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Spider-Man wailed on another giant robot through the mess of dust and debris. How many had he taken out? Just how many robots were there? Why did things like this happen so often in New York? How long had he been fighting? How many heroes were here in this battle? He’d seen Daredevil, the Avengers, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four.
Did the giant alien mothership above them have an unlimited supply of these destructive machines? For a while, seemed every time they beat one another four would come barreling to the surface.
Although, the last time Peter had gotten the chance to look up through the cloud of dust he was fighting in, the mothership was on fire and he wasn’t seeing more robots coming down. Hopefully, that was a good thing.
He swung again, as much as his muscles screamed for him to stop, this time his fist pierced through the metal. He reached in and yanked out wires. By now he’d figured out the weakest spots, but it still took several hits for even him to get through. The robot sputtered and collapsed beneath him, landing with an earth shaking thud. To his left, the Invisible Woman used her force fields to rip the limbs off of the nearest mech. The pieces fell near him. She looked his way and smiled, lifting a hand. The dust above him was pushed away by her forcefield, giving him a clear view of the sky above.
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After a long day of fighting, Johnny had made it onto the mothership. He was able to fly in through the opening the bots were releasing from. Most of the ship was taken up by a large open area that looked like a warehouse with rows upon rows of robots. They were being dropped onto the city a row at a time. There were so many outside already, but if Johnny could destroy them in here, with less room for them to maneuver while he flew above, maybe he could help put an end to this fight. He reported his findings to Reed. Unfortunately, taking a hit in the process.
As soon as it was confirmed that no living beings were in that section of the ship he’d began burning them, trying to stop the onslaught of mechs raining down on NYC. The metal hulls were strong, and impervious to most flames, so he had to turn up the heat. It took a lot out of him, but it was working.
He thought about going nova, but there were other heroes on other parts of the ship, and just outside of it, fighting the aliens and trying to figure out their plans. There was also risk of the large spacecraft crashing into to the city. So he burned hot and melted through the army as they fired at him. Less robots in the streets and skies the better.
Chatter came through the comm in his ear as he blasted.
“Keep it up Johnny!” Reed’s voice was steady and calm. “We’ve got the commander now. But the robots are programmed to keep attacking. Everyone is busy fighting in the sky and down below, but we’ll try to send you backup soon!”
“No. I’ve got the heat cranked up too high! Don’t send anyone in here! These things don’t melt easily.” Johnny grit his teeth as he melted through another row of bots, dodging the remaining ones in the process. “Can’t we just throw this whole thing in the river?!”
“I’m afraid the water wouldn’t do much to stop them.”
“Great.”
“We’re clobberin’ em down here. Just keep doin’ what you’re doin’ hotshot. I know how you like meltin’ things.” Ben’s gruff words kept Johnny pushing forward.
“The ship is clear. We have the intel we need.” Reed’s voice came through not long after. Johnny flamed off and breathed a sigh of relief as he looked around at the mess he’d made of the robots. “Johnny, report on the robots still onboard?”
The Human Torch took in the oddly satisfying mess he’d made. He heard one of the bots he’d just blasted whir pitifully. He shot another blast at it to be safe. “You mean the melted down scrap metal?”
“Good job, bro.” Sue’s voice came through. “I knew you could do it.”
More relief settled into Johnny, hearing the voices of his family lifted his spirits. They were okay.
“Take out the engine and get clear, Storm will take it from there.”
Johnny closed his eyes and willed his flame to come back to life. Was sleeping for three days after this an option? He tore through the ship, reaching the engine room and blazing hot through it. His family was safe. But Peter hadn’t been wearing a comm. He had been near Sue last Johnny had heard but where was he now?
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The mothership was still ablaze. More now than it had been the last time Peter had seen it. Only this time it was crashing. Peter could see Storm directing the wind so that the giant ship landed in the water instead of on top of the city. Other flying heroes could be seen carrying small purple aliens. The aliens themselves looked scrawny at best, but he supposed that’s why they had the enormous armed robots that made Ben Grimm look small.
“Did we…” Peter’s chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath, “win?”
“Yes, I believe we did.” Sue’s smiled but her eyebrows betrayed her concern for him. Exhaustion was evident in her eyes.
