Chapter Text
Night had fallen finally over New York City, later than usual, a sign of the impending summer months. A light rain had set on the city as well, slowly slicking up the roads and making the outside unusually muggy.
It continued to patter lightly against the car as Happy put it in park. He turned the car off and turned around in his seat.
Peter was sitting in the back staring intently out of the window. He was dressed in a pair of black dress slacks and a white button down shirt; the outfit he had worn under his graduation robe. He also was holding a black leather portfolio in his hand, his fingers running over it absently.
“Sure you don’t want me to come in?” Happy asked him.
Peter shook his head. “I’ll be fine, Happy. Just going in to check on him and talk to him for a little.”
Happy peered out of his window up at the sleek, black high rise. “All right. But if you need me...”
“You’re just a call away. Got it,” Peter said giving him a thumbs up.
He stepped out of the car and made his way into the building. The inside lobby looked like something out of a Silicon Valley company headquarters. White modern furniture accented with bright orange and green; a ping pong table sitting in a corner of the lobby where a few residents of the complex were gathered chatting and playing; flat screen TVs hung around the room playing different news channels.
Peter took the elevator up to the loft floor. Fifteen floors up, the elevator stopped and Peter got off, meeting a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
“Stop right there,” the darker skinned one ordered, his hand going on his hip where his gun was.
“Uh, name is Peter Parker, I called Fury about coming here?”
The two men looked at each other and then back at Peter. “Okay, you can come through.”
Peter moved past them and reached the loft apartment door. He knocked twice.
He heard shuffling and then the door opened.
“Hey Pete, long time no see.”
“Hi Harry,” Peter replied. “Nice place you got here.”
Harry moved aside for Peter to walk through. As he did, he couldn’t help but notice that nothing much had changed about him - except for the metal ankle bracelet around his leg.
“Yep prison looks a lot different when you have money and a good friend who vouches for you.”
Peter perked up. “Good friend, huh?”
“Don’t let it go to your head,” Harry replied. “ I’m still not 100 percent sure if those agents are here to protect me or keep me here.”
“Fisk is out to get you, Harry, just like he is me.”
“Except you have powers and Avenger friends to keep you safe.”
“This was the best way,” Peter admitted. “He would have gotten someone inside the prison to kill you and plus, I just couldn’t see you go there. After all the crap that’s happened between us, I just couldn’t...” Peter trailed off.
“Why you’re the better man, Pete. Always have been. Sometimes it’s a weakness but others like this time, it’s nice to have someone like you in your corner.” He rested his hand on Peter’s shoulder and gave it a hard squeeze.
“Two compliments in one visit? You’re spoiling me Harry,” Peter joked.
Harry rolled his eyes and went over to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and grabbe two cans of Coke out of it. “So how did graduation go?”
He handed Peter one of the sodas. “Graduation went well. Spider-Man got an award.”
Harry snorted. “Why am I not surprised?” He sat down on the couch and grabbed an Xbox controller and the remote for the TV. “Is that where you just came from?”
“No, we had a small party at the compound. Then I came here. I told you I would.”
“You did say that.” He nodded to the portfolio in Peter’s hand. “What’s that?”
Peter set his soda down on the kitchen island, walked over to Harry, and opened it up. Inside was a diploma from Midtown with Harry’s name on it.
“Aww, for me?” Harry said sarcastically. “You shouldn’t have.”
“They didn’t want to give you one. I insisted.”
Harry nodded to the coffee table in front of him, and Peter set it on there. Harry stared at the diploma intently. “Anyone ask about me?”
“A few.”
“Liar,” Harry responded.
“I was thinking about you, MJ too,”
“Now I know you’re lying,” Harry replied, absently playing with the left and right sticks on the controller. Harry looked up at Peter. “After everything that happened… what I did to you and MJ… why are you doing this?” He gestured around the apartment and to the diploma.
Peter sat down next to him. “I don’t know, I guess I think… well, you tried to save me twice. And you’re in a lot of pain and all of that stuff, trying to steal MJ away from me, plotting against me, I think it was all your way of coping with that and maybe… I think that maybe we could be friends again.”
Harry regarded Peter a silence falling over them. Peter tried to give Harry his best pleading smile. Harry shook his head and grabbed the second controller on the coffee table in front of them. “Pete, you and me, I think we’re either destined to become friends or enemies, that’s for sure. I don’t think there’s an inbetween.”
Peter nodded slowly. “So which way are you leaning today?”
Harry handed him the second controller. “Well, that depends on how well you do in this next Halo slayer match.”
Peter grinned. “All right, you’re on.”
The End.