Archive of Our Own

The only reason Peter was up so early was because he has a job.

It was one of many odd jobs he had taken in his hectic life, but things seemed to go well for him so far with this one. He’s rarely been late, his boss was a nice guy, and the guys he’s working with were somewhat pleasant to be around – even though he was sure at least one of them wanted to kill him – but it’s not like he had many options.

Things had been tough lately, and as much as he wanted to leap out of the window and punch his problems away, he knew he couldn’t. Not this time.

Today he was wearing another uniform, one that wasn’t his usual red-and-blue, and he was going to be on time for his job because he was doing this for Aunt May.

“You’re not going to mess this one up, Parker.” he told himself as he spoke to his reflection in the mirror, sighing as he put on his cap that came with the uniform.

He had to take a deep breath as he stood there shaking his head, not knowing if he wanted to laugh or cry, because of course this was happening. He never knew anyone else with the same rotten ironic luck as him because the words ‘Webb’s Moving Co.’ were written in bold white colors on the front of his cap.

If this was a joke the universe was making, he did not find it funny. The way spider-related things kept finding him needs to be studied.

Peter did not have much time to dwell on that because he had to make it to work on time, so he rushed down the stairs and heard his aunt in the kitchen preparing breakfast. He also found a stack of bills on the table on his way to her, all of them with a bright red reminder that they were overdue. Seeing them brought a sinking feeling to his chest, one that reminded him of the responsibility he had towards that wonderful woman who was like a mother to him.

Giving her a kiss on the cheek was the least he could do as she laughed and turned around with a smile that never lost its brightness no matter how hard things got.

“Peter! Don’t surprise me like that when I’m cooking,” she told him, placing a hand on her chest while waving her wooden spoon to shoo him, “I made you coffee.”

Letting out a pleased sound, Peter kissed her again before taking the steaming cup she handed to him with a lot of gratitude. “Aunt May, I love you.”

“Somebody has to take care of you. You can’t live off on all that junk food you keep eating. Now how would you like your eggs, dear?”

“Hot dogs are not junk food,” he told her, gulping down his coffee as he glanced at the time, “Also, I appreciate the offer, but I got to go five minutes ago. Gonna be late. Love you!”

Aunt May watched as he ran out the door and knew that whatever she was going to say wasn’t going to be heard by him. He was already out the house, and silence filled her kitchen with only the sounds of her sizzling pan filling it.

She wished her nephew would have gotten up earlier so she could discuss a few things with him, mainly about the bills and how she planned on taking a few more jobs so he wouldn’t have to, but she knew he wasn’t going to let that happen. Her boy was all grown up.

All she could do was smile down at the pan, stirring what’s in it as she smiled to herself.

“He’s such a good kid, Ben.”

“We’re here.”

Peter was pulled out of his daydreams by a gruff voice that belonged to one of the guys he worked with, a burly middle-aged man who reminded him of a taller version of Wolverine. His name was Carl, and Peter didn’t talk much around Carl since it only made his mood sour even more than it already is, so he opted to stare out the window yearning for the chance to scale one of the buildings they passed by and swing away.

The job wasn’t that bad, but it was a bit less exciting than he had hoped – he was really going to regret feeling this way the moment he hopped off the truck.

Because once he did, he found himself standing in a very familiar street, and he stared up at a very familiar and very blue building without knowing how to feel. It was so strange being there as Peter Parker, and maybe it wouldn’t feel as strange being there for pictures as a photographer for The Daily Bugle, but being there as Peter Parker the moving guy felt weird.

There were three other trucks parked there with them, and Peter found himself looking around to see that most of his coworkers were either standing there or unloading stuff. This was definitely a big job. A huge one, to need all of them there, and it was going to take at least a few days before it’s over. Hell, knowing his luck, it might take a whole week.

He immediately jogged to the back of the truck where Carl was already unloading what’s inside, and he placed a hand on the box Carl was about to carry out.

“We’re moving stuff for the Fantastic Four!?”

Carl glared at his hand, but thankfully answered instead of biting it off. “If you had been paying attention like you’re supposed to, Parker, you’d have known. Now help me with this.”

He couldn’t argue with that. “Right, yeah, okay.”

In all honesty, Peter felt dazed as if he had just taken a hit from the Juggernaut when he picked up one of the many boxes he had to unload, and he stood in front of the Baxter Building's entrance feeling a little bit nervous. He felt so bare standing there with no mask on, like his identity would be revealed once he stepped inside, but he knew he was just being paranoid, and Carl was grumbling under his breath already because Peter wasn’t moving.

So, with a shaky exhale, he decided to just get this job over with and not think too much about being outed as Spider-man. Did Reed’s cameras have face recognition?

They probably did. Peter’s face is now in their database. Totally. He was screwed. Royally.

Great.

Nothing new here. It was no wonder this job paid so well. Things just couldn’t go smoothly for him, could they?

Peter didn’t go through the revolving door. Instead, they had another door opened for them specifically, which yeah, made sense, and he stepped inside only to hear a familiar voice speaking while he carried the box to wherever one of the moving guys was going. He had no idea what he was doing. This moving thing was new to him and all he did was follow someone, and Carl, and placed what he was carrying wherever they were placing them. He was totally not panicking inside of his head because everything was fine.

Super fine.

Well, they were until someone cleared their throat and stopped him.

“No, no, that doesn’t go there.”

He stopped moving, acting like a deer caught in headlights before he turned around while looking down, hoping that the cap he was wearing was covering most of his face. He was playing it cool, so cool. Antarctica cool. He has done this before.

“Where would you like it to be, Su– er, Mrs. Richards?”

Not so cool, Parker.

Luckily for him, his slip wasn’t noticed, but that didn’t make him feel less nervous when The Invisible Woman approached him, a clipboard in hand, and looking as competent as ever. She peered at the label before scratching something off of the list she had in her hand, then she pointed at the elevator before speaking.

“The ones with the yellow label go to floor 29. First room to your right.”

“Floor 29. Got it.”

He couldn’t wait to get away from her, and although she spoke to him with a bit of formality, her tone lacking in the usual friendliness she spoke to him with when he's Spider-man, Peter couldn’t help but feel relieved that she didn’t recognize him. He was aware that nobody knew what he looked like under the mask, but he couldn’t help but wonder if something else would give him away such as his voice or manner.

Sue Storm was one of the smartest people he knew, so he planned on being around her the least.

Too bad she was the one directing where they put the stupid boxes they were carrying, so he hoped she'd be too distracted to pay any attention to him.

The instructions were easy to follow, and he wished he wasn’t on the clock when he found himself near Reed’s lab because he wanted so badly to go in and just look at what’s in there, but other than that he found that things weren’t as awful as he initially thought. Everything was going smoothly, even when Carl was intentionally placing boxes near the elevator for Peter to carry, but he didn’t mind much.

He could forgive Carl for not having superhuman strength like he does.

It was around the second hour that things started to go south for Peter. He should have known better than to expect things to continue going well. If there’s one thing he should have learned after all these years, it’s that his life never stops being eventful.

And not always in a good way.

He was about to retrieve yet another box from Carl’s pile, the one he was supposed to bring up, when he heard a very familiar voice speaking to Sue.

Peter knew it was only a matter of time he showed up, he just didn’t think it’d be this soon. He passed by the two siblings with his head low, turned around and gave them his back and lifted two boxes stacked on top of each other without thinking before he scurried away to the elevator.

The only thing he heard when the doors closed behind him was a very concerning ‘oh’ coming from his best friend slash enemy slash person he spent the most time with as Spider-man out of all the members of the Fantastic Four – Johnny Storm.

This job was not going well.

If there’s anyone who’d suspect that he’s Spider-man, it’d be Johnny.

“Oh,” Johnny blinked, leading Sue to look up from her clipboard and raise an eyebrow at him, “Oh my god, Sue.”

It seems like she didn’t get why Johnny even said that because she still had her eyebrow raised at him in question. “What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’ when those guys you hired got me questioning if I was the hottest person in the room.”

Sue regarded him with a puzzled look on her face, which made it clear to him that she wasn’t paying attention because who could ever miss that. He came to her with the intention of complaining about how long it would take to move everything after one of Dr Doom’s attacks, damaging a lot of their furniture and Reed’s equipment, so naturally they needed to replace everything hence the movers.

