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Johnny Storm isn’t usually the person the Fantastic Four bring when they’re doing research. In addition to the ‘hothead’ reputation, his bad habit of accidentally lighting books on fire when he stops paying attention to them, the fact that he’s never been one for reading boring shit, and the fact that he also adamantly refuses to help when they’ve got some bit of info they have to track down and really, it’s usually better just to leave him to his own devices and call him in when they’ve gotten to the ‘big bad’ point and need someone with the (literal) firepower to help.
Not to say he’s not smart, or that he’s not interested in the science, but usually he’s more of a ‘heat of the moment’ kind of person, and unless he’s got a personal interest in whatever it is, he doesn’t usually bother with the book learning.
But, well, there are always special circumstances. Case in point, any time that there’s a chance to go to Avengers tower. That place is both cool and tricked out ten ways from sunday, so whenever the Four have to take a visit over there, Johnny is first in line to go.
Today they’ve got some bad guy with some evil ray or something or other (Johnny didn’t really pay attention when Sue told him about it) and they need Tony Stark’s help figuring out the sciency bits of it so they could have their big showdown without putting civilian lives at risk. Just another day at the office, really.
Getting to visit the Tower was just a short walk, and as they made their way from their place to Avenger's, Johnny found himself having to control his emotions, as his excitement tended to show itself as uncontrolled bursts of flame. He focused his energy as he walked behind the rest of the group by snapping his fingers, flaming on and off as he did so, trying to control the exact height of the flame. It was one of the habits that helped him control his powers, and it also served as a nice grounding exercise when he needed to focus.
When they reached the large lobby, Sue and Reed hesitated, looking at the bank of pretty young receptionists sitting there intimidatingly. All of them looked incredibly busy, and as Johnny watched, he saw no less than two of them talking on the phone, taking notes, and also entering information on their computers at once.
Sue took a deep breath and walked over to the nearest girl, who had just hung up the phone she’d been talking on. The girl looked up at Sue, giving her a smile and nodding as Sue approached. Johnny was just close enough to hear their interaction.
“Hi, uh, we’re here – we had an appointment with Tony Stark? He’s helping us with something.” Sue’s voice was uncharacteristically hesitant and Johnny saw her trying to straighten her back as the young woman looked her over. The girl seemed not bothered in the least to be approached by three members of the Fantastic Four, and she just looked back down at the computer in front of her, typing quickly for a few moments.
As Johnny watched, she clicked through a few programs and eventually landed on the one she was looking for, her eyes skimming as she looked for their appointment. After another moment she looked back up to Sue with a small smile. “Ah, yes, here you go. I’ll have someone come get you and bring you upstairs, alright?”
Sue smiled back at her and nodded before stepping back to rejoin Johnny and Reed. Johnny raised an eyebrow at her and she squinted at him.
“Who woulda thought that the badass Sue Storm would be afraid of a cute little receptionist?” Sue was glaring at him outright now, and Johnny shot her a shit-eating grin. When she reached for him, he danced back, out of reach and still grinning at her.
“Oh shut it, Johnny.” Sue shot her eyes back towards the receptionists who were all still busy with their work. “They’re all so – efficient. It creeps me out sometimes.” Johnny looked over at the girls as well, his eyes roving over their uniform pressed shirts and similar hair. He wouldn’t admit it to Sue, but she had a point.
When one of the elevators on the other side of the lobby dinged, all three of them looked over to see who was there. It wasn’t Tony, because, well, of course it wasn’t, but instead there was a boy holding a tablet and looking down at it while biting his lip. After a moment, he looked up and seemed to realize that the elevator had stopped. When he stepped out, he swept his eyes across the lobby. After one full sweep, his eyes landed on their little group and he started walking towards them, offering a wide smile.
Sue started walking towards him and Reed and Johnny hurried to follow her. The boy did the same, and they met in the middle. Sue held a hand out and the boy stared at it for a second before shaking, like he hadn’t expected it.
