Chapter 30

*door opening*

"Connors!" A voice rang out loudly from across the room. As Peter turned to look towards the source of the voice, he immediately saw a wide-smiled, sharply dressed man, striding confidently towards the group.

"Mr. Osborn," Dr. Connors smiled politely as he addressed the approaching Norman Osborn. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit today?"

"Nothing, nothing," Norman replied, his beaming smile still plastered across his face. "I just thought I'd drop by to see my boys!" he continued, turning towards Peter & Harry as he does so. "I trust they haven't been too much trouble for you, Connors?"

"Not at all," Dr. Connors smiled warmly as he turns towards the boys. "It's still early days, but they've shown a surprising amount of promise,"

Peter felt his cheeks heating up at the compliment. He then took a quick glance towards Harry, who was already smiling nervously, his face turning red as his dad approached them.

"Oh?" Norman raised his eyebrow, slightly taken aback by the praise given by Dr. Connors. "Well, this here is my boy after all! He has that Osborn blood in him! Of course, he'll be brilliant," Norman smiled proudly as he placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder.

"But this one," Norman smiled excitedly as he turned his attention towards Peter. "I have high hopes for this one. Very, very, high hopes," Norman ruffled Peter's hair as a show of affection. "Whatever is in that brilliant little nugget of his, I expect you to nurture it Connors. I suspect one day, these two will be leading the company when I'm done & buried," he continued, smiling warmly at Peter & Harry as he does so. "God knows how much of his potential was already wasted by that idiot, Modell," he grumbled softly.

"Wow, that's certainly high praise, especially coming from you, Norman," Dr. Connors raised a curious eyebrow as he looked at a still flushed Peter. "At the very least, Peter's already acting as if he owns the place," he continued, smiling sarcastically at Peter.

Peter took a few moments, before realizing what Dr. Connors was referring to. "R-right, this morning…," Peter rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment. "I-I'm sor-,"

"Don't you dare apologize, son," Norman smirked arrogantly as he stopped Peter. "I never do,"

"So, what's this about Peter, then?" Norman turned towards Dr. Connors.

"Oh nothing, I just meant with how much initiative he's taking in the labs, he certainly doesn't feel out of place," Dr. Connors bluffed, before giving a cheeky wink towards Peter when Norman turned away.

"Excellent! That is exactly the kind of attitude you boys should be having," Norman smiled happily towards the boys. "Take the initiative! We're here to push boundaries!" Norman continued, turning around the room as he gestures towards the Oscorp facility in general. "The future is what we make of it! We are who we choos-,"

Norman stopped for a few moments as his eyes fell upon Gwen. After a pregnant pause, Norman's mouth hanged in disbelief at the sight of Gwen.

"H-hele-,"

"Mr. Osborn, this here is Gwendolyne Stacy & Elizabeth Allan," Martha quickly stepped in front of the two teenage girls as she introduced them to Norman. "Another of our two, promising young interns," she explained.

"O-of course," Norman nodded his head softly as he recollects himself. "Gwen…," Norman, having regained his cool, extended his arms for an introductory handshake. "I'm Norman Osborn,"

Peter noted the look of surprise on Gwen's face. He quickly turned towards Harry for an explanation, but Harry shook his head in return, also seemingly slightly confused.

"Gwen Stacy, sir. Nice to meet you," Gwen nodded politely as she shook Norman's outstretched hand.

Norman's eyes lingered for a moment on Gwen, before he later turned his attention towards Liz. "And you must be Ms. Elizabeth?" he flashed her a warm smile as he extends his arm again for another handshake.

"Liz is fine, sir," Liz smiled nervously as she shook his hand in return. "We're very happy to have been given the opportunity for this internship, sir. Oscorp, has been one of the greatest companies in America when it comes to Science & Technological Innovation,"

"Ah, yes, well," Norman nodded his head solemnly as he takes a step back from the girls. "If Martha's judgement is anything to go by, it seems that Oscorp is more than happy to have you," Norman smiled slightly as he addressed the girls.

He then took a momentary pause, before turning back towards them. "Where did you say you two were from again?" he asked, slightly curious.

