Tell Me The Truth ~ Peter x Harley

Peter's Breaking Point

(A/N {Ty Simpkins plays Harley in the MCU if you don't know}... Ty was reading someone's comment on how they didn't do well on their test on his livestream tonight and he was like "oh, that's gay," and then his face dropped and he said "oh, I mean that's not good." and I laughed so hard.)

*HARLEY'S POV*

For the rest of the day, I tried to do my work.

Key word: tried.

I couldn't focus on anything.

First, the rape. Second, Eric getting fired. Which means Peter must have told Tony and Tony must have told... somebody. An official here at the building.

Felicity still has no idea. Nobody in the office does.

I have no interest in telling them either. What happened to me was terrible but like I told Peter, I'm not going to let some freaking psychotic asshole like Eric stand in the way of living my life and accomplishing what I came to New York to accomplish.

I just really don't want to get involved in court. I didn't even want to get the police involved, which is probably a bad decision on my part because he deserves to be in jail for what he did to me and to prevent it from happening to other people. But I am and always have been that guy that doesn't like drama. That stays away from it at all costs. That does everything to prevent it. That never gossips, never spreads rumors, never partakes in anything drama related.

Mostly, I just don't like attention. And if I were in the public eye as a poor, pitiful victim of a rape in the workplace... yeah. The spotlight would be on me.

I guess I really just need to learn to protect myself.

*THIRD PERSON POV*

At around 7:00 p.m., Peter decides to call Harley. He just needs to hear his voice and see how he's doing. This whole day was full of meetings and scheduling and planning and he's exhausted. Harley's voice is so soothing. It calms Peter down and helps him sleep. Plus, Harley always has the right things to say.

"Hey."

"Hi," Peter pauses. "How are you?"

"I'm okay. Eric got fired today."

"I heard... I'm really glad."

"Me too. I know you told Tony."

Peter's heart dropped. "Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad," Harley sighed, "I knew you had to."

"I just couldn't let you work in the same place as the person who freaking raped you," Peter said, exasperated. "I care about you too much for that."

"I understand," Harley paused for a second. "Thanks for looking out for me."

"You're welcome," Peter smiled.

"So... any big news on the mission?" Harley said the word "mission" all peppy and energetic. Peter could imagine him with jazz hands and he laughed.

"No, not really. Today was kind of boring actually," Peter rested his phone between his shoulder and ear so he could look out the curtains. "But Wakanda is absolutely beautiful. Like seriously one of the best places I've ever been to."

Harley chuckled. "I'm glad you're liking it. Maybe I'll be able to see it one day."

"I hope so."

There was a kind of uncomfortable silence for a moment before Peter finally got the courage to ask the question he'd been wondering about for too long.

"Um... were you... I mean, before he- Eric- before he... like, um..."

"You okay?" Harley laughed silently on the line. Peter's stuttering was really cute.

"Yeah," Peter sighed, "sorry. I'm just trying to ask if you had like... ever done anything like that before...?"

"Oh, you mean sex?"

"Yeah..."

Harley smiled into the phone. Peter's so shy. He's too embarrassed to say the word "sex." And Harley loved that about him.

"No. I was a virgin."

"Oh." Peter's voice deepened. "I'm really sorry."

"It's okay," Harley said. "It's just the way things turned out... I am kind of disappointed about it though. I mean, you get one life. And my virginity is one of the only things in life that I got to control, especially at my age. And now..." He sighed, "well now that's ruined too. I'll never get the chance to go back and redo it."

Peter didn't know what to say. How could he? He'd never been in a situation like this. "I'm so sorry, Harley... I swear I'm going to make him pay."

"It's okay, Pete, really. He already got fired-"

"Yeah," Peter's voice was confident now, "but you aren't going to press charges against him and I want to make him pay for what he did to you. It's so unfair."

"Life's unfair."

"You need to stop it with your 'I'm just accepting this and moving on' attitude, okay, Keener? I'm sick and tired of it. He fucking raped you. That is one of the highest levels of crime you can commit. And you're sitting there in your little office in New York City saying, 'oh, it is what it is, guess I can't do anything about it. You can't change what's already happened,' but I say fuck that, okay? Sure, maybe you can't change what's already happened but you sure as hell can change what's going to happen if you get your head in the game and you take charge of your fucking life. You can't let people and situations like this haunt you for the rest of your life just because you know, deep down, that you could have done something about it and you didn't. And Eric is literally a psychopath, okay? What about all the other possible targets out there, completely unaware that they might end up exactly. like. you."

Peter paused for a breath. Harley sat on the other end of the line, his mouth agape and his eyes open wide at what Peter just said. He'd never heard Peter like this before.

"So I want you to go to the police. And I want you to go to court. And I want you to get that bastard put behind bars. You will never have to fear him again and you will never have to live with the constant ache of 'what if I had done this' or 'what if I had done that' because you will have done it, Keener. I believe in you. You've got everyone on your side."

Harley nodded, then realized he was talking to Peter over the phone, and stopped nodding. "Okay."

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(A/N so this chapter took me a few days to write despite being one of the shortest chapters of this book just because I was being lazy about it but... my dog just died. she was my very best friend for almost 12 years and she died like an hour ago and I've been a wreck since then and I'm trying to sleep but I can't and... yeah. so please just keep my family in your thoughts and prayers. thank you guys so much, I love all of you beautiful people.)

bye for now✱

•1,170 words•