Peter pulled out his phone, checking to find that the time was 8:58 P.M, which meant it was already eight minutes since Gwen's night class normally let out. He glanced at the doorway to the building, only to find no sign of his girlfriend so far. They had agreed to meet promptly once her last class of the day was complete, but what if she had taken the back way and ducked out on him?

Taking a breath and shutting his eyes, Peter tried to compose himself. Gwen had been eager to fix things with them for most of the past week, so she wasn't likely to back out now. He was just so nervous, his heartbeat having been faster than normal all day. Was he really going to go through with this? COULD he go through with this? He didn't see any other way to save his relationship, but still...

Hearing the door open, Peter glanced back to the exit to find Gwen, who promptly walked his way.

"Sorry," she said when she drew near enough. "Dr. Warren wanted to discuss something about my paper after class."

"I was starting to think you weren't coming," Peter admitted.

"To be honest, I was almost surprised to get your message," Gwen conceded. "Don't get me wrong, I want to fix things between us too, but I was beginning to wonder if you did."

"I know, and I'm sorry," Peter said, grabbing her arms almost to brace himself. He could feel his heart rate picking up even faster, his breath suddenly caught in his lungs.

"Woah, are you alright?" Gwen asked. "You don't look well."

"I'm not," Peter readily confessed, "because I'm scared to death."

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Gwen asked.

"No, nothing like that," Peter assured her. "It's just... come with me. There's something I need to show you."

His girlfriend obliged, though concern was written on her face even as she came alongside him. From there, the two exited the ESU campus. Peter didn't say a word the whole time, his mind unable to process anything but the decision he was about to make and the potential ramifications. Gwen didn't say anything either and, though she did her best to put on a brave face, he could tell she was growing concerned as well.

As they neared the building he'd planned this at, his mind began questioning everything. Would she take it well? Would she freak out? Even if she did, what would happen next? What if he became careless in a fight for one second too long, and he was found out, and...

"Easy, Peter," he said silently within his mind. "One thing at a time. You can do this."

Finally, they came to the place. He entered the building, holding the door for Gwen to do so as well. They then took the elevator up to the top floor, going out to the roof from there.

"Peter, what are we doing here?" Gwen questioned, confusion written all over her face.

Shutting his eyes and taking a breath one more time, Peter steeled himself before turning to face her.

"Gwen... what I'm about to show you is something that I've never told anyone," he explained, "and it might change the way that you feel about me."

"Peter, nothing could ever do that," Gwen assured him, coming up closer to him. "Whatever it is, I'll still care about you like I always have."

"I hope you're right," Peter replied. He then backed away, nervously pacing from side to side.

"Gwen, I... I'm... actually, it might be better if I just show you."

Peter then turned and broke into a run, leaping off the building.

"PETER!"

Gwen immediately raced to the edge of the roof, her heart suddenly in a panic. No sooner had she gotten to the edge when, seemingly out of nowhere, a figure shot up over her, flipping and landing about ten feet from her.

It was Peter... with a Spider-Man mask on.

"Peter!?" Gwen stammered out, her own breath now catching in her throat. "You... you're..."

"Yep," her boyfriend confirmed, lifting the front of his mask to reveal his face. "I'm Spider-Man."

Gwen just stood there, dumbfounded, her jaw practically on the ground. Peter Parker, the man she loved, was a superhero?

"I... I don't even know how to process this," Gwen confessed. "Like, am I dreaming right now?"

"Nope," Peter confirmed. "Here, let me prove it."

He then began removing his outer clothes, revealing the rest of his outfit underneath.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm going to take you for a swing," Peter said.

"Are you crazy!?" Gwen asked.

"It'll be fine," Peter said, leaping up to the roof's edge. "Drop your backpack here; we'll come back for it."

"So, we're just going to swing across the city?" Gwen questioned, still finding this whole thing a bit incredulous.

Her boyfriend simply extended his hand, not saying a word. Hesitantly, Gwen let her backpack slide off her shoulders, dropping it to the ground and, taking Peter's hand, she stepped up onto the edge. Upon glancing downward, she instantly threw her arms around him, clutching him tightly.

"Hey," he said, getting her attention. He then put his right arm firmly around her waist. "I got you."

Something about the calm way he said those last three words offered her at least a little peace, so she tightened her hold on him just a little. Peter then fired a web (a sentence she never believed she'd even think in her head), and, gracefully, stepped off the edge. They almost instantly picked up speed as they descended, prompting Gwen to squeeze her eyes shut, pressing her face against her boyfriend's shoulder. She could feel them rise and fall a few times, but her eyes remained shut. She didn't especially fear heights, but she'd never been a huge fan of roller coasters, always needing to be talked into one and regretting it at least fifty percent of the time.

Eventually, she could feel their pace slow up and steady a little, their movements becoming more graceful as well. Gwen dared to look out, opening her eyelids ever so slowly. Gazing out ahead of them, she saw what felt like most of New York, the lights of the buildings illuminating the area for miles. Just then, they began another descent, and that was when Gwen noticed how the wind rippled through her hair for the first time. It wasn't a violent feeling, but surprisingly smooth for the speed at they had to be going.

Daring to lift her head from Peter's shoulder, she glanced around, looking out into the night sky. The moon didn't seem so far away compared to her usual view, and they often were almost level with some of the highest buildings in the city. She could even see the George Washington Bridge to her right, the bay far below them. Slowly, her feelings towards her situation began to change. Her heart began to settle, and instead of fear, she felt a strange peace inside, a calm that was beginning to come over her.

