Gwen glanced around, taking in the scenery around her. The campus of Empire State University was full of new faces like her own, everyone seemingly in a hurry to get from point A to B, but her? She was simply content to allow the moment to breathe. Granted, it probably helped that her first class wasn't for another hour, but that was just how things had shaken out. Gwen had honestly wanted to get an 8:00 A.M. class, but there was nothing of interest to her. She liked getting an early start and being productive early in the day, but there would be plenty more opportunities ahead.

Frankly, she just couldn't believe that she was finally here. Gwen had practically talked her dad's ear off for the better part of the last week, God bless the man for listening to her so much and never complaining. She'd just been unable to help herself; she had looked forward to diving headlong into the next level of her studies all summer, the reading of science journals having been just barely tiding her over in the meantime. Now, she would get to learn directly from some of the most brilliant minds in biology especially, and she couldn't wait to get started.

"Excuse me."

Shaken from her thoughts, Gwen turned to see a taller guy come up to her.

"It's Gwen, isn't it?" he asked, offering his hand to shake.

"Yes," she said, his face slowly becoming familiar as she reciprocated his gesture. "I'm sorry, I think I've seen you somewhere, but it's not coming to me."

"I'm Flash," he explained. "We met at orientation the other day."

"Oh yeah," Gwen remembered. "The all-state quarterback from Midtown, right?"

"Former, but yes," Flash said. "You went to Standard High, correct?"

"Sure did!" Gwen affirmed. "We didn't tend to like you Midtown people very much."

"Well, I hope that we can leave that in the past?" Flash suggested.

Before Gwen could respond, the crashing of books against the ground could be heard, and they turned to see that one of their peers had indeed dropped several books and papers on the ground. Flash continued talking again, but Gwen couldn't help but observe as the boy struggled to pick up his things, the crowd content to walk around him or even bump into him on occasion.

"I'm sorry," she said, cutting Flash off in whatever he'd been saying, "but I'm going to help him really quick."

However, just as she'd turned to do so, Gwen noticed another student coming over to the guy before he squatted down and helped him pick up his stuff. She couldn't hear what was being said, but she observed as the second one gently put a hand on the shoulder of the one who'd dropped everything, seemingly making sure he was okay.

"Oh yeah, that's the friend of mine that I thought you should meet," Flash explained, coming up to Gwen. "Hey, Peter!"

The young man then glanced their way before jogging onto the grass towards them. As he came up to them, Gwen realized he was a bit taller than he'd seemed from a distance, though just a few inches more than her. His brown hair was a bit disheveled, though more in a "it's already been a day" manner rather than an "I just rolled out of bed" kind of way.

"Hey Flash," he greeted, his body language anxious and jittery. "Just a heads up, I have to get to class in a few minutes, so I can't stay long."

"Well, do you have a moment to meet this nice young woman here?" Flash questioned. Gwen rolled her eyes, but nevertheless extended her hand for the guy to shake.

"Hi, I'm Gwen."

"Nice to meet you," her fellow student affirmed, his handshake firm yet gentle. "I'm Peter, Peter Parker."

"Nice to meet you too," Gwen replied. "I'm guessing this is your first day as well?"

"Yep!" Peter enthusiastically replied. "I'm excited to get into it."

"Me too," Gwen concurred. "What are you majoring in?"

"Physics, with a minor in Chemistry," Peter answered.

"This guy ended up saving my GPA down the stretch of senior year," Flash interjected. "Probably wouldn't have graduated without him!"

"That's awesome; I'm majoring in Biology actually," Gwen explained. "By the way, I just want to say that what you did for that guy over there was really nice."

"Oh, that?" Peter questioned, glancing back momentarily towards the direction he'd come from. "Yeah, I guess I've just been in too many situations like that myself over the years that I knew how he felt. Alright, I have to get to class; oh, Flash, I almost forgot, you remember Betty from the Bugle?"

"I think you've mentioned her before, why?" Flash questioned.

"Well, I actually asked her out yesterday, and she said yes!" Peter said excitedly, giving a friendly punch to his friend's arm before turning and all but sprinting into the building for his class. Gwen turned and looked at Flash, who appeared somewhat dejected.

