Chapter Three
"If you don't get out of here I swear I'll blow this pretty little red-head's brains out, along with yours!"
Spider-man chuckled to himself under his breath, "Yeah? With what gun?" He asked tauntingly before swiftly releasing bio-cable from his wrist, grabbing the pint-sized pistol and watching in amusement as it shattered against the brick wall. The tiny black pieces flew in all directions once it hit the opposite side of the abandoned alley - to the purse stealer's horror.
"H-how the hell.." The thief's eyes widened whilst he stuttered, his fear quickly turned into fury as his grip tightened on the petite girl's arm. "Just save yourself the extra time and beat it, kid!"
"You must be real tough beating on defenseless girls half you size, huh?" The teen hidden behind the mask crawled forward, his arachnid-like position perched on the side of the vacant building, only feet away from the pair.
Soft sobs could be heard from the young woman being held hostage by the fugitive as the two men disputed back and forth. She repeatedly threw punches at her kidnapper, only receiving sharp glares and sullen grunts in return. "Get off of me, you bastard! K-keep my bag, just let me go!" the red-head pleaded in between hiccups, which gained her nothing but an over exaggerated groan from the masked hero standing only a yard away.
"Yeah you heard her, let the girl go man." Peter hopped down from the wall and inched closer; only stopping once he noticed the rugged man's brawny hands lightly wrapped around the slender neck of his victim whilst he threatened to choke her.
The bulky felon growled whilst puffing out his chest, he tried to appear tough to the boy in red and blue, making him slightly resemble one of the New York City sky scrapers. His words were lined with hatred as they rolled off his tongue in something like a hiss, "Come on then buddy, why don't you take her from me?" As much as the mugger tried to hide any hints of fear in his tone, his voice quivered with self doubt while challenging the well-known superhero.
Within seconds, Spider-man already had the trembling girl out of the man's grasp; along with her extensive and pricey Michael Kors purse. Hugging it to her chest firmly, the lady watched as Spider-man pulled her kidnapper's arms behind his back and securely wrapped webbing around his wrists.
"You know.. for a second there I thought I finally met my match." Peter snickered to himself behind the mask whilst joking sarcastically to himself for his own personal amusement.
He binded the criminal's hands to an old fire-escape resting along one of the back alley walls, turning around to face the petrified girl, who was staring at him wide-eyed with her back pressed against the wall.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Thud.
After rushing to the girl's aid and picking her up from her collapse, Peter fanned her with his gloved hand. Once she awoke from her black out and gained consciousness, the auburn haired girl revealed herself to be named Mary-Jane. Peter offered to escort her home after seeing the fear in her eyes to reassure her safety. He ignored the familiarity of that name whilst helping her brush the dirt off of her clothes before getting her back home.
Not only had he managed to get another thug off the streets of New York City, but Spider-man rescued another innocent citizen yet again. So he was more than happy to make sure that the beautiful young lady arrived to her home unharmed.
Once Mary-Jane walked safely into her house, Peter was off and swinging from web to web, once again. From building to building he swayed suspended hundred of feet in the air, the wind crushing into the face of his mask to Peter's delight; back and forth until he caught sight of the apartment complex he was seeking.
It was half past one in the morning by time he reached her floor, so Peter expected Gwen to be fast asleep when he landed on the fire-escape above her window. But to his surprise the blonde beauty laid awake on her bed, the glare from her phone lighting up the frustrated character of her face.
Spider-man gradually crawled his way down to her level, making sure he kept quiet as he slid down to the spot resting in the shadows. Setting his small, overstuffed backpack down beside him, Peter unzipped it and fumbled through it's contents until he got ahold of his headphones and cell. The vigilante unmasked himself before slipping the ear buds into his ears as the static from the police scanner played on his phone. The loud and obnoxious noise brought peace to Peter whilst he turned his gaze over to the girl relaxing in her bed.
