Oh this was awkward. Why was this so awkward? Who: Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker and Pansy Malfoy When: During Oliver’s pancake supper Where: Wood Estate What: Random Encounter Rating: Low Status: Complete!
Gwen was separated from Tara and John for a few minutes, getting up to get another pancake. She snaked her way through the crowd back toward the table with all the food on it, thinking it would have been easier just to steal some off of Tara’s plate. It wasn’t as if the other woman was going to eat everything she took, anyway.
Gwen stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Peter there. Standing with a brunette girl. They were holding hands.
Though the feelings she’d had for Peter had changed, were less strong, and had been forgotten about for a long time, something bubbled up within her at the sight of him with some other girl. She felt something akin to a block of ice in her belly.
Peter was letting Pansy have her fun at the food table, but he wasn’t getting too much himself; he was ignoring what appetite he had because he just didn’t really have much of one with all that had been going on in his head recently. He smirked though, towards her, with his hand in Pansy’s.
“I’ll just have bacon--does that make me a fatty? I think all my bacon intake is going to my butt, is it? It is, isn’t it? My god, I don’t think I can keep you,” he laughed before turning from the table a moment and blinking when he saw Gwen. Pansy might feel the slightest tension in his hand as he seemed to go cold a moment.
He cleared his throat then, and smiled towards her, “Oh, uh... hi Gwen....”
Gwen?? Pansy turned around so sharply she almost lost the food on her plate. Gwen. The almost-fiance. The almost-fiance who was now working side-by-side with Peter for eight hours a day, five days each week. Pansy had told Peter she wasn’t bothered by it, but truth was, how could she not be? It was intimidating, to say the last. Peter’s past coming back to haunt him. She put on a smile that was very forced, very fake. Peter hadn’t mentioned how thin and pretty the blonde girl was. Pansy kinda wanted to scratch her eyes out.
“Hi, Pete.” Gwen said, taking a step over. She shifted her weight from one hip to the other, nervously, then cleared her throat and glanced over her shoulder. “I’m just here with some friends.” ...right. Of course you did. Like they need to know that. She wasn’t sure why being around Peter was so... awkward.
“Right. Um, I’m Gwen Stacy,” she said, reaching a hand forward to shake one of Pansy’s. “I work with Peter at Stark Industries.”
Pansy reached forward a hand and shook Gwen’s quickly, then released it. “Oh, yeah, Peter’s told me all about it.”
Oh this was awkward. Why was this so awkward. Better yet, why was this happening? Peter Parker was the kind of guy who had a tough time getting a girlfriend; he should never have to worry about an ex and a current girlfriend running into each other, with him there, at the same fucking damn pancake breakfast thing that he hadn’t even planned on attending. This, right here, this was what Kharma was, and at some point, in some other life, he killed like thirty puppies. It was pretty obvious.
He kept that nervous smile on between the two as they shook hands and he nodded at Gwen’s comment, “Oh, right, of course... friends. That’s uh... that’s cool. Oh! My manners, sorry. Pansy, this is Gwen; Gwen, this is my girlfriend Pansy.”
He swallowed and rubbed at the back of his head, and suddenly really wished he’d grabbed something to drink right about then. He glanced between the two and smiled as if he was at a loss of what to say in this situation.
“Right.” Gwen had friends. She did. Apart from Peter. She had her roommate and his--and her-- whatever Tara was. Her friend. Good friend. Fake-sister friend. And they were here, so... she should probably be getting back to them? Soon-ish? “Well, it’s really nice to meet you, Pansy.” She said, feeling a pang of jealousy swish through her. It was completely unexpected.
“Yeah, you, too.” Pansy lied. She didn’t want to see the pretty blonde girl. Actually, she could have gone her whole life without meeting Gwen, and she wouldn’t have suffered at all for it. At least now she had a pretty face to put with the pretty name. The girl with two first names. It made Pansy a little sick. She unconciously shifted closer to Peter.
“So... I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” Gwen said to Peter, then stood for another awkward moment before turning to wander off back toward John and Tara, feeling really, really awkward and having forgotten why she’d left them in the first place.
He blinked between the two and felt like he’d pass out at any moment now; oh these two did not like each other, he could tell, and he had a feeling that they might have liked each other if not for him. That was a bit of an odd feeling, and something he didn’t like; well, he didn’t like the idea of making them dislike each other, but he did like the idea of two girls fighting over him. He rolled his own eyes at that, and nearly hit himself but decided against it. Instead he felt Pansy push in closer, and then smirked towards Gwen with a nod.
“Yea, definitely. I’ll uhm, I’ll see you tomorrow. Yay for work,” he then dropped his head when she turned to leave, and looked towards Pansy, “That was a first for me... and incredibly awkward. Sorry about that, didn’t really want to force you to meet my past.”
He leaned in to kiss her with a smile, before raising a brow, “But that was Gwen.”
Gwen was walking away now and Pansy was scowling a little bit as she watched the other girl go. When Peter leaned in to kiss her, Pansy turned her face so he caught her cheek. “That was Gwen.” She said, and turned to look into his eyes.
