Tin Can boy || Peter Parker

twelve

Harley arrived the day after Tate's rescue. The boys had gone to school, including Peter, though Tate had been given a few days off to recover from the ordeal. Only MJ stayed. The girl arguing that she got a day off since everyone else skipped Monday to help look for Tate and didn't tell her. Tony had left for a business thing that morning but promised to be back by dinner and Pepper was fielding multiple conference calls in her office to deal with the media chaos that was the blow out of Tate's reveal to the world. (It had been only two days and she was already suing a few papers about their illegal use of information. They should not have that much detailed reports about his background). So Tate and MJ were entertaining themselves in the pool as they waited for school to get out and the others to join them. (The rest of the boys were round about four nights of the week and at this point they practically lived there. Which made sense since none of their houses could handle the large friendship group).

"So", MJ voiced as she spun gently around on her rubber ring. The donut floating on the chlorine water as Tate swam slow laps up and down the pool. He was going slowly, enjoying the slight burn in his muscles as he exercised. The bruises on his wrists and ankles still visible but the cut on his neck had already scabbed over. The waterproof patch he had stuck over it doing it's job. He let out a hum as he passed, waiting for her to continue her thought. "Was the man who took you really your sperm donor?"

He paused as he let out a snort at the term. "That's the best description I could give him", He grinned as he paused to tread water for a while. "Yeah. he apparently did a DNA test to prove it".

MJ frowned at him. "That's so wrong. You didn't consent to that. Are you okay?" Her eyes were gentle and reassuring. Tate swam closer and pulled himself to grip the side of the rubber ring.

He sighed. "Yeah. Not that I consented to being kidnapped either, or to being put to sleep for days".

"That's creepy".

"So creepy", he pulled a silly face and MJ smiled.

"Really though, are you okay?" Her face turned serious. Tate spared her a small reassuring smile, touched by how much she cared.

"Sort of. But I will be. I never cared about that man anyway. I have a dad".

"Speaking of your dad", Tony greeted, obviously having caught the trail end of that sentence. The two of them turned to see the man come strolling from the lift. "Look who brought you a belated birthday present". He gestured to the boy behind him.

"Harley!" Tate gasped as the blonde stepped forwards. He was taller than he had been since they had last met a year ago. All lanky limbs and pointed nose under floppy blonde hair. Tate barley bothered to check that the other boy was wearing swim wear before splashing towards the edge of the pool and hauling himself out. He threw his arms around the blonde, sending droplets of water flying.

"Watch the water small fry!" Tony chuckled as he removed himself from the splash zone.

"Tate!" Harley yelped at the cold water. "Jesus! Chill there city boy". But his arms were wrapping around him just as tightly. Ever since Tony had adopted Tate, after the Mandarin incident, he had arranged meet ups between Harley and his son every year. Normally they revolved around one of their birthdays and this year was no different, if a bit delayed.

"When did you get here?" Tate pulled himself away and beamed up at the taller blonde.

"I flew in almost two hours ago. Sorry to miss your birthday bud". Harley smiled at him crookedly. "But I saw the news. How are you?"

"I'm fine", Tate brushed it away. "This is my friend MJ, MJ this is Harley. He's one of dad's protégés I guess. He's practically my older brother".

"Only by a year", Harley corrected. "Nice to meet you. Tate has told me all about your friendship group".

"Hi", She waved. "Peter is going to love this", she winked at Tate. Tate had no idea what she was talking about.

"Peter? The boyfriend?" Harley's smile turned teasing. Tate flushed, suddenly recalling the long hours of him gushing down the phone to Harley about him. There was a lot of things that he suddenly regretted saying. It was easier when neither boy had met and now that was going to be broken. Harley was reading this on his face. "Does he know about the time you-"

"Shhhhh", Tate slapped his hand across the blonde's mouth. "Don't you dare".

Tony laughed. "Enjoy yourselves kids. I will take that as my cue to leave". With that, the man was striding back towards the elevator. It was the smart choice as Tate shoved Harley into the pool a few seconds later. The splash drenched MJ. Tate froze as he watched her wipe the water from her face. Harley surfacing and pushing his hair from his face.

"Come here!" He pulled himself from the water and managed to grab the boy before he could make a break for it. Water dripping on the black tilled floor as Harley hefted Tate up and promptly threw him in the pool before jumping in himself. Bubbles surrounded him as he went under and when he surfaced, it was with laughter.

When the others arrived, it was to Tate using MJ as a shield against Harley's attacks. The blonde trying to duck around the floating ring while MJ floated warily. "We going swimming?" Jason asked, though he was already in swim trunks. "Cannonball!" The splash soaked everyone in the water.

"Jason. You're dead", MJ declared as she dove off the ring and threw herself at her boyfriend. Tate barely had time to discover that his shield had moved before he was getting a fateful of water.

"Got you!" Harley cheered.

"Who's this Tate?" Callum greeted as he dangled his legs into the water. Long hair up in a bun as he kicked his feet. Charley took the seat next to him, laughing as he watched Jason getting dunked.

"Harley, group. Group. Harley", Tate waved a hand as he pushed his hair out of his face and cleared the water from his eyes. He immediately came face to face with Peter. The brunette having slipped into the water and swum over. "Hi".

"Hi", Peter smiled back. "You okay?" His eyes darted to the bruises but he seemed pleased that they were fading.

"I'm fine".

"Is this the famous Peter?" Harley interrupted. Peter frowned as he tore his gaze from Tate's. "I'm Harley. I've heard so much about you".

"Oh Keener? The boy who shot Mr Stark with the potato gun! He told me about you". Peter held out a hand to shake and the blonde took it.

"You still call him Mr Stark? Cute. Yeah, potato gun was me. You're his intern now, right? I guess you could call me the original intern". Harley was grinning and Tate sighed. This was going to be terrible.

"Peter, don't listen to him", he voiced as the blonde's grin turned into a smirk.

Peter frowned, glancing between them both. Tate became momentarily distracted by his boyfriend's lack of shirt under the water. "Nice to meet you".

"Nice to meet you too". Harley smiled with teeth and swung an arm over Tate's shoulders. The smaller boy huffed and struggled as a hand messed with his hair. "I have heard so much about you. Did you know that Tate-"

"Nope!" Tate planted his feet and shoved the other boy backwards into the water. Harley went under, quiet for a second, and he turned back to Peter. "Ignore him", he stated seriously. "Everything he says is to embarrass me".

Peter was frowning at the blonde, but his expression lightened when he turned his gaze back onto Tate. "Sure babe", he chuckled. Tate flushed and intertwined their fingers.

"Now that the tension is ridiculous with this new dude", Abe voiced, drawing everyone's attention. "We need to talk about school. Cause its been crazy now that everyone knows who you are Tate. There were news reporters at the gates trying to get us to talk to them".

"Yeah", Charley nodded. "It was wild man".

Tate groaned and took the best option in that moment. He ducked under the water as if he could avoid all his problems there for ever.

unedited

intro to Harley. Nice to have him there. Will he and Peter be besties or rivals? Time will tell.

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