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Day 1 - First Fight Peter does not know how it happen. It felt as if one moment they were sitting together on Peters old couch and then the next Peter was screaming himself horse at Johnny retreating back. And now here he was almost three hours later and not a word from the other man.
He is not even sure how things had escalated so quickly. Peter knew since the funeral he had been more withdrawn then normal, he knew because he could see the worry in their eyes. In his professors at school, in MJs, in the Fours…In Johnny’s. Johnny who had stayed with him; practically moved in with him since the day he got that god awful phone call that seemed to put his life in a never ending spiral.
Since May Parker passed away.
Peter could not remember much after that, it was like he was trapped underwater. Every time he moved seemed to take too much effort and all the sound around him seemed to be muddled. He could feel though, through that seemingly endless cold abyss Peter could feel that warmth and see that fire. Felt as if he could break through all this nothingness and reach for it if he just held on a little longer.
But now that light and warmth was gone and it was all his own fault.
He lost his parents.
He lost Uncle Ben.
He lost Gwen.
He lost Aunt May.
And now he was going to lose Johnny too.
Peter put his face in his hands and cried.
***
A warm cloth on his face is what wakes him. The smell of a familiar cologne is what gets him to open his eyes.
Johnny Storm was kneeling in front of him, washcloth in hand and Peter was terribly confused.
“Your back?”
“Of course I’m back.”
“But you left. No one ever comes back after they leave.”
Johnny makes a sound as if he had just been winded.
“No Pete, I was not leaving, just needed to clear my head before I said something I would regret.”
“I don’t even remember what I said.”
“I believe that; don’t think you would say even a third of what you have been saying these last few weeks.”
Peter wants to ask but is too afraid too. What does that mean? God what did I say?”
He was such a coward.
Day 2 - Competition :
It had all started simply enough.
Back when they shared a mutual hatred they were often found racing each other through the city to the next big emergency. (Spider-man knew the cities layout better then just about anyone in the superhero community but The Human Torch could fly high enough to get clear sight of the smoke and destruction or the giant killer robot.)
When they became friends (somewhere between the fifth bank robbery and the second alien invasion) their competitions evolved with them.
Their races where now added with some friendly teasing to throw the other off their game.
Their Mario Cart races had become legendary within the Fantastic Four and have ended with more than a few broken pieces of furniture and singed bed sheets.
They even tried to find the most ridicules media stories published about themselves and the other just for fun (and a good laugh.)
But lately something had changed.
There was something in the air between them, a sort of humming energy waiting for one of them to admit defeat and give in to that humming.
It was always there.
During movie nights and Mario marathons.
Down in the sub levels working on one of Johnny’s engines.
When they looked at each other for a moment to long with too much intensity.
Always there in the back of their minds waiting for one of them to break
But they didn’t.
They were competitive like that.
Day 3 – Domesticity
Johnny had moved in officially the day after their argument.
Well, Johnny announced the next morning that he had spoken to Peter landlord and broke his lease and if he did not want to live on the streets he needed to move into Johnny’s new apartment that he just bought.
So Peter did not have a choice- no really he didn’t, Johnny had said as much.
They were now roommates.
Who yell at each other about who drank the last of the orange juice and who squeezed the toothpaste from the middle and not the end of the tube like their supposed to.
Who go to the grocery store together and compare cereals and argue about the fresh fruit then go home and split house cleaning while blasting music throughout the apartment.
Who regularly have Sue, Ben and Reed over for dinner and then snuggle up together on the couch at night as they watch T.V. and whisper softly to each other.
Yeah they were just roommates.
Day 4 - Through the Decades:
“This is all your fault.”
“And how is it just my fault.”
“We are currently stuck in a weird time travel where we are forced to spend the day in each decade since the beginning of the 20th century until we get home. This level of weird only happens when you’re involved.”
“Ah excuse me but I’m not the one who disappeared a few months ago because a future version of his superhero identity showed up and asked him to join his Spider army. I’m also not the one with multiple clones of himself running around, one of which is in fact female.”
“Sh-shut up.”
“What’s up with you anyway? I thought you would be excited about the learning experience if nothing else.”
