There's not awkward laughter or reciprocated smiles but there is a little disbelief the first time Gwen lays eyes on him again.
Sure, she stalked and thusly found his tumblr when she'd gotten home that night (really, Peter? Connecting weblinks to your facebook that you haven't touched in since you made it wasn't the smartest choice you could've made. And who names their url photographyistooasport?) but he'd been missing from school for half a week and when she called him he hadn't answered. Gwen didn't think she had purchase or reason to be worried as it was, but they had a connection and through that connection she knew something was seriously wrong.
Something cold wrapped its way around her heart when their English teacher sat down their homeroom class and told them all that Peter's uncle had passed away. Even Flash stopped joking with his buddies at the news, and Gwen could hear nothing but the beating of her heart for a moment. Oh my God, Peter she thought miserably. She could never imagine what he was going through right now. She stayed after class to ask Mrs. Ritter about the details but when she heard the collective gasp from the hallway, something in her knew whatever was happening out there had to do with Peter and thus, meant she had to be there too.
Gwen's heart thumped almost through her chest as she rushed through the halls to where she heard the commotion was, just barely hearing the end of Flash's short speech. "I get it. I'm sorry."
She watches, her face saddened, as Peter slowly lowers Flash to the ground and slams his locker door shut, face shadowed, keeping his eyes on the ground. Gwen walks hesitantly up to him, her soft "Peter." More of a call to look up and tell her what was wrong than to get her attention. His gaze flickers up to meet hers and her heart wrenches just that little bit because his eyes are broken and Gwen takes in the ruggedness of the look on his face, his nose rubbed red from crying, stance standoffish and reserved, and simply cannot help herself. She steps forward and wraps her arms around him, pressing her lips into his neck right above the collar of his jacket, feeling him lean into her for a split second, that split second sending her words he could never say out loud.
She gets it, as she's always gotten him, and so Gwen lets Peter go, lets him push through the halls with his shoulders and fix his gaze to the ground, heart hurting for his loss.
Gwen can't imagine how anyone lives through that kind of pain.
She didn't think she'd ever have to. At least not for a while.
Gwen was wrong.
But she wouldn't know that for some time.
A few weeks afterwards, when Peter started to remember to care about the people around him that weren't Aunt May, he pulls on a dark grey sweatshirt, sticks his legs in fresh boxers and jeans, and is pulling on his Nike's when something hits him hard.
With all the losing of Uncle Ben and the hunting of the murderer and the becoming some costumed crime-fighter who he still couldn't figure out a name for yet-he'd forgotten about one crucial thing.
Oh my God. How did I forget GWEN?
Peter makes it his mission to make up for it at school and presses the point by actively seeking out the blonde girl, following her into the library at lunch and stepping up behind her to get a book she couldn't reach. Even though she was only about four inches shorter than him Peter had arms like separate giraffe's that seemed to go on forever.
She turned in surprise, trapped between his body and the bookshelf, but a smile lights on her face. Peter grins down in response to that, taking in the French braid her hair is in and reaching out a finger to touch the bow on the shoulder of her long sleeved white shirt.
"Hi." Gwen smiles, eyes shining.
"Hey." Peter responds, lips quirking. "I'm sorry about, about before and all, you know." His fingers go up and Gwen can't stop the giggle that breaks through her lips because she can tell that the Peter Parker Sign Language Show is about to start. "It's just my uncle, you know, and stuff happened, and life got in the way, but." Peter smiles sheepishly. "We can still do either of those things, one of these days, you know."
"Really?" Gwen's question may sound like one of surprise but the glint in her eyes tells him otherwise and he releases a chuckle and leans back to the other shelf.
"Well yeah. Yeah, if you like."
"I'd like." Gwen reiterates, giving a mock serious nod. "But if you don't mind—" she plucks the book out of his grasp where he'd been absently flipping the pages between his fingers. "I've got Home Economics in five minutes."
She walks away with an untouchable air that Peter has come to sort of adore and when she turns back and shoots him a smile and a look over her shoulder Peter's stomach comes a little out of its doldrums and flops around a bit, somewhat happily, before he realizes something.
