Chapter Text
It was a late night. The sky had no stars, and it was practically pitch black except for the white light of the moon illuminating things slightly. The city lights in the distance were still on in New York as Johnny waited on the Statue of Liberty. He shifted as he stared at the tall buildings clustered together.
Spider-man had told him to meet him here through a text. When he first got it he was already in his pajamas. Johnny was really just going to say to talk tomorrow since he was tired of a particularly long trip to some dimension with his family. The urgent and erratic texts made him think otherwise.
Spidey
can you meetj me at the usual place rightno w
itll be wuick
please johnny its really impoqtant
i need to telk you something
fureflyy
torchie pleasxse
It kind of scared Johnny.
Johnny
i’m omw sit tight
Johnny had thrown on his costume and flew out of his window almost immediately after he sent a reply.
His and Spidey’s friendship was a long one. Funny thing was, initially they had despised each other when they met at around fifteen years old. They started to consider each other actual friends when they were around eighteen, and now they were twenty-two. Most of the time they just hung out to eat some food together, or they fought some villains together. Very rarely they’d open up a little about their personal problems, but it never went beyond that. Of course, he could never forget the countless times they’ve been there for each other in fights. Sometimes, Johnny liked to think, they put each other in better moods when they were feeling down. Even if it was unspoken.
As far as Johnny knew, Spidey was always pretty flirty and fun to be around. He couldn’t really think of any time the vigilante wasn’t in his usual chipper or annoying mood. Sometimes he was pissed about the Bugle or something like that which was pretty hilarious to witness. Despite their lack of depth, Johnny liked to consider Spidey one of his closest friends. Even if all he really knew about him was that he was the same age as Johnny.
That’s why Spidey’s sudden panicked texts shook Johnny up so much.
Finally, after waiting on top of the Statue of Liberty for an excruciating five minutes, he heard a thud behind him. Quickly, Johnny stood up and spun around.
Spider-man was on his knees clutching his stomach. His suit was a mess of rips and blood stains. One of the lenses on his mask was broken revealing a scrunched up eye.
Johnny’s eyes widened, and he ran to his friend. He kneeled down in front of Spidey, “Oh my god, what happened? Webs? Webs, can you answer me?”
Spidey’s head slowly rose to face Johnny, and he was met with a hazel eye. “I’m gonna die. You gotta- you gotta tell my aunt and my- my friend MJ I love them. Please-” His voice cracked at the end. There was a massive cut that was way too deep and bleeding way too much on Spidey’s stomach. Johnny’s breath got shallow as he realized what was happening. Spidey thought he was dying, and he was telling Johnny his dying wish. “Take care of them, please. They deserved so much better- I never even got to tell you- I can’t breathe, take it off-”
This was the first time he heard Spidey so vulnerable and weak, and it broke his heart. “Your mask? You want me to take it off?”
Spidey started searching for the hem of his mask. “Please, everything hurts- I can’t-” he coughed, and Johnny saw the bottom half of Spidey’s mask get redder. He gently but quickly snatched the mask off. Johnny was met with a bloody face with thick eyebrows, glassy hazel eyes, and matted brown hair. Spidey gasped for air and started breathing deeply. Johnny froze for a second that felt like a minute. His best friend was dying, and he didn’t know what to do.
So, he trusted what his guts told him to do.
“Spidey, let me carry you. Let me take you to the Baxter Building. We can save you.”
The brunette searched Johnny’s face for something. He heard a soft and barely audible “Okay,” and he took Spidey in his arms.
The fly there was a blur for Johnny as he tried keeping his dying friend awake. Johnny did his best to not make that massive wound on Spidey’s stomach worse. And keep Spidey’s mind off of his possible death.
“Just leave me at my-”
“We can get some hot dogs tomorrow from that very specific stand you like.”
“That sounds nice.”
He crashed through the window of the Med Bay while making sure the glass didn’t hurt Spidey even more. Johnny immediately spotted Reed who was working on a computer before turning his attention to the crash.