“You never mentioned she’s a supermodel.” Okay, overstatement. Gwen wasn’t tall enough to be one of those. But Pansy didn’t like how pretty she was. Or put together. She was quite a bit thinner than Pansy was, and Pansy hated that about her, too.
He blinked and actually glared back at her, “Don’t you even dare start comparing. First of all, I find you to be sexier, so there’s no comparison; further, you slept with Fabio’s twin brother who, oh, happens to be smarter than me, and you want to act this way about my ex?” He sighed, this is why he didn’t want to tell her, but was why he did tell her; in order to hopefully avoid this sort of thing.
He took her hands and turned her to face him, “She’s cute, yes I’ll admit it. But she’s hardly a supermodel. As far as I’m concerned, you’re far prettier, far sexier, and far hotter. Don’t start getting jealous of someone I haven’t seen in over a year, and have absolutely no interest in ever getting back with.”
“Hey, I was never in love with Fabio’s twin brother,” Pansy said, pointedly. The bit where he’d said he was going to ask Gwen to marry him? Yeah, that stuck. Pansy had never been in love before. She had nothing to compare it to. Her assumption was that Peter had felt about Gwen the way she felt about him. And that was absolutely terrifying. “And I didn’t live with him, or … you know. All of that. AND,” she added, lifting a finger to poke into his chest. “I’m not spending eight hours a day, five days a week with him working.”
He stared back at her and shook his head, “Fine, and yes I loved Gwen, but that’s past tense. Loved. She obviously didn’t feel the same way because she took off, and that kind of hurt me enough that I don’t feel the same way about her as I used to, so that’s that. You have nothing to worry about, at all, not even the slightest. I love you now, and unless you have intentions of leaving for the east coast in the next year or so, I don’t think we have anything to worry about do you?”
He then raised a brow, then shrugged, “We work in the same building, on the same floor; however, I have my own lab, as do some of the other top brass on the floor. So I don’t work side by side with her, I’ll see her in passing at best; and then maybe a few times if she needs something from my lab that she doesn’t have, but she should likely have most of everything so I’ll see her in passing at best.”
He grinned and leaned his forehead against hers, “I’ll see more of you from pix and text messages then I’ll even be aware of her. So you have nothing to worry about.”
“Pssh.” Pansy said, letting her forehead rest against his. Her eyes fell closed. She really wanted to be more angry about it, but he was making it incredibly difficult. A defeated sigh escaped her and she lifted her arms to wrap up and around him, then she stole a quick kiss from his lips.
“Why does she have to be so pretty?” She asked, whining only slightly. “I was hoping she’d be buck-toothed and with frizzy hair, or something.” She subconsciously hoped that Gwen would look like Hermione Granger from her dreams.
“Pssh, yourself,” he offered with a grin, before kissing her back softly and then raising a brow, “She’s just another blonde girl in California, right? Stop worrying about how pretty she is, and worry about the fact that I want to take you home and rip these clothes off of you right now.” He laughed jokingly of course, even though that was usually the case--he did want to--but really right now he was also trying to make her feel better.
He raised a brow, “If you really want to get at her, then you can make her jealous and make out with me,” he winked with a chuckle, before giving her rear a firm little pinch.
Pansy gave a laugh. “If I want to make her exceedingly jealous, I can let you rip these clothes off of me right here, right now.” She teased, going up on her toes to tap a kiss against his lips. It was a brief one, gentle and timid. Then she pulled back and looked up into his eyes.
“I’ve lost my appetite for pancakes. Take me home, would you?”
“You know, I don’t know how much the other patrons would appreciate that little scene, so yea it’s probably best we go home,” he grinned then raised a brow, “But you were super excited for pancakes--you sure you don’t want to stick around for some? You really shouldn’t let Gwen being here bother you that much, you know.”
He kissed her again softly, before patting her lightly on the back, and then stepping back, “But if you want, we can get out of here.”
“We can go home and have Eggo Waffles.” Pansy said, wrapping her arm down and around his waist. She stuck her hand into the back pocket of his pants and cuddled close in against him. “That’s just as good. Or we could grab a plate to go.” Though, she really didn’t want to stick around.
She wouldn’t say it out loud, but Gwen’s appearance did bother her. A lot. More than she was willing to admit. Actually, she’d try to deny it until she was blue in the face.
“Nope, we’ll swing by IHOP and get you some pancakes there, and then we can take you home. You wanted pancakes, you’re getting pancakes. I’d offer to griddle you some, but I’d likely burn down your house and that’s probably not a very good boyfriend thing to do,” he grinned and leaned in to kiss her softly, then smirked before leading her away. “In fact, go home, since we both came separately. I’ll swing by IHOP, get it to go, and meet you back there.”
He gave her arse a little slap, and winked, “And I’m going to make sure you forget all about these last ten minutes and remember just how much I love you.”
Pansy chuckled softly. “Think Draco might frown on you burning the place down, too.” She said, then returned his gentle kiss. He really was a perfect boyfriend. She couldn’t have asked for anyone better.
“Okay.” She turned to go, and gave a little laugh to the slap to her backside. “Promises Promises.” She said, giving him a grin over her shoulder, then took off toward her car. Hopefully the night would get less awkward, more sexy.