Re: Marvel hospital: Gwen & Peter
"You might not be wrong in that assumption. Might not," he emphasized, and that was about as much as he'd concede to. In his own way Peter could be stubborn, too, and he didn't want Gwen worrying about how much he did or didn't blame himself. He'd been doing it for a while. He could shoulder that burden. Thinking of Flash and his selflessness just made him sad, because it led to thoughts of how he'd react when he woke up. But he just shrugged when she said he took on too much, flushing a little when she gave him that soft look. Better him than other people right?
To keep from going totally red, full-out blushing, he tried to focus on the ridiculousness of Gwen thinking she was frigid instead of, you know, sex. "Everyone? Who's everyone?" Mary Jane, Harry, Jason; that was only three people. "So you can't sleep with whoever. Why does that matter? Other people do their thing, and you do yours. You don't have to sleep around to be fun." He flushed a little bit more, unthinkingly dropping his gaze back down to his knees. "Besides, I don't have much of a sexual history either." Which he'd never really minded... well, maybe he had, kind of, in high school. But with time it'd just stopped mattering, and he'd stopped thinking about it. Luckily, he had a lot of other things to think about instead.
"I did believe it," he agreed, half-relieved that she knew that. But wait, no, she still thought kissing MJ had been some kind of revelation; maybe it had been, but not like Gwen thought. Working through what'd happened wasn't easy, and Peter had thought about it a lot, but as much as he cared about the redhead, he didn't have those feelings for her. He probably could, the potential was there (all that kissing proved as much) but he didn't. And then he felt guilty, because what if MJ thought he did? "It wasn't the start of something, Gwen. That's just it. I didn't think anything would happen because I didn't think I was interested in her like that, and then something did happen, but I'm still not... it made me realize... I can't be with her. Like that." He didn't want to lose her as a friend. He really, really didn't want that, and he so, so hoped that he and MJ could get past it. This. But that was a totally different conversation; not this one. "I care about her. I mean, I've known her since we were kids. But I don't have feelings for her, not the way you think." Peter almost, almost, brought up Jason as a comparison, but he changed his mind. Yeah, no. Not when he wasn't 100% sure how she'd felt about the guy. "I don't want you to be that either," he said, and oh, god, he couldn't handle girls crying. Especially her crying. "You deserve better. You do. I don't-- I don't want it to be hard." He was going toward helpless territory here, not knowing what to say, but knowing he didn't want to make things worse. "I wouldn't do that to you."
She scooted closer, then, and her hand covered his, and Peter looked down for a second before looking back up. Keeping her alive was something he needed to do, something he wanted to do. He wanted to get it right this time. "I can't just let you die. I can't just... not make sure you're okay." He smiled, a little shaky, and shook his head when she said she didn't want to make things harder with MJ. "You're not. It's not like-- you're keeping me from moving on. I don't want to move on." When she squeezed his fingers, he squeezed them right back. "So do I. I love you, and I want you to be happy too, whatever that is. I don't want to be the guy who makes you miserable."