"Uhh, we didn't," Gwen blinked back in surprise. "We're from Midtown. Same as Harry & Peter,"

"Ohh? Harry has never mentioned there's two such charming young scientists in his school," Norman turned, smirking cheekily at Harry. "Last time, he & Peter brought home the red-headed girl. Seems Midtown is full of promising young students, eh?"

"Brought home?" Dr. Connors chimed in, raising his eyebrow in surprise.

"I-I, w-well-," Harry stuttered for a bit as he turns towards Peter nervously.

"Well, I'd love to say it's the Osborn's signature charm, but alas, it was Peter who was responsible for her at the time," Norman continued to joke playfully.

Peter's mouth hanged open, slightly surprised at being called out. "W-well-, i-it was-uhh, the accident was-," he stuttered slightly as he struggles to find the right words.

"Accident?" Liz raised her eyebrow, slightly frowning at Peter. "You brought a girl home?"

"N-no, not really, she came over," Peter mumbled softly. "A-and it was Harry's home…,"

"Oh? So, you brought a girl over to your friend's house?" Dr. Connors smiled slyly at the corner of the room. "Kids these days are getting bolder & bolder, aren't they?"

"W-wha-? W-wait, no-,"

Norman smirked playfully at the sight of Peter's flustering. "Well, look at the boy, charming and clever, a deadly combination," he laughed, before patting Peter in the back reassuringly.

Peter lets out a long, defeated sigh, as he seemingly missed the opportunity to explain himself.

"Now then, have you shown them Freddy?" Norman asked excitedly as he turned towards Dr. Connors & Martha.

"Uhh, no, actually," Dr. Connors shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"We thought we'd start them over a bit slow, show them some of the things that we've actually achieved, before moving on to the experimental stuff," Martha explained, supporting her husband.

"Maybe in a week's time, we'd move over to actual transgenics research," Dr. Connors added.

"Nonsense, you said yourself, the kids show incredible promise," Norman continued excitedly, seemingly brushing off Dr. & Dr. Connors. "We're always moving forward Curt, there's no point focusing on the successes of our past," Norman argued. "If they're going to contribute to the team, they have to be up-to-date on what we're currently striving for right now,"

Dr. Connors opened his mouth, as if to argue the point, before taking a quick moment to think & assess the interns.

"Hmm, very well. I see your point Norman," Dr. Connors nodded his head slowly. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to show them Freddy to help them understand the direction of our research,"

"Brilliant! Come boys! I'm excited for all of you to meet Freddy," Norman beamed excitedly, as he leads the group & Dr. Connors to the adjacent lab.

As they entered the lab, Peter couldn't help but look in awe at the group of people working around them, seemingly doing calculations & testing from what he could barely glimpse. They eventually entered into a darkened room, full of consoles & projections.

"This here, is the 'Transgenics' research lab. This is where, as you, young people say it, the magic happens," Dr. Connors smiled proudly as he gestures towards a large circular surface, with lights & projections seemingly connecting it as one big structure with a second circular surface on top of it.

"We do not say that, at all," Liz whispered to the group under her breath, which earned her several snickers from Harry & a (stunning) grin from Gwen.

"This is a holographic projection tube, where we are able to model & project whatever we require," Dr. Connors continued explaining, before walking over to one of the lit-up consoles and pressing a few buttons.

Suddenly, a holographic image of a lizard popped into the holographic tube. "Now then, what you see here is a computer model of a lizard," Dr. Connors explained, gesturing with his hand at the holographic lizard. "Now, many of these wonderful creatures have so brilliantly adapted that they can regenerate entire limbs at will. You can imagine my envy," Dr. Connors smiled slyly, his wife & Norman smiling at the joke.

"We're trying to harness this capability & transfer it into our test subject, Freddy, the three-legged mouse," Dr. Connors explained. The holographic image now turns into a model of a three-legged mouse. "I can assure you, no dismemberment was involved with this part of the research," he joked playfully again.

"No, instead, Freddy, like many of us humans, was born, with a genetic defect, and as such, grows up, missing a limb," he smiled ruefully. "Now then, I'm sure you're all aware of what we hope to achieve through the introduction of the lizard's DNA?" he turned towards the group. "That's right, we're trying to give it the yellow-colour eyes," he joked.

