Last Name?

by PeachyKeener

Chapter 3: The Prologue- Part Three.

Summary:

Harley stared at the man in the glass container with four metal octopus looking grabbers attached to his back. The Man stared back. Harley grinned. 

Notes:

chapter three and the last part of the prologue! in about two weeks this story will start updating with- gasp- the real story! no more prologue just regular fanfic.

Thank you to the wonderful emry who beta read this for me. we started this journey together four years ago and i. I'm so happy to say were continuing it together. I love you so much and I'm SO proud of you for getting into grad school.

Anyway, sorry this is late, I was actually at disney world and universal so like. wild and the most fun I've ever had ever. i literally loved it. I'm full of love for harry potter once again and shall be doing so much for that fandom if i decide to sink that low.

 

The events of Spider-Man: Far From Home

Four  Months and Three Days until the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

Peter frowned at him, pressing closer to his chest from where they were curled up in bed together, “Are you sure you don’t wanna come?”

“Positive,” He sniffed, pressing his face into Peter’s curls. “No offense, Pete, but I don’t really think I want to be in a foreign country without my family after everything that just happened.”

“Yeah but… It’s a chance to be normal kids,” His boyfriend murmured. “Think about it. You. Me. A romantic candle-lit dinner in Prague. It could be cute.”

Harley snorted and pulled away to look his boyfriend in the eyes, “Normal kids huh?”

“Yep.”

“Then are you not taking the Spider suit?”

“That’s not fair,” Peter huffed, sitting up. “I have to take it, Harls. You know that.” 

Harley mirrored his boyfriend, raising a sharp eyebrow. “I think that I know you need a true break. Not to deal with more stuff as Spidey.”

“The world needs Spider-man,” he said pointedly before rolling his eyes and tugging Harley close. “Just like I need my wonderful boyfriend to come with me on this trip. Please, Harls!” 

“Pete,” He said softly after a second of thinking. “I’m just not up to it. Not really.” 

Peter studied him for a second before nodding slowly. “You know, sometimes I think the only reason I am up to is because I’m trying to distract myself from what happened.”

“I know,” Harley murmured gently. “Just like I know you know that I don’t really think that’s going to work for me. We’re coping in different ways, love.”

“I know.” Peter copied before shaking his head and kissing the underside of Harley’s jaw. “Compromise.”

“Let me hear it.”

“I won’t bring the suit,” Peter hesitated really hard before continuing. “If you meet me for a few nights somewhere. We can go get dinner, and escape, and have a nice little time just the two of us. You could get one of those fancy nice rich people hotels. We could…” 

Harley flushed hard. “Peter Parker, are you telling me to fly halfway across the world so that you can get some.”

“Well, I’m not not saying that,” Peter grinned when he laughed. “But mostly, I’ve been thinking that you and I should go so that we could have some true alone time and relaxation.” 

He took a second to play with Peter’s curls and let the idea sink in. He wouldn’t be away from Abbie and Morgan for long… he wouldn’t be away from Stark Industries for long either… it could be fun. Romantic. They were seventeen now, and the snap hadn't exactly discouraged life from moving forward. They’d be eighteen next year and at MIT, together, and this could be a nice little… practice run. 

“Alright.” He said softly, “I’ll come for a week. That’s just two places right?”

Peter let out a whoop, throwing himself closer to Harley and peppering kisses all over his face. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Peter!” Giggling, he tried pushing his boyfriend away a few different times, before giving in and giving him a long kiss. 

It felt good to be laughing and kissing Peter. It always felt good but this felt… cleansing. Nice. Relaxing. It felt like they had before the snap, before everything went down. Just the two of them, in bed together, kissing and relaxing. 

He pulled away slowly, laughing when Peter tried to follow him, “Let's get married one day.”

“Tomorrow,” Peter said eagerly. “We could tomorrow.”

“Dork,” he laughed, kissing him again. “Not tomorrow. Not even in the next year. Just one day. I want that.” 

 

Peter huffed, kissing under his jaw again before resting his head on Harley’s shoulder. “We could do it after we turn eighteen.”

“Maybe.” Pressing his face into Peter’s curls again, he hummed. “We have time to think about it. I just want you to know that I want to marry you, one day.”

“I know,” Peter whispered. “I wanna marry you too.”

Harley was in the middle of braiding Morgan’s hair when Peter called him. Pausing his motions he brought his phone up to his shoulder, making a face at Morgan. “Sup, Pete.” 

“How mad would you be if I, um, if I had given away EDITH?” 

He blinked hard and paused, taking the phone from his ear, “Hey Morgan, go get Abbie to finish this braid.” 

“But you said you’d do it,” the little girl huffed but stood obediently. “Meanie.” 

“I’ll make sure to sneak you an extra ice cream tonight,” he placated, watching her go before turning back to his boyfriend. “I’m going to need you to repeat that.” 

Peter took a deep breath and when he spoke his voice was shaky like he was on the verge of tears. “Um, you haven’t been watching the news lately, have you?” 

“I stay away from it when I can.” 

“Well, uh,” Peter audibly winced and Harley frowned hard. It wasn’t like his boyfriend to be this upset over something. “May ended up putting the suit in my bag. And I’m glad she did. Some things are happening over here and um, I met this inter-dimensional hero and- Harls he’s so much better at this than I am.” 

The words echoed in his brain for a second before he took a breath, “Peter, it’s okay. He’s more experienced but he’s no neighborhood spiderman.” 

“But maybe that’s all I should be,” Peter said quietly. “A friendly neighborhood Spiderman.” 

“What? Where is this coming from- literally a few days ago you were talking about how the world needed Spiderman.” 

Peter let out a harsh breath on the other end and Harley felt his gut tug. This would probably be better in person. “That was before I realized what that would take Harley! I’m not- I’m not like Mysterio! I’m not like him and I’m not like Mr. Stark! I’m not the big leagues.” 

“I think you’re pretty big leagues,” Harley swallowed. “I think this Mysterio guy is probably not as good as you think. You get blinded by hero worship too much.” 

“You’re wrong,” Peter snapped back, before sighing. “I gave him EDITH.” 

This time, it was Harley who let out a hard breath, hands gripping the phone tightly. “That wasn’t yours to give, Peter Benjamin.”

“He gave it to me!” 

“That doesn’t mean it’s yours!” 

“I can’t do this, Harley!” His boyfriend's voice was loud and angry and hurt, and it made Harley’s head spin. “Harley, seeing how Mysterio works- all the things Mysterio’s done, I don’t- how the hell am I supposed to be a good superhero when I can’t even begin to measure up?” 

“By being you,” Harley insisted quietly. “I’ve never heard of this Mysterio-“ 

“-because he’s from another dimension-“ 

“-But I have heard of you,” he pushed on without acknowledging his boyfriend's words. “I’ve heard of Spider-Man. I’ve heard of what you do. Who you help. That’s why you do this, Peter. Not because you’re the best hero but because you love helping people. And you know you can help people!” 

“That’s not enough anymore!”

“That’s all there is to it!” Harley spat. “If you can’t see that then I don’t know why you even try to be Spider-Man!” 

Peter let out a shaky sigh, a quiet breath. It sounded like that one breath had been trapped in his lungs for a long time. The kind of sigh that came from somewhere in the soul and burned its way through people. “I don’t know either.” 

Harley stared at his phone in silence for a minute. This was… this wasn’t Peter. Peter loved being Spider-Man. He loved the thrill of the fight and the urge to help people. He loved swinging on his webs through New York and helping the everyday common people. Peter threw himself into fighting like it was everything he’d ever known. It was everything to Peter. He really didn’t understand where this was coming from. 

Slowly, he brought the phone back to his ear, murmuring into the speaker, “That’s okay.” 

“It doesn’t feel okay.” 

“No,” he said quietly, “I imagine it wouldn’t.” 

“I don’t- I don’t know what to do, Harls.” 

Peter's voice was sad and a little broken. It hurt something deep in Harley’s heart to hear. “You do your best, Peter.” 

“I need you here,” Peter sniffed. “I don’t… I don’t know how to get through this without you.” 

“Three more days,” He said softly, wishing he could make the time fly faster. “I have to be there for the Stark press conference and then I’m yours. Okay?” 

“Okay,” Peter said after a moment, then sighed. “I’ll tell Mysterio that the glasses are only his until the end of whatever’s happening here.” 

“Thank you,” Harley stared at the carpet. “They were the last thing he invented and I.. I want it to stay in the family.”

His boyfriend sucked in a breath, “Oh baby. I didn’t even think about that… I’m so sorry, love. I’ll get them back.” 

They stayed quiet for a moment before Harley let out a soft sigh. “I won’t cry over spilled milk. You said you’d fix it and I believe you. So, tell me about the rest of the trip so far.” 

“You already know everything,” Peter said after a second, tone light. “Flash has been more and more tolerable by the day. MJ has been busy texting a bunch of random European girls on tinder. Says it’s fun to be part of the capitalist onslaught of fake love just for a bit. And then Ned and Betty…” 

“Netty,” he grinned, flipping back on the couch to look up at the ceiling. “My favorite couple.” 

“I thought we were your favorite couple.” 

“I’m too big a sucker for how Betty has been into Ned for like a year and a half and Ned is just now noticing.” 

“Yes because that’s so much better than you pining for me, Spiderman, and your online friend Peter.” 

“You’re never going to let that go are you.” 

Peter laughed, a real genuine laugh. Internally Harley whooped. He was a wonderful amazing boyfriend, getting his boyfriend to laugh after being in tears. He should be awarded- the best boyfriend award. The prize should be his boyfriend and him getting a weekend alone somewhere romantic. 

“I love you, Harls,” Peter said, easy as breathing. “But no. I will not let that go.” 

“I love you too, Peter,” he mocked gently, “You’re  lucky that I won’t beat you while you’re so clearly down, or else I’d be reminding you of all the embarrassing things you do on a daily basis.”

“Like what!” 

“Like writing a news article for the daily bugle about how Spider-Man, you, are a menace that needs to be detained.” 

Peter let out another laugh, “Fuck you, that was funny!”

“I know it was funny,” He giggled, leaning further onto the couch, “I proofread it didn’t I?” 

Peter let out a fond huff. “You did. Added some details to it too.”

“You just made it so easy to bash the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.” 

“I’m choosing to take that as a compliment.” Peter said indignantly before shuffling around in the background and sighing. “I should probably go.”

His heart tugged. He wanted to be talking to Peter more. He hadn’t realized how much he’d miss his boyfriend once he was gone, but Peter’s constant presence had meant a lot to him these past few months. Without his boyfriend here to pull him out of his head, he found himself staring into space, wondering about his dad more often than he was comfortable with. 

Sighing, Harley pushed away the discomfort in his heart. “Alright. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Peter murmured gently. “I promise to keep you updated about everything.”

“Well, everything that can happen in three days. Then I’m all yours.”

He could hear Peter’s smile as his boyfriend responded. “Three days. Then you’re all mine.”

