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"So...uh is this your first, you know, black-tie event?" Peter nervously held his glass in his hand and exhaled a shaky breath. He was sweating so much right now and he really hoped the boy next to him didn't notice.
Tony invited them both to some sort of gala that Peter, nor Harley knew nothing about. They were just told that there was going to be food, dancing and a lot of famous celebrities. Harley, of course, was very excited and couldn't wait but Peter was a nervous wreck. Tony had gotten two suits tailored perfectly for the two of them. They were almost identical, save for the few details like Peter's suit came with a bow tie and Harley's with a regular tie.
When Peter put his suit on, he looked into the mirror several times before coming out of his room. He wasn't about to come out looking like some kind of monster with his dinner stuck in between his teeth. Especially in front of Harley because he may or may not have a tiny, little, very, minuscule, not so much of a big deal crush on him. Again, it wasn't that much of a big deal. He just liked the way Harley smiled at him and the jokes that he made and his hair, oh, his hair. Peter absolutely loved Harley's hair. All he ever wanted to do was to run a hand through it. But who was he kidding? He'd never be able to do that.
These feelings...what he felt for Harley, Peter was sure of himself that they weren't mutual.
If only they were.
"Yeah, kinda. I've been to parties but I've, uh, I've never been to anything this...fancy." Harley admits and gracefully pulls his glass to his lips.
They both awkwardly stood in a corner, where all the refreshments were obviously, away from all the adults and attention.
Peter nodded, lips pursed and butterflies in his stomach. "Mr. Stark always makes me go. I never really like these parties."
"How so?"
"Well, it's cause I'm always alone in a sea full of sophisticated adults," Peter started, "And I'm just this...this awkward teenager that has no absolute idea what he's doing." He brushed off that last comment with a nervous laugh.
Harley hummed and leaned against the wall. Peter noticed that the other boy's gaze was concentrating on the dance floor instead of him.
God, was he that boring?
Suddenly, Harley put a hand on his shoulder and Peter immediately tensed up. "Hey, I'm an awkward teenager too. So in a way, we're both in this together now."
Oh. "Haha, yeah. High five to us for being so troublesome."
After that, there was a sharp silence between them. So sharp that it stabbed both of them in the right in the gut. Gosh, if they could just get past this whole silence thing, they'd be making so much progress now.
Harley couldn't stop smoothing out his hair. Every second, he had to make sure that there weren't any loose strands hanging from the hair that he spent quite a long time trying to style. Was he trying to impress someone? Peter perhaps? Maybe, maybe not. But he convinced himself that if he looked the least bit presentable Peter would at least consider liking him just a little bit.
Harley felt a bit warm and he needed a break to get himself together. "Hey, I'm going...to the bathroom. I'll be right back." He excused himself and made started making a beeline to the nearest restroom.
Tony, who totally wasn't watching the pair of teens from his own corner, spotted Harley and broke the conversation he was in and walked up to the boy. "Everything alright Harley?"
"Oh, it's you. Yeah, everything's fine I just need to...breath a little."
The billionaire smirked. "Yeah? Is Peter giving you a hard time?"
Harley just rolled his eyes and blushed. "W-what? No! I mean no, he's fine. We were just talking."
"About?"
The teen shrugged. "Party stuff I guess."
"You sound disappointed." Tony pointed out.
Truth be told, Harley was disappointed. He wanted to just swallow his anxiety and ask Peter for a dance already. "And what if I was?"
When Tony didn't answer, Harley just crossed his arms and pouted while his entire face turned deep red. Dance! Why couldn't he just ask Peter to dance? It really wasn't that hard, all he had to do was walk up to the boy, ask him and if he said no then what was he going to do about it? Wait but what if he said yes? Then Harley would be very lucky.
"If you want him to dance with you, all you have to do is ask Harley. Trust me, Peter won't deny your request. And if you're shy about the whole...liking boys thing, cheer up kid, it's the twenty-first century, no one gives a shit. Wait no, I didn't mean it that way I mean, well, you know what I mean." Tony drew his wine glass to his lips and looked at the speechless boy in front of him.
