A few days. That was it. That was all she had to get through. It would be graduation and then she would be free.

Gwen wasn't sure why she ran, but she did. And she didn't stop even after she was far enough away from the school building. She continued to run until she was behind the equipment shed. Away from the crowds where she could finally get away from all the conversation. Leaning her back against the flaking wooden wall, she ran her fingers through her hair and stopped fighting the urge to cry. Wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand, she fumbled through her bag for her phone and shakily scrolled through her contacts until she found the one she'd been looking for.

Her finger hovered above the green button as she hesitated over calling the number. With a heavy sigh, she pressed it.

It rang. And rang. And rang. As she was about to hang it up, the ringing stopped and the call connected to the other end.

"Gwen?"

Even just hearing his voice eased her pain, though only slightly. She didn't trust her voice. Not one bit. But she didn't have a choice.

"Hey." She said in the most believable fake joyous voice she could manage.

Unfortunately for her, it wasn't believable enough. She could almost feel Peter's frown on the other end as he spoke again.

"Is everything okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fi- I mean, everything's fine." She stuttered and mentally cursed herself for not being able to pull herself together. "Listen, where are you?" She added.

"I am currently just heading back to school. I had to sneak away for Spidey business."

"Okay, well… when you get here could you- um-" She cut off as her voice broke. "Could you meet me behind the equipment shed, please?"

There was a long pause before he spoke again. "Wait, Gwen… Are you crying?"

"Me? Crying? No. What makes you think that?"

"I don't know… Just sounded like it. But to answer your question, I'll be there in five."

"Okay. I'll uh- see you in five." She said quickly and hung up the call before he could question her further.

Unable to stop herself, she leaned forward and buried her head in her hands, finally breaking down in tears. It had been a short while since the night her father was killed, yet people had no shame or respect. And what she'd heard in the hallway proved it. She thought that she could hold her head high and ignore it, but it was hard when the conversations happened wherever she went and people whispered if they saw her walking past. So, here she was at her breaking point.

With her head hidden by her hands, she didn't notice when Peter swung down on a web from a nearby tree and landed on his feet in front of her. His eyes widened when he noticed her reddened face despite her hands being in the way. It was quite a shock. She was always so well composed that seeing her this distraught rocked him. All he knew was that he was going to get to the bottom of it. Even if it took all afternoon.

"Hey, hey!" He rushed forward, reaching out and putting his hand on her shoulder.

She lifted her head in surprise and he was taken aback by just how red her face was and the pale tear tracks on her cheeks causing a great contrast. He didn't bother to flash a smile, knowing that if she was this upset, it was no joking matter.

"I knew it." He muttered. "Gwen, what's wrong?"

His curiosity peaked when she didn't bother to try and pull herself together in order to speak and instead just threw herself at him. He caught her in his arms and enveloped her in a hug, allowing her to feel whatever she was feeling rather than trying to persuade her that it was wrong. She didn't hold back either, burying her face in his shoulder and tightening her grip on him. His hand found its way to her hair, where he couldn't help playing with her shining blonde locks. It wasn't helpful to find out what had gotten to her, but it helped him to think about what to say.

"Please talk to me." He encouraged, rubbing small circles on her back.

Getting no response, he pulled back just enough so that he could see her face. He swept the strands of hair that had become stuck to her face away, and placed his fingertips under her chin, tilting her head up gently so that he could look into her eyes.

"They made fun of my dead father." She choked.

Of all the things he was anticipating, this was not one of them. A pang of guilt washed over him but he pushed it away for her sake and wrapped his arms back around her, pulling her back into the hug.

"What exactly did they say?" He questioned. "I mean, I've never seen you like this and I'm shocked."

A whimper escaped her and she gasped as she tried to speak. "Oh you know, that he failed to protect the city, that he was unworthy of his badge, that he deserved to die."

"Gosh…" He whispered.

"I know it's stupid to cry. I'm stupid to cry about it, but I just couldn't- I've been overhearing it all the time and every damn time it hurts more and more." She sobbed. "And I can't take it anymore."

Peter frowned, thinking hard about the situation. He wanted to march into those halls and put those gossiping teenagers in their place. But he stayed put because it would only make the situation worse, and because he could see clearly that Gwen needed him more right now. Then he had an idea and he grinned. As if she could sense his goofy expression, she pulled back and folded her arms, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"What do you say? You wanna get out of here?"

"More than ever." She sniveled, eyeing his hand as he moved to wipe away the few tears that were still falling.

"But first, please stop crying. I hate it when you cry. It makes me want to cry too."