Right now, though, he did not mind if they stayed for a while. Preferably a very long one.

Maybe forever.

“You think our movers are hot?”

“Sue, I am beginning to think that you don’t have eyes.”

“I do, but they’re not exactly what I’d classify as hot.”

“Then look again!”

Carl chose that moment to walk in, carrying a box that looked a bit heavy as he approached them to show Sue the label so she could scratch it off of her list. His sister being so meticulous slowed things down a bit, and while it was a bit annoying, he loved her for it now.

However, he knew exactly what she thought at that moment, and she waited until Carl placed what he’s carrying down with a grunt and left before saying anything.

“Never knew that was your type.”

He groaned. “You know it’s not! I wasn’t talking about him.”

“So it’s not older men that you like?”

“Not really, no. It’s none of those guys here. Where is– oh my god.”

Just on cue, the elevators opened and out walked the hottest man Johnny had ever laid eyes on. It didn’t help that he had a thing for men in uniform even if the uniform wasn’t the best-looking and belonged to a moving company. The guy just made it work somehow. That shirt he was wearing was form-fitting, allowing Johnny to appreciate those muscles he had, and seeing him move in it was like watching a moving sculpture. An experience that would definitely reappear in Johnny’s less than innocent dreams.

When he bent down, Johnny saw how his muscles flexed. His biceps, back muscles, the way he was hoisting everything with an ease he only saw with The Thing…

It was sexy as hell and he couldn’t keep his eyes away – and those legs! He could go on forever about those legs because wow.

Johnny was certain that nothing this guy wore could hide just how perfect that body of his is.

Sadly the show did not last long since the guy was quick to get away, heading to the elevator with haste before Johnny could have his fill. The guy was cute, too, even with the cap he’s wearing which hid half of his face. His jaw was defined, not too square, but not round either. His nose and lips indicated that he was handsome, looked to be around Johnny’s age, and Johnny wasn’t about to let a guy like that slip away from him.

Not if he could do something about it.

He leaned towards Sue, his eyes still glued to the elevator where the guy had gone.

“I think I need a few things delivered to my room. Think you can arrange that with them?”

It was no surprise that she saw right through him. “Your room wasn’t damaged in the attack.”

“So? I’m taking advantage of them being here. I could use a new TV, maybe replace my couch. Get a new desk.”

“No,” she whacked him lightly with the clipboard, “I know what you’re doing and it’s not happening. If you’re really going to order things, I’m hiring another moving company.”

“Come on, sis! I thought you cared about my happiness.”

“I do. I also care about ensuring that the poor guy isn’t harassed by you.”

Johnny frowned, placing a hand on his hip as he gave her a look that denoted his displeasure. “Really? Harass? That’s such a strong word.”

“Just let the guy do his job.”

“I make no promises.”

Sue shook her head, her attention returning back to the clipboard once more. She knew that there was no amount of convincing that was going to stop him, so she decided to put her energy back on organizing the move while also dealing with other matters with her phone and tablet placed beside her. There were calls she had to answer and other things to deal with that had nothing to do with the moving.

There was a lot going on.

She was only doing this in person because some of the stuff they had ordered were meant for Reed’s lab where no mistakes could be afforded.

The fact that her brother took an interest in one of the movers did have the potential to complicate things, but she was okay with not interfering as long as no problems arose.

“Do what you want. Just let him do what I am paying him for.”

“Don’t worry. I pinky promise.”

She gave him one look that made it clear that she did not believe him, but she said nothing. Johnny took it as a sign that he could do whatever he wanted.

And he wanted to do so many things to that man.

Peter made sure to hide his face behind the boxes he was carrying when he got in the elevator, praying that Johnny still had no clue who he was. He could feel his heart beating in his chest, its speed increasing along with his anxiety every second he spent around Johnny. This was not good. So very not good. It had the potential to ruin his life.

Okay, maybe he was being a bit dramatic, but he could feel Johnny’s eyes boring into him to the point where he expected his spidey-sense to go off at the scrutiny.

Johnny’s gaze never left him, Peter knew that, and that just made everything worse.

He wished he could hear what he said, but he fled out of there so fast hoping that if he got away quickly, then Johnny would forget about his existence. Speaking of which, why was Johnny still there as if he was waiting for him to come back?

He wondered if he was overthinking things, that maybe Johnny really was just talking to his sister about something, but Peter couldn’t help but be paranoid with his secret identity on the line.

It’s when he realized that he was carrying two, supposedly super heavy boxes in his hands, that he internally cursed himself. Maybe that’s why Johnny was staring. Peter was being so careless as he brought suspicion on himself.

But really, what was the deal with Johnny?

What was that all about?

Johnny’s brilliant plan was to catch the hot guy during one of his breaks.

He was waiting around, deciding to spend his time in the lobby with his sister even when was directing a disapproving look at him every once in a while, but she was too busy to prevent him from doing anything. Johnny watched the movers come and go, each one heaving something heavy, with some struggling a bit with the weight – Reed’s stuff were not light – but not Johnny’s guy.

Johnny’s guy always walked straight without a stagger in his step. The containers he was carrying might as well be empty since he gave no indication that he found them heavy or was affected by the weight he's carrying.

It was impressive.

Sexy impressive.

“He totally works out,” he told Sue after the guy passed them by for the umpteenth time, not caring about subtlety with the way he was looking, “You can’t be built like that and not work out. He’s not even breaking a sweat!”

Sue hummed.

“Why is he working for a moving company? I personally think it’s such a waste. He’s even hotter than the models I worked with.”

“Ever think of the possibility that he doesn’t have Reed’s patents to live off of?”

“Fair point,” he concurred, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor, “So, when are they going to get a break from all your bossiness– oh my god.”

This time Sue let out a snort, finding her little brother a little bit funny. “Johnny! You’ve said that so many times.”

When she got no response from him, she frowned and saw that he was staring ahead while completely frozen in place, fully captivated by whatever it was that got his attention this way.

When she followed his gaze, it all made sense to her.

It was a sunny summer day, meaning it was hot, so it’s expected for the movers to get a bit sweaty and catch a breather here and there for a couple of minutes.

The guy her brother was paying special attention to was standing outside in the heat, right in front of the large windows as he gave them both a perfect view of the way he was chugging on his water bottle. His throat was moving up and down while he did so, some of the water trickling down his jaw, and Johnny…

Well, Johnny was gulping down something else.

“If you ever loved me at any point in your life, you'd make his shirt invisible.”

“Absloutely not.”

She got arrested for doing something similar once, but that incident involved pants. Apparently making other people’s clothes invisible was considered public indecency. Never again.

Sue expected Johnny to whine about it, maybe try to convince her a bit more, but to her surprise it seemed like the thought didn’t even cross his mind. In fact, he seemed to completely forget that he was speaking to her a second ago and she watched as he made his way outside of the building.

It was clear what he was doing as he made his way to the poor guy, and it was too late for her to stop him now.

So with a shrug of her shoulders, she started paying attention to the task at hand and directing the movers on where to put everything.

Time like this she wishes she had four of The Thing.

One of them to restrain Johnny.

Peter was having an okay time with the job.

Other than his rising anxiety about his identity getting exposed by one of the Storm siblings – it’s mostly Johnny he was worried about – Peter found himself working on autopilot. The nervousness he felt was forgotten now, and he decided that focusing on his job would be the wise thing to do because overthinking this was not going to help him.

Problem is, moving things for someone like him was tedious. It’s repetitive work for his overly active mind, and didn’t even provide him with a good workout.

Swinging around New York City was a much better workout than this. He couldn’t wait to do that once this is over. The summer heat didn’t even bother him all that much, it was much worse when he’s wearing his spidey suit. Spandex tended to cling onto sweaty skin, which wasn’t a pleasant feeling at all, so wearing a shirt along with a cap that shielded his face from the sun was heavenly in comparison.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t still hot, yet he decided to take a short break outside as leaned on the truck with a sigh because he didn’t want to be around Johnny more than he had to.

Not like he actually needed the break.

A part of him did it because of boredom, but another much bigger part did it to prevent bringing attention to himself. He was aware that Johnny was watching him with an attentiveness that made Peter suspect he knew something, but his coworkers were also going to pay attention to him if he kept going without pause.