He still doesn't know what either one is.
Gwen doesn't know what possessed her to hide behind a bunch of emo-geeks and wait for Peter to head way from his locker but the fact is that she did, and he said yes.
Well kind of. This is Peter she's talking about, and Peter can never manage to just say yes.
Nevertheless she's bouncing a bit to catch up with him and his mind is obviously on other things and there's a big, blooming, grey and purple bruise on his cheekbones but he manages to take out his earbuds and notice her.
"Hey." He mutters, pulling down his hood.
"Hi."
"Hows it going?"
"Where're you headed?"
His fingers goes out and Gwen bites her lip at it because to be honest now she's starting to look forward to the way Peter seems to like to illustrate things with his hands and says "Uh, Monday. B track."
"Oh." She looks down for a second as they walk down the hallway, clutching her binder to her chest, pen tapping on the books rhythmically. "It's Thursday."
"Thursday?" he stops in the hallway and turns to face her and Gwen can tell he's honestly surprised.
"What happened to y-your eye?"
"What?"
"Your eye, it looks bruised—"
"Ohhh yeah yeah yeah no, I dunno, maybe I got a rash or—"
Gwen dips her head to see it better because Peter's trying to turn that side of his face away from her as if it'll dissuade her worry for some reason so she brings up her default source of all things healing—"It's pretty bad, have you gone to the nurse?"
"Mhm." Peter's nodding his head like it justifies the lie somehow and Gwen knows he's lying but respects his privacy and keeps her mouth shut about it anyway.
"Do you like branzino?"
Gwen inwardly doubting herself like anything because honestly, she has a little better control of the English language than Peter and just asking someone a question like that has got to be the stupidest thing to come out with and complete off topic. He kind of stands there and twists his lip and Gwen's struck by the fact that and just my luck, he's never heard of branzino before so she tries to rectify her mistake. "Like a fish?"
"Mhm? No, I know, I know," he gives a little laugh at the end but doesn't realize Gwen isn't done talking yet.
"W-weell, i-if you want," Gwen whips out a piece of paper and starts scribbling her address down, hating herself for stumbling over her words, finishing the words and holding out the paper to him "you can come to this address at, at a eight o'clock tonight? My, ah, my mom's making branzino." Her eyes widen when she realizes what she forgot to say-"Oh, I forgot to say, um, it's Apartment 2016, I didn't—I didn't write that part down—" her head is down and she's backing away and kicking herself internally because that was the worst possibly ever worded invitation to come visit her family ever so Gwen gives a little awkward, unsure laugh at the end of her little monologue.
Peter realizes how uncomfortable it must be for her and is also mad at himself for not being the one to make the first move about it so he says "I'll remember it." In a firm voice before she's out of earshot and she feels ten million times better already.
Gwen walks away feeling really flustered and a little mad about the effect that Peter always seems to have on her but she's comforted by the fact that he's a little stupid around her too.
All that was left to do was cross her fingers and hope her family liked him.
And her dad didn't decide to do something crazy like kill him.
Peter thinks that saying he climbed up the fire escape up the side of a building for twenty stories is the most pathetic cover story he's ever let fall from his mouth but he's flustered and a little desperate and just glad she doesn't question any further.
When he webslings to her fire escape he plucks nervously at his bottom lip and taps at the door, eyes hopeful, just enjoying the way Gwen looks studying on her bed. Peter hesitantly raps on the her window pane with the back of his knuckles and watches with a sheepish smile on his face as she looks up and notices him, her face lighting up as she scrambles off the bed and to the window, struggling a bit to get it up and receiving a thimbleful of Peter's newly acquired strength to help her out with it.
"Hi!" Gwen's hello prompts a silly, stupid smile on Peter's face that somehow manages to stay on at her next and very obvious question. "How did you get out there?"
