New fic...kind of. For those who've been following along on Through the Looking Glass you'll know that I promised to make a 616/Spider-Gwen oneshot many chapters ago that I never managed to get done. I did 2000 words at best, but then I had to scrap that. So here's something I cobbled together in about a day, so quality's probably not gonna be the highest.

It doesn't help that I find writing 616 to be difficult after writing Spider-Man Noir as a completely jaded anti-hero. I got around this a bit by making the chapter more introspective, focusing 616's thoughts and narration over dialogue. On the bright side it also allowed me practice in trying to write present tense narration, though I suspect it'll be dodgy in some spots.

Side note - I posted this in a new story, but then I recalled that most of the people who wanted this were reading Looking Glass so I'm posting it here as well. Hopefully the ones who asked for it are satisfied with this.

The end of the world...Peter never thought that he'd live to see it.

Spider-Man swings through the air, his thoughts running at a mile a minute. He'd read up on theories on how the everything would end, and he'd even seen firsthand some dimensions that went through them: The heat death of the universe, the sun going supernova, Galactus recanting his 'no Earth dining rule', a zombie apocalypse and (probably the scariest of all) Jolly Jonah becoming the president of mankind.

The last one gave him nightmares for months.

Still, nothing could compare to seeing it firsthand. The abruptness of it all was what shocked him the most; one minute he was fighting Hydro-Man with a few of the other junior heroes and the next the sky turned blood red and there was an entire other earth looming right above their heads. The scientist in him tries to dismiss it; two planets of equal mass and size being so close to one another would have been physically impossible. The gravitational pull alone would rendered it nothing more than the doodlings of a bad science fiction writer.

But no, it really was happening. He remembers meeting with the Avengers at the Stark tower, all of their faces grim and withdrawn before the experts spoke up. Reed calls it an incursion; a sort of 'cosmic glitch' where two dimensions were going to collide against one another in a sort of reverse big bang. Normally he could listen to Reed ramble about the science of it all day, but as the older scientist says they're out of time. The two earths would collide given enough time and everyone on both earths would die. There was only one solution.

Destroy the other earth before it could crash against theirs. That way at least only one dimension's humans could survive.

Again the scientist in him wants to argue. Even on the off-chance that they agreed to commit genocide worse than anything even Hitler or Red Skull could come up with, success would also doom them. The alternate earth was too close, too tied with theirs. Any explosion strong enough to destroy an entire planet would catch their earth in the radius and even if it didn't the debris alone would devastate the planet beyond repair.

The arguments came not long after. Cap rails against Reed and Tony for even considering sacrificing billions of lives to save their own while Iron Man, ever the pacifist, tries to argue for the numbers, "Destroying the other earth isn't pretty, but if we don't do anything then all of us will die!" Tony argues, face morphed into a scowl that Peter hadn't seen before, "We don't have a choice!"

"There's always a choice!" Cap shouts back, his voice equally fierce, "What you're suggesting is murder, Tony! How can we live with ourselves, call ourselves Heroes, if we willingly end the lives of billions of innocents whose only crime is being caught in the same madness we're all trapped in!?"

Arguments. Morals vs practicality, questions on whether it was worth sacrificing their humanity in order to save it...it reminded him of the civil war; friends turning against one another because of what they considered right. He doesn't want to go through it again, so he leaves. He doubts anyone even noticed.

The panic that came afterwards reminds him of the time Ock tried to boil the earth alive. Screaming, crying...people pushing past one another and trying in vain to escape the inevitable planetary collision. He tries to do what he does best: Save as many people was he can. Others would have called what he was doing pointless, but there's nothing else he can do. Rogers was right, Peter knows that, but unless he can push a planet back there wasn't anything else he can do.

He doesn't know what happens between Cap and Iron Man, but every day that passes the alternate earth grows closer and closer and it doesn't t seem like either side managed to reach a conclusion. Maybe they just agreed to stay out of each other's way, maybe they were fighting a secret war Illuminati style even though the world was collapsing around them, but in the end it doesn't change anything.

The last days push him to his limit. For every crime he stops, every car crash he saves, there's a dozen more the second he looks back. No one cares to commit actual crimes anymore; the world is ending, and all the money in the world doesn't matter. Even the Supervillains give up; he swears he sees Sandman going to the park with his daughter or Kingpin kneeling in front of his wife's grave.

