Chapter Text
Today had actually felt like it was going to be a good day for once, which was weird for Peter. He had woken up early enough to get a real breakfast, he didn't have any lasting injuries from patrol the night before, so he wasn’t in pain at all, and he was actually going to be early for school. Any of these things should have been an indication to Peter that things would eventually go wrong, but he had been trying to think more positively lately, so he tried not to give those ideas much thought. Peter used his unusual extra time this morning to stop by Ned’s locker and say hi.
“Hey Ned,” Peter started. He might’ve said more if Ned hadn’t been so caught off guard by his sudden appearance and jumped so hard that he dropped the book he had been grabbing from his locker. Off to the side, MJ briefly looked up from her book to snort at the interaction.
“What are you doing here dude?” Ned exclaimed.
“I’m saying hi, what kind of question is that” Peter replied as he reached up to do their handshake. Ned quickly recovered from his initial reaction to complete their normal greeting
“Yeah, but like, school doesn’t actually start for 5 more minutes, so I figured I wouldn’t see you for another like 4 on a good day.” Peter wanted to be offended, but he couldn’t deny the accuracy of Ned’s statement.
“Well I got here early today, I’m actually having a good morning”
“Okay are you sure you’re really Peter? OH, did you get hit with something weird last night?? Not that this whole positive outlook thing isn’t great and all, but it really isn’t you”
“NO Ned, I’m just having a good morning, what is so wrong with that?”
Just as Ned was about to respond, the first warning bell to get to class rang through the hallway, so they walked to their first period class together. It was an odd feeling for Peter to just casually walk with Ned to their first class. Normally he was rushing there and barely making it to his seat before the late bell rang. He really needed to work on that one, huh?
Once they were in their seats and the second bell was heard, their teacher, Ms. Warren began to quickly take attendance. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but today, when she got to the end, she said a name that Peter hadn’t heard before, and alphabetically shouldn’t have been last.
“Harley Keener, are you here?” Ned leaned over to Peter and whispered asking if he knew who that was. Peter opened his mouth to say no, when the most attractive person Peter had ever seen in his life walked through the door, slightly out of breath. He definitely hadn’t been there before, Peter would’ve noticed. Seeing the look on his best friend's face when this new kid walked in, Ned stifled a laugh and hoped nobody would notice.
“I’m so sorry I’m late, I had to get my schedule from the office,” The cute boy stated with a slight southern accent as he handed Ms. Warren a note from the secretary excusing his tardiness.
“That’s alright Harley, as long as it doesn’t end up being a habit. Please find a seat so we can get started” The boy, Harley, nodded his head and sat in the only available seat, which was a few rows in front of Peter. Peter found himself happy with this seating choice, because it allowed him to continue to admire the adorable boy's dirty blonde hair. At least that was until Ned elbowed him in the side and he realized that their first class was in fact ending, and everyone else was packing up their stuff.
He hadn’t just been completely zoned out staring at this Harley kid for a full 30 minute class period without realizing it, had he? That couldn’t be right. Ned started laughing at the confused expression on Peter’s face at that moment.
“Are you okay Peter?” Ned said, only half jokingly.
“Yeah, why?” Peter squeaked out, his voice not cooperating to come out nearly as strong as he had meant it too, trying to fight the slight blush he felt creeping onto his face.
Ned looked pointedly from Peter to where Harley was sitting and then back at Peter again, whose face was now a slight shade of pink and just snorted out a quick “sure” as the bell rang, indicating that their class was officially over. Peter just hurriedly grabbed his stuff and rushed to his next class.
Thankfully for Peter’s sanity, he didn’t really see Harley again until lunchtime, though that didn’t stop his mind from wandering to thoughts of the other teen. When lunchtime came, Peter sat at his usual, practically empty table with Ned, and MJ off to the side. He was perfectly content talking to Ned about his weekend until Harley walked into the lunch room and Ned looked slightly confused before laughing at the way Peter’s sentence had trailed off as soon as he had seen him.
“This is worse than Liz” MJ decided to butt in with a slight smirk on her face as she noticed what was going on. Peter couldn’t stop the blush from rushing to his face as he realized what he was doing. At that moment, he decided that it was in his best interest to try to completely ignore this unfairly attractive new kid. With his luck, the guy was probably straight anyway.
Peter forced himself to look away from Harley and his stupid cute face and continue talking to Ned. This was proving to be a fairly difficult task, as Harley had chosen to sit at a table slightly away from anyone else, making it very easy for Peter’s eyes to drift back to his face. He was clearly concentrating on whatever he had chosen to work on during the lunch period, and Peter thought that the way his tongue slightly stuck out as he focused was one of the cutest things he had ever seen. Peter really needed to stop looking at him now, or he wasn’t going to be able to focus on anything else for the rest of the day. At least now, he was able to continue his conversation with Ned and stare at Harley at the same time. Multitasking was good.