“That’s…that’s good.” Now that the battle was won, Peter could feel the toll it had taken catching up with him. They’d started this fight in the middle of the night. The sun had risen, the day had gone by, now it was setting again. He was tired, sore, hungry, bleeding… he could just about…
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As soon as Johnny exited the hull of the ship he scoured the city below for signs of Spider-man. When he spotted him he saw the web-slinger begin to collapse. Sue was near him, but she didn’t even have to bother putting up a forcefield to catch him. Not when Johnny was diving down from the sky to beat her to it.
“SPIDEY!” Johnny reached him just in time to catch Peter in his arms. “Stay with me!”
Peter’s head spun, it was throbbing. But the sound of Johnny kept him tethered to reality. He wanted to say something smart in return but it just came out as a pathetic grunt.
“Go. Make sure he’s okay and get him out of here.” Sue left no room for argument.
Johnny nodded to his sister and scooped Peter’s legs up to fly them somewhere above the debris. There was quite a mess to clean up, but that was a concern for later and the civilians had thankfully been cleared out earlier.
Luckily, they were near a secluded rooftop with no cameras. Though, Johnny wasn’t sure how many cameras would even be running after the battle at this point anyway. Still, it was a safe and familiar spot. He and Peter had met up there before. Johnny wasn’t fond of how limp Peter felt in his arms as they flew. Once he reached the rooftop he settled the man down gently, laying Spider-Man in a comfortable position with his head resting on Johnny’s leg.
“You’ve got about 5 seconds to convince me I don’t need to take you to a doctor.” The blonde said as he carefully took off Spider-man’s mask. Johnny knew how much Peter would rather avoid being in a hospital bed, but he’d do what he felt he needed to.
Peter’s eyes flickered open at the remark. They looked distant and unfocused. “‘m…Fine.”
“Oh fine?” Johnny said sarcastically. “So you agree that I should take you to the hospital?”
“No. I-I’m fine.” Peter groaned out, his chest still rising and falling hard as he tried to even it out.
The rips in the red and blue suit and the cuts on his body made Johnny skeptical of him being fine. Peter shifted to hold a hand over his ribs. So those were hurting too.
“You sure?” Johnny cooed. He ran his fingers through the brunette’s hair. It was a crisp winter day. Despite how tired he felt Johnny willed some heat into Peter who exhaled contentedly. When he shut his eyes again each breath thankfully seemed less labored than the last.
After a moment, Peter’s eyes opened. This time they were clearer. He could focus more on Johnny’s concerned blues above him. “Yeah, I’m sure. Besides, I’ve got a doting boyfriend to take care of me.”
Johnny’s hand in Peter’s hair tugged slightly not enough to actually hurt, but he knew Pete would react dramatically.
“Ow.”
Then Johnny’s fingers resumed soothingly scratching his scalp. He looked down at Peter thinking about what he’d heard over the comms—Spider-Man ripping through the robots 10 times his size, leading the charge, jumping into action and webbing up the joints of the mechs. It must have been an impressive sight, as usual. He truly was Amazing. But Johnny had also heard his sister mention some of the hits the web-head had taken today. With his own concerns in the air at the time, he knew it would be bad for the whole team if abandoned what he was doing. Sue and Peter, of all people, could handle themselves, he knew that. Still, he couldn’t help but worry.
“Hey.” Peter noticed how lost in thought his boyfriend had become. He gestured nonchalantly with the hand not holding his ribs. “I’ll be fine Johnny, you know I heal fast.”
“Well hurry and heal up so I can kick your ass for being so reckless.” Despite his scolding, Johnny was smiling fondly down at Peter. The bleeding had stopped on the cuts on his face.
“You’re one to talk, Firefly.”
Johnny shifted slightly and hissed involuntarily at the movement. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, his upper back radiated pain.
“Wait. Are YOU okay?”
“Ehh… one of the robots might have gotten the jump on me. Sent me flying into the inner hull of the ship. It was before I could figure out the best way to take them down. Not my finest moment. But there were a lot of those stupid things up there. I thought they’d be more focused on their programming, to exit the ship and invade, than me. Thought I had more time to plan and I was too hot for them to touch. Apparently not. Their metals are tough I’ll give them that. After that, I turned up the heat and it didn’t happen again.”