“Reed! It’s Spidey, he’s- he’s dying. I don’t know what happened-”
Reed quickly made his way to Johnny and Spidey. “Calm down, Johnny. I’ll see what I can do. Put him down.” Johnny carefully set Spidey down and backed away, his breath quick. He watched Reed hastily connect some tubes and needles while the beeping of machines rang. Johnny didn’t know what any of it meant, but all he could do was trust Reed. He looked down, and his breath hitched at his own bloodied hands and torso. Spidey’s blood.
Johnny heard the doors to the medical room open, but he didn’t look. He couldn’t. He was frozen staring at all the blood on him that wasn’t his own. Suddenly, he felt a pair of hands shake him. When Johnny looked up, he saw the worried of expression of Sue. “Johnny? What happened? Are you hurt too?”
“No, this is- it isn’t my blood. I don’t know why he’s so-”
“Johnny, look at me.” He did just that. “I’m going to be helping Reed with him, alright? Go clean up and calm down. It’ll be alright.” Johnny mutely nodded and made his way out. He spared one last glance at his friend, and he felt a pang of sadness at seeing his slack face.
After a few hours of cleaning himself up and coming back to his senses, Johnny decided to see how Spidey was doing.
He took a deep breath as he was about to open the door. Instead, Reed stepped out alone. “He’s alright now. Sue and I think he should stay and rest for a couple of days.” Johnny nodded and made his way inside. He saw Spidey unmasked and out of suit on the bed. He was cleaned up and bandaged wearing a hospital gown. Johnny walked over to a chair near the bed, and saw Spidey’s internal conflict playing out on his face.
Johnny sat down on the chair, “How’re you holding up?”
Spidey looked over at him. Now that he was clean, Johnny realized his hair was naturally a brown curly mess. It was a lot more different than the matted sticky mess from earlier. “I’m fine now. I think. I’m pretty sure.” Spidey averted his eyes. “But I gotta go now.” He made a move to take off the IV needle on his wrist.
Johnny frowned, “What? No, you’re not going anywhere.”
Spidey pouted, and if he wasn’t on the verge of death a few hours ago, Johnny would’ve laughed. “I have super-healing, I’m fine. I really gotta go.”
Johnny’s frown deepened, “What’s going on? We can help you.” He leaned forward.
Spidey snatched off the IV needle and started getting off of his bed. “I can do this on my own. I don’t need all four of you helping out, it’ll just stress me out. It’d be too complicated.”
Johnny became increasingly frustrated. Since when did Spidey outright reject some help? Up until now, every time Johnny dropped in on one of Spidey’s fights for fun, he was welcomed. Usually, he’d be greeted with an, “About time you showed up!” or a, “Hey matchstick!” Something normal. He wasn’t used to this.
Johnny stood up and walked over to Spidey, “Then, I can come with you. Just me.” He was ignored, and Spidey started rummaging around looking for his suit. He furrowed his eyebrows and got closer to Spidey. Johnny grabbed Spidey’s arm causing the brunette to face him, annoyed. “What’s going on? Let me help you.”
There was a beat of silence as Johnny waited with baited breath and Spidey stared at him, frustrated. Finally, Spidey huffed and snatched his arm away. He crossed his arms, “Fine. Where’s my suit?” Johnny gave him a small smile and rushed to get Spidey’s suit from beside the bed. “It was there the whole time? Are you kidding me?”
“Yeah, you might need to get your eyes checked,” Johnny joked as he passed Spidey his red and blue suit.
It relieved Johnny to finally see Spidey smile back, “Fun fact, I used to wear glasses before I got my powers.”
Johnny raised his eyebrows at the thought of Spider-man having to use glasses. For some reason, the first image in his head wasn’t of this dorky guy wearing glasses, but of a masked face with white lenses for eyes wearing glasses. Johnny’d have to get used to seeing this lightly freckled face. He blinked away his thoughts and brought himself back to reality. He was met with Spidey staring at him expectantly. “What?”
