Chapter 2
Gwen felt dead the moment she woke up, but at least she had gotten a bit of sleep. As she ripped the eye mask off, she was hit with the sunlight shining through the blinds, and immediately threw an arm over her face.
"Uff," Gwen groaned sleepily as the sunlight blinded her and slowly removed her arm to adjust.
Once her eyes had adjusted to the lightening, she took her phone and widened her eyes as she saw that it was five pm. Gwen was shocked that she had napped for longer than she had slept during the night, but still called it a win.
She put her phone back down and looked around her room. The apartment was eerily silent, which was kind of comforting, but also something she still had yet to get used to. After having lived at the HQ for so long, the apartment she shared with her dad seemed, not only tiny, but also void of human interaction.
Gwen immediately noticed that she was hungry, but at the same time she felt sick to her stomach. The thought of eating food disgusted her right now, so she just pushed it away. There were more important things anyway.
For one, tomorrow was Monday and she still hadn't finished her homework yet, so she dragged herself out of her comfortable bed towards her desk, sat down whilst still in her pajamas and finished her math homework.
Gwen was good in math, but, holy shit, were numbers always this blurry? It looked like an alphabet soup where the letters and numbers were just swimming around and were even changing their forms.
Her mind was in a haze to the point it was all over the place, and the homework that should have been easily done within ten minutes took an hour to finish. It probably didn't help that Gwen had a pounding headache.
But once Gwen was *finally* done with her homework, she threw her pen away, let her head rest on top of her arms over the table and groaned loudly.
Gwen felt so irritated but could not pinpoint where the irritation had come from. She was just annoyed, irritated and felt like she could punch a wall. But all those thoughts flew away immediately when her phone released a notification and she grabbed her phone, this specific notification tone implying that the Spider-Gang was texting in the group. It always made her smile.
Miles: soo, I'm at the hospital
Gwen's eyes widened at the message, and was about to text until Pavitr beat her to it.
Pavitr: why? Are you ok?
Miles: yeah everything is fine just broke a toe
Peter B.: what did you do to break your toe?
Miles: I jumped...
Miles: off a bridge...
Miles: in Queens
Gwen stared dumbfounded at the text, wondering if what she was reading was a hallucination.
Peter B.: YOU WHAT???
Hobie: you jump of a bridge and all you get is a broken toe?
Miles: yeah and all that the nurses do is wish you good luck
Peter B.: Milesss you can't do that
Miles: I know that now
Pavitr: what did the doctors and nurses say about you jumping off a bridge?
Miles: nothing really. one nurse just said 'there's still a whole wide world for you to see my kid. so many things to accomplish'
Gwen chuckled at the message and texted him.
Gwen: send us the address. I'm coming over
Even though Gwen felt like absolute garbage at the moment, she could need that distraction, especially if that distraction was one of her closest friends. Escaping her room felt like the only thing she wanted to do right now.
Suddenly, her phone rang again, and she saw a text from Hobie.
Hobie: gwendy it's a hospital there are children around
Gwen snorted at the comment. Hobie was very well aware of Gwen's infatuation for Miles, something that Gwen was firmly denying. But Hobie was different. He had no qualms about the comments and remarks he would do around them.
Gwen would usually playfully roll her eyes and hope her blush was not obvious. Miles on the other hand would laugh and sometimes even throw an arm around Gwen, surprising her. He had gotten more and more bold around her as time passed by, and she still had to get used to it.
Gwen: unless you wanna end up there like Miles I suggest you stay quiet
Miles: everyone is free to come it gets boring when all you can do is talk to yourself
After Miles sent the address of the hospital, Gwen got dressed up and took a look in the mirror. Gwen looked like a hot mess. Her hair didn't do what she wanted it to and her face looked like she woke up from being dead. But after she realized that nothing stopped making her look like a corps, she gave up and made her way towards Miles' universe and the hospital.
Gwen hated hospitals. To be fair, she didn't think there was a person who could love them. They left a cold feeling running down her back and brought back memories she wished she could forget. This hospital was not any different, and she was picking up her pace to get to Miles' room as quickly as possible.
The moment Gwen stood in front of the door to his room she took a deep breath, knocked on the door and opened it. Before she could even see Miles, she saw Pavitr and Hobie standing in front of the hospital bed, covering the view to Miles.
"Oh Miles, I didn't expect any different from you," Gwen said, and suddenly all eyes in the room were set on her.