Spider-man can go all day moving things, Peter can’t.

In fact, Spider-man could just carry the whole truck inside and get it over with.

If only there was no secret identity to protect.

He stood there for a couple of minutes before he felt a slight tingle at the back of his head followed by one of the guys calling his name.

“Yo, Parker. Here.”

Peter didn’t even need to look up to know that something was thrown at him, his arm moving on instinct to catch it. Compared to dodging bullets on a near-daily basis, this was as easy as breathing. The coldness of whatever he caught brought him some much needed relief from the heat, and he was delighted to see that it was a water bottle.

The guy who threw it at him looked mildly amazed. “Nice catch.”

“Nice throw,” Peter grinned, unscrewing the bottle, “And thanks for the water.”

“Hey, you got it, man. You’ve earned it.”

“Mhm.”

Everybody knew that Carl was basically making Peter do a large portion of his work, and they probably felt sorry for him, which made him feel a bit guilty because he truly didn’t mind nor care. Carl did complain of some shoulder pain, so he wasn’t entirely lazy, and it only made Peter all the more happy to take on some extra load.

Of course he couldn’t tell anyone about it, so he just chugged the water without saying anything.

Once he’s done, he let out a satisfied breath and screwed the cap back on before throwing the bottle in the trash can with an accuracy that came to him as naturally as his reflexes did. Nobody was around to see it, so he thought there was no harm in it when he leaned back on the truck once again. He was tempted to rock back and forth while moving the truck along with him in his boredom, but he held himself back.

Instead he kept his head down and stared at the ground, his thoughts drifting away.

“Hey, Webs.”

Peter tensed immediately at the sound of the familiar voice and playful tone, and the cap covering the top half of his face saved him from showing Johnny the way his eyes widened in horror. There was no doubt about it – Johnny knew. Why else would he use that nickname?

Still, he played dumb.

“Uh, Webs?”

“That’s what your company is called – Webb’s. I didn’t catch your name, um,” Peter swallowed, looking at the way Johnny was biting his bottom lip as he looked down, reading his name tag, “Peter.”

His heart had stopped for a moment there.

“Right. The company’s name. That’s what you meant.”

Duh, Pete.

“What else did you think?” Johnny laughed, smiling at him brightly, and Peter panicked internally.

“I don’t know.” He said lamely, hiding himself by unconsciously pulling his cap lower.

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that,” for some reason Johnny was still laughing and smiling, and he was also getting close, too close, to Peter, “Let me put a face to that name. I’m sure you’re not that bad.”

In all honesty Peter had no idea what to do. It was one of those rare moments where he found himself unable to think of anything to say, and Johnny was leaning even closer now, peering at him curiously for whatever reason.

“Uhhh…” he said eloquently.

He could have moved away, stopped Johnny from taking off his cap when he reached for it, but he found himself stuck in place and unable to move. This was not good. So not good.

Bad, bad, bad.

Peter felt a slightly cool breeze when his cap was off, his hair probably messy and sticking up from having it on for so long – couldn’t be as bad as when he took off his mask, though – and he found himself staring at a wide-eyed Johnny whose mouth was slightly agape, round in surprise.

He was totally studying Peter’s face as if he was trying to burn every detail of it in his memory.

To think that Peter thought he could finally have a normal job where he didn’t have to worry about spider-related things. He should not have underestimated the ol’ Parker Luck.

The Amazing Spider-man was amazingly screwed and needed to get away as soon as possible before Johnny actually did connect everything – that is assuming he didn’t already know.

Grrreaaat.

“My break is over,” Peter said hastily, pushing himself from the truck he was leaning on as he snatched his hat from Johnny’s hand, “I got to go or Carl would get upset. I think I can already hear him whining, so, I’ll see ya, hotstuff.”

Johnny didn’t say anything as he watched him go. He merely stood there staring at him – not that Peter was actually paying attention.

He was too busy beating himself up over the slip up.

“Really? Reeeally?” he hissed at himself, sprinting towards the entrance. “Hotstuff? Am I stupid!?”

It wasn’t like it was a dead giveaway, many people called Johnny that, but it didn’t happen frequently enough for it to be normal. Because other than the usual reporters, friends, and occasional flirts…

That was what Spider-man called him.

From Peter, however, it seemed like he was actually flirting.

A sigh left Sue when Johnny came back and the look on his face told her everything she needed to know.

“Let me guess what you’re about to say – oh my god?”

He covered his face with his hands. “Oh. My. God.”

“Ah, a slight variation there.”

She was regarding him with amusement this time, having watched the whole interaction happening. She totally had eyes and could understand what her brother was going through. It was cute seeing how a slight red tint appeared over her brother’s cheeks, knowing it wasn’t from the summer heat.

Adorable, really.

“Sue! He was so– I was not ready for that.”

She couldn’t help but shake her head and smile. “Clearly not.”

“Thought his body was hot, but nope. Those hazel eyes were so unfair. I'm so dead.”

Johnny hopelessly threw himself on the nearest seat, sinking there in despair while Sue ignored him to go back to being a competent person, and he dropped his head back and looked up at the high ceiling of the Baxter Building’s lobby. The chandelier they had up there was nice. He never really looked at it before, but even its magnificence could not distract him from the image burned into his brain.

This was supposed to be just a uniform crush. A cute mover guy with a nice body and a sexy manner in the way he moved and handled stuff. He was already a lovely fantasy, but him being handsome on top of that was overkill.

It felt too good to be true. Johnny did not expect it.

He expected a flaw that could make all this bearable. Something that would make him want to put that cap back on Peter’s face so he could go on fantasizing.

What Johnny didn’t expect was a head of dark brown hair that was somehow golden, sticking up in a mess that just worked. He also didn’t expect dark lashes framing those golden-brown hazel eyes that were infuriatingly beautiful with his hair, his beautiful face, his body, his everything.

This was not just a crush anymore.

Johnny wanted that man.

His dreams were getting less and less innocent as he wished Peter would move him to a bed.

When the table shook with everything in it clattering from Peter letting his head fall on it before he groaned. Aunt May turned around with a slightly amused, yet worried frown on her face. This wasn’t unusual for Peter to do, and usually it wasn’t that big of a deal, but it still meant that something was bothering him.

She poured some orange juice in his glass as she tilted her head at him.

“Something the matter?”

He let out another groan, reminding her of when he was a child – he was so difficult then, but still just as adorable – and it seems not much had changed about him because he turned his head away to avoid looking at her.

“I don’t want to go to work anymore. I hate having a job.”

Her eyebrows knitted together as she found herself playing with his hair. “Why is that, dear? You were so happy to have found it.”

“And it pays well, too!” he sat up, sighing heavily. He was still not dressed for work, looking like he just rolled out of bed, “It’s just, uh, I– I didn’t expect to be working for the Fantastic Four.”

Aunt May gave him a funny look. “But I thought you liked them. Reed Richards was your hero. You had all of those scientific books he had written.”

“He still is.” Peter admitted, not knowing how to tell her what’s bothering him.

“Then what’s the problem? You don’t like this job?”

“Yes,” he answered a bit too quickly, and while not entirely dishonest, that wasn’t his main issue, “It’s a bit boring and repetitive, and I never got to meet Dr. Reed, so, yeah. It sucks.”

A small sad smile appeared on her face, making Peter regret ever saying anything, and she was filling her own glass with orange juice when she spoke.

“If only things were different. You’re supposed to be working in labs with that big brain of yours, not doing menial work.”

“There’s nothing wrong with menial work.”

She shook her head. “I never said there is. I just think it’s a waste of the many talents you have. Perhaps I should take a few extra shifts–”

“Nope,” the chair screeched behind him when he stood up, “You’re not taking extra anything, worry about anything, or even think about anything. I’ll take care of the bills.”

“Peter–”

“I’m not going to discuss this, Aunt May. I got this.”

There was nothing she could say as she heard him rush upstairs to get ready, and she looked down at his untouched breakfast feeling guilty. Peter was working hard and he was so responsible. She couldn’t be prouder, but she also wanted him to have the time to work on his life and be happy instead of concerning himself with overdue bills.

Between getting pictures of that awful Spider-man and getting odd jobs, she wondered how he got the time to do anything for himself.

