Stirring awake, Peter reached over to the other side of the bed, expecting his arm to land around Gwen's waist. Though when it landed in a cold, empty space, he opened his eyes and rubbed them clear of sleep as he sat up and threw back the covers. Taking a sip of water from a glass left on the nightstand, he stood up and headed out of the bedroom towards the stairs. He paused as he passed the bathroom, taking a step back as the sound of retching reached his ears. With a frown crossing his face, he tapped lightly against the door.
"Gwen?" He questioned.
"Pe-" She began, but broke off as another retching sound bounced off the walls. "Peter?" She managed to say.
"Everything okay?" He asked, concerned.
"Ye- Yeah, you don't need to worry." She called out.
"Can I come in?" He questioned, his hand slowly reaching for the handle.
"No, don't!" Gwen almost yelled. "Don't come in here! Trust me, you don't wanna see this. This is gross." She added.
A smirk etching its way onto his face, he continued to reach for the door handle anyway and twisted it, allowing the door to swing open. His eyes dropped to Gwen, sat on the floor next to the toilet bowl, her back and head leant back and resting against the wall.
"Are you deaf? I told you not to come in." She groaned, unimpressed by his entrance.
"Whoops. Sorry… I just couldn't help myself." He chuckled.
"Sure you couldn't." She said with a small smile.
"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, the concern from earlier returning to his voice.
"Yes, Peter. I'm fine, really. I just had a nightmare, woke up really early, couldn't get back to sleep and shortly after a little morning sickness kicked in." She explained. "You worry too much." She added.
"I do. But it's because I care." He told her. "Are you feeling better now?" He asked.
"A bit." She informed him.
"Then mind if I sit with you?" He questioned.
"Hmm, I don't know… Not sure I want you to see me throw up again." She hesitated.
"Come on… I've seen you worse than sick, Gwen. I've held your broken body before, please." He pleaded.
"Well… Alright." She agreed.
Satisfied with her answer, he sat down with his back against the wall opposite to where she was sitting and tried to think of something to say.
"So, a nightmare huh?... Care to share?" He prompted.
"Meh, I don't know…" She said reluctantly.
"Then, perhaps what it was about?" He pushed.
"Oh… It was nothing. Just about the night that we fought Harry." She admitted.
"That's not nothing." He responded, surprised by her revelation, but also dreading to think of the conversation that could follow.
If only she knew.
He sighed. All traces of humour vanished from his voice. The same guilt that hit him every time the subject was brought to the surface jolted through his body like electricity and he wanted to grab hold of Gwen and apologize for lying. But he couldn't do that. He couldn't do that because she had no idea that he had ever lied in the first place and if she ever found out… He stopped that line of thought before it could make it to the top of his head, not wanting to imagine the pain that the truth would cause her.
"Not nothing?... What do you mean not nothing? Of course it's nothing. I mean, you didn't leave anything out when you filled me in on the events, right?" She asked, looking him in the eyes, her own glistening with tears that had come from the strain of sickness.
"I-" He began, but knew he couldn't tell her. Not now, in a moment where she looked so full of love and hope. He couldn't shatter that. "No. I could never." He finished, swallowing the guilt that had presented itself as a lump in his throat.
"I know you couldn't. I trust you, Peter." She said with a smile before her face twisted as another wave of nausea hit her and she moved for the toilet bowl once more.
While her back was to him, Peter screwed his face up as her words squeezed at the guilt that was seeping into his heart. Not knowing what else to do, he moved forward and swept her blonde strands of hair away from her face until once again she had settled.
"Do you… Maybe… Want some water or something?" He asked, rising to his feet.
"Ugh, yes please. My mouth feels like sandpaper." She answered.
He nodded in understanding and quietly left the room, heading downstairs to the kitchen. Finally feeling better, Gwen got up off of the floor and brushed herself off before pulling the chain to flush. Walking over to the sink, she managed to wash her hands and dry them with a towel before Peter came back into the room bearing a glass of water in his hands. She took it instantly as he held it out to her and finished the entire glass within seconds. Wiping her lips dry with her sleeve, she muttered a thank you before leaving the bathroom and heading to the bedroom to change clothes.
Downstairs, Peter finished loading up the sink with the previous night's dishes when there was a knock at the door. Wiping his hands on the nearest tea towel, he went to answer it feeling slightly annoyed that someone had the audacity to knock before nine in the morning and especially when he was not dressed nor presentable yet. He opened the door and opened his mouth to give them an earful; quickly closing it again when he saw that it was just aunt May.
"Gonna leave a lady waiting on the doorstep on this cold winter morning?" She greeted him with a question.
"I- Uh… N-n… I mean, hello to you too." He stammered, opening the door wider to allow her inside before closing it again, still not quite processing what had just happened.