Peter came to Gwen's house every single night, occasionally he'd come twice, and sometimes more. He found this spot to be a comfortable and secure hide-out to keep an eye out for trouble in the city below while he relaxed. Peter also admired how the location always seemed to keep his post in the shadows; incase Gwen ever came out looking for him. He made sure to keep this routine a secret, not wanting her to find out that he kept a close watch on her. Especially since he knew for a fact that Gwen was more than likely to be upset with him. She was probably more than frustrated (and maybe even disappointed) that he hadn't even attempted to make any sort of contact with her, specially after his slip up in school. Oh god, that. Peter knew he couldn't keep doing this - caving and associating himself with Gwen. He beat himself up for days after sneaking a conversation in with her when she handed him the class' notes. He had made a promise to keep her out of his life for her safety, and he couldn't bring himself to do anything that could possibly put Captain Stacy's daughter's life in danger. So Peter tried to push the memory of Gwen's outfit from that Monday out of his head, and how it was the exact same one she wore the night that she had invited him over for dinner. The night Peter had revealed that he was Spider-man. The night that Peter and Gwen had shared their first kiss.
After running a hand through the tangled heap of hair on his head, Peter let out a defeated groan. Gwen did things to him, like the type of things that caused the spandex to be a little bit of a problem with the tension near the waist region. With the thought of her gentle, pink lips on his, Peter's frustration made his grumble more intense than intended from the longing of her body against his.
He peeked out of one of his eye and leaned forward slightly; peering into Gwen's window to assure that he wasn't heard. Once he was convinced that his presence was unknown, he laid his head back and rested it on the cold, rusted railing.
He exhaled faintly, his body finally relaxing as he began day dreaming of him and the girl resting less than ten feet away from him. The color of Gwen's lips started painting his mind whilst his thoughts drifted back to that gentle kiss on the rooftop. This girl is absolutely killing me. Peter thought to himself as he licked his lips, he could still feel her sweet lips on his; he could still taste her cinnamon bubble gum.
Peter was embarrassed, if only he had just kept his mouth shut when he heard Mr. Stacy address his feelings on the vigilante known as Spider-man. But no, the dumbass that Peter Parker was, spoke up and practically disrespected the man and the entire police force at his own dinner table. So once Gwen had suggested that the two of them 'get some air', he already knew that he had ruined everything.
So there he was, following his crush since middle school out onto her roof, expecting her to tell him off. Peter reluctantly followed closely behind as she walked over to the ledge, stuffing his hands deeply into the pockets of his favorite jacket whilst making his way over towards her.
"Well that was something," she finally spoke, a hint of smile playing on her lips once the words rolled off her tongue.
"I'm sorry," Peter apologized once he started, the guilt from ruining their dinner creeping up on him before he began his first attempt at easing the tension. "You know I thought he was gonna arrest me at one point."
She brought her hands up, resting them along the top of the ledge as she shook her head. "Nah, I wouldn't let him arrest you."
Peter's lips curved into a slight grin at her words before his shoulders tightened. He pressed his forearms against the railing, leaning over the edge as he exhaled deeply out of frustration. He was nervous. More than nervous. Peter silently argued with himself in his head, 'the least you can do is tell her I mean, what's the worst that could happen?' He immediately frowned at that question, 'Okay she might not feel the same way about you, or she might run away out of fear but besides that, she needs to know.'
So Peter quickly made the decision in his head, he had to tell her. There were no if's, and's, or but's about it, Peter was going to tell her who he was and that was it. So as soon as he could feel Gwen moving closer to him, he shot up, accidentally interrupting her.
"What happened to your face?-"
"I need to tell you something.." Peter began and stuffed his hands deeply in his pockets again, determination rang in his voice as he kept his gaze locked on hers.
"Oh!" Gwen shot up in surprise, her lips curving up in anticipation, "Okay."
'God, her smile is beautiful.' He thought, making him only more freaked about revealing his secret to her. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he bit down on his lower lip, digging his teeth into the skin as he looked down. 'I can't do this I can't dothis I can'tdothis Ican'tdothisIcan'tdothis' he repeated in his head, Peter panicked as soon as he saw her curious blue eyes gazing up at him.
"I.. I've been bitten." He started, immediately realizing how dumb he sounded once the words slipped out of his mouth and cursed under his breath.
Gwen's anxious smile widened as her face perked up, "So have I." She whispered softly, to Peter's surprise. He shot his head up and rose his eyebrows as she inched closer to him, his facial expression softened once he saw that gorgeous smile of hers again. She distracted him every time she was in his sight, so he was already flustered by the time his eyes scanned her face and saw that dazzling grin.
Peter started to smile before remembering what he had already started to say, making him rip his gaze from hers once the nerves began building up in him again. "Okay, okay, okay I- I gotta tell you this one thing.. I gotta tell you this one thing and uh-um, it's about the vigilante and the car thief, alright?"
