July 29th - 2019

California - Carmel

"Do you need any help back there, honey?"

Gwen yelled from her position as she strolled down the deserted beach they were in. She wore a tight and black running short along with the chest set of her blue bikini. She also wore a ponytail in her hair and a black cap.

Peter panted heavily. His forehead looked sweaty. "No… I'm fine!" He cleared his throat. "I'll catch up!"

He had a long way before getting back to his prime physical form. His wife figured that it would be best if they took a vacation to help him with that, it would make the whole thing more bearable to him.

She looked over her shoulder, "Just don't burn yourself out! I would hate to see you not being able to handle me anymore, sweetheart!"

Peter chuckled. "Oh, man…"

They had been in California for the last couple of days. They usually took their daily stroll in the morning. There were no horns, visual noise, and pollution around them. They were sharing a nice break from everything.

He eyed her back and questioned, "We should be getting closer, right?!"

"Just a little bit more!"

Peter took a deep inhale and increased his pace as he ran after his wife. He smiled as he sprinted past her, only to later stumble on a small sand hole. He fell on his back into the warm ground.

Gwen burst into fits of laughter as she slowed down and approached him. He looked extremely disappointed.

She sat down on his waist, rested her knees beside his hips, and teased, "From someone that can lift cars and probably buildings somehow, I never thought you would lose something like this to little me." She brushed away the sand from his toned chest.

Peter sighed. "That was awful..." He placed his hands on her hips.

"Nah… you gave me a pretty good laugh." She winked at him as she cleaned his hair with her hands. "We should keep going, mister."

Gwen raised from his chest until she was standing on her feet once again. She offered him her hand.

She rose from his chest and offered her hand, helping him to get up.

Peter eventually stood up and stretched his arms. He analyzed his wife. She had trimmed her hair much shorter than what he was used to, it didn't touch her shoulders anymore, it reached her cheeks.

She still looked as stunning as ever.

Gwen grinned, "You need to take a bath."

"I was thinking of diving instead."

"Oh, you'll be on your own then. I'll go back home." She looked over her shoulder. She could already spot their house.

Peter grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms. "You're going nowhere, lady."

"Peter!" Gwen protested as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He walked towards the shore.

"My hair, Peter. You will mess it up."

"There's not a single wave around, it will be fine."

She sighed. "... ugh, why did I even marry you?"

"Because I'm good-looking, romantic… funny and I know about that spot right-"

She giggled and punched him gently on the chest. "You are a proper clown, aren't you?"

He nodded with a smile and planted a kiss on her forehead." He stood still once the water reached his waist level.

Gwen looked around. "Oh, boy…"

Peter gently set Gwen on her feet. She let out a yelp as the cold water made contact with her bottom.

She hugged herself. "It's freezing!"

"Come on now, it's not that cold. Your body will get used to it."

"Overreact? You-" Her lips were captured by Peter's as he cut her speech short.

He wrapped his left arm around her back while his right hand gripped her bottom slightly harder. His wife let out a moan in the short gap in their kiss. He broke the kiss to gather some fresh air into his lungs and watched Gwen keep her eyes closed as she tried to find his lips once again.

He caressed her cheek with his thumb.

Gwen finally opened her eyes and remained speechless. She wrapped both arms around his neck and leaned closer to resume their kiss, but he kept playing with her by leaning his head backward and escaping her lips.

Gwen frowned and mumbled, "Peter..."

He chuckled and kissed her again.

Gwen opened her eyes and parted. "Oh, god!"

"Yes?"

She shook her head. "MJ and Flash will be arriving at any moment now, we haven't prepared the house!"

About an hour later…

Of course, my wife overreacted…

A shirtless Peter thought to himself as he finished covering their car with foam. He now put the hose to good use and sprayed the foam off the vehicle. Flash and Mary Jane hadn't arrived yet.

He never had a good relationship with finances. Despite working for Oscorp, his father didn't leave Ben and May with much money. They were used to enjoying the simple things in life. May did her best to take care of him after Ben passed away. He also tried to help whenever he took some good photos of Spider-Man and sold them to the Bugle.

He was proud of him and Gwen, though. Despite everything, they managed to buy a car for their enjoyment, a simple one, and that was enough for them.

Peter took a couple of steps back in the grass of the courtyard and away from the car. The entrance next to him was closed by a wooden gate. It was possible to see the road outside that led to the area with vegetation around it.

