Chapter Text
There was something about the Xavier Institute that made Peter feel uneasy, he doesn’t quite know what it is. It could be the countless kids with the ability to end Peters’ life before he could comprehend what was going on, it could be that Wolverine was camped here with his daughter, or the fact that McCoy tends to treat him like a science project.
Yeah, probably that last part. The last time he came here was when he had the symbiote, and Johnny had to practically drag him. McCoy was a nice guy when it mattered, but he has an overwhelming urge to study people like artifacts and not.. People.
The journey was short thanks to Reed and whatever he activated as soon as they were all in the car. Peter couldn’t help the rock in his gut that kept sinking the more he listened to Sue sniffling and Ben murmuring quiet comforts.
It can’t be that bad. Johnny survived almost anything. He’s fine, right?
They’ve barely got to do anything, Peter internally panics, his hands fidgeting with themselves as he walks behind Reed. He’d been so focused on Spider-Man he’d never spent the time with Johnny that he wanted to, always putting it off because there was always some big bad roaming around or a deadline.
Peter notices in the back of his mind that Storm is guiding them down to the medbay. She keeps saying he should call her Ororo the amount of times he’s run into her when helping out Bobby or Kitty, but he feels like that’s disrespectful. He doesn’t spend enough time with the X-Men outside of missions to deserve that family treatment. Another sense of guilt hits him at the fact he now has multiple families and yet he doesn’t interact with any of them outside of Spider-Man.
Johnny was right. He’s been so busy being Spider-Man he’s let go of Peter Parker. He doesn’t even recognise how disconnected he is until it’s too late.
Peter guesses he should change that. He thinks with a queasy gut that if Johnny dies he’ll truly have no one that fully understands him. Not even Harry.
The medbay is strangely empty. There’s rows of untouched beds, the sheets pulled taut over the mattresses in a way that makes Peter think of a real hospital. A computer, IV station, and crash cart lay beside each bed like a bad omen.
There was a lady lying on one of the beds playing with a cat's cradle. Peter always used to think they were creepy until Gwen showed up. She used to show him the different patterns and what they meant.
‘Don’t be so serious, Pete!’ Gwen laughs, throwing the unbundled string at him as he pretends to leap in fear. Laughing. ‘It’s just a bit of fun! It’s so relaxing, you should try!’.
‘No, thanks’ Peter laughs, dangling the red threads above her as she tries to snatch them back. ‘Creepy, horror movie vibes.’.
‘Oh whatever,’ Gwen mocks him, succeeding in her mission and going back to a pattern. ‘You fight nightmares everyday. Don’t be so superstitious.’.
Peter feels his heart sink again thinking of Gwen. He can’t lose another love, he won’t survive. Without Johnny, he doesn’t think his heart would keep going. He remembers a study in college about a lady dying of a broken heart. He made fun of it then thinking it was such a small problem that she was facing compared to saving the world day after day, but he feels akin to her now.
Sue whispers to him to hang on, and then she and the rest of the four have disappeared behind a curtained off bed. Peter just stands there, his feet rooted to the spot and his mind running a hundred miles an hour as he starts thinking of worst case scenarios and who he knows that can help Johnny. Maybe Strange?
“You shouldn’t worry,”
Peter turns, confusion making his face screw-up. It was the lady on the bed who’d spoken.
She was pretty, with darker brunette hair and a beautiful shaped face. She was dressed in a hospital gown, but Peter could see something round and navy blue hiding in her dresser, a hint of gold glimmering. Her eyes surprised Peter, though. They were completely white, and he realized with a jolt that she must be completely blind as she wasn’t quite focused on where he was standing.
Despite getting a sinking feeling throughout the day, when he looked at her, he felt calm. It was worrisome in its own way but he couldn’t find it in himself to panic or look away.
“I’m sorry?” Peter rasps out, before he clears his throat. He hadn’t even tried speaking since they’d been at Baxter.
“You’re worried. I can feel it. But, you shouldn’t be.”. She smiled, delicate fingers weaving the red rope within itself. “It’ll be alright,”.
“Uh, thanks.” Peter replies, trying to be polite despite the situation. He was trying to pear around the curtain in front of him to no avail. He couldn’t even hear what was going on. “That’s nice of you to say.”.
“You don’t believe me,” She states, not with malice but with comfort. “It’s alright. It’s hard to, in times like this. Say,”
She leans forward off her bed, extending her hands towards him, red threads staring at him like they might bite.
“Care to play? I can be more certain of your fate for you, I can show you it’ll be okay.”.