"The fire escape." He puts one hand on the underside of her window and pokes his head through as Gwen moves back to make room for him, Peter's shoulders shrugging a bit. "Your doorman's intimidating." His head is screaming how that is the stupidest excuse ever in the history of mankind pretty much ever and she must think he's an idiot but for some reason Gwen accepts this and just says "It's 20 stories." And he makes a 'psh' sound with his lips and says "Yeah, it's alright."
He vaults over the little bookshelf under her window flawlessly and stands awkwardly, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, turning slightly so his gaze could bounce off the walls of the room. "This is your room."
"Yes, this is my room."
"Books. Shoes." He turns back to her and Gwen's already laughing a bit because the situation is a little bit ridiculous in itself at that gives Peter the excuse for a rakish sort of grin to crawl across his face. "Oh hey, uh," Peter starts grinning wider and shrugs off his backpack, unzipping it easily "I got your Mom, uh, these…" and then he lets out a sigh as the bouquet sees the light of day between them.
Stupid webslinging is all he can think but Gwen's tickled pink by the thought and refuses to not let him see she appreciates it so she attempts to salvage the moment.
"Oh, love-lovely—"
"Yeah they're beautiful, right?"
"They're beautiful."
"They were, nice—"
"No, no they're beautiful."
Peter's blushing and he's smiling a bit too hard but his laugh lines are crinkling in a way she sort of loves to see and his eyes are shining like anything and when he says he's sorry and hides behind the damaged bundle of wildflowers she can't help saying "No, that's impressive. They actually held together really well." And wanting to bundle him in her arms and tell him just how dang cute he is.
"I'm gonna keep these," Peter murmurs, the stupid smile still on his face, and stuffs them back into his backpack but then Gwen, being the totally brilliant, lovely person she is asks innocently "You have your suit in there?"
The world stops and Peter's heart stops and the smile starts to fall because does she know and how could she know and everything is just so wrong his heart starts to sink again because maybe all these years he's been the reading the connection wrong, wrong, wrong and all he can manage to utter is "My suit?"
Gwen takes in his expression and misreads is but unknowingly save herself by saying "Its for dinner. Are you, are you gonna wear that? That's um, that's-"
"Hey hon."
And both of them turn and Peter's mind is going how did I forget that Captain Stacy was Gwen's dad and oh God the man is going to kill me I am in his daughters room with his daughter completely alone what must he think oh crap oh crud—and the look on Captain Stacy's face is one a father assessing the boy his daughter brought home and a policemen gauging the relevance of a potential threat. "You must be Peter."
"Dad this is, Peter." Gwen says a second too late, her eyes traveling to Peter's in a rather obvious go shake his HAND you idiot way which Peter only picks up on because they read each other like the pages of a science textbook and he steps forward, hand outstretched.
"Hey, nice to meet you sir."
"Nice to meet you. Dinners ready. Hope you like branzino."
Peter grins somewhat warily. "Who doesn't?"
And then, as must inevitably follow with Parker luck, dinner was a complete and utter, awful and useless DISASTER.
Gwen proves just how good she is at summing at situations when she takes Peter with her to the roof and rolls her sweater up in her hands, bumping them together with a "Well that was somethin'."
If evidence that they were meant for each other is any less overwhelming than it's already proved to be, that statement pretty much tells Peter of the fact that at this point, Gwen has become insanely fluent in Peter-Parker-ese. "I'm sorry, you know." He tries, staring at the bright lights of the city they both love. "You know I thought he was actually going to arrest me at one point?"
"Naw, I wouldn't have let him arrest you." They lean on the edge of the roof close but not close enough and all Gwen can do is study his face and absently wonder how it can look so beautiful in the moonlight.
Peter wobbles his legs and leans his body over the edge and then, by mutual and somehow unspoken agreement, they both turn to each other-
"What happened to your face-"
"I wanna tell you something-"
"Oh!" And their questions and speech patterns align and fall over each other in a way that's so Gwen and Peter that it almost physically makes Gwen's heart hurt but this is Peter and she's willing to head any way in this conversation he likes and honestly she'd love for him to tell her something oh god is she rambling she can't be rambling can she?—"Okay."
