Chapter Text
It was late on a Friday night, and the last light of the dying sun was just barely visible over the city skyline.
Peter was tired.
Not just normal, I-need-some-sleep tired, either. He was completely worn out. The kind of tired that settled deep into his bones after a week of swinging across New York, stopping bank robberies, catching criminals, getting thrown through walls, and still somehow trying to maintain the whole friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man image everyone seemed to expect from him.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was school.
Homework.
Exams.
Trying to be a decent kid.
Trying to keep Aunt May from worrying about him.
Trying to keep his identity a secret.
And then there was Johnny.
Peter’s brain paused at that thought.
Johnny Storm.
His best friend.
His incredibly annoying, ridiculously attractive, constantly-flirting best friend.
His—
Peter stopped himself.
Friend.
Definitely friend.
Probably.
He sighed and looked out across the city from where he sat on the Statue of Liberty.
The wind tugged gently at his hair, carrying the distant sounds of the city beneath them. Cars. Sirens. People shouting somewhere far below. New York never really slept, and Peter supposed neither did he.
He’d gotten used to being tired.
He’d gotten used to hiding things.
For most of his life, Peter had been careful about what he let people know about him. Not just about Spider-Man, but about Peter. His thoughts, his fears, the things that kept him awake at night.
He didn’t trust people easily.
There were too many telepaths in his life for that.
But Johnny was different.
Peter didn’t really know when it had happened, but somewhere along the way, Johnny had become the person Peter could tell things to.
Almost everything.
They shared everything with each other.
And somehow, Peter felt safe doing it.
That was probably the dangerous part.
Because Peter Parker didn’t let people get close.
But Johnny Storm had somehow gotten close enough that Peter wasn’t sure where the line between friendship ended and something else began.
The sun had almost completely disappeared by the time Peter felt a familiar warmth settle against his left side.
He didn’t even need to look.
“Hi, Johnny,” Peter said flatly.
Johnny raised an eyebrow.
“Dang, Pete. How’d you know it was me?”
Peter turned his head slightly.
“Well, you’re hot, so—”
The words left his mouth.
Peter froze.
Johnny froze.
Peter’s eyes widened.
Oh.
Oh no.
Johnny’s flames suddenly flickered a little brighter around him.
For several seconds, neither of them said anything.
They simply stared at each other.
Peter could practically hear his own heartbeat.
Then Johnny snorted.
Peter cracked first.
They both burst into laughter.
“Okay, calm down, hothead,” Peter managed between laughs, his cheeks beginning to burn. “It wasn’t that serious.”
“Sure, Pete.”
Johnny’s grin was far too knowing.
Peter looked away.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was thinking it.”
“That’s worse.”
Johnny laughed again.
But underneath the joke, underneath the laughter, there was something neither of them acknowledged.
Because they both knew.
They both knew.
And, more importantly, they both felt it.
There had been moments lately.
Looks that lasted too long.
Hands that lingered.
Jokes that were becoming increasingly difficult to pass off as jokes.
Peter wasn’t stupid.
Johnny wasn’t either.
They wanted something.
They just had absolutely no idea what to do about it.
Because they were two idiot nineteen-year-olds who had somehow managed to become best friends while simultaneously developing the world’s most inconvenient mutual crush.
“So,” Johnny said eventually, deliberately breaking the silence, “do you want to scroll on TikTok with me while we eat pizza?”
Peter stared at him.
“Ugh.”
Johnny frowned.
“What?”
“Is grass green with chlorophyll B?”
Johnny blinked.
He stared at Peter’s face.
Peter stared back at him with the most ridiculous puppy-dog eyes imaginable.
“I…” Johnny slowly shook his head. “I don’t know what any of that means.”
Peter’s lips twitched.
“So I’m going to take that as a…”
He hesitated.
“…yes?”
Peter completely lost it.
He started laughing so hard he nearly dropped his slice of pizza.
“Yes, idiot!”
Johnny grinned.
“Okay, good.”
Peter shuffled closer and, without even thinking about it, rested his head against Johnny’s chest.
Johnny immediately wrapped an arm around him.
It was routine.
It was something they did all the time.
Peter didn’t even think twice about it anymore.
At least, he tried not to.
The two of them settled into comfortable silence, eating pizza and scrolling through TikTok.
For about fifteen minutes, they did nothing except doom-scroll and argue about increasingly stupid videos.
“That dog is definitely plotting murder.”
“Peter, it’s a golden retriever.”
“Exactly. Suspicious.”
“You’re paranoid.”
“You’re a human torch.”
