Chapter Text
For a few seconds upon waking to the smell of waffles and bacon wafting into his room, Peter was sure he was at the lake house. But then he opened his eyes, recognized the modernist aesthetic of the tower, and remembered why he was here.
He rolled over, checking the clock. It was seven-thirty. He had an hour and a half before the Fab Five were due to pick him up. He threw the covers back and got up to take a shower. He was more excited than he’d have expected a few days ago. He was looking forward to seeing what they’d done to his apartment and even more to having everyone over.
It was the first time in a long time that he’d felt even halfway in control of his life. The night before, he and MJ had come back to the tower and had dinner with Tony and Pepper and Morgan. Morgan had been over the moon to see MJ, and Tony had managed not to be too embarrassing. After dinner, MJ had headed back to her apartment in Brooklyn, and Peter had swung over to Queens to patrol for a couple of hours.
It felt good. Better. Balanced.
He didn’t have any illusions that it was going to be easy to sustain in the long-term. Spiderman had the habit of eating everything else in his life, and it was going to take a lot of effort, and probably patient reminders from the people around him, for him to keep making different choices. But at least he knew now that he could –– and that he wanted to.
To Peter’s surprise, everyone was up when he emerged from his room. He’d expected Tony and maybe Morgan, who was an early riser because of gymnastics, but Pepper liked to sleep in on Saturdays. But she was there at the breakfast bar, too, though she looked a little bleary-eyed.
“Good morning, sweetie,” she said, giving Peter a side-hug. “How’re you feeling about today?”
“Good,” Peter said, sliding onto the empty stool next to Morgan. “I’m kind of stoked to see the apartment.”
“Me too,” Tony said dryly from his place at the stove.
“Yeah, maybe it won’t make Dad cry anymore,” Morgan said, poking Peter in the side. “Are you going to have an actual bed now?”
“A bed, a sofa, even a table and chairs. You can come over and not have to sit on the floor.”
“Ooh, fancy,” Morgan mocked, waving her hands.
“Brat,” Peter said fondly.
“No fighting before breakfast, kids,” Tony said. “Coffee, Pete?”
“Yes, please.”
Tony put a mug in front of him, and also set down plates with the first round of waffles and a stack of bacon. Morgan grabbed the waffles, and Peter pointedly passed the plate of bacon to Pepper before taking it back himself. Morgan rolled her eyes and kicked his chair.
“I want to do this more often,” Peter announced, once they’d decimated the waffles and bacon. Tony was nursing his third cup of coffee, Pepper had switched to tea, and Morgan and Peter both had orange juice.
“Do what?” Pepper asked.
“Stay over on Friday nights and have breakfast,” Peter replied. “I loved this when I used to come stay at the lake house.”
“Hey, say the word and there’s an apartment in this building with your name on it,” Tony said.
Peter shook his head. “No. I need to have my own place that I pay the rent on myself. But... Friday nights and Saturday mornings, I want to be here. As often as possible.”
“We’d love to have you, kid,” Tony said, looking inordinately pleased. “But do me a favor and make sure you do something equivalent with your aunt, or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Yeah, of course,” Peter said. His phone chimed and he glanced down at it.
It was Ned. So excited about today! Good luck!
Peter started to reply, but it chimed again with a message from May. I’m so proud of you, honey! Let me know if you need anything. Happy and I will see you soon!
And then a third one, only a few seconds later, from MJ. Thinking about wearing my Fuck Racism shirt to the party. Good idea y/y?
“What’s with the sudden popularity?” Morgan asked, trying to peer over his shoulder.
“It’s just Ned and May and MJ,” Peter said. Another chime. “Oh crap, and Karamo. They’re downstairs. I have to go. Thanks for breakfast, I’ll see you all later –– please be on time, and yes, I know how ironic that is coming from me!”
On a Saturday morning, there were fewer people in the lobby of Stark Tower, and thank God, because the Fab Five did not keep a low profile. All five o were waiting for him, each with their own beverage from the Stark Tower coffee bar. Antoni handed the extra one he was holding to Peter. Peter sipped, then gave Tamra a thumbs up. She waved back.