The final day is the worst. He never sees Reed or Cap or Tony again, and the alternate earth is so big that he swears he can reach up and touch it. He stays back in Aunt May's old home, too exhausted to do more than blink. Aunt May catches him in the suit, but she doesn't care. She looks at him with tears in her eyes and cups the side of his face, tells him that she always knew that her little boy was doing great things.

Mary Jane and the rest of his friends are there, too. They put out a cake, tell stories...he cries when he talks about what happened to Uncle Ben and the reason why he puts on the mask every day. They look at him with proud smiles, and they say their farewells when the earths collide.

He wishes he told them more before it all ends.

~o.O.o~

The world doesn't end.

There's a flash, an explosion that deafens his ears...and then when he opens his eyes he's back in his apartment like nothing changed, "What...?" Peter looks outside the window. He's still wearing his suit, the spandex stained with blood and sweat, but outside everything seems peaceful. The sun shines outside, cars honk at one another while the drivers curse and off in the distance he sees either Johnny or Nova flying through the open air.

He calls Aunt May and she tells him she's busy. A night out to the opera with Jay and a warning for him not to work too late. He calls Mary Jane, same thing; busy with running her nightclub and she invites him to a party held in his honor.

No one except MJ remembers he's Spider-Man.

He doesn't know whether to be relieved of frustrated, and in the end he settles for just trying not to think about it. They may not remember saying how proud they are of him, but he does and that's alright in his book.

Everyone remembers the Incursion, but the ending is different for everyone. Some say the Fantastic 4 did it like they saved the earth from Galactus (he would've helped, but Scorpion attacked him that day; others claim that S.H.I.E.L.D has a stockpile of cosmic cubes and that they re-wrote history and, probably the most absurd of all, Doctor Doom saved the planet.

In the end the only thing anyone agrees on is that their world is safe and for many - himself included - that's enough.

~o.O.o~

He meets (a different) Spider-Woman on patrol.

"Another beautiful day." He swings through the air, letting the sound of traffic, honking horns and JJJ slandering him on the big-screens reach his ears. It only takes a week before everything goes back to normal...well, as normal as it could be considering the world nearly ended just a scant few days ago. Now it was the same as usual; people cut each other off in traffic, villains did their villainy and Jolly Jonah somehow convinced himself the world nearly ending was somehow his fault.

And of course at least a few people believed him judging by how many called him Spider-Apocalypse.

"Really, guys, I'm pretty sure nearly ending the world's above my paygrade!" He calls out to a particularly rowdy crowd of anti-fans. They don't listen, nor does he get paid for the 'community service', but what else was new? He doesn't let it bother him too much since it's the first break he's gotten in a week; between all the meetings at Parker industries and the business trips to help promote the company he barely has time to put on the good old red and blues and go for some patrols.

Of course the second he thinks that is the second he runs into the Ringer...or at least who he thinks is supposed to be the Ringer. Last he checked the Ringer was supposed to be Anthony Davis, but the one standing in the center of the street screaming about how the street is their 'turf' is definitely not him...or a man. Actually she looked exactly like Black Mariah.

'Is Kinglsey starting up the racket again?' He thinks, landing on a nearby building with narrowed eyes. He really didn't want to deal with the old Roddy Piper again so soon.

He's about to swing down and do what he does best before two globs of webbing hit Ringer(?) right in the head, the large woman stumbling back before she's kicked from behind by a black and white blur.

Peter expects Anya or Miles - or even Cindy, though he knows she's busy with her job at this time of day - but what greets him is someone else entirely: A woman, but not one he recognized. The first thing he notes is the hood; it wasn't anything odd, but the last person he saw wearing something like it was his brother Ben, and even then he usually kept it off. The next thing that jumps out at him are the colors; black, white, pink and green formed into different patterns that cover the entirety of her body.

Whoever she was, she had good taste in costumes.

"Huh...well, that was easy." The new Superhero looks down at the incapacitated criminal and tilts her heard, the pink rimmed eyes narrowing for a brief second before she claps her hands on a job well done. Without another word she ejects a line of webbing and swings away and he only barely hesitates to follow after her.

