Chapter Seven

"You look so perfect standing there in my American apparel underwear."

She Looks So Perfect by 5 Seconds of Summer

After lunch the two men were given research requests. Harry explained to him that if the request had anything to do with animals and genetics that it needed to be denied. He handed him a stamp for when that was the case, but otherwise to go ahead and sign the line and date it if it didn't include those words. To improve investor confidence in OSCORP, they wouldn't be able to look at that research for a while now. Harry handed him half of the stack with the promise of going home once they finished reading the proposals.

Peter felt silly signing off on some of the proposals because of the ridiculousness of the experiments, but decided they were harmless. Some of them were just bizarre and random, and he had to use his perks of being a CEO and denying them because of the flaws in the drawn up proposal. Very few captured his interest and actually drew him in to read the whole thing. He eagerly signed those ones off and placed them in the stack. After three and a half hours of burning through the shared stack of research proposals, both Harry and he had finished. Peter had thrown his arm over his face as he leaned back in the chair so the crook of his elbow blocked out his sight. He was tired and his eyes hurt.

"Why don't we go back to my place?" Harry said, interrupting the comfortable silence.

Peter replied with a thumbs up.

Harry laughed, "Come on, Pete, I can't carry you out of here."

"You can try," he mumbled back.

Harry rolled his eyes, even though his friend couldn't see the action.

"Nice try, bug boy," Harry teased.

Pete peeked out from under his arm, "Original."

His friend grinned, "Of course it is, I said it."

Peter rolled his eyes and stood up, his legs feeling like jell-o and his back sore. He grabbed his case and gestured for Harry to lead the way. Harry flipped him the bird, laughing as he walked out of their office. Peter felt happy…and light. It felt as if he wasn't holding on to burdens or demons anymore, and it was so relieving to feel. Could this be because of the closer relationship shared between Harry and he? Peter watched his brunette friend walk into the elevator and turn around to look at him. His dimples were in full effect, and a relaxed grin settling easy on his face showed the others content and relaxed state of mind.

He winked at his blue-eyed friend and stepped into the glass elevator. The way both men were standing against the wall, there arms were brushing against each other. Neither of them moved. Neither of them wanted to, because if this was a thing and they truly had feelings for the other—then a little physical touch couldn't hurt them so new into their recently developed feelings, at least in Peter's case.

When the virtual lady, probably a borderline Artificial Intelligence, said they had reached the ground the floor, both men left the glass contraption and Harry led Peter to a side door where a car was already waiting for them. "Hey, do you mind if I borrow your phone?" Peter asked. "My phone was a casualty in last nights adventures."

Harry rolled his eyes and tossed him his sleek and thin phone. Peter unlocked the phone and dialed his home number.

"Hello, Parker residence." Aunt Mae answered.

"Hi Aunt Mae, it's Peter," Peter said.

"Hi Peter. How are you? How's work? How's Harry?" She asked.

Peter chuckled, moving into the car and sitting next to Harry, "I'm doing good, Harry's doing well and says hi," he announced when Harry asked him to say hello, "and we're actually leaving early. I wanted to let you know that I'll be hanging out with Harry tonight, so don't wait up for me, okay?"

"Tell Harry hi back for me. I'm glad you're doing well. Thanks for letting me know. Have fun and be good," she said, a bit sternly, knowing what the two boys could get up too.

"Alright, Aunt Mae, I love you," he said with a smile.

"I love you too, be good." She said fondly.

"Okay, bye," he said, pulling the phone away from his ear and ending the call. Peter handed Harry the phone, "She says hi and for us to be good."

"She knows us too well," Harry said, amused.

"Yeah, nothing's changed with that woman," he said fondly.

Both men laughed quietly before they grew silent. It wasn't an awkward or uncomfortable silence, but a nice change from the busyness at OSCORP.

"Do we want to stop for snacks and those movies?" Harry asked.

"Oh yeah, we should do that now, that sounds good," Peter said.

"Driver," Harry said, "To that grocery store that has DVD rentals in it please."

"Of course, Master Osborn," he said.

Peter looked at Harry and to the driver, "Hey, sir, what's your name?"

The driver hesitated, before answering, "Phillip, sir, but most call me, Phil."

Peter smiled, "Thanks for driving for us, Phil. We appreciate it."

"Anytime, Master Parker," the driver said, with a bit more emotion.

Peter turned to Harry, "Rule number one on interacting with people: don't call them by their title. He's not just a driver, he's a person who has a name, a family, a life. He is just as valuable as you and I are. Next time, find out his name and call him by it, he'll be more eager to help and you'll develop a wide network of friends."

Harry quirked his lips up into a small smile, "Old habits die hard."

"I know, but try." He whispered to him, "You can call me Peter, if you'd like. The whole 'Master' thing is a bit weird for me. I'm just Peter, helping to run a corporation alongside of my best friend."

"Of course, sir." Phil replied.

