Marvel One-Shots

13. England - Gweter AU

GWEN'S P.O.V.

"Peter...?" I almost whisper. His foot slips, and when the cog turns, the thin strand of webbing I'm clinging to snaps.

Time stops. Parts of the clock rain down around me as I fall. Far above, Peter dives toward me and shoots another strand of webbing to catch me. But I don't think it will make it in time. Not this time.

But oh, I was so excited to be accepted to Oxford. And Peter and I, we were going to move to England together, and everything would be fine.

I don't regret it, though. If my life is to end today, then so be it. I'm glad to have been able to accomplish the things I did.

And most of all, I'm glad to have been able to be in love with Peter Parker. Even if sometimes he made me want to kill him with electricity like Electro.

It can't be long now. The webbing draws closer, and for a moment I hope that it will reach me in time.

I reach out for it, for my lifeline, for Peter. Seconds stretch into eternities.

It catches my hand and bounces back from the added weight. The toes of my boots brush the concrete floor. I gasp in relief and let go, dropping the last few inches to the ground.

Peter lands next to me and tears off his mask. He's crying, and I'm crying, and we just hug each other so tight - so tight - because that could've been it. That could have been the end.

"I thought I was gonna lose you," he whispers.

"I thought I was gonna lose you," I reply. "But we're okay. We're okay." A sob escapes me. "I love you, Peter."

"Gwen, I love you too."

He pulls back and looks me in the eye, smiling. I smile back.

"Hey," he says. "If we hurry, do you think we could still make your flight?"

I laugh. "Depends. How fast can Spider-Man pack for a trip to England?"

He shrugs. "Faster than his girlfriend, probably."

"Hey!" I say, and push his shoulder lightly. "I'm already packed, remember?"

"Okay then," he says, and picks me up in one arm. "Let's see how fast Spider-Man can get ready to go to England."

I hold on to him tightly as he shoots a webbing into the air and swings. We fly through the night together. I look up at the stars as Peter catapults from webbing to webbing. It's frightening, how close I came to never seeing the stars again. I shiver.

We land at his aunt's house. She isn't home yet. I follow him inside and wait downstairs while he packs.

Aunt May has several pictures on display. Most are of Peter and Ben. I only met Ben once, but he seemed like a good man. At the time he'd joked about being Peter's parole officer and mentioned that Peter had a picture of me on his computer, thoroughly embarrassing his nephew. But honestly, what's the point of family if not to embarrass you once in a while?

There's one picture of Peter as a child with who I assume to be his mother and father. They look like him, especially his father. I don't know much about them, but I do know that Peter loved them dearly. And judging from their expressions in the photo, they loved him too.

Peter's suitcase clatters down the stairs after him. "All set," he says.

"What about Aunt May? How are you going to tell her?"

"I tried calling her," he tells me, "but she didn't answer. So I left her a voicemail and told her about England."

We walk outside together. "Ready?" he asks. I nod and wrap my arms around his neck; he shoots a strand of web and swings on it.

We make it to the airport in record time, especially for New York City. I enter to look for my abandoned suitcase while Peter changes out of his Spider-Man suit.

Luckily, the suitcase was left in a corner by the door. I roll it over to the door, where I meet Peter.

"Hey Gwen," he says, "how do you think Spider-Man would sound with a British accent?"

I laugh and shake my head. "A British accent? You?"

"No seriously, what do you think? I mean, imagine it." He adopts a phony accent. "Gwen, how would you like to help me, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, fight crime?"

I laugh harder. "I think your accent still needs a lot of work."

He laughs along with me as we near the ticket counter. "Yeah, and you could do a better accent," he jokes.

I grin. "Peter, dear," I say in an English accent, "are you looking forward to moving to England?"

He laughs. "Okay, I'll admit, you can do a better accent than me."

I smile at him. "I love you, Peter Parker."

"And I love you, Gwen Stacy."

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A/N: Okay, I'll admit. This one was a lot of fluff. But I just watched the Amazing Spider-Man 2 again and I wanted to give Gwen and Peter a happy ending.

P.S.- High-fives to everyone who understands the 'friendly neighborhood Spider-Man' reference.