If only her husband was still alive…

That morning Peter made the mistake of swinging his way to work.

With him waking up early and all, he thought this would be a great way to get the want to leap off buildings and soar in the air out of his system. He kept thinking about it while at work, and he had so much energy to spare, so it seemed like a good idea.

Emphasis on seemed.

It was during that morning that Kraven the Hunter decided to hunt him, spouting nonsense about being the greatest predator and how Spider-man would be his most worthy opponent and prey. Having to be a prey so early in the morning was not what Peter had in mind, but at least Kraven was a good outlet for some of his stress.

He did try to reason with Kraven that it was too early, that he might still be groggy from waking up recently and therefore not being in tip-top shape to be a satisfying prey, but all that got him was a shot of tranquilizer.

Thankfully it wasn’t a particularly hard fight, though it was annoying, but Peter ended up going to work all bandaged up and slightly wobbly from whatever poison or tranquilizer Kraven had used on him.

At least he made it to work on time.

Small victories.

“The hell happened to you?” Carl asked, his hand on the steering wheel as he turned his head to look at Peter.

It was touching how Carl had asked. It shows that maybe under that rough Wolverine-like exterior he cared a little bit about Peter’s well-being. Peter decided to overlook the fact that Carl only noticed him after they had arrived and parked in front of the Baxter Building.

Not during the whole twenty minute drive.

“It’s nothing, I just—”

Carl opened the door and got out, not caring to hear the rest.

“If it’s nothing then come on. Let’s get to work.”

“Never knew you cared so much.”

Peter wanted to ask if he was related in any way to Logan because it really felt like the two were one and the same, but that only made a small smile appear on his face, amused at the thought. The only problem he faced with Carl and his eerie similarities to Logan was the fact that he didn’t have Logan’s healing factor. That meant Peter couldn’t punch him as hard without sending him to the hospital — or the morgue.

The punches he directs at Logan would send normal people to the morgue.

A murder trial is the last thing he needed.

He watched as Carl opened the truck with a grunt, looking as grumpy as usual as if he was cursed to forever wake up on the wrong side of the bed with a rod shoved up his a—

“What’re you standing here for?”

“Just basking in your ethereal beauty. It rendered me immobile. You free after the shift is over?”

He placed a hand on his heart and winked just to make a point, and the disgusted glare he got probably had the ability to kill, but it was totally worth it. Besides, Peter was immune to those glares thanks to him being constantly exposed to them — some were actually lethal and shot lasers.

Carl was nothing but an adorable grumbling puppy in comparison.

“You’re not right in the head, Parker.”

Peter grinned, lifting a box he was sure somebody was supposed to help him with. “Believe it or not, been told that before.”

There was no way to describe the sound he got in response, a mix of being strangled and wanting to strangle would probably be accurate, but Peter, ever the conscientious person he is, went straight to work instead of staying there to mess with Carl even more. Don’t get him wrong, he really wanted to keep doing it, but he feared that Carl secretly had an adamantium skeleton and claws.

He got stabbed enough times this morning, courtesy to Kraven.

The day was going as expected, with Reed this time telling the other guys how to handle the things labeled as ‘Fragile’, and Peter found himself slightly envious — because that’s Reed, of course he would be — yet slightly relieved that he wasn’t getting any direct attention from a member of the Fantastic Four.

Sue was a bit more relaxed now since everyone knew what the labels meant and where everything went, so she was just hanging back and monitoring them.

She did give him a smile when he passed by, which was weird since she barely acknowledged him the day before. That did not help with the whole ‘they might find out I am Spider-man’ thing, but he decided to ignore it.

Maybe she was just being nice.

Yeah, that was probably it.

There was no indication that anyone suspected anything, but by the fifth time he went down to retrieve another box, he found The Human Torch waiting for him by the truck, two cups of coffee in his hand. Peter’s steps became slower, more reluctant when he approached, and he tried to tell himself that Johnny wasn’t there for him but he knew better.

There’s no way Johnny was waiting for someone else with the way he perked up when he saw him.

“Peter, hey!” Johnny smiled, extending his hand to hand Peter one of the coffee cups he was holding, “Coffee break?”

Peter barely did anything to deserve a break, but Aunt May raised a polite boy with caffeine addiction. He accepted the cup with slight hesitation. “Uh, sure. Thank you.” 

“Kept it warm for you,” Peter didn’t know what to make of the smile Johnny was giving him, or the way his head tilted a bit when he looked at Peter, “Bet it’s exhausting to be hauling stuff all day, huh.”

“Er, well,” Peter took off his cap to run his hand through his hair, a nervous habit he had that thankfully he couldn’t imitate with a mask on, so he didn’t worry about giving himself away, “It’s not that bad.”

Johnny nodded his head, taking a sip of his coffee with his eyes meeting Peter’s.

“I’ve no doubt. You know, I noticed how you seem to be having an easy time carrying Reed’s stuff — and I know they’re heavy. You must work out.”

Despite it being so clear that he was being flirted with, especially with the Johnny’s body language, where he was openly admiring him, making sure he was standing as close as possible without getting in Peter’s personal space, Peter saw this as an interrogation.

Because why was Johnny approaching him of all people?

He was also making seemingly very shrewd remarks that were highlighting Peter’s strength. Peter thought there was a chance he knew about him, and that he was waiting for Peter to admit it, but he was stubborn and refused to give Johnny the satisfaction of finding out he was Spider-man. He was going to find a way to disprove it — even though it’s true.

For now, he needed to lie, lie, lie.

“I workout, yeah. I’m a very active person.”

A hum left Johnny as he looked down at Peter’s arms. “I can tell.”

Peter was freaking out internally.

“Yeah, yup. I lift a lot, which is probably why I have been having an easy time moving everything. I’m not that strong, though. It’s probably just my luck. The boxes I got weren’t that heavy.”

This was not going so well because he was rambling, and when Peter rambles, he tends to say some not-very-smart things. Johnny might be a pretty face, but he wasn’t a total idiot, and he could probably already see the cracks in Peter’s act. Why else would he smile so smugly like that?

Unexpectedly — to Peter — Johnny reached out and had his hand hovering over Peter’s bicep.

“Something’s telling me that you’re a big liar. May I feel those muscles up to make an assessment on the validity of your statement?”

Peter nodded because saying no would have been suspicious. “You actually sound like a lawyer. Why did you word it that way? Am I in court?”

“Yes, and I am cross-examining you.”

Getting anxious when Johnny’s impossibly warm hand touched him, feeling him up, Peter found himself trying to distract both him and Johnny with more of his rambles. “So, what’s my crime, Mr lawyer?”

“Oh my god—” Johnny blinked, looking up at him with his distractingly blue eyes, making Peter’s whole brain stop functioning because he’s way too close, “I’d say it’s lying because those feel like they’re made of steel. Holy.”

There was genuine surprise there, and if Peter wasn’t too busy thinking of his secret being on the brink of discovery, he’d notice the very clear desire there also.

Johnny was not trying to be subtle.

He had no lie to come up with this time, so he just made a non-committal sound as he took a very large gulp of his coffee.

Shit, shit, shit playing like a mantra in his head.

He wanted to run away, but Johnny spoke again before he could.

“By the way, what’s up with the bandages?”

Peter blinked, looking at him dumbly. “Wh- huh?”

Johnny pointed at his own cheek, reminding Peter of the band-aids he had littering his face, and the bandages in some places that weren’t visible. The only visible one he had was on his elbow, an annoying scrape he got when he fell on the roof of one of the buildings due to being tranquilized.

There were already reports of the fight. He suspected that Johnny was following the news and was hinting to him that he knew he was in a fight this morning. Otherwise, why would he care that one of the movers was injured?

“On top of being an active person, I am also very clumsy. Can’t put one foot in front of the other without tripping. This is a regular thing since I have no balance whatsoever. Got these when I fell.”

He was probably trying a bit too hard to drive suspicion away, and it may have made him even more suspicious in return, but he tended to say things without thinking. It was too late now.

If Johnny knew, he was probably enjoying this.

“You don’t give the impression that you're clumsy,” Peter swore behind his coffee cup. That was probably Johnny telling him to cut it with the lies, “Can’t say I am complaining. They’re kinda… charming.”