“Uh,” Peter stepped back slightly, spine tingling.
“Irene, you’re supposed to be resting,” McCoy hums as he rounds the corner from his office.
“I’m helping,” The lady, Irene, states simply, her hands coming down to rest in her lap, the strings staying perfectly tangled in shapes. “He doesn’t know that yet, though”.
“I’m sure you are,” McCoy assures, rounding to her bed and taking the toy gently. “You aren’t supposed to be seeking out your powers whilst on bed rest. I’ll get her to come in if you resist medical advice”.
“You won’t,” Irene huffed, leaning back into her bed before snatching the strings back. “And you can’t take this, it's important to me.”.
Peter was engrossed in the interaction before he felt a small tug at his arm. It’s Sue, she’s giving him a watery smile and he sees Ben and Reed behind her, looking like they’re heading out.
“He’s awake,” She speaks gently, “He’s asking for you. We’ll be just outside with Hank, okay?”.
“Okay,” Peter replied numbly.
Sue pats his arm before heading out, the men following.
Peter couldn’t feel his feet. The whole room went cold and eerily quiet apart from distant beeping. He was so close to Johnny’s bed that he knew reaching forward would let him pull the curtain back, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Getting close to Johnny was so natural for him, ever since they were dumb teenagers he’d had Johnny, through what happened with Gwen, Aunt May, Harry, MJ, Wade, the list goes on. Anytime he felt alone Johnny was always there.
This is the first time Peter felt alone. He was sitting earlier in the car with an entire family but he was alone, cold and static. Like someone shut the door on him and there was no light to help guide him home.
He could feel his chest catching as the panic set in about what was waiting for him on the other side of the curtain. His arms and legs felt like dead weight, and he’d never missed the presence of his spider-induced courage more than in this moment.
Peter just stood. Frozen. Lost in thought about how to deal with what was happening when he was yanked out of his own head by a voice that sent chills throughout his body.
“Pete?” It was weak and unsure, and it was coming from behind that stupid curtain that Peter couldn’t seem to cross.
“Yeah?” Peter replied, voice hoarse and seconds away from breaking.
“You comin’?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” He sounded small and exhausted, and Peter felt relief at the fact he was speaking, but heartache at the fact he didn’t sound like Johnny at all.
Peter finally manages to conquer the three steps to the curtain, and he hesitates just briefly before pulling back on them and taking in the sight of his best friend in front of him.
Johnny looked.. Sick. He was pale, a generic pale blue hospital gown making his skin look even more sickly than it should do in his situation. His bright blond hair was a stark contrast, freckles standing out proud on the pale skin. Bright blue eyes found his own immediately, tired but still glimmering with relief upon seeing a companion.
“Oh, hey,” Johnny sighed tiredly, “Welcome to my crib.”.
Peter laughed, sharp and sudden before it started to sting and he gently pushed Johnnys’ shoulder.
“God, Torch, don’t.”.
“Sorry, even after almost dying I’m still the funniest in the room.”.
“There was never any doubt about that. You’re better in every way, man.”.
Silence. Uncomfortable pregnant pause.
“I didn’t mean-”
“Sorry I was-”
They both laughed, Peter sitting in the chair opposite the bed. He smiled, thankful Johnny seemed well enough to talk and joke around. God, Sue had him so worried.
“Okay, you go,” Peter offered, “I’ll wait.”.
“I’m sorry I’m late home” Johnny sheepishly apologizes, a hand raising to rub the back of his head as he looks up at Peter through long eyelashes.
“Are you serious?” Peter replies incredulously, “Johnny, are you kidding?”
“Well-”
“No! I’d rather have you late than dead!” Peters’ voice cracks at the end of his sentence, his voice raising in volume and he has to take a breath and close his eyes, not able to look in Johnnys’ eyes.
“Pete-” Johnny starts, moving to place a hand on his friend's shoulder, accidentally bumping into the glass of water on the side table, sending it off the edge. “Oh crap-”
Peter catches it, without even thinking. He smiles and places it back on the table.
“You were saying?” He prompts.
He settles back into his chair and looks back at Johnny, only to find his friend staring at him with his mouth agape, which slowly turns into a grin when met with confusion.
“What?” Peter asks, awkwardly laughing and rubbing his arm. “You hit your head?”.
“Did you see that!” Johnny exclaims excitedly, “You totally caught that!”.
