Chapter 23: Arc One. Chapter Twenty-Three. Two Tales
Both Peter and Gwen headed home for one last visit, the small items, forgotten, too private, or too delicate, needed picked up and Peter wanted to see Aunt May while Gwen had words to say to her father.
"Aunt May, I'm back," Peter looked around the apartment one last time before heading into the small kitchen where Aunt May had started to fill the kettle for coffee. He put his head on her shoulder and she gently patted his hand as she filled the cups.
"All done?" She asked him and he nodded,
"Gwen's heading home and I thought I'd make one last sweep of here before heading back. I think I've got everything, maybe some clothes in the dryer."
"Did you get Gwen settled in okay?" and Peter nodded as he started to add sugar to his coffee.
"Yeah but we had a ton of recycling to get organised, all the boxes and uh, what's wrong Aunt May?" he asked as she gave him a stern look.
"Peter," Aunt May began "don't bullshit a bullshitter." Peter almost choked, and Aunt May added sugar and milk to her own cup and then nodded at the small breakfast table for him to sit down. He looked guiltily at her as she sat across from him, holding the mug between her hands, and watching as he avoided her eyes.
"You've got lipstick on your collar and Captain Stacy called here about 10 times." She tapped a single finger on the breakfast table, "So?"
Peter straightened his back and stared at her, "I spent the night with Gwen, we slept together and time got forgotten," Peter shrunk slightly, expecting a massive lecture. And as her face fell and she raised an eyebrow, he realised that wasn't what she meant. She wanted to know why she couldn't get through to him or Gwen.
May just shrugged, "as long as you used protection Peter, I don't care who you sleep with. Gwen's a good girl and I'm proud of you. You did use protection right, Peter?" Mays tone was not the jovial concerned one as before.
"Of course Aunt May, of course, I remembered, you gave me some and I took them, so. Are we okay?"
May looked over that rim of her cup, "Of course Peter, we're fine."
Peter stared at his Aunt, "but?"
"But, I can't do this Peter, since Oscorp. I can't sit here night after night hoping," her voice cracked, "hoping the same thing hasn't happened to you cause you're not answering your phone, so. I'm going to let go. Peter, you've got a business and a girlfriend. An old woman like me can't sit around and pine forever you know."
Peter frowned, "Aww, Aunt May, you're not that old." Peter patted her arm before hugging it.
"I know, which is another reason I'm glad you moved out, Peter, I loved your uncle Ben, I gave him everything I could but, I'm not old," she sighed, "seeing you and Gwen, I'm lonely Peter, and I need to get-"
"Laid?" Peter absentmindedly said,
"Peter Parker!" Aunt May yelled, cuffing him around the head. "I need to get out of the house."
"Oww oww, sorry May, sorry," he faked being hurt and moved to sit back down,
She stood, dumping the last dregs of her coffee into the sink, "I'm joining a few classes, and no don't worry it's not the ones you go to. Until then young man, get your mind out the gutter." Ruffling his hair May picked up her house keys, "Anyway, I have to run, some of us can't skip work like you, Love You Peter. Oh, do the dishes before you leave, they're yours anyway."
She was right, with Peter leaving the apartment felt empty and she was feeling something she hadn't felt since Ben died, lonely. Peter had finally grown up and the years of caring for him were over. It hurt but she needed to move on too. Find her own place in the world but she knew she would always be there for him when he needed her.
As she watched him finish his coffee she committed the image to memory. It would be the last time he would be here as his home and as the pain stabbed at her, she turned quickly and left before he saw her crying.
"Love you too May," he replied as she left him to finish collecting the last of his things.
He had been thorough, knowing hiring a van would be expensive and all that was left to collect was some clean clothes, still in the washer-dryer and he stuffed them into his backpack.
He would miss living here, miss Aunt May and as a twinge of pain hit him, miss being reminded of his uncle Ben. He was moving on, growing up and a part of that meant leaving some things behind. He knew how she felt but he made a promise that he would always be there for his Aunt if she needed him.
Looking over at the sink he sighed, A pot with baked-on sauce, a pasta dish and several bowls, caked with dry cereal, and cups, glasses, and other cutlery were piled next to the sink. May had gone into his room and rescued all the missing crockery Peter had been too lazy to collect himself and left it here for him. Sighing he shook his head and rolled up his sleeves, filling the sink with warm water and getting to work.
While May and Peter had shared a moment and had shared a bit too much, Gwen was not having the same kind of conversation with her father.
