just not this time: “you were right, miles,” she admitted. “there is gonna be a time where gwen stacy falls for spider-man and nothing happens to her it’s just not this time.”
al amanecer: gwen really doesn’t like the fact that rio doesn’t like her. why not try learning spanish?
whistle, i’ll be there: when gwen tells miles about the gwen stacy canon event, he swears to her that he won't let it happen. when the time comes, however, can he make good on that promise?
I commissioned @tikklil from Twitter/Instagram to draw Miles and Gwen at prom! I love their art a lot, so when I saw that they also do commissions, I HAD to take the opportunity to take a slot. And I'm so happy that I did! I showed them the idea, and they made it 1000xs better. I'm blown away!! Also, I was given permission to post the commission here on Tumblr, so I hope you guys like it too!! :)
Description: When Gwen tells Miles about the Gwen Stacy canon event, he swears to her that he won't let it happen. When the time comes, however, can he make good on that promise?
By all means, it could’ve been a normal day. They were sitting atop the Williamsburg Bank Building after Gwen arrived in his dorm room (no longer to the shock of Ganke) and requested they go on a swing, just as they’d been doing for months after their reunion. There was nothing different or special about what they had done that day, so it was especially confusing to Gwen why the love she felt for Miles was skyrocketing. It was usually just a background thought, a fact of life, like the sky (in every other universe except her own) is blue. Miles was talking about his art, where he planned on throwing up his next piece, what the piece was, what it meant to him, and he was so passionate and excited Gwen could practically see the pride emanating off of him. It was beautiful.
“I’m so scared.” Gwen’s whispered confession was meant to be just for her own ears, nothing but an admission to herself she hoped Miles wouldn’t hear as he rambled. Unfortunately for Gwen, Miles did hear her and paused his planning completely.
He took a sweeping glance around the city, scanning for any danger. When he found none, he turned to her, confused. “Why? What’s wrong?” he questioned, placing what he hoped was a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Gwen took a deep, shuddering breath, then moved her attention from the New York skyline to the boy next to her. “I-“ she stopped herself for a second, one of her hands coming up to take Miles’ hand off her shoulder and into her own. “I love you,” she concluded.
“Gwen-“ Miles started, but Gwen did not let him finish.
“I’m in love with you, and that’s not supposed to happen. I mean, it is supposed to happen but unless we want something really, really bad to happen, it shouldn’t happen,” she ranted rapidly, her hand tightly squeezing his own. “I shouldn’t be- I mean I should, but we shouldn’t- and if we- I’m gonna-“ The way she kept interrupting herself made it clear as day that she did not plan on having any of this information come out today.
“You gonna finish any of those sentences or am I just supposed to guess?” Miles asked sardonically.
Gwen blushed, using her free hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. She shook her head at herself and her habit of ranting when she got overwhelmed. “I’m sorry, I just-“
“Love me,” Miles interjected, staring at her as he awaited her response.
“Something like that, yeah,” Gwen responded evasively, tucking her chin to her chest as she shrunk into herself.
“Why is that so scary?” he asked, placing a hand under her chin to drag her gaze back to his. Pale blue met amber in a warmth and comfort that reminded Gwen why she was in love with him in the first place, then why she was so afraid.
“Did anyone ever tell you about Gwen Stacy’s canon events?” she asked, resisting the urge to burrow into Miles’ hold by pulling her face away.
“No. They’re different?”
“Yeah. There's usually only one. Just the Gwen Stacy event,” she took a calming breath and before Miles could ask what that meant, she continued, “I’m supposed to die for loving Spider-Man.”
A poignant silence followed. Several times, Miles opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut, unsure of how to respond. Thankfully, Gwen elaborated before he said anything he might’ve regretted. “There’s millions of me that have died because they were in love with Spider-Man, and he couldn’t save them in time. It’s one of those losses you supposedly have to go through,” she saw Miles open his mouth to argue so she quickly added, “And I know you proved it’s bullshit, but you haven’t seen it, Miles. Millions of you… dead. For going down the same path you’re already going down. I want this- us- so badly, but every time I think about doing something about it, I remember the event… and I’m terrified all over again.”
“Are you gonna let me talk now?” Miles asked with a chuckle. Gwen nodded bashfully and he offered her a smile before cupping her face in his hand. “I would never let anything happen to you, Gwen.” As expected, Gwen opened her mouth to insist that some things couldn’t be helped, but Miles continued before she could say it. “No, I’m serious. I’ve done it before. I’m not gonna let fate take you away from me,” he said ‘fate’ with a roll of the eyes, having never believed in the concept, “I’m not gonna let anything take you away from me. I love you.”
Gwen’s eyes welled with tears as she threw herself into Miles, her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders as she cried into the crook of his neck. Miles’ arms were tight around her waist as he pressed kisses to the top of her head and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. Tears landed on the material of his suit but Miles found himself not caring at all as he held this precious girl, wanting nothing but to protect her from any wrong.
