* HOPE // FELL .

indie marvel gwen stacy est. 07 2018, written by nyxie rules | verses

[localwebslingers]

Peter gave a small, hopefully not too awkward, smiled to Betty at the look she was giving them before Ned jumped in to start talking to her about one of their class assignments instead. The rest of lunch passed by smoothly, and if Betty still had any questions about what they were talking about, or the supposed study session, she didn't ask. The rest of his classes were a little harder to focus on. Glances at the clock for when the bell would finally ring and trying to do his own searches on the idea of hidden tunnels. Not really finding any maps but finding a lot of cool information on them in general.

By the time the bell rang he hurried out to the steps, easily spotting Gwen and going over to join her. The book was taken and flipped through, "I didn't even know the school library had books on this stuff." he admitted, skimming over the pages. Peter looked back up at her, "What do you think? Try and find a map or head down and start looking around?"

|| @hcpefell ||

[hcpefell]

"I went down the rabbit hole," Gwen admitted with a shrug of her shoulders, humming as she pursed her lips together. "It might be worth it to try to find a map at the public library? Maybe give a TIME LIMIT on the research before we start to look around?" she offered with a breath. She wasn't really over that time in the subway just yet-- and it would be good to have a bit of an IDEA of where to look instead of just poking at lizard territory.

She walked alongside him as they made their way to the nearest subway station, humming. "Do you-- think there's STILL a part of him in there somewhere? You know, buried underneath all those scales."

[inhcritance]

"Of course," came his answer, amused and falsely serious at her tease, "a speech is the only reason I'd dress up." He added. As if both of them didn't know of Harry's fondness for clothes. As if he didn't have a great reason to dress up just next to him, looking beautiful.

"But I'll have to give a speech, yes." He shrugged, easily enough. "It's par for the course, and I'm the one Osborn people associate with charities."

Because his father had made many, many speeches... but they all knew he was a businessman. Harry was the one who cared more about people in general.

"Felicia always prepares for every eventuality," he told Gwen, with a nod. "But I've looked at the list of guests, and we want to avoid the first fifteen minutes. So a snack it is," he agreed, before his smile turned even more amusing. "The catering won't be that bad... but it's also terribly overrated, for what it is." He explained. "So if you have a place in mind..." he offered.

[hcpefell]

"Here I thought it was to get into the New York Times' best dressed list," she teased in response, licking her lips as she chuckled as she looked him over. She felt so... NORMAL right next to him. She nodded in response, humming low. "I'm sure you've got that all prepared unless that's something Felicia does for you too?" Another tease there. She wondered how long she could go on until Harry would notice how NERVOUS she was.

She wrung her hands together, a nod of her head then. "I don't know if the nearest burger joint is going to be impressive enough for what we have on," she chuckled. "I have a feeling Felicia would KILL ME if I get mustard on this dress so maybe-- the bakery at the corner? Pastries are really nice and they do a sick cold brew in case you end up FALLING ASLEEP halfway through your gala?" she offered a smile.

[inhcritance]

There was something he was hiding from her, and it was clear on the way he moved, exhausted and injured and far too used to hiding it, but nevertheless knowing he could not endanger her that much, nor risk her figuring it out. He could not silence her, he would not, and to see the fear and hatred in her eyes would break him.

Just like seeing her put distance between them, logical and reasonable as it was, hurt just as much.

"Gwen..." he exhaled, too tired to be as diplomatic as he should, to let charisma drive his words. "It's..." he shook his head. "Coffee on your break?" He offered instead, in the end. "But yes, send them to Felicia." He added, halting across the elevator door. "And I'll check them when I have a moment."

[hcpefell]

She hated secrets-- and with Peter basically ghosting her and Harry keeping secrets, she felt like she was about to go absolutely insane. Here she thought there was something, and maybe that was SOMETHING she should be working on-- thinking that there were some feelings there when they weren't. Her heart hurt just thinking about it, and maybe it was all her fault.

