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Unfortunately for superheroes, crime and wrongdoings never seem to stop, even on a holiday as festive as Christmas. More specifically, Batroc had decided today was the perfect day to go commit a robbery. Luckily for Spidey, it was only Batroc.. so it didn't take him long to apprehend the criminal. Surprisingly, while waiting for the cops to arrive to return the stolen loot he saw pedestrians looking at him in awe. Couples were holding hands and smiling up at him, covered in scarves and snow but their smiles persisted.
It was times like this he wish he had a someone.
‘Someone’ in the sense of, well, firstly romantic. Despite being literally Spiderman and bisexual he could not find a partner for the life of him. But, secondly, someone who knew of his identity, his full identity. Someone who liked the fast-fighting quip-making Spiderman as much as they liked the science geek Peter Parker. Bonus points if they're a hero too, he felt he would be able to connect to them more. There would be no secrets, no need for excuses. If he's really being honest here - and he is - he also wanted someone he could be normal with. During the day they would just be two.. friends.. who hung out and did dorky things together like play video-games or study for upcoming tests, then during the night they would suit up and risk their lives together.. all while being the most insufferable and annoying duo, even to their team, and, wait. Is that Nova?
Wait. It sounds like he was just describing Nova as his type.
Peter wasn't sure it was possible to defy physics and come to a complete halt mid-swing, but he just did. The air escaping his lungs as he struggles to gasp for a breath, he clings to the side of a building as he tries to regain control of his breathing. He takes the opportunity to climb to the top of the building and admire the view.. before quickly turning to see what had startled him the first time. Sure enough, Nova was sitting on the ledge of a building just a little smaller than the one Peter was currently on. Sam seemed deep in thought, apparently not noticing the spider that was now watching him, vacantly staring at the bright Christmas lights strung up everywhere that made the city explode with holiday spirit. To be honest, Peter wasn't exactly feeling the Christmas spirit this year, he just wanted a break, even for a day. By the looks of it, Sam wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit much himself either.
Although Peter would like nothing more than to return to his nice warm house and sit down with Aunt May, something in his brain pesters him to pester that pest. It just might have something to do with the loneliness he was just complaining about, and that while complaining about it he realises all the things he wants to do with someone romantically are all things he does with Sam, and that Sam is also stupidly good looking while doing literally anything, and-- God, Parker. Stop. Stop, stop. Just.. stop thinking about that. Nope, no. There's no chance, and, he doesn't even like Sam romantically.. uh.. Well.- NO! Is the cold getting to your head, Parker? Snap out of it.
Despite his brains better judgment, and even though he's freezing, he swings over to the building Sam was sitting on, only after catching his breath and successfully ignoring the rise of temperature in his face, thank fuck for that mask. He lands behind Sam, he doesn't want to startle the boy but he's a little unsure how to strike up a conversation without scaring him. He opts for silently, but quickly, sitting down beside him, dangling his legs off the building just as Sam was doing. Surprisingly, the boy doesn't even flinch.
“Uh, hey, you know you're not on patrol until tomorrow? Y’know, with it being Christmas and all that?”
Sam doesn't respond, just simply a dry “Hey, Webs.” Sam doesn't even look at him, eyes fixated on whatever advertisement was playing on one of the large screens that Peter typically would see Jameson on. Even Jameson takes Christmas off, so what is Sam doing up here? From what Peter saw, it was just a boring perfume ad, with an additional Christmas deal. Peter wasn't looking at the ad, his eyes were glued to Sam. Despite not being able to see his eyes with the helmet obscuring half of his face, the little portion that was visible showed his mouth pressed into a frown.
A frown. He was sad on Christmas? Something about this made Peter's heart hurt. Sam seemingly noticed Peter's realisation as he finally mumbled out some more words. “Webs, I’m fine. Christmas just isn't.. A Nova thing. Besides, I.. haven't.. got.. much family to spend the time with.” He finally tears his eyes from the city to look at Peter. His voice wavered with uncertainty, unsure if he could share this kind of thing with Peter and cautious of his word choices, there was also a certain raspiness to his voice almost alike to if he had been crying or was dehydrated.
“It’s.. Whatever.” Sam shrugs, “Go spend your Christmas with your aunt, I’m sure she's wondering where you are.” He crosses his arms, turning away from Peter's face, his tone isn't sour though, more just.. defeated? Something was *definitely* wrong. Peter huffs, “Sam.” He begins, “We all feel the same way—” Peter’s voice is softer than usual yet he is still interrupted by the quiet, glum, and slightly hostile tone in Sam’s voice as he quickly adds on a “No. You don't. You have family, Webs.”
