#i stared at the dishes and waved my hands angrily and then didnt do them

[autisticmabel]

being autistic is being overwhelmed/overstimulated by how messy your place is but not having the spoons to clean

[elisaphoenix13]

Behind The Mask

It had been a bad day. A really bad one, because some bullies had gotten a little too cocky and Harley had seen them trip Peter in the hallway before they grabbed him and stuffed him into the nearest locker. The older teen had pounced on them and a few blows were exchanged while Peter pulled himself out of his prison before he had stopped Harley and dragged him away. He didn't want his adoptive brother getting into trouble in the first week of school. Especially on his behalf. So he grabbed their discarded belongings, shouted a goodbye to Ned, and wrestled Harley out of the school building before any faculty members could stop them.

The first half of their walk home passed in tense silence as Harley prodded at his busted lip and cut cheek, but it was broken as soon as they got off at their stop at the subway station.

"Why did you let them do that?" Harley asks coldly. "Why haven't you said anything to Dad and Stephen?"

Harley wasn't close to the sorcerer despite what the man had done for him when he first arrived, and wouldn't call him by anything but his name. Peter suspected part of the reason the other teen wouldn't refer to Stephen as 'mom' was not only because he wasn't close to the doctor, but maybe because he felt it would be an insult to his mother's memory. Peter kind of understood, but he didn't really remember his mother so the guilt of giving that role to Stephen had passed over a short time. From the stories Ben and May had told him though, Peter was sure his mother wouldn't have minded. Just like Laura and Maggie didn't mind it when their kids called Stephen 'mom' too.

"Last time Mom and Dad found out about a bully, Mom almost ripped out their parents throats and Dad threatened to sue. Besides, it's better me than some other kid." Peter adjusts his backpack and looks over at Harley with a 'What are you going to do' look, but startles when he finds the other boy glaring at him.

"What kind of excuse is that?"

"I can heal way faster than anyone else and it doesn't even happen every day."

"Are you serious?" Harley asks angrily. "Tell-"

"No!" Peter interrupts. "If Mom or Dad freak out then I freak out and it's just so much easier if they don't know. They haven't seriously hurt me so there's no reason!"

Harley scoffs. "No reason. So stepping in to defend you was a waste of my time?"

"...sort of?" The vigilante waves his hands wildly when his adopted brother frowns. "Not that I don't appreciate it because I do! Just...I heal faster."

"You said that."

Harley huffs and they walk into the tower's lobby as soon as they reach the building, and they step into the private elevator that takes them directly up to the family floor. As soon as the elevator doors open when it reaches their destination, Stephen was waiting in front of it with an ice pack.

"Whoa...your sixth sense is crazy accurate." Peter says as the sorcerer presses the pack to Harley's cheek. 

"It's just a scratch. No big deal. I can take care of it myself." The older teen grumbles but makes no move to brush Stephen away.

"I'd like to make sure." The doctor says in a no-nonsense tone, and leads Harley over to the kitchen table.

As soon as the teen sits down, Stephen opens a small portal to grab the first aid kit from the master bathroom and he pulls a chair up in front of Harley to sit in. The sorcerer didnt bother using magic to steady his hands since it wasn't necessary. No stitches were needed. Just a bit of antiseptic and a bandage.

"I thought we told you to say something if bullies continued to harass you." The doctor speaks softly, but with a hint of disappointment.

Peter swallows thickly. "Who said anything about bullies?" He ignores the look of 'I told you so' that Harley shoots in his direction as Stephen looks over at him.

"Peter. I am a doctor. I know what the damage from a right hook looks like when I see it."

"It's no big deal." The younger teen mumbles.

"Tell that to my fat lip." Harley grumbles.

Peter glares at him. "I didn't ask you to defend me!"

"What, you just want to me to stand and watch while they stuff you in lockers, push you down stairs, and trip you up?!" Harley shouts.

"I was handling it just fine!"

"Enough." Stephen raises his voice just enough to get their attention. "Both of you go up to your rooms and cool down."

Both teens huff and go up to their rooms, and ended up staying there for the rest of the night. Stephen had called them down for dinner, but both boys were being stubborn and refused to see each other. Peter's stomach had other ideas around midnight though. It screamed at him to feed it so he had no choice but to crawl down to the kitchen via the ceiling and take one of the two plates that Stephen had put in the fridge for him and Harley. Peter took the plate that was very obviously for him based on the amount of food piled on it and tears off the plastic wrap before throwing it in the microwave.

