How the hell does Parker know Johnny Storm?!

by bi_dergirl

Summary:

"We should keep our voices low so as to not disturb the Spider if he's sleeping" Danny said softly, illustrating his point by putting his fingers to his lips. For the millionth time today, Sam rolled his eyes. But he complied nonetheless. He wasn't a total monster okay? 

The others followed suit, taking care to move quieter than normal as they began moving around downstairs, looking for a sleepy, injured spider. 

"Who the fuck are you guys?"

Everyone's heads whipped around to face the unknown voice at the top of Peter's stairs. But the voice wasn't unknown.

"JOHNNY STORM?!"

 

a.k.a Peter and Johnny are in a wonderful relationship and neglected to tell pretty much everyone.

The first thing Peter thought when he woke up was how warm he was. The next was ow. 

"Stop wriggling" came a disgruntled but soft murmur against the back of his neck from both his source of warmth and daily annoyance.

"I can't help it" he replied "my side is itchy". He wrapped his hands around Johnny's arms that encircled his toned waist, rubbing them lovingly.

Johnny snorted "yeah that's what happens when you get stabbed in the side genius". Peter rolled over, gently to avoid aggravating his wound.

"Well it's not like I asked to get stabbed now is it?" he grunted, rolling his eyes. This debate over his self-preservation was as timeless as it was irritating...and touching. Johnny removed one his arms from Peter's waist to flick him lightly on the forehead for his sarcasm. 

"The fact that you contacted a grand total of zero of your many super-powered friends suggests otherwise Webhead" said Johnny, his concerned eyes betraying the playful smile he bore. Peter sighed internally. He knew he had a plethora of potential sources of back-up that he probably should've used in his battle with Doc Ock yesterday, including one Jonathon Storm, who he has to admit (in his head) would've been rather useful against Ock yesterday. But the luxury of time just wasn't on his side, leaving him a buzzsaw in the side for some lousy compensation.

"I know, I know" he sighed, aloud this time "how about this" he started, lifting his scarred hand to cup Johnny's sculpted cheek. "Next time a crazed maniac with buzzsaws for hands wants to skin me alive you'll be top of my contact list". Johnny grinned at him in response, brighter than the sunlight peeking through the curtains of his bedroom.

"Finally you're seeing things my way." he said, before kissing Peter's forehead with a tenderness he reserved for him and him alone. God, he love him. There was no one else who got Peter the way Johnny did. After all they were the very first teenage superheroes for a very long time so there was no one outside the two of them that understood what it was like to balance the relentless stresses of adolescence with the pressures of the hero life - or in Peter's case the vigilante/hero life. Peter just couldn't fall back on Aunt May or Harry or MJ or his team the way he could with Johnny. They couldn't dress his wounds and sympathise with his world record of near death experiences (through no fault of their own mind you) they way Johnny could because Johnny understood him. When it felt like no one could pull him out of the abyss of his mind, which is not a good place to be, Johnny was there with his enveloping hugs that Peter felt his safest in. When no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't reach the wounds on his back, Johnny was there with gentle hands and words of comfort. There were no lectures or reprimands like those he got from his team, he didn't have to pretend to be unwaveringly optimistic and have his life together like a good leader should because with Johnny he wasn't his team leader, he wasn't his childhood friend or family member. He was his boyfriend, he could just be Peter for a while. And he loved him for it. So fucking much. "What are you smiling about you menace?" questioned Johnny, a now genuinely playful smile on his face, as if he could read Peter's thoughts. Just in case Johnny wasn't secretly a mind reader Peter smiled again and replied.

"Just how much I love you". Johnny's smile widened and his blue eyes twinkled like illuminated crystals the way they always did when Peter told him he loved him. One of his hands raised to cup Peter's face and he stroked his cheek, mindful of the bruises there that hadn't quite healed yet, and kissed him sweetly before pulling away with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"That's kinda gay Peter."