“Hi, I’m Peter, Mr. Stark’s intern. He sent me down to grab you guys and get you set up in one of the conference rooms, so we could talk about your problem.” The boy, Johnny noted, was looking between Sue and Reed as he talked, and only seemed to notice Johnny as an afterthought. He felt his lip curling in a sneer, but before he could snap at the boy, Sue was already answering Peter.
“It’s nice to meet you, and we appreciate the help. If you want to lead the way?” Peter gave her a nod and turned on his heel, beckoning them forward as he made his way back towards the elevator he’d come from.
“Yeah, it’s this way.” They followed him into the elevator, which was roomier than Johnny had expected, and as the doors slid closed Peter shot them all a grin. “It’s nice to meet you guys as well, I’m a big fan of your work.”
Johnny fought the urge to roll his eyes but before he could answer, Sue drove an elbow into his ribs preemptively. She glared at him in warning and turned back to give Peter another smile.
“Thanks, Peter, we appreciate that.” Dealing with fans was equal parts flattering and annoying, and Johnny saw his interesting day in Stark tower slipping from his grasp as he realized the kid was probably going to be annoying them the entire time they were there, being weird that they were superheroes.
Peter turned to Reed then, his eyes sharpening. “I was actually hoping to ask you, Dr. Richards, I had a few questions about the paper you published recently on synthetic polymers – you managed to make a compound that would resist scorching and held the same basic texture to feel as normal spandex, and I was thinking about other applications than the ones you posited.”
The elevator was dead silent as all three of the fantastic four team members gaped at Peter in utter shock. Peter looked back at the three of them without guile, blinking as he took in their expressions. “Uh, did I say something wrong? If you don’t want to talk about your scientific works, we don’t have to.”
Reed held out a hand to stop him before he could apologize further, and Peter’s mouth clamped shut, looking at the man. “No, no, dear boy, I’d be more than happy to discuss my research. I was just expecting that you would ask about superheroics, not the more scholarly aspects of my research.”
Peter grinned at that and Johnny grit his teeth, looking away. The boy’s smile was blindingly beautiful, and it was incredibly annoying that it affected Johnny as much as it did. When Peter spoke, it was unaffected and he seemed genuinely excited by the prospect of getting to discuss the science with Reed further. “Oh, yeah, that stuff is pretty cool too, but I mean, I’m kind of used to it, you know? I really thought your latest paper was incredible though, and I was going to ask if you’d considered donating some of the material to local firefighters? The flame-resistance properties would help them greatly if it was incorporated in their suits, and it would make it so they wouldn’t have to run into burning buildings with such heavy material covering them.”
Reed’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s a great idea!” He turned to Sue with a grin. “Sue, make sure you remind me of this later.” He turned back to Peter, and Johnny could tell that he was already planning on grilling the boy on his thoughts on the scientific merits of the polymer.
Before they could get into an incredibly boring technical discussion, the elevator doors dinged softly before opening. Johnny hadn’t even felt the elevator moving, and he blinked as he realized that instead of the lobby, they now faced a long hallway lined with windows on one side, showing Manhattan below them.
Peter stepped out of the elevator and the rest followed, and all three of them stopped to gawk at the view of the city below. Peter was the only one that seemed unaffected by it, and he stood patiently, waiting for them to look their fill.
Johnny was the first one to look away from the view, since he’d gotten similar sights when he was flying around the city. As he turned back to Peter, he crossed his arms, frowning at the boy. Peter caught his eye with a small smile, and Johnny just frowned harder. When Peter faltered, his eyes going wide as he took in Johnny’s expression, Johnny stepped closer to him with a sneer.
“I bet you think you’re hot shit, huh, being Tony Stark’s intern?” Johnny gave Peter a derisive look up and down, taking in the incredibly fit body under the baggy clothes and hating himself for noticing. “I think you’re just some kid with an overinflated ego who thinks working for superheroes is the same as being one.”