“I love you so much,” he heard her whisper. Miles smiled blindingly to himself, nuzzling his nose into her hair.
“I love you, too,” he responded. He placed his hands on her shoulders, pushing her gently out of his embrace, but keeping contact with her. “I’m serious when I say I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. You think that event is happening, give me a shout, I’ll be there. I don’t know if you heard, but I’m not like these other lame ass Spider-men who can’t save their girl.”
Gwen giggled through her tears before pulling Miles into a kiss by the back of his neck. The kiss felt safe, as Miles had the tendency to make her feel, and more like home then Earth-65 had felt in quite a while. At a time like this, she needed his comfort, his insatiable ability to make everything right for her more than ever. She couldn’t help but smile into the kiss as she realized that, for the first time since she had been told about her canon, she saw a future for herself, a future with him, past the event.
Three years had passed since that fateful night and Miles and Gwen were swinging through New York on Earth-1610, towards a clock tower where they had heard reports of the Green Goblin. Miles made good on his promise, always protecting Gwen (perhaps a bit too much at times), and Gwen was no longer too afraid to live her life the way she wanted to. She was so unafraid, in fact, that she didn’t even think about the fact that this (with some minor modifications) was always how the Gwen Stacy event started.
“I still can’t believe that the Green Goblin is an actual goblin in this universe,” Gwen commented as she swung next to Miles. The night was clouded and their view was dependent on city lights.
Miles looked at her confused. “He’s not in yours?”
“Nah he’s just a nice scientist guy with, like… anger issues? An evil parasite that takes over him? Look, I don’t know. But I do know he’s not an actual goblin,” Gwen responded, her swinging slowing a bit as she tried to pinpoint how to describe her version of the Green Goblin.
“An actual goblin is way scarier,” Miles taunted, swinging backwards to keep eye contact with her.
“Hey, my Goblin is a scary guy! Give him some credit!” she bantered back.
“Not scarier than an actual goblin,” Miles sang teasingly before taking off, winking at her before swinging far ahead of Gwen to the clock tower.
“Hey!” Gwen yelled, giggling as she raced up to him. Once she caught up to Miles, however, he was already at the source of the disturbance. Green Goblin sat atop the clock tower. What was odd was that he wasn’t doing anything at all. He seemed to be waiting for something. “You had a head start,” she whispered as she met up with him.
“You gotta admit this guy is pretty scary,” Miles shot back, gesturing at the goblin perched atop the tower.
“He’s not doing anything,” Gwen replied, squinting inquisitively at the goblin.
“Yeah…” Miles spoke slowly. Gwen could practically see the gears turning in his head. “I don’t know what’s up with-“
“Spider-man!” the growling voice from above them was looming ever closer. Before Gwen could react, she felt claws digging into her shoulders and herself being pulled up into the air.
“Come on, man!” Gwen yelled, struggling against Goblin’s grip. “You don’t even know me! Don’t you have a problem with the boy?”
Miles crawled up the side of the clock tower in a rush, grinning as Gwen shot a web in the Goblin’s face, shocking him onto dropping her. She stuck a web to the side of the building, next to Miles and pulled herself up.
“Told you he’s scary,” was the first thing Miles said once Gwen returned to him. Gwen’s eyes narrowed under her mask, and Miles could tell that was the wrong thing to say. “I mean… are you okay?”
Gwen laughed boisterously and patted Miles on the back. “Good save, babe,” she joked, keeping her hand on Miles’ back as she gazed up at Green Goblin struggling to get the web off his face. “So, what’s the plan here?”
“Don’t let him kill us,” Miles replied, groaning and running a hand over his face as Goblin finally succeeded in getting the web off his face. He looked around angrily and growled at the two Spiders conversing on the side of the building.
“You’re really on fire today, Mi,” Gwen commented sarcastically, thwipping a multitude of webs out at Green Goblin, this time sticking his wings to the side of the building a bit above them. She jumped up to him and swiftly kicked him in the face. Miles followed close behind her, delivering his own punch to the same spot. “Seriously, what is the plan?” she yelled over the commotion of the forming crowd below them.
“We just have to keep him trapped for long enough for them to find handcuffs big enough to fit the guy,” Miles retorted. Though he couldn’t see his girlfriend’s face under her mask, he could tell she was rolling her eyes good-naturedly. “Think you can handle that, Spider-woman?”
“Do I think I can handle that? Who’s the one that has him trapped right n-” A deafening crumbling sound interrupted her as Goblin threw his head against the tower, creating cracks in the walls significant enough to weaken its hold on his wings as well as a large hole allowing him to fly into the tower.
“You were saying,” Miles jested, laughing as Gwen gave him a playful shove.
“Why can’t they ever make it easy!” Gwen groaned as she dove into the hole in the tower the goblin had just made, Miles close on her tail.
