When Peter woke the next morning he realized he didn't remember much of the night before at all. He remembered he got himself in trouble for sneaking out and getting shot. He could also remember that May brought some long lost cousin back to stay with them but that was about the extent of it.

The morning was a flurry of tests and scans as Tony had Friday check him over to make sure he was well and truly nearly healed up minus a slight limp that would likely go away in another few hours. He had an early breakfast with Pepper and Tony and then was sent off to get his stuff so Tony could take him home. It struck Peter as odd that Tony was driving him home and not Happy but he pushed the thought aside and gathered his things as he was told to do.

"You don't remember much of last night do you?" Tony chanced asking once they were in the car and on their way into Queens. He shifted gears and sped up to pass the slower cars at speeds that made Peter just a little nervous. He shook his head. "Yeah, unfortunate side-effect of being 'high as fuck" Tony advised, quoting his young mentee from the night before. Peter cringed.

"Please tell me I didn't-"

"Oh yeah you did. Friday's got it on video. The mouth on you." Tony shook his head, tutting in mock disapproval as though he didn't have a vocabulary just as bad. Peter groaned and rubbed his face in embarrassment.

"Did I-was it-?"

"In front of your cousin? Yup. He's twelve by the way. It's great you're already teaching him such fun, new vocabulary words." Tony told him with cheerful sarcasm.

Peter wanted to melt into the seat of Tony's souped up Audi. He really used the phrase 'high as fuck' in front of a twelve year old? He's surprised he didn't wake up to the taste of soap in his mouth. Not that May or Ben had ever actually rinsed his mouth out with soap- they'd only threatened it once or twice. Then again, he'd never dropped an f-bomb in front of a twelve year old.

"Does May know?" Peter chanced asking.

"Not that I know of but if Harry asked her what it meant last night, sorry Parker you're on your own." Tony teased and then glanced over at the obviously guilty teen. "Relax, you were high. No one's gonna hold it against you. Anyways, I don't know if your Aunt got around to telling you, but Harry's moving in with you two."

"He is?" Peter looked up in surprise. He sort of remembered someone telling him Harry would be staying with them but no one had mentioned he was straight up moving in.

"Yeah, the family he was living with were shitheads to him. May couldn't sit and do nothing so she called me. Well, it was more like she kidnapped him and then she called me. And now he's gonna be living with you two."

"Oh." Peter said sympathetically. "Is he-is he okay?"

"Only you could worry over someone after getting shot the day before." Tony shook his head.

"Yeah but I heal fast so it's not even a big deal." Peter argued. Tony gave him the same look he did anytime Peter tried to brush off an injury with that excuse.

"Harry's fine." He decided not to fall into that argument again. "Sorta. I'm sure he's got years of therapy headed his way but don't we all? He seems okay for now, at least, just a little withdrawn. He really took to May."

"Who doesn't? Aunt May's great." Peter pointed out.

"She's also incredibly hot." Tony reminded him, throwing a smirk in his direction. Peter groaned loudly, running his hands down his face.

"Why you gotta say that, Mr Stark? She's my Aunt!"

"So I guess what I'm trying to say is you're going to be sharing a room with him." He finally got to his point, ignoring Peter's protests about inappropriate comments about his aunt. The teenager was far too busy of mentally blocking the conversation and didn't immediately catch on to that last bit.

"That's… fine. I mean, I have a bunk bed." Peter pointed out once he was all caught up again. Tony shook his head again and returned his attention back to the road and Peter changed the subject to his escapades as Spider-Man yesterday and then eventually turned his attention to his phone in order to start texting Ned.

"So you're really okay with a twelve year old sharing your space?" He chanced asking as they drew nearer to Peter's apartment complex. Peter gave him a weird look. Was there a reason he shouldn't? Especially if Harry had come from a bad home?

"I mean… yeah? Why wouldn't I be? Am I thrilled by this development? Not exactly, but you said he had a bad home life. It's a two bedroom apartment, what are the other options? Force him to sleep on the couch? I'm not gonna throw a fit when May already has other things to worry about like taking on a whole other ass kid."

