Chapter 35
Gwen didn’t make it far after she ran.
The crisp night air hit her cheeks like a slap, but it wasn’t cold enough to numb the swarm of emotions flooding her chest. She turned a corner and stumbled into a quiet alley behind one of the campus buildings, hands shaking as she braced herself against the wall.
And then she just… broke.
Her knees buckled, and she slid down the brick with a soft sob, burying her face in her hands.
“What is wrong with me?” she whispered between sharp, shuddering breaths. “What the hell was that—why did I do that—?”
Fireworks. That’s what it felt like. Like something out of a dream. Too good. Too much.
And she kissed him. She kissed Spider-Man.
She liked Miles. Miles, not some mysterious masked hero. But her stupid heart didn’t seem to care about any of that.
She was so far into her panic spiral that she didn’t even notice the soft thump of feet landing nearby until a voice gently broke through the silence.
“Hey…”
She looked up with wide, tear-brimmed eyes to see Spider-Man standing a few feet away. He wasn’t smug or teasing. Just… quiet. Gentle.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No,” she mumbled, wiping at her eyes quickly and trying to stand up. “Sorry, I—I shouldn’t have—I don’t know what that was. I just—”
“Hey, Gwen.” His voice cut through her rambling. Calm. Warm. “It’s okay.”
“I kissed you,” she said, voice cracking. “Like really kissed you. And I don’t even know what came over me and I don’t know how to deal with this because I like someone else and—God, this is so embarrassing—”
He stepped forward slowly, crouching a bit so they were eye-level.
“It’s not embarrassing,” he said softly. “I promise. You don’t have to explain anything if you don’t want to.”
“But now it’s going to be weird,” she sniffled. “Everything’s gonna be weird.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he said. “We’re good. Okay? We’re still good.”
She looked at him, brows furrowed.
“You mean that?”
“Yeah.” He stood and held out a gloved hand. “Can I walk you home?”
Gwen hesitated, looking down at her fingers before finally reaching out and taking his hand.
“…Okay.”
They didn’t speak much after that.
The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable—just heavy. Thoughtful. Full of things neither of them knew how to say yet. But she didn’t let go of his hand the whole way back.
By the time they made it back to Gwen’s dorm building, the lights inside were mostly out.
The campus was still, quiet—only the soft buzz of a distant streetlamp and the faint sound of a car humming down a nearby road broke the silence. Gwen stared up at her window on the third floor and groaned softly.
“Oh no…”
“What’s wrong?” Spider-Man asked.
“Dorm curfew was at eleven,” she whispered. “It’s almost two. If the supervisors find me sneaking back in, I’m toast.”
“You snuck out?”
“Technically, no. We went out while no one was watching, so it doesn’t count as sneaking. But sneaking back in? Yeah, very much sneaking.”
Spider-Man tilted his head at her with the kind of amused energy that said, you’re ridiculous in a cute way.
“…I got you,” he said simply.
Before Gwen could protest, he scooped her up bridal-style and shot a web straight up to the roof. She stifled a yelp and clung to his neck.
“You really didn’t have to—”
“Shhh,” he teased. “Stealth mission, remember?”
Once on the roof, he carefully made his way down to Gwen’s window using short web pulls along the wall. It took a few tries to slide the old thing open without making a horrible screech, but eventually, he held it just wide enough for her to squeeze through.
She braced her hands on the windowsill, legs swinging a little.
“Okay, okay, almost—whoa—” Her sneaker knocked into a desk lamp as she tumbled inside. The lamp fell with a soft thud.
“Gwen?” Amaya’s groggy voice mumbled from across the room.
Gwen froze, half-hung over her bed frame like a raccoon caught in a kitchen.
“…Hi?” she said weakly.
Amaya sat up, her hair in a messy bun, eyes squinting. “Am I dreaming?”
Before Gwen could answer, Spider-Man peeked his head through the window.
“Just dropping her off,” he said casually.
Amaya blinked.
“Yep. Definitely dreaming,” she said, then flopped back down on her pillow and immediately fell asleep again.
Gwen turned to Spider-Man and tried not to laugh too loud.
“You’re seriously the worst influence,” she whispered.
He gave her a cheeky two-finger salute. “Guilty.”
And just like that, he was gone—disappearing into the night like it was all some surreal fever dream.
Amaya didn’t stir again until Gwen finished brushing her teeth, changed into her pajamas, and quietly slipped under her blankets. But as soon as Gwen’s head hit the pillow, she heard a slow, dramatic gasp from across the room.
“...Wait. That was Spider-Man.”
Gwen groaned softly, pulling the comforter over her face.
Amaya sat up like she’d been hit with a bolt of lightning. “Gwen Stacy. Was Spider-Man at our window?!”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kiss him?”
Gwen let out an absolutely mortified whimper.
“Oh my god,” Amaya whispered, crawling into Gwen’s bed like a gremlin. “YOU KISSED HIM?!”
“Shhh!”
“You did! I knew it! I knew it when he said ‘just dropping her off’ like he was your boyfriend.”
Gwen hid her entire face in a pillow. “It wasn’t supposed to happen! It just—happened. I don’t even know why. My brain just short-circuited!”
Amaya was absolutely beaming. “Was it good?”
“…It was like fireworks,” Gwen mumbled. “It was amazing. Like, too amazing. Like I dreamed it.”
Amaya gasped louder.
“Did you use tongue?!”
Gwen looked her dead in the eyes. “Of course I used tongue. It’s Spider-Man. I’d be insane not to.”
Amaya nearly screamed into Gwen’s pillow.
Across campus, Miles was quietly climbing through his own window, this time dressed like himself, not Spider-Man. He pulled off his shoes and crept inside as Ganke, still at his desk gaming with a headset on, glanced over.
“You good?” Ganke asked, pausing his game.
Miles looked like he’d just run a marathon and survived a hurricane.
“I kissed Gwen.”
There was a beat of stunned silence.
Ganke dropped his controller.
“You what?!”
“I kissed Gwen,” Miles repeated, already walking toward his bed and collapsing face-first onto it. “Well—she kissed me technically. When I was Spider-Man.”
Ganke blinked at him. “Oh my god.”
Miles just groaned into his pillow, voice muffled: “I’m so screwed.”