[ psl ] a day in the life

[timeisluck]

Gwen Stacy likes to pride herself in being the best girlfriend in the world.

Or at least on this side of New York City, where she is currently leaving her Oscorp internship for the day. She hasn't been deterred in the least from continuing her work term, preferring to go on as though her mentor hadn't just turned into a giant lizard only a little more than a month ago.

In fact, maybe it's even more important that she does continue her work at Oscorp - so that she can keep an eye on things for Spider-Man, and so she can find a new mentor, someone else to give her a glowing reference letter and recommendation to whatever school she wants to go to after the year ends.

That's something she hasn't quite made a decision about. Before Peter, she considered Oxford and Cambridge, but things are a little different now. It's not a bad thing but her plans now require a little more care and a little less impulse.

In any case, she's on her way to the subway station when she passes a TV playing (loudly) in a cafe-diner announcing the latest exploits of her (she'll never grow tired of the thought) boyfriend webslinging across the rooftops in pursuit of some new chaos-mongering culprit.

"Increased sightings of Spider-Man continue to bring up the question of police authority over the protection and well-being of New York's citizens. The opinions are split, with those who believe in the masked arachnid and those who think he's more of a danger to the city than what he claims to be.

"But is he a hero or a menace?

"More after this short break."

Gwen rolls her eyes, and continues on when she hears the familiar sound of sirens. A fleet of police cars suddenly wail by at mach speed, whipping the interested heads of random passersby.

Well, where there are sirens, Spider-Man is sure to be too.

She half-considers going home anyway; after all, she's got a lot of work to do ... but Peter's been doing a lot more people-saving than studying lately, and she's allowed to be concerned.

She might be able to help him a little, from the outside of course, and leave the rest to the police. That is what they're there for.

She bites her bottom lip and speeds up her pace, following the sirens.

Comments

[anormalguy]

She wasn't wrong, but then the sort of injuries she could get in her house were a lot different than potentially being pumped full of lead by angry mobsters. Peter didn't want to drag her into danger, and being seen with him was going to paint a target on her back. There was a reason he wore a mask, and it was to protect the people he cared about.

"What am I supposed to do if you get hurt?" he asked, brokenly. He paused, his police responder buzzed about the caravan being trapped on the bridge. He frowned a bit, because he probably should have focused on that.

[timeisluck]

"You do what you always do," Gwen says gently. She can hear the brokenness in his voice, and despite all of her strong willpower to just do what she wants regardless of Peter's opinion, it affects her.

She almost - almost - reconsiders sticking around, but Spider-Man isn't responsible for her, just like her dad wasn't, and this? Helping him, helping New York regardless of her physical strength, is what keeps her from giving in.

She touches his hand.

"You keep going.

"And hey, I don't plan on getting hurt tonight or any other night, okay?" She adds (infusing her voice with a little humour), "I'm tougher than you think."

[anormalguy]

Keep going? She says it like it's so simple. Just get over her getting hurt, like it wouldn't destroy him. He can take a hit and not even think about it, but it is different with Gwen. She doesn't think it's his responsibility to protect her but she's wrong. Spider-Man is supposed to protect everyone and okay fine, her safety is probably more important to him in the long run, but he couldn't just keep going if something happened to her.

He can't give her a laugh, even though he can tell she's trying to lessen his discomfort. "You don't even have a mask," and he's trying to joke but he just can't get there. "If we trapped them on the bridge I could deal with them, and the police trying to get a blockade together won't get hurt, but..." Yeah he doesn't know how they'd possibly go about doing that, unless they raised it.

[timeisluck]

Oh, Peter. Wonderful, amazing, taking-on-more-than-he-should Peter.

This is admittedly one of the reasons she loves him so much (though she hasn't exactly had the chance to a) think about how deep her feelings are for him yet, and b) tell him), his ridiculous concern for everyone's well-being - especially hers.

But does he not think she feels similarly about him? Sure, he's got super-strength and can stick to things and websling everywhere. But despite all that, he isn't invincible either. And he is still only seventeen. Seventeen and a student slowly slipping in his grades.

She worries about him too.

She keeps tabs on Spider-Man's latest escapades through the paper; she's got yearly subscriptions to most of the major online news publications. She needs to be the first to know what Peter's been up to when behind the mask and make sure he's okay too.

"Well, there's a way to raise it," Gwen says. "Keep them stranded on the centre of the bridge. If I can get to the control room, I can override the commands ... get it to lift off schedule."

She smiles, a subtle way of encouraging Peter to keep his sense of humour because it's what makes him him.

"And I don't even need a mask to do it."

[anormalguy]

He drags his hand over his face, trying to sort out her suggestion. Could he maybe manage the same thing on his own? Probably? He's not sure. He's a whiz with all sorts of things, but he doesn't take to things half as quickly as Gwen does. She could probably get it done faster than he could, and while she's at it he could maybe work on rounding the crowd up.

He doesn't like it, doesn't like anything about it. "If I get you over there, then you've got to stay out of sight, Gwen. Promise me." Those mobsters weren't going to care that she wasn't a cop if they spotted her.

[timeisluck]

Well, Gwen doesn't expect him to like it, but that isn't going to stop her from trying to help anyway. He can thank her later when they're back home and he's passing his classes again.

But for now, she is going to take this very seriously. Because it is a serious matter, and she would never downplay the very real danger of getting involved in Spider-Man's life.

But it's her choice. It has and always will be her choice.

"I promise," she says. "I'll be careful."

[anormalguy]

He feels like this might be the worst idea they've ever had, and there are a lot of terrible ideas... well at least on his side, he never seems to realize a bad idea until it explodes in front of him. It's just that Gwen is a hell of a thing to lose. She wants to help and he, well, he could probably use it.

"Okay. Okay." He almost sounds like he's trying to convince himself along with her. He tugs his mask back on, before he waves her over. "You're going to have to hold on tight. And I'm sorry about your hair." Because the time they got to the bridge? Yeah, it was not going to be a neat ponytail anymore.

[timeisluck]

"My hair?" she asks, resisting the urge to laugh.

There's a cluster of police and the Mafia and probably superhuman villains amongst innocent bystanders and civilians, and he's worried about her hair?

(No, she gets that he's trying to lighten the mood and she appreciates it.)

She steps towards him, still amazed in her own way that she is standing here with Peter Parker who is actually Spider-Man (and vice versa), and that this? This is his life.

And this is her life.

"Okay. I'm ready."

[anormalguy]

Yes. Her hair. He likes it like it is, perfectly neat and orderly. It is not going to maintain its style by the time they make it the few blocks they need to the bridge. Oh sure he can warn her about the mobsters and the gunfire and the obvious danger, but he's done that already. This is a terrible plan but apparently it was going to happen and they were going to have to figure it out as they went.

He considers demanding she start wearing bulletproof armor if she intends to sit in on anything else, but he doesn't have time. Neither of them do. She steps closer and he puts an arm around her, waiting for her arms around his neck. "Just hold on, I won't let you go." A quick warning, before the zip of the web slinging out and then them lifting off the roof into the air.

[timeisluck]

Gwen doesn't have time to respond, but it's not like she's really got anything else to say. She's helping Spider-Man, he's agreed to it, there's been countless warnings about the danger involved and countless reassurances that it'll be okay.

She holds on to him, arms wrapped tight as they're lifted off the ground, the only thing supporting her being Peter's grip and the thin but incredibly strong biocable that makes up Spider-Man's webbing.

She can already feel her ponytail beginning to loosen, just as he'd predicted, but she looks ahead for where she needs to land. The bridge's maintenance tower.

"There -" she says.