You'll Be Better, You'll Be Stronger
Harry wasn't in school for a week after his dad was buried, not that anyone close to him was surprised. Instead of sitting in a classroom doing math problems he was sitting his living room while groups of people talked about him as if he wasn't there.
White noise; it all buzzed in and around Harry's head like a migraine. Decisions that needed to be made but that he wasn't up to. Donald Menken, the second biggest Oscorp shareholder, was going to being taking over the majority of the company. Harry, as the legal heir to Oscorp, would be the new owner, and have the final say behind most decisions. Harry found the idea ridiculous; he was sixteen, how was he supposed to run a company? How could he make decisions about things he didn't know a thing about? He'd flunked Science twice.
And the irony that the man his dad had tried to blame for his own crimes was taking over his company was not lost on Harry, either.
The week passed in slow motion, and moving through it seemed like an out of body experience. His mind was far away. Gwen stopped by on Wednesday. Harry didn't want to see her, but he let her in anyway, and it was amazing how sincere his smile looked for someone who knew just how much everyone was against him. Conspiring together to take away everything he had. It was so funny to watch them pretend to care.
It was also funny how it took his father's death for Gwen to allow him to kiss her. He didn't want to, but he did it anyway, brushing her hair out of her face with his hand. She was wearing lip gloss and he could feel it transfer from her lips to his, and Harry wondered if she'd started wearing that for Peter. Suddenly too angry to prolong the kiss Harry pulled back, thumbs tracing over her eyebrows and then circling under her eyes. He was going to tell her how he missed her glasses, but when he opened his mouth he only started crying instead.
Osborns didn't cry, but Harry had never been as strong as his dad, and that hadn't yet changed. His dad was gone, and with his death had left the fate of the family and business on Harry's shoulders, a weight that was still too heavy for the younger Osborn to carry. Crying against Gwen's shoulder didn't make him feel better, it made him feel worse, because all it did was remind him how weak he really was, and remind him how much he wanted his father back. He would forgive him for every crime and every criticism.
Gwen left at some point and Harry waited the rest of the week for the day Peter would come, his so-called best friend who hadn't stopped by to visit since the funeral. Harry wanted to see him. But every day Peter didn't come Harry felt the love he felt for his friend replaced with anger, spiteful knowledge at the fact Peter was probably with Gwen.
He didn't cry. The day Gwen came over would the last time. Now it was time to cowboy up and step up to the role of the new face behind Oscorp, because it was abundantly clear life wasn't going to just work itself out for Harry Osborn; he had to hold tightly to the things he still had before they were taken from him, too.