“You feeling ready for this?” Karamo asked.
“Yeah,” Peter said, despite a sudden rush of nerves. “I really am.”
“Awesome,” Karamo said, hand landing on Peter’s shoulder and squeezing. “Let’s get this show on the road, then!”
***
The home reveal was, if Peter was honest, probably his favorite moment of any given Queer Eye episode. It was amazing how much Bobby could do in such a short amount of time, and it always felt like a clean slate, free of whatever mental or emotional baggage the person had been carrying.
There wasn’t any way to set up a camera on the cramped landing outside Peter’s apartment, so the crew was already inside. Jonathan covered Peter’s eyes with his hand, while Bobby opened the door.
“Welcome home,” Bobby said, and Jonathan took his hand away.
“Whoa,” Peter breathed. He’d known it would look different, but somehow he hadn’t expected this.
Bobby had painted the walls a light blue-gray and replaced the paint-clogged crown molding, which gave the entire space a brighter, cleaner feeling. They’d painted the window frames, too, and replaced all the dated light fixtures. A rug beneath the bed and another one under the loveseat they’d picked out made it obvious which parts of the space were the “bedroom” and “living room.” Somehow, it made the space feel bigger, even with more stuff in it.
“So, was I right or was I right about there being room for the loveseat?” Bobby asked.
“You were right,” Peter admitted. “Hey, I have a bedframe now!”
“You have a bedframe with storage, since we didn’t quite have space for a dresser,” Bobby clarified, pulling open one of the drawers underneath the bed. “We also gave you some organization in your closet for all the clothes Tan got for you. Oh, and pull those curtains shut for me.”
Obediently, Peter pulled them closed. The room was immediately plunged into darkness. He pulled them open again. “That’s way better, thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Bobby said. “First come and sit on your brand new sofa right across from ....”
“Wow, an actual TV,” Peter said, sitting down on the loveseat. Bobby sat beside him, and Jonathan perched on the end of the chaise section. “This is going to be so much nicer than watching movies on my laptop.” It honestly had never even occurred to him to get a TV. It’d be visible from the bed, too, which would be nice for lounging on a lazy Sunday.
Peter blinked. He couldn’t remember the least time he’d spent a “lazy Sunday” watching movies. But this made him want to. Occasionally, anyway.
“One thing we didn’t have room to keep was your desk,” Bobby said. “But we were able to organize your computer parts into these clear plastic stacking bins, which are easy for you to label and see what you’ve got. And then you can work at your very own kitchen table!” He gestured with a flourish.
“Oh wow, this is neat,” Peter said, heading over to inspect the table, which served double duty as an island. A pair of stools stored neatly underneath, but it was easy to bring the flaps on the table up and pull the stools out. “It doesn’t take up nearly as much space as I thought it would.”
“It really doesn’t, and it makes your kitchen much more functional,” Bobby said. “We also replaced the doors of all the cabinets, since they were older than you are, and painted them out white, which is a vast improvement over that ugly 80s faux wood. And there is one more surprise.”
“What?” Peter asked, glancing around curiously.
Bobby pulled Peter gently over to the wall between the kitchen and living room areas. “We created a family photo gallery. I made sure we had plenty of you all at the lake house, too.”
Peter went totally speechless, staring at the gallery of photos. They must have gotten some of the prints from May, because there were several of Peter’s favorites of him and Ben, and even one of him with his parents. But there were more recent ones, too: of Peter and May, wearing matching MIT sweatshirts the day she and Tony had moved him into the dorms; of Peter and Tony asleep in a hammock together at the lake house; of Peter with Morgan, age five or six, splashing in the shallows of the lake.
“Thank you,” Peter managed to choke out. “It’s really, it’s great.”
Bobby put his arm around Peter’s shoulders and squeezed. “We left you some room to add other photos. I wasn’t able to get any from MJ or your other friends, so that’s up to you.”
“I can do that,” Peter said, nodding. He wiped his eyes. “Thank you, so much.”
“Is this a place you can really feel at home?” Bobby asked.