He never felt possessive of the Spider name, but he can't deny the curiosity he feels on seeing another one donning the mask. If Madame Web were here she'd probably espouse something about fate or the great web of destiny, but he tries not to think about that. Right now all he cares about is that there's a new Spider-themed hero and since the others aren't around it's up to him to play the welcoming committee.

"Hey, wait up!"

She looks backs and slows her swings when she catches sight of him. Peter lands on a nearby rooftop, the White Spider (did that sound racist? It kinda sounded racist) turning around to meet him halfway.

"Sup?" she greets him first, landing on a wall and sticking there with her hands and feet. Definitely another spider person, "Did I crash in on your 'territory' or something?"

"Huh? No, no!" Peter shakes his head, "It's just...well, you seem new on the block and I figured I'd welcome you to the neighborhood." He steps closer, hands behind his head to make sure everything looked nice and relaxed, "Good job on Ringer down there, by the way."

"Heh, thanks." She detaches from the wall and looks up at him with a 'smile' (kind of hard to tell through the mask), "Um...wait, you just said I'm new. You don't know who I am?"

"Er...should I?" He hasn't kept up with the news, though in his defense he barely has time to meet up with his friends given everything he has to do, "Sorry, haven't picked up a newspaper in a while. Though if Jonah has his way the headlines are gonna be 'Spider-Man: Hero or Menace' every day."

"No one reads newspapers anymore, grandpa." She snorts and shakes her head, "You know what, forget about it; I'm just being weird." She laughs and gives a friendly wave, "Name's Spider-Woman. See you around."

~o.O.o~

Everyone knows who Spider-Woman is.

He doesn't mean that she's famous or anything (or maybe she was? Again, no time for papers), but rather the fact that literally every one of his friends he asks seem to have years of knowledge about her.

"I met her...I think it was 4 years ago?" Jess says when he asks, looking up at him from the couch with a suspicious glance, "What, don't you remember? She was there when we took down Ock's robots before they could bomb the city."

He...definitely doesn't remember that, and it was a hard day to forget; it isn't every day that you save the day by putting the bombs on daylight savings time, "You know who she is under the mask?"

"Nope." She shrugs, "She's pretty secretive; kinda like you are, actually." Her suspicious look fades and she gives him that patented teasing smile of hers, "What's with all the questions? You looking for a date?"

He doesn't dignify that with an answer, mostly cause he knows she'll find a way to tease him no matter what he says.

The others say the same thing: Cindy says they've been frenemies shortly after she left the bunker, MJ sings her praises and tells him about how she made publicity stunts at her club and Anna Maria gives him a weird glance when he asks if she knows anything about her.

"She's been here for a while, Pete. Don't you remember asking how she managed to get her webshooters to work without fluids? We've been trying to replicate it for the past few months."

She shows him blueprints, diagrams and notes. He knows they're legitimate - he recognizes his handwriting and Anna Maria has no reason to lie to him - but for the life of him he can't remember. The timing of the dates also causes him to raise an eyebrow; if it was right then he'd been working on trying to replicate her webshooters months before the Incursions were ever public knowledge.

"Something stinks here, and it's not just Jonah's journalistic integrity..."

~o.O.o~

Peter meets Spider-Woman again after two days.

He doesn't mean to, but he catches her sitting on top of a high building during one of his patrols. Shelooks up and waves when she spots him, "Hey." Her voice is light, almost distracted by something.

"Hey yourself." He lands next to her and looks out over the city. A great view, though boring after 13 years of heroing, "What's wrong? You seem distracted."

"It's just..." She stops, lets out a deep breath and shakes her head, "Look, I'm gonna sound crazy, but just bear with me, alright?" She looks up at him and he nods, "Alright, alright. So...you said you didn't recognize me when we met up a few days ago. Everyone else knows who I am, tells me about all this awesome and badass things I did and-"

"You don't remember?" he finishes for her.

"...Yeah." She pulls up a knee and hugs it close to her, "I...I know it sounds crazy, but it feels like I got plucked from the middle of one story and got pasted into another." She sighs, "I remember a bunch of things, and some of them match up with what I see, but others...it just feels fucked up, you know? I mean, I know it sounds crazy-"

"Actually, not as much as you think." He sits beside her and puts a hand on her shoulder, "Some things are different, definitely. Look, I'll be honest; I don't remember you. Everyone else seems to think you were there for a lot of things I remember, but whenever I try to recall the picture I see is different from the one everyone's telling me. It's the same for you too, right?"