Gwen was busy showering after they had arranged most of the things back at home.

Their last days together were great. He was happy.

Ren pulled Peter out of his thoughts as the puppy reached for the wheel of the car to get his tennis ball back. It was too late for both of them.

Peter yelled, "Ren, no!" He closed the hose but failed to not get their dog soaked in water. The pug sat down in the grass and whimpered lightly.

Peter sighed heavily. He took the pug under his arm and went to the table in the garage, setting the puppy in it.

"You got to be more careful, buddy. I can't have a kamikaze of a dog, you know?" He grabbed the closest towel around and started to clean the puppy. "That should do it."

Peter placed Ren back on the ground and allowed him to explore the surroundings once again. He later entered the house and scanned the place with his eyes, It had a summer-like vibe inside it, from the style of the painting to the type of furniture.

He approached the wall in the living room where the TV was set against and glanced at the old Stacy family photos found in the stands on the wall. A couple of portraits showed what seemed to be a four-year-old Gwen hanging out with her younger brothers. She was such a pretty child, her facial features hadn't changed much.

Who knows…? Maybe one day.

He smiled to himself. He later realized that Gwen was taking her sweet time in the shower. He headed to their bedroom and stopped near the door to the bathroom.

"I got a pocket, got a pocket full of sunshine, I've got a love and I know that it's all mine… oh, oh, oh…"

Peter chuckled. He knew she could sometimes turn out to be a proper singer in the shower.

"Do what you want, but you're never gonna break me, sticks and stones are never gonna shake me… oh, oh, oh."

Peter smiled. "Hey, honey. How's the crowd over there?"

"They are going crazy! You should come to see them!"

"Oh, don't mind if I do then." He tried to open the door, but it was locked. "I see you have locked the door, Missy."

"Got you! Did you think that there would be no consequences to your mocking?"

"Hey, you sing very well."

"I know that I do." She giggled. "But maybe I do want to take a shower without someone's intervention."

"That's unethical, you know?"

"See you later, bugboy…"

He sighed and walked back to the living room, before throwing himself at the couch. He switched the television on and watched his childhood team, Giants, try to make it through the play-offs.

A couple of minutes later, Gwen appeared next to the door to their bedroom. A white towel was wrapped around her wet body. "Poor you."

He moved his gaze off the screen and towards his wife. "Now you are just being mean."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm having trouble finding my clothes. "

"I don't think you should be wearing anything at all, Mrs. Parker."

"I think I will look for them." Gwen slowly turned on her feet and took a step further inside their bedroom. She caught a glimpse of Peter leaving the couch and rushing towards her.

She laughed as she hurried inside the bedroom and cornered herself against the bed.

"Nah… I'm going to search for them again." She sensually turned on her back and as she caught a glimpse of her husband moving away from the couch and towards her, she instantly hurried inside and cornered herself close to the bed.

"You had your fun." Peter walked towards her. She laughed non-stop.

Gwen crawled into the bed to reach the other end, if only Peter hadn't jumped at the same time and wrapped his arms around her. He landed on top of her in the bed and held both her hands on his and above her head.

She beamed, "Oh… you finally got me, lover boy."

Peter applied pressure over her. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. "You're so beautiful. "He gave her a tender kiss on the lips.

He interlaced his fingers with hers. He released her lips and started to slowly trail kisses down her neck and cleavage. He noticed that her breathing became more rapid. He started to unwrap the towel around her petite body, but stopped once a honk took place outside at the gates.

Peter buried his face on her neck.

Gwen planted a kiss on his cheek. She knew was eager to be intimate with her since they had left the hospital. She smiled, "We can continue this later, okay?"

He nodded.

Gwen caressed his hair. "I love you."

Peter raised and looked up to her green eyes. "I love you too." He smiled and later headed to the courtyard. The gate wouldn't open itself.

"Yo, Parker… !" Flash waved his hand around from the car's window.

"I see you!" Peter approached the gate and began to unlock it.

Ren hurried out of the house and sat next to Peter's feet. Ren kept waving his tail in excitement. Flash drove the car forward and through the gate once it was open. He parked it in the grass and next to Peter's.

MJ opened the door and approached Peter. "Hey, Pete."

"Hey you,' Peter hugged her back. "How are you doing?"