He sucks his bottom lip between his teeth for two seconds and gnaws on the corner of it for another, keeping his gaze somewhere between her grey-green eyes and her khaki boots, his mouth opening and closing a bit in such a way that a half formed memory of a playground and a bully forces itself to the forefront of her mind for a second, but then he is talking and he is all she can hear.
"I've been bitten." Is all Peter manages to get out but it's enough because Gwen's heart surges and her gaze flickers down to his lips and she moves almost imperceptibly closer and says softly "So have I." And Peter's eyes flicker up and lock with hers and he gets what she meant and he guesses he meant what she thought he meant to but that wasn't his original meaning and oh it's all muddled up now but a smile is still on his face when he starts talking again. "Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, I gotta tell you this one thing, I gotta tell you this one thing and it's, and it's about the, the vigilante and the car thief alright?"
"Oh…okay." And Gwen pulls back because he didn't mean what he thought her to mean and Peter moves forward with her because he needs that presence of him by him if he's even going to try to get this whole thing out in one speech—
"What?" he asks gently, eyes searching hers and he gives a little groan because honestly, double meanings are the devil and then he's saying "Nooo, no no don't, don't-" but her "I don't wanna talk about that." And the leaning forward is distracting but he keeps talking "No, I'm not gonna talk about that, forget that, I won't talk about that, I gonna talk about, about me, okay?"
Gwen's so close she can feel the heat from his skin but now she's a little bit worried about him and "What about you?" comes out both the right way and the wrong one because now he so frustrated with himself he could bang his head against a wall.
"It's impo—I wish I could just—" he lips his lips and pressed them together and it's the Peter Parker Sign Language Show again and yes Gwen loves it but it's sort of getting in the way this time "I can't. It's hard to say."
"Just say it—"
"I dunno,"
"Say it."
And he's leaning over the edge and letting out a breath again and doesn't this boy know he's driving Gwen absolutely stark raving crazy? "Why, what?" she tries again and he looks up at her, drinks her in for a moment, soaks in her beauty and the Gwen-ness that he may or may not be falling in love with and she says "What?" again to try to prompt him but he shakes his head because can he tell her? And Gwen's completely done with this shit and walks away with a resigned "Fine, then forget it." But then Peter gets hit with a flash of lightning and he knows how to tell her.
He shoots a web at her bum and she hears it and feels it, but doesn't quite believe it but then he's tugging and Gwen's twirling into him she fast the world is spinning or maybe that's just her heart beating out of her chest. Peter's hands are on her waist and she's got her arms folded up on his chest and she's absolutely speechless for all of two minutes because underneath it all, Peter is a boy and the proximity is growing to be too much for him. Her eyes are bigger than the moon and they weave a bit as Peter tries to get her head to stay still, his fingers going up to under her chin but his mind finally just goes oh for God's sakeand places his hand gently on the back of her neck, bringing her lips to his and—
Oh, it was glorious. It was absolutely glorious and terrific and Gwen felt the warmth of the sun pour into her limbs and shine out through her skin, feeling stars in the way he touched her. His second hand came up and his thumb pressed cautiously, wonderingly on her cheek as they came back together but Gwen's had enough of this and she just has to say—
"You're Spider-Man—"
"Shut up—"
And Peter's bringing them back together because he doesn't think he'll ever get used to or get old to way Gwen Stacy tastes and feel and her fingers on the lapel of his jacket, tugging for less space between them is perfect to him and Gwen can't get over the feeling of his hands on her waist, hands so big they span her ribcage entirely and she feels cared for and safe, and sort of wonderfully loved but then—
"Gwen…" Her MOTHER is here and she respects their privacy and realizes this is nothing to talk about right now and Peter pulls away and leans away from her and Gwen's knees feel like putty and her legs a puddle but Mrs. Stacy says "Your father wants you to come inside right away."