"Well, you're up quite early if I do say so myself. When you were a teenager, Ben and I would be lucky if you were awake before lunch time on a weekend." May quipped.
"I wasn't- Forget it." He muttered. "Sorry, that was kind of rude of me." He apologized. "Why don't you go make yourself comfortable on the couch, and I'll go get you a drink?" He suggested.
"Splendid. Thank you." Aunt May agreed, walking away into the front room.
Peter turned towards the kitchen, but paused at the bottom of the stairs and glanced up. "Gwen, aunt May is here!" He called up before heading into the kitchen and preparing a glass of juice for their guest.
Throwing a light grey jumper over her t-shirt and upon hearing Peter call up to her, she raced out of the room and down the stairs, missing the second to last one by a mere inch and slipping down the remaining step with a dull thud. She stayed on the floor for a moment, regaining focus.
"Gwen…" Peter called again and before she could answer, came racing out into the hall. "Oh my word… What in the… Did you fall down the stairs?" He worried aloud.
"Relax. I'm fine. I simply misplaced my foot and slipped down the bottom steps." She explained.
"Really?" He questioned in disbelief.
"Yes. It was my own fault really, I rushed." She answered.
"You rushed?! Gwen! You can't just be rushing down the stairs anymore! It's not only a trip hazard but did you know that there is an average of twelve thousand deaths caused by accidents on stairs every year?!" He scolded.
"No, I wasn't aware because I don't spend my free time looking up freaky percentages." She quipped.
"I'm serious, Gwen. I mean, you have to be more careful now, especially since…" He didn't finish the sentence, but she knew what he was talking about as she saw his gaze drop down to her stomach.
"I am being more careful, Peter. Now would you lay off?" She sighed.
"Y-Yeah, okay. But, are you hurt?" He questioned.
"No." She answered. "Worst I did was hit my funny bone." She added.
"Alright." He gave in. "Here, take my hand…" He offered.
Gwen looked up at him before accepting his extended hand and allowing him to help her up. Once she was standing again, she brushed herself down and then continued walking into the front room where May had already settled into a little armchair. Greeted with a smile, she smiled back and took a seat on the couch.
"Good morning." She greeted May, glancing at Peter with a look of confusion.
As he came and sat beside her, Peter shrugged, indicating that he had absolutely no clue about the reason behind this unexpected visit. For a moment an awkward silence filled the room as neither Peter nor Gwen knew what to say. May sat biting her lip, then she decided to speak up.
"It's good to see you both on this pleasant morning, though I am sure that you are wondering what brings me here…" She began.
"Well, kinda… But not really, I mean it's just a visit. Not really anything out of the usual." Peter brushed off.
"Oh yes, however I do have to inform you that I need you to stop by sometime as I have a box that I need to forward on to you. I would have brought it with me today but it is rather large to carry on a bus." May told them.
"That's not a problem, we can stop by later this week." Gwen agreed.
"Woah, but hold up… A box. What box? Forgive me if I sound rude but you're being a little vague with us right now." Peter interjected.
"My bad. You see, the box is filled with old clothes and things that could be of use to you." May explained. "Baby clothes to be precise. Also some old rattles and some other stuff that I figured you would need now that Gwen is pregnant." She added.
Peter's mouth dropped open as the words fell out of May's mouth, he snuck a glance at Gwen and saw that she was glaring at him. He looked at May, whose smile had reached her ears since he'd last looked in her direction.
"Y- You told her?" She cried. "Peter, I asked you specifically if we could keep this between us until-" She began to rant, but he was quick to interrupt.
"No, Gwen. I didn't say a word. I swear on my soul." He defended himself. "You've got to believe me, I would never do that to you." He added.
"Pardon me for interrupting here, but please don't be mad at Peter. He's telling the truth, he did not tell me the news." May clarified.
"But then how…?" Gwen began to ask, even more confused.
"The other night when I came over for dinner, I overheard you and Peter talking in the hallway. I wasn't listening on purpose of course, but you did whisper it rather loudly." She explained.
"Oh." Gwen mouthed, then turned to Peter. "I…" She began to apologize, but trailed off.
"Forget it. Of course you'd think it was me. Always the guy that gets the blame!" He huffed, getting up and storming out of the room.
"Uh- Excuse me for a second." She said to May, getting up and following Peter out of the room.
Catching him as he walked into the kitchen, she reached out and pulled at his shoulder until he turned around to face her. Mentally kicking herself, she did the only thing she could think of to keep him from shrugging her away, and wrapped her arms around his waist. Unsurprisingly, he didn't hug her back. She pulled away for a moment and looked up at him, then sighed.
"Peter, I'm sorry, okay. I didn't know." She apologized.
