Chapter Text
Peter sighs as he turns back to the workbench where their official Stark Industries project is sitting, forgotten until just a few seconds ago. His brain being filled solely with TikTok references lately, he doesn’t even mean to quote one he has been seeing frequently on his for you page for the past couple of days.
“I have to go to work,” he says with a mockingly deep and serious voice before chuckling to himself. Harley is used to his boyfriend’s antics. Between his constant mumbling when thinking to himself and his new obsession with TikTok references, Peter is very rarely silent in the lab. So he doesn’t react in any shape or form to this little outburst. That is until Peter squeaks like one of these screaming chicken toys. Very loudly. And starts vibrating in his seat.
“What the actual fuck, darling?”
Peter turns to him so quickly Harley is scared he gave himself whiplash, but his boyfriend just smiles maniacally at him.
“I just got an idea for a TikTok.”
Harley stares at him for a second before slowly setting down his tools. These words never
“Are you-”
Peter interrupts him before he even finishes his question.
“No,” he states with an exaggerated roll of his eyes, “I’m not going to try and show people how lame you really are.”
“You sure?” He eyes his boyfriend suspiciously, a wary frown still creasing his brows.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Peter sighs with another dramatic eye roll. “Now, do you wanna hear about it or not? Cause if not I’m just gonna sit here in silence and stare at you until you do.”
They do end up staring at each other for what feels like hours to Harley (it’s barely thirty seconds) before he caves with a sigh. “Okay, sure, go on I guess.”
Peter’s smile comes back full force as he fishes his phone out of his pocket. He walks to Harley, who is watching him warily until he shows him his screen. There is already a video playing of some guy crouched on what looks like his driveway and making weird, indecipherable noises as he moves and jumps around. Then the guy puts on a hat and says in a fake serious voice “I have to go to work”, not unlike Peter did just moments before. The guy then just goes back to making his gremlin noises as he goes off-screen.
Harley squints slightly at the screen.
“And… where exactly are you going with this?” he asks softly as if he is scared of what Peter’s hyperactive brain could have birthed.
Only just a few minutes later, Harley is standing at Peter’s workbench, fiddling with their potato gun while Peter is setting up his phone at the right angle as his idea requires some part of their holoscreen to be visible. He explained what he wanted to film in detail, and Harley has to hand it to him: it is pretty funny, sure, but it is mostly very accurate. It depicts how they spent their whole afternoon pretty perfectly. As well as most of their regular days in the lab, to be honest.
Peter checks the holoscreen, then the volume. When he’s sure it’s high enough for Halrey to hear properly, he selects the 3-second timer and gets in position, tools in hand. Harley smiles slightly. When the sound starts, with the cryptic sounds, both teenagers start making faces, looking like madmen as they finish assembling the potato gun like stereotypical mad scientists in cartoons. A mirrored image of the project is visible on the schematics displayed on the holoscreen to their left. They both have to contain outbursts of laughter at their ridiculous image on the phone screen.
When the noises stop, they push everything aside and while Peter swipes at the screen to change the schematics, Harley takes out their real work. They are still careful not to show too much of it —company secrets, NDAs, and all that stuff. Now, with obviously mocking faces, they mouth the words “i have to go to work” as they hear them, before reverting to their previous chaotic state when the strange noises start back. Harley even loads the gun, taking a step back before pointing it at Peter. Peter freezes. The next second, he is dodging a small potato.
As the recording ends, both boys end up cracking up. Peter misses his stool when he tries to sit down to catch his breath, which sends them back into a fit of hysterical laughter. It takes no less than five whole minutes for them to finally fall into silence, huge smiles tugging at their lips.
“You good darling?” Harley asks as he helps his boyfriend up.
Peter nods with a little hum, not trusting himself not to go back to giggling if he talks. Harley simply hums back and lightly tugs on his arm to get him closer so he can reach around him and give him a warm hug. Peter nuzzles his neck, breath tickling the soft skin there, and they simply stay like this, Harley’s hand coming up to comb through brown curls.
The peace only lasts until Tony’s exasperated voice rings through the lab once again. “I thought I told you to work.”
A silence.
Then both boys burst out with laughter once again, leaving their mentor to stare at them in confusion. He stands at the doors, eyes going from Peter to Harley, back to Peter, then back to Harley again. “I’m too old for this”, he sighs as he turns on his heels to leave the teenagers to their laughing fit.
When they finally calm down, Peter and Harley decide they deserve a little break. Laughing is exhausting, and there is a perfectly nice loveseat waiting for them to cuddle on as Peter edits the video.
t.stark
So that’s why you two were cackling like feral chickens
11-05 Reply
peanut.butter.parker · Creator
excuse me??? feral chickens???
11-05 Reply
hardlykeen ▸ peanut.butter.parker
he's not wrong tho
11-06 Reply