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Peter has gotten used to having things ripped away from him; choices made that he didn’t get to. Family gone and replaced - homes gone and replaced. He knows he’s still lucky in many ways; lucky that a stupid spider bit him, lucky that Tony Stark saw a video that someone randomly took, lucky that Tony Stark then saw enough worth in him to keep him from going into the system.
He could wallow in self pity, but that wouldn’t be fair. Instead, he keeps a photo of him and his parents at Disney prominently displayed next to a portrait of May and Ben when they first got married on his dresser in the tower so it’s one of the first things anyone should see walking it.
Of course, it’s not the kind of thing anyone would actually notice when walking into Peter’s room now; when Ned first comes over, he’s so starstruck by everything that he’s silent, but it quickly weans into nonstop questions about the functions of FRIDAY and the potential interface applications in smart homes.
Peter eventually has to cut him off. “Ned, there’s something I need to tell you.”
That shuts him up, in part because Ned isn’t an asshole, but his friend can immediately sense a shift in the room. “Jeez, that sounds serious. What’s up?”
The bottom of his stomach feels like a knot that’s being pulled at both ends, tighter and tighter. Peter bites his lip - he knows Ned will be okay, because he has to. They’ve been best friends for so long now, there’s no way he’d abandon him now.
“Seriously, what’s going on?” Ned leans in closer and whispers, even though he doesn’t need to in present surroundings. “Is this about Spiderman? Because I know you haven’t been going out as much, and that totally makes sense right now, but I kind of always assumed you’d take it back up eventually.”
Ned is still prattling on, and Peter loves him, but fuck. He’s not just Spiderman, and it’s become such a part of his identity, especially to Ned, that he wants to just scream.
Peter cuts him off again. “It’s not anything to do with Spiderman.”
“Oh.” Ned’s mouth audibly clicks shut. “Well, okay. What’s up Pete? Just tell me.”
Then he patiently waits, watching Peter take a deep breathe. “I’m dating someone.”
Ned lights up, and Peter braces himself for another torrent of words. Instead, Ned just says: “That’s awesome, man! Who is it?”
“It’s a boy.”
“Yeah.” Ned frowns. “We already had the whole coming out discussion - I didn’t forget.”
Then Peter wishes Ned would just prattle away again, and they could avoid the coming conclusion. “I know you’re not going to like it.”
“Dude, I am not homophobic! I am, like, so thrilled for you man, how could you even think - ”
“It’s Flash.”
This time, Ned’s mouth stays open.
“What?”
“It’s Flash.”
“Like our Flash? Flash Thompson?”
“How many Flashes do you know?”
“Are you serious? We haven’t tried to prank each other like this since we were eleven, dude.” Ned is rolling his eyes.
“I’m serious. I’m dating Flash.”
There’s a long stretch of silence - long for the two of them anyway - where Ned is watching, waiting for Peter to break down in the gotcha. It doesn’t come, so he jerks his eyes around the room, as if looking for an external sign that something so fundamental has changed in his best friend.
“How long?” he finally asks.
Peter shrugs. “Couple of months? I wasn’t sure what to call it, at first.”
“Okay.” Ned nods, then keeps nodding. “Okay. My best friend is dating Flash Thompson, the kid who mercilessly bullied us for years - ”
“He hasn’t done that in a long time, Ned.”
“ - and my best friend is still Spiderman.”
Peter makes a so what motion.
“Out of the two of these things, the one suddenly seems so much less shocking.”
“Ned.”
“Dude, just give me a minute to process.” Ned stands, paces his room. The coolness of it is suddenly forgotten. “Can I ask you about it?”
“Of course. If you want to know. If you don’t, that’s okay.” For now, anyway, Peter thinks. The thing with Flash is new and not all that serious, so he really doesn’t want to get Ned worked up about it, but at the same time - Peter likes Flash more and more every day, and he does want to share that with his best friend.
“How long have you liked him? Like liked him, I mean.”
“I don’t know. He stopped being such a dick to me last year, and I kind of started to like him then, but I don’t know if I really had a crush on him before it all started.”
“What do you mean? You went from not crushing on him to totally crushing on him?”
