Marionette Strings
Please do not ask me about the Wolf Spider one-shots before this, they probs won't be continued, I'm sorry, and onto this new one-shot.
Okay, full disclosure, this portrayal of Parksborn is NOT a healthy relationship. This is a toxic relationship between Evil Oscorp-CEO!Harry and Wolf Spider. The details of this universe are fuddled, as I hadn't thought them out completely, but basically, Norman really screwed Harry up and successfully turned him into the businessman Norman always wanted him to be. He just also happened to leave Harry with a lot of issues and trauma that went unresolved. And Wolf Spider is Wolf Spider.
Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE Parksborn. One of my top 5 OTP's, especially for USM. But, I wanted to explore a toxic relationship between two evil versions of these characters and they power play they have on each other. They know each other so well, so it's easy for them to pick at each other's nerves.
Warnings for toxic relationships, shifting power dynamics within said relationship, and sexual tension.
"Where were you last night?"
The dark shape climbing through the window stepped onto the floor, dripping water onto the very expensive, very new maroon rug Harry just had put in.
"Oh, you know, around," Wolf Spider answered easily, unclipping his hooded cloak and tossing it over the back of one of the leather chairs in front of Harry's desk. He plopped himself into the next one, sprawled languidly with one leg draped over the armrest and an arm hooked behind the back. His spindly spider-legs stuck out like a bunch of silly decorative attachments to a child's Halloween costume. They were crusted in dried blood.
As a matter of fact, similar stains were littered throughout his costume and matted into his hair.
"I told you to be back here by 11:00," Harry scowled, glancing up from Oscorps monthly financial statements, "Don't tell me you took that job?" His grip on the pen tightened when Wolf Spider didn't answer right away and took his time stretching his limbs and sighing, as if tired. Of his long night, or of Harry's nagging, he couldn't be sure.
"Don't tell you actually expected me not to."
"I told you, you don't need to take jobs anymore. I cover all your finances now. There's no need."
Wolf Spider hummed, arching his neck to look up at the ceiling, "Yeah, I know. And I also recall telling you that I don't need your money. You can't buy me like everyone else in this building, Har," he said the nickname wryly. Harry opened his mouth angrily, but Wolf Spider plowed on, "Besides, I need something to do. You can't expect me to sit up here all day."
"You have a job as my bodyguard."
Wolf Spider rolled his head to the side to look at him. Over the top of his metal mask, his eyebrows quirked, "As if you actually need a bodyguard. You only want to keep me locked up in your little tower. Make sure I'm not going to up and flake on you, right?" His smile was devilish and cruel. Harry didn't need to see it to know.
The paper crinkled in his grip and he had to let the pen go as it cracked under the pressure of his fingers. Calmly, he stood up, fixing his tie and straightening the cuffs of his jacket as he rounded the table. Wolf Spider watched, as serene as a large jungle cat perched on a tree limb.
Harry stopped in front of him, dropping his hands and linking them behind his back.
"Take off your mask."
Wolf Spider didn't move. Sometimes, it didn't look like he was even breathing. He watched Harry through his red lenses and Harry could imagine those dark eyes as clearly as he could see the brown-crusted stains on the sheen metal.
"Take off your mask, Peter."
That had the jungle cat tensing. Wolf hated being addressed as Peter. Hated that link that connected him to a time neither of them felt comfortable visiting. All the old innocent memories connected to that name, like strings looping and twisting, tightening around the neck. Harry could see the way it got under his skin, prickling like thousands of bugs that ate away at him.
And those strings looped around his wrists and arms, and like a puppet, Wolf Spider slowly reached up with one hand and slipped the mask over his face. His bangs fell over his eyes where red irises were narrowed. Dangerous. But Harry had been taught to be a man of risk. You couldn't run a business without it.
He traced the cut on Peter's forehead with a gloved finger. He didn't fail to notice the way Peter's eyes fluttered and the ever-so-gentle way he leaned into the touch. The leather material made his eyebrows furrow though. He never liked them. This craving for touch that Peter had acquired, through years of isolation and violence, that made him putty in Harry's hand. Easy for molding. Harry would forever be grateful for that too.
His finger traced over Peter's forehead, down his cheek, and gripped his chin, tilting it upward in a tight pinch between his fingers, "What did I say?"
He could almost feel Peter's breath through the glove, "To be back by 11:00," he whispered.
"What else?"
"To not take that job."
"And what did you do?" his grip tightened, and Peter's eyes fluttered again.
"I....I took the job."
"Yes, you did. Now, what do you say?"
"I..."
Harry's grip spread from pinched fingers to grabbing the lower half of Peter's jaw and keeping his eyes firmly rooted to Harry's when he tried to look away. Peter could break out of it so easily. Could break Harry so easily. But he didn't.
He never did.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, voice becoming something wrecked and small.
Harry held their position for a few seconds longer, then relaxed his hand and cupped Peter's face gently. Peter leaned into it, eyes closing completely with a sigh on his lips.
"Don't take another job again," Harry said softly, rubbing his thumb against Peter's cheek.
Peter hummed, but when he cracked his eyes open, there was that devilish smile parting his face. Cruel, but almost sweet as he said, "Why? Afraid that one day I'll leave? Afraid I won't come back? Afraid I'll realize that I don't need you?"
Ice shot in Harry's stomach and Peter's smile sharpened.
Peter slowly stood up, "Afraid I'm going to leave you, Harry? That I'm going to find someone else and abandon you?" His eyes never left Harry as he pulled the gloved hand away and tugged the fine leather off. "Poor Harry Osborn, all alone in his little ivory tower, stuck in daddy's shadow?" With his bare skin exposed, Peter pinned Harry with those red eyes and pressed a soft kiss to his knuckles. His other hand snuck up and seized Harry by his tie, pulling him closer.
He whispered in his ear, "Where would you be without me?"
I might explore more with this pair in the future. I love me a healthy relationship, but I find it interesting to explore the power dynamics and relationship between them in this depiction of the ship. Neither of them has more power in the relationship than the other, as they both know what to do, and what to say, to exert power. Once again, this is NOT a healthy relationship, and I do not recommend you model any IRL relationships like this, and if you're in a toxic relationship please seek help and stay safe.
Hope you guys enjoyed! :D
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