Peter brushes his remark off and continues speaking, “I mean, I get it, okay? All of us at Shield have to hide who we are. I love my aunt but.. I can't risk her knowing who I really am. We all feel like we can't live a normal life anymore because of all this hero stuff.. and it isolates us from our families.” He hesitates for a second, trying to judge if this was a good time to invite him over for Christmas. It was barely.. 3 minutes ago he might've just realised Sam was basically his type? The Christmas lights strung up around New York bounced off him too, making him seem utterly captivating to Peter’s eyes. He also kind of sounded like an asshole just then..
“Earth to Parker?? Uh.. Webs??” Peter blinks a couple times to see Sam’s confused (and alluring) face staring at him.. and very close. He was waving one of his hands in front of his face, to which Peter quips, “Hey, woah, watch where you're pointing that thing.” He sees Sam roll his eyes in amusement, “If I wanted to blast you, I already would've.” Sam turns away again to face the screens.
“See! You just love my company, I knew it.”
Sam doesn't respond.
Peter clears his throat, awkwardly he speaks up again. “You know..” Sam turns back to face him with what Peter could only describe as a mild shocked expression, Peter sighs slightly before he spits out the next sentence, “I’m sure my Aunt May would love to see you.” He talks faster than anticipated, the words blurring and blending together to create a jumble of incomprehensible sounds that could almost pass as a sentence.
“Uh.. Were those words??”
“Ughh.. Apparently not. I was just saying, and it pains me to say this, but, my Aunt May would probably.. maybe.. really.. like.. to.. see you again.”
Sam blinks. Peter blinks. They both sit still for a minute. Sam looks like he’s formulating some sort of concoction of words to say but none of them seem to get across what he wants to say. It comes out as:
“Webs, are you— Do you mean— What? I.. Are you inviting me to spend Christmas with you?”
Peter swears for a second his heart stopped beating, maybe due to fear of how Sam would react to it, his clarifying tone making it impossible to tell if he meant it in a positive or negative way, but for the most part the way Sam asked it in the most endearing voice ever might actually kill Peter. Higher than his normal voice, everyone's voice raises when asking a question, but this was different. It was more synonymous with a squeak. Yeah, his voice went higher but the pitch just about doubled, like he was nervous to even suggest it.
Even though it had been snowing all day and Peter’s suit is the shittest insulator ever, he could still feel his face heating up. He shrugs, “I mean, just.. for some unfortunate reason.. my aunt really likes you. And— and I know you got along with her..” He sighs, “She would hate to know this is how you're spending Christmas..”
Sam again pauses to think, leaving Peter is suspense, then he suddenly turns to Peter with an apprehensive expression, he slowly mutters the words out, “I.. I don't have anything to give her..”
Peter can't help but laugh, “That's what you're worried about?” And Sam hesitantly nods, probably feeling like a complete idiot for even thinking of that, and Peter soon realises that. His laughter immediately lowering, “That's not— If you really want we can pick her something up on the way but she doesn't really care.” He shrugs, standing up on the building's edge, “You coming?” Sam couldn't hide the grin on his face.
The trip to Peter’s house was short, even though Sam opted to try and get a gift for Aunt May, they had realised nowhere was open to buy even just a small trinket, so the remainder of the trip was completed in silence. Before they entered the house, they obviously got out of their hero costumes, Peter had forgotten about the Christmas sweater he was wearing until he saw how plain Sam’s clothes were, a plain black sweater mixed with a plain pair of dark blue jeans.. if anything he looked like he was about to rob the place.
It highlighted again to Peter that Sam was never the festive guy. I mean, everyone else was looking forward to Christmas, to the snow.. to finally getting a break from school, but, Sam had actually been surprisingly quiet the past couple weeks. Peter had noticed at the time, but he didn't think to bring anything up, he just shrugged and thought that Sam probably just missed the Guardians.
He shook off the rushing amount of despair he suddenly felt for the guy, put on a smile, fixed his sweater, and opened the door, “Hey, Aunt May, I’m home! And.. ugh.. And I brought someone too.” Aunt May responds quickly, voice echoing from the kitchen, “Oh, good! I—.. uh.. I think I made too much..” The boys share a confused glance as they enter the living room, that was, until the intense smell of.. something burning.. hit them. Aunt May didn't give them a chance to speak on it as she continues speaking, “Never mind that, I’ve been waiting for you to bring a girl home for ages, Peter! I’ll be with you both in a minute.” Peter cringes.
Aunt May comes into the living room, her eyes focused on the two plates of food she's holding, the food looking surprisingly nice despite the burning smell. “Peter’s never mentioned having a girlfriend..so I’m not sure what kind of food you like but I have been taking some courses recently so you can just head on into the kitchen and help yourse-” She pauses seeing Sam. “Oh! Sam!”
