Chapter Text
Like a weight has been lifted from his chest, Johnny is able to relax back into Peter this time, knowing his pack is home to help him protect his omega. Maybe it's their pack now. Johnny’ll have to talk to Sue. He’ll talk to Peter about it, too, and see if he wants it. Johnny wants it. He wants Peter to want it. He falls asleep with Peter in his arms. The omega is a dead weight on top of him, and Johnny can’t help but feel like the position was chosen with the intention to keep Johnny from getting back up. He feels Peter’s arms flex against his sides as he burrows further in Johnny, like a subtle show of strength. He’s flaunting how he can keep Johnny here if he wants, and he’s not ashamed of it.
Johnny has never been more into anyone in his life.
It didn't feel like long before Johnny was stirring back awake, though. He woke up slowly, blinking sleep out of his eyes as he came to awareness. Peter is pliant in his arms, a mix between awake and not, sleepily smiling up at Johnny. He's purring once more, content to just watch Johnny sleep.
“Have you been staring at me this entire time?” Johnny asks, yawning.
Peter’s scent spikes with a hint of mischief. His eyes sparkle as he continues to stare at Johnny, trying and failing to hide a smile. Peter-in-heat is so expressive, it makes Johnny's heart ache. Spider-Man’s usually expressive, but in a different way. He's dramatic, making over-the-top gestures and responding to every situation with a quip or snarky remark. It's a guarded sort of expressiveness. Something Spider-Man uses to keep people away, to stop them seeing what he's really thinking. Spidey’s an honest man, though. You can see it easily in the way he fights for his city, the way he takes care of his people. But you have to earn the right to see him like this, and Spidey’s trust is no simple thing. Johnny worked tirelessly for Spider-Man to let him in.
And now, here he is, unmasked and in Johnny's bed, smiling at Johnny like it's the easiest thing in the world.
“I’m going to take that as a ‘yes’,” Johnny continues. He reaches out to run his hand through Peter’s hair. Peter purrs louder as Johnny shows him affection. He leans his head into Johnny’s hand, melting into the touch of his alpha.
Johnny’s mind is zipping through the different things they need to get done. He needs to check and see if Sue left them a heat care package. He needs to wrangle Peter into his bath and wash Peter’s hair. Johnny kinda doesn’t want to move at all right now, though. He’s got Peter all up in his personal space, holding onto Johnny and rubbing his skin all over Johnny’s. Peter’s mixing their scents together, laying it all on thick, trying to drown out anything else besides the two of them. Johnny feels lightheaded. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to lay around a little longer… they do have all week, after all. Peter’s heat just started. There’s no reason to rush things.
Yet, that exact reasoning is why Johnny decides to get up. He knows Peter is trying to influence him; the omega is pulling out all the stops, and it takes everything Johnny has not to give in.
“Hey, Webhead,” Johnny stops running his hand in Peter’s hair, moving to cup his cheek and tilt Peter’s face to meet him.
Peter eyes him with curiosity. Johnny needs to play his cards right. Peter’s clingy as hell right now, and if Johnny implies the wrong thing…
He decides to just take the plunge.
“Are you up for a bath, Webs?”
Peter’s mood dampens. His scent sours from content to annoyed with the drop of a hat. He bares his teeth at Johnny.
Okay, so that's a no. Johnny frowns. He wants to take care of Peter, and the omega’s hair is caked with dried sweat from before. He knows a nice soak in some warm water would do some good, too.
Peter's stubborn, though. He's clearly decided he doesn't want to move. Johnny needs to be clever. He needs to turn this around on Peter; offer him something he can't resist.
“Come on, Pete, at least let me wash your hair. Then I'm all yours, okay…? I'll let you bite me again.”
It's almost comedic the way Peter switches his tune. He goes from annoyed to contemplative in a second. Johnny would've laughed at him if he wasn't worried about ruining the progress he was starting to make.
“You promise?” Peter asks him. He looks more serious about this than he has about anything in a long while.
Johnny nods, leans forward to quickly kiss Peter’s temple.
Peter pauses, and Johnny holds his breath.
“You’ll bite me instead.” Peter declares.