"Ah!" Tony chastised him. "Watch your mouth." Peter pouted. "But I admire your altruism. Really Parker, you're a better man than I am to just go with it at this age." Peter gave him another weird look and then went back to his phone as he had no clue how exactly to respond to that.

oooOOOooo

Harry ended up sleeping on the couch. He was offered the top bunk in Peter's room but he didn't really feel like that was fair to Peter. Sure Peter himself had okayed the arrangement but then immediately after he asked if could use a marshmallow as a pillow because they were like fluffy clouds. Harry wasn't so sure Peter was fully participating in the conversation.

May tried to assure him that Peter wouldn't mind but he'd rather not upset his cousin as much as possible. In the end, May gave up and dug out the extra pillows and blankets and let him camp out on the couch. She even put a movie on for him to watch while he fell asleep. He couldn't remember much of it-it involved people digging a lot of holes in the dirt but he could probably watch it again later if he asked.

He woke up feeling heavy and exhausted. He could smell something heavenly and he felt his stomach grumble in protest at how empty it now felt. He wondered if Aunt Petunia would at least let him have something to eat for breakfast. He slowly opened his eyes and had to blink a few times as he registered he wasn't at the Dursleys. The last few days caught up to him and it hit him again that he wouldn't ever have to see the Dursleys again. He was in a small but cozy apartment in Queens.

He'd been so tired last night he failed to register the magnitude of when he'd first set foot inside. This wasn't just a cozy apartment; this was his new home. He swallowed the lump threatening to form and sat up to get a good look around as a means to distract himself. He reached over to grab his glasses and pushed them onto his face.

The apartment was not what the Dursley's would consider clean by any standard. There were little odds and ends all over the room. Directly behind the couch was a bookshelf housing more books than had ever passed through the doors at Private Drive. There were framed pictures sitting atop the shelf; one was of a little boy and a man and woman Harry hadn't met but bore some resemblance to the boy-both the boy and man were wearing glasses and had dark curly hair. The woman had the same nose as the boy and had dark hair.

It struck Harry a little harder than he anticipated that these were Peter's parents. He felt envy swell up like a balloon faster than he could process why. And then it hit him; the Dursleys didn't have any pictures of his parents in the house. They liked to pretend they didn't exist. He couldn't help but feel a little cheated that he could have had something like this; a family that actually cared about and liked him and his parents enough to at least have pictures of them.

There was another picture of a much younger looking May in a wedding gown clutching the arm of who Harry assumed was her husband, Ben.

"Shit!" He heard May curse and chose to stand up and wander over to see what was wrong. The heavenly scent had changed and Harry was quick to put together she had burned breakfast. He watched as she pulled the skillet away and dumped the pancake onto the plate anyway rather than toss it out like Petunia would have made him do.

"Oh!" She jumped when she turned to find Harry in the kitchen. "You startled me." She told him. He opened his mouth to apologize but she stopped him. "Breakfast will be a minute, you can take a shower or bath or just watch TV I guess." She informed him.

"Er…" He glanced at the burnt pancake by accident and May followed his gaze.

"Oh! It's okay, It adds flavor." She told him, not missing a beat. "Now go relax, you've had a rough few days and we've got a lot of rearranging to do today. Hopefully Peter's feeling better." She sent him back to the living area.

Harry just nodded mutely and went back to look at more pictures of this small family. There was one of Peter, a little younger than he was now and the man Harry assumed was Ben standing in a kitchen holding a letter of some sort. Both were positively beaming. He also noticed Peter was wearing glasses in the photo but he didn't seem to have them when he met him last night.

More pictures just reiterated that this was a happy family. He found himself staring at one of two men in suits, standing side by side.

"Oh, I took that one." May's voice nearly startled him and he glanced up at her. "It was Mary and Richard- Peter's parents' wedding. Those two were trouble when you got them together." She said fondly. "Ben adored his brother so much."

"What happened to him?" Harry couldn't help but ask. May gave the photo a sad look and swallowed. For a moment Harry thought she wasn't going to tell him and started to open his mouth to say it was okay but spoke first.

"He and his wife left Peter with us while they went on a business trip. They were only supposed to be gone for two weeks but the engine on their plane was faulty and they didn't make it." She explained. Harry felt a swill of pity blossoming in his chest.

"I'm sorry…" He said lowly. May seemed to swallow her sadness and just forced a smile.

