- Location
- Oslo
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Didn't you just start the romance between MC Peter and MJ? Don't be greedy!
Two Spiders on a Web (MCU Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen Crossover)
- Thread starter Eratas123
- Start date
- Modern Crossover Superhero
Didn't you just start the romance between MC Peter and MJ? Don't be greedy!
Uh...I thought it was obvious that was just the false lead romance? Unless you're being sarcastic, in which case I apologize. Also, they're not together. If MJ flirted with someone else it wouldn't be against what she said.
Madou Sutegobana
Autocorrupt has been disabled.
- Location
- Twin Realms Mandala
I was surprised MJ didn't bring up that a version of her probably exists in Peter's home dimension.
- Location
- Oslo
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I didn't know any of this, ha ha. This cake is aro/ace.
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She's still kinda new to this dimensional travel thing. Case in point, she flirts with Mayday later and has a similar reaction to MCU when she finds out how dimensional genetics work. This does come up later with MCU mentioning the only MJ he knows is the Black Michelle Jones. MJ laughs it off and says it's not any weirder than blonde (and non-crazy) Betty Brant.
Dunno what aro/ace is, but cool. I mentioned this elsewhere, but in a later chapter MCU sees her flirting with Noir, who seems to reciprocate. This kinda bums MCU out, though he does admit he shouldn't have been surprised and doesn't act entitled to MJ's sole attention. And that's a plus one to how massively different he is from 65-Peter who went like this:
Man, Spider-Gwen got one of the worst versions of Peter ever >_> Guess it's balanced out here by her getting a cinnamon roll one.
Saw this pic and thought it was nice:
You can see superficial resemblances - green clothes, blond hair, headband - and they have the same face, but even at a glance you can tell these are meant to be two different characters. Which is nice, since Spider-Gwen doesn't really feel like Gwen Stacy as most fans know her. Incidentally, I do wonder how the two would properly interact. Clone Conspiracy dropped the ball and never had the two Gwens in the same room while in the Gwenom arc Spider-Gwen was too busy angsting and being mind raped by Venom to properly interact with 617-Gwen as her usual self. Considering that alternate selves interacting is a really easy draw for a chunk of readers this seems like a massive wasted opportunity. Ditto with Peter never interacting with the more morally ambiguous Peters during Spider-Verse aside from SpOck.
Also, last story question for a while - would you guys prefer an arc centered purely on Earth-65 or something that leads more into the multiversal Thanos plot? The former lets us see Gwen and MCU working together as heroes while the latter focuses more on advancing the main story. The choice affects which villain shows up in the next chapter
You can see superficial resemblances - green clothes, blond hair, headband - and they have the same face, but even at a glance you can tell these are meant to be two different characters. Which is nice, since Spider-Gwen doesn't really feel like Gwen Stacy as most fans know her. Incidentally, I do wonder how the two would properly interact. Clone Conspiracy dropped the ball and never had the two Gwens in the same room while in the Gwenom arc Spider-Gwen was too busy angsting and being mind raped by Venom to properly interact with 617-Gwen as her usual self. Considering that alternate selves interacting is a really easy draw for a chunk of readers this seems like a massive wasted opportunity. Ditto with Peter never interacting with the more morally ambiguous Peters during Spider-Verse aside from SpOck.
Also, last story question for a while - would you guys prefer an arc centered purely on Earth-65 or something that leads more into the multiversal Thanos plot? The former lets us see Gwen and MCU working together as heroes while the latter focuses more on advancing the main story. The choice affects which villain shows up in the next chapter
Chapter 8 - Earth-65 Troubles
An actual update? Why yes, it is Okay, first off I'm really sorry for the lack of updates previously. I've been busy with Comp Exams and after that it was Red Dead 2. Besides that, I just found writing this far more difficult compared to Looking Glass since I naturally gravitate to making characters act cynical and kinda like jerks, so it was harder to go back to MCU Cinnamon Roll Spidey and toning Gwen down from her last chapter. Playing Red Dead doesn't help considering the protagonist being a hardened outlaw.
All in all I feel relatively more confident with what I got, though, as expected, my fight quipping and fight scenes in general still need work. If anyone can help me with the fight banter that'd be great since I'm not really used to writing anything besides black comedy.
Anyway, the recent Ghost Spider was also helpful since it showed Gwen handling her release from prison pretty well and the public being a tad more supportive of her afterwards. I'll try my best to keep things light from now on.
I'll also be saying this now: No, I do not plan to put in 616 or Andrew Garfield or Toby Maguire Spideys, so please stop asking. No offense intended, but getting reviews that are nothing but 'can you put *insert Spider-Man here* into the story?' are getting kind of annoying. This is Gwen and MCU's story, not a giant crossover one. If that's what you're looking for then this is the wrong fic.
Just for fun, here's a rhyme someone wrote:
Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Does whatever a spider can
Everything's, going dark
"I don't feel good, Mr. Stark"
Oh nooooo, there went Spider-Man!
Oh, and here's a good song to listen to. Thank Marvel Rising and Dove Cameron: Born Ready
Chapter 8: Earth-65 Troubles
Guys on gliders. Peter was fighting armored guys flying through the air on gliders. If he wasn't trying to avoid being killed, he might've found it awesome.
Peter looked over the scene in a rush. Innocent people down on the ground trying to run away and up above in the sky were a dozen flyers covered head to toe in armor. Almost all of them wore bright orange suits that left no part of their skin exposed. The last one, who Peter assumed was the leader given the way he was cackling, wore a dark green suit instead.
First Bodega Bandit then Mysterio and now this guy. Was green the evil color in this dimension?
"Hey!" Peter swung in and knocked the closest orange guy off his glider. The guy fell to the opposite roof and Peter webbed him down before swing back around, "Don't get up on my account!"
"What the?!" The one in green turned towards him and Peter caught the scowl his Power Rangers knock-off armor his mask had, "You weren't the one I was expecting!"
"Yeah, I get that a lot- woah!" Peter dodged the thrown bomb and webbed it up quickly, "Didn't your mom ever tell you not to toss bombs at people?" He threw it up in the air and cringed when the explosion crushed through the web. Pretty high yield for something so small, "What did you pack into that thing?"
"A little concoction of my own!" Well, the shock didn't last long. Peter let go of the web just before Greenie slashed through it with an honest to god laser blade. Again, if the guy wasn't trying to kill him, he would've found it cool, "You're a fast little bug, aren't you?"
"Spiders are arachnids, and yep!" He flipped over him and his spider-sense tingled. One of the armored henchmen was rushing towards him, "Hey, wait your turn!" Peter webbed him in the face and jumped off the guy's shoulders. He crashed through a nearby water tower, showing the street below in gallons of liquid, "Uh, sorry about that!" Being wet was better than being blown up, at least.
"Focusing on the civilians? Guess I'm not surprised."
The next bomb wasn't aimed at him. The green maniac tossed it at a crowd of people still trying to run, "No!" Peter focused and shot a line of webbing at the bomb before he got tackled by another one of the orange gliders, "Let go!" He shoved him away and looked down at the bomb. It was too late now; he couldn't aim like this and the web wouldn't be able to travel that fast. He saw them, their faces turning around and their expressions knotted in horror.
He didn't notice Gwen swing in until she was right on top of them.
Gwen swung over the crowd and kicked the bomb up to the closest glider. The sphere beeped once before it exploded, the sound cutting through the screams of the crowd below. Peter expected blood and chunks of meat, but all that came was burning metal.
"What-"
"The orange ones are robots!" Gwen shouted. She kicked off the head of another armored glider and exposed the wires underneath, "No need to hold back!"
Huh...that was good to know.
Peter punched through the chest of the robot holding him, easily crunching through the metal, "Special delivery!" He tossed it another robot hard enough to make them both explode. It'd been a while since he didn't have to hold back.
"You're finally here, huh?" Greenie cackled.
"God damn it, Harry!" Peter almost paused. He'd never heard Gwen sound so angry before. She swung through the air and landed on his glider. She ducked under his swipe and punched him in the face, "I saved you! You had a second chance!"
"That seems more like it's your fault than mine!"
There were at least five more. Peter yanked one off its glider and slammed it on a nearby roof. He stomped its head flat and looked up at the next one that charged at him, laser blade drawn, "You really need to upgrade your AI!" He dodged the blow, webbed the back of the glider and pulled as hard as it could. The glider broke apart and the robot flew through the air briefly before landing at the street with a loud crash.
Three more.
Another two bombs were tossed his way. Peter grabbed them both with a line of webbing and tossed them back at the flyer out front. It blew up and landed on the rooftop with an ear-splitting crash, "This is gonna cost a lot to fix!" He jumped and dropkicked the next one...right on top of a crowd of gawking civilians, "Oops!" He yanked it back up with a quick tug and webbed it to the well. Thankfully the web was strong enough to hold them.
"Yeah, Spider-Guy!" someone from below screamed.
"It's Spider-Man! And you guys should probably run!" He swung back up to the hovering glider and crouched upside down underneath it. Gwen was still fighting Greenie and the guy was definitely holding his own. He needed to help her.
But first...
His spider-sense rang and he jumped just in time to avoid being caught by the laser blade that cut the glider in half, "Woah!" He grabbed the burning chunks of metal and webbed them next to the robot on the wall. Wouldn't do for anyone to get crushed, "What are those lasers made of? Never seen anything that can cut through metal so easily. Maybe-"
"Spider-Man, less chatting and more fighting! Or at least fight while you chat!" Gwen jumped off the glider and webbed ejected two lines of webbing to the roof. She pulled herself forward using the momentum and tried to kick Greenie off his glider, but he flew down to avoid the hit, "Rrrgh, hold still!"
"Hold on!" Peter looked back the remaining sentry and swung close. It would've been easy to kick it off, but the lightsaber was practically calling out to him, "Borrowing this!" He kicked the arm holding the laser blade and snatched it up before it fell, "Let's hope this works!"
The hard light sword cut through the metal like a hot knife through butter. Peter was almost tempted to gush about how awesome it was that he'd used an honest to god lightsaber, but the sound of Gwen's frustrated scream pushed through any thought of that. Peter turned and caught her and Greenie flying through the air erratically. Peter almost cringed when she slammed him face-first into the side of a building.
"Ooh, someone's being rough!" Greenie cackled.
"This isn't funny!" Gwen jumped onto the roof and shot multiple lines of webbing at the glider's back. The glider kept flying until the line snapped taut and he was stuck in place. Gwen stood at the edge of the roof, both hands holding onto the biocables and her feet stuck to the surface off the roof to keep from flying off. For just a second, Peter swore he saw a sharp row of teeth split open her mask, but when he looked again the mask was blank again.
Greenie threw a bomb right at her. Peter moved automatically, one hand aiming for the bomb while the other aimed at Greenie's chest, "Hey, catch!" He tugged the flyer close and smashed the bomb against his glider.
His cackling stopped as soon as his ride exploded. Greenie flew forward from the impact and Peter tugged him harder. Gwen jumped into a wide arc and Peter barely had time to cut off the webbing before Gwen smashed Greenie into the roof, "It's over!" She straddled him punched him in the face twice, the upper left chunk of the helmet breaking apart after the second blow and exposing the face underneath.
Gwen's raised fist stopped mid-blow and her next words came out in a mix of shock and relief, "You're not-"
His spider-sense blared just before another explosion covered the roof. Peter coughed and covered his mouth and nose with both hands, eyes filling with tears. A smoke bomb of some kind. Peter caught a hazy figure rushing through the smoke and he aimed a web at their back.
He missed.
By the time the smoke had cleared it was just him and Gwen alone on the roof again. To her credit she looked like she was handling the smoke better than he was, though that wasn't saying much considering the way her costume pulsed and thrummed, "...Spider-Woman?" He coughed and tapped her shoulder. He almost stumbled on his butt when he saw the chaotically shifting edges of the her eyes, "Gwen?"
"What?" She shook her head and her mask immediately turned back to normal, "I...sorry, what did you say?"
"I didn't say anything, but..." He gestured to the rooftop covered in broken robots and gliders, "We kinda made a mess. We gonna stay to talk to the cops or something?"
"Nah, there are enough people who saw what was going on. Hopefully they tell them we stopped the bad guy and weren't his partners in crime or something." Peter couldn't tell if she meant that as a joke, "We should probably go while we can. I...I need to think."
"Yeah, sure." Peter was about to jump up into a swing till he saw the discarded lightsaber sitting oh so innocently close to the edge of the roof. Gwen followed his gaze and he swore she smiled under her mask, "Big Star Wars fan?"
"Kinda. Used to watch it with Ned every year." He picked up the lightsaber and clicked the hilt to disable the blade. Apparently he wasn't the only fan.
"That sounds a little more than 'kinda', Spider-Man." She laughed softly. It was nice to hear after what'd happened, "Look, if you're going to take it then hurry up. I don't wanna explain to the police why we're stealing from the crime scene."
"Right..."
He clipped the hard light sword to his belt and followed Gwen back to her apartment. A few of the people below waved and cheered after them, but Gwen ignored them. Peter didn't blame her. He saw some of the newspapers and articles that talked about 'the murderer Spider-Woman', and she had to deal with that for two years non-stop. And then there was the year in prison. He wouldn't exactly be chipper after all that.
They made it back to Gwen's place in record time. Gwen let the suit peel away to expose her casuals while Peter shucked off the gloves and mask with a soft breath. He was exhausted, "Man, Supervillains are really something..."
"There are jerks in every universe. Can't escape em, Pete." Gwen smiled sardonically and took two cans of soda from the fridge and tossed one to him, "But hey, you really held your own back there. I'm impressed. Did Iron Stark train you or something? You fight way better than I do."
"Not really." He took a sip of the soda and coughed. Still too sweet, he was gonna get diabetes at this rate, "Mr. Stark fights with power armor and blasters, so I don't think he knows a lot about the punching and kicking."
"Self-trained, then? Ha, and Cap said that was overrated." She snorted and sat next to him on the couch, "You did way better than when we fought Mysterio. I kinda thought you didn't know how to throw a punch and just used those fancy webs of yours for everything."
"I know how to punch! It's just, well..." He tugged off his webshooters and frowned, "I'm strong. Not sure if I'm stronger than you, but definitely stronger than most people, so I try not to throw any hits in if I can, but robots are fair game...except Vision or Karen."
"Huh...that's actually pretty impressive. Most people's first instinct to someone shoving a knife in their face is to run or start punching."
"Not every purse snatcher deserves to lose most of their teeth, right?"
"Some of them do, but sure, I get that." She flexed her fingers and the white substance danced to her fingertips, "I dunno, for me it's always been hit first and web em up for later kind of gal. That and I can only make so many 'weird and sticky' web jokes before I run out material, so I gotta save em up."
"You know, I'm still hoping you'll let me tinker with your webshooters one of these days. Taking moisture from the air to create webbing...that's amazing."
"God, you're such a nerd." Gwen snorted and bumped her right shoulder to his left, "And no, you're not touching this thing. I don't exactly have a warranty with Ms. van Dyne and if you break this thing I'm gonna have to rely on Venom to do all my webbing for me. Considering the little guy/gal/thing's already eating most of my salary I really don't wanna push my luck."
"You know, you never really explained it. Most you told me was that it was a symbiotic life form." And last he checked no humans were compatible with those. Then again the same could be said about genetically enhanced spiders and teenagers, "Your face during that fight..."
"Ah...yeah, that sometimes happens when I get pissed. Venom's still learning how to deal with emotions, and it didn't help that when I first got it that I was in a...really bad place. Don't worry, it's mostly just freaky looking I know not to go too far."
"So...is it alive? Sapient, I mean, rather than sentient; you'd be surprised how often people confuse that."
"You mean is it like your fembot? No." She waved away his protests that Karen was not and never would be 'his fembot', "It's like...I dunno how to say it. Like a dog, I guess? It reacts to my emotions and learns from it, but if you're asking if it does stuff on its own or it talks to me in my sleep then no, that's not a thing. Maybe it'll do that later? I'll swing across that bridge when I get there."
"Right..." He looked down at the can and set it down on the table. A part of him didn't want to ask and ruin the mood, but he had to, "So...what was up with you earlier? You seemed like you knew Greenie back there."
"Um...yeah." Her face fell and she finished off the last of her soda. She licked her lips and answered slowly, "Uh...I mentioned my friend Harry before, right?" Peter shrugged. Maybe she did, but sometimes it was hard to remember things during that first week of acclimatization, "Me, Peter and him were inseparable in high school. Three amigos. He was there when Spider-Woman 'killed' Peter Parker and he knew the truth, but he still wanted revenge."
"Meaning...?"
"Meaning he tried to kill me." She...sounded way too calm about that, "It was a shitty time all around, but I managed to handle it without either of us dying. Before I went to jail I heard Norman got him off on a plea and he didn't do any jail time. And hey, I was happy about that cause I didn't want both of us rotting in a prison cell. I thought he turned things around so when I saw the Green Goblin up there again I thought..."
"That he went back to being a Supervillain." She nodded mutely, "But...it wasn't him?"
"No...I mean, I'm pretty sure." She rubbed her hair with both hands, "I only saw him for like a second, and it was just the upper left part of his head, but I'm pretty damn sure it wasn't Harry. Guy looked way too old, for one, and his eyes weren't the right shade of green. I couldn't have been him."
"You sure about that?"
They weren't alone anymore.
Peter barely saw the figure phase up through the floor before Gwen was suddenly in front him, one arm stretched across both to hold him back and keep the figure from jumping at looked past the protective limb and blinked when he caught sight of the Japanese teenager standing with her arms crossed a short distance away from them. She didn't have a costume, making do with a dark jacket, spandex pants and running shoes.
She was young, probably the same age as him or Mayday, but Gwen's bent posture made it clear she was a threat of some kind.
"Shadowcat..." Gwen stood up slightly straighter, though her hand remained in front of Peter protectively, "Don't suppose I should bother asking how you found me."
"If you're implying that S.H.I.E.L.D told me where you were, you're wrong. Not about them keeping tabs you, you're absolutely right about that, but thinking I needed them to find you. It ain't exactly like Spider-Gwen's address can't be found on google." Her voice sounded different from what he thought. It sounder older, almost rough in a way, "Besides, you Spiders stink of vinegar."
"Now I know you're making that up."
"Really, I'm fainting from the smell here." She spread her arms wide and gave them both a lopsided smile, "By the way, you can stop being so protective of your boyfriend. I'm not here to carve him up."
"Yeah, well, you fucked over my friend the last time we met. Not exactly keen on you doing it to another one."
"Ouch. I seem to remember us teaming up to stop the thing you're wearing from going on a rampage using Logan's body." Peter looked at Gwen's back worriedly. So much for the symbiote being harmless, "No, but seriously, if I was here for either of you two I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of saying my hello's first. So can we quit with the third degree? I feel a suspect from Brooklyn 88."
A moment of silence passed till Gwen eventually exhaled and stood up straighter, "...Fine."
"Alright." Her smile widened and she took his discarded soda from the table. She sipped it without a care and turned her eyes to him, "So this must be Spider-Man, huh? Funny, he's smaller than I thought he'd be. You like em young, huh?"
"Ignoring that." Gwen shook her head and got some more cans of soda from the fridge, "Shadowcat, Spider-Man. Spider-Man, Shadowcat. You can make the introductions yourself."
"Uh...sure." Peter held up his hand tentatively, which she accepted without any hesitation. She had gloves on her hands, noted idly, "So...you're a friend of Gwen's?"
"Not...exactly." She sat on the table and crossed one leg over the other, "Little gobby Osborn was a naughty boy so S.H.I.E.L.D sent me and Logan, my sort-of partner, to go grab him. This led to a bit of a conflict of interest between me and Spider-Gwen."
"Meaning we tried to beat the crap out of each other. Emphasis on 'tried' since this was when my powers were on the fritz." Gwen sat next to him on the couch again and threw a can Shadowcat's way, which she caught easily, "So, as much as I'm thu-rilled that you're here, is there a reason for the sudden house call? Cause I was kinda under the impression our team up was a one-and-done kind of thing."
"We would've teamed up again if you accepted Captain USA's deal."
"Yeah, no thanks." Gwen scoffed, "Now seriously, what's the deal?"
"Oh, like you don't know." She rolled her eyes, "You just had a fight with the Green Goblin all over the news, Spider-Girly. The same Green Goblin you let escape the first time and saved the second. Funnily enough, S.H.I.E.L.D isn't exactly happy with domestic terrorists running around willy nilly."
"Really? Coulda fooled me. How are Moon and Castle, by the way?"
"Wouldn't know. Last I checked they're still in prison; I'm doing this mission solo," Shadowcat replied coolly, "If it weren't for you and your boyfriend the body count would've been in the double or triple digits back there. Terrorists are bad enough when they don't have access to power armor and high yield bombs."
"Oh, good, so that's not normal around here," Peter joked weakly.
"Heh, I like you." Shadowcat smirked at him, "I'm here because, surprise surprise, that's your best friend. If anyone knows where he is it'd be you- and before you ask, his daddy's out of town on a business trip in Malaysia, conveniently enough. You're the next best thing."
"Thanks for that, but it's pointless - it's not Harry."
"Ah, the lies we say to protect our friends."
"I'm not lying!" Gwen's hold on the soda tightened, "It wasn't him."
"And what's your proof of that?"
"His eyes were-"
"He had wrinkles under his eyes and he was the wrong shade of green, right? Gimme a break." Shadowcat rolled her eyes again, "Lest we forget, Osborn junior's taking some pretty hardcore drugs, which is bound to add some wrinkles. You also fought him in a pretty dark place, no shit his eyes look different. That's what happens when you turn off the lights. If that's your 'proof' then you're not convincing me."
"What if I don't care about convincing you?"
"You'd better, cause S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't care if he's breathing when I bring him back. That's what happens when a guy fucks up his second and third chance." Gwen stood up and glared down at her. Shadowcat looked up without a care, "So you better tell me where he is right now or I'm gonna have to track him myself, and I might be really frustrated if that happens. Won't be liable for my own actions."
"You damn-"
"You really don't know where he is, do you? Fine, I'm outta here-"
"W-Wait!" Peter stood up and moved between them. Gwen looked a breath away from completely throttling the younger woman, "I don't really know what's going between you two, but Gwen isn't lying - she has no reason to. Even when she thought it was that Harry guy attacking everyone she didn't hesitate to try and stop him, so whoever that guy on the glider was she wouldn't let it stop her."
"And...that matters to me why?" Shadowcat raised a brow.
"Work together. What if this Harry guy really isn't that Green Goblin guy anymore? You'd be putting an innocent person in jail and a Supervillain gets away to bomb another day. If you work together you can stop this guy better than doing it alone. I'll even help." He looked between the two of them, "Besides, you worked together before, right? What's one more team up?"
Gwen and Shadowcat glared at one another briefly before the latter eventually sighed, "My job was to take down Osborn, but you're right, if he ends up being innocent they'll find some way to pin it on me for not 'realizing' that." She crossed her arms, "Alright, here's the deal: we work together to find that crazy asshole, whoever he is. If I find out it's Osborn then you better not try to stop me. We clear?"
"Yeah...if Harry really went off the deep end then there's really nothing I can do." Gwen let out a frustrated sigh of her own and rubbed her forehead, "I'll talk to Norman when he comes back from his trip. I saved his son's life, he's more likely to talk to me than he is to you. He'll know where Harry is, at least. He has to."
"Fine." Shadowcat wrote down something on a slip of paper and handed it to Gwen, "Call me up when you're ready to dangle Mr. Executive off the top of his building."
"I'm not going to-"
"It was a joke."
Before Gwen could respond, Shadowcat phased through the floor again. Peter stared at the spot where she just was and let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, "Well...she's something."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Gwen pocketed the slip of paper and practically collapsed back on the couch, "...Hey, thanks for that. If you weren't here I probably would've started punching and I don't think the landlord's much of a fan of Spider-Woman."
"No prob. Least I could do considering all you've done for me." He sat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. He half expected the symbiote to lash out at him, but instead the white substance wrapped around his fingers gently, "Uh...does that mean it likes me?"
"I dunno. Again, it doesn't really do the whole talking thing. I like you, so it's probably basing on that." She gave him a sideways smile, "Hey, sorry for being such a downer the past week. It's just...my dad was supposed to wake up for a while now and the more time passes the more I'm starting to lose hope. It's stupid, he's stable and everything, but every time I don't wake up to Dr. Strange calling me about how he's cured now I just get so..."
"N-No need to apologize, I get it. Well, kinda. During those first few months after school I kept checking my phone just waiting for Mr. Stark to call me up for another Avengers mission. I-I know it doesn't compare to waiting for your dad to get better, but..." He licked his lips nervously. He was rambling now, "So, um...you never told me what happened with your dad. Could I or is it..."
"No, it's fine. Well, not fine, but I can talk about it." She frowned and pressed her hands together, "So I already told you about Matt Murderdock, but I didn't tell you just how much he tried to ruin my life. I don't want to get into all of it, but there was a point where he hired some goon called Rhino with more knuckles than brain sense and he...beat my dad. He survived, but he stayed in a coma."
"I'm so sorry..."
"Yeah, well, at least I can still see him. You can't even do that." She closed her eyes, "I thought that when I got out of prison he'd be alright, but he was still sleeping when I got back. I knew that cause I had parts of Venom keeping watch, but still..."
He almost offered to hug her again, but she beat him to it. Peter almost fell back when she suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a surprising embrace. He almost expected Betty or Mary Jane to walk in and misunderstand, but they were left on their own. Peter reciprocated the gesture and closed his eyes. One good thing about Aunt May finding out - it made comfort hugs much easier to get when he needed them.
"...Sorry, it's just I've been trying to keep a strong face in front of the girls. Letting it all out is-"
"I understand. Just hug away."
They stayed that way for at least a minute till the moment was suddenly broken by the sudden vibration near his stomach. Gwen pulled back and removed the phone from her middle pocket of her hoodie, "Sorry about that." She opened the message and her eyes immediately widened, "No way..."
"What?"
"It's Dr. Strange, he says my dad's...he says my dad's awake!" She hugged him, but it was quick this time. He didn't even get a chance to hug her back, "Alright, I gotta go. Visiting hours are over, but he said that he'd make an exception for me."
"C-Can I come with?"
He didn't know why he asked, and he almost expected Gwen to say no. Instead she just looked at him weirdly for a second before shrugging, "Sure, but hurry up. I've been waiting over a year for this."
Peter debated on whether to put on the suit (and Karen) before eventually deciding against it - she still need to recharge anyway. He put the mask, gloves and webshooters back on and followed Gwen outside.
He had to admit, seeing Gwen so genuinely happy was reassuring. She'd smiled and joked before, but there was always something heavy in her words and expression that he couldn't place. Now, seeing her flip and cheer through the air without a care in the world, it made him wonder how anyone could've thought she was the menace that Jameson guy claimed she was.
She shifted back in a nearby alley and waited for Peter to remove the 'disguisey' part of his outfit, "Come on!" She tugged him along to the front desk and practically bounced on her heels as the receptionist waved them through with a friendly 'good luck'. Peter barely saw the rooms they passed through as Gwen dragged him. He didn't mind. At least she was laughing again.
Gwen rushed through the door and stopped when she saw the older man sitting upright on the bed. Peter looked past her and looked over Gwen's dad. He was thin, which was to be expected considering the fact that he was in a year long coma, with a head full of white hair followed by a goatee. He didn't look too old, and Peter definitely saw a few traces of muscle through the gown, but the coma definitely looked like it'd taken its toll.
Gwen didn't care.
"Dad..." She stumbled forward and covered him in an embrace, which he returned to the best of his ability, "Is this real? You're really awake, right?"
"I'm here, Gwen, I'm here..." He coughed and tightened his hold on her, "I...I don't-"
Gwen shook her head, "You don't have to say anything, dad. It's alright now."
Peter smiled and hung back as father and daughter hugged and cried and did their best to talk to one another. For a second he almost thought that Gwen's dad wouldn't notice him, but eventually their eyes met, "So, Gwen...who's your friend."
"Oh...this is Peter. Peter Parker from another dimension, I mean." Her dad raised a brow and she laughed, "I'll explain later, okay? All you need to know is he's stuck here and I'm putting him up for now."
"Y-Yeah. Gwen saved my life, sir. I'd be completely doomed without her." He offered the bedridden man a hand which he took in a surprisingly firm grip, "Please don't lemme bother you. You should talk to Gwen."
"Peter, huh? Guess life's funny that way." He laughed weakly.
He was about to joke back when the door behind them suddenly opened. His head snapped to noise and blinked at the two new figures. The one at front, an older woman with gray hair, was completely unfamiliar to him, but the man behind her made him feel like he'd been punched in the gut. He was older and looked like he put on a few more pounds, but the face was undeniably his.
"Uncle Ben..."
The woman at front saw him first. She stopped, both hands moving to cover her mouth and her face turning as white as a sheet. She knew him, he noted numbly. The man behind her - Uncle Ben - stopped too, his sullen expression being replaced by a look of wide-eyed shock and surprise. Peter Parker's dead here, he reminded himself. They shouldn't have seen him.
