Chapter Text
It all started at some dumb New Year's party. Peter had never really been the type to go to parties. In high school he was never invited and dances were another fiasco he didn't want to deal with ever again, but Johnny wanted him to come. Johnny was pretty much the opposite to Peter when it came to those type of things. He was constantly being invited to parties and big events. Half the time the hot head barely knew anyone there, but he still always managed to be the life of the party. It wasn't like he needed Peter there, but he insisted that he came along anyways.
The party wasn't something casual like the few parties the brunette had gone to either. He felt out of his element with everyone else in nice party dresses and cool suits that looked like they cost more than his entire apartment. He just stood in the corner with his black jeans and white button down shirt. Johnny wanted to buy him something nicer before they came, but Peter felt like he'd be taking advantage of his best friend if he agreed to the offer. But with how bad he was feeling, he sort of wished he took him up on the offer.
Peter looked around the room. Everything about this place screamed rich. There were fancy snacks that he sure had names he had never heard of, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, there was even a champagne tower for christ's sake! He'd only ever seen thing like this in movies and now it was all right in front of him. It was amazing to him, but for Johnny it was just another party. Peter wondered why Johnny was best friends with him when he had a life like this, he was far away from anything like these people.
Peter wondered where Johnny had gone. He promised not to leave him alone for long, yet here he was, standing over in a corner for almost half an hour. It made him wish that he had just told his friend no. He loved Johnny, but being like this on New Year's when he could be at home and sitting in his PJs as he watched the ball drop wasn't his idea of fun.
He looked around the room to try and find the familiar head of golden blonde hair that he was missing so much, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Peter sighed and slouched against the wall he was leaning on, gripping the drink he was holding tighter. He took a quick swig, downing most of the contents. Even if he didn't like being here, he had to admit that rich people had really good alcohol. Peter downed the rest of his drink, barely even flinching at the slight queasy feeling he got from drinking it too fast.
'If I'm going to be here for a few more hours, I might as well make something of it.' Peter thought as he went to grab another drink.
Johnny, on the other hand, was living it up. He had gone over to the dance floor over by the bar and been dancing with as many girls as he could find, forgetting all about his best friend. Everything was loud as he danced, holding some girl's hips as she swayed them against him. It wasn't like this was unusual for Johnny, but something about all of this made his head feel like he was swimming. His body felt hot. Not a human torch kind of hot, but a needing to get away kind of hot. The sounds and all the people against him started to feel like too much, he needed to get away.
This had been happening lately and he didn't know why. Parties had started getting too much for him sometimes. The loud noises overwhelmed him and the thought of so many bodies against him making everything so hot made him want to curl into a ball and hide where no one could find him. That's part of the reason he wanted to bring Peter along, but he was just too embarrassed to tell him those details.
Shit. Peter.
Johnny finally realized he left his friend all alone, rushing away from the dance floor to find where he was. He looked where he last left him, knowing Peter would probably stick to the walls like the introvert he was. But he wasn't there. The blonde turned his head in every direction to see if his best friend was near by. Worry started to pool in his stomach, thinking that Peter might have just gone home. He wouldn't blame him if he did after he left him alone for so long, but he really needed him right now.
"Peter?" he called out, the music drowning out his voice.
He started to run around to room, still calling Peter's name.
"Peter! Pete! Where are you?"
And for the first time Johnny felt small, the pit in his stomach getting bigger and bigger every time he didn't hear an answer to the name. He hated it. He was Johnny fucking Storm! He wasn't meant to be worrying when his life was the way it was, especially not on New Year's Eve of all times. He was meant to be flirting with girls right now so he could secure his New Year's kiss and maybe even get a hook up out of it! But instead he was worrying about his stupid best friend that didn't even want to be here in the first place.
Johnny needed something to takeaway the worry, so he headed to the bar. Then that's when he saw Peter.
The brunette was sitting in one of the stools sat in front of the bar, a bottle in his hand. The sight of him made Johnny let out a sigh of relief as he headed over to his friend.
Peter didn't even notice Johnny until he sat down next to him and touched his arm.
"Hey Pete." Johnny said with a smile.
"Hey." Peter responded, his voice sounding cold and upset. The sound of it surprised Johnny. Sure he had left Peter alone, but he didn't expect him to be so upset about it.
"You okay?" he asked, worry lining his voice.
Peter let out a heavy sigh.
"Let's see, you left me alone for most of the night to hang out with people that aren't your friend. Yeah Johnny, I'm absolutely fucking fantastic." Peter slightly slurred his words as he spoke, a dead giveaway that he was drunk off of his ass. But those words made Johnny upset. He hadn't meant to leave Peter alone for so long, it just happened.
The taller man went to move one of his hands to try and grab Peter's, but the brunette rejected the touch.
"C'mon Pete, I'm sorry."
Peter didn't want to meet Johnny's eyes. His friend had promised him a good time, and he was honestly having one of the worst nights of his life. At least what qualified for his civilian life, his hero life was another story.
The shorter man sighed.
"Just take me home Johnny."
Peter could feel tears pricking his eyes, wiping them away before Johnny could see them. But the blonde saw them anyways.
"Okay Pete." he sighed.
Johnny got up from his seat and grabbed Peter by the hand so he wouldn't get lost in the crowd. He made sure to take the route with less people, knowing that neither of them wanted to deal with anyone but each other right now.
It took them a bit before they had made it out of the building and over to Johnny's car. The blonde was kind of glad that he hadn't had much to drink that night so he could actually drive them home. Knowing Peter he probably would've tried to swing across town with his webs and ended up in an accident. The thought of it sent a shiver down his spine. He would've never forgiven himself if Peter ended up getting hurt because of him.