"It was hard but we got through." She stated. "If there's one thing the Parker Family is good at, it's bouncing back from just about anything. Sometimes, it takes awhile but we're resilient and we look out for each other."

Harry nodded, feeling that same envy from earlier seeping in. Why was it that May and Ben had had been so accepting of their nephew and Petunia and Vernon were counting down the days until the could say goodbye to him forever? It wasn't that he thought Peter should've gone long periods of time locked in a cupboard or been deprived of meals or anything. He just felt angry that he could have had a family that was accepting of who he and his parents were. Sure, Peter wasn't a wizard but May knew that Harry had magical heritage and she didn't hate him.

If he could have had a supportive family why didn't he? He swallowed and sucked in a breath of air to fight back a sudden need to cry.

"Oh sweetheart…" He heard May expressing before she pulled him into a tight hug. He didn't know how she knew he was suddenly feeling so… raw but she'd picked up on it like a bloodhound. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay. You're part of our family okay? It's gonna be an adjustment but you're safe now, okay?"

Harry hugged her back, holding tight and just letting her hold him in a motherly embrace. For the first time in a long time, he found he did, actually, feel somewhat safe. He didn't get too much time to dwell on it as the sound of a key in the lock sounded and May moved over to meet the newcomer halfway.

Peter pushed the door open and Tony was right behind him. Both in jeans and a normal shirt. Tony's bore the letters ACDC while Peter's said something about Math being the only place someone could have sixty watermelons and no one asks why. Tony was wearing his sunglasses away and Peter was pulling earphones out of his ears.

"Morning May. Sorry about.. Yesterday." Peter muttered. May crossed over to the teenager and pulled him into a tight hug which he returned.

"I'm just glad you're okay. But the next time you get hurt like that, you have to tell us." She insisted.

"I know.. I just didn't want you to worry and I thought if I could get it out fast enough I would-" Peter started to ramble but May shushed him.

"We can talk about it later." She told him, letting him go and gently turning him in Harry's direction. "Peter, this is your cousin, he's staying with us."

Harry lifted his hand in a tiny wave. "Hello again."

"S'up?" Peter nodded his head but winced at a look from May. "It's great meeting you." He assured. "Sounds like we're gonna be sharing a room."

"Er yeah…" Harry nodded awkwardly. "I Hope you're okay with that since I'm, you know, a wizard." He told his cousin. Peter's eyes widened almost comically. Apparently no one had told him that.

"You're a wizard?" He asked quickly. Harry could only offer a small nod. "I'm Spider-Man." Peter blurted out. Tony shot May an 'I told you so' look and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Er… Spider-Man?" Harry asked.

"Yup! Hang on, I'll show you." Peter told him before pulling out his phone and pulling up a clip someone in New York had taken of him stopping an armed robbery. Except, Peter was dressed in red and blue spandex and seemed to be wearing a mask. So his cousin was a superhero.

"That's you?" Harry chanced asking. Peter nodded.

"Yeah, I was doing some patrolling yesterday afternoon and some seedy drug dealer shot me for interrupting his deal. Very rude. One out of Five stars. No one should buy from him."

"Oh." Harry voiced, not too sure what else to do about the rapid way his cousin rattled off information.

"But hey! That reminds me! There was some guy that was here yesterday-he was also a wizard and he left you some potions or something, I was a little distracted at the time."

"Who came here?" Tony forced his way into the conversation. "And why is this the first I'm hearing of this?" Peter shrugged, now turning to face Tony.

"Idk, he seemed legit. He said they were nutrient potions for Harry and then helped me get the bullet out of my leg and wrapped it. He also gave me like… I think he called it a blood replenishing potion? And then he tried to give me detention. Which was uncalled for." Peter recapped his encounter with the mystery man. May and Tony exchanged looks.

"Well, what did he look like?" May prompted. Peter shrugged.

"Um.. tall? Black hair?" He offered. "He was wearing a cloak."

"Was his hair greasy?" Harry asked. It sounded like Snape but there was no way Snape would come all the way to New York to drop off a potion. Peter thought about it.

"I think so? I mean I wasn't really focused on if the dude washed his hair or not- I was way more concerned about a stranger in the apartment." He explained. That's weird, maybe Dumbledore had sent Snape to drop them off?

