Gwen's POV:

It's been a while since I came home from school. Peter's been a little weird since some days and I can feel that something's troubling him. But I'm sure he'll tell me when the time's right.
I do really want to ask him about it and help him with it but I know he won't let me, not until he's sure it's not posing as a threat to me, specially not after the promise he made to my father on that fateful day.

After what happened last year, I don't blame him. The whole attack on the city of New York, him becoming Spiderman and saving everyone, it took a toll on him. Well not everyone.
I lost my father last year in the deadly attack by Dr. Curtis. No, it wasn't Peter's fault, had he not been there my father would have had to go through way more suffering than what he did. I miss him. So much.
I lost a part of me when I found out he was no more. He truly loved me. I was sitting at my desk and I saw the picture of me and my dad from when I was 12.

We had gone for a camping trip by the lake and my mother had clicked this picture of us. Him with his fishing rod and a typical dad cap and me clinging on to his hand, wrapped in a blanket, shivering and smiling towards the camera. This was right after I had tripped over our boat and dad had helped me come back up. We were so happy back then. My eyes welled up as I remembered that day and the next I saw flash in front of my eyes was his funeral.

As I was trying to calm myself down, I took a few deep breaths and wiped my tears away. Just then I heard a knock on my window.

"Open up! It's me." I saw peter right outside hanging from the waterpipe of my apartment.

"God Peter why don't you ever use the door?" I say out loud but somewhere inside, I've always loved this. I am a sucker for cheesy romantic movies and this was one of the most romantic things I loved.

I push the pane upwards and Peter stumbles in. "Careful there Pete." He is easily the goofiest guy I have seen in my entire life. He pulls out a bunch of lilies from the inner pocket of his jacket. They're almost worn out but I spot a few white, crimson and violet ones.

"I'm guessing these aren't new?"

"Oh no, they were, they were new, they were fine a while back but I guess you'll have to throw some of these withered ones in the back." He says with a cheeky smile, I can see that he was embarrassed.

"It's alright, I still love these, I really needed it right now." I sniffled and looked towards my feet not wanting to show my puffy eyes to him. Just as I turned around to go put the flowers in a vase, I felt a web clinging onto my waist and I immediately spun around, right into his arms.
"Gwen, what's wrong? Have you been crying?"
"No, not at all." I try to maintain my shaky voice in a calm tone.
"Is that why your nose has turned into a tomato?" He said.

I couldn't help but smile at this. As soon as he saw a smile creeping on my lips, his eyes lit up. His arms slowly circled around my waist pulling me into a hug. I instantly hugged him back, my face against his chest. He kissed the top of my head and rested his chin on it.
He knew this was the one thing that would always calm me down no matter what was going on.
I pulled away shortly to look into his eyes. "You know you're the best, right?" "Yeah I do." He says with a sarcastic laugh escaping his lips.

We sat on my bed, facing each other. His thumb brushed my right cheek and his eyes locked straight into mine. He must have seen me at my desk holding the photo frame as he asked, "Missing your father, weren't you?"

I nodded slightly looking at the frame, "This photo always reminds me of all the time we spent together. It reminds me of the last time I saw him. That night of the attack. But it also reminds me of the duty he did. How he saved so many people. And I'm so proud of him for that." I smiled a little as I closedy eyes and my father's happy face flashed in front of my eyes.

Just then I felt a hand on top of mine. I saw Peter looking at me and trying to make me feel better. I smiled looking at his face, "It also reminds me that I almost lost you that night. I can't even begin to express how thankful I am that I have you in my life, Peter. I don't know what would have happened had you-"
I got cut off by Peter as he leaned in and kissed me. It was a soft, tender peck on the lips but I still had butterflies in my stomach. That sure as hell calmed my nerves. We pulled away after a minute as he held my face in his hands. He kissed my forehead and said, "You don't know how much you mean to me, Wen."

Clearing my throat I said, "Enough of this emotional talk. I'm gonna go down and make dinner, you're staying right?"
"If you're cooking, then there's no question!"

