“Oh jeez--” He holds her up effortlessly, and he pouts, but spins on his heel and carries her away from the creature. “That spider was tiny and harmless though! I could have just gotten rid of it.”
“Oh come on Gwen my cousin came out all this way just to see you.” After a moment of laughter he swooped it up. “Okay fine! No family reunion. How far outside do you want me to take him?”
★ five times my muse thought yours looked breath-taking, and the one time they voice it. ☁ five times my muse has thought about yours, and the one time they do something about it.
@intclligent
1.
He isn’t sure when he started realizing it, but one day he sees her hair shining under the fluorescent lighting of their science class and realizes that she’s pretty. She’s gorgeous, and wow, he really wants to tell her so. He wonders how fast his heart would start to beat if she smiled at him, then wonders what her smile is like up close. He personally thinks that her smile could make flowers grow, honestly.
But she doesn’t know him, and he doesn’t know her. He only knows her name and her face, and doubts that she even knows him at all. He’s not the kind of guy that attracts much positive attention, after all, what would she want with him?
He doesn’t tell her. He doesn’t think he ever will.
2.
He speaks to her for the first time in the middle of freshman year, and he swears that his heart nearly imploded inside of his ribcage. They’re paired for a dissection in science class together, and he’s unbelievably excited but afraid of receiving a partner who may become squeamish and force him to do all the work. But no, he’s blessed with receiving the smartest person in their grade, and she asks him if she can start cutting first.
She then asks,“You’re Peter, right?”
He nearly dies on the spot, but he manages to answer in a relatively calm fashion. “Yeah, yeah, that’s me. And you’re Gwen?”
She nods and she smiles at him, and god, seeing it up close is amazing. He thinks she’s really gorgeous.
He doesn’t tell her. He doesn’t think he ever will.
3.
By the beginning of sophomore year, they’re good friends. She’s smart as a whip and she’s sassy as hell, and he loves that about her. She doesn’t take his nonsense, and doesn’t take nonsense from anyone else either, and she reminds him a little of his aunt in how strong she is.
One day, Flash has him pinned up against a row of lockers when she enters the crowded hallway and sees the display. Without a moment’s hesitation, she shoves Flash’s hands away and shoves herself in between them, and shoos the guy away without a problem. Peter’s never had the strength to do such a thing before.
She turns to him, smiles, and asks him if he’s alright.
She’s more than pretty to him. She’s such a strong person and he wants to be like her one day, wants to be able to stand up for himself in the way she did for him. He wants to stand up for others who can’t help themselves. She’s smart and kind and such a good friend.
He doesn’t tell her. He’s too scared to see how she might react.
4.
He’s bitten by a radioactive spider and Uncle Ben is dead, and suddenly he has no idea what to do. He has no living father-figures left, his aunt has to work harder to provide for the two of them, the guilt of Ben’s death is weighing him down and keeping him awake, and these powers he now has are terrifying.
On the fourth day of missing school after Ben’s death, Gwen comes to visit him and May. She hugs his aunt tightly, whispers her condolences, and then goes to Peter’s room. He’s curled up under the covers, hasn’t even changed in the last three days, has only showered once, but she doesn’t seem to right now. She places her laptop on the bed, opens Netflix, and Arrested Development starts playing. She slips under the covers next to him and coaxes him into leaning against her, with his head on her shoulder, and they watch the show until it’s dark outside and her dad calls to tell her to come home.
The show draws enough breathless chuckles out of him that it’s improved his mood a lot, and he musters the energy to walk her to his door. She smiles at him, hugs him, tells him that’s it okay to grieve. She’s beautiful, she’s amazing, she’s one of the best friends he’s ever had –
He doesn’t tell her. He hates himself for it.
5.
Creating Spider-Man hadn’t been intentional, but when it happened, he knew that there was no going back. When he hadn’t done anything to stop the robber who would eventually kill Ben, he vowed that he would never make that mistake again when he had the ability to do something.
A pileup of crashed cars was skidding down the street when Gwen was crossing. Fear spiked in his gut, seeing her unable to get to safety in time, and he raced across the sky to get her out of the way. He can’t lose her, he can’t loser her --
He swings down and snatches her off the ground just in time, holding her tight around the waist to keep her close to him. She shrieks, she holds tight to him with all her might, and the terror was evident on her face, the realization that she almost died right there on the street. His heart aches for her.
When the coast is clear, he swings down and places her on the sidewalk. He goes to leave, to stop the pileup from skidding further down the street, when she grips his shoulder and pulls him back. She thanks him, and though she’s shaking and possibly in shock, her smile is still one of the most beautiful things he’s seen. He wants to rip his homemade mask off his face and hug her and tell her how glad he is that she’s okay.
He doesn’t tell her. He suddenly fears that he might miss his chance.
+1.
Leipzig had been an absolute mess, but the new suit and web-shooters were infinitely more helpful to his work than his old ones had been. He’s incredibly thankful for the things Mr. Stark had done for him, despite barely knowing him. What he isn’t thankful for, is the swollen black eye that he received via vibranium shield.
He’s still holding ice to his face when Gwen walks in, looking thoroughly unimpressed with his current state. But he has Ben & Jerry’s and she has her laptop so they can watch the new season of Orange is the New Black together, so it eventually fades and they sit on his bed and watch the show, occasionally eating out of each others’ ice cream. A couple times, they nearly spew ice cream on each other from laughter, and dribble the stuff on their faces when they can’t control themselves.
He looks at her as she wipes ice cream from the corner of her mouth, from when a particularly loud snort from him had sent her into a laughing fit. Her hair is spilling out of her bun, her clothes are wrinkled from sitting on his bed for so long, and god, she’s still so breath-taking even when she isn’t even trying.
“You’re really beautiful, you know that?” He asks, fingers tracing the edge of his spoon.
