Spider-Gwen || Caught in a Web

Understand || Miles Morales

"Maybe in time, you'll want to be mine"

-El Mañana, Gorillaz

"You're really overthinking it, man... just keep a cool head and be you!"

It didn't matter that Miles Morales knew, deep down, that Peter's encouraging words were right. He was going to be jumpy and jittery throughout this moment that he'd been building up to for weeks now.

 His fingers locked together nervously inside the pockets of his hoodie as he walked down the hallways of Midtown High, his forced expression of seriousness to hide his internal turmoil standing as a stark contrast to Peter Parker's gleeful, optimistic grin as they headed towards the cafeteria. "I'm good, I'm good..." Miles insisted with a sigh, but his friend picked up on the stress in his tone immediately. 

"Oh, come on! You can't be that worked up about a clear shot to a prom date, right?" Peter chuckled, to which Miles retorted, "Who ever said this was a clear shot?!!" 

Despite the dismissive hand wave and further insistence from Peter that Miles had nothing to fear, the atmosphere of what he was planning on doing felt like it was bearing down on him-bringing Miles face-to-face with a moment that he felt ill-prepared for. Asking someone to prom was in and of itself a tense moment, but asking Gwen Stacy?? The seriously nerdy yet cute girl that had been catching his attention for some time now? The daughter of one of his dad's best work friends? The girl who was a drummer in an actual band? Miles wasn't one to feel negative or hopeless about tall tasks, but he wasn't immune to anxiety.

"Trust me, Miles... I know Gwen. I knew that you and her would hit it off at Dr. Connors's event with Oscorp, and I know that right now is the time to strike-" 

"I don't know, Pete..." Miles said, rubbing the back of his head. "...Are you sure this isn't just you riding your own high right now?"

The somewhat teasing remark made Peter roll his eyes, and Miles watched with a smile as Peter's body language shifted from animated and supportive to tempered and defensive. "Low blow, Miles... this isn't because I'm psyched out about Felicia-" 

"Who uses 'psyched' anymore-" 

"-it's because I really think you and Gwen are going to hit it off." Peter insisted, his irises filled with honesty behind his thick glasses. "She's really fun, you're fun; she's smart, you're smart-" 

"Okay, that's pushing it." Miles said, holding up his hands. "I'm on the honor roll, but not the All A's While Taking College-Level Courses honor roll." He told Peter, who shrugged his shoulders. 

"What's some B's on your report card between two people who like each other...?"

Miles wanted to argue more-there was no indication to him that Gwen felt the same way. None whatsoever. And he wasn't inexperienced at this-Miles had caught the eyes of some of his peers from time to time, and had a general feel for when he was in a good position to make a move or not. Gwen was an entirely different type of person than the girls he'd dated or talked to in the past, and he couldn't tell a difference between the way she talked to him and the way she talked to Peter.

But the argument faded as Miles thought back to the conversation during the joint announcement between Dr. Connors and Oscorp, and that unique drive that Gwen held to succeed, evident in the ever-radiant rings of light blue in her eyes. It was enough to get his knees feeling weak, and to get Miles taking a deep breath to collect himself. You've got to go for this. Who knows how few girls like her will be out there?

Miles's hand pushed against the door to the cafeteria, revealing a space that was about as hustling and bustling as Times Square. Already most of the seats were taken, leaving the people with fewer connections to desperately seek out a place to sit where they wouldn't run into awkward moments or trouble. His heart panged as he saw several of his peers walking around with that same look he used to have... a look of believing there was nowhere they belonged. When Miles had first gotten to Midtown High, he'd felt as isolated as ever-not knowing anyone and feeling that everyone was just going to think that he was on the fringes of what a typical kid from Harlem was like. Thank goodness for people like Peter Parker and Harry Osborne, who just wanted nice people around them no matter what mold they tended to fit into...