A guilty conscience
“Did you…walk?”
To have your girlfriend call you and insist on her coming over, then for her to take longer then it usually did to make the journey, only to open your door in a panic to finally see her an hour later holding up a bouquet and absolutely drenched from the pouring rain, well it wasn’t what Harry expected on a Thursday night.
“Well the bus route doesn’t go directly to your place, and then when I got here I realized that flowers would be nice, and so I found a place, and then I had to walk from there to here again, so. Yeah. I walked.”
They started at each other for a moment, the silence unsettling.
“I uh, thought roses would be nice” Gwen awkwardly shoved the bouquet in Harry’s chest.
It was a small bouquet, maybe ten at most. They seemed only a little wet, but crushed and crooked like Gwen had tucked them under her to keep them dry.
“You uh, said.” Harry awkwardly choked out as he took them from her hand, not looking at them long as he grabbed her now empty hand to lead her inside.
The two made their way into Harry’s bedroom, making no comment as audible light drips of rain water were coming off Gwen, making a trail of puddles to their destination.
They sat on the bed (Harry had insisted to Gwen that it was alright, but eventually relented and gave her a towel so she didn’t ruin his bedding) for a long minute.
Finally, Gwen spoke, and she felt like she was going to vomit. “I didn’t go about, anything the right way. I was scared, and I know it’s not right, and that you were scared too, but I just, wanted everything to be easier for you. I thought that if I sent Peter to talk to you about what was going on with the Green you’d take him more seriously”
Harry only looked at her, cocking his head to the side oh so slightly. It was childish, but the way the action made her visibly squirm sent a sudden wave of excitement down his spine.
When there was no response, Gwen continued, “Then when you told me about the kidnapping, I did the same thing all over, I just called someone else to help you. I thought that because the last time you’d been able to get help it was okay. So I thought by reenforcing Peter as someone who could be trusted with that sort of thing.”
“I treated you like shit for a while, and I’m sorry. For that.” It was obviously not all she had on her mind, and Harry wondered if the relationship was over, a panic of several ways to guilt her into staying flashed through his mind-
“And-“ Gwen sighed, and closed her eyes as she continued, too scared to see Harry’s reaction “Before everything happened, Peter and I were gonna break up with our current…people and get together.”
“What?” Harry said, he tried to think back on hearing them conspire behind his back, how much it had hurt then, and attempted to show it on his face. It had hurt then, why didn’t it hurt now?
“But then your Dad-“ Gwen tried to continue, but was cut off.
“So dating me was a pity case?” Harry, to his general dismay, but to the advantage of his lie, had good voice crack as he spoke.
Gwen looked really panicked now, her eyes darting anywhere but his own while he kept his eyes on her. He couldn’t really focus anywhere in particular, so his attention landed on her nose, then her cheekbones, her lips trembling, her eyes were red with tears coming out.
“At- for a while, yeah. But, but then once Peter distanced himself, I realized how we’d never gotten the chance to just be very often, and, you were nice to hang out with.”
“It started out as a way to not feel alone, while everyone else seemed to be so happy, and then a pity case, but then,” Gwen “I realized I liked you. I liked spending time with you, I enjoyed your company. And even if it’s just a stupid high school relationship, I think it’s worth it just to spend that time with you. As friend or, even maybe as more, if you’d be okay starting over.”
An apology. A real one. A real apology from Gwen Stacy, his real girlfriend.
“I forgive you Gwen,” Harry didn’t know if this was a lie or a truth, really. He supposed he didn’t want the relationship to end.
“I’ll get better at apologizing, I swear,” Gwen laughed, but the smile she gave Harry told him it was the truth, that she’d seen error, and she’d try to fix it. It was more than he’d ever been given by his father, it felt more valuable too, like she was giving him something important.
She took Harry’s hand in her own, and he couldn’t tell if they were wet from the sweat of nervousness over telling him, or from still being damp from the heavy rain.
“Well, there’s other news,” The way Gwen’s face went somber made Harry’s chest ache. Did he love her? Did he even like her at all? What was wrong with him? Why was he acting like this he had never-
“I’m uh, I’m applying for Midtown’s section for the police academy.” Gwen’s soft voice rang hard through Harry’s core, silencing his thoughts. For now.
“What- why?” Harry asked, genuine curiosity over this sudden change of decision.
“With everything that’s gone on Harry, I just, I need to acknowledge that I can do something about it,” Gwen said,
“But- I thought you wanted to work for a lab” It had been all she ever talked about, he remembered her being a mad scientist three years in a row.
Gwen sighed, “That requires years of schooling, and internships, and fighting to make myself stand out as a candidate for those positions. And even more years of dedication to be able to do my own projects. The academy is shorter, I’ll be able to more good sooner.”
“That’s really brave of you Gwen,” was all Harry could think to say.
“Well, when you have the resources and the will, might as well help people.” Gwen smiled at Harry.
“Maybe we can help people together?” Harry more asked then stated, looking at her to gauge her response to the proposal.
“I don’t think the blue on the uniform would really flatter you Harry,-“ Gwen giggled, and Harry smiled back.
A small laugh, “No, one of OsCorps main shticks has always been containing super freaks, once I take head of the company, we could work on that.”
“OsCorp was also making those-“ Gwen scrunched her face slightly at the words “…super freaks- would you be able to with how often they’ve escaped?”
“My dad probably wanted them to get out again, he was- he was sick. But now that we really want to get them to stop, we could probably take them down. Permanently.”
Gwen looked at him, her eyes lighting up after a moment “Harry you could work with the police and institutes like Ravencroft! Maybe help all those people your dad hurt be better again!” She took both of Harry’s hands in her own, looking up at him with such excitement on her eyes.
Maybe she really was keeping him together.
“Do you really think we can do it?” Harry asked, more to himself, to the ghost of his father’s presence in his home, then anyone else.
“Wouldn’t hurt to try,” Gwen shrugged, smiling at him like there was something really cool and special and awesome inside him.
It really felt even better when she lifted her head up slightly to kiss him on the cheek.