“It is,” Peter said. “Thank you. I... I knew it was going to be different, but I kind of had my doubts about how much you could do with what it was, but it’s... it feels so much better.”
“Small spaces can be very homey,” Bobby said. “It’s never about how much space you have, it’s about what you do with it.”
“Yeah,” Peter said, swallowing. “I get that now.” He took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, I’m good. It’s just a little overwhelming.”
“It can be,” Antoni said, swapping places with Bobby. “Let us know if you need a breather, okay?”
“I will,” Peter said. “But I’m okay for now.”
“Okay. Come into the kitchen, then, and I’ll show you what I have in mind for you to make for your friends and family this afternoon.”
Peter followed him into the kitchen. Jeez, even the Formica looked better, somehow, without the ugly cabinet doors hanging off their hinges.
“So the rest of the lasagna we made the other day is in the fridge, and you can throw that in the oven to heat it up,” Antoni said. “And then I thought you could make a couple of easy Italian-inspired appetizers. The first are little meatballs you can make with the same mix of beef and Italian sausage that went into the lasagna. I’ve already mixed the meat for you” –– Antoni paused and pulled it out of the fridge –– “so all you have to do is make the meatballs. You can put a little piece of mozzarella inside each one, like so...” Antoni showed him how to take a piece of cheese and mold the meatball around it.
“Do I pan fry or bake these?” Peter asked, figuring it had to be one of the two.
“Pan fry to get them brown, then bake to finish them off,” Antoni said. “I’ve left you the instructions. Now, the other appetizer is even easier. It’s just a small ball of fresh mozzarella, one of these cherry tomatoes, and a basil leaf on a toothpick. Just like that, you’ve got a caprese skewer. It’s the Italian flag, see?” He held it up.
“I think I can handle that,” Peter said.
Antoni showed him where the marinara for the meatballs and the balsamic vinegar dip for the caprese skewers were, and then it was Jonathan’s turn.
Peter let himself be pulled into his tiny bathroom. It had also received a fresh coat of paint, a new light fixture, and a new cabinet over the toilet.
“Okay, so,” Jonathan said, opening the cabinet. “Here we have the sea salt spray for your beautiful curls, and here we have a charcoal-based facial cleanser. You should use this at the end of the day, especially if you’ve been out Spidermanning, get all those pores cleared out. And this” –– he held up another tube –– “is some really great water-based moisturizer. You put this on after the cleanser.”
“Got it,” Peter said. “And what are these?” He pointed to the other two containers in the cabinet.
“These are masks,” Jonathan said. “This is a clay-based one, you want to do it on, like, a Sunday when you’re not going anywhere, because it brings a lot of stuff out of your skin. And this is a vitamin C mask, it’s going to brighten you up, so it’s a great thing to do any time you want a gorgeous little self-care moment, but especially if you want to look extra special for your lady friend. Speaking of which,” Jonathan added, grabbing a zipped bag off another shelf, “since you said you probably wouldn’t get a manicure all that often, I got you a home nail care kit. You’ve got scissors and a file and then you use this to buff your nails till you can see your face in them.”
“Oh, that’s cool,” Peter said. “I’ll definitely use that.”
“Amazing. Ready to give us a fashion show?”
‘Ready’ seemed to be overstating things, but Peter knew this was part of it. “Sure.”
“Tanny, take the wheel!” Jonathan called, bouncing out of the bathroom.
Tan had obviously been waiting. He pulled Peter over to the closet and showed him a row of button down shirts, organized neatly by color. “Almost any of these will work with almost any of your t-shirts,” he told Peter. “And I also got you some basic suit jackets, because occasionally you need more than a button down and a tie, but less than a full-on suit.”
“Suit jacket over a t-shirt is basically Tony’s uniform when he leaves the house,” Peter said, eyeing the suit jackets.
“That is certainly a signature look of his,” Tan agreed. “But the point isn’t for you to look like Tony, it’s for you to look like yourself. Right?”
“Right,” Peter agreed.