Spidey rolled his eyes, “I said,” he exhaled, “could you turn around, so I can change?” Johnny nodded and quickly turned around. An odd silence filled the room with only Spidey’s shuffling disrupting it. That left Johnny alone with his thoughts again. Would Spidey tell Johnny who he was now? What was his name? What’d he do for a living? Was he actually broke like he always complained he was? Why was Johnny so interested all of a sudden? Maybe it was because it was general human curiosity to want to attach a story to a face. Jennifer had told him that once.
He heard Spidey clear his throat, “You can, uh, look now.” Johnny turned around and it felt almost surreal to see Spidey with an actual human face instead of just a red webbed-designed mask. There were still rips all over Spidey’s suit, but there was a portion of his stomach that was exposed because of the large rip there. Johnny was a little relieved at the bandage on the wound that was made out of some advanced technology. He had to thank Reed and Sue for that. Johnny realized he had been staring when Spidey turned his face away, “Um, we should probably go to, y’know, get the Green Goblin back and... yeah.” Spidey’s sudden awkwardness threw him off a bit.
“Green Goblin did that to you? Actually, I’m not that surprised at this point. He’s kind of a psycho,” Johnny said offhandedly as he opened the window. He turned and saw Spidey quickly snatch his mask onto his face. Spidey nodded wordlessly and jumped out the window. Johnny huffed. He hated how suddenly awkward they were around each other.
Nevertheless, Johnny flamed on and flew behind Spidey as he swung between buildings. Was their friendship completely ruined now? It wasn’t even his fault, really. It was Green Goblin’s fault!
Johnny didn’t even realize they reached the Green Goblin until Spidey yelled, “Has anyone ever told you how ugly you are? I mean, seriously!”
Johnny would’ve laughed if he wasn’t having an internal dilemma. For about ten minutes, it was mainly Spidey fighting Goblin while Johnny made sure the green psycho didn’t get too close to Spidey.
He didn’t want to hear his friend’s dying wish again.
Eventually, he saw Spidey making vague gestures at him. He stared for a moment. Johnny was confused.
Spidey made a weird, long shape with his hands. Johnny was still confused.
Suddenly, he spoke up, “Wow, Torchie, you’re not gonna help me out? You having a fun time flirting with that streetlight?” And then Johnny finally understood. He flew over to the streetlight nearest to the Goblin and burned the bottom as quickly as he could. Johnny waited a bit until Spidey positioned the green fucker and moved far enough away.
“Timber!” He yelled right before he kicked down the streetlight.
And just like that, the Green Goblin went unconscious.
Johnny landed on the ground. Spidey stared at the Goblin, “Is he- is he down?”
Johnny glanced at him and answered, “Well, he’s not getting up any time soon.” He saw Spidey nod and then Johnny heard a thwip. He looked up and saw Spidey already swinging away. “Hey!” But, it was too late.
Shit. What was he going to do?
Later that following night, Johnny couldn’t sleep. He kept twisting and turning thinking about Spidey’s face. Johnny couldn’t get him out of his head. For some reason, every time Johnny had tried imagining Spidey’s face before these last two days, he’d imagine a hot dude with a smirk and unwavering confidence. Instead, it was an adorable dork with a confused face under the mask. Not that he was mad about it. Definitely not what he expected, but Johnny couldn’t deny Spidey was still cute.
Yet, he’ll forever be haunted by that time Spidey managed to convince Johnny he had eight eyes for a whole week.
“That’s why my lenses are so big. It’s so all my eyes can see through them.”
Johnny shivered at the flashback.
He sat up on his bed, frustrated. Johnny picked his phone up and checked the time.
3:01 AM.
Ugh.
He thought about Spidey’s awkwardness from earlier that day. The nervous glances to the side.
Fuck it, he had nothing to lose at this point.
Johnny
can we meet up and talk out of suit tmrw?
He was going to just set his phone down given the time, but it vibrated seconds later.
