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Time slowed down. Peter’s chest tightened. He watched as the web that Gwen was holding onto broke. Now nothing was there to keep her from falling to the ground. He had no time to think. He had no time to weigh his options. He had to save Gwen.
He jumped, plummeting himself towards the ground. He prayed that he’d be able to reach Gwen. Reach her before she reached an unforgiving death.
He was close to her now. He reached his arms out, screaming her name. He couldn’t tell how close they were to the ground. All he could see was Gwen. Guilt struck his chest. Her expression was panicked, tears running down her cheeks. It was his fault she was like this. His fault she was about to die. And he had to fix it.
He wrapped one arm around Gwen as he reached her, pulling her against his chest. He used his other hand to shoot a web. He closed his eyes, bracing himself. He didn’t know if he had gotten to her with enough time to spare to save the both of them.
At least if he died now, he’d die with Gwen.
But the falling stopped.
He opened his eyes, looking down. He was dangling just a few feet from the ground. A few more seconds and he would be dead.
He looked at Gwen as he let go of his web, safely dropping to the ground. He said nothing, but his heart was pounding in his chest.
“Gwen..”
Gwen rested her head against Peter’s. She took a shaky breath as she cried softly.
“Gwen.” Peter pulled back and looked at her, setting her down. His vision was blurry with tears forming in his eyes. “I can’t. I can’t do this to you.”
Gwen shook her head. “I’m not doing this with you again, Peter. Don’t you think I know the risk? Look at me.”
Peter lifted his eyes to meet hers. His lip quivered as he did.
Loving Spider-Man was a death sentence. He saw it with his parents. Ben. Gwen’s father. Gwen had just narrowly escaped it. But how long until the next attack? How long until he couldn’t save her?
“Gwen, I can’t..”
“Peter. You saved me. Look- I’m here. We’re both here. I love you, Peter. You’re my path. I don’t want this to be how it ends.”
Peter looked at her silently for a while, holding her close. His mind raced with all the possibilities of what could happen. All the different ways she could get hurt because of him.
“We’ll start over. You said England, you and me.” Gwen cupped Peter’s face gently, “We’ll be alright.”
Peter shook his head. “We almost weren’t.”
“But we were. We are. Please.” Gwen was practically begging him. Just a few hours ago she was starting to plan a future with him. Now he wanted to leave. It was a feeling that was all too familiar. She didn’t know if anything she said would be able to change his mind. So, she leaned forward and kissed him. She kissed him like it was the last time because, frankly, it might have been. The world seemed to dull and all that was left was the two of them, helplessly and feverishly in love.
After a few seconds or a few years, (Peter couldn’t tell,) he pulled away. He took a deep breath and nodded. Either making the best decision or the worst mistake of his life.
“We’ll be alright.”