"Okay," Gwen answers, shaking her head and winding her sleeves in her hands because the passion of that kiss still has not left her system but her mother insists with a "Gwen!" and she mutters "I'm coming!" and walks towards the door, tipping a bit on her feet they look at each other, a brilliant half laugh escaping from her lips but Peter's head twitches and he's no longer focused on her anymore because something big is happening and Spider-Man is needed. Desperately. Once she gets inside the doorway she turns to look at him and watches with a heavy heart when he leaps over the side of the building like its nothing.
Gwen's in it now, and she knows it. She's in it just as bad as her mother is, possibly worse. Gwen Stacy, you were supposed to be smart, weren't you? Falling in love with a superhero who has to fight supervillians and get super hurt—But she's in love with Peter, now. She knows he's Spider-Man, and she can accept that, she can get over that—but Gwen knows how much stress she's going to through. How much he will worry her.
She chooses not to worry about that for the moment and shakes her head, wrapping her arms around herself as she goes down the stairs, using the time it takes to get to her floor to think.
Gwen knows she's sort of doomed.
But oh, that kiss and those hands and that boy…
When Peter sees Gwen next he's all healed up from saving people from huge ugly dinosauric rip offs that apparently have personal vendetta's against motor vehicles.
Her father's issued a warrant for his arrest but he doesn't even care, snagging her hand after class at lunch and tugging her after him, ascending half the rows of benches to talk alone while the football team practices.
Peter's shifting as he's more prone to do since being bitten but his hands are warm when the press the empty vial to Gwen, his fingers transferring the warmth even through her gloves, making her shiver. She holds the vial up to her eyes to see it clearly as says softly "It's so beautiful."
"Knows how to bite though," he returns easily, eyes flicking between her and the vial, grin lingering on his lips from the memories of the last time they were alone together.
"Who else knows about this?"
"Just," he gives a sort of laugh and looks away from her, a blush tingeing his cheeks "Just you."
"Just me?" She repeats after him, disbelief in her tone followed by a breathy giggle, butterflies waving up all over in her stomach.
"Hey you don't," he looks away from her. "You don't believe what the, the police are saying, do you?" Peter's half worried that maybe she does and maybe they can't be what he really wants them to be and maybe she doesn't even look at him the same anymore but Gwen looks rather offended he'd even asked that and retorts with an "Of course not." The doofus part heavily implied.
"Does it scare you?" She's searching his face with those eyes of hers again and Peter swears for the rest of his life he will never be able to lie to those eyes and he bites his lip, just thinking about it. "What you can do?"
"No." he thinks about it for a second, but its honestly how he feels. It is his power, he knows how to control it, and he's going to use it for good. Isn't that all there is to it? "No."
Gwen stays quiet for a moment, but then "What did that thing on the bridge look like?" surfaces and he realizes she's thinking like a scientist again which is pretty adorable if he does say so himself.
"It was real big, too big to be human."
"You gotta lay low." Gwen looking at him but there's something in her eyes that tells Peter she is genuinely afraid for him and some little part of him wonders if maybe staying away from her would've been better because she wouldn't have had to care this much, wouldn't have had to worry—but Peter stuffs it down easily and counters with an "I can't do that."
"You've got to. I mean, why—"
"Because of las-last night." Peter's brown eyes are boring into her own for once, willing her to understand. "Those people on the bridge. Whatever was attacking them woulda," he looks down for a second but when their gazes connect again Gwen can see the truth in his eyes. "Woulda killed them. So I gotta, I gotta go after him."
"That's not your job." Gwen murmurs, still searching his face as he memorizes the pattern her freckles make on her nose and cheeks.
"Well maybe it is." They're both quiet for a moment under the implication of that statement but Peter's quick to break it, nibbling on his bottom lip for a moment, a grin tugging at his face, turning to face her more. "I really liked kissing you." She puts her head down, sort of embarrassed with a matching doofus smile on her face and him saying "You're-you're an amazing, kisser." Just makes it worse.
"Well you know it was," She looks up at him with her mock serious face on and Peter literally cannot control the urge he gets to get closer to her. "It was good for me too." Is accompanied with a definitive head nod and he's saying "Yeah?" And all Gwen can get out is "mhm" because he is getting closer and honestly that makes it a little hard for her to think straight and their lips are a centimeter apart when a football comes flying towards her head and he catches it and tosses it away without thinking.
