Gwen and I have been dating for a couple weeks now. I still find myself surprised whenever she links her arm into mine. It's an amazing feeling.
She's beside me at the movies, her fingers entwined with mine. A loud scream and Gwen is standing on her seat. "Sorry," she says in a hushed whisper, her cheeks furiously red.
I chuckle as she sits back down and I wonder if scary movies hit her harder thanks to her spider-sense. Ugh, I shouldn't know about that though.
Hav, can't you stop me from recalling the memories that aren't mine?
The only memories that seem to break through are hers. And you do not want me poking your brain, Corny.
Alright… thanks anyway, bud.
Back to sleep now.
Hav's interesting, to say the least. We only really talk when it's my suit or if it senses me wanting to talk. Otherwise, it just sleeps for the sake of both our privacy.
Speaking of which, we've gotten better at taking care of bad guys together, at least before Gwen can show up in her suit. It's better that way, I guess. But I wonder, sometimes, what it would be like to talk about this kind of thing with her. Someone who knows, well, the whole deal.
Another jumpscare and Gwen squeezes my hand, a good reminder to focus on what we have right now. To enjoy every moment we share.
"Sorry about the popcorn," Gwen says as we step out of the movie theater, picking pieces from our clothes.
I chuckle. "Definitely showed me the pop in popcorn."
"And you're the corn in cornball," she says, rolling her eyes before grabbing my hand. "Anyway, any songs in mind for our next jam sesh?"
"Already put them on your 'Cornball' playlist," I say with a chuckle.
"Oh you saw that, huh? I listen to it when I think about how sappy you are," she says, tucking hair behind her ear, "Or just when I think of you."
Back at her apartment, we're sitting on her bed while she leans back against me in my arms. From the window, the sun sets her face with a golden hue. An earbud in her ear and one in mine, a tether connecting us to her songs.
I sneak a picture of her with my phone but she catches me.
Giggling, she asks, "What are you doing?"
"Taking a picture of the most beautiful person I know," I say, "it lasts longer."
"You dork, I am not," she says, blushing.
"Are you saying you've got a twin I've been seeing instead?"
"Maybe…" Gwen teases, "What's her name, I wonder?"
"Gwen…-evieve?"
Gwen snorts and laughs. "Oh my god, yuck."
"Sorry, Gwenevieve, but Gwen's the only one for me."
She's silent a moment after my dumb joke. Her hand reaches out, resting against my cheek. "Kiss me."
I do. And I couldn't have asked for anything better.
Our tongues dance and explore as the kiss becomes more heated. My hands begin to wander. Her narrow waist. The curves of her legs. I want all of her. But… I haven't given her all of me yet.
The kiss eases for a moment and Gwen opens her eyes with a satisfied smile. Her eyes meet mine and she says, "You've got that look on your face."
"What look?" I ask.
"Like you're holding back."
Warmth spreads through me, realizing she's come to know me well. "Gwen, I've… got something to tell you."
Her face gets serious as she unwinds from my arms and removes her earbud. "Ok… what is it?"
Silently, I pull out my phone, scrolling through it before handing it to her. Gwen's brow furrows, her hand shooting up to cover her gasp when she sees the picture of an unremarkable boy covered in bruises and cuts. "Who… who is this?"
"That's me," I answer, "After Peter… ya know… Ned got worse. He didn't like the way I looked at him one day so he beat me then made me take that picture. While he was looking at it, I tried fighting back. Didn't work, just made him angrier. Then he and his friends beat me worse afterward."
"Oh my god, Coryn…"
My lips tug into a slight smile at her concern and I stand in front of the bed. "It's okay. I didn't show you that picture for pity, Gwen. It's for… clarity. Because that's how I looked… two months before we talked for the first time."
Gwen's eyes squint with confusion.
"Unfortunately, my secret isn't some amazing workout program," I say regarding the changes to my appearance since then. "That was the day that I found it. The symbiote." I pause, tendrils sprouting from my chest, forming my white and black symbiote suit, trimmed with gold. "I'm Havoc… and I'm sorry for not telling you right away."
Gwen is unbearably silent as she stares into my eyes. But there's no shock on her face. Her gaze falls downward and she stands. There's no hint of hurt or hostility. She just walks over and grabs my hand. To my surprise, she gives me that soft smile that I've come to appreciate so much. "I know," she says, "Have for a while now… actually."
"Huh?" I utter in shock. "H-how?!"
Gwen gives an easy giggle then explains, "Come on, Cornball. I mean, I do this job too, so I kinda know the patterns. All the times you had to run or disappear then my dad's 'gotta go clean up Havoc's mess' after? The random injuries? Being late a lot of the time? And I mean that butt in the suit? How could I not recognize it?"
"I know, right? It's a nice butt," I say.
"It really is."
"Not as nice as yours, though," I counter.
"Slow down there, tiger." She giggles with a blush. "But most of all, it's how honest you are. I reacted… badly… when you told me the first time that you knew who I was, while we were in masks. Then I felt something different, 'off', when you woke me up after class before inviting me to play some music together. There was getting to know me without using Peter's memory to make it easy for yourself." On tiptoes, she plants another kiss on my lips. "How could I not know it was you, Cornball?"
"But why stay?"
"You didn't use what you knew against me. Ever. With how you are, I bet you even asked Havoc to take away your memories, huh?"
"Pfft," I say, letting out a nervous laugh. "Who would do that?"
"Uh huh…"
"It was absolutely me. I did that. No luck though."
Gwen throws her arms around my neck. "I know how hard it is to be honest with someone when you live this… lifestyle. But, you and me, Coryn, we're in this together, okay?"
I press my forehead against hers, my body almost going weak from the weight leaving me. Nodding, I say, "You and me, Gwen."