Unfortunately, Peter’s luck from this morning seemed to have run out, because Harley was in every single one of his afternoon classes. It must have been pretty obvious that he wasn’t fully paying attention too, because all of his teachers kept calling on him for answers more than usual. Thankfully they were all in classes that were easy for Peter, so he was able to answer them quickly and correctly, despite the fact that he really wasn’t paying attention to the lesson. It had been fair of the teachers to try and call him out on this fact. Peter was just ready for the school day to be over so that he could go out on patrol again and clear his head.
The final bell rang, indicating that school was finished for the day and Peter hurriedly gathered up his stuff and rushed to get to his locker so that he could leave and be Spider-Man. He could really use a distraction right about now. However, as he was about to turn around to leave his locker, he heard a very distinctly southern voice behind him.
“Hey darlin’, did ya like the view today?”
A tomato would have been an appropriate thing to compare Peter’s face to as he turned to see the smirking face of the boy he had been staring at all day. Peter didn’t even know how to process everything he felt at that moment. He opened his mouth to say something, probably an apology, when Harley kept talking.
“I know I definitely did.” Peter’s brain was officially broken. Was Harley saying what it sounded like he was saying? The idea that Harley had been staring at him all day as well was not something that Peter could wrap his mind around.
“Ummm.... Yes?” Peter internally cringed at his response. He wished he could have the same confidence that Harley seemed to, or even the confidence that he himself had when wearing his Spider-Man mask. Right now though, he was just plain old Peter Parker, and that meant he was an awkward mess.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just think you’re really cute, and you seem really smart, and I noticed you looking at me a lot today. I just wanted to ask if you were busy after school today?” Harley said, almost rambling for a moment.
“No, I don’t have any plans at least.” Peter lied. He definitely had had plans after school, but how was he supposed to explain those plans, and if Peter was being honest, he almost wanted to spend more time with Harley more than he wanted to go out as Spider-Man. That was a strange feeling.
“Well, I kind of just moved to New York. Do you think you could show me around a little? Maybe recommend a place to take a cute guy like you on a first date?” Harley asked with a slight smirk.
“Yes.” Peter just kind of, blurted out as soon as Harley finished asking the question. Harley let out a soft chuckle.
“After you then darlin’” Harley said as he stepped away from Peter’s locker and gestured towards the exit.
“My name’s Peter,” Peter said, realizing that he hadn’t actually introduced himself.
“I know” Harley said simply and winked at Peter as they walked out of the school. “But if we’re doing the whole introductions thing, I’m Harley. I think you knew that already too though.” He laughed.
Peter blushed yet again, which didn’t feel like it should be possible. They made it outside and began to walk around the city. As they were walking, Peter began to open up more and started pointing out some different things as they passed them. The more they walked, the more comfortable Peter became and he started rambling about more things and going on tangents to tell short stories of funny things that had happened in certain places. If Harley thought that Peter had been cute before, it was even worse now, with Peter having opened up and actually talking to him.
Eventually, Peter stopped in front of a small cafe type building. “I don’t know if you like this kind of thing, but this place has like, the best coffee, and they have a bunch of other, like, baked goods and stuff like that, if you wanna maybe stop and go in with me”
“I’d love to. What kind of heathen doesn’t like coffee and baked goods? Besides, I did ask you for a good first date location, and this seems great.” Harley said, smiling at Peter, before quickly adding, “If you still want this to be a date that is. It’s totally okay if you don’t, i just…”
“I still want it to be a date” Peter cut Harley off to say, and the other boy visibly relaxed as they walked inside and ordered some food and coffee before sitting down at a small table. They sat there for a while just talking. Peter found out that Harley was as smart as him, probably smarter if he was being honest, and that he was really into technology and engineering. The two of them had so much in common that it seemed like they would never run out of things to talk about. In fact, they got so caught up in conversation, that they didn’t realize how long they had been sitting there until Peter’s phone buzzed.
May: When are you coming home?
Peter: So sorry, I’ll be home soon. Got distracted.
May: That’s okay. Do you want Thai tonight?
Peter: Sounds great!
“My aunt wants me to come home soon for dinner, I’m so sorry” Peter said as he put his phone away sadly.
“That’s okay, I probably need to get home too. Just need to figure out how to get there from here” Harley said casually, trying to hide his disappointment that Peter had to leave.
“I could walk you home, I mean, if you want me to,” Peter said, slightly shy, hoping that he wasn’t overstepping.
“I’d appreciate that a lot,” Harley said smiling at Peter as they both got up to leave the small cafe. The walk to Harley’s apartment building wasn’t too far, and they were quiet almost the whole time. At some point, they ended up holding hands, though neither of them really knew who initiated it. As they approached the building they broke apart to look at each other.
“I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow then,” Harley stated, breaking their comfortable silence.
“I guess so,” Peter replied, awkwardly fumbling with his own hands, trying to resist the strong urge to place one of them back into Harley’s.
“G’night then darlin’” Harley said with a wink as he began to walk inside.
“Night Harles”
With a very large smile plastered on his face, Peter began his walk back home.