“Excellent.” Tan pulled a button down shirt, a t-shirt, and a pair of pants that had all been hanging together at one end of the closet, obviously pre-selected and ready to go. “All right, first look. Let’s see it without a tie, and with these shoes. Let me know if you need help.”
“Okay,” Peter agreed. He went into the bathroom and shut the door. Tan had given him brown pants, his “Han Shot First” t-shirt, and a green button down. He finger-combed his hair and stepped cautiously out of the bathroom.
“Hey, looking good!” Karamo said.
“Wow!” Antoni said. “I love a nice pressed button down.”
“Give us a little walk and a spin, girlfriend,” Jonathan said.
Peter obliged, hoping he didn’t look too awkward.
“I am loving it,” Jonathan announced. “We’re going to call this style ‘nerdcore.’”
Peter couldn’t help but laugh. Tan handed him a different button down –– light blue this time –– and one of the ties he’d chosen. “Second look. Same trousers. You can leave the t-shirt on or take it off,” he told Peter.
Peter went back into the bathroom and swapped out the green button down and t-shirt for the light blue. It was followed by the tie –– red checked with metallic flecks ––which he actually managed to tie successfully. He emerged to cheering and even a couple of whistles.
“That look says, ‘I know my shit, and you’d better not give me any, honey,’” Jonathan said.
“That tie is awesome and actually kind of daring,” Bobby put in.
“Peter chose it,” Tan informed the rest of them. “This is his ‘meeting with investors’ look. And if he really wants to impress, we can always add a suit jacket...” Tan held it out and Peter shrugged into it. It wasn’t the pinstriped one they’d chosen to go with the suit, but rather one that picked up the deeper blue in the tie. Tan buttoned the top button. “What do you think, boys?”
“Impressive but not overly formal,” Antoni said. “How do you feel, Peter?”
“I feel really good,” Peter said, looking down at himself. “But I guess the question is –– would you give me money?”
“Hell yeah,” Karamo said. “I’d give you all the money.”
“Okay, last look,” Tan said, ushering him back to the bathroom with a stack of clothes in his hands –– the pinstripe suit this time, with the fedora perched on top. “Brown shoes. Let me know if you need help.”
Peter still couldn’t believe that he’d let Tony and Tan talk him into this. He’d never imagined himself as someone who owned a suit like this, not even after Tony had taken him under his wing and started making noises about handing off Stark Industries to him someday. It had never felt real. But when he put this suit on, it suddenly did.
He didn’t need Tan’s help this time. He managed to get the tie right, and the lapels lay flat without much fussing. He picked a piece of lint off his shoulder and added the hat.
He looked at himself in the mirror and exhaled slowly. Then he opened the door and stepped out.
“Oh. My. God,” Jonathan gasped, and pretended to swoon across Karamo and Antoni’s laps.
“Whoa,” Bobby said, eyes wide.
“Are you prepared for the thirst tweets?” Antoni asked. “Because I promise you, they are coming.”
“I knew you were cute, honey, but I didn’t realize you had legs for days,” Jonathan said, sitting up. “And that hat. You know not everyone can wear that hat.”
“The hat was Tony’s idea,” Tan said, “and I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical at first, but it’s really grown on me.”
“Me too,” Peter said.
“Give us a spin and a shimmy this time,” Jonathan demanded.
Peter walked the length of the apartment, spun, and did his best to “shimmy.” He’d always been too self-conscious to be much of a dancer unless he had a pint and a half of Asgardian mead in him. He got wolf-whistled anyway, which might’ve had more to do with how his ass looked in the suit pants than with his dance moves.
“You look great, Peter, you really do,” Karamo said, and patted the space beside him on the loveseat. Peter dropped down onto it and took his hat off, resting it on his knee. “So tell us, how are you feeling?”
“I feel great,” Peter said. “I was a little skeptical about all of this –– not about you all, but I didn’t think I needed it Or maybe I thought I... I don’t know. That I didn’t deserve it. To be honest, I didn’t even realize how much of a mess everything was until I was forced to stop and look at my life.”
“What have you learned?” Karamo asked.