Hanging up, he tilted his head up to study the roof. Three days and then he and Peter would be back together. Things would be good. They’d be great. Peter would get EDITH back, they’d deal with whatever was going on in Europe, and then they’d have a lovely time in some fancy hotel rooms that he’d force Pepper to book for him. 

For now, he needed to go to check on his sisters and prepare for the Stark Industries shareholder meeting. 

After all what could go wrong in three days? 

The events of Spider-Man: Far From Home

Four Months until the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

Harley jerked out of the plane as soon as it hit the field, desperately trying to get to his boyfriend. They had managed to land in a field of flowers when they finally managed to track Peter down. He thought they were somewhere in Holland. 

It was strange to think that a week ago, his boyfriend and him were talking about how they were going to get a hotel here. Now, all he could do was rush forward, letting out a gasping, “Peter!”

His boyfriend was on his knees, face battered and bruised, staring at him with a desperate expression. “Harley!” 

He swooped down, pulling Peter into his arms and pressing him close, cradling him. He couldn’t help the hiccuping sob that escaped his chest as he pressed his boyfriend as close as he physically could, peppering kisses into his hair and scalp. Peter’s arms came to wrap around him, fingers digging into his shirt.

“I messed up,” Peter sobbed into his chest, looking so small. “I messed up. I can’t do this- Harley- Harley, I messed up. I failed.”

“You did not fail,” Harley hissed, wanting to meet Peter’s eyes but refusing to pull away. “I don’t know everything that happened but I know you didn’t fail- It was that man, wasn’t it?”

“He’s not- I thought he was-” 

“I’ll kill him,” He said. It wasn’t until he said it that he realized how true the words were. This man, this Mysterio, seemingly crushed his boyfriend's confidence. Manipulated him. And then turned on him from what Harley could tell. “Peter, say the word and I will fucking kill him.” 

Peter shook his head, trembling. 

They stayed there for a moment, clutching at each other. He was certain that Happy was watching them in the background but the knowledge didn’t deter him from craddeling Peter closer. After a moment though, and a small hiss from Peter, he realized that his boyfriend was still desperately hurt. 

Standing, Harley placed one of Peter’s hands over his shoulder. Peter had gained an inch on him in the past three months and the body mass of a superhero made his knees buckle as he supported all his boyfriend's weight. Slowly, together, they struggled towards the plane before Happy thought to act and support Peter with him. 

They placed Peter on a seat in the plane, Harley immediately moving to press into his side, pressing a kiss into his cheekbones. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.” 

“It won’t,” Peter didn’t turn to look at him, eyes trained on the floor of the plane. “I can’t do this anymore, Harley.”

“You can-”

“I can’t!” Peter’s voice raised before he shook his head and lowered it again, still not looking at him. “I’m not- I’m not the hero everyone wants me to be.”

This time it was Harley who shook his head, “That’s stupid Peter, you’re the best hero-"

“But I’m not,” Peter cried out, pressing his palms to his eyes. “I’m not! I’m not! I’m not Iron Man or Captain America, or anyone great!”

“Peter-”

“I cannot be like them! Look at the mess I’ve gotten myself into, Harley! Look at what I’ve done!”

“Peter-”

“Kid,” Happy cut him off this time, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. “Go to the lab. Let me handle this.”

He turned to Happy, frowning. “Happy, he needs me.”

“He needs something else right now, Harley,” Happy said firmly. “Lab. Go. I’ve got him.”

Harley looked towards Peter but his boyfriend still wasn’t looking at him. Feeling helpless, he pressed a soft kiss into the skin of Peter’s cheek, careful not to kiss his hands that were still pressed to his eyes. When Peter still didn’t look up at him he turned, slowly making his way into the mini-lab inside of the plane. 

If he couldn’t help Peter through talking, he could at least prepare to help fix Peter’s suit. 

That’s what he did, after all. He fixed things. That’s all he could do. Be the technician. The mechanic. His dad wasn’t here to hold everyone’s pieces together anymore so now it was up to him. It had to be up to him to hold everything together. 

Mentally, he ran through a checklist. Pepper was okay. She was back in New York, sealing a few different deals for Stark Industries. One of the deals was something about prosthetics. The other was about hearing aides. She was struggling, but okay. Surviving. Abbie was okay. Abbie was doing her best to find out and track down which of their friends from childhood had been snapped and which hadn’t. She was okay. Coping. Morgan was okay. She was safe, tucked into her bed at the cabin, not a care or worry in the world. Rhodey was okay. He was with air force one, helping to track down what was going on over here through the UN. 

The only people who he could think of that weren’t okay were Peter and him. 

But Harley could help Peter. Whatever this Mysterio did, it wouldn’t matter at the end of the day because he would help. He would help and everything would be okay. 

He was a mechanic. He fixed things. 

Slowly, he wiped tears he hadn’t even realized were falling in favor of  staring up at the Iron Spider’s suit blueprint. There were several tears in the nanobots that would need to be fixed before he could do anything else. He was lucky that he’d brought some of his new nanos, ones that would hopefully allow for self rebuilding. The programming should be able to spread from nano to nano, meaning this sort of damage wouldn’t happen again. 

The one thing he couldn’t fix was Peter’s web shooters. The damage on those were the type that he was fifty five percent sure that only Peter could deal with as part of the intentional design. 

He could only help with the structure. 

But that was fine, Harley reasoned. Everything needed structure. He would be Peter’s right now. And always. He’d always be Peter’s structure. Just like how when he needed it, Peter would be his. They worked together like that. 

It was fine. 

It would be fine. 

Harley didn’t know how much time had passed before Peter slipped into the room, offering him a  small smile. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he said back softly. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” Peter admitted, slipping closer to press a kiss to his shoulder. “Happy helped. Now I’m ready to help fix the suit.”

“So you’re gonna fight?”

“Always have,” He shrugged. “I may not be them, but I’m still a hero.” 

Harley smiled softly. “Yes. You are. My hero.” 

Together, they fixed the suit.

Harley slammed down a bot, glancing at where Flash and MJ stood back to back with a baseball bat in both hands. These fucking drones were annoying as shit, he decided as he blasted through another that came dangerously close to him. It was hard to tell what was real and what wasn’t too as they projected holograms and shit that Harley, frankly, did not have the goddamn patience for. 

The suit took a hit as a bot slammed into him, pinning him to the ground before he could beam it off, “Fuck!”

“Harley!” MJ shouted, jerking away from her position next to Flash to drive the bat through the bot trying to dig into the armor, “You okay?”

“Not really!” He shouted back, jerking up to blast a bot away from her head. “You seen Spidey or Ned for that matter?”

Flash came stumbling next to him, clutching his own bat hard. “I saw Ned and Spidey heading in the same direction, but I lost sight of them.”

“Shit,” Harley grumbled, preparing for take off before a bot shot at him, sending him out of the air and tumbling to the ground. 

The world spun and he wheezed a breath of pain as he collided with the ground. The suit, as it was trained to do, let him go. Nanobots crawled back up his skin and into the mini-arc he was wearing as his vision beeped red and blue. Crap. 

The armor was damaged. 

Alright, this is fine, that was fine. 

Looking around the rubble, he worked quickly, grabbing a mace- a mace? He blinked hard. They were definitely trapped in some sort of museum- maybe historical district? Where the fuck where they? He glanced up, towards MJ and Flash. 

The two of them were fighting off bots that threatened to swarm them, once again back to back. Distantly, he heard gunfire as Happy tried taking down the bots in his own way. Betty was with him if he remembered correctly. The only two unaccounted for were Ned and Peter. 

Jerking, he moved up, slamming the heavy metal into any bot that flew too close to him, before running his way to Flash. “Which direction did they go?!”

“That way,” Flash shouted, pointing through the door. “Where’s your armor?!”

“Malfunctioning! I’ll deal with it later!” 

He ducked out the doorway, taking note of where they were. He’d never been to London before, and it really sucked that his first major visit to this place was him and his boyfriend getting chased around by killer robots and fighting some fucking lunitic that broke down his boyfriends self confidence instead of something fun and cool. Why couldn’t he be visiting a friend or touring the country? Why was his life like this? 

Once again, his body gave a full motion jerk as he turned, eyes widening. Holy fuck. Those were a lot of bots on the Tower fucking Bridge. 

People were on that bridge. Oh fuck, People were on that bridge. 

He ran hard, tapping the suit to reform. Harley had never tried to operate a damaged suit before and technically they weren’t made for operation. The second that the suit sustained enough damage to need it to be shut down, it was made to shut down. But he’d over ridden that code after his dad’s death, just in case. 

Now he was glad that he had. 

When he looked up, he saw Peter swinging across the bridge with what must be Mysterio himself. His boyfriend occupied, he forced the suit on and immediately began getting civilians off the bridge. 

Women and children clamored to him, trapped from the wreckage of cars and bots exploding, as he began the same system he’d used five years ago to evacuate those he could. He needed to work fast, he reminded himself, and it blurred together in front of his eyes as he got person after person out of there. 

Harley threw himself into saving the civilians so that Peter could focus on saving them from the villain. It was his job, he supposed, to be the support. This was Peter’s battle. He was the one who needed to fight Mystrio, to redeem himself. So he focused on the civilians. 

It was just unfortunate that because he was so focused on the civilians, he completely neglected the bots. 

Now, Harley can pinpoint a lot of times he’s been in pain before without blacking out. For example; when he got stabbed and abducted. Or when he got snapped, he stayed dead asleep for it. Whenever he’d gotten hurt before he tended to take it in stride, either panicking but slowly coming back to himself until he was able to get help or doing his best to get out of the situation. 

This was different because he didn’t see it coming, just felt the blooming pain on the left side of his head. 

And then he was falling down into the water of the Thames, unconscious. 

The suit, thank god, was programmed to keep water out of it. After Peter’s little incident in the lake back when he first started and Harley's rampant fear of drowning that came after the water tower fell, Tony had designed the technology pretty immediately and Harley had only improved it. 

That didn’t mean it was comfortable to be unconscious at the bottom of a river because there was no way out of the river. 

Harley just drifted. 

He drifted until something pulled him out of the water, to which he blearily made out the form of Happy, MJ, and Ned, before he passed right back out. 

When he actually came to, it was a day after the battle of the bridge. Peter was in the bed next to him as he blinked hard, squinting at the light. His throat was dry and his head was absolutely pounding as he looked around the room. 

God, just moving made his head scream in pain. He winced as he tried to sit up, only to be met with his boyfriend’s muffled voice. “Harley!”

He looked towards Peter. Peter looked at him, eyes wide. “I’ve been calling your name since you blinked.” 

“Oh,” The words were muffled as Harely blinked slowly. The words Peter was speaking were strange. Distant. “Peter?”

His boyfriend made some sort of noise of affirmation before speaking, “Yeah?”

“Call the doctor.” 

Turns out that the bot had slammed into the left side of his head and gave him an immense amount of brain damage. The doctor that SHIELD had provided them was actually pretty surprised he was awake at all and not still asleep, but took that as a good enough sign. What he took as a bad sign, however, was the fact that Harley seemed to have lost a good amount of hearing in his left ear. 