"Definitely." She lets out a soft laugh, "I thought I was going crazy, but I guess I'm not the only one." She sighs again and pulls up her hood, "That end of the world bullshit must have scrambled a bunch of things. Guess we were 'lucky' enough to still remember how things work. Trust me, there's nothing freakier than waking up one day and listening to your dad talk about shit you got no idea about."

"Better than dying, right?" They both share a forced laugh, "We're here now. Let's make the best of it."

~o.O.o~

It doesn't take him long to figure out she's from the other earth, the one that was threatening to collide into theirs. As far as they could guess whatever saved them blended their worlds together in some kind of weird hodge-podge. It was the only way he could explain Felicia going from a crime lord (thanks, Ock...) to a famous international pop star...not that he was complaining. He'd take gimmicky songs over trying to kill him any day of the week.

"This place is weird." She says one day. Ever since they both figured out that their memories didn't add up with everyone else's they'd spent a lot of time with one another. It was easier than facing their friends and family while feeling like outsiders, "I just saw the news...is Matt Murdock really Daredevil? As in an actual superhero?"

"Oh yeah." He waves a hand through the air and grins. It still surprises Peter how much guts the guy has, outing himself to testify on the Serpents group. He doesn't know if he can do the same thing, "One of the oldest in the business, actually. He's a friend of mine. Why, what's he like in your world?"

"In a word? Gigantic asshole." She snorts, "He worked for the Kingpin, took up the mantle when the police chief put the big guy behind bars. I called him Matt Murderdock."

"Very creative." He laughs, "Still, I don't think you have to worry. Matt and Willy hate each other; have been ever since he took his criminal empire down."

"Weird...though I'll let it slide. It's a shitton better than his 'come to the Dark Side' bullshit."

They talk about what they remember and what's different. They don't tell each other who they are behind the mask, and he doesn't expect it. In the hero business friendships lived and died when both parties didn't see each other as anything other than their masks. Besides, not everyone could be a fame-seeking blowhard (he was kidding...mostly) like Johnny.

"I'm in a band," she says one day out of the blue, "My bandmates are different, but it's the same problems. They get pissed at me for flaking out, think I'm not taking it seriously. I wish I could tell them..."

"It's hard. Trust me, I know." He lets out a soft breath, "Tell them if you want, but there's a reason we wear masks, you know? Even my au- er, mom, doesn't know about this. She'd probably have a heart attack." Or maybe she'd be proud of him. He doesn't know; without another earth looming over their heads people tended to act different.

"Yeah, maybe..." She sighs and stands up, "You know what, enough moping. Let's find some bad guy butt to kick."

"Ha...well alright then. After you, Spider-Woman."

~o.O.o~

Captain Stacy is alive.

Peter supposes he should have expected that considering how many things have changed, but seeing Yuri introduce him in the middle of a crime scene comes as a surprise that nearly knocks him off his feet.

"Nice to meet you, Spider-Man. I've heard a lot of great things about you." He reaches a hand out and takes Peter's hand in a firm grip, "I hope we can work well together."

He's different from how Peter remembers him. The Captain Stacy he remembers was tall and lean, a friendly smile on his face that remins him of his Uncle Ben. The man in front of him is opposite in all the important ways: He's younger, his build is muscled and bulky and the thin goatee only helped to emphasize the stern expression that seems to come naturally to him. He definitely doesn't look like he's going to be retiring any time soon.

"My daughter talks about you a lot. Seems like she's a fan."

This time Peter does stumble, falling flat on his face before he quickly pulls himself up, "Y-Your daughter?" he stutters out.

"Mhm. She's- Oh, you don't wanna hear about that. Come on, we gotta focus."

He does. More than anything he wants to ask the veteran officer to continue the story, but he bites his tongue. How would it look like if a guy in a mask suddenly starts asking a guy about his daughter? He wasn't willing to test it. He had enough of a bad rap was it was...

And he was afraid of hearing the answer.

MJ looks at him like he's grown a second head when he asks her about Gwen later, "Gwen? You mean Gwen Stacy?" He nods, feeling the lump in his throat growing larger by the second, "She's in my younger sister's band. A drummer, I think? Why are you asking?"

