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Chapter Text

"We've been crime fighting bffs for forever, and you're pretty much the only Avenger whose identity is still hidden from me."

Spider-Man glanced over at Johnny Storm, who was leaning against an alleyway wall with his arms crossed and waiting for an answer.

"You wouldn't want to know my actual identity anyway. He's a bit of a loser," Peter said, shrugging.

It was true. Peter had a lingering suspicion that Johnny Storm, media sweetheart, hot-as-all-hell-both-literally-and-figuratively superhero, wouldn't be caught dead hanging out with the likes of Peter Parker when he was out of his suit.

"Right," Johnny replied, rolling his eyes. "Because I completely judge people by how they look, and then I never talk to them again even though they're my crime fighting bff."

"I didn't mean that... it's just..."

"Who do you take me for anyway? I mean, what's this big secret? Oh. My. God. Are you a girl?"

Suddenly Johnny Storm was very very close to Peter. Peter squirmed under his staring.

"Dude. Of course that would be the question you went to. No, I'm not a girl."

Johnny shrugged.

"Doesn't matter. You know I'll still have the hots for you, Webhead," Johnny replied with a wink.

Sometimes Peter wished that Johnny could see how often Peter rolled his eyes during their conversations.

"You have the hots for pretty much anybody, Johnny," Peter sighed.

"You're different, darling," Johnny cooed.

"Right," Peter replied, "So are we going back or what? Because, I'm not exactly made of heat over here..."

"Ooh, Spidey. You want me to warm you up?"

"You're hopeless."

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Spider-Man thwiped and swung through New York City and back to his apartment. He was glad to be able to escape Johnny's perpetual nosiness.

Peter pulled off his mask and sighed. It had been an exhausting night.

Johnny was sort of right though, Peter felt a little guilty that he knew who Johnny was, while Johnny was completely oblivious to Spider-Man's alter ego. Then again, everyone knew who Johnny was. And everyone loved the Human Torch.

Everyone hated Spider-Man.

And people just ignored Peter Parker. It was just part of the territory.

Peter had plenty of reasons why he should keep his identity a secret. He needed to keep Aunt May safe, and that would be loads harder if every C-List villain failure with a grudge knew how to hit him where it hurts. Johnny's family could protect themselves. Peter would know, he had sparred with Susan before. She could definitely handle herself.

Then again, it wasn't like Peter didn't trust Johnny. Johnny was a bit on the wild side, but Peter was sure that Johnny wouldn't write "SPIDER-MAN IS PETER PARKER" in flames above New York City.

Peter shook his head. There was no real point in worrying about this. He didn't have any obligation to tell Johnny who he was, even if they were crime fighting bffs. At least that was what he told himself.

"CALL ME BEEP ME IF YOU WANT TO REACH ME"

Peter looked around for the Avenger/Spidey phone that Tony had given him so that he could give out some sort of phone number without being worried that the number would trace back to Peter Parker. He found it somewhere under his bed.

It was Johnny.

"Spidey here."

"Hey darling," Johnny greeted, "You swung off before I could tell you that Susan asked you to late dinner tonight."

Dinner? What time was it? Peter checked his clock.

"Dude, it's like almost ten. How are you guys just having dinner now?"

"Reed is tied up in some sort of project and Ben was out on patrol tonight too. You swinging over here or not?"

Peter crept into the hallway. The lights in Aunt May's room were off. She was sleeping and wouldn't miss him.

"Yeah," Peter acquiesced, "I'll be there in ten."

"See you soon, lovebug."

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Peter had gone to dinner at the Baxter Buildings a few times before, but he had never really gotten over the craziness that was the Fantastic Four family dinner. And he had thought the Avengers dinners were wild. Well, everything was wild when you got a bunch of superheroes with mixed personalities into one room.

But in the Baxter Building, the weirdness of dinner probably had less to do with the average superhero crazy and more to do with Johnny hitting on Peter at every possible turn, Ben trying not to break things while yelling at Johnny, Reed Richards breaking in and out of conversation (and usually covertly performing rather dangerous experiments under the table), and Susan trying to maintain a sort of normalcy.

Peter loved it.

"Yo! Spidey!"

Johnny was waiting outside of the door for him. For some reason, this made Peter smile.

"Hey Flamehead."

"You ready for food? Susan cooked tonight, so no worrying about Reed-xpirimental food."

"Sounds great," Peter replied.

