This just made my day omg it's so cute đđŚ
Summary: You might have been ever so slightly perturbed about Peter seeing you in your underwear if he wasnât sporting a large cut along his jawline; one that looked achingly fresh.
âDid you shave with a machete this morning?â You asked, stepping out of the doorway and making room for him to enter.
âA scythe, actually,â Peter deadpanned.
Words: 2.4k
A/N: Andrew Garfield!Spiderman; friends to lovers; heated make-out; cursing; minor injury; mutual pining; possible part 1 of 2? characters are in college & of age.
It was hot. That sticky kind of hot that clung to you and made you feel like tearing your skin off. That makes the sweat pool at the nape of your neck until it slides in a cold streak down the curve of your spine. The New York air was shimmering, alive with exhaust fumes and the output of overworked air conditioning units of every apartment on your blockâexcept for yours. The dumbass thing had broken overnight and when you woke up at five a.m., damp and uncomfortable, youâd called your best friend knowing heâd make a quick fix of it.
But youâd gotten his voicemail, unsurprising given that heâd never been a morning person. Since youâd met him three years ago at freshman orientation, Peter Parker had perfectly offset you in every way. Where he could stay in bed until noon, you were decidedly not a night owl, often cosy in your pyjamas by ten p.m. Peter had a sharp wit and loved to tease, and though his wit brought out a sharp tongue youâd never known you had, you were infinitely shyer than he was. He was perpetually late to everything from the Christmas dinner youâd invited him to at your parentsâ home to your final exam for Organic Chemistryâwhich heâd passed with flying coloursâwhereas you were punctual to a fault. And perhaps most significantly, youâd never known heartbreak in your life, never had the opportunity because youâd never given anyone your heart to begin with. Peterâs heart, you knew, had endured the worst kind of break. Though he only spoke of her sometimes, you knew his high school girlfriend had died tragically and each year you went with him to visit her resting place, holding his hand and running your thumb over his knuckles as gently as you could. The depths of that pain, written on his face and in his body language whenever he spoke of Gwen, made you steel yourself against love, afraid to give yourself to anyone in case you left them broken and alone.
There was a flaw in your plan to avoid love forever though, and that was Peter himself. As much as youâd tried to swallow them, shut them up in the deepest pits of your soul, bury them where theyâd never see the light of day, your feelings for him had only grown in the last three years. At first it was a little thrill each time his eyes met yours, a tingle on your skin when his fingers grazed your own while you shared a carton of fries at a Yankees game. That had grown, exploded really, into a brilliant whirl of colours every time you heard his voiceâa sort of love-induced synesthesia that turned Peterâs laughter yellow and his whispers soft purple and his calling your name the deepest, richest scarlet.
Youâd fallen desperately in love with your best friend and you were resolutely not going to do anything about it, thank you very much.
âY/N!â There was a knock at the door of your cramped apartment that drew you out of your crossword puzzleâstuck, as you were, on 18-Down. âItâs Peter!â
Youâd barely heard the knock over the sound of Eminem in your headphones, but there was no mistaking Peterâs voice. You were at the door, earbuds abandoned on the coffee table, pulling it open before you remembered that youâd traded in your baggy David Bowie tee and jean shorts for a barely-there camisole and blue panties of the lightest cotton. You might have been ever so slightly perturbed about Peter seeing you in your underwear if he wasnât sporting a large cut along his jawline; one that looked achingly fresh.
âDid you shave with a machete this morning?â You asked, stepping out of the doorway and making room for him to enter.
âA scythe, actually,â Peter deadpanned. If only youâd known he was being entirely seriousâhis neck having had a near miss with some villainâs techno-reproduction of a classic medieval weapon only hours ago. âItâs hot as hell in here, Y/N. Are you trying to get me naked?â
Your cheeks flushed and you made quick work of rolling your eyes as dramatically as possible, trying to distract Peter from the change of colour in your face. He was an expert at changing the subject, so much so that youâd long since given up trying to get him to talk about anything he didnât want to, such as why he was chronically late or where heâd disappeared to that night you had tickets for the Rangers playoff game, or how he managed to find time to workout with his ridiculous school schedule and familial duties because god damn, his armsâyou stopped yourself from letting that thought full form, knowing it would send you down a rabbit hole.