Peter scowled up at him. “And here you’re worried about me? I’ll heal up just fine. But you—“
“Will also be fine.” Johnny interrupted and twirled Peter’s own mask obnoxiously over his face. “I’ll heal up too. Just slower. My back might just match my costume pretty soon.”
Peter winced at the thought. “Maybe we should retire. Do something less dangerous.”
Johnny laughed at that. “We’d be bored out of our minds if we did and you know it. Besides ‘with great power’ and all that.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Peter squinted at something hovering above Johnny. “Am I hallucinating or is that floating pizza?”
“It is, unless we’re both hallucinating.”
Sue’s voice came over Johnny’s comm. “Special delivery, boys! Antonio’s made a ton of pizzas for all of us who were fighting.”
“God, I love this city. Still making pizza during a robot alien invasion.” Johnny could have cried at the sight. He grabbed the pizzas as Sue’s forcefield dropped them.
“You said it.” Peter sat up slowly and all but inhaled his first slice.
Johnny took a giant bite. His voice was muffled from the food, “after we eat and check out what needs to be done I might sleep for a full day. I’m exhausted.”
“That sounds nice.” Peter sighed. “But I might need to get back to work tomorrow.”
The Human Torch scoffed at that. “No. I’m kidnapping you. Call in. You’re coming home with me.”
“Oh no. You can’t.” Came the sarcastic, monotone reply. “Whatever will I do.”
“You’re putting up such a fight against this.” Johnny laughed and leaned in. His breath smelled of garlic, spices and tomato sauce.
The brunette closed the space between them. Their lips brushed gently. After what they’d been through, sleeping in Johnny’s warm embrace sounded incredible. He pulled back and his eyes met Johnny’s. “Yeah. I’ll be going with you tonight.”
“I like the sound of that. Do not disturb. We’re sleeping until the day after tomorrow.” Blue eyes narrowed at Peter, flirtatiously. “Well, mostly.”
“Yeah, mostly.”
The blonde leaned forward again, this time kissing a cut on Peter’s face.
“I was worried about you, babe.”
Then he cupped his boyfriend’s chin crashed their lips together, much harder than the soft tender kiss from before. An approving hum escaped the brunette. When Johnny’s lips parted slightly, Peter took it as an invitation for his tongue to enter. He reached a hand up into Johnny’s hair and pressed him into himself even more as he felt Johnny doing the same to him. It became passionate and desperate.
The unsaid rang out strongly between them.
Our lives are crazy.
Today was hard.
Today was dangerous.
Today we could have lost each other.
But we didn’t.
Their lips parted and they touched foreheads.
When they pulled back Johnny grinned and grabbed another slice of pizza.
“I love you almost as much as I love this.”
He held the slice in front of Peter’s face and Peter took a bite. Then he grabbed a slice and did the same to Johnny, in their best impersonation of a couple feeding each other cake at their wedding—albeit a little cheesier.
It wasn’t long before they had easily devoured two whole pizzas together.
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Later, after checking in with the other heroes and helping with some damage, Johnny and Peter found themselves at the Baxter Building in Johnny’s quarters. Quarters he hoped to share with Peter permanently someday soon. As often as Peter stayed he might as well live there anyway.
Peter pulled the top part of his costume over his head. The bed looked so inviting but he really did need a shower. Grit, blood, dust… he felt disgusting.
He looked back at Johnny from the bathroom doorway. “Join me?”
“I don’t actually need to shower, you know this. The flames kinda take care of that.” Johnny walked towards the bed, notably his shirt was still on.
Peter knew good and well as much as Johnny technically didn’t need to shower to be clean, he liked to. The blonde liked his nice soaps, smells, and the soothing feeling of the water. “Come on. Shower with me. It’ll feel nice. Or are you suddenly getting all modest on me, babe? What a ripoff.”
“I knew it, you only love me for my body.” Johnny joked back.
“Johnny…” Peter rolled his eyes. “You’re going to have to let me see eventually anyway. I’ll annoy you until you do. Then neither of us get to sleep.”
“Now who’s the doting boyfriend?” Johnny crossed his arms for a moment. A shower sounded nice. A shower with Peter? Even better. But he was sure his back looked rough already. It had been a while since he’d been hurt like this. In resignation, Johnny dropped his arms to his side and slumped towards the bathroom. “I hate showing you stuff like this. Don’t feel guilty about it alright?”