Gwen was the first to speak, "Uncle Ben, Aunt May..." She stood in front of him again, "Wh-What are you two doing here?"
"W-We came to visit George," The woman - Aunt May - said, voice soft and almost unheard, "Gwen, what is...how..."
"I...I can explain."
Peter got the feeling this wasn't going to end well...
Gwen's on the road to recovery now that her dad's awake. Sadly her best friend is on the firing line again and the Parkers just found out about MCU in one of the most awkward ways possible, but hey, at least those can be fixed now that Gwen's not a sad sack anymore. Dealing with Shadowcat's gonna be a bigger pain in the rear end, but what Superhero story's without headbutting heroes?
I'll be honest, I don't have much clue where the Earth-65 villain plot is going, but that's not really important since it's mostly an excuse for Gwen and MCU to bond and work together as Superheroes more than anything else. I'll still do my best to write it, but unlike Looking Glass I'm not going to be trying to establish rivalries among the heroes and villains.
The majority of readers are still all for the MCU and Gwen romance, so I'm guessing no one really liked the MCU and MJ date last chapter Oh well, what the audience wants they shall receive, so long as it's within reason. More Gwen and MCU interaction next chapter coupled with awkwardness from the Parkers.
Oh, and here's the secret ending for the fic:
Thanos is screwed.
Okay, first off I'm really sorry for the lack of updates previously. I've been busy with Comp Exams and after that it was Red Dead 2. Besides that, I just found writing this far more difficult compared to Looking Glass since I naturally gravitate to making characters act cynical and kinda like jerks, so it was harder to go back to MCU Cinnamon Roll Spidey and toning Gwen down from her last chapter. Playing Red Dead doesn't help considering the protagonist being a hardened outlaw.All in all I feel relatively more confident with what I got, though, as expected, my fight quipping and fight scenes in general still need work. If anyone can help me with the fight banter that'd be great since I'm not really used to writing anything besides black comedy.
Anyway, the recent Ghost Spider was also helpful since it showed Gwen handling her release from prison pretty well and the public being a tad more supportive of her afterwards. I'll try my best to keep things light from now on.
I'll also be saying this now: No, I do not plan to put in 616 or Andrew Garfield or Toby Maguire Spideys, so please stop asking. No offense intended, but getting reviews that are nothing but 'can you put *insert Spider-Man here* into the story?' are getting kind of annoying. This is Gwen and MCU's story, not a giant crossover one. If that's what you're looking for then this is the wrong fic.
Just for fun, here's a rhyme someone wrote:
Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Does whatever a spider can
Everything's, going dark
"I don't feel good, Mr. Stark"
Oh nooooo, there went Spider-Man!
Oh, and here's a good song to listen to. Thank Marvel Rising and Dove Cameron: Born Ready
Chapter 8: Earth-65 Troubles
Guys on gliders. Peter was fighting armored guys flying through the air on gliders. If he wasn't trying to avoid being killed, he might've found it awesome.
Peter looked over the scene in a rush. Innocent people down on the ground trying to run away and up above in the sky were a dozen flyers covered head to toe in armor. Almost all of them wore bright orange suits that left no part of their skin exposed. The last one, who Peter assumed was the leader given the way he was cackling, wore a dark green suit instead.
First Bodega Bandit then Mysterio and now this guy. Was green the evil color in this dimension?
"Hey!" Peter swung in and knocked the closest orange guy off his glider. The guy fell to the opposite roof and Peter webbed him down before swing back around, "Don't get up on my account!"
"What the?!" The one in green turned towards him and Peter caught the scowl his Power Rangers knock-off armor his mask had, "You weren't the one I was expecting!"
"Yeah, I get that a lot- woah!" Peter dodged the thrown bomb and webbed it up quickly, "Didn't your mom ever tell you not to toss bombs at people?" He threw it up in the air and cringed when the explosion crushed through the web. Pretty high yield for something so small, "What did you pack into that thing?"
"A little concoction of my own!" Well, the shock didn't last long. Peter let go of the web just before Greenie slashed through it with an honest to god laser blade. Again, if the guy wasn't trying to kill him, he would've found it cool, "You're a fast little bug, aren't you?"
"Spiders are arachnids, and yep!" He flipped over him and his spider-sense tingled. One of the armored henchmen was rushing towards him, "Hey, wait your turn!" Peter webbed him in the face and jumped off the guy's shoulders. He crashed through a nearby water tower, showing the street below in gallons of liquid, "Uh, sorry about that!" Being wet was better than being blown up, at least.
"Focusing on the civilians? Guess I'm not surprised."
The next bomb wasn't aimed at him. The green maniac tossed it at a crowd of people still trying to run, "No!" Peter focused and shot a line of webbing at the bomb before he got tackled by another one of the orange gliders, "Let go!" He shoved him away and looked down at the bomb. It was too late now; he couldn't aim like this and the web wouldn't be able to travel that fast. He saw them, their faces turning around and their expressions knotted in horror.
He didn't notice Gwen swing in until she was right on top of them.
Gwen swung over the crowd and kicked the bomb up to the closest glider. The sphere beeped once before it exploded, the sound cutting through the screams of the crowd below. Peter expected blood and chunks of meat, but all that came was burning metal.
"What-"
"The orange ones are robots!" Gwen shouted. She kicked off the head of another armored glider and exposed the wires underneath, "No need to hold back!"
Huh...that was good to know.
Peter punched through the chest of the robot holding him, easily crunching through the metal, "Special delivery!" He tossed it another robot hard enough to make them both explode. It'd been a while since he didn't have to hold back.
"You're finally here, huh?" Greenie cackled.
"God damn it, Harry!" Peter almost paused. He'd never heard Gwen sound so angry before. She swung through the air and landed on his glider. She ducked under his swipe and punched him in the face, "I saved you! You had a second chance!"
"That seems more like it's your fault than mine!"
There were at least five more. Peter yanked one off its glider and slammed it on a nearby roof. He stomped its head flat and looked up at the next one that charged at him, laser blade drawn, "You really need to upgrade your AI!" He dodged the blow, webbed the back of the glider and pulled as hard as it could. The glider broke apart and the robot flew through the air briefly before landing at the street with a loud crash.
Three more.
Another two bombs were tossed his way. Peter grabbed them both with a line of webbing and tossed them back at the flyer out front. It blew up and landed on the rooftop with an ear-splitting crash, "This is gonna cost a lot to fix!" He jumped and dropkicked the next one...right on top of a crowd of gawking civilians, "Oops!" He yanked it back up with a quick tug and webbed it to the well. Thankfully the web was strong enough to hold them.
"Yeah, Spider-Guy!" someone from below screamed.
"It's Spider-Man! And you guys should probably run!" He swung back up to the hovering glider and crouched upside down underneath it. Gwen was still fighting Greenie and the guy was definitely holding his own. He needed to help her.
But first...
His spider-sense rang and he jumped just in time to avoid being caught by the laser blade that cut the glider in half, "Woah!" He grabbed the burning chunks of metal and webbed them next to the robot on the wall. Wouldn't do for anyone to get crushed, "What are those lasers made of? Never seen anything that can cut through metal so easily. Maybe-"
"Spider-Man, less chatting and more fighting! Or at least fight while you chat!" Gwen jumped off the glider and webbed ejected two lines of webbing to the roof. She pulled herself forward using the momentum and tried to kick Greenie off his glider, but he flew down to avoid the hit, "Rrrgh, hold still!"
"Hold on!" Peter looked back the remaining sentry and swung close. It would've been easy to kick it off, but the lightsaber was practically calling out to him, "Borrowing this!" He kicked the arm holding the laser blade and snatched it up before it fell, "Let's hope this works!"
The hard light sword cut through the metal like a hot knife through butter. Peter was almost tempted to gush about how awesome it was that he'd used an honest to god lightsaber, but the sound of Gwen's frustrated scream pushed through any thought of that. Peter turned and caught her and Greenie flying through the air erratically. Peter almost cringed when she slammed him face-first into the side of a building.
"Ooh, someone's being rough!" Greenie cackled.
"This isn't funny!" Gwen jumped onto the roof and shot multiple lines of webbing at the glider's back. The glider kept flying until the line snapped taut and he was stuck in place. Gwen stood at the edge of the roof, both hands holding onto the biocables and her feet stuck to the surface off the roof to keep from flying off. For just a second, Peter swore he saw a sharp row of teeth split open her mask, but when he looked again the mask was blank again.
Greenie threw a bomb right at her. Peter moved automatically, one hand aiming for the bomb while the other aimed at Greenie's chest, "Hey, catch!" He tugged the flyer close and smashed the bomb against his glider.
His cackling stopped as soon as his ride exploded. Greenie flew forward from the impact and Peter tugged him harder. Gwen jumped into a wide arc and Peter barely had time to cut off the webbing before Gwen smashed Greenie into the roof, "It's over!" She straddled him punched him in the face twice, the upper left chunk of the helmet breaking apart after the second blow and exposing the face underneath.
Gwen's raised fist stopped mid-blow and her next words came out in a mix of shock and relief, "You're not-"
His spider-sense blared just before another explosion covered the roof. Peter coughed and covered his mouth and nose with both hands, eyes filling with tears. A smoke bomb of some kind. Peter caught a hazy figure rushing through the smoke and he aimed a web at their back.
He missed.
By the time the smoke had cleared it was just him and Gwen alone on the roof again. To her credit she looked like she was handling the smoke better than he was, though that wasn't saying much considering the way her costume pulsed and thrummed, "...Spider-Woman?" He coughed and tapped her shoulder. He almost stumbled on his butt when he saw the chaotically shifting edges of the her eyes, "Gwen?"
"What?" She shook her head and her mask immediately turned back to normal, "I...sorry, what did you say?"
"I didn't say anything, but..." He gestured to the rooftop covered in broken robots and gliders, "We kinda made a mess. We gonna stay to talk to the cops or something?"
"Nah, there are enough people who saw what was going on. Hopefully they tell them we stopped the bad guy and weren't his partners in crime or something." Peter couldn't tell if she meant that as a joke, "We should probably go while we can. I...I need to think."
"Yeah, sure." Peter was about to jump up into a swing till he saw the discarded lightsaber sitting oh so innocently close to the edge of the roof. Gwen followed his gaze and he swore she smiled under her mask, "Big Star Wars fan?"
"Kinda. Used to watch it with Ned every year." He picked up the lightsaber and clicked the hilt to disable the blade. Apparently he wasn't the only fan.
"That sounds a little more than 'kinda', Spider-Man." She laughed softly. It was nice to hear after what'd happened, "Look, if you're going to take it then hurry up. I don't wanna explain to the police why we're stealing from the crime scene."
"Right..."
He clipped the hard light sword to his belt and followed Gwen back to her apartment. A few of the people below waved and cheered after them, but Gwen ignored them. Peter didn't blame her. He saw some of the newspapers and articles that talked about 'the murderer Spider-Woman', and she had to deal with that for two years non-stop. And then there was the year in prison. He wouldn't exactly be chipper after all that.
They made it back to Gwen's place in record time. Gwen let the suit peel away to expose her casuals while Peter shucked off the gloves and mask with a soft breath. He was exhausted, "Man, Supervillains are really something..."
"There are jerks in every universe. Can't escape em, Pete." Gwen smiled sardonically and took two cans of soda from the fridge and tossed one to him, "But hey, you really held your own back there. I'm impressed. Did Iron Stark train you or something? You fight way better than I do."
"Not really." He took a sip of the soda and coughed. Still too sweet, he was gonna get diabetes at this rate, "Mr. Stark fights with power armor and blasters, so I don't think he knows a lot about the punching and kicking."
"Self-trained, then? Ha, and Cap said that was overrated." She snorted and sat next to him on the couch, "You did way better than when we fought Mysterio. I kinda thought you didn't know how to throw a punch and just used those fancy webs of yours for everything."
"I know how to punch! It's just, well..." He tugged off his webshooters and frowned, "I'm strong. Not sure if I'm stronger than you, but definitely stronger than most people, so I try not to throw any hits in if I can, but robots are fair game...except Vision or Karen."
"Huh...that's actually pretty impressive. Most people's first instinct to someone shoving a knife in their face is to run or start punching."
"Not every purse snatcher deserves to lose most of their teeth, right?"
"Some of them do, but sure, I get that." She flexed her fingers and the white substance danced to her fingertips, "I dunno, for me it's always been hit first and web em up for later kind of gal. That and I can only make so many 'weird and sticky' web jokes before I run out material, so I gotta save em up."
"You know, I'm still hoping you'll let me tinker with your webshooters one of these days. Taking moisture from the air to create webbing...that's amazing."
"God, you're such a nerd." Gwen snorted and bumped her right shoulder to his left, "And no, you're not touching this thing. I don't exactly have a warranty with Ms. van Dyne and if you break this thing I'm gonna have to rely on Venom to do all my webbing for me. Considering the little guy/gal/thing's already eating most of my salary I really don't wanna push my luck."
"You know, you never really explained it. Most you told me was that it was a symbiotic life form." And last he checked no humans were compatible with those. Then again the same could be said about genetically enhanced spiders and teenagers, "Your face during that fight..."
"Ah...yeah, that sometimes happens when I get pissed. Venom's still learning how to deal with emotions, and it didn't help that when I first got it that I was in a...really bad place. Don't worry, it's mostly just freaky looking I know not to go too far."
"So...is it alive? Sapient, I mean, rather than sentient; you'd be surprised how often people confuse that."
"You mean is it like your fembot? No." She waved away his protests that Karen was not and never would be 'his fembot', "It's like...I dunno how to say it. Like a dog, I guess? It reacts to my emotions and learns from it, but if you're asking if it does stuff on its own or it talks to me in my sleep then no, that's not a thing. Maybe it'll do that later? I'll swing across that bridge when I get there."
"Right..." He looked down at the can and set it down on the table. A part of him didn't want to ask and ruin the mood, but he had to, "So...what was up with you earlier? You seemed like you knew Greenie back there."
"Um...yeah." Her face fell and she finished off the last of her soda. She licked her lips and answered slowly, "Uh...I mentioned my friend Harry before, right?" Peter shrugged. Maybe she did, but sometimes it was hard to remember things during that first week of acclimatization, "Me, Peter and him were inseparable in high school. Three amigos. He was there when Spider-Woman 'killed' Peter Parker and he knew the truth, but he still wanted revenge."
"Meaning...?"
"Meaning he tried to kill me." She...sounded way too calm about that, "It was a shitty time all around, but I managed to handle it without either of us dying. Before I went to jail I heard Norman got him off on a plea and he didn't do any jail time. And hey, I was happy about that cause I didn't want both of us rotting in a prison cell. I thought he turned things around so when I saw the Green Goblin up there again I thought..."
"That he went back to being a Supervillain." She nodded mutely, "But...it wasn't him?"
"No...I mean, I'm pretty sure." She rubbed her hair with both hands, "I only saw him for like a second, and it was just the upper left part of his head, but I'm pretty damn sure it wasn't Harry. Guy looked way too old, for one, and his eyes weren't the right shade of green. I couldn't have been him."
"You sure about that?"
They weren't alone anymore.
Peter barely saw the figure phase up through the floor before Gwen was suddenly in front him, one arm stretched across both to hold him back and keep the figure from jumping at looked past the protective limb and blinked when he caught sight of the Japanese teenager standing with her arms crossed a short distance away from them. She didn't have a costume, making do with a dark jacket, spandex pants and running shoes.
She was young, probably the same age as him or Mayday, but Gwen's bent posture made it clear she was a threat of some kind.
"Shadowcat..." Gwen stood up slightly straighter, though her hand remained in front of Peter protectively, "Don't suppose I should bother asking how you found me."
"If you're implying that S.H.I.E.L.D told me where you were, you're wrong. Not about them keeping tabs you, you're absolutely right about that, but thinking I needed them to find you. It ain't exactly like Spider-Gwen's address can't be found on google." Her voice sounded different from what he thought. It sounder older, almost rough in a way, "Besides, you Spiders stink of vinegar."
"Now I know you're making that up."
"Really, I'm fainting from the smell here." She spread her arms wide and gave them both a lopsided smile, "By the way, you can stop being so protective of your boyfriend. I'm not here to carve him up."
"Yeah, well, you fucked over my friend the last time we met. Not exactly keen on you doing it to another one."
"Ouch. I seem to remember us teaming up to stop the thing you're wearing from going on a rampage using Logan's body." Peter looked at Gwen's back worriedly. So much for the symbiote being harmless, "No, but seriously, if I was here for either of you two I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of saying my hello's first. So can we quit with the third degree? I feel a suspect from Brooklyn 88."
A moment of silence passed till Gwen eventually exhaled and stood up straighter, "...Fine."
"Alright." Her smile widened and she took his discarded soda from the table. She sipped it without a care and turned her eyes to him, "So this must be Spider-Man, huh? Funny, he's smaller than I thought he'd be. You like em young, huh?"
"Ignoring that." Gwen shook her head and got some more cans of soda from the fridge, "Shadowcat, Spider-Man. Spider-Man, Shadowcat. You can make the introductions yourself."
"Uh...sure." Peter held up his hand tentatively, which she accepted without any hesitation. She had gloves on her hands, noted idly, "So...you're a friend of Gwen's?"
"Not...exactly." She sat on the table and crossed one leg over the other, "Little gobby Osborn was a naughty boy so S.H.I.E.L.D sent me and Logan, my sort-of partner, to go grab him. This led to a bit of a conflict of interest between me and Spider-Gwen."
"Meaning we tried to beat the crap out of each other. Emphasis on 'tried' since this was when my powers were on the fritz." Gwen sat next to him on the couch again and threw a can Shadowcat's way, which she caught easily, "So, as much as I'm thu-rilled that you're here, is there a reason for the sudden house call? Cause I was kinda under the impression our team up was a one-and-done kind of thing."
"We would've teamed up again if you accepted Captain USA's deal."
"Yeah, no thanks." Gwen scoffed, "Now seriously, what's the deal?"
"Oh, like you don't know." She rolled her eyes, "You just had a fight with the Green Goblin all over the news, Spider-Girly. The same Green Goblin you let escape the first time and saved the second. Funnily enough, S.H.I.E.L.D isn't exactly happy with domestic terrorists running around willy nilly."
"Really? Coulda fooled me. How are Moon and Castle, by the way?"
"Wouldn't know. Last I checked they're still in prison; I'm doing this mission solo," Shadowcat replied coolly, "If it weren't for you and your boyfriend the body count would've been in the double or triple digits back there. Terrorists are bad enough when they don't have access to power armor and high yield bombs."
"Oh, good, so that's not normal around here," Peter joked weakly.
"Heh, I like you." Shadowcat smirked at him, "I'm here because, surprise surprise, that's your best friend. If anyone knows where he is it'd be you- and before you ask, his daddy's out of town on a business trip in Malaysia, conveniently enough. You're the next best thing."
"Thanks for that, but it's pointless - it's not Harry."
"Ah, the lies we say to protect our friends."
"I'm not lying!" Gwen's hold on the soda tightened, "It wasn't him."
"And what's your proof of that?"
"His eyes were-"
"He had wrinkles under his eyes and he was the wrong shade of green, right? Gimme a break." Shadowcat rolled her eyes again, "Lest we forget, Osborn junior's taking some pretty hardcore drugs, which is bound to add some wrinkles. You also fought him in a pretty dark place, no shit his eyes look different. That's what happens when you turn off the lights. If that's your 'proof' then you're not convincing me."
"What if I don't care about convincing you?"
"You'd better, cause S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't care if he's breathing when I bring him back. That's what happens when a guy fucks up his second and third chance." Gwen stood up and glared down at her. Shadowcat looked up without a care, "So you better tell me where he is right now or I'm gonna have to track him myself, and I might be really frustrated if that happens. Won't be liable for my own actions."
"You damn-"
"You really don't know where he is, do you? Fine, I'm outta here-"
"W-Wait!" Peter stood up and moved between them. Gwen looked a breath away from completely throttling the younger woman, "I don't really know what's going between you two, but Gwen isn't lying - she has no reason to. Even when she thought it was that Harry guy attacking everyone she didn't hesitate to try and stop him, so whoever that guy on the glider was she wouldn't let it stop her."
"And...that matters to me why?" Shadowcat raised a brow.
"Work together. What if this Harry guy really isn't that Green Goblin guy anymore? You'd be putting an innocent person in jail and a Supervillain gets away to bomb another day. If you work together you can stop this guy better than doing it alone. I'll even help." He looked between the two of them, "Besides, you worked together before, right? What's one more team up?"
Gwen and Shadowcat glared at one another briefly before the latter eventually sighed, "My job was to take down Osborn, but you're right, if he ends up being innocent they'll find some way to pin it on me for not 'realizing' that." She crossed her arms, "Alright, here's the deal: we work together to find that crazy asshole, whoever he is. If I find out it's Osborn then you better not try to stop me. We clear?"
"Yeah...if Harry really went off the deep end then there's really nothing I can do." Gwen let out a frustrated sigh of her own and rubbed her forehead, "I'll talk to Norman when he comes back from his trip. I saved his son's life, he's more likely to talk to me than he is to you. He'll know where Harry is, at least. He has to."
"Fine." Shadowcat wrote down something on a slip of paper and handed it to Gwen, "Call me up when you're ready to dangle Mr. Executive off the top of his building."
"I'm not going to-"
"It was a joke."
Before Gwen could respond, Shadowcat phased through the floor again. Peter stared at the spot where she just was and let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, "Well...she's something."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Gwen pocketed the slip of paper and practically collapsed back on the couch, "...Hey, thanks for that. If you weren't here I probably would've started punching and I don't think the landlord's much of a fan of Spider-Woman."
"No prob. Least I could do considering all you've done for me." He sat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. He half expected the symbiote to lash out at him, but instead the white substance wrapped around his fingers gently, "Uh...does that mean it likes me?"
"I dunno. Again, it doesn't really do the whole talking thing. I like you, so it's probably basing on that." She gave him a sideways smile, "Hey, sorry for being such a downer the past week. It's just...my dad was supposed to wake up for a while now and the more time passes the more I'm starting to lose hope. It's stupid, he's stable and everything, but every time I don't wake up to Dr. Strange calling me about how he's cured now I just get so..."
"N-No need to apologize, I get it. Well, kinda. During those first few months after school I kept checking my phone just waiting for Mr. Stark to call me up for another Avengers mission. I-I know it doesn't compare to waiting for your dad to get better, but..." He licked his lips nervously. He was rambling now, "So, um...you never told me what happened with your dad. Could I or is it..."
"No, it's fine. Well, not fine, but I can talk about it." She frowned and pressed her hands together, "So I already told you about Matt Murderdock, but I didn't tell you just how much he tried to ruin my life. I don't want to get into all of it, but there was a point where he hired some goon called Rhino with more knuckles than brain sense and he...beat my dad. He survived, but he stayed in a coma."
"I'm so sorry..."
"Yeah, well, at least I can still see him. You can't even do that." She closed her eyes, "I thought that when I got out of prison he'd be alright, but he was still sleeping when I got back. I knew that cause I had parts of Venom keeping watch, but still..."
He almost offered to hug her again, but she beat him to it. Peter almost fell back when she suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a surprising embrace. He almost expected Betty or Mary Jane to walk in and misunderstand, but they were left on their own. Peter reciprocated the gesture and closed his eyes. One good thing about Aunt May finding out - it made comfort hugs much easier to get when he needed them.
"...Sorry, it's just I've been trying to keep a strong face in front of the girls. Letting it all out is-"
"I understand. Just hug away."
They stayed that way for at least a minute till the moment was suddenly broken by the sudden vibration near his stomach. Gwen pulled back and removed the phone from her middle pocket of her hoodie, "Sorry about that." She opened the message and her eyes immediately widened, "No way..."
"What?"
"It's Dr. Strange, he says my dad's...he says my dad's awake!" She hugged him, but it was quick this time. He didn't even get a chance to hug her back, "Alright, I gotta go. Visiting hours are over, but he said that he'd make an exception for me."
"C-Can I come with?"
He didn't know why he asked, and he almost expected Gwen to say no. Instead she just looked at him weirdly for a second before shrugging, "Sure, but hurry up. I've been waiting over a year for this."
Peter debated on whether to put on the suit (and Karen) before eventually deciding against it - she still need to recharge anyway. He put the mask, gloves and webshooters back on and followed Gwen outside.
He had to admit, seeing Gwen so genuinely happy was reassuring. She'd smiled and joked before, but there was always something heavy in her words and expression that he couldn't place. Now, seeing her flip and cheer through the air without a care in the world, it made him wonder how anyone could've thought she was the menace that Jameson guy claimed she was.
She shifted back in a nearby alley and waited for Peter to remove the 'disguisey' part of his outfit, "Come on!" She tugged him along to the front desk and practically bounced on her heels as the receptionist waved them through with a friendly 'good luck'. Peter barely saw the rooms they passed through as Gwen dragged him. He didn't mind. At least she was laughing again.
Gwen rushed through the door and stopped when she saw the older man sitting upright on the bed. Peter looked past her and looked over Gwen's dad. He was thin, which was to be expected considering the fact that he was in a year long coma, with a head full of white hair followed by a goatee. He didn't look too old, and Peter definitely saw a few traces of muscle through the gown, but the coma definitely looked like it'd taken its toll.
Gwen didn't care.
"Dad..." She stumbled forward and covered him in an embrace, which he returned to the best of his ability, "Is this real? You're really awake, right?"
"I'm here, Gwen, I'm here..." He coughed and tightened his hold on her, "I...I don't-"
Gwen shook her head, "You don't have to say anything, dad. It's alright now."
Peter smiled and hung back as father and daughter hugged and cried and did their best to talk to one another. For a second he almost thought that Gwen's dad wouldn't notice him, but eventually their eyes met, "So, Gwen...who's your friend."
"Oh...this is Peter. Peter Parker from another dimension, I mean." Her dad raised a brow and she laughed, "I'll explain later, okay? All you need to know is he's stuck here and I'm putting him up for now."
"Y-Yeah. Gwen saved my life, sir. I'd be completely doomed without her." He offered the bedridden man a hand which he took in a surprisingly firm grip, "Please don't lemme bother you. You should talk to Gwen."
"Peter, huh? Guess life's funny that way." He laughed weakly.
He was about to joke back when the door behind them suddenly opened. His head snapped to noise and blinked at the two new figures. The one at front, an older woman with gray hair, was completely unfamiliar to him, but the man behind her made him feel like he'd been punched in the gut. He was older and looked like he put on a few more pounds, but the face was undeniably his.
"Uncle Ben..."
The woman at front saw him first. She stopped, both hands moving to cover her mouth and her face turning as white as a sheet. She knew him, he noted numbly. The man behind her - Uncle Ben - stopped too, his sullen expression being replaced by a look of wide-eyed shock and surprise. Peter Parker's dead here, he reminded himself. They shouldn't have seen him.
Gwen was the first to speak, "Uncle Ben, Aunt May..." She stood in front of him again, "Wh-What are you two doing here?"
"W-We came to visit George," The woman - Aunt May - said, voice soft and almost unheard, "Gwen, what is...how..."
"I...I can explain."
Peter got the feeling this wasn't going to end well...
Gwen's on the road to recovery now that her dad's awake. Sadly her best friend is on the firing line again and the Parkers just found out about MCU in one of the most awkward ways possible, but hey, at least those can be fixed now that Gwen's not a sad sack anymore. Dealing with Shadowcat's gonna be a bigger pain in the rear end, but what Superhero story's without headbutting heroes?
I'll be honest, I don't have much clue where the Earth-65 villain plot is going, but that's not really important since it's mostly an excuse for Gwen and MCU to bond and work together as Superheroes more than anything else. I'll still do my best to write it, but unlike Looking Glass I'm not going to be trying to establish rivalries among the heroes and villains.
The majority of readers are still all for the MCU and Gwen romance, so I'm guessing no one really liked the MCU and MJ date last chapter
Oh well, what the audience wants they shall receive, so long as it's within reason. More Gwen and MCU interaction next chapter coupled with awkwardness from the Parkers.Oh, and here's the secret ending for the fic:
Thanos is screwed.
Madou Sutegobana
Autocorrupt has been disabled.
- Location
- Twin Realms Mandala
My own pet peeve.
I am certain that is a bit of misinformation that went viral with the help of Less Wrong's cult. It makes people feel smart when they can point out how everyone's been makIng a mistake.
However, if Sentience has been used to mean self-cognizant in English for centuries, (regardless of it's original meaning in High-Thetan{or whatever Yudowsky's equivalent is} equaling 'sensitive' in English) then Sentience means self-cognizant in English!
Just as when we say the 'meanest villain' we aren't incorrect to be referring to a cruel wrongdoer instead of a dirt poor farmer.
Off topic, but figured it was worth sharing:
Stan Lee, Marvel Comics' Real-Life Superhero, Dies at 95
He's lived a long life. Rest in peace.
Stan Lee, Marvel Comics' Real-Life Superhero, Dies at 95
He's lived a long life. Rest in peace.