As the others chuckled at the light-hearted joke that Dr. Connors made, Gwen raised her hand, hoping to ask a question.

"Yes, Ms. Stacy," Dr. Connors pointed at her with his hand.

"Is this similar to CRISPR sir? Like Genome editing?" Gwen asked.

"Ahh, yes, great question," Dr. Connors smiled happily, making eye-contact with an impressed looking Norman. "Yes, & no Ms. Stacy,"

"In a way, the CIRSPR Cas-9 serve as the basis of our modification, but what we're doing isn't as simple," Dr. Connors explained. "CRISPR allows us to modify our existing Genome, repair whatever may be incomplete, remove what we deem unnecessary,"

"Like the CRISPR babies, and Dr. He Jiankui," Liz chimed in.

"I see you're also keeping up to date with the latest developments in the scientific world," Dr. Connors smiled slyly at Liz. "But yes, correct, that is an example of CRISPR Genome modification that is currently widely publicized,"

"However, what we are doing is the splicing of two animals DNA," Dr. Connors explained, an excited glint in his eyes as he explains to the group. "Can anyone tell me why that would be a problem?"

The group stayed quiet for a few moments, before Peter came to the realization of what Dr. Connors has been hinting at.

"It's the different animals…," Peter mouthed softly, which earned him a confused stare from the remaining three.

"It's the introduction of foreign DNA sequences," he started. Peter noticed Gwen's eyes lit up as she finally understands what Peter is saying.

"It'll cause the immune response to trigger," Gwen nodded slowly as she explains the implications. "Rejecting the foreign DNA as an invasive species,"

"Corr-,"

"But that's not a problem at all," Peter mouthed softly, his eyes glued to the now holographic double-helix model of the rat's DNA. "Cancer. CD47-, or, whatever's similar for a rat," Peter waved his hand around as he blurted the words out of his mouth.

"IAP…," Gwen nodded along as she keeps up with Peter. "Or we could preempt the protein, preempt the immune response," she suggests, the both of them deep in thought at this point.

"True, so we're talking 'Horizontal Gene Transfer', 'Natural Transformation'," Peter continued. "But, foreign DNAs have a very low sequence homology, close to none. They would need to rely on illegitimate recombination events,"

"Correct, but before that, have you considered the mRNA decay rate for the foreign DNA sequences?" Dr. Connors chimed in softly, watching intently at the pair of students.

Peter frowned slightly at the input by Dr. Connors. "The decay rate?" he mused to himself. "No, that's impossible to measure. They vary too much between chromosomes. The only way to possibly capture it, is possibly using an algorithm…," Peter reasoned.

"An algorithm…, to measure half-lives & their decay rate," Gwen frowned. "I don't think I've ever read-,"

"We can use Gompertz Equation," Peter reasoned. "As a basis,"

"You mean, to create a new algorithm?"

"It's a starting point at least," Peter frowned. "Otherwise, the foreign DNA will be unable to survive long enough for the homologous recombination to occur,"

"And these two are supposed to be high-schoolers?" Martha whispered softly at Liz & Harry.

"Don't look at me, I've lost them when they started talking about Cancer CD's," Liz smiled ruefully.

"Yeah, they might not be a good rep for how high schoolers typically are," Harry sighed softly.

*CLAP*

"Brilliant!" Norman clapped loudly as he listens to Peter & Gwen's musings, snapping Peter & Gwen out of their trance. "Simply brilliant,"

"Extraordinary," Dr. Connors eyes lit up excitedly as he looks at the pair intently. "Months of research & deliberations, reached in mere minutes," he approached them.

Peter locked eyes with a nervous-looking Gwen, himself feeling very nervous & conscious of the extra attention on the two of them.

"I-I was only suggesting-," Peter started before trailing off. "And I don't think it'll necessarily solve-,"

"Oh, no-," Dr. Connors started to wave away his concerns, before stopping himself. "Come, come, let me show you where we are right now," he said excitedly as he gestures for the two to follow him out of his lab.

They then arrived into his personal work office, where rows upon rows of formulas was written across a multitude of whiteboards & papers.

"This, this here is the key to unlocking 'Cross-Species' Genetic Modification," Dr. Connors explained excitedly, showing them a string of formulas written across one of the whiteboards.

