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The inner clock face gleams in the moonlight, shattered glass sparkling like stars. Time slows down. Colors blur. The air leaves her lungs.
Gwen looks up at time as it stretches towards her, as Peter stretches towards her, and somehow knows that this is it.
She is going to die.
Gwen jolts awake with a gasp, quiet and raspy in the dark of their room, but it wakes Peter anyway. His head shoots up off the bed, still half asleep even as he tosses himself over her in a protective crouch. "Wha? Wha'ssit? I got you, d'n' worry—"
"Peter," Gwen whispers, her lips curling into an amused smile even as the adrenaline fades from her body. Not that it does it much good. "Peter, it's fine. I just...I just had a bad dream."
"Bad dream?" Peter mutters even as his eyes sharpen in the dark. His hair is mussed, sticking out outrageously at all angles and casting weird shadows over his face from the window. His brow creases, and Gwen's smile widens. "No bad dreams. Tell 'em they're not allowed."
"Not allowed?" Gwen raises an eyebrow.
Peter slumps a little, careful not to put too much of his weight on her as he presses his face into her neck with a sigh. "Yeah. I'll fight those bad dreams if they show up again. You tell 'em..."
His voices drops off as he drifts back to sleep. Gwen huffs, but it's more fond than annoyed. She lolls her head to the side to look at the time, and sighs. She might as well get up now—she has a charity event to host today, after all, and it's not like she'll be getting anymore sleep, regardless of how warm and comfy Peter is.
"Manny?" Gwen whispers. She has to squint when the small disc on her desk blinks red, folding out into a large, metal spider. It shakes out its legs and looks to her expectantly. "I'd like to get up now, please."
The Spider-Bot jitters, before going to wake up its brethren. They hop off her desk in a little line, pushing her chair over from the corner to the bed, while a few others skitter over to push Peter off her and help her sit up. Peter grumbles, but doesn't wake, shoving his face into the warm spot she leaves. It takes a bit longer than it would've if Peter were awake to help her, but she didn't want to wake him again when he was clearly so tired. Besides, thanks to the bots, she's fine on her own. Gwen does hum in contentment once she settles in her chair, though; it's always nice to be able to direct her own movements in what little way she can now.
After Electro, and Harry, and the clock tower, and almost dying, Gwen spent several months in the hospital, and several more in rehab and physical therapy. Her neck had broken, and while it didn't kill her, it did leave her paralyzed from the shoulders down.
It was rough for a while. A long while. But through it all, Peter never left her side.
Nowadays, it was easier. Her Sip n' Puff chair and Peter's Spider-Bots (each and every one lovingly named) made it far less of a hassle for her to move around and get things done. Peter made sure all of her tech was speech-to-text so she could work on her own projects, and—after a few arguments—help him with his own. Both his science projects and his hero projects.
Manny, Arthur, and Maria help Gwen with her clothes and hair, and then she's kissing her other sleepy spider goodbye as she heads to her venue. The Midtown Community Center agreed to host her charity event, and as the host, Gwen is the one who will have to make sure everything goes well.
The DT Group is a nonprofit organization that offers professional help to people with physical disabilities. Gwen got most of her physical therapy through them, which eased a lot of her mother's financial worries, and Gwen likes knowing that she can give a little of that help back to them, as well as a few other organizations that help people like her.
...And people like Doctor Connors.
Gwen shakes that thought off before it can make her upset. Maria folds into a small cupholder next to her shoulder, and Arthur skitters over to drop a lidded coffee cup down into the other bot's hold. It directs the purple curly straw to Gwen's mouth, and she takes a hesitant sip. Her eyes shut as warm, thick chocolate floods her taste buds, rather than the rich bitterness of actual coffee. Peter must have swapped out her Keurig cups last night. Sneaky boy. He really is too good to her.
She has to turn away from her hot chocolate to get moving out of the apartment and down to the street in time for her scheduled car to pick her up, but its proximity warms her cheek even as brisk wind cuts into her skin. People stare as she waits on the side of the road, but she valiantly ignores it. She's used to it by now.
'Let them stare,' Peter's voice rings in her mind. 'They're looking at the smartest biochemist to ever grace this world, not to mention the prettiest girl in all of New York. Of course they'd stare.'
Gwen's car comes, and she smiles brightly at the aide that steps out, declining their help beyond letting down the ramp for her.
The car ride is short, and Gwen uses it to organize her thoughts. The main lure of her event is food. Pastries, baked goods, sandwiches—the works. She has several people that volunteered to bring in food to sell, the profits of which all would be donated to the various charities Gwen selected, and hopefully, once that gets people in the door, she'll be able to say her piece and people will feel generous. And, if not generous, at least better informed than they were before. That's what Gwen is really focusing on today, anyway. The money is part of it, of course, but her real goal is the spread of awareness.
