Archive of Our Own

Harley pulled his head off of his boyfriend's pillows, blinking sleepily up at him. “You don’t have to go, you know.”

“I think I do.” Peter hummed as he pulled on a shirt from the pile they had made last night. Belatedly, he realized that it was his and he gave a little smile. “You’re not going and one of us has to.”

The smile swapped out to a grimace. “To be fair, what I’m doing here isn’t going to be much better.”

“Oh yes, because dealing with Stark Industries is so much better than dealing with the Intergalactic Board of Justice.”

“We don’t actually know what they want from the avengers,” Harley mumbled, finally giving in to the fact that he was awake and that there was no getting out of this to sit up and stretch. Peter hummed and dipped into the bathroom, leaving him to call out after him. “Could be an award for all we know!”

“We know it’s going to be about a fight, Harls,” Peter called back, clearly beginning to brush his teeth. “Thor did us a favor and got his friend’s on the council to give us the heads up.”

“Clearly not that big of a battle.”

“Mmm… whatever you say, love.”

He groaned, reaching down to pull on Peter’s shirt and a pair of boxers, making his way to the bathroom. “We need at least half the team on earth, then. Me and Rhodey and the Omega team will stay, you and the Alpha team  go.”

Peter spat his toothpaste and rinsed his mouth before turning around and pulling him into a hug. “You sure you don’t want the Alpha team?”

“Nah,” He shook his head, wrapping his arms loosely around Peter and pressing his ear to Peter’s collar bone. If he focused he could feel Peter’s heartbeat from here. “Omega team may be more powerful but there’s just too many… minors.”

“It’s really just Wiccan I want with us since Wanda is pregnant and not available.”

“It sucks for you that Billy is fifteen, and not cleared for intergalactic missions yet.”

Peter laughed. “When I was fifteen I went to space and fought Thanos.”

“Got your ass kicked by Thanos, you mean,” Harley countered, raising an eye. “And it's been six years since then, Pete. Also, if it wasn’t for Tony your ass would still be kicked.”

“Speaking of Tony,” Peter looked towards the counter, picking up his phone to frown. “He wants you at the launch site too, just to do a check over all the machine's mechanisms.”

“All you two use me for is my superior knowledge of mechanics, huh?”

“That’s not true,” His boyfriend grinned slyly, walking out of the room with a slap to his ass which made Harley yelp. “I use you for your body too.” 

“Peter Parker!” 

The two of them slid into the tower after getting dressed and- swinging and flying, respectively- making their way down from midtown. Tony was already on the landing, inspecting the ship that they had chosen for this journey. Harley felt a burst of excitement run through his body jerking out of the suit the second he landed to slide next to his mentor and stare in awe at the tech.

“No matter how many times I see this thing,” he breathed, grinning, “I can’t help but feel amazed.”

Tony laughed before turning to him with sharp eyes and a wide grin. “Like a kindergartener in a candy shop.”

“Don’t act like you don’t go a little feral for this tech, too.”

“I do, but at least I don’t show it.”

“Mr. Stark,” Peter swung down next to them, wrapping an arm around Harley to stable himself from the landing. “I’d appreciate it if you could stop bullying my boyfriend.”

Tony let out another laugh and gave Peter a firm pat on the shoulder. “Only when Harley stops making it so easy.”

Rolling his eyes, he shrugged off Peter’s arm to begin looking over the ship in all of its glory. The design was similar to what he used to imagine the Teen Titans were, but the tech was based primarily on star lord's hunk of junk. In the background, he could hear Peter and Tony begin to tease him about how he ditched them to instantly work on the ship. 

Checking the engine, he knelt down to Tony’s toolbox and reached for a wrench, frowning at the paneling. The wires checked out but there was minor frost damage on the left bolt that might need to be replaced- lest an Apollo one be replicated. Replacing the bolt, he moved his observations to the rest of the ship, primarily the landing function. 

It took him over an hour to check over the ship and by the time he had pulled away, he managed to replace a few damaged panels that Tony seemed to miss and fix some wiring that had come loose during one flight or another. When he finally pulled away, Harley was greeted by the Alpha team. 

He blinked, pulling himself away from the bottom of the ship. “When did you guys get here?”

