Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was nearing two in the morning when Johnny touched down lightly on the rooftop, his flames quickly extinguishing as his feet hit the cold stone. He plopped down next to the red and blue suited figure who was already seated there, swinging his legs over the edge.

“You... will never guess what I brought.” Johnny gasped, out of breath from excitement and his hurried flight. Spider-Man’s masked head turned to look at him, his white lenses staring blankly.
“Some common sense and a brain!” Spidey’s voice took on a tone of mock panic. “Oh shit … who did you steal the brain from??”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Ha. Hilarious. Drumroll, please!”

Spidey slapped his hands on the roof in a beat that didn’t even sound remotely like a drumroll.
“I brought pizza!!!!!” He announced, pulling the slightly smoking box from behind his back.

If he could’ve seen them behind the mask, Johnny would’ve bet that Spidey’s eyes had gone wider than saucers. He let out a small shriek of joy.
“PIZZA! Oh, my god. Jonathan Storm, you are my HERO!"

Johnny smirked. “Don’t I know it.” He opened the box, letting the smell of pepperoni pizza waft over the two heroes. Spidey reached over and grabbed a slice.

“People always get worked up about how you save the world and stuff…. but really, I think the fact that you buy pizza for super broke, spider-themed vigilantes should make headlines! You should win awards! The Nobel Prize!”

Johnny snorted. “Really? The Nobel Prize? For pizza?”

Spidey shrugged, rolling up his mask to his nose and taking a big bit of cheesy pepperoni goodness. He sighed contentedly. “It’s definitely award winning pizza.”

Johnny tried not to stare, realizing suddenly that he had never seen any of Spidey’s face before. He had been hanging out with the guy for a couple of weeks now, fighting crime and meeting afterwards to talk about movies, (Spidey was obviously a huge Star Wars nerd, and Johnny loved to see how long he could get the guy to talk about it once he got started. The record: fifteen minutes straight.) tv shows (Spidey had officially dubbed Johnny “the waffle to my Leslie Knope,” which Johnny secretly took enormous pride in) and personal problems. Johnny talked about himself relentlessly, piling his worries on Spidey, who was an excellent listener and only broke in at the appropriate times. The only problem was, Johnny knew next to nothing about Spidey.

Johnny’s thoughts must have shown in his facial expression, because Spidey suddenly stopped eating his pizza slice.

“Something wrong, Flamebrain?”

Johnny bit his lip, shrugging, but Spidey didn’t seem convinced. Trying to calm his suddenly racing heart, Johnny took a deep breath. “Spidey-- why won’t you tell me who you are? I mean… we’ve been friends for a while now… you might even be my best friend, honestly. I talk about myself all the time, but you never do! I don't even know your name, man.”

Spidey put down his pizza slice. “Well… I mean…”

“Do you not trust me?”

“I trust you, man! Really! But… secret identity, dude!”

Johnny groaned exaggeratedly. Then he leaned in close to Spidey, narrowing his eyes. “Are you like super ugly or something? Oh my god! You actually have eight eyes! Or fangs?? You have fangs! Or… no nose! Like Voldemort! No, wait… that's a snake thing.”

Spidey laughed, and Johnny’s heart leaped at the sound, but he quickly kicked himself internally. Nope. No. Johnny was sixteen, and he had no idea how old Spidey was. Early twenties at the youngest, but no. No way. That could not happen.

Spidey’s mask was still rolled up, and he opened his mouth wide, making an “Ahhh” sound like he was at the dentist, showing smooth white teeth and a pink tongue. “See? No fangs!”

There was a smear of pizza sauce on his cheek, and for a moment Johnny almost wanted to just lick it off. Spidey’s lips were full and pink, and his jaw was smooth and surprisingly free of stubble or even nicks from shaving. His smile was so bright that Johnny felt like he was looking at the sun. Johnny’s heart fluttered again, skipping a beat. Oh no. Nope. Stop it, Johnny. Stopstopstopstop.