Instead of quivering like Johnny expected, though, Peter looked up at him with a grin at Johnny’s words. “Oh, well, I mean, yeah, being around Mr. Stark is pretty cool, but he’s more interesting from a science perspective, you know?” Peter’s voice was flippant but he stared Johnny down, straightening his spine so they were more or less the same height. “And I don’t just work for superheroes; I’m friends with a few.”
Johnny rolled his eyes and stepped back, unwilling to let himself be drawn further into the confrontation he’d started. “Yeah, well, being an intern isn’t the same thing as being friends, kid.”
Sue and Reed had finally managed to pull themselves away from the view, and they turned to face Johnny and Peter, frowning as they caught the tail end of their conversation. Johnny rolled his eyes at them and uncrossed his arms, throwing up his hands to say that he wasn’t trying to be a dick, it just seemed to happen.
Peter cleared his throat behind him, and when all three of them turned to face him, he wore a small, knowing smile. “I’m not talking about Mr. Stark, but either way, I’ve got to take you to the conference room. Mr. Stark is probably waiting for us by now.” He turned and started walking down the hallway without waiting to see if they would follow, and Johnny exchanged a look with Sue and Reed before all three of them hurried to catch up with him.
They followed Peter down the hallway and then through a door that opened into a largeish room containing both a long conference table and also a small lab station equipped with some of the more standard lab equipment that Johnny recognized from Reed’s lab. Sitting at the head of the table was Tony Stark himself, and he gave Peter a nod when the boy ushered them inside.
“I see you only managed to get a little lost, hmm?” Instead of being chastised at Stark’s words, Peter offered him an impudent smile before taking a seat at the table to Stark’s left.
“I told you everyone always gets distracted at the view. You should probably put at least one of the conference rooms on the inside of the building and make it out of beige concrete, if you don’t want the people you’re meeting with to get distracted.” His tone was sassy and he set the tablet he’d been fiddling with on the table, sliding it over so Stark could look at it. “Here are the numbers you asked for, by the way, should just need a once-over by one of the AI before we put them into use – to make sure I didn’t forget any commas or anything.”
Stark took the tablet and looked over the display there, nodding at Peter as he did. “Looks good kid, thanks for helping out.” He reached over to muss Peter’s hair, more like an affectionate father than internship manager, and Johnny felt himself getting red as he watched their easy banter, caught between jealousy and annoyance.
Peter griped and tried to fix his hair while giving Mr. Stark a private smile, and Johnny abruptly turned away, instead walking over to the lab station that took up half the room. He poked at a few things, examining machines even as he heard Stark and Reed opening their meeting and discussing the problem they’d been having with their latest villain. Between the two of them, they tended to bitch at each other, and Johnny was just glad that Sue was there to mediate.
Johnny continued looking at the different lab gadgets, ignoring the sound of voices bickering behind him in favor of poking things and generally fiddling. The actual discussion of their problem didn’t interest him very much, he was only along for the ride.
As he was messing with things, Johnny poked at a basket of empty slides harder than he meant to, sending the entire thing flying off the edge of the counter. He lunged for it, trying to keep it from all landing on the floor, which would no doubt be very loud. Before he reached it, however, another pair of hands came out of nowhere and scooped the basket from midair, saving all of the glass slides from shattering on the floor.
When Johnny straightened, he saw that Peter stood in front of him, giving him a shaky smile and holding the basket of slides to his chest. Johnny narrowed his eyes at the other boy and Peter set the basket back down on the counter, pushing it away from the edge.
“Uh, hi. I was just coming to see what you were up to.” Peter bit his lip and gave Johnny another small smile, and Johnny’s heart clenched at how cute the kid was. He staunchly ignored the feeling and instead sent Peter a glare.
