(A/N everything involving Spider-Man and the Sony vs. Disney dispute has put me in such a bad mood recently and when Tom really walked off the stage at the D23 Expo and said "I love you all 3000." I ABSOLUTELY FUCKING LOST IT. And then he unfollowed Sony on Instagram and I was laughing so hard. Ugh, I'm gonna miss him in the MCU so much. it's going to be so different and I don't know how to handle it.)
*PETER'S POV*
So.
Harley finally knows that I'm Spider-Man.
It's taken me a long time to tell him but I did it. And I'm proud of myself.
He took it pretty well, I think.
I've come so close to telling him so many different times, accidentally and on purpose. I just had to be sure I could trust him.
It's Saturday morning. I woke up groggily on the bottom bunk of my bunk bed and rubbed my eyes. I smiled thinking about last night.
I snuggled into him far into the early hours of the morning, almost falling asleep multiple times. At around 2:00 a.m., we decided to go home. I was hoping Aunt May wouldn't hear me as I came in because I would be in big trouble. I was out 3 hours past my curfew. I don't think she did, though because all the lights were out and I was as quiet as I could be.
I yawned and got out of bed, stretching in the middle of my floor with my blue pajama pants on.
I turned the knob and my door creaked open slowly, my head whipping left and right and straight ahead to see if Aunt May was up or not. I checked my phone.
9:44 a.m.
She should be up by now. She usually gets up early.
"May?" I yelled and ran my fingers through my tangled hair.
"Oh, hey," Aunt May walked out of her room, fully dressed. She looked like she'd been up for a while. "I didn't know when you'd wake up."
"Oh," I laughed. "I was tired."
"I bet. Considering you stayed out last night until past two in the morning. 3 hours past your regular curfew, and remember? You're grounded."
My heart dropped to my knees. I completely forgot that I'm grounded. It's already bad enough that I stayed out late, but that added on top of it? Oh God.
I stared at her, completely silent. She raised her eyebrows and awaited my response.
"So?" She dug for an explanation.
"May, I'm really sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it." She scoffed.
"I didn't mean to, okay? I forgot that I was grounded, I really did."
"Even if that's true, you still stayed out late past your usual curfew, Peter. And 11:00 is a lenient curfew for most kids your age. You should be glad I even give you that." She walked past me to the kitchen and leaned against the counter.
"But forgetfulness doesn't excuse you not following my rules when it comes to grounding you either. I told you that you can only go to work and come home for a week. No staying out late, no being Spider-Man. I didn't think it was too harsh but you couldn't even handle that for a full day."
"I don't know what to say," I whispered and lowered my head.
"Okay, well before we go any further you are grounded for another week. And each time I catch you breaking it, I'll add another week. How's that?" She stared at me and I didn't even look up. I just nodded. She continued, "And secondly, what were you doing out there?"
"I wasn't being Spider-Man, I promise," I quickly defended myself. "I was just... hanging out with one of my friends."
"Which one?"
"Um... Harley."
Complete silence.
"Oh." I looked up at her and a small smile had formed on her lips. "I didn't know that."
"Yeah," I couldn't help my smile either. "It was good."
"Okay," she sighed, "this does not validate your actions but... it's better than you doing something bad."
"May," I laughed, "what would I do that's bad?"
"I don't know, Peter, there are psychotic, manipulative people out there that can get you to do things that you don't necessarily want to do but-"
"May," I stopped her before I could get any more uncomfortable, "I don't do bad things."
"Okay," she smiled and silently chuckled. "Well... tell me about your time with Harley." She winked and shimmied toward me with a devious look in her eyes.
"I mean, it wasn't anything super special," my face burned and I stared at the floor, not wanting to embarrass myself any further.
She sat down at the dining room table and nodded her head towards the empty chair across from her. I silently cried myself to death in embarrassment and slowly sat down at the table across from her. "What happened?" May asked.
"Um... well we have this little place on the roof where we like to sit together and talk and watch the sunset and stuff. I know it's super cheesy but... I like it. And I think he does, too."
She had a sheepish grin on her face. "That's cute."
"May, stop."
"Go on."
I sighed. "Well, last night was different than the other nights because... I told him that I'm Spider-Man." I said the last part quietly, scared of how she might react.
"You told him? Already?" She seemed surprised. "That doesn't seem safe."
"We've gotten really close over the past few weeks. I've gotten to know him really well and he knows everything about me, too. It was time." I assured her and she nodded, doubtfully but respecting my decision.
"And he reacted... well, he reacted to it just about how you could expect anyone to react to it. But he got accustomed quickly and everything was back to normal." I finished and smiled.
"And...?" Her eyes stared into my soul, expecting more.
"We just kept talking. The whole night. That's why I was so late."
"Oh come on. That's all that happened?" A tone of doubt played in her voice.
"May!" My face was burning.
"Sorry, sorry," she threw her hands up in defense.
"There's nothing more to tell." I cross my arms.
"Okay." She stood and smirked. I could tell she didn't believe me but I held my ground.
Consequence #1 of Being Out Past Curfew: You have to tell Aunt May why.
"Speaking of Harley," I stand up and start to walk towards my room, "I really need to get to work."
