Who: Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy What: Random Run-In When: Mid-July Where: The street outside a pizza shop Ratings/Warnings: Low/none Status: Complete
Peter knew he should probably get out more, especially now that he had relocated across the country and had a whole new city to try to get to know, but it was hard. He was busy with… stuff. Like… getting ready for the new job. And… other things. Anyway, Netflix had a lot of great documentaries to watch, and how was he ever going to watch them all if he was always out doing things?
Besides, it wasn’t like he never went out. He was out right now, hanging outside of the tiny pizza shop down the street from his apartment as they made his pizza. He had the feeling that he was going to get to know this particular part of the city pretty well.
Orange County was not built for a webslinger. Sure, there were plenty of places one could swing around and Gwen enjoyed webbing up Stark Tower, but there was a reason she was getting off a bus instead of being above the streets like she might have been, in New York.
With her music blaring loud enough to be heard even outside her earphones and her hair down, she almost didn’t notice the man she passed by until a buzz ran up her spine. She jerked her head around, expecting danger and instead found herself staring at … a familiar man.
Sure, he was a bit pudgier than she remembered and there were more lines on his face and honestly he looked like a mess but it was unmistakably Peter Parker.
She had met like, six of him, including one that she’d felt a particular, empathetic draw to. Despite that, she was still shocked into staring at seeing one of him here, in Orange County, in the waking world.
It took Peter a while to notice that someone was staring at him, and then, all the sudden, he was uncomfortably aware of the fact that some girl’s eyes were on him. Why was she staring at him like that? Did he have something on his face? Had he spilled something on his shirt? He ran a hand down the scruff on his chin, wondering if he got it all, and looked down at his shirt to make sure he hadn’t spilled anything on himself, and then turned to the girl.
“Uh, can I help you?” he asked.
“Uhm,” Gwen answered, intelligently. She coughed to cover her embarrassment, running her hand through her blonde hair. “Sorry you just kind of reminded me of someone…”
Which didn’t sound as creepy as ‘you’re my fridged love interest’ so hey, bonus points right?
Peter… really wasn’t sure what to think about this entire interaction so far. Californians were weird. If this girl wasn’t way more than a decade younger than him, he would have thought that this was a terrible attempt at a pick-up line, along the lines of ‘haven’t I seen you before?’ and ‘come here often?’
“Well, he sounds like a fantastic fellow,” Peter said, self-aggrandizingly . “Lucky you.”
“Yeah, he was.” Gwen hadn’t meant to emphasize the was so heavily, but it had spilled out. She was still a little angry and bitter and dreaming about meeting other Peter Parkers was only really digging at the scab.
She gestured vaguely at his… all of him. “You could almost be related to him, if I didn’t know any better.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Peter said, wondering if his previous comment had been a little uncalled for. At least he hadn’t insulted the guy, but this girl didn’t seem entirely happy. He knew what it was like to lose people, and he wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
The door to the pizza shop opened, and a man wearing an apron and a hairnet stuck his head out. “Peter? Here’s your pizza,” he said, handing the extra large box in his hands to Peter.
Peter took it with a muttered thanks, and then turned to the girl. “You uh, want a slice?” he asked. It seemed like the least he could do.
Gwen folded her arms across her chest, eyeing the pizza dubiously. It was a sad excuse for a New York Pizza, but she had to admit it was at least trying. And if it meant a few minutes to talk to Not Peter, then she could handle a wannabe pizza. “Sure. I’m. Uh, I’m Gwen. Gwen Stacey.”
“Peter Parker. Nice to meet you, Gwen,” Peter said, walking across the street to sit on the bench there. He sat at the edge, and opened the pizza box up next to him so Gwen could sit on the other side. Then, he stared at it sadly. It really was a sad excuse for a New York pizza, though he’d asked for extra large slices and they’d complied, though the crust was still too thick. He picked up a piece, gooey cheese stretching until finally it snapped, and attempted, and failed, to fold it in half, before taking a hefty bite of it.
Sneaking around to one side, Gwen reached in and stole her slice. At least while chewing she couldn’t put her foot in her mouth, but he’d said it. Peter Parker. Peter Fucking Parker.
The confirmation made her stomach twist into knots. He wasn’t her Peter, he wasn’t even the Peter she’d meat galavanting around the multiverse. She didn’t know what to think.
