Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The day started off as another day, wake up, brush teeth, eat breakfast, prank ben, bother reed in the lab, annoy sue, fight aliens, get lectured about responsibility and maturity, help HERBIE with dinner, eat dinner, go on patrol with spidey, go home and take a shower, fall asleep, and repeat. 

But today that wasn’t the case for Johnny. He woke up and went straight to the kitchen, on his way he heard mumbling from Ben's room. Johnny being Johnny he just had to eavesdrop. He put his ear against the door and listened carefully.

  “I know sue, it's just a lot of pressure on me. I don't get why we all can't tell him at once. I mean ya I think it would be better if you two were here when we tell him. Alright I'll see you in a minute, tell reed I say hi.” 

Johnny’s heart skipped a beat. What was so bad that they all needed to be there to tell him, and tell him what exactly!? Were they keeping secrets from him? Why was Ben too chicken to tell him himself? Were they replacing him? Were they kicking him off the team? Did they find his diary? Are they going to leave him by himself? Johnny felt his heart race, he felt like he’d been lied to.

He hears Ben putting the phone down and quickly runs to the kitchen to avoid getting caught. He made it to the table and pulled out a chair to sit down. He was way too scared and preoccupied to mess with bens drink or eggs. HERBIE brought Johnny his plate and gave him a hug. Does Herbie know too? Why couldn’t they tell Johnny? Why is Herbie keeping secrets from him ... Why was his sister trying to avoid telling him? 

“Thanks Herb, you're always my fave.” he gave herbie a scratch on the head as he rolled away. Before Johnny could wrap his head around what was going on Ben walked in already wearing his suit. “We got an interview I don't know about or something? Why do you look ready to punch Namor or something?” Johnny jokes trying to act as if everything was normal. “I promised Mr.Noodle Arms that I would go with him and sue to the Avengers tower to have a meeting with Tony Stark.”

Johnny's face lit up as Ben mentioned the Avengers. Peters and Avenger, why wasn’t he invited? It's supposed to be the fantastic four, not the thrilling three. “Can I join?” Johnny asked with a big grin across his face. Ben looked at Johnny leaning against the table, “You better hurry and put your suit on than matchstick.” Johnny jumps up out of his seat and runs over to his room and yells, “Give me 5 minutes!” Ben lets out a soft laugh and grabs a cup of coffee HERBIE left out for him.

“Where's Reed and Sue?” Johnny asked as they headed out to the main lobby of the Baxter building. “They had to run an arena or something, Reed said that they’d meet us there.” Johnny looks down at the floor as he remembers that they were hiding something from him. Bens letting him go to the meeting with the Avengers, so it's not that. But  what bothers him is that they didn’t tell him about it at all, nor did they invite him along, even though he's a part of the team.

Chapter Text

      Ben and Johnny made it to the lobby and were greeted by the hulk, but he seemed different from the last time they met. “Ben, John, we’re glad you made it. Mrs.Storm and Dr.richerds said that they’re a few blocks away.” Apparently Johnny was unaware of the whole hulk and banner shit that's been going on, so Ben explained to him as they waited for the others. Sue and Reed walked in with a briefcase and some papers, Johnny was quick to question but was interrupted by banner talking them to the meeting room. 

      They made it to the main floor of the avengers tower and saw hawk guy and black widow talking and thor in the kitchen making a sandwich. “Hey Sue, can I talk with you real quick?” Johnny asked his sister with a serious tone. “Not right now johnny it’ll have to wait till after this okay.” She didn’t even look him in the eyes. Johnny felt his heart shatter, why is his sister keeping secrets from him? Why is she ignoring him? Did he do something wrong? Is she mad at him? Johnny felt like he was about to cry but he quickly stopped himself, trying to keep his composer. They see Captain America and Iron Man walk into the room with even more papers and a white board. Steve had told everyone to gather around and grab a seat so the meeting could begin. Johnny knows that spider-man is technically still a non-avenger but is really, Really , close with them, so he knew there was a chance Peter wasn’t going to be there but he still hoped. 