With that, he climbs up off of Johnny and heads to Johnny’s closet. Johnny’s left stumped. He got Peter to get up. Got him to agree to washing his hair. It’s Johnny: 1, Peter: 0.
So then why does Johnny feel like he's the one still being bossed around?
Shuffling reaches Johnny’s ears, and he scrambles up out of their nest as Peter calls out for him to hurry up. He follows Peter to the closet and sees him card through Johnny’s hanging shirts. There’s already a pair of sweats slung over his shoulders. He pulls out one of Johnny’s white shirts with his team’s logo on the chest in their signature blue, eyes it over, and pulls the shirt off of the hanger and lays it over the sweats. He puts the empty hanger back on its line and turns to Johnny.
Johnny has more than one question, if he's honest, but what comes out is: “you didn't bring your own clothes?” Smooth.
“I did.” Peter glances over to his abandoned backpack by the balcony doors. “Yours smell better.”
“And why's that?”
Peter rolls his eyes. “They smell like you. I want to smell like you.”
Johnny’s face is on fire. Literally. He accidentally combusts for a split second, the top of his head shooting up a flame. Wow, okay, yeah. That's–Johnny doesn't have an argument for that.
Peter's unimpressed with his little power show. He scoops the clothes he picked out off of his shoulder and shoves them into Johnny’s–thankfully, normal–arms. Johnny takes them without complaint. He thinks about Peter in these clothes, Peter smelling like him because he's wearing Johnny’s clothes. Peter, walking around head to toe in Johnny’s size. Johnny’s worn this shirt and these sweats more times than he can count. It's a comfortable outfit, one relied on by him often. It really doesn't mean anything. They're just clothes, and yet, yet–Peter, in his clothes, has Johnny’s heart racing. It's something about these items belonging to Johnny, but being used by Peter. Peter’s going to be in his clothes, using his bathtub, eating his food…
Peter's got Johnny all over him, now. Inside and out.
‘You'll bite me,’ he said. Johnny runs his tongue across his teeth. He wonders what Peter tastes like.
Johnny's so distracted, he doesn't realize Peter's moved from his sight until something lands over his head, covering his view. He sputters, and yanks it off of his head with a free hand, moving the clothes over into one arm. It's the shirt Peter had on. Johnny looks up to Peter glaring at him, shirtless by the door to the bathroom.
“Hurry up.”
How bossy.
Johnny’s quick to catch up, anyways.
It doesn't take long to get Peter settled in the bath. He shed the rest of his clothes as Johnny filled the tub up, stopped it, and set out some shampoo. He doesn't know if Peter will let him bathe him. Regardless, he sets out some soap as well with a towel and a washrag.
Peter’s up to his chest in warm water, and Johnny wonders if he can get away with adding bubbles. He knows Peter wants to hurry up and get this over with so they can get back to bed, but Johnny thinks the water would do the omega some good. It would help if Johnny was actually able to scrub Peter clean, and the bath would just help Peter relax in general. Johnny wonders the last time Peter had a stress free heat. Judging by a lot of different things, he figures it's been a long time since Peter's been properly taken care of. It only makes that instinctive need he has for Peter to burn even brighter. Johnny’ll take care of everything Peter needs from now on.
Peter shifts in the water. “Are you going to stare all day?” He side-eyes Johnny.
Johnny feels like he's allowed to take some time to admire Peter. It's only fair, considering. Regardless, he collects himself.
“You're pretty demanding…” Johnny remarks as he fills up his handy-dandy cup with water. Without waiting for a response, he gently tilts Peter’s head back and pours the water on his head, careful to avoid getting anything in Peter’s eyes.
Peter shivers as the water runs down his neck and upper back. Johnny continues to pour the water until Peter's hair is soaked. He doesn't bother to respond back to Johnny. That's fine with Johnny. It gives him more room to focus on the actual task at hand and keeps him from getting swept up in Peter. There's plenty of time for that later.
Johnny reaches forward to grab the shampoo at the front end of the tub. Peter stares at him the entire time, peering at Johnny from the corner of his eye as Johnny settles back by his side. Johnny’s gotten pretty good at reading Spider-Man’s moods and train of thought. With so much time spent together, he's learned a lot about the Webhead through muscle. How to tell when he's stressed, or exasperated, trying not to laugh… Johnny knows it all.