We walk out the door and towards the kitchen. I start getting the ingredients for making Pasta as Peter gets the wine and glasses.
He starts setting the small table in front of the TV. The vegetables and sauces sizzle as I add the pasta to the pan and give it all a mix.

The smell of burnt garlic with a bit spice filled the air. I took a spoon to taste the pasta and at that moment I felt strong but gentle arms around my waist. I tilted my head to the side and turned a little and saw Peter looking right at me in awe.
"He makes me feel so good", I thought. Right on cue, I hear a rumbling sound. He looked down at his stomach and smiled sheepishly; all that awe was for the pasta exactly behind me.

I shot him a disgusted look but we both ended up laughing at his rumbling tummy. We got our respective plates and settled down on the couch next to each other. I saw the table neatly set with two mats and 2 glasses of wine on them.

He had sneakily managed to light up a few candles and arrange them around the table.
The fireplace was lit- it being much needed in the cold of Brooklyn. My once plain house looked like a dreamy place right now. "I love all of it. It looks beautiful."

We watch the movie 'To All The Boys I've Loved Before' as it was a perfect match for us. Not too sappy and also had good humour. Plus the fake dating trope, I mean who doesn't like this?
We had a few good laughs and by the end I had snuggled up to him while he had his arm around my shoulder.
As the credits rolled I started getting all the plates and glasses to clean the place up. I put all of it in the sink and ran the tap.

I turned around and Peter was right there behind me. "Are you looking for something?" I asked him. He let out a chuckle and shook his head. He held the side of my arms and motioned towards the couch.
"Go sit and relax, I'll do the dishes. You've been having a hard day and this is the least I can do to help you out." "No it's alright I'll do them-"
"Gwen just go!" "Alright but I'm not going out. I'll be here" I slid up on the counter next to the sink and sat there looking at Peter.

"What are you looking at? Never seen me do the dishes before?"
"As a matter of fact, yes this is the first time I'm seeing you do the dishes." I said with a grin on my face. "I'm shocked you can do this with all the clumsy stuff you do normally." I tease him.

"Hey those are all accidents alright I am not clumsy I can do this PRETTY WELL" He said with the air quotes. I laugh at his goofiness just as he almost manages to catch a plate in time.
"Easy there, Bug Boy. You might have another 'accident' today itself."
"Not happening today Wen." He said turning off the tap and cleaning up the place. He kept all the things in their respective places and looked at me with such a proud smile.
"I'm not going to lie you did do a good job today. I'm impressed Mr. Parker."
He does an air punch like a cute little kid and walks towards me.

He places his hands on either sides of me and leans in real close to whisper, "Then don't you think I should be given a reward for the same?" His hot breath was all on my ear making me tingle as I hold on tight to the edge of the counter to keep myself steady. "Oh I believe you do." I lock my gaze on his face as he comes closer to me. I close my eyes and
he's about to kiss me when-

I hear a buzzing sound. One of our phones was ringing. I put my index finger on his lip to stop him. He looks up in surprise as I tell him "someone's calling" and point my eyes towards the couch.
"UGH who is it at this time?" He whines. I laugh and push him off me as I get down from the counter and check my phone.
"Oh my God Peter it's Kat!!"
"Kat? Kat Evans? The girl who ran away before 4 years? The girl who you supposedly call your bestfriend?"
"Yes it's her oh my god she's called after so long. Also, she MOVED away and she IS my bestfriend. I have to take this I'll be back in 5."
"Sure why not it's not like we were having a moment or anything." Peter mumbled below his breath.
"I HEARD THAT."
"You're still here?!"
I shake my head as I looked at his grumpy face.

________________________________________

Peter's POV

Why do people call each other so late at night? And of all people it had to be her. Kat.
Kat, Gwen & I went to the same school. We lived in the same neighbourhood and were friends since all our lives. It was always us and my best friend Harry.
The 4 of us were inseparable in school. We had such a great time together.
But then as school ended Harry moved away for further studies with his uncle. His father stayed back, the great Norman Osborn. He was always so kind to us kids.
His talks always inspired me to become the best scientist and this led to me always being the best in class. Gwen and Kat wanted to pursue medical science so they was there in the same highschool as me.

