"So, how did you patch things up with MJ?"

Peter choked on what had been the last of his sandwich. Gwen apologetically thumped him on the back as he managed to calm down. A hard swallow and a deep breath preceded his reply.

"Why the sudden-" he paused to cough into his fist. "-curiosity?" Gwen pursed her lips and shrugged.

"I mean…I don't know…when we met you were a total mess over her, and the next time I see you, you've got a baby with you."

Peter cleared the last of his sandwich out of his throat. "First of all," he started. "I was not 'a total mess'-"

Gwen shot him a look, cutting his sentence right down the middle. Peter sighed at his instant defeat.

"Alright, fine, I was in pretty bad shape, yeah." Peter said before chuckling at himself. "But hey, things worked out, didn't they?"

Gwen smirked. It was rare to see Peter apart from Mayday these days, but she'd managed to convince him to leave her with the rest of the band so they could have another talk.

"Yeah, I guess they did," she replied, suddenly feeling the familiarity of the rooftop they were dangling their legs over. "But, how did you get things to work out?"

Peter met her eyes with a formerly rare look of sincerity. Looks like that were becoming more common, given their current situation.

"Is this about Miles?" he asked quietly. Gwen nodded, prompting Peter to take a moment to think. A flock of pigeons rustled by across the street as he formed a response.

"It was hard, Gwen," he began, thinking back to a time before he'd ever crossed the multiverse. "The split was messy, and…I didn't handle it very well."

Gwen pulled back a "no kidding", listening intently to the older superhero.

"When we were younger, me being Spider-Man was the big issue." Peter tugged at the sleeves of his suit, tracing the web patterns that ran along his wrist. "But we got through it. We made it work."

Peter glanced at Gwen before resting his forearms on his thighs, gazing across the Manhattan skyline. "As we got older, work got in the way. Saving the city got in the way. Our differences got in the way…but we still made it work."

Gwen tried to imagine what Peter was describing. She remembered her Peter: bright-eyed and excitable with his head in the clouds. She tried to imagine if the Peter sitting next to her had been like that, and if he had, how life had worn him down.

"Eventually, she started talking about kids, and…" Peter trailed off. Gwen mentally kicked herself as she wondered if making him talk about this was more painful than she'd thought it would be.

"I couldn't do it," he continued. "It was too much. Too real." He turned to look at Gwen.

"It's like Miguel said, you know?" Peter gave a long tug at the spider insignia on his chest. "This is a sacrifice. And I didn't want for anybody else to have to sacrifice because of me. I mean…my wife…my kid?"

Gwen put a hand on Peter's shoulder. Peter gave her a short, grateful smile before going on.

"Thanks to Miles, I started looking at it differently. Mayday's here because of what he did for me."

Gwen raised her eyebrows a little. "Really?" she asked. Peter nodded and chuckled softly.

"After I met him, I started to think, 'if I could raise somebody like him, then maybe this- '" Peter gestured to his suit again. "'-will have all been worth it. Maybe being Spider-Man doesn't have to be just a sacrifice. Maybe I could make it a gift.'"

Gwen sat in stunned silence. She hadn't known Peter was capable of something like this. After leaving Spider-Society, she didn't know if any wall-crawler was. Peter continued.

"After all, that's the gift that Miles gave me. By becoming his own Spider-Man, he showed me it was possible." Peter gave Gwen a look. A look of hope, and of pride.

"So I went back…I went back and told her everything. That I was sorry. That I wanted to make it work, no matter what. That I finally thought that…maybe I could do it." Peter paused again, this time for a little longer, as if he was searching for more words. Gwen pushed a little further.

"But she didn't take you back right away…" she asserted. Peter shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck.

"We knew we had to take it slow," he said matter-of-factly. "We worked on our friendship again. We talked about the past and the present instead of the future. We talked about what we could and couldn't do. We talked about what we wanted from each other. What we wanted for each other. We did that whole song and dance for a little while, and then…" Peter trailed off again, smiling warmly to himself. Gwen matched his expression.

"Mayday." she said, finishing his sentence. Peter wore a bit of fatherly emotion on his face as he nodded to her.

"Yeah," he managed to say. "And then Mayday." He sniffed, pushing the emotions down before going on. "After we found out she was coming, we decided to get married again. And we didn't do it because we were scared, or because we had to do it for the baby. We did it because she was proof that we were working again. And that we could keep things that way. Maybe even make them better."

