Gwen ran her hand over the not bloodied part of Peter's chest and sighed. The scars from nearly a year ago were still there, and quite visible as well. She smiled at him lightly when he put a hand over hers. That, too, was bloodied.

"You have to stop letting people beat you up. For God's sake, Peter, you're Spider-Man." She placed a kiss on his cheek, and picked her washrag up again.

Peter laughed. "You tell that to the guys that keep beating me up." His speech was still slightly slurred from the mixture of pepper-spray induced numbness and trying to choke on his own blood just an hour earlier.

Gwen pulled out the bandages and a roll of medical tape and began covering the deep cut a knife had left across his chest. Gwen comforted herself by remembering some of the worse injuries he'd suffered, and that soon, this would just be another scar.

She unceremoniously threw herself backward onto the carpet after finishing. She heard Peter rustling around his backpack for his clothes and let her eyes slide shut.

"You aren't invincible, you know," she whispered.

Peter pulled a shirt out of his bag and pulled it on, leaving his suit bunched up around his waist. He flopped down beside her, only slightly more careful. "If I had a nickel, Gwen."

"We would be rich?"

"And not living in Aunt May's house still," he finished with a snicker. "Yeah, I know. I know. I mean, being the one who's beaten on all the time, you'd think I know that." He sighed.

"But?"

"But... That's no reason for me to stop."

"And I know that, Peter," she curled into him as she spoke.

He threw an arm over her and used the other as a pillow. "But?"

"But I want you to be more careful. And- and- Gr. Peter, be careful. I can't freaking live without you, and I won't. Okay? If you die, I had better go down with you, or..."

He put a finger on her lips, which brought her attention to the frown he wore. "Don't say things like that. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you." He sealed the promise with a soft kiss. "I promise you, I won't leave you, and I won't let you get hurt. Ever."