#spring tag

~TWO~

“Did I miss something?”

A couple of weeks after the lab incident, Harley walked into school, and given the state of his friends, he must have missed a conversation somewhere.

“It’s spirit week,” Ned said like that would explain things.

“Uh huh.”

“Dress like a Friend Day,” Peter explained. “We discussed this in the group chat. We’re switching clothes.”

MJ, who had up until that point been on her phone, looked up. “Yeah, you losers talked about it in the group chat that doesn’t have Harley. I offered to take him because neither of you could pull off my style.”

“I resent that,” Ned told her.

“Sucks to suck,” she returned. “Harley, if your broad ass shoulders ruin my shirt, I’ll kill you.”

She shoved him into a bathroom and gave him the shirt she’d been wearing. He handed over his own sweater, and when he checked himself out in the mirror, he had to admit, it wasn’t a bad look on him.

“How offended will you be if you don’t end up getting this back?” she asked, tucking the garment into her jeans.

“Not very. It’s soft, right?”

“Yes. I like it.”

He opened the door for her, and they started walking back towards their other friends. “You have a group chat without me?”

“You didn’t always live in New York. Sometimes they forget which chat is the right one.”

Harley accepted that as an answer, and glanced back over at Peter who had to bunch up the cuffs of Ned’s sweatshirt so he could use his hands. The extra fabric rolled off his shoulders and pooled at his waist and-

Huh. Well that was new. He’d never really, well, looked at Peter Parker before, and wow, he wished they’d talked about this in the right group chat just so he could have swapped with him.

~THREE~

Which one of them was going to SUNY? Peter was going to NYU, he was going to MIT, Ned was going to Columbia-

MJ.

From Harley: where are you

From MJ: like two blocks from the coffee place, what’s up?

Harley didn’t even answer before he excused himself and bolted out the back door so he could catch her before she made it.

“Did you run here? Seriously, what’s up?”

He was aware that he was heaving slightly, but he had in fact ran there, and he was upset. “Why does Peter have one of your sweatshirts?”

“Which one?”

“Excuse me?”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Which. One?”

“The SUNY one. Yellow with the white lettering.”

“Ah.” She nodded. “He wanted to be supportive when I committed to what school I wanted to go to, so I let him take my spare.”

He rounded on her without much thought. “People will talk, you know.”

Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk in New York was generally a big no, and MJ didn’t hesitate to grab him by the collar and haul his ass off to the side. “If you have something to say, you better spit it out real fucking quick, Keener.”

“He isn’t yours.”

“He’s not yours either, and you better be fucking grateful I don’t kick your ass right here and now for implying that he is anyone’s other than his own. Peter is genuinely one of the most supportive people I’ve ever met. He has one of everyone’s college sweaters: mine, Ned’s, May’s. You’re telling me you thought you were the only one?” she hissed.

“What?”

“Wow, stuck up much, Keener? Jesus, get your head out of your ass.”

“No. I’m- What?”

She registered the shock in his face, and softened. “Does he… does he not have an MIT sweater of yours?”

He shook his head.

“Oh, so you thought- Oh, Harley, I’m sorry. No, he’s just like that. But I stand by what I said. He’s his own person and it’s my sworn duty to protect his honor.”

“Understood. Coffee?”

“You owe it to me to pay for mine since you gave me a heart attack. How are you explaining walking in a second time with me to the rest of our group?”

“English question. Couldn’t lose it.”

“Damn you and your ADHD. They’ll believe that. Is the cute barista working today?”

“I’m going to slip her your number when I pay,” Harley poked her. “She checks you out every time we come in, I’m making your move for you.”

“Don’t you dare,” she warned.

He let their usual banter wash over him, and took a deep breath. This was getting out of hand.

~FOUR~

Tony clapped his hands, startling the both of them out of their reveries. “We’re going on a field trip, kids.”

Harley started walking towards the elevator. “Where to?”

“It’s a surprise, but bring your overnight bag.”

“Warm or cold climate?” Peter asked.

“Warm. Jet takes off in 20.”

15 minutes later saw Harley leaned against the wall scrolling through his phone with his bag at his feet. Peter stepped out of the elevator, looking slightly disheveled.

“You good?”

“I’m probably missing something, but it’s fine. How are you so put together?”

“I have a go bag,” Harley shrugged.

“You have a go bag,” Peter repeated.

Hearing it come out of someone else’s mouth made him realize how it sounded to be packed and ready to leave at any time. “I watch a lot of Criminal Minds,” he said, trying to play it off. “Anyways, in our line of work, who knows where we could end up going.”

Peter squinted at him, but thankfully he didn’t push it.

Tony started shoving them towards the quinjet a few minutes later, and started flight prechecks while the boys stowed their bags. He still wouldn’t tell them where they were going.