“Just looking around, didn’t feel like listening to them argue.” Johnny nodded his head to where the ‘adults’ had already descended into bickering, their voices carrying even if the words were not. “You think I’m fucking shit up over here? Why? Is this your own personal lab or something?”
Peter blinked at the question, clearly nonplussed for a moment before he smiled back at Johnny. “What? No, my lab is downstairs, Tony just keeps some of the conference rooms stocked with stuff he might need for demonstrations during meetings and stuff, but it’s not–” He cast an eye over the counter full of gadgets critically. “Most of the stuff here is kind of outdated... well, not really outdated, but we’ve got much cooler stuff in the labs downstairs.”
Peter shrugged at him, and Johnny bit his tongue to keep from responding. The kid seemed far too at ease talking about ‘our labs’ downstairs, and Johnny was determined to figure out why he seemed so unbothered by the fact that he was faced with one of the most famous superheroes in the country. Johnny stepped closer, putting himself in Peter’s space.
“Yeah? I’ll bet you know all about the labs here; you’re Stark’s precious intern. How’d you get the job, anyway?” Johnny let his gaze drift down to Peter’s adorable pout before meeting his eyes again. “On your knees?”
That finally had an affect, and Johnny watched the fury building behind Peter’s eyes. Peter slapped a hand down on the countertop with rage, glaring back at him.
“As a matter of fact, I got the job because I both developed a compound that was invaluable to Mr. Stark’s research and, as a close friend of Spiderman, I helped Mr. Stark make contact with him when he was expanding the Avengers.” Peter took a breath and let a smirk cross his expression. “Why, are you saying you think I’d be good enough with my mouth to secure one of the most coveted internships on the planet?”
Alright, Johnny sure as hell wasn’t expecting that . He leaned back, giving Peter another once-over. Clearly he’d misjudged the little shit.
“Ha, you? Friends with Spiderman? Bullshit, that guy’s impossible to get close to.” Johnny knew that for a fact, seeing as he’d tried to speak with the wall-crawler on more than one occasion and been given the slip. Peter didn’t seem annoyed at his disbelief, however, and he just gave Johnny a smirk.
“Ah well, if you don’t believe me, I guess that’s it. Well, of course, you could check Twitter – I usually retweet the Bugle stories when they feature my pictures, but I guess that’s a lot of work.” He shrugged at Johnny, who pulled his phone out of his pocket so quickly he nearly fumbled it and had to concentrate on not setting the phone on fire. He thumbed through his apps and found Twitter, not looking for Peter’s account, but instead bringing up the Daily Bugle and scrolling.
As he looked, the second or third story featured a giant picture of Spiderman along with the headline “Spiderman Holds City Hostage!” from a few days before, and as he clicked through to the article, he saw that the photo credit at the bottom was for one Peter Parker. Johnny looked up from his phone to meet Peter’s eyes, seething now. He’d been trying to get Spiderman to give him the time of day for the better part of six months, and this kid was just casually mentioned that he knew him?
Johnny leaned closer to Peter again, baring his teeth in a facsimile of a smile. “Oh, I see, that’s how it is, hmm?” Peter blinked at him, and Johnny flicked his eyes back towards the table where the others were still arguing. They seemed to have settled, or at least they weren’t fighting so loudly now, but they were still engrossed in the conversation enough that they were paying no attention to Johnny and Peter. Johnny looked back to the other boy.
Peter was looking at him with a certain smugness that set Johnny’s teeth on edge. Peter had gotten the upper hand, somehow, and Johnny was annoyed enough that he wasn’t thinking clearly, and he focused on taking smooth, even breaths in and out, not wanting to show how much the little shit had affected him.
While Johnny was focusing on calming down, Peter stepped back from him, putting more space between their bodies. Instead of returning to the discussion happening on the other side of the room, he moved around Johnny, opening a cabinet and digging for something with his back turned to him.
“What are you doing now?” Johnny’s words were spoken through gritted teeth, and he watched the lines of Peter’s back as the boy hummed, pulling things out of the cabinet in his search.
