Gwen Stacy
It has been a week since everything has happened. A week since Miles saved his dad-his universe didn’t collapse!-, a week the Spider-Society defeated the Spot and most importantly a week since he got his own watch. Not that Miles could travel anywhere, Miguel has disabled all watches. Apparently it was so that the Spider-Society could “recover”. Those were Miguel’s words. He didn’t explicitly say it was because his “canon events” theory-it was a theory after all- was wrong. Miles tried not to think about how many people died for absolutely nothing. He didn’t want to know how many Spider-People were grieving all over again because they could have prevented it.
A week. Miles didn’t do much in that week. Yes, he did call his dad more often and hugged his parents way more than before but that was the only difference. There wasn’t anything else. Just his usual routine. Breakfast, school, homework, patrol, sleep and repeat. Just because he didn’t do a lot didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking a lot. He thought a lot about his friends and what he would say once he saw them again. Would he forgive them? Would he be angry? Sad? Relieved? He didn’t know and he was afraid of what the answer would be.
Miles was on patrol when his watch activated. The sudden orange glow of the watch made Miles squint his eyes. It really confused the criminal he was fighting. ‘Sorry, I got to go, but not before you’re webbed up. So let’s finish this, shall we?’, Miles said before shooting two webs at criminals hands, sticking them to the wall. To ensure that the villain could not escape he shot two extra webs at his legs. He did a two-finger salute at the man he saved before swinging away, landing on a building nearby. ‘Nice timing Miguel’, Miles thought bitterly. And then it hit him. He could go see his friends. He could actually visit them right now. Miles was already typing in the coordinates to Earth-65 before he realized that maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. It wasn’t a good idea because they didn’t exactly leave on the best note. Yes, Gwen did help him and she saved him on Earth-42, but she never really apologized. That did sting, if only a little bit. Besides, Gwen probably had an emotional week already. She’s living with her dad again and they had to talk through a few things… okay, no, they had to talk through a lot of things. ‘So,’, Miles reasoned, ‘Gwen probably doesn’t even want to see me.’
He was wrong. Not even a minute after he had declared that, Miles heard the sound of a portal opening behind. And there stood Gwen Stacy, in her spider-suit. Her mask was off so Miles could clearly see the guilt pooling behind those blue eyes. She kind of looked uncomfortable to be there. ‘Uh, hey’, Miles said, slightly smiling and giving a small, awkward wave. ‘Hi, Miles’, Gwen replied, giving her own awkward wave. ‘Can I come sit next to you?’ Gwen asked carefully like she was afraid that Miles would snap at her. Miles nodded. ‘Sure, it’s not like I own this rooftop.’
Gwen came towards Miles and sat down. ‘Look, uhm’, Gwen began, ‘I want to apologize.’ Gwen held her hand up to stop Miles from interrupting. ‘And don’t say that it’s fine, because it’s not.’ She took a big breath and continued: ‘I didn’t want to hurt you, obviously, and I didn’t want you to lose your dad either. I was just scared, I guess.’ Gwen looked at the city avoiding Miles’ gaze. ‘I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to stay at the Spider-Society, that I would need to go back to my own reality.’ She finally looked at Miles. ‘But I know that that doesn’t mean I could hurt you. So I am sorry. I am sorry that I didn’t think of your feelings and I am sorry that I was selfish.’
Miles looked at her. It seemed like she was holding back tears. Miles wanted to forgive her, he really did, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t because it still hurt. Even after this apology he still felt hurt. Yes, he understood why she did it, he probably would’ve done the same thing but that didn’t make it hurt less. So he said: ‘I don’t forgive you-he heard Gwen suck in a breath-but’, Miles continued, ‘I do still want to be friends.’ Miles glanced at Gwen’s questioning gaze before clarifying: ‘I want to go on patrol together, do missions together and just hang out.’ Miles took a deep breath. ‘I want to rebuilt our friendship and trust and then I might forgive you’
Gwen studied his face. ‘Okay’, Gwen said, ‘okay, thank you. Thank you for giving me a second chance’ ‘No problem’, Miles answered. ‘How about we start right now? I was on patrol, we could patrol togehter?’, Miles asked. Gwen smiled. ‘Sure.’
As the night went on, Miles and Gwen became more comfortable with each other. They did more dangerous tricks and webbed up criminals at a record tempo. They started joking around and laughing way more. At around 3am they went on another roof, gazing at the city. Gwen broke the silence: ‘I really liked it, we should do it more often’ ‘Yeah’, Miles agreed. ‘I got to go home, Miles.’ , Gwen stated. ‘Will I see you tomorrow?’ Miles nodded in confirmation. ‘See you tomorrow’ They gave a fist bump and then parted. Miles watched Gwen one last time before she opened her portal. Miles smiled and gave her a wave, this time it wasn’t an awkward one. Gwen smiled and waved back too, then went in the orange portal. Miles looked at the place where Gwen stood not even seconds ago before looking back at the city. A small smile still tugged his lips. Miles felt happier than he had ever been this week. He took a deep breath and started swinging home, the smile still there.