Spidey grinned goofily. “I might have eight eyes though… you’ll probably never know.”

Johnny pouted. “Awww… c’mon, man!!!”

Spidey waved his arms dramatically. “Satellites, Storm! Google Earth! Always taking pics!” He leaned in close to Johnny, as if sharing something highly confidential. “There could be a satellite right above us. I could take off my mask and then BLAMMO! Google Earth is putting it all over the Internet.”

Johnny sighed sarcastically. “Oh, Google Earth. What a bitch, am I right?”

Spidey shoved the rest of his pizza in his mouth, grabbing two more slices with his free hand. “My man, you are exactly right.”

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Johnny lounged on his bed, scrolling through his Instagram feed half heartedly. It was a Saturday, and usually he would be doing all sorts of cool stuff, like, you know, saving the world, but today he was bored out of his mind.

Reed was, as usual, holed up in his lab, and Johnny honestly had no idea where Sue and Ben had even gone. Sue might have said something about grocery shopping, but when was Johnny ever listening to anything his older sister told him? He sighed dramatically, flinging his arm over his face. He could always go down to the garage to work on his car, but he was pretty sure that if he messed with the engine one more time it might explode. Johnny looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. Hmm... Explosions? Actually, that could be fun….

“Yo! Flamebrain!”

A voice at his window snapped Johnny out of his stupor. Recognizing the familiar red and blue form, Johnny instantly brightened, jumping to his feet.

“Spidey! My man! Thank god you’re here, you have no idea how bored I was…” He opened the window, stepping back as Spiderman clambered over the sill and into the room. He whistled softly at the size of Johnny’s room, admiring the band posters and the enormous flat screen tv.

“Damn! Your room is huge, man!” He plopped down on a beanbag chair and held out a brown paper bag to Johnny, looking sheepish. “I, uh… I told my Au-- uh, family member that a friend of mine bought me pizza, so she made sandwiches and forced me to bring them to you.”

Johnny opened the bag, grinning as he pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the shape of a rocket ship. “A rocket ship?” He teased.

Spidey halted in carefully rolling his mask up to his nose, and Johnny saw the part of his cheeks not covered by the red spandex flush a deep pink.

“We have a lot of cookie cutters, man! It should be illegal to eat PB&J that's not in the shape of a rocket ship.” He reached into the bag and pulled out a sandwich that was shaped like a jack-o-lantern. Johnny snickered, and Spidey blushed harder. “I regret nothing! Nothing, Storm! Nothing!”

Fifteen minutes later, Johnny glanced over at Spidey, who was sprawled out on the floor of Johnny’s bedroom, groaning and holding his stomach. He hadn’t rolled down his mask yet, and Johnny stared, tried to memorize every line and angle of his jaw, the way his teeth flashed when he smiled, the color of his lips. Not for the first time, Johnny wondered what those lips would taste like, and a shiver of pleasure ran through his bones. No. Stop it, Storm. Stop it.

Spidey groaned again, jolting Johnny out of his daydream. Johnny laughed. “Dude! You should not have eaten so many sandwiches!”

Spidey rolled over so his face was smushed into the floor, and a part of Johnny wished he would turn back towards him, wished he could see those perfect lips one more time.

“I only ate ten, Johnny.” Spidey’s voice was muffled by the carpet.

He really had eaten ten sandwiches.. Each one was a different shape, too, but Johnny had stopped keeping track after he witnessed the quick demise of a bat, a train, and a Christmas tree.

“Well, next time tell your mysterious family member not to make so many sandwiches.” Johnny laughed. Suddenly something cold ran through him as a thought occurred to him that he had never once considered, and his heart dropped right to his feet. “Wait… you’re not, like… married, right? Do you… Oh my god, do you have, like… a wife??”

Spidey snorted so loud he started choking and had to lunge for the bottle of water on Johnny’s bedside table.