“Eh, nothing in particular, just trying to see if we’ve got any more of that fire retardant handy, since you look like you’re about to blow a fuse.” His words echoed from inside the cabinet as he knelt, paying no attention to Johnny.
Johnny saw red, and even as he realized what he was about to do, he knew it was probably a bad idea. Leaning forward, he snapped his fingers and created a small flame about an inch or two high from his pointer finger. He held the flame against the hem of Peter’s shirt where it rode up above his ass, flicking a couple embers from the flame onto the material.
Now, what Johnny intended to happen was that the flame would catch at the bottom of Peter’s shirt and it would flicker for a moment before Peter noticed and batted it out, probably while glaring at Johnny. It was juvenile, but hey, nobody had ever accused him of being a criminal mastermind. What actually happened, however, was an entirely different story.
Whatever Peter’s shirt was made of was incredibly flammable, apparently, and almost as soon as Johnny held the small flame to the shirt, it jumped and started growing. In the span of a second and a half, the shirt was already half gone, the flaming fabric licking around Peter’s armpits.
Peter wasn’t oblivious to what was happening, and almost immediately he stood, whirling in the half-burned shirt, his eyes wide as his hands came up to bat at the flame. Johnny could only stare at him in horror, hands outstretched as he tried to bat at the flames unsuccessfully.
Before either of them could do anything other than watch the horror show that was happening in front of them, there was a sudden and incredibly loud noise as the fire alarm for the lab area went off, and then sprinklers were raining gallons of water down on both of them. Johnny spluttered, trying ineffectually to twist away from the downpour as his powers let him know how unhappy they were with the sudden dampness. He danced away from the lab station and back towards the other half of the room, where he could tell the water was coming down less hard.
As he shook his head to get rid of most of the water soaking him down, Johnny caught sight of Stark, Sue and Reed looking over at him in alarm and confusion, and he ran a hand through his hair, blowing out a breath.
Sue was the first to stand, even as the sprinklers stopped pouring water on half the room, walking over to Johnny with a stern expression. “Johnny, what happened? What did you do?”
Johnny looked to her with a pout, crossing his arms. “Why do you think it was me? It’s not always my fault, you know.”
Sue raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, when the fire alarms start going off, it’s usually a safe bet to assume it was you.”
Johnny huffed, conceding the point. “I didn’t do anything, really, I was just - just trying to make a point.” He turned to look back at the now soaked lab station where Peter still stood, blinking back at him.
Even as his eyes took in the other boy, Johnny realized the mistake he’d made. Peter was – his shirt had been burned almost completely off, and he was standing there dripping wet, his curls flattened to his forehead. Johnny couldn’t help the once-over he gave the boy, taking in the shockingly muscular torso previously hidden under the baggy shirt.
Oh no, he’s hot .
Johnny bit his lip subconsciously, eyes wide as he tried not to undress Peter with his eyes even more than he’d already undressed him. Peter shook himself, ridding himself of the worst of the water, and turned to glare at Johnny balefully.
“What the fuck was that?” Peter stomped over to where Johnny stood, not sparing a glance for Sue or the others. “Do you just decide to light everyone who annoys you on fire, or am I a special case?”
Johnny stepped back, trying to keep some space between himself and Peter’s deliciously wet body and failing miserably. Peter stomped right up to him, pointing a finger in Johnny’s face. “You’re an asshole, you know that? Just because I’m not bowing down to you like you’re the god of all superheroes, you lit me on fire ?”
Nobody spoke for a moment, and then Sue, Reed, and Stark were all frowning at Johnny, their expressions grim. Johnny held his hands up, looking back and forth between them all. “Woah woah woah, I wasn’t – I didn’t intend to set you on fire! Not really! I was just trying to, I don’t know, you were being sarcastic back at me and I was just going to singe your shirt a bit, I didn’t think it would go up like that!”
