Miles opened the door to see an exhausted Gwen hiding behind boxes of food in her hand. When he told her to bring something the two of them could munch on, Miles didn’t expect her to pack her whole cupboard. Gwen wasn’t only holding the whole world in her hands, but she was also soaking wet. Even though she had tried to wring her hair out before entering Miles’ place, she couldn’t hide how cold her wet hair was making her. Trembling, the boxes all started to shake in the pile.
“Woah!” Miles exclaimed as he saw the top few boxes falling off the stack. He managed to catch a few before they fell to the ground.
“Sorry!” Gwen squeaked out in panic, catching the remaining box with her foot outstretched.
Miles bent down to pluck it off before collecting them in his arms.
“You said to bring snacks,” Gwen explained as Miles ushered her inside.
“I said a single snack, not your whole kitchen.” Miles lifted up a box that felt cold to the touch. To his surprise, he found that it wasn't a snack box, but instead a cold, packaged chicken. “Gwen, what is this?” Miles plainly asked as Gwen shut the door behind her with her foot.
Through anxious grins Gwen managed to shrug. Miles couldn’t help but laugh at his girlfriend’s silly attitude already. The way her hair fell in front of her sparkling eyes was enough for Miles to agree to eat the raw chicken just to see her smile again.
“I just,” Gwen starts to say as she sets the boxes down on Miles’ kitchen counter.
“You just..?” Miles calmly asked as he appeared beside her.
Gwen can’t hold back the giggle in her throat as Miles wrapped his arms around her. Gwen leaned her cheek into his arm, enjoying the warm feeling for a moment. “We didn’t really discuss what snacks you liked yet,” Gwen admitted. “I didn’t want to bring something you didn’t like.”
“I wouldn’t have told you,” Miles joked.
“How dare you! Be honest with me! We made a promise about that!” Gwen huffed, her arms crossing around his.
“We made too many promises, Gwen. One at a time please.”
“I’m keeping all of mine.” Gwen paused and twiddled her fingers together. “Lately at least.”
Miles guided Gwen towards the couch with his free hand. Gwen happily accepted the offer and plopped down beside him. The two were practically squished towards each other from how close Miles accidentally landed beside Gwen. Neither of them really cared though. It was just the perfect excuse for Gwen to lay her head against Miles’ shoulder. The blonde closed her eyes as she tucked her body closer to Miles’. She trembled a little bit, probably still cold from coming in wet. Miles latched onto the blanket on the floor with his foot, skilfully bringing it up onto the couch to cover the two of them. Gwen noticed, snuggling her head into Miles as a thank you gesture.
“I have a new promise,” Gwen whispered to Miles. When she spoke, the breath tickled Miles’ neck from how close they were packed against one another.
“Shoot,” Miles replied back, his eyes focused on the remote in his hand. The few seconds of silence that lingered after his sentence made him whip his head towards Gwen. His eyes met those of an embarrassed Gwen.
“Never mind!”
“What do you mean never mind?” Miles asked, his eyebrows shooting up on his forehead. “You can’t just say never mind!” Miles reached for Gwen’s cheek, but Gwen was quick to slap his hand back. Oh, so this was a game now? “Gwendolyn Stacy.”
“Miles..” Gwen started to say. She paused when she realized she forgot Miles’ middle initial. Just saying Miles Morales didn’t feel powerful enough, and he didn’t have a nickname like she did.
“G,” Miles whispered quickly to aid her.
“Miles G Morales!” Gwen chanted back, her eyes wide with warning.
“Okay, now you just sound like my mother,” Miles said, grimacing.
“Oh.” Gwen pulled the blanket covering the two of them further over her face to hide her expression.
“We digressed.”
“We did.”
Miles’ wide eyes glanced quickly over at Gwen. Gwen blinked slowly back at him. There was almost a split second of communication in their gazes. “I promise not to laugh at your promise.”
“It’s not really a promise anymore,” Gwen pushed back. She looked slightly uncomfortable. Miles noticed her hands playing with the bunched up blanket strings.