“Oh, my god, Johnny. I am NOT married. Jesus.” He rubbed his neck, looking embarrassed. Then, very suddenly, a smirk spread itself across his face. “Besides, I kind of think you have to be straight to have a wife.”

Now it was Johnny’s turn to choke, this time on the flower shaped sandwich in his hand. Did he… did he hear that correctly?

“Wait…. whaaa--”

Wow. Smooth, Johnny. Smooth. Spidey just watched him, that same smirk twisting those soft, pink lips. Johnny wanted to kiss that stupid smirk off his stupid, stupid face. Stupid.

“Ok… let me just…” Johnny couldn’t even get a word out, his heart was beating so fast. Was this a dream? Definitely a dream. Wouldn’t be the first time he had dreamt about Spidey….

“Johnny. Johnny! Hello! Earth to Johnny!”

Johnny snapped around to face Spidey. “Hm?”

Spidey sighed. “So, yeah. I, uh. Tend to prefer guys, actually.”

Johnny’s eyes bugged. Then a smile spread across his face, so wide that he probably looked like the damn Cheshire Cat.

“Well that's perfect... because it just so happens that...” He got up, the smile not leaving his face, and crossed the room until he was standing right in front of Spidey. They were almost exactly the same height. “I tend to prefer guys too.” And with that, he took Spidey’s face in his hands and pressed his hot lips against the other’s; finally, finally, finally. Spidey melted underneath him, kissing him back with so much passion that Johnny thought he would faint, and tangling his gloved hand in Johnny’s golden hair. He didn’t care that he didn’t know who Spidey was; he didn’t care that he didn’t know his age. All he cared about was how right it felt to hold Spidey in his arms, and how his lips, oh those perfect lips, tasted like PB&J.

Chapter Text

Johnny and Spidey sat with their hands entwined on the top of the Statue of Liberty, watching the sun set over New York City. Spidey’s masked head rested on Johnny’s shoulder, and Johnny had his free arm slung over Spidey’s shoulders, holding him close. They stayed there, not moving, until the sun had sunk below the horizon and twinkling stars began to appear in the darkening sky. Johnny didn’t know how long they sat there. He only knew that right here, right now, he felt right. When he was with Spidey, everything felt right.

The last rays of dying light sank behind the world, washing the city in darkness. And yet, as night fell, the city that never slept came alive, glowing with fluorescent light from billboards, apartment windows, and streetlights, and the sounds of distant sirens and car horns honking drifted over the streets.

Eventually, Spidey stirred, lifting his head from Johnny’s shoulder and sitting up slowly. He rubbed at his eyes through his mask. “Ah. Hey, what time is it?”

Johnny glanced down at his fireproof (thanks Reed) watch. “Uh… it's only like 9:00.”
Now Spidey sat bolt upright, instantly alert. “Shit! I gotta go.”

Johnny stared at him incredulously. “Dude… it's 9:00. I’ve hung out with you until four in the morning!”

Spidey spoke quickly and frantically. “It's a Sunday night, man! And…. Oh shit! I forgot to finish my homew-- Um. Nothing. But seriously! Oh, man…. where did I even leave my backpack this time?”

Johnny stood with a sigh, putting his hands on Spidey’s shoulders. “Yo. Spidey. Dude. Calm down, okay? I can go with you. To find your… backpack? Why do you even need a backpack?”

“I need somewhere to keep my actual clothes! I can’t just go home in my Spidey suit, jeez.” Spidey said defensively.

Johnny furrowed his brows. “Wait… so your family… doesn't know about the whole… spider thing?”

Spidey shifted nervously, looking guilty. “Uh. No.”

Johnny sighed, not really wanting to push it. “Ok. Let’s find your backpack.”

……………………….

Johnny flipped over in the air, his flames burning brighter in his frustration. Spidey was growing increasingly panicked. “I was pretty sure…. it was on one of these rooftops….”

“What color is it?”

“Uh… black.”

Johnny groaned. “That’ll be easy to find.” He said sarcastically.

