Boys like Boys|| Peter Parker

.25.

"Are you shitting my dick?"

"Oliver???" 

The boy in question was debating rolling his eyes but settled for an awkward grin, "I would wave you hello but..." He looked down at his bound body. "What are your webs even made of? It's synthetic right?? Please tell me it's chemicals-"

"were you shoplifting?"

"Oh, so you're just going to ignore my freak out?" 

The situation was quite hilarious, Oliver couldn't deny that. But. He was still mad about the fact that he'd been caught. He had never been caught before and he wasn't slipping. How the actual fuck was Spidey able to spot that he was shoplifting?

"You answer my question, I'll answer yours"

"What are you? Five?" Oliver did finally roll his eyes at the childishness. He may look bored and slightly comfortable, but he was already trying to get himself free. Getting webbed to a lamp post on a Sunday wasn't his idea of fun. 

"-Inches taller than you, yes"

"Choose your next words very wisely" Oliver narrowed his eyes dangerously. 

"Please don't kill me"

The apology slipped out of the red and blue hero's mouth quickly, as if he really believed Oliver would murder for that insult. Oliver liked knowing that he had the power to make anyone afraid of him. He smiled a little, betraying his amusement. 

"Can you get me out of this?" Oliver looked down at the webs covering his body, scrunching his nose in disgust.

"No, I won't help you." 

"Huh?"

"Why were you stealing, Oliver?" 

"I wasn't-" Spidey was quicker though, snatching the bag out of his hand. The force of him pulling it closer though, sent the potatoes flying through the opening and onto Spider-Man. The two of them watched in horror (and amusement) as the potatoes pelted Spidey on his face. 

Spidey's first instinct was to correctly cover his face to protect him from further harm, but by then the potatoes had already hit the ground. 

Oliver couldn't help himself as he started laughing. 

"Fuck you"

"Oh yes, do remind me to never bring you up against your worst enemy- the potatoes" Oliver mocked him for his frightened pose. He's never going to let that go. 

"Stop trying to change the topic" The other boy's voice had risen considerably higher. Oliver could almost imagine the blush covering his face. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop laughing and come back to his normal face. 

"Stop trying to take my potatoes"

"They're not your potatoes" Spidey put both his hands on his hips like he was about to give Oliver the lecture of his life about morality and being a good citizen and all that. "Why were you stealing potatoes?" 

The answer of course, was quite obvious. Oliver chose to let the question hang between them, unable to answer it. 

He thought of a hundred different answers he could give. 

"I just really like stealing potatoes". No, he couldn't even make it sound funny in his head.

"I haven't eaten a proper meal in a week" No, too truthful. Oliver didn't want Spidey to care. 

"Only to get closer to you..." followed by a wink. Too scary to say it out loud, maybe he could've said it if it was literally anyone other than Spider-Man. 

"Oh" The change in tone would've been obvious to even the most idiotic. Oliver wished they could go back to joking around and not talking about... this. And just like that, Spidey was scrambling through his own bag. Oliver tilted his head back, he wouldn't take any sympathy food, he wouldn't. He'd rather die of starvation than be pitied again. 

"Here, let me help you with that." Okay, so Spidey wasn't offering him food, but he was trying to help him get unstuck from the webs which was preferable. He emerged from his bag, with a bottle of some brown colored chemical. Spidey stopped to zip his bag back up, and turned back to Oliver. 

Oliver's skin burst out in goose bumps. He was suddenly aware of a hundred different things. 

His back pressing against the cold metal pole. The strings of the webs, stretched around his body. The sounds of traffic. The sounds of hundreds of people going through their day. A shiver running up his spine (in a good way). The many different people staring at the two of them as they walked past. The dog sniffing at the empty bag and the scattered potatoes. The shop owner glaring at them from the inside, almost marching out himself. 

But most importantly he was aware of Spidey. 

He took a step forward. Then another. And another, until the two of them barely had a couple inches of distance between them. 

Oliver was now curious if Spidey had trouble breathing in the mask. From far away, he seemed comfortable, but from this up close, his breaths sounded a bit ragged. Oliver wasn't sure if it was Spidey's increased metabolism making him breathe faster or something else. He had the urge to rip off Spidey's mask. Surely anything that inconvenienced the red and blue superhero shouldn't be able to exist. 

The next second, Oliver's attention was ripped away from the other's breaths and onto the slight touch of their hands. Then to the height difference between them. Then to Spidey's delicate touch. 

Oliver was sure he didn't breathe for the entire minute that it took to dissolve Spidey's web. He was acutely aware of everything, including the feeling of his stomach being turned inside out. 

Oh, Oliver and his silly crushes. 

Snap out of it. He told himself. 

You see one decent looking person and you're drooling. 

It wasn't until Spidey had packed the brown liquid back into his bag that Oliver actually moved. And move he did. Desperate to put as much distance between him and Spidey. He practically ran away from the poor guy. 

Oliver didn't like what Spidey was doing to him. 

He also didn't like running straight into those chiseled fucking abs... okay maybe he enjoyed that a little. What he didn't enjoy however was falling on his butt, staring up at the hero in spandex. 

"You already took away my potatoes, what more do you want?"

"Oliver, I-"

"No." No matter what butterflies his insides had been turned into, Oliver had always been good at hiding his feelings. "Just- don't."

"I just want to help" Spidey extended his hand. 

Oliver didn't take it. 

"I don't need your help. I can take care of myself"

"You shouldn't have to" Those words hit Oliver harder than he expected them to. He shouldn't have to. That's the point isn't it?

He shouldn't have to keep running away from nightmares. He shouldn't have to worry about murderers. He shouldn't have to worry about the horrors of his past. He shouldn't have to live alone. He shouldn't have to go through any of this. But when do people get what they want?

Maybe people like Spidey do. But not Oliver, never people like Oliver. 

"I never paid you back for the sandwich" Oliver opted to say something safe, change the topic. 

"It was a treat, you don't have to"

Oliver hauled himself up, straightening his back to try and appear intimidating or sure of himself. He only succeeded in wanting to curl up and die. 

"I'm your friend, Oliver" Spidey didn't break eye contact (Or eye to lens contact??) even as he dug out a paper bag from his backpack. He thrust it into Oliver's hands. "I want to help you. Just.. accept it"

Oliver went home that day with a slight smile and an avocado sandwich.