Peter couldn’t help but squint his eyes at Johnny. Was he being made fun of?

It seemed like he was being made fun of.

“Johnny, do you—”

The way Johnny straightened in attention, almost as if he was listening to his every word with great anticipation, took Peter aback for a moment. He never showed that much interest in him as Spider-man. Was it the excitement of solving the mystery of Spider-man possibly being him, or was it something else?

He didn’t get the chance to find that out since one of his coworkers cut him off.

“Yo, Parker, little help here?”

Looking over Johnny’s shoulder, Peter could see one of the guys he came here with standing behind a huge chair. It clearly belonged to The Thing, and there was no way a normal person could carry it on their own. Peter found this to be a very welcome interruption, missing the way Johnny pouted in disappointment behind him when he rushed to help.

He still turned around as he jogged the guy’s way, giving Johnny an apologetic look. “Thanks again for the coffee break, Torchy. Gotta get back to work.”

It wasn’t like Peter could hear him, but he still replied in a small pitiful voice. “Okay.”

Johnny watched as Peter helped the other mover lift Ben’s chair while Peter made sure to pretend to be struggling with its weight. Despite his efforts, his plan failed because this was heavy enough to require at least three people to move it, so although he was making a show of how much of a struggle it was to carry, it was still impressive.

There’s nothing Johnny could do but watch as Peter went inside, taking this as a chance to appreciate the way Peter’s muscles flexed, how his shoulders moved, or how sure his grip was.

“He called me Torchy,” he smiled to himself, his cheeks pink as he finished off the rest of his coffee, “He totally likes me.”

“Sheesh, and I’m about ta lose my lunch.”

He immediately turned around and glared to be met by The Thing sticking his tongue out in disgust.

Johnny wasted no time throwing his empty coffee cup at him, leading it to bounce off of his rocky body.

“Shut up, Ben.”

Apparently, a large portion of Ben’s room was damaged when Doom attacked, which meant that he needed a lot of furniture to replace.

Since Ben was a big guy made out of literal rocks, and he probably weighed a few tons, everything he owned was super extra large to accommodate his size, and Peter was getting a bit restless because he had to wait for someone else to come help him, but most of the guys were putting off carrying The Thing’s furniture.

Peter understood, he really did, but he ran out of boxes and crates to carry and this was his only way of avoiding Johnny.

It felt like he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Peter couldn’t help but feel like his every move was being studied closely, and he tried his best to not behave the way Spider-man behaved, or move the way he moved, but it was so hard when they’re the same person.

It's as if he had to reprogram himself on the spot to be a different person.

He wondered just how closely Johnny paid attention to him as Spider-man. Was it close enough to recognize his mannerism and the way he handled heavy things?

Was Peter being convincingly normal?

Did Johnny even suspect?

Everything was telling Peter that Johnny knew, or at least he sensed something about him. The moment he showed up, he started following Peter with his eyes out of the dozen movers the Fantastic Four had hired. Why, out of everyone, did Johnny decide to pay close attention to him?

Then there’s the matter of him approaching Peter, even waiting for him during breaks and buying him coffee. Again, he singled Peter out of everyone else, so he couldn’t brush it off as an act of kindness. Johnny and Spider-man ate and drank together, so it’s only natural that Johnny would do that, too, if he knew he was also Peter.

The question is, why didn’t he confront Peter about it yet?

Perhaps Johnny wasn’t entirely sure — Peter hoped this was the case — because if he wasn’t, then there’s a chance to save his identity from getting discovered.

He was coming up with ways to do that as his fingers drummed over The Thing’s very large seat before his thoughts were interrupted.

“Parker, what are you standing here for?”

Gazing up, Peter was met with a very endearing frown that belonged to Carl. He couldn’t help but grin, gesturing down at the seat. This was larger than the chair he helped the other mover with earlier, so he needed at least one other person to help.

Carl, however, had other ideas as he crouched down to one of the sides.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.”

Peter blinked at him with a puzzled look. “Just us?”

“It’s not that heavy.”

Normally, Peter would have been more than happy to skip the extra unneeded help and carry it himself, but things were different here at the Baxter Building. Not only did he risk being seen by all the surveillance cameras around, but by one of the four. Mainly Johnny.

It’ll be suspicious if it’s just the two of them, especially with Carl barely able to get it a few inches off the ground. No, he needed to be wiser about this.

“Wait, lemme ask for one of the guys to help.”

Carl scowled. “I already did. They’re busy with Richards, organizing something in that lab of his. They won’t be free for at least another hour.”

“Oh.”

Peter considered this for a moment, then he glanced up at the cameras weighing his options. If he stood there and did nothing for an hour, then he would risk another encounter with Johnny. However, if he carried The Thing’s stuff with Carl, he’d appear busy and would successfully avoid Johnny. Sue and Reed were at the lab, busy giving instructions to the other movers, and nobody was going to pay that close attention to the surveillance footage.

Maybe there was no harm in going along with Carl this time.

“Okay, I’ll take this side,” he told Carl, walking over to the other end of the couch, ready to hoist it up with Carl doing the same, “On three–”

Carl had no patience to wait. “Three.”

Fortunately, Peter was quick to react as he saved his secret and Carl’s back by lifting and supporting most of the weight to make it seem like Carl contributed to getting it off the ground. He made sure that Carl was carrying some of the weight to make it convincing. Unfortunately, though, Peter realized he made a gigantic mistake the moment the couch was up in the air.

For someone who could lift tons in the double digits, this wasn’t that heavy, but for two normal men this was impossible.

Peter approximated that at least eight people were needed to lift the large couch, and that made him pray that nobody was watching, and if there was someone watching, he prayed that they wouldn’t pay much attention to this. The size of the couch was big, yeah, but Peter could understand why Carl thought it wasn’t that heavy. It didn’t look heavy, but in reality it was super dense.

God bless that radioactive spider that bit him.

He almost felt sorry for the way Carl was straining under all the weight, especially with the increase of the grunts he was letting out, but Peter said nothing and he couldn’t relieve him because if he did so, he'd give himself away.

“What floor was the guy on again?” Carl panted, his face twisted in pain.

“This one I believe.”

“Ah,” Carl said, his eyebrows going up at the number, “That’s high.”

Peter made a sound in agreement, but stayed quiet. The cameras were still on his mind, but it was too late now to regret anything. After all, even if The Fantastic Four learned of his identity, they were like a family to him. They weren’t bad guys, so he took solace in that, but he still hoped to keep his secret for as long as he could.

Especially when it could endanger those he loved.

It was too big of a risk for him to take, which is why he was reluctant to give his secret away, but he seemed to get uncharacteristically careless with it when it came to the Fantastic Four.

The elevator door opening snapped him out of his thoughts, and the two of them carried the couch inside before Carl stopped and set it down. From the way he was shifting all the weight on one side and how he staggered, Peter could tell what was going on.

“Can’t go further with this damn shoulder. Wait here, I’ll see if I can get someone to help.”

“’Kay.”

He didn’t mind waiting, not when Johnny was nowhere to be seen, and Peter allowed himself to relax as he breathed a sigh of relief. A moment of quiet was always welcome, but that moment didn’t last because he could hear someone walking down the hall while on the phone, and that made Peter wonder how he forgot that Johnny and Ben stayed on the same floor.

Idiot.

To make him more of an idiot, he panicked and relied completely on instinct, hiding away from Johnny as to not be seen. That’s how he ended up stuck on the wall, hiding in one of the corners where his head touched the ceiling.

Peter’s heart raced as he watched Johnny walking under him, still talking on the phone. All he needed to do was look up to spot Peter above him.

“No, I swear she said that. Can you believe it? I told her that she– wait, hold on.”

Johnny stopped in front of the couch, giving it an annoyed kick before he banged on Ben’s door.

“Hey, Ben! Beeen! Your couch is blocking my way.”

To Peter’s horror the door opened with a confused Ben appearing at the door. Peter was in the opposite direction of him, making it easier for Ben to spot him. Peter stayed there refusing to move a muscle, and he was being very, very quiet.

“Wha–?”

Johnny pointed at the couch as if it offended him, and Peter cursed his own stupidity that made him go along with Carl and carry it over there. The situations he finds himself in should be studied.

