If there is one thing that Peter Parker knows, it's that he loves Gwen Stacy. He's admired her sharp intellect and subtle beauty from afar long before he'd learnt her name, and the moment she'd asked his name in class, he'd known that this infatuation was more than a simple high school crush.
When Peter works up the courage to ask her out, he's never been so ecstatic to hear the word "yes."
Peter loves Gwen. Which is why he feels like absolute shit when he brushes off Gwen's comforts after his uncle's death. He can't do this right now—he can't listen to people's apologies, their "sorry for your loss"es, because he still hasn't quite excepted the fact that this is real, that his uncle is actually gone.
He makes a mental note to apologize when he's not busy holding back tears.
Peter loves Gwen. He does his best to remind himself of this when Miss Stacy comes stumbling in through his bedroom window, wearing a rather familiar looking spider-themed costume. He's pretty sure that, when he sees it on the news, it doesn't have a giant blood stain directly in the center of its stomach, and it occurs to him that this addition to the white spandex is provided by the claw marks that line Gwen's abdomen.
He cleans her wounds in a daze, taking his sweet time in letting it sink in that he, the boy that can barely tie his shoelaces correctly, is dating Spider-Woman.
Peter loves Gwen. He repeats this phrase over and over again in his head as the antidote to Dr. Connor's bio-toxin is preparing. When Gwen calls to tell him that he's in trouble, he evacuates the faculty of OsCorp and waits with anxious twitches for the serum to finish. He nearly has a heart attack when the scientist turned giant lizard comes barging into the lab, and he runs like the devil is on his heels out of OsCorp, blue capsule in hand.
Peter loves Gwen, and while he hadn't known Captain Stacy all that well prior to his passing, he goes to his funeral nonetheless, for Gwen's sake. He's sure that she will tear herself apart, tell herself that his death had been her fault and no one else's, and he wishes to prevent as many of those thoughts and hardships as is possible, because he knows what it's like. Despite his kind thoughts and actions, all she does is push him away when he tries to comfort her, spouting some nonsense about how she can't let him get hurt as well, because she can't take the death of someone else she so deeply cares about.
Peter doesn't like it, but he respects her wishes after about an hour of argument on the topic.
Peter loves Gwen, but he can't stand this constant on and off relationship they've got going. He wishes that Gwen would just end it and keep it that way if that's what she wants, because he hates that he keeps getting his hopes up only to be disappointed once again. When Gwen bars his way from the graduation dinner that she had invited him to, he can't take it anymore. He leaves with teary eyes and the promise that he's not coming back.
Peter loves Gwen, but when he's offered a scholarship at Oxford, he knows that he has to go. Gwen is meant for great things, but she can't focus on those things with him around. Peter is distracting Gwen and he knows it, and he thinks that it might be better for him to cut their ties quickly and easily, to avoid unnecessary heartbreak.
He finds this idea about 80 times harder when Gwen calls and asks to see him, looking absolutely stunning as per the norm.
Peter loves Gwen, which is why he can't tell his best friend that he can get Spider-Woman's blood for him. It hurts him immensely to see that pained look in bright blue eyes, hurts him so much that he gives in and tells the other that he'll see what he can do. He doesn't want to see Harry die, but he's not sure what Gwen's blood will do to his friend, and he'd rather have a dying Harry Osborn than a super-powered Harry Osborn, because if there's anything he knows about his best friend, it's that power will corrupt him. He can't do that to Harry, and he can't do that to New York, so he leaves OsCorp with a heavy heart.
Peter loves Gwen, but after more of the back and forth nature of their relationship, he's had enough. He packs his bags and says his goodbyes to a teary-eyed Aunt May, waving down a taxi as he attempts to call Gwen. The call goes straight to voice-mail and he leaves a long message, biting his lip every time he pauses. An awkward goodbye at best, he thinks, but it will have to do. He can't hold Gwen back anymore, and she can't hold him back, either.
Peter loves Gwen, and clearly, Gwen loves Peter. She's written it in webbing on the side of the George Washington Bridge, announced it to all of New York City. Peter can't help but to feel himself swell and he nearly bursts as Gwen swings down to scoop him from the bridge. He's always hated heights, but he can't really complain when he's making out with New York's hero in what's possibly the most terrifyingly romantic place possible.
He can complain, however, when all of the lights in the city go out.
Peter loves Gwen, but he's about ready to tear her head off for leaving him stuck to that damn cop car. He crashes through the gate to the power plant and rams the car into the blue asshole that caused this whole damn mess in the first place. Once he's out of the way, he storms over to Gwen and yells, ignoring her comments of how serious this is and how he absolutely cannot be here right now. Once she realizes that Peter doesn't plan on leaving any time soon she agrees to let him stay, but only on the condition that he'll do whatever she says needs to be done, when she says it needs to be done.
Peter doesn't mind, because this is how things usually are in their relationship.
Peter loves Gwen, and he hesitates briefly when Gwen tells him to reroute the electricity that powers the city because the love of his life is directly in the crossfire of the thousands of volts that are about to course through those giant wires, but he knows that there's no other choice. He activates the power and winces when Gwen is thrown away from the cables like a ragdoll, moving as fast as his awkwardly long legs could carry him once the coast is clear. He helps Gwen up and starts to laugh a tired, tired laugh, but another, more sinister chuckle overtakes his own.
Peter loves Gwen, but he hates himself. For letting Harry come to this, for not trying to find some other way to help him. He clings to the monster that was once his best friend for dear life, and he tries to talk him out of whatever it is he plans on doing, but all Harry does is yell when Peter says his name. He hears Gwen call out from far below, begging Harry to let Peter go. A quiet agreement leaves Harry's mouth, and then Peter is falling. All he can do is reach for Gwen when she jumps to catch him, and he feels her twist her body so that she's the one to hit the glass and not her boyfriend. She lowers Peter down to one of the cogs below to keep him out of harms way, and he watches helplessly as his best friend and his girlfriend duke it out above him.
Gwen knocks Harry off of his glider, which falls down and crashes into the gears that Peter currently stands on, and he feels them give out beneath him. Gwen catches him with ease as he starts to fall, and Harry throws all of his weight onto the heroine. Peter feels himself drop a few feet and holds onto the webbing that's connected to his hand for dear life. He sees the mechanism continue to work and it slices through an iron pipe with ease. He knows what's going to happen as soon as Gwen jams her foot in between the teeth of two gears, and he's able to take in a single breath before the webbing snaps.
Peter loves Gwen, and he thinks that, regardless of all the heartache and hurt and death that's followed the pair along their little journey, he'd do it all again. He knows that Gwen will blame herself for all of this, and he wishes there's some way he could comfort her, some way he could let her know that none of this is her fault. He wants to hold her one last time, to run his hands through her hair and breath her in, but he knows that this sight, the sight of Gwen diving after him without hesitation, her webbing connecting with his abdomen, will be his last.
And really, he thinks as his support pulls taut, he's okay with that.