Chapter 9 - One Problem to Another
Just watched Spider-Verse As expected, it lived up the hype and I particularly enjoyed the three alternate artstyle Spiders of Noir, Peni and Ham. The main three are also pretty good, and the interplay between Miles and Gwen is giving me some ideas for romance. Way better than what Gwen and Miles had in the comics, at least.
This chapter's pretty short all around. Hopefully the 5k word count is enough for people. Also, Spider-Man anime. Spoilers for the game:
Chapter 9: One Problem to Another
It wasn't going well.
Peter slouched on the seat and gulped nervously. George Stacy had been taken away to be fit into a wheelchair, leaving just the four of them in the room. Across from him Ben and May Parker - not his Ben and May Parker, he reminded himself - sat together, holding to each other's hands while Gwen paced in-between them. She looked troubled, far more troubled than he'd ever seen her. She bit her lip and walked in circles, eyes shifting between him and Ben and May. She looked like she wanted to swing out and forget the whole thing.
He wanted to do the same.
Peter grabbed the cup of water with a shaky hand and took a small sip. It'd been ten minutes now and none of them had said a word. It should've been simple. 'He's not your Peter, he's from another dimension'. See? Easy. Just eight words and they could get rid of all this awkwardness.
Yeah, like it'd be that easy.
He took another sip of the water and coughed, "So..." Peter said, the first word ever since his (not) aunt and uncle arrived. All eyes turned to him and he resisted the urge to curl in on himself, "Uh...hey."
He cringed. Hey? What next?
Gwen covered her face with hands and groaned, "Oh my God..." she said, her words muffled. It was one of the few times he'd seen her speechless and, to be completely honest, it scared him, "This is not how this was supposed to go."
"Then how is this supposed to go? What is 'this' even?" Unc- uh, Ben said, his expression cross between shocked and livid, "You...after everything that's happened it was so difficult to even think about coming here, and now there's..."
He didn't - couldn't - finish. Peter frowned and looked down at the floor. He hated the idea that he was the cause of this. He knew the story, knew that Ben Parker blamed Gwen for the death of their Peter because he had no one else to blame. It was just a horrible mistake, Gwen had said, but he knew that a lot of the time people always had to make it someone's fault.
And in Ben Parker's eyes, it was either Gwen's fault or his dead nephew's. It wasn't hard to see why he decided it was hers.
"Ben..."
(Not) Aunt May put a hand atop his. Looking closer now he definitely saw a resemblance to the May he remembered, but she had years (decades?) ahead of her. More wrinkles with her hair cut shorter and gray to boot. He was suddenly reminded of her quip about aunts coming in all shapes and sizes.
Seeing her brought all the worries back to the surface. How long till he could go home? How much home was even left? It'd been a while since the Web Warriors came back with any new information and it was beginning to keep him up at night. What if they'd gotten hurt? What if what happened to him, Ham and Noir happened to all of them when they opened the portal again? He didn't want them to die just so he could find a way back.
"We talked about this. You know it wasn't Gwen's fault what happened," May said softly.
"I..." Ben looked away in frustration.
"It's fine. Part of it is," Gwen said softly. It's not, he wanted to shout, but he held back. It wasn't his place, "I don't expect you to forgive me, Un- Ben. I don't. Just...don't blame any of this on Peter. He's as much a victim in all this."
"Peter..." Both Ben and May flinched at the name.
"I, uh, go with Ben Reilly here i-if that helps." He cringed and said his next words in a rush, "I-I'm sorry!"
"Sorry? For what?" May looked at him in confusion.
"I...sorry!"
"You're not making any sense, Peter." Gwen let out a strained breath, "None of this is your fault, so apologizing doesn't make any sense."
"Yeah, but-"
"But nothing. I took you in, I should've figured this would happen sooner or later." She pursed her lips briefly and turned back to Ben and May, "Alright, I'm going to try and explain this as best I can. First thing we should make clear right now is that he isn't...our Peter. He's...He's still gone." Her voice had gone soft at the end.
"Gone? Then who's..." May gestured to him shakily.
"I...that's a bit harder to-"
Peter jumped up and stuck himself to the ceiling. Ben and May looked up, eyes wide and mouths agape. Peter did his best to smile, "I'm, uh...I'm Spider-Man. Back where I'm from." They didn't say anything. He let himself hang for a few more seconds and eventually landed with a small crouch, "That, uh, probably wasn't much of an explanation, huh?" Still nothing. Gwen facepalmed between them, "Well, you see-"
"He's from another dimension," Gwen interrupted in exasperation. It was better than her previous nervousness, at least, "Look, I know that sounds crazy, but it's the truth. He's from another dimension and then he got trapped here because-"
"Enough. I...that's enough. I'm done."
Ben stood and left without another word, May following after him hesitantly. It was brief, but the look of hurt on Gwen's face was unmistakable. She didn't talk about the Parkers much, but the few times she did it was clear that the wound was deep. They'd been there for her since she was a kid. They were family, she'd said, like the aunt and uncle she never had. He was lucky. May was mad at first, but she never rejected him.
"...Fuck." Gwen sat on the bed and covered her face with both hands again.
"Gwen..."
"Guess I should've seen this coming," she said bitterly, "Things were getting better for a second there. Harry didn't actually go off the rails and dad woke up, so of course the universe decided 'shit, we gotta ruin Gwen's life again! It's been like two days since she got crapped on!'" She clenched her fists, fingers sharpening into claws again.
"...I'm sorry."
"For God's sake, stop apologizing. This isn't your fault. It's-"
"Not yours either." He sat next to her and held both her hands with his, ignoring how close the sharpened tips were to cutting skin. She looked him in the eyes, "You didn't tell them, so what? What were you supposed to do, call them up, talk about the weather and then say you had an alternate dimension version of your best friend crashing at your place?"
"...Maybe." Her smile was soft and strained, but it was a smile nonetheless. He'd take it, "I just...I didn't want them to find out this way; they deserve better." She bit her lower lip, "I thought that after dad got better I could actually make some headway to fixing that bridge, you know? I know Uncle Ben's pissed at me, but Aunt May...she knew I was Spider-Woman for a while now and she told me that it was just her grief and fucking Jameson that pushed her to blame me. I thought Uncle Ben could've..."
"I get it. You don't have to explain."
She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against his, her breaths slow. Peter followed her lead and closed his eyes too. She was trying not to cry, to not break down in front of him. He wanted to tell her that he didn't have to put up a strong front, that she could lean on him the same way he'd leaned on her for the past few weeks. She didn't have to be Spider-Woman - confident, unflappable and in control - all the time.
Instead he just kept quiet and let her soft breathing lull him into a sense of calm.
He'd focused so much on the rythm that he almost didn't hear the footsteps. Peter just barely pulled his face back by the time May re-entered the room. She blinked and looked down at their intertwined hands. For a second he thought Gwen would push him off and make some hasty explanation about not being what it looked like. Instead she kept a tight grip even as May sat across them.
"Aunt May, I...didn't think you'd come back."
"I...I wanted to apologize for Ben." She held up a hand to cut off Gwen, "Yes, I should apologize, don't try to deny it. What happened to Peter wasn't your fault and you held that burden for years. It's not fair that he can't see this for what it is and insists that someone's to blame."
"Don't worry, I get it."
May took a deep breath and said her next words slowly, "That doesn't make it better. So...give me a couple of days and then please come over to our house for dinner. Him...Peter too."
"Are...Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"We were going to invite you when we arrived. We just forgot in all the...excitement." Her eyes flickered over to Peter, "I'm sorry about this. It must be difficult, being here."
"N-No." Yes, "I-I mean, it could be worse. If Gwen and the others weren't here I'd be out on the streets. So...yeah, could be worse."
"...You're so different from him."
He didn't know if May meant for anyone else to hear her. Before he could respond May left the room, leaving him alone with Gwen again. He was suddenly aware of how sweaty his palms were, "...Guess I'm being thrown a bone. Or a fly on a web. I prefer bone." She smiled and untangled their hands, the now-blunted tips dancing across his palms soft enough to tickle. Was it just his imagination or were her cheeks red?
"Are you okay?"
"Come back to me in a couple of days and we'll see." She laughed under her breath and stood, arms stretching above her head. He looked away and coughed when her shirt rode up to expose some of her belly, "Hey...thanks."
"For what? I kinda just made things awkward by being here..."
"First, not your fault." She pushed his forehead with her pointer finger and smiled softly, "Second, don't question my thanks. Isn't there a saying about that back in your place?"
"I...don't think so? Then again, our sodas aren't made of pure sugar."
"Yeah, it's just made of that weird artificial stuff. Corn syrup, I think. What, your cigs filled with make-up tobacco too?"
"No, that's dumb."
"Uh-huh." She rolled her eyes, her smile widening. He found himself smiling back, "Listen, dad's gonna get prepped for his physical therapy and I wanna be there for him. Could you swing off for a bit?"
"Sure. Call me if anything happens, okay?"
"Course."
The next two days passed by quicker than he thought and soon enough they stood in front of the Parker house. Peter tugged at the collar of the loaned dress shirt and gulped nervously, trying to ignore the drops of cold sweat that ran down his neck. The last time he'd put on a suit was prom. A part of him wondered if Mysterio or the Goblin guy would open the door once they knocked.
At least he wasn't alone.
Having Gwen and her dad with him was expected enough, not so much Mayday and Noir. Peter gave them a sideways glance. Mayday looked cool and confident in her red casual dinner dress. Not so much Noir in a similarly loaned suit; he looked more like he wanted to be anywhere but here.
It was Gwen's idea. They had to convince Uncle Ben and what better way than showing off another Peter and his possible future daughter? Aunt May apparently agreed. Personally he didn't think it was a good idea, but he was pretty new to the whole dimension traveling thing so what did he know? If nothing else it'd take most of the attention off of him, which was just fine by him.
"Everybody ready?" Gwen asked.
All of them gave a variation of yes (except for Noir who grunted and earned a glare from Gwen) and Gwen rang the doorbell. It only took a few seconds for May to open the door, "Oh, you're here." She scanned over all of them quickly and her smile twitched. If Peter didn't have super senses he doubted he'd notice, "Ben's helping me with the turkey. Come in, come in!"
They stepped inside and Mayday said, "A turkey? Don't tell me Thanksgiving is wonky here too."
"No, no. We just wanted to celebrate George coming back."
"There was no need to make a fuss, May," Gwen's dad said. He was still in a wheelchair. A year in a coma meant it'd be a while before he was walking on crutches, let alone on his own two feet again.
"Why do you guys keep acting like this place is some kind of weird karaoke version of your places?" Gwen asked as they neared the couch.
"Because it is? Seriously, the shows are all named differently, all the heroes had surgery and the drinks are all messed up," Mayday said.
"The lights don't help." Noir grunted, "Every time we go to this place I get a headache. Wonder who the chucklehead was who thought neon had to be plastered at every street and building."
"So sorry we have more colors than black and white here, Noir." Gwen rolled her eyes.
Gwen's dad went with May to the kitchen - to help ease Ben into it, or so May said -, leaving them alone in the living room. Mayday looked around the comfy domicile and muttered under her breath. Was it familiar to her?
"Huh..." Peter's eyes were drawn to the pictures on the wall and his breath stilled. It was him. Peter Parker of Earth-65. Peter walked closer and peered up at the family picture. Ben and May looked different - happier - which was the exact opposite of the teenager between them. He smiled, sure, but it was obviously strained and forced. Anyone else would've just considered it teenage angst. He wasn't sure.
There was another picture close by. Just him alone with the hood of his Spider-Woman jacket pulled up. This time his smile was more genuine, "Peter...used it for something else. He was tired of being bullied, tired of being unable to fight back and...and he wanted to be special." That's what Gwen told him. He admired Spider-Woman - Gwen - because he was in love with the idea of her. The power to fight back against the bullies, the freedom to do what he wanted.
"So that's him, huh?" Peter jumped up slightly at Noir's voice. The Spider to his left looked at the picture and frowned, "...Guess I see why this is a problem. You look just like him."
"I-I do?"
"Sure. Change the glasses and the hair, but you're definitely Peter Parker."
"Did you...look like that? When you were younger, I mean."
"I guess. Didn't get as much to eat and the poundings on the street left more bruises, but sure."
"Hey, hey! No angst!" Gwen cut in, getting between him and Noir, "We're going to have a nice dinner without anyone here going on a tangent about how growing up means being a cynical prick, Noir." She glared up at him. Noir clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, "Now, remember what I said: no talking about work unless someone really asks and/or it feels appropriate. Talking about Earth-69 is not good dinner conversation."
"You're the one who keeps bringing it up, Stacy." Noir's cheeks actually turned red, as did Mayday's behind them, "You could've gotten some of the others here, you know."
"Pfft, like you wanted to stay back there with Peni jabbering," Mayday smirked, "She was driving you insane. Why not just admit you wanted to come?"
"Hah...up yours, May."
It took a few more minutes before they were called into the kitchen. On the bright side Ben didn't look like he was going to turn and walk away the second he saw them. On the not so bright side, he hadn't said a word at all when they sat around the table. Peter dug into the turkey and tried to ignore the awkward feeling hanging over the air. This wasn't off to a great start.
"S-So, what do you two do? Jobs, I mean," Peter said in a rush.
"Oh. Well, I work as a nurse," May said.
"O-Oh, yeah. Mine too." He paused, "U-Uh I mean, my Aunt May! W-Well, I don't actually call her Aunt May. She says it makes her feel old and I think she was just joking about that but I still just call her May and-"
Peter jumped up in his seat when Gwen suddenly pinched his left leg, "Okay, Pete, I think they get it." Noir sighed while Mayday looked torn between following his lead or just breaking down into laughter.
"So, she's a nurse too? What's she like?" May asked.
"Uh...it's hard to say. She's Aunt May." He shrugged, "She, uh, looks different, I guess. I-I actually have a picture here." He fished out the phone from his pocket and scrolled through the pictures. He hadn't actually shown anyone any of the pictures he had despite Betty's prodding. Mostly cause it took him a while to even get a charger that he was reasonably sure wouldn't blow his phone up."
He scrolled through the phone till he found a decent picture, "Here." He put it at the center of the table. It was nothing special, just a picture of him with May hugging him from behind, but it helped comfort him in his time here.
The reactions were instantaneous.
Gwen nearly spat out her drink. She coughed and set down her glass, "Th-That's Aunt May? Your Aunt May"
"Uh...yeah?"
"You sure's she's not your big sister?" Mayday asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure!"
"She looks so...young." That was Ben! He actually talked! Hooray for his weirdly young aunt!
"Well, you know, aunts come in all shapes and sizes." Peter shrugged.
"Yeah, but...seriously?" Gwen gave him a flabbergasted look, "How old is she?"
"Uh...last I checked, she was 54."
"Um, bullshit?"
"Gwen!" her dad said.
"What? Just look at her! She does not look 54!" Peter was tempted to pull the phone back. Why were they so interested in his aunt? He was 17, did they expect her to be old enough to be his grandmother? "God, and you guys say my dimension's weird."
The flippant comment was a sobering reminder of their current circumstances. Peter awkwardly took the phone back while Ben looked down at his plate of nearly untouched food. He suddenly spoke up before anyone could say anything, "How old are you?"
"Me? I-I'm 17," Peter said.
"17..." He turned his gaze to Noir, "And you?"
"24. Neither of us are like Stacy, sad to say," Noir crossed his arms, "...Let's get down to brass tacks. Stacy thought if she brought us here it'd help you see what the deal was. And hell, it's not exactly easy for the two of us either."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't know?"
"Noir, I don't think that's-"
"Ben Parker's dead for both of us," Noir said, cutting off Mayday's warning.
A sobering silence settled over the room. A sudden chill swept through Peter's entire body at the look of shock and disbelief on Ben's face. He was suddenly reminded of just how similar he looked to his own passed uncle. More wrinkles, sure, but he was still tall and strong like the one he remembered. Peter would've been lying if he said seeing him again didn't hurt, but to say it out loud like that...
"...Dead." Ben said eventually, "For both of you?"
"Y-Yeah." Peter nodded. His fault, the self-loathing part of him said. Back then he'd gotten so high on his powers that he thought stopping a mugger was beneath him. A bad thing that happened because of him, because of something that he could have stopped.
"He's part of the reason we put on the mask. The guilt keeps us up at night," Noir said, "Same deal with Stacy and your kid."
"M-Maybe I don't have any right to say this, but...please stop blaming Gwen," Peter stood up, "I don't know exactly what happened, but Gwen loved your Peter. The way she talks about him...if she could've saved him, traded her life for his, she'd do it. You know she would. So please...please stop blaming her. Having you hate her, it hurts. You're her family too."
"I..."
"Gwen doesn't deserve the blame," Mayday said, "Please. I had a friend who was the same way. He looked for someone to blame because of a tragedy and I was barely able to pull him back from the brink. It's hard not having someone to blame or point to and say 'that's the bad guy', I know that, but you know Gwen's innocent. She wouldn't have shouldered the burden for years if she really was the unrepentant the murderer everyone accused her of being."
"Please, Ben-"
"I know." Peter shut his mouth, the plea still at the tip of his tongue. Gwen's dad looked like he wanted to cut in as well, "Seeing her on trial, treated like a monster because people were scared...I knew was wrong, but what else was I supposed to do? I spent so long thinking about Spider-Woman being brought to justice for Peter's death that I couldn't just let go. Finding out Peter was the Lizard-"
"Don't call him that. Please," Gwen said, standing up next to him, "What happened was a mistake. Peter was angry and he lashed out, but that doesn't make him some kind of irredeemable monster."
"Hey, if you really need someone to blame then I'd focus on the bullies who made drove him to that then put up tears at the funeral. I'll help if you want some payback." Noir said. It was scary how much he wasn't sure if the older Spider was joking or not.
"That's not helping," Gwen glared at him halfheartedly.
"Just a suggestion."
Ben let out a soft breath and looked up at Gwen, "...I'm sorry," he said, the words soft and barely heard, "I know it's not your fault, but...it was hard. I wanted to apologize back in the hospital, but seeing...him with you just brought it all back. I didn't want to believe you when you mentioned other dimensions. Now..." He looked at Mayday and Noir, "I guess you were telling the truth."
"Yeah...I'm done lying." Gwen pulled him up into an embrace, which he didn't hesitate to return. Peter smiled at the look of utter relief on Gwen's face. She deserved it after everything, "It's...I know it's going to be hard, going back to the way things were, but could we try?"
"I...I'd like that, Gwennie."
Dinner went far better after that. Gwen dug into the turkey heartily and listened to the the others chat about whatever. Seeing her dad and Uncle Ben talking again relieved her more than she thought. It was like she was 15 again and they were having another one of their weekly dinners.
They even had (a) Peter with them.
Her eyes flickered ever to Pete. He was laughing at something Noir said, his smile bright and a bit of gravy at the side of his mouth that May offered a napkin for. He really did look like her best friend, but that was where the resemblance ended. She loved Peter, but she would be the first to admit that he preferred solitude and getting him to smile without looking like he just stubbed his toe was like pulling teeth.
Pete was warmer. More open. It was...nice.
"Hey, I gotta go wash up. Could you show me where?" Mayday asked softly.
"Huh? Oh, sure." She stood up and led Mayday to the living room, "Bathroom's over-"
Mayday suddenly grabbed her arm and tugged her outside, shutting the door behind her quietly, "We need to talk." She looked around briefly and let go of her arm.
"Yeah, I'll say..." Gwen rubbed her wrist, "What is it?"
"What I'm about to tell you stays between us, okay? Don't tell Peter. Swear it."
"What? But-"
"Swear. It."
"Alright, alright! I swear!" She raised both hands in surrender.
"Good." She walked further till they were on the sidewalk, Gwen following behind her nervously, "Me and a few of the others visited Peter's home. It...It wasn't good."
"Just how 'not good' are we talking about here?"
"'Half the universe is dead' not good." Mayday's expression was grim, "I mean we could be wrong, but even if it wasn't exactly half it doesn't really matter. The place was tearing itself apart. Looting, infrastructure's barely holding together, rising death toll. We couldn't even do much searching for anyone because of how chaotic everything was. It's not good."
"Y-Yeah, I got that." Gwen gulped nervously, "So...what do we do?"
"You are not doing anything except staying here and making sure Peter doesn't go insane." Mayday looked at the door again, "He's already homesick. Finding out about this...it'll break him. We can't let that happen."
"So what, you just want me to lie to him? Pretend that everything's okay?"
"No, just...just tell him we're still working on it. Okay? I just wanted you to know so you know what not to say." Mayday rubbed the back of her head and let out a frustrated breath, "We're trying to find May Parker and Iron Man, but it's slow going. The last person we tried to ask about May Parker tried to shoot us and the few people who were willing to talk about Stark said he went to space, so no dice there."
"I dunno about this. Doesn't he deserve to know the truth?"
"I don't like it either, Gwen. Trust me if I had a guarantee he won't go bananas when he finds out I'd tell him myself." She sighed, "That's not the only thing, though."
"Oh, there's more?! Great!" Gwen threw up her hands in frustration.
"Yeah, it's...Karn confirmed it: something's keeping 'Peter Parker' out of that dimension. The only way to make it safe for him to go back is to get that Thanos guy, which isn't exactly easy considering he's lightyears away on the back end of space and the portals don't let us breath up there."
"What are you saying?"
"She means the kid might be trapped here." Both their heads snapped to the new voice and Gwen glared up at Noir. She hated it when he did his creeper bullshit, "I ain't gonna sugarcoat it, Stacy. Chances of us finding a way to get the kid back home are slimmer than a Negro being voted president back home. Even if we do find the big purple bastard I doubt we're gonna be able to off him, not without getting some of those really lucky Spiders that got firebirds to make em stronger."
"So not only is Peter's home going through fucking doomsday but he may or may not be trapped here." She scowled, "What next? Gonna tell me that spider bite gave him cancer?"
"Hey, this isn't exactly pleasant for us either!" Mayday snapped, "We're trying our best here, Gwen. Karn's already looking for more Spider-Men to help us, magic or science or whatever. Just...help us make sure that Peter's going to be alright."
"I still think he deserves to know."
"Then tell him if you want. It's your choice," Noir said, "Me personally I agree with you. Burying your head in the sand never does any good."
"What good will telling him do? He can't do anything to help. All it'll do is make him feel miserable and he might even do stupid stuff to try and get back home." Mayday held her shoulders, "I'm not saying lie to him forever. I'm not. Just...wait for us to come back with something besides 'things aren't good'. Please? I've seen one too many Peter Parkers lose themselves in grief, I don't want another."
"I...I dunno." She shook of Mayday's grip, "Just...Just let me think about it, okay?"
"Sure." Mayday looked down briefly, "...Look, me and Noir should probably go. Have fun with the dinner."
"Yeah..." Gwen waited till they'd portaled out before she forced herself to trudge back to the house. Well, this wasn't how she thought this night would go. Her worst case scenario was Uncle Ben disowning her, not finding out a friend's home was fucked and he was trapped away from it possibly forever, "Fuck..." She pressed her forehead against the door, took a deep breath and opened it.
Peter was the first to greet her when she got back, "Oh, Gwen! What happened to Noir and Mayday?" There was that bright, genuine smile again. If she told him now he'd probably never smile again, go down the same lows like when Murdock made her life hell. She'd seen her share of Peter's Parkers lose themselves too.
Oh God damn it, Mayday. I hate you...
"Th-They had to take off. Web Warriors stuff." She sat next to him again and smiled, "So...you never told me how the date with MJ went. Come on, give me the dirty details."
"Is this really proper dinner conversation, Gwen?" Her dad huffed.
"What? Considering Pete's track record here I bet they just held hands and talked about their feelings."
"Hey!"
Lying to her friends again. So much for that promise...
Ended on a pretty angsty note there, but that's to be expected considering Endgame isn't exactly starting off like a bucket of roses. Some of you will probably disagree with Gwen's choice at the end, but it's supposed to be a no-win choice. Agree or disagree you can't really deny that she was put in a situation with two impossible choices.
Anyway, more romance(?) hints between Gwen and MCU at the beginning. Course you could see it as platonic, so really up to you. If nothing else my friend saw Gwen's behavior at the end between the two choices as being more like an older sister/mentor figure than a possible love interest. What do you guys think, romantic or sisterly/mentor?
I was also planning to add a segment at the end where MJ met Mayday and it's as hilariously bad as Mayday's meeting with MCU. I cut it out to keep the tone intact. Maybe next chapter ;P
And before anyone worries: no, this is not the end for the Parkers. I know we focused more on Gwen than MCU there, but that plotline has been running for a while in canon. They'll get to know Peter better later.
Questions:
1. Should I give Gwen more POV segments? MCU gets the most perspective chapters and I wonder if readers would want it more balanced to a dual protag thing or just remain with MCU being the primary character.
2. Cross-posted question: For those who read both this fic and Through the Looking Glass (and aren't too biased to either), who has better chemistry with Gwen in the early chapters: Noir or MCU Peter? Kinda wondering if Birds of a Feather or Opposites attract are more appealing to a wider audience.
3. I've gotten comments indicating interest in both MJ and Gwen as romantic interests and drama based on this. So...do people want a love triangle? Cause it seems like some people are all for it, but I have my doubts since Gwen and MJ are close enough that I can't see them arguing over a guy. That and it'd kinda feel odd given the tone of the fic and the adorkable main character.
As expected, it lived up the hype and I particularly enjoyed the three alternate artstyle Spiders of Noir, Peni and Ham. The main three are also pretty good, and the interplay between Miles and Gwen is giving me some ideas for romance. Way better than what Gwen and Miles had in the comics, at least.This chapter's pretty short all around. Hopefully the 5k word count is enough for people. Also, Spider-Man anime. Spoilers for the game:
Chapter 9: One Problem to Another
It wasn't going well.
Peter slouched on the seat and gulped nervously. George Stacy had been taken away to be fit into a wheelchair, leaving just the four of them in the room. Across from him Ben and May Parker - not his Ben and May Parker, he reminded himself - sat together, holding to each other's hands while Gwen paced in-between them. She looked troubled, far more troubled than he'd ever seen her. She bit her lip and walked in circles, eyes shifting between him and Ben and May. She looked like she wanted to swing out and forget the whole thing.
He wanted to do the same.
Peter grabbed the cup of water with a shaky hand and took a small sip. It'd been ten minutes now and none of them had said a word. It should've been simple. 'He's not your Peter, he's from another dimension'. See? Easy. Just eight words and they could get rid of all this awkwardness.
Yeah, like it'd be that easy.
He took another sip of the water and coughed, "So..." Peter said, the first word ever since his (not) aunt and uncle arrived. All eyes turned to him and he resisted the urge to curl in on himself, "Uh...hey."
He cringed. Hey? What next?
Gwen covered her face with hands and groaned, "Oh my God..." she said, her words muffled. It was one of the few times he'd seen her speechless and, to be completely honest, it scared him, "This is not how this was supposed to go."
"Then how is this supposed to go? What is 'this' even?" Unc- uh, Ben said, his expression cross between shocked and livid, "You...after everything that's happened it was so difficult to even think about coming here, and now there's..."
He didn't - couldn't - finish. Peter frowned and looked down at the floor. He hated the idea that he was the cause of this. He knew the story, knew that Ben Parker blamed Gwen for the death of their Peter because he had no one else to blame. It was just a horrible mistake, Gwen had said, but he knew that a lot of the time people always had to make it someone's fault.
And in Ben Parker's eyes, it was either Gwen's fault or his dead nephew's. It wasn't hard to see why he decided it was hers.
"Ben..."
(Not) Aunt May put a hand atop his. Looking closer now he definitely saw a resemblance to the May he remembered, but she had years (decades?) ahead of her. More wrinkles with her hair cut shorter and gray to boot. He was suddenly reminded of her quip about aunts coming in all shapes and sizes.
Seeing her brought all the worries back to the surface. How long till he could go home? How much home was even left? It'd been a while since the Web Warriors came back with any new information and it was beginning to keep him up at night. What if they'd gotten hurt? What if what happened to him, Ham and Noir happened to all of them when they opened the portal again? He didn't want them to die just so he could find a way back.
"We talked about this. You know it wasn't Gwen's fault what happened," May said softly.
"I..." Ben looked away in frustration.
"It's fine. Part of it is," Gwen said softly. It's not, he wanted to shout, but he held back. It wasn't his place, "I don't expect you to forgive me, Un- Ben. I don't. Just...don't blame any of this on Peter. He's as much a victim in all this."
"Peter..." Both Ben and May flinched at the name.
"I, uh, go with Ben Reilly here i-if that helps." He cringed and said his next words in a rush, "I-I'm sorry!"
"Sorry? For what?" May looked at him in confusion.
"I...sorry!"
"You're not making any sense, Peter." Gwen let out a strained breath, "None of this is your fault, so apologizing doesn't make any sense."