“Sorry, it’s these pants, they have been giving me a weggy since the moment we go here.”
“Yeah I got to say the seventies just don’t agree with you. Too much bright color; and I say this knowing full well you spend two-thirds of your day in red and blue spider themed spandex. You looked good in the forties though; very gentlemanly in your zoot suite.”
“Thanks man, I liked your clothes in the fifties. The hair and jacket looked really good on you.”
They could feel that energy in the air again as they stared at each other for a few moments too long.
“No homo bro.”
“Right, no homo.”
Day 5 - Journeys :
It did not feel like some big event when Peter and Johnny went from best friends to boyfriends. More like they had finally arrived at a destinantion they had been walking towards for a long time; the missing pieces falling seamlessly in place, leaving one perfect piece.
The moment their mouths came together for the first time there was no fireworks or electric shock but a pleasant warmth that spread smoothly over their bodies like a light summer breeze. Hands holding each other gently as lips creased softly together before pulling back just the slight only to come back again as if they could not bare to be apart for even a second.
No it was not a ragging inferno or a lightning storm one might have expected. It was warmth and contentment and safety.
It was home.
Day 6 - Risky Liaisons:
It was Johnny’s idea to turn it into a game.
After a brief talk about the new development (that was more-or-less that yes they had kissed and yes they both had wanted to do that for a long time and yes they wanted to be each other’s boyfriends) and another brief talk on who Johnny wanted to be seen dating (Peter still like the odd priversy he got from each of his identities and opted not to come forward as Spider-Man after his Aunts death.) they decided that their first official date (because they had kind of been un-officially dating for a while now) to be lunch at the diner on the corner of their block.
It took them all of thirty minutes for them to relies that aside from the occasional hand holding and kisses their relationship had not changed that much, which is when Johnny got his bright idea.
“Let’s see who catches on first that we are an official couple now. Friends, family or the media.”
And Peter really just loved the idea as much as Johnny did. The thrill of almost getting caught was a new kind of adrenalin that he soon found he craved. They almost were caught too; on multiple occasions.
Sue and Reed had almost walked in on them in the middle of a heated make-out session, only Peter sider-sense and quick thinking had made it seem like their breathless laughter and flushed faces was due to a little roughhousing. Ben had come over for a big game night and the two of them spent the whole night holding hands behind his back, going so far as to sneek a kiss while in the kitchen getting refills. They even shared a heated lip-lock on MJ couch while they waited for her to finish getting ready for a night of clubbing and drinking.
In the end it was a civilian with a Tumblr account who caught them.
‘Look who I saw at the ice-cream shop today. Don’t think their ‘just friends’ anymore.’
A photo of the two of them from earlier that day sitting outside with a ridiculously large Sunday between them clearly playing footsies under the table. Both their phones had blown up with calls and textes with various messages of congratulations, threats of violence and complaints from their friends and family by the end of the night. They decided they would deal with it in the morning.
Day 7- Free Day :
Happy shouts woke Peter early on Saturday morning, the sun already shining brightly through the blinds as he just took a moment to bask in his own blissful peace for a few moments more before slowly making his was out of bed and down the hall only to stop to drink in the sight before him.
Oblivious to his presence his thirty-five year old husband and seven year old son continued to laugh at the screen. Of course Johnny still watched the Saturday morning cartoons; after ten years of friendship, three years of dating and seven years of marriage Peter really should not have expected anything else.
Twenty years.
Two decades.
They had lost much during that time, fellow superhero friends, Sue, Reed and the kids for a time as well as each other (the thoughts and memories of Doc Ock and the Negative Zone still woke them both with nightmares.) They had been through their trials and made their mistake both apart and as a couple; there was even a time they had ended their relationship after a particularly bad time in their lives. But they always came back together, always stood by each other and never stopped loving each other even when all they wanted was to hate the other.
They had been through so much yet here they are; together, happy and with their own little family to raise. Peter never thought he could have been, that he could have ever have had this and yet here he is. And he would not have changed a thing.
“Papa, come and watch with us. Dad said he is going to make pancakes soon!”
Not a damn thing.