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#onlyinNYC
Superheroes were always trending.
The big fights played out on the news, pundits debating social consequences and the normalization of violence. But that's not what people shared or what they talked about on their morning commutes squeezed on a bus or the subway, coffee in one hand a phone in the other. They were more interested in the everyday lives of their heroes. Situations where they were randomly almost unbelievably ordinary. Most magazines had even ditched the "Stars They're Just Like Us!" pieces replaced by a monthly Supers Section. It was humanizing seeing these extraordinary people in regular circumstances, and New York City had really adopted the approach with enthusiasm. Catching heroes doing non-super things quickly became the new trend.
And it really wasn’t hard to do. Were you even a New Yorker if you didn't spot Spider-Man lying on the roof of a food truck hot dog in hand? No one thought it strange seeing Captain America jog through the city at sunrise. Maybe you'd even catch the Human Torch and the Thing at a coffee shop; the former idly reheating his drink with a flaming hand.
There were other things too. Less normal but still more interesting than keeping tabs on the generic baddie who had a penchant for taking over Times Square. No one could forget the time Iron Man flew low through the air brandishing Captain America’s shield, its owner yelling and chasing him through the streets below. Or when She-hulk and Hellcat ended their bar night drinking two men under a table after a bet gone awry. And just earlier today Spider-Man had been balanced on a lamp-post chatting with civilians before being grabbed up into the air by a laughing Johnny Storm.
Oh yes, NYC inhabitants prided themselves on having the best variety of superhero content.
#spiderselfie
"You are becoming a tourist attraction, and I am so ashamed."
"Aw, Torchy don't be jealous," Peter said, not looking up, too busy flipping through his mentions. "You're just sad I have a hashtag today, and you don't."
(Peter had been swinging down Atlantic Avenue when he’d spotted two girls frantically trying to wave him down. He’d quickly changed direction—flipping—before landing lightly in front of them.
“Why, hello. Lovely day we’re having,” Peter looked around, his spider-sense quiet. “Uh, are you in need of assistance?”
The girls looked up at him, twin grins bright in the afternoon light. “Can we please, please get a picture with you? We’re only here for a few more days!” They couldn’t have been more than eleven or twelve, the girl on the left, Peter noted, was wearing Spider-man socks that peeked over her scuffed sneakers.
“Only because it’s you beautiful ladies asking,” Peter said, because could he ever really deny his fans anything? Ok, maybe… there were definitely some weirdos. But not when said fans were just small kids that looked at him like this might be the most formative moment of their lives. He walked behind them lifting the smaller girl around his shoulders before leaning down giving the other bunny ears while she snapped a picture, selfie style.
They’d drawn a small crowd at this point, people stopping on the street to stare.
It kind of snowballed from there.)
Johnny rolled his eyes. He wasn’t jealous. “How are the Spidey impersonators suppose to make a living with you taking all their business?”
They were currently in Central Park perched high in trees. Peter didn't answer; he hung upside down knees locked around a branch eyes still glued to his phone. Johnny did not like being ignored. He was tempted to try and push Peter off their shared branch.
Johnny sighed looking toward the ground catching sight of a girl as she ran towards them.
“Look alive,” Johnny said. “We have company.”
“You mean I have company. It’s probably more adoring fans. Try not to cry about it.”
“Spider-Man! And the Human Torch! Oh my god, can I please get a photo with you guys? If you’re not too busy?”
Johnny pulled out his hundred-watt movie star smile before jumping down to meet her. Peter rolled his eyes at Johnny before following him down.
"Of course! I'm always ready for a picture." Johnny said, not making eye contact with Peter refusing to acknowledge the smug stare he knew was being sent his way. "You sure you want Spidey in it? He's sure to ruin the shot. How about we just have him hold the phone."
#superfriends
Reed poked his head in the kitchen. “Johnny and Peter are trending again.”
“What did they do?” Sue sighed; she could feel a migraine coming on. Those two were bad enough apart and a million times worse together especially with Wi-Fi involved. Johnny was in the habit of live-tweeting all their misadventures whether it was saving the Olive Garden from the Mole Man or a prank on Wolverine that Sue still didn’t know how the two had made it back alive.
“You’ll find the idiots ova' there,” Ben said, pointing toward the living room as he walked by to open the fridge.
Sue made her way over to check on them. The living room was a mess, the casualty of a post-battle meet up. Wrappers and game controllers strewn everywhere. And that was definitely a soda stain on her white coach. Peter still half masked had fallen asleep and Johnny relaxed beside him scrolled through his phone. He looked up when Sue came in holding a finger to his lips not wanting her to wake Peter.