It was strange. Hard to process. What made it worse was Peter’s sobbing insistence that this was his fault, no matter how much Harley swore that Peter had done nothing wrong. It put the two of them at odds, for once. Mainly because, well… 

He loved Peter. Genuinely he did. But Peter had this problem of taking on his problems like it affected Peter more. This didn’t affect Peter more because it was Harley’s body. It was his hearing and he fucking hated the fact that his boyfriend was attempting to pretend to be just as affected. 

That wasn’t a fair mindset but whatever. He’d already had therapy because of the snap, so that was just another thing to work on. 

Harley opted to allow the entire class back on a private flight using a few different jet’s so they didn’t have to deal with the public airport and flying back with everything happening. Plus, he wanted to stay with Peter and the press was sure to be hounding him if he went anywhere public with what just happened. 

The video of Iron Lad falling into the river like a rag doll, he grimaced, already had 7.6 billion views on it with a lot of youtubers, news reporters, and civilians taking online to give their two cents on if Harley was alive or dead and if he was dead who killed him. 

It was tiring and he just wanted to go home with his boyfriend. 

Once he was home, though, he split himself in between the Tower and the Parker apartment, tucked into his boyfriend's arm as he slept or designed hearing aides. The world being muffled startled him and oftentimes he’d wake up afraid. Then he’d remember what was happening, where he was, and what had happened and he’d calm down. 

The doctor said that was normal in cases like his, where blunt force trauma had created hearing loss. Apparently going your whole life with decent enough hearing only to be brutally forced into having only half your hearing was traumatic and had a long adjustment period. 

Peter blamed himself for that too. 

His boyfriend blamed himself for everything these days. Harley hated it more than anything else in the world. It wasn’t fair. It irked him and made his skin itch and all Harley wanted was for his boyfriend to realize that this wasn’t his fault. It was that dead fucker Mysterio’s. 

Pulling away from his boyfriend’s chest, he lifted his head to meet his eyes. “Hey.” 

“Hi,” Peter murmured back, looking down at him with tired eyes. He looked exhausted. “How are you feeling?”

“Broodish.” He responded, reaching up to gently trace the bags under his eyes. “You?”

“Same,” Peter looked away before leaning down to press a kiss into Harley’s hair. “We should watch something.”

Harley blinked and pulled back. “Nah, we’ve been laying here long enough. Wanna go swing and pick up takeout?”

“Mmm, don’t wanna leave you.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Peter stared at him for a second, probably thinking to say something about how Harley was still healing and shouldn’t be straining himself. Clearly, though, his boyfriend thought better of that and instead nodded, “Alright, love.”

He climbed off Peter with clumsy legs, stretching out his back and spine. His boyfriend’s hands came to rest where his shirt rose up, still sitting on the couch as he looked up at Harley. Harley looked down at him, offering a smile before Peter pulled him into a soft kiss. Gently, he kissed back. 

Moments like this were precious to him. Tender softness on bad days when neither of them were doing particularly great. It seemed like Peter was the only one who was able to draw that feeling of love and comfort from his chest these days and he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“We can go to that Indian place,” he murmured against Peter’s lips before he pulled away. “The place May likes. We can drop her some food off at the hospital before we come back.”

“Sounds perfect, Harls,” Peter smiled before standing up and activating the suit and picking him up in one fell swoop. “Mind opening the window for me?”

“One day someone’s gonna see you leaving,” Harley joked as he reached over to pull the window up. “And then everyone will know my boyfriend is Spider-Man.”

“Technically, the world already knows you have something with Spidey-”

He barked a laugh out as Peter got ready to swing. “You sound like a tumblr conspiracy theorist, ready to talk about how I need to be with Spidey, not Peter.”

Peter laughed- a real one, Harley noticed, grinning to himself. It seemed that even when everything was going to hell he could still make Peter laugh. That was a good feeling. It was a feeling that he never wanted to lose. 

The ability to make the man he loved laugh even when things were hard. 

No matter how long he’d been swinging in Peter’s arms, every single time felt like a rush. He couldn’t help the bursts of giggles that let out of his chest as Peter swung through New York. It was wonderful and felt like flying- the kind he did in the suit before everything happened. 

His boyfriend swung and rested them on a ledge of a building in Times Square, “How’s the head?”

“Ugh,” Harley groaned, rolling his eyes. “Can’t we just swing straight there?”

“Nope.” Peter grinned under the mask. “Sorry, love, but until we get the all clear from the doc, any time we do something like this I’ll have to ask.”

“That’s so annoying!” He huffed, before glancing around- and jolting. “Peter.”

“Babe?”

Harley stared at the big screen in times square with wide eyes as J. J. Jamenson came on screen, ugly scowl on his face. All of the screens in Times Square were suddenly covered in the same broadcast of the man, with scrawl going under his face, reading simply, ‘Spider-Man revealed as high school junior Peter Parker.’ 

He could physically feel the moment that Peter registered what was happening on the screen. Harley couldn’t make out the words that were being thrown across the square; not over the loud beating of his heart in his ears as his boyfriend gripped him tighter and dropped to the ground. There was another video playing on the screen now and-

Fuck. That  was Mysterio. Mysterio was on the screen. Suddenly the world snapped back into motion and he jerked as the words Mysterio was saying registered.

“I managed to send the Elemental back through the dimensional rift,” The man on screen ragged out.  “But I don't think I'm gonna make it off this bridge alive. Spider-Man attacked me for some reason! He has an army of weaponized drones, Stark technology. He's saying he's the only one who's gonna be the new Iron Man, no one else!”

Harley felt sick, vomit bubbling in his throat. That wasn’t- that wasn’t what happened. 

“Oh god!” Mysterio let out a heave, eyes on something in the distance. “Holy shit, Iron Lad just went down- Iron Lad is down! Peter Parker just tried to kill Iron Lad!” 

That wasn’t what happened! That wasn’t what happened! The drone that attacked him wasn’t anything to do with Peter, if anything it was Mysterio who ordered the attack on him. Holy fuck, was that planned- 

The camera shakily switched. 

“Peter!” Mysterio said, “Don’t do this!” 

“Are you sure you want to commence the drone attack?” E.D.I.T.H asked  “There will be significant casualties.”

Peter- oh god, that was Peter’s face up there, without the mask- put a hand to his ear, “Do it. Execute them all.”

The crowd around them swarmed and Harley clutched at his boyfriend. 

Peter clutched back. 

Three Months until the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

Iron Lad {✓} @HarleyStark

Please stop telling me my boyfriend is evil/abusive. 

 

Iron Lad {✓} @HarleyStark

No, seriously. We’re literally in a defamation lawsuit. I was there. You guys weren’t. You don’t know what Mysterio actually did. If you guys keep saying Peter is evil or abusive, I’m just going to leave the internet. 

 

Iron Lad {✓} @HarleyStark

I love being here, but frankly, I love my boyfriend. I know my boyfriend. Stop telling me to break up with him. #IStandWithSpidey

Harley sighed sharply, tearing a hand through his hair. It was greasy and unwashed- much like the rest of him. Everything about him felt disgusting right now. To be fair, not showering for days at a time tended to do that. 

But he couldn’t bring himself to leave his lab at the moment. Not when all he could do to help the situation they were in was work and design and refine different aspects of different products. In the past week he’d already completely revamped Stark Industries Prosthetics to a higher efficiency, noting to listen to the voices of the customer when it came to specialized details, created a new stark phone model with a better graphic and camera, and completely redesigned Peter’s suit. Four times. Maybe five. 

His boyfriend was on lock down and it made Harley’s skin itchy. 

“Fri,” He mumbled from where he was focusing on his fifth or fourth Spider suit design. “Call Peter.”

Friday didn’t dignify the request with an actual answer but he knew that she complied because of the way that the ringtone rang out through the lab. Peter took five rings to answer, his voice calling out slowly and groggily, “Harls?”

“Hey.” He mumbled, reaching for his phone and switching it to connect there. “What’s up?”

“What’s up with you?” Peter murmured back, voice dulled. “It’s three AM, Harley.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize.”

“Don’t worry,” his boyfriend said, “I wasn’t asleep. Just… resting I guess. Watching a youtube video.”

A pang of guilt went through him, because Peter was most definitely trying to sleep. That’s what he did now that he was in lock down, Harley knew, because before when Peter went to sleep it was always with him. Now he couldn’t sleep without background noise. Either way, he was grateful that Peter picked up. 

He collapsed to the ground, crossing his legs and pressing his forehead to the cold metal of the work bench, “I think I’m spiraling.”

“Okay,” Peter said quietly, shuffling in the background. “Do you wanna talk it out or do you want a distraction?”

“Talk it out,” He answered, grateful for the question. “I just- I hate the fact that you’re on lockdown.”

Peter was silent on the other side of the phone. “Yeah.”

“I feel like it’s my fault,” the words tasted like acid in his mouth. “Like- if I hadn’t gone down, maybe the reaction wouldn’t be so bad. Like, um, maybe the people on twitter wouldn’t be canceling you for- for- all the shit they’ve been trying to pawn off on you.”

“It’s not your fault.” Peter said firmly, voice leaving no room for argument. “It’s no one’s fault but Beck’s. That’s what you keep telling me, remember?” 

“But it’s my fault its so bad-”

“I think that it would be bad either way, Harley,” Peter went quiet again for a second. “The world thinks Spider-Man is a murderer, even when we both know that he’s not. So it’s just… A lot, I guess.”

“They think you’re abusive.”

“But we both know I’m not.”

“It doesn’t make it better,” Tears burned at his eyes and he roughly wiped them away. “I just- I miss being able to be out with you and walk together and do normal couple things, and I just- I wish you could be under house arrest at the tower.”

Peter sucked in a breath through his teeth, “May was talking to Pepper today, and we might have to.” 

“What?” Harley jerked up. “I thought it would look too bad on the public and interfere with your court case.” 

“No court case if someone breaks into the house and tries to kill me and May.”

Oh. That was- That made sense, but for some reason that had never even been a possibility in his own head. That someone would go after Peter and May. It didn’t seem like it could even be an option, honestly, and the idea made his heart ache. That anyone would hate Peter that much. 

That New York would turn on the hero that had been nothing but good to it in favor of a liar’s bitter words.

“Peter,” He murmured into the phone. “If anyone tries, you come here right away. There’s not a lot I can do in this situation but I- I need you and May to be safe.”

“If we move into the tower there’s both safety and you,” Peter said back quietly. “I think May wants to try to stay at our own place for a little longer, just to stay out but… honestly, I want to stay with you guys.”

“Abbie and Morgan would love that,” Harley pushed off the workbench he was still resting on to stumble over to the couch. “Think we could get away with sharing a room?” 

His boyfriend laughed and it made his stomach swoop with how nice it sounded. Harley hadn’t heard that often enough lately. “Depends. Do you think we can manage to get me a room next to you so I can crawl out my window to yours?”