She stopped in her heels when he spoke, her throat dry as she nodded in response, unclear if it was for the INVITATION or to send the updates of what she'd been working on through to Felicia. "Of course, Mister Osborn, right away," she managed a chipper response-- because that was what they were supposed to be, nothing more. She backed away from him, turning to sit at her desk, busying herself with work, not quite minding that it was time for the BREAK he'd mentioned.

[localwebslingers]

While he was sure the lab wasn’t going to be that easy to find, Peter had kind of thought he’d have found something by now pointing to where it was. He leaned in a little more when Gwen dropped her voice again, and felt Ned lean against him to listen before blinking, “Wait, seriously?” that would also explain how they kept losing track of Conners, they were only checking the active tunnels where the trains actually still ran. He didn’t even know where to look for where the hidden ones were. Peter didn’t know he should have been looking in the first place.

As soon as Betty sat down he straightened some and Ned jumped in with the cover, “Smart, extra practice in before the next competition. Really good call.”

Peter nodded, “Yeah…um, I can meet with you in front of the school at the front steps? And then we can head out and compare notes and work on it more.” he agreed. Well, more like try and find a map of subway tunnels in the area that weren’t being used and they could get to. Would the library have something like that or was that something they could actually trust with Google?

|| @hcpefell ||

[hcpefell]

Betty didn't really look convinced with the cover, narrowing her gaze at the three of them before proceeding to talk about the morning news instead. Gwen hummed in response, nodding at Peter, knowing they couldn't really talk details in Betty's presence anymore. She'd already done a bit of snooping about closed off tunnels, but a trip to the library during free period had her checking out a couple of books that she could use as reference.

She was still looking through the pages as she waited for Peter at the steps a few minutes after the bell rang, eyes scouring through the details as she hummed, a small smile at Peter when he came close before showing him the book she was reading. "It's NO MAP but, honestly these books feel like riddles to me, I've been trying to figure them out all day," she admitted with a sigh.

[inhcritance]

She took a moment to admire the flowers, and he took a moment to admire her instead: he'd been honest, in his praise, and pride looked just as good on her as the dress.

"There will be a lot of talking. Some speeches." He told her, reminding himself to write Felicia a thank you note the next day, because she did not get her efforts recognized nearly enough. "Perhaps some talking up the reason of the gala. But it should not be too out of the ordinary, so some socialization with people from all walks of life, luckily."

He had a feeling she'd find a number of rich socialites simply boring.

"We won't be late unless we wait more than an hour." He told her, however. "We can leave now, or we can wait for a short while, but whatever we do, we won't get there too early either." He added, as reassuring as he could be, eyes still fondly admiring.

[hcpefell]

Gwen turned back towards him, a small nod of her head as she hummed, shifting in her heels. She'd done a bit of research about the charity that the gala was supposed to be funding-- small talk in case she was left without Harry that night and had to MAKE DO with conversation without him. "Are you making one too-- considering Oscorp is basically funding the whole thing?" she asked, canting her head as she looked him over, a small smile as she inched back closer towards him. "Only reason why you're dressed so well," she managed a tease, a shake of her head then.

"I'm-- well, Felicia told me to be ready to leave by now and," she bit down on her lower lip. "I just didn't want to do ANYTHING wrong from her perfect plan," she chuckled, humming as she reached for his hand. "We could stop by to get a snack nearby if you think they'd only serve the tiniest hors d'oeuvres at the gala?" she offered.

[localwebslingers]

Peter shook his head slightly, "Not sure yet, but it's definitely what's letting them decide who's on the guest list." so far everyone who'd shown up had flashed the same markings before being allowed in. If it wasn't a gang it was some other means of identifying others in their group. Whatever it was. More than enough reason to get a closer look and he followed after Gwen for where there was a vent at the side of the building, "Okay, I guess that's fair, but only because I'm the one who got us distarcted from the coffee otherwise." he was pretty sure he had enough cash to manage two, cheap coffees.

The life blood of vigilantes, truly.