"Yeah, but-"
"But nothing. I took you in, I should've figured this would happen sooner or later." She pursed her lips briefly and turned back to Ben and May, "Alright, I'm going to try and explain this as best I can. First thing we should make clear right now is that he isn't...our Peter. He's...He's still gone." Her voice had gone soft at the end.
"Gone? Then who's..." May gestured to him shakily.
"I...that's a bit harder to-"
Peter jumped up and stuck himself to the ceiling. Ben and May looked up, eyes wide and mouths agape. Peter did his best to smile, "I'm, uh...I'm Spider-Man. Back where I'm from." They didn't say anything. He let himself hang for a few more seconds and eventually landed with a small crouch, "That, uh, probably wasn't much of an explanation, huh?" Still nothing. Gwen facepalmed between them, "Well, you see-"
"He's from another dimension," Gwen interrupted in exasperation. It was better than her previous nervousness, at least, "Look, I know that sounds crazy, but it's the truth. He's from another dimension and then he got trapped here because-"
"Enough. I...that's enough. I'm done."
Ben stood and left without another word, May following after him hesitantly. It was brief, but the look of hurt on Gwen's face was unmistakable. She didn't talk about the Parkers much, but the few times she did it was clear that the wound was deep. They'd been there for her since she was a kid. They were family, she'd said, like the aunt and uncle she never had. He was lucky. May was mad at first, but she never rejected him.
"...Fuck." Gwen sat on the bed and covered her face with both hands again.
"Gwen..."
"Guess I should've seen this coming," she said bitterly, "Things were getting better for a second there. Harry didn't actually go off the rails and dad woke up, so of course the universe decided 'shit, we gotta ruin Gwen's life again! It's been like two days since she got crapped on!'" She clenched her fists, fingers sharpening into claws again.
"...I'm sorry."
"For God's sake, stop apologizing. This isn't your fault. It's-"
"Not yours either." He sat next to her and held both her hands with his, ignoring how close the sharpened tips were to cutting skin. She looked him in the eyes, "You didn't tell them, so what? What were you supposed to do, call them up, talk about the weather and then say you had an alternate dimension version of your best friend crashing at your place?"
"...Maybe." Her smile was soft and strained, but it was a smile nonetheless. He'd take it, "I just...I didn't want them to find out this way; they deserve better." She bit her lower lip, "I thought that after dad got better I could actually make some headway to fixing that bridge, you know? I know Uncle Ben's pissed at me, but Aunt May...she knew I was Spider-Woman for a while now and she told me that it was just her grief and fucking Jameson that pushed her to blame me. I thought Uncle Ben could've..."
"I get it. You don't have to explain."
She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against his, her breaths slow. Peter followed her lead and closed his eyes too. She was trying not to cry, to not break down in front of him. He wanted to tell her that he didn't have to put up a strong front, that she could lean on him the same way he'd leaned on her for the past few weeks. She didn't have to be Spider-Woman - confident, unflappable and in control - all the time.
Instead he just kept quiet and let her soft breathing lull him into a sense of calm.
He'd focused so much on the rythm that he almost didn't hear the footsteps. Peter just barely pulled his face back by the time May re-entered the room. She blinked and looked down at their intertwined hands. For a second he thought Gwen would push him off and make some hasty explanation about not being what it looked like. Instead she kept a tight grip even as May sat across them.
"Aunt May, I...didn't think you'd come back."
"I...I wanted to apologize for Ben." She held up a hand to cut off Gwen, "Yes, I should apologize, don't try to deny it. What happened to Peter wasn't your fault and you held that burden for years. It's not fair that he can't see this for what it is and insists that someone's to blame."
"Don't worry, I get it."
May took a deep breath and said her next words slowly, "That doesn't make it better. So...give me a couple of days and then please come over to our house for dinner. Him...Peter too."
"Are...Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"We were going to invite you when we arrived. We just forgot in all the...excitement." Her eyes flickered over to Peter, "I'm sorry about this. It must be difficult, being here."
"N-No." Yes, "I-I mean, it could be worse. If Gwen and the others weren't here I'd be out on the streets. So...yeah, could be worse."
"...You're so different from him."
He didn't know if May meant for anyone else to hear her. Before he could respond May left the room, leaving him alone with Gwen again. He was suddenly aware of how sweaty his palms were, "...Guess I'm being thrown a bone. Or a fly on a web. I prefer bone." She smiled and untangled their hands, the now-blunted tips dancing across his palms soft enough to tickle. Was it just his imagination or were her cheeks red?
"Are you okay?"
"Come back to me in a couple of days and we'll see." She laughed under her breath and stood, arms stretching above her head. He looked away and coughed when her shirt rode up to expose some of her belly, "Hey...thanks."
"For what? I kinda just made things awkward by being here..."
"First, not your fault." She pushed his forehead with her pointer finger and smiled softly, "Second, don't question my thanks. Isn't there a saying about that back in your place?"
"I...don't think so? Then again, our sodas aren't made of pure sugar."
"Yeah, it's just made of that weird artificial stuff. Corn syrup, I think. What, your cigs filled with make-up tobacco too?"
"No, that's dumb."
"Uh-huh." She rolled her eyes, her smile widening. He found himself smiling back, "Listen, dad's gonna get prepped for his physical therapy and I wanna be there for him. Could you swing off for a bit?"
"Sure. Call me if anything happens, okay?"
"Course."
The next two days passed by quicker than he thought and soon enough they stood in front of the Parker house. Peter tugged at the collar of the loaned dress shirt and gulped nervously, trying to ignore the drops of cold sweat that ran down his neck. The last time he'd put on a suit was prom. A part of him wondered if Mysterio or the Goblin guy would open the door once they knocked.
At least he wasn't alone.
Having Gwen and her dad with him was expected enough, not so much Mayday and Noir. Peter gave them a sideways glance. Mayday looked cool and confident in her red casual dinner dress. Not so much Noir in a similarly loaned suit; he looked more like he wanted to be anywhere but here.
It was Gwen's idea. They had to convince Uncle Ben and what better way than showing off another Peter and his possible future daughter? Aunt May apparently agreed. Personally he didn't think it was a good idea, but he was pretty new to the whole dimension traveling thing so what did he know? If nothing else it'd take most of the attention off of him, which was just fine by him.
"Everybody ready?" Gwen asked.
All of them gave a variation of yes (except for Noir who grunted and earned a glare from Gwen) and Gwen rang the doorbell. It only took a few seconds for May to open the door, "Oh, you're here." She scanned over all of them quickly and her smile twitched. If Peter didn't have super senses he doubted he'd notice, "Ben's helping me with the turkey. Come in, come in!"
They stepped inside and Mayday said, "A turkey? Don't tell me Thanksgiving is wonky here too."
"No, no. We just wanted to celebrate George coming back."
"There was no need to make a fuss, May," Gwen's dad said. He was still in a wheelchair. A year in a coma meant it'd be a while before he was walking on crutches, let alone on his own two feet again.
"Why do you guys keep acting like this place is some kind of weird karaoke version of your places?" Gwen asked as they neared the couch.
"Because it is? Seriously, the shows are all named differently, all the heroes had surgery and the drinks are all messed up," Mayday said.
"The lights don't help." Noir grunted, "Every time we go to this place I get a headache. Wonder who the chucklehead was who thought neon had to be plastered at every street and building."
"So sorry we have more colors than black and white here, Noir." Gwen rolled her eyes.
Gwen's dad went with May to the kitchen - to help ease Ben into it, or so May said -, leaving them alone in the living room. Mayday looked around the comfy domicile and muttered under her breath. Was it familiar to her?
"Huh..." Peter's eyes were drawn to the pictures on the wall and his breath stilled. It was him. Peter Parker of Earth-65. Peter walked closer and peered up at the family picture. Ben and May looked different - happier - which was the exact opposite of the teenager between them. He smiled, sure, but it was obviously strained and forced. Anyone else would've just considered it teenage angst. He wasn't sure.
There was another picture close by. Just him alone with the hood of his Spider-Woman jacket pulled up. This time his smile was more genuine, "Peter...used it for something else. He was tired of being bullied, tired of being unable to fight back and...and he wanted to be special." That's what Gwen told him. He admired Spider-Woman - Gwen - because he was in love with the idea of her. The power to fight back against the bullies, the freedom to do what he wanted.
"So that's him, huh?" Peter jumped up slightly at Noir's voice. The Spider to his left looked at the picture and frowned, "...Guess I see why this is a problem. You look just like him."
"I-I do?"
"Sure. Change the glasses and the hair, but you're definitely Peter Parker."
"Did you...look like that? When you were younger, I mean."
"I guess. Didn't get as much to eat and the poundings on the street left more bruises, but sure."
"Hey, hey! No angst!" Gwen cut in, getting between him and Noir, "We're going to have a nice dinner without anyone here going on a tangent about how growing up means being a cynical prick, Noir." She glared up at him. Noir clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, "Now, remember what I said: no talking about work unless someone really asks and/or it feels appropriate. Talking about Earth-69 is not good dinner conversation."
"You're the one who keeps bringing it up, Stacy." Noir's cheeks actually turned red, as did Mayday's behind them, "You could've gotten some of the others here, you know."
"Pfft, like you wanted to stay back there with Peni jabbering," Mayday smirked, "She was driving you insane. Why not just admit you wanted to come?"
"Hah...up yours, May."
It took a few more minutes before they were called into the kitchen. On the bright side Ben didn't look like he was going to turn and walk away the second he saw them. On the not so bright side, he hadn't said a word at all when they sat around the table. Peter dug into the turkey and tried to ignore the awkward feeling hanging over the air. This wasn't off to a great start.
"S-So, what do you two do? Jobs, I mean," Peter said in a rush.
"Oh. Well, I work as a nurse," May said.
"O-Oh, yeah. Mine too." He paused, "U-Uh I mean, my Aunt May! W-Well, I don't actually call her Aunt May. She says it makes her feel old and I think she was just joking about that but I still just call her May and-"
Peter jumped up in his seat when Gwen suddenly pinched his left leg, "Okay, Pete, I think they get it." Noir sighed while Mayday looked torn between following his lead or just breaking down into laughter.
"So, she's a nurse too? What's she like?" May asked.
"Uh...it's hard to say. She's Aunt May." He shrugged, "She, uh, looks different, I guess. I-I actually have a picture here." He fished out the phone from his pocket and scrolled through the pictures. He hadn't actually shown anyone any of the pictures he had despite Betty's prodding. Mostly cause it took him a while to even get a charger that he was reasonably sure wouldn't blow his phone up."
He scrolled through the phone till he found a decent picture, "Here." He put it at the center of the table. It was nothing special, just a picture of him with May hugging him from behind, but it helped comfort him in his time here.
The reactions were instantaneous.
Gwen nearly spat out her drink. She coughed and set down her glass, "Th-That's Aunt May? Your Aunt May"
"Uh...yeah?"
"You sure's she's not your big sister?" Mayday asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure!"
"She looks so...young." That was Ben! He actually talked! Hooray for his weirdly young aunt!
"Well, you know, aunts come in all shapes and sizes." Peter shrugged.
"Yeah, but...seriously?" Gwen gave him a flabbergasted look, "How old is she?"
"Uh...last I checked, she was 54."
"Um, bullshit?"
"Gwen!" her dad said.
"What? Just look at her! She does not look 54!" Peter was tempted to pull the phone back. Why were they so interested in his aunt? He was 17, did they expect her to be old enough to be his grandmother? "God, and you guys say my dimension's weird."
The flippant comment was a sobering reminder of their current circumstances. Peter awkwardly took the phone back while Ben looked down at his plate of nearly untouched food. He suddenly spoke up before anyone could say anything, "How old are you?"
"Me? I-I'm 17," Peter said.
"17..." He turned his gaze to Noir, "And you?"
"24. Neither of us are like Stacy, sad to say," Noir crossed his arms, "...Let's get down to brass tacks. Stacy thought if she brought us here it'd help you see what the deal was. And hell, it's not exactly easy for the two of us either."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't know?"
"Noir, I don't think that's-"
"Ben Parker's dead for both of us," Noir said, cutting off Mayday's warning.
A sobering silence settled over the room. A sudden chill swept through Peter's entire body at the look of shock and disbelief on Ben's face. He was suddenly reminded of just how similar he looked to his own passed uncle. More wrinkles, sure, but he was still tall and strong like the one he remembered. Peter would've been lying if he said seeing him again didn't hurt, but to say it out loud like that...
"...Dead." Ben said eventually, "For both of you?"
"Y-Yeah." Peter nodded. His fault, the self-loathing part of him said. Back then he'd gotten so high on his powers that he thought stopping a mugger was beneath him. A bad thing that happened because of him, because of something that he could have stopped.
"He's part of the reason we put on the mask. The guilt keeps us up at night," Noir said, "Same deal with Stacy and your kid."
"M-Maybe I don't have any right to say this, but...please stop blaming Gwen," Peter stood up, "I don't know exactly what happened, but Gwen loved your Peter. The way she talks about him...if she could've saved him, traded her life for his, she'd do it. You know she would. So please...please stop blaming her. Having you hate her, it hurts. You're her family too."
"I..."
"Gwen doesn't deserve the blame," Mayday said, "Please. I had a friend who was the same way. He looked for someone to blame because of a tragedy and I was barely able to pull him back from the brink. It's hard not having someone to blame or point to and say 'that's the bad guy', I know that, but you know Gwen's innocent. She wouldn't have shouldered the burden for years if she really was the unrepentant the murderer everyone accused her of being."
"Please, Ben-"
"I know." Peter shut his mouth, the plea still at the tip of his tongue. Gwen's dad looked like he wanted to cut in as well, "Seeing her on trial, treated like a monster because people were scared...I knew was wrong, but what else was I supposed to do? I spent so long thinking about Spider-Woman being brought to justice for Peter's death that I couldn't just let go. Finding out Peter was the Lizard-"
"Don't call him that. Please," Gwen said, standing up next to him, "What happened was a mistake. Peter was angry and he lashed out, but that doesn't make him some kind of irredeemable monster."
"Hey, if you really need someone to blame then I'd focus on the bullies who made drove him to that then put up tears at the funeral. I'll help if you want some payback." Noir said. It was scary how much he wasn't sure if the older Spider was joking or not.
"That's not helping," Gwen glared at him halfheartedly.
"Just a suggestion."
Ben let out a soft breath and looked up at Gwen, "...I'm sorry," he said, the words soft and barely heard, "I know it's not your fault, but...it was hard. I wanted to apologize back in the hospital, but seeing...him with you just brought it all back. I didn't want to believe you when you mentioned other dimensions. Now..." He looked at Mayday and Noir, "I guess you were telling the truth."
"Yeah...I'm done lying." Gwen pulled him up into an embrace, which he didn't hesitate to return. Peter smiled at the look of utter relief on Gwen's face. She deserved it after everything, "It's...I know it's going to be hard, going back to the way things were, but could we try?"
"I...I'd like that, Gwennie."
Dinner went far better after that. Gwen dug into the turkey heartily and listened to the the others chat about whatever. Seeing her dad and Uncle Ben talking again relieved her more than she thought. It was like she was 15 again and they were having another one of their weekly dinners.
They even had (a) Peter with them.
Her eyes flickered ever to Pete. He was laughing at something Noir said, his smile bright and a bit of gravy at the side of his mouth that May offered a napkin for. He really did look like her best friend, but that was where the resemblance ended. She loved Peter, but she would be the first to admit that he preferred solitude and getting him to smile without looking like he just stubbed his toe was like pulling teeth.
Pete was warmer. More open. It was...nice.
"Hey, I gotta go wash up. Could you show me where?" Mayday asked softly.
"Huh? Oh, sure." She stood up and led Mayday to the living room, "Bathroom's over-"
Mayday suddenly grabbed her arm and tugged her outside, shutting the door behind her quietly, "We need to talk." She looked around briefly and let go of her arm.
"Yeah, I'll say..." Gwen rubbed her wrist, "What is it?"
"What I'm about to tell you stays between us, okay? Don't tell Peter. Swear it."
"What? But-"
"Swear. It."
"Alright, alright! I swear!" She raised both hands in surrender.
"Good." She walked further till they were on the sidewalk, Gwen following behind her nervously, "Me and a few of the others visited Peter's home. It...It wasn't good."
"Just how 'not good' are we talking about here?"
"'Half the universe is dead' not good." Mayday's expression was grim, "I mean we could be wrong, but even if it wasn't exactly half it doesn't really matter. The place was tearing itself apart. Looting, infrastructure's barely holding together, rising death toll. We couldn't even do much searching for anyone because of how chaotic everything was. It's not good."
"Y-Yeah, I got that." Gwen gulped nervously, "So...what do we do?"
"You are not doing anything except staying here and making sure Peter doesn't go insane." Mayday looked at the door again, "He's already homesick. Finding out about this...it'll break him. We can't let that happen."
"So what, you just want me to lie to him? Pretend that everything's okay?"
"No, just...just tell him we're still working on it. Okay? I just wanted you to know so you know what not to say." Mayday rubbed the back of her head and let out a frustrated breath, "We're trying to find May Parker and Iron Man, but it's slow going. The last person we tried to ask about May Parker tried to shoot us and the few people who were willing to talk about Stark said he went to space, so no dice there."
"I dunno about this. Doesn't he deserve to know the truth?"
"I don't like it either, Gwen. Trust me if I had a guarantee he won't go bananas when he finds out I'd tell him myself." She sighed, "That's not the only thing, though."
"Oh, there's more?! Great!" Gwen threw up her hands in frustration.
"Yeah, it's...Karn confirmed it: something's keeping 'Peter Parker' out of that dimension. The only way to make it safe for him to go back is to get that Thanos guy, which isn't exactly easy considering he's lightyears away on the back end of space and the portals don't let us breath up there."
"What are you saying?"
"She means the kid might be trapped here." Both their heads snapped to the new voice and Gwen glared up at Noir. She hated it when he did his creeper bullshit, "I ain't gonna sugarcoat it, Stacy. Chances of us finding a way to get the kid back home are slimmer than a Negro being voted president back home. Even if we do find the big purple bastard I doubt we're gonna be able to off him, not without getting some of those really lucky Spiders that got firebirds to make em stronger."
"So not only is Peter's home going through fucking doomsday but he may or may not be trapped here." She scowled, "What next? Gonna tell me that spider bite gave him cancer?"
"Hey, this isn't exactly pleasant for us either!" Mayday snapped, "We're trying our best here, Gwen. Karn's already looking for more Spider-Men to help us, magic or science or whatever. Just...help us make sure that Peter's going to be alright."
"I still think he deserves to know."
"Then tell him if you want. It's your choice," Noir said, "Me personally I agree with you. Burying your head in the sand never does any good."
"What good will telling him do? He can't do anything to help. All it'll do is make him feel miserable and he might even do stupid stuff to try and get back home." Mayday held her shoulders, "I'm not saying lie to him forever. I'm not. Just...wait for us to come back with something besides 'things aren't good'. Please? I've seen one too many Peter Parkers lose themselves in grief, I don't want another."
"I...I dunno." She shook of Mayday's grip, "Just...Just let me think about it, okay?"
"Sure." Mayday looked down briefly, "...Look, me and Noir should probably go. Have fun with the dinner."
"Yeah..." Gwen waited till they'd portaled out before she forced herself to trudge back to the house. Well, this wasn't how she thought this night would go. Her worst case scenario was Uncle Ben disowning her, not finding out a friend's home was fucked and he was trapped away from it possibly forever, "Fuck..." She pressed her forehead against the door, took a deep breath and opened it.
Peter was the first to greet her when she got back, "Oh, Gwen! What happened to Noir and Mayday?" There was that bright, genuine smile again. If she told him now he'd probably never smile again, go down the same lows like when Murdock made her life hell. She'd seen her share of Peter's Parkers lose themselves too.
Oh God damn it, Mayday. I hate you...
"Th-They had to take off. Web Warriors stuff." She sat next to him again and smiled, "So...you never told me how the date with MJ went. Come on, give me the dirty details."
"Is this really proper dinner conversation, Gwen?" Her dad huffed.
"What? Considering Pete's track record here I bet they just held hands and talked about their feelings."
"Hey!"
Lying to her friends again. So much for that promise...
Ended on a pretty angsty note there, but that's to be expected considering Endgame isn't exactly starting off like a bucket of roses. Some of you will probably disagree with Gwen's choice at the end, but it's supposed to be a no-win choice. Agree or disagree you can't really deny that she was put in a situation with two impossible choices.
Anyway, more romance(?) hints between Gwen and MCU at the beginning. Course you could see it as platonic, so really up to you. If nothing else my friend saw Gwen's behavior at the end between the two choices as being more like an older sister/mentor figure than a possible love interest. What do you guys think, romantic or sisterly/mentor?
I was also planning to add a segment at the end where MJ met Mayday and it's as hilariously bad as Mayday's meeting with MCU. I cut it out to keep the tone intact. Maybe next chapter ;P
And before anyone worries: no, this is not the end for the Parkers. I know we focused more on Gwen than MCU there, but that plotline has been running for a while in canon. They'll get to know Peter better later.
Questions:
1. Should I give Gwen more POV segments? MCU gets the most perspective chapters and I wonder if readers would want it more balanced to a dual protag thing or just remain with MCU being the primary character.
2. Cross-posted question: For those who read both this fic and Through the Looking Glass (and aren't too biased to either), who has better chemistry with Gwen in the early chapters: Noir or MCU Peter? Kinda wondering if Birds of a Feather or Opposites attract are more appealing to a wider audience.
3. I've gotten comments indicating interest in both MJ and Gwen as romantic interests and drama based on this. So...do people want a love triangle? Cause it seems like some people are all for it, but I have my doubts since Gwen and MJ are close enough that I can't see them arguing over a guy. That and it'd kinda feel odd given the tone of the fic and the adorkable main character.
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I like the Gwen POV sections, possibly because I haven't read any of her source material so it helps to understand who she is and what she's been through.
A love triangle could work I guess, but wouldn't be my first choice. I don't know, I guess I'm starting to get kind of annoyed at the trope of all guys being indecisive where women are concerned. I doubt it would stop me from enjoying the fic though.
A love triangle could work I guess, but wouldn't be my first choice. I don't know, I guess I'm starting to get kind of annoyed at the trope of all guys being indecisive where women are concerned. I doubt it would stop me from enjoying the fic though.
- Location
- Oslo
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I pretty much like the story as is. If you ask me, it's just fine w/o romance. Frienship, kinship, partnership - all are cool themes to explore. Obviously, I'm biased, but you know. Just sayin'.
P.S. It can de adorkable... It'd better be.
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Chapter 10 - One Step Forward
First of all, sorry for the delays. I'm currently preparing for work and my anxiety is acting up again for God knows what reason. Hopefully it'll pass, but until then updating will be a bit harder. Wish me luck.
Anyway, I've received reviews from people who were apparently worried that I'd turn this fic into a Miles/Gwen romance based on my previous AN. I do want to clarify that by 'ideas' I meant ways for Gwen and Peter to develop, not so much me making this fic swerve into Miles and Gwen. I'm just saying it's helpful, especially since the Gwen I wrote here has more in common with her movie version - she's experienced, knows the ins and outs of heroics and is simultaneously friendly and cold due to her experiences.
That is of course assuming I don't go for a Peter/MJ pairing, but the chances of that are less likely given the votes.
Side Note - Check out the fanfic 'Real Folk Blues'. It's a really nice work and it deals with Spider-Man Noir and Peni Parker
Chapter 10: One Step Forward
A week passed. Gwen wanted to say that things worked out for the best and they managed to find a way to get Peter back home, but the truth wasn't as convenient. Apart from a second snacking attempt by the Inheritors, which they'd all mutually agreed to never talk about again, things passed pretty normally for the most part. More speculation on the new Spider-Man from curious fans, more talks with her dad and more villains that 'just so happened' to be doing their crimes whenever one or both of them was around. Same old same old.
That was until she got a group message on her watch. 'We've topped up on active members and place is looking spick-and-span', it said. Probably from UK; sounded pretty British to her, at least. It was nothing more than a status update and it had nothing to do with their problems, but of course Betty just had to be there when she got it. After that it was days of non-stop pleading from her about wanting to see the Spider-Lair, and at some point Peter got in on it because he'd gotten stir crazy.
Two of them begging her non-stop? Of course she'd cave eventually. She dared Mayday to say she'd do otherwise.
"Alright, everyone ready?" Gwen looked back at the assembled group. She and Peter had put on their costumes while the rest of the band - including MJ and Glory, who'd roped themselves in - were in their everyday wear. A part of her worried about bringing them along, though that was a weird thought. They were going to a base full of Spider-People; she couldn't think of a safer place.
"Yeppers." Betty grinned.
"Sure thing, Gwencent." Mary Jane gave her a thumbs up.
"Let's just go before Betty explodes," Glory said.
Peter just nodded without a word. Taking a deep breath, Gwen input the coordinates and portal immediately sprung up, covering half the room. Mary Jane and Glory's eyes widened like saucers while Betty bounded on her heels and somehow grinned even more, "Ooh, awesome!" The brunette practically skipped the portal and tapped it with her right hand, "Huh...doesn't feel like anything."
"It's a door, Betts. It's supposed to feel like anything." She almost went through first before another idea popped in her head. Could she get away with it twice? "You first, Pete."
"Uh...sure."
He gave her an unreadable look (masks tended to do that) and stepped through with Gwen following right after. As soon as they were on the other side she stepped close and pressed a finger on his lips through the mask. He stiffened up like a cat that got its tail pulled, "Shh, play along." She grinned and looked back to the portal, "It's all clear, guys! Now get your butts over here and- Oh, oh my god! What is that thing?! Aghhhhh!"
The eyes on Peter's mask widened and he quickly followed through, "Gwen, don't let it grab you! Don't let it- ahhhhh!" Huh...she'd give it a 7 out of 10. Guy was kinda dramatic.
She was about to pop her head through and tell them she was just kidding before Murderface flew through the portal and attached itself to her head. Gwen screamed, more in shock than pain, and stumbled back, cursing her lazy as all hell spider-sense. Just barely she managed to looked through Murderface and caught all three of her bandmates charing through a portal with MJ actually brandishing her guitar like Red Sonja with her sword.
An awkward silence settled over the group when the threesome realized that Peter and Gwen were not, in fact, being eaten by some kind of Lovecraftian monster. Gwen pulled Murderface off her head and hissed, "...It was a prank, guys." She let the glaring fat fall on his legs and wiped off the fur from her mask, "Did you guys just- MJ, did you seriously run in here planning to play whack-a-spider with your guitar?"
"You two were the ones who started screaming about being attacked!" Glory hissed.
"Yeah, and I didn't think Betty would toss Murderface at me! Speaking of, did you seriously toss Murderface through the portal?!" She knew it was Betty. Neither Glory or MJ would be crazy enough to do that.
"We all agreed that if an inter-dimensional monster attacked he'd be the first line of defense," Betty said shamelessly. She knelt down and draped the grumpy cat over her head again, "And hey, it worked. If you were Cthulhu tentacle thing we totally would've kicked your ass."
"Sure you would..." She rolled her eyes.
"We probably shouldn't have done that," Peter said, like the goodie two shoes he was, "Sorry about that."
"No harm no foul, Tiger." MJ sighed and finally lowered the guitar.
"Done messing around?"
Gwen screamed again and turned to the source of the voice, fists raised, while the rest did the same. Noir stood close by without a single fuck given, arms crossed and disapproval oozing even through his mask.
"Fuck- Noir! Jeez, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Gwen lowered her hands and let out a few more panicked breaths before continuing, "How long were you just standing there?"
"Long enough," he said, unhelpful as always. She had no idea how Mayday dealt with it all the time, "What the hell are you doing here and with...guests?" He looked past her and Peter to the other three. Glory narrowed her eyes and stepped back while Glory gave him an open expression of wonder. MJ just looked curious.
"Got a message from Billy. Thought it'd be nice to check in." She shrugged. Sure as hell sounded better than 'Betty and Peter dragged me into it, "It's not against the rules, is it?"
"You'd have to ask the chief for that. Speaking of, I gotta go see him," He looked past her again and sighed, "Make sure your friend don't break anything."
He stepped past them without another word and turned the corner out of sight. MJ was the first to speak, "Uh...who the heck was that?"
"Spider-Man from Earth-90214 - we just call him Noir. He's Peter Parker under the mask." So were 90% of the other male Spiders. Even some of the female ones, now that she thought about it.
"That was Peter Parker? Yeesh, you weren't lying about how weird alternate dimensions are," MJ said.
"You should see Spider-Betty...actually, better if you don't." She shook her head and led them to the main chamber, pointedly ignoring Betty's far too curious looks. She really didn't want to talk about fashion disaster corset Spider-Woman. She could only hope that Mayday didn't have a meltdown when she saw them. It wasn't hard to see that the younger Spider had more than a little personal investment in Peter Parker not going insane.
Gwen got it, but even days later she couldn't help feeling doubtful about the 'white lie'. She couldn't deny that a part of her was hoping that Mayday had already changed her mind or that she herself would have the guts to fess up to the fib.
