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It had been almost two months since the world forgot Peter Parker, except Flash Thompson. Peter had no idea why his bully turned biggest supporter remembered him when nobody else could, but he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Flash was still going to Midtown to finish his senior year, forced to study even harder by his parents. He also managed to persuade said parents to let him join a club (he wouldn’t tell Peter what club but when he snuck a peak at Midtown’s website once, he saw something about a Spider-man fan club). Peter was still studying for his GED while simultaneously constantly patrolling as Spider-man. Because of this, the two didn’t interact as much as they wanted to. Flash would send Peter memes and check on him often but Peter longed to reach out to the boy and hold him in his arms again. After all, he was all Peter really had anymore.
But before Peter knew it, Valentine’s Day rolled around. He didn’t even know what day it was when he woke up, only realizing when he went onto Twitter for the first time that Monday. His mind (even though it had been almost two months by now) immediately went to MJ and what to get her before he stopped himself. She wasn’t really in his life anymore beyond his weekly visit to the café where she worked. After that, Peter thought about Flash. He thought about the boy’s blonde hair, his warm eyes and skin, the way he gushed about Spider-man, how he checked in on Peter at least once every day and… well, fuck.
Peter blushed, throwing his phone onto his bed. Of course, he had a crush on the only person who had given him affection in the past few months. He couldn’t face Flash like this. Luckily, it was around noon and Flash had school; he also mentioned tests coming up soon so he would be studying and staying away from Peter.
And then the doorbell rang, startling Peter out of his thoughts. He furrowed his eyebrows at the sound he rarely heard. It was the middle of the month so rent wasn’t due, it was the middle of the day so it wasn’t Flash, and he hadn’t ordered anything (like he could afford to). His spider-sense wasn’t going off so he got up and answered it.
There was a… person? They held a pretty big box in their hands so Peter couldn’t make out their face. But the box suddenly moved and the person turned out to be none other than Flash Thompson. “Surprise!” He said, jiggling the box in his hands. “Okay, well, I clearly surprised you but I need you to take this because it’s getting heavy.” Peter is shook out of his stupor when Flash shoves the box into his hands and walks past him with a bag. The box is a bit heavy even with his super strength so Peter quickly closes the door and puts it on the counter.
Flash makes himself at home, placing down the bag and taking off his shoes. When he’s done, Peter quickly jogs over and wraps his arms around him. Flash chuckles and hugs back, squeezing the boy in his arms. “Shouldn’t you be at Midtown?” Peter asks once they pull apart. Flash shrugs at that, picking up the bag again and making his way to the counter. “I’m skipping, as you can see.” Peter rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but didn’t you have a Government test to study for?” Flash’s eyes meet his. “Happy Valentine’s Day. You’re worth it.” Peter’s cheeks immediately turn red at the confession; Flash turns back to his bag and ignores his hot cheeks.
“So… I was thinking we could just spend the day together here. I would have come earlier but I went on a little shopping spree! In my bag of wonders, we have popcorn, chocolate, Star Wars movies, this really cute Baby Yoda—” “His name is Grogu!” “…this really cute Grogu plush I found, hot chocolate, marshmallows. and some other random food and candy.” Peter watches in awe as Flash pulls everything he listed out of the bag he was carrying. “Flash… you really didn’t have to.” Flash just smiles, something Peter has really grown to like. “But I wanted to. Wait until you see what’s in the box!” Peter groans at that. He knows Flash’s love language is giving gifts but that doesn’t mean he has to like it.
♡
It’s a few hours later and the boys are sat together on Peter’s bed, a blanket wrapped around the two. The box turned out to be a TV along with a Blu-ray player, something Peter fussed about instantly. After Flash got him to finally accept it and say thank you, they set it up.
Before they started a movie, Flash demanded Peter change into something more comfortable. Peter sighed and grabbed clothes out of his dresser before walking to his bathroom. A few minutes later, he came out in the stupidest yet cutest thing Flash had ever seen: a shirt saying ‘I survived my trip to NYC’ with a taxi on it, pink Hello Kitty pajama pants, and a pair of white bunny slippers. Flash giggled as Peter stuck his other clothes in a hamper. “It’s all I really have for pajamas, leave me alone. Ton— uh, someone gave them to me.” Peter frowned and that’s when Flash knew he needed to shut up. So instead, he asked which movie they should start with.
Flash had never seen the series before (he knew Peter and Ned loved it and it made him curious) so he constantly asked questions while they played. Peter would pause the movie and explain the lore to which Flash listened closely. It was really cute to hear Peter be so passionate about something.
But one time, Peter was very invested in the current scene. “What’s happening?” Flash had asked with a bowl of popcorn in his lap. Peter simply shushed him, saying “just watch!” Flash rolled his eyes, giving into a sudden impulse: he placed the bowl of popcorn on the floor in front of him and grabbed Peter’s hand. Peter froze, dropping the chocolate he was holding. Flash giggled and rubbed his thumb over the other boy’s knuckle.
♡
It had to be around midnight when something startled Peter and made him look away from the screen. Flash had fallen asleep, onto his shoulder. Their hands were still tangled together from when Flash had reached over a few hours earlier. Peter blushed for what seem like the millionth time that night. He paused the movie with the remote sitting next to him as he deduced Flash was a much more interesting sight. He rubbed the other’s knuckle with his thumb this time. And following his own impulse, he reached over to kiss Flash on his cheek.
But unbeknownst to him, Flash stirred awake as the TV was paused and Peter’s thumb made contact with his knuckle. So when Peter reached over to kiss his cheek, Flash had tilted his head so their lips met instead. Peter pulled away so fast he must have gotten whiplash, stuttering nonsense with rosy cheeks. Flash simply grinned, grabbing said rosy cheeks and pulling the boy’s face close to his so their lips could reunite.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, mi perrito.” Flash whispered when they pulled away after a minute. “I love you.” Peter smiled softly and pulled him in for another kiss. Flash knew that was his way of saying it back because he couldn’t utter those words after MJ.