âDonât think Iâm not keeping a tally of every time you dodge my questions,â you muttered, moving to the refrigerator and opening it briefly to let some cool air out on your heated chest. The emptiness of the shelves reminded you that you really needed to get groceries because ramen noodles, eggs, and the rapidly decaying bananas on the counter would not keep you alive forever. âAnd didnât you get my voicemail?â
âNo,â Peter shrugged, âI saw you left me one but thought Iâd just swing by.â A small smirk tugged at the corners of his lips, though you couldnât for the life of you figure out what the joke was.
âWell, the AC is broken,â you informed him, straightened up and facing him where he stood in your living room, his tall and lean frame a familiar sight there alongside the stacks of textbooks and novels, the record player, and the pile of throw pillows you couldnât stop collecting. For a long moment, Peter stared at you, his head tilted slightly to the side as if he was just now seeing you since coming in. You felt much more naked than you actually were under his stare and shifted your weight from one leg to the other, your hand coming to tug down at the hem of your camisole. Peter had seen you nearly nude before, but this feltâdifferent. Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the unfamiliar expression that flashed across his eyes. Either way, it had you squeezing your legs together as subtly as possible. If Peter noticed, he didnât let on.
âThat explains the outfit,â he grinned, tone light, though you noticed the way his Adamâs apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed hard.
âIt was hardly my first choice,â you shot back, âBut anyways, now that youâre here do you think you could fix it?â
âThis feels like the start of a porââ
âDonât say it, Parker,â you cut him off with a warning glare, eyes wide. Peter only laughed, though stopped almost immediately, favouring his jaw. Already it looked like the gash was healing and you wondered where heâd gotten it fromâit reminded you, oddly, of the ankle heâd âsprainedâ while showing you a skateboarding trick last summer. You would swear up and down, on every holy text that existed, that youâd seen his bone popping out of his skin. But the next day heâd been absolutely fine and you were certain that the limp heâd had for a week was half-faked.
âY/N? Are you alive in there?â Peterâs amused voice drew you from your reverie and you nodded, running your fingers through your hair to get it out of your face.
âAlive and well,â you reported, âSo you think you can fix it?â
***
As it turned out, Peter could fix the AC unit, but heâd need to pick up a part at the hardware store down the street. While he examined the ancient device mounted on your bedroom wall, you sat perched on your bed, silky pink blankets long since tossed to the floor, watching him with interest, noticing everything about the way his hands moved carefully over the shabby metal, the way his brow furrowed when he peeked inside the unit, and the way his eyes crinkled when he announced that it wouldnât be an issue to repair.
For his part, Peter knew your eyes were on himâhe wouldnât go so far as to call it Spidey-sense, he just knew you and heâd had an inkling of the feelings you harboured for him for quite some time, though that part probably was Spidey-sense. It wasnât that he didnât feel the same way, because god knows he did, but he was terrified to let himself fall in love again; beyond hesitant to ever let anyone get hurt again because of him. But then there was the way you looked at him, your eyes sparkling with delight when he made a stupid joke. And the way you said his name, like it was a magic spell wrapping itself up inside him and making him forget everything other than your voice. Yes, he loved youâmore deeply than heâd thought heâd ever love againâbut he was afraid to be in love with you.
When he delivered the happy news that heâd be able to get cool air back into your apartment, he felt his heart swell at the look of relief on your face.
âYouâre my hero, Pete,â you said earnestly, âReally and truly.â
You had no idea.
âYeah,â he said lightly, âIâm the best.â He saw the pillow coming at him even before it fully left your hands and dodged it in a swift, graceful motion.
âThatâs not very nice,â Peter grinned wolfishly at you and your heart fluttered, âHere I am helping you out like a dear old gentleman and you throw things at me.â With another two quick, almost instantaneous steps, he was at your bedside, his hands coming down to your ribcage, fingers curling in as he began to tickle you mercilessly. You couldnât do much more than squeal, kicking gently to get him off of you, whining his name as you begged him to stop.
âPeter!â you cried out, âItâs too hot for this!â There were tears in your eyes, threatening to spill down your cheeks and your bottom lip was swollen from where you were biting it to try to keep control of your laughter. Looking down at you, Peter knew he was finished, absolutely doomed, to fall into the warm and beautiful void that was loving you.
His fingers paused their attack and you both seemed to take stock of the position you found yourself in; you, flat on your back in bed, hair a dishevelled mess haloed out over your head; him, legs spread so that they were straddling your hips, his arms on either side of your body, lean muscles holding him up.
âPeteââ you whispered, eyes fluttering down to where your bodies met, lashes wet with unshed tears.
He blinked once, twice, three times, a pregnant pause in the hot air before his brain supplied the two words heâd been wanting to hear, giving him permission to plunge forward. Fuck it.
âY/N,â he licked his lips, âYouââ his fingers moved from your ribs to the edge of your camisole, thumbing across its stitching, âYouâre so beautiful.â
Your breath hitched in your throat and your eyes shot up to his, pupils dilated. Your lips twitched, uncertain. âDonât do this,â you sighed, all the while your own hands moved as if of their own accord, coming to rub up and down his arms, caressing lightly over the rippling muscle.
âDo what?â he asked, hand pausing in its movement to slip under your shirt. He withdrew it immediately, hoping heâd not grossly misread the situation.
âDonât start something with me that you wonât finish,â your voice was barely there, âIââ You couldnât bring yourself to say it, couldnât utter those little words out loud, but you knew Peter understood. You could tell from the way he settled down closer to you, his lips running feather-light kisses along your collarbone, the way he brushed the lightly calloused pad of his thumb over your eyes.
âY/N, I feel like I was finished the moment I met you,â he said, âAnd now Iâd really like to give you a proper kiss, if you donât mind.â
âHopefully youâre as good at kissing as you are at running that mouth, Parââ
The words couldnât finish leaving your lips because Peterâs shut them right back into your mouth. He kissed you gently at first, then ran his tongue along your lips, asking entrance which you granted easily enough. Your kiss went on for what felt like years, each of you learning the other with care and attention. His hands explored your body freely, eliciting small moans of approval that led him along a path he was memorizing and then his lips were navigating that same path, kissing and nipping at your shoulders, your clavicle, your navel, between your breasts at the edge of your shirt.
You were on fire as your hands tangled into his soft brown hair, nails gently massaging into his scalp. You knew, from the vibrations on his lips, that he liked the sensation and filed that information away for a later date.
Once heâd kissed all the way down to your ankles, Peter flopped onto the mattress beside you, watching as your chest heaved with pleasure.
âIt feels even hotter in here than before,â he smirked, âI should go grab that part, yeah?â
You swatted at him, laughter on your lips. âYouâre the worst, Peter Parker.â
He caught your hand in mid-air, wrapping his fingers around yours and gently squeezing your palmâonce, twice, three times. Three squeezes for three little words that neither of you were ready to say yet, but that you would willingly show each other.
âIâm serious,â Peter said, âIâll grab the part and a pizza and we can hang out, even though Iâm the worst.â
You rolled your eyes again, still trying to steady your heart rate. âLike I said, my hero. How can I ever repay you?â For good measure, you placed the back of your hand against your forehead, faking a swoon.
Peter only looked at you with fire in his eyes. âI can think of a few ways.â
He was out of the room before you could throw another pillow at him. Shame.