Spidey
where
Johnny didn’t know why he was surprised at the bluntness. Spidey always texted like he was in a hurry.
Johnny
the starbucks downtown?
Spidey
sounds good. 5pm?
The dryness never got to him like this. Why was it bothering Johnny so much now?
Johnny
cool by me
Johnny has never been this nervous over texting before. Usually, he preferred texting over talking on the phone. It was easier, it gave him time to think. But now, all he wanted was to see how exactly Spidey felt. What tone was he talking in? Was he as nervous as Johnny? Why was Johnny even nervous in the first place? Spidey and him have been friends for years. Just because Johnny saw his face suddenly they don’t know how to act?
But, all Johnny could do now was wait.
Waiting was not Johnny’s forte.
Right now, he was sitting at a table in the downtown Starbucks waiting for Spidey. Alone. Bored.
He started scrolling through his phone. It was 5:05 PM. Johnny shouldn’t fuss, Spidey was probably on his way.
Then it was 5:11 PM. Then it was 5:24 PM. Johnny was going to leave soon.
At 5:29 PM, a disheveled and heavy breathing Spidey plopped down on the other side of the table. Johnny looked up, and he saw that Spidey’s hair was a mess and his face was shiny with sweat. Jesus Christ.
Spidey smiled, “Sorry, uh, the Shocker got loose again.” Spidey looked down and started staring at the table.
Johnny bit his lip, “It’s cool. Can I know your name?” An anxious feeling crept around his chest.
He saw Spidey’s eyes dart up to look at Johnny. He nodded, like, six times consecutively which almost made Johnny burst into laughter. “Yeah, yeah, it’s Peter. Parker. My name’s Peter Parker. Well, my full name’s Peter Benjamin Parker, but no one really knows my middle name to be honest. And no one really calls me Parker. Well, I mean, my boss does. And my friends sometimes, but it’s in a joking way. Just call me Peter.”
There was that rambling Johnny was so used to. Sure, it took him aback a little, but it made him feel a little warm inside.
“Peter. Cool. Like Peter Piper.” Johnny smiled.
Sp- Peter raised his eyebrows, “Peter Piper? Seriously? Not even Peter Pan?”
Johnny relaxed into his seat, “You don’t deserve to be associated with Peter Pan. Not after, like, what is it? Seven years of not knowing who you are?”
Peter’s shoulders dropped a little, “Secret identities, hot stuff. Who knows? Maybe someone could’ve mind controlled you into saying my name.”
Johnny shifted, “Mhm, sure. Well, too bad, because now you have to give me an overview of your life.”
Peter’s eyebrows knitted together, “What?”
“You heard me. Tell me about you, webhead.”
Peter paused. “Well, um, I used to work at the Daily Bugle, ironically.”
Johnny snorted, “The Bugle? Your boss was Jameson? Seriously?”
“Listen, I sold him exclusive pictures of,” he cleared his throat, “Spider-man. It payed enough. But I work at a niche lab now. I’m trendy like that.”
Johnny smiled, “That’s not trendy, it’s hipster and nerdy.” Johnny gasped dramatically, “Oh my god, you’re a nerd. I can’t believe I’ve been best friends with a nerd.”
Peter groaned, “Shut up. I hate you. I hate you so much. It doesn’t even pay that much.”
Johnny put his hand over his mouth, “Jesus, you’re the ultimate nerd. Doing science for fun?”
“I am going to smash your head onto this table.”
He waves his hands, “Okay, okay. Moving on from that horrifying discovery. What else do you wanna tell me?”
“Okay, one, you’re forcing me to tell you things about my life. Two, I graduated from ESU a year ago, so that’s cool I guess. I live in Queens. I like pizza. And hotdogs. And uuh... I like... spiders?”
Johnny inhaled. And exhaled. “Okay, you suck at this.”
“This is literally an interrogation, and I hate interrogations.”
“What? You were having fun that one time with Kingpin!”
“Do you want me to actually smash your head onto the table?”
Johnny was going to have fun with this.