Spidey cleared his throat sheepishly. “Um. Yeah, I thought it would be easier to keep it hidden. I definitely did not expect that I would be the one who wouldn’t be able to find it, but hey, what else is new.”

Johnny landed on the rooftop of a small apartment building, sighing heavily. Spidey swung over next to him, wringing his hands and pacing frantically.
“Oh shitshitshit everything is in that backpack! I can't do my homewo-- Uh. I can't do anything without it….”

Johnny bit his lip, looking around the roof. Suddenly something caught his eye, and he burst into flames excitedly. “Look! Over there!” A small corner of black canvas was peeking out from under an air conditioning unit.

Spidey jumped up, running over. “YES!” He shouted, pulling out a black Jansport backpack and jumping up and down wildly. “Thank god! Johnny Storm, you are a miracle!” He waved the backpack over his head, dancing around the roof before rushing to Johnny and pressing his lips against his.

When they broke apart, they were both grinning wildly. Johnny’s heart soared as he drank in the sight of Spidey’s brighter-than-sunshine smile. Still grinning, Spidey shouldered his backpack and pulled his mask back down to his chin.

“Seeya later, Flames for Brains!” He called, skipping to the edge of the roof.

Johnny waved enthusiastically. “Bye, Webhead!”

He watched as Spidey shot a strand of webbing and leapt off the roof, swinging across the city.
Still smiling goofily, he turned to go before something caught his eye. Under the same air conditioning unit…. there was something else there. Furrowing his brows, Johnny edged closer and peeked underneath, pulling out… a notebook? It was one of those cheap spiral notebooks that every high school student has about a hundred of. It had a red cardboard cover, and Johnny couldn’t help but smile at a the doodle on the front of a spider with googly eyes and a lopsided grin.

The notebook was battered and ripped, probably from being stuffed in….

Johnny gasped.

From being stuffed in a backpack. It must have fallen out of Spidey’s backpack when he grabbed it! Johnny bit his lip and looked around the roof, unsure of what to do. Spidey was long gone, but he would surely need this… wouldn't he? Johnny frowned. Why would Spidey even need a spiral notebook? He opened the front cover gingerly, trying not to rip it off completely, as it was already barely hanging on to the flimsy metal rings that held it together. And there, on the inside of the front cover, in bright red pen….

A phone number.

Johnny stared at the numbers written there until his vision blurred.

Holy shit.

Johnny had Spider-Man’s phone number.

Chapter Text

An hour later, back in his room at the Baxter Building, Johnny stared at the number until his eyes blurred. He hadn’t looked at the rest of the notebook yet, feeling too nervous at would he would discover about Spidey’s personal life. He stood up and began to pace, his hands igniting and quickly extinguishing every so often. He was being silly, right? It might not even be Spidey’s phone number. The notebook could belong to a friend. Or maybe… maybe Spidey asked for someone’s number and they wrote it in his notebook. The longer Johnny thought about it, the more he felt sick with nervousness. Surely he was overreacting, though. There was no way that Spider-Man would write his own phone number in a notebook where anyone could find it. But… Johnny looked at his own cell phone. There was only one way to find out. He took a deep breath and rapidly punched the number into his phone and pressed the call button. His heart was hammering so loudly in his chest that he feared whoever answered the call would hear it.

After three rings, he began to think that nobody would answer, and he was hit with a staggering mixture of both disappointment and relief.

Suddenly, the phone made a clicking noise, indicating that someone had picked up, and a voice spoke, surprising Johnny so much that he almost choked on his own air.

“Hi, this is Peter! Who is this?”

Heart thudding, Johnny hung up as fast as he could and slammed his phone onto his bed as half his body suddenly erupted into flame. He stared at the phone, his eyes wide and his breathing fast and slightly panicked. Johnny would know that voice anywhere. There was no mistaking it-- it had been the voice of Spider-Man.