"Nice try," she teased, giving him a couple friendly taps on the arm before turning and walking off. She had to admit, seeing her new acquaintance's attempt to play matchmaker fail spectacularly was more satisfying to see than she would have thought. Still, as she headed across campus, Peter's kind assistance towards his classmate remained stuck in her brain. The other guy had been a stranger to him, yet he was the only one to go out of his way to help. She also thought of what he'd said about experiencing the same kinds of things. Essentially, he was implying he'd been bullied at worst and ignored at best, but here he was, still a seemingly happy guy just willing to help out.

It was such a small thing, but something about Peter's action gave Gwen hope; hope for the world, that there were still kind people in it, as well as hope that there were still decent guys out there. She'd only ever had two crushes in her life and dated just one guy, but that had gone nowhere fast. Even so, she was in no rush to jump back into the relationship game again. There would be plenty of time and probably plenty of other nice boys that she would meet as she worked through her studies.

However, what Gwen would fail to realize is that, though she would indeed meet many other guys, she would only ever seem to notice Peter Parker.

It didn't help that, as she worked her way through freshman year, the young man would come to be a major part of her social circle, along with Flash, Harry Osborn and others. Still, despite being around other guys quite a bit, Peter was the one she developed the deepest admiration for. Gwen grew to learn quite a bit about him as the year went on: he was an orphan who lived with his aunt, he was one of the few people on earth who actually DID NOT like Star Wars, and he had a nasty habit of making jokes that varied in quality to diffuse or deflect during tense situations.

More than that though, she learned that Peter loved people. That first day when he'd helped a stranger out proved to be a regular occurrence with him, as he seemed to always go out of his way for someone in need. However, what impressed her even more was how much he cared for his friends. For instance, she had shared a class during the spring semester with him and Harry, and the latter had come in looking dejected one day. Peter didn't hesitate to go over and see what was wrong, and though she hadn't been able to hear the full extent of the conversation, it quickly became clear through Harry's improved demeanor and what little she was able to pick up that the young men's heart to heart had meant a great deal to him.

In short, Peter was making her fall in love with him without even knowing it. She denied her feelings for most of the year, but gradually came to accept she was hopelessly in love with a guy who was unavailable. Though Gwen never acted on these feelings, making a concerted effort to avoid even the appearance of flirtation with him, the whole thing still made her feel disgusting inside. She even went as far as to go on a date with Harry when he asked her out, but the two quickly realized they weren't compatible with one another and mutually opted to remain friends.

There just weren't many guys like Peter; even his frequent instances of ditching everyone was understandable, given his work at the Bugle taking pictures of Spider-Man, which was required to support his frequently ailing aunt. Her feelings were why she made a point to only see him a few times when the whole group was together over the summer, hoping the passing time would help her crush go away. She focused on her research and spending time with her dad, including celebrating his long in coming promotion to Captain. She'd talked about Peter to him probably more than she should have, but he'd never complained, simply offering a listening ear and the occasional advice. The man encouraged her to be patient, insisting that the right person would pop up in time, whoever it may be.

Then the start of sophomore year rolled around, and who should be her Biology lab partner for the semester but Peter Parker.

"Hey, Gwen," Peter said as he came and sat next to his new lab partner. "How was your summer?"

"It was pretty good," Gwen replied, her answer quick and precise. "How about yours?"

"Eh, it was alright I guess," Peter said as the two began to look over what they would be doing for their first lab. "It wasn't anything special really."

"Yeah," Gwen said. Peter couldn't tell what it was, but something about his friend's demeanor was just...off.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Oh, me?" Gwen said, seemingly perking up a little. "Oh yeah, I'm great."

"Awesome," Peter replied. The two then began their work mostly in silence, which Peter proved seemingly unable to stand as he soon spoke up again.

"You know, I don't think you've ever said what got you into science in the first place?"

"Oh," Gwen said, seemingly caught off guard by his question. "Well, it was my mom, actually. She was a professor of Physics for a long time."

"I see," Peter said, the past tense and Gwen's tone not going unnoticed by him. "So, since you're using past tense, I'm guessing that means that..."