"Your mom came up with it 4 years ago," Norman said, as he leans on one of the walls of the office. "It's been at the heart of our research for the past 4 years," he smiled ruefully.

"My mom?" Gwen looked over at Norman for a moment, before turning back towards the string of formulas, a look of awe across her face.

"It's called the 0-0 Decay Rate Algorithm," Dr. Connors explained. "And just as you surmised Mr. Parker, Helen also based this algorithm with the Gompertz's function at its heart,"

"I see," Peter nodded, studying the string of formula intently. "But these-,"

"Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova," Dr. Connors said quickly, waving away Peter's queries before he even uttered them.

"The Reliability of Aging & Longevity? I see," Peter nodded softly as he considers it for a moment. "Yeah, yeah, no, that would make sense,"

"We've been unable to crack the algorithm for the past 4 years," Norman shook his head slowly. "But back then, your mom & your uncle bred those spiders, and for a moment, everything changed," he smiled ruefully. "The results were beyond encouraging, they were spectacular,"

"Wait, my uncle?" Gwen turned towards Norman in confusion. "Wait-, you know who I am?" Gwen asked slightly surprised.

"Of course, I do," Norman smiled warmly. "You're George's & Helen's daughter," Norman shrugs his shoulders.

Gwen took a moment to think about what Norman just explained.

"Wait, 4 years ago? But that was when…," Gwen mouthed softly.

"Yes honey," Martha nodded her head somberly.

Peter took a moment to realize what they were talking about. "Wait, 4 years ago…," Peter quickly turned to look at Gwen as he realized the implication of the conversation. He quickly noticed the look of discomfort & sadness creeping onto Gwen's face. "Oh…,"

The room remained eerily silent for a few moments as the mood hung heavy in the air.

"Gwen?" Liz started, concerned about her best friend.

Gwen shook her head. "No, I-I'm okay," smiled somberly.

As Peter was thinking about how to comfort Gwen. Harry suddenly rubbed his head in confusion.

"But then, what happened to the spiders that Gwen's mom, bred?" Harry asked.

"They're in the labs," Dr. Connors explained. "The research was spectacular, but without the preceding research, we've been unable to make any notable progress,"

"And…, you're uncle…, let's just say he's a very elusive & stubborn man," Norman smiled ruefully as he looks into the distance.

"That was an interesting first day, wasn't it?" Liz smirked playfully as they made their way across the main lobby.

"Yeah, I had no idea your mom worked at Oscorp," Harry said, whilst placing his intern employee card at the receptionist. "Or that she was such a brilliant scientist,"

"Harry…," Peter shook his head slowly, slightly hesitant to bring up the topic of Gwen's mom in front of her.

"Huh? Oh, right. I'm sorry," Harry winced slightly as he apologized for his words.

"No, don't be," Gwen smiled softly at the pair. "You're right, my mom was a brilliant scientist," she smiled proudly. "Gotta admit, it's pretty cool being able to see her work, up close & personal like this,"

"Yeah," Liz grabbed one of Gwen's arms and rested her head on Gwen's shoulders. "And who knows, we might be the ones to actually complete her work, eh?" she chuckled softly.

Gwen remained silent at her joke, a slight frown slowly creeping onto her face.

"Something tells me, someone may have actually beaten us to it," Gwen mouthed softly, seemingly more to herself than to her friends.

Peter raised his eyebrow in suspicion, interested in what Gwen was saying to herself.

"Hm? What was that?" Liz asked, not catching what Gwen said.

"N-nothing," Gwen quickly turned & flashed her a smile to reassure her.

*Car parking noise*

"Well, looks like one of us already has a ride home," Peter smirked as he sees the limo being parked in front of them.

"Leave it to Mr. Norman to keep a low profile," Harry sighed. "Later guys, I'll see you tomorrow,"

Harry quickly raced down the steps & into the limousine. His dad who was just stepping out to greet him, slightly taken aback by his sudden speed. Norman then quickly turned towards the group & waved them goodbye, before joining his son in the car.

"So, Pete, when are you taking us out on one of those limos?" Liz smirked playfully, enjoying the sight of the flustered pair in front of her.

