Chapter Four

"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for."

—Bob Marley

Peter's day went by fairly fast, considering it was his first day and all. It was nice to have Harry with him pretty much the whole day to teach him what the essentials of their jobs are. After he played with the smart desk, Harry gave him a tour and showed him where the research and experiments were being conducted and everything else that Peter was sure he would never remember. He was also positive that he would need a GPS to navigate the entirety of the building. It was way too big, and walking around in the new shoes was killing his feet. Before he knew it, it was lunch time, and they were heading up to their office.

Harry draped an arm over around his neck, "I have something for you when we get back to the office. It should make your job as Spiderman a lot easier." Peter turned to look at him, surprised. "Really?"

Harry merely nodded, and continued to lead the other into their office but instead brought him to the dining area with a crystal glass table with two plate settings already set out. "Lunch will be served shortly. Take a seat, Pete, I'll be back," Harry said, waving to one of the seats as he disappeared around the corner. Peter watched as his friend left before he took his seat, he fiddled with his watch, the material irritating his skin. He finally decided to take it off and set it down on the table.

"Here we are," Harry said, with a slight sense of excitement while maintaining his cool.

Peter looked up to see his friend walk in carrying a gift box with a bright red ribbon to decorate it. Harry handed it to him gently, and Peter took it with some trepidation. "What is it?" He asked.

Harry smirked, "Open it and you'll find out."

Peter removed the ribbon and gently opened the box to find a small contraption that resembled a miniature walkie-talkie. "What is it?" He asked, picking it up and taking it out of its box.

"I've arranged with the New York Police Department to have a way of connecting with you when they're dealing with something out of their control. They can't trace it to your location, I've made sure that they won't be able to find out where you are, and most importantly who you are. That way you aren't running throughout the night taking care of the crimes that the police is there to do, and therefore, helping you catch some actual shut eye."

Peter stared at him with some disbelief. "But…why?" He asked. "I mean, thank you, this is great, but I didn't…" He looked at the piece of technology that Harry hand made for him.

"Look, you have a job that needs both bosses at the ready. We can't afford to have the Board asking questions about your sketchy appearance. We need to maintain investor confidentiality, and that means that the others can't detect any sketchiness from both of us. These type of people get suspicious…easily." Harry concluded.

"Thanks man, I appreciate it. How do I work it?" He asked.

Harry moved over to sit in the chair next to him, "May I?" He asked Peter nodded his head, and handed him the contraction. Within minutes, Harry had explained the device, and left it sitting in Peter's hand once the arrival of their lunch appeared. Two young ladies, one with blonde hair and the other red, dressed in black pencil skirts and white button ups shirts tucked into it come walking in with a pair of black pumps on. Peter's eyebrows rose when they each set a platter in front of them, the blonde leaning in to him a bit too close for comfort.

He shifted away awkwardly, and released a breath of relief once the female moved away. He turned to see a watchful gaze looking at him when he met curious blue eyes. Harry immediately shifted his gaze and turned to look at the red head smiling at him sweetly. "Dismissed," he said calmly.

"Harry…I'm not ready for that yet," Peter said quietly.

"My apologies, Pete, I was interested to see how you would react," the young Osborn replied.

Pete stared at him, "Why?"

The web-slinger could see the look of hesitation, and the brief moment in which he looked unsure. "Curious about your progress of moving on from what happened to Miss Stacey."

Peter looked away from the intense look his friend was giving him, "I've been trying to stay out of the dating scene for a while now. I can't bring myself to endanger anyone because of who I am."

"Understandable, but you can't live your life in a shell, Pete. You deserve to find love just as much as the rest of us," Harry said kindly.

"Yeah, well, my life isn't normal anymore, and I can't trust anyone with this secret." Peter sighed, "How can I be in a relationship when it's a possibility I may be called out in the middle of the night? I can't do that to them."

"Them?" Harry asked.

Peter looked up, sucking his lower lip into nibble on it. Did he just inadvertently tell his friend that he had no preference when it came to gender? "Look, Harry, I was going to tell you, it was never the right time, and with Gwen I never felt the need to share it-"

Harry's eyes lit up in understanding, "I get it. You don't need to explain yourself. Peter Parker, you are a man of many layers."

Peter shrugged, he never found it to be that big of a deal. He always had the belief that if you loved someone, it shouldn't matter what gender they are, skin color they have, and anything petty like that. He wanted to love someone unconditionally, and to be loved in the same manner.

"Love is love, I guess," he said.

Harry laughed, "I guess. Let's eat. We can look at some of the prototypes for some new technology we've been investing in."

Pete nodded, "Sounds good."

After an eight hour work day, Harry finally set him free. There wasn't much to do, or go over, since OSCORP was doing pretty well at the moment. What he didn't expect to find when he left the OSCORP building was to see a sea of flashing lights and questions bombarding him. It was overwhelming and, with another look, he turned around and headed back up to his office.

"Harry, what the hell is going on? There are news reporters crowding the front door wanting to ask me questions." He demanded.

Harry looked a bit surprised as well, as he headed to the window to confirm what his friend was telling him. He turned back around, "Those parasites," he grumbled unhappily. Despite being well-liked by the magazines, he never liked it when they bombarded him. "I'm sorry, Pete. Apparently someone must have leaked out the information that your one of the new CEO's, and those reporters somehow know it's you. I'll pull a car around the back for you."

"Harry, I can't be followed. Nobody can find out I'm…and with this much attention, someone is bound to find out." Peter said, a bit desperately to his friend.

The blue-eyed man nodded, before resting a comforting hand on his shoulder, "We'll figure this out together. For now, I'll have a car pick you up and take you home. I'm sorry Pete, I'll be sure to find out who blew the whistle."

"Thanks, Harry," Peter said, with some exasperation leaking through his tone.