His explanation did nothing to mollify Peter, and the wet, shirtless boy glared harder at him. “What, so sarcasm means that you’re justified in destroying my property?” Johnny stammered at him but couldn’t make any words come out, and Peter railroaded right over him. “You’re an ass, Johnny Storm.”
Peter whirled on his heel, turning to face Stark and Reed where they still sat at the table. “If it’s all the same to you, I’m going to go dry off and grab a new shirt.” He didn’t get any arguments from either of them, just a slight nod from Stark. “Mr. Stark, if you need me for anything, I’ll probably head down to the lab after I’m dry, so just message me or come find me when you’re done here, yeah?”
Stark nodded, giving Peter a wave as the boy turned away from them and towards the door. As soon as the door swung shut behind him, all eyes in the room turned to Johnny, and he fidgeted where he stood, glaring at the ground.
Sue marched Johnny over to the table and pushed him into one of the empty chairs, with a glare that said that if he tried anything else that he’d regret it. He pouted but didn’t argue, instead sitting in silence as the rest of the group hammered out the kinks in their plan to neutralize the stupid ray gun or whatever the hell it was.
When they concluded, Sue was the first to stand, reaching out a hand to Stark with a smile. “Really, thank you Tony, your help has been invaluable. We all appreciate you taking the time to meet with us.”
Stark gave her a saucy grin and shook her offered hand, taking the chance to give her a once-over that had Johnny turning away in disgust. He was pretty sure that Stark was engaged, too, which just made it more obnoxious.
“It’s no problem at all, my dear, especially for someone as lovely to work with as you.” At Stark’s words, Reed harumphed but didn’t say anything, having been soundly been put in his place already by the billionaire. He stood as well though, and gave Stark a nod that was only somewhat stiff.
When Johnny stood, all three of them turned to look at him, Stark’s eyes narrowing as he cast his gaze over the boy. Johnny shrugged at him and stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking away from all three of them. Stark was the first to break the awkward silence with his usual lack of tact.
“Well, usually this is the time where I’d have my lovely intern show you out, but seeing as your little brother decided to potentially maim him, I’ll call for one of the girls down in reception to come get you.” Stark’s voice was too cheerful, and he tapped a few buttons on the tablet before giving them all a curt nod.
Before he could turn to leave, however, Johnny cleared his throat and turned to Stark, ignoring the warning glare he got from Sue for doing so. When Stark turned to look at him, he met the man’s eyes, cursing every single piece of him that thought that it might be a good idea to speak up.
“Uh, Mr. Stark, I – would it be alright if I talked to Peter? I wanted to apologize to him... I acted without thinking and I’d like to say sorry in person. If not, that’s alright, I just - I just wanted to ask.” Sue’s eyes widened considerably at the uncharacteristic humility in Johnny’s voice, and Stark just raised an eyebrow at him in question.
“Hmm, I’ll have to ask if he’s alright with that, seeing as it would be well within his rights to say he doesn’t want to be in the same room as you.” Stark’s voice was cold, and Johnny just nodded, keeping his gaze fixed on the ground. Stark tapped out a message on his tablet, looking down at it with a frown, and then looked back up to meet Johnny’s eyes. “He says it’s alright.” His tone suggested that Stark was not in favor of Peter’s decision on the matter, and he flicked his eyes to Sue and Reed before looking back to Johnny. “Your teammates should be able to find their way out; the elevator is just down the hallway in the direction that you came from, and I can take you to Peter, if you really want to talk to him.”
The man’s voice was cold, and Johnny bit his lip, fighting second and third thoughts about the whole endeavour. After another moment, though, he nodded, and Stark straightened, turning towards the door without another word. Sue and Reed both looked on with worry as Johnny hurried to catch up with Stark, nearly leaving the two of them behind.