"How did you...?" The teen started, mouth hanging open and cheeks redder than ever. "Wait you know what? Never mind, I just, I just what if he says no?"
Tony deeply chuckled. "Kid, I can feel you sweating when Peter is as far as ten meters away from you. But come on, he won't say no. I don't know how your teenage brains work but Peter is not going to say no, hell, he's probably giving himself a migraine by trying to think of how to ask you to dance."
"Think so?"
Tony nodded fondly.
"Alright, I'll give it a go, but I swear if I make a fool out of myself-"
"You won't now go! Before it's too late!" Tony shooed him away, watching Harley as he made his way over to a nervous looking Peter. "You got this kid!" He shouted and Harley practically cringed.
When he got back to Peter, the both kinda pulled smiles over their faces and breathed shaky laughs. Harley made weird hand gestures and was mentally killing himself the whole time. Eventually, he worked up the courage to ask.
Here goes nothing, he thought. "Hey I was wondering, you know, like...do you maybe wanna, you don't have to but, maybe you'd just like to you know, dance? With me? On the dancefloor? Tonight?"
Peter was wide-eyed and he was blushing so hard. His mouth just kinda hung open a little, not too much, but enough to the point where when he noticed he swallowed hard. "I would, I would l-love to, I mean like to, wait, no I mean...Yeah, I'd love to dance. With you. On the dancefloor. Tonight. Yeah, I'd l-love to, yeah."
Harley clapped his hands and held them together tightly. "Oh okay, wow, okay. So...should we right now or...do you wanna-?"
"No! I mean right now would be nice. I kinda, like, you know, the song is good." Peter stuttered.
He almost lost his entire shit when Harley held his hand out for him. The world was spinning so hard right now and he couldn't believe if any of this was real or not. Was he really about to dance with Harley Keener?
It was at that moment he knew that yes, he did have a crush on Harley and there was really no point in denying it again.
Peter grinned and placed his hand in the other boy's as they walked towards the dancefloor.
The good thing was that they weren't the only ones, luckily. But the bad part was that everyone, adults mind you, was looking at them. It wasn't the bad kind of look, it was just overwhelming seeing and having all those eyes on them.
Harley placed his hands on Peter's waist and Peter on Harley's shoulder's. They obviously went straight for the classic 'middle-school-dance where you have to be at least seven inches apart' move. But it was fine.
They rocked back and forth to the slow beat. Everything was actually going so well.
Peter had a hard time focusing on Harley's face. This was all so surreal to him.
"I'm sorry, I'm so awkward," Peter admitted, laughing and looking at his shoes. "I literally have no idea what I'm doing."
Harley cocked an eyebrow. "And I'm not? Darling, I'm the awkward one, you're the cute one."
Peter just smiled and blushed some more. Christ, Harley was so charming.
Being in love was such a wonderful feeling. The constant feeling on warmness and butterflies in his stomach was just amazing and he never wanted it to go. Peter closed his eyes and got more comfortable about the dance. He could Harley's breathing against him despite the music being played around them. And that's when he leaned in closer and set his head on Harley's chest. How was he doing this?
Harley almost froze, but he didn't. He just continued swaying around with Peter and after a few minutes of that, he had gotten used to Peter being so close to him. And he liked it. So very much.
Tony, of course, was watching the whole thing. He was so tempted to get his phone out and film the whole thing but both teens would literally kill him if he did. But when the dance was over and both boys let go of each other, he walked up to the two and congratulated them as if they were newly wedded or something.
"You two gotta stop with your 'we don't like each other' bullshit, that was beautiful." He gave both boys a soft look and innocently batted his eyes.
Peter just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, sighing. "Of course, you were watching us. Shame it was only between friends." He secretly winked at Harley, who quickly picked up on the gag.
"Yeah, Peter's right, we're just friends. What do you mean we like each other?" Harley added, poking Peter in the arm.
The latter added, "That whole dance was totally platonic, no romance was involved."
"Wha-" Tony tried to say but was interrupted.
"Hey, Peter wanna get some drinks?" Harley asked, sticking his arm out to Peter who clung onto him.
"Sure, I'd love to."
Tony just sighed and watched the two walk off.
They weren't fooling anyone. Of course they liked each other.