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“Wow,” Johnny gasped out, flushed and panting.
Peter kissed his way up Johnny’s chest before tucking himself against his side.
“Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week.”
Johnny snorted. “I think you’ve just sucked my brains out of my dick and I’m pretty sure there was something I had to remember today.”
“Oh well.” Peter burrowed against him more, tracing a spider web pattern on Johnny’s abs like the huge dork that he was. “There’s always tomorrow.”
“That’s not a very responsible attitude, Spidey.” Johnny smiled. It still didn’t feel real, this new development. It was early on, just a few months, but Johnny was beginning to feel alive again after the Negative Zone.
He groped for his phone. “Ah, good, it’s in my calendar.”
Ask Pete about the thing.
That didn’t sound right but he was too blissed out to be thinking coherently.
Johnny paused. “Uh, what’re your thoughts on Ben?”
Peter’s hand slid lazily down Johnny’s stomach, making him shiver. “Ben Grimm? Pile ‘o rocks, good guy. Needs a new catchphrase. Is there a reason you’re thinking about The Thing after that orgasm? Because if you’re angling for a threesome, hot stuff, I’m gonna have to put my foot down.”
“Ugh,” Johnny groaned. “You’re the worst.”
“Mmhmm.” He rolled Johnny on top of him and gripped his ass, spreading his cheeks.
If there was something else Johnny was supposed to ask him it was all forgotten as he rode Peter’s cock, head thrown back in a laugh as Peter’s fingertips tickled his ribs.
His laughter trailed off on a moan when Peter gripped him tighter, lifting Johnny easily up and down on his dick.
“Not thinking about Ben now, are you, hot stuff?”
Johnny moaned loudly, head dropping forward. “I hate you, I really truly do.”
“Nah,” Peter said, thrusting up harder. “You love me.”
Johnny really, truly did.
_____________________
Eventually, he remembered. Well, no, Reed reminded him.
Peter was unimpressed, standing in the middle of his apartment in Queens with his arms crossed over his chest.
“You’re leaving,” he said, voice flat.
“For four and a half minutes! On your end, anyway. C’mon, Pete. You filled in before and you were great. I know you’ve still got that hideous suit in the back of your closet.”
“Yeah, because you were dead.”
Johnny winced, the memory all too raw.
“And you gave me your family!” Peter exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “What was I supposed to do? And now, months after you come back, and when we’re — we’re now us, you’re doing this to me again.”
“I’m not.” He grabbed onto Peter’s hands that were still in the air and squeezed. “I swear I’m not. I’m coming back, it’ll be less than five minutes and then we’ll get pizza and makeout on a rooftop.”
Peter arched an eyebrow.
“Yes, it’ll be from the correct Ray’s, alright?”
Peter sighed and laced their fingers together. “I mean it, Johnny. I can’t be your replacement again, thinking you’re— just come back, okay?”
Johnny stepped in close and brought their foreheads together. “You can’t get rid of me again that easily, Parker. I just — think I need this, you know?”
Johnny paused and took a deep breath. “Things have felt weird with my family since I’ve been back. I think this might be the reconnection I need. And if I can get that and only leave you for less than five minutes? Well, I call that a win-win.”
“I call that ‘sounds too good to be true’.”
“I trust Reed, Pete.”
Peter sighed. “Yeah, I know. I trust him, too.”
Their lips met, softly.
When they pulled back, the tension in Peter had eased some. “Alright, flamebrain, you win. I’ll dust off the damn suit.”
“If you must,” Johnny sighed, a smile tugging at his lips. And then they were kissing again.
_____________________
“C’mere, baby,” Johnny leered, eyebrows waggling. They were on the rooftop of the Baxter Building, saying their goodbyes.
“Ugh, you’re really milking this, aren’t you? I am not some war bride.”
Still, Peter let Johnny kiss him, but drew the line at the attempted dipping.
“Screw pizza and rooftops, we’re doing some afternoon delight.” Peter nipped at Johnny’s ear as he pulled him in for a hug, sending a shiver through him. “Gotta remind you who’s the boss around here.”
“Okay, Tony Danza.” Johnny was smiling, though. He could never stop smiling around Pete. “We can still include that rooftop, though. Just sayin’.”
“Four and a half minutes!” Peter called out as Johnny boarded the ship.
“Four and a half minutes!” he promised, looking at Scott, Jen, and Medusa, who all seemed as apprehensive as Peter.
He turned back at the last second. “I love you!” Johnny shouted as the door was closing.
“I know!”
At least he got his Star Wars moment.
_____________________
Nearly one year later, the blue area of the moon
Johnny’s long overdue reunion with Peter got even further delayed, in favor of everything with Old John.
(“Four and a half minutes?” Peter had said, leaning against the brick with his arms crossed and looking like everything Johnny had been missing, even in the old black and white suit.
“Would you believe it if I said I got caught in traffic?” Johnny replied, keeping it light lest he break down and cry right there on the Baxter Building roof.)
Johnny lost track of Peter on the blue area of the moon and wound up with Wyatt as he manned the barbecue.
“They’re good friends, aren’t they?” Wyatt mused, watching Ben and Jen. Johnny rolled his eyes fondly. Clearly he’d missed that rekindling while he was gone.
