Peter

Everything was off. Not completely off, but enough to make it clear this New York was different from her own. The streets were laid out more or less the same, but they had different names. There was a McDonalds where her New York had a sub place, or a tourist trap instead of a family run general store. The biggest change was the man running around in a blue and red suit calling himself Spider-Man.

Gwen didn't know how she'd gotten here, but if their Spider-Man was anything like her than he was probably her best bet to figure it out. Luckily he was fairly easy to track down, all she had to do was find a dangerous situation and as predicted he appeared. Following him was harder. If she hadn't been able to shoot webs and climb walls she wouldn't have been able to.

The plan had been to confront him directly after the fight, but before she could he'd disappeared. Cursing Gwen had followed, doing her best to stay out of sight. The last thing she wanted was for word to get out in this world about her, at least not until she knew what was going on. Which also gave Spider-Man a leg up on her, as he had apparently no issues being seen. And Gwen had to admit, he knew what he was doing, swinging as fast, if not faster, than her.

It wasn't until he finally stopped on top of an apartment building that Gwen managed to catch up. As she landed on the roof, Gwen ducked behind some equipment, taking a few seconds to catch her breath. She debated removing her mask, but decided against it. Taking it off while Spider-Man could see would probably be seen as a sign of good will rather than just stepping out without it.

Taking a deep breath, Gwen turned and looked around the side of the equipment.

Instead of stepping out, Gwen froze. Her breath caught, eyes fixed on the man in front of her.

Spider-man had removed his mask and was working on slipping out of the suit as well, changing back into normal clothes. He wasn't looking at her, but his profile was enough for Gwen to recognize him instantly. He was older. A lot older, and for some reason his hair was blonde. Even with those differences, she knew who he was. There was no mistaking Peter Parker. Not for her.

Peter was alive. He was there and he was okay, and for some reason he was Spider-Man. The spider must have bitten him instead of her. He was the one who had gotten powers.

"I just… just... wanted to be special… like you…"

Quickly Gwen closed her eyes, pushing away the memory, trying to focus on what was happening in front of her. Letting out a breath she opened her eyes again, trying to focus. She needed to talk to him, needed to tell Peter what was going on. A mixture of surprise and guilt kept her in place though, silently watching. It wasn't until the metal door to the stairs clanged shut behind him that she finally unfroze.

Stepping out, Gwen looked down at her suit. She couldn't run through an apartment building wearing a costume. She especially couldn't show up at Peter's door in it. If he was a superhero, than this world's Gwen probably wasn't, and seeing her in the suit would just confuse things even more. Which meant she needed a change of clothes.

Her eyes scanned the ground around her, landing on a store selling cheesy New York t-shirts. Not great, but it would work. Stealing also wasn't great, but at the moment it was her only choice. At least the shirts were on sale, and probably hadn't cost that much to make. Finding pants was going to be harder.

Taking a deep breath, Gwen glanced back at the door to the stairs, before jumping off the side of the building.

Finding a set of clothes hadn't been an easy task, especially well trying not to be seen. Gwen had done the whole wanted criminal thing before, doing it again didn't sound super fun. Which meant it took a longer time than she wanted to finally get back to the apartment building. It took less time to figure out which apartment was Peter's, but still longer than she would have liked.

Despite how long it took, she found herself hesitating when she reached the apartment. Peter was here and on the other side of the door. It was hard to wrap her mind around, hard to believe this wasn't some eleberatoe prank. That her best friend was alive.

This was going to be fine. She just had to stick to the script and not get overly emotional. She could do that, no problem. Taking a deep breath, Gwen forced herself to reach up and knock on the door.

There was a rather long pause before the door finally opened. Instead of Peter though, Gwen found herself looking at a woman. It only took a second for her brain to match the face of the woman with one of her best friends. Older, like Peter was, but unmistakably Em Jay.

"Can I help you?" Em Jay asked, smiling slightly, though she also looked confused and… cautious? There was a slight hesitation, a defensive way she held herself that wasn't present in the Em Jay that Gwen knew. Maybe it was something that came with getting older. Or maybe she knew the truth about Peter and it came from that. Would the Em Jay in her world start holding herself that way if she knew about Gwen?