        Johnny sat down next to Sue and Ben, but before he could even push his chair all eyes were on him. “Is something wrong? Am I in someone's seat?” he asked nervously, wanting to not seem anymore useless than he felt right now. “No it's just.. We didn’t really expect you to be here..” Tony exclaims. “Why don't you go hang out with peter johnny. He should be here, right Mr.Stark?” Reed said as he put his hand on Johnny's shoulder. “Yes he's in the room I have for him, 3 doors down the hall to your left.” Tony says making a hand gesture shooing Johnny away. Johnny got up and pushed in the chair, he turned to go find Peter, because right now he needed someone to actually want him in their presents. Johnny makes his way to Peter's room and finds the door open and spider-man sitting on his bed writing something down. 

     “Hey webs.” Johnny smiled but you could hear the pain in his voice. Peter looks up at Johnny and gets up to give him a hug. “Johnny! What are you doing here? Are you trying to stalk me again flame brain?” Peter mocked as he gestured for Johnny to sit down on his bed with him. They sat down and paused for a minute. Normally Johnny would be asking Peter questions about MJ, May, or some dumb would you rather but instead he just stared down. “Uhh Johnny you okay? You seem a little off, did I do something?” Peter asked, bending his head down trying to see Johnny's face. ‘Are you okay?’ …..No he wasn’t in fact he was the exact opposite. Johnny felt a tear run down his face and he began to start sobbing, covering his face with his hand to avoid Peter. “JOHNNY! omg are you crying?! Shit did something happen!?” Peter wrapped his arms tightly around Johnny and brought him into a comforting hug. Jonny wrapped his arms around Peter as he cried into his shoulder. 

      “Peter, can you promise that we won't keep secrets from each other?” Johnny muttered, squeezing Peter as hard as he could to prevent him from leaving. Peter could hear the hurt in Johnny's voice, “of course. I’d tell you anything torch, hell I even told you my secret identity.” Peter says, hoping that whatever Johnny is thinking he can trust his friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to help. Johnny lets go of Peter and wipes the tears off his face, before he turns his head up to look at the teenager in front of him. “What about if you knew that someone else was keeping a secret from me? Would you still tell me?” Johnny asked, looking deeply into Peter's brown eyes. “Well it depends, if I know the secret that these people were hiding, then yes, I would tell you. Now if I didn’t know what the secret was but I knew who was keeping it I would tell you their name.” He responded calmly with a soft smile of reassurement across his face. He grabbed Johnny's hands, making the blonde look at his gaze once more. “Johnny, is something wrong? Are you worried about, well you know.” There was a hesitant pause, "Coming out to your family?” 

      Johnny had told Peter about 2 years ago that he was in fact Pansexual, and wanted to let him know before anyone, explaining to him that he was too scared to tell the four and that he was the most trusted person he knew. Peter had then told Johnny that he was indeed Bisexual and that MJ, Aunt May, Mr.Stark, and Captain Rogers already knew. Johnny felt safe talking to Peter and Peter felt safe talking to Johnny, so why was he so nervous to ask him for some life advice. “Promise not to make fun of me for what I'm about to ask you..” Johnny joked as he felt a little better being with Peter. “What, me? How could you even think of such horrors? Me bullying the human torch, you make it seem like you won't set me on fire.” Peter teases, but is still sincere enough for Johnny to know that he wouldn’t do it if he was being serious about something. “I overheard Ben this morning in his room on a call with Sue, talking about them needing to tell me something. He said that it was too much pressure to make him tell me alone and that they needed to be there to tell me too. I feel like I'm being lied to, or that they're going to kick me off the team.” 

       Peter saw the hurtful expression Johnny made and put his arm around his waist to try to comfort him. “Oh, Johnny, I'm so sorry that you feel betrayed. I know that they’d never kick you off the team, hell, Johnny you ARE the team. You're always ready to fight, think fast, and don’t waste a minute, you never risk others safety for your benefit, hell, you're always ready to dive in with no regards for your life. Johnny, you don’t hesitate to sacrifice yourself for others. Since the day I met you, You have always put other people before yourself. Without you, the team wouldn’t be fantastic, or four! They’d be the mediocre three if they got rid of you, and would be stupid if they even thought about it.” Johnny felt his heart race faster with every word that came out of Peter's mouth. He felt his chest tighten, his palms sweat, he couldn’t even hear his own thoughts anymore. For all Johnny could stare at was Peter's soft lips, his fluffy hair, his warm tan skin, his gentle eyes, and all he could think about was that he needed Peter to throw him against the wall and spend the next 10 minutes passionately making out. 

