I’ll catch you if you fall
Summary: Harley knew what he was signing up for dating Spider-Man. That doesn’t decrese his stress levels aboout it.
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Technically set within my “Moment in the Sun” universe but can be read alone!
Author’s Note: This is my first time participating in Whumptober… I’m not sure how many of these prompts I will complete but here we are. Also if you are looking out for the next chapter of Finding Family (Life is Good for Peter Parker) I’M SORRY I PROMISE IT’S COMING SOON. I’m just really unhappy with what I have right now, it needs some serious work.
I’ll catch you if you fall
Harley was not sure he would ever get used to dating Spider-Man. He loved Peter, he was more certain of that than anything. So when Peter needed support, Harley would provide it, knowing that Peter would do the same. And yet it was not the same. Because every night Peter would go out and fight crime, and most of the time he was okay. Most of the time, Peter came out of the fights better off than those he fought.
And then there were times like tonight, when Peter swung into their bedroom window. Literally slammed into the glass because he somehow missed the part of the window that was open. Harley’s heart leapt out of his chest as he threw the book he had been reading to the side and snatched the back-up web shooter gauntlet off the desk, lunging forward out the window and snapping the webs forward to catch Peter. Peter, who, despite being Spider-Man, was in a free-fall out the window.
“FRIDAY!” Harley called out, ignoring his shaking arms as he held Peter up by the webs.
“Yes, Harley?”
“Get in contact with Karen, see if she can get remote control of the suit so that she can help me get him up here. Deploy an iron legionaire for backup rescue, and get me my Mark IV.”
“Got it, mini-boss.” There was a pause that seemed to last a lifetime before the iron spider legs burst from the back of Peter’s suit and began climbing up the side of the building, Peter himself still limp. Harley pulled back on the webbing to help, and soon there was an Iron Legionaire as well, who brought Peter the rest of the way into the room. The Med Bay was the best option long-term, but at that moment Harley was prioritizing getting Peter inside the building .
Karen retracted the legs and Harley took off the gauntlet as the legionnaire laid Peter down gently on the bed. Without knowing what was wrong laying him down as gently as possible and not moving him was definitely the right move.
Harley pressed down on the spider in the center of Peter’s chest. Karen, recognizing Harley’s biometrics, released the suit down to Peter’s watch. Harley gasped as he saw Peter’s face, which was forming a nasty bruise on the left side. He could also see more bruises on his arms and torso— Peter apparently hadn’t been wearing a shirt under the suit tonight— but thankfully no bleeding.
Peter groaned and opened his eyes blearily before hissing at the bright light and closing them again.
“FRIDAY, dim the lights to 10%,” Harley called out softly. He knew that she would hear no matter how quiet he was, and he did not want to disturb Peter’s enhanced senses further if the other boy was already feeling sensitive to light.
“Harley?” Peter rasped.
“Hey darlin’. You look like you took quite the beating tonight.”
“You could say that.” Peter rasped.
“I think you must have hit your head pretty hard. You missed the window when you were coming in. How many fingers am I holding up?” Harley held out his hand, and Peter cracked one of his eyes open.
“Hmmm. Five?”
“That’s good. Do you want some water?” Harley leaned over to get his water bottle from the side table.
“Yeah,” Peter sipped slowly. Harley would never not be in awe of his boyfriend’s super-healing, as he noticed that the bruises that he had seen on Peter’s face and torso were already starting to change as if they were days old, and not potentially hours.
“Wanna tell me what happened?” Harley asked, laying down next to the other boy and looking him steadily in the eyes. They were no longer clouded, and Harley could tell from experience that Peter would heal better by sleeping in his own bed and checking in with medical in the morning than waking everyone up in the middle of the night. He did not like it, but there were some things that one just learned after dating Spider-Man for over a year.
“I busted up an arms deal.” Peter looked away from Harley, starting to twist the edges of Harleey’s shirt instead of meeting him in the eye. “I managed to web up all the weapons, but I still ended up fighting a bunch of people hand-to-hand. Things got a little messy. I pushed myself too hard. I think one of them gave me a concussion, which is why I missed the window….” Peter paused. “You caught me.”
“Well yeah. I wasn’t going to let you just pancake on the ground! God Peter, you—” Harley rolled onto his back, breathing heavily, his heart racing as he realized how close tonight had been.
“Harley, Mark IV is ready.” FRIDAY announced. “There is a delivery bot outside your door.”
“Thanks, FRIDAY. You have perfect timing.” Harley flashed a smile at the ceiling, despite the fact that there were no cameras in his bedroom, and rolled off the bed to open the door.
“Mark IV?” Peter asked, sitting up.
“Well, I was going to wait for this, but clearly you can’t keep going out without backup, so…” Harley closed the door and put the arc reactor he had just taken from the bot on the center of his chest before pressing down on it. Instantly nanobots sprung from the reactor, and a silver and purple suit surrounded Harley.
“Tony has been helping me train, some of those nights when you’re off being Spider-Man. We wanted to surprise you together, but I guess you could say that I am Iron Lad?”
This fic belongs to the series A Moment in the Sun.