“You’re cleaning all this up,” Sue whispered, and at Johnny’s eye roll and eventual nod started to back out of the room. Sue didn’t miss the small smile on Johnny’s face as he looked back at his phone and the photo he’d taken minutes before. All things considered they could be up to much worse.
The trending picture in question was Peter asleep listed to the side over a pile of video games, surrounded by remnants of chips and wrappers, a can of soda. His mouth agape, nose scrunched, face flattened against his hand. The area around him was a mess blankets and pillows.
Sue grinned down at the photo; it was adorable. Peter was not going to like how many retweets it got when he woke up.
#ImTellingSue
The media loved Johnny. He was handsome, funny, and never seemed to mind talking to the press.
He's the most followed hero in New York.
And Johnny liked it for the most part. He liked the way he looked, and he liked the way people looked at him. This became a bad combination on Saturday nights.
Bottom line, Johnny should probably pay more attention to people and their smartphones.
News sites were populated with evidence of Johnny making a fool of himself. Perhaps drinking too much, stumbling over his feet. Not something the family friendly Fantastic Four brand wanted to convey.
Pictures surfaced, Johnny on a bender surrounded by a string of starlets hoping to use him to boost their recognition. An actress, brown hair, brown eyes, a girl next store vibe at least before a picture started trending with her hand sneaking its way to undo Johnny’s belt.
A contingent of Johnny fans had started to tag questionable photos. Using #ImTellingSue in hopes of getting his sister to knock some sense into him.
Sue would never admit but she appreciated it, anything to make it easier, get to her brother before things went too far south. She knew Johnny sometimes had a hard time dealing with, well, everything. At sixteen, he'd been thrust into a life full of flashing lights, no substance and even fewer personal connections. Everything became too much.
Later, after Johnny formed more healthy relationships—Jen, Wyatt, Peter—he had been better at not needing vices to escape his problems. The tag was more humorous now, the Internet’s way of tattling on Johnny’s antics.
Today, Johnny was sulking because Peter had "totally bailed" on him citing a clone related issue. It'd been weeks since their last meet up, Peter had also canceled a couple of days ago because of a problem with Dr. Connors. It couldn’t be helped but Sue knew Johnny had been really looking forward to hanging out, blowing off some steam, mostly because Johnny hadn't stopped talking about it since breakfast. Ben could often be heard grumbling about how, "the kid jus' needs to say something" and "the bug is too bone-headed to get it on his own." Sue sighed; she had decided awhile back not to get involved.
She looked down at her phone. Johnny still upset had apparently just painted the skyline with: Friendship OVER and I thought I could trust you
Twitter had latched onto the messages trying to guess the recipient and more generally to make fun of Johnny.
Awww someone give @realjohnnystorm a hug xx #ImTellingSue
Uh-oh someone’s in trouble! or maybe Storm just can’t take a hint? whatever #ImTellingSue
Okay?? but who is it? This is like the second time this week #ImTellingSue
He needs to just ask this person out already #obsessed #ImTellingSue
Sue really couldn’t argue with that last one.
#spidermenace
The Bugle had finally made the leap to a more online presence and with it followed a stream of slanderous trash aimed at Spider-Man. It sucked that Jonah had finally embraced the ways of the Internet and in doing so was able to reach a far bigger audience. Constant claims that Spider-Man was a threatening vigilante, dangerous to the youth and a stain on New York City. Peter was often depressed by the sheer amount of likes and retweets the articles accumulated.
Today was a bad day. A series of unrelated images—Peter’s own pictures—stitched together and served as proof that Spider-Man was an agent of AIM.
The NYPD had even issued a statement expressing concern over the photos and would once again try to bring Spider-Man in for questioning.
Peter was so not looking forward to patrol today. He didn’t need a spider-sense to tell him he’d be dodging a lot of thrown trash as he swung through the city.
Peter avoided looking at his phone for the rest of the day hoping the worst anti-Spidey sentiments had waned. It was really the best he could hope for it wasn’t like the Internet was in the business of coming to anyone's defense.
He could barely believe it when later that day #thankspidey was top trending.
Johnny had started it posting an old post-battle photo. Debris littered the street and Peter still in his suit had an arm wrapped securely around Johnny’s waist, guiding him toward Reed. It must have been a time after Johnny went nova still too woozy to walk on his own. He’d captioned it with a simple #thankspidey.
New York citizens all over had taken up the cause posting their own photos of how Spider-Man made NYC a better place. Peter scrolled through the tag a small smile on his face. Photos of him high-fiving kids. Stopping a car from tumbling into the sidewalk. Hula-hooping in Central Park for the amusement of a two-year-old. Helping an old lady cross the street. People posted their stories too.