Or how to warn him what was coming for him.
“Thanks…”
Peter watched her take a bite of the pizza, wondering if this was just how she was or if there was something about him, personally, that seemed to be upsetting her. How much of a resemblance did he have to her friend who she’d lost? “No need to thank me,” Peter said, and then joked, “You owe me $3 for the pizza, by the way.”
Gwen nearly choked on her pizza, giving him a mock glare. “3 dollars? For that amount I could just swing back up to New York and get a slice that’s worth it.”
Still, the joke relaxed her. “Just leading me into a web like that…”
Not that he’d get the spider jokes.
Not yet anyway.
“A guy’s got to pay rent somehow,” Peter said loftily, though the statement was probably closer to the truth than he wanted it to be. Peter’d had money problems before the divorce - in fact, Peter’s dicey investment decisions had been the straw that had broke his marriage’s back - and the cross-country move. “Even if rent prices here have nothing on Brooklyn. You’re from New York?”
“Yep, Manhattan originally.” She took the next few bites a little more normally, afraid of another potential choking incident. “Though I guess if you’re looking for cheaper rent California isn’t too much better.”
She’d lucked out at least, rooming with Katou in his house. Cheap rent and, well, an entire house to chill out in. Not everyone was that lucky.
“Ah, Manhattan, the centre of the universe,” Peter said, a bit of a teasing tone in his voice. There really wasn’t much to say about the cheapness of rent of California. It was a little bit more affordable, but not by much. Especially since now he was living on one income instead of two, like he had been back home. “How’ve you been liking the change?”
“Honestly? Both.” Gwen licked her fingers clean, casually hopping up to crouchperch on her tiptoes on the back of a bench. “There’s a about this area that’s pretty good? Some really nice people, I like the school. But I miss more than the pizza back in New York. Some really nice people, even if I wanted to strangle Em-Jay sometimes.”
Peter glanced at Gwen, eyebrows furrowed, as she perched on the back of the bench. It was a … strange position to take, to say the least, and it didn’t seem entirely comfortable, but he had to admit that he was impressed with her balance. She hadn’t wobbled at all when she’d hopped up there.
He balked a little at the mention of Em-Jay, or, as he heard it, MJ. He had been about to ask how Gwen had known her, and then realized that, well, it was more likely that it was a different MJ. New York was a big place. It was probably crawling with people named MJ. “There’s a lot to miss,” he agreed. “What brought you out here?”
It had been second nature, and another life of acrobatics and her ballet training certainly helped with her balance. There was also the matter of being really stick when she wanted to be.
“Needing new scenery, and a bit of a falling out with my old band. The ones I miss and also want to strangle. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, I do,” Peter said, heavily. Maybe Peter had never actually been in a band, but marriage was kind of like a band and his had fallen apart pretty spectacularly. “But hey, that’s what moving a couple thousand miles across country is for, right? New beginnings and all that.”
“New beginnings,” Gwen agreed, even if she felt like she’d also found an old ghost unexpectedly haunting her and still didn’t know how to feel about it. Would he remember her? Would she encounter an older Peter on her journey through the multiverse? Well, older than the one she’d already met.
“And hopefully no more band breakups.” She hopped back down and gave him a once over. “Play any instruments?”
“I played the trumpet in high school band in my freshman year,” Peter answered, though he had the feeling that that wasn’t what Gwen had had in mind. For one, he was pretty sure he couldn’t still play the instrument that he’d played poorly for one year almost twenty years ago. “Let me guess, you’re in a band?” She definitely had the look of someone who would be in a band.
“Drummer,” Gwen said proudly. “And used to be. Trying to start up another one. Not super picky at the moment.”
She blinked. “No offense.”
Peter snorted. “You must be desperate if you’re asking your friendly neighbourhood pizza guy.” Especially one that was so much older than her. He must have really reminded her of the friend that she had lost. “I hope you find someone soon.”
“Yeah, I admit I’m really desperate,” Gwen said, glancing around like she was looking for something. “Thanks for the pizza. I’ll…”
She gestured vaguely. “I’ve got a thing.”
“Well, you’d better go do that then,” Peter said, not really sure what to make of that excuse. She probably did have a thing though. People didn’t just walk around at night for no reason. Well, maybe they did here in California. Who knew, people were weird here. “Just don’t forget that three dollars you owe me,” he added.