They didn't speak the entire car ride. Johnny kept his eyes on the road while Peter leaned his head against the passenger seat window. The younger man just watched the lamps lining the streets go by. Johnny caught fast glimpses of Peter as he stared. The dim light illuminating his face and showing his disappointed expression. He sighed as they pulled into the parking lot for their apartment building. Johnny got out of the car first, opening the door for Peter and grabbing his hand once again. The other man definitely didn't need the help, but Johnny wanted to make sure he'd be alright after the night he had.
The blonde guided Peter into the building and into the elevator, pressing the button for their floor. He still didn't let go of Peter's hand the entire time, almost like they were glued together. But as soon as the elevator dinged when they reached their floor, Peter let go for him. Johnny's hand felt empty from the loss of contact, still feeling the warmth of Peter on his skin.
Peter moved out of the elevator quicker than his roommate, making a stride for the apartment. All he wanted was to get into some comfortable clothes and head to bed. He didn't care if he didn't make it to twelve this year, he just wanted tonight to be over.
Johnny rushed to meet Peter's strides, the brunette giving him an odd look as they reached the door.
Peter pulled the keys from his pocket.
"You can go back to the party," the shorter man told him, "I'll be fine."
Johnny cocked his eyebrow.
"And leave you alone again? Sorry but not happening Pete."
Peter sighed, he didn't feel like arguing with Johnny, so he just let him do what he wanted.
The house was just as messy as they had left it. Clothes were scattered across their living room, and not a single one belonged to Peter. Johnny had been freaking out about what to wear to the party before they left and took out almost every item of clothing he wore. It left a huge mess that neither of them felt like cleaning up right now.
"Do you always have to be so messy?" Peter asked, trekking the various shirts Johnny had left on the floor.
"Sorry.." Johnny muttered. He'd been trying to be better about making a mess since Peter was such a clean freak. He'd actually been doing pretty good about it until now.
The shorter man shook his head, telling him it was fine. Peter made his way to his room. Johnny followed after him, knowing it was probably one of the few actually clean places in the house.
Peter flopped onto his bed as soon as he opened the door, completely exhausted. Johnny flopped over next to him, letting out a small laugh. His roommate looked at him, not being able to resist laughing along with him. Johnny always had that effect on him for some reason.
"That's the last time I let you take me to a party flame brain." he joked.
Johnny laughed a little harder at Peter's comment.
"Fine with me, you're a buzz kill anyways." he laughed out.
Peter flopped over and placed the back of his hand on his forehead, pretending to be offended with a big gasp.
"How dare you!" he said.
Johnny liked this part of Peter, the part that no one else saw. He was always so serious when he was out of the apartment, worrying too much about work or what villian might come around next. He liked being able to see the side of him that let loose and could joke around with him for hours.
"It's true!"
"It is not!"
"Prove it!"
Peter sat up from the bed.
"I'll have you know I drank alcohol tonight." he said a matter-of-factly.
"Oh really?" Johnny said, sitting up and leaning on his elbows against the bed, "Well you certainly can't hold your alcohol Parker."
"I so can!"
"Then prove it."
Their eyes met as Johnny spoke, challenging the other man. Suddenly the two of them were racing towards their kitchen and raiding their fridge for all the alcohol they had stored for special occasions. Johnny typically drank a few of them without a reason though. They lugged all the bottles back to Peter's room and put a majority of them on Peter's bed. Johnny grabbed his roommate's laptop, knowing exactly where he left it. He set the device on the bed and pulled up the livestream for the ball drop.
"First one to knock out or throw up loses." Johnny told him.
Peter looked him dead in the eyes.
"You're on Storm." Peter told him, bringing one of the bottles to his lips already.
"Wait!" the blonde stopped him before he could even take a swing, grabbing the bottle away from the brunette. "It's only fair that I get as wasted as you first Parker."
Johnny downed the bottle of beer in one quick motion, winking at the brunette as soon as the contents were gone. He cocked his eyebrow, looking the other hero up and down as if to say 'your move.' And Peter took the bait, grabbing the next bottle he could find.
They did that for the rest of the night, just talking and drinking as the countdown approached midnight. All of it felt like it was going to quick, but neither of them were getting tired or feeling sick yet. So they kept going until everyone in times square started yelling.
"Ten!"
Peter looked over to Johnny.
"Nine!"
"I've never kissed anyone on New Year's ya know." he said.
"Eight!"
"Really?" Johnny laughed.
"Seven!"
"Yeah, really."
"Six!"
"Well that needs to change."
"Five!"
Johnny looked at Peter's lips.
"Four!"
Peter bit his bottom lip, noticing Johnny's eyes on him.
"Three!"
The tension of killing them.
"Two!"
"Fuck it." Johnny said.
"One!"
And both of them collided, Johnny crashing his lips into Peter's for a messy kiss. Peter didn't respond for a moment, his eyes growing wide at what was happening, but then he sunk into it. He kissed Johnny back rougher than he had been kissing him, moving his hands up to grab fists full of his golden hair. They should've stopped, but the drunken haze clouded their judgement and made them keep going.
Johnny's hands roamed over Peter's body as they kissed, drawing him in closer as the sounds of people cheering played n the background. The blonde gripped Peter's hips, pulling him on top of him.
"Fuck.." he breathed out, breaking the kiss for a moment.
Both of them were panting, their breath hot and heavy on each other. Johnny looked at Peter. His pupils were blown open and his lips were slick with spit. He knew they should've stopped right then. He knew that they should've gone back to their respective rooms and forget about this drunken night.
But then Peter kissed him.
And he decided he didn't want to stop.