Peter’s in deep thought about Johnny. A bit concerning, only because of his heat-brain. He could be thinking of a million different things. Johnny feels just a tad bit intimidated. Peter Parker in heat is unpredictable. He's already pulled one over on Johnny more than once since he showed up. Johnny's just now starting to find his footing again.
Johnny opens the bottle of shampoo and squirts out a decent amount on his hand. He leaves the bottle by him on the ground and gets to work. It's a simple thing. He starts lathering the soap into Peter’s hair, massaging the omega’s scalp as he goes. He puts a lot of care into this, making sure to gather up all of Peter's hair into his hands, working the shampoo in around his ears and down by the nape of his neck.
Peter sagged forward as Johnny put his magic to work, deflating into the water. Johnny smiles at him, though Peter’s not paying much attention to him anymore, too busy with his eyes closed, pumping out his satisfaction through his scent. Well, Johnny can fix that…
He’s quick to sculpt Peter’s soapy hair into a mohawk, swiping his hands up the sides of his hair to form the peak. Johnny giggles, and wishes he had a camera on him right now.
There's a lot of things Johnny wishes he could capture with Peter, whether it's a moment like now where he fixes Peter with a stupid hairstyle, or when Peter's curled up against him, smiling at him like he was earlier. Johnny wishes he could preserve every moment they'll experience together here. He would gladly spend his days washing Peter's hair for him, if it meant everything would stay like this.
Johnny knows he's being idealistic. But that never hurts, y’know, to just dream. And he dreams about Peter a lot. After they get through this heat together, things will change. Johnny hopes it's nothing but good changes. He's scared, deep down. Johnny Storm is a brave man. There's very little he wouldn't do, especially for family and friends. Especially for Spider-Man. Peter Parker. Someone who's been with Johnny for a while now, who's seen some ups and downs and stuck through it all anyways.
Peter cracks open an eye to stare at Johnny while he's lost in thought. The room’s soured with Johnny’s sappy emotions. Waves of doubt, fear, love, hope–all of these swirling in the air and finding their way under Johnny and Peter’s skin.
Peter huffs. He reaches a pruny hand up from the water and taps Johnny's cheek, wetting it.
“You're loud. And dumb.”
Johnny's scoffs back at him. He understands he was caught with his hand in the emotional cookie jar, but dammit Pete, he's not trying to do it on purpose! He taps Peter back, leaving soapy bubbles on his face.
Peter retaliates by shoving his hand into Johnny’s face with enough force to knock him back. Johnny goes down with an oof and a thump as his back hits the ground. He can see his ceiling. It's a plain, smooth cream color.
“I came to you because I want this.” Peter's firm in his words. Johnny sees that cream-colored ceiling, but he hears the certainty in Peter's words. He wants this. Peter wants Johnny. Old news, buddy, but it seems Johnny’s still slow on the uptake.
Johnny pulls himself back up to Peter's level. The omega is unimpressed with him, mohawk at all. The soap has started running down his neck, dripping into the cooling water.
Peter shivers again, and glares at Johnny.
Johnny feels his chest lighten, just a bit. He's glad that at least one of them is emotionally stable right now.
Johnny reaches for the cup again, this time to rinse Peter's hair clean. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
The name was a pure slip of the tongue. Now, Johnny's all for showing affection through things like this. Peter is, too. It's something they share; stupid nicknames and the like. But that's what it is usually–stupid. Things like Webhead, or Flamebrain. Things that are light, that don't hold weight or expectations. They aren't intimate. Not like this. But, things are changing, aren't they?
Peter doesn't show any reaction to the new nickname, anyways. He's probably too busy murdering Johnny in his mind for taking too long to care. Johnny decides he won't care then, either.
He gets to work on rinsing Peter's hair. Quick and efficient, it takes no time at all before the omega’s hair is squeaky clean. Johnny sets the cup down and sets forward on the next step. He pulls the drain stop out and lets the tub drain. Getting up from his lowered position on the floor, Johnny stretches and groans as he goes. Holding out a hand, he helps Peter to his feet inside the tub, and leads him out.