"Where did he put them?" Tony pressed. Peter once again had to think about it.

"Bottom drawer of the fridge. Oh wait! I remember! He said his name was Severus and he taught at some school. He tried to give me detention."

"He teaches Potions at my school." Harry offered. "He's my teacher."

"That's rough." Peter acknowledged.

"Oh, the one we met at that pub." May remembered him. "Maybe he felt bad about how he treated you then." May offered optimistically.

"Doubtful." Harry muttered. "I'll bet Dumbledore told him to."

"Yeah, well, regardless." Tony cut in. "I'm not comfortable with the fact he already knows where you live." He pointed out. Harry shrugged.

"I doubt if he tells anyone. That would mean he had to admit to doing something for me and he'd never do that." Harry offered. Tony still looked unsure.

"Let's stop standing around and have breakfast." May opted to quickly change the subject, though she and Tony exchanged meaningful looks.

Tony did not stay for breakfast but came back later in the afternoon when they started to move things around and get the room ready for both boys. Peter had quietly told Harry it was because May tended to burn most things she cooked and Tony just wasn't a fan of that 'burnt to a crisp' flavor. Harry had noticed that several of the wheatcakes were burnt but they still tasted better than anything he'd ever had aside from maybe Mrs Weasley's cooking.

It was a lot to realize this would be his new normal. From now on, he would be allowed to sit down at the table and eat full meals with May and Peter- not just allowed, but encouraged. When Tony made it back, Peter was ordered to take it easy and seemed honestly upset by it. Harry had never seen someone practically beg to help move furniture around.

It was an interesting afternoon to be sure. Peter kept insisting that he was healed up enough and could do the heavy lifting but kept getting turned down. Tony ended up being the one to move the heavy stuff. Things were rearranged and rather than lock his trunk up and hide it away, May had it moved to a corner in the living room. Hedwig's cage was placed on top of it and by the evening everything that Harry owned had a place that wasn't locked away- he was even encouraged to do his homework while Peter read some kind of chemistry book.

Dinner ended up being pizza. Peter had asked about what Pizza tasted like in London and Harry let slip he wasn't sure he'd ever had it. That sparked Peter and Tony to sputter incoherently and the older of the two quickly ordered two extra large pizzas and He and Tony got in an argument about if Pineapple was supposed to go on a pizza. Tony seemed to think it was an abomination and it was important to remind Peter that spiders couldn't have citrus so he shouldn't be eating pineapple anyway.

"I'm only part spider, not full spider." Peter had rolled his eyes, leaving Harry with several questions. Did his cousin just claim to be part spider?

"Yeah, and didn't you wind up with a mint allergy after that?" Tony pressed, apparently just accepting that Peter was part Spider as fact.

"That's not even relevant to the conversation. Mint isn't even kind of like citrus." Peter rolled his eyes, cheeks a bit red. In the end they ordered plain cheese and pepperoni and Harry had to say that even if it was probably the greasiest thing he'd ever put in his mouth it was also one of the best things he'd ever put in his mouth. May didn't allow him to have a large slice to himself but she did let him have two small ones which ended up being plenty.

Peter ate about four extra large slices and May explained to him that Peter had a hyper metabolism and had to eat a lot more than a normal teenager to maintain it. Peter interjected with calling it a 'Super Metabolism' and Tony groaned while the other looked entirely too pleased with himself.

The evening wore on and eventually Tony left again to go back home for the night. Peter, now allowed to help out, helped May clean up the pizza and then helped her with folding laundry. May had insisted that Harry rest and not worry about chores for a few days and then they could split them all up evenly so no one was doing everything by themselves. Harry liked that idea- he didn't mind chores so much but he did mind when all he had were chores.

After they finished the laundry, Harry was invited to watch a movie with them which he readily accepted. He sort of wished he hadn't though as the movie had freaked him out a little more than he expected. Which was stupid. He knew and conversed with several ghosts and he knew they weren't evil but the movie had him on edge every time something moved.

Peter seemed to notice the movie was freaking him out a little and offered to tell him if a big scare was coming up and started making commentary that made it difficult to feel too uneasy.

