Spider-Man: Homeless

Peter Three

Peter knew full well that they didn't have time for what he was about to do. But as soon as Peter One had been certain that he'd calculated right, and the other Peters had checked as best they could, Peter Two had told him and Spider-Gwen to talk while they finished doing what they needed to with Strange.

Spider-Gwen.

He still couldn't believe it.

And he wanted to argue with the other two about letting him leave the mirror dimension with Gwen.

But he knew they could handle him.

And he knew that he'd never be able to form a convincing argument, not when he could...

He could see Gwen one last time.

His throat closed off completely as he felt the dimension fade, leaving him and Gwen back in Central Park where they'd come from in the first place.

The sky was even darker than before, and the air had a static to it that made his Spider-Senses act up.

But the others had told him that he needed to take this time to heal- he'd fight better knowing that he'd been able to do something he'd always wanted to.

He knew they were right.

And he also had to keep telling himself that this wasn't his Gwen.

She might be the same person. She might look the exact same, albeit older.

But the Peters that he knew weren't him. They were who he could've become, but they weren't him.

But in a way, they were. Despite their differences, they were the exact same person living in whatever life they'd been put in.

So even though this wasn't his Gwen...

It was Gwen.

The two of them faced each other for a moment, both of their masks still on.

He wondered what she thought of him.

He wondered if he'd even meant anything to her in her universe. Had he even existed in the same way in her universe?

She'd probably think he was crazy for how he looked.

But he didn't care.

He could finally apologize. He finally got to see her again.

He tore off his mask, his chest heaving slightly as he struggled to take in everything he was seeing.

Gwen Stacy.

He started crying, and while these weren't the grief-filled, longing sobs he'd cried earlier, they were just as powerful.

This was a silent flood of tears that he didn't think would ever stop.

Everything but Gwen completely disappeared as she slowly pulled off her mask.

And he got to look into her eyes.

He started shaking as he realized that she was crying just as hard as he was.

Both of them dropped their masks.

Nothing that he'd ever felt in his entire life compared to the moment when Gwen reached out and touched the arm of his suit and whispered, "You're real."

Hearing her voice...

Feeling her touch again, only made the tears fall harder as he pulled her into his arms, gently at first.