Peter smiled, turning to Harry, "Once you can tackle this rule, we'll move on." He teased.

Harry punched his bicep, "You're a jerk."

"Well, at least I'm not an asshole," Peter said dryly.

Harry shrugged, seemingly blasé about the situation. Phil stopped the car, "We're here, I parked, so you both can take as long as you want."

"Thanks, Phil. We'll be back soon," Peter said, opening the door and getting out of the car. Harry followed on the other side.

"Rule number one, part two: when they say they have all the time in the world, don't abuse it. If you can help it, take the shortest amount of time you can, because if there is ever a time when you do take a bit longer than usual, and apologize for it, they'll be more gracious about it," Peter said.

"Of course, oh wise one," Harry mocked.

"I'm serious, man, it's easy to have someone listen to your orders, but it's another thing entirely when they respect you," he said, throwing his arm around Harry's neck.

Harry nodded, "Thanks, Pete."

"Anytime, now let's go and get those snacks," he said, as they entered the grocery store. They wandered down the snack aisle and picked a couple bags of chips with some dip, popcorn, and a couple bags of mixed chocolates. They bought a thing of canned sodas and headed up to the register.

"I'll pay, go pick out the movies," Harry said, pulling his wallet out after they dumped their loot onto the belt.

Peter wandered over to the DVD contraption and started a search. He picked out four movies when Harry wandered over, struggling to hold all of the bags and the things of soda. Peter took the soda from him, and Harry was able to carry the bags just fine.

"These look good?" Peter asked Harry. Harry glanced over his selection and nodded. Peter went to pay and pull out his wallet to swipe for the purchase when he heard the familiar 'beep' after the card has successfully been swiped.

"Harry," Peter said, putting his wallet back in his pocket, "The least I could do was pay for the movies."

"Don't worry about it, my money at this point has no value because I could buy the entire store out and have plenty left over. Plus, if I buy them, that means we can keep them over the weekend because I can handle the charge. You need to be a bit more careful until you get your first pay check." Harry explained, grabbing the discs and putting them in the bag as they came out.

"Thanks," Peter said, grateful that Harry wasn't pitying him, but merely stating facts. Harry respected Peter too much to pity him.

They walked out of the store and walked back to the car. Peter opened the back door, "Hey Phil, you mind popping the trunk for us?"

"Sure thing!" He replied, pulling the lever to release the hold on the trunk.

Peter and Harry set their loot in the trunk and closed it. They slid into their respected seats in the back of the car and gave Phil the okay to drive home.

The drive was relatively boring. Once they pulled up to the mansion, Peter and Harry got out of the car. Phil popped the trunk for them, and they grabbed their items. A butler was quick to come out to help them take the things inside. Peter relinquished the cans of soda easily, wanting nothing more than to change out of his expensive suit. Harry took hold of his wrist and dragged him into his bedroom and closed the door. "Alright, you know where everything is, have at it. I'm going to shower, so if you want, too, as well, the guest bathroom is down the hall to the left, second door on the right."

Peter nodded, and watched his friend disappear into the bathroom. He listened for the shower to turn on before digging through Harry's neatly folded drawers. He pulled out a pair of gym shorts and a tank top. It was rather warm in the house, and decided he'd rather be cold than hot. He peeled off his clothes gently and pulled on the loose clothing.

He folded up his clothes and set them on one of the chairs located in the room. He went to flop himself down on the huge bed, and let out a relieved sound from not being on his feet anymore. He stayed there until he heard his friend turn the shower off and the few seconds it took for him to exit from the room.

Peter looked up to see the male wearing his towel around his waist and was still dripping wet from the shower. His hair was pushed back, and Peter could see the water droplets travelling down Harry's toned chest and abs. His heightened senses were not an aid to him when he saw just how fit the other male was. Peter ripped his eyes away to look up at Harry. Harry had noticed him staring, and self-consciously began to play with his wet hair as he continued on to change.

He knew that if he kept watching, that he wouldn't have any control over his actions, so he buried his face into the covers and evened his breathing. Yes, Harry looked like a perfect specimen who was in need of being devoured, but they both didn't need that so soon in their relationship when things were still being figured out from both of them.

"Hey, Pete, ready to go downstairs?" Harry asked, his tone odd to Peter's ears.

Peter rolled over and sat up, "Yep," he said, looking at the other wearing a pair of sweat pants and a loose t-shirt. He stood up and followed his "friend" out of the room and down to the living room with the huge theatre.

Their snacks were already laid out, courtesy of the servants, and the DVD's by the Blu-Ray player.

"You get first pick, Harry," Peter said as he sat on the couch and began opening his favorite flavor of chips and then opening a can of the cola soda.

Harry looked over the discs and put one in, and made his way over to the couch. He sat on the opposite side of Peter, and didn't move to touch any of the snacks like usual. Peter glanced at him, "You okay there?" He asked.