"Yeah," Gwen confirmed. "She died about five years ago after a long battle with breast cancer. To be honest, that's why I got into Biology in the first place. I want to research alternative treatments, maybe even find a cure one day if I'm lucky."

"Wow," Peter replied. "I'm sorry; I had no idea."

"It's fine," Gwen assured him. "I'm not afraid to talk about it anymore. I miss her, but my mom lived a good life, and I know she loved me and my dad. I consider myself very fortunate compared to most."

In that moment, it was like Peter's mind flipped in terms of how he saw Gwen. Previously, he'd only thought of her as a nice, sweet girl, like someone straight out of the old 60s family shows he used to watch with May and Ben growing up. She'd always carried herself in a very straightforward manner, like nothing had ever really gone wrong for her in life. Now, after what he'd just learned, there was a strength to her that Peter felt ridiculous for taking this long to notice.

"That's really cool though that that's what you want to do though," Peter assured her. "I've seen how hard you study, and how smart you are, so I know if anyone can do it, it would be you."

"Thanks," Gwen replied, offering him a kind if still subdued smile. "So, how are things going with Betty? You all still going strong?"

Oh yeah, that.

"Actually, we broke up about a month ago."

Gwen suddenly looked at him more intently than before, a surprised look on her face before it turned more sympathetic.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said.

"It's okay," he said. "It was hard at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that we didn't have much in common anyway."

While everything he'd just said was true, Peter couldn't admit that Spider-Man had played a rather unpleasant role in the matter as well.

"I guess that's a good perspective to have," Gwen assured him.

From that point on, something in her demeanor seemed to change. As they continued working through the lab, Peter noticed that she seemed more relaxed than before. She was also more pleasant, not that she had been unpleasant before, but she just seemed happier as she gradually smiled more and more. Eventually, the lab for the day was over, and the two walked out together.

"Well, that was my last class of the day," he said. "What about you?"

"Mine too, actually," she replied.

"Cool," Peter said, nervously reaching and scratching the back of his head as he continued. "You want to, I don't know, go hang out in the library or something?"

Wow, did he seriously just ask her to hang out in the...

"Yeah, I'd love to."

And hangout they would, the two grabbing some refreshments, finding a table and just having conversation. Admittedly, Peter would have thought that, at least at some point, they would have pulled out their computers or books to do some homework, but as the minutes turned to hours, their backpacks remained at their feet as he and Gwen seemingly shared their whole life stories with one another. Granted, Peter kept certain arachnid-based aspects of his life to himself, but other than that, he held nothing back from her, even talking about the days after Ben's death and how hard they were from him, something he hadn't shared at length with someone since May had made him see a therapist.

In turn, Gwen shared about how much she missed her mom, even having to fight through shedding a tear or two here and there. They also talked more about their shared love of science, even going so far as to find out that they had competed against each other at the State Science Fair back in high school without even realizing it. Apparently, they had both been a little too ambitious with their projects, causing them to have performance issues as they went along, which produced a laugh out of both of them.

As the time went on, something else changed in how Peter saw Gwen: he realized how beautiful she was. He'd always thought she was cute but had never allowed himself to entertain the thought beyond that while he was dating Betty. Now, though, as he felt like he was really getting to know her in earnest for the first time, he noticed her long, thick blonde hair that looked as though a storm could hit it and it still would look perfect. Peter also noticed the deep blue color of her eyes and how warm, open and friendly they seemed. Then there was her smile and laugh, which seemed to bring warmth to the whole area. All this only complimented her sweet, fun and caring personality that he was learning more and more about.

Oh man... was he falling for her?

They would eventually realize that it had been four hours since they'd first arrived and head out of the building, the two preparing to go their separate ways... though Peter was finding himself hating the idea.

"I had a really nice time," he said.

"Me too," Gwen replied with a smile. "We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah, absolutely!" Peter affirmed. The two then awkwardly said their goodbyes, both struggling to actually say it before finally turning and walking their separate ways. He glanced back after a few moments though, watching as she headed down the opposite path. Gwen then glanced back his way too, and something about just the fact that she looked back at him sent a shot of joy straight into Peter's heart that practically caused him to skip half the way home. He burst through the door, immediately coming up to his aunt. He took her hands in his own, swinging the two of them around, the older woman laughing along with him as they did.