It distracts Gwen enough that she watches it go and then her mouth drops open because it bent the goal and is still going and Peter can't blame her.
That was kind of a spectacular throw.
After Gwen is done gaping at Peter's strength, she leans forward to focus on kissing him again and he grins instinctively, bringing up his fingers to lay gently against her jaw to pull her closer and the kiss is just as fantastic as last time, though not as long as they would've liked.
Freaking stupid bell.
Interrupting stuff all the time.
Gwen doesn't normally jump at most of the scares in horror movies but when Peter falls into her room she swears her stomachs dropped through the floor and her heart has stopped.
She's working on an English essay when she first hears the tap at the window and turns around, her hair a swirl of gold when she sees him leaning again her window in the suit, the mask off. Gwen gives a little laugh and says "Come in," turning back to her screen to save her progress and put in the correct folder. "You should maybe a, consider coming in through the lobby." She jokes and she can almost hear his smile from where she's sitting. "Also, my father is under the impression," Gwen turns away from the computer and gestures with a pen (extremely clear evidence that Peter is rubbing off on her) "That you require psychiatric attention."
Before he even gets out a gently worded "Really?" she can see in the lines of his face to the blood on his costume that's something's wrong and this is Peter and no one should be allowed to hurt him, no. One. But there he is bleeding on her carpet and she rushes to him as fast as humanly possible, worriedly saying "Peter? What happen-what happened?" And her hands on his shoulders and some of the spandex is slick with blood and his gloves are fisted in the edges of her rob, keeping her pulled to him but he cant resisting saying something cheeky and stubborn.
"You should see the other guy. The other guy, in this instance, being a giant mutant lizard." He falls into her chair and Gwen's instantly across from him, searching his chest with her eyes, feeling her heart constrain at the deep gouges in them.
"Hey, Gwen? Honey do you want some cocoa, Howard, Howard's making some cocoa."
"Shhh!" she hisses to him and surges out of the chair, Peter vaulting himself off of it in a different direction with a hiss of different origin.
"No, Dad, I do not want cocoa. Honestly, I'm seventeen years old!"
"Okay I just," Captain Stacy gives a brief purse of his lips "I just remember someone saying last week that her fantasy was to live in a chocolate house."
Oh, GOD. Gwen is positive there is no possible way he could have embarrassed her more without even trying. "Well that's impractical!" She sputtered out, slamming the door. And then for good measure she opens it again—"And fattening!" before slamming it shut again.
Gwen turns around and Peter has the audacity to rest his chin on the arm of her chair, hair mussed, blood on his chin, and eyes sparkling so say "Chocolate house?" She dignifies him with a yeahhhhh oh shut up about it roll of the eyes and nodding of the head but opens the door again, knowing her father was no fool and wasn't going to take that for an answer.
"Sorry Dad."
"It's good,"
"I just, I can't, I can't, um," Gwen swallows because lying is something she's never really done to this scale before "I can't have cocoa right now because I'm wo-I'm, I'm doing this um," Her eyes close and she's pointing haphazardly at the door and the part of her mind not searching for a legitimate excuse is saying of all times to exhibit your knowledge of Peter Parker sing language you choose NOW? But then the answer comes to her "I have uh, I have cramps!" Gwen's eyes fly open because heyyy that could work!
Captain Stacy's eyes kind of widen and he makes to go back down the hallway because CRAMPS is a word no man in his right mind ever wants to hear. "Oh," he tries, but it's too late and Gwen's on a roll.
"I feel kind of pukey, and just, I don't know like emotional, like I keep crying… it's brutal." Gwen rolls her eyes for effect and anyone in the free world can tell all the Captain wants to do is get out of there. "You don't wanna know trust me, it's like, bad."
"Got it."
"Thanks Daddy." And then she's slammed the door and she's pretty sure she just scarred her father for all eternity.