The first time that Peter stopped over for dinner, there was a really awkward moment when everyone paused and looked at him before they began to eat. Then he realized that he was wearing his mask, which would make eating a little bit more difficult. After a few long moments of blushing and being very happy that his mask was covering his blush, Peter rolled the mask up a couple of inches to free his mouth. It wasn't the most comfortable solution, but it worked. Then Johnny said something about the rolled up mask giving him enough Spidey to kiss. He may have felt a little too relieved when Susan quickly brought up the fascinating subject of the Mole Man's new plan to destroy the world, but whatever.

Johnny put his hand on the small of Peter's back, and Peter was happy once again that his mask covered his blush. Peter crossed his fingers and wished that things would get a little less... embarrassing at dinner.

In retrospect, that was a pretty stupid wish.

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Dinner at the Baxter place was never calm, but at least Susan usually kept some sort of lid on things. Not tonight.

Apparently, Reed had slipped some experimental goo into her, his own, and Ben's coffee, and they were all having very different side effects. Ben would go silent for periods of ten minutes or so and then whisper a few words before falling silent again. Johnny was having fun with this. Susan seemed to be completely apathetic about everything that anyone was doing. Johnny was also having fun with this. But strangest of all was Reed. Reed seemed to be acting... well, like a completely normal human being.

He began discussing the weather.

Yeah, both Peter and Johnny were a little freaked out by that.

But anyway, without Susan acting as buffer for Johnny and Peter, the conversation got pretty heated (forgive the pun) pretty quickly.

It started with the normal harmless banter that usually accompanied any conversation between Johnny and Peter.

"So, my Web-Slinger Extraordinaire, how's business going?"

"If by business you mean getting my butt kicked twice a night and a crummy day job, then everything going swell."

And then suddenly Reed had to act like an embarrassingly typical brother-in-law/father figure.

"So, Spider-Man, how long have you and Johnny been dating?"

The moment that the words tumbled out of Reed's mouth, Peter glanced urgently at Susan, hoping for some sort of interference, but Susan had completely zoned out and was staring at her water glass.

"Uh... Johnny and I.. we aren't... uh....," Peter stuttered.

"Spidey doesn't like me like that, Reed," Johnny replied, sounding more than a little put out.

Peter flinched at the hurt in Johnny's voice. That was new. He had always figured that Johnny was just whatever-ing with him like he did with everyone else.

"Well, you two better get your act together sometime soon. Susan loves planning weddings," Reed went on as if Johnny hadn't said anything at all.

Peter glanced over at Susan, who, at the moment, didn't seem interested in anything. Then he glanced back at Johnny, who was folding up his dinner napkin and standing up.

"Well, I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed. Spidey, I'm sure you can find your own way out?"

Peter barely had time to nod before Johnny disappeared upstairs.

Peter looked down at his plate and blinked, trying to figure out what just happened.

"Son, you've really got to work things out with him," Reed voiced.

Peter looked at Reed and sighed.

Chapter Text

Spider-Man and Johnny Storm were good friends. Well, as good as friends could be when one of them didn't know the other's name and/or identity. So Peter didn't feel all that terrible when he walked out of the Baxter building and thwipped his way up to Johnny's room. They were at that point. Or if they weren't.... well, Peter had always been somewhat socially awkward, so whatever.

Peter let himself in through the window. Johnny never left it locked, no matter how often Susan told him to. But Johnny didn't seem to be in his room. Actually... Shit. It sounded like Johnny was taking a shower. Peter was definitely going to hell. Argh.

But before Peter could climb back out the window, the shower sounds stopped and Johnny stepped back into his bedroom.

"Spider-Man?"

Yep. Johnny was definitely not wearing any clothing.

"Hey. Yeah. Well. Uh.... Clothes?"

Johnny looked down and chuckled.

"Never knew you to be bashful, Spider, but sure. Lemme grab a towel."

Peter kept his masked eyes trained on the ceiling until Johnny returned with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Sorry," Peter apologized, blushing and thanking God, once again, that Johnny couldn't see that he was blushing.

"No probs, love. Nothing I haven't shown the world before."

Peter was happy that Johnny seemed to be in a better mood than he had been in earlier. A mopey Johnny was a strange Johnny.

They stood in silence for a moment or so.

"So... did you just come up here to check me out?" Johnny said at last, "Because, if so, that's totally fine too."

Peter laughed nervously.

"No. I mean, I was just worried. You left dinner kind of quickly."

"Nahh. It's no biggie. You know. End of day. Tired and shit."

Johnny was avoiding Peter's eyes.

"Johnny."

"What?"

"There's something I want to tell you."

Peter tugged at the edge of his mask and began to roll it off.