When they left the conference room, instead of heading towards the elevators that Johnny and the others had come up in, Stark turned left. Johnny was left with no choice but to follow, and he did, staying a few steps behind Stark as he walked. Stark turned down another hallway and Johnny gave up trying to remember the route they were taking, since there were so many twists and turns. Stark didn’t look back to make sure he was following, just kept walking faster than should have been possible for how short he was.
Eventually, Stark led him to a smaller elevator and stepped inside. There were no buttons on the inside, and instead, as soon as they were both inside, the doors slid smoothly shut and it started moving on it’s own. Johnny fidgeted, trying not to look at Stark and failing as he felt the man’s eyes looking him over. When he met Stark’s eyes, the man gave him a glare and Johnny flushed at the disapproval he saw there.
“Peter is one of the best kids I know.” Stark’s words were somewhat of a non sequitur, and Johnny just nodded at him, unsure how to answer. “He’s genuinely a good person who just wants to make the world a better place.” Stark’s tone brooked no arguments, and Johnny got the feeling he wasn’t really supposed to answer. “So if you’re planning on actually saying sorry, you better mean it, alright? He’s been through far too much for someone that young already, and I’m not going to stand by and let you give him more shit.”
Johnny shook his head, meeting Stark’s eyes. “N-No, sir, I wouldn’t. I meant what I said, I just, I got carried away.” He cleared his throat. “And I did want to apologize; it wasn’t cool of me to try to burn his shirt.”
Stark continued to stare at him and Johnny felt like he was searching through his mind to figure out if he was telling the truth or not. Before he could say anything else, however, the doors slid open, letting them out directly into an incredibly large lab space that was absolutely covered with prototypes and electronics and other doodads. Johnny had to fight the urge to gawk, and he caught Stark smirking at him out of the corner of his eye.
“Peter’s lab area is all the way in the back.” Stark pointed to a far wall, where Johnny could see the boy leaning over something, nodding his head along with music that was playing from somewhere. He looked back to Stark, who didn’t start walking towards Peter and instead made a shoo-ing motion towards Johnny. “Well, come on now, I haven’t got all day.” Johnny waited a moment longer, and when it became clear that Stark wasn’t going to be going with him, he took a breath and turned in the direction of the far wall. He started walking with no small amount of trepidation and had to fight the urge to to look back at Stark for support as he walked all the way across the lab.
The music got louder as he walked, and when Peter didn’t turn around as he got closer, Johnny realized that the boy probably hadn’t noticed that he was there. Standing only a few feet behind him, Johnny hesitated, not wanting to scare him.
Before he could determine how to best get Peter’s attention, though, Peter turned around with a tray of electrical parts in his hands, and upon seeing Johnny standing there, the tray nearly went flying – saved only by Johnny lunging forwards and grabbing it, keeping it steady even as Peter let out a little yelp of surprise.
Johnny, as soon as he was sure that the tray of no doubt insanely expensive parts wasn’t about to end up all over the floor, let go and stepped back, shuffling his feet and feeling awkward. Peter, whose eyes were still wide as he stared at Johnny in shock, set the tray down on a table and put one hand to his chest, over his heart.
“You scared the shit out of me!” He sounded breathless, and fuck if that didn’t make him even more adorable. Johnny gave him a shrug, unsure how to respond.
“I’m sorry, I - I didn’t realize you hadn’t heard me; I was going to, I don’t know, tap you on the shoulder or something, but then you turned around.” He bit his lip and stuffed his hands in his pockets, now very sure that he should have just left with Sue and Reed instead of even bothering to apologize.
Instead of continuing to berate him, however, Peter gave Johnny a wry grin and looked at the tray of electronics before looking back to Johnny. “Well, at least you paid me back. I guess that makes us even.” It took Johnny a second to remember that Peter had caught the box of slides he’d nearly sent flying earlier, but when he did, he grinned back at the other boy.
