Note: This story takes place sometime during Season 2 of Omniverse.
Kevin parted the curtains covering the window in his cot. Gwen had said she'd be there in five minutes, five minutes ago. He couldn't lie, with how distraught she'd sounded on the phone, he was a little worried. All he could do was wait, but patience was never his strong suit. He needed to know if she was alright.
He turned away from the window, looking at the small space he now called home. His cot was fine to live in, he supposed, though it wasn't the best place to have guests. It was barely bigger than his bedroom at his childhood home in Bellwood. There was only room to fit essential things, like a bed and a refrigerator. Anything that wasn't necessary for daily use was stored in his car. He couldn't complain about his living arrangements too much, since the rent was dirt cheap and the body shop he worked at was literally a stone's throw away.
Three knocks on the door alerted him. He didn't get to open it all the way before Gwen limply collapsed into him and buried her face in his chest. On instinct, he tightly wrapped his arms around her and moved a hand up and down her back. "One of those nights, huh?" She didn't make a sound. Strange. All this was most unlike her. Her coming to him for solace was nothing new, but she was never this quiet or motionless.
Kevin decided the whys and hows didn't matter. What mattered was that Gwen needed him, and he was going to do everything in his power to be there for her.
After a couple minutes, she withdrew, not enough to break from his embrace, but enough to lift her head. She met his gaze with lidded eyes, her lips curved downwards in a deep frown. Kevin recognized that look all too well. He'd seen it in the mirror more times than he could count.
"D-Do you have any ice packs?" she asked, her voice quavering.
"Yeah." He gestured at his bed behind him. "Go sit down."
She closed the front door, removed her shoes, and sat on the edge of Kevin's bed while he retrieved an ice pack from the fridge. He walked over to her and sat to her left. "Where does it hurt?"
Gwen tugged her shirt down to expose her left shoulder, revealing a large red bruise. Unprepared for the sight, Kevin exhaled sharply. With some hesitation, she preemptively answered the question which was undoubtedly on his lips. Better to rip off the band-aid now than later. "It was a lucky hit."
Quickly collecting himself, he placed the ice pack on the bruise, causing her to flinch at the sudden cold against her skin. "No kiddin'. The crooks in this town could never land a hit on you on a good day."
Unfortunately for him, she didn't take it as a compliment, judging by her bowed head. "Today wasn't a good day."
Kevin clamped his free hand over Gwen's thigh and gave it a squeeze. "Wanna talk about it?"
She tried to make sense of the jumbled mess of thoughts swirling around in her mind. She was always the more articulate one between the two of them, yet words were failing her now. "I don't... I don't know where to begin. Between college and being Lucky Girl, I think I'm overwhelmed. No, more than that." Her voice gradually loudened. "I'm exhausted, Kevin! I feel like I'm doing too much and not enough at the same time."
After Gwen and Kevin moved away from Bellwood, they had every intention of leaving the hero life behind them, at least until after Gwen's graduation. However, it didn't take long for Gwen to realize she didn't want to get rusty with her Anodite abilities, so she decided to put them to good use by taking up the mantle of Lucky Girl to protect the town, with Kevin's full support. Kevin himself, on the other hand, wanted to get a taste of a normal life. He'd promised to come out of retirement in cases of emergency, though, and in his view, her not being at 100 percent against the crooks tonight definitely counted. He wished she'd asked him for backup.
"You're doin' plenty," he assured her. "I know it's in your DNA to take on more than you can handle, and I know I've told you this a buncha times, but ya can't keep it up forever, G. You're gonna burn yourself out."
Her voice returned to its normal volume. "I know, I just..." She trailed off with a long sigh, trying and failing again to form a coherent sentence to convey her emotions.
"Rest now, rant later." He took the ice pack away and she lay down on her back, not bothering to argue. He placed the ice pack under her shoulder and lay next to her with his back against the wall. Since the bed was just big enough for one person, he pulled her towards him so she wouldn't fall off, then enveloped them both in the blanket. "So... why'd ya wanna come over here instead of meetin' at your place?"
Gwen stared absent-mindedly at the ceiling, shifting her eyes to Kevin when he put his arm over her waist. "I guess you could say I was in the neighborhood. I fought those crooks not too far from here. Well, that, and this place... I dunno, it's cozy." She would have shrugged if her shoulder wasn't bruised.
"Cozy?" He snorted. "Try 'cramped'. You hate small spaces."
"This place is an exception. Besides, did you forget about all the time Ben and I spent in the Rust Bucket? Here isn't much different."
"Ya got me there," he conceded. With a low groan, Gwen shut her eyes and rubbed her temple. Kevin could only assume a headache was setting in. In lieu of painkillers (of which he had none), he gave her what he hoped was the next best thing: a kiss on top of her head.
She opened her eyes and smiled ever so slightly, but to his chagrin, it disappeared almost as quickly as it came. "Do you... Do you miss being out on the field with me?" Crime here was much tamer than back in Bellwood, so she didn't usually need help taking down criminals. Still, she'd only been a solo hero for a few weeks, so it felt somewhat odd that no one joined her on her nightly patrols.
He answered her with a question of his own. "Do you miss havin' me out on the field with you?"
"Sometimes, I miss fighting by your side," she admitted. "But I don't miss worrying about you getting hurt, or worse, watching you get hurt."