“I think the public would riot,” He snorted. “I can picture the headlines now; ‘Spider Menace climbs into Stark Tower Window!’”

“That assumes I’d get caught.”

“Sorry Mr. Red and Blue, you’re just a little bright.”

Peter laughed again. “Whatever, Iron Lad, in your pink and white.”

“Only the new designs!” He protested. “My suit was in need of some serious repairs and a fresh redesign and thanks to someone making a bet with my sisters, I now have to deal with their coloring. Why couldn’t you bet your own colors?”

“Cause my colors are iconic and yours are a rip off.”

“You know, instead of kissing you when I see you next, I think I’ll just kill you.”

“You were gonna kiss me,” Harley could hear the smile in Peter’s voice.

“I am going to kiss you,” He murmured. “So many times. Make up for all the time wasted.” 

“God, I love you,” Peter breathed the words out. “I love you so much, Harley Keener.”

The words made his cheeks go red. No matter how often they said it to each other, something about hearing the way the words just fell out of Peter like they were the easiest thing to say still made him feel like he was melting. That’s just the way Peter was. He loved so easily and naturally and with his whole heart, at least that’s how Peter loved him. 

It was so nice. 

Pressing a hand to his chest, he just let himself feel the way that his heartbeat against it for a second before he murmured back. 

“I love you just as much, Peter Parker.” 

The Events of Spider-Man: No Way Home

A Day until They Forget.

 

Daily Bugle {✓} @thedailybugle

Breaking News: Peter Parker, alias Spider-Man, has been cleared of all charges! When asked for a comment, Mr. Parker’s representatives replied that they would be releasing a statement soon. 

 

The Washington Post {✓} @washingtonpost

Spider-Man, 17 year old Peter Parker, cleared of all charges in international court of law. 

 

BBC News (World) {✓} @BBCWorld 

Spider-Man found innocent in terrorist attack, Battle of London Bridge. Left questions for the state; who is really responsible for the damages? 

 

The Associated Press {✓} @AP 

Protests break out in upper Manhattan as citizens disagree with the judgment of Spider-Man, 17 year old Peter Parker. 

 

CNN {✓} @CNN

Stark Industries, @StarkIndustries , continues its funding of the repairs regarding the Battle of Tower Bridge. CEO @PepperPotts comes forward with new relief fund. 

 

Iron Lad {✓} @HarleyStark

My boyfriend has been finally proven innocent, so please y’all, stop commenting for me to break up with him. Love you, Spidey.

Harley pressed a kiss to Peter’s cheek as he slid into the seat next to him, “Rough first day?”

“What gave it away?” He huffed, turning to face him. “Was it me sitting in the back, the mobs of people outside our classroom, or the way that everyone is steering clear of me in the halls?”

“Not everyone,” Harley huffed back at him, poking him in the side. “I distinctly remember seeing you, Ned, MJ, and Betty all walking together.”

“If you saw us, why didn’t you come over?”

“Too big a crowd to push through.”

“Ugh,” Peter placed his head back on the desk. “I just want this to be over.”

Harley hummed in sympathy, rubbing his back firmly. “Well, look at it this way. MIT Decisions come out this afternoon.”

“Yeah,” Peter mopped. “MIT totally wants me still.”

“You, MJ, and Ned are sure to get in,” Harley responded, turning away from his boyfriend to get out his stark pad to take notes on- molecular engineering it seemed. “I’m already technically in, so I’m a no brainer, but you guys are just as smart.”

Peter sat up, glancing around the room, trying to ignore the way several of his classmates kept looking back at him. Harley watched as he caught the eyes of a pretty girl in the front row and shrunk away from her. “Do you think they’ll stop staring.”

“Eventually,” Harley reasoned, glancing at the board. “You get used to it, even if they don’t.”

His boyfriend just sighed quietly. He fought back a small smile. It had been rough for him to adjust to, too, way back when he’d first been adopted. Back then, he’d thought it was the absolute worst thing in the world. It was still, honestly, pretty annoying. Especially in these last few months when the media had spun a narrative that he was some battered little thing who couldn’t defend himself. 

But if he was honest, this was something that Peter was always going to have to come to terms with. It came with the territory of being a superhero. Maybe, if he could change it, Peter wouldn’t have come out as his identity, but before public opinion had turned on Spider-Man, he’d been considering it. 

Mainly for accountability reasons and he wouldn’t have unmasked himself until after college. 

Still, Harley reasoned that if he was going to have to be out about his identity then he needed to get used to the stares and the looks. 

Peter moped through the class next to him as Harley took the notes for both of them. Peter had done it for him enough that he didn’t mind carrying the torch until he got used to the new way of life. It was the only class they shared together so he at least hoped that things were going better in the rest of his classes but the way Peter slumped didn’t exactly give a lot of room for hope. 

As the class came to a close he tucked his boyfriend under his arm- significantly harder now than it had been back in freshman year when they were the same height- and steered him out of class, “You okay?”

“Miserable,” Peter muttered, moving to tuck his arm around his waist, “Let's just get MJ and Ned and get out of here.”

“We should probably meet them at the cafe,” he looked around the hall. “You know, you’d think for how much everyone else is clearing out for you that we’d be able to find them easier.”

Peter just grunted, leaning more into him. If Harley could take the storm cloud that was clearly brewing above Peter’s head and get rid of it he would but all he could think to do was offer his support in other ways. Standing next to him, staying with him, supporting him where he could. It was made difficult by the fact that their classes were completely different do to the engineering courses and the chemistry courses getting way more specialized during senior year, and the fact that Harley’s lunch just so happened to be the only one out of his friends in the second block instead of the first, but he would do it. 

He would do anything he could, for Peter. Ducking through the hall, he kept his boyfriend close to him, “Need to stop by your locker?”

“Would rather not,” Peter mumbled. “Someone scratched the word criminal into it before I got here.”

“Fucking hell,” He frowned. “I’m gonna cover that up with stickers, and maybe some spray paint later. I’ll get MJ to help.”

“Thank you, love,” his boyfriend sounded relieved before he soured again. “I bet it won’t last long though. Not when everyone seems to hate me at the moment.”

“Nobody hates you Peter. They just don’t know you.”

“Everybody hates me,” He insisted. “I don’t even think I should go to Aca-Deca anymore.” 

Harley sighed softly, pulling them out of the school and down the street, keeping both their heads low to avoid the crowd of people on the steps. “The AcaDeca kids definitely don’t hate you. Dude, Flash has even been your biggest supporter on social media. Plus everyone else there probably knows you a little too well  to be scared of you, Spidey.”

“How do you-”

“Peter,” He interrupted, exasperated. “You fold your socks, dude! You fold your socks and you geek out about Star Wars and I know you cry at the romcom’s that Betty puts on when the team has a movie night and she’s invited, so I’m just saying, no one there thinks you’re scary. They all know Peter Parker a bit better than all of that.” 

Peter paused their walking to lean in and kiss him, face visibly brighter as he pulled back. The tiredness was still there on his face and in the set of his shoulders, but his eyes seemed a little lighter. “Thank you, Harls.”

“Of course,” He rolled his eyes and kissed him again. “Now come on. Ned and MJ are probably waiting for us at the cafe to open up the emails together.” 

“I still think we should wait for the letters.”

“The letters will take weeks whereas the email comes today.”

“Touche.” 

The rest of the walk was filled with light hearted banter and the careful avoidance of people around them. Peter focused more on their feet while Harley directed them towards a little cafe that MJ had taken to working at before the exposure even happened. 

As he predicted, the others were pressed up against the bar- Ned on one side, MJ, having put on her uniform for a shift, on the other. Peter seemed to lighten even more as he spotted them, “Hey.”

“Peter,” MJ nodded, “Harley.”

“Hey guys,” Ned offered a small smile. “You guys ready to do this?”

Peter and him took a seat, moving so that Ned was sitting between them. He offered a smile at MJ, who shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m not expecting much.”

“Yeah yeah, never be disappointed or whatever that stupid saying is,” Harley shrugged at her, smiling again when she slid a black coffee in front of him. “You’re just as nervous as the rest of us.”

Peter coughed at him. “Fine, you’re just as nervous as Ned and Peter.”

“How does it feel already knowing you have a spot secured and don’t have to slum it with the rest of us?” Ned groaned, leaning down to rest his face on the bar. “I’m so sure that I didn’t get in. I bet they think my essay was stupid and I bet they think my score are terrible and-”

“Ned, you’re literally brilliant.” Peter interrupted. “There’s no way you don’t get in. You’re incredible at programming and one of the best students at Midtown.”

“Coming from you, Pete? You’re literally a superhero whose powers are literally based on the chemical formula you developed-”

“Guys,” Harley caught their attention, rolling his eyes fondly. “As much as I’m sure you two want another praise fest of how amazing you both are, and to compare dicks with who can compliment each other the best, we all have an email to open.”

MJ nodded, “seriously, I can’t handle another hour long session of these two being gooey at each other.”

“Sometimes I swear that they’re dating, not me and Peter.” Harley offered a grin at the two of them.”

“If you hadn't come into the picture we would be,” Ned grinned back at him. “I mean that and me being straight. But other than those two details we would be in love.”

Peter nodded. “I’m constantly on the verge of breaking up with you for Ned, Harley.” 

“I hate you both,” He rolled his eyes, turning to take his phone out. “Now. Who's going first?” 

“We’re all going together,” MJ interjected, pulling her phone out while Peter and Ned did the same. “Ready?”

“No,” Ned whimpered even as Harley nodded his head.

The four held their breath, before Peter spoke up, “On three we open the email.” 

“Okay,” He said after a second, “One, Two… Three.”

Harley scanned over the email he’d received- a congratulations email and an offer for the legacy program. His chest loosened something that he hadn’t even realized was there. He glanced up at his friends and felt that weight return but in the pit of his stomach. 

All three looked heartbroken. 

MJ spoke first, “I didn’t get in.”

“Me neither,” Ned said quietly. 

Peter took a second before speaking, “‘Due to recent events’- this is bullshit.”

It really was, Harley thought, staring at his acceptance email. The only reason he had gotten in was because of Tony. That was it. Because he was a legacy, because he was Stark Industries heir, because he was Iron Lad. Even though he was just as much a part of the scandal as the rest of them, hell, if not more involved because of his very public support of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. 

He glanced up again, to find the rest of them staring at him. “I won’t go.”

“You got in?” Ned blinked. “But- ‘due to recent events.’”

MJ was the first one to clock on, laughing bitterly. “Who do you think funds MIT.” 

“Yeah,” he said, miserably. “I only got in because turning me away means turning away both a legacy and a money bag. It’s- it’s so unfair.” 

Peter stood up, brows furrowed and expression mad. “I need to take a walk.” 

Harley didn’t even try to follow him. Ned and MJ just stared at the door as Peter left and Harley felt himself shrink down in shame. “I’m sorry you guys didn’t get in.”

“It’s all bullshit anyway,” MJ muttered, and began to turn away and whip down the back. “It’s unfair, and it’s bullshit.” 