“Yeah, well, I don’t always take up all the clumsy in the room.” Peter giggled, and Johnny bit his lip, trying to think of the best way to word what he wanted to say. “And I, uh, thanks for wanting to talk to me. I know I was an ass earlier, and I just – yeah, I dunno, I wanted to apologize.”
Peter didn’t interrupt him, just raised an eyebrow, and Johnny gulped before continuing. “Yeah, I just – yeah. Sorry. You didn’t deserve that, and I should have known better, and I’m sorry I ruined your shirt.”
When it became clear that the stilted, halting apology was pretty much over, Peter leaned back against the counter, looking Johnny over. Johnny fought the urge to squirm some more, and held Peter’s gaze, waiting for him to say something.
“Hmm, I don’t know.” Peter’s voice was teasing and there was a hint of a smile curling the edges of his lips despite his efforts to tamp it down. “If you’re really asking for forgiveness, shouldn’t you be on your knees?”
Whatever reaction Johnny had been expecting, that was for sure not it, and he felt his mouth drop open at the other boy’s audacity. Before he could stammer out a reply, however, Peter broke and started laughing outright, bending over to brace himself on his knees at the expression on Johnny’s face. He sobered after another moment, though, and righted himself, still gazing at Johnny’s face with some mirth.
“But really, though, thank you, I appreciate the apology.” Peter’s voice was level, and he cocked an eyebrow at Johnny. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to offer one, and it’s nice to be wrong.”
Johnny nodded at him, biting his lip once more and unsure where to go from here. “Yeah, I, uh, well, I know I’m kind of an ass, but I try not to actively hurt people, you know?” Peter nodded in answer. “And I, uh, yeah. Didn’t want to just, well, leave it there.” He fell silent again, and felt himself flushing as Peter looked him over once more, this time consideringly. What he was considering, Johnny wasn’t sure, but he let Peter look and kept his mouth closed.
“Probably a good decision, yeah, or else I might have put in a bad word with Spiderman about you.” Peter’s tone suggested he was teasing, but Johnny still felt himself standing straighter with alarm, his eyes wide.
“You – no, come on, that’s _ please don’t do that! I’ve - I’ve been trying to talk to him for like six months, please don’t tell him I’m that much of an asshole.” It would be well within Peter’s rights to do, as payback, but Johnny felt himself cringing away from the idea, hoping against hope that Peter wasn’t really still considering it.
Peter grinned at him, though, showing that he seemed to be joking. “Ah, don’t worry about it, I get the feeling that he’s a big marshmallow. He wouldn’t hold it against you, not since you apologized very nicely.”
Johnny’s heart rate slowed slightly, but not entirely – his fight or flight response was still up and he looked Peter over. “Alright, well, thank you for not telling him that. I, uh, well, there’s no chance I could get you to put in a good word, is there?” His hand came up to scratch at the back of his neck and he shifted his feet again as he watched Peter’s expression. “I just, well, he’s pretty cool and I was hoping to meet him at some point.”
Peter’s smile widened and Johnny realized his mistake at the same time as he realized that Peter’s full smile was almost blindingly pretty. “Oh, well now, that’s a request that I can probably accommodate. For a price, of course.” Johnny felt the color drain from his face, and he nodded mutely, waiting to hear what Peter wanted. “How about, hmm, coffee? You and me, this saturday?”
Again, Johnny felt totally off-kilter as he realized that of all the possible things Peter could have said, it hadn’t been anything he’d expected. He blinked, looking at Peter in shock and surprise. He stood flabbergasted for so long that Peter’s smirk faltered, and his eyes raked over Johnny’s form.
“I mean, I wasn’t, if you don’t want to, that’s totally fine, I’m not–”
Johnny cut Peter off, stepping closer and setting a hand on Peter’s arm. “No! No, I mean, yes, yes, that’s an acceptable deal, yes.” He looked into Peter’s eyes and watched the other boy’s smile blooming again, softer this time. “I’d like that a lot.”