The first thing she noticed when they got there was just how crowded the place. Usually she caught maybe half a dozen Spiders milling about with Karn up top, and that was on a good day. Now most of the chamber was filled with pockets of Spider-Men, Spider-Women, Spider-Animals and- was that a Spider-Buggie? Gwen gaped and looked again to find that, yes, there definitely was a Spider-Buggie talking to a Spider-Chimp and a Spider-Hippie.
"Woah..." Betty said with awe behind them.
"Yeah, woah..." Glory tightened her hold on her backpack. Gwen had no idea what was inside, "Can't believe the big guy was worried about us touching stuff with everyone here."
The three of them wandered off, Gwen too distracted to stop them. She did another quick scan of the area and blinked at someone else that caught her eye. A Spider-Gwen- er, another Spider-Gwen. She was young, maybe 15 or or 16 if she had to guess, and she wasn't wearing a mask. A few freckles dotted her cheeks and the right side of her hair was shaved, exposing the darker roots underneath.
Sitting next to her was another Miles. Not the Miles she knew; this one looked young too, probably barely into his teens with bushier hair and a costume that looked like he'd sprayed paint on it. Before she could stop herself she started walking towards them, Peter following behind her quietly. The two noticed their approach and stopped their conversation, the other Gwen looking up at her with a raised brow.
"...Hi," Gwen said after thirty seconds of silence.
"Hi...?" She sounded different from her. She should've known that - Noir and Peter didn't sound alike, after all - but seeing it on herself(?) was odd. Gwen idly took note of more differences like the small gap in the younger her's teeth or the ballet slippers in the place of the usual chucks. Was she a dancer? Her dad tried to get her into it a few years ago, thought it'd curb her hotheaded streak. Clearly it didn't work.
"Uh..." Miles(?) said, looking between the two of them.
"Yeah, what he said," Peter said.
"Ah...sorry, it's just..." Gwen took a deep breath, "I'm just...not used to seeing other Spider-Women. I mean, I am, but they're usually not-"
"Gwen Stacy?" The younger Stacy smirked lazily at Gwen's odd, "Yeah, I get that. I'm pretty new to this whole thing myself and my first run wasn't exactly a walk in the park, 'specially since I had to babysit this dork." She gestured to Miles. There was obvious affection in it.
"Hey, I took of myself!"
"Sure, I mean, after you bounced off a taxi cab."
"You saw that?!"
The two continued their previous conversation. Gwen was suddenly reminded of her own brief team-up with Miles. They'd kissed at the end of it, full of adrenaline and fresh with the knowledge that in at least one future they'd helped established a utopia and even got two kids out of the deal. Looking back on it now it was such a silly thing to think about it. In a lot of worlds she ended up marrying Peter Parker after dating in college, and she didn't think about that too much.
Before she knew it Peter had already joined the two in conversation, "So, you guys were dragged through a dimensional collider and were...what, glitching out?"
"More or less," Other Gwen said, "We also kinda time traveled a bit. Don't ask, cause I dunno how that stuff works. I'm still trying to get used to the whole 'multiverse travel's like taking the bus' thing you guys got going here."
"Still, why the glitching? I mean I've been tr- uh, been staying at Gwen's place for a while now and I haven't had any seizures."
"Uh, I think you're gonna wanna ask Peni about that. She knows the science stuff better than all of us." Other Miles gestured to the other side of the chamber to one of the other pairs Gwen had seen. The first was a little girl who looked maybe 9 or 10 wearing a school uniform. There was something...off about her, but Gwen couldn't place it. Something in her eyes or the way she talked, maybe.
Her companion was equally weird. A giant of a man wearing a billowing trenchcoat. The fact that there was no wind to blow said trenchcoat paled in comparison to the fact that the guy was black and white. Literally, she couldn't see an ounce of color on him.
"Sure, could you introduce me?" Peter asked Miles eagerly.
"No prob." Miles grinned back and went with Peter to the odd duo, leaving the two Gwens alone.
Silence settled over the two again. Gwen sat down and crossed one leg over the other, thinking about what to say. What was appropriate to ask? She wasn't stupid - 9 in 10 of Spiders lost someone and it was the reason they put on the masks. She'd seen Peters who lost Uncle Bens, Aunt Mays, Mary Janes and, yeah, even Gwen Stacys. Was it too much to hope that there was a version of her out there that didn't go through all that?
"Penny for your thoughts?" Other Gwen asked.
"Uh, well..." Gwen took a deep breath and blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "Nice hair?"
Other Gwen blinked and rubbed the shaved side of her head, "Seriously? That's what you wanna say?"
"Well it was either that or talk about your shoes." She gestured to the ballet flats.
"So we either talk about my hair or my shoes...you're not very good at this, are you?"
Gwen found herself laughing at the blunt question, "Guess not." She laughed again, feeling a little bit of the tension leave, "I'm sorry, it's just...I know I should be used to it, but seeing myself is just so odd. Whenever you see alternate Spiders it's always someone else, you know? You never think it's you or-or another version of you. It's always another..."
"Peter Parker."
The heaviness in the younger girls' voice made Gwen's heart sink, "Yeah...Peter." She took off her mask to breath easier. Even now she had episodes of depression. Cap said it was normal, especially after everything she'd been through, but it didn't stop it from sucking, "I'm gonna take a guess that it didn't end well for you either?"
"Not really." Other Gwen pursed her lips.
"Mine was my best friend." Gwen said. The other girl didn't respond, "...Sorry, I made this weird-"
"No, don't be. It's actually nice to talk about it. Can't do it with everyone else cause, you know, most of them are Peters. Can't talk to Miles about it either; he has his own stuff to deal with." Other Gwen sighed and rubbed her forehead, "He was my best friend too. He was older than me close on 15 years, but still. A lot of people thought it was odd, a guy pushing thirty being friends with a teenager. He always joked that he was the Doc Brown and I was Marty McFly." Her smile was equal parts fond and hurting.
"Mine was the same age. Knew him since I was ten and we were inseparable ever since." She clenched her hands, "He...turned into the Lizard. He was bullied and he was angry and..." And he wanted to be special, "I didn't realize it was him before it was too late."
"Mine...turned too." Other Gwen coughed, obviously uncomfortable, "He and Dr. Connors were working on a formula to give people their limbs back but then their boss at Oscorp decided he wanted to test it on people. Dr. Connors wanted to be the one to do it, but Peter convinced him he was the better choice because...I dunno. Maybe cause he was younger or something. It didn't realize either."
Gwend didn't say anything. She wanted to comfort the other girl, tell her that at least he died doing something selfless, but she knew that it wouldn't help. Not when she held his dying body in her arms.
"I didn't do friends for a while. Didn't want to be distracted, but truth was I was just scared. Miles and the others...they really helped me out." She smiled fondly at Miles. He and Peter were talking animatedly with Peni and the trenchcoat guy she was sure was another Noir, "Guessing it's the same with you and the other Spidey that came with?"
"Huh?" Gwen blinked, "Ah...no, I mean, we're friends, but. Well, it's kind of a long story. Long story short something majorly bad happened in his dimension and now he's stuck in mine, at least till we can fix it."
"Guessing that's why he was interested about the glitching," Other Gwen said. Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms, "Something's up with you two, isn't there?"
"Wh-What do you mean?"
"I dunno, just a hunch." Other Gwen shrugged, expression passive. Something told her the younger girl was used to keeping a poker face, "The way you're looking at him...something's got you worried. Wanna talk about it? I mean, who better than yourself, right?"
"Ugh, I've heard that joke way too many times." Gwen rolled her eyes and straightened her posture. Still, she definitely had a point, "You've had to lie before, I'm guessing." Every Spider lied. To their friends, their families, to the world. Gwen didn't lie so much nowadays with her face plastered on billboards and people calling her Spider-Gwen. Some days she couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.
"Comes with secret identity and people not knowing you were there when your best friend died," Other Gwen replied coolly, "Why? What's the fib?"
"Ah...shit, this is hard." Gwen clicked her tongue, "You know what they say about ignorance being bliss-"
"Gonna stop you right there. If your dad's anything like mine then he likes pulling the philosophy out first and you picked it up." Gwen winced. She wasn't wrong, "Just tell me, alright? I'm not gonna judge you."
"Okay, so if something bad happened to the people you care about you'd wanna know, right?"
"What kind of bad are- no, you know what, dumb question cause same answer either way: I'd wanna know." Gwen didn't say anything. She couldn't disagree, "If someone's gonna punch me in the face I'd rather see it coming. If I didn't I'd be trying to find a way to turn off my spider-sense."
"Sometimes mine doesn't warn me. Don't know why, just doesn't," Gwen mumbled.
Other Gwen blinked, "And that's normal?"
"Yep. Can't even tell you how many times I've been hit or had a grenade blow up at my feet." Thankfully she could take some hits. Octavia even theorized that her weaker spider-sense might've been compensation for being more durable than the average Spider-Person, "And yeah, you got a point. Every time I didn't get a warning I'd always end up getting pissed off."
"So it's not fair that you're doing it to Spidey," Other Gwen said. No judgement, just stating a fact.
"Yeah..." Gwen took a breath and clenched her hands, "It's just...it's hard, you know? I mean when my dad found out about who I was, I thought I'd get a heart attack." Though maybe that had more to do with the fact that he had a gun to her face, "I spent the next couple of days thinking about how he'd react. The whole Inheritor BS actually felt like a good distraction."
"I haven't told my dad, but...I'm planning to," Other Gwen said, "Like I said, I can't judge you. I dunno what you're hiding from him, but whatever it is I wouldn't sit on it too long. The guy clearly trusts you, you don't want to lose that."
"No, I don't." Gwen nodded and smiled slightly, "Thanks. It's...nice to talk to..."
"You?" The younger girl gave her an open mouthed smile, "Yeah, you too. I mean, you're not the first Spider-Gwen I've ran into, but hey."
"There are others?" Gwen blinked, "Was one of them married with two adorable 12 year olds?"
"Uh...no, don't think. One of em had longer hair with pink tips." Other Gwen tugged at her hair quickly, "Another one was really into science and apparently didn't wear a mask; dunno what that was about. There's another one here with some kind blob thing on her- she's over there."
The younger Spider gestured to another corner of the chamber. Gwen followed her hand and found another Spider-Gwen, closer in age to herself, with what looked like a jet black baby snake jutting out of her shoulder. She was wearing a Venom suit, she realized quickly. A different kind of Venom, but she'd seen enough of them around to know one when she saw it. Judging by the way it bobbed its head she'd guess it could talk, or at least pretend to.
She was tempted to go over there before she caught the person she was talking to. She couldn't see his face from underneath the jacket or the mask, but she definitely saw the gun he was holding. Guns plural, actually. She almost missed the ones on his thigh holsters. The other Spider-Gwen seemed to have no issue with the guns said Spider was holding or the fact that he was still masked.
Yeah...she'd stay far away from that. Noir was bad enough on his own.
"Well, thanks." She smiled at the younger Gwen and made her way to where Peter was. Miles was gone, probably went off to another group, but the dynamic duo were still there. It was only when she got closer that she realized just how tiny that girl was. She looked like she barely came up to Other Noir's waist and she had to stand on a nearby chair to be on closer level to the other two Spiders.
"Hey, Gwen!" Peter grinned and waved for her to come closer. His mask was off, "Lemme introduce you. This is Peni and this is Peter, but apparently everyone calls him Benjamin."
"Helps to keep things organized." Other Noir said. He definitely sounded different from what she expected. Other Gwen sounded different, but she was younger. This one...well, actually she didn't know how old he was considering the mask, "We're all different kinds of Spiders cut from the same weave. Pain, anger, we carry the weight of our guilt with us every day."
"Um...what?" Gwen asked blankly.
"You know it too. Your costume's bright, but the darkness that we all live with can't be hidden forever," he continued, still as dramatic.
"Again, what?" Gwen looked at him with an unreadable expression. Was this really supposed to be another Noir? "...I'm gonna regret asking, but...where's that wind coming from?"
Peter cringed, "Gwen, don't-"
"Wherever I go the wind follow...and the wind? It smells like rain."
...What. The. Fuck.
"Are you serious?" Gwen barely kept herself from falling into a laughing fit.
"Serious as corruption is endemic, Spider-Woman." He crossed his arms when she actually did laugh at that, "You think it's funny, don't you?" We don't all got fancy dimensions with rock and roll. Some of us end up on the ground, mud on our face and feeling like a disgrace-
"Kicking your can all over the place?" she asked sarcastically. All three of them gave her blank looks, "Uh...sorry, it's a song lyric I remember."
"Ain't no song I ever heard before..." Other Noir muttered.
"Sorry about that. Gwen and her oldie songs are just too much for us younger folks." One thing she noticed after he'd gotten used to being away from home - Peter had a tongue on him.
"Hey, watch it, young man! I co-own the roof where you're staying!" Gwen threatened playfully.
"Sorry, sorry!" Peter grinned and held up both hands in mock surrender.
Other Noir scoffed, "I don't see the joke in the tragic endings all us Spiders will-"
Peni slapped the big guy's arm, "Don't mind him! He's kinda overdramatic!" The girl's voice was high. Young. Gwen was more than a little disturbed at how someone so young was hanging around here, "So you're another dimension's Spider-Woman, huh? It's nice to meet you!"
"Uh, likewise." The younger girl shook her hand enthusiastically, mouth open in an infectious grin, "So...uh, where's your costume? I mean, the uniform's not exactly...you know."
"Oh, my mech's back home. He took some damage from our last adventure and I'm fixing him up." Mech? Wait, Peni- oh! She was an alternate version of...Gwen shook her head. This one looked way different from the one she knew, "I came here to help Octavia and Pavitr tweak their watches to work better. With any luck we'll be able to do more than just send messages and SOS."
"Still can't believe you're from the year 3145," Peter said, a little jealous, "The tech you guys have must be insane!"
"You're pretty lucky too! I mean, you already have an on-suit AI! It took us till 2569 to rediscover AI ever since the machines rose up."
"Excuse me, the machines what now?" Gwen asked worriedly.
"Oh, don't worry! I'm sure your dimension will be fine! And if not then...well, you'll probably be gone by the time the uprising happens." Was she the only one creeped out that the girl was still smiling? "Anyway, me and 99 were talking about his dimension?"
"I'm sorry, 99?" Gwen asked.
"He's from Earth-19999, so 99. I'll think up a better nickname later," Peni said, "Anyway, we were actually talking about the glitching. See, dimensional glitching happens when you go to a dimension and it realizes you don't belong there. So it's like you're a virus and the dimension's white blood cells try to get rid of you. Takes a few days for the effects to kick in, but it happens eventually."
"So what about it?"
"According to Peni's research the person who goes through glitching isn't considered part of the universe," Peter said. Gwen just looked at him blankly, "Don't you get it? The reason I can't go back is because 'Peter Parker' got dusted by that big Thanos guy. But, what if I wasn't 'Peter Parker'? If I was a glitch then I could go in there and check up on how things are going. I'll have a few days, at least."
"Huh...maybe-"
"I don't think that's a good idea," Mayday's voice suddenly cut in. All four of them turned to look at the new arrival and Gwen cringed at the all too forced smile the teenager sported, "The reason you guys got pulled through was because of an imperfect portal. We don't even know what effects that has, so maybe hold off on trying to make an entire plan of doing something deliberately bad?"
"But-"
"We'll get you home as soon as we can, okay?" Mayday said, cutting Peter. Gwen clenched both hands tightly. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either, "Just be patient, please? You're the first Spider that's dealing with this kind of thing. Well, second, but the other one didn't turn to dust when he got back home."
"I..." Peter bit his lower lip and looked away, "I get it-"
"Mayday, can I talk to you for a sec?" Gwen didn't give the other Spider a chance to answer before she grabbed her shoulder and walked her a far enough distance that they wouldn't be overhead.
Mayday shook off her hand and glared at her, "What are you doing here? I thought-"
"I didn't come here for that, but...maybe I should've." Gwen crossed her arms, "Look, Mayday, I get why you're doing this, but don't you think he deserves to know the truth?"
"It'll just hurt him."
"And being clueless is better?" Mayday didn't reply, "I know how much it hurts to know something and not being able to do anything. I went to prison for a year, for god's sake. Do you know how frustrating it was knowing that it was because people were scared of me and I couldn't do anything about it? That it didn't hurt knowing my dad might never wake up again while I was in there? But looking back on it I'd still have preferred knowing than being lied to."
Mayday's fierce expression melted away and was replaced with a look of utter vulnerability, "I...I know that..." She closed her eyes and covered both with her right palm, "Noir told me the same thing. I know that it's wrong, but...could we really tell him? Tell him that he might've lost all of his friends and family? That his world, his entire universe, is in some kind of death spiral and he can't even help?"
"I'll do it. I'm the one whose been looking out for him, I think it'd be better if he heard it from me." Gwen raised her right hand and awkwardly put it on Mayday's left shoulder, "...Sorry for putting it all on your shoulders. I should've been helping you guys with it."
"It's fine." Mayday let out a shaky breath, "Sorry for putting you on the spot a week ago. I just...I saw how happy he was and I just thought that taking that away from him would've been cruel."
"I get that, but...he's not a kid. He's Spider-Man, and he's just like us. None of us put on the mask because we wanted to pretend nothing was wrong. We did it because we saw the people that needed help and we put our foot down and offered them a hand when no one else could."
"Haha...that's so sappy, Gwen."
The younger Spider suddenly embraced her. Gwen immediately reciprocated the gesture and smiled back at Peter's questioning gaze from across the chamber. Mayday's acceptance had removed most of her doubts.
The hug lasted for a few more seconds before the pair eventually separated. Before either of them could say anything another voice cut in, "Yo, Gwencent!" MJ walked towards them with a grin on her face and Mayday froze. They'd all gotten used to alternate Peters, even some of the daughters he had running around. Alternate MJ's were far rarer.
"Hey, MJ. What's up?" Gwen asked, trying her best to be casual. Mayday was still frozen stiff.
"Nothing much. Betty's with that talking car - I think she's convincing it to come back with us - and Glory's looking over by the history Spiders. Wanted to see what you were up." The redhead's eyes shifted to Mayday, "Who's your friend?"
"Uh...this Mayday." Gwen nudged her forward, "We were just...chatting."
"Huh, well, nice to meet you." MJ smiled and offered the teenager a hand.
The brunette stared at the gesture for a few seconds before another nudge from Gwen made her accept, "Uh, y-yeah, you too!"
...Why was she getting a bad feeling? Shaking her head, she left the two to whatever conversation they planned to have and went back to Peter, "Need to talk to you." He nodded, still mostly looking to MJ and Mayday, and followed Gwen back to the hall. She wanted to be alone for this.
It was only when she was sure that it was just the two of them when she finally spoke, "I...have some news about your home."
To her surprise, his expression was already pretty grim, "I'm guessing that it's not good news?"
"Yeah..."
Gwen told him everything Mayday told her: half of all life gone, heroes scrambling to keep things stable, Aunt May still MIA and possibly part of the unlucky half. He didn't cry or scream or rage at her. He just sat there, listening and giving the occasional nod to show that he was paying attention. With every word that came out her stomach sank more and more, but she continued on. He deserved to know the truth.
"So...we really did lose," he said eventually, voice barely above a whisper.
"...I'm sorry." There was nothing else she could say.
"It's not your fault. I...I'm glad you told me." He took a deep breath and pursed his lips.
"I...I knew about it a week ago, but we couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you," Gwen said slowly, "I'm sorry I waited so long to say something; that wasn't my place. I get if you were angry at me. I just-"
For the second time that day Gwen was caught in another sudden embrace. Peter's hold was tighter, more desperate, than Mayday's, and she couldn't do much more than slowly reciprocate the gesture. He was crying now. Even if she couldn't feel the tears through the suit the way his shoulders shook and the quick, gasping breaths made it all the more clear.
They just stood there, Peter sobbing while she tried her best to comfort him. She didn't know how much time passed before his breaths eventually calmed and he stepped away, eyes still red and puffy.
"...I'm sorry," she said again.
"Thanks." He nodded and wiped away what little tears stayed, "I...I guess I kinda always knew that bad things would've happened. I mean, when I tried to go back home I nearly died again, so I wasn't exactly expecting things to be good when I got back. It's just..." He shook his head, "Nothing. Finding out it's true, it's bad, yeah, but now at least I'm not questioning it."
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I mean, not really, but...I'm not giving up. Dr. Strange still said it was the only way, so I'm thinking that this isn't the end. He wouldn't have given up the time stone thing if there was no way to fix things. He made that clear." His expression shifted to something more determined, "And I'm still here. There's a reason I didn't die, there has to be. Maybe it's cause I'm supposed to help with whatever they're going to do."
"Well whatever it is you can count on me being there. The rest of us too; every Spider's gotta stick together."
"Haha...thanks, Gwen."
It was only seconds later that Gwen realized just how close they were. Their faces were just inches apart and from here she saw every detail - the scruffy brown hair, the small smile and even the dimple on his chin. He looked so much like the Peter she remembered, but he was different in just as many ways. The way he laughed, the way he joked to try and make everyone else laugh too. Her Peter was always so quiet, so...
Their eyes met for a brief moment and Gwen quickly stepped back with Peter doing the same, "Well...I'm glad you're alright."
"Y-Yeah, I'm alright." He rubbed the back of his head and she tried not to think about the red flush on his cheeks, "We should...probably go back to the others. And we gotta check out the Oscorp thing today, right?"
"You sure you still wanna come with me?"
"Oh yeah, definitely. It'll keep me from moping." They both smiled forcefully at the bad joke, "Seriously, Gwen, I'll be fine. I'm Spider-Man."
"Yeah...and I won't forget it again."
This took me some hours to write and I didn't proofread, so apologies for any lapses in quality. I'll try to do better next time when anxiety isn't kicking me in the rear. Hopefully those meditation tips and chamomile teas help.
Anyway, this chapter was mostly undoing the last chapter's shitty ending. Apologies for anyone that wanted that to be longer or for there to be drama based on the lie, but character-wise I figured this version of Gwen - who'd beaten Murdock, survived prison and had her identity exposed - wouldn't be able to keep up the charade too long, unlike Looking Glass Gwen.
Speaking of, Looking Glass reference at the midpoint It felt pretty masturbatory putting that in, but whatever. The original plan was for Two Spiders Gwen to have the conversation with Looking Glass Gwen about lying to their respective Peters. I switched it around so she talked to Spider-Verse Gwen instead and added the plot point of possibly using the glitch effect to bypass the Infinity Stones. We'll see if it works.
Questions:
1. So at this point we're pretty set on the Gwen/Peter pairing. Still, do you guys think the two have good chemistry? A previous reader commented that he found MJ and Peter nice since the former helped cheer him up and dragged him out of his awkwardness during the Dazzler concert whereas Gwen and Peter have an underlying tension with one another.
2. Would you guys want romance-centric chapters? By that I mean chapters where romance is the main point such as a date or a chapter where there's no baddies or plot, just the two trying to deal with their attraction to one another.
Anyway, I've received reviews from people who were apparently worried that I'd turn this fic into a Miles/Gwen romance based on my previous AN. I do want to clarify that by 'ideas' I meant ways for Gwen and Peter to develop, not so much me making this fic swerve into Miles and Gwen. I'm just saying it's helpful, especially since the Gwen I wrote here has more in common with her movie version - she's experienced, knows the ins and outs of heroics and is simultaneously friendly and cold due to her experiences.
That is of course assuming I don't go for a Peter/MJ pairing, but the chances of that are less likely given the votes.
Side Note - Check out the fanfic 'Real Folk Blues'. It's a really nice work and it deals with Spider-Man Noir and Peni Parker
Chapter 10: One Step Forward
A week passed. Gwen wanted to say that things worked out for the best and they managed to find a way to get Peter back home, but the truth wasn't as convenient. Apart from a second snacking attempt by the Inheritors, which they'd all mutually agreed to never talk about again, things passed pretty normally for the most part. More speculation on the new Spider-Man from curious fans, more talks with her dad and more villains that 'just so happened' to be doing their crimes whenever one or both of them was around. Same old same old.
That was until she got a group message on her watch. 'We've topped up on active members and place is looking spick-and-span', it said. Probably from UK; sounded pretty British to her, at least. It was nothing more than a status update and it had nothing to do with their problems, but of course Betty just had to be there when she got it. After that it was days of non-stop pleading from her about wanting to see the Spider-Lair, and at some point Peter got in on it because he'd gotten stir crazy.
Two of them begging her non-stop? Of course she'd cave eventually. She dared Mayday to say she'd do otherwise.
"Alright, everyone ready?" Gwen looked back at the assembled group. She and Peter had put on their costumes while the rest of the band - including MJ and Glory, who'd roped themselves in - were in their everyday wear. A part of her worried about bringing them along, though that was a weird thought. They were going to a base full of Spider-People; she couldn't think of a safer place.
"Yeppers." Betty grinned.
"Sure thing, Gwencent." Mary Jane gave her a thumbs up.
"Let's just go before Betty explodes," Glory said.
Peter just nodded without a word. Taking a deep breath, Gwen input the coordinates and portal immediately sprung up, covering half the room. Mary Jane and Glory's eyes widened like saucers while Betty bounded on her heels and somehow grinned even more, "Ooh, awesome!" The brunette practically skipped the portal and tapped it with her right hand, "Huh...doesn't feel like anything."
"It's a door, Betts. It's supposed to feel like anything." She almost went through first before another idea popped in her head. Could she get away with it twice? "You first, Pete."
"Uh...sure."
He gave her an unreadable look (masks tended to do that) and stepped through with Gwen following right after. As soon as they were on the other side she stepped close and pressed a finger on his lips through the mask. He stiffened up like a cat that got its tail pulled, "Shh, play along." She grinned and looked back to the portal, "It's all clear, guys! Now get your butts over here and- Oh, oh my god! What is that thing?! Aghhhhh!"
The eyes on Peter's mask widened and he quickly followed through, "Gwen, don't let it grab you! Don't let it- ahhhhh!" Huh...she'd give it a 7 out of 10. Guy was kinda dramatic.
She was about to pop her head through and tell them she was just kidding before Murderface flew through the portal and attached itself to her head. Gwen screamed, more in shock than pain, and stumbled back, cursing her lazy as all hell spider-sense. Just barely she managed to looked through Murderface and caught all three of her bandmates charing through a portal with MJ actually brandishing her guitar like Red Sonja with her sword.
An awkward silence settled over the group when the threesome realized that Peter and Gwen were not, in fact, being eaten by some kind of Lovecraftian monster. Gwen pulled Murderface off her head and hissed, "...It was a prank, guys." She let the glaring fat fall on his legs and wiped off the fur from her mask, "Did you guys just- MJ, did you seriously run in here planning to play whack-a-spider with your guitar?"
"You two were the ones who started screaming about being attacked!" Glory hissed.
"Yeah, and I didn't think Betty would toss Murderface at me! Speaking of, did you seriously toss Murderface through the portal?!" She knew it was Betty. Neither Glory or MJ would be crazy enough to do that.
"We all agreed that if an inter-dimensional monster attacked he'd be the first line of defense," Betty said shamelessly. She knelt down and draped the grumpy cat over her head again, "And hey, it worked. If you were Cthulhu tentacle thing we totally would've kicked your ass."
"Sure you would..." She rolled her eyes.
"We probably shouldn't have done that," Peter said, like the goodie two shoes he was, "Sorry about that."
"No harm no foul, Tiger." MJ sighed and finally lowered the guitar.
"Done messing around?"
Gwen screamed again and turned to the source of the voice, fists raised, while the rest did the same. Noir stood close by without a single fuck given, arms crossed and disapproval oozing even through his mask.
"Fuck- Noir! Jeez, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Gwen lowered her hands and let out a few more panicked breaths before continuing, "How long were you just standing there?"
"Long enough," he said, unhelpful as always. She had no idea how Mayday dealt with it all the time, "What the hell are you doing here and with...guests?" He looked past her and Peter to the other three. Glory narrowed her eyes and stepped back while Glory gave him an open expression of wonder. MJ just looked curious.
"Got a message from Billy. Thought it'd be nice to check in." She shrugged. Sure as hell sounded better than 'Betty and Peter dragged me into it, "It's not against the rules, is it?"
"You'd have to ask the chief for that. Speaking of, I gotta go see him," He looked past her again and sighed, "Make sure your friend don't break anything."
He stepped past them without another word and turned the corner out of sight. MJ was the first to speak, "Uh...who the heck was that?"
"Spider-Man from Earth-90214 - we just call him Noir. He's Peter Parker under the mask." So were 90% of the other male Spiders. Even some of the female ones, now that she thought about it.
"That was Peter Parker? Yeesh, you weren't lying about how weird alternate dimensions are," MJ said.
"You should see Spider-Betty...actually, better if you don't." She shook her head and led them to the main chamber, pointedly ignoring Betty's far too curious looks. She really didn't want to talk about fashion disaster corset Spider-Woman. She could only hope that Mayday didn't have a meltdown when she saw them. It wasn't hard to see that the younger Spider had more than a little personal investment in Peter Parker not going insane.