"I mean it just.. There it goes. Into the pool. Goodbye friends, I am gone." Peter commentated as the pool vacuum moved on its own into the pool.

"I've met ghosts." Harry stated after the movie was over. "They're nothing like that." He pointed out.

"Oh, that's actually a demon. Not a ghost." Peter pointed out. "But seriously?"

"Yeah, there are several that wander about Hogwarts. S'pose I'll have to ask Nearly Headless Nick if he ever had the urge to haunt muggles like that.

"Nearly Headless? I'm gonna guess that name has something to do with why he's a ghost." Peter stated with a grimace. Harry nodded.

"Er.. yeah…" He said uneasily. Peter just shrugged and went on to ask him several questions about ghosts until May intervened and sent them both to bed. Harry took the bottom bunk and Peter was happy with the top one-insisting that he liked to be up in high places.

oooOOOooo

Over the next few days, Harry adjusted to his new life living with the Parkers. May returned to work and Peter was in and out of the apartment as Tony had said he would be. Tony didn't stop by again and Peter had explained it was because he was busy with Avengers things. He told him about a fight in Germany and how someone named Mr Rogers and Tony weren't talking and Mr Banner was missing so things were a mess right now. None of it really made any sense to Harry but he was too polite to say so.

On the fourth day Peter was wrestling with a shirt with the words 'Not flat, we checked' with a small picture of the Earth printed on it and Harry looked up from his Transfiguration book.

"Don't mind me. Just tried to put my shirt on backwards." Peter laughed nervously. "Hey, what are you doing today?" He asked. Harry offered a shrug.

"Nothing." He shrugged.

"Aweso-wait. Do you mean nothing as in you don't have plans or nothing as in you are planning on doing nothing?"

"I-what?" Harry blinked curiously.

"You know, like when you've been doing too much lately and you finally get some time off so literally are looking forward to doing nothing."

"Oh." Harry still didn't really understand. "I meant it as in I don't have any plans." He stated. Peter eyed him a moment before just accepting it.

"Awesome. Come hang out with me- My friend Ned and I are gonna meet our other friend at a laser tag place. I think I can swing to pay for a ticket for both of us." Peter offered.

"You want me to come?" He chanced asking. Harry knew May and Peter were completely different from the Dursleys and yet the invitation caught him completely off guard.

"Yeah, it'll be fun." Peter shrugged, seemingly unaware of Harry's shock.. "Plus, I'm pretty sure you haven't left the apartment since you got here and you could do with some fresh air."

Er.. yeah, I'll go." Harry nodded. Peter looked pleased.

"Cool. I'll um.. Finish getting dressed and we can go." He promised. Harry nodded, unable to stop himself from offering Peter a grin which the other returned. True to his word, Peter came back into the living room dressed in jeans, his earth shirt and a plaid over shirt and then ushed Harry to the door so the two of them could leave.

They met Peter's friend Ned at a crosswalk and immediately upon greeting each other, Peter and Ned started up some kind of secret handshake that ended in finger guns. Ned was a heavier set boy with dark skin and hair wearing a hat and graphic shirt with some odd looking robots printed on it. Harry was fairly sure it was the same boy from the video call back in London.

"Hey, sorry I ghosted you last night man, I passed tf out." Peter told Ned.

"Oh dude, don't even worry about it. You were-" Ned started.

"Shh!" Peter started, pressing his finger to his mouth. "Not out in the open." He hissed.

"Right." The other boy nodded. "So! This must be your cousin- Harry?" He changed the subject.

"Yeah, he's like.. Younger than us so watch the language or May's gonna kill me." Peter told him seriously.

"Hello." Harry offered to the other boy. "I'm Harry, Peter's cousin." He didn't really expect to feel so excited about introducing himself as Peter's cousin but it was so much better than people knowing him as the famous Harry Potter.

"Nice to meet you." Ned told him enthusiastically. "Glad you could join us-Peter's been so busy and he felt really bad you two hadn't really hung out yet." Harry blinked as Peter quickly told Ned to shut up. Had he really felt bad over it? He was pretty sure they'd hung out plenty between movie night with May and meal times.