“It’s against their nature,” Miles yelled back as he landed a punch against Goblin’s face. Goblin growled and swatted at Miles, missing due to the fact that Gwen had landed a web on his fist and yanked it downward. Using the momentum of Goblin’s missing swing to propel herself upward, Gwen stuck next to Miles on the glass roof of the clock tower.
“Your plan is going great,” Gwen whispered hurriedly, thwipping a web out at Goblin’s eyes.
“Your trap was the one that failed,” Miles responded, sending a blind kick downward to keep the Goblin at bay.
“How was I supposed to know he’d be willing to give himself a mild concussion?” she answered. Miles laughed while shaking his head. They gazed down at the Goblin, who was now much angrier than he was when they had started.
“Alright, Norm, what’s the problem buddy?” Miles yelled down at him.
Green Goblin flew far too close to them for Miles’ liking. “You are,” he seethed. Before Miles could even come up with what he was sure would have been a hilarious comeback, Norman snatched Gwen up in his arms and flew upwards, breaking through the glass ceiling and stopping several feet above the tower. Gwen let out a shriek she hoped Miles didn’t hear as she pounded fruitlessly against the Goblin’s scaled arms, and sent out various webs that missed their mark.
“Hey! Hey, come on, man! If you got a problem with me, that’s fine, but it has nothing to do with her. You wanna fight me, you can go ahead but just- please just put her down!” Even from far above him, Gwen could hear the desperation in Miles’ voice. A cold chill crept up her body as the familiarity of the situation finally dawned on her. Looking down at her boyfriend, she realized he had never had the blissful pleasure of forgetting what was meant to happen today, pain and utmost concern etched on his face. “Let her go, man.”
Miles should’ve seen his next move coming. Calm as ever, Green Goblin responded, “Okay,” and loosened his grip. Immediately, Gwen went hurtling down towards him. Miles jumped up and met her halfway, his grip tight around her waist as they landed on their feet on one of the many metal beams inside the tower.
“Miles,” she whispered, her voice shaking from utter terror, “Today is-”
“No it’s not,” he interjected, pulling her tight against him, hoping to shield her just as he had declared he would all those years ago. “I told you this would never happen.”
“I love you,” she stated rather than acknowledge his argument.
“Please don’t say that like it’s the last time,” Miles begged. Gwen wasn't sure if he was aware of the fact that his hold on her got tighter when he said that, or if he had a subconscious need to have her close to him.
“I’m not,” Gwen insisted, placing a hand on Miles’ face, “I just wanted to say it again.” Despite her insistence, Miles couldn’t help but feel that she was in fact saying it in case she wouldn’t get the chance to again.
“Okay,” he whispered, placing his forehead on hers. “I promise, nothing is gonna happen to you today. Give me a shout, remember?”
“Yeah,” Gwen responded with a breathless laugh, “Yeah, I remember.” Shards of glass fell on them as the Goblin flew back down into the tower with an angry roar. They jumped apart, but Miles turned to her quickly.
“Sit this one out,” he suggested. Gwen prepared herself to argue that she absolutely would not do that, but when she remembered what was at stake she opted against it. Instead, she simply nodded and watched as Miles jumped up to fight the Goblin once again.
Between kicks and punches, Miles sent out webs that created a net beneath him and Goblin, no doubt trying to prevent Norman from being able to reach Gwen. This proved useless, however, when a powerful shove on Miles’ behalf sent Green Goblin flying heavily into the wall, causing the platform Gwen was standing on to crumble in on itself. In a moment of panic, Gwen thwipped out a web in Miles’ direction, which he caught without even having to look at. She heaved out a sigh of relief as she watched Miles attach the web to a nearby wall before returning to his fight.
Just as Gwen began climbing up the web in an attempt to reach a more stable hiding place, she felt the familiar hot blast of a pumpkin bomb above her and the jarring sensation of free falling. Her web shooters made a hollow clicking noise as she attempted to release another web. She was out of webs. Now truly panicking, she flailed about wildly trying to grab hold of anything that might stop her fall, but found her attempts futile.
In a last ditch effort, Gwen remembered her boyfriend’s request. “Miles!” she called out. She watched as he tensed and jumped down to her in a nosedive. Gwen closed her eyes as she felt herself getting closer to the ground, the bitterly cold air poking her skin like needles as she prepared herself for an impact that never came. Instead she felt two strong arms wrap around her upper back, one of them sliding under her knees after hearing the sound of a web being released, and a soft landing on the ground. She didn’t dare open her eyes for fear that she hadn’t actually been saved, not until she heard his voice.
“Come on, Gwen, open your eyes,” Miles whispered, gently removing her mask and she assumed his own. “Let me see those beautiful eyes.”
Blue met brown, just as it had been for years, but this time with a renewed sense of optimism, of hope for more time together, for forever together if that was what they wanted. Gwen sobbed as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her face stifled closely against his chest. It was only then that a single grateful tear tracked down Miles’ face.
“Mi preciosa,” Miles whispered, his head leaning on top of hers. It was almost like he was meaning to keep it for himself, like the most sacred of prayers, his relief palpable as he held her ever closer to himself. “Mi amor.”