Peter hit him with a pillow.

~~~

Johnny moved around the Parkers' kitchen as though he'd designed it himself, intimately familiar thanks to all the times he'd graciously decided to bless Peter with his cooking. He pulled out the ingredients he needed to prepare their lunch, ensuring he grabbed enough to satiate Peter's accelerated metabolism especially considering he'd torn his stiches whacking Johnny with a pillow. Convincing Peter to miss 1 day of school, SHIELD training and patrol had been hard enough, he doesn't want to imagine the hardship of convincing him to miss another. Stubborn bastard. So his healing is going to need all the help it can get and that's where Johnny's Michelin star cooking skills come in. He'd left Peter with his laptop and special noise cancelling headphones to do schoolwork because he's a nerd that way, a loveable nerd but a nerd nonetheless. A quality that inspired Johnny's current attire: a tank top reading I <3 HOT NERDS. Which matches with Peter's, arguably less loving I <3 HOT DUMBASSES tank top. Their relationship is cute that way. 

Johnny finished off Peter's lunch and set off to deliver it to him -because he spoils Peter and no one can tell you otherwise- when the doorbell rang. Johnny frowned to himself. Peter didn't say they were expecting any guests or deliveries today, did he? It rang again but Johnny assumed it was just a salesperson and he couldn't risk being recognised resulting in paparazzi swarm Peter's home. So, he shrugged and continued his trek upstairs to deliver Peter his lunch like the doting boyfriend he was. 

What Johnny found when he entered his boyfriend's room, quite frankly, should be illegal for being so cute. Peter was curled up under his covers, headphones on that had been designed specially for his enhanced hearing (and technically Daredevil's but mostly Peter's) and had a soft smile on his face. His laptop was closed on the floor and he was laying on the side that did not have stiches with his hair uncharacteristically curly from insufficient drying after Johnny helped him wash out blood and grime from the battle beforehand that had seeped in through his mask.

And he looked utterly adorable.

Johnny was going to melt, metaphorically of course. Silently, so as to not wake his sleeping beauty, he set the lunch he prepared for Peter on his bedside table. Kissing his lover on the forehead, Johnny prepared himself for the obstacle course through the clutter on Peter's floor when he heard the door creak open downstairs and hushed whispers he couldn't quite make out from voices he didn't recognise. Frozen in place, Johnny strained his ears to try and decipher what these potential robbers were saying, already planning the best way to take these guys down. Though he wouldn't be able to use his usual dramatic flair for the sake of preserving his identity. Although his fire may act as a deterrent for anyone that wanted to mess with Peter and his family.

And he wanted to do so damage to whoever these fuckers were.

Already coming up with some fabulous yet devastating one-liners, Johnny began his trek downstairs towards the intruders.

~~~

Sam was not having a good day. 

First he had to endure a horrific day of school, which included one of the worst Chemistry tests he's ever been forced to sit through. He's pretty sure his teacher hates him. But his day of torture school aside, now the wicked witch of the west (Ava), is forcing him to tag along with her, Danny and Luke to check on Webhead cause he was stupid enough to try and take on Ock by himself last night.

"Hurry up Sam, we don't have all day" yelled Ava, who everyone knew only really wanted to go check on Peter to scold him for going off on his own...again. Not that Sam can blame her. For whatever reason, Peter had an obsession with doing everything himself when he literally has the entirety of SHIELD's finest superteens to call upon. Maybe if he'd contacted one of them he wouldn't have ended up injured. Though it couldn't have been too bad if he refused SHIELD medical care - though he tends to do that regardless of his injury's severity. Still, Peter didn't show up to school today ,which is pretty unusual considering how he's shown up with worse injuries.

Sam shuddered. Making sure they didn't leave any of Peter's blood on the floor of the science classroom wasn't something Sam ever wanted a sequel to. 