“Help myself? I mean, if you insist, Aunt May.” He quickly flashes a smirk and almost bolts into the kitchen. Aunt May looks at Peter. Peter looks at Aunt May. She nods. Peter does not. He tries to keep his voice low so Sam doesn't hear him, “It’s not— No! I--.. He doesn't really have anyone to spend Christmas with..” Her face changes from a, ‘This is why you never mentioned having a girlfriend?’ expression to a ‘Oh, God, poor Sam.’ expression.
“That's nice of you, Peter.” Aunt May pauses, taking a glance in the kitchen to see Sam, who has filled an entire plate with her cooking and is now looking through all the different condiments she owns, she turns back to Peter, and says, “I think he’d be good for you.”
Peter literally drops his fork in surprise. He can’t even formulate a coherent response.
Okay, so, earlier.. he, like, accidentally kind of describes his ‘ideal partner’ as Sam, and then immediately sees Sam, who he just realised is actually, like, really attractive.. and brings him home for Christmas.. and NOW his Aunt May says they would, what? Make a good couple?
Peter feels the entire room heat up, Sam merrily walks back in the room, taking a spot right beside Peter. Aunt May finally gets to take a look at Sam. She frowns slightly, “No Christmas sweater?” She asks, watching as Sam looks down at his own clothes and shrugs, “I can never find any good ones.” He lets out a soft huff, clearly now embarrassed at his lack of holiday spirit. Aunt May shakes her head, “Come on, you can borrow one of Peter’s old sweaters!” She points to a small box in the corner, cluttered with broken Christmas decorations and a stack neatly folded Christmas sweaters. Aunt May continues, “One of them should fit you, maybe one of the.. hmm..” She stares at the box for a second before laughing slightly to herself, “He just keeps growing!” She exclaims.
Peter is mortified, to say the least. Sam wearing one of his old Christmas sweaters? Just kill him right now instead.
Sam seemed to take no notice of the boys mortification, he’s already ate through a good portion of his food so he approaches the box and begins rummaging through the sweaters. After a minute he calls out, “This one might fit! It— Oh.” He falls silent, unraveling it.
It was a fucking Spiderman Christmas sweater.
Peter forgot he did that collaboration.
Sam makes it a point to glare at Peter, but switches his expression to a more teasing one, “Spiderman, huh? Didn't know you liked him so much..” Peter shrugs, but before he can respond with a witty comeback, Aunt May interrupts them. “Perfect! You've talked about liking Spiderman before, right Sam?” Sam flushes, Peter tries his hardest not to laugh but makes a mental note to tease Sam about that later.
“I never said— He’s.” He groans, “I said he's alright.. at most.” He tries to correct Aunt May, but the damage had been done already. Still, he reluctantly chooses to wear the sweater. As he joins them back on the sofa, Peter physically can't stop looking at him, Sam seemingly doesn't notice, still talking with Aunt May.
“I was going to get you something but—”
“No! You don't have to get me anything, Sam.” She dismisses his words with a yawn, “Gosh, what time is it?” They all check the clock, 10:30.. already? At this revelation Aunt May decides she's going to head to sleep, her excuse being something about an activity she had planned for boxing day, Peter wasn't really paying attention. Sure, Christmas is coming to an end, she must be tired but it's still really early, but as she winks as Peter as she leaves, he knows why she's leaving so early. Peter tries hard to ignore her implication.
He waits until she is definitely in her bedroom before speaking up, “Big Spidey fan, huh, Sam?” Sam crosses his arms, adding a “Shut up, Webs,” lowering his voice to a hushed whisper he clarifies, “We talked about you, like, once.” Peter raises his arms in defence but ignores his words.
“Hey, I’ll let you keep the sweater, it’s like.. wayyy too small for me.” He laughs, Sam moves to roll up the sleeves, Peter has not yet finished his joking, “You can just admit I’m the coolest person ever, it’s okay.”
“Oh, you wish.”
Peter unknowingly almost mutters a “..Maybe..” but it just comes off as a soft sigh. Sam looks at him but when they meet eyes he looks away. “Webs?” He starts, his voice softer than Peter is familiar with. Peter hums in response.
“Why did you?— Just.” He lowers his head, “Thanks, Parker.”
They sit in silence for a couple seconds, Peter moves to sit beside Sam, their knees accidentally brushing together at a point, Peter flinches away despite being the one who initiated the touch. Sam doesn't move away like Peter did, though. He's actually just.. looking at Peter. His eyes seemingly staring right through Peter, like an ‘I know what you're thinking about’ which Peter hopes he doesn't, because Peter is thinking about kissing him, linking their hands together, resting his head on Sam’s shoulder, other classic sappy romantic gestures of the such. He's trying his hardest not to give in, no need to make things awkward on Christmas right? He’s putting a lot of focus on not reaching forward and grabbing Sam’s face and pulling him into a kiss right there and then that he doesn't notice his leg slowly moving back to resting beside Sam's.. Until Sam rests his hand in such a way that makes it partially rest on Peter's knee. Now all attention was on that..
