Chapter 8
Johnny forced himself to pay attention to the scenes again. Each one filled him with pity for his friend. No. It wasn’t pity he was feeling. It was understanding. He understood all of the little quirks that Peter had. All of the things he had brushed off as Spidey just being weird but turned out to be something more.
Peter was walking home from school, a fancy car sitting outside his apartment. He walked inside, making some comment to Aunt May about the car, then stopping abruptly.
The real Peter froze, his entire body tense. Johnny didn’t think, instead reaching out his hand to grip Peter’s. He gave his hand a soft squeeze, ignoring how well his hand fit in Peter’s. Johnny waited for Peter to pull away, but he didn’t, instead he gripped Johnny hand back, equally tight.
Sitting on the couch next to the memories Aunt May was none other than Tony Stark.
“Oh, Mr Parker.” The billionaire gave him a winning smile.
The scene Peter stuttered, messing up his words. After an awkward minute or so of small talk, in which Stark said something about Peter applying for an internship – which was clearly a lie based on how Peter fumbled around trying to reply – and then moved to sit in Peter’s room for some privacy.
Stark offered Peter a place on his team for the Civil War and told him they were going to Germany. Johnny caught Sue’s look of outrage and horror at the fact that Stark would do such a thing to a child. Johnny felt similarly. How could an adult allow a child to go through this? How could he bring him into this life?
As if he could sense what they were thinking Peter cleared his throat.
“It wasn’t like that.”
The scene paused as the Four turned to look at Peter.
“What do you mean it’s not like that? It seems pretty clear to me that he was taking advantage of a child who didn’t know any better.” Sue’s voice was seemingly calm, but Johnny knew that inside she was seething. She had hated it when Johnny had joined the team, but there hadn’t been much she could do about it. Instead, Sue had enforced hundreds of rules on Johnny, all to keep him safe, but Johnny had a habit of breaking them.
Peter’s expression was furious, “it wasn’t like that. He didn’t force me into this life, he didn’t make me do anything. I was already Spider-Man, and I was always going to be Spider-Man. It wasn’t something he gave to me; it wasn’t something that he made me into. I was already like this, and I was already risking my life to help others, which I was not going to stop anytime soon. On top of all that, I was doing it in what he used to call,” Peter’s voice broke for a moment and he took a deep breath before continuing, “he used to call my onesie. It was useless and offered barely any protection at all. If anything, he helped me. He did help me. He saved my life time and time again. If it wasn’t for him, I would be long dead. If it wasn’t for him, half of this universe would be dead.” Peter glared at them all, as if challenging one of them to try and argue with him. After a few moments of silence Johnny spoke.
“Okay. I get it. I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have made assumptions without knowing the full story.”
Ben and Reed mumbled apologies as well. Sue sighed.
“I’m sorry too, Spid- Peter. I shouldn’t have said that. I just remembered what it was like when this all started for the first time, and what it was like to have Johnny in the crossfire. I would have given anything for him not to have to live like this. To live this life. I would have given anything to have him be able to have a normal, boring, ordinary life. And then the thought of anyone bringing someone into this, bringing a child into this… I couldn’t imagine that. But as you said, he saved your life. And Tony Stark was a hero, don’t think I don’t believe it. He managed to bring my brother back.”
Peter nodded, seeming to accept their apologies. Johnny expected him to pull his hand away, but he left it there. Johnny didn’t comment on it. Maybe things would work out okay. Maybe this would be fixable. Maybe not everything was broken.
The next scene played without any major accidents. Peter stole Captain America’s shield, to which Johnny let out a whoop of approval, Peter smiling softly at him. The airport battle, or as Ben referred to it, the massive superhero toddler tantrum, played out epically. Johnny was silently impressed at how incredible Peter was, holding his own against a bunch of Avengers, without any training. When he caught the Winter Soldier’s metal arm Ben cheered with Johnny, Peter laughing at the two of them.
Things were looking up, and the atmosphere had improved considerably from the sombre mood before. Then of course it had to be ruined again, War Machine being shot down, falling to the ground at an incredible speed. If he didn’t already know that he had survived, Johnny would have thought that Rhodey would be dead. But then… Johnny whirled around to face Peter.
“His legs. The braces…”
“Are because of this,” Peter sighed softly, “I know. It wasn’t fair.”
The memory Peter was swatted out of the sky by Ant-Man, and Ben growled.
“You just wait till I find that little ant and I will squash him like the pest he is.”
“Ben it’s okay. I’m fine, I’m fine. And it wasn’t his fault. Also, Scott is awesome, and makes the best Lego houses. We’re friends now. This is the past remember? This happened a long time ago.”
Ben grumbled an agreement not to kill Lang but muttered under his breath that the bug better watch where he stepped.
The airport battle wrapped up, and the scene Peter was sitting in the car with Stark and someone who had been called Happy. That’s an odd name.
Tony Stark said something about contacting Peter if he ever needed him again, and then the car drove off, leaving Peter standing there, holding his bag. He grinned and whispered reverently, “They’re gonna call me.”
The real-life Peter looked away at that, muttering something that sounded like stupid. Johnny gripped Peter’s hand tighter, his thumb slowly rubbing circles on the back of his hand. Peter glanced to Johnny gratefully.
“The next few scenes…” Peter coughed, “They are going to be a lot worse than it has been. And um… there’s a chance that I won’t handle some parts that well. Just a warning.”
Johnny spoke without thinking, “You can lie on me.”
The whole room went silent, all of them staring at Johnny in confusion except for Sue, who rolled her eyes.
“I mean… You can lie on me or something, that might help. Because like… touch is grounding right? That way… It was a stupid idea I’m sorry. Ignore me. Just-”
“No!” Peter flushed slightly, “I mean, no. That would be nice, it could be… useful. I’ll…”
Peter slowly moved so he was next to Johnny, then carefully inched his head towards Johnny’s shoulder. Ben tried to cover his snort with a cough, and Sue let her head drop into her hands, whispering something about how painful this was to watch.
Finally, Johnny couldn’t handle it, and he brought his legs up onto the couch, and gently rested his head onto Peter’s shoulder, letting Peter rest his own on top. Burrowing in he ignored how desperately he wanted this, how much he wished he could do this all the time. Peter slowly relaxed as well, and Johnny could hear his heart beat slow down. Peter gently lifted his hand up and rest it in Johnny’s hair, beginning to stroke it, playing with Johnny’s curls. It took all of Johnny’s willpower not to make any embarrassing noises, because he was certain his family would never let him live it down.
Ben grinned wickedly, pulling out his phone, snapping a quick photo. Johnny reached out his hand and stuck up his middle finger, to which Ben roared with laughter. Snuggling back down, Johnny turned his head, so that he was facing where the scenes played out.
Johnny felt as if he were about to fall asleep. For the first time in… a long while, Johnny felt completely and utterly safe. He knew that whatever happened next, Peter would look after him. Although he wasn’t defenceless, it was a nice feeling. The sense of being safe and protected. He felt his eyes flutter for a moment, before he forced himself to focus again. He couldn’t pass out here, he had to stay awake, so they could get through these memories, and maybe have a proper chat with Peter about… everything. Johnny watched as a new scene began to form.