Re: [Capital: Gwen & Flash]
Gwen hadn't considered the amount of time MJ and Jason spent together. She assumed it was a substantial amount of time, but she understood that was only assumption on her part. With Flash away most of the month, Gwen had spent the majority of her time in the lab. She alternated between working on her suit and honing in the abilities that she was totally willing to accept were abilities now, and working on her rift project. She spent a lot of time in the lockdown area beneath the Facility, where a huge portal was carved into the stone edifice. Gwen knew that portal led to her "other" Repose, and it was her main project for AEGIS. She did a lot of other little stuff (as needed), but her main focus was trying to figure out how and why that place existed, and trying to determine what the thing living inside it was. She'd been inside so many times that the dark version of Repose was as familiar as the real one, and she knew it was a bad idea to hide herself away in science to the point of losing touch with reality. But she wasn't super skilled at dealing with her own sadness, and ignoring it was easier.
See, she was absolutely positive that Flash wanted to terminate their relationship, but that he didn't know how to do it. She'd expected him to grab the opportunity she presented him with the blunt query about it, but that hadn't worked out how she expected, and she reasoned that he probably didn't want to hurt her. He was already so sure that he hurt everyone around him, so it was a logical conclusion, and she was trying to figure out how to make him understand that she valued his friendship too much to risk losing it because he no longer desired her in a romantic way. She was pretty sure she could hide her sadness effectively (if it was required of her).
She was totally going to prove that on this mission. That was her determination as she watched the big bike pull up, and she kind of knew she stared at the boy driving it for too long. She tried not to look super heartsick (which was a new phrase that she kind of liked a lot), and she smiled when he handed her the helmet. "Purple is totally my color," she told him, slipping the helmet on and adjusting the strap. "I think we can be trusted not to fuck around too much. I'll make sure to keep us honest, Flash Madison." She hopped onto the bike like she'd ridden one a bunch of times before, and it was a reflex memory belonging to a dead girl that had ridden Jason's bike too many times to count. She slipped her arms around Flash's waist, and she tried to be not obvious about breathing in the scent of his jacket. Reaper, she realized. "Hey, Reaper," she greeted. "I think it would be acceptable to go super fast, since we're on a mission," she suggested, because she thought the speed might make all of them feel better. At present, defying gravity seemed like a totally logical suggestion.