So now he's here, walking down the street to the house he called his home for just under a year to make sure Peter isn't bleeding out over May's couch. Another incident Sam didn't want to repeat. The whole thing was proposed by Danny, who Sam thought gave their "fearless leader" too much slack. He said they should at least make sure he's doing alright and insisted Peter would do the same for us so it's only fair if we do too. Which, okay, fair. As much as he argued with him, Peter always made a point to check in on everybody. So now Sam was spending his afternoon making sure their resident Webhead hasn't tried to climb out a window or something equally as dumb. In the name of kindness of course.

~~~

"So whose knocking?" asked Luke once they'd arrived at the front door to the Parker residence.

"Who says we have to knock in the first place?" questioned Sam. They all knew May was away for the week on a trip with her Zumba class so it would have to be Peter answering the door and he was likely up in his room, unaware of their presence at his door and potentially unable to get down the stairs to answer it. 

"I believe knocking, even a small amount, to be necessary" replied Danny, ever the sensible one, "It would be unbecoming to barge in without alerting Peter to our presence prior to entry".  Sam rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but if he doesn't answer I'm picking the lock"

"As if you know how" Ava scoffed, reaching around them to knock at the door.

They waited for it to open and for a completely fine Spider-Man to be on the other side after hearing movement inside the house but no one answered the door. 

"That's odd" said Danny, a furrow forming between his blonde eyebrows. "Surely if our friend is awake and moving he should have heard our knocking." Once again, Sam rolled his green eyes and knocked again - more aggressively this time. 

"Come on Pete, we haven't got all day" he said, not too loudly so as to not disturb Peter's elderly neighbours but definitely loud enough for Peter's enhanced hearing. They waited in anticipation but still no answer came and the movement inside had stopped. Irritated, Ava shoved Sam out of the way and crouched in front of the door to pick the lock, Luke moving behind her to shield her actions from any nosy neighbours. The Nova Corp huffed "I could've picked it".

"Sure you could've" Ava replied, smugness flooding her voice as an audible click sounded. "Come on guys, let's go make sure Peter hasn't killed himself".

"Hopefully not" Sam replied, stepping over the threshold "I don't know how we'd explain that to May". The woman was very protective of her nephew and the last person Sam wanted to be on the receiving end of anger from, especially considering how close they became when they had to live with Peter after their old home blew up. And she was scary when she was angry. 

"We should keep our voices low so as to not disturb the Spider if he's sleeping" Danny said softly, illustrating his point by putting his fingers to his lips. For the millionth time today, Sam rolled his eyes. But he complied nonetheless. He wasn't a total monster okay? 

The others followed suit, taking care to move quieter than normal as they began moving around downstairs, looking for a sleepy, injured spider. 

"Who the fuck are you guys?"

Everyone's heads whipped around to face the unknown voice at the top of Peter's stairs. But the voice wasn't unknown.

"JOHNNY STORM?!" exclaimed Sam, in complete shock at seeing his idol in Parker's house?! How the hell does he know Peter and why didn't Peter tell him that he knew the literal Human Torch? 

"Maybe," shrugged who was definitely Johnny fucking Storm "you didn't answer my question though." he started walking down the stairs keeping his eyes locked on them the whole time. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" He demanded. Okay. What? Sam looked at his friends and teammates and was pleased to find that they too radiated confusion at the sight of the Human Torch in Peter's living room. Ava looked especially confused. Ha thought Sam, not so smug now are you?

Johnny raised a manicured brow at their silence, "Well?". 

Danny, naturally, was the first to regain his composure. "We are friends of Peter" he began, shifting slightly under Johnny's intense gaze "from school" he added.

Johnny scanned them again suspiciously, causing Ava to huff "We came here to check on him because he didn't come in today" before levelling Johnny's glare with one of her own (of which Sam was thrilled to not be on the receiving end of for a change). "What are you doing here, I didn't realise Peter hung out with superheroes in his spare time?" she questioned. Seemingly smug as Johnny looked worried for a second at potentially exposing Peter's connection to the hero world, before something seemed to click in his brain as he observed us again. 

"Yeah, you did" he sighed, before casually adding on "because that's what you are isn't it?". The team, including himself, froze at the (completely true) accusation. He...wasn't supposed to know that. Though it does make a sort of sense that one of the original superheroes would know their secret identities if Fury thought he should know or something. Unless Peter told him since they're apparently friends? In which case Sam was totally gonna yell at him for the breach of privacy later, and from the look on Ava's face so was she. Good, she was much scarier than Sam. 

"Peter told you?" Ava glared at Johnny, who didn't seem to flinch. Another reason why Sam thought he was the coolest person EVER. "Ugh I can't believe he would tell a stranger our identities that's a-"

"An insane breach of privacy?" questioned Johnny, though his tone wasn't at all sympathetic. "Kinda like how Fury just up and told you all his identity without his permission? Except Peter didn't tell me who you were, I just put the very obvious pieces together because contrary to popular belief I'm not a complete and total idiot." Oops.

"He does have a point" said a guilty looking Luke, either for realising their free pass at getting Peter's secret identity or for suggesting he would betray the team's trust so easily. Or both...Sam certainly felt guilty for both. "I mean my whole disguise is literally a pair of sunglasses".

Johnny gestured to Luke with exasperation lining his movements "Thank you". 

"Identities aside," started Danny "what are you doing here? Forgive our curiosity but we were unaware Peter was at all close to you." Johnny shifted at that, clearly debating his reply which only made Sam more curious to the relationship between him and Webs.

"That's because I didn't want you to be aware of it."