He's practically vibrating in his hospital bed, and the monitor next to him is beeping more rapidly. Little tendrils of smoke coming off the top of his head. Peter swears, glancing up at the smoke detectors before reaching over and patting the top of Johnny’s head, extinguishing the mini-flames.
“Johnny, calm down before you burn this place down. Logan hates me enough already,” Peter scowls, as Johnny flaps his arms and bats Peter away from his hair. “You could have caught that.”.
“Uh, no,” Johnny argues, laying back with a wince and clutching his stomach “That was superhuman, Pete. I’m telling you.”.
“If you say so,” Peter replies, distracted, standing up and gently pushing Johnnys’ hands away from his abdomen and peeling the sheets back to examine the damage. “Your stomach hurting?”.
“No,” Johnny deflects, “You’re my friend, not a doctor.”.
Peter raises an eyebrow at him and moves his hands across his friends stomach, noting that it feels raised where all the stitches are. It’s not massive, there’s a bandage covering most of his abdomen but there’s only a raised patch near the middle and Peter is sure that despite a lot of bleeding (he guesses, from the blood bag on the IV) that the wound is mostly superficial. He breathes a sigh of relief, stepping back.
“I can be both,” Peter replies, offended. “I have a PHD”
“Yeah, in science or something,” Johnny scoffs, “Definitely not medicine!”
Peter stares at him, before pulling his phone out and taking a snap of Johnny in all his hospital gown glory.
Johnny sits up straight away, stitches be damned.
“Give me that phone!” He demands, trying to furiously grab the offending object from his friend. “Peter, I’m serious! You can’t post that! I have fans!”.
“Fans?” Peter deadpans. “That’s a bit generous.”
“Oh sorry, not all of us have daily smear campaigns!” Johnny jabs, “I happen to usually have a totally hot body and the chicks love it on my socials.”.
“You aren’t twenty-one anymore Johnny,” Peter snorts, typing on his phone. “Your body is old and wrinkly now. Past your expiry date, now.”.
Johnny makes a noise of disbelief before crossing his arms and turning his head to the side, effectively turning his back to Peter.
“Oh, the silent treatment?” Peter says, amusement in his voice. “That is so mature.”
“You’re blackmailing me!” Johnny shoots back.
Peter raises an eyebrow.
“Wow, that was a new record for how long you managed to stay silent”.
Johnny just scoffs again and starts trying to get out of his bed, not very effectively but more for dramatic effect. Peter loved how dramatic he was. It definitely makes it easier to tease him.
“No, I’m serious Johnny,” Peter says, moving to block him from getting up, much to Johnny’s annoyance. “What was that, a whole five seconds?”.
“I wish I died!” Johnny snarks back, pushing Peters’ shoulders. “Oh my god, dude move, how heavy are you?”.
“Sadly, you lived,” Peter sighed, his heart jumping a little at the joke though. “I’m sure I’ll manage to deal with the consequences”.
Johnny stops and stares at Peter with a confused expression on his face. His eyebrows all pinched on his forehead, and nose wrinkling up, distorting his freckles. He was so cute.
“Consequences?”
“Your theatrics.”.
Johnny exclaims again, making Peter laugh.
They both stayed in comfortable silence, Johnny resting a hand on Peters’ arm. A couple minutes pass before Peter breaks the silence.
“Please don’t do this ever again.” The tone shift is so sudden that Johnny gets whiplash.
“What?” He asks, turning to look at Peter. Oh.
Peter looks awful, now that Johnny properly takes him in. He’s pale and shaking slightly, his eyes red-rimmed and lips dry and chewed thoroughly. He’s wearing Johnnys’ pajama shirt and a pair of sweats Johnny is sure are his too.
More importantly, there’s dried tear tracks down his face. Oh.
Johnny’s heart breaks, and guilt settles in his stomach. He’d promised he wouldn’t be long and it was a standard mission. Two hours, tops. Shit.
“Pete,” Johnny speaks softly, moving a hand to grab his friends and holding it with both hands. “I’m sorry. Stray ‘bot got me, it wasn’t that bad. I promise. Worse than it looks.”.
“Sue was crying,” Peter forces out, and Johnny can see tears welling in his eyes again. “Ben wasn’t speaking, Reed was-”
Peter was sobbing. Grief pouring out like it had been harboring for weeks instead of hours,
“I should have been there,” Peter says on a harsh breath. Steeling his voice, anger seeping through. “I should have had your back”.
“Peter-”
“Don’t.” Peter snaps, turning to focus angry eyes on Johnny. “I was reckless, again. I put what I love at risk, again. Don’t comfort me when I can’t even fix this for you.”.