Chapter Text

Johnny and Peter spent the next two hours talking, playing, fighting, dancing, and singing like a bunch of gay teens at a pride parade. They ended up leaving a note on Peter's bed saying that they left to go eat, but in reality they were at their spot.

They were on the statue of liberty's head eating hot cheese pizza, with peters laptop open playing bill nye the science guy videos.

 “I know we debate about who's smarter but can we agree that Bill is smarter than both Reed and Tony combined.” Johnny's eyes were locked on the screen as a string of pizza started to fall off his face. 

Peter turned to look at the blood boy next to him, his blue eyes matching the screen, his hair flowing in the wind, his skin soft and warm, his freckles looked like stars on his skin.

 “Of course, they could never reach Bill Nye's level of intelligence.” Peter moved closer to Johnny's face and put its hand on his chin. 

“Uhh pete, what are you doing?” Johnny felt his body heat up, his hair starting to catch aflame. “You got some pizza on your face, you idiot.” Peter laughed as he wiped off the crumbs on Johnny's face. His fingers traced across his lips, they felt warm to the touch.

Soon their eyes locked onto each other, Peter's mask was in his lap. He’d put on his suit so they could swing there without the public going crazy about the human torch with so random in his arms. 

Peter's hair flowed in the wind, and Johnny's tall and bright, burning like his heart. Before they knew it their lips touched, eyes closed as Peter cupped Johnny's face. Johnny wrapped his arms around Peter's neck, as they continued to kiss in the sunset.    

As they pulled apart they gasped for air, looking at each other with passion in their eyes and desire in their hearts. Peter's hands slid down Johnny's face to his waist, holding him tightly. 

“Could have told me this was a date spidey, I would have said yes no matter what.” 

Johnny smiled at the man holding him, toying with his brown hair as he leaned on his shoulder. Before they could turn their attention back to the video playing, they heard a phone buzz loudly. 

It was Sue. Both boys looked at each other, hesitant to answer the call. Johnny picked up the phone, answered and quickly put it on speaker as peter paused the video playing in the background. 

“JOHNNY WHAT THE FUCK?!?!” she sounded angry, no she was angry. “Why the hell would you leave without telling anyone, you know you're not supposed to leave alone and NOT tell someone!”

Johnny sighed, Sue raised Johnny for basically his whole life, so it made sense to baby him. But now Johnny is 19 and doesn’t need a babysitter, or so he says. 

“Sue I’m not alone, I'm with spidey.” Johnny didn’t raise his voice in fact he seemed rather calm. “Hi sue!” peter said cheerfully trying to play nice guy to avoid trouble with sue storm.

“And what does it matter anyway, its not like you cared where I was, you just sent me away, Hell you didn’t even want me to come with you guys!” 

Now johnny was upset. He remembers why he went to see peter, because his family was hiding something from him, lying to him, he could just pretend that he didn’t know anymore. He felt his flames grow as he felt a tightness in his throat and pain in his chest. 

“Johnny what the hell are you talking about?” You could hear the confusion in her voice, but to Johnny it was just an act. “Is Peter with him?” 

They heard a voice in the back, it must have been stark, Peter unlocks his phone to see a shit ton of missed messages and calls from tony. That could be why Sue was so mad, because they weren’t answering the phone.

“Hold please.” Peter said quickly as he put them on mute. “Johnny I know this is a really, Really bad time to ask but, will you be mine?” Peter said nervously, he didn’t want to stall the problem on the other line, but he needed to know if what the kiss they shared was real, or just the heat of the moment.

