Kissing boys is worth going to hell over

Leviticus

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination - Leviticus 18:22

For as long as he can remember Peter Parker has wondered how twelve words managed to hold as much power over an entire group of people as they did. Twelve words that were written down over 2,000 years ago and yet they ruled his childhood. He's not sure who he wants to blame for the way he was raised. His aunt May? The Catholic Church? Society as a whole? They all allowed what happened to happen but who was the root of the problem? All three of them he supposes.

Peter Parker doesn't believe in god anymore, he hasn't in many years and sometimes he wonders if he ever did. When he was young he knew he used to find a sense of comfort at the idea that his parents had gone to heaven but that comfort was stripped away when he was old enough to understand he was going to hell. That's what the preacher said at Sunday Mass, that boys who fall in love with other boys aren't welcome in the kingdom of god.

He's fourteen when he makes the mistake of telling his Aunt May that he's pretty sure (completely sure) he's gay. He's not sure what he expected, but it wasn't what he got then again maybe he should've expected the way she reacted. After that day he sees the preacher man more often.

When he's fifteen he runs away, he didn't have much of a plan beforehand but when he overheard his Aunt May and the preacher man talking about camps for "boys like him" he knew he couldn't stay. He wasn't fully sure what they meant by that but he knew enough people, and he'd read enough books to know better than to stick around and find out. He shelter hops for a couple months, knowing better than to ever stay anywhere long enough for them to learn his real name. He continues his work as Spider-Man on most nights and he keeps up with his bimonthly lab days with Mr. Stark to work on his suit.

Mr. Stark often tells him that he can talk to him about anything, as if he can sense there's something on Peter's mind even if he doesn't know what it is. Peter smiles, and agrees but the small voice in his brain reminds him that it isn't true. He sees the avengers around, and he knows that most of them are wondering who he is. (He's also sure that Natasha Romonov has figured it out, but they have a silent agreement to not talk about it.)

He thinks he's balancing his triple life rather well. He balances his lives as Peter Parker, Spider-man, and the runaway like it's second nature. Peter is still human though and like anyone else he gets sloppy, he returns to the shelter one night with his suit still on active under his day clothes. He knows that Mr. Stark is keeping track of where he goes with the suit on, but there hadn't been anywhere half decent to change once the rain started.

The next day when the school bell rings Peter comes outside to find Mr. Stark in one of his cars not giving Peter any chance to protest about getting in. Mr. Stark never asks why, and Peter doesn't tell but there's a room inside Stark Tower just for him and a coffee mug in the kitchen with his name engraved on it. (Turns out the avengers have an affinity for arguing over coffee cups, Mr. Stark tells him with an amused laugh). After that day Peter doesn't spend any more nights in youth Shelters. Lab days become almost everyday and Peter knows the tower like the back of his hand. He doesn't know when but somewhere along the way the avengers become his friends and he's joining them for game nights at least once a week.

It's not long after he turns sixteen that he feels comfortable enough to come out. He'll never forget it, the way he's been tinkering with his suit in the lab with Mr. Stark when he blurts out the words he'd spent the last year holding in. It's the first time he willingly calls Mr. Stark by his first name as well, marking the importance of the event further. "Tony, I'm gay." Those three words had been both a blessing and a curse, even as he waited anxiously for his mentor to react. He had come up with many possible different reactions for the man to have but he wasn't expecting the tight hug that he gets. He wasn't expecting the soft spoken reassurances that he'll always be loved and accepted by Tony, but somehow it's exactly what he always needed.

After that it gets easier to tell people, he tells Natasha and then Bruce, then Clint and then Steve. He'd been the most worried about telling Steve, given that the man was born in the 1940's but the blonde had simply smiled and hugged him close, whispering many of the same reassurances that Tony previously had. The last person he directly tells is Thor, only because the god seems to be constantly off earth. He has to explain what gay means, but as soon as he does he receives nothing short of overly enthusiastic acceptance back.

At seventeen he meets the blonde-haired, blue eyed, southern boy by the name of Harley and stumbles into love. From senior prom dates to third base Harley Kenner is the sweetest most caring man that Peter ever had the pleasure of meeting. He's funny and charismatic, overly sarcastic and loyal. Then there's the way he kisses, and if Peter wasn't sure before he most certainly is not, kissing boys is worth going to hell over.

When Peter is twenty three he stands at the altar, hands tightly entwined with Harley's as he recites his vows. There isn't a priest in sight, there's no church and his aunt is nowhere to be seen which at fourteen would've destroyed him but now as he peaks at the rows filled with the family he found over the years he knows that everything is just how it's supposed to be.

He also knows that those twelve words don't mean anything anymore.