"Hey, Harry," Gwen said as she met Harry outside of school the next day.
"Alright, pervert?" Harry asked casually, earning a light slap to the arm from Gwen.
"Shut up," Gwen said, quickly looking around to make sure nobody had heard him. "besides, it wasn't really my fault, was it? You're the one who has lived your entire life without learning how to lock your door."
"Hey, I know how, I just forgot." Harry protested.
"Whatever, are you going to tell Peter today?" Gwen asked, giving him a questioning look.
"I don't know," Harry sighed. "I think maybe we should just keep this between ourselves and...
"Harry, he's your best friend," Gwen interrupted. "you have always been there for him and he's always been there for you. You know that he won't tell anyone if you tell him not to."
"You're not going to leave it, are you?" Harry asked knowingly.
"Nope." Gwen sang, giving him a big grin.
"Fine, but just Peter," Harry said in a firm voice. "nobody else. The fewer people that know, the better.
"You're really worried about this, aren't you?" Gwen asked, dropping her smile.
"Yeah," Harry nodded, after his experience with Umbridge, Lucius Malfoy and Fudge, he was admittedly not that trusting with governments or most people in general, something that was not helped by years of neglect and abuse before becoming part of a secretworld that had to hide from the rest of the world.
"Hey, it'll be alright," Gwen said, grabbing his hand with her own.
"Peter won't tell anyone, and I won't either, promise.'
"Thanks," Harry smiled at her, she smiled back, glad that she had cheered him up a bit.
"Are you two dating?" A voice asked, the two turned around and saw Peter standing there and staring at the two of them.
"No, why?" Harry asked in a confused voice.
"Because you're holding hands." Peter slowly pointed out as he gestured to Harry and Gwen's hands.
"Oh," The two blurted out before quickly letting go of each other as if they had been burnt.
"That's awkward." Harry sighed before turning to Peter. "How are you doing anyway?" He asked.
"Fine," Peter grunted before the three of them started walking inside. "do you guys want to come over to my place today?" He offered. "I asked Aunt May and Uncle Ben and they said you could come over."
"That sounds nice," Gwen replied.
"And…..um…..will your uncle be at home?" Harry asked, raising an evebrow.
"No, he's going to be at work," Peter answered.
"But your aunt will be there, right?" Harry asked in an intrigued voice.
"Um...yeah, why?" Peter looked at Harry suspiciously.
"No reason, no reason," Harry quickly replied. "anyway, I've decided, yes, I am definitely coming to your house."
"We're here, Aunt May," Peter announced as he and his friends stepped into Peter's house.
"Hello," A voice said just before an attractive and kind-looking woman with brown hair stepped out of the kitchen. "ah Gwen, Harry it's nice to see you again." She smiled at them.
"Hello, Mrs Parker." Gwen greeted her before Harry pushed past and gently grabbed May's hand and kissed her knuckles.
"It is good to see you again, Mrs Parker, and I must say that you are looking absolutely exquisite today," Harry said, smiling at her.
"Dude!" Peter looked at Harry with disbelief.
"I am very flattered, Harry, but I'm still married." Aunt May reminded Harry, looking more amused than anything.
"Happily?" Harry asked.
"Dude!" Peter blurted out.
"Relax, man, I'm joking," Harry said as he let go of Aunt May's hand. 'Mostly joking anyway.' He thought to himself. "I like you and Ben too much to do anything, not that I think l'd be successful if I did do anything." He frowned as he added the last part more to himself than anyone else.
"Anyway, I'll be going upstairs, you kids let me know if you need anything." Aunt May spoke up.
"We'll just be in the basement." Peter let her know before he grabbed Harry by the arm and began dragging him away, Gwen followed after the boys and eventually, the trio arrived in the Parker family basement which had been converted into a small lab for Peter. "Dude, did you really just flirt with my aunt?"
"Honestly, nobody has a sense of humour," Harry said with mock-suffering in his voice. "anyway, the reason for our visit was not for me to flirt with your bombshell of an aunt."
"I will mix a bunch of chemicals at random and toss them in vour pants." Peter threatened.
"Sorry," Harry sent him an apologetic look that was slightly offset by the smile on his face.
"Are you done?" Gwen gave Harry an unimpressed look.
"Yes," Harry sighed before turning to Peter. "anyway, I came here today because I want to tell you something.'
"What is it?" Peter asked curiously.
"Well, it's sort of like this, I think that...no, it's probably better if I just show you." Harry looked up at the ceiling, he bent his legs slightly, preparing to jump.
"Ah!" Gwen sharply interrupted him, she walked past the two of them and locked the basement door before sending a pointed look towards Harry.
"Right," Harry said slowly and with a hint of embarrassment.
"thanks.
"You're welcome," Gwen rolled her eyes before walking back up to them. "now, Peter, Harry has something to show you.'
"Right." Harry nodded before he lept up into the air and stuck himself to the ceiling with one hand. Peter gasped and took a step back, staring at Harry like it was the first time he had ever seen
him.
"How are you doing that?" Peter gulped.
"We have a few theories at the moment," Gwen spoke up.
"Wait, you knew about this?!" Peter blurted out.
"I only found out about it yesterday, and keep your voice down." Gwen told him. "I had left my notebook in his room and came back upstairs to find him exactly like this." She gestured to Harry.
"I think this has happened because of our field trip," Harry said as he kicked his shoes off of his feet.