"My goodness, Peter, what's gotten into you?" she questioned once he finally released her.

"May, I just had the best time!" he declared, his arms outstretched over him. "You remember my friend Gwen, right; the blonde girl in my friend group at school that I told you about?"

"I think so," May admitted.

"She and I ended up being lab partners for our Biology class this semester," he explained. "We talked a little during the lab, and then we ended up hanging out and talking in the library all afternoon, and you know what? She's perfect, May. Man, I don't know how I never really noticed her before! I mean, we were friends all last year, but I've never really NOTICED her, you know?"

"Well, that's because you were being the good boy Ben and I raised you to be and keeping your attention on the girl you were seeing at the time," May pointed out, as if it were the most obvious thing.

"I just... man, she's so great, May," Peter said. "She's sweet and kind, she's smart, she loves science like I do, and she wants to use it to change the world and help a lot of people."

"That's great dear," his aunt said, taking a napkin and wiping her forehead. "I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks," Peter said, her actions and how low energy she suddenly seemed not going unnoticed. "Are you okay though? You don't seem like yourself all of a sudden."

"Oh, I'm fine," May tried to assure him. "I mean, I've felt a little tired today, but I'm sure it's probably..."

May then paused, seemingly unable to finish her sentence. Then, before Peter could even ask what was wrong, she suddenly collapsed, his enhanced reflexes the only thing preventing her from hitting the floor.

"May? May!?"

Peter would end up spending the better part of the rest of the semester in the hospital with May. It turned out that her auto-immune issues were acting up again, her body struggling to fight off a couple bad infections as a result. Her and Ben had both always been honest about her health issues, and his uncle had always done such a great job taking care of her, but this was Peter's first time really seeing and dealing with it on his own, and it broke his heart to see his aunt like this, constantly in a hospital bed and hooked up to so many machines off and on for so long.

Naturally, between taking care of May and dealing with Spider-Man stuff, his schoolwork and social life began to struggle a bit, but his friends did their best to be there for him. Flash and Harry frequently brought him a pizza or something, and Robbie Robertson from the Bugle checked in on him as well. He even noticed that Jameson bumped up what he was paying for his pictures for a while, though the man didn't address the matter directly. Even so, the most supportive person throughout this time was Gwen. She visited him frequently while helping him catch up on what had gone on during the classes he missed as well as bringing him a good home cooked meal on occasion.

More than anything though, she just spent time with him. Peter consistently felt guilty that most of these occasions resulted in him pouring out all his nervousness about his aunt's health, his guilt for perhaps not caring for her as he should or missing the signs that this could happen and other such matters. Gwen listened and helped him through it all though, never once complaining or insisting on a subject change, but instead helping him get everything out that he needed to and helping him work through his emotions. She was even his personal shoulder to cry on in multiple instances.

One positive that he was grateful to come out of all this was that Gwen got to meet May, his aunt getting to know the girl he'd raved about before this all happened. Naturally, it didn't take long for Peter's aunt to offer her earnest approval, which didn't surprise him. That was saying something too, since May had always been skeptical of the girls Peter liked, seemingly fearing they weren't good enough for him. She'd been more subdued with Betty, but it had been clear to him that she didn't think the woman was a good match for him either, even if she thought she was nice. With Gwen, however, May practically raved over her, praising her sweet demeanor, her caring nature, and how confident but proper she was as she spoke.

Of course, this was music to Peter's ears, but unfortunately, even once his aunt's health issues finally began to subside, the city seemingly decided to go crazy, with Doc Ock and Kingpin both going about some maniacal scheme for either world domination or profit. The former also brought together five of his other enemies to join him, resulting in a series of brutal, prolonged fights that Peter had a hard time hiding his injuries from May, Gwen and his friends, coming up with all manner of reasons for what happened to him to cause pain in everything from his head to his leg, and seemingly everything in between.

