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Chapter Text

“My name is Peter Parker… and I’d like a coffee.” 

That moment replays in Peter's head as he twists and turns in his single rusted bed. It’s been three years and yet it’s still the main culprit to Peter’s sleepless nights. The confusion on her face, the plaster above her right eye and the stupid necklace around her neck. Why would she still wear it without the knowledge of knowing who gave it to her? 

He’d stopped going to the coffee shop after that incident as now all he does is grieve the moments that he could have had with MJ and Ned. Seeing them with those familiar smiles he’d loved, loves, so much, overhearing the conversations on how excited yet still nervous they were to go to MIT, seeing how much their lives were better off, better off without him. 

He’d also made the decision to leave queens altogether as it reminded him too much of the life that he no longer has claim too. He had found a small, one bedroom apartment in Manhattan. Even though that's where he stays he doesn’t really live there. It's empty, it’s not like he has the money to properly furnish it anyway. But even during the last holiday season it’s empty. Christmas had been his and May’s favourite holiday. They would spend ages decorating their tree to perfection, ugly Christmas themed jumpers on with Mariah Carey’s All I want for Christmas is you blaring out of the small speaker which sat on the unit. The last few years he’s spent it alone. No tree, no lights, no tinsel, no jumpers or music, just himself. 

With an exhausted grunt, sleep unable to claim him, he sits up and drags himself to his fridge, which is empty besides some web fluid and a rotting cartoon of milk. Scrunching his nose with disgust he closes the door and walks slowly where he keeps his new suit. 

Maybe a swing will clear my mind.  

Sliding the suit on with ease he creeps over to the window, being wary of the creaky floor board which his downstairs neighbour repeatedly yells at him to fix “WHY ARE YOU EVEN WALKING AROUND YOUR APPARTMENT AT 3 FUCKING AM?!” he can hear it perfectly clearly like he was standing right next to him screaming into his ear.  

The city was quiet, well considering it was 3:30 in the morning. He finds himself sat atop the statue of liberty. He sits for a while letting the sound of the busy city below drown out his thoughts, it really is the city that never sleeps. He’s already down his patrol for the night, it was quiet not much going on robber here and there but nothing too exhausting. He lets his mind wander playing games like how many birds can he count or how many car honks he can hear. Anything and everything to take his mind away from the pathetic life he lives. 

“Hey webs” A cocky voice perks up from behind Peter. “I brought food though you might be hungry.”

Nobody calls him webs besides one person, “Oh god,” Peter defeatedly sighs when it clocks. It’s the 4th member of the Fantastic Four. 

The Fantastic Four are a relatively new superhero group, who gained their powers during an experimental space flight a few years back that exposed them to cosmic rays, which gave them superhuman powers and abilities. Reed Richards or Mr Fantastic as the media refer to him has, who now has the power of extreme elasticity. Sue Storm, the invisible woman, who has the power of invisibility and force field manipulation. And there’s Ben Grimm or Thing which Peter thinks is a pretty cruel nickname, he has the power to, well Peter isn’t quite sure. The man is made of rocks so he guesses superhuman strength? 

And the last member; Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm who possesses the power to be extremely annoying and happens to be able to light himself on fire.  

Even though Peter doesn't even know the guy well, they have only ever met on the odd night when Johnny comes to help him sort out some robbers or when he follows Peter up to the top of the statue of liberty after a busy night. Still Peter hates him. Is Peter Jealous? Maybe, but who wouldn’t be? The boy has it all compared to Peter ; The Human Torch, hero, heartthrob, loved by all. His perfect face, his perfect pearly white teeth and smile, his perfect blond hair. 

When Johnny comes to save the day everyone cheers and the ladies all swoon but when Spider-man comes all he hears is “Stay away from my baby!” or “menace to society’ by that reporter J. Jonah Jameson. Man how the Daily Bugle hates him, he still isn’t sure why he even works for them. 

“Webs?” Johnny is now stood to the left of Peter waving his hand in front of his face and Peter is then reminded he is not having a dramatic monologue but instead he is sat atop of the statute of liberty and is yet to respond to the other. 

“What do you want?” Peter knows he’s being rude but he can’t bring himself to care. He’s tired and doesn't have enough energy to deal with younger Storm sibling tonight. 

“Like I said before, I brought food” He flashes Peter one of his supermodel smiles and proudly lifts up the white plastic carrier bag which Peter suspects has hot dogs in it. 

“Isn’t there some girl you would much rather treat to food?” 

It doesn’t take a genius to know Johnny is a playboy. Even at the age of 21 the boy has had his fair share of girlfriends, occasionally even some weird alien, well at least that’s what the media say about him, not that Johnny probably minds. 

“I’m hurt you think so little of me” He barks out a laugh. “And for your interest I’m here because I thought you would want to eat something, you look like you haven't eaten a proper meal in days” Johnny says as he plonks himself down besides Peter. 

It’s true Peter hasn’t eaten a proper meal in a while. Now Peter turns to the boy who is now sitting a hand length away from him, “And what makes you think I need your charity?” Now it’s his turn to laugh, “Also why do you want to help me?” He asks, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. 

“Wow, so many questions tonight, you're not normally this chatty.” He mutters loud enough that only Peter can hear. “I couldn’t sleep and thought ‘hey! why don’t I go check to see what my good buddy Spiderman is up to’” Peter laughed at the ‘good buddy part’. “And I stopped in front of one of those hot dog stands. It's weird they are still open at this time of night…” He glances down at his watch “...Or morning” He laughs as he reaches into the bag to hand Peter a hot dog.