“Kid,” Bruce snorted. “We’ve been here for thirty minutes. Had a bet on when you’d notice us.”

“Just doing my job, Bruce,” He rolled his eyes and stretched out his back, eyes seeking out Peter in the crowd and gravitating towards him. “It’s all clear now.” 

Peter smiled at him behind the mask, and Harley wanted to lean up and kiss him so badly but- professionalism. They promised to work on it, at least in front of Team Alpha since they weren’t the leaders of that one. Different rules than their squad. 

Despite that, Peter pulled him into a side hug and pressed a kiss to his cheek through the mask, “You know, you look so cute when you hyperfocus on mechanics.” 

“Mmm, it's revenge for how you get when you’re talking about chemistry.” Harley felt his nose wrinkle as he pulled away to look at his boyfriend’s mask more clearly. “We’re shitty at flirting. How have we been in this relationship for three years and our best flirting tactics still revolve around how smart we are.”

Peter laughed at that before pulling away more to direct his focus to the rest of the Alpha team as Tony stepped up. “What’s the plan?”

“We leave in thirty minutes,” Tony answered without missing a beat as everyone turned towards him. “Thor and the Guardians are going to meet us on the outskirts of earth’s borders and help escort us to the intergalactic board of justice’s base. After that, we deal with whatever threat and come home.”

“You make it sound so simple,” Steve called from the back, a chuckle in his voice. Sam snorted next to him and Bucky jabbed his ribs with a huff.

“Cause it’s going to be.” Grinning back at them for a split second before turning his attention to Harley. “Kid, you and Rhodey are going to be in charge of operations down here. Rhodey can’t see us off because of big government duties so I'm relying on you to rely on him that you need to be kept in line.”

Harley rolled his eyes and leaned into Peter’s side. “You guys always act like I haven’t been leading the Omega team with Pete for two years.”

“To be fair, no one knows for sure if it was a mistake or not,” Bruce said dryly. “You’re a trouble marker Harley.”

“I resent that. The trouble maker is Peter.”

His boyfriend held his hands up in a ‘don't-blame-me’ motion, “If you say so Harls.” 

“Alright,” Tony cleared his throat and gathered their attention. “T-Minus twenty-five minutes. Say goodbye to anyone staying now, and maybe go get like a snack for the flight. There will be no inflight food until we hit the Intergalactic board’s base. Capiche?” 

Murmured agreements broke out amongst the crowd as every member of the team either pulled out their phone or turned to their friends staying behind. Harley turned to Peter, looking up at him with a slight grin. “You gonna stay safe out there, Superman?”

“Always, Harls,” His boyfriend answered softly, before pulling off his mask. The tips of his ears were pink at the term of endearment and his hair was messier than before he put on the mask. Even after years of dating, it still made Harley’s heart flutter. “You?”

“I’m always safe,” He winked, before going serious. “I will be. I’ll make sure the neighborhood doesn’t get too bad. Work with team red here and there. You know how it’ll be.”

Peter met his eyes and frowned quietly. “Are you gonna be able to sleep?” 

“Peter,” He murmured quietly, frowning back. “I’m going to be able to sleep.”

“You say that, but last time I went on a faraway mission you hadn't slept for four days by the time I came back-”

Harley just shot him a look. “I’m not that codependent. I just- I sleep better when someone’s there.”

“I know that-” 

“I’ll sleep, though,” He promises, flushing slightly. “And eat. And take care of myself. And to be fair, last time you went on a faraway mission, we were like. Eighteen. I was much worse at taking care of myself then than I am now.”

Peter kept looking at him through a furrowed brow. “Alright.” 

“I’ll be good.” He huffed, before leaning in to press a kiss to the underside of Peter’s jaw. “You worry too much.”

“As your boyfriend, it's my right. Isn’t that what you always say to  me?” 

“Yes, but when I say it, it’s because you’re a dumbass.”

“And you’re not.”

Pressing another kiss to the underside of Peter’s jaw he just shrugged. “I do promise that I’ll take care of myself. Or at very least, try to.”

“That’s all I ask,” Peter leaned down to give him a proper kiss. “I’ll do the same.”

Harley snorted, kissing him again before pulling away and grinning at him. “Yeah, you’re over here making fun of me for never being able to sleep without you, yet I can’t remember a time I’ve left you where you could sleep.”