Johnny let out a soft laugh, placing his hand onto Peter's. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, webs. I just wished we had time to enjoy this.” He gave Peter a kiss on the cheek as they heard yelling from the other line.

Johnny un-muted them and told Sue that he and Peter were on their way back to Avengers Tower, for Johnny would rather get scolded in person than over the phone. They hung up, and Peter pulled his mask over his face as he picked up the empty pizza box and laptop. 

“Wanna ditch town and join the X-men?” Johnny joked as he took the pizza box from Peter and burned it to ash. “And what? Have the Wolverine tell me how he's the best there is at what he does? I think I’ll pass” Peter held his laptop with one hand as he shot a web with the other one.

“Aww don’t be like that, Bobby's an X-men. Plus It's a place meant for teens with powers, it's perfect!” Johnny followed Peter as he swung from building to building. “It's a school for mutants Johnny. First off we’re both 19 years old and done with school, and secondly we’re not even mutants.” 

Peter knew Johnny was just trying to avoid seeing the four again, but unfortunately you can't stop the inevitable.

Chapter Text

They made it back, endearing through Peter's window. “Last chance to leave and go to Mexico, don't make me do this alone webhead.” 

Peter put his laptop down on his desk and they both quickly changed out of uniform to seem less suspicious. “Its better to just get it over with johnny, you won't be able to avoid it forever.” 

Johnny looks at the brown haired teen beside the door, he then sighed knowing peter was right. He always was.. 

They start making their way towards the meeting room that the others where in. johnny knew his sister was behind those doors, that sent a shiver down his spine. Who knows what kind of punishment he’ll get, and the worst part is he knows ben is going to use this against him.

“You remember our cover story hotshot?” peter asked, turning his attention to Johnny. “We went out for some fresh air, and then stopped for some pizza because we got hungry.”  

Johnny pulled out his phone and brought the screen to peters face. “And look, because I bought it with my card we have proof that we’re telling the truth.” 

Peter looked at Johnny and  gave him a are you dumb face. “Flamebrain, we are telling the truth, we’re just leaving out some details.” peter gave johnny a wink and fixed his shirt.

Johnny rolled his eyes and put his phone back in his jean pocket. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it back, revealing a room full of disappointed or stern faces. They both walked in, peter than closing the door behind them.

“Care to explain where you were, and why you felt the need to leave?” Sue said with a serious tone and a cold glare. She was the only one standing up other than Peter and Johnny. 

“We were just hanging out in my room for a bit, but then it started to feel cramped ya’know.” Peter scratched the back of his head, he may be smart but he's a shit ass liar. 

“Peter, you're doing that arm thing again. I know you're not telling us the truth.” Peter felt goosebumps as he heard Tony call him on his bullshit.

“Fine. We just wanted to take leave and go have some fun outside.” Johnny interjected. “But we ended up getting hungry so we stopped for some pizza and lost track of time.”

Johnny's words felt sincere, I mean he wasn’t lying but the way he carried himself made it so believable. The only people who weren't buying it were Ben and Bucky. 

After a while of going back and forth Peter and Johnny ended up with just a warning to not do it again, before the Fantastic four said their goodbyes. 

“Mr.Stark can I go with Johnny and stay over at the Baxter building for the night? I promise I'll be good." Peter then gives Tony the puppy dog eyes as he begs to spend the night with Johnny. 

“Plesase, ben can even watch us if your skeptical.” johnny adds looking at tony but is clearly asking sue. 

“Fine, but you better be back by 12 for lunch.” hes crossed his arms giving peter the you better not disobey me look.

“Thank you Mr.Stark! You're the best!” He gives Tony a big hug, then runs over to Johnny and hops on his back. “See you in a bit guys!” johnny yells, then takes off flying him and peter towards the Baxter building.

The avengers and fantastic four just stand there for a bit wondering what the hell is going on. “Tony peter never got clothes to change into.” Steve said, putting his hand on the other man's shoulder.

“Honeslty wouldn’t be surprised if he already had a pile of clothes there already.” Ben smirks, and bucky and sam let out a small chuckle. 