Peter hesitates before he takes it out of Johnny's hand. “It should still be warm, if not your Human oven can help.” Johnny smiles before taking a bite out of his own. 

Peter lifts his mask up just to his nose not revealing his whole identity. He’s not stupid anymore. After everything that happened with Beck he swore to himself he will never show his identity to anyone ever again. He devours the hot dog in minutes because as much as he hates to admit it, Johnny is right. He hasn't eaten a proper meal in days. The pair sit in a comfortable silence for a while which is weird because Johnny is normally not one to stay quiet for a long period of time. 

“Stop any interesting crimes tonight?” 

Peter mentally sighs, spoke too soon. “No not really.” he shrugs hoping the short answer will give Johnny the idea he’s not up for small talk. But of course it never works. 

“How about anything in your non-superhero life?” 

Peters mind short circuits. This is one of Johnny's questions he avoids like the plague, always trying to find ways to avoid it by coming up with excuses which are normally his just swinging away. Which he decided is the best option tonight. 

“Oh would you look at the time!” Peter glances down at the non-existent watch on his wrist. “I best be heading home you know, to like to sleep like a normal fully functioning human being and get ready to provide for the economy and stuff -” He stops himself before he can ramble and embarrass himself any further. Peter doesn’t let Johnny say anything before he swings away from the other boy. But before Peter is out of ear shot he can vaguely hear the other boy yell something "You're not even wearing a watch!” He would normally shoot back some snarky remark but he chooses to ignore it. 

He can’t let Johnny know anything about his civilian life. For one Spider-man is cool, brave, outgoing and courageous and Peter Parker is well none of those things. And secondally he can’t let anyone else into his life, he doesn't need friends, he feels he is better off alone. I mean he doesn’t even like the guy for crying out loud!… right?

Chapter Text

Johnny has only been the world famous Human Torch for 3 years but he feels like he’s been doing it his whole life. He feels himself getting older as every minute passes.

Don’t get him wrong, he lives for the fame, fortune and love that he was showered with when he was given the title of Human Torch. However his whole life had been flipped on its side. 

He could no longer just nip to the mechanic to get whatever part he was needing for the car he was fixing at the time, without being swarmed by paparazzi or adoring fans. All of his childhood friends left as soon as they knew he could quite literally light himself on fire so you could say he seemed somewhat lonely?

He tried busying himself with girls but it got to the point he felt disgusting. Moving from bed to bed, girl to girl. He was so much more than that. There was more depth to Johnny Storm’s personality than being a playboy. He needed friends, real friends not ones that only wanted him for his fame and money. He did however have Sue, Reed and Ben but they were older and had more important things to do that entertain Johnny’s boredom. 

And that’s how he found himself going out his way to help a fellow young hero, Spider-man. 

He follows the other around like a lost puppy helping him fight your average street robbers, shouting “c’mon, give me a chance at least!” after the other as he swings away off into the distance. He could flame on and fly after him but he’s starting to get the message the other prefers to work alone. 

Johnny had heard about the famous Spider hero, the bugle makes him out to be a monster and wherever he goes destruction follows, but Johnny has seen the hero getting cats out of trees and helping the elderly cross the street. He is far from a monster. Johnny's actually not sure how old the other is or really anything about him, but his voice is young along with his body language and mannerism so he guesses he’s around his own age. With a little research Johnny found that the Spider was amongst the ones, like himself and the rest of the four, who blipped. 

He has huge respect for the other hero, he’s done his research on him. First sightings of him were in 2016 so if Johnny's assumptions about his age are right he must have started the whole hero business at a very very young age. 

The web-slinger has been seen photographed beside heroes such as Iron Man, Doctor Strange and other Avengers, he was also pictured leaving the Avengers tower on numerous occasions which leads Johnny onto the trail that the other is or was a part of the famous superhero team. Spider-man has never mentioned other heroes and always claims that he prefers to work alone, which is maybe due to the alleged fallout and dismantlement of the superhero group.

After Iron man died Spider-man was always in the papers. The media were fixated on how the younger hero was coping after the death of Tony Stark as it was rumoured they had a very close relationship. He was all over the news outlets for good and bad, all depending on what news page you looked on, there was never a week where there wasn’t some story on him but then there was a period of a few weeks where the spider was nowhere to be seen until he made his return a few years back. There was not a single article or appearance for a week about him which would be normal for anyone else but this specific hero it meant something weird had happened. It was like that whole week had been erased from existence and memories. 

Johnny’s thoughts were abruptly startled when Sue appeared beside him. 

“FUCK SAKE!” He yelps as he springs up from where he was lounging on this bed “I thought I told you to stop doing that” he glared at his sister trying his best to show disapproval but his smirk was too big to hide. Her powers never fail to amaze him. 

“You were lost in your thoughts” she giggled to herself “Thought I’d come to surprise you.” 

“Well that you did” chucking a pillow in her sister's direction, she caught it with ease. 

“I just came to remind you we have a press event later on this evening, time you look presentable.” 

“I always look presentable,” he smirked.

“Sure” she smiled fondly at her younger brother “Now get ready, I’ll be back in an hour to check on you” she called over her shoulder as she turned to leave his room. 

——————

Only two hours have passed but to Johnny it has felt like 5. Press events had to be his least favourite thing about being a superhero. The carpet, photos and rich women trying to set him up with their daughters he could handle but talking to people and trying to act sophisticated, was the bane of his existence. There was no one around his age so he had no other options to spend it sitting with Ben, who tends to hide away in a corner, still insecure about his whole rock thing he’s got going on. 