Trying to push past the weirdness and focus on what was happening, Gwen forced herself to look up at the woman "I need to talk to Peter."

"I'm sorry?" Em Jay seemed more cautious now as she looked down at Gwen "May I ask who you are?"

That wasn't what Gwen had been expecting., but it was fine. If this was a world where Peter and Em Jay were already in their twenties then it stood to reason that the Gwen of this world would be too. Maybe that was it. She looked different then their Gwen had as a teen, or Em Jay hadn't processed that it was a younger version. If Peter could be blonde, who knew what the Gwen here looked like.

Taking a deep breath, Gwen looked up at her "This is probably going to sound crazy, but I promise I'm telling you the truth. I'm Gwen Stacy."

Em Jay just looked at her in confusion for a moment, and Gwen assumed she was processing what she had said. Looking her over again to try and match up the girl in front of her with the twenty year old that Em Jay knew. Trying to figure out if this was a trick or-

"I'm sorry but I don't know who you are. Could you tell me what you are hoping to speak to my husband about?"

Gwen stopped. Everything she had been planning to say was gone, and besides it didn't matter anymore anyway. She had been expecting to not be recognized, to have to convince them she was who she claimed to be. But for Em Jay to not only not recognize her, but to clearly have no idea who Gwen Stacy was… not know who she was…

Peter would know her. Peter would recognize her. No matter how different this world was, Peter would still know who she was, just like she had instantly known him.

"I just- I need to talk to Peter. Please Em Jay-"

"Em Jay?" She looked back at Gwen, still confused as she added "How do you-"

"Mary Jane?" The voice hit Gwen harder than seeing him had. Without the visual there was no way to know it was a different person. It was just Peter. He was here. He was alive. "Who's at the door?"

"A girl- she says her name is Gwen?"

"Gwen?"

There was confusion in the voice, but that might not mean anything. Maybe it was just weird for her to be here. It was late at night after all, under normal circumstances she would have called first.

Then he was standing there, and Gwen knew the truth. There was no recognition in his eyes, not even confusion or surprise, just curiosity. Her best friend was standing in front of her, and he had no idea who she was. Despite herself, Gwen softly said "Peter?"

"That's me," Peter agreed, still looking at her curiously "Can I help you?"

Gwen took a step away from the door. She couldn't do this. She couldn't stand there and look at her best friend when he had no idea who she was. Somehow that was worse than if she hadn't been able to see him at all. To have him back but like this…

Gwen turned and ran down the hallway. She heard him call her name. Peter calling her name. Peter saying her name as he ran up to her, voice excited to tell her about his new Spider-Woman theory. Peter laughing to hard to Em Jay's joke. Yelling as he fell backwards. Whispering his final words.

She pushed out of the fire escape. She felt a tug on her fingers as she pushed open the door, but she ignored it, pulling them away roughly. Without thinking she pushed herself up on railing, dropping down to the next level and so on. As soon as she hit the ground Gwen was running again.

Peter was still calling her name, though Gwen wasn't sure if it was real or in her head. It didn't matter. She needed to get away from it, needed the memories to stop playing over and over in her head. Peter falling backwards, out of her reach. His body on the ground. His eyes- Peter's eyes- looking straight through her like a stranger. She needed to out run the echoing of his voice.

It was a long time before she finally came to a stop. Ducking into an alley, Gwen leaned against the wall, letting out shaky breaths as she tried to calm down. Her hands were shaking, and it took a few minutes before she was able to seperate them from the pants she had found. Even than bits of the fibers were stuck to her fingers.

Slowly she let herself move down so she was sitting on the ground, knees pulled up as she continued to try and catch her breath.

There was the "thwap" of a web hitting a building. Glancing up, Gwen managed to catch a glimpse of the red suit swinging past high above her. Spider-Man off to help someone in trouble, or possibly looking for her. Part of her wondered if she should push herself up to go help, but he didn't need her. This world had their own superhero, just like they had their own Em Jay. Their own Peter.

He might look and sound the same, but he wasn't the Peter that Gwen had known. No matter how much she wanted it, the man she had meet would never be her Peter.