Water steadily drips off of Peter's body, and Johnny’s just as quick to snatch the body towel from where it was resting and pull it around Peter's shoulders. Peter clutches the towel from where it hangs off of him, shivering all the while. Spiders and their non-existent internal thermoregulation….
It's almost like Johnny was gifted his powers for this specific purpose.
“I’ll dry you off,” Johnny says, “and then I'll work my magic and warm ya up the rest of the way, okay?” He winks to seal the deal.
Peter gives him another eye roll, but otherwise stays still as Johnny pats him down as quickly as he can. He folds the towel in half and lays it over the edge of the tub behind Peter. From there, Johnny turns to the bundle of clothes Peter picked out. He's got the plain sweats, the shirt, and… apparently a pair of Spider-Man boxers. A very familiar pair of Spider-Man boxers. Johnny wonders at what point Peter will give him a break.
“My underwear too, dude, really?” Johnny tries not to think about the fact that Peter knows now that Johnny wears underwear themed after him. It was a gift from Ben, okay? And Johnny's not gonna just say no to a gift! Sue raised him better. That's all.
All Peter can do is shrug.
“Ugh!” Johnny shoves the underwear into Peter's chest and turns to leave the bathroom. “You can–dress yourself. I'll be in the bedroom. I need to check and see if Sue left us some stuff.”
Johnny didn't wait for Peter to respond. He bolted out of the bathroom and clicked the door shut behind him. God, the nerve of him…! Once a troll, always a troll, even in heat. Johnny feels flustered, out of his depth. He's always been so sure of himself. Peter has been pushing every button, lately, though, especially now. Johnny's not sure he'll survive this after all.
He crosses his room to his bedroom door and pops it open. Sitting outside is a cardboard box with a little sticky note attached to the top. It reads:
There's some energy bars and other food you might like. As well as some games in case you find yourself needing something to do to pass the time.
Be careful.
Johnny really does love his sister a lot. He drags the box inside and kicks the door shut behind it. Before he can sort through it, though, there's a pull on his arm. Johnny gets pulled away from the box and towards Peter, who is fully dressed and sporting a sopping wet mop of hair on his head. He's got that unimpressed look back on his face.
Johnny quietly laughs at him and reaches up to plant his hands in Peter's hair. He heats them up and ruffles the omega’s hair, drying it as he goes. Pete’s hair is soft to the touch, and the scent of Johnny’s shampoo wafts off of him gently. After he's done, he drops his hands from Peter's hair to his face, cupping it.
“There, all done.”
Peter reaches up and grasps Johnny’s hands in his own. He gently pulls them away from his face, and tugs Johnny forward as he walks backwards. Johnny lets him lead.
Peter hits the edge of Johnny’s bed. He lets go of Johnny, and climbs his way into the bed, settling down in the middle. Johnny follows him without prompting, crawling up onto the bed and sitting opposite of Peter by the edge.
Peter pulls Johnny on top of him. “Bite me.”
He's smiling in Johnny's face, and Johnny swears he can see Peter's fangs poke out from his lips. His face gets hot, powers completely unrelated, this time. Johnny still doesn't fully know how to navigate this Peter–this sort of Peter that is demanding, like this. He's always been demanding, don't get Johnny wrong. A real bossy vigilante that likes to pretend he's got some sort of one up on Johnny. ‘Matchstick, do this’ and ‘Flamebrain, do that’.
Johnny's going to conveniently leave out the part where he'd do anything Peter asks of him, regardless. It's already not looking that good for him to begin with. He'd like to keep some of his dignity, thanks.
Johnny tries to keep his cool and raises an eyebrow.
“You really want me to bite you?”
He doesn't think he could survive that. Peter’s smile sharpens, and Johnny realizes at this moment that he is nothing more than prey caught in a spider’s web. Peter wraps his arms around the back of Johnny’s neck.
“You said you'd be mine,” Peter reminds him. He grasps the back of Johnny's hair in his hand, and nudges him towards his shoulder.
Johnny leans forward and inhales against Peter’s shoulder. Peter's hand is still fisted into hair, and it tugs when Johnny leans too far down. Peter doesn't lighten his grip, and Johnny doesn't want him to. Well, there's another new thing he learned about himself today…
“You want me to bite you?” Johnny murmured into his skin. He opens his mouth to trace Peter's skin with teeth.