"Anyways, Have you ever played laser tag, Harry?" Ned chanced asking. Harry shook his head briefly and then Peter and Ned both launched into telling him about how the game would work. It seemed simple enough- you tried to shoot as many people with the laser guns as possible and apparently it was not dangerous in the slightest and highly unlikely someone would get hurt, which, Harry was more than happy to hear.

The three of them made their way to the subway and Peter and Ned told Harry to sit between them because people on the subway could be 'hella sketchy.' Three stops down they ended up in front of an arcade and a girl with dark, bushy hair that almost reminded Harry of Hermione walked up to them.

"Hey MJ!" Ned greeted her.

"Hey." She greeted back in a deadpan, almost bored tone. "Hey Peter." She nodded her head in his direction.

"Hey MJ. It's great to see you here. Not that it's not always great to see you - Uh" Peter started floundering and fidgeting as he tried to talk to this very unenthusiastic girl. "Have you met my cousin? He's twelve."

"Cool." MJ turned to face Harry to greet him.

"Hello. I'll actually be thirteen here soon." Harry pointed out.

"Cool." She nodded. "I'm Michelle but you can call me MJ like these guys do." She gestured to Peter and Ned who seemed to be talking quietly among themselves, Peter looking highly flustered.

"I'm Harry." He introduced himself.

"So when are you joining the army of teenagers?" MJ asked.

"The what?" Harry asked alarmed.

"She's asking when you turn thirteen." Peter clarified.

"Oh. July thirty-first." He admitted.

"Cool, just ten days before Peter's." MJ nodded.

"Wait! That soon?" Peter panicked. "Uh… you might have to settle for me paying your way for laser tag today and buying your lunch as a birthday present- my allowance is not that great."

"Oh-you don't have to get me anything-I do appreciate the thought though." Harry shook his head.

"Okay, but if you hold this over my head later I'm gonna feel really bad." Peter stated. Harry wasn't sure if that was a threat or not. If it was it was one of the weirdest ones he'd heard yet.

Laser tag was a blast. It wasn't at all dangerous and he didn't have to worry about any bludgers trying to smash into him. It was just running around in a darkened space lit up by special lights that made everything seem like it was glowing.

Harry didn't score very high but that didn't bother him much. Peter had some how managed to score near first and had been hit the least out of twenty other people. Ned was saying something about 'it' was probably considered cheating.

"I can't just turn it off! You know that! It was instinct, I swear." Harry could tell by their tones though neither was actually unhappy with the other.

"I wonder what Flash would say about you having the high score." Ned told him. Peter shrugged.

"He'd probably accuse me of hacking the scoreboard." He offered. Harry looked over at the two, frowning in concentration.

"Flash bullies Peter. He hates that he's better than him at practically everything except sports and even then, I think Peter could give him a run for his money these days." MJ explained. Harry turned to face her. His cousin had a bully? But he was so nice! Maybe a little chaotic and full of boundless energy but he was probably one of the nicest people Harry had met.

Then again, he did seem like the exact kind of person that Dudely would pick on. He found himself picturing this Flash guy as a bigger boy that pushed people around because he could.

"It's hard to imagine anyone being mean to Peter. He seems so.. Nice." Harry told her. MJ shrugged.

"Because he's so nice and also probably the smartest person in the whole school. Jealousy makes people do weird things." She explained. Without meaning to, Harry thought of Malfoy. Could it be that Malfoy, Harry's own bully, was jealous of something? The idea seemed laughable.

The four of them spit up after a second round and Peter treated Harry to a sandwich and introduced him to the shop owner as his little cousin. Harry wasn't a fan of being called little but he left it alone. Mr Delmar even gave him free candy.

When they made it home, Petter commented that May wouldn't be back until sometime after nine and that Harry should tell him if he needed anything. The rest of the afternoon Peter and Harry played some console games together until Peter let out a heavy yawn and disappeared into their room for a nap.

Harry followed suit, laying on the bottom bunk mostly because he wasn't sure what else to do. The same anger from a few days ago came creeping in- Peter wanted to hang out with him- he paid for his way to play laser tag with him and then they'd spent hours playing on Peter's PlayStation. Dudley would have thrown a fit if Harry had even looked at his PlayStation and would have had Harry locked in his room for a week.

This was so much better and Harry found himself upset that he hadn't had May and Peter all this life. With his anger bubbling, he fell asleep.