“You did it,” Gwen stated. Her voice was breathy, as though she was taking advantage of the fact that she could still breathe. Her hands and voice shook from the adrenaline rushing through her body, but she still clung to Miles like a lifeline.
“You doubted me?” Miles questioned confidently, grinning as he felt her laugh against his chest.
“No,” she replied, smiling radiantly into the dark material of his suit. “No, I didn’t doubt you. I love you.”
“I told you it wouldn’t be the last time,” he declared smugly. He expected the smack to his shoulder and laughed as he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, relishing in the pleased sigh that his kiss encouraged. “I love you so much.”
“I know,” Gwen responded haughtily as she pulled him in for what was far from their first, and definitely not their last, kiss.
The sky was shaded in different shades of pink, yellow and orange as the sun set over New York City on Earth 1610. Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales sat on the side of his apartment building, mostly in silence, simply admiring. It had taken quite a while and a lot of work for them to get to the place they are right now, with Miles trusting Gwen again enough to stay over in his dimension. Speaking of…
“In the spirit of honesty,” Miles spoke, interrupting their comfortable silence as they looked over the setting sun, “my mom really does not like you.”
Gwen’s head popped up from where it was resting on his shoulder, her expression shocked as she turned to face Miles. “What? Why not?”
“Well, for one, when you met her, you called her by her first name-”
“I helped save your dad’s life!” Gwen interjected, the pout on her face making Miles want to lean in and kiss her, but of all the things they had shared with each other in trying to mend their relationship, their feelings for each other remained unspoken.
“Yeah and you called him Jeff in the process!” Miles chuckled, wrapping his arm around Gwen’s shoulders as Gwen rested her head on his shoulder once again, still pouting, and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Okay, what else?” Gwen questioned, dreading the response. She hoped there wouldn’t be anything else, but Miles’ response was almost immediate.
“She says you look old enough to vote,” said Miles. Gwen didn’t miss the way he pressed his lips together to keep himself from laughing, but she decided not to comment on it for the simple reason that she did not want to know what he found so funny about the situation.
Though she was slightly offended, Gwen’s reply came easily. “You should tell her time is relative.”
Miles barked out a laugh, not expecting that response. “Okay I’ll tell her,” he said, dropping his head on top of hers and allowing himself to bask in their closeness for a moment. Then, he added, “She doesn’t like that you can’t speak Spanish.”
Again, Gwen’s head shot up, but this time the look in her eyes was determined. “So teach me!” she instructed. She looked like it was the best idea she had ever had (which Miles seriously doubted). Her eyes gleamed with enthusiasm and her smile was unbearably wide. Distantly, Miles thought about how glad he was that the two of them could smile that way with each other again.
“No,” he responded, shaking his head but smiling privately at her sudden excitement.
“Come on, Miles, I really want your mom to like me. Pleeease,” Gwen begged, eyes wide and pleading and donning an over-exaggerated pout.
“You know I got a ‘B’ in Spanish, right?” Miles questioned, remaining wholly unconvinced. He watched as Gwen clasped her hands together pleadingly and jutted her bottom lip out even more and gave her a playful shove.
“Are you fluent?” Gwen asked, eyebrow arching as she saw him open his mouth to respond.
“... Yes,” Miles admitted begrudgingly, unable to keep his smile to himself. Gwen’s radiant smile was payment enough for how much work he’d inevitably have to put into teaching her an entirely new language.
“Then I don’t care what you got in a high school class. Those classes teach the colonizer’s Spanish-”
“How much time have you been spending with Hobie recently?” Miles snickered at her argument. Gwen waved a hand in front of her face as if motioning the question away.
“- and I wanna learn your Spanish,” Gwen continued as though she hadn’t been interrupted. “Please, please, please, please - I’m not gonna stop until you say yes - please, please, please pl-”
“Fine! Fine! Just stop it!” he laughed, tensing for a moment as Gwen threw herself into his embrace. Her soft blonde hair tickled the side of his face as she buried into the crook between his neck and his shoulder.
“Yes! Thank you!” she yelled excitedly, unaffected by Miles’ sudden stiffness, though she smiled to herself as he relaxed and allowed himself to wrap his arms around her.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he whispered to her, burrowing his nose into her hair, “This is gonna get really annoying really fast. How much do you know?”
“I take Spanish in school,” Gwen started to explain, but she was cut off by Miles holding up a hand.
“That means nothing to me. How much do you know?” He had seen plenty of people cheat their way through a Spanish class. It was as easy as hiding their phone under their thigh and going on Google translate while the teacher had their back turned.
“I know some! …On paper,” Miles gave her an unimpressed look which clearly told her to tell him the whole truth. “I know how to introduce myself,” she admitted begrudgingly.
“Okay, do it,” Miles ordered, waiting patiently and mentally preparing himself not to laugh at what was sure to be the worst Spanish had ever heard.