Johnny could also see what was left of the blood from the cuts on his boyfriend’s skin as he got closer. There was a bruise near his ribs but it looked older than it would on someone without accelerated healing like Peter’s. He was a hypocrite telling Peter to not feel guilty, when guilt was stirring in his own mind about Peter’s injuries. It wasn’t like they didn’t both know the risks. They knew them well.
“Off with the shirt already! Usually I don’t have to ask you twice.” Peter teased.
Pulling the shirt off turned out to be harder than Johnny thought, he winced half way up and Peter stepped in to help him. Once he got it off Peter let out a low disapproving whistle at the sight and turned Johnny’s back to the large mirror. Sure enough, his upper back was covered in large blotches turning an angry shade of purple. There was no questioning where he’d impacted the inner hull of the ship hours before.
“Well, isn’t that pretty?” Johnny rolled his eyes as he peered over his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Firefly. You’re still pretty to me.” Peter bat his eyelashes ridiculously with the blatant flirting.
“Damn right.”
“Doesn’t look like it feels great though.” Peter knew the day could have gone much worse but still, was it too much to ask that Johnny get out without so many bruises?
They both stripped off the rest of their clothes and stepped into the shower together. It was large enough for the two of them, with a rain shower and additional shower heads. Much fancier than the setup at Peter’s apartment. Johnny soaped up a washrag and gently began cleaning the blood from the cuts on Peter’s skin. It did amaze him how healed up they already were. Johnny thanked the universe for that aspect of Spidey’s powers. The brunette let out a content sigh.
Peter returned the favor, using a loofa to make soapy, soothing circular motions over Johnny’s chest. Carefully, he made his way around to his boyfriend’s back. Peter’s touch could be surprisingly gentle for someone with super strength. The tenderness of their touches, the refreshing sandalwood smell scent from the soap, the gentle flow of the water. It all felt like just what the doctor ordered.
After they finished washing, they stood under the water together, letting it rinse away the bubbles along with the stress of the day.
“I hate when you’re right.” Johnny hummed, but he didn’t sound too upset about it.
“Told you it would feel nice. Plus, I really do love when you do what I say.” Peter wrapped his arms loosely around Johnny’s waist and placed a chaste kiss just above the bruising on his shoulder.
“I needed this.” Johnny rubbed Peter’s arm. He soaked in the moment, the intimacy of it. God, I’m so in love with this man.
“Mmm. I love you.” Peter said easily as if he’d read Johnny’s mind.
“God, I love you too. So much.” Johnny breathed in the moment.
Getting to this point had taken them way too long. If either of them had just realized sooner that their feelings were returned, they could have had this for years. But they had it now. Maybe they were idiots about getting to this point, but they did get there eventually.
Peter playfully walked his fingers down Johnny’s abs and laughed. “You know, this is the tamest shower we’ve ever had together.”
“I’ll say. But it’s nice. And I’m tired, you’re tired…” Johnny breathed out a chuckle of his own. Then he made a sudden turn to face Peter, gazed at him through his lashes and dropped his voice an octave. “Rain check, handsome?”
Peter blushed, much to Johnny’s delight. “Absolutely.”
They turned off the water and Peter reached for a towel on instinct, but Johnny was already steaming and heating the air around Peter, evaporating the water from his skin.
Both of them decided putting on pajamas apparently wasn’t worth the trouble.
The couple lumbered to bed, looked at it, shared a glance, then proceeded to unceremoniously face plant in unison on the soft blankets below.
“I love you, bed.” Johnny’s voice was barely audible through the material.
Peter muttered something that was smothered and incomprehensible in agreement.
They made it to the bed? Great. Now, they both found themselves frozen with exhaustion, neither wanting to exert enough energy to move for a good five minutes. It felt bone deep at this point. But they knew they’d regret sleeping in the odd positions they found themselves in.
“Mmmrphhh.” Peter grunted as he pushed himself lazily more into the bed with his feet.
“Mood.” Johnny lifted his head languidly, but followed suit.
They shifted around slowly and finally managed to get themselves into a more comfortable position under the sheets. With Johnny’s aching back and shoulders, he was naturally the big spoon this time. Peter curled up, cozy in his embrace.
It wasn’t long before they drifted off.
As they had planned, they slept well that night and rested the entire next day—
Well, mostly…