It was during one such occasion that Peter met Gwen's father, police captain George Stacy. Another battle with the Sinister Six had left him with a bruised side and a hurt ankle that he explained away as having taken a fall down the stairs while carrying too much for his aunt. Nevertheless, Peter did his best to make a good impression on the man, though by the end, he had absolutely no idea if he had succeeded or not, the captain seemingly going out of his way to not give him any indicators whatsoever.

In short, Peter spent all the way up until the fall semester of their junior year wanting to confess his feelings to Gwen and properly ask her to be his girlfriend, but seemingly never able to find the time, whether due to Spider-Man interference or what he'd come to call his "Parker Luck" mentality.

Gwen grabbed the next ingredient she required just as her dad came downstairs.

"Mm, that looks like it could end up being something tasty," he noted. "What's the occasion?"

"Tomorrow is Peter's birthday," Gwen explained. "I'm planning to surprise him."

"Ah, I see," her father noted. "Maybe hoping this'll get you a kiss from the birthday boy too?"

"Dad..." she moaned.

"I kid, I kid," her dad said. "Well, mostly. You do seem pretty serious about that boy though."

"He's just been through a lot the last year or so," she said. "I just want to do something nice... which is why I'm making mom's famous homemade chocolate cake."

"Wow, now I know I'm right," her dad replied. "You haven't broken that recipe out in years, and never for a boy."

"So... what do you think of Peter?" Gwen asked, briefly glancing back towards her father. "I know you've only met him a couple times, but you've never really shared an opinion about him."

"He seems okay I guess; like you said, I don't really know him that well," the man replied. "But ultimately, your mom and I always tried to raise you to be a good judge of character, especially when it comes to boys, so if you like him, then that's enough for me to give him the benefit of the doubt... at least at first."

"I just really hope that I'm not wrong about him liking me," she said. "Every time we're together, it feels like the most obvious thing in the world, but then I come home and nitpick everything in my head to where I'm almost talking myself out of the possibility."

"That's because, like your mother, you just want to please everyone so much that, when something comes along that actually makes you happy, you second guess it," her dad said. "Look, Gwen, I don't know if this boy likes you or not. To me, if he doesn't, it's his loss, but you'll never know if you don't give it a chance."

"I know," Gwen replied. Her dad then gave her a gentle kiss on the side of her head.

"I have to head to the station," he said. "I'll be working late, so if I don't see you before you head out to see him tomorrow, good luck."

"Thanks, dad," she replied. "I love you; be safe."

"I'll do my best," he assured her, "and I love you too."

Peter collapsed in bed, exhausted. Putting away the last couple members of the Sinister Six was not how he'd hoped to spend the better part of his 20th birthday, but he'd managed to do it without an injury that would be obvious to those around him, so he considered that a win. Also a win was the fact that he'd at least managed to actually have some semblance of quality time with May for a little bit this morning before he'd had to rush off to save the day, so at least he didn't have to worry about not really spending time with her today. He recognized how terrible that was of him to even think, but he was just so exhausted, not even just from this one fight, but how Ock, Fisk and others had just kept him busy in general over the last several months.

As he lay in his bed, threatening to drift away at any moment, his mind wandered in many different directions. For one, his GPA likely had to be nearing the point where his academic scholarship could be revoked if he didn't get it back up soon. Also, he really hadn't had any significant guy time with Flash or Harry; honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if they believed he was blowing them off, so he had to make time for them. Then there was Gwen; at the beginning of the day, he'd hoped to call her up and see if she wanted to spend the day with him and May, but obviously that hadn't happened. Part of him still wanted to call her, but he was just so exhausted that he couldn't bring himself to even reach over the phone. Besides, it was getting late enough as it was...

"Happy birthday to me," he thought to himself. "Another banner year in the life of Peter Par..."

A knock at the door disturbed shook him from his thoughts.

"Come in," he said. As expected, his aunt opened the door, poking her head in.

"Peter..."

"May, I appreciate you wanting to take me out somewhere, but like I said, I'm just tired," he explained. "Is there any way I can take a raincheck for tomorrow?"

"Of course," his aunt replied. "But I actually came to tell you that Gwen's downstairs."

Peter suddenly sat up, his aches and tiredness seemingly forgotten.

"She is?"

His aunt nodded.

"Why don't you go on down?" she suggested. "I think I'll go read in my room or something."