Love?
“Love?” Johnny mumbled.
Peter wasn’t listening, powering through his little speech. Johnny just sat and listened.
“I used to be able to help, pull my weight for you and your family,” Peter laughed, hands coming up to pull at his hair. “I can’t even get up without my knees and back aching.”.
“You love me?”
“Peter Parker is no better than your average citizen it’s-”
“Peter,” Johnny interrupted, raising his voice in desperation, eyes pleading. “You love me?”.
“What?” Peter startled, looking up to come face to face with Johnny.
“You love me? You said that?” Johnny was begging now, for confirmation, for denial, anything .
Peter just sat there for a minute, frozen in fear before taking a couple of steps back and wiping his eyes furiously with the back of his hands.
“You need to rest, I should go.” He spoke, determination in his voice.
“Wait-”
“Johnny, I’m glad you're okay,” Peter leaned forward and clapped him on the shoulder before stepping back and pulling the curtain closed. “Rest. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”.
And like a coward, he turned and practically ran out of the med bay. He didn’t even look back.
Johnny sat in his bed, shellshocked. Peter loved him, that’s what he said, right? Putting someone he loved at risk or something? It’s got to be a joke or emotional high.
He didn’t even register Sue and Ben coming in, they must have been talking because Sue tapped his arm and he jolted back to reality.
“What?”
Sue looked at him, amusement and concern swirling in her eyes.
“I said, how are you feeling?”
Ben makes a joke, asking him if he’s not feeling too hot. Sue laughs, Ben laughs, Johnny. Well.
“Peter said he loves me.”.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
And then:
“Oh my god, finally!” Sue.
“You two are unbelievable” Ben.
“Tell me everything!” Sue exclaims, scooching Johnny over so she can sit in the bed with him.
“Please,” Ben speaks, moving his chair forward despite his complaints. “Feel free to spare some details.”.
And Johnny just talks. He talks about how Peter stood behind the curtain for what felt like an eternity, how he was fine one minute and cracking jokes and then he just broke down, how he got angry. What he said. How he reacted, and finally how he’d suddenly left.
“Well, kid can’t go far,” Ben snorts, leaning back in his chair. “We’re his ride.”.
Sue shoots him a glare, before rubbing Johnny’s arm in comfort.
“You know what Petes’ like, J. Give him some time, he was scared.” Sue is reasonable. Johnny loves that about her. “We probably gave him a scare. I was crying, so was Ben.”
She finds the good in literally any situation.
Ben immediately protests, saying he got dust in his eyes during the fight. Sue throws a pillow at him.
“Yeah, I guess. I really didn’t mean to leave him home alone for so long.”.
“You didn’t plan on getting hurt, Matchstick.” Ben speaks in a sarcastic tone. “It’s not like you were out cheatin’”.
“I would never,” Johnny states firmly. “Never. Not on Peter.”.
Ben and Sue exchanged pointed looks before carrying on a conversation about what happened after Johnny went down. Apparently he was escorted off the battlefield by some x-kids and taken on the jet to the med bay whilst the rest stayed to finish up the last of the robots. He made sure to throw in a couple of questions so they didn’t think he was ignoring them before he just settled back and let his mind wander back into what Peter had said.
If Johnny was being perfectly honest, he’d definitely noticed a change in their relationship. All the little mock-dates had started being less mock and more date, Peter had been helping Sue with dinner and helping the kids with their homework, Johnny makes sure to be home before sunset so that he can debrief Peter on his day, Peter cleans their room and usually finds some activity to do.
It was different. No, it was domestic . Thing is, Johnny is happy. That’s the truth.
If Peter didn’t want to put a label on it, that was perfectly fine with him. He’d even seen those TikToks about soulmate best friends and he’d bookmarked them to show Peter when he’d got back from the mission.
Honestly, yes, Johnny did want a completely non-platonic relationship with Pete. He’d thought about taking him to romantic restaurants, kissing him during horror films when the other gets scared, going to bed together every night and actually touching each other. All of his thoughts bordered on lovesick and horny definitely not platonic.
But, if Peter could only do platonic then Johnny would settle. He never thought he’d be that guy but being in Peter's life in any way is enough. And he made peace with that and he started ignoring the little signs, even the home cinema night.
Today though? When Peter said he loved him, or basically said that, Johnny felt the first little bit of hope he’d felt in a very long time. He’d always assumed he’d be the forever bachelor living with his sister's family - but maybe not?
Why did he say that?
