but they weren't too noticeable and most had faded.
He could hear a bunch of people in the common room, so he wandered over. It was already half past noon, so he'd missed breakfast, but someone would be making lunch soon.
"Morning," he muttered, walking in to see almost everyone in the kitchen. He sat down next to Harley at the table. Steve and Bucky were cooking lunch with Wanda's help.
"Afternoon," Wanda snorted. "Not all of us got to sleep in an extra five hours," she said, glaring at Steve.
"Speaking of which," Natasha started, "you gotta train too, Spiderling. Tomorrow morning, no exceptions," she told him, though she winked when everyone looked away.
Lunch was simple, just sandwiches, but good. Soon after though, Peter and Harley went down to the lab. Tony wasn't down there—probably wasn't even awake yet—so it was just them.
Peter sat to continue working on his new version of Droney while Harley sat next to him.
"You wanna help? I'm working on Droney."
"That's not the one I broke, is it? 'Cause that was forever ago."
Peter held it up to show him. "No, it's a new one. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that was my fault."
"Nah, if I remember right I think I broke it on purpose." At Peter's mock-betrayed face, he laughed.
"Well now you're not allowed to help," he grumbled jokingly, snatching the screwdriver Harley had picked up.
"Hey, give that back! I need it for my own work!" he protested, reaching out to grab it.
Peter was too quick though and jerked it away, standing—or stumbling, more accurately—away from the desk and holding it away. "No way!"
He stood up on the desk leaving Harley to scramble up after him. Harley grabbed his shoulder and reached for it, which wasn't hard considering he was taller. Peter was clumsier though, so when Harley put half of his weight on that hand while reaching, Peter stumbled backwards off the table.
Quickly, he shot out a web to the ceiling, dropping the screwdriver and grabbing Harley with his free hand. He was still out of balance though and the web only worked to soften the fall of the desk. He landed on top of Harley, who had wide eyes, mouth slightly ajar.
"My bad," Harley groaned. Peter could feel his chest vibrate under him.
"Sorry," Peter blurted out, scrambling up, offering a hand to Harley. He took it and Peter pulled him up, probably using too much of his strength considering the speed he flew to his feet. Peter just offered a bashful grin.
Unfortunately, that was the moment Tony chose to walk in. He looked at them, probably having seen Peter on top of him, eyebrow raised. "Hope no funny business is going on in here."
"Tony—" Peter started, rolling his eyes, before being cut off.
"No, I know, you have a boyfriend," he said dismissively.
"Oh, uh..." he glanced over at Harley, who just shrugged, but gave a small nod. He looked back to Tony who missed the interaction. "I broke up with him."
"Really?" This was enough to get him to turn to face Peter. "What happened?"
He shrugged. "I just didn't like how he acted or how he treated me sometimes. I think..." he looked over at Harley again, who just looked at him. It was enough though; comforting. "I think it's probably good." He shrugged again, anxious for a reason he couldn't name.
"Oh. Well, good for you, kid." There was a lull before he spoke again. "I never liked him much anyway. He sounded self-centered to me," he commented.
Harley laughed. "Well, you would know all about that, wouldn't you, old man?" he joked.
"If you're not careful, I'll shoot you with your own potato gun." Then he muttered something about teenagers and gray hairs making both Harley and Peter laugh.
Later on, he called May and told her the news too. She was happy about it, especially considering she didn't like him either. After seeing their reactions, including Ned and MJ's too, it made him feel a bit better about the whole thing. Maybe it worked out after all.
––🕷––
"May, stop! It's not like that!" Peter protested, groaning.
"Oh, whatever. Even if you don't want to admit it, anyone with eyes can see how he looks at you," she told him, ruffling his hair. It was nice to have her back, even if it was only for a few days while she was visiting. "You'll see it soon enough."
"May!"
"Okay, okay, fine," she gave in, smirking.
He groaned again, silently thanking whatever force above that Harley was out right now with Tony. For the past few days any time Harley came up, all he heard from May or Tony were these same comments.
