Spider-Gwen || Caught in a Web

Inspired || Gwen Stacy

"Here we are, no one else, we walk to school all by ourselves"

-We're Going to Be Friends, The White Stripes

Days had gone by since Gwen's little side quest at Oscorp Tower. The hollow feeling of her mentor not truly being the person she'd thought him to be was now replaced by the feeling of betrayal by a close friend she'd had for years now. Gwen couldn't bring herself to look at Peter if he was ever in the halls at school, or shoot him a text asking to talk. The responsibility she felt to protect the city she loved now clashed with her loyalty to the people who had been kindest to her, and Gwen found herself caught between a rock and a hard place. Yet, while everything else around her seemed to slip out of control, there was finally one thing that remained steady and reliable.

Owen.

Their chats in AP Chemistry had gone from big, overarching topics to random minutia that related to their day, and yet had not lost any of the excitement. Whenever Gwen was at home, feeling stressed or feeling torn apart by the knowledge that she eventually had to bring Peter to justice, she'd shoot Owen a text. And no matter what they seemed to talk about, it ended up putting a smile on her face.

But at the end of the day, she still had parts of her life pulling in opposite directions-Gwen couldn't keep up this connection with Owen without neglecting the issue with Peter, and vice versa. So where, on this spring Saturday evening, where no other responsibilities were pressing, did Gwen find herself?

In the passenger's seat of her dad's car, decked out in her dress for prom.

Gwen had felt guilty about this decision at first-what if Peter's activity got out of control, and got some people hurt? But she couldn't imagine that Peter Parker-skinny, dorky, fun-loving Peter-would willingly put others in harm's way. No, just this once, she was going to put her time and effort into enjoying one thing that had gone right.

Besides, Peter was her best friend... she could talk to him, or get through to him some other way. This wasn't an impossible task, just an uncomfortable, unpleasant one.

"I think we're almost there." George Stacy said, snapping Gwen from her thoughts. Her dad glanced at the GPS, which showed them drawing closer to Owen's neighborhood. Gwen's father had insisted that he be the one to pick up Owen and drive the two to prom-he didn't care that he'd be the only guy there being driven by his date's father. Gwen nervously rubbed the mint green fabric of her dress between her fingers, feeling so many different levels of anticipation building inside of her. 

Does this look good on me? Is Owen really okay with the color scheme? Is dad going to scare him too badly? How hard will it be to play drums in this thing?

So many questions, but Gwen wasn't in control of any of the answers. She had to simply handle them as they came.

Gwen could feel the anxiety spiking in her chest as her father pulled up to the sidewalk, putting his police cruiser in park before cutting the engine off. "Hey, is.." The blonde bit her lip nervously, looking up at her dad. "...Is Owen going to be riding shotgun, or-" 

"He'll be riding in the back." Her dad answered affirmatively, making Gwen sigh. Sure, riding in the back of a police cruiser was a swell way to kick off this evening, and whatever came after.

She knew it was stupid, but Gwen had definitely been looking past prom with Owen. The guys she normally liked usually drifted away when they realized just how big of a dork she was, but Owen had seen it all, and didn't seem intimidated. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Every time she got a little too excited over something, or told a cringey science pun, Owen would just shake his head and smile at her. And Gwen would never see judgement or annoyance in his eyes, just a look that said she's so adorable.