Gwen Stacy (chocolate_house) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-03-01 10:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, gwen stacy (ghost spider), peter parker (spider-man) |
Who: Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy
When: After these texts
Where: Peter’s Place
What: Suit Viewing
Rating/Warning: Low/None (TBD? - talk of her death?)
Status: Complete
Gwen grabbed her phone, keys and purse, and headed out the door. Peter was dreaming about her now, and she’d never met anyone she shared dreams with. This made her feel… a little nervous, considering her relationship with him in their shared dreams, but also made her feel like she was finally a part of the… thing. Part of the community, maybe. Now she was a part of it. She was not only experiencing the weird Dreams, but she SHARED them.
She drove like a bullet, and nearly sprinted to his door. There were conflicted feelings there, sure, but the feeling was more important. The feeling that she was part of it. The final reassurance that she wasn’t going crazy, that someone else there knew what she was talking about.
Peter had certainly dreamed about Gwen, and some of them had been pretty fun and hot, right up until the Green Goblin had discovered his identity. It had put her in danger and he didn’t know what to do about that. Had she dreamed about it already? She knew he was Spider-man. She definitely dreamed.
Most of the ash had been cleaned up, as if by magic, and Peter opened the door to clear skies. His costume hadn’t actually been in his closet - it was hanging in his shower after a cleaning - and he had a shiner over his eye. “Hey.”
Gwen raised both eyebrows at the sight of his face. What excitement she may have been feeling, and joy upon seeing him, faded instantly to concern. “Hey,” she said, staring at his eye. “...are you all right?” Her hand reached up as if to touch his face, but she stopped herself. That wasn’t her place.
“There was this...weird stuff going on outside. With the ash. And these things right out of the Lord of the Rings.” He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly and stopping himself as he leaned towards her hand. That was bad. “I couldn’t sit there and do nothing. So the costume is kind of a little wet because it’s drying.”
“So, you… you went out and fought? Those things?” Gwen asked. She’d actually seen them from the fifth floor window at Stark where she was hiding out during the Volcano Incident. “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked, forcing her hand back down to her side.
“Just a shiner, I got worse from the jocks in high school.” He moved to guide her further inside, then gestured awkwardly like ‘uh, this way.’ “I wasn’t making any headway with how to stop the volcano and I was starting to feel a little useless. Then the costume and shooters showed up like from on high.”
“You were working with Tony Stark? Or did he ditch you for that secret project that he’s doing with Mr. Jarvis?” Gwen asked, following him further into the apartment.
"He ditched me for something but you don't question the big man. Most of the time. I think he likes getting questioned but you gotta know when to do it." He closed the door and led her through the apartment. The webshooters were resting on his coffee table. "The costumes in the tub."
Gwen nodded. She had bits and pieces of what Stark and Jarvis were working on, but it didn’t seem to fit together. Didn’t make much sense. In any case, she knew that Peter could do a lot of good to help, even if he didn’t always get the breaks that he needed. “He sure likes to surround himself with geniuses, doesn’t he?” She said. Peter was back, Merlin was coming back, he had Chuck and Carlos and Jane… Jarvis and Pepper were a given.
“Are you… um. I mean… are you going to be him? Spider-Man? Here?” She asked, following him to the bathroom.
“Seems like it. That’s pretty smart too though,” Peter replied. He rubbed at his arm and stared at the suit. “I think I should. Like I tried to stuff it under the mattress and I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“Yeah.” Gwen paused when they reached the bathroom and stepped inside to look at the suit. She stepped onto the mat in front of his shower and reached one hand over to touch the red and blue…
“It’s just like I remember it.” She said, smiling softly. Fondly, even. She remembered him saving her in that suit. She remembered swinging around New York on his webs, his strong arms around her. Kissing on rooftops. Damn. Seeing the suit brought back far more memories than she thought it would.
“Yeah, my dreams are weird…” Fucking Osborn. He didn’t know what happened after Gwen fell. He didn’t know what he’d do. Between getting his uncle killed and Gwen, he was doing SO WONDERFUL. No really.
“Yours and mine both.” Gwen said. “...there was… God, where do I even start?” She asked, turning around to face him. ...maybe not the best conversation to be having in his bathroom.
“How about the fact that your boyfriend in these dreams got bitten by a spider, and instead of dying got superpowers?” He was still trying to wrap his head around how that all even worked. It shouldn’t be possible!
“Well… he wasn’t my boyfriend when all of that happened,” Gwen said. She moved to leave the bathroom, and realized she’d have to squish past him to get out. She paused, standing next to the sink. “...I mean… you weren’t?”
“Well I wasn’t when I got bit,” He admitted, stepping aside. “Guess I tried to have it all. Guess I probably shouldn’t have tried.” He looked morose. “They’re just dreams. Right.”
“Uh… I don’t know. I guess so.” Gwen said, shrugging her shoulders. She slipped past him into the hall. “...They feel like a lot more than just dreams.”