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A half hour later, Johnny was still pacing wildly. “Why did I hang up so fast? Oh, my god.” Johnny sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. Peter. The name sent a thrill down Johnny’s spine. Peter. That was Spidey’s real name. Despite his distress, Johnny smiled. He knew his real name! Then his smile sank. Spidey would probably need the notebook…. which meant Johnny would have to call him back. But if Johnny recognized Spidey’s voice as easily as he did, Spidey would definitely recognize Johnny’s. And what if Spidey would be mad at him for finding his phone number? He groaned, flopping backwards onto his bed, staring at the glow in the dark stars glued to his ceiling and listening to Sue sing along to that oldies radio station that she liked.

Each night I ask the stars up above… Why must I be a teenager in love?

Johnny bit his lip in concentration. Suddenly something occurred to him, and he sat up so fast his head spun. Of course! Sue!

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Fifteen minutes later, Sue stood in Johnny’s room, her eyebrows raised skeptically. “You want me to do what?”

Johnny sighed in exasperation. “I want you to call Spider-Man and pretend like you found his notebook on the street and you don’t know that it belongs to Spider-Man. Tell him that you’ll give it to him tomorrow morning, but actually I will be the one to give it to him, so I can finally find out what he looks like, and we won’t be outside so he doesn’t have to worry about Google Earth.” Johnny smiled triumphantly.

Sue still looked skeptical. “You want me to trick Spider-Man… so you can find out his identity.”

Johnny furrowed his brows. “When you put it that way, it sounds kind of rude.”

Sue began to roll her eyes, but suddenly she paused, looking thoughtful. “Wait… isn’t Spider-Man the guy you have a massive crush on?”

Johnny sighed. “Yes. Which is why I need to know who he is! Please, Sue! I know you love this kind of romantic crap.” Suddenly he frowned. “Geez, my entire life is a bad romantic comedy right now…”

Sue bit her lip, obviously torn between being a mature role model and taking a leading role in Johnny’s romantic comedy. She threw up her hands. “Fine! Fine. I’ll do it.”

Johnny jumped up and down and threw his arms around his sister, then pumped a fist in the air. “Yes!”

Sue shook her head. “Oh, I am gonna regret this.”

-----------------------------------

Sue punched the number into her own phone, since Johnny didn’t think Spidey--Peter-- would answer if he called again two hours after hanging up abruptly the first time.

“You know what you need to say?” Johnny looked over her shoulder expectantly as she typed in the last digit.

“Yeah, you only told me about a thousand times.” Sue sighed, hitting the call button. “Are you sure he’ll even pick up? It’s almost midnight.”

Johnny shrugged, but his stomach tightened with nervousness. “Put it on speaker.”

Johnny’s heart leapt when there was an answer on the second ring.

“Hello?” The familiar voice said.

“Hi, this is, uh, Susan. I found a notebook with this number in it when I was walking back from work, and I thought you might need it?”

There was a relieved sigh on the other end. “Oh, my god, thank you! I need that for school. I don’t need it until Wednesday, though, so do you think you could drop it off on Wednesday morning? I’ll text you my address.”

“Sounds great! I’ll have my brother take it over there. ” Sue hung up, glaring at Johnny pointedly. “I am never doing that again.”

Johnny grinned as she left the room. “Thanks Sis! I love you!”

Alone again, Johnny looked at the notebook. Wait… had Spidey actually said that he needed the notebook… for school? He bit his lip, then grabbed the notebook and plopped onto his beanbag chair. He looked at the little spider doodle on the cover and then opened it, looking again at the phone number scrawled in red in. Taking a deep breath, he turned the first page. In the top right corner, written in pencil, was a name. Peter Parker. Johnny’s entire body burst into flame, and he threw down the notebook quickly so that it wouldn’t catch on fire.

“Peter Parker.” Johnny whispered to his empty room, testing out the words. It sounded perfect.

He picked the notebook up again and looked more closely at the title on the first page. “The Catcher in the Rye Questions.”