“I guess we’ll have to wait to tell him, uh?” Reed looks at his wife and questions. “I mean maybe he’ll take the news better if he had a friend to comfort him.” She says, still wondering how to tell her brother.

“If you ever need help or anything else don't be afraid to let us know. The avengers are here for all of you anytime.” Steve says as he shakes reeds hand and says their goodbyes.

Chapter Text

“Johnny are you sure about this? It seems a little risky” peter softly whispers as they sneak into Reeds lab.

“They’re hiding something from me pete, If they wont tell me I’ll just find out myself.” johnny opens the door quietly and turns his head back quickly looking at peters gaze. “And don't give me that, what if it's for your safety or protection Bullshit.” 

Peter closes the door behind him as johnny begins looking trough file cabinets, looking for anything that could help him find the truth. “How long do you think it will take them to get here from avengers tower?” 

Peter starts looking through drawers, and begins searching Dr.Richard's desk. “I told HERBIE to stall them for as long as possible. He’ll tell us when they're 5 minutes away so we can clean up before reed realizes someone went through his stuff.” johnny says confidently.

As both teens look for any clues of whats going on or what the others are hiding, they hear an alarm go off. They both stop what they’re doing and look at each other quickly. 

“HERBIE whats going on?!” Johnny questioned urgently. “It appears an unknown person has entered the Baxter Building. Movement has been detecied on the 3rd floor, room 101.” 

The 3rd floor has all the Fantastic Four’s uniforms, space suits, helmets, and any type of gear that is ment to go on them or there suits. 

“HERBIE put the building on full lockdown, and tell the others me and pete got this covered.” johnny grabs peters arm and they run out the lab and head straight twards the stairs. 

“Why not use the elevator so I can change.” peter sounds more anyyoned than worried. 

“Because the building is on lockdown so no doors to the outside or any means of getting far are unavailable. Cant have them escaping now can we spidey.” johnny starts to fly down as peter struggles to get his suit and mask on.

They make it to the 3rd floor and see nothing out of the ordinary. “HERBIE what room did you say they were in?” Peter quickly makes it to the torches side with his mask a little crooked. 

“101, The door has been locked from the outside.” They both start to make their way towards the room. “Any updates from the others?” Peter asked.

He crawls above the door ready to attack in case of the perp trying to make a run for it when johnny opeans the door. Johnny grabs the door handle and shoots the door open quickly flaming back on.

“Hey torchy, haven’t seen you sense the cameo, such great times. Well other then your skin being popped like a blood ballon of course.” 

Peter reconizes that voice from anywhere. Deadpool. He jumps off the wall landing behind johnny to see Wade Wilson just siting down on a crappy chair with his feet on what appers to be a desk or table of some sort.

“What do you want now wilson.” peter takes off his mask looking more annoyed than ever. 

“A little birdy told me that the Four are keeping johnny on stand by.” He stands up walking closer to johnny staring him down. “So i came to make a deal.”

“Sue, Ben we need to leave immediately!” Reed yells from across the room. They where still at the avengers tower, talking for hours as johnny says. 

“Whats wrong?” Captain asks looking concerned. “Theres an intruder at the Baxter Building, and Johnny and peter are there all by themselves.” 

“An intruder?! Thats practically impossible stretch, We have that crazy intense alarm and security you built, not to mention HERBIE.” Ben trys to remain clam, as to reinsure Sue that the boys will be fine.

“HERBIE has the building on full lockdown.” Reed explains frantically. “Come on now Mr.Richards, Pete and Johnny are more than capable of taking down some intruder.” Widow says rolling her eyes thinking that hes being dramatic.

“I’m not to sure, HERBIE mentioned that the intruder is heavily armed and took out every measure of security.” Sues faces turns pale. 

“I’m sorry but we must be going. We’ll make sure peter gets back safe and sound.” The Fantastic car appers nexted to the open window johnny and peter flew out of. 

“So what do you say, I tell you what I know and you Give me thoses Power blockers you got hiding around here.” He puts out his hand offering peace over vinlonce. 