He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, “Yeah, I guess.” Except when he pulled his hand away, he couldn’t let go of her shirt. He stared dumbly at the shirt stuck to his hand then at the fact it wasn’t on Gwen any more.
Gwen turned to look, and then realized he’d ripped her shirt completely off. She lifted both arms to wrap around herself, covering her chest from his view--though, of course, he’d seen it all before. “... Peter!”
“I’m so sorry!” He covered his eyes with one hand while trying to shake her shirt off. He managed to succeed. “You don’t want to see what I did in the bedroom.”
A beat.
“NOTHING LIKE THAT!”
Gwen grabbed the shirt off the floor once it was off of his hand and held it up against her chest. “Jesus, Peter!” She scolded. Though her shirt was ruined now. There was no getting it back on. “This is… wow. I had no idea you… what on Earth?” She said, going rather red.
“Uh…” he looked down at his fingers. “I guess…” He leaned against the wall, then tried to move and got stuck. “Oh shit.” He tried to shake his hand free. “Think unsticky thoughts…!”
“This is just…” she pulled the thing on over her head and slipped her arms through. One shoulder was torn through to the arm, and the thing was falling off of her side, but at least her bra was covered. Mostly. She used her hands to pin the rest of the shirt in place. “Seriously?? Unsticky thoughts?”
He pulled again, taking the wallpaper and part of the wood with his hand. He stared at it in dismay. “There goes my security deposit.”
Gwen rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Oh my god, Peter.” She said, and turned to head back toward the front door. “... I shouldn’t have come over here. This was a mistake.”
“What? I’m sorry!” He hid his hand behind his back, mentally punching himself in the head. “Don’t go, Gwen. Please. Please.” Way to sound pathetic, Parker.
Gwen turned around to face him, still holding her shirt on with both hands. “...I’ve got a boyfriend, Peter. And he’s not going to like that I came over here and you ripped my shirt off. God, that sounds so much worse than what actually happened.” And she was angry with herself for having these strange feelings, and… she really had no idea what to do.
"Oh." His shoulders dropped and he let out a sigh. "It was an accident. I wasn't expecting anything or anything! I just wanted to ... talk." The piece of wood attached to his hand dropped suddenly to the floor as if punctuating his words.
“I know. I know.” Gwen said, feeling a bit bad she’d just blurted all of that out. She flattened her hand against her chest, holding the shirt there. “...I wanted to talk, too. I mean… it’s been so long that I’ve been dreaming by myself, and now… finally I have someone to talk to about all of this.”
Peter wondered if he shouldn't have said anything at all but it's too late now. "I don't know how to control this. It's different when there were a bunch of orcs, I don't actually want to hurt anyone. Especially not you."
Gwen felt herself blushing. She didn’t want to be, but she could feel it on her cheeks. A heat she couldn’t control. “...Well, that makes two of us, then.” She said, softly. “...you… the Dreams. I mean, how did they go? You must have dreamed more than I have if you’ve seen me--”
He nodded his head. “Yeah...I guess so. All kinds of weird fights. It’s like I put on a costume and the crazies come out of the wood work.”
“I only know of one. He was my boss. In High School. And um… he turned into a giant reptile.” Gwen closed her eyes. “My father died because of him. He was just… trying to protect me. The city. God, this is so weird. Do you remember any of that?”
“Huh.” That sounded like Doctor Connor. Peter rubbed the back of his neck again, then folded his arms uncomfortably. “Kind of, but not really. I mean I dreamed he got killed while I was fighting this guy called Doctor Octopus. He told me to look after you.”
“I want to hear the story. I want to hear everything.” She said, nodding once. “And I can tell you everything from my Dreams, if you want to hear it, too.”
Gwen could talk about watching mold grow and Peter would listen to her. Why did every girl in his life hurt to look at? After the dreams Gwen hurt extra much, but he was pretty sure Pansy would do the same to him. “Yeah. I think that’s probably… Yeah… you hungry?”
“I could eat.” Gwen said, softly. “I’ll need a new shirt, though.”
“I’ll buy you one, but until then…” Peter disappeared into his room and came out with an old Stanford t-shirt. “You can wear this.”
Gwen stood awkwardly in his apartment for a moment, still holding the shirt against herself. And then she accepted his old, Stanford shirt with a little chuckle. “Did I buy this one for you?” She asked, then turned her back to him and pulled the shirt on over her head.
“Probably.” He stared at her back for a second then looked away, feeling awkward. He hadn’t had a girl in this apartment yet. Gwen didn’t really count, he guessed.
Gwen didn’t really count. She pulled the shirt on, then tugged both arms inside so she could remove her tattered shirt underneath and pull it out through the sleeve. “I take it you’re buying dinner?”
“Yeah. You still like Thai food?” He slipped past her, careful not to touch her, and made his way to the kitchen. This was going to be a long afternoon.