Gwen got it, but even days later she couldn't help feeling doubtful about the 'white lie'. She couldn't deny that a part of her was hoping that Mayday had already changed her mind or that she herself would have the guts to fess up to the fib.
The first thing she noticed when they got there was just how crowded the place. Usually she caught maybe half a dozen Spiders milling about with Karn up top, and that was on a good day. Now most of the chamber was filled with pockets of Spider-Men, Spider-Women, Spider-Animals and- was that a Spider-Buggie? Gwen gaped and looked again to find that, yes, there definitely was a Spider-Buggie talking to a Spider-Chimp and a Spider-Hippie.
"Woah..." Betty said with awe behind them.
"Yeah, woah..." Glory tightened her hold on her backpack. Gwen had no idea what was inside, "Can't believe the big guy was worried about us touching stuff with everyone here."
The three of them wandered off, Gwen too distracted to stop them. She did another quick scan of the area and blinked at someone else that caught her eye. A Spider-Gwen- er, another Spider-Gwen. She was young, maybe 15 or or 16 if she had to guess, and she wasn't wearing a mask. A few freckles dotted her cheeks and the right side of her hair was shaved, exposing the darker roots underneath.
Sitting next to her was another Miles. Not the Miles she knew; this one looked young too, probably barely into his teens with bushier hair and a costume that looked like he'd sprayed paint on it. Before she could stop herself she started walking towards them, Peter following behind her quietly. The two noticed their approach and stopped their conversation, the other Gwen looking up at her with a raised brow.
"...Hi," Gwen said after thirty seconds of silence.
"Hi...?" She sounded different from her. She should've known that - Noir and Peter didn't sound alike, after all - but seeing it on herself(?) was odd. Gwen idly took note of more differences like the small gap in the younger her's teeth or the ballet slippers in the place of the usual chucks. Was she a dancer? Her dad tried to get her into it a few years ago, thought it'd curb her hotheaded streak. Clearly it didn't work.
"Uh..." Miles(?) said, looking between the two of them.
"Yeah, what he said," Peter said.
"Ah...sorry, it's just..." Gwen took a deep breath, "I'm just...not used to seeing other Spider-Women. I mean, I am, but they're usually not-"
"Gwen Stacy?" The younger Stacy smirked lazily at Gwen's odd, "Yeah, I get that. I'm pretty new to this whole thing myself and my first run wasn't exactly a walk in the park, 'specially since I had to babysit this dork." She gestured to Miles. There was obvious affection in it.
"Hey, I took of myself!"
"Sure, I mean, after you bounced off a taxi cab."
"You saw that?!"
The two continued their previous conversation. Gwen was suddenly reminded of her own brief team-up with Miles. They'd kissed at the end of it, full of adrenaline and fresh with the knowledge that in at least one future they'd helped established a utopia and even got two kids out of the deal. Looking back on it now it was such a silly thing to think about it. In a lot of worlds she ended up marrying Peter Parker after dating in college, and she didn't think about that too much.
Before she knew it Peter had already joined the two in conversation, "So, you guys were dragged through a dimensional collider and were...what, glitching out?"
"More or less," Other Gwen said, "We also kinda time traveled a bit. Don't ask, cause I dunno how that stuff works. I'm still trying to get used to the whole 'multiverse travel's like taking the bus' thing you guys got going here."
"Still, why the glitching? I mean I've been tr- uh, been staying at Gwen's place for a while now and I haven't had any seizures."
"Uh, I think you're gonna wanna ask Peni about that. She knows the science stuff better than all of us." Other Miles gestured to the other side of the chamber to one of the other pairs Gwen had seen. The first was a little girl who looked maybe 9 or 10 wearing a school uniform. There was something...off about her, but Gwen couldn't place it. Something in her eyes or the way she talked, maybe.
Her companion was equally weird. A giant of a man wearing a billowing trenchcoat. The fact that there was no wind to blow said trenchcoat paled in comparison to the fact that the guy was black and white. Literally, she couldn't see an ounce of color on him.
"Sure, could you introduce me?" Peter asked Miles eagerly.
"No prob." Miles grinned back and went with Peter to the odd duo, leaving the two Gwens alone.
Silence settled over the two again. Gwen sat down and crossed one leg over the other, thinking about what to say. What was appropriate to ask? She wasn't stupid - 9 in 10 of Spiders lost someone and it was the reason they put on the masks. She'd seen Peters who lost Uncle Bens, Aunt Mays, Mary Janes and, yeah, even Gwen Stacys. Was it too much to hope that there was a version of her out there that didn't go through all that?
"Penny for your thoughts?" Other Gwen asked.
"Uh, well..." Gwen took a deep breath and blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "Nice hair?"
Other Gwen blinked and rubbed the shaved side of her head, "Seriously? That's what you wanna say?"
"Well it was either that or talk about your shoes." She gestured to the ballet flats.
"So we either talk about my hair or my shoes...you're not very good at this, are you?"
Gwen found herself laughing at the blunt question, "Guess not." She laughed again, feeling a little bit of the tension leave, "I'm sorry, it's just...I know I should be used to it, but seeing myself is just so odd. Whenever you see alternate Spiders it's always someone else, you know? You never think it's you or-or another version of you. It's always another..."
"Peter Parker."
The heaviness in the younger girls' voice made Gwen's heart sink, "Yeah...Peter." She took off her mask to breath easier. Even now she had episodes of depression. Cap said it was normal, especially after everything she'd been through, but it didn't stop it from sucking, "I'm gonna take a guess that it didn't end well for you either?"
"Not really." Other Gwen pursed her lips.
"Mine was my best friend." Gwen said. The other girl didn't respond, "...Sorry, I made this weird-"
"No, don't be. It's actually nice to talk about it. Can't do it with everyone else cause, you know, most of them are Peters. Can't talk to Miles about it either; he has his own stuff to deal with." Other Gwen sighed and rubbed her forehead, "He was my best friend too. He was older than me close on 15 years, but still. A lot of people thought it was odd, a guy pushing thirty being friends with a teenager. He always joked that he was the Doc Brown and I was Marty McFly." Her smile was equal parts fond and hurting.
"Mine was the same age. Knew him since I was ten and we were inseparable ever since." She clenched her hands, "He...turned into the Lizard. He was bullied and he was angry and..." And he wanted to be special, "I didn't realize it was him before it was too late."
"Mine...turned too." Other Gwen coughed, obviously uncomfortable, "He and Dr. Connors were working on a formula to give people their limbs back but then their boss at Oscorp decided he wanted to test it on people. Dr. Connors wanted to be the one to do it, but Peter convinced him he was the better choice because...I dunno. Maybe cause he was younger or something. It didn't realize either."
Gwend didn't say anything. She wanted to comfort the other girl, tell her that at least he died doing something selfless, but she knew that it wouldn't help. Not when she held his dying body in her arms.
"I didn't do friends for a while. Didn't want to be distracted, but truth was I was just scared. Miles and the others...they really helped me out." She smiled fondly at Miles. He and Peter were talking animatedly with Peni and the trenchcoat guy she was sure was another Noir, "Guessing it's the same with you and the other Spidey that came with?"
"Huh?" Gwen blinked, "Ah...no, I mean, we're friends, but. Well, it's kind of a long story. Long story short something majorly bad happened in his dimension and now he's stuck in mine, at least till we can fix it."
"Guessing that's why he was interested about the glitching," Other Gwen said. Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms, "Something's up with you two, isn't there?"
"Wh-What do you mean?"
"I dunno, just a hunch." Other Gwen shrugged, expression passive. Something told her the younger girl was used to keeping a poker face, "The way you're looking at him...something's got you worried. Wanna talk about it? I mean, who better than yourself, right?"
"Ugh, I've heard that joke way too many times." Gwen rolled her eyes and straightened her posture. Still, she definitely had a point, "You've had to lie before, I'm guessing." Every Spider lied. To their friends, their families, to the world. Gwen didn't lie so much nowadays with her face plastered on billboards and people calling her Spider-Gwen. Some days she couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.
"Comes with secret identity and people not knowing you were there when your best friend died," Other Gwen replied coolly, "Why? What's the fib?"
"Ah...shit, this is hard." Gwen clicked her tongue, "You know what they say about ignorance being bliss-"
"Gonna stop you right there. If your dad's anything like mine then he likes pulling the philosophy out first and you picked it up." Gwen winced. She wasn't wrong, "Just tell me, alright? I'm not gonna judge you."
"Okay, so if something bad happened to the people you care about you'd wanna know, right?"
"What kind of bad are- no, you know what, dumb question cause same answer either way: I'd wanna know." Gwen didn't say anything. She couldn't disagree, "If someone's gonna punch me in the face I'd rather see it coming. If I didn't I'd be trying to find a way to turn off my spider-sense."
"Sometimes mine doesn't warn me. Don't know why, just doesn't," Gwen mumbled.
Other Gwen blinked, "And that's normal?"
"Yep. Can't even tell you how many times I've been hit or had a grenade blow up at my feet." Thankfully she could take some hits. Octavia even theorized that her weaker spider-sense might've been compensation for being more durable than the average Spider-Person, "And yeah, you got a point. Every time I didn't get a warning I'd always end up getting pissed off."
"So it's not fair that you're doing it to Spidey," Other Gwen said. No judgement, just stating a fact.
"Yeah..." Gwen took a breath and clenched her hands, "It's just...it's hard, you know? I mean when my dad found out about who I was, I thought I'd get a heart attack." Though maybe that had more to do with the fact that he had a gun to her face, "I spent the next couple of days thinking about how he'd react. The whole Inheritor BS actually felt like a good distraction."
"I haven't told my dad, but...I'm planning to," Other Gwen said, "Like I said, I can't judge you. I dunno what you're hiding from him, but whatever it is I wouldn't sit on it too long. The guy clearly trusts you, you don't want to lose that."
"No, I don't." Gwen nodded and smiled slightly, "Thanks. It's...nice to talk to..."
"You?" The younger girl gave her an open mouthed smile, "Yeah, you too. I mean, you're not the first Spider-Gwen I've ran into, but hey."
"There are others?" Gwen blinked, "Was one of them married with two adorable 12 year olds?"
"Uh...no, don't think. One of em had longer hair with pink tips." Other Gwen tugged at her hair quickly, "Another one was really into science and apparently didn't wear a mask; dunno what that was about. There's another one here with some kind blob thing on her- she's over there."
The younger Spider gestured to another corner of the chamber. Gwen followed her hand and found another Spider-Gwen, closer in age to herself, with what looked like a jet black baby snake jutting out of her shoulder. She was wearing a Venom suit, she realized quickly. A different kind of Venom, but she'd seen enough of them around to know one when she saw it. Judging by the way it bobbed its head she'd guess it could talk, or at least pretend to.
She was tempted to go over there before she caught the person she was talking to. She couldn't see his face from underneath the jacket or the mask, but she definitely saw the gun he was holding. Guns plural, actually. She almost missed the ones on his thigh holsters. The other Spider-Gwen seemed to have no issue with the guns said Spider was holding or the fact that he was still masked.
Yeah...she'd stay far away from that. Noir was bad enough on his own.
"Well, thanks." She smiled at the younger Gwen and made her way to where Peter was. Miles was gone, probably went off to another group, but the dynamic duo were still there. It was only when she got closer that she realized just how tiny that girl was. She looked like she barely came up to Other Noir's waist and she had to stand on a nearby chair to be on closer level to the other two Spiders.
"Hey, Gwen!" Peter grinned and waved for her to come closer. His mask was off, "Lemme introduce you. This is Peni and this is Peter, but apparently everyone calls him Benjamin."
"Helps to keep things organized." Other Noir said. He definitely sounded different from what she expected. Other Gwen sounded different, but she was younger. This one...well, actually she didn't know how old he was considering the mask, "We're all different kinds of Spiders cut from the same weave. Pain, anger, we carry the weight of our guilt with us every day."
"Um...what?" Gwen asked blankly.
"You know it too. Your costume's bright, but the darkness that we all live with can't be hidden forever," he continued, still as dramatic.
"Again, what?" Gwen looked at him with an unreadable expression. Was this really supposed to be another Noir? "...I'm gonna regret asking, but...where's that wind coming from?"
Peter cringed, "Gwen, don't-"
"Wherever I go the wind follow...and the wind? It smells like rain."
...What. The. Fuck.
"Are you serious?" Gwen barely kept herself from falling into a laughing fit.
"Serious as corruption is endemic, Spider-Woman." He crossed his arms when she actually did laugh at that, "You think it's funny, don't you?" We don't all got fancy dimensions with rock and roll. Some of us end up on the ground, mud on our face and feeling like a disgrace-
"Kicking your can all over the place?" she asked sarcastically. All three of them gave her blank looks, "Uh...sorry, it's a song lyric I remember."
"Ain't no song I ever heard before..." Other Noir muttered.
"Sorry about that. Gwen and her oldie songs are just too much for us younger folks." One thing she noticed after he'd gotten used to being away from home - Peter had a tongue on him.
"Hey, watch it, young man! I co-own the roof where you're staying!" Gwen threatened playfully.
"Sorry, sorry!" Peter grinned and held up both hands in mock surrender.
Other Noir scoffed, "I don't see the joke in the tragic endings all us Spiders will-"
Peni slapped the big guy's arm, "Don't mind him! He's kinda overdramatic!" The girl's voice was high. Young. Gwen was more than a little disturbed at how someone so young was hanging around here, "So you're another dimension's Spider-Woman, huh? It's nice to meet you!"
"Uh, likewise." The younger girl shook her hand enthusiastically, mouth open in an infectious grin, "So...uh, where's your costume? I mean, the uniform's not exactly...you know."
"Oh, my mech's back home. He took some damage from our last adventure and I'm fixing him up." Mech? Wait, Peni- oh! She was an alternate version of...Gwen shook her head. This one looked way different from the one she knew, "I came here to help Octavia and Pavitr tweak their watches to work better. With any luck we'll be able to do more than just send messages and SOS."
"Still can't believe you're from the year 3145," Peter said, a little jealous, "The tech you guys have must be insane!"
"You're pretty lucky too! I mean, you already have an on-suit AI! It took us till 2569 to rediscover AI ever since the machines rose up."
"Excuse me, the machines what now?" Gwen asked worriedly.
"Oh, don't worry! I'm sure your dimension will be fine! And if not then...well, you'll probably be gone by the time the uprising happens." Was she the only one creeped out that the girl was still smiling? "Anyway, me and 99 were talking about his dimension?"
"I'm sorry, 99?" Gwen asked.
"He's from Earth-19999, so 99. I'll think up a better nickname later," Peni said, "Anyway, we were actually talking about the glitching. See, dimensional glitching happens when you go to a dimension and it realizes you don't belong there. So it's like you're a virus and the dimension's white blood cells try to get rid of you. Takes a few days for the effects to kick in, but it happens eventually."
"So what about it?"
"According to Peni's research the person who goes through glitching isn't considered part of the universe," Peter said. Gwen just looked at him blankly, "Don't you get it? The reason I can't go back is because 'Peter Parker' got dusted by that big Thanos guy. But, what if I wasn't 'Peter Parker'? If I was a glitch then I could go in there and check up on how things are going. I'll have a few days, at least."
"Huh...maybe-"
"I don't think that's a good idea," Mayday's voice suddenly cut in. All four of them turned to look at the new arrival and Gwen cringed at the all too forced smile the teenager sported, "The reason you guys got pulled through was because of an imperfect portal. We don't even know what effects that has, so maybe hold off on trying to make an entire plan of doing something deliberately bad?"
"But-"
"We'll get you home as soon as we can, okay?" Mayday said, cutting Peter. Gwen clenched both hands tightly. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either, "Just be patient, please? You're the first Spider that's dealing with this kind of thing. Well, second, but the other one didn't turn to dust when he got back home."
"I..." Peter bit his lower lip and looked away, "I get it-"
"Mayday, can I talk to you for a sec?" Gwen didn't give the other Spider a chance to answer before she grabbed her shoulder and walked her a far enough distance that they wouldn't be overhead.
Mayday shook off her hand and glared at her, "What are you doing here? I thought-"
"I didn't come here for that, but...maybe I should've." Gwen crossed her arms, "Look, Mayday, I get why you're doing this, but don't you think he deserves to know the truth?"
"It'll just hurt him."
"And being clueless is better?" Mayday didn't reply, "I know how much it hurts to know something and not being able to do anything. I went to prison for a year, for god's sake. Do you know how frustrating it was knowing that it was because people were scared of me and I couldn't do anything about it? That it didn't hurt knowing my dad might never wake up again while I was in there? But looking back on it I'd still have preferred knowing than being lied to."
Mayday's fierce expression melted away and was replaced with a look of utter vulnerability, "I...I know that..." She closed her eyes and covered both with her right palm, "Noir told me the same thing. I know that it's wrong, but...could we really tell him? Tell him that he might've lost all of his friends and family? That his world, his entire universe, is in some kind of death spiral and he can't even help?"
"I'll do it. I'm the one whose been looking out for him, I think it'd be better if he heard it from me." Gwen raised her right hand and awkwardly put it on Mayday's left shoulder, "...Sorry for putting it all on your shoulders. I should've been helping you guys with it."
"It's fine." Mayday let out a shaky breath, "Sorry for putting you on the spot a week ago. I just...I saw how happy he was and I just thought that taking that away from him would've been cruel."
"I get that, but...he's not a kid. He's Spider-Man, and he's just like us. None of us put on the mask because we wanted to pretend nothing was wrong. We did it because we saw the people that needed help and we put our foot down and offered them a hand when no one else could."
"Haha...that's so sappy, Gwen."
The younger Spider suddenly embraced her. Gwen immediately reciprocated the gesture and smiled back at Peter's questioning gaze from across the chamber. Mayday's acceptance had removed most of her doubts.
The hug lasted for a few more seconds before the pair eventually separated. Before either of them could say anything another voice cut in, "Yo, Gwencent!" MJ walked towards them with a grin on her face and Mayday froze. They'd all gotten used to alternate Peters, even some of the daughters he had running around. Alternate MJ's were far rarer.
"Hey, MJ. What's up?" Gwen asked, trying her best to be casual. Mayday was still frozen stiff.
"Nothing much. Betty's with that talking car - I think she's convincing it to come back with us - and Glory's looking over by the history Spiders. Wanted to see what you were up." The redhead's eyes shifted to Mayday, "Who's your friend?"
"Uh...this Mayday." Gwen nudged her forward, "We were just...chatting."
"Huh, well, nice to meet you." MJ smiled and offered the teenager a hand.
The brunette stared at the gesture for a few seconds before another nudge from Gwen made her accept, "Uh, y-yeah, you too!"
...Why was she getting a bad feeling? Shaking her head, she left the two to whatever conversation they planned to have and went back to Peter, "Need to talk to you." He nodded, still mostly looking to MJ and Mayday, and followed Gwen back to the hall. She wanted to be alone for this.
It was only when she was sure that it was just the two of them when she finally spoke, "I...have some news about your home."
To her surprise, his expression was already pretty grim, "I'm guessing that it's not good news?"
"Yeah..."
Gwen told him everything Mayday told her: half of all life gone, heroes scrambling to keep things stable, Aunt May still MIA and possibly part of the unlucky half. He didn't cry or scream or rage at her. He just sat there, listening and giving the occasional nod to show that he was paying attention. With every word that came out her stomach sank more and more, but she continued on. He deserved to know the truth.
"So...we really did lose," he said eventually, voice barely above a whisper.
"...I'm sorry." There was nothing else she could say.
"It's not your fault. I...I'm glad you told me." He took a deep breath and pursed his lips.
"I...I knew about it a week ago, but we couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you," Gwen said slowly, "I'm sorry I waited so long to say something; that wasn't my place. I get if you were angry at me. I just-"
For the second time that day Gwen was caught in another sudden embrace. Peter's hold was tighter, more desperate, than Mayday's, and she couldn't do much more than slowly reciprocate the gesture. He was crying now. Even if she couldn't feel the tears through the suit the way his shoulders shook and the quick, gasping breaths made it all the more clear.
They just stood there, Peter sobbing while she tried her best to comfort him. She didn't know how much time passed before his breaths eventually calmed and he stepped away, eyes still red and puffy.
"...I'm sorry," she said again.
"Thanks." He nodded and wiped away what little tears stayed, "I...I guess I kinda always knew that bad things would've happened. I mean, when I tried to go back home I nearly died again, so I wasn't exactly expecting things to be good when I got back. It's just..." He shook his head, "Nothing. Finding out it's true, it's bad, yeah, but now at least I'm not questioning it."
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I mean, not really, but...I'm not giving up. Dr. Strange still said it was the only way, so I'm thinking that this isn't the end. He wouldn't have given up the time stone thing if there was no way to fix things. He made that clear." His expression shifted to something more determined, "And I'm still here. There's a reason I didn't die, there has to be. Maybe it's cause I'm supposed to help with whatever they're going to do."
"Well whatever it is you can count on me being there. The rest of us too; every Spider's gotta stick together."
"Haha...thanks, Gwen."
It was only seconds later that Gwen realized just how close they were. Their faces were just inches apart and from here she saw every detail - the scruffy brown hair, the small smile and even the dimple on his chin. He looked so much like the Peter she remembered, but he was different in just as many ways. The way he laughed, the way he joked to try and make everyone else laugh too. Her Peter was always so quiet, so...
Their eyes met for a brief moment and Gwen quickly stepped back with Peter doing the same, "Well...I'm glad you're alright."
"Y-Yeah, I'm alright." He rubbed the back of his head and she tried not to think about the red flush on his cheeks, "We should...probably go back to the others. And we gotta check out the Oscorp thing today, right?"
"You sure you still wanna come with me?"
"Oh yeah, definitely. It'll keep me from moping." They both smiled forcefully at the bad joke, "Seriously, Gwen, I'll be fine. I'm Spider-Man."
"Yeah...and I won't forget it again."
This took me some hours to write and I didn't proofread, so apologies for any lapses in quality. I'll try to do better next time when anxiety isn't kicking me in the rear. Hopefully those meditation tips and chamomile teas help.
Anyway, this chapter was mostly undoing the last chapter's shitty ending. Apologies for anyone that wanted that to be longer or for there to be drama based on the lie, but character-wise I figured this version of Gwen - who'd beaten Murdock, survived prison and had her identity exposed - wouldn't be able to keep up the charade too long, unlike Looking Glass Gwen.
Speaking of, Looking Glass reference at the midpoint
It felt pretty masturbatory putting that in, but whatever. The original plan was for Two Spiders Gwen to have the conversation with Looking Glass Gwen about lying to their respective Peters. I switched it around so she talked to Spider-Verse Gwen instead and added the plot point of possibly using the glitch effect to bypass the Infinity Stones. We'll see if it works.Questions:
1. So at this point we're pretty set on the Gwen/Peter pairing. Still, do you guys think the two have good chemistry? A previous reader commented that he found MJ and Peter nice since the former helped cheer him up and dragged him out of his awkwardness during the Dazzler concert whereas Gwen and Peter have an underlying tension with one another.
2. Would you guys want romance-centric chapters? By that I mean chapters where romance is the main point such as a date or a chapter where there's no baddies or plot, just the two trying to deal with their attraction to one another.
Madou Sutegobana
Autocorrupt has been disabled.
- Location
- Twin Realms Mandala
It's fine to throw in references to your other works.
1. Well MJ has already dated Peter.
2. Sure, after all Romance is the Plot.
1. Well MJ has already dated Peter.
2. Sure, after all Romance is the Plot.
Chapter 11 - Sitting in a Tree
This chapter felt kinda off for me, mostly because writing Earth-65 villain problems seems so small after all the multiversal shenanigans last chapter. That and I don't like writing action scenes in general, as I've made clear before. Next chapter should be easier since it's back to slice of life and interactions with cast members like the Parkers.
Chapter 11: Sitting in a Tree
"Are you alright, Peter?"
Peter nearly missed his next swing at Karen's sudden question. He quickly ejected another webline and swung around the corner, "Uh, y-yeah! Totally!"
"Your voice pitched higher and your heartbeat is elevated. Something's 'bugging you'."
"No, Karen! Geez, I'm fine!"
"Your heart rate is still elevated, however. Was it because of the near kiss you shared with Gwen earlier?"
This time Peter did miss the swing. He landed on the roof with a quick roll and jumped up again automatically, "Wh-What? We did not do that!" He just...hugged her. It wasn't like the situation didn't call for it.
Finding out the news from Gwen...it wasn't like it was a shock - he knew ever since his disappearance on Titan that they'd lost 0 but hearing it confirmed still felt like a slap in the face. Half the universe dead with the people who stayed behind trying to pick up the pieces. He wanted to be there and help as much as he could, but even now whatever that big purple drillbit did still kept him trapped here.
But...it wasn't like there weren't worse placed to be trapped in. Sure those first couple of hours were rough, especially when he hugged Tony 'I own a mercenary army' Stark, but things really looked up after he met Gwen. Without her he had no idea what he would've done. Probably sleeping on rooftops like Mr. Howard back home, though something told him that the pigeons wouldn't like him as much.
"So why is your stress level elevated?"
"Because...well, you heard what Gwen said!" He stopped and hung off a high tower, "I've been thinking about home ever since we got here and now...I don't even know what to do about it."
"You said before you believed we could fix this. Was that a lie?"
"Well...no-"
"Then there's nothing to worry about." Her voice was surprisingly firm, "Anxiety and thinking of what-if's often lead to undue stress and, in Mr. Stark's case, into alcoholism. I would prefer if you did not follow into that same route."
"Karen, I'm 17! Jeez!" Then again it wasn't like being Spider-Man didn't break the rules considering he wasn't an Avenger.
"Exactly my point. Research shows that children as young as 12 indulge in alcoholism in response to various stressors. Your elevated heart rate and high pitch indicate someone who's undergoing stress."
"Yeah, cause half of our home got dusted!" Why was he even arguing about this? Wasn't it normal to worry? "I don't even know if Aunt May's..."
"Either she's alive and she's helping people due to her career as a nurse or she followed you. In the latter scenario there's at least a 50 percent chance that she also didn't perish but was simply transported into another universe, same as you. This statistic would apply to anyone who was 'dusted', especially since we don't have knowledge on how these Infinity Stones were made to function."
"Well...I guess." That was something that he'd thought about. He was supposed to be dead, but instead he was here. What if everyone who got turned to dust was the same way, just trapped in different dimensions and looking for a way to come back? Energy couldn't be created or destroyed and all that. Mayday did say there was an infinite number of universes. Heck, maybe a few of them were here, just in different places? Maybe he should start checking the news about people claiming to be from another dimension...
"Your heart rate has lowered to an optimal number, Peter."
"Yeah...thanks, Karen."
"Don't mention it. Part of my duties involve psychological aid and assurance. Mr. Stark assumed you would need it." Wow...he didn't know whether to be grateful or annoyed about that, "Please don't hesitate to talk to me about any more problems you're experiencing. I'm always ready to listen."
"I know..." He prepared to jump off and stopped, "Wait, you trying to set me up with, like, MJ or Gwen...was that part of your programming?"
"No, that's what I do for fun."
Okay...he wasn't going to ask. Peter jumped off the building and let looked up (down?) at the rushing ground. He had a few hours left of free time since work was off and Gwen had let up on her 'no going on patrol' restriction, at least for now.
He smiled and waved at a little kid who saw him and pointed with a large smile on her face. Apparently New York was mixed on how they felt about any kind of Spider-Person. Most kids and teenagers liked Gwen (apparently the ex-prison bird thing was a real boost to her rebellitude), but a lot of older people didn't. Something about a generational gap, or at least that was what MJ said.
It was actually pretty similar to back home. In his case, youtube helped.
No villains for the rest of the day, though there was a lot more crime than he expected. Back home he was 'lucky' if he ran into a single mugging and carjacking, but here he ran into three separate muggings and an actual attempted kidnapping in the first couple of hours. Oh, and the old guy he saved from said kidnapping blamed him and said it was somehow his fault he got kidnapped for ransom.
He wondered how Gwen dealt with this for two years...
'Gwen...' He swung high and released in a wide arc. He really did owe her a lot. Taking him to the Web Warriors probably wasn't too much of a bother, but everything after that - putting him up in her apartment, looking out for him when she had her own problems, helping him during his date with MJ, and all without asking for anything in return - was more than he could've expected. Even his part time job paychecks didn't do much to pay her back for everything.
"Hey, Spiders gotta stick together, right?"
That was what she said, but was that the only reason? What if it was Aunt May or Mr. Stark or someone else she ran into at Chinatown? Would she have helped? It definitely sounded like something she'd do. Even earlier when she told him about what happened and they hugged, it was...
"Peter, your heart rate and body temperature has raised slightly. Are you stressed again?"
"Wh-What? No, no! It's just the sun!" He spun on a pole and waved at the people inside a nearby office building.
"Are you certain?"
"Yeah, Karen, I'm good!"
