A/N: A quick thanks to OlivineWK for pointing out the name mistake!

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Harry heard a satisfying crunch as the other man fell onto the floor.

He had never punched someone before, and while his fist hurt like hell, he felt good. Really, really good.

"What the fuck!" The asshole yelled, covering his nose. Harry watched blood seeping through the man's fingers.

"Who the fuck are you!" The now bleeding douche growled as he slowly went back on his feet. Harry watched, not at all intimidated by the look of utter fury in the other man's eyes.

"I'm someone you don't want to mess with," Harry countered, taking a step forward.

Harry was not ready for the retaliation. The man swung, managing to get the young CEO right in the jaw, but not directly enough to do much damage. Harry was glad that he had taken many years of self-defense classes in preparation for kidnapping. Harry sidestepped and threw another punch, right into the asshole's gut. Harry was brushing his hair back when the man lunged forward, and Harry couldn't help but inhale sharply at the strong impact to his stomach.

He heard a dull thud as his back collided with the cold bathroom wall. The young CEO instinctively curled forward and grabbed onto the bigger man. He pushed against the wall, sending both of them to the floor. There was a crack as the asshole hit the tiles. Harry was on top, one knee pushed strongly against the other's chest and the other on the floor. The billionaire pulled at the collar with a menacing grip.

"Listen carefully, asshole," Harry hissed, his breath heavy. "You're going to walk out that door and go straight out the restaurant. You can call the cops, if you want, but you'll find that to be a huge mistake. Now get the hell out before you're dragged out."

Harry watched as the guy curse under his breath and run out the washroom, blood covering the lower half of his face. Harry brushed his hair back and exhaled loudly. He was sure that the douche wasn't going to say bye to Peter in his current state, but now there was another problem.

Peter, who was probably sitting by himself at the table wondering where his date went.

God, this was a mess.

But first things first.

Harry looked at his reflection in the mirror and winced. His hair was all over the place and his lips were busted and bleeding. His jaw was definitely going to bruise, but that wasn't the issue. He looked like shit.

The young CEO did his best to wash up and reorganize his hair. He didn't look as clean and proper as he did a few minutes ago, but this would do for the time being. At this point, his only plan was to come up with some bullshit about how he accidentally smashed his face into the wall. Sad and pathetic, but the only remotely plausible excuse for the busted lip.

Now. He was not about to make Peter pay for the meal, so he discreetly made his way to one of the servers and handed her his credit card. She smiled politely, albeit confused, and did as she was told and returned the card to him soon after.

Harry glanced at Peter's table and saw the other sitting alone, looking nervous. He was fiddling with the half empty glass of water in front of him, gnawing at his lower lip. Harry wanted to go and talk to him. Tell him that his date wasn't coming back because he's a complete asshole. He hated seeing that expression on his friend.

The CEO returned to his table with a forced smile and continued their conversation, trying to figure out a way to excuse himself. None quite came to mind, so he waited and waited, squeezing his brain for an idea. Halfway into his meal, he saw Peter get up with a look of utter rejection and walk out of the restaurant, and Harry never knew that he could be so miserable.

After the long dinner, Harry was back in the limo. He pulled out his phone and typed a message to Peter asking what he was doing. But he stopped himself from sending it. He wasn't even sure if he was allowed to send texts. Were they even friends at this point? After their strange conversation at the fair, they hadn't quite kept in contact...

The thought made Harry want to throw the phone against a wall. Harry stared out the window, watching the passing stretch of New York buildings. He couldn't get Peter's expression out of his head. Peter had looked so vulnerable. His brown eyes full of defeat. Forget it. He had to something about it.

Peter, on the other hand, was walking down the street with his hands in his pockets. He didn't want to go home just yet. He couldn't believe something like this happened to him. He had seen it in movies and TV, but he couldn't believe that it happened in real life. Here he thought that he had a shot at an actual relationship, but the guy just ditches him at a restaurant. And that made him feel like shit. Was he not attractive enough? Adrian couldn't even come up with some lame excuse. He just left him without saying a word. Made him wait by himself at the table.

The only positive thing to happen to him today was that some random person had paid for their meal as a dare. A very strange dare, but whatever. At least he didn't have to pay over hundred dollars for a meal that he didn't even get to enjoy.

Peter continued to walk around town, trying to brush off the disappointment with no success. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and saw that Gwen had texted him asking how the date was going. This was not good. Why the hell had he told Gwen about the date tonight. Damn it, he should've kept his mouth (text) shut, but Gwen was so persistent in asking why Peter couldn't hang out with her.