“Your couch, Ben. Move it!” Johnny grumbled, walking around as he went back to his phone call, making his way to the elevator, “Yeah, so as I was saying, she was completely clueless. I’m telling you, I had to point it out to her…”

His voice trailed off the further he went, and it disappeared once he got into the elevator. Meanwhile, Ben was staring at the couch in confusion while Peter calmed down, and it seemed like Ben was about to move his own couch inside before he happened to look up.

That’s how Peter found himself meeting two big blue eyes belonging to Ben Grimm.

The two of them stared at each other for a long time where everything seemed to come to a screeching halt, and nobody said anything before Ben slowly raised a stubby finger pointing at the spot in front of him before his face cracked into a huge grin.

“C’mere.”

Having no choice but to crawl down in shame, Peter did so until he found himself standing in front of him.

“Ben, listen–”

Ben cut him off, still grinning. “Woulda packed some popcorn if I knew things were gonna get this entertainin’.”

“Huh?”

“Bring my couch inside, web-head.”

Peter frowned. “You can do it yourself.”

“I can, but what’re we payin’ ya for?” his eyes moved down to read his nametag, “Peter. Heh.”

Unable to retort, Peter grumbled and did as told, not holding back anymore. There was no point in keeping the lie.

Ben was nice enough to hold the door open for him, his smile refusing to leave his face. For some reason, he found the whole thing to be super funny, and while this wasn’t the reaction Peter had expected, it somehow made him feel slightly less awful about his identity being discovered this way.

Ben wasn’t making a big deal out of it, so he wasn’t going to either.

Instead he found himself reverting to his usual masked self with Ben, setting the couch down with a flat look on his face.

“You’re enjoying this a bit too much.”

Giving him a few hard pats on the back, Ben laughed, before seating himself on his new couch. “Maybe. Now, mind tellin’ me why I found ya glued to the ceilin’?”

Peter sighed heavily, running his fingers through his hair before he answered. “It’s Johnny.”

“Ain’t shocked it’s him. Why? He’s been harassin’ ya?”

“Yes!” Peter dropped on the couch beside him, holding his head in his hands as his cap fell off, “I think he knows who I am but is playing dumb.”

Ben let silence fall between them for one long moment before he spoke. “Playin’? Kid, he is dumb.”

“I won’t disagree there,” Peter couldn’t help but snort, a smile appearing on his face, “I just– I don’t know. He keeps watching my every move, and he won’t leave me alone during my breaks. He even bought me coffee this morning. It’s not like I’m the only one his age here, so why me specifically? You think he suspects something?”

“Hmm,” Ben pretended to think, his hand covering the bottom half of his face as if he was in deep thought, but in reality he was holding back another laugh, “Beats me.”

Peter huffed, standing up from where he sat. “Whatever. I should get back to work. Also, uh…”

“Won’t tell anyone about yer secret. It’s safe with us. Don’t worry about it.”

He didn’t miss the way Ben said ‘us’, but he still gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks, Ben. Just don’t tell Johnny.”

“You got it, kiddo.”

It was only when Peter left the room did Ben let it all out and laughed his head off. He wasn’t planning on telling Johnny anything, it’d only ruin the fun. To be witness to the whole thing gave him great joy, and he couldn’t wait to see how things would unfold for the two idiots. One trying to score a date, and the other trying to hide his identity.

Comedy.

“Susie is going to love this.”

The relief Peter felt when he learned that the third day was his last day is immeasurable.

In the past two days working as a mover for the Fantastic Four, Peter had accumulated enough stress to last him a year and it was all Johnny’s fault. Ben Grimm learned of Spider-man’s identity and it’s Johnny’s fault.

Everything is Johnny’s fault.

Because things were supposed to be simple.

He was supposed to be plain ol’ Peter Parker, a guy working part-time for Webb’s Moving Company – yes, he knows it’s still funny – with a coworker that eerily resembled Wolverine. In fact, he was starting to believe that ‘Carl’ was Logan’s alter ego, but he had no way of proving that.

Whether he was or wasn’t did not pose a great importance to him – besides, Carl was too tall to be Wolverine – because today Peter Parker was finally going to be free of The Human Torch.

Spider-man, however, wasn’t so lucky.

So, when he saw that familiar smirk once he closed the trunk’s door, about to start his break, Peter reminded himself that this was the last day he’ll have to deal with this. There will be no more Johnny Storms after this. All he needed to do was be strong, get his paycheck, help Aunt May with the bills, and go back to his not-so-peaceful life that had no pretty blonds in it.

Pretty annoying and stupid blonds.

“Morning.”

Peter didn’t like the way Johnny was looking at him as he replied with some wariness. “Morning, Torch. Need something?”

“Do I have to have something I need to come talk to you?” Johnny had one eyebrow raised.

Peter didn’t know what to say as he mumbled. “I guess not.”

There were so many things he was thinking about, but they mostly boiled down to one thing – questioning why Johnny was approaching him. Peter wondered what it was that kept him coming back, failing to find a reason no matter how hard he thought about it. Maybe he made a mistake somewhere, similarly to the way he revealed himself to Ben, but what was it?

Johnny was playing mind games with him.

“I do have a reason to be here,” he finally admitted, and Peter went taut, bracing himself for the moment Johnny reveals that he knew his secret, “I heard today was your last day, so I came to see you.”

“It is my last day, yeah.”

“I was wondering,” Johnny trailed off a bit, acting a bit shy, which was so unlike him, yet somehow Peter thought he was building up suspense or being sneaky, “Would you like to go somewhere after your shift ends?”

So that’s how he wanted to do it, Peter though. He wondered if Johnny was going to ask to see him at their usual place, right on top of Lady Liberty’s head, or at one of their favorite burger joints and hot dog stands. In all honesty he was kind of hoping to get some pizza, because if his best friend was about to tell him that he knew he was Spider-man and that Peter was an idiot, he’d like it to happen with a slice of pizza stuffed into his mouth to make him forget about how painful it was to be discovered by Johnny.

Ben didn’t count because that was an accident, but to think that Johnny figured him out before Reed and Sue, well, that was a bit shocking.

So, with a sigh, Peter nodded his head. “Alright, but just to be clear, you know that–”

“That it’s a date, yes.” Peter’s brain went into a screeching halt after hearing that, and he blinked before looking at Johnny, who was smiling at him with palpable excitement and rosy cheeks, “I haven’t been very subtle about it.”

Oh.

Ooohhh.

Oooh nooo.

“So, how do you wanna do this? I give you my number, you give me yours?”

His mind was blank when he nodded. “Sure, yeah. That works.”

“Awesome! I’ll text you later.”

There was still nothing formulating in his brain as he waved back at Johnny, who looked genuinely happy about this whole interaction. There was no way Peter would have said no and crushed that happiness, and he wasn’t even thinking the whole time as he hauled more boxes with Carl and the rest.

He just felt perplexed.

He thought Johnny figured out he was Spider-man.

It didn’t sink in yet.

It finally sank in.

Nobody can tell, but Spider-man was yelling at the top of his lungs as he swung from one building to another.

Those screams of his weren’t of excitement and the usual ‘woo-hoo’ he’d let out whenever he felt the adrenaline rush after a freefall, no. Those screams were of pure unadulterated panic.

Because what the hell did Johnny mean it was a date?

This whole time he was watching Peter, talking to Peter, bringing coffee to Peter, commenting on Peter’s muscles – he wasn’t thinking of Spider-man?

This whole time Peter was freaking out over his secret identity being found out because of Johnny, only for him to realize that he was supposed to freak out over Johnny flirting with him. Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four was flirting with Peter Parker and he just asked him on a date.

A date.

A real actual date!

For a moment, he considered letting himself fall until he hit the ground. He might survive the fall, even though it was going to be painful, but it might confirm that this wasn’t a hallucination or a dream. That this was actually happening. If he didn’t and went splat on the ground instead, then oh well. At least Aunt May would get his paycheck and be able to afford the bills.

If only he could escape this reality somehow, maybe for just a moment, to process all this. He needed to think.

On instinct, he shot a web that connected to one of the buildings nearby, and he flung himself forward to drop on one of the rooftops, gazing down at the city he knew and loved, but sometimes hated, but couldn’t help but love – it was complicated.

And speaking of complicated, his situation with Johnny was becoming just that.