"No...No reason."

~o.O.o~

Peter doesn't have to wait long to meet Captain Stacy again, and this time he isn't even wearing a mask.

A charity event of some kind with a bunch of rich guys and gals mingling in fancy suits and expensive wine. He doesn't want to go, but Anna Maria forces him, "You're the CEO of Parker industries! Your name's literally on the title!" She pushes the folded tuxedo at him with a stern glare, "You've skipped out on the last few parties and people are starting to talk. We don't need to those kinds of rumors."

"But, Anna-"

"Don't 'But, Anna!' me." She rolls her eyes, "You're going. And just to make sure you don't skip out I invited your aunt, too. You don't wanna leave her all alone in that sea of sharks, right?"

"...You're an evil woman. You know that, right?"

"I try." She smirked, "Now, enough complaining. The limo's gonna be here soon."

Now here he was in a stuffy party nursing a single glass of wine he refused to take a sip of for fear of making an ass of himself. Off in the distance he can see Aunt May along with Jay chatting with a couple of older guests, "Should've known Jay would be coming..." He mutters. If he knew his step-dad would be present he'd have made an excuse not to come; probably why Anna Maria didn't tell him, now that he thought about it.

"Mr. Parker?"

He nearly drops his glass at the sound of the familiar voice. Turning around, he plasters on a fake smile when he catches sight of Captain Stacy standing in front of him, the man's formal police uniform standing out amongst the sea of designer suits, "Ah...it's Captain Stacy, isn't it?"

"Yes. I'm surprised you know who I am." He shakes his free hand with that firm grip of his, "Sorry for the interrupted, but I just wanted to thank you for your work. Your technology and donations have really bolstered the police force and it'd be wrong of me not to express how much I appreciate it."

Peter feels himself visibly deflate in relief. If it was just that then it was nothing to worry about, "Oh, you don't have to do that. It's you and your men who go out there risking your life every day. I'm just glad I could help lighten your load-"

"Dad, you wanted to see me?"

Peter's breath stops when he sees the captain put his arms around a younger girl. She's young, probably no older than eighteen or nineteen, and the blue dress and heels seem ill-fitting on her given the way she fidgeted. Still, he couldn't deny the spiders swarming his stomach when he looked at her face. Far younger than the one he remembered and her hair was shorter and lacking the dark headband, but it was her.

"Gwen, there you are." The police chief gives his daughter a warm smile and nudges his head to Peter's direction, "I wanna introduce you to Peter Parker, the head of Parker industries. He's one of the reasons me and the other boys are so well-equipped nowadays."

"Oh, yeah. My dad talks about you all the time." She gives him a wide smile and Peter feels like he's been punched. The last time he'd seen her like that was before the Goblin...he didn't want to think about it, "So, I guess I have you to thank for my dad getting that medal."

She offers him a hand. Peter looks down at it for a brief moment before common sense kicks in and he accepts the gesture, "N-No problem, Ms. Stacy. It's my pleasure..."

He sees something in her eyes, but he can't tell what it is. Their handshake lingers for a few more seconds before her smile twitches and she pulls back, "Just...call me Gwen. Ms. Stacy sounds too formal." She looks back and finds her dad has already left to meet with someone else, "Well, I'll see you around then." Peter watches her go before he finally musters enough energy to speak.

"Yeah...see you around, Gwen."

~o.O.o~

He's on the bridge again.

Peter sits on top of the bridge, looking down at the murky water below. In the night sky he doubts anyone can see him, and it allows him to think. He knows things changed ever since the Incursion, but this was...he doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Gwen was alive. She was different from the one he remembered, but she was alive. Her, Captain Stacy...it was like someone was giving him a second chance.

He looks back when he hears soft footsteps and finds Spider-Woman walking towards him, her steps slow, "Hey, Spider-Man." She sits behind him, "What are you doing up here? There's not much to look at."

"Just...needed to think about some things." It's technically not a lie, though it's a hell of a lot more complicated than he's making it sound, "Just needed a place to get away from it all, you know? What about you?"

"Getting some fresh air." She waves a hand through the air and clicks her tongue, "I had to go to a party. My feet feel they've been through a torture rack. I'm never going in heels again. I don't care if my dad begs me to come with, those high society shindigs definitely aren't my thing."