Gwen noticed him fiddling with a wedding band on his finger. She smiled, feeling pride for her friend. She looked up to his tired features as she formed the question she was dreading to ask.

"So…how do I fix things with…with Miles?" Peter looked at the younger Spider-person, her shoulders tense and avoiding eye contact with him. It was rare to see Gwen unsure or nervous. He hadn't thought he'd ever see her like this. He considered making some sort of joke about it, but decided against it. Peter tapped his fingers together in thought.

"Before you know what you're gonna do, you have to know why you're doing it." Peter kept his gaze on Gwen. "You know what your why is, right?" Gwen nodded, turning towards him, still avoiding his eyes.

"Yeah," she breathed. "I know what it is." Peter smiled, and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Miles did something for all of us, Gwen," he said. "He gave me a great gift, and I was lucky enough to pay it forward. To my wife, to my daughter...and to Peter Parker. Not Spider-Man."

Gwen took a moment to consider what he'd said.

"Miles showed me…" She closed her eyes and took a breath before looking across the city, searching for someone that wasn't there.

"That I wasn't alone. That it was possible to do better for myself. That anything was possible." She took another breath.

"He's…he's my best friend, Peter. I don't wanna lose him." Finally, she bridged her eyes to Peter's.

"I can't lose him," she reiterated. Peter saw as her eyes began to burn with passion. "I can't lose him to Spot, or to Miguel, or Spider-Society, or-" She paused, looking down in shame. She fought the tears that were welling up. "Or…to what I did."

Peter gave her shoulder a light squeeze. Gwen sniffed, wiping her thumb across her eyes. "Thanks," she said softly. Peter nodded.

"We made mistakes, Gwen," Peter said firmly. "But we're going to make things right." He took a deep inhale, examining the scenery before him. Cars honking, traffic lights flashing in the distance, a million conversations happening along with theirs, leaves wavering in a light breeze.

"When you see Miles, he's probably not gonna be happy." He spoke carefully, unfamiliar with the gravity of his advice to someone who had come looking for it. "He probably thinks he'll never see us again. Maybe he doesn't wanna see us again." He glanced at Gwen, who was still swimming in her feelings a little.

"But an apology and a little bit of honesty will go a long way," he said. "You gotta tell him whatever it is you feel about him." A moment passed as the noise of the New York evening around them seemed to dull.

"Most of all, you need to stand by him," he said. "We know what's coming. We know what we're gonna be up against, and we need to stand by him." He ran his finger along his wedding band.

"Are you gonna do that, Gwen?" he asked, as serious as he had ever been. "Are you gonna fight against the world for him?"

Gwen nodded, without hesitation. "Yeah," she said firmly. "No matter what, this time I'm not gonna leave him." Peter smiled.

"Me neither," he said. The two remained in that moment for what seemed like hours. They watched in silence as the city continued to ebb and flow all around them. Finally, Gwen broke the silence.

"Thanks, Peter," she said, smiling at her friend. "You know, you make a better dad than I thought you would." Peter's eyes widened as he scoffed and waved her compliment away, propping his elbow on his knee and resting his chin on his hand.

"Yeah, well, I'm not looking to adopt any time soon," he said. "One is definitely enough. Besides, I'd prefer Miles."

Gwen smirked and punched him in the arm, to which Peter hissed and rubbed his shoulder. The two shared a bout of soft laughter before they continued to gaze out into the city.

"Gwen, whatever you do when you see Miles," Peter said. "As long as you do it out of love, it'll get through to him." Gwen took a breath before letting it out.

"Yeah," she replied softly. A second passed before she froze, her cheeks turning a similar shade to her neon highlights. She whipped her head to the right.

"Hey, I'm not in lo-!"

She looked just in time to see Peter leaping over the fire escape.

"SorryGwengottagocheckonMaydaybye!" she heard as his voice faded into the floors below. She let out an exasperated sigh as she hugged her knees to her chest, once again left alone with the ambience of the city.

"Whatever it is that I feel about you," she said into the open air. "It doesn't matter. I'm going to make things right." She shuddered against the breeze and felt a warm tear run down her cheek. She didn't bother to wipe it away as she watched the sun go down, a kaleidoscope of oranges and yellows and purples and pinks through her glossy eyes. After a short while, she wiped her eyes and made her way to the fire escape to join the others.

I don't want you to let me go, Miles.