It wasn’t dark yet, and he took out his phone to check if Johnny had texted him, but there was nothing. No text. Peter wondered if Johnny was having second thoughts, and then he wondered if he’s the one who should be having second thoughts because this whole thing was messed up.

Johnny didn’t know that Peter was his best friend, he was just not wearing a mask, and he wondered how Johnny would react to this if he did find out.

Peter was a bit scared, and yes he was still freaking out because this was Johnny Storm.

It’s weird how that didn’t mean much when he had his spidey suit on and was Spider-man. It would be so easy for him to swing back to the Baxter Building and drop in. He spent so much time there that he basically became a member of their family, but him thinking of seeing Johnny in the context of being Peter somehow felt different, more terrifying.

Because this was him, the real him, not some mask and an alias.

And while it was so easy for Spider-man to get close with Johnny, the same thing couldn’t be said for Peter because Johnny Storm was a superhero, a celebrity, he was unattainable. Out of reach.

That is until he asked him for a date.

Not even the sound of police sirens pulled him out of his thoughts, and his phone screen sat in front of him before he found himself typing on his phone, finally deciding to act.

Peter: hey

Peter: meet up here at 8?

Peter shared a location.

Peter waited for a while, his heart hammering in his chest as he swung around just to kill time. Despite having superhuman reflexes and perfect balance, he felt himself getting clumsy from how nervous he felt. This was high school all over again when he had a huge crush on Liz Allen and almost missed a ledge because he was so excited about her agreeing to go on a date with him.

But even though he felt like he could float every time he let go of his web and let physics do its job, Peter still felt like he could fall at any moment.

Still didn’t know how Johnny would react to him being Spider-man.

Just when it occurred to Peter that he was fully intending to tell Johnny about his secret with little to no hesitation, his phone vibrated, leading him to immediately perch on a ledge to take it out.

Flame-Face: any reason you chose that place?

Peter: patriotism

Peter: can we get pizza before that?

Flame-Face: sure, i’d like that

Flame-Face: pizza’s on me

Peter: a man after my heart

It felt a bit strange texting Johnny.

He never thought he ever would because of his secret identity and all, never thought he’d get to anytime soon because he couldn’t afford another phone. However, it was different talking to Johnny as Peter, crossing a line he never thought he’d ever cross. Something he buried in the back of his mind since Johnny and Spider-man could never happen even when Spider-man was very much into Johnny.

Peter was very much into Johnny, too.

And if Peter could somehow see what Johnny was doing, he’d find out that he was lying back on his bed while staring dreamily at the ceiling, biting his bottom lip due to the thrill of having an incoming date. His thoughts would be occupied by the hot mover he just met, still in disbelief that he actually got a date out of this.

He couldn’t wait for it to be eight.

If there’s one thing Johnny found out about Peter, it was that he was so easy to talk to.

They were both sitting on the grass while eating their pizza, having snuck their way there instead of taking the ferry because Johnny flew them there. It was exciting, it was fun, and it was nothing like how Johnny expected his first date with this hot guy to go because Peter was suggesting all kinds of crazy things.

Still, Johnny wondered why Peter had chosen The Statue of Liberty as their first date spot, and he tried not to think too much about a certain webhead every time his eyes fell on the large statue.

Maybe Peter liked the view of the sea.

Johnny didn’t mind because he liked the view he had of Peter as he openly stared, watching the way his hair rustled with the gentle wind that breezed past them. Everything about the night was perfect, and Johnny never thought he’d have so much fun with just pizza and someone’s company. Something about Peter was special.

Comfortable.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“No, I just like your face.” Johnny told him honestly, and Peter smiled.

Peter smiled and Johnny felt butterflies swirling in his stomach.

“Look at you, Johnny. I think I like yours better.”

Johnny laughed, suddenly getting shy as he bumped his shoulder with Peter’s. He was looking down at his lap while he tried to control the way his face flushed as he spoke.

“You know, I should thank Dr Doom for attacking us the other day. If he hadn’t, I don’t think we’d be here.”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed, swallowing nervously because he knew that to be somewhat true. They might be here, but not in this way, “Maybe I should thank him, too.”

“Forget him. The last person I want to talk about right now is Dr Doom.” Johnny leaned on Peter, and if he noticed that he was the one initiating every move and touch, he didn’t give any indication of it, “So, how did you end up working at that moving company?”

The warmth Peter felt on his shoulder was very distracting, yet he still managed to answer. “My aunt needed help with some bills. Had to work there part-time to pay them off.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” he heard Johnny tell him sincerely, wrapping his arms around Peter’s before resting his head on his shoulder, “You must love her a lot.”

“How can I not when she raised me. She’s like a mother to me.”

Peter felt the way Johnny held him tighter, how his heart picked up when he said that because he understood Peter even if he didn’t say it. The two of them were similar in so many ways, and while Peter had his Aunt May, Johnny had his sister.

What Peter had said probably resonated with him because Johnny grew quiet for a while, and Peter let him have a few moments undisturbed before he shuddered.

“Hey, Peter.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you cold?”

“Freezing to be honest.”

Johnny let out a laugh, and it sounded lovely in Peter’s ear. He couldn’t help but smile as Johnny buried his head in his shoulder, still finding the whole thing to be amusing. Within seconds, Peter found his body pressed against Johnny’s, and the whole world felt warm.

“Say something, idiot. I can literally light myself on fire.”

“Had I known it’d get you this close, I would have said something sooner. Didn’t think it’d be this chilly.”

“You’re the one who chose this place.”

Peter let out a hum. “That's true.”

“Speaking of which, why here?”

Shifting in his place, Peter hesitated to answer, staring up at the Statue of Liberty as he wondered if Johnny would put two and two together if he asked him to fly them up there where they usually met. Instead, he pulled his arm away, leading Johnny to let him go, but Peter finally made a move and wrapped that arm around Johnny’s shoulders, pulling him closer.

He could tell that Johnny liked that because he nuzzled closer, but that didn’t make him any less nervous when he spoke.

“It’s because I actually – surprisingly – really like you, Torchy,” he told him, a slight tremor in his voice, yet somehow he kept it steady enough for it to be unnoticeable.

Johnny did raise an eyebrow when he said ‘surprisingly’, but he smiled at the rest. “I like you a lot, too, Pete.”

“Yeah. It felt appropriate to do this at the usual place, don’t you think?”

The words floated in the air and, what seemed to be a comfortable silence, settled between them as they sat there staring ahead at the distance with nothing but the sound of the waves filling the silence. It was only Peter who felt tense from the beginning, and he glanced down at Johnny whose face betrayed nothing.

Not at first.

He sat there for a moment repeating the words in his head, feeling confused because Peter’s answer seemed nonsensical at first. They’ve only met three days ago, they had no usual place, yet Peter was speaking to him as if they had history he wasn’t aware of.

And that’s when the realization dawned on him, his head turning painfully slow to look up at Peter.

Peter who was waiting patiently for him to say something, his leg moving restlessly as he did so. Johnny just sat there and stared, looking at him with a mixture of shock and intrigue. A million thoughts crossed his mind. He didn’t know what to say.

“Oh.”

Not having anything to say himself, Peter retracted his arm from Johnny’s shoulder and placed it back in his lap, nodding his head.

“It’s you?” Johnny asked, sitting up to look at him, actually look, taking away the warmth with him as he stared at Peter with eyes round in surprise, “You’re Peter?”

They both know who Johnny meant. Who that last question was directed at.

“The one and the same.”

“Oh my god–”

“I know. I should’ve told you sooner, I’m sorry.”

“You should be sorry!” Johnny told him, standing up to take a few steps back, looking super upset, and Peter did not blame him, “You mean to tell me that you– you’ve been hiding all of this under that stupid mask?”

All he did was remain seated there while confused as hell. “Wait, what?”

“Peter, I don’t care that you kept this a secret from me. You’ve told me your reasons before, remember? Don’t get me wrong, I am surprised, and I am still wrapping my head around this, but I don’t care. I’m just pissed that you’re that hot, and you’ve been hiding that from me!”

That was all true, he knew it to be true. Johnny never asked or pestered him about it. Actually, he even refused to learn who it was under the mask not because he didn’t want to know, but because he sensed that Peter felt obliged to share. It was an obligation born from guilt.