"Wha-? But you guys are literally going in the same direction,"

Peter fidgeted slightly as he tries to make up a reason to split up from the group. "I, uh, I'm heading to somewhere else today," he said. "There's a new thrift shop that opened recently over at Upper Manhattan," he bluffed. "Oh yeah, and I, uh, wanted to go there to buy the new screen for my phone,"

"'Oh yeah'?" Liz asked, looking unimpressed.

"I-it's okay Liz," Gwen tapped her friend on the shoulders. "I'm fine going home by myself," Gwen said.

Liz turned towards the both of them, frowning deeply as she does so. "Ugh! You guys are making this so much harder than it needs to be!" she fumed. "Fine! Do what you want! I don't even know why I even bother at this point," she frowned, stomping her feet angrily as she leaves the pair.

Gwen & Peter stared at the leaving Liz for a few moments, before they turned back towards each other.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Gwen rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "No idea what she's talking about, haha," Gwen lets out a small awkward laugh.

"Uhh, I think she's just worried about you," Peter offered. "Alone, in New York, you know?"

"Oh, if only she was that simple," Gwen mouthed softly under her breath.

"Hm? What was that?" Peter asked.

"N-nothing! Ahaha," Gwen smiled widely.

"Oh, okay," Peter nodded along. "A-again, I'm sorry for not-,"

"Oh, nah, it's fine," Gwen waved him away. "I can take care of myself. Besides, I've got a few things I need to think about…,"

"Right, right," Peter nodded.

"…and you being there is very distracting," Gwen mouthed so softly, that Peter was sure he had misheard her, even with his improved hearing.

"S-sorry?"

"N-nothing! Ahaha!" Gwen waved him away again, laughing awkwardly as she does so.

"R-right, ahaha," Peter laughed along with her. After a few moments of silence, they stared at each other, each waiting for the other to make the next move.

"Soo, I guess I'll be going then?" Gwen smiled softly as she gestures towards the subway.

"Uh, yeah, yeah sure," Peter nodded along. "Again, I'm sorr-,"

"Don't apologize son, I never do," Gwen said, mimicking Norman's voice as she does so.

Peter lets out a soft chuckle as he saw her antics. "Good one," he smiled. "Don't apologize, got it," he flashed her a thumbs up. "Shouldn't have apologized, sorr-," Peter caught himself, as he started to apologize for mistakenly apologizing before.

"This is going to be pretty hard for you, huh Pete?" Gwen lets out a small (enchanting) laugh as she sees Peter's antics. "I'll see you tomorrow then," she said before waving him goodbye.

"Bye," Peter mouthed softly as he sees Gwen walking towards the subway. "You were awesome today by the way," Peter called out. "I-in the lab, I mean. A-as a scientist,"

Gwen took a quick moment to pull her hoodie up. "Thanks Pete. You too," she said, her back still turned towards Peter as she does so.

As he sees the figure of Gwen disappearing down the subway, Peter lets out a long sigh as he wills himself to a nearby alley.

"Great, you could've gone home with her, Parker," Peter mumbled to himself. "Work on your relationship. But no, you gotta go wear a mask, swing around, in a spandex suit," he shook his head as he changed into his Spider-Man costume. "And 'you were awesome as a scientist'? That's pathetic man. Come on,"

To Peter's surprise (and slight regret) the evening crime rate of the day turned out to be uncharacteristically low.

"Come on guys, I turned down a train ride home with the 'Gwen Stacy' for you guys, for god's sake," Peter grumbled under his suit. "It's like you don't even appreciate me anymore,"

As Peter swings across the city, he quickly decides to head to his favorite thrift shop in Forest Hills to fix his phone.

'Well, since you've all decided to give me a quick evening off, I might as well get my phone fixed,' he thought to himself.

Once he arrives, he quickly dropped by a nearby alley and changed out of his Spider-Man costume. He then entered into the shop and began looking around for whatever that might interest him.

"Peter!" the cashier greeted him excitedly as he entered. "Long time no see,"

"Hey Delmar," Peter casually greeted the middle-aged man behind the counter. "You got any, uhh, LCD screens in here?"

"What you mean like a Television set? What do I look like, Harvey Norman?" Delmar joked.

Peter rolled his eyes as he browsed the product on display, stopping for a moment when he saw the store's resident cat resting on top of one of the shelves.