“Shut it,” Peter huffed, pulling away completely before shrugging his shoulders and tugging his spider mask back on. “Take care of yourself, Harls. I love you.”

“I love you too, Pete,” He murmured, pulling back and watching his boyfriend and the rest of the crew load up into the spaceship. “It’ll be fine.”

Surprisingly, it is not fine. 

Harley turns on his side that first night, eyes like led, but unable to keep them closed. The bed just felt… too big without Peter. It felt too scary to sleep. It made him chuckle to think of it like that when, honestly, he was twenty-one. He should be over sleep anxiety already. 

Flopping onto his back he huffs.

It’s just the adjustment, he tells himself. He hasn’t slept in a bed alone since he was 19 and he and Peter moved in together. He hasn’t slept completely alone- with someone not on a call with him, or in a bedroom down the hall- since long before that. It’s just the adjustment period. 

It’s just- it's just the adjustment. 

He’s twenty-one years old. This is not a problem for him anymore. It’s not! He just. He’s not tired tonight. And honestly, that was pretty normal for him! He was used to not being tired. He was used to staying up late at night. 

Though, nowadays, when he did end up pulling all-nighters, Peter was next to him. He could’ve slept any time he wanted to those nights.  Now felt a lot different. 

Hesitantly he reached for his phone, scrolling through his contacts. Back when he had just moved to New York, when he was fifteen, he had called his mom every night and asked her to stay on the phone until he fell asleep. Maybe he could do that again?

The very idea sent embarrassment flushing through his cheeks. He was twenty-one years old. He could go to sleep without needing someone else there. 

It was just the adjustment, he told himself again and pressed his face into Peter’s pillow. 

Harley yawned, pressing a hand to his mouth to cover it, and spoke around it. “Good work, Team.”

The Omega team let out scattered groans and noises of complaints. He supposed the training exercises he had put them through were a little intense, but honestly, the Omega Team needed some help with bonding. Technically, it wasn’t even one team but rather two teams forced together- the original Omega team and the young avengers. Peter had been placed in charge of the original Omega team and he had been placed in charge of the Young Avengers, and in their heads, it made more sense to combine the two small teams into one rather than just let them be. 

Slowly, they shuffled out of the room. Harley gave Lila Barton a look to make sure she left her practice bow in the room and clapped Tommy on the shoulder as he passed by in congrats for beating his normal score in practice. He had just turned around to clean up the training room when he was met with the face of Billy, frowning at him with furrowed brows. 

“Wiccan,” Harley smiled at him. “You okay? 

Billy stared at the ground for a moment before groaning and sitting on the bench next to the door, “Mostly?” 

“Mostly, huh. Wanna talk about it?”

“I just,” He ran a hand through his hair and looked up at Harley. “How did you and Peter do it?” 

Harley blinked, before sitting next to Billy. “What do you mean?”

“Like- me and,” Billy flushed. “Teddy and I have been talking…” 

“Oh,” Harley blinked again. “Oh! You want relationship advice.”

Billy groaned and put his head in his hands, “This was a terrible mistake.”

“Was not,” Harley grinned, throwing an arm around Billy. Distantly, he wondered when he and Peter had become the old ones. When did they become the people that the younger heroes look up to and ask for advice. He stifled a yawn before continuing, “You can always ask me anything, Billy. So what do you wanna know?”

After a beat of silence, Billy looked up at him. “How did you do it? Balancing work, a relationship, and being a hero?”

“A whole lot of trust,” Harley answered with no hesitation. “We probably would have fallen apart if we didn’t trust each other.”

“I trust Teddy!”

“I’m not saying that you don’t.” He squeezed Billy’s shoulder. “But you have to remember that you guys are fifteen and still just in the talking phase. Peter and I took a long time to work past the talking phase because we didn’t have the right amount of trust until we were god, nineteen? Eighteen? Either way, it took a while.”

“Wait,” Billy blinked. “But I thought you two had been together since you guys were fifteen.”

Harley winced. “That’s what everyone thinks, but we definitely didn’t put a label on it until we were older.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and it was pretty messy until then,” He yawned again, letting himself be pulled into the memories of before he and Peter got together. “Both of us trusted each other on and off the field but we wanted to take care of one another more than we trusted each other to take care of ourselves.” 

