A/N: IT'S ME. Just in case the penname change confused you. I'm trying to separate this from the real world a little more, and the other name got too close to home. Nobody is going to recognize me anymore. *le shrug* fun fact: I've changed my username once before! Anyways, thanks for the reviews as always, especially the anon reviewer Lnk for the suggestion!

Letter: S

Word(s): Shut up

Gwen yelped as a large clap of thunder startled her from a half-sleep. It shook the apartment building and the girl taking refuge in it to their very foundations.

She knew the thunder was harmless, but she had long given up her brave act and taken to the corner of her room furthest from the windows. There was a blanket wrapped around her and a pillow behind her head, but she wasn't comfortable. Not without Peter. In once fist she held a flashlight, and her phone in the other.

Outside, hurricane-like conditions were tearing apart New York. The power had been down for hours, and the rain had been pouring down twice as long.

Unnaturally bright lighting flashed, seemingly right outside the window. Gwen couldn't tell if she screamed; the thunder that so closely followed the lighting blocked out any other sounds.

Gwen was drifting in and out of a fitful sleep. The thunder and lighting, as well as snippets of nightmares, continued to wake her up. There was no power, and you couldn't see three feet through all the rain, so there was no way of knowing if Peter was safe.

Tiredly, she checked her phone's clock. 2:03 AM, it read. As much as she didn't want to sleep anymore, she couldn't keep her eyes open. Giving the window once last glance to ensure it was unlocked, she drifted off again, and didn't awake for hours.

When she next opened her eyes, she wasn't sure if she was still dreaming. She half hoped she was.

The rain had stopped. There was sunlight streaming in through her windows, and Peter was halfway through one of them. He was soaked to the bone, and struggling to pull off his mask. When he finally removed the dripping ball of fabric, he fell through the window onto all fours and gasped for breath. He coughed and coughed until his airway was finally clear. Strips of his suit hung off his back, and the skin visible on it was burnt and bleeding.

Peter looked up to Gwen, opened his mouth to say something, and stopped. His head dropped to his chest again. His arms were trembling and threatening to buckle. He rolled over onto his back, crying when the carpet touched and stuck to his back.

Gwen didn't breath for a second, watching him lay on the ground. She couldn't see him breathing.

"Peter...?"

He took a long, shuddering breath, and Gwen released one.

Ever so slowly, she scooted over to her hurting boyfriend. He seemed to be unconscious, but breathing. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of his burnt skin. It made her want to vomit. Instead, she smoothed his wet hair off of his face and wiped tears and grime off of it with the corner of her blanket.

Slowly, Peter blinked himself awake.

Again, he opened his mouth to speak. He at least got out a moan, but that wasn't what he was looking to say.

"Sh, give it a minute," Gwen said. She gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

He winced in discomfort, and grabbed at Gwen's hand and shoulder. She helped him sit up, to get the carpet off his back.

That done, he felt a little better.

"Gwen," he managed in a cracking voice. "You okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. Are you okay?"

He gave her a pained, cheesy grin, showing that he was, in fact, okay. He gestured to his back. "How does it look?"

Gwen shook her head. "You need to go to the hospital, I don't know how to treat burns like that."

"No. I'll be okay." His soft gasps of pain as he shifted toward Gwen spoke otherwise.

She gave an exasperated sigh at his detesting the hospital. She never could tell if he was scared to go or scared of the questions they would ask.

"Electro?"

"Taken care of," Peter grunted. Satisfied that he was close enough to his girlfriend, Peter stopped shifting and plunked his head on Gwen's shoulder. He put his face in her neck and just appreciated her. Her smell, the softness of her skin, the way she tilted her head toward him and their ears rested against each other.

"I'm glad that's over."

Gwen suddenly let out a sob, and Peter straightened up.

She was frantically pressing her hands over her eyes, trying to stop the tears. Nearly twelve hours of tension was flooding out of her and there seemed to be no damming it. "I'm sorry," she sobbed.

"No, no, no," Peter rushed. He kissed her on the forehead and rested his cheek atop her head. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"No, what I said about you and MJ yesterday..."

Peter grimaced at the memory of her angry words. Gwen had

seen him with MJ and for some reason, mistaken it as a date. She's basically accused him of cheating, though he'd done nothing of the sort.

"It's okay, I forgive you. We all make mistakes."

"No!" she cried. Her fingers ghosted over his chest. She wished she could just hug him and kiss him all over, but she feared she would hurt him. "I should've-"

Peter put both of his hands on either of her cheeks, and crushed his lips against hers. "Shut up," he murmured.

He blindly guided her hands to his mostly unharmed shoulders, and held her around the waist. They melted into each other, and shared their first real kiss in a while, right there on her bedroom floor.