“Johnny Dont do it.” peter warns him. “Pete he said hes either going to destory this entire building with us in it or we just let him and I finally get to figure out what is SO important that my own family hid from me. Besides its just power collars that go on the ankle and neck, nothing we can make more of.”

Johnny grabs the other mans hand and gives a ferm handshake. “You got yourself a deal Deadpool.” Johnny dosen’t crack a joke, hes dead serious about knowing what his family is hideing from him.

Before anyone could say anything HERBIE made another announcement. “Second intruder spotted, on the 4th floor west wing.”

“You didn’t come alone did you..” Peter gives wade a death star as he stands next to johnny but almost infront of him aswell. 

“Rule number one of being a murc, Always have backup..”

 “And info about your clients, but I think back up was rule one and that one was second. Or theird.” 

“We made a deal, call your backup off.” Johnny damands then the floor above them starts to shake. 

With a loud boom, Smoke and ruble fills the air. There was a hole in the ceiling, and a web around him. Peter pulled johnny out of the way while wade just speed back a bit.

“Spider-Man, Human Torch. May I present the with my trusty side kick, my partner in crime and or other things, My one and only ture love, the best he is at what he does and what he does isn’t very nice-”

Before he could continue six sharp claws shot out from his chest. A growl could be heard from behind the impaled man, and so could a sent of alcohol and cheep booze.

“Times up bub, you took to long. Now are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?”   

Chapter Text

Reed, Sue, and Ben rush into the building to find Johnny on the couch with Peter and two un-known men sitting next to them. 

“Johnny what the hell is going on!? Who the fuck are those guys?!” Sue ran over to johnny as ben kept asking questions, “Johnny are you hurt? What happened?” 

Sue grabs Johnny's face and inspects him for any cuts, scars, or bruises. “Sue I’m fine, just let go of me.” Johnny pushed Sue off of him, and stood up. “Johnny whats wron-” But before she could finish her sentence wade and stood up as well.

“You see Mrs.Storm what happened is you had something we wanted,” wade points to him and logan, who was still siting next to peter, “And we had information that johnny wanted so we made a trade, an eye for and eye or a win-win as they call it.” 

They turn to look at Johnny whose face seems to be cold, like someone crushed his spirit, he seemed hurt but too angry to talk. “What are you talking about? What did you take?!” Reed demands, “And what did you tell him?!” Sue adds

“Wade we got what we came here for lets just go..” Logan sounded worried, Peter could tell, they had swapped bodies once (based on a real comic), and though Logan and Peter agree not to talk about it they both feel like they need to leave. 

“Aww but peanut it's about to get good!” He whispers loudly. “You know I hate messing with peoples families bub, lets just let them sort this out and give the devices to the professor.” Logan picks up a bag and grabs Wade's hand and drags him towards the elevator. 

  “It was nice talking to you again Logan,” Peter waves goodbye, “Oh and tell Daken, kitty, jubilee, and Bobby we say hi!” Johnny says with a smile back on his face. “Will do, bye bub.” and with that both Logan and Wade are gone.

Johnny turns back to his family, his smile fading almost instantly. “Johnny what the hell did you give them?” Sue looks mad, Reed looks disappointed, and Ben just seems worried for Johnny. 

“It was just something that their professor wanted, and to be honest if we didn’t we would most likely have become enemies to all mutants so basically we just made peace with them.” 

Peters is not the best at defusing tense situations but he still tries. Johnny still doesn’t say anything, hell he doesn't know what to say.

“Johnny what happened you look upset..” Ben puts his hand on Johnny's shoulder but he quickly pulls back. “Upset? Damn right I'm upset! Your my fucking family! How could you guys think so low of me!?” 

Everyone's face is in shock, well except for peter who goes over and puts his hand on johnny's shoulder, was a little jealous that he let peter touch him yes but could he blame him, no.

“Johnny what the hell are you talking about?” Reed steps closer to sue as she feels like something just hit her in the face. “Oh dont act so dumb reed, I know what you guys really think of me!” 

Tears start to run down Johnny's face but then slowly burn away as he slowly starts to set himself ablaze from anger. “You guys think I'm a liability! That I’m too dangerous, irresponsible, immature, chaotic!” 