Johnny frowned. That was odd. He had read that book last year, when he had been a sophomore. He quickly flipped through the rest of the notebook, which seemed mostly like notes on grammar and other sophomore level books. But, on the very last page, something caught his eye.

The page was completely covered with doodles, so much that Johnny couldn’t even see the lines on the paper. But this time, it wasn’t googly-eyed animals or classroom items… the doodles were of all the things that Johnny and Spider-Man had done together.

There was a tiny drawing of Johnny smiling with a pizza box in his hand while Spider-Man held up a pizza slice. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches shaped like rocket ships and christmas trees. Little flaming hearts.

And, in the middle, the drawing that took up most of the page.

It was a sketch of the statue of liberty, but on the arm sat two figures, one in blue spandex, one in red, with their arms around each other. In the distance highlighter lights twinkled on little ink skyscrapers, and the two figures looked out at a colored pencil sunset of red, orange, and pink.

Johnny wasn’t sure how long he stared at the page. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Johnny. Johnny!”

Johnny snapped to attention, looking over to see Sue standing in the doorway. “Huh?”

“Jeez, Johnny, I’ve been calling your name for thirty seconds!”

Johnny shook his head slightly, trying to clear it. “Oh.”

Sue looked concerned. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah! I am a-okay! Never better!” He gave her his most brilliant smile. “So what’s up?”

Sue narrowed her eyes. “Oookay, well, Spider-Man texted me his address. I’m sending it to you.”
She held up her phone and exited the room.

Johnny bit his lip in semi-panic. How had he thought that he would just show up at Spidey’s house, uninvited and unexpected, like surprise! I know who you are! Make out with me!

No. He couldn’t. Johnny sighed. Tomorrow morning, he would take the notebook to Spidey’s house and just leave it at the door. And when Spidey was ready to reveal his identity to Johnny, he would! But Johnny would just have to be patient.

Johnny groaned and flopped onto the floor. Being a good person was no fun at all.

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In the morning, Johnny’s alarm woke him up at 6:30.

“What the HELL?” He groped around his nightstand blindly, trying to turn it off, but he only succeeded in knocking his alarm clock onto the ground, where it continued to beep at him tauntingly. “Agh!” He shot a stream of fire at the clock, melting it instantly. The beeping stopped.

Crap. That was the third clock this month.

He stared at the ceiling for a moment, trying to get the gears moving in his sleep-muddled brain. Why was he even awake right now?

Right! The notebook!

Johnny tried to get out of bed, but got tangled in his sheets and fell to the floor. Good thing there was nobody around to see that. Yikes.

Without even turning on the light, Johnny grabbed his phone and the notebook and prepared to go. He opted to just keep on his pajama pants and the t-shirt he had slept in, with his FF suit underneath. Besides, it wasn’t like there were gonna be a lot of people out right now, and he was pretty sure he was just wearing his plaid pajama pants.

Johnny left a note for Sue on the kitchen table in case she woke up before he got back and took the elevator down to the ground level.

Outside, the morning wind whipped against Johnny’s face, but he didn’t feel the cold, just ducking his head and continuing on. He opened his phone, looking for the address from Sue. Queens?!? He plugged the address into Google Maps. That was a two hour walk! Johnny groaned and started to take off his pajamas, revealing his suit underneath. Ok, flying it was.

Johnny flew most of the way before Google Maps said that it was only a ten minute walk the rest of the way, so he landed in a back alley and changed back into his pajamas before making his way back onto the street.

By now there were more people on the streets; businesspeople going to work and kids with binders and backpacks going to school. Oh, right. There was a high school around here, wasn’t there? Johnny had flown over it on his way here.

Some people gave him strange looks, probably because his hair was still smoking slightly.

A group of high school girls walking by looked him up and down before turning to each other and snickering as they passed him. Johnny whipped around to watch them go, opening his mouth to ask them what the hell was so funny--

WHAM!

