January 18th - 2017

Peter woke up and stretched languidly under the bed covers as his eyes fluttered open. He yawned lazily, before feeling a pleasant warmth and weight pressed over against the side of his toned chest. He looked down and saw his girlfriend sleeping peacefully with her arm draped across his torso. She rested her head next to his neck.

No matter when, she always looked extremely beautiful with the shining and golden colored hair of hers.

With his fingertips, Peter trailed circles over the soft and creamy skin of her back as he caressed the top of her head. Gwen always had been a light sleeper so he had to be careful to not interrupt her peaceful moment.

He just couldn't think of anyone else he wanted to spend the rest of his life with besides the particular Stacy next to him. She was the one to him, she always had been. He only hoped she felt the same.

Still, even if they were at such an advanced state of their relationship, he didn't wish to rush things at all. Things were going well, they sometimes had some problems like every other couple would have, but they always looked for a solution together, and they did.

It had been two years since the couple had moved to England, shortly after he stepped up to arrest the boss of one particular russian mob. They now lived inside a rather small apartment that Gwen's mother helped them maintain in the city of Oxford.

Yet, there was barely a night where Peter didn't relieve the night where he almost lost his girlfriend because of Harry, who much to his relief, was now locked inside a reinforced cell at Ravencroft. He would never ever touch her again, not on his watch.

The thought of losing her and having her family deal with another funeral could leave him restless. They deserved better, she deserved far better.

It won't happen again, ever. He told himself as he brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.

Peter cleared his mind of such thoughts and looked at the alarm clock in the stand besides their bed.

7:00 AM.

He wanted to stay a few more hours with his girlfriend at his side, but they needed to get up since he had a meeting with the editor of the local newspaper. Gwen herself would be at Oxford University, studying molecular medicine. She was his little genius.

He decided it was time to get up and so he began waking his girlfriend by trailing soft kisses in her throat. She let out a light moan in response while bringing a content smile to his face. He kissed her lips gently as she lazily reciprocated.

Peter parted slightly, "Good morning, Gwendy." He planted a kiss on her nose.

"Hey..." Gwen replied, still rather sleepy. She teased weakly, "I see someone's in a good mood..."

He chuckled briefly. "Slept well?" He kissed her forehead and moved his hand down to her waistline, feeling the soft material of her panties, before slipping the same hand under the large shirt she stole from him as he began to stroke her bare belly. She usually wore his shirts in order to sleep, she felt a lot more comfortable in those.

"... very good." She stretched arms above her head and yawned, before wrapping both arms around his neck, bringing him closer.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "But you do know you took the blankets off me throughout the night, right?"

"Did I...? I really don't recall doing that." Gwen continued, "Maybe I had the goal of making you want more of me."

"Of course, you did." He leaned down, engaging into a passionate kiss. He gently bit her lower lip, before releasing it. "We… should get up." He continued, "I'm still trying to befriend time. I would rather not arrive late again."

"You definitely need to." Gwen nodded, in agreement. "I'm going to prepare something for us to eat. What do you think?"

Peter nodded back. "I would like that." The couple kissed one last time before they reluctantly got out of their bed, something they were both skeptical about it.

Since Gwen was the first to get her feet back on the ground, Peter sat in the bed and stretched his arms once again. His eyes caught up with Gwen. He watched her bend down in order to pull her shorts up to her waist in front of the wardrobe.

"Silly." Gwen muttered to herself. She knew very well what he was staring at.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's hard not to." She briefly turned around and disapprovingly shook her head at him as she walked off the bedroom and towards the kitchen.

Peter smiled to himself and walked up to their wardrobe to wear a shirt himself since he was starting to lose his natural heat. The last two days were known for the constant snowing all over Oxford, especially.

He opened the first drawner and saw his red and blue Spider-Man suit stashed right behind his pile of casual clothes. It had been there for quite some time.

He believed that if you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things! That's what's at stake here. Not choice. Responsibility.

He hadn't used it since defeating Rhino, two years ago, sometime before Gwen left the hospital and before taking the plane to England. The last day the world saw Spider-Man, at least the one they were used to.

He sighed heavily. It isn't the right time...

Some people like May or even Helen Stacy could place the pieces together and realize who Spider-Man was if he just appeared again out of nowhere in England. It would be too much coincidence.

Regardless, he wanted to dedicate more of his time to Gwen. They were urgently needing a break when they arrived. It paid off, thankfully.

Peter grabbed a white t-shirt, closed the wardrobe and strolled back and towards the kitchen.

It was a very comfortable place for both of them, not the largest, but still very cozy. They were very happy by living together. Nothing else was needed, at all. Much was said that a couple has to live together in order to know if they were really compatible, and so far, they were doing great.

Peter entered the kitchen and saw Gwen standing beside the sink as she cut an apple in many slices, taking one in her mouth before resuming with her task.

He approached her from behind and wrapped both arms around her waist, leaning the side of his face against her cheek.

"Wanna a bite, Mr. Bugboy?" She offered and kissed the smooth skin of his jaw.

He played along, "Does it come with... some Stacy in it?"

Gwen smirked. "Well, sir, you're getting no Stacy as of now." She took the apple and placed close to her boyfriend's lips who later managed to bite a big chunk off the fruit. She widened his eyes. "I said a bite… not half of the apple!" She exclaimed, with a mock glare-face.

"To be honest, I'm kinda hungry." He spoke while chewing.

"I can see that..."

Peter kissed her cheek, earning a little smile in return. "I talked to Aunt May yesterday."

She grew interested. "How is she?"

"Basically, she misses us a lot." He answered. "Like - really, really a lot; I bet she misses you more than me."

"And you even wonder why?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it's not like you fixed your bed, had your bedroom in order and any other essential tasks."

Peter deadpanned. "Sympathy, Gwen, sympathy." He continued, "I did fix the computer so that she can use it more."

Gwen chuckled. "Good job. Hopefully she gets the hang of it."

He moved a hand inside her shorts and began caressing her thigh. "She also wanted to give us some money, but I talked her out of it. She needs it more than us."

"It's for the best." Gwen agreed. "Talking about money, I finally got the job in that bookstore." She smiled, content.

"Really? That's awesome! You've been eyeing it for quite some time by now." He continued, "You really deserve it, Gwendy."

"Thank you." She sighed, happily.

Peter kissed the side of her face. "I've got something similar to tell you too. I decided to sign that contract I told you about… being a photographer for the local newspaper. Time to get back from retirement, I guess."

"It suits you, Peter." Gwen affirmed. "You'll do well, you always do. I just hope you won't bring them the photos you took of me when I was sleeping." She remarked, rather annoyed at it.

He tilted his head to the side, trying to meet her eyes. "Why not, though?"

"Because… I look horrible when I'm sleeping. I need my superstar career to start smoothly."

"You never look horrible, you are always beautiful no matter what time is... and I really don't mind seeing you drooling sometimes."

"But I don't!" She protested.

He laughed."Those pictures are just… meant to remind myself that I'm the luckiest man alive when I get to wake up next to you everyday."

Gwen's cheeks became redder. Despite the corniest one liners, he could say the nicest things ever. "Flatterer..."

He gently bit her left ear. "Don't tell me you don't love some worshipping."

"Hmm… maybe I do. " Gwen turned on her back and gave him a tiny peck on the lips. "Now, loverboy… let's have our breakfast and then you will drop me at Oxford."

A/N : Hey, everyone! I hope you had a good time reading this short-introductory chapter. It's just one in a series of many that are still being written with the mindset of telling the many phases of Gwen and Peter's lives. Any requests or questions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you :)

25/08/2020 : Overall fixes were made. Dialogues were improved.