You could hear the crack in his voice, for not once in his life did he think that his own family would think he's a threat to people's safety.  

A Few hours before               

As Johnny took Wade to the weapon and gear room Peter and Logan were stuck in silence together. “So....How's your aunt?” he says trying to break the ice. 

“She’s fine I guess..” They wait outside the room just hoping this will go bye faster. “Is Deadpool going to tell Johnny the truth?” Peter looks down with guilt in his voice. 

“Come on webs, you know just as much as me even though wilsons an asshole doesn’t me he breaks his deals. He's true to his word, always has been, always will be.”

They go still again, not sure if Johnny's making the right decision. “How does he have this information? If it's a secret between the four minus Johnny, how would he know about it?” 

Peter has known wade for a while, they’re both on team red after all. “I’m not sure, but he has his ways…you try not to think about it after a while.” They let another silent minute pass before johnny and wade come out. 

“There that's all the mutant technology thingies we have, now tell me what my family is hiding from me.” he hands wade a bag full of collars, ankle bracelets, and other shit like ray guns.

“Of course, what kind of merc would I be if i didn’t do my part.” he winks at the blonde and tosses the bag to his partner as he brings his phone out. 

“Nice phone case you got there.” Johnny snorts, “thanks, you should see my lockscreen.” Wade smiles. (It was a spider-man phone case and his wall paper is a shirtless picture of Logan.)

    Wade pulls up what seems to be an audio recording and hands his phone over to Johnny. He hesitates but then presses play.

Sue: I’m not sure that's a good idea reed….

Reed: Why not Sue?

Ben: Ya, I thought it was fantastic!

Sue: It's just you know, johnny is johnny…and i dont want anything to comprise this mission..

Reed: I suppose you do have a point dear, Johnny can be rather reckless when it comes to stuff like this… I suppose we could find a way to get him to behave..

Sue: Reed you know he's not going to listen to you, or any of us right. 

Ben: What, you want us to just leave him here on earth while we go study this new plant? Sorry Sue but I cant do that to HERBIE.

Reed: I mean we could bring HERBIE with us to watch over him while we work. 

Sue: he’ll just find a way to get around it…he always does.

Ben: Wait, are you actually suggesting we just leave Johnny here and go to space without him? 

Sue: I mean I love Johnny, with all my heart but what if we discover a new form of life? Johnny could accidentally burn down their planet and cause a war, or he’d say something dumb and get us in trouble, or he’d just do something stupid that could put us in danger.    

Ben: Well that's matchstick for ya, but he is useful. What if he go off course and head towards a star, we’d need johnny to absorb its heat and energy or what not to keep flying

Reed: I'm afraid i have to agree with sue on this ben, johnny is too irresponsible, he can be a danger to this new plant if he uses his powers. We have to weigh the pros and cons, and unfortunately Bring johnny just has far too many cons this time.

Sue: I don't want him to know that we’re purposefully leaving him out on a mission or adventure, we could just tell him me and Reed have a romantic week planned, and Ben could say he's going out with alica for a while.  

Reed: Well that settles it, HERBIE Make sure to put away any papers or research about the trip and the new planet. 

HERBIE: yes dr.Richeards. 

“End of recording” 

Nobody moved, they didn’t even make a sound. Johnny was in shock, he couldn’t believe his sister would not only make him seem incompetent but would stop him from being with them. 

“Thats all they see me as? Some one to blow out the flames…Some one who could endanger people just by being in the same room as them..” Johnny felt his heart shatter.

 He handed Wade back the phone, for he felt his body temperature rising rapidly and didn’t want to burn someone else's phone. He was fully covered in fire, but somehow tears still managed to fall down his cheek.

“That All I am to people isn’t.. The human torch, a danger to his own family..” He cried as the words left his mouth..

“You know that's not true Torch, I see you as a heroic fighter, saving the day and bringing smiles everywhere he goes.” Peter goes as close to Johnny as he can without melting, waiting for him to flame off so he can comfort him. 