Peter took a deep breath. “That I can’t let Spiderman drown out everything else in my life. It’s important, but so are the people I love, and I need to show up for them so that they know that. And I need to let them show up for me, too, by telling them more about what’s going on and letting them help when they can. Even if it means they’re going to worry about me.”
“That’s right,” Karamo said. “As a parent, I’m here to tell you, there’s nothing you can do to stop Tony and May from worrying about you. That’s what we do.”
Peter looked down at his hands. “You know that first day when I said I was really tired? I was tired, but I think I’d also been really lonely, too. It can be a really lonely life, with the superhero gig, but I’d made it lonelier than it needs to be.”
“Do you feel lonely now?” Karamo asked.
Peter shook his head, looking up again. “No. Not at all.”
“Good,” Karamo said. “You got a whole lot of people who want to be there for you. You deserve that.”
Peter nodded. His throat felt tight, and he had to swallow a few times before he could speak again. “Thank you,” he finally said. “I’m so grateful for this experience. It’s changed my life, and I really wasn’t expecting that.”
“Well, you’ve changed so many people’s lives for the better,” Antoni said. “It was our pleasure to do this for you.”
“And don’t think you’re going to get rid of us so easily,” Jonathan added. “I live in New York, and I have your number, and now I know that the best coffee in the city is at the coffee bar in the lobby of Stark Tower. We’re gonna hang out. I gotta meet this Ned.”
Peter groaned. “Oh God, you might regret that. Ned’s great, he just has no chill at all.”
“Chill is overrated,” Jonathan declared. “I’m serious, I’m going to text you. Someone’s gotta keep cutting those baby soft curls of yours, and it might as well be me.”
Peter nodded, ducking his head. Karamo had already told him that he was going to check in with him, like he did everyone they had on the show. He knew that there were going to be days when it was really hard to balance everything in his life, and it helped to know that on those days, he could reach out if he needed to.
“Okay,” Karamo said. “We’re going to leave you to get ready for the party. But first, we need a big group hug. Come on, get in here.”
Peter let himself get swept in, smashed between Karamo and Antoni, with his head pressed against Jonathan’s shoulder. It was kind of overwhelming, but also warm and supportive and uplifting. It felt like something Peter could take with him even after all of this was over.
Also, they all smelled so good, it was ridiculous.
“We’re proud of you, Peter,” Karamo said once they’d pulled away. “Even though you had misgivings at the beginning, you committed anyway. I know you’re used to being physically brave as Spiderman, but it takes a different type of bravery to do the work you did this week. Remember that when it gets hard.”
Peter nodded. “I will.”
“And don’t forget to heat up the lasagna,” Antoni added, as they all started saying good-bye and filing out the door.
“Do the vitamin C mask before this afternoon!”
“French tuck!”
“Never sleep on a mattress on the floor again!”
“I mean it,” Karamo said, lingering in the apartment once the others had left. “I’m so proud of you. If you need help, reach out –– to me or May or Tony or MJ. We’re all here for you. And you, Peter Parker, just you, just the way you are, are enough. Say that for me, will you?”
Peter swallowed. “I, Peter Parker, am enough.”
Karamo squeezed his shoulder and left. Peter listened to the five of them trooping down five flights of stairs and out the front door. He heard the SUV start and pull away from the curb.
It was over.
Except... it wasn’t. Peter still had two people with cameras in his apartment, so that they could film the party that afternoon. He needed to change his clothes and get to work.
***
Ned was the first person to show up, fifteen minutes early, while Peter was wiping off the vitamin C mask in his bathroom. Peter patted his face dry with a towel and went to answer the door.
“Hey, sorry, I know I’m early, I just couldn’t wait any –– whoa! I like the haircut,” Ned greeted him. “And your face is all shiny.”
Peter laughed. “Thanks. Come on in.”
“So tell me all about –– Oh my God, look at this place! Peter! YOU HAVE A BED!”
“I know, right? It’s got storage underneath, too. And check out my ––”
“SOFA! It’s so nice. Oh, and these cushions are so soft. Hey, you’ve got a TV! I don’t have a TV! We’re doing movie nights here from now on.”