“That’s not an argument.”
“It is in my head.”
Johnny laughed.
Peter smiled against his chest.
For a little while, everything felt normal.
Until Johnny suddenly stopped scrolling.
“Wait.”
Peter looked up.
“What?”
“Oh my God.”
Johnny turned the phone slightly toward him.
“I’ve seen these all over my FYP.”
Peter squinted at the screen.
It was a slideshow of pictures.
Johnny was about to scroll past it when Peter caught his wrist.
“Wait, I want to see.”
Johnny looked down at him with an amused smile.
Then his expression changed.
“Peter Parker.”
There was a teasing edge to his voice.
Peter immediately became suspicious.
“What?”
“I didn’t know you were a freak like that.”
Peter’s mouth fell open.
“Shut up. This is your FYP, not mine!”
Johnny laughed.
“Sure it is.”
“It literally is!”
“You’ve been caught.”
“I haven’t been caught doing anything!”
Johnny continued grinning as Peter tried to snatch the phone away.
“Nope.”
“Johnny.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“You’re so annoying.”
“You love me.”
Peter paused.
Johnny paused.
There it was again.
That little moment.
That tiny shift in the air.
Peter’s heart skipped.
Johnny cleared his throat.
“Anyway…”
He swiped.
Peter’s face immediately went pale.
The next image was accompanied by a ridiculously suggestive caption.
Johnny nearly choked on his pizza.
“Holy—”
Peter slapped a hand over his mouth.
“What the fuck is this?”
Johnny swallowed, trying desperately not to laugh.
“I don’t know!”
“Your algorithm is broken.”
“My algorithm is perfect.”
“That’s not something you should be proud of!”
Johnny looked at him.
Then, because Johnny Storm had apparently been put on Earth specifically to make Peter Parker’s life difficult, he put on the most exaggerated mock-flirtatious voice imaginable.
“Ugh, yeah, baby. Harder, harder—”
“Ew!”
Peter shoved his face into Johnny’s chest.
“Stop!”
Johnny was laughing now.
“Why, Petey?”
Peter refused to look at him.
“Because you’re disgusting.”
Johnny leaned closer.
“You imagining it?”
Silence.
Peter stopped moving.
Johnny stopped laughing.
The atmosphere changed so quickly that it almost felt like the temperature had dropped.
Peter slowly lifted his head.
Johnny was looking straight at him.
Neither of them spoke.
Peter’s mouth went dry.
Johnny’s teasing smile slowly disappeared.
Then his eyes widened.
“Oh my God.”
Peter’s face burned.
“I’ve seen you.”
“Shut up.”
“You actually were.”
“I said shut up.”
Johnny’s grin returned.
“Aww. It’s okay, Webhead.”
Peter groaned.
“We all know I’m irresistible.”
Peter elbowed him hard in the ribs.
“YOWUCH!”
“HA!”
Johnny laughed, rubbing his side.
Peter tried to hide his own smile.
“Well, wouldn’t you like to know, Flamebrain?”
Johnny stared at him for a second.
Then he smirked.
“Oh, I would.”
Peter rolled his eyes.
“You’re impossible.”
“And yet you’re still lying on me.”
Peter glanced down.
He was, in fact, still lying against Johnny’s chest, tucked underneath his arm like he had been for years.
He considered moving.
He didn’t.
Johnny didn’t move either.
They went back to their usual position as if nothing had happened.
As if the conversation hadn’t changed something.
As if the looks hadn’t lasted too long.
As if their hearts weren’t beating just a little faster than they had five minutes ago.
They went back to scrolling.
Back to eating pizza.
Back to arguing over stupid videos.
Back to pretending they were just best friends.
Because that was what they were.
Best friends.
Nothing more.
Probably.
Peter looked up at Johnny.
Johnny glanced down at him.
Their eyes met.
Neither of them looked away immediately.
And maybe that was the problem.
Because somewhere between the jokes, the late nights, the shared secrets, the comfortable silence, and the way Johnny always seemed to know when Peter needed someone beside him…
Something had changed.
Something neither of them was brave enough to name.
Peter rested his head against Johnny’s chest again.
Johnny tightened his arm around him.
Neither said a word.
The city continued glowing beneath them.
And for once, Peter didn’t care about the noise.
Didn’t care about Spider-Man.
Didn’t care about school.
Didn’t care about tomorrow.
For a few minutes, he just stayed there.
Safe.
Warm.
With Johnny.
And maybe that was why it was so confusing.
Because if this was friendship…
Why didn’t it ever feel like it was just friendship?
Was it ever casual?