Billy looked at him with a furrowed brow. “Elaborate.”

“I trusted Peter to watch my back,” Harley settled on after a moment. “But that didn’t necessarily mean that I trusted him to watch his own. We used to get into fights because the two of us would throw ourselves in front of one another a fight. And to some extent, we still would but it’s- it's no longer because we don’t the other could hold their own. More of a, um, we know the other isn’t looking and need to watch their back. Does that make sense?”

“Sorta,” Billy stared at him. “So me and Teddy should talk about trust like that.”

“In my opinion, yes. But!” He interrupted himself with another yawn, covering it with a fist. “I think that you two are very very different than me and Peter were. It’s probably gonna take a little trial and error before you two are in a functioning relationship but that doesn’t exactly mean you guys won’t figure it out.”

“Okay…”

“What worked for me and Peter might not work for you,” Harley continued. “But either way, Teddy like, really likes you, dude. You two have got this. And if you don’t, me and Peter are here to pick up the pieces.”

Billy sat for a second, seemingly taking it in and nodding. “Thanks, Harley.”

“No problem, kid.” Standing up, Harley let out another yawn and stretched out his back, ready to go and leave when Billy called after him. 

“You should get some sleep.” 

He turned back to his teammate with a tired look. “I have been sleeping, believe it or not.”

Technically it wasn’t a lie. He just hadn’t been sleeping a lot. But that didn’t necessarily make him a liar. Just… a truth bender. 

“Sure,” Billy frowned. “You know, Bucky told us about how Peter told you to make sure to take care of yourself.”

“He’s a snitch,” He huffed, before shaking his head. “I am taking care of myself. Don’t worry.”

“I think we’re all worried about the fact you were yawning all throughout practice today.”

Harley shook his head again, “You guys shouldn’t worry about me.”

“We do though,” Billy huffed at him, frowning again. “You’re our fearless leader or whatever.” 

“Awww,” Harley grinned, reaching down to ruffle his hair. “You guys are so cute.”

Billy smacked his hand away and stood, looking towards the door. “I’m gonna go find Teddy.” 

“Go find your lover boy!” He called, before turning back to the mess in front of him. Yawning again he got to work.

Harley stared at his ceiling. 

He blinked at his clock. Three AM. He stared at his ceiling. 

This was getting fucking ridiculous. 

It wasn’t like he wasn’t eating, exercising, or socializing. He was taking care of himself. He was doing what Peter asked. He just… he couldn’t sleep. 

Their apartment was so empty and cold. The bed was too big for him alone. It made him feel small and weird and anxious. He’d always had sleep anxiety, he’d never been really good at falling asleep if he didn’t know who was with him or where he was. It didn’t help that until he hit 12, he and Abbie had shared a room. 

He didn’t like being alone. 

Turning on his side again he blinked at the clock once more. Three fifteen. 

The night wasn’t passing quick enough for him. It felt slow and torturous. Quietly, he stood, walking over to his closet and flicking on the light, and cracking the door open. He hadn’t slept with a light on since he was seventeen, but now it felt like he needed to too even try. 

Sliding back into bed, he curled around Peter’s pillow. 

He missed his boyfriend. 

Harley pressed his forehead to his arms, groaning in frustration at the paperwork in front of him. He loved Stark Industries more than anything, really, but good god was he tired. There was nothing he’d like to work on less than a stark industries report. 

Flash snorted from across the room, “Oh come on you big fucking baby. It’s not that bad.”

“Easy for you to say,” He looked up and pressed a glare at his friend. “You’re not the one doing it.”

“Yeah because unlike Miss Potts I refuse to do all of your work for you.” Flash deadpanned, rolling his eyes, even as he made his way to Harley’s desk to help. “I’m your personal assistant, not your mother.”

“Hey, don’t insult my mom.”

“I would literally never insult Macy Keener, god among women.”

“Don’t hit on my mom either.”

His friend just hummed, eyes scanning over the paper. “You miscalculated here, here, and there.”

Harley frowned harshly. Looking over the places that Flash had pointed… he had miscalculated. In all of those places. And cause his figures for the initial costs were wrong, it was all wrong. Fucking hell, what a mess. He downloaded a fresh version of the document to try to restart. 

