Heading out.
Peter looked over Johnny and saw that he was on the last few pages of his book. He leaned over so he could read the ending with him, despite him having already read it and seen the movie nearly four times.
The book that Johnny was reading, was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After all this time, Johnny had finally finished the movies and was just now finishing up the books.
It had been just over a year since Peter had convinced Johnny to watch the first movie.
They were now both sitting on Peter’s bed with moving boxes all around them. They were going to move in together.
They had just graduated, and were preparing for college.
While Johnny finishes up the iconic book, Peter looks around the room and thinks about where he and Johnny started. Not only as friends, but from a relationship standpoint.
Back then, he had quite literally just come out to the Fantastic Four, and Aunt May. Not too long after that, Spider-Man came out as trans to the public.
Then he had waited, for quite a while to come out to publicly as Peter Parker. It… really sucked.
The only reason he actually ended up coming out when he did, was because he was going to start taking testosterone the next week. He couldn't exactly have his voice drop and start growing a beard if he wasn't out yet.
So. He's been on T for about a year now. God he’s glad he can say that. It really did work wonders for his dysphoria. Sure, he hasn’t had any surgeries yet, and on top of that, he's not sure he even wants to. At least not right now. But going on testosterone doesn’t magically make all of your problems go away. And just because it eases his dysphoria some, it doesn't mean it’s gone.
On top of all of this, he finally ended up introducing MJ and Johnny. They hit it off right away. He never thought he’d see people bond over fashion trends so quickly. Or, at all, really. But he’s very glad two of his favorite people became such fast friends. He's sure that if they danced too close together at a club, or anywhere pretty much, that the force of it would cause everyone in the vicinity to drop on the spot.
He also ended up getting two jobs; one at the Daily Bugle, which is pretty funny considering how much that exact company loved to hate his secret identity and the other at Chili’s. He thinks he dies a little bit inside every time he has to say “Hi! Welcome to Chili’s!” Especially when the customers are clearly trying not to laugh after he says it.
He definitely needs the money right now, from student loans, rent, testosterone, and Peter needing to change his name and gender marker legally.
He could just take up Johnny’s offer to pay it all for him, but that's way too much. Even though Johnny has seemingly endless amounts of money, he can’t just let him go and take responsibility over all of his expenses.
But he really does need to change at least his legal name as soon as possible so that anyone who wants to be an asshole at his new school or anyone else in his future that wants to be an asshole won't have that opportunity.
He snaps back to reality instead of thinking of his life when he sees Johnny set down his book.
“Wow.”
“Wow?”
“Just wow.”
“That's it? No opinions? Do you at least agree that Ginny deserved more in the movies?”
“Are you kidding? That's not even a question Peter. I just think the author should have let it end instead of giving it an epilogue.”
“Exactly! Why would you give them all middle-aged mediocre lives where everything is perfect as if there are no more bad guys left in the entire story? Just because he’s dead doesn’t mean Voldemort wouldn’t still have followers and people that agreed with what he said. There are always going to be bad people that need to be stopped. It’s not-”
“The moving truck is here you two.” Aunt May interrupts Peter.
They get off the bed and start packing things into the moving truck, and not too long after Mary Jane arrives to help.
As soon as they’re done, they all hug and have a teary goodbye, even though they’re just moving to a different part of New York, and not to a different state altogether.
As they drive to their new apartment, Johnny speaks up.
“So much has changed since we first met. I mean, we’re moving in together. What do you think will change next?”
“I don’t know. Let’s just take what life throws at us for now. We have plenty on our plate as it is. We don’t need to worry about what hasn’t happened yet.”
“You’re right. I guess this and all the college stuff has me thinking.”
“Yeah, me too. But let’s just keep rolling with the punches until it stops working. We’ll be okay.”
He reaches out for Johnny’s hand, and they keep driving.