Kevin let out a low chuckle. They both knew he could hold his own, but he was touched at her concern, nonetheless. "I don't miss gettin' hurt myself, I can tell ya that much."
Following a short pause, Gwen spoke up. "Are you sure you're okay with this? You know, taking care of me and all?" She was often torn between wanting to be taken care of and wanting to be self-reliant. Right now, she was both grateful that Kevin was there for her in her time of need and ashamed that she wasn't strong enough to take care of herself. He had spent the whole day working. Surely, he had better things to do than look after her.
"More than okay." Kevin's hand traveled upwards to hold hers. "I mean, yeah, I don't like seein' you like this, but I like takin' care of you. That's what you do when you love someone, and well..." He turned her head to him and gave her a drawn-out kiss on the forehead. "I love you, baby. Like, a lot."
Her smile returned, this time lasting for more than a few seconds. "Mmm, I love you, too." Leaning her head on his chest, she slowly closed her eyes.
He snaked an arm under her to readjust the ice pack, then rested it around her waist. "Lemme know if you need another ice pack, or anythin' else, really."
"I will-" She interrupted herself with a loud yawn. Staying alert was getting more difficult by the minute. "If I don't fall asleep first," she mumbled.
"Maybe you should sleep. You said it yourself, you're exhausted."
He had a point. A part of her wanted to fight the exhaustion, remembering that she came here empty-handed and wasn't prepared to stay overnight, but a larger part of her wanted to give in. A nap wouldn't hurt, she told herself. "Wake me up in an hour," she replied, enunciating each word just enough for him understand her.
"Got it. You just go to sleep. I'll be right here."
It didn't take long for her to drift off after that, getting the rest she so deeply craved.
Eyes still closed, Gwen awoke, immediately aware that the ice pack wasn't under her anymore, nor were Kevin's arms around her. She stretched her hand out to feel around for him, to no avail. Groaning in annoyance, she fluttered her eyes open, gradually adjusting to the blindingly bright light shining through the window. If that didn't clue her in that much more than an hour had passed, her feeling suspiciously refreshed definitely did.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes as she scanned the room for Kevin. She was about to call out his name when he emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his neck and his clothes from last night in his hands, his hair still damp. "Mornin', Gwen." He tossed his dirty clothes into his already-overflowing hamper.
She folded her arms at her chest, watching as he gave his hair a thorough wipe with the towel and dumped it into the hamper. "You didn't wake me up." He cast a blank stare at her, which she countered with a cocked head. She was less miffed and more curious about the situation. Fortunately, her worries about not being prepared to stay overnight were for nothing. Truth be told, she hadn't slept so well in quite a while, so if anything, she should have been thanking him.
Kevin walked to the bed and sat by Gwen. "I tried. You didn't budge. Said you were too tired to move, remember?"
She extensively reviewed the events of the previous night but couldn't recall ever waking up after falling asleep. "We wouldn't be having this conversation if I did remember. I guess I must've been super tired."
"Considering it's 10 AM, yeah, you were," he said with a smirk.
"No way!" she exclaimed in denial, eyes wide with astonishment. It had to have been 8 AM at the latest. She'd never slept in this late.
He pointed at the wall clock, which proved him right. "Yes way. You slept like a log."
"Wow." She blinked, letting it all sink in. "Did you sleep okay? The bed's pretty small. I'd hate to know you couldn't sleep because of me."
"It's the opposite, actually." Leaning forward, he delicately held her cheeks and planted a lingering kiss on her forehead. "You're like an extra-huggable, warm body pillow. I think I'm gonna need you to spend the night more often."
"I wouldn't be opposed," she responded with a toothy grin, putting her hands over his to keep them on her cheeks just moments longer.
In turn, Kevin grinned, too, delighted that her mood seemed to have improved from last night. "Up for a late breakfast run?"
"How about an early brunch run instead?" She hadn't had a full meal in almost a whole day, so to say she was hungry was an understatement. "I wanna freshen up first, though."
"Sure. There are clean towels in the bathroom." He crossed the room to his wardrobe. He removed a white T-shirt, almost too small for someone his size, from its hanger and threw it into her arms. "Here, this oughta fit." She stood up and held the shirt against her body, checking if it would fit.
"I'll, uh... give you the room." He made his way to the front door and opened it, intending to wait inside his car for her to get ready. "See ya in five?"
She shook her head. "Triple that." Five minutes wouldn't be enough, and she was sure he knew that.
"I dunno, I'm preeeeetty hungry."
Rolling her eyes at his theatrics, she walked to him and pushed him out the door, met with no resistance. "The sooner you leave, the sooner I can get ready and the sooner we can both get food." Before she shut the door completely, she stood on the tips of her toes to kiss him on the cheek. "See you in 15." Then, without giving him a chance to react, she closed and locked the door, leaving him smiling like an idiot outside.
When he finally came out of his daze, he patted his pockets, only to realize...
"Hey, wait a minute, I left my keys in there!"
My goal with this story was to show Kevin being a good boyfriend (obviously :P), and to play around with what It's Not Easy Being Gwen showed, specifically how Gwen juggled a lot of stuff but took it in stride, relatively speaking. I wanted to see what would happen if all of Gwen's responsibilities started to wear her down.