We used to hangout as a group in the initial days. It was all going well. But later on, Kat started behaving in a weird manner.
I used to see her lurking around the bad corners of the town. She was also seen with a lot of bullies in school. It's like she turned into someone else.
I used to be extremely suspicious of her and tried to warn Gwen as well. Kat knew I didn't trust her.
But Gwen and Kat had been bestfriends all their lives. Gwen refused to believe she was turning into a bad influence.

Then one day when our first year of highschool was halfway done, we received the news of the Evans' business going bankrupt. No one knew what had happened.
Not even me and Gwen. The very next day, the whole family moved out and shifted to a location no one knew about. Gwen was so shocked when all of this happened.
Kat didn't even talk to her once before leaving. It all happened so quickly none of us were able to process it as and when it happened.
Our families were equally puzzled as to what had happened that they had to leave town overnight.

It became a highlight in the news for months. Everyone gossiped about their theories as to why the Evans left town without a word to anyone.
Some said they had no money left, some said the place was raided and the police found illegal activities going on and some even went to the extent of saying there was a murder involved.

But we all knew how gossip worked. None of it was real until someone from the family said the truth. A year passed away and still there was no sign of Kat or her family. Gwen and I had lost all hope of tracking her.

When one day Gwen received a letter addressed to her by none other than Kat. She had come running to my place in the evening to show me the letter. Kat had apologised for disappearing like that.
She had given her new address to us in the letter but asked us to keep it between us only.
She didn't want a lot of people to know about her. She wasn't staying with her family.
So all we knew was that Kat was alive, and studying in a college in a place called Madre Linda, somewhere in San Francisco. She had strictly told us not to visit her.

After all of this, we still didn't know the reason why they left Queens. And I found this extremely fishy.
But Gwen assured me that it was all good. I did nod along but even she knew I wasn't sure that was the whole truth.
Gwen and Kat exchanged letters occasionally but they knew well enough about each other.
And now after 4 years this was the 4th time she had called Gwen. I wonder what made her call Gwen so late at night.

Just when I was wondering all about this I saw Gwen coming towards the kitchen. She seemed really confused but kind of happy. "So, what'd she call for? Is she moving away to some other place?" I asked, hoping she was going somewhere far away because she always seemed so fishy.
"Actually you're right. She's moving. But not away. Moving here. Moving back, here."

"WHAT? What do you mean back here?"
"Yes, she's coming back home and joining our highschool as well. From tomorrow! I was kind of confused as to how fast this happened but I'm so so excited to meet her tomorrow!"
"Yeah, everyone will be." I say grimly. Her moving away was so sudden.
Her moving back is so sudden.
Whatever it is, something didn't quite add up. And this time I'm not going to let it go. This time I'm going to get all the answers I want.

Gwen had gone on talking about her plans for the next day when I had phased out thinking about how to get the real reasons behind all of this.
I heard a snap and I came out of my trance of thoughts and saw Gwen make a pouty face.
"What's wrong Wen?" I ask laughing a little at the weird face she was making.
"I thought you wanted a reward?"
"Huh, what reward?" I asked clearly forgetting the conversation we were having right before I got cockblocked by Kat.

Gwen shook her head in disbelief and walked towards me. She stood extremely close to me and slowly came on her tippy toes. She held my face in her hands and looked at me with a smile on her face. "You are so stupid." Saying that she leaned in and kissed me.
A passionate yet gentle kiss. Her hands wandered in my hair as I picked her up and put her on the counter in the kitchen, from where it all began in the first place. We pulled each other closer to each other until there was no space left. Both of us were running out of breath but none of us wanted to pull away from the now turning into a heated kiss. Finally, I pulled my head back for a second and cupped her face with my palms.
"Yeah, I am stupid." I said with a goofy smile across my face.

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Note:

Heyyy guys!!!
Sorry I took too long to update the second chapter, but its here finally! Now that Kat's coming to town, things are going to get extremely interesting ;)

Please let me know how you feel about this one and if there's any suggestions you're always welcome to drop them in the comments or message the same to me.

Thank you so much for reading till now. I love y'all so much :)