See, Peter? Two can play at this game.
Peter twitches in anticipation. Johnny feels like he should tease him more, get back at him for making Johnny feel so out of depth all day. But then Peter squirms, and his scent spikes. Johnny’s nose gets slammed with the smell of please, alpha and he finds himself sinking his blunt teeth into his omega without another thought.
It's absolutely electrifying, the way it feels. Peter’s skin is tough under Johnny’s teeth; he had to put in effort in order to break through. Peter made it look so easy, earlier, the way his fangs slid into Johnny like he was putty in Peter's mouth.
Peter shoves Johnny in closer, if that were even possible anymore. Johnny's teeth dig in as deep as they can into Peter's shoulder. Peter's all up in his senses. Johnny can taste him so explicitly. It's all flesh and blood, but there's that underlying sweet taste of cocoa and sugar that's so Peter. And Peter, who clearly likes to be bitten as much as he likes to bite, lets out that beautiful purr once again as Johnny takes him in. Johnny can feel the buzz of Peter's body rattle his teeth. He's not so sure he'll be able to pull away without extreme effort.
Peter makes the decision for him. He's still got a hold on Johnny’s hair. He uses that to his advantage and yanks Johnny out of his skin without care, roughly tearing the alpha away from his shoulder. Johnny can feel Peter's skin rip away from his teeth. He hisses at the sudden loss and the sharp burn on his scalp from Peter's tugging.
“Peter, what the fu–”
Peter doesn't stop to listen. He pushes Johnny back until Johnny’s down on his back with his head by the foot of the bed. He flops down on him, finds another spot between Johnny’s shoulder and neck, and sinks his fangs into Johnny once again.
Johnny's head spins. He can feel Peter's scent thicken in the air, and feel Peter's fangs deepen into his skin. His nose buries into Johnny's neck, inhaling. Johnny relaxes into the nest. He feels heavy, weighed down, and Peter goes limp on top of him. He pulls his teeth out of Johnny, and plants a kiss right over the fresh bite.
Peter tucks his face into Johnny's neck, smushing his nose right into one of Johnny’s scent glands. He reaches down to pull Johnny’s arms up to curl over him, holding Peter close to Johnny and locking him in.
Peter goes quiet, and it takes Johnny only a second to realize he's fallen asleep. Peter's chest starts to gently rumble as he unconsciously puffs out a breath through his nose.
Johnny’s stuck. His head is at the end of their unmade nest. Peter's a dead weight on his chest, too, deep in sleep now with Johnny’s arms crossed over his back.
He's stuck. Johnny is completely, absolutely stuck, and he has a deep feeling that Peter will not be waking up anytime soon.
Johnny ends up being right.
After some time, Johnny felt himself start to drift to sleep again. Peter was squished up against him, arms tucked between their chests. Johnny's got his arms around his waist. Their combined body heat, especially from Johnny’s end, was more than enough to keep Peter warmed up. The omega’s face was still flushed, and his own body heated radiated strong, but Peter still had the occasional shiver run through his body; a side effect from his arachnid hormones and his inability to regulate his own internal body temperature clashing with his heat hormones.
A part of Johnny figured they would be sleeping Peter's heat away the majority of the time. Still, it's kind of disorienting to spend so much time in bed. Johnny likes to relax as much as the next guy, but being who he is, it's hard to find enough time to do that. Not only, but Johnny could only stay still for so long.
It's not difficult to become so relaxed around Peter, though. Maybe it's the heat hormones, but Johnny finds himself easily falling into a sleepy daze now with Peter. More countless hours pass. The color of the sky changes again. Johnny can't hear anything that isn't Peter.
It wasn't much of a day. Johnny realizes they really didn't do anything at all. Peter still needed to eat–Johnny too, at this point. There was more to be done. Johnny had to clean up the water Peter dripped all over the floor. He didn't even have a chance to see what Sue packed for them. He left the shampoo uncapped on his bathroom floor, and he's sure the dirty towel and Peter's dirty clothes need to be scooped up, too.
Damn, and he was really hoping he could wrangle some control back. Stop Peter from pulling the rug out from him. Again.
It's going to be a long heat.