peter/gwen.} signal fire

[fireescape]

[ he breaks his promise to her father but he breaks it carefully. as far as the rest of the world is concerned, they're over. drifted out of each other's lives and he won't even let himself slip back into his old habits, taking her picture on a second's impulse, distantly trailing her. if he makes enemies again, he can't let them know that this girl, this girl is everything.

he formed this resolution when he packed up dr. connor's sewer lab, found the destroyed remains of the cameras he'd planted and realized how it was that he'd given himself away.

property of peter parker.

so he stays out of her way where the world can see except for the casual accidental intrusions that lets them make their plans. notes torn to impossibly small pieces. a scientific calculator dropped as he's walking past her, 4 digits for military time, a geeky joke, i love you in LED.

he's swinging his way to tonight's meeting, to the rooftop of her building. (he can't go back into her room just yet; he's brought enough pain to her home.) the city skyscape is nothing but anonymous shadows but he knows where to go.

day or night, he knows the shine of her hair. ]

Comments

and this took forever i'm so sorry

[fireescape]

[ he's not going to be good for her.

he knows this, her father knew this and his aunt refuses to believe it. he's hurt her already, left her to struggle through her grief alone with apologies and absence. he told himself then that it was the right thing to do, the only thing. but peter has a history of stumbling over these choices. chose the wrong thing once, and his uncle died. tried to do better and chose the right thing and captain stacy died.

so now he's trying for a compromise and he hopes that whatever toll this secret will exact, he will be the only one to pay to it.

for this, he's willing to pay anything.

he lives his life on a balancing scale, the daytime life of peter parker, nephew, student and seventeen. the nighttime life of spider-man, crimefighter and criminal. he lives his life on a balancing scale, weighing his present joys with their eventual cost and he can't find it in himself to regret it. tonight he'll be able to go home to aunt may, light in his eyes despite the bruise on his cheek and he'll be able to say honestly good night. the best.

he tries not to lie to his aunt may if he can help it and with gwen, these days, he could.

and there she is. on the final upswing, he drops on the raised ledge running around the roof. louder than he can usually manage and he could pretend that it's so he wouldn't startle her but it's really because despite everything, there are moments when he still trips on his own eagerness around her, like his whole body freaking stutters (and that's a thing right? full-body jitters, that's a thing he'll swear he's read and okay maybe not in a scientific journal or anything but online and yes, alright. cracked.com) ]

Hey. [ and damn it was that his voice? an octave away from sounding like he's redoing early puberty. ] Wait, let's try that- Hey. Sorry about the voice.

[ how do you greet the girl you love? ]

Result of trying to crack some wise with this mugger. Short version: stray webshot knocked out his hearing aid. And I know the sensible thing to do would have been to give up or learn sign language but being able to take jabs at the criminal element with both my fists and agile sarcasm is my one job perk.

[ peter is pretty sure not that way ]

NOT AS FOREVER AS THIS???? omg seppukus

[ex_chocolatehouse384]

[ it was endearing, actually. most of what he does is, and she's sure it's not just her bias as a girl hopelessly in love. it's the little things, the way he still fumbles despite having single-handedly saved the city, the way he looks so gosh darn nervous around her even after facing down dangerous criminals night after night. he still looks at her like she might be the most dangerous thing he's ever encountered, and a part of her can't help but feel flattered for that. she'd never hurt him, but it's something of a rush to realize she means enough to him that she potentially could.

it's usually pretty hard to wrap her mind around the idea that peter parker, the amazing spider-man, as the papers have begun to call him, could be so fragile.

and then there are moments like these, when his voice cracks and he vomits out words without directly looking at her that remind her - he's still so amazingly human. (there are other moments, too, when he comes to her beaten and bruised and hurting so much that she feels it too, that she wonders what it would feel like to lose him again - but those moments are the ones she tries not to think about unless she has to, because smart girls are so painfully idiotic sometimes.)

she grins, more at the sight of him than at his words, but they tickle something inside her too, charmed when she really has no reason to be. he's no casanova, that's for sure, but it feels like he still gets right to her without even trying, and how unfair is that? ]

You mean your legions of adoring fans don't even factor?

[ he's a hero now, a true blue bona fide hero and no hero would be complete without his fangirls. gwen isn't the jealous type, but she's apparently the teasing type, and she maybe enjoys flustering peter too much to really help herself. ]