"You know, I love you more than you love me."
Peter was stunned when he heard these words come from Johnny. His first instinct was to deny it, but he was ashamed to realize that he couldn't do so immediately.
Johnny turned gloomy seeing Peter's speechlessness, "I knew it. You never take the initiative to take us out, you never give me random presents, and you don't like to be touched, even by me."
"No, that's not it," Peter panicked, "I do love you."
"But not as much as I love you."
Agh, what? Peter was used to these sudden sort of spirals into self-consciousness in Johnny, but this time he really had no idea on what to say. He couldn't tell if Johnny was being cheesy and doing the 'Oh I love you-' 'No, I love you more' thing, or if he was actually being insecure.
He shook his head.
"Anyways, what's love got to do with presents and-and dates? Love isn't calculated like that."
"Then how do you calculate it?"
"..."
See, that wasn't the point that Peter was trying to make.
"I don't calculate love." Peter muttered. "You might be the only one who does."
"Okay, well, I don't calculate love either, but I keep track of things! Like important dates -- the only day you know is my birthday!"
"That's because you make too many holidays to remember -- I don't think we need a 'twelfth day anniversary' if we also have a 'one month anniversary'."
Johnny gasped in a tragic, unironic way and slapped Peter on the shoulder. "Twelve days is totally different from a month."
Peter "oh"-ed indifferently.
"With that logic, wouldn't amnesiacs have the least amount of love output?"
"No-that's- hmph, shaddup!" Johnny stood upright with obvious intention to flame-on-outta their conversation, but Peter was having none of that. He sprang forward and latched his hands around Johnny's waist just before they blasted off into the night sky-
Oh. Right, they were inside to begin with, so why could they see the sky?
Peter and Johnny exchanged a guilty look, Johnny burning off the dusty residue of the rooftop and Peter dangerously towing a chunk of concrete using the tip of his toes.
Ah, geez, they were gonna have to move again, huh.
At a vacant Denny's.
"Let's just move past all that." Peter was delicately cutting through a stack of pancakes the size of his head and shoveling the overblown triangles down his throat. Johnny, for his part, was recording Peter's progress with his phone.
"No, we're gonna be adults and have a calm, reasonable conversation about how you didn't love me even after the fellatio."
"That- fellatio doesn't seem to be a trigger for infatuation, though?"
"Stop talking like a smarty or I'll k-word you."
"..."
How was Peter going to tell him that he had specifically never used words beyond the vocabulary of an eighth-grader with him?
Peter coughed, "That's right though, we should figure things out before the food coma hits."
"First, what did you mean by you love me more than I love you?"
"Just as it sounds," Johnny drooped instantly, "don't you think that I put more effort into us than you do?"
"...That may be true."
Peter gave it a thought and realized that it was just as Johnny said. Though he looked forward to Johnny's presence, he had never actively made occasions specifically for spending time together. Johnny, on the other hand, was constantly marking things on his calendar and wheedling with Peter.
However, Peter was still unconvinced.
"I may not put as much effort, but that's because I don't feel the need to. I'm confident enough in our relationship to not rely on these things to assure myself."
"That's not it, though! I make us plans all the time 'cus I wanna have fun with you! I wanna explore weird things with you, I wanna eat good food with you, I wanna see you smile and laugh and everything in every possible situation!"
Peter felt his face heat up and scratched the back of his neck -- he hadn't thought of the dates like that.
"Mn, that might be attributed to our personalities though, not the amount of love we have for each other."
Johnny harrumphed and finally put down his phone. Peter readily dunked a pancake slice in maple syrup and sent it into Johnny's waiting mouth.
Johnny spoke after chewing, "I really can't get out of my head this time, Peter. Hah, if I cry, it's all your fault."
"...Maybe it's not a bad thing after all."
"What, me crying?"
Peter shook his head and answered, no. "I don't think it's possible for people to love each other equally all the time."
"No?"
He shook his head once more.
"We're in a relationship, but that doesn't stop us from being individuals. For whatever reason, I'd say that you're more open to loving someone than I am."
"Oh, no-yeah, that makes sense." Johnny rolled his eyes around with a glazed look -- he was probably already about to go into a food coma.
Ah, not already -- it should be as expected. Peter was the abnormal one, after all.
"Since we have our own values, our own perceptions, of course we'll have different levels of love. But, one person loving more than the other isn't necessarily a problem, it just means exactly what it sounds like." Peter mused and Johnny hummed, neither of them looking at the other yet instinctually linking their fingers across the table.
Johnny massaged Peter's fingers one by one with a comfortable heat that made Peter sigh.
"Love...Why compare it? How can you compare it? Some things are as immeasurable as the stars and can only be wondered about from afar. Only in this way are they understood."
"You rhymed." Johnny giggled sleepily.
"Hm."