He let Gwen take the lead and crawled after her easily, grimacing at the smell drifting through the air, "Maybe that's why it's tattoo based entry. You have to prove you're just as bad a cook to come in." it didn't have the same burn in the air as most chemicals, which was at least one good thing to note. That didn't mean something wasn't clearly being cooked up. Literally or figuratively. He moved to crawl up along the side of the vent and move up next to her, "Think they'll take any pointers we have?"

|| @hcpefell ||

[hcpefell]

She hummed, shrugging a little. "I mean, maybe these guys just have the same really bad taste in tattoos--" she offered with a nod of her head, coughing as quietly as she could as she cleared her throat, making some space so he could move next to her. Her suit helped a little with the stench, but for some reason she couldn't help but get a little lightheaded as well.

"I'm not the best cook, but I can definitely make something BETTER than what that smells," she groaned softly as she moved along, eyes wandering towards where the smell was coming from. "If we keep it up in here I feel like I'm going to THROW UP or something," she huffed, shaking her head as she powered through, turning to look through the vents. "That guy look FAMILIAR to you?" she nodded towards the man greeting the people who'd just come in, eyes narrowing a little. "He looks like bad news."

[inhcritance]

There were several floors worth of silence and Harry felt a shade guilty for being so relieved at them: he loved his job... in a way. He loved the investigation, and the planning, and creating things that could actually help people. He hated Oscorp's hold on him and his alter ego, not that he could share this with her.

And now she was worrying, and that was dangerous in several ways. But how to push her away without making her suspect, without putting up a front that didn't destroy the comfort between them?

"I appreciate the worry." He exhaled, in the end, eyes gentle but concerned, nevertheless, before her next words had him let out a small snort. "I can manage for today... and I can certainly shave. It was just a small accident." He promised. He lied. And then, "Tell me about those numbers you were crunching yesterday?" He asked instead.

A very poor deflection, but the only one available to an exhausted man, already hearing on a nearby radio the news about the latest costumed battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, and keeping a calm expression by sheer practice.

[hcpefell]

She wondered if he'd really appreciated her worry... or whether he felt annoyed at her BADGERING him for the truth. She let out a small sigh in response, lips pursed together as she NODDED. She didn't expect the way her heart hurt a little bit; like he was hiding something from her-- something she wasn't privy to and maybe she overreached with how she thought she KNEW of him. Of course, he'd rather talk about work than anything else; but maybe it was none of her business. His dad... his work... she couldn't really help her mind from whirring.

She nodded a little at the deflection, turning away from him as she looked up at the doors opening, gesturing towards him. "After you, boss," Because maybe she'd overthought their relationship too much. She pursed her lips, breathing out slowly. "I have them on file-- It's not much but I'll send them over through Felicia, I don't want to keep you--" she managed a broken smile as she stopped, gesturing towards her work station. "I guess-- I'll see you around."

[inhcritance]

He saw her expression, the moment she laid eyes on him, and most of his nerves evaporated, right then and there: the dresses and the event were suddenly secondary to the fact that she was happy to see him, and so was he.

Then, of course, he focused on her attire, genuinely impressed: the dress was beautiful, but it was made even more so by the way she wore it.

"You look radiant tonight." He told her, soft and honest and maybe a bit breathless, before he recovered and did indeed hand her the roses in an elegant, practiced movement.

"They certainly are." He replied, as she spoke again, and at that he couldn't help the smallest chuckle. "How would I not, when I'll be by your side?"

[hcpefell]

Gwen couldn't help but smile PROUDLY in response to his words-- and for a moment there, she wondered whether she'd caught Mister Osborn in a fit of what looked like... nerves? She wasn't even sure, but he'd managed to hide it so quickly then. She took the flowers in her arms, smiling as she admired them for a few moments before settling them by the table, making a mental note to place them in water when she'd arrived back home later.

"I don't know, I've never exactly been to any of these things to know what to expect," she let out a breath as she spoke moving to settle next to him then. "I just followed what Felicia said," she admitted with a shake of her head. "Should... are we going to be late to this if we don't leave right away?"