Hobie and Pavitr took a step apart showing Miles, who lit up like a Christmas tree at the sight of Gwen.
"Gwen," Miles said with a smile and sparkling eyes.
Gwen walked over to Miles and was immediately engulfed into his embrace as he grabbed her by her arm. By this point, this behaviour was normal and she instictively wrapped her arms around him, too.
'God, he smells so good,' Gwen thought to herself, taking in his comforting scent.
"Why do you keep doing stuff like this?" Gwen mumbled into his shoulder.
She could hear Hobie talking to Pavitr behind her. "Pav, if they're Gwendy and Peter Pan, does that make us the lost boys?"
Both Gwen and Miles snorted at the comment and broke the hug apart.
"It's good to know that you guys don't question my mental sanity," Miles said.
"Nah bro, we've been doing that all along. We just got used to it," Hobie chuckled, to which Miles just jokingly pouted.
Gwen's eyes fell on his foot with the broken toe. "How's your toe? Is it really the only thing you broke?"
Miles released an annoyed sigh. "It's not that bad, but yeah, it still hurts. Pretty sure I didn't break anything else, but my head does hurt a little."
Gwen didn't want to imagine what the fall must've looked like for only his head to hurt just a little and his toe to break.
Suddenly the door burst open and in walked a disappointed Peter with Mayday in his arms.
"Miles you... you-" Peter cut himself off, trying not to curse around baby Mayday. "you irresponsible child."
"Peter, look. I was just trying to-" Miles started explaining until he was cut off by Peter.
"Yeah, I don't wanna know. Here, take the pain relief," Peter said and handed Mayday over to Miles' arms.
Mayday, who was already all too familiar with Miles, threw her arms around Miles neck and cuddled up to him with a giggle to which Miles just smiled and held her close towards his chest.
The sight melted Gwen's heart, and she had to push the thought away that Miles would make a great dad one day, because suddenly her face was heating up and so she looked away only to be faced with a smirking Hobie.
Gwen sent him a killer face daring him to say something, and Hobie just turned to look at Miles and mayday as he chuckled.
"All right, start from the beginning. What on earth happened?" Peter asked Miles, who was awkwardly laughing and playing with Mayday's hair to appear busy while avoiding eye contact.
"How about no?" Miles asked.
Peter threw a hand over his face and groaned loudly. "We'll discuss this when you're out of the hospital," Peter said and turned towards the others, shocked when he saw Gwen in her current state.
"Jeez, Gwen. Are you sure you're not a patient? You look worse than Miles, and he jumped off a bridge," he said, to which Miles exclaimed 'hey!'.
Gwen stared at him dumbfoundedly, not able comprehending what he just said to her. "How on earth did Mary Jane take you back?"
Miles jokingly gasped out loud, covered Mayday's one ear with his hand and whispered "Gwen, not around the children. She's their baby."
Gwen chuckled at his reaction and turned back to face Peter. "Seriously though, you are one real charmer, Parker."
"Exactly why MJ took me back," he chuckled and patted Gwen on her back.
"Hey Miles, isn't your mom a nurse? Does she know you're here?" Pavitr asked out of nowhere.
Miles looked like his life flashed right in front of his eyes. "Yeah, she was here the second I arrived. I don't think I've ever seen her this flabbergasted before apart from the time I confessed to her I'm Spider-Man. I'm lucky I'm in the hospital or her reaction could've been worse."
Gwen shuddered at the image of an angry Rio Morales. By the few times she had seen her, Rio seemed to be a loving woman. But not even an angel could run away from the wrath of an angry and scared Hispanic mother.
"I'm actually waiting for her shift to end so we can go home together. Until then I hope my toe will be fully healed so I can prepare my escape plan because I know I won't get safe out of this," Miles continued.
"Hey, if you want you can come over to my home. I told MJ about Miles being Miles and breaking his toe, so now she is inviting you all over for dinner," Peter suggested.
Everyone seemed fond over the invitation except for Gwen, who felt her blood run cold suddenly. She was hungry, very hungry actually. Gwen was sure she hadn't eaten anything in pretty much 24 hours which was mind-blowing considering she should be eating way more than the average person.
It was so tempting. Just eating a nice meal with her friends, having fun and then going back home for the night. But there was just something telling that,'no, you should not be eating. You don't deserve to eat after everything you've done.'
Gwen wanted to fight it off. Her days had been already as shitty as they possibly could be, but for some reason she still said: "I- I don't think I should be coming."