"Hey, what's up, Murph?" Peter quickly gave him a quick scratch behind the neck. "How you doing, buddy?"

"I meant, for my phone," Peter called out to the cashier.

"What? You broke that thing again? What does that make it now? 20 times?" Delmar chuckled lightly as he scrolled through the channel on his TV.

"12 times," Peter grumbled slowly.

"Well at this rate, you're gonna get to 20 by the end of the month," Delmar lets out another chuckle, enjoying his own joke. "Check the dumpster pile at the front of display over there. I'm pretty sure we've had a couple of guys dumping their android phones over there the past couple of weeks,"

"Sweet," Peter quickly made his way to the small basket at the front of the store display, labelled 'Phones to dump'.

"Woah, some of these looks pretty new," Peter remarked as he browsed through the collection.

"Yeah, well, some of them rich kid nowadays treats their phone like disposables anyway," Delmar shrugs his shoulders slightly. "Just a little burnt IC, and pop it goes into the basket," he lets out another small chuckle.

"You get them for cheap, and sell the parts, eh? Gotta say, good business model," Peter smiled ruefully, before picking out one of the better looking phones that matches his model.

"Delmar, how much for this one," Peter called out towards Delmar as he waves the phone.

"90$" Delmar replied without having to look at Peter.

"What? That's insane, it doesn't even work properly," Peter argued.

"For most people yeah. For you, that's practically a new phone," Delmar chuckled again. "And 90$ is pretty cheap, all things considered, no?"

"That just sounds unfair," Peter frowned as he grumbles under his breath. "How much if its just the LCD screen?"

"15$"

"What?! A brand new one only costs around 20$," Peter argued.

"Yeah, but if you only buy the screen, I'm not gonna get my 90$" Delmar chuckled again. "Tell you what, you take the screen apart yourself, and help me fix in a new one, and I'll give it to you for 12$,"

"Deal," Peter said excitedly as he brings the phone over to the counter.

"Mind if I borrow a 'flat head'," Peter asked.

"In there, bottom shelf," Delmar gestured towards the cashier station, his eyes still glued to the TV.

Peter quickly moved into the cashier area, and reached for the screwdriver. "Mind if I use the cutter?" he asked casually.

"Help yourself, kid,"

Peter quickly got to work removing the used LCD screen, and putting in the new LCD screen from one of the shelves. He then quickly took the opportunity to replace his damaged screen with his newly acquired LCD screen.

"Seriously kid? At this point you might as well just buy a new phone," Delmar chimed as he peeked over Peter's shoulders while he was working.

"Nah, where's the fun in that," Peter smirked. "Don't wanna end up like one of those 'rich kids that treats their phones as disposables' that you love so much,"

"Hahaha, touché," Delmar laughed heartily as he eyes the people walking in front & inspecting his store.

Peter paused for a few moments, thinking as his hands worked on replacing the damaged screen. "You know what, I think I might take you up on that offer Delmar," Peter suddenly changed his mind.

"Oh? What about that piece of junk?" Delmar gestured towards the phone Peter was working on with his overgrown chin.

"I'll still buy the LCD screen. I just want a 2nd phone," Peter grumbled, slightly annoyed at having his phone being called a piece of junk.

"Tell you what, you give me that blondie's number, and I'd give you a hefty discount on whatever you want off that basket," he smirked playfully as he gestures for Peter to turn his attention to the blonde-pink highlights-haired girl peeking into the store from the display.

"Gwen?"

"Gwen, Delmar. Delmar, Gwen," Peter said as he introduced Gwen to Delmar. "And this here's Murph, he's the boss," Peter quipped as he pointed towards the cat lying lazily on the counter.

"Oh, uhh, okay. Hi, Murph," Gwen said as she gave Murph a quick ruffle on his head before turning towards the beaming Delmar. "Hi, nice to meet you," Gwen said, brushing one of her (perfect) golden-pink locks behind her ear as she nods towards Delmar. "I'm a…," Gwen hesitated slightly. "Friend, of Peter, from school,"

"Ahh, Gwen," Delmar grinned widely as he eyes Peter. "Peter has told me a lot about you,"

Peter choked on his own saliva at the sudden quip from Delmar. "W-wha-,"

"R-really?" Gwen blushed slightly.

