Hold Onto Me 'Cause I'm a Little Unsteady

Chapter Five

It's hours before Harley's brought back, but he looks relatively unharmed. The bags under his eyes seem to have deepened. Anxiety rolls off him in waves.

He falls to the ground beside Peter and Morgan with a sigh.

"They want me to make a spider serum," he says, hand slipping down behind Peter so it's out of sight from the camera. He rests his hand on Peter's back and starts tapping.

They all know Morse Code, either taught by Tony or self-taught.

C.O.M.P.U.T.E.R...E.M.A.I.L.E.D...D.A.D.S...S.O.O.N...E.S.C.A.P.E...B.E.I.N.G...W.A.T.C.H.E.D.

Peter nods quickly, meeting Harley's eyes with confidence. Harley understands everything passed between them.

"Peter's hungry," Morgan says, looking up at Harley with a pout. "He didn't eat with us last time. He isn't healing fast enough and I think his blood sugar is dropping quickly."

"Fuck. Okay. Right," Harley mutters, glaring at the floor to try to figure out his thoughts. "Hey! Peter needs to eat! I thought we were supposed to get food!"

Peter's head lolls lifelessly onto Harley's shoulder, blinking slowly. He's too tired. It's been two days since he's eaten and with the strenuous activity and blood loss, he's supposed he hasn't passed out yet.

"Stay awake, Petey," Morgan says, small hand cupping her brother's cheek and brushing back his hair. His glazed eyes drift over to Morgan and hold her worried gaze, struggling to offer a reassuring smile.

"Even fucking juice or something! He needs something!" Harley shouts, glaring hard at where he knows the tiny camera is hidden. "Please! He needs to eat!"

The door cracks open, a little bit of light streaming into the dim room. Three juice boxes and three granola bars are tossed to the floor near them. The door immediately slams shut again.

Morgan crawls across the floor, grabs the snacks and hurried back over, curling up with them again.

Harley grabs one of the juice boxes, piercing the top with the straw and pushing it into Peter's mouth.

"Drink up," he murmurs, tilting Peter's head up so he doesn't choke.

He remembers one time when Peter got really hurt on a mission. Harley can't remember the specifics but Peter couldn't eat anything. He couldn't speak and drinking was even hard for him. Tony had to do the same thing, tilting his head and holding his juice boxes.

It only took a few days until Peter was healthy again. Peter immediately feasted on everything he could find in the kitchen and then threw it all up because his stomach wasn't used to the food.

"There you go. Don't choke," Harley says, using the same words Dad had used. "It's okay. We've got plenty to go around."

Morgan sits back, sipping on her own juice box. Harley almost tells her to stop because Peter needs it more, but Morgan doesn't not need it.

Peter finishes the juice box and Harley grabs his own, pushing the straw back up to Peter's mouth.

For once, Peter doesn't question it, doesn't act heroic, focuses on drinking the juice.

He already looks better, a little bit of colour touching his otherwise ashen face.

Harley tries to give him both granola bars, but this time Peter puts up a fight.

"You too," Peter murmurs, pushing one granola bar to his brother's chest weakly.

"You need it more than I do," Harley argues, rolling his eyes.