Peter was leaning against the wall outside the manor, head in his hands letting out a couple of frustrated groans. He can’t believe he spilled his guts like that, he used to be so much better at being silent about his feelings. What’s happened to him?
About ten minutes into his crisis, he feels like someone is watching him. He clears his throat and glances up, sure enough Logan is walking across the grounds towards him. Great. He hasn’t seen the guy since they accidentally body swapped. They’d agreed on never speaking of the incident and never speaking to each other ever again. Peter was happy with that.
But it seems that once again his incredible luck had led them to cross paths. Great.
“You alright, kid?” Wolverine asks, pulling a cigar out and lighting it. He takes a few puffs before leaning against the wall next to Peter. “No powers, right?”.
Peter sighed. Of course word had gotten out.
“Yeah, no powers, I’m a regular Joe.” Peter kicked the ground, wishing he was anywhere but here.
Wolverine just studies him for a moment, before he shakes his head slowly and takes the cigar out his mouth with two fingers.
“You should get Hank to take a look at ya,” He moves to clap Peter on the shoulder. “Try not to die, you’re one of the least annoying out there.”.
“Wolvey,” Peter clutches his chest. “I’m touched. You know, I always thought we were meant to work together. It’s, like, cosmic.”.
Logans’ expression immediately changes to irritation and he just mutters out a ‘good luck’ and ‘could still kill ya’ before he walks away, leaving behind the scent of leather and tobacco. Yum.
Well, that was about as pleasant as it could get. Peters got to say, ever since finding out he has daughters, Logans really turned into a fatherly figure on campus. He even teaches classes. Peter has always felt a strong sympathy for him, being on this planet so long and fighting the same bad guys in different shapes for all eternity.
Peter wants to teach, eventually. He doesn’t think he’ll ever hang up Spider-Man for good, but to settle down and have kids like a regular person is something he’s always wished he could do. Harry had even offered to let him do some smaller teaching gigs at Oscorp for experience. He’d always been too busy, but now? Spider powers pending, he thinks it might be something he could consider.
Of course, he’d have to speak to Johnny first and sort out where to live because being a resident of Oscorp Tower is not really something that appeals to him. And Johnny has wanted to move out on his own for a while now, maybe they could get a studio closer to his work, and it’s not too far from Sue and the kids?
Wow, okay, he’s thinking way too far in advance. Peter shakes his head before letting out another loud sigh and heading back through the front entrance. Time to pretend he hasn’t seen Johnny and confessed his love like an hour ago.
Meeting back with the Fantastic Family was a touch more awkward than Peter wanted but mostly it went off without a hitch.
Seventy-two stitches. That’s all that was holding Johnny together right now. McCoy said that due to his faster healing that it shouldn’t take long to heal fully but to keep him away from fights and stressful encounters just in case. Johnny complained, of course, Peter would think he was dying if he didn’t throw in some dramatics.
Reed stayed behind for a short while whilst they headed to the car, he wanted to get the specs behind the materials they used for Johnny as they seemed to be heat-resistant. Peter supposes with all the kids there they’re constantly inventing techniques and materials in the medical field. He remembers Pyro and snorts to himself.
There had been a time where the ‘Brotherhood of Evil X’s’ (that’s what he calls them at least) had shown up whilst he and Johnny were clearing a mobster warehouse and Pyro had seriously tried to go up against Johnny. The Human Torch.
Yeah, pretty embarrassing for the guy. He called himself the ‘King of Fire’ and Peter remembers thinking vaguely throughout their little showdown, what’s a king to a god?
Johnny wasn’t the only guy around with Pyrokinesis, far from it, but god does he solo them all. Peter was in awe.
As a guy who wasn’t alone in his powers himself, he’s always felt like if he were to go down the world would still have multiple spiders to look after it, but if Johnny were to go down? Nobody would live up to him, that’s for sure.
Peter has seen Johnny go supernova once. It was the most destructive, planet ending, beautiful, hot thing he’s ever seen. It’s an event that should never be seen, and yet he thinks seeing it has changed his life and he couldn’t even tell you how.
Jonathan Storm was the most beautiful person on the planet, as a civilian and as a super. Peter kinda feels bad for all the people that have to compete with him.
He’s shaken out of his thoughts by Johnny speaking in the car.
“Gonna have a sexy scar,” He points to his stomach, grinning. “Chicks totally dig it. I’ll be the hottest guy out there.”.