Peter was notorious for multitasking in the sense of being a superhero and an average guy, his brain, however, is not so used to the idea of focusing on multiple things at once. So now he was paying attention to that small amount of physical touch, his brain stops focusing on restraining himself from pulling off a sudden romance gesture.
He watches his hand as it, not of his own volition, moves and links itself with Sam’s. Peter snaps out of it, managing not to yell out “Fuck!”, his arm goes to jerk away in any direction that would put a good amount of distance between Peter and Sam, but his hand doesn't move, as if it's been glued to Sam’s. Peter thinks that irrational to assume, but he also thinks it’s irrational to assume that Sam is actually holding his hand right now, yet that is happening.
“You—”
“Is this.. uh.. why you invited me over..?”
Peter looks between their interlocked fingers to Sam’s confused (yet, somehow sweet) expression. His tone didn't sound hostile, if this was a rejection he's definitely trying to let him down as gently as possible, to the point of holding his hand? It almost sounds like he's been waiting for this, not that it was bound to happen, but Sam had been wondering when it was going to happen.
“No! No! You looked so lonely.. but I had been thinking recently— like really recently. I hate how you're sort of my type.”
Sam scoffs, “Sort of? Ouch..” Yet his words hold no ill intent. Peter now asks a question of his own, “You sound happy about it?” Sam rolls his eyes, like it was the most idiotic question that Peter could have asked.
“Great observation, Webs. Not like I’ve been waiting to hear you say that for months— WEEKS or— or anything.” He cringes at exposing himself, “Months? Damn..”
“Shut up.”
“Y’know I read if a guy likes someone for 3 or so months then it's considered love.”
“Shut up, Parker.” He groans, opting to bury his face in one of the sofa cushions, before, of course, hitting Peter with it.
“Nova, do you love me?” He puts a stupid amount of emphasis on his words, dragging them out in a teasing tone. He again got hit with the pillow. “That's not a no..”
“Do you love me, Spidey?” He spits his words out as an attempt to turn this around on Peter, and it completely fucking works. Peter freezes up. His mouth slightly agape, all he can do is look at Sam. Did he love Sam? As their weird little superhero found family, yeah, he loved all of them. What about Sam specifically, though? Did his feelings alter? I mean, Peter had been picking up on some of Sam’s mannerisms that he never had noticed before. Even with their whole banter and fights, recently he's just always wanted to stand beside Sam.. have an arm around him, rest his elbow on his shoulder, ruffle his soft hair for seemingly no reason. Was that love? What about wanting to hold his hand, to feel his warmth? To unknowingly look at his lips for a prolonged period of time, to always have to hide a smile whenever he laughed. Was that love?
Peter wasn't too well knowledged in this area, “I.. don't.. know?— Maybe?” Is the only thing he can seem to form.
How do you really know when you love someone if you've never done it before? If you’re just a teenage who risks his life everyday to save people who will never know who he really is? Do you really love people or are you just so obsessed with keeping them safe that you have a natural pull towards them, not something romantic, but something protective?
Peter didn't know, but Sam was also that same teenager, wasn't he? Sam was also risking his life everyday to save people that don't know him and never will. But they knew eachother, and in this moment, that's all Peter seemed to care about.
“Yeah.” Sam nods to his response, “I don't know either.” Sam’s grip tightens, but quickly loosens as he yawns and appears to realise how tired he actually was. Peter offers to put on a Christmas movie to fall asleep too, although they both ignore it. Now that all that sad stuff was done running through Peter's mind, (but, probably both of their minds), Sam thinks it's time to get to the real issue here.
“So.. Would I call you my ‘boyfriend’ even though you’re a spider. What about ‘spiderfriend?’ Mm. No, that doesn't sound as good—”
“You’ve introduced me as your spider friend before, in a platonic way. But, I’m still a boy! There's just some spider in there too. Actually, rephrase. I’m a man—”
“Okay, sure. Manfriend? Is that what you’d prefer? Manfriend? It makes you sound like a perv.”
“Manfriend sounds disgusting. Boyfriend is fine.” He repeats the word in his head, unsure how he managed to say that sentence without getting flustered. Boyfriend. He was Sam’s boyfriend. Sam was his boyfriend. “What about you then? Bucketfriend?”
“Don't..” Sam sleepily mutters out with a small laugh, closing his eyes as he rests his head on Peter's shoulder. It all hits Peter at once. Holy shit, that's his boyfriend. Did his Aunt May just successfully get him a boyfriend? Holy shit, he thinks he loves Sam.