Miles widened his eyes, not even attempting to hide his disappointment. " What? Why? It won't be the same without you."
Gwen could not resist Miles, especially not when he was this insistent. But for the first time, it didn't really seem to be working on her.
"I... I have school tomorrow," Gwen said and mentally facepalmed herself for actually using this poor and terrible excuse.
And judging by everyone's silent, dumbfounded stare on her, none of them believed her either.
"Ah come on, Gwen," Peter said as he squeezed her shoulder lightly. "It won't take longer than two hours, and you'll be home in no time."
"Besides," Miles cut in. "How could you say no to this face?" Miles asked and lifted up Mayday, who gave her what Gwen could only describe as the cutest pout she had ever seen.
Gwen really wanted to say "no". The word was already at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't resist. Just this once.
Gwen sighed and smiled at them. "All right."
Everybody was satisfied by her answer, and Gwen was a bit content as well.
Besides, what could go wrong?
*
There was a mental battle going on in Gwen's mind, and she was close to collapsing onto the kitchen floor and scream in frustration. She was overstimulated by everything happening around her.
Everything was somewhat fine in the hospital, until Peter suggested to invite them over for dinner. After that, it started going downwards and now Gwen felt like burning up.
Everyone was talking quite loudly around the dinner table, and it didn't help that her headache was still pretty present. Then there was the fact that she had not finished her plate of pasta yet.
It was delicious, extremely so. MJ did a good job, and Gwen's body thanked her feverishly for every bite she took. But her mind was scolding her aggressively, telling her that she needed to quit, that she was undeserving of such a wonderful meal, that she was unworthy of spending time with those beautiful and amazing people.
Her hands were shaking as they tightly grabbed the utensils, her heart was beating rapidly against her chest and she was starting to sweat as well. The voices around her were muffled and all she could hear was her own uneven breathing.
"Gwen? Gwen, are you okay?" Miles asked several times until she noticed him close to her.
"W-what?" Gwen stuttered out, surprised to see that he was talking to her.
"Are you okay? You look like you could need a breather," Miles said and stared with worry-written eyes. Suddenly Gwen realized that it was quiet and when she looked around the table, everyone was staring at her in concern.
Gwen halted and contemplated on what to tell.
"I just feel a little sick. That's all," Gwen said.
It was not the whole truth, but to Gwen's defense, it was not a lie either.
Peter leaned over to her, put a hand on her forehead and said: "Well, you don't have a fever, but you're pasty white."
Gwen wanted to go home. Needed to go home.
"I just need to get some sleep. I'm fine, guys. Don't worry," Gwen said with a tight smile on her face and got up.
Peter sighed but got up as well but still said. "All right, but next time we're gonna have a movie night."
Gwen chuckled at this. "Sure, but next time, I'll be the one choosing the movie," she said.
" We'll see," peter said and laughed as he threw his arm around her and pulled her towards his chest, messing with her hair.
Gwen lightly laughed and as she turned to look at the others she saw smiling faces until she faced Hobie and suddenly her laughter was gone. He stared at her with serious and questioning eyes as he raised an eyebrow. His eyes were staring deeply into hers, as if he was trying to get the answer to something out of her.
Gwen felt heavy under his studying eyes. So she looked away towards Mary Jane who was holding a sleepy Mayday.
"Thank you, MJ. The pasta was delicious, I would have loved to eat more. Maybe next time?" Gwen said.
As Mayday was making grabby-motions towards her, Gwen picked up the baby. "Oh for sure. You're all gonna come over, right?" MJ asked.
Miles, who was standing next to Gwen, threw an arm around her and said: "Only if you guys come over. My mom's cooking will blow you all away."
The discussion around food made Gwen sick, and she was sure that she was going to vomit her guts out if she didn't leave this place soon enough.
"Well, I guess I better get going," Gwen said as she handed Mayday over to Peter and gave everyone one last hug.
By the time she stood in front of Hobie, she tried to mask how uncomfortable she felt under his scrutinizing stare and hugged him, too. Suddenly his stare was replaced by a smile as he whispered: "Good night, Gwendy."
"I'm gonna head home, too, guys. I still have to talk to my parents about my stunt today, and I just wanna get over with it," Miles said.
"Tell us how it went," Pavitr said and laughed.