“What’s the time?” He asks with a slouch.  

“Five minutes since the last time you asked” Ben responds without even bothering to look at his watch, but sounding equally as bored. “You’re literally wearing a watch.”

“Too lazy to lift my arm, this event has drained the life out of me I think” Johnny sighs dramatically. 

He still doesn’t understand why he needs to go to these events anyway. He sees it as Sue and Reed's way of torturing him. He would give anything to be sat at home with Franklin and H.E.R.B.I.E, feet kicked up and watching some shitty kids film Franklin wanted to watch. 

“This is so boring. Why can’t we stay at home and babysit?” 

“Sue and Reed need us here because apparently if not they would look like the fantastic two rather than four.” 

Johnny knew it was a bullshit excuse from his sister and his brother-in-law, there are numerous occasions where the four attend events separately but there is no way he could beat the pair of them in an argument so he decides to keep his mouth shut. 

“Would they even notice if we left?” Johnny asked in a daring tone hoping Ben would catch on. 

“As much as I would like to leave I don’t think we would be able to sneak away very well” Ben says motioning to himself with his hands. 

“Ugh why couldn't you be like a pebble man or something so you're at least a little smaller.” He huffs as he rests his head against the wall behind and closes his eyes, maybe time will go by faster this way he thinks to himself. That not working he decides to do the next best thing, people watch. He glances around the room and all he sees is posh arrogant pricks. A group of fat bald rich men chatting and chuckling amongst themselves not too far from Johnny that he could hear their conversation clearly, something about the business they all have large shares in. A little to the left of them is a younger looking boy with a camera around his neck looking equally as bored as Johnny feels and to the right of the boy.. 

“Hold on” Johnny mumbles just loud enough only he could hear. He sits up with a jolt to get a better look at the other making eye contact with him in the process, offering the mysterious boy a smile. He has large brown eyes, fluffy brown hair and freckled cheeks. He slowly lifts himself out of his seat to approach the other waving off Ben's comments as to where he's going. 

The boy looks startled and panicked to see Johnny approaching. He didn't recognise the boy but in the same hand Johnny is easily recognised, especially at a large event like this maybe the boy was just starstuck. The other quickly stops slouching on the wall and darts for the closest exit before Johnny is in arms reach. Johnny turns to follow others confused as to why he had the reaction he had. 

One Johnny reached the exit, the other escaped out of he was nowhere to be seen. With a defeated sigh he turned back to return to his seat and wait out this everlasting torture.

That was weird. He mumbled to himself and he slouched back into his chair. The cute strange photographer staying in his mind.

“Hey Ben?” 

“If you're gonna ask for the time it’s been ten minutes since you last asked.” 

Johnny scoffed, “No I wasn’t actually, I was going to ask do you know the company the photographers are from tonight?” 

“Nope” Ben responds, popping the ‘P’ “But best guess probably a few are from The Bugle. They are always up in rich people's business.” 

Johnny's mind wanders back to Spider-man. Maybe the cute photographer is the one who takes pictures of webs. They are always close ups so maybe Spider-man is friends with the photographer. He makes a mental note to ask next time he sees the webslinger. 

Chapter Text

He is fucked, he is well and truely fucked. He never wanted to go to the stupid press event anyway but his boss, J. Jonah Jameson insisted, well he actually quite literally forced, Peter to go as he is the ‘best at taking pictures of superheroes’ and ‘I’ll pay you half of what your earn now if you don’t get your scrawny ass to that event’ and Peter couldn’t risk that pay decrease, he was struggling as it was. 

He still doesn’t know how he didn’t see it coming. A fancy charity type press event has the Fantastic four written all over it. He had managed to hide from the familiar blond while managing to take a selection of half decent photos, mainly of the other members of the team. However he was unsure why he had gotten himself so worked up over it anyway, Johnny doesn’t even know who is under the mask for crying out loud! But he sure definitely is going to remember Peter now. How couldn’t he? Johnny offered a smile and his best response was bolting for the nearest exit? 

And that’s how Peter found himself once again tossing and turning trying to fall asleep, but his mind kept replaying his most recent encounter, a long distance encounter, with the Human Torch. 

It was a stupid decision to run, I mean how bad could a single conversation be? Well in Peter's case, very bad. He’s trying his best to distance himself from others, not build strong or any kind of relationship really with people. But Johnny isn’t really helping, trying at every chance he gets to be a part of Peter's life. He’s already trying to be Spiderman’s friend and now maybe Peters? How much more torture could Peter take? His grave is going to say ‘cause of death : Johnny Storm’

There’s many consequences to that happening. The positives being ; Peter would maybe have a friend. And the negatives being ; Johnny would follow him around even more than what he does now, he would have to be willing to lose this relationship like he has with every other one he’s ever had and finally he would have to be friends with Johnny fucking Storm.

In truth there’s only two reasons Peter doesn’t want to be friends with Johnny, one ; he’s scared that if he gets too close with the other boy he will inevitably end up losing him, and two ; he really just hates the boy, perfect in every sense. How can he look so good in tight blue spandex? Peter just looks like he waltzed out of the fucking circus. 

God how much he hates the other hero. 

____

He left slightly earlier to get to work so he could get the photos printed and on Jameson's desk before he gets yelled at, again. 

He walks along the street lost in thought before a familiar face stops him. “Hey you’re that photographer from the press event? The one who fled for the closest exit” 

Peter wants nothing more than for the pavement to swallow him whole right now. Of course it had to be Johnny Storm. It couldn’t have been another member of the Fantastic four, no it had to be Johnny. And of course he had to point out the fact Peter left before Johnny even had the chance to say anything. 

He stops quickly on his heels, “Um no… I don’t um” he stammers over his words, “I don’t go to press events” 

Johnny only stares before a smirk takes over his face, “You’re a horrible liar, you know that right?” Peter feels his cheeks warm up. Why must he be so easy to read? “What’s your name?” 

Peter takes a deep breath trying to ground himself, ‘It’s okay he just wants to know your name, nothing serious. He will leave you alone after this’ He thinks to himself before realising that he’s taken too long to answer what his own name is. 

“Peter. Peter Parker.” He offers an awkward smile. 

Johnny sticks his hand out, “Johnny Storm” Peter takes Johnny's slightly larger hand in his, shaking it. “Woah you got a tight grip” He laughs, smiling widening with every second that passes. 

Peter laughs awkwardly, taking a glance at his watch, “I’m really sorry Mr Storm, but I’m going to be late for work” 

“Let me walk you, I’m not heading anywhere in particular” Johnny smiles, “Lead the way.” 

Fuck. Maybe he’s not going to leave me alone. 

Peter hesitates before slowly getting his legs to move and walking towards his work. Johnny walks beside him, hands in pockets, “So..” The latter begins, of course not being able to stay quiet for long. “Where do you work?” 

“The Bugle, a photographer if you hadn’t already guessed” 

“The cute one from the event last night” Peter ducks his head to hide the blush that is creeping up on his cheeks, but he doesn’t miss the wink Johnny throws at him. 

“Do you just take pictures of attractive superheroes looking gorgeous on the carpets or are you more of a boring landscape type of guy?” 

Don’t tell him you take pictures of Spider-man.

“I take the pictures of Spider-man.”

You fucking idiot.  

Peter's face heats up and glues his eyes to the pavement in front of him focusing on keeping his legs moving, feeling Johnny's eyes on him. 

“Ah, so you're the one who snaps the shots of webs,” Johnny says, nudging Peter's shoulder with his own. “How do you get so close up?” 

“I have good lenses I guess and just happen to be in the right place at the right time…” 

“Bullshit! With the angles and quality of those pictures I’m starting to believe you are him.” Johnny laughs. 

Peter has two options here. Either lie his way out of this or lie his way out of this. 

“Um, we are somewhat friends… I don’t know him outside of the mask but he allows me to take pictures of him which is good.” 

“If you’re friends, how can you agree with all the shite the Bugle has to say about him?” 

“I don’t. I just take the pictures” He shrugs. “Anyway this is my stop.” 

Johnny looks somewhat disappointed, not a look Peter is familiar with Johnny having. Was Johnny enjoying his company? 

“What time do you finish? I would love to take you out for food, if you're up for it.” 

He definitely enjoyed his company. This is not a good sign. 

“I finish at 4 but I’m going out with my Aunt after, sorry.” That one stung a little. 

“Well maybe another time, that small smile of yours is intriguing.” Johnny smirks before throwing Peter a second wink, not that he’s counting anyway. 

Peter watches Johnny as he walks down the street smiling and greeting anyone who recognizes him, who is pretty much everyone, before turning and going up to Jameson's desk where he inevitably gets in trouble for being late. Even if it was only for 3 minutes. 

Chapter Text

The city was quiet, considering it was 3:30 in the morning but for a city that never sleeps it was a bit strange. Peter finds himself sat atop a building, legs dangling over the edge mind wandering until something catches his eye. 

These robbers never do sleep 

He is yet to come across an actual villain. He sometimes finds himself wondering when he’s going to meet his green goblin or his Doc Oc. There's surely gotta be variants of them right? If there are other Peter Parker’s then there must be villain variants in his dimension. 

Swinging himself towards the robber, “Hey buddy!” He calls, “Need a hand?” His fist makes contact with the robber's cheek, knocking him to the ground with a thud. It doesn't take a while before his senses notify him there’s more than just one “This is going to be a long night” He mumbles to himself webbing up an incoming attacker.  

Another two come charging towards him on his right, three more on his left, webbing the two on the right with ease “wow, honestly I expected better” he says smugly as he easily blocks a punch from one of the guys that came from his left grabbing his fist and throwing him to the ground, webbing his arms around his chest. 

“Why couldn’t the cop deal with you?” he murmured just loud enough so the criminals could hear as he blocked two punches, webbing the two guys in the process, one managed to get a swipe at him with a knife, slicing his suit and cutting a deep-ish slice along his arm, he can deal with that later, “Woah that is not cool dude I just sewed this the other night!” Peter calls before successfully webbing them all into a bundle and leaving a note for the cops, his spidey sense starts to go off, however not for danger but more that there is someone approaching.  

“Spidey! My man! Fancy seeing you here tonight!” 

Peter closes his eyes and sighs, this is definitely going to be a long night, turning slowly to face the other, he’s in his uniform which indicates to Peter Johnny came out in hopes of finding him. 

“What do you want?” 

“I couldn’t sleep, Franklin is going through that clingy stage so he now cries when he’s put down. I had to get out of there. As much as I love the kid, it’s doing my head in.” Johnny says with a slight chuckle. 

“Did you just come out here to complain about your nephew?” 

“No I didn’t actually, and to be honest I didn’t think I’d catch you tonight” 

“Sure you didn’t” Even though Johnny can’t see, he smirks teasingly under his mask. 

“It's true.” Johnny laughs, throwing his hands up defensively. “But now I’ve got you, I wanted to ask about that photographer of yours.” Every bit of confidence Peter just had has now been completely drained out of him. 

Alright Peter just play dumb. 

“What’s a photographer?" 

Not that dumb.

Johnny just looks at him, left eyebrow raised and mouth slightly open, obviously trying to think of something to say. 

“Um I mean what photographer…? because I most certainly do not have a personal one.” Peter says finishing with an awkward cough, looking anywhere but Johnny's eyes. 

“Parker. The cute one who works for the Bugle.” Johnny says with a smirk. Peter is grateful he has his mask on to hide his grimace. Johnny Storm, heartthrob, loved by all who could pull anyone and everyone thinks him, Peter Parker is cute? He shakes his head pushing that thought down, way down.   

Peter only stares back realising they, Spider-man and the Human Torch, are still standing in front of the bank where the robbers still sit, talking about Spider-man’s cameraman who also happens to be Spider-man's secret identity. Peter grabs Johnny by his wrist and drags him down the nearest ally. He hears Johnny ask why he is being dragged down an ally but he chooses to ignore it. Letting go of Johnny’s wrist, and moving to lean against the wall, the feeling of blood seeping out of his arm becomes more distracting but he tries not to bring attention to it, Johnny mirrors his image on the opposite wall. 

“I know him yeah, nice guy” Peter shrugs, trying to pass it off as nothing. 

“What do you know about him? He said you guys are, and I’ll quote him on this, ‘somewhat friends’”. 

“Yeah well I mean, not friends per se, more acquaintances.” Peter sounds more as if he is trying to convince himself over this fake relationship rather than Johnny. Peter realises he is yet to ask why Johnny wants to know about Peter “How do you know about him anyway?” 

Johnny shrugs, “Met him at a really boring press event, I tried to talk to him but he ran off” 

“Yeah he doesn’t seem like a big people person” Peter chuckles awkwardly. 

“I walked him to work the other day, offered to take him for food but he said he’s meeting his aunt.” 

Peter decides to add to his lies, however this one might help the issue of Johnny wanting to spend more time with Peter, “Heard she's quite unwell. Probably best to leave the guy for now.” 

“Oh man that sucks, Hope she gets better -” His sentence is cut short as his eyes snap down to Peter's arm, “Shit Web, you're bleeding!” Pushing himself off the wall, moving towards Peter. 

Peter's head immediately tilts down to look at his arm where the cut lies, blood seeping out, it’s deeper than he originally thought. “I am?” He decides to play stupid. 

“Don’t play dumb with me Webs, You knew exactly where to look when I mentioned it.” He says reaching out to gently hold Peter's wrist to get a better look at the injury, Peter lets him, frozen at the contact. “Was it one of the robbers? Looks deep man, might need stitches. You got stuff at yours? Because I have stuff if needed. You want me to stitch it?” Concern laced Johnny's tone, Was Johnny concerned about him?

“Yes?” Peter says hesitantly, Johnny asked about five questions there and made a few statements.  

“Yes to what?” 

“I have stuff at home, I don't need your charity.” He pauses, “But thank you.” He adds softly, quiet enough so only Johnny could hear. 

“You sure? Baxter Building isn’t too far from here.”  

“I’m sure Johnny, I have a healing factor so it’ll probably be a small cut when I’m home” He lies, deeper cuts always take a few days, not that Johnny needs to know anyway.

“Whatever you say Webs. Well you know where to find me if I need help. Don’t struggle alone.” Johnny throws him a wink which makes Peter stomach do somersaults, Johnny has winked at him many times before why is it so different tonight? He’s glad his mask hides the blush that he feels creeping up on his cheeks. 

“Thanks Strom, I’m sure I’ll take up that offer one day.” He says before swinging away into the night. 

_________________

A day later…

Johnny spent most of the day just boredly moseying about the Baxter Building. He couldn’t go bother Spidey, because well the boy always seemed to have somewhere he’d rather be than be with Johnny and if he’s being honest he doesn’t really know what the web-slinger gets up to during the day. He did contemplate trying to find the mysterious photographer but he decided to leave it after the conversation he had with Spider-man last night. So he did the next best thing. Sitting on the sofa with his feet kicked up mindlessly watching whatever crap was on the telly. 

And tonight Sue and Reed decided to take a well deserved break from the chaos that is currently occupying the Baxter Building. Franklin has reached that age where he has about 3 tantrums a day and is very very picky with his meals. Which is how Johnny and Ben find themselves in the kitchen covered head to toe in various mushed up vegetables and milk while the 2 year old is flailing his arms around crying, knocking everything off of his highchair. 

“This is your fault you know” Ben grumbles as he reaches for the nearest cloth to wipe off the mush around Franklin's mouth. 

“What how?” Johnny asks defensively, taking off his dirty jumper and chucking it in the washing machine. 

“I told you not to bother with the veg.” Ben says whilst dodging Franklin's little arms, successfully managing to wipe the muck off the wee boy's face.

“Don’t blame me for trying to feed this kid anything other than cheese and yogurts” Johnny huffs while struggling to now take off his bottom half nearly stumbling over his own two feet. Kicking them off, he picks them up and tosses them in the washing machine with his jumper. 

“You clean up in here and I’ll take Frank for a bath” He says, reaching over to grab the younger, who has calmed down ever so slightly. He immediately stops crying when he is in the warmth and comfort of his uncle's arms, he wasn’t lying to Spidey when he said Franklin was in his clingy stage. 

Trudging his way towards the lift he notices Franklin has started to doze off which isn’t a good sign because that means he won’t go to sleep when it’s time for bed after the bath. “Hey bud,” Johnny says gently, prodding the boy's stomach with his free hand, “Don’t go to sleep now, it’s bath time.” Franklin only blabbers back incoherent words, he seems to lose his ability to string together simple sentences when he’s tired. When they reach the bathroom Johnny sets Franklin on his knee as he bends down to fill the bath just lightly so he doesn’t drown the kid. 

When the bath is filled up enough and is at a good temperature Johnny peels off Franklin's clothes much to the other protests, “I can do it myself!” The smaller boy would cry, but when does it himself he always finds himself in a fankle so Johnny chooses to ignore his protests, not having the energy to fight him tonight. He takes off the boy's nappy which is surprisingly dry and tosses it in the bin. He hoists the boy up and over the side of the bath and gently places him in the bath and holds his back up with his hand to prevent the kid from falling backwards, he has a strange habit of it. 

“Too cold!” Franklin complains “Too cold Johnny!” he says but he’s really demanding Johnny to warm it up. Johnny rolls his eyes before reaching in and dipping his free hand in the water, cranking up his body temperature to warm it up. “Better?” He asks, raising an eyebrow, Franklin only nods and grabs onto one of the toys that was sitting at the side. 

He reaches over to grab the nearest cup and fills it with water to pour over Franklin's light white hair; he definitely got more of Sue’s genes than Reed's. But people do say he looks the most like his Uncle Johnny but Johnny can’t quite see it. 

He repeats the process a few more times until he is pleased Franklin is clean and decides it’s time the little one gets to bed. “Right pal, time for bed, what do you think?” Johnny asks, looking round to locate a towel to wrap the boy in. He reaches in with both hands to pick up his nephew and bundles him up in the blue towel much to the others protests, Franklin hates the drying off part of baths. “I know, I hate drying off as well but you can’t go to bed soaking.” Johnny laughs as he covers Franklin's face with the towel. “Oh! where did Franklin go?” He hears a giggle from under the tower, pulling it down he lets off a dramatic sigh of relief “There he is!”. The sound of Franklin’s giggles filled the room once again. 

“Better get you a clean nappy, yeah?” 

“Noooooooooo!” Franklin cries, he loathes nappy’s, complains they are Itchy! Itchy! as he would say. 

“Well bud, until you learn to stop weeing yourself you're gonna have to stick with the nappy’s.” Johnny sighs, reaching into the nappy drawer located behind him. Out of all the jobs with Franklin this, by far, has to be the worst. Johnny always tries to find a way to get out of it but Sue always reminds him “What’s the big deal? He’s your nephew, not some random kid.” Well Sue the big deal is not who's nappy it is the big deal is the piss and shit that the nappy occasionally contains. 

“Right Franky, time to get this stinking thing on.” 

Franklin only glares, he’s definitely got that from Sue.

“Come on, it's not that bad.” 

Franklin only makes it difficult for himself, kicking his legs and attempting to move as far away as possible from Johnny really doesn’t help the situation. Johnny eventually comes out victorious. After finally getting the nappy on Franklin he drains the water, taking the boys dirty mucky clothes, dumping them in the hamper and turning the bathroom light off he makes his way to Franklin's room.

Turning on the light and turning it to a dimmer brightness, hoisting Franklin onto the other side of his body so he has at least one arm free to take around in his drawers to find a pair and pyjamas. 

“Blue or white?” Johnny asks whilst pointing to the two options, it’s a pointless question because the boy always chooses blue, but it’s worth the ask since he’s becoming increasingly more picky.  

“Blue!” the boy says, reaching out with his little arms to grab the blue pair of jammies, nearly falling out of Johnny's grasp in the process. 

“Alright, blue it is,” Johnny says, adjusting his hold, tightening it slightly to prevent the boy from nearly falling again. “You wanna put them on yourself?” He decides to give the kid an option this time. 

“Uncle Johnny help!” 

“Alright Uncle Johnny will help” Johnny says relieved, he can hear the arguments Reed and Sue have about the child on the occasional night. Johnny holds the top above his head so Franklin can put his arms and head through the holes, he does the same with the bottom half. 

“Wanna pick out a book to read?” Johnny asks Franklin setting him down in front of the bookcase so he can choose, and he picks out the very hungry caterpillar. 

Johnny settles down on the boy's bed Franklin climbs up and slots himself tightly against Johnny's side. As Johnny gets further into the book he can hear the soft sounds of Franklin’s snores. 

Johnny quietly gets up and moves to lift Franklin under the comfort of his duvet being careful not the wake the boy, succeeding at that he kisses him gently on his head and tiptoes his way towards the door, softly closing it behind him, leaving it open a crack so the boy isn’t in complete darkness,  and makes his way to the lift to up to his own room, bumping into Ben half way, nearly jumping out of his skin, “Jesus Christ! what’s with this family and scaring people!”

“Wasn’t trying to,” Ben throws his arms up in a surrender, “I’m heading for a shower, kitchens all clean. Suzie won’t be able to tell us off for a mess this time” Ben laughs, clearly reminiscing the previous times himself and Johnny got in trouble for leaving a mess. 

Johnny failing to fight his own laughter, places a hand on Ben's shoulder as he walks past him “Alright but I’ve just put Franklin to bed so no singing in the shower” 

“I don’t sing in the shower!” 

“Sure you don’t,” Johnny calls over his shoulder and begins to hum the choirs of careless whispers loud enough so that Ben could hear him and take offence, striding into the lift. 

“Don’t act like you don’t either Storm” 

“But my voice is good in comparison to yours” He laughs as the lift doors shut so Ben can’t say anything else.

The lift dings softly as it reaches the floor with Johnny's room, with a yawn he steps out the lift, shuffling towards his room. 

Thump. 

The abrupt noise startles Johnny and wakes him up “something must have fallen” he tells himself as he gets closer to his door. 

“Fuck.” He hears a voice quietly mutter. 

Johnny freezes on the spot. The noise was not an object but a person. Sue and Reed aren’t home, Ben's in the shower and Franklin is in bed plus he wouldn't swear, Ben and himself are forbidden from using such language around him. 

He slowly creeps the door open, lighting a fire on his hand for defence, and is met with the sight of a figure in blue and red spandex crumpled on the floor in front of his open window. 

Chapter Text

Peter woke with a slight pain in his arm, not having the energy last night to cover it properly, he drags himself out of his bed and traipsing over to the cabinet where he keeps his first aid kit, opening the box to find it’s empty, which isn’t a surprise, making a mental note to go by supplies later. He reaches to where his kitchen roll lies and grabs a few sheets, wrapping it around his arm, using a small web to make sure it doesn’t fall off and drapes himself over his shitty, soon to break, sofa. 

3 years ago when May inevitably found out he had injuries, he could never hide them for long from her, they would make a trip out of it to go get some more supplies and she would sit and bandage Peter up. But those times always came with a lecture of being more careful and not going out and getting himself killed. Peter always hated those lectures but now, he would give anything to have May by his side, piecing him back together and shouting at him again, just to hear her voice one more time. 

He always felt shitter on days like these, waking with aches and pains, with nobody to talk to to take his mind off it. He could go speak to Johnny, but that fear still lurks in the back of his mind that if he gets too close to Johnny he will eventually lose him. However the issue with Johnny is he is trying so hard to worm his way into Peter’s sad miserable life. He really wants to distance himself but deep down he can’t. He used to be like Johnny, always wanting to help others, be around other superheroes and just do the right thing, but he has come to realise the right thing is distancing himself from others as a way of protecting them. 

Peter doesn’t know what to feel about Johnny anymore. He doesn't know if it's jealousy, aversion, ambivalence or respect. Part of him longs for a friendship, someone to patrol with, talk to and get food together, which are many things Johnny and himself already do. So why must it be so hard for Peter to accept Johnny might be becoming his friend, someone who he can be civil with, rely on? 

Johnny can protect himself right? He’s a superhero for crying out loud! But then Peter thinks back to Tony, he was a superhero as well. But his death was a sacrifice, and Johnny doesn’t seem the sacrificial type, or so Peter hopes. So maybe being friends wouldn’t be too bad.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, not wanting to spend the rest of the day overthinking, he does the next best thing. Star Wars Marathon, for the millionth time. He sets up his near to breaking laptop and loads up The Phantom menace. He watches mindlessly, being able to quote these films word for word, not needing to pay much attention. He and Ned used to spend their summers watching them together, acting out scenes from the film. Peter still has the palpatine minifigure on his nightstand, he always thinks if Ned wonders why he is missing his minifigure, but he normally doesn't dwell on that for too long. 

He gets to, A New Hope, when he hears a loud bang coming from outside, too loud to be a car back firing. Turning off his laptop and placing it on the empty seats beside him on the sofa, looking over his shoulder to check the time, the clock read 19:36, he realises he's missed every meal of the day, he woke up too late for breakfast anyway. Disregarding the need to eat, he slides out of his clothes, which consists of his boxers and a baggy white top with some unfunny science quip, and slips into his suit. Already having his webshooters on which saves him having to go search for them, and clambers out of the window, swinging towards the source of where he presumes the noise came from, which is an old abandoned warehouse which is conveniently surrounded by smoke. 

Perched on a roof besides the warehouse, assessing the situation. Through the gap in the sliding door he can see 5 guys in balaclavas and a dude dressed in some sort of scorpion outfit. 

“Wait, what the hell is that?” Peter leaps to the roof and the warehouse and dangles himself so he can get a better look at the strange scorpion guy. “He’s like Dr Connors, but metal?” 

He waits a few more moments, watching the guys move crates. Crawling in through the window gap he was dangling through, and climbs onto the roof and drops down onto one of the beams “You guys need an extra hand? That looks pretty heavy.” He says before webbing one of the crates and yanking it out of one of the guys hands.  

He leaps down, landing gracefully, before webbing two of the goons by their ankles and pulling them down to the ground, causing them to crack their heads off the concrete, hard enough to give them mild concussion. 

“Ah Spider-man! I was wondering when we would finally meet.” The strange guy in the green metal exclaims. 

“Yeah I think the strange thing, strange metal snake guy…” 

The other guys clearly didn’t appreciate Peter insulting their leader, as the remaining three charged towards him.  Peter blocks two punches, while throwing some of his own causing two of them to stumble backwards. He was never this violent but after his fight with the goblin, it changed something within him. 

The remaining one of the goons pulls a knife, and manages to catch Peter’s upper arm, he catches the goon's hand, squeezing hard enough to force the other to drop the knife and throws him towards the nearest wall, webbing him to it to make sure he can’t get back down. That is when the mysterious green guy throws a metal crate in Peter's direction, however he catches with great ease. 

“The names Scorpion, get to know it,” 

“Oh awful sassy are we?” Petter mumbles to himself, not wanting to aggravate the other. He webs his arms, tightening them around his chest and then pulls hard enough causing the scorpion to twirl round. He turns his attention to  the other two who are still groaning in pain on the floor, “jeez I thought you’d put up a better fight.” he says webbing one, to the ground, “I’m honestly disappointed." He can see the other trying to get to his feet, he quickly swipes him off his feet, causing him to fall back again and webs him to the ground.

He turns his attention back to the Scorpion, who is regaining his composure, he swings immediately at Peter, anger fueling his eyes. Peter catches the guy's fist, twisting around in his grasp, however he didn't take in count for the guy's strange tail, which takes a swipe at Peter's torso, sharp enough to draw blood. “Shit dude, that one had a sting to it,” He jokes, but the other doesn’t take it very well and instead attempts to punch Peter in the face, but Peter is quicker, no thanks to his senses. 

Being able to duck in time allowed him to get a head start on webbing him, beginning with his legs, working his way up, “Well this was super duper fun, but I've got plans for tonight so I think It’s time we wrap things up” Peter says as he finishes wrapping the Scorpion in his webs and dangling him from a pillar on the roof. “Now I just need to write a note for pest control.” Peter says as he jumps off the Pillar and onto the ground 

However the sound of his webs being ripped apart and a perk up of his senses tell him he hasn’t quite won this fight. “Oh you have got to be kidding me.” Turning round to face the strange scorpion psycho, “Dude can’t this wait for another night?” 

The scorpion only smiles, its nasty snarl. “I’m taking that as a no.” 

The other launches himself in Peter’s direction, his first landing on Peter's shoulder, knocking him to the ground, the psycho's tail came next, stabbing Peter in the back. 

Stumbling back onto his feet, he quickly webs the others fist, before he can throw another punch and using all his might he has left, throws him into the nearest wall, however the fuckers stange tail jabs it’s way into Peters stomach and drags him the direction Peter threw him, and they go crashing into the wall togther causing debris to scatter. 

With a pained cry, Peter yanks the metal tail out from his stomach, getting to his feet shakily, the debris creating a dust which makes it difficult to spot the other.  He can sense the other behind him, and ducks down before the other swings, catching the psycho by his feet, knocking him to the floor.  Peter stands triumphantly over the top of him as he webs his hands to the ground, making it harder to him to move however he didn’t consider the others feet. 

The scorpion wraps his legs around Peter and pulls him to the ground beside him, Peter smacking his head off the cold ground in the process, causing his vision to blur. He can feel the other slicing out of Peter’s webs and is now towering over Peter, and begins to rain down hard punches on Peter’s face and body. His brain is no longer registering where the punches are landing; it's just consumed with pain oozing out of every part of his body, a metallic smell filling the room.

The punching finally stops, the Scorpion obviously chuffed with his work, “Nice meeting ya, maybe come back when you can hold up a proper fight” He spits before scurrying away.  

Still lying in a heap on the ground, some decent civilian has obviously called for help as he can faintly make out the police sirens in the distance, praying they deal with the goons and the Scorpion, He slowly lifts himself to sit up right, head pounding. With a shaky breath looking down to assess the damage, a few cuts along his torso and arms, and a more concerning large cut along his stomach, the suit is basically torn to shreds along with his mask which is exposing small portions of his face, not too much to give away his full face which is probably battered and bruised but he can worry about that later. It’s also very likely he has several other cuts down his back which he can’t quite reach. 

Painfully rising to his feet he makes a slow beeline to nearest exit of the warehouse, stumbling back onto the wall behind the building, pressing a hand to the larger of his wounds across his stomach, trying to stop the blood from pouring out, sucking in a breath which confirms he’s got a few broken ribs as now it even hurts to suck in a single breath. Nausea soon takes over, his vision is dazed. He needs help and he needs it now. As much as he disagrees with this idea with every fibre in his being there’s only one place he can go, and it’s not home. 

Pushing himself off the wall, and steadying himself on his feet, he reaches his free arm into the air, aiming for a roof top. “Shit I’m not going to have enough webs to get me there” He mumbles to himself, hoping there is no one around to see this sorry sight. He resorts to climbing the wall, wiping a bloody hand on his suit he begins to slowly climb up the side of the building. Once atop of the building he rolls himself onto his back, black spots consuming his vision, attempting to blink them away. “Come on Peter, only a few more blocks.” he mutters, choking back a pained sob, tears beginning to soak his mask, “Come on Spider-man.” 

Slowly clambering back onto his feet, sticking his arms out of balance before immediately bringing a hand back to his stomach with a wince. He’s got to be quick or he’s going to bleed out on this stupid roof top. He manages to jump onto the opposite roof, landing with a roll, finding himself lying on his back once again, “Fuck” he cries softly, heading pounding. Only if Tony was around. He would've sent one of his suits to collect Peter, but Tony isn’t here and Peter's got to make do with what he has. 

“This is pathetic, you re fucking pathetic” Now he is full on weeping, not having the energy to hold back the tears. He can see the news articles for tomorrow morning Spider-man cries like a baby before bleeding out on a New York roof top! and Spider-man? more like Spider-baby! Neighbour hood hero bleeds out like a pathetic hero on roof top. He can’t let Jameson have his fun and milk this whole situation, rolling over onto his front and with a grunt rising to his knees and eventually his feet. He decides it’s best to swing the rest of the way, even if he runs out of fluid anything is more efficient than what he is doing now. 

His destination is now a blurry view, he’s unsure if it’s the tears, nausea or both but he fortunately can just make out an open window, he doesn’t care which room it leads to, an open window is like winning the lottery right now. Wiping his hands on his already mucky suit he slowly scales the side of the building with shaky arms and legs. Eventually reaching the window, pulling it open a smidge more so he can crawl in, landing with a thump on the floor. 

“Fuck.”