“Honestly dude,” Flash frowned at him, though his voice remained teasing and light. “What’s wrong with you, these are entry-level calculations and I know for a fact that you do more difficult stuff in your sleep.” 

“If only I could sleep,” he mumbled without thinking, attention on the expenses documents in front of him. 

Flash let out a laugh, “Dude, are you down that bad?”

“Huh?”

“You really can’t sleep unless your precious Peter is in the room?” his voice was teasing and light, but Harley struggled not to tense at just how true the words were proving to be. “You have got to be joking. I thought you said you were over that!”

He huffed, turning to his friend. “I thought I was!” 

“Oh, he’s gonna tear into you when he comes back,” Flash snorted. “He’s gonna do that Peter Parker thing where he’s like ‘oh Harley I'm so sorry I left you for a vital mission in which I saved most of the universe, please forgive me for leaving you-’” 

“Shut up, dickwad!”

“You know I’m right! Especially after that whole speech about you taking care of yourself before he left-”

“I’m never telling you anything ever again,” he shoved Flash away and groaned at the work in front of him. “Honestly, I liked it better in high school when you and Peter didn’t get along. Where did that Flash go?”

“He got a spinal cord injury in the military and was disabled from the waist down for six months until the bruising disappeared.”

Harley glanced up, eyebrows raised. “It’s been three years. Get over it.”

“Hey! Rude!”

“I’m just saying, you’re barely in army vet if you only served for a year,” He teased lightly. “And you don’t really count as disabled considering that your spinal cord injury was just spinal bruising.”

“You’re just trying to gatekeep being disabled.”

“Yeah, obviously, if my deaf ass doesn’t who will?” 

Flash just huffed and rolled his eyes, turning to walk back to his desk. Watching him go, Harley took note of how Flash had finally lost the limp that had come with the war injuries three years ago. It had been incredibly surprising back when they had first left high school and Flash texted him that he was joining the military. The whole thing seemed stupid back then if he was honest. Flash had gotten into MIT with them, and despite the fact that Ned, MJ, and Harry were the only ones to actually attend college in person, he’d seemed excited about it at first. 

Then after an argument with Peter- one Harley had been trying to shut down as hard as he could, hating seeing his best friend and boyfriend fight like that- he packed his bags and disappeared for a while before Harley received a letter that he was in the army. Crazy times.  The injury had come out of left field and from a hydra officer who had recognized that Flash was both on the secret service team dedicated to dismantling what was left of hydra and a friend to Harley Keener, newly minted CTO of stark industry. Sometimes, when he focused too hard on that fact, he got upset. 

“Seriously though,” Flash spoke quietly, effectively breaking Harley out of his thoughts. “If you’re having trouble sleeping, you can always come around to me and Harry’s place.”

“Thanks for the offer,” He felt his nose wrinkle. “But I think I could do without the two of you being so lovey-dovey and gross on each other.”

“It’s revenge for you and Peter in high school.”

“You didn’t even like Peter in high school! Harry is my friend!”

“My point still stands.” 

Harley huffed and focused back on the document for a moment, just reading over the math he was doing to make sure he wasn’t making the same mistakes. “Thank you, for the offer though, Flash.”

“Anytime,” Flash murmured softly. “I’m sorry that you can’t sleep, Harley.”

“Yeah well... Peter should be coming back within the next four to five days. It’s just staying awake till then.”

Harley jolted awake, blinking at the alarm clock. 

Four on the dot. He’d only managed to be asleep for forty-five minutes. He groaned, rolling back to his side of the bed from Peter’s and curling around a Chewbacca stuffed animal he’d pulled out of a drawer somewhere to hold at night. Did it feel a little ridiculous to be doing it? Yes. Was he going to anyway for the hopes of comfort? Also yes. 

He just. Why couldn’t he stay asleep even when he fell asleep? Why did his entire sleep rest on Peter? 

It was stupid and more than a little frustrating. 

He turned back to Peter’s side of the bed gazing out at the photo they kept on the bedside table. He missed his boyfriend. 