“Hola, me llamo Gwen,” she mumbled, not daring to meet his eyes. Miles had not prepared himself enough. Still buried in Miles’ arms, Gwen could feel his chest shaking with contained laughter and swatted his back.
“It’s not funny, asshole! I’m trying!” she insisted, trying and failing to contain her own laugh as Miles’ burst from his lips. “You try learning a whole new language, see how smart you sound!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Miles responded, though he didn’t sound sorry at all. His words could hardly be understood through his boisterous laughter, and one of his hands unraveled itself from around Gwen and instead clutched his own side where he was getting a stitch from laughing so hard. “I hope you’re not tired because we have to start from scratch.”
Gwen was tired. Reluctant as he was, Miles was a very dedicated teacher. It was still the same night, or rather, morning as it was now sometime around five a.m. She was now lying on his bed, her head hanging off the side with the pink tips of her ponytail tickling the ground.
“Give me a break, Mi! I didn’t ask to learn the whole language in one night,” she groaned as Miles took both of her hands in his and pulled her into an upright sitting position once again. “I wanna go to sleep!”
“Come on! Do you want my mom to like you or not?” he urged, sparing Gwen a grin when she glared at him.
“‘Course I do! It’s really important to me! But it’s so late.” As she ended her complaint, she slumped forward, her head resting in Miles’ lap. Her next statement was muffled by the material of his pants. “This is pointless, she's never gonna like me! She’s too overprotective of you!”
“She might like you!” Miles pressed, pushing her back up. At this point it was a bit like fighting to keep one of those inflatable tube men from the car dealerships to remain upright, as she flopped backward into her original position.
“Oh yeah, how’s that?” Gwen questioned, her hands covering her face, palms rubbing tiredly at her eyes. Behind her, through the window, thin beams of sunlight began shining through the window and basked Gwen in warm yellow light.
She looked so beautiful, he spit it out before he could even think about it. “Because I like you.”
This time, Gwen did not pop up. Instead, she rose slowly, her eyes searching for any sign that he might have been joking. “I like you too, Miles.”
She felt as though they were moving in slow motion as their faces moved closer together. Just as they were about to kiss, Miles pulled away. “How do you say it in Spanish?”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Gwen deadpanned, sending him an icy glare directly in contrast to the pleasantly happy look in her eyes.
“How do you say it?” he repeated incessantly.
“Me gustas,” Gwen relented, her smile brilliant as she began leaning in again.
“How do you say I love you?” Miles murmured against her lips the moment before they touched.
“Te amo,” Gwen whispered, nuzzling her nose into his.
“Te amo, mi tesoro,” Miles whispered in return, placing a hand on her face and finally pulling her into a kiss. The kiss was far from perfect, neither of them had ever kissed anyone before, they were both abundantly nervous, and Miles was pretty sure that at some point he bit her, but it was perfect to both of them.
Miles broke that kiss for one second and breathed, “Hermosa.” Kiss. “Linda.” Kiss. “Reina de mi corazón.” Kiss, kiss, kiss.
They stayed that way until they fell asleep, Gwen’s head cushioned on Miles’ chest, their breaths rising and falling peacefully.
This was how Rio found them when she checked on them after getting for work. Despite her initial dislike for the girl, she couldn’t help but smile at the small smile gracing her son’s face even in his sleep. Feeling an intrusion, Gwen stirred, barely lifting her head from Miles’ chest and squinting blearily at the door, relieved to find only his mother standing there.
“Buenos días, Señora Morales,” she muttered tiredly, eyes fluttering back closed as she rested once again.
“Buenos días, Gwen,” Río replied quietly, smiling down at the couple. Later in the morning, Gwen swore the kiss she felt on her forehead was in her dream, and decided not to mention it.
Description: “You were right, Miles,” she admitted. “There is gonna be a time where Gwen Stacy falls for Spider-Man and nothing happens to her it’s just not this time.”
Warnings: Major Character Death, Hurt No Comfort, Self Sacrifice, Heavy Angst, Not Miguel Friendly (ik y’all love him on here)
Word Count: 3,266
A/N: comments and reblogs are super duper appreciated 🫶🏽
“In every other universe, Gwen Stacy falls for Spider-Man,” Gwen confessed, eyes focused pointedly on the upside down New York City skyline, away from Miles, who sat closely at her side. She felt his hand inch closer to hers, desperate to take hold of it after months of a painstaking wait, and for a blissfully peaceful moment she thought about allowing him to. Just as quickly, she remembered everything Miguel had shown her, the thousands of versions of her that fell figuratively and literally for their version of Spider-Man, and fear gripped her entire being. “And, in every other universe… it doesn’t end well,” she concluded, suddenly feeling cold when his hand returned to his own side. She wanted so badly for it to be okay for him to take her hand, but she knew he couldn’t, and it killed her that she had to stop him.
They shared a glance, and the comfort that spread through Gwen was one she only ever experienced when with Miles. Despite all her longing, he made her smile time and time again. “Well, there’s a first time for everything, right?” he responded.