Okay, that was strange; May was always wanting to be there with guests to make sure she was as hospitable as possible. Peter didn't allow himself to dwell on the matter though, quickly changing out of his ball shorts and T-shirt once his aunt closed the door, scrambling to put on some jeans and a button-up that at least wasn't too casual. He then hurried downstairs, turning into the living room, where he suddenly stopped.

There she was, standing there in his room, looking as beautiful as ever in a mostly purple outfit and her trademark green jacket, her hair looking as perfect as ever. In her hands was a chocolate cake, with four candles lit in a square surrounding one that had the number 20 on it.

"Happy birthday," she said, a wide, beautifully toothy smile spreading across her cheeks. "I apologize for the impromptu nature of this, but I wanted to surprise you."

Peter slowly walked up to her until practically only the cake was separating them.

"Wow," he said. "This might be the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for my birthday before; I was always used to it being just May and Ben celebrating with me most of the time."

"I know, and I wanted to change that for you this year," she said. "Make a wish."

Peter glanced down at the cake; there was only one wish he had at the moment, but it took his brain a minute to actually think the words in sequence before he finally blew them out. His and Gwen's eyes met.

"Oh, right!" Gwen suddenly said. "I forgot to ask your aunt earlier for a knife to cut the cake. Here, let me just..."

She started for the kitchen mid-sentence, but Peter stopped her, gently taking the cake from her.

"We'll get to the cake," he said gently, setting it down on the table before turning back to face her again. He noticed her face had fallen a bit.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm sorry if it doesn't look good, or if you usually like another type of cake," she apologized. "It's just that..."

"The cake looks great," he assured her, fumbling with his hands as he fought to get out what he wanted to say. "It's just that, well... I just can't wait to find out if my wish came true."

"Oh, okay," Gwen said, seemingly accepting his explanation. "What did you wish for?"

Peter started to speak up twice, but the words got caught in his throat both times. On the third try, he finally spoke.

"Gwen, I... it's just that, over the last year or so, I've... I really, really like you, like a lot."

The young woman's eyes widened as he paused, and Peter wasn't really sure what to make of her shocked expression. His heartbeat spiked as he dared to proceed.

"Anyway, my wish was that, if you're willing that is, that you might... be my girlfriend. What do you say?"

He'd shrugged during the question, a move which Peter was chastising itself for in his head. There was no way he hadn't just completely butchered this...

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Peter's mind suddenly froze, like a computer that had been hit with a virus and couldn't properly process information. Had she really just said what he thought she had?

"Hold on," he said; Peter then grabbed his arm with two fingers just by his hand, pinching himself hard, a move that produced a chuckle out of Gwen. This helped him relax a little as he spoke up again.

"Okay, now that I'm awake..."

"Yes, of course I'll be your girlfriend," she said. Gwen then suddenly leaned forward, planting a kiss on his lips. It was barely a second before she pulled back though, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I don't know what came over me; I'm usually not that forw..."

Peter cut her off by planting a kiss of his own on her.

"Rule number one for our relationship: you never have to apologize for doing that," he clarified.

"Good to know," Gwen replied. She then came back toward him, the two of them leaning in slowly, the action culminating in the first mutual kiss of their relationship. Peter soaked in the blissful moment, his hands instinctively going to her waist, and she threw her arms over his shoulders. For a short time, it seemed like heaven had descended into the room.

Once they finally separated, Peter gazed into her eyes, with Gwen smiling a happy smile that felt as though it could singlehandedly power his heart for years to come.

Gwen couldn't believe this was happening. After fighting off the thought and then waiting for what had felt like forever, she was officially dating Peter Parker...

...and she'd never known a better, more exciting feeling in all her life.

So, this is the first chapter of a unique story I will be doing set in my own original universe that will follow the relationship and lives of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy in a world where they defy the odds and make it work. I know this is kind of a departure from my norm, but I hope you like it! Oh, and for the Peter and M.J. fans (like myself), don't worry, I have something for you guys coming as well, starting next week!

Anyway, hope you liked it!

Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!

"A kindhearted woman gains honor, but ruthless men gain only wealth." Proverbs 11:16