Harley blinked the crust out of his eyes, pulling up his welder’s mask to wipe his brow. The bot he’d been working on lay in half welded pieces in front of him and he frowned sharply at the mess, “Just you wait buttercup, we’re going to get you up and running in no time.” 

“You talking to the bots again?” Harley startled as Pepper came up from the doorway. “You take after Tony.” 

“Don’t say that,” He groaned, rolling his eyes and slipping off his gloves before removing his hat entirely. “He’ll take it to his head if he hears you like that. He’s already constantly threatening to adopt me.” 

Pepper laughed- it was one of her nice laughs. All light and fun, the kind of laugh she let out around Rhodey and Tony and made her look ten times younger than she actually was. It was impossible not to laugh with her when she laughed like that, but somehow Harley managed. “I’m nineteen, you know, I don’t exactly qualify for adoption. And I’m pretty sure my mom would kick his ass.” 

“Macy would absolutely kick his ass.” Pepper smiled at him, coming to lean against his workbench. “Which bot is this?” 

“Buttercup. Just a classic intelligence bot.” 

“Like Itsy Bitsy?” 

“But for my gold and white suit.” 

She laughed again, “Like a buttercup.” 

“I think it’s smart,” he turned back to the mess of metal on the table. “If I can get her paneling down, I could probably start her programming but I wanna build the bulk of her first.” 

Quietly, he brought his fingers up to trace along the delicate ridges of her paneling. Her shape would be something close to a moth, he thought, but right now she just looked like sheets of metal. What a beautiful creation she would become, he thought quietly. She’d be one of his best, he could tell.

“I have an idea,” Pepper hummed nonchalantly, coming to lean next to his workbench. “How about instead of starting to program her, you go to bed.”

Harley huffed, looking up at pepper with a raised brow. “I can’t sleep.”

“Then I’ll get you the same sleeping medication that Tony uses for the night. Either way, you need to rest.”

“I’m fine Pepper.”

“You’re telling me that you haven’t slept well for the past two and a half weeks and you wanna claim to be fine?” Pepper scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Whatever you say.” 

He stared at her hard for a second before shaking his head. “I don’t like sleeping medication.”

“I know you don’t,” she softened for a second, moving to brush strands of Harley’s hair out of the way. “But you’d been awake for a long time. You need to sleep. You promised Peter you would try.”

“I have been trying.”

“I know. And you’ve been failing. So now, I’m stepping in to tell you that it’s okay if you need some extra help to go to sleep.” 

Harley dropped his gaze back to Buttercup, tracing her details. “I guess it couldn’t hurt.” 

“It won’t,” Pepper said gently, placing a bottle of sleeping aides on the table, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “Get some rest, Harley.”

And with that, she slipped out of the room as quietly as she came in. 

He supposed it couldn’t hurt. It was true that this was the longest and most consistently he had gone without sleep in a long long while. But still… he reached over and picked up the orange bottle, frowning. He probably should listen to her. 

Leaving his work still out on the bench, he suited up to head back home to his apartment. 

He had some sleep to catch up on. 

Harley stirred when his bed dipped to his side, leaning closer to whoever was coming in. He was so tired, deep in the thralls of sleep, that he didn’t want to bother opening his eyes. All he could do was let out a ‘hm’ in response to the gentle hands that started combing through his hair. 

Peter let out a soft chuckle, “Hi baby.”

… That gave him a little more energy. He blinked awake, still too sluggish to do anything much more than hold out his arms and mumble, “Pete.”

“I’m back,” his boyfriend’s voice was so incredibly fond as he let Harley pull him into the bed. “We landed about an hour ago, around two.”

“Mhm,” Harley tucked himself into the space between Peter’s face and shoulder, throwing his arms around Peter’s chest and hooking one leg over Peter’s back to force him to lay down with him. Peter chuckled at his antiques, fully allowing Harley to mold him however would be comfortable for the sleep-deprived man. “Missed you.”

“I heard,” Peter laughed again, dropping kisses onto Harley's hairline, making the man snuggle closer. “You said you’d take care of yourself.”

Harley whined sleepily, “I did take care of myself. Just couldn’t sleep without you here.” 

“I couldn’t sleep without you either,” Peter admitted quietly. “C’mon, love, let's go to bed.” 

They settled against each other and for the first time in a long time, Harley fell back to sleep with no problems.