"Ha, sounds a lot like my night." The two share a soft laugh and Peter gestures to the city, "Wanna a night out on the town?"

"Tempting, but no. I gotta get back; my band's gonna kick me out if I don't show up to at least one of our practices this week." She stands up and stretches her arms above her head, "Trust me, you haven't seen scary till you hear Gayle Watson yelling at you for not taking shit seriously."

He doesn't know if she realizes the mistake she makes in saying her bandmates name, but either way he can only watch her go in silent shock before he recalls her previous words, "She said she went to a fancy party..." He shakes his head and stands up, his breaths shaky. No, it couldn't have been...could it? No, it-it had to be a coincidence.

It had to be.

~o.O.o~

Peter finds his answer later.

He does his best to ignore the niggling guess at the back of his mind when he sees her again. They spend the next few days as partners again; Jonah has definitely take notice given how much he's taken to slandering her too, but she doesn't it let it bother her, "The Jameson I remember is a bigger douche," she says, "Least he's not accusing me of murdering my best friend."

The days turn to weeks and he almost forgets that niggling doubt. He doesn't see Gwen again, doesn't go to any more fancy parties and refuses MJ's invitation to watch her sister's band. He doesn't want them them to see him make a fool of himself. Instead he spends more time with Spider-Woman, enough that Cindy and Jess tease him about having a crush on her.

He doesn't tell them the real reason. They'd just think he's crazy.

It all collapses when they fight the Lizard.

Connors escaped the Raft and Peter knew where he was going. The makeshift lair in the sewers had become his home and his instincts wouldn't allow him to go anywhere else without checking there first.

Spider-Woman's unusually quiet when they make their way down. Peter doesn't miss the way she clenches her hands or how often she mutters to herself, "I have bad experiences with Lizards," she says. That's all he manages to get out of her before she shakes her head to make it clear she wasn't going to say anymore. Whatever it is, he can tell it cuts deep.

Connors is more fierce than he remembers. The Lizard was never an easy opponent, but there's something different about him compared to the other times. Peter does his best to restrain him and Spider-Woman does the same, webbing him up on a cocoon long enough for S.H.I.E.L.D to arrive to take him back into custody.

What scares him the most is that Connors barely even looks at him. His eyes are focused only on Spider-Woman, and she definitely noticed given the way her shoulders shake, "Peteeer..." He snarls, and Peter almost feels his heart stop. Connors shouldn't have known who he was under the mask, "Where's Peteeerrr!?"

The Lizard breaks through the webbing and lunges at Spider-Woman. The other Superhero remains rooted at the spot and Peter moves on instinct, ejecting two lines of webbing at the overgrown lizard's back and trying to keep him tethered, "Spider-Woman, run!" He feels his muscles burn from the effort and Spider-Woman finally jolts out of her stupor, looking up at the monstrosity with a gasp.

Too late. The webs last for a few more seconds before Connors finally reaches her, one of his clawed hand running up the left side of her face and tearing through the mask keeping her face hidden.

Blond hair spills out followed by a torrent of blood from the scratch on her cheek. Spider-Woman...Gwen stumbles back briefly before she grits her teeth and looks up at Connors with a murderous glare, "Stop saying his name!"

The next few seconds are almost a blur. Peter barely manages a blink before Gwen delivers a punch that knocks Connors flat on his back, the Superheroine straddling him and delivering continuous blows against his jaw.

It was definitely her, but the absolute rage in her features wasn't something he ever thought he'd see on Gwen Stacy. Peter can't will himself to move and can only watch in shock at the continued attacks the Lizard took. She won't kill him - her absolute refusal to take a life was one of the things he admires about her - but the painful strikes almost make him doubt.

Eventually she stops, stepping of off Connors with an exhausted breath and hissing when she put a hand to her left cheek, "Fuck...fuck!" She punches the wall with her free hand and takes another hissing breath, "Damn it..."

"Gwen..." He doesn't know what to say. What can he say? He's known her for months and he knows her memories are different. She isn't the Gwen Stacy he remembers, "We need to get out of here." He webs Connors down and looks down the tunnel. S.H.I.E.L.D. would be here in a minute.