Today was just getting worse.

He ignored the text and continued to walk. He kept on walking and walking, hoping that perhaps he'd walk off the bad mood. After a while, he realized that Aunt May was going to freak out, so he made his way back home.

As he approached his place, he saw a figure standing in front of the door. It wasn't Gwen. He would've recognized the silhouette and Gwen wouldn't be waiting outside. His house was practically her house since they spent so much time at each other's place.

He took a few more steps forward and came to a complete halt. He hadn't expected Harry to be standing in front of his place. Harry was pacing back and forth, checking his phone constantly. Peter rubbed his eyes just to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating. It was Harry alright. Peter scratched his head, trying to figure out what this was about. What was Harry doing here?

"Hey, Harry," Peter greeted softly, approaching the smaller man. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his pea-coat.

"Hey," Harry greeted back, placing his phone into his jacket and standing still, his shoulders hunched forward.

"I wasn't expecting you here. Wow, you're dressed nicely," Peter mused, noticing the perfect-fitting attire and a nice pair of shoes. His eyes continued to roam and then stopped at the lips. "What happened to your lips? Did you get in a fight?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"I just...I bumped into something earlier today."

"You? You bumped into something?" Peter asked incredulously. He and Harry weren't best buds like he and Gwen, but he knew Harry well enough to know that Harry wasn't clumsy. Harry had always been so in control of everything, including his own limbs.

"I wasn't paying attention when I was walking."

"Oh. Did you put anything on it?"

"It's just a busted lip."

"...Right. Um. You should've gone in instead of waiting outside. Aunt May's been dying to see you," Peter continued, his expression softening.

"Yeah, maybe. So, how have you been?" Harry wished Peter wouldn't pick up the awkwardness in his voice.

"Um, the same old."

"You still seeing that guy?"

Both Harry and Peter stopped and stared at each other in silence. Harry knew he shouldn't have said that. He wasn't ready for this discussion yet. Peter, on the other hand, was really confused now. He thought Harry didn't like the very idea of him dating another man, so why was he initiating this conversation?

"Um. I don't know," Peter replied and immediately regretted it. Honesty had always been both his strength and weakness. He didn't want to talk about this yet. Not when the wound was so fresh.

"You don't know?" Harry asked, doing his best to sound genuinely curious.

"Yeah, it's complicated..."

"Are you going to see him again?" Harry questioned softly, unable to completely conceal the desperate undertone in his voice. Peter was watching him now, his eyes confused, with a hint of something...painful.

For Peter, the question triggered multiple thoughts all at once. Was he going to see Adrian again? No, the right question was, could he? Adrian made it quite clear that he didn't want anything to do with Peter, in one of the worst ways possible. Peter wasn't about to initiate another meeting so that was that. But the bigger question was, why did Harry want to know? Was it to make sure that he wouldn't be in a homosexual relationship? Or was it something else?

Gwen's words kept playing in his head, and it only made everything worse.

And the way Harry was standing there, watching him with those eyes, waiting both patiently and impatiently for an answer...

"I don't know," Peter answered honestly, because he wanted to believe that something must've happened to Adrian that he had to leave him at the restaurant. Maybe a family member got into a car accident. Maybe he was so ill that he had to go to a hospital. It could've been a number of things, right? "So uh, how have you been?" Peter continued immediately afterwards, doing his best to change the subject.

"Busy, I guess," Harry replied softly. Peter was obviously doing his best to dodge the question, and he could respect that.

"So...do you wanna come in?" Peter asked, point at the door with his chin. To be honest, he didn't want any company, but he didn't want to be rude.

"Um, I should be heading back. I just wanted to drop by and see how you were doing," Harry replied softly, kicking the small rock beneath his feet.

"Oh. OK, maybe next time?"

"Yeah. So uh, I'll see you later," Harry said hurriedly as he took a few steps back.

Peter watched Harry's retreating form and sighed. Why did things have to be so awkward between the two? They had gotten along so well, but now everything seemed to be barely held in place. Peter had missed Harry. Peter had missed the lazy drawl, the way Harry wrinkled his nose ever so often. The way his blue eyes stared so intensely at everything. The way he lulled his head back when he laughed and the way his blond hair got in his eyes once in a while.

Peter sighed slowly. He turned around as well and headed towards the door. He was about to enter when he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out, expecting Adrian, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw Harry's name.

It was a short text, but it had Peter inhale sharply at the sudden sensation that shot through his entire body.

[Dont see him again. Please.]

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