“Sure,” Peter said, feeling strangely satisfied by knowing that his place was somewhere his friends were going to want to hang out now.
“Do you need any help getting ready?” Ned asked.
“Nope,” Peter said. “I’m just waiting for the meatballs and the lasagna to come out of the oven. Do you want a beer?”
“Sure.”
Peter got Ned a beer from the fridge, and then went to shrug into the button-down he’d chosen for the party.
“So how was it?” Ned asked. He hovered in the doorway to the bathroom, watching as Peter fussed with his curls. “Was it great? You look like it was great. I can’t believe I didn’t get to meet any of them!”
“You might still,” Peter said. “Jonathan wants to hang out, and he specifically said he wants to meet you.”
“WHAT. No way. Jonathan Van Ness wants to meet me? I am not cool enough for that.”
Peter laughed. “You hang out with Tony Stark all the time. You’ve met all the Avengers.”
“Yeah, but JVN is like... a cultural icon.”
Peter raised his eyebrows. “Tony saved the universe.”
“It’s not a competition! I’ve known Tony for years, I’ve become immune to him. JVN is next level cool!”
“You know they’re taping right now, right?” Peter said, glancing toward the cameras.
“Hey, if I’m actually going to meet Jonathan Van Ness, he should know what he’s getting into.”
Privately, Peter agreed. “I already told him you have no chill. He said chill was overrated.”
“You see?” Ned said happily. “That is just cool.”
The doorbell rang again just as Peter was piling the meatballs on a plate. He delegated that task to Ned and went to let in Happy and May.
“Hi sweetie –– oh my God, look at you!”
“Look at him? Look at this place,” Happy said. “I didn’t think this crappy apartment could look this good.”
“Thanks, Happy,” Peter said dryly. He hugged May, then let her hold his face in her hands and look at him.
“Oh honey, you look amazing,” she said. “And so happy. I don’t think I’ve seen you look this happy in ages.”
“It was really great to take a break and kind of think about things. Plus, Jonathan gave me this vitamin C stuff to put on my face, I think that might be part of it.”
May laughed. “Well? Give us the grand tour!”
Peter gave them what was rapidly becoming his standard tour of the apartment and got them both beers. Happy and Ned got plates of meatballs and caprese skewers and went to sit on the sofa, while May lingered in the kitchen with Peter as he pulled the lasagna out of the oven.
“They did a really nice job with these, didn’t they?” she said, looking at the wall of family photos. “I love that one of you and Ben.”
“Yeah, that’s a nice one. I also really like that one of you and me at MIT. And the one of all of us at the lake.”
“Was that Tony’s birthday?”
“Yeah. Just a couple of months after Thanos.” Tony had still been recovering at the time. He was smiling in the photo, with Peter on one side and Morgan on the other, Pepper leaning over the back of the couch to drape her arms around his neck, but Peter remembered how much the day had taken it out of him. They’d spent the whole next day piled on Tony’s bed, watching movies, because Tony was too doped up on pain medication to do anything else. Tony had said it was worth it, though, to celebrate being alive to see his next birthday.
“I’m so proud of you, Peter,” May said, putting her arm around his waist.
“Thanks,” Peter replied, leaning into her.
The doorbell rang. May squeezed him one last time, then let him go so he could answer it.
It was Tony and Pepper and Morgan, bearing a bottle of wine (Pepper), a bouquet of flowers (Morgan), and a bottle of whiskey Peter would never touch (Tony).
“Wow,” Morgan greeted him. “This place looks like a real human lives here.”
“Morgan,” Pepper admonished her. “Peter, you look wonderful, and so does the apartment.”
“I’m with Morgan,” Tony said, looking around. “Look, there’s seating that isn’t the floor.”
“You’re both terrible,” Peter groaned. “Just for that, you can show yourselves around. There’s beer, soda, and food in the kitchen, and I guess we can open the wine, though I’m not sure if I have a corkscrew...”
“You do now,” Tony said, producing one from a canvas tote. “I bet Bobby even gave you wine glasses.”