"Well duh, because you didn't ask!" He snapped.
"You're right. I didn't. And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have jumped to that conclusion… But I'm only human, Peter. I'm not always going to be perfect and sometimes I'm going to make those mistakes. I really am sorry." She insisted, her eyes forming a puppy dog expression.
Peter closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, feeling the anger leave him as he did so. He opened his eyes and without so much as a warning, he pulled her into a hug and planted a kiss at the top of her head.
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
"It's okay, Gwen." He half whispered.
"You're not mad?" She questioned, hugging him back.
"It's impossible to stay mad at you. I mean, look at you…" He answered with a smile that she could not see.
Peter stepped back from the embrace and moved in to kiss her. She reached up and closed her eyes, but just as their lips were about to meet, her face twisted into one of discomfort and she pulled away before gently shoving him aside and making a dash to the kitchen sink; leaning over as another wave of sickness hit her for the first time in at least an hour.
"Wow… Guess the little one is repulsed by me." Peter quipped.
Gwen took a deep breath, rinsing the sink out as well as her mouth, and straightened up before turning to face Peter with a rather disbelieving look on her face.
"Did you really just say that?" She questioned.
"Yeah, I was joking though, obviously." He informed her in a matter-of-factly tone. "Still not feeling great huh?" He added.
"No, that was just… Rather… Spontaneous." She answered. "You should probably go keep your aunt company, I'll be there in a moment." She told him.
Peter nodded, exiting the kitchen to go back into the front room. Gwen remained where she was standing for a little moment longer, waiting for the icky feeling to pass and then rejoined Peter on the couch, catching up with what she'd missed. Tiredly, she rested her head upon his shoulder and listened to May as she went into detail about some of the items she had gathered from the attic in Peter's childhood home.
"Oh, uh- May, I think I owe you an apology too." She said suddenly as the older woman quietened down. "I was not trying to keep such news from you at all, honestly I just didn't want anyone to know until later on because… Well, you never know what might happen." She explained.
Aunt May sat back in the armchair and simply smiled at Gwen. It was the same smile that had been lighting up her face since she'd admitted to overhearing their conversation and one that reassured her greatly.
"Not to worry, dear. I understand." She finally said, much to Gwen's relief.
"Thank you." She breathed.
"Right, well… Now that everything is sorted, I really should be going now but don't forget to stop by next weekend to pick up that box." May reminded them as she stood up and readied herself to leave.
Sirens wailed with flaring lights casting blue and red shadows upon everything it touched. A young man with striking blonde hair, wearing a black top with long sleeves and a pair of black jeans and a pair of shoes, also of the same colour, dived behind a dumpster in a narrow alleyway just in time as a third cruiser flew past.
Daring not to move, the young man pulled himself into a sitting position, being careful to stay in the darkness of the shadows to avoid being seen, and glanced around at his surroundings. The buildings; which seemed to tower high into the sky, were clearly apartments as there were fire escapes spaced evenly apart for as far as he could see. Most of the dumpsters were overflowing with garbage bags that created a pungent smell of rotten food and mold.
It was midday and he knew that if he moved anywhere while daylight lingered then it would increase his chances of getting caught by the local authorities, so he made the decision to get to higher ground and remain there until nightfall, when it would be easier to move around without being seen. As soon as the sirens faded away into the distance, the young man made a dash for the nearest fire exit and climbed the rungs of the ladder with haste, however completely unaware that he was already being watched from the rooftop above.
"This is the kid?" Eddie wondered aloud.
"Yes… Now, capture him!" Venom ordered.
"Wait what? You said nothing about kidnapping!" Eddie stated, surprised by the order.
"Don't question me, Eddie. I can make your life hell if I wish to." Venom warned.
"But… He's just a child." He protested.
"A very important child if we want to draw out Peter and his little mate." Venom corrected.
"No. I refuse. I will not capture a child!" Eddie refused.
"Then are you prepared to pay the price?" Venom hissed.
"There has to be another way that we can draw them out. He's just a kid…" Eddie protested again.
"This is the easiest way." Venom insisted.
"I can't…" Eddie snapped, almost a little too loudly.
"Fine!... I guess it is time for me to take control of this meat sack." Venom growled.
Eddie was about to protest when he felt an overwhelming dizziness that caused him to drop to his knees. His vision blurred and his surroundings became unfocused causing him to clutch his head as an intense thumping began. He could feel the monster inside of him trying to claw its way out, rising to the surface no matter how hard he fought to keep it at bay. Within seconds his grip on the monster broke and it escaped, drowning out all conscious thoughts. Suddenly, Eddie was gone; it was only Venom.
Ruthless, rage-fuelled, despicable Venom; biding his time and just waiting for the young man to reach the roof-top, he was ready to pounce.