Back With Me: Oneshot

Back With Me

What if...
Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker and Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy (as Ghost Spider) met up in the spiderverse?

~ )( ~

Peter stood stock still in shock as he stared ahead of himself. His mind was sure he was seeing a ghost as he had done in the past, but he knew deep down that the woman standing before him was very much alive.

Peter opened his mouth to speak, but his voice gave way, refusing to make even the simplest amount of noise. Without even realizing, his sacred mask fell from his hand down below where his feet remained planted.

For a moment, Peter felt as if time itself had stopped, and he and Gwen were the only living entities to remain outside of its grasp. Inch by inch, he found the strength to move as he grew gradually closer to her but was afraid that if he walked any faster, he would break out into a sprint.

Without understanding until the task was complete, Peter ungloved his right hand clutching the cloth in his left. Now only mere inches from her, his hand drew upward as he tenderly cupped the smooth skin of her pale, beautiful face. She flinched -- but only for a moment -- and sighed quietly as Peter stroked her blonde hair with a gentle but protective grasp.

"Gwen."

It was the only thing he could bring himself to say. There was so much he wanted to tell her, but the words refused to exit his lips. His voice stammered as he tried to force a strand of dialogue before he took a break and stopped trying altogether.

Before he knew it, his vision began to blur as small intense rivers flooded across his cheeks. Gwen took in his suffering state and couldn't help but cry too.

Instinctively, the two reached even more so for each other, clasping the other tightly so as not to lose hold once again.

"I watched you die," Peter managed in a voice so quiet and shaky even Gwen had a hard time making out his words.

A time of silence followed before the response came in a soft whisper.

"So did I."

Wet tears trickled down his back like rain showers as Gwen, who could no longer remain strong, cried silently into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Peter said. "I didn't save you in time--"

Peter's thoughts flashed elsewhere as he recalled the last (and not to mention traumatizing) memory he shared with her. Harry, his former best friend, discovered his identity and killed the one person he could truly share his life with. Peter had been so close to saving her; his web made contact, but the force was too much, and her neck snapped instantaneously. Particularly in the months following, Peter would often replay the moment in his head wondering what would have happened had he shot his web only a second earlier or had he just obeyed Captain Stacy's dying request in the first place.

"Don't even start..." Gwen shook her head against Peter's collarbone, unable to say anything more on the matter.

Gwen's grasp tightened around him as if his wails of pain from the initial event were echoing in her ears. With Gwen's comment, Peter thought he could hear hers as well, questioning if he was keeping her close for her comfort or his own.

Peter wanted to remain there with her for the rest of eternity, but after about a full-fledged three minutes of attempted comfort, the two finally let go of each other and almost laughed despite the serious mood at how much of a mess they were: Gwen's makeup had added an undesired depth to her eyes, and Peter just looked as if he had woken up after crying himself to sleep.

"Here, let me get you something..." Peter said, searching for a cloth of sorts.

"It's okay, I have something," Gwen replied, pulling out a white-laced handkerchief. "Besides, it's not like you don't need anything."

"Nah, I'm fine," Peter shook it off. "I don't think I have anything anyway..."

Gwen paused, cleaning her makeup from her face as she looked at Peter.

"All right, sit down," she said.

"Where?"

"On the ground."

Peter obeyed without another question as Gwen knelt beside him, drying his bloodshot eyes. Although the moment lasted only a few brief seconds, his mind wandered once again to when he would have those crazy battles with the lizard, and she'd be stuck cleaning his wounds. The thought made him smile.

"There you go," Gwen said, pulling the cloth from his face and beginning to wipe the makeup off again.

"Do you want some help with that?" he asked. "I mean, it's not like you can see what you're doing or anything."

"No, I'm okay," Gwen replied, only half-smiling.

Peter laid his hand on her wrist, and as he did, the two locked eyes with each other, placing Gwen in a weak enough state for Peter to take the handkerchief without much force.

"Let me help you," he whispered.

Without another word, Peter dabbed the underside of her eyes, and the handkerchief grew wet from her tears. Peter realized that it was because she was crying again.

Instinctively, he moved the handkerchief to his main fingers as his thumb wiped a tear from her cheek. She leaned into his firm hand as if to take refuge in it now that he was with her once more.

They'd already lost each other, and neither planned to do it again.