Ned and him were left at the bar, sitting in a quiet, tense sort of silence. It was clear how everyone else felt about his admission and Harely just wanted to shrink down into nothing. “I’m sorry.”

“Dude,” Ned turned to him, “You don’t have to be sorry for anything.”

“I only got in because Tony was rich and went there and- and it’s not fair.” 

Ned shook his head, “Don’t discredit yourself like that. You have a lot more public achievements than we do and on top of that you’re the acting CTO of one of the world's top companies. Any school would let you in.”

“But- I was just as involved.”

“Yeah but you’re also leagues smarter than anyone else here,” Ned smiled sadly. “We like to pretend like you’re not just because me and Peter are also pretty good in our fields, but you’re on a bit of a different level, Harley.”

The praise made him uncomfortable. It didn’t feel like he was on a different level. After all, how many study sessions had he done with Ned? How much effort had he put into his schooling? How much work had they all put in to get high A’s and graduated where they were in the class? 

He reached out to place a firm hand on Ned’s shoulder, making the other boy look at him, “Just because I’ve had different opportunities doesn’t mean I’m on a different level.” 

MJ turned on her heel, slamming down a rag to glare at him. “No. You are on a different level. You don’t get to pretend like you’re not. Those ‘different opportunities’ are you being a rich fucking scumbag who gets into pristine colleges because of Daddy’s money.”

Harley stared at her, feeling his stomach drop into his feet. MJ seemed to realize what she said as she said, pulling back from her own aggression with wide eyes. In between them, Ned looked back and forth, waiting for Harley to respond.

But there was no response left in his throat. 

The words hurt something in him he didn’t know how to access. He knew MJ was just mad, and he knew that this entire situation was unfair, but that- had he really changed that much? Had Tony adopting him had that big of an effect on him? He still remembered Rose Hill and how hard his mother worked every day. He remembered what it was like to be below the poverty line in the way he knew the two of them had never experienced. Going to bed with a half full stomach because they had a can of spaghettios to split between him and Abbie, working by the time he’d turned 13 just to try to keep the lights on. 

Did three years living with Tony Stark erase that? 

In this instance, he guessed it did. After all it wasn’t like he would’ve gotten in if he wasn’t a legacy. If he wasn’t Iron Lad. If he wasn’t just- just- who he was now. In Tony’s shadow. In Stark Industries Shadow. 

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “You’re right.”

“I am,” MJ said firmly, also shifting uncomfortably. “You got into MIT because of Tony’s money and it isn’t fair.”

“Tony is dead,” Harley snapped. “It’s not his money any more. It’s my fucking money now. And I’m well aware that it’s given me this, don’t worry. I feel fucking terrible about it. I don’t want to fucking attend MIT if this is how they act and I fucking- shit, MJ, what do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know!” she threw her hands up with a scowl before turning around to wipe down the cabinet. “I’m fucking pissed off.”

“You should be.”

Her shoulders slumped slightly. “But I shouldn’t be pissed off at you.”

“You can be,” he said after a second of thinking. “I- I get it if you are. It would be my own privilege's fault if you are. Not anything else's.”

“You’re not your privilege.” Ned spoke up for the first time since MJ’s comment, turning to face him. “It’s a shitty situation but we- we really can’t blame you for the system being corrupt.”

“No. Only for profiting off it.”

“But you’re not going to.” MJ said quietly. “You said you won’t go.”

Harley stared at the counter. “No. I won’t.” 

Ned let out a quiet sigh, wrapping his arms around himself. “No offense, you two, but that makes me really upset.”

“Ned-”

“No, listen,” he spoke before either of them could get a word in. “Harley you’re not just at a different level because of your wealth- you’re genuinely a super genius. It’s like half your skill set. You’re smart and you would’ve gotten into MIT even if you had never been adopted by Tony. We should have also gotten into MIT. It sucks so much ass that we didn’t and I’m so upset that I’m probably gonna go home and cry with Betty on my couch. But you can’t just give up because the system is unfair.”

“But I’d be profiting-”

“So fucking proffit!” Ned snapped, before taking a deep breath. “Sorry. This has me kinda upset. High emotions.”

MJ shook her head, “You’re allowed to be upset. Today’s fucking sucked. We should’ve expected how this would go.” 

“There’s no way we could’ve known.” Harley finished off his coffee, long since gone cold. “I don’t know what I’ll do. I’m not really in the mood to support an institution willing to throw you guys away and keep me just because I’m rich but I also just- MIT, man. It’s been my dream since before I really even knew it.” 

The three went quiet for a moment. Harley wished he could understand what they were thinking, but honestly, he probably wouldn’t want to know. MJ was completely justified in being mad at him, at the situation, and Ned was just as right to be upset about his maybe deferral. 

In the back of his mind, all Harley could think about was Tony. Tony who had loved MIT. Tony who had given him his first MIT sweatshirt months after they’d met and promised that when the time came, he’d get in. Tony who said he’d be proud of him even if college turned out not to be his thing. Tony who promised him that college was worth something if he did want to go. 

Was it wrong to defer something that he’d wanted since he was ten just because of the unfair standards? 

“I don’t know what I’ll do,” He repeated quietly. 

The three sat in silence again before Ned sighed, “Whatever happens, we’re sticking together though. Right?”

“Absolutely,” Harley promised as MJ nodded. “Even if I end up in Boston, I’ll suit up and come down to make sure you guys don’t forget about me.”

“How could we forget about Harley Keener, dumbass extraordinaire, who fell in love with his boyfriend three times?” MJ cracked a smile at him, a bridge to mend whatever fence had just been bent by this conversation. “You’re the stupidest person I know for that.”

“Maybe so-”

Ned’s phone rang, cutting him off. The ringtone was the annoying Yoda one that he’d given Peter years prior and Harley rolled his eyes, glancing at MJ, “They need to change that, it’s getting annoying.”

“Whatever,” Ned stuck his tongue out and answered, “Hey, Pete. You okay?”

Harley turned to MJ while they talked, “We good?”

“We are,” She said after a second. “Sorry for the… the daddy’s money comment.”

“Really struck my daddy issues where they hurt.”

“Shut up,” MJ huffed, taking away the coffee mug in front of him and moving to wash it out. “I know you’re still torn up over everything. It was a low blow.”

There was a lot to unpack there, he thought quietly. She was right of course. It was a low blow. A low blow because of where he’d come from and how he grew up, a low blow because of how he’d lost almost every parental figure in his life, a low blow because Tony’s death was still a fresh wound for him no matter how long it had been. 

Before he could begin to unpack it, Ned turned to them with a furrowed brow. “Um. Peter says we need to go meet him at the Sanctum Sanctorum.” 

“Oh fucking christ,” Harley groaned, getting to his feet. “What the fuck has he done now?” 

Harley stared at the man in the glass container with four metal octopus looking grabbers attached to his back. The Man stared back. Harley grinned. 

“I am going to crack you open like a frog on a dissection table,” He whispered, eyes on the glorious, glorious piece of tech attached to the man's back. “Come to Papa and I’ll dissect you like a corpse.” 

The man- Otto Octapous or something- stepped back in his confinement space. “Get this child away from me.”

“Let me in there,” He turned to his boyfriend and Doctor Strange, well aware that all of his friends were staring at him with abject horror. “It’s the most beautiful piece of tech I’ve seen in awhile, come on- let me at him. Let me in there!”

“You’re not going anywhere near the caged up supervillain.” Strange said with a strangled tone, like he was a parent dealing with an especially weird child. “In fact, I vote you stay on the opposite side of the undercroft from him.” 

His friends nodded and Peter stepped forward to draw him away from the tech, the beautiful, beautiful tech, “C’mon Harls. No torturing a super villian from an alternate universe.”

“No!” He whined, turning around to make grabby hands at Octopus man. “Let me at him! Five minutes, just to see the biological implantations of the plates and how the grabbing receptors work!” 

Octopus man stepped back again. “Keep that thing away from me, Parker, I swear to god.”

Harley pouted, turning back to his boyfriend. “Five minutes. All I need.”

“You’re not getting your hands on tech from another dimension,” Peter sighed, sounding as tired as Doctor Strange. “Not when we need to be focusing on cleaning up the mess I made.”

With one last longing glance at the shining arms of Octopus man- Otto Octavius, that was his real name, yes- he turned towards his friends and Strange. “We have two down. Do we at least have an account of how many more there are?” 

“No clue,” Ned piped up from behind a desk, before turning his laptop around, “But there was a disturbance near a military research facility outside of the city, and witnesses say they saw a monster flying through the air.”

“Flying monster… the other guy I fought on the bridge?” 

MJ frowned, “Green Goblin, Octavian said. Stupid name if you asked me.”

“Peter’s last big nemesis was named the vulture,” Harley pointed out to MJ’s accepting shrug. 

“It’s impossible,” Octavious called out from his cell. Harley turned around and the man stepped back like one teenager was enough to startle him. Maybe it was the way that he couldn’t even manage to  look the Doctor in the face instead of just staring at the tech attached to him. “He’s dead.”

“Pretty sure he’s not,” Peter chimed in, raising a brow. “You know him, don’t you? You said his name on the bridge. Norman something.”

“Norman Osborn,” Octavious said solemnly. “Brilliant Scientist. Military researcher. But he was-”

“Wait,” Harley interrupted, brow furrowing. “Norman Osborn like OsTech Norman Osborn?” 

“OsTech?” Octavious spluttered, face growing red with anger. “What the hell is OsTech? Norman ran Os Corp.” 

“Oscorp is the medical branch of OsTech, dipshit,” He said bluntly, before turning to Peter. “Dude, Osborn is stationed in France. There’s no way that that was him.”

“Alternate universe, Harls,” Peter pointed out, before turning back to Octavious. “You said he was dead. What happened to him?”

“He got greedy.” Octavious muttered spitefully. “Misguided. Him and his fool company, creating genetic mutations. But he’s dead. At your hands.”

The room went still and silent, taking in the impact of the statement. Peter trembled slightly. “But- I’ve never killed anyone.” 

“Not in this universe.” 

“Just in another,” Harley muttered, stepping up to examine Octavious before turning to the lizard. “What exactly did Norman Osborn do?”

“We tire of your questions, boy!” Octavious snarled with rage slamming his hand against the glass, the first landing in front of where Harley stood. “He is dead! You’re chasing a ghost!” 

Harley refused to flinch, instead turning to his friends. They were still all staring at him like he was a mad man, and he grinned. “Peter, want to test out a new suit while you  go fight against whatever this is?”

“I- sure?” Peter blinked, looking back at Ned and MJ. “You guys are all on comms, then?”

“Can’t have a mission without the man in the chair,” Ned hummed, moving his laptop back as Harley reached into his pocket to pull out a little nanobot spider. 

“Actually,” Harley called. “Me and MJ are going to go try to locate more people. Meet back here when everything’s said and done, okay?” 

Peter nodded, taking the nanobot spider and gearing up, blinking his new eye glasses quickly. “Ew. New Suit feel.”