[localwebslingers]

There was a slight grimace at that. Recent events were kind of a mess, and a really dangerous one at that. The last few times that Peter went up against Conners, the doctor was even more aggressive and hostile. At first he thought that maybe it was just because he recognized Spider-Man kept showing up for a fight, and the police kept firing on sight, so maybe if they backed off and didn't make the first move it would ease up. It was starting to feel more like Conners was loosing himself in whatever was making him the giant, angry lizard New York was starting to know him as. Which seemed really not good.

He shifted to look at Gwen better and frowned, "Do you have any ideas where he might be doing that? I've looked over most of the subway tunnels by now and haven't found any sign of him. Unless you could the claw marks." but nothing like a lab. How did they keep loosing a giant lizard monster?

|| @hcpefell ||

[hcpefell]

"It's not like he'd be HIDING all of these in plain sight, right?" Gwen offered in response. If he had then Peter would have found the secret lab by now. Her father was exhausted and as were his men; especially with their numbers thinning out with the Doctor sending some of them off to the hospital in the recent fights. "I have a bit of a HUNCH when I was doing some work for history class-- apparently about some stations that have been shut down?" she asked, trying to keep her voice low. "I think that maybe you and I could--" she cleared her throat as Betty settled next to Ned. "-- hang out and study, you know, for the Decathlon," she added with a bright smile, clearing her throat a little as she managed a small wary smile at Peter.

[inhcritance]

The pout didn't disappear, but the sigh was only a prelude to her surrender, one he was glad for: she needed and deserved the rest, he wouldn't think any less of her if she took it. And, moreover, if she was willing to surrender like that... she must have been more exhausted than he'd expected.

It did not change the way he did his best not to be smug at this small victory, because in the end he was more worried than smug... nor the way one of his eyebrows arched up as she next speak.

"And how would I do that, Miss Stacy?" He hummed, resting his chin on his hand, far more playful than serious. Because he could always block the lab, yes, but that would be rude. "All in all, I'd rather trust your word."

[hcpefell]

It was all kinds of frustrating when he'd managed to WIN so effortlessly against her, eyes lifting up to his as she shook her head a little in response. She was all kinds of exhausted and as much as she wanted to work or continue this argument, her mind wasn't exactly working the way it should... especially not when she couldn't even FIGHT OFF the yawn that escaped her just then.

She waved her hand a little at him; almost dismissive and in a mock surrender as she breathed out, biting on her lower lip. "Fine, I'll-- PACK UP and squeeze through the subway rush hour home," she hummed, beginning to sort through her things, tucking her hair behind her ear. "If I HAVE to rest tonight, you're going to have to promise you would, too. That's ONLY fair."

[localwebslingers]

There was a building across the way that had two vehicles with heavily tinted windows and no plates roll into the garabe before the door was shut. In Peter's experience? That was usually a sign of some less than legal activity taking place. Or that the building itself was being used as a front for something else. Not always, but the odds weren't great. He didn't look up hearing the familiar sounds of webbing and tilted his head at the question, "The hired muscle to keep people moving, as far as I can tell." he summed up, eyeing the guy standing now in front of the same door. Pretty casually standing there actually, Peter would give him that.

"Not sure what kind of party is going on inside but the guest list is clearly trying to go unnoticed. No plates on the cars that showed up." he looked away finally to face Gwen and nod down to the street, "What do you think? Sneak in and look around? If it's nothing we can always slip back out and go get that coffee after all."

|| @hcpefell ||

[hcpefell]

Gwen hummed in understanding, eyes struggling to see the people slowly slipping inside after presenting what looked like a tattoo on their wrist. "Any LEADS on what the tattoo could mean? Some gang maybe?" she asked, canting her head a little before she turned when he faced her, a small nod of her head. "'COURSE," she added, shooting a web towards the adjacent building, waiting for it to stick before getting up. "Your treat this time," she winked before she jumped off, using her webs to swing towards one of the vents, sliding it open just as Peter usually did and crawling inside, leaving the grate open for Spider-Man to follow her in.

She crawled inside, humming as she tried to have a sense of where they'd be meeting, a small cough leaving her at the smell through the vents. "Whatever they're trying to make in there stinks, she wrinkled her nose as she spoke once she felt Peter come up behind her. "You sure this isn't just a BAD CHEF convention or something?"