She glanced over towards Peter, who glanced back at her as well. Though she couldn't see his face, Gwen somehow got the sense that he was smiling one of his peaceful, kind smiles her way, her heart warming at the thought. For the first time, she could actually start to see how the man she loved and one of the city's primary heroes were one and the same. She'd never really formed a strong opinion about Spider-Man, but he'd always seemed to be out helping people. Now that she knew who was behind the mask, it began to recontextualize everything she'd ever heard about the webbed wonder.

"Wow," she thought as she felt her cheeks stretch to accommodate her smile. "My boyfriend is a superhero."

As Peter observed his girlfriend's smile, relief began to wash over him. He then arced his web, heading towards the nearby bridge. Eventually, he brought the two of them to a stop, perching the two of them at the highest point of the George Washington itself.

"Wow," Gwen let out, now seemingly in a much happier state. "That was amazing!"

"I know, right?" Peter replied. "It really grows on you after a while."

"I suppose you would know," Gwen said. "Wow, I still can't believe this is real; my boyfriend is Spider-Man!"

"Trust me, even after these last several years, sometimes I still can't believe it myself," Peter replied.

"Honestly, I'm not sure how I didn't see this before?" Gwen questioned. "I mean, it explains so many things!"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Peter replied. "I mean, if the smartest person I know couldn't figure it out, maybe I'm not doing as bad at this secret identity thing as it feels sometimes."

"So, no one else knows?" Gwen questioned.

Peter shook his head.

"No one."

"Wow," Gwen replied. "I feel so special."

"You should, because you are," Peter assured her, "and I'm sorry that I waited so long to tell you."

"I guess it is only one of the world's biggest secrets," Gwen conceded.

"So... you're not upset with me?" Peter questioned.

"I mean, yeah, it would have been nice to know sooner," his girlfriend remarked. "But honestly, if I try and put myself in your shoes, I have no idea how I'd handle something like this. I'm just glad I know now."

"I am too," Peter said, regripping her waist a little tighter. "I want you to know the truth about who I really am, everything about me."

"Good, because I have A LOT of questions!" Gwen said. "Like, how did you even get these powers anyway? Were you just born with them?"

"Nope, not a mutant," Peter assured her. "I was actually bitten by a radioactive spider while I was on a class field trip to ESU as a teenager."

"Wow, was it painful?" Gwen asked.

"Oh yeah!" Peter exclaimed. "But it subsided almost instantly, and less than ten minutes later, I was jumping up buildings and crushing metal pipes!"

"So, what, you decided to put on spandex and become a superhero?" Gwen questioned.

Peter hesitated, glancing downward for a moment before answering.

"Not exactly."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.

Peter sighed, figuring he might as well throw it all out there.

"Believe it or not, I actually wanted to be in the entertainment business at first."

His girlfriend's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh yeah," he assured her. "I was good at it too; after just one show, I was having promoters and agents all wanting to sign with me for stuff."

"So... what changed?" Gwen said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Peter hesitated; he'd never actually said what he was about to tell her out loud, the words catching in his throat at first. Still, he persisted.

"One day, I was leaving after a show when a thief was running towards me. I could have easily stopped him, but in the moment, I didn't care; I was sick and tired of being pushed around and having people tell me what to do, so I let him go to prove some kind of stupid point. Later that night was when I'd learned that my uncle had been murdered, but when I caught up to the guy... it was the thief who I should have stopped."

Peter paused, observing his girlfriend's face. Her expression was a mix of surprise, sympathy, and just general bewilderment, like her brain was receiving too much information at once.

"That was when I finally understood what Ben had always been trying to teach me: that there's a responsibility that comes with anything in life, but especially with these powers that life gave me for some crazy reason."

"I... I'm so sorry," Gwen spoke up. "I didn't know."

"It's one of the reasons why I was scared to tell you about me being Spider-Man," Peter confessed. "I knew that we'd eventually have to get to this part, and you'd see that I'm not some great guy, but a selfish kid who spends every day hoping that he's learned from his mistakes, who's always trying to do better, but never seems to do enough."

Peter glanced down again, the shame of his past actions hitting him like a tidal wave all over again as if he was living then anew.

Though Gwen's head was still swimming in all this new information, she knew one thing for sure, and that was that she needed to help her boyfriend understand something.

"Hey," she said gently, "look at me."

He obliged her, his gaze returning to meet hers.

"Nothing you just told me changes how I see you."

There was a little relief in Peter's expression, but mostly surprise, as if Gwen had just said something unbelievable.

"Really?"

"Really," she assured him. "I know there's a lot I'll need to process, and even more that we'll still need to talk about and work through, but I also know now more than ever that you are what I've always seen since the day you helped that guy you didn't even know pick up his books when everyone else just walked past. You're the same guy that helped Harry and Flash when they were down, and you're the same guy who treats me like I'm the only woman in the world. And now, I also know that you're the same guy who serves the city in ways no one else can. You're still my guy, Peter Parker."

A big smile broke out on Peter's face, one of his classic smiles that others would consider dorky, but Gwen just thought was cute.

"I love you."

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, Peter's eyes widened dramatically.

"I'm sorry!" he said. "I didn't mean to... I was hoping for a better time to say..."

Gwen put her finger to his lips.

"You chose the perfect time," she replied.

"I did?" Peter questioned, already appearing as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Gwen nodded.

"And I love you too, Spider-Man."

Peter gave her one more of his classically cheesy smiles, then he leaned in, their lips meeting in a kiss. They held their positions before finally separating, and as Gwen once more stared into Peter's eyes now, her heart filled with joy like water filling a cup until it was overflowing. To think, even a day or so ago, she was afraid things were over between her and Peter, but now, there was a new beginning for them...

... and Gwen couldn't wait to see where things went from there.

Hope you all enjoyed it!

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

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." James 4:10