“It’s still technically in beta mode,” Harley shrugged, leaning over to peck Peter’s cheek. “But there shouldn’t be any real issues or bugs and it’s better than going out there covered in paint.”

Peter adjusted himself, raising to his full height and pulling back. “See you on the other side.”

“See you on the other side,” he echoed, watching his boyfriend pull out of the undercroft before he turned to MJ and Ned. “Okay. We need a game plan.” 

MJ nodded, “How are we going to locate people? Can they even be located?”

“I’m with MJ on this one,” Ned chimed in, keeping watch on Peter’s suit camera. “Not that your ideas aren’t brilliant but in theory if they were transferred to this universe there’s probably no real way to distinguish them.”

“Maybe,” Harley muttered, turning back. “MJ, can you keep scouring social media for any other disturbances?”

“I hate it when Harley gets bossy,” She grumbled, presumably towards Ned, but all Harley could focus on was the two villains sitting in the cell in front of him. “You’d think he thinks he’s the leader of the group.”

Harley hummed nonchalantly, an idea forming in his head, “Technically, Peter would be the leader. I think you’re the damsel, Ned’s the smart one, and I’m the hot one.”

“Why the hell am I the damsel!”

“Only one who does not directly have a role in superheroing,” Ned offered, then shrunk back. “Not that you don’t help with the guy in the chair act I have!”

“I’m going to get my mace back from the battle of the bridge and hit it through your head.”

Harley ignored their bickering, instead choosing to focus on Otto Octavious. The lizard had no interest in him but Octavious was staring at him like he was a demon in disguise. For a second he allowed himself to tear his eyes from the tech to study the man. “What did it feel like?”

“What?” The doctor asked, voice on guard. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“When you came here.” He said, pressing a hand to the glass separating them. “What did it feel like being transported to another dimension?”

“I don’t know- I was-” Octavius frowned sharply. “I had him by the throat. I had Peter Parker by the throat because he was trying to stop my fusion reactor and then- then-” 

Harley stared harder at the man. “You have strangulation marks around your neck.”

“What?” 

“It matches your tentacles,” he murmured. “The lizard's breathing sounds off. Like the way a victim of asphyxiations does once they’ve been brought back or are being saved.”

The lizard looked at him then shook its head and looked away. Harley stored that away for later, instead focusing on the man in front of him. “You said Norman Osborn was dead in your world. How?”

“Spider-Man allowed him to be impaled on the glider he uses. Used.” Octavious growled out after a second. “Why does this matter, boy?” 

It mattered, Harley thought quietly, because the connecting factor is that all three of these people were dead. Presumably in some event that killed them by, or because of, Spider-Man. It also mattered because they were most likely all from the same universe. Did that narrow it down? Was that something that could be narrowed down? 

“Show me your tech,” He said slowly. “Please.”

Octavious stepped back, his arms going behind his back. “No.”

“Don’t make me come in there-”

“Harley!” Ned called over, and he turned to see both MJ and Ned watching the screen. “We got two more, and neither of them are Osborn!” 

“Oh,” He turned, snapping out of the thought that was going through his head. “Shit, what’s it looking like?” 

Harley slid next to his friends, watching the- now, annoyingly, cracked screen of Peter’s suit. There was some sort of sand accumulation and what looked to be a very fine man who had some sort of… energy thing going on. He couldn’t hear whatever was going on on screen, presumably due to whatever cracked the camera on Peter’s suit. 

He turned to  Ned, “When did we lose audio?”

“When you were terrorizing octapus guy,” Ned huffed, watching the screen like a hawk. “We figured it was best to let you cook up whatever crackpot idea you have.”

“It’s not crackpot, honestly-” 

MJ spared him a side glance, “Harley. All of your ideas are crackpot.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side,” He mumbled with no malicious intent as he watched the screen.

It jerked as Peter shot the two men and they vaporized, appearing inside the Crypt. They jumped, turning towards the two. 

“What is this?” the sand looking creature snarled. 

“You picked the wrong side.” The other man chuckled lowly, glaring at the sand guy before turning his attention to the other captives. “Connors?”

Octavious made a noise, “You know this creature?”

“Yeah, uh,” The man pointed at the lizard, “That’s not a creature though. That’s a man. Dr. Curt Connors. He was a scientist in Oscorp when I worked there. A brilliant scientist, till he turned himself into a lizard. Then he tried to turn the whole city into lizards. It was crazy.”

“It wasn't crazy, Max. It was the next step in human evolution.” The lizard- Connors, said gruffly. 

Ned gaped next to him, and honestly Harley felt like gaping himself. “The dinosaur can talk.”

“Lizard,” Both he and MJ breathed, staring at the two new villains and the talking lizard. 

“Speaking of which, what happened to you?” Connors asked with a quirk of what would’ve been an eyebrow if he'd been more human. “Last I recall, you had bad teeth, glasses and a comb-over. Did you get a makeover? You know I can give you a real makeover.”

“Why do all super powers turn people hot,” Harley mumbled to Ned as Max- Max? Rolled his eyes. 

“Let me guess. Into a lizard?”

Conners grinned, “Exactly.”

The sand guy made a face before twisting at them. “Could you two just shut up? Where are we?”

“It's complicated.” Ned offered. 

“A superhero’s base.” Harley said.

“A wizard's dungeon.” MJ said bluntly, firmly bringing the attention to her. “What? It is.” 

“Wizard's... Wizard's dungeon?” Max’s face was confused, mirroring the rest of their faces. “There’s no fucking way.” 

“There's no real way to sugarcoat that.” MJ sighed. “It's literally the dungeon of a wizard.”

Sandman let out a confused noise. “Someone needs to tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“Harley, you want to take this?”

“Nah,” He muttered, walking towards Otto but stopping when he realized how Max was staring at the mini reactor he kept on his wrist. He hadn’t actived the suit since the incident at the bridge but that didn’t stop him from making sure he had access to it. Frowning, he looked back at Octavius. “You guys explain. I’m thinking of something.”

With a hand to Otctavius’s cell glass, Harley began his interrogation. 

The Events of Spider-Man: No Way Home

 15 hours until They Forget.

Harley bit his nail as he paced around Ned’s living room, “One dead.” 

None of them spoke for a moment. They all knew who the one dead would be. The only person it could be, after they’d evacuated the building May and Peter had been staying at. 

He wanted to throw up, but forced it down. He could mourn after he’d dealt with this. 

“We should press the button,” MJ said, staring at the device that Harley and Strange had concocted to send the villains back to their own universes- back to their death. “Your call, Harley. You’re the one he trusted it with.”

“I can’t be the one to make this call,” he mumbled, pacing harder, hand going up to rub at the spot an arc reactor would’ve rested. “It was my arc that powered up Max, it was me who played around with Octavious’s tentacles, and me who made us leave because I was too busy trying to theorize where they came from.”

Ned stood, stilling him with a touch to the shoulder. “It’s not your fault. But it is your call to make.”

“I don’t know,” he turned, looking at his friends. 

It struck him then, how tired they both looked. He couldn’t imagine he looked any better. May was most likely the one dead making Peter twice orphaned over and her death was eating at something in Harley’s gut that he couldn’t name. At the same time, they needed to- to- stay strong? Until the situation was over. 

Harley just couldn’t imagine the situation getting any better. 

In the absence of Peter, both of his friends were looking at him to make the call and send the people back to their universe. 

“I just,” He eventually said, voice cracking as he reached out to clutch at MJ’s arm. “I wish we knew where Peter was.”

Ned nodded, pulling his hand back and creating sparks of magic. “I wish we could see him.” 

“Um,” MJ exchanged a glance with him, turning back to Ned. “Ned. Did you just?”

“What?”

“Dude,” Harley gripped MJ’s arm a little tighter, relying on her for support, an idea forming in his mind. “Ned, the ring- the sorcerer's ring- you can-” 

“Oh my god,” Ned’s eyes went wide as he made the spinning motion that Doctor Strange made frequently. “I wish I could see Peter Parker.”

On queue, like Ned was born for the magic flowing through his fingers the portal opened and a figure in a Spider-Man suit was shown. His face was shadowed but that was most definitely a Spider suit. 

Harley sucked in a breath through his lungs as he realized it wasn’t one of his Spider-Man suits. 

“Um,” The Spider-Man stepped into the light, blinking as he crossed the portal. “Hi. Hi?” 

MJ let out a startled sound before grabbing a pillow and chucking it at the Spider-Man, hitting him square in the chest. The Spider-Man just blinked, “Uh. No need for all of that, um, it’s alright. I’m a nice guy.” 

Then, the Spider-Man took off his mask.

Despite the situation, Harley felt oddly out of body as he looked at this version of Peter. He was older. His face was narrower. There was a scar cutting through his eyebrow and into his hairline, and his hair was a straight quaff instead of his Peter’s usal slicked back curls. He looked… good. He looked good. 

Distantly, he registered that MJ and Ned were interrogating this Peter but all he could focus on was how damn hot older Peter was. Which was probably the most inappropriate thing to be focusing on at the moment but god dammit, he was having a hard time processing all of this when suddenly a hot older version of his boyfriend appeared. 

He snapped out of it when MJ touched his shoulder. “Harley. Harley!” 

“Sorry,” He muttered, tearing his eyes away from Older Peter. “Um. What?”

“Talk to this Peter about the multiverse thing.” 

“Oh,” He blinked, flushing. “My bad. Anyway, the original theory I had had to do with transportation after death but judging by the fact you’re here that’s out of the picture, instead I’m thinking it's something about string theory a little more literally. But maybe less of a string theory and more of a-”

“Web theory,” Older Peter smiled. “So…  web theory... multidimensional reality... and matter displacement. All real?”

Harley nodded, flushing even harder. “Yep. Yeah. That’s the theory at least. Honestly it’s interconnected with Stephen Strange- that’s Doctor Strange’s- magic, but as far as I can tell it’s more molecule displacement than matter displacement, because if it was just matter then Electro wouldn’t have been able to cross over-”

“If it’s molecule displacement wouldn’t there be negative side effects?” Older Peter asked curiously, stepping closer to Harley like this conversation was itching his intelligence. 

“That’s where most of the villains being dead come in, I think,” Harley confirmed. “Honestly, I don’t know how you play into it.”

Older Peter hummed and shifted on his feet. “I don’t think its just me.”

“Wait,” Ned interjected, making a time out motion with his hands. “There’s other Peter Parkers? How are we going to find ours?”

“Dude,” MJ nudged him. “You’re magic. You’re going to open the portals until you find our Peter.”

Ned blinked, “Oh. Yeah. Show me Peter Parker!”

Another portal opened, on a seemingly random guy but Harley could instantly tell this was just another Peter. His nose was the same and so were his eyes, even though he looked… mid to late thirties. Not a bad look on him either. He shook the thought out of his head, because really, not the time to be focusing on it. 

“Hello! Um... I hope it's okay,” This even older Peter stepped through the portal, looking around as it vanished behind him, “I just came through this, uh... It just closed.”