Gwen smiled. If only it were that easy. If only she could ignore the heavy pit of fear and guilt settling in her stomach and take his hand. Unfortunately, she was not as brave as him. She didn’t have it in her to question or fight what fate had in store for her. All she ever hoped to do was delay it.
Looking back on it, it was that easy. Right there, in that perfect moment before she had ever hurt him, she should have let him love her. The world wouldn’t crumble over that.
Now, she had hurt him - badly - and there was nothing she could do to fix it except to try to help in a hopeless situation.
Earth 1610 looked nothing like it did last time she had been there. Then, she had seen it through rose-colored glasses, everything beautiful and warm and so Miles she couldn’t even wrap her head around it. She could practically see the literal hues of pink blossoming across New York, had she been in her own universe. As she looked over the city now, she didn’t have to imagine a gray tint to it, for the dust from the crumbling buildings had not yet settled. Debris fell so often, one might think it was raining it.
Gwen watched from the water tower she and Miles had spent time in, allowing her aching body a moment of relief after an especially prolonged fight with Spot as the team she had formed battled The Spot. Unbridled chaos surrounded her. Peter B. (still carrying Mayday) swung directly in front of her muttering something to himself about bad parenting before landing a swift kick to The Spot’s face. Hobie, Pavitr, and Margo were occupied with the many members of the Spider Society, as Noir-
She didn't quite get to see what Noir was doing before the familiar lurching feeling of free-falling through one of Spot’s holes overtook her. She landed not a yard away from Miles, who was hurriedly clearing the block of civilians. She sprung into action, thwipping webs at the nearest group of people and flinging them ahead of her. Gwen tried to find it within herself to feel bad for them as they screamed, but she really couldn’t.
“Gwen!” she heard Miles yell for her, but she wasn't sure why. She looked to him for an answer, but only found him bounding toward her, before shoving her out of the way of a falling chunk of cement. She had fallen to the ground from the force of it. So had Miles, who got up quickly. As she tried to stand up herself, a black and red gloved hand was thrust out in front of her. She took it gingerly, as though afraid it wasn’t real, and allowed Miles to pull her up.
“Thank you,” she spoke breathlessly, still not having let go of Miles’ hand. This was what she wanted when they were sitting together on top of the Williamsburg Bank Building, this warmth shared between them, everything that was communicated without actually having to be said.
“I couldn’t lose you,” Miles replied, his hold on her hand tightening for half a second before he returned to the fight. Gwen suddenly felt giddy, in the middle of a battlefield and with all of her friends’ lives on the line along with her own, but she just couldn’t help it. It didn’t mean everything was okay, she knew that, but it meant he was willing to try to forgive her and that was more than she could ever hope for.
“You ruined my life!” Oh right… that. Gwen swung up to where Spot was standing over Miles, embracing the blooming pain across her knuckles as she landed a punch on Spot’s face.
“I wouldn’t say he ruined your life much,”she quipped, landing another solid punch, this time on the opposite cheek, “I just feel like you didn’t look hard enough. Did you look to see if your local fire station needed any new dalmatians?”
Miles chuckled as he swept his leg under the unsuspecting and preoccupied Spot, who let out a yelp as he fell into one of his own holes. He held up his fist for a fist bump and as she complied, Gwen knew, definitely, they had their chance to fix everything. The jarring sound of police sirens approaching called her, the realization that Miles’ father would be running out of one of those cars falling on her like one of Ham’s cartoon anvils. She tensed and allowed herself to jump back onto the ground, trying to clear out as many civilians as possible, which proved to be an impossible task as more and more people poured out of the doors of the surrounding buildings.
As expected, Captain Morales bounded out of the car closest to her, yelling orders at his subordinates. He stopped for a moment, watching in awe at the dozens of spider people fighting both The Spot and each other. “Hey, you! Uh- Spider-Person- Pink Spider!”
Gwen looked around for who he might be calling to before realizing it had to have been her. “It’s Spider-Woman,” she grumbled, dragging her feet in dismay due to the fact that even without knowing her identity Miles’ father insisted on calling her a nickname.
“What’s going on here?” he asked- well, it was more of a demand if she was being completely honest. Gwen wanted to answer, truly she did, but in that moment she noticed the warping of reality a few feet behind Jefferson. Her heart dropped to her feet as Miguel O’Hara walked cooly out of the portal, checking something on his watch before surveying the surrounding mayhem with a bored look on his face until his eyes landed on Jefferson Morales. Miguel’s eyes filled with satisfaction as he looked above him. Gwen followed his gaze and in a moment of horror realized a large block of sediment was hurtling toward him.
“Yeah, that's kind of hard to explain. Just help me clear out these people.” Gwen responded rapidly, not waiting for Jeff to nod before tossing the disgruntled man over her shoulder and swinging him to the most populated area of the fight, luckily quite a ways away from Miguel. When she returned, Miles was once again battling Spot, who came out of a hole quite angry and slightly embarrassed, and Miguel wore a completely unimpressed look on his face.