[inhcritance]

Was he alright? That was quite the question, in more ways than one, and he offered her the most reassuring smile he could give, while still feeling rather guilty about the fact that it was a lie. Nothing new, nothing unusual, because lying to the people around him and the people he cared about was part and parcel of his position, but it didn't change he disliked it.

"I just like my job." He replied, almost nonchalant, before her offer, and her tone, had him shake his head, and now give her a smile that was softer, fonder. A shade sadder. Because Gwen could not follow that path of inquiries, and if she found out... no, they couldn't have that.

"I'll be okay." He promised her, softly. "And I want to be there. I'll get some sleep after I'm done with all the meetings for today," he added, even if he doubted he would, "so for now, don't worry about me. No need to."

Because did he expect her to believe him? No, but he definitely wanted to hope so.

[hcpefell]

"I KNOW you do," Gwen managed a shake of her head then. He was definitely hiding something... and while it wasn't like he SHOULD be sharing all the ins and outs of his life with her-- being this tired and actually BLEEDING was something else entirely. She let out a breath, frowning at him still as she shook her head once more. "I'm always going to be worried, Harry," she stopped just as the elevator door opened to let in a few people on the way up to the penthouse, a few floors lingering in SILENCE until they were the only ones left in the elevator once more.

"Look, I CARE about you-- and if you're running on empty, I don't mind having to cover for a couple of hours until you're good again," she reached over ghosting her fingers against his chin. "Or maybe help you SHAVE so you don't hurt yourself."

[inhcritance]

Five minutes to the agreed time, and Harry was already in the car waiting, trying not to be far too early and holding back the nerves he wouldn't show, but nevertheless were there. All he knew was the time, the colors Felicia had told him, and any further question had been met with his assistant's mysterious, cheerful smile.

And while she would have told him if he'd pushed, and they both knew it, Harry decided to trust her, just as he trusted Bernard, the old family butler, when he handed him a small flower bouquet that, according to him, meant gratitude and well wishes. He wasn't even surprised that they were both conspiring together, in truth, he was only surprised it had taken that long.

He knocked on the door a minute before the agreed time, after parking the car in front of the driveway, and collecting himself. He shouldn't be this nervous, and yet... well, there was no denying he was.

[hcpefell]

She tired not to open the door so quickly when he knocked, pulling the door open with a bit of a struggle after a few seconds. She beamed WIDELY as Harry came into view, looking up to meet his eyes as she cleared her throat, stepping back so he could see the dress Felicia had picked out, turning ever so slowly so he could inspect her if he'd wanted to. "Do you LIKE it?" she asked nervously, eyes lifting up to meet his as she breathed out slowly, heart in her throat as she looked him over.

Harry looked GOOD; he always did, but the way he was dressed that night was near impeccable, shades in his suit matching her dress as she looked at the flowers in his hand. "Are-- are those for me?" she asked, canting her head to the side as she nodded at him. "You clean up nicely, Osborn."

[localwebslingers]

This was not the first time that very careful talk had been done at school about Spider-Man related stuff. Usually it was just Ned whispering, or trying to whisper depending on how excited he was, about it. Peter looked up at Gwen mid-bite from his sandwich and straightened slightly as he swallowed the mouthful, "Really? You think so?" that was great news. One step closer to being able to both help Conners and stop the rampage of the Lizard that still had the city on edge, "Yeah, I can definitely come by and take a look. Maybe we can figure out what it is between the two of us." fresh pair of eyes and all that, he could only imagine how many hours Gwen had already put in looking it over, "Any ideas?"

|| @hcpefell ||

[hcpefell]

She'd hardly slept the past couple of days, using most of her free time to try and figure everything out. From what her daddy had told her, the Lizard had started to get more aggressive, a few of his men were out in the hospital despite Spider-Man intervening the past couple of fights. She could only ASSUME that Doctor Connors was somehow making the serum stronger. She'd mostly figured out the base of it, but the tweaks the Doctor was doing was something nobody could really figure out right off the bat. "Yeah, OF COURSE, just," she began, leaning in as she dropped her voice low. "I think, considering recent events that we're going to track down where he's doing all these MODIFICATIONS from-- because it's not at Oscorp."