Sorry to interrupt, Coryn, Havoc says in my head, One is approaching. The kind of unfavorable we've been preparing for.
A static shock burns through the air and my eyes snap to the window. A myriad of color sprouts between the city spires like a lightshow. I turn my eyes back to Gwen whose body has tensed, her own gaze taken by the spectacle before she turns to me.
"Let's go."
. . .
It's weird being this in sync with Gwen. Especially while wearing similar masks. But here we are, swinging through New York, our movements parallel and fluid through rushing wind, momentum pushing us forward.
You're sure it's one, Hav?
Yes and we must return them to their universe before my pursuers are drawn here.
Our soft landings near Seventh Avenue are met with the grinding and crashing of cement and steel. A shake rocks the building while a thudding rhythm erupts from a wall. A horned silhouette barrels down, grinding to a halt at the center of the road far in the distance. The dust disperses, revealing an armored rhino like a tank standing on two legs.
Gwen eases her head against my shoulder. "Two guesses. What's their name?"
"Killgore?"
"Too creative," she snickers.
"Uhhhh, Stampede?"
"Nope." Gwen pecks my cheek before hopping down with me following. "Hey Rhino!"
The figure turns.
"Seriously?!"
A gruff, Russian accent emerges from the Rhino's helmet lifting to reveal a burly man inside. "Aha! I know that uniform. Let me guess! You both were bitten by spiders!"
We shake our heads in unison.
"Just me," Gwen says, raising her hand.
"Semantics!" His helmet clunks closed and Rhino lowers his head. Thrusters along his suit groan from activation. The massive armored heap of metal explodes into a charge our way.
Gwen and I nod at each other with wordless understanding.
Brace, Hav.
I walk forward, my suit hardening, becoming more cragged while Gwen cuts to the side along the walls.
Holding my ground, I prepare for impact.
It lands with a boom, like a train colliding into me. I labor against being pushed back, boots digging into the asphalt as Rhino's momentum takes us tearing down the street.
The force behind his charge wanes until we come to a full stop.
"What the?!" Rhino grumbles when he notices Gwen holding onto a flock of web strands attached to his suit.
Symbiotic mass shifts to enlarge my fist before colliding with his gut.
"Argh! You little-!" He growls, reeling back in pain before slamming his arms down at me like a hammer. I sidestep and run up his shoulder, leaping off his hulking armor. Gwen's already leaping toward me.
"Jumping into my arms?" I tease mid-air.
She laughs. "Combo move, doofus."
Like a trapeze act, I catch, flip, then swing her in an arc, her legs catching the back of Rhino's head with a resounding, clanging kick.
Rhino falls forward as Gwen and I land beside each other. His armored form suddenly bursts with an array of prismatic light.
"Glitching, huh," Gwen muses to herself.
Rhino groans with an almost feral anger, trying to push himself onto his elbows.
"Guy's tough," I say.
"Yeah, my Rhino's the same way, not known for being very smart though," Gwen says, clapping my shoulder, "Give me a boost!"
She jumps toward me again. I clasp my hands together. Her ballet slippers land against them before I launch her high up toward the New York night. Gwen fires webs and I feel myself pulled toward her, lifting me airborne. Our gazes meet.
"Alley…" Gwen starts, as she swings me up and over like a flail. I feel the weight of gravity pulling me back down like a roller coaster drop as I reel back my arm.
"Oop!" I crash down onto Rhino like a lost wrecking ball, the force leaving a crater beneath us.
Gwen and I walk over to Rhino to check on him. His eye through his helmet groggily opens and focuses on us. "Ugh, I hate spiders." Then he goes limp, letting out a low groan of defeat.
"Rhi-not, just get along then?" I say with a shrug.
Gwen lets out a laugh. A moment goes by before she says, "His body did this thing, like when I was…"
I chuckle and point to my head. "I know."
She laughs. "Right. What do we do with him now?" Gwen asks. "Don't think we can just leave him to the cops."
"I got it," I say, my hand patting the small of her back before stepping forward.
All yours, Hav.
A small piece of my suit detaches and I toss it onto Rhino to gather information. Then the gooey piece scuttles over to a nearby empty part of the street. It stretches and expands into a circle before a warbling grows from its center, lights intensify with a bright glow forming a window into another universe. Gwen and I look through it. Like a different texture is rendering its reality, the world beyond the symbiote borders feels like it's in sharper focus, more rigid.
Turning from the portal, Gwen meets my eyes and says, "You just keep finding ways to surprise me."
"Gotta keep it fresh," I joke.
We drag Rhino's unconscious form and toss him into the portal before the gate crumbles into gray dust.
Gwen looks at the dust with a pensive silence and I feel a pang in my chest because I have a feeling I know what… or who she's thinking about.
Sirens jolt us.
"That's our cue to leave," I say as my web rope sticks to a building. Running forward and grabbing Gwen by the waist, she lets out a happy sounding yelp before we're in the air, swinging back to her place.
Through the journey back, a thought scratches at me.
Hav, regarding variants of us…
I have told you before, Corny. You and I. We are unique across the multiverse. There are no others of us.
Okay…
We sneak through Gwen's apartment window.
"Dad says he's probably gonna be out until tomorrow night, cleaning up Spider-Woman and Havoc's mess," Gwen says, looking up from her phone, her unmasked expression looking amused while my arms are around her.
"We were really something together," I say, still buzzing from our win.
Gwen tosses her phone to the side, her suit tight against her skin. She leans up and presses her lips fervently against mine.
My suit shudders. I am out of here.
Havoc retracts and dislodges from me, scurrying through the door. Gwen and I laugh at the absurdity before our lips meet again. She squeals giddily when I push her to the bed and we're lost in an entangled, passionate embrace.