Johnny bumped into a teenage boy who had been hurrying down the street, causing the boy to drop a stack of papers and Johnny to drop the precious red notebook.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” The boy hurried to pick up the papers, not looking up.

Johnny knelt down to help. “No, no, I’m the one who should be sorry. I totally slammed into you.” He tried to catch a glimpse of the boy’s face, but it was titled towards the ground, and his messy flop of brown hair covered up his eyes.

Johnny reached over to pick up the notebook, but the other boy was already picking it up. “Oh, uh, I’ll take--” Johnny stretched out his arm to grab it.

“Hey, this is my notebook!”

Everything froze. Johnny felt as though the earth had suddenly stopped turning, and the only thing he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat and the blood pounding in his ears.

The world was moving in slow motion as the boy, a confused expression on his face, looked up at Johnny for the first time.

Their eyes met, and Peter Parker’s eyes widened in recognition.

Brown eyes.

Brown, like freshly brewed coffee and melted dark chocolate, rich and warm and full of depth. Johnny tried to speak, but he choked on the words. He was lost in those eyes, trapped in their intense gaze. They were deep, dark pools, and Johnny was drowning in them.

The amount of times he had wondered, dreamed about what the the color of those eyes might be was innumerable.

Johnny moved closer, not caring that they were both still crouched on the ground. By now, the street had emptied completely. But, even if it had been swarming with people, Johnny wouldn't have even noticed anyway.

Peter didn’t move, his face a mass of conflicting emotions, as if his head was telling him to run, but his heart was telling him to stay.

Johnny took in every inch of Peter’s appearance, trying to commit every detail to memory. His eyes moved from those mesmerizing eyes to a slightly crooked nose flecked with a smattering of tiny freckles, and cheeks flushed bright pink. Those soft, perfect lips that Johnny had come to know so well, and that familiar jawline.

Johnny’s eyes roved over Peter’s clothing, which looked as if he had thrown together whatever was in his closet at the last minute. A faded navy blue NASA t-shirt was layered over a long sleeved t-shirt with rainbow stripes, and his black jeans had a tear in the right knee that didn’t look intentional. His tattered, probably once bright red Converse high tops had royal blue shoelaces. He looked as if he had gotten dressed in the dark, and Johnny loved it. It was perfect. He was perfect.

But he was so young! And here Johnny had thought that he was college-age at the least. But this beautiful, perfect boy in front of him couldn’t have been more than sixteen.

Peter still hadn't said anything; he just stared.

Johnny took a deep breath. What would he even say? What would we even do?

“Uh… hi. Um.” Wow. That was smooth.

Peter looked down at the red notebook in his hands, then looked back at Johnny, his eyes widening even further as he realized what must have happened.

“Y-You… You know me?” Peter asked cautiously, sounding breathless.

Johnny smiled softly, suddenly feeling shy. “I know that you can eat literally twenty peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in one sitting. And I know that you’re brave, and kind, and funny; and as of today, I know that you’re the actual hottest person I have ever laid eyes on.” He grinned. “Dude! You were holding out on me! Now I have to make up for all the staring-romantically-into-your-eyes that I’ve missed out on.”

Peter blushed. Now that Johnny could see all of his face, he noticed how the blush crept up his cheeks and across his nose, turning his entire face a vivid pink.

Johnny brushed a stray hair away from Peter’s forehead. “I’m serious!” He said softly. “You’re amazing. I already knew the Amazing Spider-Man, but now I can get to know the Amazing Peter Parker.”

Peter grimaced. “He’s not really all that amazing.”

“Well, I think he is. Peter Parker is an amazing human being. You’re an amazing human being.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed. “Did you look in my notebook for my name? Wait, why am I even asking that. Of course you did. But how did you even have my notebook anyway? It was some lady who called me…” Realization seemed to dawn on him suddenly. “Oh, my god. Was that Sue? Did you have Sue call me?”

Johnny pursed his lips. “Um. Hm. No?”

“Johnny!”