The secrecy made sense when they landed in Wakanda. His Royal Highness, King T’Challa greeted them as they stepped off the ramp.

“We have been looking forward to a visit from you all,” he said.

Harley took in the view as he and Tony exchanged words. He tuned back in when he heard his name mentioned.

“My younger sister will want to speak with your boys, but it’s up to her as to how she wants to go about doing so. I’m not sure where she is at the moment, but she should be joining us shortly.”

Sure enough, a girl around their age raced out from the palace, and stopped in front of them. “You called?” she laughed. “I’ll take them separately, I have different things I want to show the both of them. Spider-boy,” she addressed Peter first, “you’ll be joining me in the lab first.”

Harley didn’t speak for fear of being impertinent, but Tony answered his unasked question. “You’ll tag along with us on a tour of the palace and the caverns below until she needs you. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.”

He nodded. “I need to stretch my legs after being cooped up in the jet for so long anyways.”

And stretch their legs they did. The walk into the caverns had to be done completely on foot, but it was worth it. He was almost disappointed when he and Peter traded places.

Peter was wearing a different sweater than he was a little while ago. He tried not to fixate on it, but the Wakandan design complimented him well. He was smiling, which Harley took as a good sign.

He took his place at the princess’ side, and they made their way back towards her lab. “What should I expect, your Highness?”

“A public execution if you call me ‘your Highness’ again,” she snarked. “Shuri is fine. In my lab, you should expect your wildest dreams to come true.”

“That’s a tall order, princess.”

She smacked his shoulder, and he laughed. “Watch that I don’t lock you out. Boys,” she said exasperatedly.

“I’m sorry, I promise I’ll be good.”

Her lab absolutely made his wildest dreams come true. She had machinery that he could have only dreamed of back in New York, and it worked exactly the way he had hoped.

After what felt like no time messing around and inventing in her lab, she got a call from her brother that they were to make their way to the banquet hall for dinner.

“You’re both welcome back down after we finish our meal,” she informed him as they cleaned up. “It’s not every day I get to work with geniuses on my level.”

“Peter’s great and all, but you’re definitely a nice change of pace for me.” He hesitated before asking a question that had been gnawing at him since when they switched places. “Speaking of Peter…”

“Yes?” She turned her full attention on him, and he swallowed.

“The sweater he was wearing-”

“-is mine,” she said. “I was explaining how we in Wakanda weave vibranium into our clothing to make it stronger, and I wondered if he could work the same principle into his suit. He asked if he could try on the article I showed him, and I told him to keep it if it would help in figuring out how to replicate the results.”

He tried not to show the sinking feeling in his chest, but she picked up on it regardless.

“You know, he seems to be the type of person who would take anyone’s clothing under the right circumstances. If you want him to have something of yours so badly, I’m sure you can find a way to engineer a situation in which he ends up with an article of your clothing as well.”

“Am I that obvious?”

“Not to him apparently, but trust me when I say, the way he spoke of you makes me think he would accept without hesitation.”

“You know, for a royal, you ain’t so bad.”

She nudged his shoulder. “And for an American, you exceeded my expectations. Come now, my brother awaits.”

~FIVE~

When he moved to New York, Harley spent a considerable amount of time with Peter’s aunt because of how much she reminded him of his own mother. Being in the Parker’s lives was so natural, he felt like he’d been a part of them his whole life.

Except some days, like today, he really, really didn’t.

He went over to their apartment in Queens once a month for dinner. May was taking cooking lessons, and she was steadily improving, so while Harley had started out bringing pizza from the nearest take out place, he was now relegated to bringing desserts or drinks.

Which is exactly what he showed up with the day Peter opened the door, a grin on his face and a flush high on his cheeks, covered in smudges of flour.

“Um-”

“Harley! May, Harley’s here!”

Peter was wearing a sweatshirt from a boarding school upstate. Why would Peter have a sweater from a boarding school?”

“Who’s Harley?” a new voice asked.

An unfamiliar brunette appeared behind Peter. “Is this a bad time? I didn’t realize you had company.”

“No, no, I’m sorry I forgot to text you. Harley, this is Harry. Harry, meet Harley. He’s back home after running away to get away from us city folk,” Peter jabbed at the boy behind him.

“I like you city folk just fine,” Harry teased back. “Harry Osborn, good to meet you.” He held out his hand for Harley to shake.

He accepted tentatively. “Harley Keener. Sorry, I really didn’t know they had company or I wouldn’t have come.”

“The more the merrier right? Anyways, you know this guy, probably got so busy he forgot to tell either of us there was going to be more than just him and May.”

Harley felt sick to his stomach. He recognized the look on Harry’s face when he looked at Peter because it was the same one that plagued his own whenever Peter did something ridiculous. If this was the Harry Ned and MJ had told him about, being here was only going to hurt him.