MJ stared at the older version of Peter untrustingly, “You're Peter?”

“Yeah.” He stuck his hound out glancing around when no one took it,  “Peter... Parker? I-I've seen you three…”

Eldest Peter paused, scanning the three of them before his attention caught on Middle Peter, the two positioned opposite each other. 

“Wait, he's... He's not your friend…” Eldest murmured, eyes narrowing. 

For a very tense moment the two Spider-Men stood up to their full height, varied with the Eldest being slightly shorter than the Middle, before Middle shot a web straight at Eldest Peter’s head- which Eldest returned without hesitation. In sync, they both flipped over the webs shot at them. For a second it looked like they were going to attack one another again, before Eldest shot a web- out of his skin- and covered Middle’s web shooter with a web. 

The two shared a smile, accepting one another as formidable Spider=Men. 

“Wait, so you're Spider-Man, too?” Ned asked, confused, even though Harley knew there probably wasn’t a universe out there where Peter Parker wasn’t Spider-Man.  “Why didn't you just say that?”

“Uh, I don't generally go around advertising it.” Eldest Peter smiled fondly at Ned. “It kinda defeats the whole ‘anonymous superhero’ thing.”

MJ nodded wisely, “Fair enough. Better than the other one over there, pulling off his mask at random.”

“In his defense,” Harley squeaked, bringing the attention to him. He wasn’t sure he liked the curious looks that the two Spider-Men gave him. “You did get him to prove himself with the whole pillow test thing.”

“What he said,” Middle Peter gestured to Harley.

Eldest Peter smiled at the two of them before looking around, “Hey, this might sound weird, but I’m actually looking for your friend.” 

“Join the club,” MJ leaned over towards Ned. “Do you think it's worth it to open another portal or will we just get another Peter knock off.” 

“Uh,” Middle interrupted before Ned could say anything, rubbing at his wrist to get the webs off his web shooter. “I don’t mean this weirdly but, um, I get a feeling he’s probably at like- does your Peter have a place he goes?”

“A place?” Harley echoed.

“Yeah like,” Eldest nodded, stepping closer to Middle. “When he just needed to cool off for a bit. For me it was the Chrysler building.”

Middle snorted, “Empire state. Better view.”

“You know that is a sweet view.”

Ned interrupted the two of them before they could begin talking, “Harley, do you think he’s at Stark Tower?”

“No,” Harely shook his head, chewing his lip before looking up. “If he were at Stark Tower, Friday would have told me.”

“Wait like Tony Stark-” 

“Yeah, how does your Peter know Tony Stark?” 

“Knew,” MJ corrected, sending a sideways glance to Harley. “And he’s dating Harley so, of course he knew Tony.”

“Oh,” Middle blinked. “Radicle, good for him. How does this kid know Tony Stark?” 

“Harley’s his son,” Ned offered, blinking. “Do you guys not have Harley in your universe?”

Eldest shook his head. “I can’t speak for the other Peter but I definitely didn’t know Tony stark. I’m also straight-” 

“Bi,” Middle Peter offered, holding out a fist to pump to Harley. “But off the market.”

“-Same, I’m actually engaged,” Eldest glanced at MJ, “But my MJ is my age and also Mary Jane. I get the feeling you’re not.” 

“Definitely not,” MJ confirmed. “Michelle Jones.” 

“Wicked,” Eldest looked towards Middle. “How many differences do you think there are in the three of our universes-”

Harley looked up, “I know where Peter would be if he’s not at Stark Tower.” 

The five of them climbed up the fire escape of the old rusted apartment building. When both Peter’s had seen it, their faces had gone ashen. Quietly, Harley explained to MJ and Ned that this was the apartment that Peter’s Parents had lived in, that he had lived in as a child, the one that Ben had lived in last before May and Peter started apartment hoping. 

Harley was the first one over the side of the roof, signaling for the rest to stay back slightly as he made his way towards Peter. The second his boyfriend turned around Harley threw his arms around him.

Peter let out a rough sob, “She’s gone.”

“I know,” He couldn’t offer condolences. That wouldn’t make anything better. He knew better than anyone that when someone- a mother died, there was no way for a sorry to help. “She loved you.”

His boyfriend cried harder into Harley’s shoulder and Harley let him. For a moment, they stayed like that. Two orphans with no one else left. Slowly, though, Harley pulled away, pressing a kiss to Peter’s cheek and wiping his tears very very gently. 

“There’s some people here to see you.”

Peter glanced behind him with tear-filled eyes, widening when he realized who exactly was here. Who exactly was behind Harley. “Uh. Hey. Wait, wait, whoa. You guys are-” 

The two Peter’s stood at their full height, awkwardly waving for a second before Eldest Peter coughed out a quiet and gentle, “Sorry... about May.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” Middle Peter winced, like he knew exactly how little sorries meant. “I got some understanding of what you're going through…”

Despite the fact that they were all Peter Parkers, and presumably all orphans with no one to lean on, the older Peter’s sure had no fucking idea what to say to his Peter, Harley thought miserably as he squeezed Peter’s hand. Peter let out a sharp exhale from his nose, “No, please don't tell me that you know what I'm going through.”

“She's gone.” Peter spat out. “It's all my fault. She died for nothing. So I'm gonna do what I should've done in the first place.”

Peter reached past Harley’s palm, slipping his fingers into the coat pocket to reach the device. His friends stared with bated breath, even as the other Spider-Men fidgeted. Honestly, Harley wanted to intervene. This wasn’t- this wasn’t Peter talking. It was the grief. 

“Peter…” Eldest Peter murmured, voice filled with sympathy and pain. 

“Please, don't.” Peter’s fingers clutched the device tighter. “You don't belong here. Either of you, so I'm sending you home. Those other guys are from your worlds, right? So you deal with it. If they die, if you kill them... That's on you. It's not my problem. I don't care anymore. I'm done. I'm really sorry that I dragged you into this. But you have to go home now. Good luck.”

Harley gently pried the spell box from Peter’s fingers, offering a glance to the other’s when Peter let it fall out of his hands. It was the grief talking. But that didn’t necessarily mean that it wasn’t the best motivator. 

Quietly, he knew he couldn’t help his boyfriend. That neither Ned, nor MJ, could help him. It was only the other two Peter’s who could help. Who could understand. 

“Harry,” Eldest Peter whispered quietly. “My best friend Harry died in my arms because I couldn’t save him.” 

“I lost... I lost Gwen.” Middle Peter let out a quiet rasp, clearly getting caught in the memories. “My... She was my Harley. My Mary Jane. I couldn't save her. I'm never gonna be able to forgive myself for that. But I carried on. Tried to... Tried to keep going. Tried to keep being the... that friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, because I know that's what she would have wanted. But... at some point, I just... I stopped pulling my punches. I got rageful. I got... I got bitter. I just don't want you to end up like... like me.”

Eldest Peter put a comforting hand on Middle’s shoulder before turning towards his Peter with sad eyes, “I wanted to kill the creature who killed Harry. He made him stab himself to death. And it ruined me. I just-” 

“I wanna kill him.” Peter admitted quietly with more hatred in his voice than Harley had ever heard, even as he was sobbing as he spoke. “I wanna tear him apart. I can still hear her voice in my head... Even after she was hurt, she said to me that we did the right thing. She told me that with great power…”

Eldest Peter visibly softened.  “Comes great responsibility.”

The three Peter’s shared a look, understanding passing through them. It was an intimate moment amongst three men whose lives mirrored each other in every way that mattered. Middle Peter offered a wet smile, “Uncle Ben’s favorite quote.”

“He used to say it about his work in the fire department,” Peter sniffed. “And about stupid things.”

“And about the important ones,” Eldest Peter murmured, looking at Peter. “She didn’t die for nothing, Peter.” 

The Events of Spider-Man: No Way Home

 2 hours until They Forget.

Harley pulls his boyfriend aside quietly when they enter the lab, “Peter.”

“Harls,” He says, tugging him into a hug. They sink into each other for a second before Peter pulls back, offering a tired smile. “I’m sorry I got us into this entire mess.”

“You’re fixing it now,” He murmured, guilt pooling in his stomach. “I can’t stay for the fight.”

Peter’s face flashed through several emotions before he nodded. “Good. I don’t want you or Ned or MJ around for it.”

“That’s not what I meant,” His hands were trembling as he picked his next words carefully. “Max, er- Electro, when he stole the power from my Arc reactor he found the other big arc reactor. Surely you’ve noticed that Stark Industries is the only building with power right now, right?”

Understanding rolled across Peter in waves before he hesitated. “Where is the arc that powers the city located?”

“The Atlantic.”

The two of them stared at each other in understanding for what it meant. Harley would need to suit up- properly, not just jet powered boots or gloves like he did sometimes when he wanted a quick fly away- and go underwater to fix the reactor core. Memories of the last time Harley was in his suit under water flashed through both their minds. Harley could see the memories reflected in Peter’s eyes.

“Are you even okay with that?” He murmured softly, stepping forward to cradle Harley’s wrist. “Love, you haven’t even been back in the suit since… since… the battle of the bridge.” 

“I know.” He whispered, hands trembling against Peter’s. “I really really don’t want to.”

“Ask Rhodey. Or Pepper.”

Harley shook his head shifting his shaking hands so his fingers interlocked with Peter’s. “This is my mess. I’m the one who was fooling around with forigen villain technology. I’m the one who needs to restore power to the city. Plus the other two- the other two don’t know arc reactors like I do.”

“Pepper took care of Tony’s arc,” Peter pointed out gently. “And Rhodey was there for everything Tony did. They have to know something.”

“Not enough to redirect the power from a power hungry villain back towards the city,” Harley shook his head, squeezing Peter’s fingers. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be- I’ll be back towards the end of the fight. I can help then.”

“Are you sure that you could even fight?” He stared at his boyfriend before Peter elaborated quickly. “You haven’t been training and you haven’t been in the Iron l=Lad armor in so long, and- you haven’t fought at all since you got your hearing aids.”

Harley shook his head. “I don’t really want to. But I will. For you.” 

Peter and him stared at each other, both expressions heavy. For a brief second, they were a mirror of one another. Kids who were turned into heroes too young, kids that didn’t know right from wrong. Orphans who had no one else to turn too. Protege’s whose mentors were dead. Fighters with nothing left in them. 

Then the moment passed and they breathed out. They were more than their traumas and just because nothing might be left didn’t mean they couldn’t make more. Harley pressed a kiss to Peter’s fingers. 

“Be safe, Spidey,” he murmured quietly. “Okay? I’ll join the fight as soon as I can.”  

Peter pulled him in for a real kiss, pressing himself close. “It’ll be okay. I have support.” 

Harley pulled away, offering a quiet smile to the room before he left silently. 

He had a power grid to fix. 

 

 

The Events of Spider-Man: No Way Home

 One hour until They Forget.