Peter spins in circles as he hangs from the ceiling on a web, waiting for his food to heat up, and then falls into a heap on the floor when he hears a shout of surprise.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Peter hisses and rubs the back of his head where he had hit it on the island and he sits up to face a bewildered Harley. The other teen no doubt had the same idea as Peter and came down to eat, but got a surprise first. Harley's shout had woken their parents and both had come down to investigate the cause, one with a magical shield and the other with a gauntlet. When they figured out that nothing was amiss they looked between the teens in confusion.

"What the hell is going on?" Tony asks as he rubs his face.

Harley turns to them and motions toward Peter who was finally on his feet. "He's Spiderman?!"

Stephen and Tony look at each other and then back at Harley. "We thought you knew." The sorcerer says.

"Am I the only normal person here?!"

Tony folds his arms. "Harley, a lot of us are normal. The only superhumans are Steve, Bucky, and Peter. I won't even include Thor and Loki for obvious reasons."

Harley frowns. "Stephen has magic."

"I learned my magic." Stephen says calmly. "Tony, Natasha, Sam, Scott...they only have weapons or suits. Otherwise they're normal and they're just a few examples."

The microwave beeps loudly in the somewhat awkward silence that follows and Peter takes his food out before sitting at the table and practically inhaling his late dinner. Harley watches in minute fascination and then decides to get his own food and heat it up. Harley sits at the island with his own dinner once it gets hot and their parents return to bed with a roll of their eyes. Harley and Peter were still being stubborn and they weren't about to try anything this late at night. If they argued, they argued.

That didn't happen though. Harley actually grabbed his food and sat in the seat directly across from Peter and stares at his adoptive younger brother. "...now I know why you kept mentioning how fast you heal." He pokes at his chicken with his fork. "I sort of get it. You don't want to accidently hurt anybody...right?"

"Pretty much." Peter confirms quietly. "I can take what they do to me. Someone else though? Not so much."

Harley nods slowly and they eat their meal in silence. It was still a little strained, but definitely more comfortable than it had been just a couple of minutes ago. When Peter finally finished his food and got up to put his dishes in the dishwasher, he stopped and looked at Harley.

"For what it's worth, I appreciate that you defended me." The younger teen looks down at the floor. "Just...don't get into fights for my sake."

Harley scoffs. "No promises Spidey. You may look out for everyone else...but someone has to look out for you."

"That's what parents are for."

"And older brothers."

A small smile grows on Peter's face and he continues forward to put his dishes in the dishwasher. "At least try not to."

"Again. No promises." Harley replies with a grin.

Peter rolls his eyes and makes his way back up to his room where he flops into bed with a much happier stomach and falls asleep. The next morning, he startles awake when someone sits on his bed with a hop and he cracks one eye open to glare at the disturbance. Harley raises an eyebrow down at him with a smirk and Peter retaliates by throwing a pillow at his face. Harley pushes Peter to one side of the bed, the younger grumbling but moving so the elder teen can lay next to him with the thrown pillow.

"How long?" Harley asks.

How long had Peter been Spiderman?

"A couple of years. Since I was fourteen."

"Do you spit venom?"

Peter huffs into his pillow as he hugs it. "I don't spit venom, I don't lay eggs, I still don't know how far my webs go, and I can't summon an army of spiders."

"What can you do?"

"Crawl on walls...and my senses are dialed to eleven so I can smell the coffee that Dad is brewing and the pancakes Mom is making, I can hear Steve and Bucky coming up the elevator...oh yeah. I can stop a three thousand pound car going forty miles an hour."

"...badass." Harley sits up. "Did you say pancakes?"

Peter grunts in affirmation and Harley stands up and then turns to yank the blankets off of the vigilante.

"Dude..."

"Come on. We can have breakfast and then run some tests on your limits and what else you can do."

"Sounds like a chore." Peter groans.

"Maybe we can bribe Stephen into adding chocolate chips-" Harley starts until the bedroom door opens and Stephen smirks.

"No bribery needed. Breakfast is ready and I am not putting anything aside this time." The sorcerer says.

"Okay. I'm up. I'm up."

Peter rolls out of bed and follows Harley and Stephen down to the kitchen and immediately pulls some chocolate chip pancakes onto his plate. Stephen stops him after the fifth one so the other three can get their servings. Breakfast passed with normal conversation, and Peter found out that Steve and Bucky only came up to grab a few things before leaving again. Toward the end of breakfast though, Harley had asked Tony if they could help Peter test his limits and abilities and their father grinned.

"I've been meaning to do that so absolutely. Underoos, suit up." 

"Seriously?" Peter asks.

"As a heart attack."

"Don't joke about that Tony." Stephen says with a wince before sipping his tea.

Harley grins. "Can I shoot him with my potato gun?!"

Peter gawks. "No! What is wrong with you?!"