Harry was the almost-ex that decided they should stay friends, but that didn’t mean the feelings weren’t still there.

He needed to leave. Now. “Look man, I’d love to stay, but when you’re back home, you don’t really want to spend time with someone you don’t know. Enjoy your night, and I hope we cross paths again. See you, Peter. Bye May!”

May shouted back, and Peter barely had a chance to protest before he closed the door behind him and fled down the stairs. He knew it was too much to hope that he ever had a chance.

~PLUS ONE~

Tony allowing Harley to have his own space was a godsend some days. He changed into pajamas while he warmed up some leftovers in the microwave, and no one was around to judge him for watching questionable sitcoms.

Why he gave Peter a key was beyond him.

“What the hell?”

“Why did you leave?”

“I’m not going to get in the way when you have people over, Peter. Jesus Christ, who do you think I am?”

“The type of person who upholds family traditions!”

He was still wearing Harry’s shirt. Peter was in his apartment and still wearing Harry’s shirt. “Peter-”

“No, seriously, I know it’s not normal to have other people over during family dinner, but you would have gotten along great with Harry, and you just left.”

“I’m not getting in the way of another family’s reunion!” he shouted. “You never told me about Harry, but he clearly has a bigger part in your life than you’re willing to share with me, and I have to respect that.”

Peter was shocked speechless. He stared at Harley like he was a madman.

“Well? Either stay or go back to your own apartment. You’ll have to order food if you stay, I only have enough leftovers for myself.”

“Fine.” Peter spun on his heel and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Finally, peace and quiet.

In all honesty, Harley lost his appetite. He set his bowl to the side and scrolled listlessly through his watchlist.

Some time later, there was a knock at his door.

He certainly wasn’t expecting to open it and find Peter standing on the other side with a pizza box and soda.

It was a mirror of their first dinner together with just them and May. Had he not been so tired, he might have laughed. “Why?”

“We’re eating dinner.”

“You’re not sitting on my couch with your sweater like that. I just vacuumed.”

Peter glanced down at himself as if just realizing he was a mess. “Right. Do I still have spare clothes in your guest room?”

“I haven’t moved them,” Harley said dismissively. He ignored Peter excusing himself in favor of finding napkins and cups.

He balanced everything in his hands and started to turn around. “Are you going to make me have a conversation? Or can I just pick a show so we can eat in silence?” he called. No response.

Great, so, silent treatment. That’s just fucking-

He looked up. “Is that my shirt?”

Peter stood in the entryway to the kitchen, definitely wearing Harley’s shirt.

“Could you not find your own shirts? Did I move your clothes? I’m sorry if I did, I didn’t-”

“Will you shut the fuck up?”

Harley did.

“I don’t have anything of yours. Somehow it was never convenient for me to steal one of your shirts. Wanted to though, your clothes always look soft.”

“You could have asked,” Harley whispered. He was struggling to breathe seeing his Tennessee high school logo on someone else’s chest.

“Could have,” Peter agreed. “But I was just in your bathroom, trying to get flour off my neck and noticed this hanging off the door.”

He hung his pajama shirt on the back of the bathroom door. Peter was wearing his pajama shirt. “Uh huh.”

“Didn’t think you’d mind.”

“Really don’t.”

“Are you going to talk to me now that I’m not wearing his clothes?”

Harley took a deep breath and glanced up at the ceiling. “Listen, I’m going to need you to face the other way for a second because I’ve been wanting to bring up the fact that you don’t have any of my shirts for a while, and this is a pretty big moment for me.”

His eyes squinted with mirth. “Just let me know when I can look.”

He turned to look out into the living room, and Harley silently cheered like a massive dork. All this time trying to find a scenario in which Peter ended up with his clothes, and this wasn’t even planned.

“Okay, you’re good.”

Peter turned back around, shaking his head and smiling. “So, you wanted me to end up with your clothes?”

“Didn’t seem fair that you had things from everyone but me,” Harley said.

“You could have just given me something.”

“I didn’t want to assume you wanted anything,” he countered.

“Oh trust me, I did.”

“Well, take this as your invitation to take whatever you want. I’ll even let you into my closet.”

“And if I want the boy who wears them?”

“I’m already out of the closet, so that should certainly save you some time.”

“Is that so?” Peter asked, striding closer to him and tugging on his collar.

“It is,” Harley confirmed.

“Good. That’ll make this a lot easier.”

Harley couldn’t have anticipated the way his stomach dropped if he tried. Kissing Peter was like riding a roller coaster. He was warmth and butterflies and euphoria rolled into the press of his lips against his.

When they broke apart, Harley tried to chase him, but Peter held him back. “I think,” he breathed. “I think I want this one next.” He plucked at the bottom of his sweater, and Harley groaned.