Peter will meet up with her later, after his internship. He promised to arrive in time to hear her speech, but Gwen wouldn't put it past him to run into something on his way over. The consequences of being in love with a hero, Gwen muses. A front row seat to the infamous 'Parker luck'.
It's alright. She wouldn't change him for the world.
Once she gets to the community center, she's greeted by her co-host, a dark-haired woman named Michelle, and they set about getting decorations situated. Gwen, having her movement limited, tasks herself with calling all the volunteers on the list that promised to bring things for the event and making sure they were still coming. One or two people admit that something came up and they weren't going to be able to make it in time, but most of their volunteers were all prepped and ready to go.
Streamers and posters go up, she gets the projector calibrated and running, and then the volunteers start pouring in and she has to go direct the placement of the tables. Everything is set up and essentially perfect by the time eight o'clock hits.
Gwen's event goes off without a hitch.
People flock to the food tables in droves, and the little bar that shows their goal up on the screen steadily fills the longer the event goes on. It's over half-way there by the time Gwen takes the stage to do her speech.
Peter stumbles in, looking a little disheveled and...slightly crispy(?), and gives her an encouraging grin from the back of the room that renews her enthusiasm, even though she's still a little tired from having gotten up so early. Gwen talks for a good long while about the struggles people with physical disabilities face, as well as a bit of her own experiences, before going into the specifics of several of the charities she's chosen and bringing to light a few ways that people can help on their own, even if they don't donate.
By the time Gwen finishes, the bar has raised to just below their goal line, and by the time she makes her way over to Peter through the crowd, it's all the way full. But the looks on people's faces, and the conversations she can hear as she weaves her way through the throng of people—that's what she's after. Understanding.
"You did great," Peter congratulates with a bright smile. He leans down to peck her forehead and replace her now empty hot cocoa cup with a new one. "You sounded super sophisticated up there. Though, I think that guy in the front row just donated because you're cute," he stage-whispers, ducking in close like a conspirator.
"Oh really?" Gwen raises an eyebrow, amused. "Well, I'm glad I decided to look my best today then."
"To be fair, you look great everyday." Peter makes a vague motion, questioning, and Gwen nods her assent. He takes hold of her chair and gently begins to push her forward. Normally he lets her move on her own, but if he's asking to help that usually means he wants to talk as they go. Once they're out on the street again, he speaks. "I was thinking take-out tonight, to celebrate."
"Well, you just left all the good food behind you, so," Gwen tsks, smirking when Peter sighs at her in exasperation.
"Your sweet tooth is outrageous. You're a chocolate menace. I'm surprised you don't have cavities."
"If I ever go villain, that'll be my title. The Chocolate Menace. It's got a nice ring to it," Gwen muses, humming as Peter laughs. "I'll make a death ray that turns everything into chocolate just so I can live my ultimate evil dream of having a chocolate house."
"Dentists everywhere are quaking in their boots," Peter drawls, giggling softly under his breath as he weaves her expertly through foot traffic.
Before Gwen can retort, something explodes down the street.
Both of their heads whip around in time to see a very familiar hulk of metal go charging down the road, cackling madly all the way. Gwen's eyes go wide, and she scoffs. "Seriously? Him again? You'd think they'd have better security measures after the first few times he broke out of prison."
"Forget about prison breaks," Peter grumbles as he steps away from Gwen's chair and towards the nearest empty alley. She follows him and calls Manny to setup her screens. "You think he'd get tired of getting stiffed by the same people over and over."
"Peter," Gwen says urgently as her screens flicker to life. "He has a hostage."
Peter's eyes widen, and he hastily strips off his outer clothes and pulls on his mask. He clicks on his comm and then swings away, Gwen's voice in his ear to direct him even as she inches herself further into the alley, out of sight.
Her eyes rove the holoscreens in front of her, one showing her Peter's visor view, and several more showing her CCTV footage of various streets. "Manny, disengage camera seven and bring up cameras eighteen and nineteen." The Rhino blooms into view as the cameras switch, and Gwen narrows her eyes. "He went left, down between the post office and the corner store."
"Got it!" Peter chimes, his voice a little metallic through the comm. He swings into view on the third screen down, and as he clocks the person tied up in Rhino's grasp his mask lenses widen in surprise. "Oh boy, I know who that is. That's Mr. Jameson's son."
"The Colonel?"
"The Colonel," Peter confirms. He drops down onto the metal back of Rhino's mech, webbing the hind legs and sending him tumbling and skidding down the road. Snatching the Colonel from Rhino's grasp, Peter quickly swings up and lands high on the nearest building, watching carefully as Rhino roars and clambers back to his feet. "I know your options are slim, but I gotta tell you, man, this is not the way to get a date."
Gwen hears the Colonel squawk an offended 'WHAT', just as Rhino turns and snarls at Peter. Gwen bites her lip to stifle a laugh, shaking her head and commanding herself to focus. "Go ahead and take care of those ropes; it'll make things easier if he's able to get away by himself while you tackle Sytsevich."