"D-Don't look at me!" She turns away and shuts her eyes tight, "Just-"

Peter turns her around and takes off his mask. He doesn't know what he expects when she sees it, but her mouth parts open before she shakes her head head, "...I must be dreaming." She swallows nervously and steps closer to him, "You're...Peter, aren't you?"

"Yes."

That's all he has to say before she steps closer and pulls him in a bone-crushing hug, her head pressed against his chest. He doesn't know what else to do besides reciprocate the gesture. It wasn't how he wanted to see her again - in the middle of a sewer covered in blood with a giant Lizard unconscious nearby - but he doesn't say anything else. All he can feel is a rushing sense of relief.

~o.O.o~

They go back to his place in in lieu of anywhere else. Her dad doesn't know who she is and neither do the other Avengers. He was the only one who knew.

"...How did you get your powers?" He asks once they've settled in, applying a bandage at her cheek. Her healing factor already changed the wound from a gash to a barely noticeable cut, but it was better safe than sorry.

"Science fair. Radioactive spider." She gives him a strained smile. It's the first time they'd ever been unmasked in front of the other and there's a tension in the air that he can't place, "You?"

"Same." He sits beside her on the bed.

They just...talk. It's different from how they always did it. Usually they try to make the chatter mindless; hobbies, favorite color, whether Harry Potter was the greatest work of literature or not. There's some accidents of course - her little slip about Gayle Watson comes to mind - but for the most part they never divulge anything too personal.

Now they let it all out. He tells her about anything she asks: Where he studied, what he does now, what happened to his Uncle Ben...the only other person he'd shared so much was with MJ.

She tells him about herself as well. She's different from the Gwen Stacy he remembers: She's in a band, she doesn't particularly care about science or fashion and her dream is to be a musician. But there are sparks of the woman he loved: The same fire to accomplish whatever she sets out to do, the sense of justice she inherited from her father and an independent streak a mile wide.

They tell each other about the Peter and Gwen they knew. He tells her about the bridge, about the Green Goblin targeting her because he found out it was Peter Parker under the mask. She tells him about the night at prom, about how her Peter injected himself with the Lizard serum to try and get back at the people who bullied him and because he felt powerless. It scares him just how much alike the two of them are if not for Uncle Ben's teachings.

"You know...when I saw you at the party I tried to convince myself it was a coincidence." She lays her head against his left shoulder, her voice soft, "I mean I always assumed that Peter Parker was dead so I never brought it up to my dad or the others."

"Me too..." He takes her hand in his and squeezes it gently, "Seeing you back there...I thought I saw a ghost coming back to haunt me." He still remembers the nightmares, the clones...even now a part of him is doubting. What if it was just a trick by Miles Warren to break him down again? He'd been burned enough times to know that many of the people he fought would go to any low to hurt him.

"...This is fucked up." She lets out a light laugh and looks up at him with half-lidded eyes, "I never thought Peter Parker would grow up to be a bigshot CEO. We always joked about how you'd be the next Tony Stark, but seeing it now...it's unbelievable."

"Well, I never thought Gwen Stacy would turn into such an amazing Superhero." He laughs back, "I'm almost afraid this is a dream, but if it is then I don't wanna wake up."

"...That's really corny, Pete."

Before he can throw something back she smiles and puts her head to his chest and closes her eyes. Peter gives the young woman a soft smile and holds her closer to himself as they drift into long overdue sleep. He doesn't know if he's holding Gwen Stacy or Spider-Woman, doesn't know if things will ever truly be normal for either of them, but right now he doesn't care.

All he knows is Gwen Stacy is alive and he's not letting her go again.

Well...that was painful :/ Romance is definitely not my forte, as evidenced by the abrupt as fuck hook-up at the end, not to mention the rather glaring 10 year age gap; at least Gwen's a legal adult. Still, I promised a 616/Spider-Gwen oneshot and here it is. I'm aware I left off on a bit of a dry note, but there's not much I can do about that. It was difficult enough getting the 6k words out considering I don't have too good a grasp of canon Spidey's really long history.

I'm actually wondering if this is good enough to keep as a oneshot or I should make one more chapter from Gwen's POV. I only ever made this since people who reviewed here/elsewhere wanted it, so I guess we'll see if people think it's good enough or it needs more.