Bobby had given him wine glasses, Peter discovered. He grabbed two of them and used his new corkscrew to open the bottle of wine while everyone else wandered around his apartment and said hello to each other. He poured a glass for Pepper and one for Tony, and was trying to decide whether he wanted to drink anything himself before his big speech when his phone buzzed with a text message.
Come out onto the landing.
Peter took a deep breath, trying to quell his nerves. The small camera crew was busy filming Peter’s nearest and dearest mingling and somehow, miraculously, wasn’t paying any attention to Peter himself at that second. He managed to slip out without anyone noticing.
“Hey loser,” MJ greeted him. She actually had worn her “Fuck Racism” t-shirt.
“Hi MJ,” Peter said. “Thanks for coming. Come on in.”
“Wait,” she said, stopping him. “Come here, first.”
“What’s going –– mmph,” Peter mumbled as she kissed him. “Oh.”
“I didn’t want that to become a thing,” she said, pulling back. “Okay, now we can go in.”
MJ was the polar opposite of Ned in that she did not express a lot of enthusiasm about anything. Even so, her eyes widened when she saw the apartment. Peter suspected that Happy and Tony weren’t the only ones who’d had doubts about how good his place could possibly look.
“You can see the TV from both the sofa and the bed,” Peter pointed out to her quietly, putting his arm around her waist. “I was thinking about movies in bed on weekend mornings.”
“I like that idea,” she said, leaning into him subtly.
“They gave me a lot more storage, too,” Peter said, pointing out the drawers under the bed. “I, uh. I don’t want to overstep, but I think there’s enough that if you wanted to keep some stuff here, you could. If you want.”
“Let’s negotiate that later,” MJ said, glancing toward the cameras. “But I like the general idea.”
Morgan grabbed MJ before they got much further into the room and dragged her over to squish onto the loveseat with her and Ned. Peter got her a beer and a plate of food, and decided that he probably couldn’t justify putting off his speech any longer now that everyone was here. The sooner he did it, the sooner he could start enjoying himself. He got a beer from the fridge, so he had something to toast with, and then stood in front of the TV awkwardly until everyone noticed and stopped talking.
“So, um... thanks, everyone, for coming,” Peter said. “I’m really glad to have you here. I want to thank everyone who helped out this week. It was a crazy ride, but I learned a lot about myself and got to think a lot about how I’ve been living my life. I’m really grateful to the Fab Five for helping me do that, and I’m grateful to all of you for having been there for me for so long. I know I haven’t always been easy to live with, I know I haven’t always been the best friend or son or boyfriend or brother, but you’ve all stuck by me anyway.”
“We love you, Peter,” May called.
“Thanks,” Peter said, grinning. “I love you all, too. And because I love you all, I’m really going to make some changes. Spiderman’s kind of swallowed everything in my life, and I’m going to try not to let that happen again. I’m going to be better about showing up when I say I will, and –– and about letting you all know when I need help. A wise person told me that I need to respect your ability to say when something is too much, instead of deciding for you, so... so I’m going to do that. I’m going to try to do that, but I’ll probably need you all to tell me when I’ve screwed up.”
“On it,” MJ said, raising her beer. The others laughed.
Peter grinned. “I know I can count on you, MJ. Anyway. I just wanted to say I love you all, and thank you, and I’m glad I have places for you to sit now. Cheers.”
Everyone toasted. Then May got up and hugged him again, followed swiftly by Tony, Morgan, and Ned. He let himself get hauled over to the sofa and shoved down to sit in the middle, with MJ on one side, Ned on the other, and Morgan on the floor, leaning against his legs. Tony and Pepper piled onto the chaise, and May wedged herself in on the arm, on the other side of MJ. Happy –– who hated having his photo taken –– stood in front of the TV with Peter’s StarkPhone.
“Say ‘Fab Five’,” he said.
“FAB FIVE!”
“That’s one for the photo wall,” Tony said, once Happy had handed Peter’s phone back to him.
“Yeah,” Peter said, flicking through the photos Happy had taken –– at himself, surrounded by all of the people he loved best in the world, in a place that felt like home. “Yeah, it definitely is.”