Okay, so maybe they had been getting closer since he'd broken up with Nico. Maybe Peter had really started noticing the way his blue eyes reflected the light in the lab. Or how his hair lit up, practically glowed, in the sun. Or how, despite only recently starting to work out, he had defined muscles in his arms from when he used to work on a farm. Or the way he bit his lip when focused or—
It didn't mean anything. They were just observations. Maybe they made Peter blush sometimes and he'd get caught up staring at him and forget what he was doing, but it didn't mean anything. Nothing at all.
"So, what are you doing later?" May asked him, sitting back in her chair, taking a bite of her noodles. Neither of them could really cook, so they just ordered Thai food.
"Not much, just..." he hesitated for a moment, before resigning and telling her, "just hanging out with Harley."
She smirked again but didn't say anything.
A few hours later, Harley got home and met him in his room. They'd been hanging out a lot between each other's rooms, sometimes messing around or playing games, sometimes just talking for hours on end.
"History is so stupid, why is it required anyway?" Harley rambled, laying back. He was sprawled out on Peter's bed, legs on top of Peters'. "I'm never gonna need to know the exact date of some battle in Europe someday."
"You never know, someone could walk up and offer you thousands of dollars if you answer one question right and it could be that."
He snorted. "Well darlin', if that ever happens, I'll call you 'cause I'm sure you've got all that useless information memorized anyway."
Harley continued talking, but in the background, he could hear a glass break in the kitchen. It was a small thing, really, but he couldn't help but think of Nico. His mind replayed through the fights they had, many of which he ended up throwing glasses. He was lucky never to have been hit with one, but he hated that he could've been. Thinking about it added a weight to his shoulders that tried to drag him back down and it was hard to ignore. Almost.
"Hey, where'd you go?" Harley said, sitting up and looking at him.
"Sorry, just... lost in thought."
"Don't be. It's alright, Darlin'. What was it?"
Peter sighed, staring down at his hands which rested on Harley's legs. "Just thinking about Nico again. Stupid," he muttered, huffing.
"That's okay, you don't gotta let anything go yet if you don't wanna. You take your time, okay?" he told him, the same stubbornness shining through.
He smiled at him. "I can't believe I ever let him stop us from being..." he paused abruptly, trailing off. He wasn't quite sure what they were, actually. It felt wrong to say they were friends.
"Stop us from being what?" Harley smirked shamelessly. Apparently, he was a huge flirt and it was only because Peter was in a relationship that he hadn't before, but now...
"Shut up," Peter said grinning, pushing him back down playfully. He grabbed him though, dragging them both down. Peter's legs were still caught under his, so Harley had to adjust, turning to his side.
His hair was messed up but he was smiling so wide Peter didn't notice. He did notice, though, how little space was between them, lying there. And yet, he couldn't be bothered to move.
"Never, Darlin'."
"Why do you call me that anyway?" Peter asked, looking across at him, eyes bright.
"What, you mean Darlin'?" When Peter nodded, he just laughed. "Why do you think?"
Peter could feel a slow blush rise to his cheeks but just shrugged. Well, shrugged the best he could while lying on his side. "I dunno, I thought it was just, like, a casual nickname or something."
"You think I call everyone Darlin'?" He wore an amused smile.
And the way he said it made it so obvious that that wasn't true. "You've been calling me that practically since we met though. Even when you hated me."
"And?"
Peter didn't have an answer for that, so he just grinned, looking up at him.
And then it got quiet and Peter was smiling. Harley's faded though, soon followed by Peter's. "I like you, Peter. A lot."
His heart felt like it stopped for a beat only to hammer in his chest after. His mind raced to catch up and there was a warm feeling in his chest and he was smiling, oh he was smiling like an idiot. "Really?"
He huffed out a breathy laugh. "Yeah."
"Oh, that's good. Cool. I mean, uh, I mean I like you too," he said, tripping over his words, making Harley chuckle more.
They laid there smiling stupidly, Peter soon wrapped up in his arms where it was warm and comfortable and happy. What he wouldn't give for that moment to last forever.
––🕷––
Sorry this is posted so late, didn't mean to leave y'all hanging 😅 I finally got my WiFi back
Anyway, y'all have made it to the end! Hope you enjoyed :)