Chapter Text
“Okay what about this?” Johnny asks. His jaw drops and he clutches at his chest. He draws a sudden, dramatic gasp, and Peter has to laugh at his ludicrous expression.
“That might be overdoing it just a bit.”
“Fine. This?” Johnny gasps again, eyes wide and hands at his mouth. “Oh, guys, you shouldn’t have!”
The elevator dings as it arrives. Peter grabs his boyfriend’s arm and forcibly drags him inside, rolling his eyes at his antics. He’s not sure at which point Johnny had found out about the surprise party but he’s going along with the dramatics anyway, mostly for Sue’s benefit. She’d arranged the whole shindig herself and had enlisted Peter to keep Johnny occupied all day, a feat that had been astonishingly easy to achieve. Johnny had stayed the night at Peter’s, despite it being far smaller and less luxurious than Johnny’s own apartment. Johnny had thoroughly enjoyed Peter’s distraction for the morning; the duo hadn’t left bed until well until into the afternoon, both utterly sated and dishevelled. At this point, Johnny had let slip that he’d known about the party for weeks. It made keeping him away from his apartment while it was being set up for the party fairly effortless.
After a late lunch and a stroll through Central Park, Sue had texted to let Peter know that everyone had arrived and they were ready for Johnny. Johnny, of course, read the text over his shoulder and declared that it was party time.
“Please just try to act natural,” Peter begs. “Sue’ll kill me if she finds out you already knew about it.”
Johnny twines his fingers with Peter’s and gives his hand a small squeeze. “Why would she be mad? It’s not like you told me about it.”
Peter shrugs. He’s always had the suspicion that Sue isn’t particularly fond of him.
Johnny sees straight through him and presses a quick kiss to his cheek. “I told you, she loves you. I love you. Just relax and enjoy the party, which I totally don’t know about.”
As if he’d timed it, the doors open as he finishes, and he grins and pulls Peter along with him as he leaves. He swings their joined hands between them, humming as he unlocks the door to his suite and strolls inside. He flicks the nearest light switch on and startles as dozens of people call, “Surprise!”
“What the—” Johnny looks about in confusion, a delighted grin at his lips as Sue struts towards him. She extends her arms and he embraces her tightly.
“Happy birthday, little bro.”
“Did you organise this?” he asks, sounding suitably astonished. Peter has to bite down a laugh.
“Yep! Now come get a drink and we can get this party started.”
Johnny beams as he turns back to Peter, brows raised. “How’d I do?” he asks in a low tone.
“I’d have fallen for it,” Peter murmurs back, smiling as Johnny takes his hands and pulls him close. Peter tilts his head just so and Johnny leans in to seal their lips in a gentle kiss. Someone nearby wolf-whistles and Peter can feel Johnny smile against him.
“Go find Sue,” Peter says, pulling back. Johnny squeezes his hands and presses one last kiss to his lips before he darts off, calling various greetings to party guests as he goes. Peter watches him for a moment and then wanders off to find MJ, who’s not hard to pick out of a crowd with her mane of fiery hair.
“Hey, Tiger,” she greets.
Peter slides an arm about her shoulders. “Hey, MJ. How’d the show go last night?”
“Yeah, good. It was good. The director said we might be able to add an extra couple of shows since the first round sold out.”
“That’s great!” Peter replies with a smile. “Johnny wanted to talk to you later, by the way. He found the numbers of those casting agents he was talking about.”
MJ’s expression lights up with glee. “Really? I knew there was a reason we keep him around.”
Peter nods in agreement and finds his gaze straying across the room, settling on Johnny entertaining a throng of guests. When he looks back to MJ, she’s watching him with a soft smile.
“What’s that look for?”
MJ shakes her head and bumps her shoulder against him. “Nothing, Pete, nothing at all. You just look happy.”
Peter shrugs and turns to look at Johnny again. A familiar warmth fills him as he watches Johnny gesture wildly while he tells his tale. He is happy, he realises.
Johnny abruptly looks away from his gathered crowd and directly at Peter, smiling wider than Peter had thought possible, and beckons him over.
MJ gives him a gentle nudge. “Go get ‘em, Tiger.”
Peter follows through with her nudge and stumbles forward a step. Laughter spills from his lips as he dutifully trots over, resuming his position by Johnny’s side. An arm slips about his waist as Johnny pulls him in and presses a kiss to his tousled hair.
“Having fun?” Peter asks.
“Plenty, now you’re here.”
Peter wants to tease or roll his eyes at Johnny’s cliché flirtations, but he’ll save it for another day. “Good. Happy birthday, Hothead.”