George Stacy was not in a good mood. He'd phoned everyone he could think of during the night and found nothing to let him know where Gwen was or why she wasn't answering her phone. That boy's guardian May Parker had even suggested that he let them be young and he had just silently hung up the phone. He snorted. As if he would let a young punk like Peter Parker take his Gwennie away from him. Hearing her key in the door he sat up straight and smoothed down his tie. Taking a personal day off hadn't sat well with him, but he needed to be here to make sure Gwen was okay, and of course to make sure she knew what she had done wrong.
As she entered the hallway she rolled her eyes as she saw her father, she knew what was coming. Every time since she was 13 that she'd missed an appointment or a check-in with her dad she got a lecture. Every DAMN time. This time though, this time was different, she felt the confidence surge through her but she had to calm down a bit, this was a fight yes, but not a physical one, she hated her control freak of a father but not that much.
"Gwendolin Stacey. Do you have any idea how worried I was? You didn't check in last night and none of your friends could get a hold of you either." George wasted no time in laying on thick, Gwen had to know she was wrong and as much as it pained him to be strict, he had to make sure she was disciplined properly.
"Dad, I'm tired and I don't want to hear it, I'm 19, not 9." Gwen walked past him to try and climb the stairs to get to her room but he grabbed her by the arm. She was only here to grab the last few things and then leave, a fight was coming but she wasn't in the mood.
"Oh no you don't young lady, you'll explain yourself right now, it's almost 10 am and I've been worried sick." Gwen shrugged, pulling her arm free in a move that surprised George, when did Gwen get so strong? he thought to himself.
"Dad. I'm tired. We can talk later, okay."
"Gwendolin Anne Stacy. You will stop right there and you will tell me what has gotten into you? Not answering your phone, scrapes and marks on your clothes as if you've been fighting. If anyone did, if that Parker did anything."
"Geesh stop dad, I'm fine, nothing happened, I was at the warehouse with Pete and my phone didn't have a good signal but it's fine, it's fixed, just, just give it a rest okay. I live at the warehouse now, not here. You can't expect me to check in every night anymore," Gwen was almost to the stairs when he shouted
"Living with the Parker kid, you know I don't like him and those marks on your clothes are not you out having fun, those are scuff marks, what did he do Gwen, did he hurt you? Did he touch you?"
Gwen had had enough, her father's overbearing attitude never sat right with her and after his accusations, she snapped. "Yeah, he did dad, is that what you want to hear, that I spent the night with Pete and we fucked? That he tore my panties off and ravaged me, cause he didn't dad, I ravaged him, I was horny and I wanted it so I took him, the scuffs the marks are from me throwing him around. There, are you happy? I took Pete out last night, got him under me and fucked him. He's my boyfriend dad, we're allowed to do things like that," Gwen pushed past her father and slammed the door to her room only to emerge a few minutes later stuffing some things into a bag. Her plans to grab the few unmentionables she would never let anyone touch, her underwear and a few sex toys that she had snuck out to buy, were just grabbed and thrown into her bag. She was too angry to care if her dad saw any of it.
"I, I can't do this anymore dad, I'm not a little kid for you to dress up and display like a doll. I'm 19, so I'm leaving, don't call, don't text. I'll let you know when you can come to visit. I love you dad I really do but this, this bullshit interrogation, treating me like a prisoner, as a suspect at the precinct. I can't do this." She hoisted the bag over her shoulder and slammed the door on her way out.
George Stacy was stunned into silence, in all the years Gwen had never talked back or acted this way and as she walked out the front door he clenched his fists, it was the Parker kid, and he would make Gwen know just how much of a rotten bastard he was. He didn't care if she'd already signed a lease and was only here temporarily, he'd make him pay for doing that to his little girl, then she'd see that he was right and that punk kid was wrong.
Gwen stood outside the house, her hands balled into fists, shaking with the rage Poison was feeding her. She took deep breaths. Peter had shown her some exercises that he said helped him but right now, they weren't helping.
Kill him, we bow to no one,
Gwen shook her head, her eyes scrunched shut, no, we don't kill.
we hate him,
Gwen needed a distraction, something to take the edge off, if only Pete was here, if only. She remembered and ran.
Four blocks away outside the quiet bakery Gwen tore into another bag of chocolate chip cookies.
Sugar sugar yum yum, Poison hummed in her head, and Gwen finally felt her relax.
She shook her head as cookie number twelve vanished into the now seemingly endless hole in her stomach, this wasn't right, this wasn't a good thing. She needed to find out what Poison was, how it was affecting her. As she'd paid for her snacks she realised she still had her dad's credit card, for emergencies of course.
Well, she thought, this is an emergency, isn't it?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone