Chapter Text
Peter face-planted on the couch the instant they were home, only bothering to take off his Spider-Man mask and nothing else. “I know it’s tradition and everything, and I do love that we have our thing, but it's a pain in the ass,” he complained into the couch cushions. “Gotta get up early, it’s cold as shit outside, and we had to pick a landmark on an island!” The brunette rolled over to glare at Johnny, who was still kicking his shoes off at the door, seemingly much less bothered by the situation than his boyfriend. “We’re dumbasses.”
“That’s not news, Pete,” Johnny noted as he made his way to the couch. “We’ve always been dumbasses.” He gestured to the half of the couch currently taken up by the brunette’s legs. “Scoot.”
With only a little bit of grumbling, Peter moved his legs to make room for Johnny beside him. Once Johnny was settled, he promptly placed them in his lap. Johnny was unsurprised by the action. They were constantly in each other’s space even when one of them wasn’t freezing their ass off and seeking heat from their perpetually warm boyfriend.
“Well, it bears repeating,” Peter grumbled. “I hate teen us.”
“I don’t know. I think we were pretty cute as teens.” The blond warmed his hands and began massaging Peter’s legs as he spoke, slowly returning his body temperature to normal.
“There’s nothing cute about what we did.” He muttered. Then Peter put on a mocking tone to continue his rant. “Oh, I know. Let’s meet up at sunrise on Christmas Day to exchange gag gifts! Even better, let's do it at the top of the Statue of Liberty! Then we’ll make it our usual place even though only one of us can fly. Sounds perfect! We’re gonna do it every year even when we’re tired adults with back pain who live together.” He let out a long groan and concluded in his normal voice, “dumbasses.”
Johnny laughed lightly, never slowing his warm and comforting massage. “You forgot the part about us not admitting our feelings for another decade.”
Apparently, this was not worth complaining about when he was tired and cold, because Peter just shrugged. “You were more annoying back then. Can you blame me?”
“You're one to talk, Parker!” Johnny all but shouted in reply, throwing a pillow at Peter, who disappointingly caught it due to his super reflexes. “We met cause you broke into my house!” He threw another pillow for good measure.
The brunette retaliated by kicking Johnny’s side, which led to Johnny elbowing him back, which led to the two wrestling on the couch until they were tangled together and laughing. Their antics ceased eventually, but they stayed like that for a moment, panting a little and chuckling every time they made eye contact.
“Seriously though,” Johnny said after a moment, propping himself up on his elbow just enough that they could talk easier, “we don’t have to do this anymore. We’re older, maybe just a little wiser. We’re actually together now. It’s okay for the tradition to end.”
“Never,” Peter replied with a shake of his head. He kissed Johnny, and neither one could help themselves from smiling into it. ‘It’s an annoying hassle, but it’s a worthwhile annoying hassle.”
“Sounds like someone I know.”
“Hey, don’t talk about Ben like that,” Peter protested lightly. “He’s my favorite member of the Fantastic Four!”
“Oh my god!” Johnny groaned. He pushed Peter off the couch, somehow managing not to go down with him despite their limbs being tangled just moments before. The other man just cackled from the floor.
Maybe they really weren’t that different from their teenage selves after all. Things had changed, of course, both for them and the world around them, but deep down at least part of them were still the annoying, bantering, dumbass teens they were when they met. Johnny kind of hoped that no matter how many years passed together, that would still be the case. Even if they didn’t acknowledge it back then, it was those teens who fell for each other. It seemed a shame to let them go entirely, even if their dumb decisions meant waking up at dawn on a cold winter day to go sit on a monument in the harbor.