She checks her watch. "Yeah, it's almost 10:00."
"We're having another meeting today," I pull on my suit while I talk, "and I think it's about something important."
"Ooo, superhero secret-y stuff. Have fun with that," she sat down on the couch with a cup of tea and turned on Netflix. I smiled and chuckled to myself as I opened my window and swung myself into the city.
*TONY'S POV*
Where's the kid?
He's always late.
Did he forget again?
Thoughts raced through my mind as I stood in the lobby, waiting for Peter.
A group of kids came out of the elevators to my right, laughing and talking as they strolled through the lobby with papers in their hands. A girl with red hair and a green shirt, a boy with black hair and a blue shirt, and... oh! It's Harley!
"Hey Harley!" I called to him and he turned around, grinned widely, and waved. "Hi Tony!"
His two friends stood in shock as they stared between me and Harley, back and forth. Walking away, I heard hushed whispers and Harley was beaming.
*HARLEY'S POV*
"You know Tony Stark?!" Eric was in awe.
"That's insane! Why didn't you tell us?" Felicity asked.
"I mean... it was years ago. Plus I didn't want to sound like I was bragging or anything..."
"Please," Eric waved it off. "It's too cool to be kept secret."
"Whatever," I smiled uncomfortably. My face was red. I don't like being the center of attention.
*TONY'S POV*
Finally, 5 minutes later, and a red and blue blur swung past the window and landed in front of the doors of the building. He walked in, saw me, and came towards me.
"Hi, Mr. Stark."
"Hey, Pete. Ready to go?"
"Yeah, sorry I'm a little late..."
"It's okay, I'm used to it at this point."
He laughed and we got in the elevator. He kept his mask on until we got to the conference room to conceal his identity, then pulled it off and took a deep breath of fresh air. "Ah, conference room air is way better than breathing through spandex."
"It smells like a doctor's office, though," Sam sat down diagonal from Peter and me. "I always thought it smelled like a library in here," Wanda came in, followed by Steve, Bucky, Clint, Bruce, Natasha, Thor, Carol, Stephen, T'Challa, and Shuri.
"Wow," I gazed at the people piling in, "this is really serious."
Steve nodded. Everyone took their seats and paid their attention to Steve, who was at the front of the room, a big window looking out into the city behind him. "Bruce has developments in the problem with the electromagnetic forces." A murmur went through the room. Bruce stood to the left of Steve and spoke, "Dr. Chasmain, the spokesperson for Icon Laboratories, has informed me that the pulses radiating through the continents, specifically North America, are not a form of supernatural phenomena, but of a man. His name is Maxwell Dillon, but he calls himself Electro."
The room was dead silent. My heart beat faster.
Another powerful villain, another catastrophe. I can't handle another catastrophe.
*PETER'S POV*
"Electro?" Sam raised his hand and spoke at the same time. "What kind of name is that?"
"He can control huge amounts of electricity. We aren't sure what he wants, or what his intentions are," Bruce's voice was more quiet now, "but we're working on it. I called this meeting just so I could inform you all of the updates. It seems like this could be a global catastrophe if we don't take charge of this situation soon, which is why I also invited T'Challa and Shuri from Wakanda," all eyes shifted to them and they nodded, "and our ally Stephen Strange, who has fought with us in previous battles."
Tony glared at Dr. Strange and Strange's eyes tightened.
I don't think they get along too well.
"We'll need all the help we can get." Steve pulled out a laptop and pressed play on a video.
He announced the places the video footage was from:
"Berlin."
Buildings collapsed and power lines went awry, bolts of electricity circling around them. People were running frantically as cars stopped working and crashed into each other.
"Paris."
The Eiffel Tower stood over the French city, a huge line of power surrounding it and electrocuting people below it. I had to look away. Tony patted my back.
"Hong Kong."
A yellow sky, no clouds. An airplane's engines stopped working in midair, causing the plane to soar to the ground, free falling in the sky until I heard a deafening crashing noise, my eyes still shut tight, refusing to open and see the horrors.
How could another human being do things like this to other human beings?
But it wasn't over.
"Los Angeles."
The Hollywood sign tipped over, letter by letter. Helicopters fell to the ground like dice being thrown. Lines and lines of useless, powerless cars on the roads, on the sidewalks, crashed through fences and buildings.
"Phones are useless." Steve said as he shut the laptop and I sniffed silently. "Apart from the electricity, Electro is also sending out EMPs, or electromagnetic pulses." Bruce lowered his head and Steve continued, "This is what's causing the phones, cars, planes, helicopters, and all sources of electronic usage to stop working. We haven't been hit by one, but a lot of major cities have. We could be next. Anywhere could be next. That's why we have to find this guy now."
Everyone silently agreed, still recovering from what we had just seen.
Nobody said a word. How could we? There was nothing to say.
Then, a voice spoke up. The voice of T'Challa.
"Wakanda can do it."
-
-
-
{A/N this was more Spider-Man action than Peter and Harley action, but I promise it'll get real good, real soon. I'm kind of excited about this whole idea, too hehe ;) and also, thanks for reading!}
bye for now✱
•2,106 words•