“Why would you do that?” he drawled.
“Oh, I don’t know. I generally try to keep potential murder victims away from the people who want to kill them,” Gwen responded, sending a web out to the nearest group of people and flinging them up into Margo’s grasp.
“I don’t want to kill him,” said Miguel, narrowly avoiding a web shot toward his mouth, and interrupting himself to send a disapproving glance to a completely unsorry Hobie Brown, who swung above them donning a self satisfied smirk, “he just has to die.”
“Oh, right, because that’s a completely normal response to that accusation,” she spoke sardonically. Immediately, before he could see it coming, she webbed his hand to the wall behind him. Gwen watched with pride as Miguel struggled against the webs, but could not break himself free. “Yeah, you like the new web fluid? I designed it with a higher tensile strength!”
“Let me go, Gwen!” he ordered, still pulling against the substance.
“Yeah… no,” Gwen retorted. “In fact, if I had the time I would put a kick me sign on you.” She considered actually doing it for a second, but then realized it would be a bit insensitive. To leave that fight, that is; she’d recently found that she didn’t really care about being insensitive toward Miguel.
“You’re not funny!” Miguel spat.
“No, you’re not funny,” Gwen pointed out in a very matter-of fact tone. “Literally anyone else would find this hilarious.”
“No, they wou-” This time Hobie’s aim rang true, with a web directly covering Miguel’s mouth. Hobie swung low enough for Gwen to reach up and offer him a high five, which he reciprocated, before swinging off to fight a member of the Spider Society.
“See ya, boss!” Gwen yelled as she swung herself back into the fray. She slid under a spot thrown her way, grunting at the pain as Spot’s fist appeared through one of them and managed to punch her in the gut.
“Hey!” she heard Miles yell about two rooftops down as he attached a web to Spot’s head and banged it against the floor. “Don’t touch her!” Gwen decided to brush off the blush she felt rising on her cheeks due to his defensiveness over her due to simply inappropriate timing.
Others, however, had no problem displaying their excitement. “He’s so protective over you! Seriously, how do you concentrate?”
“Pav…” she admonished.
“I’m just saying that if you guys kiss in the next month, Hobie owes me money,” Pavitr replied, landing a punch across the face of one of many Spider-Men as he talked. Gwen followed up with one of her own.
“You’re betting on us?” she asked incredulously, moving the Spider-Man into an arm lock and opening a portal using his watch before shoving him in it as Pav webbed his watch off his wrist.
“Nooooo.” The way Pavitr drew out his response was more than enough of a tell for her. She sighed, deciding not to argue over the matter. Besides, she hoped that Hobie would in fact be owing Pavitr that money some time soon. Though she would never admit that to Pav.
“You’ve really gotta work on your lying, dude,” Gwen advised, tapping his shoulder before going to check that Miguel was still where she left him. He was, in fact, there, but he was no longer struggling. Truth be told, he looked all too relaxed. The overwhelming feeling of dread that overtook her was undeniable.
Gwen ran to the nearest member of the Spider Society, ignoring Peni’s indignant, “Hey, I was fighting them,” and judo flipped them onto their back, their head hitting the floor before they fell limp. She checked their pulse quickly, not wanting to kill the poor spider, and was relieved to find one, then frantically looked at their watch. Just as Gwen had expected, the watch read “Canon Event Imminent.”
The deafening chaos of the fight quieted and the constant warmth under her mask ran cold. Quick as a flash, she scanned the surrounding blocks. The streets were empty aside from the hundreds of Spider People, some cops, and, of course, Spot. Them, and a single little girl, curled up in the middle of the street, crying for help. She saw Jeff, standing under a secure platform, looking around to see if anyone else would help, and when he found no one, she saw determination etch itself onto his face. Her eyes flitted up to Miles, who was too busy battling Spot to even notice the events unfolding below him.
It was a split second decision, made so fast she didn’t even realize she was doing it until she felt the sharp breeze biting at her skin under her mask as she fell, but she was resigned to it. Gwen glided through the air as Jefferson ran to the child, yelling that help was on the way. She watched as a large chunk of cement broke off the corner of a surrounding building, speeding through the air toward the pair, and willed herself to move faster.
Just as the debris was about to make contact with the two, Gwen landed and gave them a mighty shove immediately succumbing to a powerful, sharp pain beginning at the top of her head and radiating down the rest of her body. She collapsed under the literal weight bearing on top of her. How fitting it was, she thought, that she should die the same way she killed her first best friend in an attempt to save her relationship with her second.
Above this scene, Miles stood triumphant over the Spot, grinning down at his living, breathing father and knowing that not only did he defeat his nemesis, but he defied his fate. “It’s over,” he declared, “I win.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Spot gloated. If he had a face, Miles would be sure he was smirking up at him. “I told you I would take everything from you.” He turned under Miles’ scrutinous gaze to face a writhing figure under piles of rocks.