Once Gwen and Miles left the house, the two headed towards an alleyway to avoid making furniture and decorations at Peter's and MJ's home break through the dimension travelling. It was a nice evening, and the fresh air made it easier for Gwen to take a deep breath and release some of the stress she had been feeling.
"Gwen, are you sure it's just sleep? I don't feel good with leaving you like this," Miles said as they found the spot where they could travel back to their respective universes.
"I promise, I just need some sleep. I just had one of those sleepless nights, you know?" Gwen lied, and felt bad that she had to lie to him. Again. Lying to Miles is one thing she no longer wanted to do to him ever since the whole Spot and anomaly fiasco, but this? She didn't even know what to make out of everything right now. And she knew he would feel bad about it and blame himself for some reason.
"Yeah, I do. But if something's going on then please tell me, OK?" Miles asked as he held her right hand.
Gwen smiled at him sincerely and said "I will."
But for some reason, Gwen had a bad feeling about this.
*
Nothing was coming out, and yet Gwen still could not stop dry heaving over the toilette. It was painful to the point she could barely breathe and she thought of sticking a finger down her throat and purge it all out, but eventually decided against it.
It took a while until Gwen stopped dry heaving and was able to properly breathe again, but she didn't feel any better. Her headache was terrible, she was burning and freezing at the same time, she was extremely hungry but could not make herself eat, and her whole body was shaking.
She thought of staying home tomorrow instead of going to school. That sounded nice at first, getting enough sleep and rest for the day, until the thought of breakfast came to mind and she halted.
She couldn't eat breakfast. It just didn't feel right, and simply the idea of eating breakfast made her feel like having a mini heart attack. So Gwen decided to make a plan as she was packing her bag for tomorrow.
One, sleep half an hour longer than usual. Two, lie to her dad about missing the alarm. And three, not eat breakfast. A plan easy enough, Gwen thought. She only hoped that it was easy enough to work out.
*
The moment Gwen woke up to hearing the alarm clock, her mind was immediately set on her plan. She already woke up later than usual, so far so good. The moment Gwen got up, she nearly fell back down onto her bed from the dizziness and the headache.
"Jesus," Gwen muttered and held her head, waiting until the dizziness went away.
'Probably from getting up so quickly' Gwen thought, although deep down she was kind of aware on why she felt like this.
Once the dizziness went away, Gwen made her bed, got dressed and got ready in the bathroom. When she looked at her watch and saw that it was just time for her to leave for school she smiled in satisfaction and left the bathroom.
Her father was sitting at the dinner table, reading something on his phone and drinking coffee until he saw her.
"Gwen, good morning. You haven't had breakfast yet?" he asked.
"No dad, I missed the alarm this morning. But it's OK. I'll have lunch at school," Gwen said, the lie rolling off her tongue at ease, as she had practiced those words several times this morning.
"But isn't lunch in a few hours? Come on, eat at least some cereals. I'll drive you to school," he offered.
Gwen felt her heart drop at this. "N-no, dad, it's not necessary. I swear, you don't have to do this. I can wait until lunch," Gwen insisted and started worrying.
"Nope, nope. I know you need more food than everyone else with your... powers, and I'm not gonna let my daughter go to school hungry just because I didn't drive her. Now sit down," He ordered lightly.
Gwen wanted to run. She wanted to scream at her dad for ruining her perfect plan, but instead put down her schoolbag and reluctantly sat down at the table as she prepared her cereal.
Every bite was pure torture. Just like yesterday, her body was thanking her for every bit of food it was receiving, but her mind thought otherwise. Because of the anxiety of eating, she could barely enjoy the taste of the cereal, even though it was her favorite brand. Everything sat in her stomach like rock and it took everything in her to not spit it all out. She started playing with it, crunched some of the cereals into smaller pieces with her spoon and chewed as many times as she could, though she knew none of this would do anything.
"Gwen, what are you doing? Are you OK?" suddenly her dad asked.
It had only been two days and people asked this question way too many times at this point. She appreciated it, but it got annoying after some point.
"Yeah, yeah. Just thinking about school. By the way, are we going now?" Gwen asked, hoping that this could save her from her torture.
As he looked at his watched he said. "We still have some time. Finish eating and then we can go."
Gwen could have screamed at that. She loved her father with everything she had, but his protective nature was sometimes too much, especially right now. She could punch a wall right now.
"All right," Gwen muttered and continued eating, trying to hold back the single tear of resentment and anger.
One thing was for sure though. No more lunch for Gwen, ever again.