“It’s complicated.” Peter doesn’t think Ned has ever really looked past the surface of Flash’s expensive gifts from home - he doesn’t see the other gifts bestowed upon him by his father. Since Flash has basically started ignoring him, Ned probably hasn’t seen the way Flash barely expresses any emotion about anything, has stopped eating at school, and he highly doubts Ned ever stays long enough after school to find Flash’s car still parked in the lot.
“I bet.” Ned is still frowning, but Peter can tell the shock is wearing off. “It’s weird, but… I guess not the weirdest thing after all.”
Nodding, Peter nervously fidgets with the strings on his hoodie. He’s chewed at them enough that they’ve raveled away. Ned scoots closer to him on the bed and gives him a one armed hug.
“You’re my best friend, Pete. If you’re happy, I’m happy,” he says. “Besides, if he breaks your heart, I guess I’ll have more reason to hate him.”
Peter winces. More reason to hate his boyfriend. Ned won’t so easily forget their shared history, and he would be stupid to suppose he could. Peter hasn’t forgotten their shared history; instead, he’s embraced it as part of his super fucked up origin story that makes him a better person, or something. Peter’s not sure why he kissed Flash the first time it happened, or the second. All of a sudden, there was something between them that wasn’t before.
He’d love to tell his friend how sweet Flash actually is; the weird give and take that’s settled between them even when Peter doesn’t tell his boyfriend anything. Flash knows not to push Peter about his late nights when he can’t get ahold of him. When Flash discovers a lot of bruising all down Peter’s arms and torso, he drops it when Peter asks him to, no matter how difficult it is for Flash, and it was difficult enough Flash went back to not speaking to him that week.
Really, Flash has just been around in a way that Peter hasn’t seen in awhile. Mr. Stark hovers uncomfortably around Peter at every chance, and even Ned and MJ can behave similarly at school. Instead, Flash lets Peter come to him when he needs to, and Peter didn’t realize just how important that was to him until he had someone like Flash. Reliable, independent. Of course, Flash has plenty of his own stuff going on - things that make Peter’s blood boil, but there are boundaries there too, and Peter has to respect them the same as Flash as respects his.
For now, anyway.
He constantly fantasizes about swinging by the Thompson household as Spiderman and trying a new intimidation mode, and maybe he will if things get bad again, but Flash has seemingly worked out a careful schedule to remove himself from harms way. There’s a whole lot of other stuff going on - the non physical stuff - that Flash suffers from, and it’s honestly maybe worse, but Peter thinks things are getting better.
He honestly thought Flash would have a big gay freak out by now, but out of all the things going on, that one doesn’t seem to phase him in the least. And it really shouldn’t.
“Earth to Peter, helloooooooo!”
“Sorry.”
“Dinner. LEGOs. Check?”
“Check.”
Peter thinks about telling Mr. Stark and MJ too. He doesn’t know why he hesitates - Ned was always going to be the hardest. While Flash doesn’t hover around Peter much at school, he gets the sense that it’s still enough for MJ to pick it up. Peter used to be a more tactile person; May always greeted him with a tight hug, said goodnight with a kiss even when he got older, and loved to stroll arm-in-arm with him at the mall.
Peter’s missed that. Flash can either tell, or he misses a gentle touch from his own home experience as well. Sometimes, when they’re both feeling a little antsy, they’ll link hands under a desk in the library, or Flash will gently rest a palm on Peter’s knee at lunch where anyone could really see.
They get a little more brazen about hanging out at their lockers. Some of Flash’s friends and teammates look like they’re going to make something of it, but if they do, it’s not around Peter, and Flash stays consistent.
Which is how Ned comes around.
“Hey, this weekend I want to go to that new place where you get a slice of cake on top of your drink. Like this one!” Ned shows him a picture of a bright blue iced drink with a preciously stacked piece of white cake decorated to look like a unicorn on top of it. “You and Flash in?”
Peter does a double take. “Wha?”
“Do you and your boyfriend want to get in on this delicious action or not? I can always take my little sister. You know she would love it.”
“Dude, let’s just bring her anyway.”
“Gross. I am not bringing my little sister on something that might look suspiciously like a double date.”
“Whatever. We can get her something to go.”
“So you’re in?”
Peter looks across the hall; it’s right after the last bell, and kids are pouring out the front doors. The sunny exterior flares up in his vision, and it’s hard to see - but he spots Flash slowly making his way against the grain to join them.
“Yeah. We’re in.”