"Field trip?" Peter asked. "You mean when you started getting all sick?"
"Yeah," Harry confirmed with a small nod before he pulled his feet up and was now stuck to the ceiling by his feet and was looking down at Peter. "I got bitten by a spider there, then I started getting sick and then the next thing I know my senses are dialled up to eleven and I can stick to walls."
"What do you mean your senses are dialled up?" Peter frowned.
"I woke up one day and I felt like I could hear everything around me, and I do mean everything, I was able to hear a bloody fly go past me and I could hear a spider crawling," Harry explained before he saw a spider web hanging in a corner with a spider hanging on the web. "watch this," Harry told them before he crawled across the ceiling until he got close enough to the spider, he held his hand out and the spider obediently climbed onto it before Harry dropped down onto the floor. He walked over to Peter, holding the spider in his hand. "raise a leg," Harry commanded and the spider lifted one of its legs. "now, lower it."
The spider did as it was told and lowered the leg.
"You can control spiders?!" Peter gasped. "That's amazing! Can you shoot webs?!"
"Webs?" Harry blinked as he went back and placed the spider on the wall and let it crawl back up to its web.
"You might be able to, actually," Gwen hummed thoughtfully.
"you've so far seemed to gain the powers of a spider, maybe you can produce webs."
"Um...let me try then." Harry raised a hand and pointed it at a beaker, he jabbed his hand forward but nothing happened.
"Um..go web!" Harry tried again but still, nothing happened. "Web attack! Shazam! Webs! Go web, go!" Harry lowered his hands and turned to the other two. "Yeah, I don't think I can produce webs."
"Well, maybe you have to try it from somewhere else," Peter suggested as Harry walked back towards them.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked as he stopped in front of them.
"Well, where do webs come out of spiders?" He asked. Harry frowned for a moment before he understood exactly what Peter was saying.
"There are no webs coming out of there," Harry said, rolling his eves.
"Are you sure?" Gwen asked teasingly.
"Positive," Harry gave her an unamused look.
"Maybe it might come out of there." Peter pointed in-between
Harry's legs.
"It does not come out of there either!" Harry snapped.
"Have you tested it out?" Peter asked, earning a look of pure disbelief from Harry.
"I've pissed a few times since I got these powers and I'm sure that each time liquid has come out," Harry stated in a flat voice, while Gwen tried her best to suppress her laughter with her hand
"Well, maybe we need to do some more testing and..."
"I'II make a deal with you," Harry cut him off. "I will only allow you to test my ding-a-ling if your aunt is the one doing all the testing."
Harry stared at Peter who stared at him in return.
"You know what, you're right," Peter suddenly declared a few seconds later. "I'm sure there's nothing of substance in there." He finished by casually gesturing to the area between Harry's legs.
"Oil" Harry yelled as Gwen began laughing loudly.
"Hev." Peter suddenly said half an hour later. The group had spent their time discussing Harry's abilities and honestly just watching him crawl around the place. "I've got an idea."
"What is it?" Harry asked from his position on the ceiling.
"Are you going to get down from there?" Gwen asked in an amused voice.
"I honestly don't really want to," Harry answered. "I mean, l've got no problem with being in the ground but this is surprisingly comfortable.'
"Anyway," Peter continued speaking. "what I was going to say, is why don't you make some webshooters?"
"What?" Harry blinked.
"Think about it," Peter replied. "if your body can't produce webs then why not make some artificial ones to do it for you? You know, so that way you're like a proper spider."
"But why would he need to make webs?" Gwen asked.
"Why not?" Peter replied.
"Fair enough," Harry said, moved by Peter's brilliant argument, he dropped down onto the floor and landed on his feet. "I'm up for it, it sounds fun."
"Right!" Peter smiled brightly. "We haven't made anything in ages!"
"That's because the last time we made something you ended up in hospital." Gwen reminded him.
"Yeah, but those rocket skates did work perfectly." Harry pointed out. "I mean, it's not our fault if that cyclist suddenly started driving in Peter's way."
"Exactly!" Peter agreed before he pulled out some papers and pens. "Let's get started."
"Yeah," Harry grinned before turning to Gwen. "are you going to help us?" He asked with a smile.
"Hmm," Gwen pretended to think about it. "yeah, why not? If I'm here then there's less chance of you two injuring yourselves."
"Your compassion is overwhelming," Harry said in a dry voice.
"alright, so obviously we will need something to shoot out the webs and some webs themselves. I'll go with making the webs, I think I know what to do."
"Already?" Peter asked.
"It's hard to explain, but I just feel like I know how to make it." Harry shrugged. "Anyway, you can work on the firing mechanism."
"Yes!" Peter grinned.
"I'll help you with the webs," Gwen told Harry.
"Great," Harry said appreciatively.
"I'Il go get some snacks and drinks," Peter said suddenly. "we'll probably end up needing them." He walked past the two of them and headed upstairs.
"You see," Gwen said to Harry once Peter had left. "I told you it was a good idea to tell Peter."
"Tell me that again when he gets us both covered in webs," Harry joked. "but yeah, I am glad we told him."
"Good," Gwen smiled. "do you want to tell your parents?" She asked.
"Sort of," Harry admitted. "but not really, I think the fewer people that know, the better."
"If you're sure," Gwen replied. "what do you plan to do with these webshooters anyway?" She asked.
"Honestly, I'm just going to probably play with them when I'm bored and just web stuff. I mean, what other possible use could they have?"