Chapter Text
Peter Parker couldn’t say that what he felt was lonely. It was more isolated. Everyone loved him, god they loved him. Yet nobody knew that they loved him. He knew it was technically his fault. He was the one that didn't want anyone knowing his identity because of others' privacy and his own but god, did he really regret that some days.
He of course knew it was for the best at the end of the day but moments like these really made him wish it wasn't. His pen doodled away at his paper as he waited for the extra person from a project group too big for the assignment to come up to him and begrudgingly ask to work with him. He could already feel the heat of embarrassment inch its way up his neck and ears.
His head found its way to his hand and he let out a huff of slight aggravation. He really wished he could be anywhere else right now. God, he hated school. Not because of the work, he loved the work. It was the people. He was social enough on patrol. So did he really have to be social here?
Everybody knew who Peter was but nobody knew peter. Well, one person did but he was too busy being a hot shot, figuratively and metaphorically, to be seen with him.
Johnny storm.
The name always made Peter's chest squeeze in a way that hurt. Once upon a time, the two had been best friends. Johnny had been so caring. He always would include Peter and sought him out to talk about the smallest things. Sue could never separate the two. Of course when the whole incident happened it changed a lot. They all changed a lot. Johnny grew too busy for Peter once he moved to california and Peter, well he just accepted it. The day that Johnny showed up on the news with his family talking about what happened to them, Parker knew that Johnny wouldn’t be just his anymore. Peter felt his eyes burn with the urge to get emotional over the past but he shoved the urge away.
It didn't take him much longer to realize that whoever his partner was supposed to be wasn't in class today. Instead of sitting around and drawing, he decided to be responsible in a way and start doing the assignment for them. He grabbed his laptop out of his bag and opened the slides they were supposed to be working on. It was for his forensics class so the work would be pretty light considering he was obsessed with the class. He felt that it would help with all the hero work he does on the side but he couldn’t help falling in love with the subject as a whole.
After what had felt like only 10 minutes, the bell rang. Peter packed all his things up quickly before speed walking to his next class. Being halfway across the building and just wanting to avoid the busy hallways where people forget about their surroundings, he never loses his stride. Well, that was until another person's shoulder slammed into his own. He let out a grunt but barely lifted his gaze and just tried to keep going. He couldn’t stand how people acted in the hallways. It was something that irritated him most about school. If you asked him he would say that he'd rather just crawl on the ceiling to avoid it.
Peter as per usual reached his class quickly. His teacher glanced over before flashing a smile. “Good morning Mr.Parker.” Peter gave a small nod of his head before finding his seat. To pass all the time that still had to go, he grabbed his phone and scrolled on instagram. Post from classmates' accounts popped up and would show them out partying and hanging out with friends or traveling different places. He did feel a bit envious of the fun that others got to have but then again he knew what he was getting into when he decided to become spiderman.
He had been so quick to accept what he thought was his responsibility and he gave up a lot for that. Thinking it through fully hadn’t been his biggest worry back then. He only really thought of positives that could come out of it. He never even had the idea that it could ruin his life.
…
Okay even he can admit that “ruin” was a bit much. He liked being able to save people. He lived to help others. He just hadn’t thought that he would end up feeling worse than before when he wasn’t in the suit.
Maybe he should see a therapist.
Nah. Too expensive.
~
Johnny Storm.
His name was known all throughout the state. Well, his and a few others if he wasn’t to be self centered. He still couldn’t really tell if the fact that people knew him or not was a good thing or bad.
It was that type of situation where everyone knew johnny and would bring up how “You asked for my playdoh in first grade!”, “You gave me your highlighter that one time!”, “You held the door open for me years ago!”, blah blah blah. It did get on his nerves how all of a sudden people that hadn’t cared to surround themselves with him were bringing up these stupid situations he had no memory of. It was getting to the point he couldn’t do nice every day things for people since they felt as if it was a sign that he was trying to be their friend or with them. He's a hero for christ sake can he not be nice?
He could complain as much as he wanted but it’s Johnny Storm. The Human Torch. It fueled his ego to Saturn and back most of the time.