Gwen bit down on her lower lip and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths before nodding in agreement. "Okay."

He flashed a small smile and held open his arms once more. She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him, knowing what was coming next. He placed one arm securely around her waist and aimed the other in line with the tree he'd swung in from, shooting a web and swinging them both out of the area.

Swinging from a web up to the front porch to Aunt May's house, he landed on his feet once again and ensured that Gwen did not land any differently. He dropped his hands from his sides and opened the door, allowing her to walk through first and closing it again once they were both inside.

"Now, I was going to save this for after your graduation speech, but it's killing me to see how upset you are. And I know that you've been going through a really rough time since your dad- yeah, and I wanted to do something that would cheer you up and-"

"Peter." She cut in.

"Y- Yeah?"

"You're rambling." She giggled.

He felt the heat rise to his cheeks before he could look away. "Sorry."

"Don't be. I could listen to your voice all day and it still wouldn't be long enough." She sighed. "Please, continue."

His smile returned. "Ah, well to cut a long story short, remember that time when your- your dad…" He paused. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize every time you say the word dad, Peter." She assured him.

"Remember when he mentioned that thing about you wishing for a house of chocolate?"

"Yeah, I remember…" She nodded now suspicious of what it was that he was up to.

"Good." He grinned. "Now, close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Don't ask. Just do it." He insisted.

Without further questions, she closed her eyes and then felt Peter's hand being placed over them. She allowed him to guide her through the house as her mind raced through a thousand possibilities. They came to an abrupt stop not even a few minutes later, but his hand remained over her eyes.

"I'm gonna remove my hand, but don't open your eyes, okay." He instructed.

"I won't." She promised.

She felt his hand move and then heard his footsteps as he moved away from her. Along with his footsteps, she heard the placing of something heavy sounding against a surface that she could only assume was a table.

"Now you can open your eyes." He announced.

And she did. Her jaw dropped and she remained speechless as she saw a fairly large white box with a baby pink ribbon tied in a bow around it, sitting in the middle of the kitchen table. She shifted her gaze to Peter, who was standing to the side of the table with a smirk on his face and a gleam in his eyes.

"Uhh…"

"It's for you. Go on. Open it." He prompted.

"Uh-huh." A small smile tugged at her lips as she walked over to the table.

Hesitantly, she pulled the box closer. Her eyes were beginning to burn from all the crying and she blinked a couple of times to allow the sensation to pass before pulling at the ribbon. The bow came undone with no difficulty and she snuck a glance at Peter before cautiously lifting the lid. She let out a gasp as she saw what it revealed.

Peter's grin widened to the extent of a Cheshire cat when she next looked at him. He looked as though he was waiting for her to speak, despite knowing that he'd rendered her unable.

"Well…"

Gwen's eyes returned to what was presented to her; a house made entirely of chocolate. Similar to what you'd usually see made out of gingerbread with a mix of milk, dark and white chocolate that created all the little details, like the shred of curtains framing the windows and a chimney up top made out of milk chocolate with some white shaped like a cloud to look like smoke.

"I- Peter, I have no words." She began.

"Oh?"

"This is incredible and one hundred percent the sweetest thing that anyone has ever surprised me with… It's exactly how I imagined it as a little girl." She beamed.

It was then that Peter knew he'd made the right call by revealing it earlier than planned. The way her face lit up and a smile, a genuine smile, escaped onto her lips was enough.

"But… graduation is only a matter of days. Why didn't you wait?"

"Because… screw those insensitive jerks that think it's okay to poke fun at someone's death and knowing that it would hurt someone else." He answered. "Seeing you like that hurt me, and I never want to see that again."

"I- I don't know what to say." She admitted. "This is adorable, and I can't believe that you went through the trouble just to fulfill a childhood dream of mine."

"It was worth it. Trust me." He responded. "Seeing that smile on your face made all the effort worth it."

Gwen pouted her lips and giving him no warning, ran up and hugged him tightly. The last thing she had expected him to do was to make one of her ridiculous childhood dreams come true, and yet here they were. Her mind was no longer clouded by the echoes of those words about her father and she couldn't express how grateful she was to feel that relief.

"T- thank you." She whispered into his ear.

He rested his head on her shoulder and brought his arms to rest around her waist, not wanting to let her go for as long as possible. She was happy and he was happy to see her back to her usual self. That was all that mattered to him at that moment. He had managed to salvage the remains of a bad day and give her at least a little something to be happy about.

After all, who didn't dream of a house made of chocolate?