“It’ll fade,” Peter replies drily, buckling himself in whilst Sue and Ben laugh in the front at Johnnys’ fallen expression. “Don’t worry, you’ll still be a B-list celebrity when we get home.”.
“Dude,” Johnny pouts, leaning forward and melting Peters’ seatbelt so he couldn’t free himself. “You suck.”.
“Johnny, are you serious?” Peter grits out. “I can’t even get out.”.
“Don’t worry,” Johnny replies cheekily, “You’ll still be powerless when we get home”.
Peter could feel his annoyance bubbling at the fact he couldn’t even prove Johnny wrong, and how he couldn’t even use his webs to shut him up. Seriously? He was this childish?
He takes back everything he just thought about how Johnny was beautiful and powerful and kind and how he was in love with him. He hates him right now. He can feel himself getting annoyed and all tingly all over. Sweating and sticking to the chair uncomfortably. He gets even more angry.
And now his wrists were itching and he was struggling to scratch them all whilst Johnny started boasting to his sister and brother about how he’s the strongest in the car and how he’s basically a god and Peters’ bodyguard and Peter breaks free and makes a gesture towards him. The whole car goes silent, including Johnny.
Because..
Well.
Because there were webs covering a very shocked Johnnys’ mouth. Peter just gaped at him.
“I-” Peter stuttered out, looking at his wrists and seeing little curls of webbing wrapping around his hand. “I don’t know how I did that.”.
Johnny moved a hand up to wipe the webbing off of him, looking down as it burned in his hands, completely shocked and just looking from the evidence to Peter.
Peter was worried he was genuinely pissed off before he saw the biggest grin work its way onto his friend's face.
“Peter,” Johnny breathed, joy filled in his voice. “Your powers.”.
“I don’t think they’re back, I can’t do it on purpose,” Peter hastily adds before Johnny celebrates, making more gestures and failing to produce more webs. “Just, I just wanted you to shut up.”.
“Don’t we all?” Ben quipped from the front seat.
“Peter!” Sue has the same joy on her face as well. “This is huge! We have to tell Reed!”.
“Tell me what?” Reed asks, entering the car in the most disturbing display of stretching Peter thinks he’s seen yet. He settles in the seat before stretching his head back to face them all.
Silence. Peter guesses they’re waiting for him to say something, but he’s still staring at his wrist.
“Reed,” Johnny says slowly, a grin still plastered across his face. “Spider-Man is totally coming back.”.
Getting home was more eventful as Johnny and Reed started talking at a hundred miles an hour about how they’ll need to check over Peter in the lab and document this progress. Reed was talking with scientific astonishment and Johnny was speaking with pride embedded in his voice.
They stepped out and all went opposite directions, Peter tried to rush towards Johnny’s room before he was quickly pulled to the side by Johnny.
“C’mon, Pete,” Johnny was still grinning, “I promise it won’t take long.”.
“You need to be resting,” Peter protested weakly, allowing himself to be dragged into Reeds’ lab.
“I will, promise.”
To be fair to Johnny, he kept his word and it didn’t take long. Reed took his temperature, ran a few reflex tests and then documented everything. There were a few questions and Peter answered them honestly. Mostly.
“And have you experienced anything else?”.
“Nah,” Peter replied, swinging his legs as he sat on the table. “No super-strength or sticky hands.”.
Reed hummed. Johnny squeezed his side.
“And your precognitive powers? Or,” Reed laughed, tapping his screen a couple of times. “Your spider tingles?”.
“Spider-sense” Johnny immediately corrected. It made Peter feel all warm.
“Uh,” Peter thought about it. And he had.
Before they told him the news about Johnny. When Doom was in the house, and when Logan was about to show up. And he felt a bit of relief before it as replaced with dread.
If he got his powers back, they’d make him leave. Kick him to the curb. He couldn’t stay so close to Johnny anymore. They’d go back to texting all the time. Peter can’t.
He just can’t. He needs this. He needs Johnny, and he feels so full of shame and he knows that despite all this he should own up. They’re helping him.
With a sigh, Peter opens his mouth.
“No.”.
Crap.
Johnny squeezes him again, using his powers to warm Peter up slightly.
“That’s okay, Pete.” Johnny assures him. “They’ll all come back slowly. Don’t worry.”.
“Thanks, Johnny.” Peter replies, guilt swirling in him. How he manages to keep putting himself in the shit he doesn't know.
But he looks at Johnny grinning at him, takes in how close they are, and he just settles with the decision that a little extra recuperation time wouldn't hurt.
He needs to make sure Johnny heals, and then he'll come clean. He swears.