Miles’ blood ran cold. His throat went dry as he rushed to the abandoned street, throwing the large sections of cement across the street. He fell to his knees at the sight of Gwen, white mask drenched a terrifying shade of red. He ripped the mask off her head only to find her complexion severely pale and her breathing laborious.
“No. No, Gwen,” he murmured, tapping her face to keep her awake. His other hand cradled the back of her head, trying to stop the constant flow of blood from the wound there. His voice wavered as he spoke to her and his sight became blurry, overcome with tears that hadn’t quite fallen yet. “Gwen, come on.”
Slowly, her eyes opened, beautiful blue eyes meeting brown, and Miles let out a breath of relief. “Hey,” he chuckled tearfully. “You wanna get up?”
Gwen took in a ragged breath, wincing at the piercing pain in her abdomen. “I-I don’t think I can, Miles.”
“‘Course you can,” Miles insisted, his tears sliding down his cheeks and dotting her- far too pale- face. “We always get up. You- you have to get up, Gwen. Please.”
Gwen took another deep breath, pain be damned, and admired the boy above her, how deeply he cared for her even after everything she did to him, how much he yearned for her presence. “You were right, Miles,” she admitted. “There is gonna be a time where Gwen Stacy f-falls for Spider-Man a-and nothing happens to her-” she was interrupted by a strong bout of coughing, blood coming up to tinge her white teeth, “it’s just not this time.”
“Yes it is,” Miles maintained stubbornly, his hand that wasn’t cradling her bleeding head wrapping around her waist and bringing her closer to him. “This could be the time, Gwen. You just- you just have to hold on a little longer, can you do that for me?”
“Anything… for you,” she spoke far too slowly for Miles’ liking. He ripped off his own mask, ignoring what he was sure was a very surprised gasp from his father, and called over Hobie, who stared blankly down at his friend. “Hey!” Miles called his attention. He nodded at Miguel, “Cut him loose.”
Hobie, for once, had no response. He only ran over to Miguel and freed him before dragging him over to the pair.
“Help her,” Miles begged in front of a man who tried to kill him, who stands for everything he is against. He begged him to save the love of his life. “Please, man, you gotta- just please.”
“Don’t you have doctors in your dimension?” Miguel replied. He was so calm. How was he so calm? Didn’t he see the world was ending right in front of his very eyes?
“They won’t know how to help her and you know it!” Miles yelled up at him. “Come on, man, just take her to the infirmary at HQ. Please, she didn’t do anything to you.”
Miguel didn’t respond for a while. His expression was detached as he looked over Gwen’s mutilated body. “No,” he responded. “I’m going to get this through to you, Miles, and if it has to be like this… then so be it.”
Miles gritted his teeth as he decided to stop trying with Miguel. “Can anyone help us!” he screamed into the street, his voice agonizingly raw. People began to pour out of their hiding spaces, all of them shocked to see Spider-Man, unmasked, asking for their help. “Is anyone a doctor? My… my- she needs help, please! Someone help her!”
“Hey,” he heard a weak, wheezing voice call from under him. “Stop it.”
“No, no. I have to get you help- Please, someone!” Her breath shuddered under his hand, each breath shorter than the last.
“I don’t want this to be the l-last way I see you, Miles.” She was so quiet it was hard to hear her over the confused rumbling of the people around them. “Please, just stop. Look at me.” Her hand rose to his cheek slowly, and she grimaced at the movement. “I’m so sorry. I- I never should’ve-” She coughed again, and Miles felt his entire world falling in on itself, “I should have told you the truth. I sh-should have let you h-hold my hand on top of the bank. I’m so s-sorry, Miles.”
“I forgive you, Gwen just-”
“No, don’t just say that.” Gwen interjected, and it was the strongest he’d heard her sound since he found her. “You have to really forgive me. Not just because I’m dying.”
“Don’t say that. You’ll be fine,” Miles repeated, cradling her body closer to his own. At this point, he was just trying to convince himself, Gwen didn’t seem to be affected by his affirmations. Especially now, she didn’t have his strength. She didn’t have it in her to battle to change the way the story always went for her. All she could do was stare up and cherish Miles, in all his fortitude, and silently apologize for not being able to stay with him any longer.
“N-no, I won’t be,” she responded, her hand on his cheek was shaking from exertion, so he removed his hand from around her waist and took that hand in his instead. “But it’s ok-kay, you know? I got to know you.”
“And I got to know you,” Miles replied, pressing a kiss to her palm. “Don’t go,” he begged, sobbing as he watched Gwen’s eyes flutter closed and then snap open, trying to keep herself awake for him. “Please stay with me.”
Her response was three words. Three words he had longed to hear from her for months. Three words he never thought she would say, not to him. “I love you.” Then, the hand on his face fell limp into his own, the blue eyes usually so filled with passion looking up at him glazed over, and Miguel’s watch beeped next to his head. ‘Canon Event Successful.’
