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Peter’s heart was aching. He didn’t want to have to to this but he new that he has no other choice. People around him were constantly in danger and what better way to keep his loved ones safe than to no longer be around them anymore? After Uncle Ben, Gwen, Harry, he couldn’t take it anymore, he couldn’t let anyone else he cared about get hurt because of him. Least of all Johnny, God, Peter didn’t know what he’d do if he lost Johnny, if he had to watch him die.
It wasn’t as if this was a spontaneous decision. Peter had thought about this endlessly before coming to the conclusion that this was the best call. He just has to see Johnny one last time. One last time before he ended it all. Johnny deserves to find someone better than Peter anyhow. Peter was never good enough, fast enough, at least this way Johnny would be able to move on and find someone better that Peter could ever be.
Peter swung through New York City and by the time he reached Johnny’s window at the Baxter Building, and had taken his mask off, his eyes were bloodshot and fresh tears were forming in his eyes.
Johnny, being used to Peter’s comings and goings heard him approaching the window. He took one look at the brown haired boy, opened his window, then engulfed him straight into a hug.
“Pete?” Johnny asked worriedly, “you look like shit.”
Peter let out a soft chuckle and continued to sob. “I’m s-so sorry,” he managed to articulate.
Johnny was confused, as far as he was aware Peter had done nothing that required apologising for. Despite his curiosity nagging him to ask Peter what he meant, he focused on calming the boy down as he cared greatly for his friend’s well-being.
After about twenty minutes, Peter has calmed down considerably and had collected himself enough to be able to muster the courage to say what he intended to.
He took a deep breath before speaking. “I came to say goodbye,” he said softly.
The silence that came between them was almost deafening until a very concerned Johnny Storm opted to break it.
“You going on vacation or something?” He asked in an attempt to lighten the mood, “and without me.”
Peter couldn’t bear saying anything else and remained expressionless. He stepped closer, hugging Johnny tightly and swiftly leaving a kiss on his cheek before throwing his mask back on and swinging out of his best friend’s window.
Johnny touched his cheek where the ghost of Peter’s lips had once been. The behaviour of the masked man had confused and concerned him. This was not normal Peter Parker behaviour, where was the teasing and the snark? Johnny was worried that he was going to do something irrevocably stupid. He had to be the one that knocked some sense into the guy.
In that moment, Johnny had himself wishing he had his sister's powers, what he wouldn’t give to be invisible right now so he’d be able to follow Peter undetected. Ah, at least he could fly.
Once he’d gotten over his initial shock, Johnny jumped into readiness, he took out his phone to see whether there were any Spidey mentions on twitter in order to gauge a vague location. He was by the Hudson, fighting a new costumes freak that Johnny had never heard of. But he wasn’t fighting with his usual precision; no, he seemed to be intentionally pulling his punches, doing his absolute best to make sure no civilians got hurt, but not doing anything at all to stop himself from sustaining injuries.
A sudden wave of horror flew over Johnny. Peter had said goodbye, and now he wasn’t defending himself, like at all. He had planned this, he wanted to die, but he didn’t want it to look like a suicide, he wanted to die in a fight, he wanted to die whilst he was saving people.
And Johnny couldn’t even fault that thought process as he would have to admit that he had undergone it himself on multiple occasions.
But this wasn’t about Johnny. This was Peter, who had so much to live for. Yes, he had lost so much, but there was still an abundance of people that cared for him and Johnny was one of those.
Peter was bleeding out by the time Johnny had found him, a stab wound. It broke Johnny’s heart to see his best friend like this but now was not a time to be distracted. He approached Peter, flamed off, he was still in his pyjamas. Once he gathered that Peter was still breathing and though weak his heart was still beating, Johnny assessed the wound, thankful for the mandatory Fantastic Four first aid training that Sue had made them all do, and once he thought it safe, he cauterised it with a flamed hand.
Johnny carried Peter all the way to the med bay in the Baxter Building. Peter was safe, he was stable, he was alive. They would talk about this once Peter had recovered, but for now, this was enough.