Right before he stepped out of the Baxter building he took a breath. As much as he did love all the eyes on him it could get pretty tiring. After successfully sikeing himself up, he made his way out and towards the car. The chauffeur they had glanced at him before driving off towards his new school, Midtown high school.
They had just moved back to New York after some very hard convincing from Johnny. Don’t get him wrong, he loved cali but it hadn’t been the same. It hadn’t been his home. New York was the place that he had been born and raised. It was where he got to meet the most important people of his life and he missed it.
When they pulled to the front of the school Johnny saw crowds of people standing outside with their cameras and microphones. As soon as they had seen the car they started swarming around it, shouting his name as if it would get him out of the car any faster. He got out of the car though, shielding his face from the cameras and flashes of light, and sprinted into the building.
Johnny quickly went to the office to get all the information he would need about his schedule and where to go. He stepped in awkwardly, standing in the doorway for a moment before clearing his throat. “Uh, I'm Johnny Storm. I was told to stop in to grab all my information for today.” “Oh, Yes! Mr. Storm!” the lady sitting behind the desk would smile at him before handing over a few sheets of paper. “This has your student ID, schedule, and different requirements for the school year and upcoming school year. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask okay?” Johnny nodded and briefly scanned over the stuff he was handed before making his way out and trying to hunt down his first class.
As he was walking he was reading over the different things he would have to do to graduate when he glanced up and felt as though the air was kicked from his body because he swore that the man that just passed him was the one and only Peter Parker. His brain slow to react, didn’t have him turn around quickly enough to call out to the other boy. As he stood in the hallway, he couldn’t help but grow a little hopeful now. His best friend was here. He was here. He was home.
~
To say that Peter was more than relieved to finally be out of school would be an understatement. He all but practically sprinted his way back to the avengers building. He would’ve swung his way back but with zero suit and mask it would’ve given everything away.
As soon as the elevator dinged and the doors opened to the main living space for everyone Peter had been greeted by Thor. “Man of spiders! How was your day of learning?” Peter grinned and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl that Tony had put on the counter since it “looked better.” “It was as usual. Nothing to write home about.” “You could’ve called.” Tony’s voice was heard from behind him and he watched as he walked with Doctor Strange following behind him. “I would’ve gotten you out of school.”
“Nah it was fine. Really. Plus we started a new project in forensics so I got to work on that when I was bored.” Peter's answer caused Tony to frown a bit and let out a sigh. “Alright kid. Just know you can call me if you need and I'll come get you.” His hand ruffled up the teens hair and Peter just smiled, not bothering to fuse over his already messed up hair. “I know. Thanks Tony.”
It had been overly strange to the teen at first when Tony Stark was talking with him for the first time. It almost sent the poor kid into shock. Luckily for him though the two grew pretty close and when Aunt May passed away in a villain attack, leaving Peter alone, Tony stepped up and took on the role as his guardian. It hadn’t been very public information but they all preferred it that way. Save the kid from being bombarded by paparazzi on his regular day life.
“Okay well i'm gonna go do my homework.” “yeah you go do that brainiac.” Tony would tease him even though it was common knowledge to every living being that he was at least twenty times smarter than Peter was. “See you later!” Peter shouted as he rushed off to his room.
He flew the door open, slinging his bag off to the corner as he closed the door behind him. He sat at his desk, turning his small lamp on that helped him see what he was working on. His latest project was adjusting his avengers watch so that it could connect with the local police radios and alert him of nearby emergencies while also keeping him in touch with everyone on the team.
As he tinkered away he couldn’t help but grow antsy and felt the urge to go swinging. It was the best thing he could get after a long day and needing to decompress from being at school. Luckily for him, he finished with what he had to adjust. Now, was just testing it out. So Peter quickly ran and got his suit on, putting the watch on as well. He opened the window to his room and stared down at the buildings below before shooting a web out and leaving the building.
As he swung around he felt the watch vibrate and when he glanced at it he saw what the situation was. A mugging. It should be easy enough. The teen had dealt with what felt like a million muggings before.
