God of My Dreams (Greek Heroes #1) ✅ Completed

Chapter Two: Spider-Man Ruined My Life

Spider-Man Ruined My Life

Gwen-Stacey woke up feeling awesome. It was Friday and that may have been part of it, but deep down she knew the real reason why she was in such a great mood.  She’d had her favorite dream again – the one where she got to kick Spider-Man’s butt all over the greater part of Manhattan.

God, she freaking hated Spider-Man.

Hated. Hated. Hated him.

Everyone loved Spider-Man. Most people agreed Superman had the best otherworldly powers, but Spider-Man was the prom queen of comic book heroes. Maybe it was because he was a nerd that was frequently teased at school by the popular jocks, so a lot of people could relate. Maybe it was because he suffered the loss of his parents and his uncle, so it made his pain more real. Who knows? All she knew was those comics were the source of much of her childhood misery. They were reason she’d been named Gwen-Stacey in the first place. Spider-Man had ruined her life before she’d ever been born.  Reasonably she knew he wasn’t directly responsible for much of her childhood suffering, but she couldn’t help blaming the famed web crawler. It was a lot easier to blame him than it was her parents.

Her parents had met at the San Diego International Comic-Con. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough, they’d both been wearing Spider-Man costumes and bonded over a meet-and-greet with Stan Lee himself.

Supergeeks in love.

It wasn’t too long after that they’d gotten hitched and had her. And they knew exactly what to name her. Not Gwen. Not Stacey. Gwen-Stacey. Said together like Mary Lou or Peggy Sue. It was horrible.

On the day she was born her father had two custom t-shirts made. One for her that read: Spider-Man’s Dream Girl. It was pink and cute and she’d looked adorable in it as a chubby baby. It was his that she detested with every fiber of her being. It read: Eat your heart out Spidey, I married Gwen-Stacey’s Mom. He’d loved it more than his autographed Spider-Man collector's t-shirt and almost (but not quite) as much as his Amazing Spider-Man comic #1. He'd worn the t-shirt so much the first year of her life it fell apart. After that, every year on her birthday, he made sure to get them replacements to wear on her big day.

Every. Year. Rain or shine.

When she tried to put an end to it in middle school, when her embarrassment reached a newfound astronomical level, she’d ended up hurting her dad’s feelings. He was so upset he barely spoke to her for a week. Her mom had read her the riot act for being so ungrateful to a man who’d loved and cared for her her whole life. The next year her mother threatened to ground her for the rest of her life if she even thought about not wearing it. She’d suffered through it, all the while thinking about how that one birthday where she’d refused to wear the dreaded birthday shirt had been the best one of her whole life. It was the only one she could ever remember where no one had laughed at her.

It was obvious she wasn’t anyone’s dream girl, especially not some superhero’s. Why did her dad have to rub it in her face every year? Didn't he realize he was insulting her? She knew she was never going to be as pretty and perfect as her mom. Did that really warrant an annual reminder?

Gwen-Stacey stretched and felt the warmth of the sun on her face. Sighing, she imagined the bright yellow rays playing across her skin. Rolling out of bed, she made her way into the bathroom. She astutely avoided her reflection, as she did every morning, even though it made little difference at this point. 

Old habits were indeed hard to break.

Still, today was the start of an awesome day she reminded herself. Dreams of taking out her pent up aggression on Peter Parker’s alter ego always heralded a great day. She was going to make sure it stayed that way for as long as humanly possible – or at least until the real world came crashing in to ruin the party.

She was a social worker, not a miracle worker after all.

Jumping into the shower, Gwen-Stacey felt the smooth caress of the water gliding along her skin. The sensation was heightened now – more so than it had been when she was younger and still had the full use of her eyes. Refusing to head down memory lane, she let her mind drift back to her dream from last night.

It’d started out like all the others. She was hanging out in her favorite place in the city, enjoying the feel of autumn in New York. The farmer’s market set up in front of her favorite bookstore was a buzz of activity the likes only found in cities like New York. She loved to buy fresh baked blueberry muffins and homemade root beer, and hang out at one of the bistro tables set up along Union Square Park. She would eat her breakfast and listen to the roar of the city that had always been home to her. Everything about the city fit her – from its vibrant energy to its seemingly endless supply of people from all over the world leaving their mark with food, music, and everything else one could imagine.

Then Spider-Man had vaulted in, swinging from the buildings just like in the movies, and generally ruining her perfect day.

Everyone stopped. Not to stare at him, but to laugh at her. Gwen-Stacey – dream girl to the webcrawler himself. That’s when she’d change into her Wonder Woman alter ego and brought him down. She proceeded to hit Spidey with a few well-placed kicks, generally taking out all her years of frustration and general misery. But this time, after she tied him up, her dream had changed.

A figure, so unlike any she’d ever dreamed up before, was standing a few yards away watching her. He was tall, well over six feet and built like some kind of action hero.

Not like some skinny high school kid playing at being a hero, but a real one – like Thor, or Wolverine. He had muscular arms, powerful thighs, and shoulders so wide they made her hormones stand up and take notice. He was probably built that way to accommodate the huge black wings that flared out behind him. And not just any black – a pure obsidian. A color so black they glinted blue in the afternoon sun. As magnificent as his body was, it was the harsh beauty of his face that stole her breath away. He was gorgeous, sculpted as if from the finest marble.

The hottest, sexiest, tastiest marble lying around.

Feeling bold, which only ever happened in her dreams, Gwen-Stacey had winked at him. Then she’d made herself leave, fading off to another part of her dream. It was something she’d been able to do since she was a young girl. Whenever she was done with a particular dream, or didn’t like where it was headed, she changed it.  

Now, thinking back on it Gwen-Stacey couldn’t help but sigh. She’d actually conjured up a sexy guardian angel to watch her triumph over her archnemesis. How freaking cool was that? Maybe she could dream him up again tonight and see what happened.

Grinning, she heard the water kick on in the next apartment. If her neighbor was about to get in the shower, then that meant she was already running late! Gritting her teeth, Gwen-Stacey felt her water pressure instantly cut in half. Opening her eyes she went through the motions as quickly as she could, mentally preparing herself for her day. She had tons of case files to go through, follow up calls to make, and more than one face to face appointment on her schedule for the day.  

At least it wasn’t a court day. Or her birthday.  

Thank God for small favors.