The marvellous spider-man

Chaptet 31

Peter paced back and forth in his bedroom, very nervous. What was he going to say? What was he going to do? More and more he was starting to change his mind about all of this. He had to decide quickly too. After all...

Gwen would be there any minute.

Should he tell her? Should he not tell her? What would happen if he did? How would this affect his relationship with both Gwen and Harry? He didn't want to hurt his relationship with either of them but...they knew he was hiding something from them. If he kept it inside any longer...

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," said Peter.

Gwen opened the door and stepped in with a curious look on her face.

"You wanted to talk to me Peter?" she said.

Peter found himself just standing there opened mouthed. He had indeed asked her to meet with him so they could talk, but now that she was there...

"Yes," he finally said. "I did...um...how are you?"

"I'm...fine," said Gwen carefully. "And you?"

"Oh..." said Peter. "I'm good. All good."

There was a pause while they stood facing each other awkwardly. Peter kept trying to get up the nerve to say something, but a lump kept forming in his throat every time he did.

Eventually Gwen said, "I'm going to go out on a limb here. You want to tell me something that you find difficult to tell me. Don't you?"

"Wow," said Peter. "You figured that out quick. Any faster and I'd think you had superpowers."

Gwen sighed, rolling her eyes, even though she was smiling. "I just want to you know that you don't have to rush things. Harry and I know that you're keeping...something from us."

Peter was not surprised. "Yeah, I figured you suspected something."

"Well yeah," said Gwen. "I mean that story you gave us about how you can track Spiderman makes sense for the most part. I checked the math on Spiderman's speed and sightings and that holds up just fine. It's just...well...it's a little odd that someone can track Spiderman down and Spiderman hasn't really done anything about it."

"Oh," said Peter. "I see. Well...there is a good explanation for that."

"I know," said Gwen quickly. "Whatever's going on you're doing it to take care of your Aunt, so I don't mind that you're still keeping secrets...I don't want to feel like there's any pressure to tell us anything. I know what you have to say is hard so take your time."

Peter stared at her, mouth open wide, and then laughed. "Oh Gwen. You're awesome...you know that don't you?"

Gwen couldn't help but crack a smile herself. "Well, I have my moments I guess."

Peter placed his hands on her should and she rubbed his hands affectionately.

"Gwen..." said Peter. "I'm Spiderman."

Gwen froze, her smile not wavering for a moment. She had stopped rubbing his hands so Peter took them away.

"Well," said Peter nervously. "You remember when we were on that field trip at Doctor Connors lab, and there was a spider that day? Well, it's the funniest thing. That spider actually bit me...and it must have crawled into the neogenic machine at one point because the next day I had crazy powers. Weird right?"

She didn't answer, but stared at him with a blank smile.

"Gwen?" he said hopefully. "You okay?"