“What is it? You gonna insult my swinging? Cause I’ll have you know I’ve surpassed Peter B level at this point,” Miles proudly argued. That earned him a playful shoulder punch.
“You know I’d never insult your skills. I’m always impressed,” Gwen reassured.
“Then what?” Miles asked, starting to grow more curious.
“I’ll tell you after we watch the movie,” Gwen finally said after a few moments. Miles could feel his shoulders descend with his frown. He was a tad disappointed at his failed attempt to get Gwen to tell him her promise.
“I’m picking a short movie then.”
“Whatever,” Gwen groaned back. She tried to roll her eyes, but her nerves took over. Her eyes darted to glance at Miles as he fiddled with the remote. He stuck out his tongue in concentration, making Gwen smile to herself. She loved her boyfriend and his quirks.
Miles was thrilled when the movie finally started to play. Gwen had picked a horror movie to his dismay, but he wouldn’t let his jumpiness ruin their fun night.
He laid his head back beside Gwen, snuggling close to her. Gwen let her eyelids close halfway. What she never disclosed to Miles was how tiring her day truly was before popping over at his place. Four villains in the past two days was enough to tire even the best of spider people out. She did her best to keep up with the frequent messes though.
Miles could feel the sleepiness in Gwen as she slumped against him. He gently rubbed his palm against her shirt sleeve in a circular motion. That earned him a few yawns from her.
Even though the movie was interesting, Miles couldn’t help but feel frustrated as Gwen started to close her eyes more and more as time went on. At the same time that he worried for her rest, he also worried about his own ability to sleep if he didn’t hear her promise.
By the time the movie credits were rolling Miles had given up on trying to keep his girlfriend awake. All his poking and prodding just made her slightly more annoyed each time. Miles let out small sighs of defeat as he heard Gwen’s breath steady. He was impatient as much as he hated to admit it. Stealing bites of food as a kid before it was ready, sometimes cutting in lines at parks for the slide, and one time being in such a rush to leave he put on his dad’s shower shoes.
“Mmm,” Gwen murmured contently as she nuzzled against Miles’ hoodie. The feeling melted off of Miles as he returned to looking at her. The way her hair while even wet and messy looked so perfect to him needed to be studied in a lab alongside the radioactive spiders. She was truly something else that he had never seen before. Okay sure, there’s a lot of blonde girls, but how many of them looked like her? How many of them had her sparkling eyes? Her cheeky grin that came with a signature tooth gap? And how many of them have soft hands that cupped your face with such ease? Not a single girl Miles had known had him so wrapped around their finger.
“Sleep well, Gwen,” Miles muttered before looking back at the long credits of the movie.
A gentle touch greeted his cheek. He turned to see Gwen’s fingers trailing along his cheek. She used her other hand to pull him towards her. She let Miles register her movement before leaning forward to kiss him. She pulled away as quickly as she had initiated. Miles had to blink a few times as the feeling faded. It was almost instant, and that drove him crazy.
“That was.. more of a promise to myself. I promised myself I would, uh, I would kiss you.” Gwen looked away, her cheeks rosy with embarrassment.
“I thought you were sleeping,” Miles breathed out in surprise.
“I wasn’t. I’m just a good actor,” Gwen joked.
Miles started to remember the kiss as soon as Gwen looked back up at him again. A smirk appeared on his face as he looked her up and down. “You beat me to it.”
“Am I supposed to be sorry?” Gwen teased, raising a brow.
“Nah, nah,” Miles spat out, holding his hands up and shaking his head. “You did it wrong.”
“You did not just say I did it wrong after I’ve been working up the confid-”
Miles leaned over to kiss Gwen back. Her words faded into the silence as she closed her eyes. They were both a little wrong. You could go on and on about the awkwardness of the kiss, or even the little unintentional laughs that kept breaking them apart, but it didn’t matter. Neither of them were doing it right, but it worked for them. The two of them were just inexperienced teenagers who wanted to experience everything they could with each other. There’s nothing better than that.