Thankfully he didn't have to deny for too long. His phone suddenly rang and he tapped the side of his mask to accept the call (activating Karen definitely made things more convenient), "Hey, Gwen, what's up?"
"Peter, you busy?"
"Not right now, no. Why, what's happening?"
"Shadowcat gave me a heads up: Norman's back in town." He stopped swinging and hung off the side of a wall, "I was hoping we could check up on him first...you know, put it all behind us." A pause, "But if you don't wanna then it's cool. I can-"
"No, I'm good. Just text me the address." Ever since Gwen told him the news she'd started walking on eggshells, like it was somehow her fault that he was trapped here and home was up shit's creek. He got why - he'd been skittish for the first few days when Aunt May first found out - but it was also annoying being on the other end of it. He just wanted to scream that the last thing she should feel was guilt after everything she did for him.
The place wasn't too far. Peter made a detour to pick up his backpack and landed in an empty alley a short distance away. Gwen mentioned in the text that going in with their costumes was a real bad idea, so now here he was, stripping down in a dirty alley back into his civvies. Peter looked around briefly and waited for his spider-sense to blare. After a quarter of a minute he figured it was safe enough and took his suit off.
He was down to his boxers when he heard it, "Hubba hubba." He screamed and turned to the source of the voice. Shadowcat leaned with her back against the wall with her arms crossed, a cocky smile on her face, "Oh, don't let me stop you. Just enjoying the show here."
"Wh-What are you doing here?" Where was he supposed to put his hands? This really wasn't like when May caught him in his boxers with Ned in the room, "Y-You-"
"I'm here because it's my job. Green Goblin ringing any bells?"
"Y-Yeah, but why are you here?"
"Oh, that? Well, I sniffed you out and when I got here you were already stuffing the suit into your backpack, "Her eyes trailed down to his chest and stomach, "Nice pecs, by the way. Do all your Spider People get that or is it just you?"
"That's- would you just turn around?! I need to change!"
"Alright, fine! Big baby." She laughed and turned around, smile still on her face. Peter tried to ignore the heat on his cheeks and took out his clothes, "You done yet?" His head snapped back to her. She was still facing away, but he could practically see the grin she was sporting.
"N-Not yet!"
"You know, you're way more sensitive than a guy who runs around in spandex all day has any right to be."
"That's different!" He put the pants on in a rush and breathed a sigh of relief. Least his boxers weren't out anymore, "That's like...my uniform, you know? Helps keep my identity secret and so people recognize me. Like they look up and see the guy in red and blue and wevs and they think 'hey, that's Spider-Man!' or something."
"Whatever. Pretty sure you and Spider-Girlie just want people to look at your ass." He sighed and gave up trying to argue. Now he got why Gwen didn't like her, "You know we don't have to walk through the front lobby. I can phase up there and you two can swing. We can dangle Osborn off the side of a building, easy."
"Uh...maybe we don't do that? The guy could be innocent." He put on his shoes and walked to the open street, Shadowcat following behind casually.
"Please, you've seen how big his tower is." She jerked her thumb to said big tower, "You don't get to be that high up without screwing someone over. Consider it karma."
"That your logic for everything, Shadowcat?" Gwen asked as she walked up to them. Like she said she wasn't wearing her costume and thankfully no one in the crowd recognized her.
"Sure. Everyone's fucked over someone else at least once in their life and got away with it. Even you, Saint Gwen."
Gwen's eyes narrowed and Peter quickly interrupted, "So, how are we supposed to meet with this Osborn guy?" He really didn't know how the two planned to not kill each other if he weren't here.
"Easy, we'll walk up to the receptionist and ask. Norman owes me a favor."
"For getting Mr. Lizard-Goblin off the hook, you mean," Shadowcat said. Gwen pursed her lips, "Hey, I ain't judging. Rich get off while everyone else gets screwed over. Makes finding jobs easy."
"Always a charmer. No wonder Cap wanted you in the Suicide Squad."
The inside of Oscorp Tower reminded me of Stark Industries, all sleek designs and professional machinery. He lagged behind his two companions and looked around, mouth slightly agape. One thing he'd spent some time checking out was just how different the tech was here from back home. This place was definitely different - more neon and holographic screens and everything looked way smoother. It felt like he stepped into a comic book sometimes.
The young receptionist looked up and immediately failed to hide her frown when she saw them. Peter couldn't blame her. She was probably used to welcoming men and women with suits and here they were strolling in dressed in jeans and sweats.
"Can I help you?"
"We need to meet Mr. Osborn." Gwen said confidently despite the disparaging stare.
The receptionist wrinkled her nose, "Do you have an appointment?"
"No, but-"
"Then I'm afraid I can't help you."
"W-Wait!" Gwen slammed her hands on the table while Shadowcat snickered behind her, "Look, it's important. Call him and tell him that it's about his son. He'll want to hear this."
The receptionist gave her another disparaging look before eventually pulling out her phone, "Hello, Mr. Osborn? Yes, I'm sorry to bother you but there's a woman here with two others who want to meet you. She says it's about your son." She paused to hear his answer and looked up at Gwen again, "What's your name?"
"An...old friend."
"A name, miss."
Gwen sighed and leaned in closer to whisper, "Gwen Stacy. I've met with him before."
It took a second, but the woman's eyes widened when the name finally registered, "Ah, Mr. Osborn, Spi- uh, Gwen Stacy is here to meet you." Another pause, "Y-Yes, I'll send them up. Thank you." The receptionist cut the phone call and gave Gwen another fish eyed look, "You're-"
"Hey, we're in so let's not waste any time," Shadowcat interrupted.
"U-Uh, yeah!" Gwen nodded and rushed to the elevator with the two of them right behind her. She pressed the button to the top floor and practically sagged against the wall when the doors finally closed, "God, she's probably gonna tweet that..." She brought a hand through her face and sighed. Another thing that was clear - Gwen really didn't like the attention being unmasked gave her.
"What did you think would happen?" Shadowcat crossed her arms and raised a brow.
"I dunno, I thought Norman would figure what I meant. How many old friends could he have coming to talk about Harry?"
"Seriously, that was your entire plan? Just hope the CEO doesn't ask for the name of the people who might be trying to blackmail him? Jesus Christ. No wonder you thought taking off the mask would magically fix everything."
"Hey, fuck you-"
"Guys, guys, no fighting!" Peter got between them again, "Can we please just get through this?"
"...She started it." Gwen crossed her arms and faced away to hide her face from view. If he were anywhere else he might've laughed at Gwen - mature, serious and dependable Gwen - was acting like a 10 year old.
"Hey, I wanted to dangle the guy off the building. You wanted through the lobby."
Gwen just harumphed and didn't respond. Thankfully they didn't have to stay in the awkward silence much longer before the door opened. Peter stepped out first and looked around the place. This was definitely different from Mr. Stark's office or even the lobby downstairs. Instead of sleek tech and blueprints the place looked like a penthouse, all decorations, fancy paintings and furniture that looked like it belonged in a magazine.
The man behind the large table wasn't someone he recognized. He looked about the same age as May, and the cleanly pressed suit and steepled hands only added to that, "Ms. Stacy," he said, expression stern.
"Hey, Mr. Osborn," Gwen smiled slightly, "Been a while, huh?"
"Quite. I haven't seen you since your trial."
"Yeah. Thanks for the glowing testimony, by the by. Having Oscorp's CEO as a character witness was a real boost."
"You're quite welcome-"
"Alright, can we cut the chase" Shadowcat said, "You ain't an idiot, Osborn. You know why we're here."
"I assume it's due to the Green Goblin's attack." He set his hands on the table and let out a soft breath, "Such a stupid name."
"Pretty cool suit, though," Peter said.
Mr. Osborn's gaze shifted from Shadowcat to him. Peter suddenly straightened up, "...You must be Spider-Man." He almost denied it before the older man raised a hand up, "No need to deny it. I recognize both Ms. Stacy and 'Shadowcat', but not you. I doubt either would bring along a civilian to a meeting like this so that narrows down the list of suspects. Don't worry, I have no interest in antagonizing any of you."
"Hey, I don't give a crap if you blackmail him." Shadowcat shrugged.
"You're all heart, Shadowcat," Gwen rolled her eyes, "Listen, Mr. Osborn, we came here to ask you for information. S.H.I.E.L.D thinks that Harry went off the deep end because of the attack, but I don't. We cured him of the serum and he has no access to the tech he had when he was working with S.I.L.K. I know you wouldn't have supplied him, so we just...need some proof to take to S.H.I.E.L.D that Harry's innocent."
"Hmm...well, I appreciate you coming to me. You've already saved Harry once before." He stood from the desk and picked up a phone from the desk, "You'll be glad to know that Harry couldn't have done it because he wasn't even in the country. He's been out recuperating in the alps at my...request. If he left I would've known about it. You can call him if you want to confirm this."
"A summer home in the alps? Christ, could you be any more cliche?" Shadowcat scoffed.
"So, who do you think it is?" Peter asked as Gwen turned away to video call Harry.
"Honestly? I'm unsure." Mr. Osborn sighed, "The amount of people who're aware of the Green Goblin aren't in short supply since people caught onto my son and Ms. Stacy's fight over a year prior, but to have the resources to replicate his technology, not to mention the skills it would take to operate such machinery...it would take planning and training to pull this off."
"Oh come off it, Osborn. You don't think anyone'd want to fuck you over?" Shadowcat asked.
"That's assuming that this person is even aware of who was behind the mask."
"I think they do." Gwen handed the phone back to Mr. Osborn with a relieved smile, "When I called him 'Harry' he didn't act surprised. I mean maybe he was just rolling with it, but there was something about him...you sure you don't know anyone who'd want to pull you down a peg?"
"Ms. Stacy, I'm the CEO of an international company with ties to numerous businesses such as defense contracts, medicine and other sensitive investments. If you're trying to narrow down suspects based on those who might wish to see me 'pulled down a peg' then you won't have any luck."
"But there has to be something," Peter said, "I mean, we can't just wait for this guy to attack people again."
"...There is something." Mr. Osborn sighed and tapped something on his phone, "I found out upon my arrival that one of our defense contract shipments was taken recently. It could be a coincidence - corporate espionage and sabotage is part and parcel in this line of business, after all - but if you insist on this theory that this new Goblin is targeting me then it connected. I'll send you the address of the tracking chip."
"Why didn't you call the police?" Gwen asked.
It was Shadowcat who answered, "Cause it's easier to hire mercs and personal goons who won't ask questions. Trust me, there's always something just a little bit illegal that you don't want the boys in blue to log into their books."
"A crude way to put it, but yes. The gear that was stolen is legal and will go to the government - I've no interest in dabbling in illegal arms dealing - but my clients would prefer the contents be kept out of the public eye. I was going to send an Oscorp security team to recover the items, but if you believe it'll help then I can let you three handle it. Hopefully it'll give you all peace of mind."
"Sure, and you get three superpowered freaks to do your work for you for free." Shadowcat smirked and tossed a card at his feet,, "Shrewd businessman, Mr. Osborn. If you need any work done then hit me up. I have very reasonable rates."
"Are you seriously fishing for a job now?" Gwen gave her a look of disbelief.
"Hey, some of us don't want to live in crappy apartments the rest of our lives. You should give it a shot. Pretty sure a lot of people'd pay top dollar to get the oh-so-great Spider-Gwen."
"Yeah, sure..." Gwen rolled her eyes and turned back to Mr. Osborn, "Thank you for this. We promise we'll find out who this maniac is."
"And if it is your kid then I'll be back." Shadowcat brandished her claws and grinned, "Nothing personal, of course."
"He's still a suspect? I just talked to him! You saw me doing it!" Gwen said.
"That could've been anyone. Could've been a guy in a mask or a hologram; you'd be surprised how often that fools people." She willed the claws away, "But we'll burn that bridge when we get there. Come on, let's get to this place."
"You can take the express route, if you wish." Mr. Osborn gestured to the window.
"Thanks. Really didn't want to go through the lobby." Gwen said. She let the suit cover her again while Shadowcat phased through the floor, "Need me to wait?"
"Uh, no. Lemme just put on a mask real quick. Send me the address."
Gwen nodded and jumped out the window. Peter pulled out his mask and barely put it over his face when Mr. Osborn suddenly said, " Please watch out for Ms. Stacy."
"Huh?"
"You are her friend, correct?"
"Uh...yeah, but why the sudden request?"
"I owe her a debt. Without her my son would've remained infected and locked up for the rest of his life; and doing so cost her. The incident spiraled into the situation that left her locked up in prison. I thought she'd resent Harry and myself for not doing more, and yet here she is trying to prove him innocent again. I...owe her a debt that can't be repaid, so I can only ask that you look out for her."
"O-Oh, well...sure. I mean I owe her a lot too." Peter smiled from underneath the mask. After all the things he'd read - the accusations of murder, being forced to spend a year in prison - it was nice to see that someone actually felt grateful, "And don't worry, I'm sure your son'll be proven innocent. Gwen won't let him get arrested for something he didn't do."
"Yes, I'm well aware." Mr. Osborn's smile was surprisingly cheery, "Well, good luck, Spider-Man."
Peter nodded and jumped out the window to duck into the closest alley. He managed to change into his full suit by the time his phone buzzed, "According to the location, it should take about 5 to 10 minutes via webswinging."
Gwen and Shadowcat were on a nearby rooftop when he got there, "Hey, Spidey," Shadowcat waved lazily without looking up. In front of them was a warehouse that reminded him too much of Mr. Toomes' old hideout, "You ready?"
"We just busting in there?"
"Sure. I sniffed out only one guy in there and with the three of us should be easy." Shadowcat stood and grinned, "Come on!"
"Hey, wait!" Shadowcat jumped and rushed to the entrance, slashing through the metal like a hot knife through butter, "God damn it. Come on, Spider-Man!" Gwen swung down and Peter followed.
His spider-sense tingled as soon as they were inside, "Incoming!" He flipped to the side to avoid the robot flying through the air towards him with a lightsaber drawn, "Woah, close one!" He webbed its head and pulled. The head snapped off and he threw it to another nearby bot, "These guys have lightsabers too!"
"Yeah, I noticed." Gwen jumped back to avoid the slash from another bot and kicked it hard enough to split it in half, "You see Shadowcat?"
"Uh, no!" He jumped over another bot and unclipped his own laser sword. This was going to be so cool, "Hey, over here!" He wielded the sword with both hands.
Gwen actually stopped after punching away another bot, "Seriously?"
"What?"
"Ah, nevermind! Just don't lose your arm!"
Three bots charged. Peter dodged all the slashes and cut the first one in half vertically, "Woah, awesome!" Ned would've loved this! "Come on!" He 'decapitated' another and blocked the slash from the last bot. The blades sparked and hissed on contact, "Was Mr. Osborn really selling these to the government? Why would they want lightsabers?" Granted he wanted a lightsaber, but he wasn't a soldier or anything.
"Dunno! Just keep slashing!" Gwen flipped back and kicked another bot to the wall.
They went through about a dozen more bots when the barrage suddenly stopped. The door to the other end of the warehouse was kicked open and Shadowcat came out dragging a short old man with her, "Hey ho, look what I found!" She threw him roughly through the air and he landed painfully in front of them, "Phineas Mason, but people in the underworld call him The Tinkerer. He was the one who programmed the bots."
"Y-You...don't have any idea who you're-"
"Yeah, yeah, save it. We've heard that before." Gwen knelt in front of him and narrowed the eyes of her masks, "You're too short to be the new Goblin, and in my experience techie guys always end up working for someone. So, let's make this easy: you tell us who you're working for and we can dump you off in prison in time for dinner. Sound good?"
"You think I'd betray him?" He looked up at Gwen, eyes wide with fear, "This...This isn't about money! He threatened me. Knew about my safehouses, where I've worked, who I've worked for...if I didn't work for him then he'd destroy me."
"Oh, who called in the waahmbulance?" Shadowcat rolled her eyes, "You made weapons for criminals, Phinny. You don't get to cry when it bites you in the ass." She brandished the claws again, "Now you tell us who you're working for or I gouge your eyes out. Got it?"
"Hey, we're not doing that!" Gwen hissed and stood up.
"Oh sure, and I guess you think this guy'll just spill because we ask nice? Grow up, Spider-Gwen."
"Guys, stop fighting!" Peter sighed and crouched in front of the sniveling old man, "Look, whoever this guy is we can protect you, okay? We stopped him once already. And like you said he's forcing you to work for him by blackmailing you, so he's gonna keep holding that over you."
"Yeah. If he knows where you live and who you are then there's no way out on your own. Trust me, I know." Gwen's voice became softer at the end, "Just tell us before he starts bombing another place. Please."
Tinkerer looked between the two of them and was about to answer when his phone suddenly rang, "It's him..." Gwen's eyes narrowed again and she picked the phone out of his pocket. Unknown number and no picture, "He knows..."
Gwen tapped the screen and put it on speaker, "Hello?"
"Trying to take Mr. Mason away from me?" The voice was loud and distorted while the image on the screen was glitchy and constantly shifting. It reminded him of a cyberpunk film he and Ned watched, "You're wasting your time. I never left him any details that could be traced back to me."
"And you called us just to tell us that? Yeah, not buying it." Gwen scoffed.
"Oh, it's not just that. I also wanted to give you fair warning. Heads up!"
And then his spider-sense screamed. Peter stuck his feet to the floor just before the explosion came from all around them. Gwen managed to keep her balance, but Shadowcat fell on her back and grimaced, "Those blasts came from below us!" She pulled herself up and looked around, "We gotta split!"
"What about Mason?" Gwen screamed.
"Screw it, he'll just slow us down!"
Without another word she turned and ran to the closest wall to phase out of it. Gwen didn't get a chance to shout out whatever curse she planned before another explosion rang behind them far too close for comfort. Gwen screamed when the heat rushed over them, the edges of her suit shaking, "P-Please help me!" Tinkerer grabbed on his legs desperately, "Don't leave me here!"
"Oh, damn it..." Peter slung Mason over his shoulder with one arm while the other pulled Gwen up, "Gwen, come on! We have to go!"
"Peter, we're seconds from reaching critical mass," Karen said unhelpfully.
Gwen shook her head, "Yeah, yeah, just...just gimme a..." Another explosion, this time from above. They didn't have time for this.
Mentally apologizing, Peter tightened his grip on Gwen and threw her through one of the high windows before jumping up after her. Thankfully she seemed to gain her bearings mid-arc and managed to snag two lines of webbing to pull herself through the wrecked opening.
He wasn't so lucky. Peter just barely managed to jump through with Mason in tow when a final, defeaning explosion went off behind him. His spider-sense blared one last time and he moved mid-jump to block Tinkerer's body. He couldn't dodge like this, but he could still lower the damage.
The first thing he noticed was the heat, quickly followed by something impaling his left arm. Peter screamed and barely had enough strength to eject a line of webbing with his right to keep from faceplanting altogether. He swung in a low arc and barely touched the ground when he let go of the web and both he and Tinkerer rolled against the concrete painfully.
The ringing in his head lasted till Gwen landed in front of him, "Sp...an...right?" She knelt down on front of him and tried to sit him up. Her mask was pulled back, allowing him to see her soot covered face, "Pe...ear me?"
"Ear's ringing..." He mumbled. His shoulder hurt, "Karen, you there?"
"Yes, Peter. A piece of metal impaled itself on your arm. I recommend removing it in a safe area and getting immediate medical attention."
"Yeah, I'll get right on that..." He mumbled.
By the time the ringing went away Shadowcat had caught up with them. She crouched next to Tinkerer's shivering body and wrinkled her nose, "Can't believe you actually brought this guy with you."
"Thanks for the help back there." Gwen scowled.
"Hey, you two can take care of yourself. You did just fine when you got that monster suit," Shadowcat replied flippantly, "Well, since you brought him out I figure S.H.I.E.L.D'll wanna talk to him. Not like there's anything left back there." She looked back and frowned at the burning warehouse. She was right - Peter doubted there'd be anything left to salvage once the fire died out.
"Whatever." Gwen continued to scowl as she picked him up with his non-injured arm, "We're leaving. You can haul Tinkerer back to S.H.I.E.L.D yourself."
Shadowcat waved them both off and they managed to swing back to her place, Peter leaning against Gwen the entire way. He'd taken worse hits, especially back when he fought Mr. Toomes or back on Titan, but it was the first time he'd gotten seriously injured since he got here. He knew he was lucky - the dull, burning pain was nothing compared to everything else.
Gwen took them through the window and laid him down on the couch, "We gotta take this out." Gwen grabbed the piece of metal and cringed, "This is gonna hurt. You ready?"
Peter nodded and, after a moment of hesitation, Gwen pulled the metal out. He didn't scream, though he did grit his teeth and his breath became more labored, "Do you...have any bandages?"
"Yeah, um...I'll go get em. Take off your suit."
Peter nodded blearily and pressed the symbol to make the suit loosen. Gwen came back from the bathroom with a first-aid kit, face etched in a frown, "Shit, forgot to restock." She set the kit down onto the table and pulled the suit till it was at his waist, "Hmm, doesn't look too deep." He nodded again and pulled off his mask with his free hand. Powers probably kept it from punching in too hard.
Gwen got out some disinfectant and a cotton square, "...Sorry." Peter hissed when the cotton hit skin. Both hands clenched into tight fists and he did his best to keep from moving as Gwen cleaned up the wound. The piece of metal was more thin than anything, so the cut was thinner than he expected. He actually got lucky, "Hmm, we don't have enough bandages."
"Just web it..."
"Uh, are you sure?"
"Yeah, did it before." He gave her one of his webshooters, "Tested it...made sure webfluid was safe..."
"Huh...genius." Gwen smiled weakly pressed twice to cover the cut in a thin blanket of webbing, "Alright?" He nodded. Gwen unrolled what little bandages they had and made him sit up, "Hold still. Can't fuck this up." He didn't say anything as she wrapped the white cloth around his arm and shoulder and then pressed down on the wound, "We gotta stop the bleeding. Tell me if it hurts."
Eventually, after 15 minutes the pain gradually lessened. Peter lay back down on the couch while Gwen washed the blood off her hands. He felt exhausted, "...You think they can get anything out of that Tinkerer guy?"
"Who knows? This entire mess is just one giant clusterfuck." She sat down next to him and eyed his wound again. There was that guilt again. He wanted to say something to make it go away, "Can't believe you did that."
"What, bringing Tinkerer with us? It wasn't that out of the way."
"Maybe, but...I dunno. It's been a while since I've spent so much time with another Spider. Everyone here - Cap, Shadowcat, whatever - they always talk about acceptable losses or tell me that trying to save everyone's an idiot's game. I shouldn't be surprised, but..." She sighed and shook her head, "You saved me too back there. Thanks. I'm sorry for dragging you into that mess, you shouldn't have gotten hurt-"
"Hey, stop..." He reached out with his right arm and squeezed her shoulder, "I should be the one thanking you. When I woke up in that alley I just bumbled into one mess right after another. You gave me a place to stay, helped me out without ever asking for anything back...I dunno what would've happened if I didn't run into you."
"Pfft, you would've been fine." Gwen smiled and laughed softly.
"I'm not so sure about that..." He laughed back, "Well, even if I would've been okay...I'm glad I met you. I didn't think there were other Spider-People, someone else who got what we went through. So...thanks. For everything. When I manage to find a way back, I'll definitely keep visiting."
"Yeah, I'll keep the couch open."
Her smile widened and she held onto his hand, pressing it gently against her warm shoulder. He wanted to say more, but her smile caused the words to die in his mouth. This entire thing was a mess, but if there was one thing he could be thankful for it was meeting Gwen and the others; especially her. Sure he thought MJ was gorgeous, but with Gwen there was a solidarity that he never felt from anyone else. Bitten by a spider, spurned on because of responsibility...he was definitely glad he met her.
"You don't have to do it alone," Peter mumbled,"You helped me, and I want to help you. Don't feel guilty about it, okay?"
"Yeah...I got it."
They were close; close enough that he couldn't see anything but the blue of her eyes. He should've leaned back, put some distance, but instead he inched closer, "Hey..." Gwen said softly. He expected her to pull back, but instead she matched the gesture. Their foreheads touched and his heart beat wildly against his chest. Everything rational inside told him that it wasn't the time or the place for this, but another wondered what 'this' was supposed to be.
His question was answered when they both closed the gap and kissed. He didn't know what he expected. The contact was soft, their lips just gently touching while they both closed their eyes. Gwen raised her free hand and cupped his cheek while Peter's grip on her other hand tightened. It was his first kiss, the jubilant part of his mind cheered, and it was with Spider-Woman- no, Gwen Stacy.
He didn't know how long the kiss lasted, but eventually they pulled back. Gwen's expression was hard to decipher - somewhat embrassed but also something he couldn't place, "Um...wow," Gwen whispered. He didn't know if that was good or bad, "That was, um..."
"Yeah, that was...that." He coughed and tried to ignore the heat in his cheeks, "S-So, um..."
Whatever he was about to say was cut off when he heard stomping up the stairs and Betty slammed the door open, "Honeys, I'm home- woah! What the heck happened to you?" She eyed his bandaged shoulder.
Betty's arrival was like a bucket of cold water. Peter raised the blanket to cover his chest while Gwen stood up like she'd been zapped, "Oh, good, you're here!" Gwen said. Her voice sounded off, "I, uh, gotta restock the medkit so could you watch Pete for me? Thanks!"
"Ah, Gwen-" She practically zipped out the door before he could finish. Peter looked at the closed door flopped back into the couch with a groan. Karen was so not going to let him live this down.
Yeah...that ending was rushed. Granted it's been 11 chapters so maybe some people think it's good, but after Looking Glass having the leads kiss after being barely into the double digits feels odd. Then again these two generally get along far better compared to Noir and Gwen, so this at least makes some sense.
Still, I know there are some people disappointed because they wanted more romance with MJ and/or wanted more build up for Gwen. Regardless, this isn't going to turn into a full blown romance fic or anything. I still have some other things to tackle.
...That is unless people want the two in a relationship this early on and they spend the rest of the fic as a couple. Most romances tend not to tackle what comes after the actual coupling, mostly cause people are more interested in the set-up than anything else. I wonder if people here are the same or if it's more interesting to see them actually dating on top of their other issues.
Chapter 11: Sitting in a Tree
"Are you alright, Peter?"
Peter nearly missed his next swing at Karen's sudden question. He quickly ejected another webline and swung around the corner, "Uh, y-yeah! Totally!"
"Your voice pitched higher and your heartbeat is elevated. Something's 'bugging you'."
"No, Karen! Geez, I'm fine!"
"Your heart rate is still elevated, however. Was it because of the near kiss you shared with Gwen earlier?"
This time Peter did miss the swing. He landed on the roof with a quick roll and jumped up again automatically, "Wh-What? We did not do that!" He just...hugged her. It wasn't like the situation didn't call for it.
Finding out the news from Gwen...it wasn't like it was a shock - he knew ever since his disappearance on Titan that they'd lost 0 but hearing it confirmed still felt like a slap in the face. Half the universe dead with the people who stayed behind trying to pick up the pieces. He wanted to be there and help as much as he could, but even now whatever that big purple drillbit did still kept him trapped here.
But...it wasn't like there weren't worse placed to be trapped in. Sure those first couple of hours were rough, especially when he hugged Tony 'I own a mercenary army' Stark, but things really looked up after he met Gwen. Without her he had no idea what he would've done. Probably sleeping on rooftops like Mr. Howard back home, though something told him that the pigeons wouldn't like him as much.
"So why is your stress level elevated?"
"Because...well, you heard what Gwen said!" He stopped and hung off a high tower, "I've been thinking about home ever since we got here and now...I don't even know what to do about it."
"You said before you believed we could fix this. Was that a lie?"
"Well...no-"
"Then there's nothing to worry about." Her voice was surprisingly firm, "Anxiety and thinking of what-if's often lead to undue stress and, in Mr. Stark's case, into alcoholism. I would prefer if you did not follow into that same route."
"Karen, I'm 17! Jeez!" Then again it wasn't like being Spider-Man didn't break the rules considering he wasn't an Avenger.
"Exactly my point. Research shows that children as young as 12 indulge in alcoholism in response to various stressors. Your elevated heart rate and high pitch indicate someone who's undergoing stress."
"Yeah, cause half of our home got dusted!" Why was he even arguing about this? Wasn't it normal to worry? "I don't even know if Aunt May's..."
"Either she's alive and she's helping people due to her career as a nurse or she followed you. In the latter scenario there's at least a 50 percent chance that she also didn't perish but was simply transported into another universe, same as you. This statistic would apply to anyone who was 'dusted', especially since we don't have knowledge on how these Infinity Stones were made to function."
"Well...I guess." That was something that he'd thought about. He was supposed to be dead, but instead he was here. What if everyone who got turned to dust was the same way, just trapped in different dimensions and looking for a way to come back? Energy couldn't be created or destroyed and all that. Mayday did say there was an infinite number of universes. Heck, maybe a few of them were here, just in different places? Maybe he should start checking the news about people claiming to be from another dimension...
"Your heart rate has lowered to an optimal number, Peter."