[inhcritance]

She met his gaze, and he held it with a calm that was more practiced than anything else, trying not to show any amusement at her pout. At the way he felt she was about to argue, and he was right: it was a familiar stubbornness and one he'd been on the other end of far, far too often.

"I don't know that." He conceded, choosing diplomacy. "But I've pulled enough all-nighters in this lab to know it's not always worth the exhaustion. It's waited all these days, it can wait one more." He told her. "And it'll all look better in the morning."

And maybe he was being very much a hypocrite, but... well, he had to try.

[hcpefell]

The CALM in his gaze was one she almost loved staring at, especially when it meant that it had that same EFFECT on her. She kept the pout on her lips though, a sigh leaving her lips as blonde curls bounced as she shook her head in response. "Maybe you're right," her shoulders fell. There were many times wherein she'd take the argument to the point where she'd win, but at this point, she was TOO EXHAUSTED to even think of trying to win his favor.

"Are you going to MAKE SURE I don't pull an all nighter, then Osborn?" she asked, cocking her eyebrow upwards at him. Because while he might've won the argument, there was still her STUBBORNNESS of making sure he'd dragged her out of there himself.

[inhcritance]

While he was always one to care about his appearance, Harry had to admit he was far more tired than usual. And it was not so much the all-nighter in his own lab, nor the stakeout at dawn, but the very, very recent battle that the news were still covering.

A battle that had been as dire as few others had, and in the end he'd only gone to Oscorp to avoid any kind of suspicion, because most of the injuries he'd sustained, well, the bandages would hide them well enough.

Not all, however, he realized, as he reached to see what Gwen was referring to and found blood, and it took him all his tired restraint not to smell it to check it was his.

Immediately he took a clean handkerchief from his pocket, cleaning his finger and the cut as best as he could, painful as moving was.

"I guess I'll have to be more careful when shaving." He mused. "Thanks, Gwen."

It was going to be a very, very long day.

[hcpefell]

He was lying, and she could already tell from the look in his eyes. He was tired for most of the time, but he seemed a little DIFFERENT now. She pursed her lips a little, watching him wipe away the blood with a shake of her head. She couldn't MAKE HIM be honest to her; not even if she tried, and it wasn't like her to pry. "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice small as she spoke, as if imploring that he could TELL HER the truth if he'd so wanted.

"Have I ever told you that you worked too much?" she nudged then, a small chuckle leaving her lips. "I can take care of the whole presentation myself if it means you'd get a few more hours of SLEEP, Osborn," she insisted softly. "Really, Har-- am I meant to believe that you cut yourself shaving?"

[inhcritance]

Felicia, Harry knew, had very likely gone over every possible angle of the situation, in case Gwen agreed to go with him. He had full trust on her, because she'd proven herself invaluable time and time again.

Still, as Gwen sought his gaze, and he met hers easily enough, he allowed himself a moment of satisfaction at seeing the blush on her cheeks, at that smile of hers that was somewhat echoed in his own.

It did not change the way he missed her closeness already, as she started to walk away, and a part of him yearned to hold her close, to follow. But he held himself back, his smile playful as she spoke.

"Only when you said yes." He replied, before offering her a nod. "Tomorrow night. I'll pick you up?" He offers.

Because Felicia has probably arranged everything already, but still he'd rather ask.

[hcpefell]

"Sounds like a plan," Gwen nodded her head in response, trying to keep it as NONCHALANT as she could before she turned, hiding the blush on her cheeks then. Felicia would get in touch with her later that day, a quick fitting of a bunch of dresses before Gwen settled on something that Felicia said Harry would like. Felicia had made sure that it was sent to her place hours early, along with a small glam team that made her up and fixed her hair-- everything was sorted and Gwen didn't have to worry about anything but impressing Harry.

She waited in her apartment once she was done, shifting in the blush dress that fit perfectly on her, curls falling to frame her face as she looked at the time, five minutes until when Felicia said Harry would be there, heart in her THROAT in anticipation.