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded, smiling widely as he does so. "Nah, I was just messing with you," he lets out a hearty laugh. "He doesn't have time to talk, coz I drive him like a slave over here," he said, suddenly turning serious for a few moments, before letting out another big laugh.

"Yeah, don't listen to him," Peter quickly grabbed Gwen and lead her away from Delmar, behind one of the shelves. "He, uhm, he's a pathological liar,"

"W-what are you doing here?" Peter asked Gwen.

"Nothing, I wanted to go to Border's to pick up a book," Gwen explained, slightly frantically. "And…, I just thought, I'd drop by this store, since it's your favo-, well, not really drop, more like pass by, coz you know-,"

Peter nodded along with Gwen's explanation, staring at her in confusion the whole time.

"W-wait, why are we talking about me? What about you?! What are you doing here?"

"Me?" Peter asked slightly incredulously.

"He works here!" Delmar quipped in from behind the counter. "He's a responsible young man, that works 3 part-time jobs, to feed his sisters, and dogs, and his sister's dogs too,"

Peter closed his eyes as a frustrated smile flashed across his face. "Shut up Delmar," he remarked, which Delmar replied with a hearty laugh of his own.

"I-I told you, remember? I needed to buy an LCD screen, so I was gonna drop by the thrift shop in… Upper… Manhattan…," Peter slowly stopped as he realized what Gwen was asking. "Which… was… closed?" he tried, as he tries to make up a story on the spot. "Y-yeah, that's right, ahaha, they're closed on Thursdays. I forgot,"

"O-oh, ok," Gwen nodded along for a moment, before recollecting herself. "Woah, no wait, not ok, not the point I wanted to make," Gwen quickly shook her head.

"I meant; how did you get here so fast?" Gwen asked, slightly perplexed at the sight of a grinning Peter. "I went straight here from the subway. I don't understand how you could've gotten here before me,"

"A-ahh, of course, that thing," Peter flustered nervously as he struggles for an excuse. "W-well, I, uhh, didn't actually go to Upper Manhattan," he said nervously.

"Oooh, look at this kid Murph. The kid's a two-timing liar and he's gonna get caught," Delmar remarked, craning his head to take a peek at the pair.

"Delmar, shut up," Peter bit his lips in annoyance as he sounds off Delmar, to no avail, as Delmar continued to stare at the pair.

"S-so, I uh, I called the store," Peter continued, deliberately speaking slowly to give himself more time to think of what to say. "And, well, they said they were closed. So…, I then, took a cab…? Yeah, I took a cab here, because Delmar needed me to come in for the evening shift," Peter fidgeted slightly as he made the story up as he goes.

"I do?" Delmar asked back in surprise. "I do! Of course!"

At that moment, Murph casually decides to walk between the pair of them, and leaped into Peter's arms, which Peter caught him and held him in a cradle, his trademark goofy smile plastered across his face as he faced Gwen.

"So, uhm, what book did you want to go & buy?" Peter asked casually, as Delmar was working the register.

"O-oh, uhm, I talked to Martha earlier, and apparently Dr. Connors published a book about a year ago," Gwen explained. "It's titled, 'A world without weakness'," Gwen continued. "I just thought it's be a pretty good read for our internship, you know?"

"I see, yeah, that makes sense," Peter nodded along.

"That'll be 102$. I'll knock 2$ off, employee's discount," Delmar gave Peter a cheeky wink as Peter hands him the money.

"Can I borrow that book once you've finished reading it?" Peter asked, trying his best to continue the conversation.

"Yeah, sure," Gwen answered absent-mindedly as they both exited the store. "Did your boss just charged you 100$ for an LCD Screen? Isn't that way too expensive?" Gwen furrowed his brow, slightly furious at the perceived injustice.

"Oh, yeah, no, it's 10$ for the screen, 90$ for a second-hand phone plus some parts," Peter explained. "It's still busted at the moment, but, ehh, I'll fix it later tonight or something,"

"O-oh," Gwen nodded softly, as they walked towards the bookstore. "So…, you're getting a second phone?" she asked, slightly hesitantly.