“And that’s all they’ll ever be. There’s only one gal for Benjamin J. Grimm. He just doesn’t want to admit it.”
“And how about Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm? How many gals are there for him?”
His eyes caught on Peter, talking to Medusa. Fear gripped him hard. “None. Hopefully just one guy.”
Wyatt’s hand came down on his shoulder, squeezing gently. “Yeah, I know. I had to learn about it from Jennifer. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me, John.”
“Sorry, old buddy. To be honest, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
I still am.
“And uh, you don’t exactly know who’s under the mask.”
“Well, if he’s going to be in your life in this capacity maybe that can change.”
Johnny hummed. “I— what if I blew it? I left him again, Wyatt. I promised I wouldn’t.”
“I think you’re looking too hard for excuses, Johnny. There’s only one way to find out.” He pushed Johnny in the direction of Peter.
“Hey, you better not let those burn.” Johnny nodded to the burgers, reluctantly relinquishing his spatula. “I’ve got a reputation to protect.”
Wyatt took it from his outstretched hand. “Uh-huh, Mr. Celebrity Chef.”
Johnny’s eyes lit up. “Hey now, that's not a bad idea!” He held his hands up like a banner. “Johnny Storm: Celeb Chef Extraordinaire.”
Wyatt gave him a fond sigh and pushed him again. “Go!”
Johnny went.
“This moon rock taken?” he asked as he sidled up to where Pete was now sitting, alone.
Peter looked up and then gave him a once over. Johnny hated how unreadable the mask could be. “Nice apron. You actually left your post? I’m shocked.”
“I think you liked my other one more. And correction: I was bullied into giving it up.” He sat next to Peter, bumping his shoulder. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself, hot stuff. Nice moon bash.”
“The kids wanted it and I missed them.”
They were both quiet for a moment.
“I missed you,” said Johnny. “Every day.”
Peter let out a heavy sigh and Johnny felt his heart begin to crack.
“I missed you, too. And you really suck at keeping promises.”
Johnny’s head snapped up and he looked over at Pete. He’d rolled up the mask so Johnny could see the beginnings of a crooked smile.
“I’m sorry, Spidey. I really am.”
Peter sighed again. “I know. Once we knew you were alive it got easier. Old John was — weird, but kind of comforting. I kept trying to get stuff out of him, but he wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“Ah. That’s because he was me but not me. He had some of my memories, though.”
“Oh. He kept looking at me strangely so I guess he, uh, saw some stuff.”
Johnny laughed. “Well. You occupy a lot of my thoughts so I’m not surprised.”
“What thoughts?” Peter joked even as his hand found Johnny’s.
Johnny let out a shuddery breath. “I— I thought maybe I’d come back and find out you’d moved on. Maybe found comfort in Medusa—”
Peter let out an outraged noise.
“Or Scott; he’s an attractive, older man. You’ve got the whole insect thing in common.”
“Johnny—”
“Or, you know, one of the million gorgeous women in your life. I screwed up, Pete. I let you down and I shouldn’t expect you to wait around for me. I’m not — I’m—”
Johnny faltered and Peter turned to him, took his face in his hands.
“Johnny, shut the hell up. You haven’t lost me. I missed you every single second you were away and next time you take off for ‘four and a half minutes’ I’m commandeering a spot next to you. Also I’m pretty sure Scott has something going with Darla Deering now. And spiders aren’t insects, for the millionth time.”
“Huh,” he said regarding Darla, even as he teared up. Johnny had been supposed to go on a date with Darla, arranged by his PR guy, prior to the battle that nearly killed him again and led to life-affirming sex with Peter.
She and Scott would be good together.
“You look ridiculous when you do air quotes in the costume, you know.” He tried to inconspicuously wipe his eyes.
Peter smiled and brushed away a stray tear. “Uh-huh. Besides, who knows what I might’ve gotten into if I hadn’t been preoccupied with the FF. Now c’mere already, hot stuff. I’m owed my war bride welcome home kiss.”
Johnny couldn’t deny him that.
His lips were tingling when they broke apart. Johnny could hardly wait to get Peter alone on his large, soft bed that he’d definitely missed. Preferably for forty-eight straight hours.
“Wyatt wants to meet you, by the way,” Johnny said as Peter kissed his way up his neck.
“Wyatt’s already met me,” Peter mumbled.
“No, like as my boyfriend. Sans mask.”
Boyfriend. It still felt weird to think. And he hadn’t screwed it up. He hadn’t been left for something better.
“Oh god.” Peter groaned into his neck. “Am I gonna get the shovel talk?”
“Most likely.”
Peter made another despairing noise, but Johnny could tell his tension was from something different. An old, deep-seated fear.
“I trust him with my life, Pete. Moreover, I trust him with yours. And all those close to you.”
Peter relaxed a little, silent for a few moments, considering. “Okay, firefly. If it means that much to you we can let him into the club. I’ll even put on a tie.”
“Only if I can pick it out.”
“Asshole.”
“But you love me,” Johnny preened. It felt so good to say that and actually believe it.
“Enough to wait four and half whole minutes for you,” Peter deadpanned before pulling him into a kiss worthy of the silver screen.
The end.