He didn’t feel like it was fair that he knew everything about Johnny when Johnny knew nothing about him, and the funny thing is, it happened at the same place. Their usual place.

This place truly held so many memories of them.

“You're pissed that I am hot?”

“I guess? There's no way for me to know without seeing your face, but to think you're this,” he gestured wildly at Peter, “Under there just pisses me off!”

“So,” he breathed out a laugh, smiling up at Johnny, “We cool?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re cool.”

This time, an actual comfortable silence fell between them, one where the tension dissipated instead of festering. Johnny was looking up, seemingly at nothing specific, but then he turned to Peter and grinned.

“See you up there?”

Peter playfully tilted his head. “At the usual place?”

“At the usual place.”

“Race ya there.”

It was no surprise that Johnny had arrived there first, with him being able to fly and Peter not having any tall constructs around. He might have had a chance if there was something he could connect his web to, but he had to lunge himself upwards using Lady Liberty herself and scale her on foot.

Johnny won the race by a few seconds, and the two of them sat on her crown the way they always did whenever they met up as Johnny and Spider-man.

“So it’s really you.”

“It’s really me, flamebrain.”

Peter didn’t bother to have the suit on, not when nobody was around and his spidey-sense didn’t warn him of any danger of getting discovered. Besides, being with The Human Torch made it easy to explain how he got up there. If anyone did see them, he could just say he was flown there by Johnny, but the chances of someone catching them there was already so slim since they either had to be on a helicopter or able to fly.

He couldn’t deny that it felt a bit weird to be in his civvies, but the whole day had been a weird one in the best ways possible.

And perhaps that’s why Johnny was still in disbelief. He might have had an easier time believing that Spider-man was Peter Parker if Peter had the suit on.

But Johnny had a smile on his face as he looked at Peter, and he was getting closer instead of scooting further. That moment was identical to the ones they always had whenever they met up here, but it was a lot quieter, more intimate.

“I can’t believe you’re working for a company called Webb’s.”

A groan left Peter.

“It wasn’t on purpose.”

“You just happened to work for a company called Webb’s? How do these things keep happening to you?” Johnny laughed, and Peter couldn’t help but smile.

“Let’s not speak of this ever again.”

“I’m never going to let that go,” the way Johnny keeps finding ways to inch closer to Peter was making him clench his fists due to nerves, holding himself back from doing anything stupid such as impulsively kissing that stupidly adorable face of his, “I should have known there was something suspicious about the way you were effortlessly carrying all those boxes.”

Peter couldn’t help but wince. “I was trying to pretend they were heavy.”

“Maybe try carrying one thing like the rest of the movers next time.”

“Good point.”

Johnny sighed, shaking his head in amusement as he snuggled closer to Peter, who totally didn’t mind and was grateful for the heat. It was impossible to feel cold when he’s with Johnny Storm. Not when he made Peter feel that way.

“The bandages, too,” Johnny continued, glancing at him, his eyes trailing along Peter’s face, “I won’t lie, there was something about it that was kind of hot.”

“You can thank Kraven for that.” Peter told him shakily, shifting under the attention before looking away.

“Oh my god, Pete, I can't believe there's someone this dense!”

Not knowing why Johnny sounded so frustrated as he pulled away, Peter blinked at him with a lost look on his face. “What? What did I do?”

“Do I have to do it myself?”

The fact that he gasped in surprise when Johnny climbed on his lap as he faced him just confirmed how hopelessly dense he was, his face squished by Johnny’s hands.

It was only when Johnny kissed him, did Peter finally drop all the hesitation and caution and started to kiss him back with just as much vigor. It was clear that this is what Johnny had wanted, probably for the whole entirety of their date, and he admits that he was too dense to realize it, but he was determined to make up for it, pulling Johnny even closer by the back of his thighs.

He was afraid to rush things with Johnny, something he tended to do a lot in his past relationships, but this kiss told him Johnny wanted him to rush things.

Everything about it was hot, hungry, and he only slowed down when Johnny seemed to be out of breath.

That was the issue with having such high durability and stamina. Peter could go on for much longer, so he had to be mindful and pull away to allow Johnny to catch his breath, kissing him along his jaw as he panted.

“Peter—” Johnny’s breath hitched when Peter moved to his neck, the place already sensitive as he gripped Peter’s shoulders, “Oh god.”

Johnny's legs trembled as he felt himself buckling completely on Peter’s lab, his neck becoming Peter's focus while his hands held Johnny in place.

This was more than any fantasy Johnny had about Peter when he was just that hot mover. This was a lot more intense and dizzying. Johnny felt his spine tingle with every bite, sounds he wasn't aware of kept escaping his throat.

The shock that ran through his body when he felt his ass being groped sobered him up as he yelped.

“Pete, stop, I'm gonna die.”

A displeased whine left him, but he did stop. “You’re not gonna.”

“I know, and I’m glad we’re on the same page, but…” Johnny’s cheeks were already red, but they seemed to get even redder to the point where even his ears were becoming tinted, “Maybe we should go somewhere else if you, uh— if you want to go further.”

Those words went straight down where Peter’s desires lied, and he couldn’t help but steal one more kiss before he fully let go.

“You’re right. Lady Liberty should not see that.”

Johnny snorted at that. “You’re so dumb sometimes.”

The two of them jumped off, rushing somewhere private and more comfortable to continue. It was their first date, and things might have gotten a bit too heated a bit too quickly, but they were both impulsive idiots, and that date felt like one among many to come.

They’ve known each other for so long Johnny thought it was okay to skip a date or two.

They've wasted enough time already.

All Johnny wanted was to make his fantasy of being handled and taken to bed by that hot mover come true.

“He was right there, in that corner.” Ben wiped a tear falling from his eye, pointing at the corner above them, “Can’t say I blame the kid. I’d hide too if I knew Matchstick was comin’.”

Sue’s eyes were looking upwards at the corner, her mouth open. “No way.”

“Would I lie ta you, Susie?”

“You’re telling me that the guy Johnny had been going after—”

“Peter.” He supplied, still laughing every now and then.

“—that Peter is Spider-man!?”

Seeing her try and fight that smile off of her face as she tried to suppress her laughter only made him laugh even more, slapping his knee as he did so. This was too good to be true, and when Johnny walked in on them, their laughter intensified as Sue placed a hand on her little brother’s shoulder to lean on him while he stood there frowning in confusion.

“What’s so funny?”

Nobody could answer him due to insistent laughter, but somehow Sue managed.

“You— you—” she gulped down a few breaths, and Ben was rolling on the floor at this point, “That hot guy you were after—”

A heavy sigh left him, already knowing what’s going on. “Uh-huh.”

“Spider-man!” Ben barked.

“Laugh it off you two. I’m leaving.”

He stepped into the elevator to get away from them, and to see if Franklin wanted to go somewhere with him today. Ben and Sue are going to be insufferable about this for a very long time, and he was not looking forward to it.

He found Reed already there, watching something intently on the screen he was holding, not looking up when he spoke to Johnny.

“What was that about Spider-man?”

“Haven’t you heard?”

“I did hear a lot of laughter.”

“Yeah,” Johnny sighed again, he seemed to be doing that a lot today, “He’s my boyfriend.”

That actually got Reed to look up from his screen, a bewildered look on his face before he nodded his head. From the years of knowing him, Johnny could tell that Reed approved.

A mirthful spark in his eyes when he spoke.

“Congratulations to you two.”

“Thanks, Reed. You’re the best.” Johnny told him sincerely before he curiously gestured at the screen, “What’re you watching?”

Reed perked up, showing him.

“I found something interesting while I was trying to find where the movers placed one of the parts I had ordered. One of them seemed to be able to lift more than what an average male of his mass and height could according to my calculation. It’s apparent here, with Ben’s couch. It’s spectacular."

Johnny watched with slight disinterest a recording of Peter as he easily hoisted Ben’s couch up with another guy, but it was clear that he was carrying most of the weight.

“Oh, yeah. That’s Pete.”

“You know him? I’ve been trying to figure out if he’s an undiscovered mutant or—”

“No, that’s just Spidey.”

Reed’s eyes widened before going back to the screen, clarity appearing on his face.

“Ah.”