"Yeah...thanks, Karen."
"Don't mention it. Part of my duties involve psychological aid and assurance. Mr. Stark assumed you would need it." Wow...he didn't know whether to be grateful or annoyed about that, "Please don't hesitate to talk to me about any more problems you're experiencing. I'm always ready to listen."
"I know..." He prepared to jump off and stopped, "Wait, you trying to set me up with, like, MJ or Gwen...was that part of your programming?"
"No, that's what I do for fun."
Okay...he wasn't going to ask. Peter jumped off the building and let looked up (down?) at the rushing ground. He had a few hours left of free time since work was off and Gwen had let up on her 'no going on patrol' restriction, at least for now.
He smiled and waved at a little kid who saw him and pointed with a large smile on her face. Apparently New York was mixed on how they felt about any kind of Spider-Person. Most kids and teenagers liked Gwen (apparently the ex-prison bird thing was a real boost to her rebellitude), but a lot of older people didn't. Something about a generational gap, or at least that was what MJ said.
It was actually pretty similar to back home. In his case, youtube helped.
No villains for the rest of the day, though there was a lot more crime than he expected. Back home he was 'lucky' if he ran into a single mugging and carjacking, but here he ran into three separate muggings and an actual attempted kidnapping in the first couple of hours. Oh, and the old guy he saved from said kidnapping blamed him and said it was somehow his fault he got kidnapped for ransom.
He wondered how Gwen dealt with this for two years...
'Gwen...' He swung high and released in a wide arc. He really did owe her a lot. Taking him to the Web Warriors probably wasn't too much of a bother, but everything after that - putting him up in her apartment, looking out for him when she had her own problems, helping him during his date with MJ, and all without asking for anything in return - was more than he could've expected. Even his part time job paychecks didn't do much to pay her back for everything.
"Hey, Spiders gotta stick together, right?"
That was what she said, but was that the only reason? What if it was Aunt May or Mr. Stark or someone else she ran into at Chinatown? Would she have helped? It definitely sounded like something she'd do. Even earlier when she told him about what happened and they hugged, it was...
"Peter, your heart rate and body temperature has raised slightly. Are you stressed again?"
"Wh-What? No, no! It's just the sun!" He spun on a pole and waved at the people inside a nearby office building.
"Are you certain?"
"Yeah, Karen, I'm good!"
Thankfully he didn't have to deny for too long. His phone suddenly rang and he tapped the side of his mask to accept the call (activating Karen definitely made things more convenient), "Hey, Gwen, what's up?"
"Peter, you busy?"
"Not right now, no. Why, what's happening?"
"Shadowcat gave me a heads up: Norman's back in town." He stopped swinging and hung off the side of a wall, "I was hoping we could check up on him first...you know, put it all behind us." A pause, "But if you don't wanna then it's cool. I can-"
"No, I'm good. Just text me the address." Ever since Gwen told him the news she'd started walking on eggshells, like it was somehow her fault that he was trapped here and home was up shit's creek. He got why - he'd been skittish for the first few days when Aunt May first found out - but it was also annoying being on the other end of it. He just wanted to scream that the last thing she should feel was guilt after everything she did for him.
The place wasn't too far. Peter made a detour to pick up his backpack and landed in an empty alley a short distance away. Gwen mentioned in the text that going in with their costumes was a real bad idea, so now here he was, stripping down in a dirty alley back into his civvies. Peter looked around briefly and waited for his spider-sense to blare. After a quarter of a minute he figured it was safe enough and took his suit off.
He was down to his boxers when he heard it, "Hubba hubba." He screamed and turned to the source of the voice. Shadowcat leaned with her back against the wall with her arms crossed, a cocky smile on her face, "Oh, don't let me stop you. Just enjoying the show here."
"Wh-What are you doing here?" Where was he supposed to put his hands? This really wasn't like when May caught him in his boxers with Ned in the room, "Y-You-"
"I'm here because it's my job. Green Goblin ringing any bells?"
"Y-Yeah, but why are you here?"
"Oh, that? Well, I sniffed you out and when I got here you were already stuffing the suit into your backpack, "Her eyes trailed down to his chest and stomach, "Nice pecs, by the way. Do all your Spider People get that or is it just you?"
"That's- would you just turn around?! I need to change!"
"Alright, fine! Big baby." She laughed and turned around, smile still on her face. Peter tried to ignore the heat on his cheeks and took out his clothes, "You done yet?" His head snapped back to her. She was still facing away, but he could practically see the grin she was sporting.
"N-Not yet!"
"You know, you're way more sensitive than a guy who runs around in spandex all day has any right to be."
"That's different!" He put the pants on in a rush and breathed a sigh of relief. Least his boxers weren't out anymore, "That's like...my uniform, you know? Helps keep my identity secret and so people recognize me. Like they look up and see the guy in red and blue and wevs and they think 'hey, that's Spider-Man!' or something."
"Whatever. Pretty sure you and Spider-Girlie just want people to look at your ass." He sighed and gave up trying to argue. Now he got why Gwen didn't like her, "You know we don't have to walk through the front lobby. I can phase up there and you two can swing. We can dangle Osborn off the side of a building, easy."
"Uh...maybe we don't do that? The guy could be innocent." He put on his shoes and walked to the open street, Shadowcat following behind casually.
"Please, you've seen how big his tower is." She jerked her thumb to said big tower, "You don't get to be that high up without screwing someone over. Consider it karma."
"That your logic for everything, Shadowcat?" Gwen asked as she walked up to them. Like she said she wasn't wearing her costume and thankfully no one in the crowd recognized her.
"Sure. Everyone's fucked over someone else at least once in their life and got away with it. Even you, Saint Gwen."
Gwen's eyes narrowed and Peter quickly interrupted, "So, how are we supposed to meet with this Osborn guy?" He really didn't know how the two planned to not kill each other if he weren't here.
"Easy, we'll walk up to the receptionist and ask. Norman owes me a favor."
"For getting Mr. Lizard-Goblin off the hook, you mean," Shadowcat said. Gwen pursed her lips, "Hey, I ain't judging. Rich get off while everyone else gets screwed over. Makes finding jobs easy."
"Always a charmer. No wonder Cap wanted you in the Suicide Squad."
The inside of Oscorp Tower reminded me of Stark Industries, all sleek designs and professional machinery. He lagged behind his two companions and looked around, mouth slightly agape. One thing he'd spent some time checking out was just how different the tech was here from back home. This place was definitely different - more neon and holographic screens and everything looked way smoother. It felt like he stepped into a comic book sometimes.
The young receptionist looked up and immediately failed to hide her frown when she saw them. Peter couldn't blame her. She was probably used to welcoming men and women with suits and here they were strolling in dressed in jeans and sweats.
"Can I help you?"
"We need to meet Mr. Osborn." Gwen said confidently despite the disparaging stare.
The receptionist wrinkled her nose, "Do you have an appointment?"
"No, but-"
"Then I'm afraid I can't help you."
"W-Wait!" Gwen slammed her hands on the table while Shadowcat snickered behind her, "Look, it's important. Call him and tell him that it's about his son. He'll want to hear this."
The receptionist gave her another disparaging look before eventually pulling out her phone, "Hello, Mr. Osborn? Yes, I'm sorry to bother you but there's a woman here with two others who want to meet you. She says it's about your son." She paused to hear his answer and looked up at Gwen again, "What's your name?"
"An...old friend."
"A name, miss."
Gwen sighed and leaned in closer to whisper, "Gwen Stacy. I've met with him before."
It took a second, but the woman's eyes widened when the name finally registered, "Ah, Mr. Osborn, Spi- uh, Gwen Stacy is here to meet you." Another pause, "Y-Yes, I'll send them up. Thank you." The receptionist cut the phone call and gave Gwen another fish eyed look, "You're-"
"Hey, we're in so let's not waste any time," Shadowcat interrupted.
"U-Uh, yeah!" Gwen nodded and rushed to the elevator with the two of them right behind her. She pressed the button to the top floor and practically sagged against the wall when the doors finally closed, "God, she's probably gonna tweet that..." She brought a hand through her face and sighed. Another thing that was clear - Gwen really didn't like the attention being unmasked gave her.
"What did you think would happen?" Shadowcat crossed her arms and raised a brow.
"I dunno, I thought Norman would figure what I meant. How many old friends could he have coming to talk about Harry?"
"Seriously, that was your entire plan? Just hope the CEO doesn't ask for the name of the people who might be trying to blackmail him? Jesus Christ. No wonder you thought taking off the mask would magically fix everything."
"Hey, fuck you-"
"Guys, guys, no fighting!" Peter got between them again, "Can we please just get through this?"
"...She started it." Gwen crossed her arms and faced away to hide her face from view. If he were anywhere else he might've laughed at Gwen - mature, serious and dependable Gwen - was acting like a 10 year old.
"Hey, I wanted to dangle the guy off the building. You wanted through the lobby."
Gwen just harumphed and didn't respond. Thankfully they didn't have to stay in the awkward silence much longer before the door opened. Peter stepped out first and looked around the place. This was definitely different from Mr. Stark's office or even the lobby downstairs. Instead of sleek tech and blueprints the place looked like a penthouse, all decorations, fancy paintings and furniture that looked like it belonged in a magazine.
The man behind the large table wasn't someone he recognized. He looked about the same age as May, and the cleanly pressed suit and steepled hands only added to that, "Ms. Stacy," he said, expression stern.
"Hey, Mr. Osborn," Gwen smiled slightly, "Been a while, huh?"
"Quite. I haven't seen you since your trial."
"Yeah. Thanks for the glowing testimony, by the by. Having Oscorp's CEO as a character witness was a real boost."
"You're quite welcome-"
"Alright, can we cut the chase" Shadowcat said, "You ain't an idiot, Osborn. You know why we're here."
"I assume it's due to the Green Goblin's attack." He set his hands on the table and let out a soft breath, "Such a stupid name."
"Pretty cool suit, though," Peter said.
Mr. Osborn's gaze shifted from Shadowcat to him. Peter suddenly straightened up, "...You must be Spider-Man." He almost denied it before the older man raised a hand up, "No need to deny it. I recognize both Ms. Stacy and 'Shadowcat', but not you. I doubt either would bring along a civilian to a meeting like this so that narrows down the list of suspects. Don't worry, I have no interest in antagonizing any of you."
"Hey, I don't give a crap if you blackmail him." Shadowcat shrugged.
"You're all heart, Shadowcat," Gwen rolled her eyes, "Listen, Mr. Osborn, we came here to ask you for information. S.H.I.E.L.D thinks that Harry went off the deep end because of the attack, but I don't. We cured him of the serum and he has no access to the tech he had when he was working with S.I.L.K. I know you wouldn't have supplied him, so we just...need some proof to take to S.H.I.E.L.D that Harry's innocent."
"Hmm...well, I appreciate you coming to me. You've already saved Harry once before." He stood from the desk and picked up a phone from the desk, "You'll be glad to know that Harry couldn't have done it because he wasn't even in the country. He's been out recuperating in the alps at my...request. If he left I would've known about it. You can call him if you want to confirm this."
"A summer home in the alps? Christ, could you be any more cliche?" Shadowcat scoffed.
"So, who do you think it is?" Peter asked as Gwen turned away to video call Harry.
"Honestly? I'm unsure." Mr. Osborn sighed, "The amount of people who're aware of the Green Goblin aren't in short supply since people caught onto my son and Ms. Stacy's fight over a year prior, but to have the resources to replicate his technology, not to mention the skills it would take to operate such machinery...it would take planning and training to pull this off."
"Oh come off it, Osborn. You don't think anyone'd want to fuck you over?" Shadowcat asked.
"That's assuming that this person is even aware of who was behind the mask."
"I think they do." Gwen handed the phone back to Mr. Osborn with a relieved smile, "When I called him 'Harry' he didn't act surprised. I mean maybe he was just rolling with it, but there was something about him...you sure you don't know anyone who'd want to pull you down a peg?"
"Ms. Stacy, I'm the CEO of an international company with ties to numerous businesses such as defense contracts, medicine and other sensitive investments. If you're trying to narrow down suspects based on those who might wish to see me 'pulled down a peg' then you won't have any luck."
"But there has to be something," Peter said, "I mean, we can't just wait for this guy to attack people again."
"...There is something." Mr. Osborn sighed and tapped something on his phone, "I found out upon my arrival that one of our defense contract shipments was taken recently. It could be a coincidence - corporate espionage and sabotage is part and parcel in this line of business, after all - but if you insist on this theory that this new Goblin is targeting me then it connected. I'll send you the address of the tracking chip."
"Why didn't you call the police?" Gwen asked.
It was Shadowcat who answered, "Cause it's easier to hire mercs and personal goons who won't ask questions. Trust me, there's always something just a little bit illegal that you don't want the boys in blue to log into their books."
"A crude way to put it, but yes. The gear that was stolen is legal and will go to the government - I've no interest in dabbling in illegal arms dealing - but my clients would prefer the contents be kept out of the public eye. I was going to send an Oscorp security team to recover the items, but if you believe it'll help then I can let you three handle it. Hopefully it'll give you all peace of mind."
"Sure, and you get three superpowered freaks to do your work for you for free." Shadowcat smirked and tossed a card at his feet,, "Shrewd businessman, Mr. Osborn. If you need any work done then hit me up. I have very reasonable rates."
"Are you seriously fishing for a job now?" Gwen gave her a look of disbelief.
"Hey, some of us don't want to live in crappy apartments the rest of our lives. You should give it a shot. Pretty sure a lot of people'd pay top dollar to get the oh-so-great Spider-Gwen."
"Yeah, sure..." Gwen rolled her eyes and turned back to Mr. Osborn, "Thank you for this. We promise we'll find out who this maniac is."
"And if it is your kid then I'll be back." Shadowcat brandished her claws and grinned, "Nothing personal, of course."
"He's still a suspect? I just talked to him! You saw me doing it!" Gwen said.
"That could've been anyone. Could've been a guy in a mask or a hologram; you'd be surprised how often that fools people." She willed the claws away, "But we'll burn that bridge when we get there. Come on, let's get to this place."
"You can take the express route, if you wish." Mr. Osborn gestured to the window.
"Thanks. Really didn't want to go through the lobby." Gwen said. She let the suit cover her again while Shadowcat phased through the floor, "Need me to wait?"
"Uh, no. Lemme just put on a mask real quick. Send me the address."
Gwen nodded and jumped out the window. Peter pulled out his mask and barely put it over his face when Mr. Osborn suddenly said, " Please watch out for Ms. Stacy."
"Huh?"
"You are her friend, correct?"
"Uh...yeah, but why the sudden request?"
"I owe her a debt. Without her my son would've remained infected and locked up for the rest of his life; and doing so cost her. The incident spiraled into the situation that left her locked up in prison. I thought she'd resent Harry and myself for not doing more, and yet here she is trying to prove him innocent again. I...owe her a debt that can't be repaid, so I can only ask that you look out for her."
"O-Oh, well...sure. I mean I owe her a lot too." Peter smiled from underneath the mask. After all the things he'd read - the accusations of murder, being forced to spend a year in prison - it was nice to see that someone actually felt grateful, "And don't worry, I'm sure your son'll be proven innocent. Gwen won't let him get arrested for something he didn't do."
"Yes, I'm well aware." Mr. Osborn's smile was surprisingly cheery, "Well, good luck, Spider-Man."
Peter nodded and jumped out the window to duck into the closest alley. He managed to change into his full suit by the time his phone buzzed, "According to the location, it should take about 5 to 10 minutes via webswinging."
Gwen and Shadowcat were on a nearby rooftop when he got there, "Hey, Spidey," Shadowcat waved lazily without looking up. In front of them was a warehouse that reminded him too much of Mr. Toomes' old hideout, "You ready?"
"We just busting in there?"
"Sure. I sniffed out only one guy in there and with the three of us should be easy." Shadowcat stood and grinned, "Come on!"
"Hey, wait!" Shadowcat jumped and rushed to the entrance, slashing through the metal like a hot knife through butter, "God damn it. Come on, Spider-Man!" Gwen swung down and Peter followed.
His spider-sense tingled as soon as they were inside, "Incoming!" He flipped to the side to avoid the robot flying through the air towards him with a lightsaber drawn, "Woah, close one!" He webbed its head and pulled. The head snapped off and he threw it to another nearby bot, "These guys have lightsabers too!"
"Yeah, I noticed." Gwen jumped back to avoid the slash from another bot and kicked it hard enough to split it in half, "You see Shadowcat?"
"Uh, no!" He jumped over another bot and unclipped his own laser sword. This was going to be so cool, "Hey, over here!" He wielded the sword with both hands.
Gwen actually stopped after punching away another bot, "Seriously?"
"What?"
"Ah, nevermind! Just don't lose your arm!"
Three bots charged. Peter dodged all the slashes and cut the first one in half vertically, "Woah, awesome!" Ned would've loved this! "Come on!" He 'decapitated' another and blocked the slash from the last bot. The blades sparked and hissed on contact, "Was Mr. Osborn really selling these to the government? Why would they want lightsabers?" Granted he wanted a lightsaber, but he wasn't a soldier or anything.
"Dunno! Just keep slashing!" Gwen flipped back and kicked another bot to the wall.
They went through about a dozen more bots when the barrage suddenly stopped. The door to the other end of the warehouse was kicked open and Shadowcat came out dragging a short old man with her, "Hey ho, look what I found!" She threw him roughly through the air and he landed painfully in front of them, "Phineas Mason, but people in the underworld call him The Tinkerer. He was the one who programmed the bots."
"Y-You...don't have any idea who you're-"
"Yeah, yeah, save it. We've heard that before." Gwen knelt in front of him and narrowed the eyes of her masks, "You're too short to be the new Goblin, and in my experience techie guys always end up working for someone. So, let's make this easy: you tell us who you're working for and we can dump you off in prison in time for dinner. Sound good?"
"You think I'd betray him?" He looked up at Gwen, eyes wide with fear, "This...This isn't about money! He threatened me. Knew about my safehouses, where I've worked, who I've worked for...if I didn't work for him then he'd destroy me."
"Oh, who called in the waahmbulance?" Shadowcat rolled her eyes, "You made weapons for criminals, Phinny. You don't get to cry when it bites you in the ass." She brandished the claws again, "Now you tell us who you're working for or I gouge your eyes out. Got it?"
"Hey, we're not doing that!" Gwen hissed and stood up.
"Oh sure, and I guess you think this guy'll just spill because we ask nice? Grow up, Spider-Gwen."
"Guys, stop fighting!" Peter sighed and crouched in front of the sniveling old man, "Look, whoever this guy is we can protect you, okay? We stopped him once already. And like you said he's forcing you to work for him by blackmailing you, so he's gonna keep holding that over you."
"Yeah. If he knows where you live and who you are then there's no way out on your own. Trust me, I know." Gwen's voice became softer at the end, "Just tell us before he starts bombing another place. Please."
Tinkerer looked between the two of them and was about to answer when his phone suddenly rang, "It's him..." Gwen's eyes narrowed again and she picked the phone out of his pocket. Unknown number and no picture, "He knows..."
Gwen tapped the screen and put it on speaker, "Hello?"
"Trying to take Mr. Mason away from me?" The voice was loud and distorted while the image on the screen was glitchy and constantly shifting. It reminded him of a cyberpunk film he and Ned watched, "You're wasting your time. I never left him any details that could be traced back to me."
"And you called us just to tell us that? Yeah, not buying it." Gwen scoffed.
"Oh, it's not just that. I also wanted to give you fair warning. Heads up!"
And then his spider-sense screamed. Peter stuck his feet to the floor just before the explosion came from all around them. Gwen managed to keep her balance, but Shadowcat fell on her back and grimaced, "Those blasts came from below us!" She pulled herself up and looked around, "We gotta split!"
"What about Mason?" Gwen screamed.
"Screw it, he'll just slow us down!"
Without another word she turned and ran to the closest wall to phase out of it. Gwen didn't get a chance to shout out whatever curse she planned before another explosion rang behind them far too close for comfort. Gwen screamed when the heat rushed over them, the edges of her suit shaking, "P-Please help me!" Tinkerer grabbed on his legs desperately, "Don't leave me here!"
"Oh, damn it..." Peter slung Mason over his shoulder with one arm while the other pulled Gwen up, "Gwen, come on! We have to go!"
"Peter, we're seconds from reaching critical mass," Karen said unhelpfully.
Gwen shook her head, "Yeah, yeah, just...just gimme a..." Another explosion, this time from above. They didn't have time for this.
Mentally apologizing, Peter tightened his grip on Gwen and threw her through one of the high windows before jumping up after her. Thankfully she seemed to gain her bearings mid-arc and managed to snag two lines of webbing to pull herself through the wrecked opening.
He wasn't so lucky. Peter just barely managed to jump through with Mason in tow when a final, defeaning explosion went off behind him. His spider-sense blared one last time and he moved mid-jump to block Tinkerer's body. He couldn't dodge like this, but he could still lower the damage.
The first thing he noticed was the heat, quickly followed by something impaling his left arm. Peter screamed and barely had enough strength to eject a line of webbing with his right to keep from faceplanting altogether. He swung in a low arc and barely touched the ground when he let go of the web and both he and Tinkerer rolled against the concrete painfully.
The ringing in his head lasted till Gwen landed in front of him, "Sp...an...right?" She knelt down on front of him and tried to sit him up. Her mask was pulled back, allowing him to see her soot covered face, "Pe...ear me?"
"Ear's ringing..." He mumbled. His shoulder hurt, "Karen, you there?"
"Yes, Peter. A piece of metal impaled itself on your arm. I recommend removing it in a safe area and getting immediate medical attention."
"Yeah, I'll get right on that..." He mumbled.
By the time the ringing went away Shadowcat had caught up with them. She crouched next to Tinkerer's shivering body and wrinkled her nose, "Can't believe you actually brought this guy with you."
"Thanks for the help back there." Gwen scowled.
"Hey, you two can take care of yourself. You did just fine when you got that monster suit," Shadowcat replied flippantly, "Well, since you brought him out I figure S.H.I.E.L.D'll wanna talk to him. Not like there's anything left back there." She looked back and frowned at the burning warehouse. She was right - Peter doubted there'd be anything left to salvage once the fire died out.
"Whatever." Gwen continued to scowl as she picked him up with his non-injured arm, "We're leaving. You can haul Tinkerer back to S.H.I.E.L.D yourself."
Shadowcat waved them both off and they managed to swing back to her place, Peter leaning against Gwen the entire way. He'd taken worse hits, especially back when he fought Mr. Toomes or back on Titan, but it was the first time he'd gotten seriously injured since he got here. He knew he was lucky - the dull, burning pain was nothing compared to everything else.
Gwen took them through the window and laid him down on the couch, "We gotta take this out." Gwen grabbed the piece of metal and cringed, "This is gonna hurt. You ready?"
Peter nodded and, after a moment of hesitation, Gwen pulled the metal out. He didn't scream, though he did grit his teeth and his breath became more labored, "Do you...have any bandages?"
"Yeah, um...I'll go get em. Take off your suit."
Peter nodded blearily and pressed the symbol to make the suit loosen. Gwen came back from the bathroom with a first-aid kit, face etched in a frown, "Shit, forgot to restock." She set the kit down onto the table and pulled the suit till it was at his waist, "Hmm, doesn't look too deep." He nodded again and pulled off his mask with his free hand. Powers probably kept it from punching in too hard.
Gwen got out some disinfectant and a cotton square, "...Sorry." Peter hissed when the cotton hit skin. Both hands clenched into tight fists and he did his best to keep from moving as Gwen cleaned up the wound. The piece of metal was more thin than anything, so the cut was thinner than he expected. He actually got lucky, "Hmm, we don't have enough bandages."
"Just web it..."
"Uh, are you sure?"
"Yeah, did it before." He gave her one of his webshooters, "Tested it...made sure webfluid was safe..."
"Huh...genius." Gwen smiled weakly pressed twice to cover the cut in a thin blanket of webbing, "Alright?" He nodded. Gwen unrolled what little bandages they had and made him sit up, "Hold still. Can't fuck this up." He didn't say anything as she wrapped the white cloth around his arm and shoulder and then pressed down on the wound, "We gotta stop the bleeding. Tell me if it hurts."
Eventually, after 15 minutes the pain gradually lessened. Peter lay back down on the couch while Gwen washed the blood off her hands. He felt exhausted, "...You think they can get anything out of that Tinkerer guy?"
"Who knows? This entire mess is just one giant clusterfuck." She sat down next to him and eyed his wound again. There was that guilt again. He wanted to say something to make it go away, "Can't believe you did that."
"What, bringing Tinkerer with us? It wasn't that out of the way."
"Maybe, but...I dunno. It's been a while since I've spent so much time with another Spider. Everyone here - Cap, Shadowcat, whatever - they always talk about acceptable losses or tell me that trying to save everyone's an idiot's game. I shouldn't be surprised, but..." She sighed and shook her head, "You saved me too back there. Thanks. I'm sorry for dragging you into that mess, you shouldn't have gotten hurt-"
"Hey, stop..." He reached out with his right arm and squeezed her shoulder, "I should be the one thanking you. When I woke up in that alley I just bumbled into one mess right after another. You gave me a place to stay, helped me out without ever asking for anything back...I dunno what would've happened if I didn't run into you."
"Pfft, you would've been fine." Gwen smiled and laughed softly.
"I'm not so sure about that..." He laughed back, "Well, even if I would've been okay...I'm glad I met you. I didn't think there were other Spider-People, someone else who got what we went through. So...thanks. For everything. When I manage to find a way back, I'll definitely keep visiting."
"Yeah, I'll keep the couch open."
Her smile widened and she held onto his hand, pressing it gently against her warm shoulder. He wanted to say more, but her smile caused the words to die in his mouth. This entire thing was a mess, but if there was one thing he could be thankful for it was meeting Gwen and the others; especially her. Sure he thought MJ was gorgeous, but with Gwen there was a solidarity that he never felt from anyone else. Bitten by a spider, spurned on because of responsibility...he was definitely glad he met her.
"You don't have to do it alone," Peter mumbled,"You helped me, and I want to help you. Don't feel guilty about it, okay?"
"Yeah...I got it."
They were close; close enough that he couldn't see anything but the blue of her eyes. He should've leaned back, put some distance, but instead he inched closer, "Hey..." Gwen said softly. He expected her to pull back, but instead she matched the gesture. Their foreheads touched and his heart beat wildly against his chest. Everything rational inside told him that it wasn't the time or the place for this, but another wondered what 'this' was supposed to be.
His question was answered when they both closed the gap and kissed. He didn't know what he expected. The contact was soft, their lips just gently touching while they both closed their eyes. Gwen raised her free hand and cupped his cheek while Peter's grip on her other hand tightened. It was his first kiss, the jubilant part of his mind cheered, and it was with Spider-Woman- no, Gwen Stacy.
He didn't know how long the kiss lasted, but eventually they pulled back. Gwen's expression was hard to decipher - somewhat embrassed but also something he couldn't place, "Um...wow," Gwen whispered. He didn't know if that was good or bad, "That was, um..."
"Yeah, that was...that." He coughed and tried to ignore the heat in his cheeks, "S-So, um..."
Whatever he was about to say was cut off when he heard stomping up the stairs and Betty slammed the door open, "Honeys, I'm home- woah! What the heck happened to you?" She eyed his bandaged shoulder.
Betty's arrival was like a bucket of cold water. Peter raised the blanket to cover his chest while Gwen stood up like she'd been zapped, "Oh, good, you're here!" Gwen said. Her voice sounded off, "I, uh, gotta restock the medkit so could you watch Pete for me? Thanks!"
"Ah, Gwen-" She practically zipped out the door before he could finish. Peter looked at the closed door flopped back into the couch with a groan. Karen was so not going to let him live this down.
Yeah...that ending was rushed. Granted it's been 11 chapters so maybe some people think it's good, but after Looking Glass having the leads kiss after being barely into the double digits feels odd. Then again these two generally get along far better compared to Noir and Gwen, so this at least makes some sense.
Still, I know there are some people disappointed because they wanted more romance with MJ and/or wanted more build up for Gwen. Regardless, this isn't going to turn into a full blown romance fic or anything. I still have some other things to tackle.
...That is unless people want the two in a relationship this early on and they spend the rest of the fic as a couple. Most romances tend not to tackle what comes after the actual coupling, mostly cause people are more interested in the set-up than anything else. I wonder if people here are the same or if it's more interesting to see them actually dating on top of their other issues.
Yes, why?
- Location
- Oslo
- Pronouns
- She/Her
There's not a lot of activity here, as you might've noticed by now.
Sometimes I get a feeling like I don't know who you're talking to or about, so I inferred those are either lurkers you talk to in PM or readers, that respond to you much more actively in other places. =)
Sometimes I get a feeling like I don't know who you're talking to or about, so I inferred those are either lurkers you talk to in PM or readers, that respond to you much more actively in other places. =)
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Yep. Honestly, I'm considering just dropping it here. Haven't had much luck here in SV.