“Look, I found the notebook last night after you left, and there was a phone number in it, so I called it, but when you answered I panicked and hung up really fast, so then I had Sue call you.”

Peter raised an eyebrow. “Wow.”

Johnny shrugged. “Not my proudest moment. But I was actually on my way to just drop it off at your apartment. I didn’t think you would actually be awake right now, since, I mean… why? Nothing important has ever happened before eleven o’clock! Check the history books!”

“Um…” Peter looked doubtful. “Actually, you know what? I’m not even going to argue that point right now.” He bit his cheek. “What were we talking about? Oh, right. I don't want to be up this early. It’s just because of…” He stopped suddenly. “School! Oh shit, I’m gonna be late!” He started to get up, but Johnny put his hands on his shoulders, pushing him back down.

“Woah, woah. Jeez, slow down for a second. Like I said, I have a lot of looking-at-your-beautiful-face time to make up for! But also… are you actually in high school? How old are you?”

Peter sighed. “Yeah. I’m fifteen, actually.”

Johnny couldn’t help it, he broke into a huge smile,
grinning from ear to ear.

“What?!! Dude! You’re younger than me?!? I thought you were, like, old! Oh my god!”

Peter made a face. “Really? I’m almost two inches shorter than you.”

Johnny shrugged. “I’m self-absorbed. I don’t notice my surroundings.”

Peter looked Johnny up and down. “Obviously. What are you wearing?”

Johnny looked down at his own outfit for the first time, and almost wished he hadn’t. Oh. The odd looks and the snickers made sense now.

He was wearing an oversized white t-shirt that Ben had gotten him as a joke years ago, with the words “I SURVIVED MY TRIP TO NYC,” followed by a drawing of a bright yellow taxicab driven by a frowny-faced stick figure; and his pajama pants were bright pink with a Hello Kitty print.

Johnny pursed his lips. “Ah. Yes. It, uh, seems that I am not, in fact, wearing the plaid pajama pants.”

Peter smiled, and Johnny thought his heart would melt right then and there. “You’re an idiot.”

Johnny stood up and pulled Peter to his feet with him. Johnny took a step back and spun around with his arms out. “Do you like it? I think I’m gonna start a fashion line.”

Peter bit his lip, fighting off a grin. “Of course. You can call your line Johnny Shitstorm.”

Johnny gasped indignantly. “How dare you??!?”

“Actually, your shirt is amazing and I actually need it. Also, the only way I’m going to let you date me officially is if you give me your pajama pants.”

“Well, guess I’m not gonna date you then,” Johnny shrugged.

The insulted look on Peter’s face was almost comical. “Well, you know what? I don’t even--”

Johnny didn’t let him finish. He grabbed Peter’s face in his hands and pressed his lips against his, feeling Peter’s sharp intake of breath as he startled and tensed, then relaxed as he melted into Johnny. Johnny ran his fingers through Peter’s hair and down his neck, luxuriating in the feel of his skin and the taste of his lips, like peach chapstick and green tea. His hair smelled like lavender.

“How… do you smell so good…” Johnny breathed softly, pulling his lips from Peter’s momentarily.

The warm, contented expression on Peter’s face was adorable. How had he been hiding that face behind a mask? Ugh, Johnny had been missing out.

“Does this mean I get your pajama pants now?” Peter murmured.

Johnny grinned and ran his hand along the side of Peter’s face. Peter leaned into his touch, his eyelids fluttering.

“You’re so cute.” Johnny whispered.

Peter blushed. “Shut up.”

“No, seriously! I officially hate Google Earth for stopping me from looking at your adorable face!”

Peter rolled his eyes, trying to look unimpressed but barely fighting the smile that twitched at his lips. Their faces were just inches apart.

Johnny shook his head, leaning in again. “Right. Shutting up.”

-----------------------------------

The next day, when Aunt May saw Peter come home, grinning triumphantly, in Hello Kitty pajama pants and a New York City souvenir shirt that was two sizes too big for him, she decided it would be better not to question it.