Peter tears through the ropes easily, freeing Jameson's son and quickly climbing up to put him on the fire escape.
"On your six!"
Gwen watches Peter whirl just in time to avoid getting bludgeoned with a big metal foot, and she huffs. "Lead him away from the target. Manny, bring up camera seven again. Alright, go back the way you came—everyone's already vacated the area. You should be safe to throwdown there."
"Aye aye, Captain," Peter replies, before leaping forward onto Rhino's back again just to web him in the eyes. "This whole schtick is getting old, Aleksei. Don't you have anything better to do besides running errands for other criminals?"
"I WILL CRUSH YOU, SPIDER," the Rhino roars, incensed. "CRUSH YOU BENEATH MY BOOT LIKE THE BUG YOU ARE!"
"You're not even wearing boots," Peter complains jovially as he swings up again, this time back towards the street he just came down.
"Well, he is," Gwen allows. "They're just big and clunky and kind of deadly. And super ugly."
Gwen watches the lenses of Peter's mask tip up in a grin on camera nine, before he crows, "Have you seen your footwear, sir? You're a total fashion diaster!"
She rolls her eyes as Rhino screams again, charging at Peter and away from his target. This particular villain has always been easy to manipulate. Quick to anger, quick to defeat.
"Manny, go ahead and remotely switch my Spider's web cartridges out for the ones holding formula R."
Peter's surprise is nearly palpable as he leads Rhino out into the now deserted street. "You want me to use the new webs?"
"If you aim for the joints of his suit, I think you can use them to end this fight faster than it started," Gwen confirms.
"Alright," Peter relents as he gets into position. "You haven't steered me wrong yet. I trust you."
Gwen's heart gives a little skip.
Rhino comes barreling out into the street, and Peter thumbs at his web shooters to make sure they're on the right setting. Rhino spins, yells, and Gwen leans forward. "Now! The upper left arm joint!"
Peter fires on command, and the new acid web slips between the metal slats of Rhino's mech, immediately beginning to corrode the cogs there.
"He's getting ready to charge, go for the leg joints next," Gwen instructs, quickly changing cameras for a better view. Peter does, and the Rhino staggers before slowly crumbling to the ground. Once he's down, Peter relaxes a bit, ready to wrap things up, but Gwen interrupts before he can approach. "Get the last arm joint before you get any closer. I don't want you taken by surprise and getting your ribs broken again."
"Right," Peter says sheepishly, quickly incapacitating the last arm before venturing any further.
"Alright," Gwen sighs. "Manny, switch my Spider's web cartridges back to the base formula. Be careful when you're restraining him, okay?"
Peter hums in assent, extracting Sytsevich from the Rhino mech and securing him to a nearby wall with a thick coating of webbing. He goes back to check on the Colonel while Gwen remotely calls the police to come pick Sytsevich up. Then, with the fight all done, Peter comes back to her just as she's telling Manny to put away her screens. He pulls his mask off and shakes out his hair before smiling at her.
"So," he begins as he tugs his jeans back on over the suit. "Chinese?"
Gwen laughs.
Fifteen minutes later sees them back at her apartment, her lap warm with the take-out bags piled on it. Peter shuts the door behind them, helps her with her shoes, and takes the bag into the kitchen.
"Pick us a movie to watch?" Peter calls, plastic squeaking as he unloads the take-out boxes and fixes them both something to drink.
"Already on it," Gwen replies, moving into the living room and calling the TV on. "What are we feeling? Romcom? Horror? Heist?"
Peter walks into the living room, expertly balancing several open boxes, packets of utensils, and cups. "Ooo, heist?"
"They just came out with a new Oceans," Gwen points out as Maria scrolls through their options for her. Maria pauses obligingly on the movie she mentioned, and Gwen watches Peter scan the summary with curious eyes as he sets everything down.
"Seems appropriate," Peter says after a moment, giving her a sly look. "Don't you think?"
Gwen hums and moves back and little, toward the couch. "Totally. Lift me up? I want to sit with you." Peter obliges, coming over to lift her out of her chair and onto the couch. He sits her near the armrest and curls up on her other side, both of their boxes set in his lap. He offers her a piece of sweet and sour chicken with his chopsticks, and she takes it with none of the hesitation she used to. Settling further into him, Gwen closes her eyes with a sigh. "Thank you."
"Welcome," Peter murmurs around his own bite of noodles, laying his head on her shoulder.
Maria selects the movie for them, and as it starts to play, Gwen has Arthur bring her up another piece of chicken. Peter sets her drink on the armrest next to her, extra tall curly straw at the ready. Fruit punch.
Peter's warmth and weight at her side, Manny by her ear, and the taste of greasy Chinese food wash over her in a wave of contentment.
The movie plays, and Gwen smiles.