Chapter Text

"My name is Peter Parker."

Peter dropped his gaze to the floor, afraid to meet Johnny's eyes.

"Oh my God. Thank God you're hot."

Peter blushed. No mask to hide it now. He finally looked up to see Johnny's face. He looked surprised. Then he looked like he was considering something.

Peter felt like it was his turn to talk again.

"I mean, we've known each other for a long time and all, and the only other people who know are my aunt, Tony Stark, and Cap...."

"Shut up," Johnny interrupted.

"What?"

"You're... Peter Parker. The cute photographer who takes pictures of... OH. MY. GOD. You take pictures of yourself!"

Johnny laughed so hard that he had to sit down on his bed. Peter tried very hard not to look at where the towel opened a bit and showed a bit more leg than Johnny had intended to.

"So, you actually make money from your selfies. This is too great!"

"Well not all of us are super rich, dude," Peter grumbled, running his toe against the carpet.

Suddenly Johnny was grabbing Peter's hand.

"Hey," he whispered, very close to Peter's ear.

"Hey."

"Thanks," Johnny added with a small smile.

Peter loved that smile. It wasn't the one that Johnny flashed at the paparazzi or at passing women. It was a smile just for him.

Peter leaned a little closer to Johnny and was very surprised with Johnny was the one to pull away.

"Gotta go check on the fam. The expiri-goo should be wearing off now, and side effects, bro. It was good to see you. Thanks for... you know."

Johnny was out in a flash, only pausing to grab a pair of sweatpants on his way out.

And Peter was all alone in Johnny's room.

"Huh."

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Well if that wasn't a textbook case of mixed signals.

Peter swung his way home. He checked his phone before he went to bed, but no texts from Johnny. He decided to send one just in case.

"Hope all is well with the expiri-goo. Love Spidey."

He waited for another half an hour before going to bed. No text reply.

Chapter Text

The next day he woke up to the sound of Aunt May knocking on his bedroom door.

"Peter! Wake up. There's a guest for you!"

Peter rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and rolled over. His clock said that it was nine thirty in the morning. Who in their right mind would be visiting this early on a Saturday? Whoever it was, would have to deal with a half-awake, pajama-wearing Peter Parker.

It turned out to be a strung-out looking Johnny Storm.

"Johnny?" Peter asked, "What are you doing here?"

He had never told Johnny where he lived.

"I asked Tony for your address," Johnny explained with a wave of his hand.

"And he gave it to you?"

Johnny smiled at that.

"I may have blackmailed him a bit."

"Are you okay?"

Johnny didn't look okay. He looked like he hadn't slept through the night. He also had ash in his hair and all over his clothes. Peter fought to urge to walk up to him and brush the guy off. Aunt May seemed to notice that they had some talking to do, so she excused herself.

"I'll be in the laundry room if you need me, boys."

"Thanks Aunt May."

They stood there in silence for a while. Peter hoped to God that he wasn't wearing his Spider-Man pajamas today (Tony had gotten them for him as a joke). Peter looked down. Nope. Plaid. He was safe.

"So..." Peter started awkwardly.

"I didn't sleep last night."

Peter blinked a bit.

"Uh... Okay?"

"I mean..."

It was strange for Johnny to be at a loss of words.

"After... you know. You told me about you and stuff? I don't know why I left like that. I'm totally sorry..."

Peter raised his eyebrows.

"Johnny.... it's okay. You don't need to explain yourself to me."

Johnny frantically ran his hand through his hair. Some ash fell to the floor.

"No. I do. You probably thought the worst of me when I left. I mean, I definitely would have."

"Hey. Torch. You totally have a right to like who you like, and stuff. I get it," Peter hoped that his voice was steady. If he choked up... well...

"No! That's the thing! I DO like you!," Johnny exclaimed.

Peter's heart jumped. Just the slightest bit.

"Uh. Johnny? My aunt is like, in the next room."

"Whoops. Sorry. It's just. I'm not used to this. You know me. I'm all flash and no substance. I don't do actual relationships. I think the longest relationship I've been in was like three weeks. And you're my best friend! I don't want to screw that up! So I freaked out! But now I'm here, and I want to tell you something."

"Okay..." Peter replied, still processing most of what he said.

"You're worth it."

"What?"

"You. Being in a relationship with you. It would be worth it. Everything. Even if it ended badly. Even if I totally screwed it up. It would be worth it, because you are the most amazing person I have ever met, Peter Parker, Spider-Man."

Peter didn't know how to follow that up, so he reached over and pulled Johnny into a kiss.