He didn’t say anything, he stood there silent for a good solid minute, then he flames off and tightly wraps his body around Peter, and cries into his chest. 

“You're not a dangerous or incompetent storm, you're still a kid, young and bold. But that's all they see, a kid. You're more tough, and they just don't know how to accept the fact that you grew up. Hell, I still treat Daken and Laura like they're Gabby’s age from time to time.” 

“Thanks, but I don't think they cared if I changed. All they’ll see is a reckless teen.” Peter squeezes him, letting him process what they just heard. But Johnny can't help but feel like his own family doesn’t even love him.

Chapter Text

“Johnny, wait let me explain, please it's a misunderstanding.” she tries to grab Johnny's hand but he flicks hers away. “Please, I’ve heard all I needed to from you guys.”  

“Johnny, whatever that Merc showed you is unreliable.” Reed said holding Sue as tears form in her eyes, she hates to see Johnny so upset. “Oh like how you guys think I'm unreliable?” Johnny yelled back.

“I know about the new planet, I know that you guys plan on going without me. How you guys think I’ll start a war or put lives in danger, But you know bring the rock man, Mr. doesn't know how to hold an actual conversation because he sucks at social skills, bring a robot who doesn't speak a word of english or whatever language you’ll find, or better yet bring the person who thinks it's a good idea to leave family behind all alone!”

Johnny clenched his fists, tears burned down his face, as his skin boils and his hair smokes. Sue knew it was going to be hard to lie to her baby brother, but she would’ve wanted him to know the truth from any other circumstance than this. 

“Johnny, I know you are beyond angry with me but don't take it out on reed or ben, like you said it was my idea in the first place.” Sue looks up at her brother with pain in her eyes. 

“Susie, what are you doing?” Ben whispers, “It was my idea, Ben. 

You guys just went along with it because I kept pushing.” 

As they take the blame for each other Peter whispers in Johnny's ear, “Johnny, do you maybe wanna get some fresh air? you're getting extremely tense and you may set off a fire alarm.” 

Johnny sighs and uncrosses his arms as he turns to his partner. “Ya, do you think maybe I could stay at your place for a while? I don't think it would be ideal to stay here right now..” 

“Of course, stay for as long as you need.” Peter smiles and grabs Johnny's hand. “I’ll come back to get our things, but let's go while they’re distracted.” 

Johnny squeezes Peter's hand as they make their way towards the other room to escape through the window. 

Meanwhile in the other room as Reed tries to tell Sue that she shouldn’t take all the blame Ben notices that both teens are missing.

“Guy Spidey and Matchstick left.” 

Both sue and reed turn their heads in the direction behind them. Ben was right, they left, and honestly nobody blamed them, they felt awful about lying to Johnny and now they’re paying the price. 

Peter and Johnny arrive at aunt mays house. “Pete, I'm nervous, I’ve never met your aunt before.” Johnny mumbles as Peter reaches for the door. “Dont worry torchy, she loves guests.” Peter gives him a warm smile as he knocks on the door. 

 Peter did have his own apartment at some point, Tony even made him his own room at the tower. However Peter said that it was unnecessary and that he didn’t wanna live alone or at work, so he moved back in with aunt May.

“I know you just talk so much about her, I'm kinda scared she won't like me or that I'm not good enough for you or that I'm a bad influence on you.” 

Peter gave him a side hug and gave him a kiss on the forehead. “You’ll be a fine hotshot. She’ll love you, she already calls you a brave and smart young man for going into space at 16.”  

“Ya it was an adventure to say the least.” Johnny smirks and lets out a soft chuckle. They look into each other's eyes, with deepening passion filling behind them. 

Peter cups Johnny's face and gives him a loving kiss, letting their mouths collide together like they’ve been apart for years. As their lips part, Johnny puts his hand under Peter's and holds his other one. 

“I love you so much you webheaded bug.” He gives him a small peck on the check. “You did that on purpose you ass! You know spiders are not bugs!! They’re Arachnids!!!” 

“Ya i do know that, but what's the fun of being with your aunt and not embarrassing you?” He gives Peter a pat on the head and knocks on the door.