After swinging to the street that was said on the report he used his spider senses to figure out where exactly it was taking place. He was quick to find the struggling woman trying to plead with the mugger about letting her go. “Hey buddy. Have you ever heard about a loan?” Spider-man would joke but it would only cause the man to grow irritated, whipping around and trying to hit Peter with the pistol in his hand.
Thankfully for the teen but unfortunately for the man trying to steal from the women, Peter had spider senses and was able to web the man's hand away, knocking the gun out of his hand. The man grew shocked as he quickly became defenseless. Before he could try to run away though he found himself webbed to the side of the building and angrily spewing hateful words towards the masked heroes' way.
Peter ignored the mugger and focused on the civilian woman. “Are you alright ma’am?” “Yes!” She quickly stammered out in shock. “Thank you so much Spider-man!” “It’s just my job.” Peter would smile and he could tell how it eased the woman's nerves when she saw it through the way his lens shaped on his mask. Before another word could be said though, he heard the sound of police sirens and quickly said goodbye before fleeing the area. He couldn’t really stick around considering the whole vigilante thing he had going on.
He would swing around the town for a while before he decided to stop on his favorite spot. Lady Liberty. He would use the different boats on the water to swing to it, landing on the part of her torch that was fenced in, below the flame. He loved it up there. Away from people, away from the noise, away from the chaos. A quiet play on the loud world he lived in.
As he sat there, breathing in the air and giving himself a moment to relax, his spider senses had failed to alert him of the new hero in town sneaking up near him. The only reason he grew aware was the heat of the flames soaking into his suit. His eyes opened and he saw Johnny Storm flying above him. “Uh, Hey?” Peter mumbled out in slight shock as Johnny crossed his arms and stared down at him. “Hey. You’re Spider-man aren’t you?” The lens on his mask would narrow a bit along with his eyes. “Yeah. Did you need something?”
Johnny didn’t say anything for a hot minute but sat down near the other hero, his flames disappearing. “Nope.” He would pop his p. “Just wanted to know the heroes of New York.” “Well you met one.” Johnny turned to face him but would just hum and face forward again, letting the silence soak into them.
~
Spider-man was so awkward.
He gave Johnny nothing to make a conversation about and now they were just sitting there. He had been hoping that he could just get to know the dude because he seemed cool but was given nothing to work with.
“So…” Johnny started and he glanced at the masked hero. “What's the whole deal with the secret identity?” Spider-man faced towards him with what looked like a ‘are you dumb?’ look and it made Johnny a little irritated. “Do you like having cameras shoved down your throat every second of your life?” The spider masked hero would say as if it was the most obvious answer ever. “Yeah.” Johnny would say just to be an ass but when the other hero wouldn’t look away with the same look on his face it took a very short amount of time for Johnny to cave, slumping back with an annoyed groan. “They're so annoying!” His hands found their way to his face rubbing his skin and messing up his hair. “I couldn’t even walk into school for the first time today before having questions about me being thrown left and right! ‘Johnny why didn’t you do this?’ ‘Johnny when is this?’ ‘Johnny who was that?’” The blond teen mocked the reporters and paparazzi.
That's when he heard it though. Spider-man laughing to himself from right next to him. Johnny stared for a moment before quietly laughing along at his own annoying impression. “Something funny?” He would say teasingly. “I just wouldn’t have thought you hated the attention so much. No offense but you seem like you’d overly like it most of the time.” Johnny huffed but smiled at him. “Nah. I hate it. It’s only good like five percent of the time.”
“I get what you mean. I have a reporter at the Daily Bugle that’s trying to convince everyone I'm like a government threat.” Johnny's eyes widened before he burst out laughing. “Are you serious?” Spider-man nodded his head and chuckled a bit. “Yeah. Constantly trying to make me into a disney villain or something.”
As the two sat and talked, Johnny felt like the anxiety that had been on his shoulders the last few days since they moved back was finally lifting. For whatever reason the other hero seemed to lift the pressure he was feeling. It was nice.
Maybe Spider-man wasn’t so bad.