Everyone's gaze turned to, low and behold, Peter Parker himself with crazy bedhead and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Sam couldn't see any visible injuries on him though, so mission accomplished really. Johnny's gaze, in particular, softened immensely at the sight of their leader, his lips curling up into an easy smile at the sight of him. Which, okay, what?

"I thought you were still asleep" and Jesus Christ even his voice had softened, a stark contrast to the harshness it held when he was interrogating them. Peter smiled back, softer than Sam thinks he's ever seen him smile -what the fuck is going on?

Heads turned to him now instead, oops. "Did I say that out loud?" he asked. Peter snorted and nodded at him, making the rest of the journey down the stairs to face his befuddled teammates. And Johnny Storm. Who is in Peter's house. Purposely. Huh?

"Guys, this is Johnny" he began, staring honest to god LOVINGLY into the Human Torch's eyes "you may know him from his infamous 20 minute fail compilations to Wii music you can find on YouTube." Johnny swatted at him.

"Fuck off Webs, you have far more compilations than me." he laughed when his expression suddenly turned more serious "how are your stiches?" Peter rolled his eyes (okay Sam thought we're back into familiar territory now, or would be if it weren't for the warm smile plastered on his face). 

"They're fine, Torchy" lifting up his shirt to demonstrate his very much intact stiches "didn't pull 'em once" he smiled. Johnny smiled back. Sam's jaw was officially in hell. 

"Okay what the fuck is going on?" exploded Ava, causing Sam to start furiously nodding in agreement, the others less so. Johnny looked to Peter, and after a silent conversation Peter turned back to his team, noticeably tense though he tried to hide it. A long pause ensued. Uncomfortably long.

"Um" Peter began, causing Johnny to start snickering behind him, earning an elbow to the ribs "I know all of you are understandably confused by Johnny's presence here."

"Yeah, no shit" said Sam, earning him a glare from the aforementioned Johnny. Peter sighed and looked at each of them in turn, visibly psyching himself up for what he was about to say. 

"So...in case you didn't put it together already" he nodded at Danny, who smiled back and gave a supportive thumbs up, so that makes one of us who knows what the fuck is going on. "Just...just let me get this all out okay then you can ask questions. I'm bisexual, and Johnny is my boyfriend and we've been dating for just over 2 years." he said, looking back up at them after dropping his gaze halfway though his speech.

So...okay...holy shit.

Sam can see his eloquent sentiment reflected in the eyes of everyone, except Danny whose turn it was to be smug for figuring it out early. Causing him to be the first to respond as well.

"Thank you for telling us friend, I'm very happy for you" they shared kind smiles as Peter moved to take Johnny's hand, who squeezed it in presumable support.

Luke was quick to follow Danny's example. "Yeah man, I mean 2 years is a long time to hide this but as long as you're happy I'm happy too." he said. Peter smiled sheepishly at his words. 

"I wanted to tell you sooner I just didn't want SHIELD to get their grubby hands on anything else in my life, specifically Johnny." Luke nodded in understanding. As did Danny before Ava chose to chime in for the first time since the bomb was dropped.

"I get not wanting to tell Fury or even the new warriors but us? I mean we're your original team and we didn't even know you knew Johnny." she huffed, throwing her hands up in frustration. Peter looked at her, slightly confused and irritated.

"I mean it's not like we kept that from the public" he said "we've fought together numerous times in the public eye." Johnny nodded in agreement, while Sam, who'd kept uncharacteristically quiet gave his opinion.

"Yeah but we didn't think it was anything beyond occasional team ups. A professional relationship ya know? Not an actual one" he gestured to the couple, who both frowned in sync at his words. To avoid getting fried to a crisp and webbed to the side of a very tall building, Sam clarified "Not that I'm not happy for you both and everything I just would've preferred not to be kept in the dark about it."

Johnny raised an eyebrow at him again and Peter scoffed lightly. "I could've just as easily not told you why Johnny was here now and said that he was just visiting as a friend but I didn't. And yeah I could've told you about my relationship with him before but how many times have you guys been mind controlled and revealed stuff you shouldn't have? Even if it was on accident. And plus after the way you treated my friendship with Harry it really put me off even mentioning Johnny for a good while. But hey, I'm telling you now." Peter finished, looking characteristically determined. Sam shrunk in on himself slightly at his words but also was angry. The whole thing with Harry was ages ago and they're friendly with Osborn now so what's the big deal? Besides Johnny's way cooler than Osborn. Though the chances of him autographing Sam's action figure is approximately zero now. Thanks a lot Webs.

His thoughts must have reflected in his face because Peter sighed before speaking again "Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it really, but I'm drained both emotionally and physically and just wanna go back to bed and cuddle with my boyfriend" he rolled his eyes at Ava gagging at the word 'cuddle' before continuing "so if you could kindly leave me be, I'll see you all at school tomorrow." he said before turning back to the stairs, dragging Johnny along with him through their joined hands, stopping to smile at Luke and Danny. Once his back was turned Johnny levelled Sam and Ava with a look that screamed 'if you upset my boyfriend again I'm burning your house down' before turning back to said boyfriend. Peter Parker. Who is Spider-Man. Who is his team leader. Who is boyfriends with Johnny Storm. And has been for the past 2 years. Woah.

Another long pause followed before Luke spoke "That went well". He seemed to genuinely mean it, looking pleased with the new revelation about their leader as he corralled everyone else out of the Parker residence. 

"Speak for yourself" grumbled Ava "I can't believe he didn't tell us." Danny put his hand on her shoulder. 

"This was an impressive show of trust and bravery from our friend, we should all be supportive of him or he may not choose to share personal information in the future."

Sam looked into the distance "We're supportive of him being bi and everything we just wished he would've told us about dating the literal Human Torch sooner".

Luke looked thoughtful before replying "It's a big thing, I'm just grateful he chose to tell us about it now rather than longer down the line, I'm proud of him for opening up since he rarely ever does."