Spider-Man saved my little brother last week from a goblin attack #thankspidey
I would never know the good street vendors without him #thankspidey #therealhero
@TheDailyBugle How dare you lie like this! Spider-Man is a hero!!! #thisisbullshit #thankspidey
He was constantly surprised when New Yorkers showed they had his back. His heart felt fit to burst at the thought.
And Johnny… he always seemed to know when Peter needed some help. He sent a quick text: usual place tonight? burgers on me
He smiled as he pulled on his mask. Time to get to work.
#helpthebug
It was by far Johnny’s favorite hashtag mostly because of how much it annoyed Peter.
"Ugh, it's just so demeaning. I didn't need help," Peter complained, sulking in the kitchen back at Baxter wrapped in a thick blanket after a run in with a freeze ray. Johnny had come to the rescue after he'd seen the picture of Spider-Man from the neck down locked in ice: @realjohnnystorm your expertise might be needed for this one #helpthebug
"Stop complaining,” Johnny said, before sidling up next to Peter slinging an arm around his shoulders, increasing his temperature. "And be thankful, you could have been stuck there for hours."
Peter was not thankful.
Sometimes the tag was a source of entertainment.
A picture of Spider-Man walking along the street looking completely dejected, captioned: Looks like Webs lost his webs someone needs to #helpthebug
Or the time Loki had come to take over the earth for the thirty-second time. The battle culminating in—of course—New York City. Peter getting hit by some green ray shot from Loki’s scepter. Two hours later #helpthebug is trending because Spider-Man is in Central Park jumping from tree to tree quoting Shakespeare and webbing up all the heroes trying to get him down. Reed eventually called in Doctor Strange to fix whatever Loki had done.
"This is so embarrassing for you,” Johnny said, after, while Peter slumped on the ground holding his aching head between masked fingers.
Sometimes it left Johnny annoyed to no end. Peter running low on sleep swinging through the city tweeting nonsense. One time Peter live-tweeted an apparent conversation between him and the Statue of Liberty. It caught public attention; New Yorkers wanting someone to make sure Spidey wasn't suffering from some weird new hallucinogen. Johnny found him, not anywhere near the Statue of Liberty but on the roof of an abandoned office building.
He had no sympathy. "Peter, what the hell did you think was going to happen when you decided to go seventy-two hours without sleep?" Even pulling out his I am going to force feed you Nyquil if you don't stop now voice before hauling Peter up and getting him home.
Still more often it left Johnny feeling infinitely thankful.
Peter gets in over his head… often. He'd rather swing through the city with broken ribs and bleeding out than call someone for help. It's usually post-fight, Spider-Man struggling to stand when the pictures start emerging. It's easy to find him then, make sure he gets actual medical attention. Johnny can't stop seeing it though: an enemy underestimated, a snapped web line, a snapped neck, and Peter left unmoving on the ground. He resents Peter for making him worry, making Johnny think the worst when days pass without a word or sighting of red and blue.
Yeah, Johnny is infinitely thankful that New York seems to worry just as much as he does.
#spideytorch
It was the top trending topic all day followed closely by #confirmed and #calledit.
New York, it seemed, had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
It had all started with a picture taken post-Kree invasion number six. The photo was a bit grainy but clearly showed Spider-Man, both hands at Johnny's hips, and Johnny one hand curled at the back of Spider-Man's neck the other reaching to toy with the edge of his mask looking like he might pull it up at any moment.
The Internet exploded with speculation for all of five minutes before a video surfaced confirming Johnny Storm had, in fact, pulled Spider-Man's mask half up leaning in to kiss him. And the Internet exploded all over again.
“Guess the spider’s out of the bag,” Johnny sang.
“You are the worst.” They were back in Baxter, battle worn and bruised. Peter was sprawled across the couch, head in Johnny’s lap. He watched as Johnny continued to scroll through his feed.
I knew it! I KNEW IT!! #spideytorch
my sister owes me twenty bucks! #calledit #spideytorch
i just ... i ... wow #spideytorch
I’d say I was surprised but that’d be lying #spideytorch
Johnny lowered his hand, carding his fingers through Peter’s hair. “Are you mad? Don’t be mad. You know it was going to get out eventually. People were already guessing. And it was as much your fault as mine.”
Peter rolled his eyes, grabbing Johnny’s hand placing a kiss at the center of his palm.
“I’m not mad,” Peter said. “As long as #firebug stops being a thing. I guess I can live with this.”