Gwen instantly backed down and her smile turned into a disappointed frown before she shifted her eyes to her feet, "Oh.. okay." She breathed out the words as stepped back away from him.
His shoulders sunk once he saw the saddened expression on her face, 'Shit. Shit. Shit. You're ruining it, oh god.' Peter shook his head as he stepped towards her, "No, nonono, no don't no. Okay forget that I'm not gonna talk about that, I'm gonna t-talk about me okay?" He stuttered before looking up at her with his eyes wide and a hopeful look on his face.
"What about you?" She peered up at him in anticipation as she inched closer, with her bangs acting as curtains over her eyes.
"Ughhh it's imposs.." Peter groaned in frustration as he trailed off, "I-I wish I could just.. I can't. It's hard to say."
Gwen's eyebrows rose whilst awaiting his response. "Just say it," she pleaded, tilting her head to get a closer look at the nervous boy standing in front of her before he turned away. She scooted forward as Peter exhaled an irritated breath while leaning over the ledge. Impatience took over as Gwen's curiosity scratched at her insides, "What, what?"
He looked up at her, silently admiring her to himself. He paused for a moment, taking in her fair skin and golden hair that was pulled back into a low pony-tail, hesitating just a second longer to admire her wide sea-colored eyes and bright red lips. A smirk slowly formed on his face before he averted his attention to the traffic below and promptly shook his head.
Gwen rolled her eyes slightly, annoyance lined in her voice as she turned on her heel and began to walk away, "Forget it."
He panicked as he watched her march towards the door, so he brought his middle and ring fingers to the bottom of his palm to release the webbing from his wrist. The bio-cable grabbed ahold of her behind and, without thinking, Peter flicked his wrist. To Gwen's shock, she spun around rapidly before landing into Peter's arms.
He smirked as he slid his hands down to the waist of her plaid skirt, and ignoring the stunned gasps coming out of her mouth as she made the connection, Peter grabbed the nape of her neck and pulled Gwen towards him as he crushed his lips against hers.
Peter Parker usually wasn't the kind to believe all that lovey-dovey crap that you heard in movies about fireworks, but as soon as he felt her relax into his embrace once their lips started moving in sync - even he would say that he saw sparks flying. So when Gwen pulled away and started stating the obvious that he was, indeed, Spider-man, Peter grabbed her face and was barely able to breathe out, "Shut up." Before crushing his lips backs onto hers.
Peter grinned to himself as he started drifting off, his head bobbed up and down slightly until his leg slipped, causing his foot to bang into Gwen's window. He immediately awoke from his fatigue and jumped up.
"Oh shit!" he cursed to himself before swiftly grabbing his belongings. He turned his gaze to see a startled Gwen Stacy making her way over to the window; hastily dispensing his web to clumsily swing around the corner of the complex.
Once he was around the edge of the building, Spider-man peered around the corner to see the petite blonde searching for him on her fire-escape. He dug into his bag, fumbling around for his mask but - to his horror - turned to see it hanging limp on the ladder.
Peter silently prayed to himself, hoping that Gwen would forget about the noise of his foot thumping the window and go back into her room. He grabbed the straps of his bag and slung them around his shoulders as he waited. After a few minutes of her looking around, Gwen disappointingly slid back inside her bedroom and slammed the window shut behind her.
He let out a long phew and hopped onto the ladder a few apartments over from room twenty-sixteen. Peter readied himself before swinging down and rapidly flying past her room, grabbing his mask, and jumping to a different building. He smirked to himself whilst pulling the red spandex over his head, muttering compliments under his breath about how swiftly and impressively he managed to get out of that potential mess.
Although, Peter didn't realize that Gwen noticed the red and blue of his suit take off behind her.
Author's note: I just hate those blasted author's notes on the end of chapters, don't you? So let me quickly say that the first three chapters were just a little bit of Gwen/Peter fluff until I really got into the story, so don't worry - the next chapter will have the introduction to the plot. I don't want this story to be filled with just cute and sweet moments, since after all he is Spider-man and not everything can be so perfect. Also, I'm sorry I updated this so late. I had the rough draft written but I couldn't finish is until today but then I slept from four until two a.m. so it's all just one big mess. I promise to update a little quicker and again, thank you for reading.