"Uhh, yeah, you could say that," Peter chuckled at the joke he thought of in his own head. "A second-hand second phone, or second second-hand phone, haha,"

Gwen nodded silently. "So, is that like, a backup if your phone's busted? Or…?"

"Hmm? No, not really, no. I bought it coz of this new… I guess you can call her a friend?" Peter bit his lips, as he considers how to explain Ghost-Spider to Gwen.

"I-I see," Gwen said softly.

"B-but, it's, you know, nothing serious," Peter explained, trying his best to downplay his interaction with Ghost-Spider. "We just hang out, sometimes. At night, mostly," he smiled warmly.

Gwen nodded silently; her face turned away from Peter.

"But why would you need to go through all the trouble of buying a second pho-,"

"Second second-hand phone," Peter joked awkwardly, as he chuckled to himself.

Gwen paused for a few moments to recollect herself. Her bangs partially covering her face from Peter's eyes. "Of buying a second phone. Why can't you just share her your number, if you guys are already meeting up at nights,"

Peter lets out a small sigh as he thinks about how to explain the situation. "Well, I can't really share her my actual number, that'll just make it confusing," Peter reasoned, his words making perfect sense in his head. "It's kinda complicated, but basically, it's probably easier if I have a separate number, just for those things, you know,"

"Not really, no," Gwen answered. "What 'things'?"

"Uhh, you know, stuff," Peter smiled awkwardly. "Like, uhm, coffee, work, those kinda stuff," Peter explained, as he thinks about their nightly activities of crime-fighting & the occasional coffee-breaks.

"S-so, do I know this girl?" Gwen stuttered slightly. "Is she from your part-time work?"

"Uhh…, huh," Peter paused for a few moments to consider his answer. "Probably not, I guess. I mean, I don't even really know who she is,"

Gwen turned towards him suddenly, her face a mix of confusion & anger. "What do you mean you don't know who she is? Peter, is this some kind of philosophical statement about not 'truly knowing someone' or something? Coz if it is, I'm not interested," she spouted angrily.

Peter stared at her in surprise, slightly taken aback by her sudden outburst. In his mind, the conversation had been going swimmingly well.

"I-I, no, I just know her by her nick-,"

"God! You're so full of shit, Parker!" Gwen suddenly exclaimed, before walking away from Peter. "Go away, Peter!"

Peter stood by the sidewalk, flabbergasted by what just happened. As he stared at the figure of the leaving Gwen, Peter's heart sank as he sees Gwen slipping away.

"Was it something I said?" Peter mumbled to himself as he worked on repairing the new phone, on top of a rooftop, in his Spider-Man costume. "It can't be something I said, I didn't say anything wrong! Was it the way I said it?" he sighed softly, as his hands continued working. "I don't get it…,"

"What do you mean you don't get it?" Peter admonished himself. "You could understand the complex mechanism of homologous recombination, but you can't figure out how to talk to a girl?"

"Well, homologous recombination isn't exactly 'Gwen effing Stacy' is it?"

"Touché," he smiled to himself as he argues internally. "Still doesn't change the fact that you suck though,"

"Yeah? Why don't you try talking to her then?"

"That wouldn't change anything you idiot! We're the same person!"

Peter lets out a small chuckle at his own expense. After a few minutes, he eventually completed the repair job for the new phone. He quickly flipped the phone over a couple of times, appreciating his own handiwork.

"Another penny saved by the 'Amazing Spider-Man'," he smirked. "Too bad 'Ghost' isn't here tonight as well, huh?"

"Well, if you had thought about getting a second phone earlier, than you wouldn't have to wait for her every single night," he admonished himself again.

"Oh shut up, I'm doing it right now aren't I?" Peter argued against himself.

"Typical Parker, always too little, too late,"

"Yeah, you can say that again," Peter smirked to himself, before leaning on one of the railings & looking over the bustling lights of New York.

"Even you're abandoning me tonight, eh," Peter smirked, staring at the quiet, peaceful city before him. "Where's a crime when you need one…," he lets out a soft sigh, as he hangs his head in defeat.

*phone ringing noise*

Peter quickly took out his phone & stared in surprise at the number for a few moments. He then quickly picked up the phone in fear of getting scolded for taking too long.

"H-hello? MJ?"

"Peter? Do you have some time to talk?"