She smiled. "Good. A lot better if Flash hadn't eaten the sandwiches I made for the trip before we got out."

Peter chuckled. "That's Flash alright."

Flash closed the backseat door and turned to face them. He had a bag around his shoulder. "An athlete like me must stay fit all the time."

Peter shook hands with his long-time friend. He teased, "You need to eat a couple more if you want to be like me."

"You wish." Flash grinned. "You were a lot skinnier back in the days, eh?"

MJ stood on her knee once she saw Ren approach her. "Aww… look who's here!" She brought him to her arms. "He's gotten so big!"

Peter nodded. "Gwen just can't stop feeding him."

Flash questioned, "Speaking of Gwen, where is she?"

"She's taking a shower. She will appear soon." He rested his hands on his waist. "We should go inside."

"That's why you took so long, eh?"

Peter chuckled. "Shut up, man. Come on, let's go."

"Shut up…" Peter grinned and helped him get the backs from the car. He couldn't wish for a better time with his friends.

Later in the day…

Gwen applied the sunscreen to her arms in her retractable chair at the beach they were in. MJ did the same to her legs while sitting in her own chair. Peter and Flash were already near the shore passing the ball to each other. They began dribbling each other in no time.

Gwen stretched her arms and lowered her back in the chair, allowing the sun to fully reach her body. She wore a pair of dark glasses and questioned, "How was the trip?"

Mary Jane joined her friend in the sunbathing. She sighed in contentment. "It was good. I like to just… travel from time to time, you know? Meet new places, new experiences, people… that sort of thing."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"How long have you guys been in here?"

"About a week. It's so great here, I don't feel like leaving."

"Wow! That was humiliating!" Flash teased Peter after he managed to pass the ball between the latter's legs.

Who would ever think that they would reach this level of friendship since high school? Certainly not many. Gwen and Mary Jane smiled at the sight.

Gwen turned to face MJ. "So… you and Flash?"

She let out a nod in response. "Yeah. I didn't expect it to turn out more than just a… short adventure, but here we are."

"I guess that good thing can happen where we expect the least."

"That's fair. He's actually… sweet. He's a good person." MJ added, "I just wasn't expecting to be this involved with someone at this point in my life. It's not like I had the best examples of men in my childhood."

Gwen reached for Mary Jane's hand from her chair. "I'm happy for you, you know that, right? You're amazing."

"Thank you, honey." MJ smiled at her kind friend, her red locks falling to her shoulders.

"Wait!" Peter sighed as the ball flew far away into the water. "Oh well…"

Gwen and May watched the situation unfold;

Flash suggested, "Let's do this… the first to get it back, isn't the one to blame, okay?"

"What? How old are you, man?"

Flash grinned. "Chicken, chicken… where's the audacity, Pete?"

"Oh, you… fine but-"

Flash didn't allow Peter to finish his sentence and stormed towards the water.

"That's cheating!" Peter exclaimed, trying to catch up.

Gwen shared a laugh with MJ. She smiled. "This will be fun."

After eating what Flash had prepared for dinner, Peter and Gwen decided to take a calm stroll on the beach and enjoy a peaceful evening. They also felt like allowing Flash and MJ to discover the house by themselves.

The married couple was now cuddling in a towel set over the sand. The sound of the waves made everything that much cozier.

"Did you see that one?" Peter asked, gazing at the sky full of stars. His arms were wrapped around Gwen while she rested her head on his left shoulder.

Gwen nodded. "I did." She raised her chin and looked at her husband and best friend. He made her extremely happy, every time.

Noticing Gwen's glance, Peter turned his head towards her and smiled. "What are you thinking about?"

"Us… finally having a normal day for ourselves." She planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Right?"

"Could we have this every day?"

"Well… I think we just need a little practice."

"Any ideas?"

Peter gently turned himself to Gwen's side and stood on top of her slim frame. She wrapped both arms around his neck. "You are here… you're beautiful, and I have you all to myself, nothing more and nothing less. It's all I need."

They touched their foreheads.

"No spandex or supervillains?"

"Nope, just us… always us." He made contact with her lips and slowly kissed them under the moonlight.

That's all they needed right now.

A/N: Quick update! Nothing of Spider-Man, just Peter and Gwen. They are going to be my main focus for quite some time. Suggestions or improvements are always welcome!

03/03/22: Fixed mistakes. Improved dialogues.