Harley was very aware that his breathing was shallow. Here, under the water of the Atlantic Ocean, he felt more terrified than he had ever been in his life. The fear of drowning had been a big one ever since… since the water tower fell. And everything that happened after that. The suit he had made was designed with all the same properties as his old suit- the ability to keep  water out, being the most important one. At the end of the day, though, it didn’t matter that the suit kept water out. 

He was still in the murky depths of water. 

His hands shook as he slowly made his way to where the arc reactor that powered most of New York was. It would be easier if he could hop on coms and call his boyfriend or Ned or MJ- fuck it he’d even take Flash right now- but they were all busy. 

Well Flash wasn’t busy. But better to not jinx it. 

His hands trembled. His breathing was shallow. He could imagine his eyes closing and sinking to the bottom, trapped in a malfunctioning suit. The images flashed through his eyes with the flashes of pain that he remembered from that night. His hearing felt even more muffled and his left ear was ringing from the panic. 

This wasn’t what dying felt like, but it was close. 

On an instinct he began to hum. Some old country song that his mom loved more than anything back when she’d been alive, something that used to fill the silence of his house. Slowly he began to sing, “We neve spoke a word but every thought I had she heard..”

“…from across the room,” he breathed, grounding himself with the familiar tune. He was nearing the arc. “If we were standing face to face, I couldn’t find the words to say… give me one more move…” 

He scanned the sea floor and- there! The glowing light of the arc was dimmer than Harley had ever seen it. It was evident that it had been tampered with. With a trembling breath he swam towards it, “I don’t even know her name… I guess foolish prides to blame.” 

He located the panels that controlled the arc and began to work. His hands stayed busy but just as busy as his hands stayed, he sang. “Now I’m falling in love as she’s walking away, and my heart won’t tell my mind to tell my mouth what it should say-“ 

A fish swam past him in the dark and he jolted, breath coming out quicker as he tried to fix what he could even fast. “-May have lost this battle, live to fight another day.” 

“Now I’m falling in love,” He sang, memories of his mothers soft voice singing this song in the kitchen grounding him once more. “Falling in love, as she’s walking away.” 

Slowly, he worked his way through all the control panels on the arc. As he worked, he found himself singing the old sad country songs that his mom used to sing. They grounded him as he worked, forcing him to breathe normally as he remembered the old words like riding a bike. Every motion he made was on muscle memory, just like every song was detailed into his brain somewhere. 

He had missed these songs, he realized as he worked. The way they triggered something in his brain to calm down and feel safe, even as he was facing something he thought he would never have to face again. They made something better. Or maybe they just forced him to think of his mother. 

Macy Keener would always be missed by him. He was her son. He was her spitting image. He’d like to think that he had enough of her in him to make himself a good person too. Someone kind and sweet, down to earth and alive and not just- just who he was now. 

This is why he did things like this, he thought quietly as he used his hand blasters to weld panels back together from where they had been disturbed. It was why he forced himself to get back into the suit tonight, making himself go back into cold water just to mend a power grid. Because of who his mother was. Because of just what she had raised him on. 

It took him a lot longer than he would like before the arc was complete, but the second he welded his last panel back on, the arc began to glow. He let out a victorious sound, the power fully coming back. It flowed through the underwater wires, when Harley pressed a hand to them he could feel the hum of it. Something about it soothed his chest and he shot up, flying towards the surface of the water as he grinned, “Fri! How much of New York has power?” 

“It is coming back grid by grid,” Friday responded, sounding elated for him. “You successfully restored power to the affected areas.” 

“Yes!” He shot out of the water, shaking it from his suit before he glanced at the sky, “Oh that is not good. Fri- are they still on the Statue’s island?” 

Reality seemed to be tearing in on itself. It wasn’t like anything Harley could describe- actually, that was a lie. The image of the sky tearing apart reminded him of his mother and her seam ripper. The steady way she would unseem shirts that he’s grown out of with no hope of giving them away, tearing them apart to repurpose them for cloth. The sky looked like that, and in his head he could hear the sound of her seam ripper quietly dragging away at the space. 

Friday hummed him an affirmative and he shot off, landing quickly on the island. His helmet dispersed, his suit shrinking back into his portable arc reactor, and he turned, catching the tail ends of a hug between Peter, Ned, and MJ. “Guys!” 

They turned to him, and Harley jogged over, “What’s happening?” 

MJ and Ned exchanged a glance, before MJ cleared her throat. “Harley…” 

“Harley,” Peter whispered, and Harley turned to him. His boyfriend's face was grim. 

“What happened,” he said, reaching for Peter's hand. “Did the box not work? Is that why the sky is splitting open? What can I-“ 

“We don’t have much time,” Strange- which, when did he get there- said from above them, and when Harley looked up something in his face was sad. Pitying. 

It took him a second to realize there was a spell in Strange’s hand. 

His head snapped back to Peter, “No.” 

“I’m sorry, Love,” Peter whispered, pulling him in close. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.” 

“No, Peter,” He circled his arms around his boyfriend's waist, pulling his face back to meet his eyes. Peter was crying. His chest started burning. “Peter- there has to be another way- there’s always another way!” 

“Not this time, Harls,” Peter whispered, “not this time.” 

“No! I can’t just- I can’t just forget you!” 

Peter sobbed for a second before taking a deep breath. Harley felt it against his ribs and tried to memorize the feeling of Peter's breath. “I’m sorry, Harley.” 

“No,” he cried out, bringing Peter in to kiss him hard. “This isn’t the end of us. It can’t be.” 

“I love you,” Peter said. 

His mind was spinning. This was- this was the worst case scenario. 

Peter would be alone, the thought hit him like lightning. No one would remember his identity as Spiderman- no one would remember him period. He had no one. No one to rely on, no one to stay with. 

“The universe needs me to do this, Harley,” his boyfriend's voice was broken. “I love you. I love you so fucking much, Harley Keener.” 

“I- I-“ his head was spinning and the panic in his chest hurt so much worse than the overwhelming feeling that had accompanied him into the water. “No- this isn’t the end. If this has to happen you- you better come find me, Peter. You better come find me and you better tell me you love me. Tell me everything.” 

Peter hiccuped a mixture between a laugh and a sob. “Okay. Okay. I’ll find you. This isn’t the end.” 

“This isn’t the end,” he kissed him hard before piling back. “I love you, Peter Parker. And we'll find a way. We have before, and we will again.” 

Peter nodded while crying and Harley felt his friends step towards him again. He wrapped his arms around the two of them, pulling Ned close to his side and pressing his face into MJ’s shoulder. He couldn’t really bear to look at his boyfriend while the spell finished. 

And the spell did finish. 

Harley knew it because he could feel his memories start to change. 

It was strange. A discomforting feeling, like his head was being dug through like a scalpel. Every moment he had with Peter slowly and steadily slipping through his mind like sand through fingers. He tried desperately to grasp at it all. Every grain of sand. 

Their first kiss, the one between him and Peter Parker on the rooftop after that fight. Their first I love you’s. Peter taking him on his first date. Meeting May as Peter's boyfriend. A visit to Coney Island because Harley had never gone and Peter thought it would be funny to drag him. Nights patrolling together, stopping on roof tops with their masks pulled up to steal a quick kiss. Their first fight as a couple. The way that he always was able to make Peter laugh. His first interaction with Peter in the cafeteria. Prank wars and practical jokes. Lunch’s in the cafeteria. Their family vacations to the cabin up in the woods. Christmas dinners. Summer. Linked fingers. Peter's heartbeat against his chest. The feeling of Peter's lips. The shade of brown of his eyes. The curl of his hair. The slope of his jaw. The freckle behind his ear that Harley loved. The feeling of his hand linked in Harleys. 

All the things that had gotten Harley to fall in love with Peter in the first place. His Peter. Peter Parker. The man who always made him smile and made him feel more like a person than anyone else in the world. The boy who had stood by his side when he lost his father. The boy who had kissed his tears as he struggled through his feelings about his new disability. The boy who made him laugh when nothing was going okay. His boyfriend who let him ramble and feel alive. The one person who made him feel more like a person than a robot. Peter. 

All of their memories together flashed through his mind. All of their time together pressed against his skull like a reminder that it had been real. That they had been real. 

All of it was quietly rushing through his mind and falling out of it. 

One moment, the memories were there with Harley desperately trying to hold onto it. 

And then he blinked. And he could no longer remember who he was trying to hold on to. 

Notes:

This fic will start updating every two weeks from here on out! it should keep to a pretty constant schedule now that I'm in summer so. hope you guys like it!

As Always:

This is a Harley Keener POV fic. Harley is going to be 19 years old during this fic. THE SAME AGE I AM CURRENTLY. which only makes sense bc in the original fic I was a 15-year-old writing a 15-year-old, and in the majority of this fic, Harley will be in the 19-20 age range. Having said that, he's still! in a lot of ways that matter! not fully emotionally mature! He's going to get frustrated and say stupid things and not understand other people's points of view fully. That's just how 19-year-olds are. That's how I am and that's how everyone I know who is my age is. If you try to comment about "boo hoo why is Harley the pov character, why aren't we getting peter angst, why is peter not the center character, why is Harley so mean to peter" your comment will be deleted. At no point is Harley going to be directly mean to Peter, just like at no point will Peter be directly mean to Harley. But they are 19-year-old idiots and it's easy to get lost in that. And a lot of the Peter angst will be indirect until it is very direct. you will see what I mean.

If you don't like Harley-centric content, it's unfortunate but you've come to the wrong fanfic writer for that.

Notes:

Thank you guys for reading! Feel free to comment and kudos! As well as reach out to me on tumblr. As of right now my tumblr is Technobro but there is a good chance Peachy-Keener will be coming back for marvel content.

TO REIDERATE:

This is a Harley Keener POV fic. Harley is going to be 19 years old during this fic. THE SAME AGE I AM CURRENTLY. which only makes sense bc in the original fic I was a 15-year-old writing a 15-year-old, and in the majority of this fic, Harley will be in the 19-20 age range. Having said that, he's still! in a lot of ways that matter! not fully emotionally mature! He's going to get frustrated and say stupid things and not understand other people's points of view fully. That's just how 19-year-olds are. That's how I am and that's how everyone I know who is my age is. If you try to comment about "boo hoo why is Harley the pov character, why aren't we getting peter angst, why is peter not the center character, why is Harley so mean to peter" your comment will be deleted. At no point is Harley going to be directly mean to Peter, just like at no point will Peter be directly mean to Harley. But they are 19-year-old idiots and it's easy to get lost in that. And a lot of the Peter angst will be indirect until it is very direct. you will see what I mean.

If you don't like Harley-centric content, it's unfortunate but you've come to the wrong fanfic writer for that.

I left the fandom once because of all the messages I got trying to drag me for not writing Peter-centric content and the last thing I want is for that to happen again. I love this fandom and Parkner is my child, but ultimately, this fandom can be mean to people who don't classify Peter as the uber baby who can do no wrong and is always the victim. Maybe not the best way to say that, but definitely how I felt when I first left.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 9 of First Name Harley
• Part 1 of Who Are We?