~~~

Peter flopped onto his bed dramatically, as he does all things in his life. "Careful babe, you'll tear your stiches" replied his amazing, beautiful, wonderful boyfriend, who only deserved the most smooth-tongued responses in all the land. 

So ,naturally and ever so eloquently, Peter groaned pathetically into his Star Wars pillow.

Johnny chuckled before (slightly less dramatically) flopping down next to his boyfriend. Running a hand through the mop of brown curls on his head. Peter made appreciative noises, lifting his head to meet his flamebrain's gaze, eyes half lidded. What he saw was an expression of openly full of love Peter had to remind hi self to breathe. "That was big, I'm really proud of you Pete" said Johnny. Peter hummed in response before shifting so he was laying on top of his personal heater like a cat. Johnny giggled as Peter showed his face into the crook of Johnny's neck, his hair tickling his jaw. His hand returned to its rightful place in Peter's hair and the other went to his waist, hovering tentatively over the stiches before settling below them. Peter sighed happily, he was so lucky to have Johnny in his life and he'd be damned if he let SHIELD take him from him. Not that Johnny would go without a fight of course.

The thought made Peter smile like he so often does when he's with Johnny. 

"What are you smiling at?" quietly questioned his boyfriend.

"Just how much I love you."

 

Notes:

This is my first fic (so it's not long before the curse gets me) and I tried my best but constructive feedback is of course welcomed :).

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Spideytorch <3