Gwen's got Peter all set up on the floor and has successfully wiped off most of the blood that made its way onto his face and arms, focusing her main attention on the wounds themselves. He pushes a keening pained breath out of his mouth every time she touches them, no matter how gentle she is, but the look in his eyes are soft when he digs his fingers into the soft spot at the back of her skull to 'help' her put her hair up in a bun and the heat from his thighs at on her side seeps into her like a sunspot on a summer day.
Peter's got this look in her eyes once she starts treating the biggest scar and she pulls back for a moment to allow him to deal with the pain, eyes searching his. She sees it in his gaze and it brings a smile to the edge of her lips, especially when he leans forward, eyes bright, moving slowly almost as if he was afraid to break her. His lips are an inch away and warmth is flooding from the contact their noses back with each other so that Gwen lets out a breathe and says tenderly "Easy, Bug Boy."
He lets out a surprised laugh but keeps trying to close the distance, murmuring "What'd you call me?" Peter's head follows Gwen like a lonely puppy as he keeps aiming for the kiss, murmuring things like "It's gonna be alright, I'm going to be okay," under his breath because he knew they were true.
"No," she tries, but her protest is met with a yes at every offering. "I know, what this is," Gwen tries again, dabbing at his wound again. Peter stills because he recognizes this tone and as much as he wants to kiss her to pieces, Gwen is being serious and deserves his attention. "What is it?"
"Every day for as long as I can remember my father," Gwen tries, voice breaking as the familiar rawness that precursors a few tears starts to catch in her throat. "Has put a badge on his chest and a gun to his hip and every day, for as long as I can remember…" She stares at Peter and trails her fingers through the back of his hair, begging him with his eyes to understand. "I haven't known if he was going to make it home." The last word gets stuck in her throat and Peter gets it and he hates himself for this pain she's going through but he has a duty and an obligation to do that duty and he ghosts his fingers on her chin and cups her cheeks in his hands and says "I got you." And her hand comes up and wraps around his wrist, needing that support, needing that guarantee, needing to feel him be there with her. "I got you, okay?"
"I gotta stop him though…because I created him." He tells her about the equation and what his fathers secret science has done to destroy the life of a man they both respected and they're silent for a moment because of course it would be the science that brought them together that would be trying to tear them apart.
"Peter…" she kisses his palm, his wrist, and Peter lets her, needing to feel her as much as she needs to feel him.
"Hey." Peter holds her for a few more moments, but drops his hands slowly, lifting her chin up between two of his knuckles. He's smiling again, just barely, and he says "Lets get out of here. Lets just get outta here," and him shaking his head so ridiculously brings the smile back to her face with a little laugh. "Just for a minute. Can we?" Peter nuzzles her and Gwen can feel her resistance fading already.
"No."
"Yes."
"No!"
"Yeah, yes!"
"No! If my parents see me leaving, I'm dead." Peter lets that process for a moment but can't keep the idea from forming in his mind, still holding Gwen up with his hand.
"Your parents aren't going to see you leaving."
She connects the dots immediately but almost says no because he needs to heal, but then he reminds her of the whole accelerated healing deal and she relents. He pulls on his street clothes and Gwen puts on some regular ones and they stand out on her fire escape together, clothes and hair blowing in the wind. "Are you ready?" he whispers and she shakes her head, giving a laugh of absolute incredulity.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." Gwen tells him, but willingly wraps her arms around his waist. Peter puts his available, not web swinging arm around her and Gwen pauses for a moment, tilting down his chin to grant him the kiss he's been searching for.
Grinning like the cat who caught the canary, Peter leaps them off the edge of the building and whoops for a moment before falling silent as New York swung away beneath them.
Gwen may be terrified of the fact that Peter is Spider-Man, but she has to admit-
The perks are pretty great.
Okay so, ohmigod.
There are literally like... -counts to herself- five parts left? Five Gwen and Peter scenes and since they're all long and emotional and complicated just like them, you probably don't get to see them for a while. Life's fucking me over, lets go with that. I'm just tired a lot. Tired of everything. I just want to sleep...just now and forever. Sleep. Rest. -sighs- Anyway.
lil
