Peter Parker thought he could catch a break.
After being bitten by a radioactive spider, losing his aunt and uncle, and nearly dying after an attack from an evil technology company, he had hoped he could spend some time with his new family. But that...
FINALLY almost finished with the blip peoples whoop whoop
Harley and Gwen swung their hands together as they walked down the road, out past the neighborhoods and playgrounds of Cambridge. Empty fields stretched out in front of them, growing ever closer. Gwen could see specks of gray dancing and blowing in the wind, little dandelions trying to spread their seeds.
"Race you to the field!" Harley suddenly shouted, releasing her hand and taking off with his uneven little run. Gwen grinned, barely having to jog to catch up to him. She tackled him around the middle as they reached the seemingly endless stretch of grass, bringing them both crashing to the ground. They struggled back and forth as they rolled through the dandelions, sending some floating through the air.
"Hey!" Harley laughed, trying to push Gwen off of him. "Okay, okay, you win! You win!"
Gwen smirked. "I always win." She extended a hand to him and helped him up, snorting when she saw his denim jacket was covered in so much dandelions he looked like an irritated bichon.
Harley sighed and brushed his jacket off. Now five foot eleven, he was taller than her. He had filled out and finally started to put on some muscle, letting his hair, now fully brown, reach near-shoulder length.
"You wanna go back to campus and grab a coffee?" he asked her, reaching a hand inside his old cowboy boot to tighten one of the ankle straps on his brace.
"Sure." She took his hand and they started back down the road from which they had come.
"Soo..." Harley swung their hands as they walked, looking down at her like she was the most special person ever. "What've you been thinking about?"
"I think a certain someone had better get their act together." She flipped her hair over her shoulder dramatically. "You're already graduating early at the end of next semester, smartypants. What're you gonna do about me, hm? Unless you dare to put me before school."
He shrugged. "Or unless I decide to go for a master's while I'm waiting on you to catch up, slowpoke. But while we're on the subject of the future, how did you say you wanted your proposal again?"
"Unique," Gwen said firmly, maybe a little too quickly. He nodded thoughtfully.
"Unique..." he mused. "Ugh, you ladies are so needy. I'll see what I can do."
Smiling, she butted his shoulder with her head and he lifted her arm up for a twirl.
She'd left dancing to pursue a new department at MIT: superhuman science. But she hadn't given up on it entirely---sometimes, when she came home for holidays or the occasional weekend, she would help out at her old dance studio. Billy was taking lessons there now, and he was surprisingly good. Being a seventeen year-old boy, there weren't many fellow classmates.
"Have you heard from Ellie or Clay?" Gwen asked as they stepped into one of campus's many coffee shops: the Bosworth Café. Harley shook his head.
"Not since Clay called me at three in the morning last night, absolutely convinced the baby was coming." He laughed and stepped in the lengthening line behind the counter. "Even Ellie got mad at him. I guess he woke up from some kind of dream where she was having the baby and thought it was actually happening."
"I can't wait to see his widdle pudgy toes," Gwen cooed as Harley ordered his usual black coffee. Gwen ordered something so complicated with so many pumps of this and that that even I as the narrator got confused.
They took their drinks to-go as they drove back to the dorms, living it up as college kids. Who knew college could be so fun? Gwen had thought she'd be studying all the time, and while that was partly true and she definitely needed to be studying right now, it was nice to get some time away from all the hustle and bustle to spend time with Harley. Whenever they weren't in classes, it was hard to find them apart from each other.
While he'd certainly made enough money from his job as one of Tony's intern technicians, Harley still had his old pickup. Gwen was certain he was just keeping it for sentimental reasons now; the passenger side door had a dent in it from when Happy had thrown a tantrum and the back left taillight was shattered by a rouge baseball from one of Harley and Tony's "casual" games.
Harley pushed his sunglasses up his nose and started the old, groaning engine, taking a sip from his coffee with one and and pulling out of the parking lot like a junior double o seven. Rolling the windows down, he turned up the country music radio station and they bounced down the road.
Just then, Harley's phone decided to ring. He glanced down at the screen and answered it immediately, despite Gwen's scolding.
"Don't be on the phone and drive, you idiot," she groaned. "You're gonna get us killed."
"Hey, Tony," Harley said over her. "What's---"
The words dried up in his throat and he suddenly looked so pale Gwen thought he might puke up all of his man-coffee. "Seriously?" he breathed shakily, eyes popping out of his head. "For--for real? You think---Okay. Yes, yes. Coming."
He hung up swiftly and did a U-turn. Gwen grabbed onto the door for dear life, agitation growing.
"Harley! What are you---"
"We have to go back to the compound right now." Harley looked like he'd been slapped by his grandmother. "Scott. Scott Lang. One of the vanished. He's back."
***
In case anybody was wondering what Harley would look like! the actor's so old now :'(
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