The Amazing Spider-Man 3

Chapter 19

Gwen and I began to clean out the old guest room. I was going to do it alone, but she insisted that she helped. I finally gave in, and we got to work, dusting, reorganizing, and putting clean sheets on the bed. Finally, we were finished. It was one-thirty A.M. We were both tired, so we called it a night and went to bed. Aunt May was already asleep in her bedroom.

I woke up first in the morning. I snuck down the hallway and peeked through a crack in Gwen's door. She was fast asleep. I did the same for Aunt May, to find her asleep as well. I checked the time. It was nine o'clock A.M.

I went into the kitchen for breakfast. I poured myself a bowl of Lucky Charms and turned on the television.

"Is there more than one Spider-Man?" The reporter said. Images flashed on the screen: blurry shots of our battle with Doctor Octopus. They were all taken from the ground, so the mysterious figure had nothing to do with them. Was someone else watching?

I scratched my head, shoving a spoonful of cereal into my mouth. They've seen Gwen. They know there's another one of me. They're going to expect to see her again.

She can't.

But she has new abilities now. She could if she wanted to.

She would want to.

"Well I won't let that happen," I told myself.

I watched a little more of the news report, revealing suspicions, circling possible appearances on the photographs. Then, one was obvious. We were kneeling over the fallen Doctor Octopus. The picture wasn't as blurry as the rest, since we were no longer in action.

What if they'd taken a picture of Gwen with her mask off?

I began to panic, trembling as the news report continued. But then it ended.

Gwen was still safe.

For now.

Wait...were any more members of the Sinister Six watching the news right then? Probably. That meant they knew Spider-Man had a "partner". They would target both of us.

Oh no.

I was slightly relieved when I reminded myself that Harry hadn't revealed my true identity yet. I hoped that he wouldn't, because, if they knew, they could easily discover that the other one was Gwen.

I couldn't let that happen.

---

Gwen and Aunt May awoke late, at almost noon. I hadn't woken them, because I saw how drained they both looked the night before. Now, approximately ten minutes apart, they each stumbled groggily into the living room.

"Good morning," I said, checking the clocks to see if it was noon yet. Nope, it was still morning. I was still right.

"Hey Peter," Aunt May had said. "Is Gwen up yet?" I shook my head.

Then Gwen came in, approximately ten minutes later. "Hi," she said, yawning. Her hair was tousled. I had only seen of this way once, when she'd removed her mask. Usually she had it pulled back or styled every time we saw each other.

Gwen smirked when she noticed my lingering stare. I chuckled, then glanced away. She'd noticed before even I did. I looked at Aunt May, who was playing with her own cereal.

"How did you sleep?" I asked Gwen.

"Very well," she combed her hair with her fingers. "Can't you tell?" I laughed. "It's the best I've slept since...since the night before graduation, probably." I raised an eyebrow. Of course, the night before we broke up again. So she couldn't sleep well since, knowing that we'd let each other go? The thought made me feel happy and loved, but it also gave me guilt and regrets. Eventually, I relaxed, and helped Gwen find some breakfast.

After she found something she liked, I prepared it while she sat at the dinner table with Aunt May, waiting. I smiled at her, then returned to her breakfast. After I finished, I served her, thinking about the news report.

If I wanted to tell her about it, I would have to find the perfect moment.